00:00Senator from California is recognized.
00:01Ever since the USS Abraham Lincoln was commissioned in the waning days of the Cold War,
00:06it has been known for many things.
00:09After a volcano erupted in the Philippines in 1991,
00:13the Lincoln led the largest peacetime evacuation of U.S. military personnel and their families.
00:18A baby was even born on board during the evacuation and named Abraham Lincoln.
00:24In 1993, the Lincoln became the first carrier in the Pacific Fleet to integrate female aviators.
00:31But today, as a result of the President's war with Iran,
00:35the Lincoln has achieved another distinction, one it neither sought nor wished to claim.
00:41And that is for more than 300 days, over 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard the Lincoln were at sea,
00:48without visits to their family or other loved ones,
00:51without visits to friends apart from their fellow service members.
00:55In fact, the Lincoln set a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea without a port visit
01:02and a record away from its home port of San Diego.
01:06And even now, just recently after stopping in Thailand for its first regular port call,
01:11in nearly nine months, hull-rusted, paint-peeling,
01:16the Lincoln and its crew were still a long way from home.
01:19As the President's senseless war has dragged on,
01:22it has taken a heavier toll on the lives and well-being of our service members and their families,
01:29many of whom are in California.
01:31So how does the Commander-in-Chief respond?
01:34When asked last month if carriers like the Lincoln had been deployed too long,
01:39Donald Trump said, and this is a direct quote,
01:41No, no, no, no, not nearly long enough.
01:48Not nearly long enough?
01:51It was long enough that our sailors had been working 12 to 16-hour shifts,
01:56at times facing the danger of enemy missiles.
01:59It was long enough that they were forced to ration food and water,
02:03shortages that have reportedly caused severe weight loss and health impacts.
02:07It was long enough that crew members have had severe mental health crises,
02:13which created significant distress for their families as well,
02:16to the point where some service members sought to jump off the carrier into the sea.
02:23It was long enough that service members had to deal with black mold
02:28that drips as one service member described onto your face, shoulders, arms, or head
02:35while standing in line for a meal or even walking out of the shower.
02:42Doug, a constituent from California, wrote a letter to me expressing his deep concerns
02:46over his son's service on the Lincoln.
02:50His son had to be medically evacuated from the ship after suffering a collapsed lung,
02:55which Doug believes was connected to malnutrition and overexertion.
03:01Quote,
03:01The crew went about four weeks without hot water or laundry.
03:05They were on rations for two to three months while working 12 to 16-hour days.
03:11During that time, his family spent thousands of dollars sending him food,
03:15but only about half of it arrived.
03:18Doug went on,
03:45Another constituent of mine, Annabelle from San Diego,
03:47shared her story about her husband attempting to jump overboard from the Lincoln during his deployment.
03:54He's scared, she said.
03:56He thinks he'll get a dishonorable discharge,
03:59and just because he was burned out,
04:01his 13-year-old career is ruined just like that.
04:05That's not fair.
04:07That's not right.
04:08That's not what he should be worrying about right now.
04:11But this is what Annabelle and her three kids are now living with.
04:18Shelby, a high schooler whose mom is deployed on the Lincoln,
04:21spoke about how hard it is to start her senior year without her mom.
04:26She asked,
04:27Will she be back before homecoming?
04:29My birthday?
04:30Christmas?
04:31I have no idea.
04:33And that's all that I think about.
04:36This week, we learned from the Acting Secretary of the Navy
04:39that eight U.S. Navy personnel assigned to the Lincolns carrier strike group
04:45attempted suicide during the prolonged time at sea.
04:49The Navy also confirmed that one sailor went overboard from the ship this summer
04:53while another attempted to go overboard.
04:56After months of denials,
04:58the Defense Department confirmed what has been reported for months,
05:01and that is deteriorating mental health aboard the Lincoln
05:04and multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard.
05:08These are just some of the alarming, dangerous, and shameful conditions
05:14our sailors and Marines have endured aboard the Lincoln
05:17and also what our families are going through.
05:20While Pete Hegseth posts workout videos
05:23and Donald Trump renames lakes
05:25and pours over blueprints for the Gilded Ballroom.
05:28For Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies,
05:32events in black tie.
05:33For our service members aboard the Lincoln,
05:36showers and meals with black mold.
05:38Could there be a clear encapsulation
05:41of this administration's misplaced priorities?
05:46So, the American people were told
05:48that the war would be over very soon.
05:51That was March 9th,
05:5310 days after the war started.
05:55Now the U.S. is more than six months into this disastrous war.
05:59Months of negotiations to end the conflict have failed.
06:02But the President promises us
06:05that the war will soon come to an end
06:08after the election.
06:10And what have we achieved in this war
06:12that has cost the lives of 19 U.S. service members?
06:15Prices at the pump and grocery checkout have skyrocketed.
06:19Diesel prices, fertilizer prices are crushing farmers
06:23while resultant food prices
06:25are crushing the rest of America.
06:28Utility and medical bills out of control.
06:30Everyone but the President and his buddies
06:32are painfully aware that we're experiencing
06:35an affordability crisis in America
06:37while the President says,
06:39not long enough.
06:42In the closing days of the Mexican-American War,
06:44our 16th President,
06:46whose name the Lincoln proudly carries,
06:49was a freshman here in Congress.
06:51He wrote to his law partner,
06:54the provision of the Constitution
06:55giving the war-making power to Congress
06:58was dictated, as I understand it,
07:00by the following reasons, Lincoln wrote.
07:02Kings had always been involving
07:04and impoverishing their people in wars,
07:06pretending generally, if not always,
07:10that the good of the people was the object.
07:12This, our convention understood to be
07:15the most oppressive of all kingly oppressors
07:18and oppressions,
07:19and they resolved to so frame the Constitution
07:22that no one man should hold the power
07:25of bringing this oppression upon us.
07:27But your view, Lincoln wrote,
07:30destroys the whole matter
07:31and places our president
07:32where kings have always stood.
07:35We need to take Lincoln's words to heart.
07:38This Congress is not a royal court
07:41to do the bidding and balance scrape
07:43before an all-powerful sovereign.
07:45We are a co-equal branch of government,
07:47and 250 years into this experiment
07:50in self-governance,
07:52we should show Lincoln's resolve.
07:55Will we continue to place the president
07:58where kings have stood,
08:00or will we say at long last, enough?
08:03Will we make it clear that this war illegal
08:05from the start has gone on too long?
08:07Will we insist on the removal
08:09and return of our troops?
08:10I pray that we will,
08:12and I urge support of this resolution.
