or privilege ought to be the norm. with what we know up to this point, the clinton investigation failed to hit its mark. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. >> senate leaders mcconnell and schumer came to the floor monday to talk about the death of former north carolina senator kay hagan. the impeachment inquiry in the u.s. house, and the raid that killed the leader of isis. >> first i was saddened that our former colleague senator kay hagan had passed away. during the time kay hagan was just that gentle lady. she had a service with a friendly and collegial approach

and members will remember fondly serving alongside here and the facing of serious illness in the recent years was inspiring. today the prayers of this entire body are with kay's husband chip, children jeanette, tilton and carrie and with all of their family and friends at this extremely difficult time. now, on a completely different matter on sunday morning, we woke up to a better and safer world because one monster was no longer in it. abu bakr al-baghdadi was the founder and leader of isis, in recent years made him the singlemost important target in the fight against radical islamic terrorism. his band of fanatics has committed heinous crimes and shed an unmant un unimaginable

blood in an entire reason. isis has been part of a civil war in syria that claimed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. they've run slave auctions of women and girls, and affected the genocide of the yeazidi people. and isis established a so-called caliphate, imprisoned entire communities. slaughtered vulnerable minority populations, destroyed priceless cultural relics and imposed their will by brute force by anyone. across the globe their message of hate has spurred further acts of violence in europe and africa and even here on american soil. so americans applauded president trump's announcement yesterday morning that a heroic mission had eliminated the chief instigator of all of this

violence. we owe a debt of thanks to the men and women of our intelligence community for taking grave risk, cultivating key partnerships and laying the groundwork for swift and precise operation. of course, we're hugely grateful to the u.s. military personnel who executed the strike. our nation calls upon elite special operations units to take on missions of the utmost sensitivity, their bravely and professionalism continue to make us all proud. my fellow kentuckians and i are especially proud that lieutenant general scott howell, kentucky native is currently leading the joint special operations command and oversaw this daring mission. lieutenant general howell is a career air force pilot who spent his career in deploying with and commanding special

operations forces. our nation's lucky to have this son of the blue grass serving where he is. and i commend president trump, secretary esper and the entire administrative team for making the tough call to act on our intelligence and send u.s. forces into the breach. that decision's never easy, but it was the right one. a total operational success. this victory offers us an important strategic reminder about the value of our nation's investment in advanced military capabilities, american military presence abroad, and deep relationships with foreign allies and local security partners. without such factors, operations such as this become much, much more risky. the name of this terrorist is now headed straight for the trash bin of history. there are other names i'd like for us to remember today

instead. peter kasich, born and raised in indianapolis, a former army ranger turned humanitarian worker in the middle east. isis beheaded him in 2014. he was 26 years old. steven sotloff, a grandson of holocaust survivors born in florida and a dual citizen of the u.s. and israel. he was a journalist who worked with refugees fleeing the syrian civil war. he was kidnapped by isis and beheaded in 2014. james foley, grew up in new hampshire. he spent four years as an embedded correspondent in afghanistan, libya, and syria before his capture by isis. after two years of captivity and for tour, he, too, was beheaded in 2014. and kayla mueller from arizona,

whom isis kidnapped in aleppo in 2013. kayla's christian faith had led her to humanitarian work. shes with a brutalized by isis leaders and then killed in 2015 at the age of 26. this weekend's operation was code named in kayla's honor. so today, we remember these brave americans and all the courageous u.s. service members and dod civilians who gave their lives to fight isis. in their memories, we're glad justice has been done. in their memories we resolve not to back down, but to persist in this fight until we secure the enduring defeat of this dangerous and determined enemy. on another matter, mr. president, on thursday the chairman of the judiciary committee and i introduced a resolution which quickly gained dozens of republican co-sponsors, our resolution

states two things, which are very obvious. number one, any process as serious as an impeachment inquiry we which seeks to cancel out the american people's vote in a presidential election must, must adhere to the highest standards of fairness and due process. and number two, what we've seen on display from house democrats has been anything, but that. here is the way house democrats have conducted their inquiry so far. committees at the injury of the inquiry have denied president trump important rights and protections that president nixon and president clinton enjoyed. they've impeded his right to have counsel attend hearings and depositions. call and cross examine witnesses and even assess the evidence they're producing. democrats are flouting past practices that gave minority parties basic procedural rights during past impeachments.

house republicans have not been granted subpoena power in their participation in closed door proceedings has been severely limited. so, mr. president, it's no secret that washington democrats have been looking for a way to remove president trump since his inauguration. that does not remove the basic requirements of fairness and due process. that's what our resolution makes clear and i'm proud to sponsor it along with chairman graham. now, on a related matter, washington democrats have been insisting their three-year-old impeachment query will not keep them from the people's business. . we'll find out when they vote on armed forces. our colleagues made the stunning decision to filibuster legislation to fund our national defense. they blocked resources for our men and women in uniform. they blocked the funding of our

commanders need to keep us safe in this dangerous time. oh, and that wasn't enough, they blocked a pay raise for the men and women in uniform. democrats filibustered all of this for the sake of picking a fight with the white house. think about that. can our colleagues be so ruled bipartisan politics that they'd rather leave the united states military in limbo than get along with president trump for two minutes? for two minutes. obviously, this cannot continue. our commanders need funding. our men and women in the military need support. congress needs to do its job so matter this week, the senate's going to vote again, one more time, to advance defense funding. we'll complete the domestic appropriations we're currently considering including votes on several amendments and then we'll turn back to defense.

this will present a crystal clear test. do our democratic colleagues mean it when they say they want to legislate or not? no more important legislation than this. or is their impeachment obsession crowding out critical priorities? so imagine the spectacle, mr. president, if the same senate democrats who give lengthy speeches criticizing the administration's actions in syria and the middle east literally blocked the funding that our commanders need to keep up the missions. imagine the embarrassment if senate democrat filibuster funding for our men and women in uniform just days after this past weekend's heroics. just days after the whole country was reminded that our brave service members risk

everything every day and their missions do not wait for washington politics. imagine the supreme irony if the same democrats who want to impeach the president were supposedly delaying military assistance for ukraine, literally themselves, delay military assistance for ukraine by blocking the funding legislation. so i would urge my friends across the aisle to do the right thing. the whole country knows what washington democrats are not members of the president trump fan club. we got that. we understand that. but there's no reason why money to fight sis s -- isis and money for our military members and money for assistance to ukraine ought to be used as