Heroes Act and HEALS Act — Congressional Record, Senate, August 4, 2020

Summary

Page S4719 of the Senate section of the Congressional Record for August 4, 2020. Remarks on the Restore Our Parks Act describe deferred maintenance at national parks, including Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and say the highest priority needs are about $6.5 billion, with royalty income from onshore and offshore oil and gas directed toward half of the backlog. Portman then speaks on the Heroes Act and the HEALS Act, saying there is commonality between the two and that, as McSally has proposed, the $600 should continue for the next week. Another section concerns Air America pilots and the question of veteran status, quoting Secretary of State Dean Rusk in August 1965.

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“Heroes Act and HEALS Act — Congressional Record, Senate, August 4, 2020.” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2020-08-04-crec-2020-08-04-pt1-pgs4719-e842a9ef48/, SHA-256 1a13da29919552178a723eb2cf513743c5968bae41bb3159c3a02ad3220009d2.

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August 4, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4719
going to find that, over the years, we process does not come near enough to has always been strongly supportive of
haven’t kept up with these mainte- matching what we need to have done. our national parks.
nance needs so the water systems, the The highest priority needs at the This is about responsible steward-
roads, the bridges, the bathrooms, the parks is about $6.5 billion. In this legis- ship. These repairs were a debt unpaid.
visitor centers, some of the trails— lation—now law of the land—royalty We are finally addressing them before
many of these are now in bad shape. income is taken from onshore and off- the cost increase. Our parks have stood
Some are closed, actually. shore oil and gas, and some of that roy- tall for more than a century now as the
When you go to a national park, you alty is directed toward this use. embodiment of American history and
may find that a facility is closed be- The next 5 years, enough of that our shared commitment to preserving
cause of a lack of funding for the de- funding will be there to deal with the some of our most magnificent lands.
ferred maintenance. We just haven’t $6.5 billion, half of the maintenance Thanks to Restore Our Parks Act, we
had the funding to do the capital im- backlog. We would like to do better, will now ensure that those parks stand
provements they need so that they can but, frankly, this is historic. Never tall for centuries to come.
stay functional. have we had so much funding go to the
f
Just the other week, I saw that first- parks, never have we been able to deal
hand at Cuyahoga Valley National with these backlogs that have built up HEROES ACT AND HEALS ACT
Park in Northeast Ohio. It is a great over years.
park. It is the 13th most visited na- It is really a debt unpaid. That is Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I also
tional park in America. It kind of runs how I look at it. It is something we want to talk this afternoon a little
between Cleveland and Akron, OH. should have been doing all along. We about the Heroes legislation, the
It suffered from these deferred main- weren’t. The costs have now snow- HEALS legislation, and some of the
tenance problems for years. I saw a balled, and now we need to deal with it. commonalities I see between the two.
crumbling trail. I saw trails that were It is not so much a new responsibility On the floor of the Senate this week,
falling into the Cuyahoga River and as it is stewardship we never did in the there has been some discussion about
couldn’t be used. I saw rusting historic first place. It is a debt unpaid. the need for us to come together in a
train tracks that run through the park. Second, again, it is going to save us bipartisan way to put together a pack-
It is a tourist railroad that runs money over time—assuming we want age to deal with the coronavirus. Some
through. Train tracks are an expensive the parks to be working, we want the call it the COVID 5.0 package. It is
thing to replace. Again, it has to be trails to be open, we want the visitors really probably 8.0. We have done a lot
done. I saw a bridge that was really un- centers to be welcoming—all of which, of legislation already, but there are
safe to be on and has to be restored. It of course, we do want and we must things that still need to be done and
is a historic bridge. We want to pre- have. some urgent matters, including dealing
serve it, but the costs are just too high The bill is not just important for our with the expiration of the unemploy-
given the annual budget for that park. parks but also our economy, too, be- ment insurance.
Their maintenance backlog at that cause these projects are infrastructure I am on the floor today to talk about
park alone is $50 million, yet their an- projects. We have talked a lot about how I see the opportunity for us to
nual budget is about $11 million, which that here on how to get more jobs into move ahead by looking at some of the
goes to the rangers and the programs our economy right now. With the im- commonalities between the Demo-
and the maintenance and operations pact of coronavirus on our economy, cratic support and the Republican sup-
but is not enough money to take care we need more opportunities out there. port for different legislation. As we all
of these big problems. Infrastructure is one. These are infra- know, the discussions over the past
In a way, by not fixing these prob- structure jobs—over 100,000 new jobs in week have not moved forward as quick-
lems, we are also increasing the cost. this legislation alone. ly as we would like. In fact, it is pretty
Think about it. These costs compound Again, these projects are shovel- discouraging. Despite the fact that
year after year. In your own house, you ready. They are vetted. They are ones many people thought the Heroes Act
might think about what happens if you that Congress—thanks to our asking was really a messaging bill—POLITICO
don’t fix the leak in the roof. What the Park Service for the information— wrote a story, one of our news media
happens is the drywall begins to have knows what jobs are out there and sources up here—and said: ‘‘a mes-
problems. You might have mold. The what projects need to be done. saging bill that has no chance of be-
floors begin to get wet and wood floors It is a long-term investment too. As coming law.’’ Others made the same
begin to buckle. You have additional of 2019, visitor spending in commu- comments. Why? Because it was a $3.5
costs that, if you had just fixed that nities near our parks resulted in $41.7 trillion pricetag for legislation, which
roof, you wouldn’t have. billion of benefit to the Nation’s econ- would make it by far the most expen-
Well, that is where we are with the omy and supported 340,000 jobs. It is sive bill ever passed by either House of
parks. If we take the time and the ef- new jobs in terms of construction, but Congress. But also, at a time when we
fort to make the fixes now, we will it is also ensuring the parks continue had $1.1 trillion leftover from the
save money over time for taxpayers be- to be able to be attracting these visi- CARES package and States have only
cause we will not have the tors, which adds such a big economic allocated an average of about 25 per-
compounding costs. Every day, it gets boost to our economy. cent of their CARES Act funding, it
worse and worse. I am proud that Congress has come seemed like pushing taxpayers to foot
Now, finally, we have come up with a together as Republicans and Democrats the bill for the costliest legislation in
way to deal with it. Congress has asked in a nonpartisan way to support this history maybe wasn’t the right way to
our parks, over the last few years, to important initiative, and I am thank- go.
give us their deferred maintenance ful for the President and his support. Also, it had virtually no support
projects with specificity: What are He showed bold leadership by saying: from Republicans. Also, this legislation
your priority projects? What are the You know what, we are going do this. included a lot of stuff that had nothing
top priorities? We have asked them to Other Presidents have talked about it. do with COVID–19. The sense was: Yes,
lay it out in detail. In the last three or four administra- it is an important messaging bill for
It has been very helpful because we tions, we have talked about it. Again, I Democrats—that is out there—but that
now know we have over $12 billion in have been working on it for a dozen we needed to figure out a way now to
maintenance needs but about $6.5 bil- years. Now we have actually been able come together as Republicans and

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lion of that is high-priority projects— to do it. Democrats.
the projects most in need of immediate I also want to thank the Director of Leader MCCONNELL also introduced
attention. We know what they are. Office of Management and Budget, legislation. That legislation is called
They are shovel-ready. They have been Russ Vought, for his help; the Sec- the HEALS Act. It is time for us to fig-
vetted. We are proposing a source of retary of the Interior, David Bernhard; ure out how to come together and fig-
funding to be able to deal with that be- and other members of the President’s ure out a solution going forward. Par-
cause, again, the annual appropriations team, including Ivanka Trump, who ticularly with regard to some of these

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S4720 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 4, 2020
urgent matters like unemployment in- Right now in Ohio, we have a lot of essential that as people return to work
surance, we are already past time. Un- jobs open, a lot of manufacturing jobs, they do so safely. In the legislation we
employment insurance already expired as an example. I was at a plant re- talked about earlier, the HEALS pack-
last Friday. We have to move forward cently—a Ford plant—where they are age, which Senator MCCONNELL intro-
with that. We should not be playing looking for people. They have a 25-per- duced, there is a proposal that is called
politics with people’s livelihoods and cent absenteeism rate right now. They the Healthy Workplace Tax Credit Act.
making this a political football. attribute a lot of that to the fact that Basically, what it says is, if a business
Last week, and again today, my col- people can make more money on unem- is willing to put in place safety meas-
league from Arizona, Senator ployment insurance, but they need the ures like a Plexiglas shield or do test-
MCSALLY, introduced what I thought workers badly. ing or have the PPE—the gloves and
was a great commonsense idea: Let’s There are Honda plants in Ohio—that the masks and, in some cases, the
extend the existing unemployment in- is another one of our manufacturers— gowns that are needed to stay safe—
surance, $600 per week Federal supple- where the white-collar workers are they should be able to get a tax credit
ment, for another week while we con- going to work on the assembly lines be- for that. It not only encourages more
tinue these negotiations so that people cause they can’t get enough workers employment, but it encourages em-
are not going to see their unemploy- coming in. ployers to open in a safe way.
ment insurance checks decrease sub- I hear it across the board. I have I spoke to a bunch of restaurants yes-
stantially. They would lose all the Fed- heard it from those who are involved terday from Ohio. They called in to
eral benefit unless we do that. They with developmental disabilities trying talk about the legislation. They love
would still have the State benefit but to get their workforce back. I have this because they have a lot of costs as-
lose the $600 per week. heard it from people who are involved sociated with making their places safe
Unfortunately, Senate Democrats with the treatment for opioids, so the during the coronavirus pandemic. But
said no, objected to this commonsense alcohol and drug addiction boards are this legislation, again, is stuck because
idea. I don’t quite get that. I think we trying to get their people to come back we can’t seem to get to a negotiation.
ought to keep the $600 in place while to work. I have heard it from our small That is one where Democrats and Re-
we negotiate for the next week, and we businesses that are trying to figure out publicans could come together.
ought to be sure and put the interests how to reopen and reopen safely but There is another one that I think
of the American people first and come have a tough time getting people to makes a lot of sense. It is called the
to a commonsense solution. Now isn’t come back to work. There is a need for Work Opportunity Tax Credit Expan-
the time for games. It is the time to us to figure this out. sion. That also is in the HEALS legis-
get it right. For the workers themselves, it is lation. This has always been a bipar-
I also note that with regard to unem- much better for them to be connected tisan issue—the work opportunity tax
ployment insurance, there are lots of with their employer again, isn’t it? credit. We have said simply that just as
ideas out there. For the last few After all, that is where they are likely you can get a tax credit to hire vet-
months, I have been proposing the idea to get their healthcare. If they have it, erans or to hire second-chance individ-
of a return-to-work bonus. Maybe that they are likely to get their retirement uals who have come out of the prison
is not the best idea. Maybe people have savings. They are likely to get the system, you should be able to hire peo-
better ideas. The notion there would be training there to be able to keep up ple from unemployment insurance who
the $600, which is the current Federal with the times. have lost their job because of COVID–19
benefit, allows people on unemploy- It is good to have people at work. and get a tax credit. This is something
ment insurance, in many cases, to have The dignity and self-respect you get that, again, Democrats and Repub-
more income on unemployment than from work is something that is of licans should be able to work on to-
they would working. value. We should all want that. All of gether.
According to the studies that have us in this Chamber should focus on this Finally, in the HEALS package, we
been done, including by the University issue and say: OK. The $600 was put in also have legislation that has a lot of
of Chicago, about 68 percent of the peo- place during a tough summer. Let’s be appeal to Republicans and Democrats
ple on unemployment insurance are honest. A lot of people had a really that is an expansion of the employee
making more money on unemployment tough time, and some people are still retention tax credit from the bipar-
insurance than they were making at having a tough time. There should still tisan CARES Act. This is legislation
work. be, in my view, a Federal supplement, that passed 96 to 0 around here. We say,
Most Americans, including most but it can’t be paying people more not let’s make this employee retention tax
Members of this Chamber—Republicans to work than to work. That makes no credit work better. We expand the
and Democrats alike—think that is not sense, as we are starting to open this amount you can get in terms of tax
right. You shouldn’t make more not to economy and open it safely. We have to credit, expand the amount of time that
work. Unemployment insurance is figure out a way forward here. has to be covered. It makes it a much
meant to give you a little help. In There are some Democrats who have better package for small businesses to
Ohio, it is about 50 percent, up to a cer- worked on this issue. Timothy use to be able to attract employees and
tain cap, but it is not meant to replace Geithner is an example of one who was to retain the employees they have.
your wages, plus—which is what is hap- Secretary of Treasury under President Again, this is nonpartisan, I would say,
pening—on average, 134-percent in- Obama, who put forward, along with and certainly one that can be bipar-
crease in wages if you are on unem- other Democrats and Republicans, a tisan.
ployment insurance. proposal that said: Let’s lower the Historically, these tax provisions
There must be a way for us to come amount, and let’s tie it to the unem- have had bipartisan support. I worked
together and to solve this problem. ployment. with my friend BEN CARDIN in design-
There are Democrats and Republicans This is something that, in talking to ing the employee retention credit in
alike who have talked about perhaps my colleagues on both sides of the March, expanding the opportunity tax
lowering that amount from $600. I aisle, including some Democratic col- credit, which has always had bipartisan
heard one of my Democratic colleagues leagues who have talked to me pri- support, and the healthy workplace tax
on the floor today—the Senator from vately, that, you know, they get it; credit. Senator SINEMA actually has a
Oregon—talk about maybe you can tie this is not working, and we need to fix very similar bill.
it to the unemployment in the State. it. Let’s do that. It seems to me there Second, there is agreement on both

SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
Others of us, again, and I have talked is a lot of commonality there, and we sides of the aisle, we have to support
about the return-to-work bonus. You should be able to figure out a way for- our schools and our businesses so our
could take some of that $600 with you ward. kids can get back into the classroom
and go back to work, which would deal Let me mention some of the other and our parents can get back to work.
with, on a voluntary basis, the need for places where I see a lot of com- With regard to schools, there is sup-
people to go back to work because em- monality. First, both Republicans and posedly a big partisan divide over this
ployers are looking for folks. Democrats agree that it is absolutely issue. When I see it, I see schools,

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August 4, 2020 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4721
money being practically identical in these two pieces of legislation. Re- status and the benefits that come with
the HEALS package and the Heroes treating into partisan corners at this the status. This needs to change. This
Act that passed the House of Rep- critical time doesn’t benefit any of us. need to change is based on declassified
resentatives. In fact, House Democrats It certainly doesn’t benefit the United materials that show these pilots are
provided around $58 billion for K–12. States, and it doesn’t benefit us as an deserving of such recognition for their
The HEALS Act actually increases institution. It certainly doesn’t benefit exploits.
that to $70 billion. There is actually the people I represent. Who were these dedicated Americans
more money in the HEALS legislation. I yield the floor. serving in Air America?
On the business front, both Demo- The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. BAR- Most crews had military training.
crats and Republicans have seen value RASSO). The Senator from Louisiana. Many bore the scars of fighting on the
in the Paycheck Protection Program f ground in Korea and Vietnam. They
we introduced in the CARES Act, are former POWs and Special Forces—
which is why both bills seek to expand AIR AMERICA all tough as nails. They were also crop
it. Albeit in somewhat different ways, Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I rise dusters and water bombers who fought
but there is greater consensus here to speak of a largely unknown aspect forest fires. They were smoke jumpers
than one might think. We just need to of the Vietnam war and a too neglected and flight mechanics. Thousands of
sort out the details. aspect. I rise to highlight Air America personnel were indigenous people, both
My colleague from Louisiana is here and its role in military conflicts from male and female. Air America members
with me tonight in the Chamber. He the 1940s through the Cold War. came from all walks of life to answer
has talked a lot about the need for us Air America, which was previously the call to serve.
to improve the way we provide funding known as the Civil Air Transport, oper- Military aircraft was provided to em-
to local governments, municipalities, ated under a shroud of mystery, in- ployees to conduct combat-related ac-
and to provide more flexibility. I don’t trigue, and, at times, purposeful deceit tivity in areas where the U.S. Armed
think there is much disagreement to allow the organization to continue Forces could not go due to treaties.
about that on either side of the aisle. covert operations. Its members lived They served at considerable risk. Nu-
There may be a disagreement the num- the motto ‘‘Anything, Anywhere, Any- merous employees died or were seri-
bers, the amount of funding, but, time, Professionally.’’ ously injured. However, their sacrifices
again, the HEALS package has fund- Now, if you would look at this pic- were not given the same recognition as
ing. The Democrats have more funding. ture, you would think that this must military members.
But flexibility—that is one where I be an Army helicopter pilot performing Lowell Pirkle was killed when an
think there is a lot of bipartisan con- a rescue on an active battlefield. No, RPG hit his helicopter, and it burned
sensus. that pilot was a civilian. He was a con- to the ground. Sadly, it took years for
I know it is a popular right now to tractor of sorts with the U.S. Govern- his remains to be repatriated and sent
say that we are so far apart we can ment and was flying that helicopter to to Honolulu. When Deborah, Lowell’s
never get together, but as I look at rescue that soldier or that marine, not wife, insisted that he be buried in Ar-
this, when you actually look at the in- an enlisted person. Its members, again, lington Cemetery, she was informed
dividual pieces of this, I see a lot of lived the motto ‘‘Anything, Anywhere, that Lowell was ineligible because he
commonalities. The final one I want to Anytime, Professionally,’’ including died not in the military but as part of
mention is one where I would think all rescuing those from battlefields. Air America. He would eventually be
of us should be together. That is ad- They garnered respect as cargo and buried in Arlington due to his previous
dressing the underlying health crisis charter airline pilots during the Secret military service, though the work in
we face. War in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s. As both engagements was essentially the
Both the HEALS package and the He- the war progressed, the U.S. Govern- same.
roes Act provide increased funding for ment increasingly relied on Air Amer- Let me just pause for a second. Let’s
research into vaccines and antiviral
ica pilots to conduct search-and-rescue look at this poster.
treatments for this disease. Both acts
missions of downed U.S. military pi- From 1962 to 1975, Air America in-
also recognize the importance of in-
lots—often in heavy combat areas with serted and extracted U.S. military per-
creasing funding for testing, which is
no weapons of their own. The daily sonnel and provided combat support
critical in making sure we can safely
risks that they took to save others across the entire Vietnam field. Air
and sustainably reopen.
There are more points of com- earned them the reputation as being America rescued hundreds of Ameri-
monality between the Republican and the most shot at airline. I shouldn’t cans and stranded Vietnamese, includ-
Democratic approaches that I could laugh, but there is, I am sure, kind of ing the last out of Saigon in April 1975.
touch on, like providing another $1,200 a gallows humor they felt when they Who can forget these dramatic photo-
in stimulus checks for all Americans said that, ‘‘the most shot at airline.’’ graphs?
who make less than $75,000 a year. Here is a depiction of a plaque in Air America pioneered remote land-
That, I understand, is something that Richardson, TX, that President Reagan ings during the Vietnam war to resup-
both Democrats and Republicans sup- dedicated. On it are the names of those ply U.S. troops and key allies, like the
port. That would be a huge part of this who died as Air America pilots. Hmong in Laos, and Air America pilots
new package. At the plaque dedication in Dallas, were the only known civilian employ-
The House-passed Heroes Act has, President Ronald Reagan said: ‘‘Al- ees to operate non-FAA-certified mili-
again, a pricetag that is just too high— though free people everywhere owe you tary aircraft in combat zones.
$3.5 trillion. I think most people would more than we can hope to repay, our Lastly, as I previously mentioned,
acknowledge that. I also know there is greatest debt is to your companions here is the memorial plaque in Rich-
a big difference between that and the $1 who gave their last full measure of de- ardson, TX, that honors the 146 Air
trillion that was in the proposal from votion.’’ America veterans who were killed.
Senator MCCONNELL—$1 trillion. That While President Reagan recognized These men served ‘‘Anything, Any-
used to be a lot of money. the contributions that these pilots where, Anytime, Professionally.’’
Again, when you look at the actual made to the United States, Air Amer- Again, it has been denied that they ac-
details of this, when you look at what ica has received mixed support tually performed these military duties,
is actually in these two pieces of legis- throughout its history. The Depart- but, once more, declassified documents
ment of Defense and the CIA, among show that the U.S. Government owes

SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
lation, there is so much commonality.
I think it is critical that we get this others, have argued that Air America Air America and, therefore, its mem-
legislation right. We have time to do pilots are not veterans, saying their bers status as veterans.
that. In the meantime, as Senator heroic rescues of American soldiers In August 1965, Secretary of State
MCSALLY has proposed, let’s continue were not part of their contracts or Dean Rusk wrote: ‘‘Political factors re-
the $600 for the next week. within the scope of their mission. quire that Air America helicopters con-
Let’s be sure that we can build on These sentiments have kept Air tinue to assume responsibility for all
these commonalities we see between America pilots from receiving veteran search-and-rescue operations in Laos.’’

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