PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 7/19/17
SOURCE: https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cantwell-supported-fema-program-brings-bridge-repairs-to-skykomish-area-
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced the award of a grant of almost $1.1 million to repair and paint the Money Creek Bridge near Skykomish, Washington. The bridge, almost 60 years old, provides access to private property in the area, as well as U.S. Forest Service land. In recent years, several large floods have damaged the bridge and washed away protective shore rocks and bank armor, endangering local residents and recreationists.
“This critical funding for Money Creek Bridge will provide safe and adequate access for local residents to property and outdoor opportunities in the Central Cascades. With this funding, King County does not have to shoulder the cost of repairs alone, helping ensure recreational and economic opportunities for this region,” said Cantwell.
The grant was made possible through a program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Conscious of the importance of infrastructure projects like the Money Creek Bridge to their surrounding communities, Senator Cantwell supported the funding of the FEMA program, known as the Stafford Act.
Senator Cantwell Calls for Inclusive, Transparent, and Comprehensive Review by Trump Administration of Role of Nuclear Weapons in U.S. Security
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 7/ 19/ 17
SOURCE: https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-cantwell-calls-for-inclusive-transparent-and-comprehensive-review-by-trump-administration-of-role-of-nuclear-weapons-in-us-security
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today joined 21 colleagues in a letter to the Trump Administration calling for an inclusive and transparent Nuclear Posture Review process. In the letter to the State Department, Defense Department, and Energy Department, the senators emphasized the importance of transparency and thoroughness throughout the ongoing process to evaluate and define the missions and requirements for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Specifically, the senators call for it to include broad interagency input, to produce a publicly-available document, and to reaffirm the nation’s longstanding commitment to the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.
“As the world’s foremost nuclear power and the only nation to have ever used nuclear weapons in war, the United States has a unique responsibility to reduce the risk of their use. By conducting a transparent and inclusive Nuclear Posture Review process that adheres to longstanding bipartisan principles, you will fulfill that duty while preserving U.S. national security interests,” wrote the Senators.
The full text of the letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry:
In the letter, the senators also urged the heads of the Departments of State, Defense, and Energy to adhere to longstanding, bipartisan principles regarding nuclear weapons policy during the current review process. For example, the senators call for maintaining U.S. obligations under existing Senate-ratified arms control treaties such as the limits on deployed strategic warheads and launchers agreed under the 2010 New START Treaty with Russia and article VI of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which obliges all parties to “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament.” The senators also stress the importance of continuing the U.S. moratorium on nuclear weapons testing first put into place by President George H.W. Bush, and continuing to rely on the Stockpile Stewardship Program to ensure the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Directors of the U.S. national security labs have continuously certified that nuclear test explosions are not needed to maintain the reliability of U.S. nuclear weapons.
RELATED STORY FROM THE US DEFENSE DEPT: Selva Addresses Global Challenges, Readiness in Capitol Hill Hearing
By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity
Source: https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1251212/selva-addresses-global-challenges-readiness-in-capitol-hill-hearing/
WASHINGTON, July 18, 2017 — The challenges the United States faces as a global power and the readiness of U.S. forces dominated questions for Air Force Gen. Paul J. Selva today during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing considering his nomination by President Donald J. Trump to serve another two years as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
North Korea was the first threat he was asked about. Selva said the recent test of an intercontinental ballistic missile shows North Korea has the technology to reach the United States, and that the Defense Department is working closely with the intelligence community to understand the North Korean effort.
"I'm reasonably confident in the ability of our intelligence community to monitor the testing, but not the deployment, of these missile systems," he said. "Kim Jong Un and his forces are very good at camouflage, concealment and deception."
Readiness Issues, Defeat-ISIS Campaign
Senators also questioned Selva regarding readiness. He said readiness stems from the availability of funds and resources to do the high-end training required for high-intensity combat against a peer competitor.
"The budget in '17 is helpful," Selva said. "The proposed budget for '18 will move us down the pathway to being able to restore much of that training. But it will be a two-year process, beyond the initial insertion of those resources, before you see the readiness improve."
Concerning the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Selva said that while the Iraqi forces' liberation of the key city of Mosul is impressive, a lot of fighting remains. There must be a push into Iraq's Anbar province to secure the border with Syria, the general said.
Selva also said he is aware of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s threat to retaliate against U.S. forces serving in Iraq if the United States declares the group’s Quds Force to be an international terrorist organization.
"We will have to posture ourselves to be ready for that, but I don't think we should take that threat and keep it from taking action against the Quds Force," he said.
Third Offset Strategy
Selva also discussed the leap-ahead technology of the Defense Department's Third Offset Strategy. The technology would allow the U.S. military to contest the anti-access and area-denial strategies that many adversaries – particularly China and North Korea – are attempting to develop.
The American military’s greatest advantage is to be able to project power and then sustain that power once where needed, Selva said. Protecting this capability is at the heart of modernization efforts for the department, he added, and he assured the senators that it has the highest priority.
Selva also addressed Russia and its actions in Ukraine. He said the Joint Staff is working with U.S. European Command to determine what lethal defensive aid might look like.
"It will be more than just a military recommendation," he said. "This will be a policy choice on whether or not we're going to give the Ukrainian government the tools they need to defend themselves against what we believe to be a Russian-supported insurgency movement in the Donbass."
Sen. Murray: “This is someone who lacks the qualifications and character and temperament to be appointed to a lifetime position on the federal bench”
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED 7/ 19/17
Source: https://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/newsreleases?ContentRecord_id=1E4D4800-C58C-4498-9EC1-6112EB567C48
(Washington, D.C.) – Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today delivered the following floor speech calling on Senate Republicans to reject President Trump’s nomination of John K. Bush to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. As has been reported, John K. Bush is an extreme right-wing blogger who has regularly attacked women’s health and constitutionally protected rights, the LGBTQ community, minorities, and much more.
Senator Murray urged Republicans to reject this dangerous nomination and further efforts by President Trump to use federal court nominations to push his extreme agenda.
Full text of Senator Murray’s remarks:
M. President, at a time when millions of people nationwide are speaking out and making absolutely clear: no to more attacks on women’s health and rights and no to the kind of hate and division President Trump sowed on the campaign trail…
It is unconscionable that my Republican colleagues are moving to confirm a Circuit Court nominee that is so clearly anti-women, anti-choice, and so clearly unqualified and unfit to serve on the bench.
Now my Republican colleagues may think that no one is paying close attention to this nomination, that they’ll be able to slip this one through. M. President, they are wrong.
I am here, along with many of my colleagues, to take a stand, make sure families know just who President Trump is trying to fill our nation’s court system with, and call on Republicans to reject the nomination of John Bush to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
M. President, I consider my decisions about whether or not to support judicial nominees to be among the most important and consequential choices I make as a United States Senator.
And like Supreme Court justices, circuit court judges have lifetime appointments. They set legal precedent, decide on the majority of federal cases, they can change and shape the lives of generations to come. And so it is a responsibility I do not take lightly.
M. President, there are so many troubling aspects of Bush’s record, previous statements, writings, and legal views—they should alarm every American. From his views on LGBTQ rights and about race and campaign finance reform, to his vision for the environment and of our election laws.
But I’d like to start with one aspect of his record that is especially important to me as a woman, mother, grandmother, and a U.S. Senator. And that is what his nomination would mean for women.
For nearly a decade, Bush has made countless inflammatory, offensive, and troubling comments on a number of issues important to women. Now it’s not possible to go through them all, and most shouldn’t be repeated on the Senate floor, but I do want to make clear just what kind of nominee this is.
Bush has likened a women’s constitutionally protected right to choose to that of slavery, calling it one of the “greatest tragedies” in the history of our country. This harmful view is a pattern with Bush. In fact, he consistently uses anti-choice rhetoric—whether he is writing about the right to privacy or other case law. On top of that, Bush has attacked essential health programs for women and children.
For example, he’s called the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program—which helps provide at-risk pregnant women the resources they need to raise healthy children—wasteful.
Bush has authored an amicus brief advocating for the Virginia Military Institute to continue excluding women from admission, where he stated that there are quote “different developmental needs of women and men.”
And most recently, on his Judiciary Committee questionnaire, Bush failed to disclose memberships with various organizations that do not admit women, as well as people of color. I mean I could go on and on and on.
And any of these alone would be enough for me to oppose this nomination—but unfortunately there is much more. Because along with his views about women, we’ve learned of a disturbing pattern of hostility toward the LGBTQ community.
In several articles, Bush has praised court decisions that attack LGBTQ rights. He’s used anti-LGBTQ slurs in his personal speeches. And he’s publicly applauded statements made by candidates for office and government officials that oppose marriage equality.
Now when given an opportunity to explain any one of these comments or previous writings during his committee testimony—Bush was evasive and dodged questions—and he certainly didn’t apologize or clarify any of these comments.
So, M. President, I don’t think I should need to go any further, but I hope it is becoming clear that this not a normal nominee, and that this is someone who lacks the qualifications and character and temperament to be appointed to a lifetime position on the federal bench.
M. President, it is time for President Trump to stop trying to divide our country and use federal court nominations to push his extreme agenda to undo progress for women and the LGBTQ community.
And I’ll just remind my Republican colleagues, we have joined together to reject extreme nominees like this before—with Andrew Puzder and Mark Green. And those were for temporary cabinet positions, let alone a lifetime appointment!
So let’s again do the right thing here, and reject this dangerous nomination, I urge my Republican colleagues to make the right choice. Thank you, M. President, and I yield the floor.
RELATED STORY SHARED ON THE WHITE HOUSE WEBPAGE:
Washington Times editorial board praises President Trump’s judicial nominees
Sources: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/07/17/washington-times-editorial-board-praises-president-trumps-judicial
Washington Times Article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/16/editorial-restoration-of-the-judiciary-continues/
Restoration of the judiciary continues
Editorial
Washington Times, July 17, 2017
The president came through with his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, who is proving a worthy replacement for Antonin Scalia as a faithful servant of the Constitution, regarding it not as a weathervane, subject to every breeze that blows, but as the living document the Founding Fathers intended it to be.
Mr. Trump continues to honor his promise to appoint judges with due regard to the law, precedent and above all to the Constitution. The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared several more nominees to federal courts, including appeals courts, last week, and hours later announced another slate of similar nominees to U.S. District courts.
Among those names forwarded to the Senate on Thursday are John Bush, a lawyer in private practice in Louisville, and Damien Schiff. Mr. Bush was named to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati and Mr. Schiff was appointed to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington. In addition, the nomination of Kevin Newsom to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta was advanced to the Senate for confirmation by a vote of 18 to 2, remarkable in the present era.
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