Senate Pages on H.R. 3684 and Nominations, August 5, 2021 — Congressional Record
Summary
Congressional Record, Senate, page S5894, August 5, 2021. Under Tribute to Andrew Ferguson, Mr. McConnell describes Ferguson as chief counsel in the leadership office who is concluding Senate service, and credits Ferguson with a role in the last two Supreme Court confirmations, including that of Justice Kavanaugh. The Senate resumes consideration of H.R. 3684, with the Schumer (for Sinema) amendment No. 2137 and the Carper-Capito amendment No. 2131 pending. Under Nomination of Eunice C. Lee, Mr. Durbin says the Senate will vote that week on the nomination of Ms. Lee to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
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“Senate Pages on H.R. 3684 and Nominations, August 5, 2021 — Congressional Record.”
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S5894 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
has had a whip-smart right-hand man. diciary in time to help Chairman siasm, maximum force of nature, and
I won’t be able to top his boss’s won- GRASSLEY notch a win for the country everybody in earshot usually learns
derful tribute remarks from yesterday, and the sanity of the Senate with the some new fact and shares a big laugh.
so I won’t even try, but I did just want confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh. He Different people enjoy this line of
to add my own brief thanks and con- had only just been promoted to Chair- work for different reasons, but for An-
gratulations. man GRAHAM’s top nominations coun- drew, I think politics and policy mat-
I have gotten to see Nick’s great sel when I poached him. ter so much because ideas and prin-
work up close. Senator THUNE and I Well, Andrew stepped into this com- ciples matter so much. That is why one
have a standing Monday meeting to plex role, and, boy, did he flourish. of the most darkly funny and cynical
plan the week. It is a very small meet- He became a go-to leader for commit- people on our team has also been one of
ing with very few staff. Nick has been tees and offices across the Republican the most earnest and idealistic. Every-
in that room, and, every time, I have side, a key Senate liaison to both the thing is worth thinking through. Ev-
been glad he was. It is a rare thing in executive and judicial branches. He erything is worth taking seriously be-
Washington to meet someone who is added to his lawyerly chops and grew cause principles matter, the rule of law
probably almost one of the smartest into a strategic adviser of the first- matters, and our country matters.
people in the room but who also never rate. Our Republican conference is a That is why we come to work every
lets you know it, but Nick combines big tent with a range of visions, but day.
brilliance and humility in just that Senators from across the conference A lot of people first come to Wash-
way. have come not just to trust Andrew’s ington with a warrior mentality, but
So my staff and I join Senator THUNE judgment, but they seek it out. the rhythms of this city sometimes lull
and the whole Senate in bidding Nick a Andrew’s impact has been truly dra- folks into a somewhat calmer mixture.
fond, if reluctant, farewell. matic. I do not believe any other Sen- But, believe me, as I suspect the entire
Thank you, sincerely, for your fine, ate staffer played a more crucial role Senate can attest by now, we need not
fine service. in the last two Supreme Court con- worry that Andrew Ferguson will be
f firmations combined. He was our side’s lulled into a calmer anything.
field general in confirming Justice Bar- So, my friend, you may be leaving
TRIBUTE TO ANDREW FERGUSON rett. Our majority spent 4 years re- the trenches for now, but we both know
Mr. MCCONNELL. Now, Mr. Presi- building the kind of Federal judiciary there is no chance you will be able to
dent, on one final matter, when you that our constitutional order requires. stay away forever. You are going to
have served in the Senate as long as I Andrew played an indispensable part. miss the good fight, and I can say with
have, you get to hire and work with a The last couple of years have brought personal certainty that the fight is
lot of talented people, and when you all sorts of unusual national chal- going to miss you as well. Thank you
find rock stars, you try to hang onto lenges. The 2 years that Andrew has for the law lectures. Thank you for the
them. As a result, when a key staff spent with us feel more like 10. We laughs. Thank you for an outstanding
member moves on, it often means re- faced scenarios that would have sound- job for our country. Job well done.
flecting on an extended Senate career ed like wild law school hypotheticals.
Who would have guessed we would be f
of many years, including shared memo-
ries of old war stories going back ages. fighting to protect Americans’ reli- CONCLUSION OF MORNING
Andrew Ferguson is a different case. gious freedom while the government BUSINESS
It was only 2 years ago that I hired battled an airborne virus? But our
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning
Andrew to be my chief counsel. He has chief counsel invariably brought us up
business is closed.
only been in the Senate about 3 years. to speed on whatever the day would
By the standards of this place, he is a bring with a good head, a big heart, f
spring chicken. But it has only taken and great humor. And if the topic was LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Andrew this short time to leave a stun- new to him, a big stack of library
ningly outsized imprint on my work, books were on his desk. ---
on our conference, on the judiciary, It might sound like Andrew was just INVESTING IN A NEW VISION FOR
and on everyone who has gotten to very dedicated to his job. That is not THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUR-
work alongside of him as well. totally unusual. But that doesn’t fully FACE TRANSPORTATION IN
So, a few days before Andrew con- capture it. See, I have come to believe AMERICA ACT
cludes his Senate service, I am both he is simply this intense about abso-
happy for the opportunity to share how lutely everything. Andrew takes work The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under
this happened and really, really sorry very seriously, but he also takes his the previous order, the Senate will re-
that I have to do it. faith seriously, and he takes family se- sume consideration of H.R. 3684, which
The chief counsel in my leadership riously. He treasures the upbringing the clerk will report.
office handles a portfolio that is al- that his parents, Roy and Susan, pro- The legislative clerk read as follows:
most comically large: judicial con- vided for him and his two brothers. He A bill (H.R. 3684) to authorize funds for
firmations, law enforcement and crime, takes his interests seriously, his hob- Federal-aid highways, highway safety pro-
grams, and transit programs, and for other
immigration and border security, some bies. There is an intense, infectious en-
purposes.
constitutional questions that intersect thusiasm for all of it, a kind of good-
with the separation of powers, others natured aggression. Pending:
that intersect with national security, Now, as his colleagues will attest, all Schumer (for Sinema) amendment No. 2137,
sometimes arcane Senate history. It this intensity can yield, actually, en- in the nature of a substitute.
tertaining results. If, for example, you Carper-Capito amendment No. 2131 (to
takes a lawyer’s lawyer with expertise
amendment No. 2137), to strike a definition.
in our laws and Constitution and some- took a stroll by Andrew’s desk, you
one who can feel out the politics, the would often hear him shouting—shout- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
personalities, and the shades of gray ing—excitedly at a colleague, but you ator from Illinois.
that drive a political body. would generally genuinely have no clue NOMINATION OF EUNICE C. LEE
One look at Andrew’s resume told me whether he is strongly disagreeing with Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this
that qualification No. 1 was, clearly, no the person or just agreeing with them week the Senate will vote on Eunice
problem—UVA Law; clerked on the DC with great gusto. He could be dis- Lee’s nomination to serve on the Sec-
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Circuit; clerked for Justice Thomas; cussing the law, but it might also be ond Circuit Court of Appeals. If con-
experience in the private sector—a law- Roman history or the Protestant Ref- firmed, Ms. Lee would be the only—the
yer anybody would be glad to hire. ormation or the merits of some TV only Black woman—and the only
Oh, but what about the second quali- comedy or his weekend plans involving former public defender to serve on the
fication? the lawful exercise of his Second Second Circuit. With her nomination,
Like I said, Andrew wasn’t a long- Amendment rights. Whatever the sub- the Biden administration and Senate
serving Senate hand. He arrived at Ju- ject, you would get maximum enthu- Democrats are continuing our efforts
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5895
to build a Federal judiciary that looks enthusiastically support Ms. Lee not What we are doing, of course, is try-
like America. just because of her sterling credentials. ing to make certain that all of these
I would like to take a moment or two We believe that after a career as a pub- people have a roof over their heads, and
to discuss Ms. Lee’s qualifications and lic defender serving indigent clients in some of them are going through ex-
what she will bring to the bench—a criminal cases, Ms. Lee would bring a traordinarily difficult economic chal-
perspective that is sorely needed. unique and under-represented perspec- lenges and extraordinarily difficult
Ms. Lee has dedicated her entire tive to the job of hearing and deciding public health challenges.
legal career to public defense work, federal appeals.’’ The money that we are sending their
most recently as an assistant Federal Then they added that Ms. Lee was way is not just for them, obviously, but
public defender with the Federal De- ‘‘an incredibly talented lawyer and also to benefit the landlords, the people
fenders of New York. public servant, whose career rep- who own the property that they oc-
Graduating from Ohio State Univer- resenting the most vulnerable among cupy.
sity and Yale Law School, Ms. Lee us will bring a critical, unique perspec- Now, that is not unusual for this
began her legal career clerking with tive to the bench.’’ Congress in the midst of this pandemic
the Southern District of Ohio and then Finally, I want to share a passage to step up and help small businesses
with the Sixth Circuit Court of Ap- from a recent op-ed written by Clark like landlords who are trying to pay
peals. Neily, a scholar at the Cato Institute, their mortgages during this difficult
She then joined New York’s Office of and Devi Rao, a counsel at the Mac- time when they have tenants who are
the Appellate Defender, where she Arthur Justice Center. going through economic distress. I
spent more than 20 years advocating They wrote: ‘‘Judges with a greater don’t think that is socialism.
for indigent criminal defendants at all diversity of professional experience It wasn’t socialism when we created
levels of the New York State court sys- would improve judicial decision-mak- the PPP program in 2020 on a bipar-
tem. During that time, Ms. Lee taught ing overall. A judiciary with members tisan basis, with recordbreaking sums
and mentored a new generation of law- whose formative professional experi- of money, to give to small businesses
yers when she served as an adjunct as- ences span the legal profession will be to help them through the treacherous
sistant professor of clinical law at New best equipped to handle the diverse times of this pandemic. It was just
York University. range of cases and issues presented to common sense. Our economy was tak-
She then joined the Federal Defend- them.’’ ing a hit, and they were too.
ers of New York, where she has briefed Legal experts across the ideological We wanted the day to come when we
and argued criminal appeals in the Sec- spectrum agree. Professional diversity could deal with this pandemic effec-
ond Circuit, the court to which she is on the Federal bench is beneficial to tively and also that they could return
now nominated. our system of justice. to their businesses. Was that socialism,
In short, Ms. Lee has dedicated her With Eunice Lee’s confirmation, this that we would have that kind of an ef-
entire life to upholding the Sixth Senate can continue bringing balance fort? I don’t think so.
Amendment right to counsel, rep- to our Nation’s courts and elevate a As a matter of fact, when it came to
resenting defendants who cannot afford professional perspective severely passing that legislation, it was bipar-
to hire a lawyer. underrepresented today. I will vote for tisan and virtually unanimous—Presi-
Now, some of my Republican col- Ms. Lee’s nomination, and I urge my dent Trump supporting it as well as
leagues have claimed, without any evi- colleagues to do the same. Speaker PELOSI when it all came to
dence, that, as a former Federal public Let me just add in closing, I want to pass. I mean, that is an indication of
defender, Ms. Lee would be biased as a thank the Members of the Senate, both bridging the vast political differences
judge in favor of defendants. It is curi- political parties, for proposing nomi- in this country when an emergency de-
ous to me that these concerns of her nees to the Biden White House for con- manded it. I don’t think that is social-
bias didn’t seem to crop up over the sideration for lifetime appointments to ism.
decades when former prosecutors were the Federal judiciary. They have When it comes to those tenants who
nominated to the Federal bench, and brought those nominations to the Sen- are struggling to get by in these dif-
for good reason. It is as flimsy an argu- ate Judiciary Committee, where I chair ficult times, helping them and the
ment as it is offensive to the lawyers the proceedings, and it is remarkable. landlords whose property they occupy
who represent defendants—a represen- The women and men who have come to is not socialism; it is what America is
tation mandated under the Constitu- us, prepared to serve, make a lifetime all about. It is, of course, an involve-
tion. commitment to serve our Federal judi- ment of the government, and we all
Let’s be clear: Both prosecutors and ciary. voted for that, but it is in a specific
public defenders play essential roles in The diversity in that group is amaz- context of helping people.
our justice system, and their jobs give ing, remarkable, and the quality is What the President has now proposed
them extensive courtroom experience, without exception. Nearly all of them beyond this infrastructure bill that we
which is something we demand of all have been found at least ‘‘well quali- are facing is that we look to other as-
judges. fied’’ unanimously by the American pects of family life where we can help
Additionally, Ms. Lee has made it Bar Association—in many cases, and families cut the cost of the basics that
clear she understands the difference be- certainly in others, very positive re- they face, whether it is childcare or
tween being a lawyer and a judge. As a ports as well. sending a child to college.
lawyer, she is an advocate; as a judge, I want to continue bringing these I don’t think it is socialistic to say
an arbiter. At her hearing before the women and men to the floor of the Sen- we want 2 additional years of education
Judiciary Committee, Ms. Lee ex- ate. I pleaded even this morning with for the graduates of high school in
plained that she ‘‘critically the majority leader, Senator SCHUMER, America so they are prepared to com-
recognize[s] the importance of [being] a who has the toughest job in the world pete in the 21st century. That is just
fair decision-maker.’’ of trying to move all the things we common sense. Socialism? I don’t be-
What is more, 70 former prosecu- want to do onto this calendar and off lieve it is even close to socialism. It is
tors—those are the women and men sit- again. I thank him for his cooperation. really preparing them for a competi-
ting at the other table in the court- I would like to say a few words on a tive, entrepreneurial economy and for
room—in the Southern and Eastern separate topic. success in life. That, to me, is a noble
Districts of New York, the very pros- goal, whatever party is behind it.
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EVICTION MORATORIUM
ecutors that she squared off with in the Mr. President, I listened carefully to When it comes to the debt ceiling of
courtrooms, have stressed the impor- the Senate Republican leader this this country, I just hope we can find a
tance of having her perspective as a morning, Senator MCCONNELL. I strug- way to deal with this responsibly. It
public defender represented on the Sec- gle to understand one aspect of his has always been a political football, de-
ond Circuit. speech. He referred to the notion of pending on which party was in power,
In a letter to the Judiciary Com- helping those who are facing eviction but to risk the possibility of a default
mittee, these prosecutors wrote: ‘‘[W]e as some form of socialism. on America’s debt at this moment in
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S5896 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
our economic history is a dangerous, those boxes, and I want to thank you Republican amendments. They were
dangerous undertaking. We need to do for raising her before us here today. amendments we offered together.
the right thing. We have to concede the Thank you. And interestingly enough, we had
obvious. We have our colleague from Lou- any number of instances yesterday, in-
Certainly the previous President, isiana here with us today. He has cluding late last night, when we didn’t
Trump, didn’t win any accolades for worked hard, along with 21 of our col- have long, dragged out debate. We ac-
fiscal conservatism. And we have to leagues, to try to fashion a bipartisan tually voice-voted a number of provi-
come together to recognize, whoever consensus to build on the work of, sions that were being offered to us. The
the President may be, the important among others, the Environment and amendments were being offered. I am
thing is that this Nation move for- Public Works Committee on infrastruc- encouraged by that.
ward—move forward to our cures for ture. And I note that, tomorrow morning,
the illnesses that we face but also to an We worked hard in our committee— a lot of us—I am not sure how many,
economy that is expanded. SHELLEY CAPITO, the lead Republican, but maybe a third of the U.S. Senate,
I yield the floor. and myself, and 18 others—to report will join together and get on a plane—
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- and later to vote on legislation on I think an Air Force plane—and we will
ator from Delaware. water infrastructure here, drinking head for Gillette, WY, to say good-
H.R. 3684 water and wastewater sanitation legis- bye—say good-bye to a dear friend, and
Mr. CARPER. Before the Democratic lation. We voted on it a couple months that is Mike Enzi.
whip leaves the floor, I just want to ago after reporting it unanimously out I spoke about him on the floor in the
thank him for raising the three words of committee. And 89 to 2, the same bill last week. So I will be brief right here.
‘‘Ohio State University.’’ As a proud came up here—89 to 2. And we have Mike Enzi would love what we are
Buckeye for—— used that as one of the building blocks doing. He would have loved to have
Mr. DURBIN. The Ohio State—— on which the bipartisan infrastructure been a part of this. He was the guy who
Mr. CARPER. No, I never say ‘‘The package is fashioned. first taught me about the 80–20 rule.
Ohio State.’’ We want to be humble. We also have in the Environment and The 80–20 rule—when I asked him how
But I used to be a Navy ROTC mid- Public Works Committee the great Mike Enzi, one of the most conserv-
shipman there for a number of years support and leadership of our ranking ative Republicans we had here in the
and have great memories of being a member, Senator CAPITO, and the par- Senate, and Ted Kennedy, one of the
part of the student body there and part ticipation of every single U.S. Senator most liberal Senators we had here in
of the Navy ROTC unit. who gathered input to help us fashion the United States, how could they
Later, I had the opportunity, as my work together on the Health, Edu-
legislation in the Committee on water,
colleague knows, to join forces in the cation, Labor, and Pensions Committee
drinking water, wastewater, and roads,
U.S. House of Representatives in 1982— and get so much done—and get so much
highways, bridges, and climate, in
one of the largest freshman classes done?
order to be able to put together a foun-
ever. It seems like yesterday. He went I will never forget what he said. He
on to come and serve in the Senate, dation, if you will, under which the
gave a speech on the floor here when I
and I went on to serve as Governor. Gang of—we affectionately call it the
was presiding as a brandnew freshman
One of the things I never thought Gang of 22—have built this infrastruc-
Senator, years ago—20 years ago. He
about as Governor is the job of the ture piece along with the help of the
spoke of the 80–20 rule, and I asked him
Governor to nominate people to serve administration and a lot of other folks
when he finished speaking: What is the
on the courts. I never thought about who participated.
I go back and forth on the train. I lit- 80–20 rule?
that. And he said: It is the secret to Ted
As it turns out, in Delaware, given erally went home last night to Dela-
Kennedy and I being successful in the
the positions we have in corporate law ware and was back here this morning.
Health, Education, Labor, and Pen-
and other parts of our economy and I am a bit weary, but I was encouraged. sions Committee—being so successful
business, judicial appointments are So many times over the years, people in taking on legislation and coming up
over-sized. They are really extremely say to me, as I am waiting to catch a with principled, bipartisan solutions.
important. train in Wilmington or waiting to And he said: Ted and I agree on 80
And while I hadn’t given it a lot of catch a train back home at the end of percent of the issues that come before
thought, I remember I had, I think, 45 the day—people say to me: Why can’t our committee. We disagree on maybe
joint appearances with my Republican you guys just work together? Why 20 percent. And what we do on the
opponent when I ran for Governor—45 can’t you just work to get stuff done Health, Education, Labor, and Pen-
in the year 1992, and not once did any- for this country? sions Committee is we focus on the 80
body ever ask of either of us: What I think they would be encouraged by percent where we agree, and we set
would you look for in nominating what they would have seen and the aside the 20 percent where we don’t
judges? work of not just the Environment and agree to another day. We come back to
It turned out to be hugely important. Public Works Committee but the work it, and we deal with that later on.
I studied economics and got an MBA, of the Commerce Committee, the work And it worked for them.
but I don’t pretend to be an expert on of the Banking Committee, and the He would be delighted. My guess is he
legal matters. One of the things that I work of the Energy and Natural Re- is tuned in today, somewhere up there.
learned—and I felt it was important— sources Committee—rather extraor- But he would be delighted to see that
was to have a judiciary that was di- dinary, every one of them. Democrats, this week the 80–20 rule that Mike Enzi
verse and that looked like Delaware. I Republicans, a couple of Independents epitomized is alive and well on both
think the same is true here for our are all working together to fashion leg- sides of the aisle. I hope that the spirit
country for district court judges, ap- islation that is going to help strength- that has infused our work, leading up
peals courts, and the Supreme Court. en our economy and make our economy to the work of our committees—the
I wanted to nominate people who work better and help provide employ- committees of jurisdiction—providing
were bright and who were smart, and ment opportunities to literally mil- the foundation on which the gang of 20
intellectually curious. I wanted to lions of people at a time when we need and the administration went to work—
nominate people who were hard work- that. my hope is that that spirit of biparti-
ing, who brought a diversity of experi- And, yesterday, I think we had the sanship and Mike Enzi’s 80–20 rule will
votes. Correct me if I am wrong. But
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ences to the bench. And mostly, I continue to infuse our work here this
wanted to nominate people who were more than a dozen votes we have had week into the latter part of this
able to make good decisions—even this week, and more than a score of evening, and, hopefully, not too late
tough decisions—and were fair and votes on amendments to this package— into the evening. Maybe we can wrap
treated everybody in their court before this infrastructure package. One of the things up here in short order.
them with fairness. things I love about it is that a bunch of With that, I am going to yield the
The reputation of the nominee whom those amendments were bipartisan. It floor, and I just want to say to every-
you referred to, I think she checks all wasn’t just Democratic amendments or one who is working hard to make this
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5897
a productive week, a productive mis- ment’s National Telecommunications go to meet the broadband needs of
sion: I just want to say a real thank and Information Administration, or unserved communities.
you, not just to the members of the rel- NTIA, which has previously fumbled On a related note, I have also intro-
evant committees I mentioned but to attempts to bring broadband access to duced an amendment to strike a provi-
everybody, all the folks who serve here, more communities. sion of the infrastructure bill that
and especially our staff. Back in 2009, a government stimulus would allow NTIA to make changes to
I like to say that people ask me bill allocated $4.7 billion to NTIA to the formula that Congress is providing
sometimes—and I say this to my friend expand broadband access in rural and to determine what areas of the country
Senator CASSIDY from Louisiana, who underserved areas. It didn’t go very are eligible for grants.
is a truly brilliant person and a great well. The Agency struggled with imple- Why is Congress bothering to put
colleague to work with. I would like to mentation. There were serious issues funding guardrails in this legislation if
say that about Senator THUNE, with with a number of the projects the it is going to allow the NTIA to change
whom I will be joining in a Bible study Agency approved. In fact, 14 projects them at will?
later again today as we join with the were either temporarily or perma- As I have said, NTIA lacks adequate
Chaplain every day. There are a lot nently halted. expertise when it comes to identifying
smarter people in the U.S. Senate than Other projects resulted in a signifi- what areas of the country are truly
me, but I am smart enough to hire cant amount of overbuilding, meaning unserved. And I am not sure why we
really smart people. They work hard that they resulted in the construction give NTIA the authority to change
and I work hard, and most days we get of additional broadband infrastructure Congress’s guidelines and possibly fur-
a lot done. in areas that already had access to reli- ther diminish the chances that this
For all the staff here in this body and able broadband. A Government Ac- grant program will deliver on its objec-
in this building and the committee countability Office report found that tive.
staff out across the Capitol and around the National Telecommunications and Unfortunately, just yesterday, the
the world, we especially thank you for Information Administration lacked the Senate voted down an amendment of-
your efforts. data it needed to determine whether fered by the ranking member of the
With that, I yield the floor. areas were genuinely underserved. Commerce Committee that would have
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- More recently, just last month, the provided critical safeguards should
ator from South Dakota. NTIA called for ‘‘volunteers’’—volun- NTIA establish this program. The pro-
REMEMBERING MIKE ENZI teers—to evaluate grant proposals. ponents of this legislation have report-
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I want to That is right. The NTIA has called for edly received assurances from the Sec-
associate myself with the comments of volunteers to help determine how to al- retary of Commerce about how NTIA
my colleague from Delaware with re- locate the $1.5 billion Congress has pro- will implement the bill.
spect to Senator Enzi. He is absolutely vided to NTIA over the past year to im- If this bill is enacted, the Secretary
right. Senator Enzi, who will be laid to prove broadband access. should expect close scrutiny from the
rest in Wyoming, was a wonderful pub- Now, we should think long and hard Commerce Committee and be prepared
lic servant and someone who there before giving the Agency the authority to explain how she will prevent a re-
weren’t any pretensions about him. He to administer more than $42 billion in peat of the Agency’s past missteps. As
was a ‘‘what you see is what you get’’ grants when it has to call on volun- I said, there have been problems in the
type of individual, somebody who teers to help allocate a tiny fraction of past with government broadband dol-
worked hard every day, was solutions- that money. lars going to overbuilding of broadband
oriented, results-oriented, and brought NTIA simply has not demonstrated in areas that already have a substan-
with him a humble spirit and demeanor its ability to administer a grant pro- tial amount of access, and I am con-
that we all benefited from here, and gram of this size and complexity. A cerned that this bill could result in the
something that I think all of us could much better alternative would be to same problem.
aspire to here as well. put the Federal Communications Com- In addition to the NTIA grant pro-
And I was reminded as my colleague mission in charge of disbursing gram, the infrastructure bill would au-
from Delaware was speaking, of a verse broadband funds. thorize the Department of Agriculture
in the Old Testament Book of Micah, In contrast to NTIA which has just to improve grant funding of areas
where it says: 157 employees, the Federal Commu- where 50 percent of the homes lack ade-
He has told you, old man, what is good. nications Commission employs more quate access to broadband services.
And what does the Lord require of you but to than 1,400 people. It has the staffing re- While this may sound like an appro-
do justice, to love kindness, and to walk sources it needs in-house to administer priate percentage, the truth is that a
humbly with your God. this grant program. The FCC also, cru- grant for building out broadband in an
And I think that certainly describes cially, has the necessary expertise to area where 50 percent of the homes al-
Senator Mike Enzi. And we think identify truly unserved areas so that ready have adequate access is likely to
about him and his family and keep Federal dollars go to communities with result in significant overbuilding at
them in our prayers as they prepare for the most significant lack of broadband taxpayer expense.
that ceremony tomorrow. access. We seem to have forgotten that Fed-
BROADBAND I have proposed an amendment to the eral resources are—or at least should
Mr. President, as a Senator from a infrastructure legislation before us be—limited. There are plenty of areas
rural State and a member and former that would strike the NTIA grant pro- where broadband access is almost non-
chairman of the Senate Commerce gram and redirect that money to the existent and where there is almost no
Committee, expanding broadband ac- bipartisan legislation I have intro- available broadband infrastructure to
cess to rural areas has long been a pri- duced—the Rural Connectivity Ad- build on. And those are the first places
ority of mine. Given our economy’s in- vancement Program Act. where we need to direct available gov-
creasing reliance on broadband in the The Rural Connectivity Advance- ernment funding, which is why I am of-
digital age, it makes sense, as part of ment Program Act would mandate that fering an amendment to change the
this infrastructure bill, that we are 10-percent of the net proceeds of any formula to require that proposed
prioritizing expanding broadband ac- spectrum auctions mandated by the grants cover an area where at least 80
cess to unserved areas. Federal Government go to building out percent of homes lack broadband ac-
But I have to say I am concerned, be- broadband networks with the goal of cess. This bipartisan amendment de-
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
cause a lot of the money allocated for strengthening connectivity in rural serves a vote.
expanding access—more than $42 bil- and Tribal areas. Redirecting the pro- I am also concerned that we are ad-
lion—would be funneled not through posed $42 billion in grants to this pro- vancing this bill without any of the
the Federal Communications Commis- gram would allow the Federal Commu- provisions, particularly the broadband
sion, where the majority of the Govern- nications Commission to administer components, going through regular
ment’s broadband experience resides, these funds, which would make it more committee consideration. The Com-
but through the Commerce Depart- likely that this funding would actually merce Committee has a long history of
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S5898 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
advancing legislation to expand access struction, architecture, and engineer- lahassee, Leon County, Florida and Blue-
to broadband services. Rushed legisla- ing and related surface transportation print Intergovernmental Agency, Prepared
tive efforts that bypass the committees contracting markets nationwide. by MGT Consulting Group (2019).
These disparity studies contain rig- Palm Beach County Disparity Study, Pre-
of jurisdiction and the subject matter pared by Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd.
expertise that they offer could lead to orous statistical analyses to determine
(2017).
billions of dollars being spent with lit- whether business discrimination based Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach
tle to show. on—whether it is based upon race or County, Florida Disparity Study, Prepared
I am appreciative of the efforts of the gender, continues to exist, and a review by Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd. (2017).
bipartisan negotiators who crafted this of these studies reveals that the an- GEORGIA
bill. I know they share my goal of tar- swer, sadly, is a resounding yes, and, Atlanta Housing Authority Disparity
geting broadband resources to those therefore, the current Disadvantaged Study, Prepared by Keen Independent Re-
most in need. I am very pleased that Business Enterprise provisions are still search (2017).
my Telecommunications Skilled Work- warranted. Atlanta Public Schools Disparity Study,
force Act amendment received a vote Mr. President, I ask unanimous con- Prepared by Keen Independent Research
the other day and passed the Senate by sent to have printed in the RECORD (2017).
those disparity studies. City of Atlanta Disparity Study Summary
an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin.
There being no objection, the mate- Report, Prepared by Keen Independent Re-
This amendment would help ensure search LLC (2015).
that we develop the workforce nec- rial was ordered to be printed in the
Fulton County Small Business Study, Pre-
essary to meet the demands of the next RECORD, as follows:
pared by Keen Independent Research (2016).
generation of mobile broadband inter- STATE AND LOCAL DISPARITY STUDIES FROM Georgia Department of Transportation
2015–2021 Disparity Study, Prepared by Griffin &
net, 5G.
ALASKA Strong, P.C. for the State of Georgia (2016).
But I hope—I hope—that we will also
have a chance to vote on my other Alaska Department of Transportation & HAWAII
Public Facilities Disadvantaged Business
amendments—those I just mentioned— Enterprise Study, Final Report & Final Ap-
Hawaii Department of Transportation 2019
and amendments being offered by my pendices, Prepared by the Alaska Depart- Availability and Disparity Study, Prepared
colleagues. Infrastructure legislation is ment of Transportation & Public Facilities by Keen Independent Research (2020).
tremendously important to our econ- Civil Rights Office (2020). IDAHO
omy, and we need to take the time to ARIZONA I.aho Transportation Department Dis-
get this legislation right. And that Arizona Department of Transportation parity Study, Prepared by BBC Research &
means giving Senators, who are not Disparity Study, Final Report, Prepared by Consulting (2017).
part of the working group, adequate Keen Independent Research (2020). ILLINOIS
time to offer amendments and, hope- Arizona Department of Transportation Chicago Transit Authority Disparity
Disparity Study Report, Prepared by Keen Study, Prepared by Colette Holt & Associ-
fully, improve this product. We have Independent Research (2015).
made some progress on that front this ates (2019).
CALIFORNIA Illinois Department of Transportation Dis-
week, and I hope to make more before
Caltrans Disparity Study, Prepared by parity Study, Prepared by BBC Research &
finishing this bill. BBC Research and Consulting for Caltrans Consulting (2017).
I yield the floor. Department of Transportation (2016). Illinois State Toll Highway Authority Dis-
I suggest the absence of a quorum. City of Oakland 2017 Race and Gender Dis- parity Study Construction and Construction
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The parity Study, Prepared by Mason Tillman Related Services, Prepared by Colette Holt &
clerk will call the roll. Associates, Ltd. (2020). Associates (2015).
The legislative clerk proceeded to LA Metro 2017 Disparity Study, Prepared
INDIANA
call the roll. by BBC Research & Consulting for the Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transpor- City of Indianapolis and Marion County
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask Disparity Study, BBC Research & Consulting
unanimous consent that the order for tation Authority (2018).
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Dis- (2019).
the quorum call be rescinded. trict Disparity Study Volumes 1–11, Prepared City of South Bend Disparity Study, Pre-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without by Miller Consulting, Inc. (2017). pared by Colette Holt & Associates (2019).
objection, it is so ordered. Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Avail- State of Indiana Disparity Study, Prepared
MARK KELLY MAIDEN SPEECH ability, Utilization, and Disparity Study for by BBC Research & Consulting for the Indi-
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I just the San Francisco Municipal Transportation ana Department of Administration (2015–16).
Agency, Prepared by Rosales Business Part- State of Indiana Disparity Study, Prepared
want to say, earlier this week—I am al-
ners LLC (2015). by BBC Research & Consulting for the Indi-
most at a loss for words. I know I nor- ana Department of Administration (2020).
COLORADO
mally am not standing where I nor- KANSAS
City and County of Denver Disparity
mally stand.
Study, Prepared by BBC Research & Con- City of Kansas City Construction Work-
Earlier this week, you gave your sulting (2018). force Disparity Study, Prepared by Keen
freshman year first speech—your first Colorado Disparity Study, Final Report, Independent Research (2019).
speech—and not everybody was able to Prepared by Keen Independent Research City of Kansas City, Missouri Disparity
hear it. A lot of people came up. Demo- (2020). Study, Prepared by Colette Holt & Associ-
crats and Republicans were here. I just CONNECTICUT ates (2016).
want to say again how much I enjoyed Connecticut Disparity Study: Phases 1–3, KENTUCKY
it. Prepared by The Connecticut Academy of Louisville & Jefferson County Metropoli-
From an old Navy guy to a not-so-old Science and Engineering for the Connecticut tan Sewer District Disparity Study, Pre-
Navy guy, we are very proud of your General Assembly and the Government Ad- pared by Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd.
service in uniform and also proud of ministration and Elections Commission (2018).
(2013, 2014, 2016).
your service here. I am delighted that LOUISIANA
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
you are a member of our Environment City of Baton Rouge, Parish of East Baton
District of Columbia Department of Small
and Public Works Committee. We have Rouge Disparity Study, Prepared by Keen
and Local Business Development Compara-
done some really good work on this tive Analysis: Minority and Women-Owned Independent Research (2019).
issue. I thank you for your help and Business Assessment, Prepared by CRP, Inc City of New Orleans Disparity Study, Pre-
contribution. (2019). pared by Keen Independent Research (2018).
DISPARITY STUDIES District of Columbia Department of Small Recreation and Park Commission for the
and Local Business Development Disparity Parish of East Baton Rouge Disparity Study,
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I have a
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
Report Framework and Recommendations, Prepared by Keen Independent Research
couple of unanimous consent requests. (2019).
Prepared by CRP, Inc. (2019).
I ask unanimous consent to have print- 2015 Disparity Study for Washington Sub- MARYLAND
ed in the RECORD a list of studies pre- urban Sanitary Commission, Prepared by Business Disparities in the Maryland Mar-
senting a strong basis of evidence for MGT of America, Inc. (2016). ket Area, Prepared by NERA Economic Con-
the conclusion that discrimination FLORIDA sulting for the State and Maryland and the
against minority- and women-owned Minority, Women, and Small Business En- Maryland Department of Transportation
businesses continues to affect the con- terprise Disparity Study for the City of Tal- (2017).
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5899
Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Dis- Greensboro, North Carolina Disparity Business Disparities in the Austin, Texas
parity Study: Volumes I–III, Prepared by Study, Prepared by Griffin & Strong (2018). Market Area, Prepared by NERA Economic
NERA Economic Consulting for the Mary- State of North Carolina Department of Ad- Consulting for the City of Austin, Texas
land Department of Transportation (2018). ministration, Disparity Study Report: Vol- (2015).
MASSACHUSETTS ume I, State Agencies, Prepared by Griffin & Business Disparities in the San Antonio,
Strong, P.C. (2020). Texas Market Area, Prepared by NERA Eco-
Business Disparities in the DCAMM Con-
State of North Carolina Department of Ad- nomic Consulting for the City of San Anto-
struction and Design Market Area, Prepared
ministration, Disparity Study Report: Vol- nio (2015).
by NERA Economic Consulting for the Com- Business Disparities in the Travis County,
ume 2, Community Colleges and Univer-
monwealth of Massachusetts Division of Cap- Texas Market Area, Prepared by NERA Eco-
sities. Prepared by Griffin & Strong, P.C.
ital Asset Management and Maintenance nomic Consulting for Travis County, Texas
(2021).
(2017). (2016).
City of Boston 2020 Disparity Study, Pre- OHIO
City of Fort Worth, Texas, Disparity
pared by BBC Research & Consulting (2021). Cuyahoga County Disparity Study Report,
Study, Prepared by Colette Holt & Associ-
MINNESOTA Prepared by Griffin & Strong P.C. (2020).
2015–16 Ohio Public Authorities Disparity ates (2020).
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study City Disparity Study for Corpus Christi and
Study, prepared by BBC Research & Con-
of Minneapolis, Prepared by Keen Inde- CCRTA, Prepared by Texas A&M University
sulting for the Ohio Department of Transpor-
pendent Research (2018). South Texas Economic Development Center
tation (2016).
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study City (2016).
City of Cincinnati Disparity Study, Pre-
of Saint Paul, Prepared by Keen Independent Minority- and Women-owned Business En-
pared by Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd.
Research (2018). terprise (MIWBE) Program Disparity Study
(2015).
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study Hen- for the San Antonio Water System, Prepared
City of Columbus Disparity Study, Pre-
nepin County, Prepared by Keen Independent by MGT of America (2015).
pared by Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd.
Research (2018). Texas Department of Transportation Dis-
(2019).
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study Met- parity Study, Prepared by Colette Holt & As-
OREGON sociates (2019).
ropolitan Airports Commission, Prepared by
Keen Independent Research (2018). Oregon Department of Transportation DBE VIRGINIA
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study Met- Disparity Study Update, Prepared by Keen
Commonwealth of Virginia Disparity
ropolitan Council, Prepared by Keen Inde- Independent Research LLC (2019).
Study, Prepared by BBC Research & Con-
pendent Research (2018). Oregon Department of Aviation, Draft Or-
sulting (2020).
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study Met- egon Statewide Airport DBE Disparity City of Virginia Beach Disparity Study,
ropolitan Mosquito Control District, Pre- Study, Prepared by Keen Independent Re- Prepared by BBC Research & Consulting
pared by Keen Independent Research (2018). search (2021 ). (2018).
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study Min- Oregon Department of Transportation
Availability and Disparity Study, Prepared WASHINGTON
nesota Department of Administration, Pre-
pared by Keen Independent Research (2018). by Keen Independent Research LLC (2016). City of Tacoma Disparity Study, Prepared
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study Min- The Port of Portland Small Business Pro- by Griffin & Strong P.C. (2018).
gram Disparity Study, Prepared by Colette Port of Seattle Disparity Study, Prepared
nesota Department of Transportation, Pre-
Holt & Associates (2018). by Colette Holt & Associates (2019).
pared by Keen Independent Research (2018).
Sound Transit Disparity Study, Prepared
2017 Minnesota Joint Disparity Study Min- PENNSYLVANIA
by BBC Research & Consulting (2020).
nesota State Colleges and Universities, Pre- City of Philadelphia Fiscal Year 2019 An- State of Washington Disparity Study, Pre-
pared by Keen Independent Research (2018). nual Disparity Study, Prepared by the City pared by Colette Holt & Associates (2019).
MISSOURI of Philadelphia Department of Commerce Washington State Airports Disparity
City of St. Louis Disparity Study, Pre- and Miller3 Consulting (2020). Study, Prepared by Colette Holt & Associ-
pared by Mason Tillman Associates (2015). City of Philadelphia Fiscal Year 2018 An- ates (2019).
Missouri Department of Transportation nual Disparity Study, Prepared by Econsult Washington State Department of Trans-
DBE Availability Study, Prepared by Keen Solutions, Inc. and Milligan & Company, portation Disparity Study, Prepared by
Independent Research (2019). LLC (2019). Colette Holt & Associates (2017).
Saint Louis County Disparity Study, Pre- City of Philadelphia Fiscal Year 2017 An-
WISCONSIN
pared by Griffin & Strong P.C. (2017). nual Disparity Study, Prepared by Econsult
Solutions, Inc. and Milligan & Company, Madison Public Works Disparity Study,
MONTANA
LLC (2018). Prepared by Keen Independent Research for
Availability and Disparity Study, Prepared City of Philadelphia Fiscal Year 2016 An- City of Madison, Wisconsin (2015).
by Keen Independent Research LLC for the nual Disparity Study, Prepared by Econsult ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES
State of Montana Department of Transpor- Solutions, Inc. for the City of Philadelphia Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I have a
tation (2016). Department of Commerce (2017). second unanimous consent request I
NEVADA City of Philadelphia Fiscal Year 2015 An- want to mention, and that is a request
Nevada Transportation Consortium Dis- nual Disparity Study, Prepared by Econsult
Solutions, Inc. and Milligan & Company,
to have printed in the RECORD letters
parity Study, Prepared by BBC Research & of support for electric school buses.
Consulting for the Regional Transportation LLC (2016).
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Depart- I would ask unanimous consent to
Commission of Southern Nevada (2017).
ment of General Services Disparity Study, have printed in the RECORD two let-
NEW JERSEY
Prepared by BBC Research & Consulting ters—one from three American school
NJ Transit Disparity Study, Executive (2018). bus manufacturers, and another from
Summary & Appendix, Prepared by The Roy Pennsylvania Department of Transpor- 125 nonprofit foundations, businesses,
Wilkins Center for Human Relations and So- tation Disparity Study, Prepared by BBC Re-
cial Justice, Hubert H. Humphrey School of
health and scientific organizations, and
search & Consulting (2018).
Public Affairs, University of Minnesota advocacy groups—in support of invest-
TENNESSEE
(2016). ments in electric school buses in this
Business Market Availability and Dis- bipartisan package.
NEW YORK parity Study Shelby County Schools Board
City of New York Disparity Study, Pre-
Both letters highlight the fact that
of Education, Prepared by MGT Consulting
pared by MGT Consulting Group (2018). Group (2017). no other school bus technology manu-
State of New York MWBE Disparity Study, City of Chattanooga, Tennessee Disparity factured today reduces more emissions
Volumes I & II, Prepared by Mason Tillman Study Final Report, Prepared by Griffin & than electric vehicle school buses; and
Associates, Ltd. (2016). Strong P.C. (2019). both letters highlight that investments
NORTH CAROLINA City of Memphis, Tennessee Disparity in electric school buses would drive the
City of Asheville, North Carolina Disparity Study, Prepared by Griffin & Strong P.C. demand for new electric buses and pro-
Study, Prepared by BBC Research & Con- (2016). mote cost parity between electric
sulting (2018). Metro Nashville, Tennessee Disparity
school buses and older technologies.
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
City of Charlotte Disparity Study, Pre- Study, Prepared by Griffin & Strong P.C.
(2018). The message from these diverse
pared by BBC Research & Consulting (2017). groups to Congress is clear: Investing
Shelby County Disparity Study, Prepared
City of Winston-Salem Disparity Study, Pre-
by Mason Tillman Associates, Ltd. (2016). in electric school buses supports Amer-
pared by MGT Consulting Group (2019).
Durham County/City of Durham, North TEXAS ican workers and American manufac-
Carolina Multi-jurisdictional Disparity Availability and Disparity Study, City of turers. Not only that, it cleans up our
Study, Prepared by Griffin & Strong, P.C. Dallas, Texas, Final Report, Prepared by air, protects our kids and our planet on
(2015). MGT Consulting Group (2020). which we live.
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S5900 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
There being no objection, the mate- JULY 27, 2021. and Programs of Public Health; Asthma &
rial was ordered to be printed in the DEAR MAJORITY LEADER SCHUMER AND MI- Allergy Foundation of America—Michigan
NORITY LEADER MCCONNELL: We, the under- Chapter; Azul.
RECORD, as follows:
signed organizations, representing millions Black Millennials 4 Flint; Boulder Valley
JULY 27, 2021. of members and companies, strongly support School District—Safe Routes Unit; Bus-2-
Hon. CHUCK SCHUMER, ensuring that the full $7.5 billion in school Grid Initiative; Cedar Lane Unitarian Uni-
Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, bus funding goes towards school districts to versalist Church Environmental Justice
Washington, DC. purchase electric school buses and install the Ministry; Center for Biological Diversity;
Hon. MITCH MCCONNELL, necessary charging infrastructure, as laid Ceres; ChargePoint; Chesapeake Climate Ac-
Minority Leader, U.S. Senate, out in the memo by Brian Deese explaining tion Network Action Fund; Children’s Envi-
Washington, DC. the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework. ronmental Health Network; Chispa Arizona;
DEAR MAJORITY LEADER SCHUMER AND MI- The 475,000 school buses that carry 25 million CHISPA Florida; Chispa LCV; Chispa Mary-
NORITY LEADER MCCONNELL: We are writing children to school every day are some of the land; Chispa Nevada; Clean Energy Action;
to urge funding for a transition to electric oldest technology on the road. Due to their Clean Energy Works; CleanAirNow; CLEER;
school buses as part of the bipartisan infra- short routes, school buses are frequently on Climate for Health, ecoAmerica; Climate
structure package being developed on Cap- the road for 15–20 years. Diesel exhaust is a Hawks Vote.
itol Hill. known carcinogen which directly and dis- Climate Law & Policy Project; Climate Re-
Over the past 15 years much has been ac- proportionately impacts the kids and drivers ality Project; Coltura; Detroiters Working
complished in reducing emissions from older of these buses. Reduced pollution from bus for Environmental Justice; Dream Corps
school buses using the Diesel Emission Re- emissions has been shown to decrease Green For All; Drive Electric RVA; Earth
duction Act of 2005. Newer buses are avail- incidences of asthma, bronchitis, and pneu- Ethics, Inc.; Earthjustice; EarthKind Energy
able with propane, CNG and electric monia and also decreases absenteeism. Consulting; EcoMadres; Elders Climate Ac-
powertrains which reduce emissions by as Eliminating emissions from buses should tion; Elected Officials to Protect America;
much as 100 percent compared with school have even stronger effects. Electric Bus Newsletter; Electrification Coa-
buses manufactured prior to the enactment Fortunately, electric school buses are
lition; Electrify America; Empower our Fu-
of DERA. available from several domestic manufactur-
The focus of these programs has been in re- ture—Colorado; Environment America; Envi-
ers and are being integrated into school bus
ducing emissions of priority pollutants like ronmental Defense Fund; Environmental
fleets across the country. The significant in-
nitrogen oxides (NOX) and particulate matter Law & Policy Center; Evergreen Action.
vestment that the government is planning to
(PM) but today there is serious concern EVgo; EVHybridNoire; Faith Alliance for
make in school buses is critical and 100% of
about carbon emissions. These have not been Climate Solutions; Forth; Fresh Energy;
this funding should be spent to help school
the focus of earlier programs. We believe the Generation180; Georgia Interfaith Power and
districts to acquire these zero emission tech-
technology that provides the best oppor- Light; GreenLatinos; H.A. DeHart & Son;
nologies. We particularly support ensuring
tunity to achieve both clean air and carbon Health Care Without Harm; Highland Elec-
that communities most impacted by air pol-
reduction is electric vehicle technology. tric Fleets; Hoosier Environmental Council;
lution are prioritized in the application proc-
School buses are an ideal platform for elec- Illinois Environmental Council; Indivisible
ess.
tric drive because they have a duty cycle Howard County MD; Interfaith Power &
We oppose any funding going to fossil fuel
that is highly compatible with electrifica- Light; League of Conservation Voters (LCV).
buses as these buses do not eliminate tail-
tion, they start and end the day at the same Lewinsville Faith in Action; LION Elec-
pipe pollution, CNG and propane buses are
location (simplifies charging infrastructure tric; Long Island Progressive Coalition; Los
already cost competitive with diesel, and all
needs), and enjoy a design that allows for in- Angeles County Electric Truck & Bus Coali-
new buses purchased today will be on the
stallation of large battery packs. They do tion; Los Angeles IBEW 11 & National Elec-
road for 15–20 years, thus ensuring long term
not have range issues as they drive daily the trical Contractors Ass.; Madison Area Bus
dependence on fossil fuels. The news story
same well-established routes that are well Advocates; Maryland Legislative Coalition;
that broke last night shows that the bipar-
within the battery capacity available on the Medical Society Consortium on Climate &
tisan group of Senators working on this leg-
bus. Electric school buses have been in daily Health; MI Air MI Health; Mi Assoc for Pupil
islation is planning to use half of the school
use since 2015, accumulating millions of Transportation; Michigan Clinicians for Cli-
bus money to buy new fossil fuel buses for
miles. They are reliably and dependably de- mate Action; Mobilify Southwestern Penn-
school districts, which undermines our cli-
ployed in school districts across the country sylvania; Moms Clean Air Force; Mother’s &
mate goals and doesn’t support the growth of
and we as manufacturers and end users of Others For Clean Air; Mothers Out Front.
the domestic EV bus industry. As the cli-
them can affirm that we are ready to meet National Consumer Law Center; Natural
mate crisis is worsening, and our kids are
the increased demand. This technology is Resources Defense Council; New Mexico
breathing polluted air, we need to rapidly
here and ready to go. Interfaith Power and Light; New Urban Mo-
transition to electric buses. The govern-
Electric school buses are being rapidly in- bility Alliance (NUMO); New York City Envi-
ment’s role is to help in that transition.
troduced but remain more expensive than ronmental Justice Alliance; New York Law-
Even allowing one third of these funds to
even some of the other clean vehicle options. yers for the Public Interest; New York
purchase buses that run on CNG, propane,
Manufacturers believe that a major Federal League of Conservation Voters; New York
and biofuels (which are blended in small vol-
investment will assist in driving down the Public Interest Research Group; New York-
umes into gasoline and diesel) would lock in
cost through economies of scale that result ers for Clean Power; O.U.R.S. (Organized Up-
up to 7.5 billion tons of greenhouse gas emis-
from high volume manufacture. Such an in- lifting Resources & Strategies); Pacific Envi-
sions, up to 88 billion pounds of carbon mon-
vestment would make electric school buses ronment; Peoples Climate Movement—NY;
oxide pollution, and up to 12.5 million pounds
cost competitive with other platforms in al- Plug In America; Proterra; Raise Green.
of NOX, not to mention installing fueling in-
lowing greater adoption of a technology that Renew Puerto Rico; Respiratory Health
frastructure that will be stranded assets as
achieves zero emissions of harmful pollut- Association; Rhombus Energy Solutions,
these school districts move to electrification
ants and greenhouse gases. Inc.; Rivian; RMI; Save the Sound; Sierra
down the road.
In addition to the health and climate bene- Please ensure that all federal funding for Club; Sierra Club DC Chapter; Southern Alli-
fits for school children and their commu- school buses is for electric buses that will ance for Clean Energy; Southern Environ-
nities, it would also create many well-paying both mitigate climate change and reduce mental Law Center; Southwest Energy Effi-
domestic jobs in engineering, manufac- dangerous air pollution. We have an oppor- ciency Project; The Center for Transpor-
turing, and sales. tunity to invest in a domestic industry, pro- tation & the Environment (CTE).
Accordingly, we believe that Congress mote more good-paying jobs, train more The Greater Prince William Climate Ac-
should include substantial Federal funding workers to be on the cutting edge of trans- tion Network; The Mobility House; The Reno
for clean school buses and that not less than portation technologies, and reduce asthma + Sparks Chamber of Commerce; Transpor-
half of that funding should go exclusively to attacks and other respiratory ailments for tation for America; Tri-State Transportation
electric buses. We understand that some our nation’s school children. We sincerely Campaign; U.S. PIRG; Ulupono Initiative;
communities want to use older technologies. hope that Congress seizes this chance to United Methodist Women; United We Stand
If Congress decides to make some portion of make a difference and puts $7.5 billion into of New York; Virginia Conservation Net-
funding available for these older tech- electric school buses. work; Voices for Progress; Zero Emission
nologies, we strongly support making it Thank you, Transportation Association.
available for electric buses as well and its re- Union of Concerned Scientists; ENVIRONMENT
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
lated infrastructure to allow for the fastest 350Brooklyn; 350NYC.org; Acadia Center; Al- Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I would
possible deployment of zero emission vehicle lergy & Asthma Network; Alliance for Clean like to point out I like to work out. I
technology. Energy New York; Alliance of Nurses for
showed up at Pensacola at the age of 21
Sincerely, Healthy Environments; American Council
BLUE BIRD CORPORATION. for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE); right out of Ohio State, invited by the
IC BUS, A NAVISTAR American Federation of Teachers; American Navy as a midshipman. Before they put
COMPANY. Lung Association; American Thoracic Soci- us in airplanes, as you may recall, they
THOMAS BUILT BUSES. ety; AMPLY Power; Association of Schools put us through some really rigorous
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5901
conditioning. So I worked out, like, 6, Penn State, earned his law degree. He weather events. In June, Southeast
7 days a week then, and I come pretty didn’t practice. He didn’t go to some Michigan faced yet another severe
close to that today. fancy place. He went right to work for flooding event that, tragically, led to
And a couple of days a week I like to the United Mine Workers, which he two deaths, damaged small businesses
run. I always like to run outside. And lead for so many years, and then he be- and thousands of homes, and dev-
all this work we were doing this last came head—first, secretary-treasurer— astated families.
week—we were doing a lot of work not of the AFL–CIO. The Federal Government has spent
only on the Senate floor, but behind He had in his veins and every atom of many billions of dollars to help respond
the scenes on electric school buses, to his body the heart, the thoughts, the to and recover from disasters. However,
make sure that we would be able to needs of the working people of Amer- until very recently, we chronically
provide funding for a lot of them going ica. He was them. Rich Trumka was underinvested in mitigating the effects
forward. the working people of America. He of disasters before they occur, despite
And one morning, I went out run- never had any airs. He never put it on, the fact that it protects lives, safe-
ning, and it was still almost dark, and and he cared about his fellow workers guards property, and saves taxpayer
I was almost run over by two electric so. dollars. In fact, studies show that
buses, and I said: Don’t worry, I am on He was a great leader. He knew that every dollar invested in hazard mitiga-
your side. And I had a nice chat with a the labor movement and working peo- tion or prevention saves as much as $6
couple of drivers. ple had to expand and be diverse. One for the taxpayers.
So I came here to present this mes- of his passions as a labor leader was This package provides critical invest-
sage and these unanimous consent re- immigration reform, which I talked to ments to a number of mitigation pro-
quests today. him about repeatedly because they grams, but I want to highlight just one
I also wanted to say that we did get were working people, too, no matter in particular, the STORM Act. Last
to work yesterday—Democrats and Re- where they came from or what they year, I authored bipartisan legislation
publicans working together. A bunch of looked like. to create a new revolving loan program
amendments were adopted; one or two It is just horrible news. I will have to be overseen by the Federal Emer-
not. But it was a good spirit last night, more to say about it later, but I want- gency Management Agency, or FEMA.
well into the night, and good work has ed to inform my colleagues that we In January of this year, that bill was
been done and has continued in have just lost a giant, and we need him signed into law, establishing a new pro-
through the evening and again this gram to help our communities tackle
so.
morning on both sides of the aisle to We will remember him forever, and this rising threat.
As the Senate crafted this important
find some additional compromises. his memory will, I know, importune all
bipartisan infrastructure package over
I am told that several amendments of us to do more, even more, for the
the past few weeks, I was able to work
are ready to be brought to the floor. I working people of America, who Rich
with my colleagues to secure $500 mil-
would just say to my colleagues: Bring Trumka so dearly and deeply loved.
lion in initial funding for this program,
them. If you got something you think I yield the floor.
the first Federal investment that will
is ready for prime time, whether it is The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
kick-start loans for communities all
Democrat or Republican, and it is a ator from Michigan.
across our country to begin addressing
combined bipartisan amendment, bring Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I
this serious problem.
it. Let’s hear about it. Let’s have a just wanted to lend words and support
With this downpayment, States will
chance to discuss it and to vote on it. to what Majority Leader SCHUMER just receive funding to create revolving
We could be up late into the night. said about Rich Trumka. loan funds to support local government
We are going to be up really early in I send my prayers and love to Bar-
investments in hazard mitigation
the morning. I think there is a 7 bara, his family, and everyone in the
projects that will help reduce natural
o’clock flight, maybe out of Andrews. labor movement. disaster risk. The low-interest loans
At least we leave from here to Andrews What a strong, vibrant, committed
provided by this program will offer
to go catch a 7 o’clock flight to attend leader. We have worked together on so
critical resources to cash-strapped
the memorial service for Senator Enzi many different issues, and it was al-
local communities. Over time, repay-
in Wyoming tomorrow. ways about: Is this going to create ment of those loans at an extremely
I think we would be smart not to good-paying jobs? Are workers going to low interest rate will provide States
stay up half the night, and do as much be able to have their voice in the work- with a self-sustaining fund that they
as we can this morning, and then—oh, place? Is their standard of living going can use to continue improving resil-
it is noon, high noon. Get started now. to increase? What are we doing for ience in other localities.
I think we will be glad that we did. folks? Are we bringing jobs home? Are Because the revolving loan funds are
With that, I yield the floor. we creating jobs here? What are we managed at the State level, each State
I suggest the absence of a quorum. doing for the backbone of our country, will have the authority to prioritize
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The which are working men and women? funding for the projects with the great-
clerk will call the roll. So I just want to indicate my pro- est need, rather than having the Fed-
The bill clerk proceeded to call the found sadness and shock and my love eral Government make those decisions.
roll. and support for all of those who I know This flexibility will allow States to
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask are very sad and grieving at this mo- focus on protecting vulnerable commu-
unanimous consent that the order for ment. nities that are particularly hard hit by
the quorum call be rescinded. Thank you. extreme weather events.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Additionally, unlike other mitiga-
SCHATZ). Without objection, it is so or- ator from Michigan. tion programs, the STORM Act is the
dered. H.R. 3684 first program to allow States to invest
REMEMBERING RICHARD TRUMKA Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I rise in projects to mitigate shoreline ero-
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today to highlight an important com- sion, rising water levels, and severe
today with some sad, some horrible ponent of the bipartisan infrastructure rainfall that can wreak havoc on public
news about the passing of a great legislation that we are now debating. and private property alike. This is es-
friend, Rich Trumka, who left us this This legislation includes new invest- pecially important for my home State
morning. ments that will help communities in
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of Michigan, where Great Lakes com-
The working people of America have Michigan and across the country ad- munities have endured flooded camp-
lost a fierce warrior at a time when we dress the serious risk posed by severe grounds, streets, and basements be-
needed him most. Just yesterday, Rich flooding, shoreline erosion, and other cause of storm water drainage issues;
was lending his support to the striking natural disasters. boating problems due to submerged
miners in Alabama. As a result of climate change, we are structures; and the destruction of
Following in his father’s footsteps, continuing to experience an increase in beaches and homes from high water
he worked in the mines. He went to the frequency and intensity of severe levels.
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S5902 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
Funding for the STORM Act, along to adopt new rights for survivors in all increased. Across the board, the cost of
with other mitigation funds provided sex crime cases, modeled on the same putting food on the table has gone up
in this legislation, will help transform rights that victims in Federal cases over 5 percent since last year.
our country into a more resilient na- now enjoy. Each State that extends It is not just groceries. The cost of
tion and save us money in the long run. these same rights to survivors of sex- gas and energy and housing and house-
I urge my colleagues to join me in sup- ual violence would then be eligible to hold goods are at historic highs, all
porting this critical investment in receive a Federal grant under the legis- while America endures a nationwide
mitigation and enacting the bipartisan lation that we have introduced. The crime wave and our borders are over-
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs amount of each State grant would be run.
Act. calculated based on the formula that is Now, I know my Democratic col-
I suggest the absence of a quorum. used to calculate STOP grant funding leagues don’t want to use the I-word,
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The to States under a program that is au- but let’s call it what it is: Inflation.
clerk will call the roll. thorized by the Violence Against Taxation without legislation. And in-
The senior assistant legislative clerk Women Act. flation is at its highest level since 2008.
proceeded to call the roll. Finally, this measure that we have We know they want to raise taxes on
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask introduced would authorize $20 million Americans, including those in the mid-
unanimous consent that the order for annually for each of the next 5 fiscal dle class, but this is probably not what
the quorum call be rescinded. years to support the implementation of Democrats had in mind.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without the new grant program established by But the President, evidently, he is
objection, it is so ordered. this bill. not worried. He says the rising cost of
SURVIVORS’ BILL OF RIGHTS ACT Once again, I want to thank Senator living is only temporary. It is transi-
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am SHAHEEN for joining me in leading this tory.
reintroducing the Survivors’ Bill of legislation and for her commitment to Look, this is easy for him to say. His
Rights in the States Act of 2021. This working to increase protections for vic- pocketbook isn’t impacted by infla-
measure, which Senator SHAHEEN has tims of sexual violence. tion. He isn’t buying groceries at the
joined me in sponsoring, builds on an I also want to thank the National Al- local grocery store or a new fridge for
initiative on which the two of us liance to End Sexual Violence for the White House. He is not gassing up
worked together in 2016. working with us on the bill’s develop- the Presidential limousine. Maybe that
Entitled the ‘‘Survivors’ Bill of ment. explains why he is urging Congress to
Rights Act,’’ that earlier legislation Finally, I thank Congresswoman spend another $3.5 trillion taxpayer
cleared the Senate Judiciary Com- JACKIE SPEIER and Congressman KELLY dollars—$10 billion here for environ-
mittee in June of 2016, during my ten- ARMSTRONG for initiating this measure mental justice, $174 billion there for
ure as its chairman. The House of Rep- in the other Chamber. electric cars, a massive expansion of
resentatives introduced a similar pack- I urge my colleagues to join us in co- Medicare and Medicaid, and trillions
age of rights some months later, and sponsoring this bipartisan, bicameral more in taxes on American families as
that version was enacted in the fall of legislation. we emerge from a global pandemic.
2016 with my strong support. I yield the floor. Trust me, I can tell you, Hoosiers
The 2016 statute provides very impor- I suggest the absence of a quorum. don’t want any of that, nor do the ma-
tant rights for victims of sexual vio- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The jority of the American people: no more
lence, but that act only accomplishes clerk will call the roll. trillion-dollar tax-and-spend rescue
those cases that are Federal. Such The senior assistant legislative clerk plans. They aren’t rescuing Americans;
rights include, for example, the right proceeded to call the roll. they are raising their cost of living.
to know the results of your forensic Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, I ask Don’t take it from me. Take it from
exam, the right to have evidence pre- unanimous consent that the order for Larry Summers, President Obama’s
served for a certain period, and lastly, the quorum call be rescinded. economic adviser. He is warning Presi-
the right to notice before your forensic The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without dent Biden about inflation—has been
kit is destroyed. objection, it is so ordered. for a number of months. In fact, he de-
A young sexual assault survivor, The Senator from Indiana. scribed recent fiscal macroeconomic
Amanda Nguyen, who advocated for THE ECONOMY policy, including the last round of
these rights at the Federal level, now Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, when I nearly $2 trillion in stimulus as ‘‘the
is leading the effort to persuade other first ran for Congress in 2010, then-Vice least responsible fiscal macroeconomic
jurisdictions to adopt the same rights President Biden was on a ‘‘recovery policy we’ve had in the last 40 years.’’
for all sexual assault victims. One of summer’’ tour. You see, on the heels of With friends like these—but, you know,
those jurisdictions is my home State of a trillion-dollar stimulus package, he he speaks the truth.
Iowa, which this summer adopted a argued millions of jobs would magi- I wish the President would listen to
package of rights that is closely mod- cally appear. Secretary Summers. He certainly
eled after the Federal Survivors’ Bill of Happy days are here again. won’t listen to us. We are not arguing
Rights. When that summer ended, the unem- for inaction, though. In fact, we are
I want to take the opportunity to ployment rate was 9.4 percent, and willing to collaborate. We know there
again thank Amanda, who arrived in 280,000 jobs vanished. If ever there was is need for targeted and responsible
my office 6 years ago and convinced me a show that did not deserve a sequel, government spending tied to actual re-
of the importance of working with her this was it. But that is exactly what sults on core infrastructure, on work-
on this important initiative. Amanda the American people are living through force training, on cutting-edge tech-
also later testified before the Judiciary right now. nology.
Committee, not once but twice, at my When they passed their $1.9 trillion We just believe that every taxpayer
invitation, about the importance of ‘‘son of stimulus’’ package earlier this dollar is a sacred trust, and we should
protecting the rights of victims of sex- year, the President and his friends in treat it accordingly. If we are going to
ual violence in our criminal justice Congress promised millions of jobs and invest it, the American people better
system. another summer of recovery. Like the see returns. What they are seeing in
Amanda worked with Senator SHA- original, this sequel is a flop. That is the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget pro-
HEEN on this same legislation, as well because, once again, our friends across posal is a rerun of a failed trillion-dol-
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as this Senator, and I am pleased to the aisle are confusing taxpayer prior- lar tax-and-spend spectacle from just a
partner with Senator SHAHEEN again in ities with a liberal wish list. decade ago.
introducing today’s measure that will I see at home the cost of living is ris- Now, the final act of that show, by
hopefully affect more States adopting ing for Hoosier families and job cre- the way, was not recovery. It was the
this legislation. ators. You take a trip to my hometown American people handing control of the
This bill that we sponsored, then, grocery in Greenwood, IN, the cost of House of Representatives over to the
gives each State a financial incentive steak and chicken and bread have all Republican Party. The President
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5903
should keep that in mind. The Presi- fighting for pensions, and with his sup- he stood for. That is what he was all
dent should keep that in mind. port—leading the charge, really—a mil- about. That is the fight that we need to
I yield the floor. lion families in the United States— carry on on his behalf and in his mem-
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- more than a million families—had ory.
ator from Ohio. their pensions restored back in March I yield the floor.
REMEMBERING RICHARD TRUMKA when we passed the American Rescue The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise Plan. KING). The Senator from Nevada.
with—I don’t know if I ever actually He understood the importance of the Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, before I
said this on the Senate floor—I rise child tax credit. He understood the im- begin, I want to take a moment to ac-
with a heavy heart because of the portance of the Affordable Care Act. He knowledge the passing of Richard
death earlier today of a longtime understood the importance of pro- Trumka, just as my colleagues have
friend, Rich Trumka, who was the tecting the right to organize, which 47 been speaking of him so wonderfully.
longtime President of the National Senate Democrats are cosponsors of. You know, during his time leading
AFL–CIO. He was even, yesterday, on a call with the AFL–CIO, he was a tireless de-
I call him a friend because my wife workers in Alabama, helping to encour- fender of workers and the rights of
Connie—who is in the Gallery with our age them to organize. He knew that his working Americans all across our
grandson Clayton. My wife Connie and job as a labor leader was to represent country. He recognized the capability
I have walked picket lines with Rich the hundreds and hundreds and hun- of what Americans—of what they could
Trumka, done rallies with Rich dreds of thousands of members and achieve by working together. He fought
Trumka, and spoken on behalf of work- their families but to always try to re- fiercely to help build something better
ers with Rich Trumka. cruit new people to join the labor for our country and for our country’s
He was a son of our part of the coun- movement, and he knew that it was an workforce.
try—Pennsylvania, West Virginia, uphill fight because of the way the sys- My thoughts are with his family and
Ohio. He was a coal miner, not just the tem is rigged toward corporations and his loved ones.
son of a coal miner. I believe he once toward employers. H.R. 3684
told me he was the grandson of a coal He would say, if he were here, how
miner, but he was a coal miner early in important it is to carry on with or Mr. President, let us all take inspira-
life. without him, carry on his life’s work tion and lessons from the trail that he
He embodied the soul of the labor by standing in solidarity with all the blazed, which is why I rise today to dis-
movement. He understood workers. He men and women of the labor move- cuss a bill that would also help to build
was for them and of them in ways that ment, who built the strongest middle something better for our country as
are unusual in America in the 21st cen- class the world has ever seen. well as our country’s workers: the In-
tury. We see that middle class shrinking frastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
He understood and lived and fought day by day, slowly shrinking, and the This bipartisan bill is an opportunity
for the dignity of work, the idea that reason is because we see the number of for the U.S. Senate to make a major in-
hard work should pay off for everyone. union members shrinking. He knew the vestment in our communities, in our
He understood what a woman from way to turn that around was the Pro- States, in our country. The goal of the
southern West Virginia said to me tecting the Right to Organize Act. He G–22 bipartisan working group, which I
some weeks ago at a ‘‘Dignity of knew the way to turn that around was was proud to join earlier this year, has
Work’’ hearing in the Banking, Hous- to get more people organized, to give been to develop bold, comprehensive
ing, and Urban Affairs Committee that them the option. legislation that will make a real,
I chair. She said the words ‘‘working’’ Half of America would like to join a meaningful difference in people’s lives,
and ‘‘poor’’ should not be in the same union, surveys say—at least half—if and now—now—we are close to seeing
sentence. Think about that. The words they had the opportunity. Most don’t that goal achieved.
‘‘working’’ and ‘‘poor’’ should not be in because of the outmoded, outdated, This bill has been years in the mak-
the same sentence. rigged-against-them labor laws in this ing. During my time in Congress, we
Rich Trumka understood the dignity country, but Rich understood that. He have gone from one infrastructure
of work. When you work hard—whether understood people staying in the mid- week to the next with never much to
you punch a clock or swipe a badge or dle class. The union card helped people show for it until now.
work for salary or work for tips or take join the middle class, expand the mid- It is not hyperbole to say that our bi-
care of children or grandchildren or dle class. partisan bill will be the most signifi-
children or grandparents—that hard Also, one other point is, I thought of cant investment in American infra-
work should be rewarded; that no one what Rich Trumka did. One of the structure since we built the Interstate
who works hard should not have a de- things I worked most of my career on Highway System. I know that for my
cent standard of living. is a better fair trade policy. I voted State, for Nevada, these investments—
Few in this country have done more against every single trade agreement well, they are going to make a real dif-
for workers than Rich. Giving workers that came in front of me until 2 years ference because this bill takes steps to
a voice has been his life’s work. From ago, and that is because Rich Trumka support our traditional infrastructure:
his days in the mine, when he was an played a major role in changing our roads, our bridges, our rail, our
outspoken advocate for trade union- NAFTA, in changing the USMCA, the transit.
ism, he understood it was unions; that United States-Mexico-Canada Agree- You know, in Nevada, there are over
carrying a union card was about em- ment, and put in language that Sen- 1,000 miles of highway in our State
powering workers. If you join a union; ator WYDEN and I worked on that will that are in need of repair and well over
you make better wages; you get better put workers at the center. two dozen of Nevada’s bridges that
benefits; you get health insurance; you The way that Rich Trumka under- need to be restored. We have all experi-
have more power over your schedule. stood government is, if you put work- enced driving on cracked roads and
You have a safety net often when trag- ers at the center of our policy—work- broken-down bridges. We know the toll
edy strikes. Rich understood that. He ers at the center of our trade policy, it takes. And this degradation—it poses
understood that unions helped build ca- workers at the center of our tax policy, serious safety concerns. It increases
reers and provide for families. workers at the center of everything we commute times. It costs Nevada driv-
Our hearts are with Barbara, his wife, do here; call it dignity of work; call it ers hundreds each year in costs, maybe
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and their son and with all the workers putting workers at the center—if you thousands, due to poor conditions. And
around the country. I can’t even imag- do that, everything right will flow now, right now, we have an oppor-
ine how many workers Rich Trumka from there. We will have a more just tunity to make critical upgrades and
touched. society. We will have a more pros- repairs both for those who call the Sil-
I looked at the impact of just the perous society. We will have more op- ver State home and for the millions—
work he did with me, let alone with so portunity for our children. That is millions—of travelers that visit us
many in this body; the work he did what Rich Trumka was. That is what from far and wide.
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S5904 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
Our bill would also provide funding I don’t have to tell anyone, but fast, that this legislation includes my bipar-
to expand our roads, bridges, and high- reliable access to the internet—it is tisan TOURISM Act, which requires
ways in Nevada and across the whole critical for all of our daily lives, and it the Department of Transportation to
country, from the Presiding Officer’s has been for decades. The pandemic— update its national travel and tourism
State of Maine all the way down to us well, it only put a spotlight on our cur- infrastructure strategic plan to develop
in Southern Nevada. rent digital divide and the challenges an immediate-term and long-term
As a member of the group who nego- that far too many Americans face get- strategy to use the infrastructure in-
tiated this bipartisan legislation, I am ting connected. vestments that we make today—that
proud that our bill provides flexible During COVID–19, many Nevadans we are going to make, this week, pos-
funding to States and communities to went online, well, to conduct business, sible—to revive the travel and tourism
address their unique challenges. In Ne- to seek medical care, or pursue edu- not just in Nevada but, of course, all
vada, that means meeting the needs of cation, but our State’s broadband dis- across this Nation as we come out of a
a growing population and making our parity limits many Nevadans, from deadly pandemic.
State accessible to visitors who con- rural and Tribal communities to our Through the investments provided in
tribute to our economy and support our underserved areas and our large cities, this bill, Nevada’s travel and tourism
job-creating businesses. The Infrastruc- from using or even having the most industry and hopefully all of our tour-
ture Investment and Jobs Act—well, it basic of internet services. ism can soar once more. To make all of
meets that need by providing growing The Infrastructure Investment and these things happen, this bill, our bill,
Western States like mine, Nevada, crit- Jobs Act is going to bring broadband to invests in creating jobs, jobs that will
ical funding for surface transportation communities that have long gone with- help repair and strengthen our infra-
investments. out access. It makes an unprecedented structure and jobs that will build our
The bill would also make significant investment in building out broadband country’s new foundation.
investments in accessible public trans- infrastructure. Never before has Con- With the Infrastructure Investment
port and rail systems to ease travel for gress taken such a bold step to get all and Jobs Act, we can rebuild; we can
people in our cities and to connect our Americans connected. Our bill includes revamp; we can work through all of our
rural and suburban communities to our over $42 billion for State broadband de- infrastructure. Through that, we will
urban cores. ployment grants to connect unserved create good-paying jobs, and we will
Through the bill’s investment in and underserved communities to high- improve the lives of hard-working fam-
western water systems, we can trans- speed internet. ilies and communities all across this
port water across communities to bet- Finally, we will tackle the ‘‘last country.
ter meet needs swiftly and develop im- mile’’ challenges that have plagued so I urge all of my colleagues to choose
portant water recycling and reuse many of our communities for years. to make this investment with us. Join
projects that will go a long way to pro- This bipartisan legislation also in- us, please, in investing in our families
viding greater access to water—some- cludes my Middle Mile Broadband De- and investing in our communities and
thing especially needed in my State ployment Act, which I drafted to fund investing in our States and in our
critical broadband infrastructure that country’s future.
and so many others as we deal with the
connects internet carriers to local net- I suggest the absence of a quorum.
current historic drought conditions. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
But beyond traditional infrastruc- works and community institutions
that will serve as a launching-off point clerk will call the roll.
ture investments, this bill is also for- The legislative clerk proceeded to
ward-thinking in its scope and in its and connector for getting broadband
out to all households in their areas. It call the roll.
intent. The Infrastructure Investment Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask
would also make the cost of broadband
and Jobs Act—well, it just doesn’t in- unanimous consent that the order for
more affordable to Nevada families,
vest in solutions to our current prob- the quorum call be rescinded.
providing low-income households sup-
lems; it will help invest in the success The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
port to help pay for this service via the
of our Nation’s future and our ability objection, it is so ordered.
new infrastructure that we are build-
to overcome emerging problems CLEAN SCHOOL BUS PROGRAM
ing.
through energy and cyber security in- Initial estimates are that our bipar- Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, for al-
frastructure, like my Cyber Sense Act, tisan legislation will make broadband most two decades, I have worked on
bipartisan legislation that is included access accessible to more than 120,000 policies to clean up dirty diesel en-
in this legislation to ensure the cyber Nevadans who currently lack it, and it gines, especially our Nation’s
security of technologies used in our will provide subsidies to about a quar- schoolbuses.
bulk power system. ter of our State’s residents most in And our Presiding Officer—as am I, a
You know, in addressing these need so that they can afford it. recovering Governor—has thought a lot
emerging challenges, it took hard Through this bill, we are taking steps over the years about schools and edu-
work, and it took compromise—exactly to get Nevadans connected for success cation and more than a little bit about
what our constituents expect of us but in the 21st century and beyond. schoolbuses and how to get kids where
which Congress far too often fails to The Infrastructure Investment and they need to go to get educated.
deliver. Jobs Act—well, it is also going to help During a normal school year, I am
Many of you know that the process of support a key industry in the Silver told that more than 25 million Amer-
bringing this bill together involved nu- State: travel and tourism. It does so by ican children—more than 25 million
merous meetings, long hours, and providing much needed funding for air- American children—ride a schoolbus
many discussions across party lines on ports to expand and upgrade their ter- every day—at least every schoolday to
all the issues involved. I was proud to minals and facilities. As we prepare for school.
take part in helping put this bill to- a postpandemic world, these critical Ninety-five percent of these buses are
gether because I wanted to be the voice investments will allow us to bring in powered by diesel fuel; and the major-
at the table for Nevadans, that voice at travelers and tourists in even greater ity are old, dirty engines that pollute
the negotiating table that they need numbers. As they come, these visitors the air, in many cases make our kids
me to be, and I wanted to make sure will support our State’s local busi- sick, and impact our climate.
that we addressed the issues important nesses; they will boost our commu- When we clean up schoolbuses, it is a
to our State. I am here to say that this nities and our economy. win-win situation. Our kids get
bill does just that.
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As chair of the Senate Subcommittee healthier air to breath, our businesses
This bill includes investments that on Tourism, Trade, and Export Pro- get the message that it is time to in-
will uniquely benefit Nevada now and motion, I made it my priority to fight vest right here in America on the lat-
for years to come by increasing access for Nevada’s travel, tourism, and hospi- est and cleanest technologies, and we
to broadband, by upgrading our State’s tality economy as a member of the G– add to our toolbox for tackling the
airports—two sections of the legisla- 22, and I will continue to do so. challenge of climate change.
tion that I took a leading role in draft- In addition to securing robust fund- Electric schoolbuses make this win-
ing. ing for our airports, I am also proud win possible. Schoolbuses have a set
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5905
route and can be predictably recharged. My Environment and Public Works vanced a bill that their President,
Schoolbuses, unlike other heavy-duty Committee staff and I, along with the President Bolsonaro, supports, that al-
vehicles, do not often travel more than administration, worked hard to make lows the squatters on public lands in
150 miles a day and, therefore, do not sure that zero-emitting schoolbuses the Amazon rainforest to more easily
have the range issues with current bat- had dedicated funding in this program receive deeds to their properties. Now,
tery technology. and would be eligible for all program there is nothing wrong with deeds to
However, electric schoolbuses today funding. This agreement does just that. property, but what this is going to do
are expensive compared to diesel buses; I expect EPA to work to implement is allow squatters to burn the forest to
and, too often, buying an electric this program in a way that focuses on plant corn and soybeans.
schoolbus is hard for schools that are pushing zero-emission technology out Let me tell you how significant this
already strapped for cash, especially into the market. Technology that uses burning is, and this was a few years ago
schools that serve low-income and mi- fossil fuels is readily available and eco- that I read this. I read something from
nority populations. nomic today and should not be broadly the astronauts in our space station cir-
The EPA Diesel Emission Reduction subsidized by taxpayer dollars. cling the globe. They said there were
Act, known as DERA—the original co- My hope is that this is just a down two significant things that stand out
sponsors of whom were George Voino- payment, and that Congress will invest on the Earth’s surface when you look
vich of Ohio and yours truly—helps in the future even more in zero-emit- down: No. 1 is the Great Wall of China,
schools replace dirty diesel engines ting schoolbuses. Our kids and our cli- and No. 2 is the smoke coming from the
with all types of technologies, includ- mate can’t wait. They deserve it, and burning of the rainforest.
ing electric vehicles. we need to deliver it to them. Now, Brazil has already plowed under
With the death of George Voinovich, With that, I yield the floor to the more than half of the Cerrado, which is
gosh, close to a decade ago, JIM INHOFE, Senator from Iowa. tropical savanna. The Cerrado is a vital
a colleague from Oklahoma, has taken The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- storehouse for carbon dioxide that has
up the torch from our good friend ator from Iowa. been disappearing at rates faster than
George to champion through the Diesel CLIMATE CHANGE even the Amazon rainforest.
Emission Reduction Act, the focus of Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on If we tie the hands of American farm-
replacing dirty diesel engines, includ- January 27 of this year, the Biden ad- ers, our competitors, like the ones in
ing for schoolbuses. Brazil, will continue to meet the needs
ministration put out a wide-ranging
However, the DERA program is woe- of a growing, hungry world. By 2050,
Executive order on tackling climate
fully underfunded and is not structured the world population will grow to 9 bil-
change. Tucked in that Executive order
specifically to meet school needs. lion people, and we are going to have to
was a line directing Secretaries of Ag-
DERA also does not prioritize low-in- feed them.
come schools, nor provide funds specifi- riculture, the Interior, and Commerce I don’t think the United States
cally for electric schoolbuses. to develop a plan to conserve at least should cede our leadership in produc-
With a new EPA Clean School Bus 30 percent of our lands and waters by tion agriculture to other countries
program, we can build on the lessons 2030. This plan is commonly referred to that already have poor environmental
learned from the Diesel Emissions Re- as the ‘‘30 by 30.’’ standards. So what you are saying is,
duction Act and help make it easier for To reach the Biden administration’s in this Cerrado, where the carbon is al-
schools to buy zero-emitting goal of 30 percent of the land in con- ready sequestered for millennia, that
schoolbuses and other schoolbuses to servation by 2030, the Federal Govern- somehow we ought to have a policy
meet emission standards. ment will have significant work ahead here to store more carbon by more con-
Through this new Clean School Bus of them to accomplish that. servation to let them plow up more in
program, we also will use the Federal This is what 30 percent means. Thirty Brazil.
purchasing power to increase the de- percent of the land would mean that we The 5-year farm bill already does a
mand for electric schoolbuses, buses will need 440 million additional acres great job of encouraging farmers and
that are manufactured here in America in permanent conservation. landowners to preserve fragile lands,
in places, among others, like Georgia, To put 440 million acres of land into enhancing environmental benefits for
which, in turn, will bring down the perspective, it is the equivalent of tak- all Americans. These farm bill provi-
overall cost of schoolbuses for every- ing the State of Iowa and putting all of sions are referred to as ‘‘working lands
body. Iowa’s land into permanent conserva- programs’’—programs like the Envi-
Here is what the clean schoolbus lan- tion. But that is still not enough to get ronmental Quality Incentives Program
guage in this legislation does. The to 440 million acres. You would repeat that goes by the acronym EQIP, or the
Clean School Bus program amends the that 11 more times to reach the Biden Conservation Stewardship Program we
EPA Clean School Bus program that administration’s goal of 30 percent of call CSP. These programs provide in-
was originally authorized in the En- the land in conservation by 2030. centives to help producers adopt man-
ergy Policy Act of 2005, but never fund- This is not really an attempt at con- agement practices on their ground that
ed by Congress or implemented by EPA servation; it is an attempt at confisca- allows the land to stay in production
16 years ago. EPA is authorized to cre- tion, even though the confiscation while improving environmental out-
ate a national program to fund the re- would be rewarded, presumably, by an- comes.
placement of existing schoolbuses with nual payments from the Federal Gov- If the Biden administration focuses
zero-emitting schoolbuses and other ernment. Between the 30 by 30 land on these longtime conservation pro-
clean schoolbuses through grants and grab and the Waters of the U.S. re- grams, my speech today would be
rebates. write, it is clear that this administra- praising those efforts; but, instead, this
The Clean School Bus program places tion simply does not understand rural administration has proposals that take
a priority on schools that serve low-in- America. If they did understand, then productive farmland out of production,
come students, are on Tribal lands, or they would realize that farmers are the placing the U.S. at a competitive dis-
are located in rural areas, and the pro- first and best conservationists because advantage.
gram can fund up to 100 percent of the it is good for their pocketbook and We have learned from the Conserva-
cost of a new schoolbus. good for the environment. tion Reserve Program—the CRP we
The legislation provides $5 billion in If the United States decides to go for- call it in agriculture—the CRP pro-
funding for this new Clean School Bus ward with the 30 by 30 plan, we already gram we have had around for decades.
program over 5 years, with $2.5 billion know what will happen. This rhetoric
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
About 24 million acres is in CRP now.
allocated exclusively for zero-emission empowers our Nation’s corn and soy- But we learned a lesson from the early
schoolbuses. The remaining $2.5 billion bean competitors to increase their out- days of CRP that if you take too much
can be used on buses that run on lique- put. land out of production in a certain
fied natural gas, compressed natural Now, Brazil is the best example of area, it hurts the small business people
gas, on hydrogen, propane, or biofuels, our corn and soybean competitors, so who either serve farmers after the
and can be used for zero-emission let’s look at Brazil. This week, the Bra- products leave their farm or serve
schoolbuses. zilian House of Representatives ad- farmers with input into agriculture.
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S5906 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
So later on, we had to put a require- moment to remember a real giant of ly and more safely, bolster childcare,
ment that no more than 25 percent of the American working people, and that and help more people get connected to
one county can be put into the CRP. is Richard Trumka, the head of the the internet during this time when we
Even in doing that—we have counties AFL–CIO, who is somebody who got up had to experience so much social
in southern Iowa that have 25 percent every single morning thinking about distancing, and much more.
of their land in CRP—and we know how to make life better for working That plan was a victory. It was a vic-
even there that with the limit of 25 people in America. tory for our families, for our workers,
percent, we still have lost a lot of He was passionate about it. He was a for small businesses, for communities,
small business people who work with fellow Marylander. We are going to and for the country. And while we
farmers, and we ruin the small commu- miss him, but I know that we will con- know we have more work to do to de-
nities of States that have that prob- tinue to be inspired by his example and feat the Delta variant of the virus,
lem. his understanding that when working today, more than 70 percent of the
So I would be praising these efforts if people ban together to form a union, adult population has gotten at least
this is what the administration was that is the best way for them to be able one shot of the COVID–19 vaccine. And
satisfied with, but, instead, they have to bargain for better wages and better last quarter, our economy grew at an
these proposals to take productive benefits and a better retirement and a annualized rate of 61⁄2 percent, and our
farmland out of production and putting better life. gross domestic product rose for the
our competitors in a financial advan- So I know that we will all carry on in first time from the beginning of the
tage. his memory. And as we take up this pandemic to the point where it had
These ideas also make it harder for bill to modernize our infrastructure, it been before that started.
new and beginning farmers to compete was something that he worked with us Thanks to the American Rescue Plan
on rental rates and gain access to on to ensure that as we modernize our and the resilience of the American peo-
land—another lesson we learned in the infrastructure, we also create good- ple, we are building back from this cri-
years ‘13, ‘14, and ‘15. We changed it in paying jobs. And I do think that this sis. But while building back is good, it
the 2018 farm bill, but what we learned bill will modernize our infrastructure is not good enough. As President Biden
in ‘13, ‘14, and ‘15, is when the Govern- and generate millions of good-paying has said, we need to not just build back
ment is paying more for farmers to jobs for the American people. but build back better. And building
take their land out of production than INFRASTRUCTURE back better means not only growing
is the going rate for cash rent in those Mr. President, it was just about 6 our economy bigger and faster but pro-
areas, when the government becomes months ago that I came to the floor to viding for more inclusive growth and
an unfair competitor and pays more, urge my Senate colleagues to heed the more shared prosperity. We cannot ac-
then the farmer landlords put their call of the American people and pass cept an economy where the already-
land in the CRP. Then those farmers the American Rescue Plan. At that rich grow ever richer while everyone
that were farming that land can’t farm time, the country was being ravaged by else is running in place or falling be-
it anymore because they can’t afford to the COVID–19 pandemic. The economy hind. A rising tide must lift all boats,
compete with what the Government is was in a slump. The country was hurt- not just the yachts.
paying. ing, and the American people were President Biden has laid out two im-
Now, there is a limit that cash rent hurting. portant pieces to advance the better
from the Government can’t be more The American Rescue Plan was de- part of the Build Back Better agenda.
than 80 percent of the average cash signed to accelerate the deployment of One is the American Jobs Plan, and the
rent in a particular county. So we have vaccines to defeat the pandemic, to ex- other is the American Families Plan.
kind of overcome that problem. But if tend a hand to those who have been Both of these plans, and more, are key
you pay farmers now to put 30 percent hardest hit, and to boost an economic to building an economy that works for
of the land out of production, you are comeback. We knew we had to be bold, everyone and not just those who are al-
going to lose a lot of farmers that are we had to be quick, and we had to be ready at the top.
cash renters, and we shouldn’t be hav- decisive in our actions or risk a drawn The bipartisan infrastructure plan
ing the Government be an unfair com- out recovery and a weakened public that we are considering now contains
petitor against the farmers that pay health response. many elements of the Biden American
cash rent. That legislation, the American Res- Jobs Plan. And while I wish it included
So these farmers understand how cue Plan, promised immediate action even more, it is a very important start,
conservation and sustainable agri- to meet the urgency of the moment, and I strongly support it.
culture affects productivity and gener- and that is exactly what it did. Thanks And I appreciate the bipartisan co-
ational prosperity. It is important for to the American Rescue Plan, we jump- operation that helped advance this
us to leave the land better than we started the deployment of the plan, including the efforts of the Pre-
found it for our children and grand- coronavirus vaccines in faster and fair- siding Officer. These combined efforts
children. er ways, distributed around the coun- have produced a plan that will make
So far the Biden administration has try. Thanks to the American Rescue key investments in virtually every
said their 30 by 30 plan focuses on vol- Plan, millions of American households part of our infrastructure.
untary measures. Well, farmers can received a new round of direct pay- It will include investments in our
make a choice to do it or not, but to ments, bringing their total relief pay- transit systems and railways and help
get to 440 million additional acres in ment—including the December relief repair our roads and bridges and tun-
conservation, you would be foolish to bill—up to $2,000 per person. nels and more. It makes the largest in-
think that voluntary measures are The American Rescue Plan also ex- vestment in clean drinking water and
going to get to the goal this adminis- panded the child tax credit to cut child wastewater infrastructure in American
tration wants. poverty nearly in half this year, with history. And, very importantly, this
Instead of focusing on taking more millions of American families receiving legislation includes essential invest-
land out of production agriculture, up to $300 each month for each child. ments to build the backbone of the
let’s work on a strategy that allows And because of the American Rescue modern 21st century economy, includ-
farmers to continue to farm their land Plan, State and local governments are ing funds to expand broadband so we
while improving environmental out- receiving the direct funding they need can bridge the digital divide and funds
comes. to start building out our clean energy
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
to keep frontline workers on the job
I yield the floor. and continue essential benefits to lift grid and the deployment of electric
REMEMBERING RICHARD TRUMKA up our communities. charging stations.
Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. President, I And thanks to the American Rescue I was proud to work with my col-
came to the floor today to make re- Plan, we secured Federal funds to keep league and friend from Maryland, Sen-
marks in support of the bipartisan in- restaurants and small businesses ator CARDIN, to secure some key ele-
frastructure modernization plan. But afloat, assist children with disabilities, ments that will directly support our
before I do that, I do want to take a get our kids back in school more quick- home State of Maryland and the people
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5907
who live there. I would like to take a 2015, we were pleased to secure $900 West Baltimore apart. Developers
moment to discuss the impact of this million in Federal funds for the Balti- started dividing up the community to
legislation here in Maryland, starting more Red Line project. make room for the highway, residents
with the funds that it provides to re- But then something happened. The were evicted from their homes, busi-
pair and restore our roads, our bridges, Maryland Governor pulled the plug on nesses were shut down, and a Black
and our tunnels. the entire Red Line project, turning community was split down the middle
Under this plan, the State of Mary- down the jobs and improved transpor- by that ‘‘highway to nowhere.’’ It is es-
land will receive $4.1 billion for Federal tation network for the Baltimore area. timated that 971 houses and 62 busi-
highways and $409 million for bridge re- Other cities and regions around the nesses were destroyed, and over 1,500
placement and repairs over the next 5 country were celebrating when they residents were displaced.
years. These funds will be absolutely got those funds instead of Baltimore. And that has been the story of sev-
vital as we work to restore 273 bridges Senator CARDIN and I have not given eral other Federal infrastructure
and over 2,000 miles of Maryland high- up. And while the Federal Government projects from the 1960s, projects that
ways that are in poor condition and in cannot, by itself, bring this project on- too often place pavement over people. I
desperate need of repair. line, this bill states that the Federal am pleased that this bipartisan plan
This plan also makes a historic in- Government is still a willing partner makes at least an initial down pay-
vestment in public transit and rail sys- on the Red Line when State and local ment for the first time to put Federal
tems in Maryland and the DMV area. officials signal that they are ready and dollars toward removing harmful infra-
Maryland will receive $1.7 billion over 5 willing to move forward again. structure projects like the ‘‘highway to
years to improve public transportation At the end of the day, the transpor- nowhere’’ so we can reconnect these
options across our entire State. tation investments made in this bill communities and make them whole.
And this legislation will make an im- will facilitate people and products This provision was based off a pilot
portant down payment on our Amtrak moving more quickly throughout their program I authored in 2019. I want to
passenger rail systems by addressing regions and throughout the country. It thank my colleagues, Senator CARDIN
the big repair backlog along Amtrak’s invests in airports and ports, including and Senator CARPER, for helping make
Northeast Corridor and by supporting $17 billion in ports like the Port of Bal- this vision a reality, and President
projects like the B&P Tunnel in Balti- timore and others around the country. Biden for including it as part of his
more, which is used by 9 million trav- This funding will benefit our port, American Jobs Plan. While we didn’t
elers every year but has faced chal- the Port of Baltimore, which is a key get the full amount of funds that we
lenges of structural deterioration and asset in our State and a powerful en- would like, this is a very important
fire safety concerns for far too long. gine for economic and job growth. It is first step.
Restoring this tunnel could slash the currently a hub for 15,000 jobs, with As we dismantle some of the harmful
time it takes to get from Baltimore to room for growth that can be fueled by legacy from the 1960s and 20th century
Washington down to just 30 minutes this bill. projects, we must build out and meet
and create 30,000 jobs. And it is a shin- I was pleased to join others in wel- the new needs for the 21st century, like
ing example of the type of projects that coming our Secretary of Transpor- universal, affordable access to high-
could be funded by this bill and we ex- tation, Pete Buttigieg, to Baltimore speed internet.
pect will be funded by this bill. just last week where he underscored
I am very pleased that Maryland will
As you know, we are not just talking the Department’s commitment to in-
receive a minimum of $100 million from
about heavy rail. This plan also au- vesting in our ports and the men and
this legislation to help provide
thorizes transit monies and, impor- women who work there. This legisla-
broadband coverage across the State,
tantly, it continues the $150 million an- tion helps us make good on that com-
including providing access to the at
nual Federal contribution to the Wash- mitment.
least 148,000 Marylanders who cur-
ington area Metro system, known as I partnered with colleagues over the
rently lack it—they are not con-
WMATA. We call it the Nation’s Metro years to secure over $500 million in
nected—and it would provide over 1
system. Federal funds for that port, including
This bill will extend the Federal au- million Marylanders access to the af-
funds to dredge channels in the Chesa-
thorization of $150 million for another 8 fordability connectivity benefit plan to
peake Bay and the Baltimore Harbor so
years. This is especially important help lower income families afford
that they are deep enough to accommo-
since that authorization has now ex- internet access. It doesn’t do you much
date the biggest ships.
pired. It is also important because this Speaking of the Chesapeake Bay, good to be connected to the internet if
new version includes provisions to every Marylander knows that the you can’t afford to use it.
strengthen WMATA’s inspector gen- health of the bay is deeply bound to This bill also will make important
eral’s authority in order to improve Maryland’s local economy and Mary- progress, a first step, toward building
oversight and passenger safety. It is a land’s environmental well-being, and I out clean energy grid and a network of
big win for passengers and transit em- am pleased that we secured $238 million charging stations to facilitate long-dis-
ployees alike, and I am delighted to see in funding for the EPA Chesapeake Bay tance travel and provide convenient
that 8-year authorization in this bill. Program to help us meet the pollution charging options for electric vehicles.
That is good news for this part of the reduction targets that are spelled out In short, and for all of these reasons,
region and for this part of Maryland in the most recent multistate Chesa- this bipartisan bill is an important
that is covered by WMATA, but in the peake Bay agreement as part of this step to helping us build back better
Baltimore area, many residents don’t legislation. and stronger than before the pandemic.
have easy access to accessible, afford- While this legislation provides im- That work starts here with this bill,
able transit that can get them where portant investments to modernize the and I strongly support it. But while
they need to go around the city or the infrastructure for this century, we, the that work starts here, it does not stop
region when they need to go there. Federal Government, should also take or end here.
That is why we also secured a provision responsibility to help eliminate some To pass this legislation and then call
in this bill to keep alive future Federal of the past projects that, rather than it quits would be to leave a big part of
funding for the Baltimore Red Line helping unite communities, divide our job undone. We still have urgent
Metro system. them and harm them. And there is no work to do in our mission to enact all
This is a project that had been years clearer example of such a project than of President Biden’s Build Back Better
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
in the making, and, if completed, what is known as the ‘‘highway to no- agenda and address the profound chal-
would boost jobs and economic growth, where’’ in West Baltimore. lenges facing our communities that
reduce travel times in the Baltimore As many Marylanders know, the have been exacerbated by this pan-
region, alleviate congestion, and re- ‘‘highway to nowhere’’ was a project demic.
duce air pollution. The Maryland dele- conceived in the 1960s as a way to link While this bill provides important
gation fought for years to get this Baltimore with the growing U.S. Inter- downpayments in many areas, it does
project to the front of the line, and, in state Highway System. Instead, it tore not do everything we need to do. That
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S5908 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
is especially true when it comes to in- statements made by the majority lead- from them driving on the roads. The
frastructure in the area of clean en- er earlier today on this Senate floor, rest of us do. Anybody who puts gaso-
ergy. We need to make sure we take up and he made those after President line in their car pays the gas tax. It
the other big pieces of the clean energy Biden, this morning, signed another ex- goes to the highway trust fund. It goes
agenda in President Biden’s American pensive Executive order relating to cli- to repair damage done to the roads.
Jobs Plan and other proposals that mate change. We are in a debate over infrastruc-
many of us have put forward here in The President at the time said it was ture. Electric vehicles, no gas tax—
this body, including the clean energy his goal of making half of all new cars that is the ordinary source of funding
standard, including a clean energy ac- emission-free in less than a decade. In to do repair of our roads and our high-
celerator financing system, and many practice, that means making half of all ways.
other provisions, in order for us to be new cars electric. Now, even though a Tesla puts as
true to the science and really confront Well, after the President signed his much wear and tear on the road as a
the climate crisis that is upon us. Executive order, the majority leader Ford Focus, the Tesla driver pays next
And as we take those next steps to came to the floor, and he talked about to nothing to fix the roads. They con-
fully modernized our physical infra- his own plans to give more of American tribute nothing to the highway trust
structure, we also have to dramatically taxpayer dollars to the manufacturers fund—one more Democrat giveaway to
expand opportunities for every child and purchasers of electric vehicles. the rich.
and every family and every worker in He said: Electric vehicle owners don’t need
America. Much of that is laid out in [W]e hope to add large parts of the plan. our tax dollars. They have enough.
President Biden’s American Families Well, where does he want to add it? They should pay fair share for the use
Plan, including universal access to Well, he wants to add it to the reckless and abuse that they do to the roads on
early education so every single child, Democrat tax-and-spending plan. which they drive.
regardless of ZIP Code, has a chance The American taxpayers are already That is why I have introduced legis-
and a good start in life; making work- giving billions and billions of taxpayer lation called the ELITE Act. It stands
force training more affordable and col- dollars to electric vehicle manufactur- for End Lavish Incentives to Electric
lege more affordable, whether it is 2 ers and owners. Electric vehicle mak- Vehicles. We need to make sure to end
years of community colleges or more. ers have been given free tax dollars for these incentives to electric vehicles.
And we also have to make sure that 30 years. The truth is, electric car buy- The bill would end the billion-dollar
we continue to provide support for fam- ers don’t need more taxpayer money. giveaways to electric vehicle makers.
ilies in the form of affordable childcare According to the Manhattan Insti-
They have plenty of their own.
and, very importantly, extend the child Today, the market for electric vehi- tute, my bill would actually save tax-
tax credit payments that so many fam- cles is very well established. There are payers $20 billion. At a time when mid-
ilies are now receiving up to $300 a more than a million electric vehicles dle-class families are hurting from in-
month. That ends at the end of this on the road today. They are being flation caused by Democrat spending,
year if we don’t extend it. made by everyone: General Motors, it is unconscionable that Democrats
While it is always a good thing to re- Mercedes-Benz, U.S. manufacturers, want to raise taxes to give more hand-
duce child poverty in America—and foreign manufacturers. They are being outs to the rich. It is certainly bad eco-
that reduces it by about half—that made all around the world. nomics, and it is bad news for hard-
would only be true to the end of this In fact, the U.S. Energy Information working American taxpayers.
year. We need to finish the job and Administration projects that sales of Rather than increasing the give-
keep going. light-duty electric vehicles is going to aways, we should be bringing them to
We also need to reduce the costs that reach 4 million by the year 2025. Elec- an end. We should stop this wasteful
are squeezing the pocketbooks of every tric vehicle makers are doing just fine. waste of taxpayer dollars. Any waste of
American family. We need to reduce They are also receiving free money taxpayer dollars is wrong, and this is
the skyrocketing costs of prescription from just about every State. So who certainly a case where taxpayer dollars
drugs. We need to reduce the costs of benefits from these taxpayer handouts are not necessary to be spent.
childcare. We need to make sure that Thank you.
to electric vehicle makers and users?
I yield the floor.
families don’t have to spend more than Well, customers are usually wealthy. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
8.5 percent of their budget on their an- They don’t need more money. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
nual healthcare premiums. And we Now, seniors on fixed incomes, cer- pore. The clerk will call the roll.
need to provide more security for ev- tainly in Wyoming, are not trading in The bill clerk proceeded to call the
erybody, including our seniors, by ex- their cars for expensive electric vehi- roll.
panding Medicare coverage to cover cles. Middle-class families who are try- Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam Presi-
dental and vision and hearing needs. ing to make ends meet are dealing with dent, I ask unanimous consent that the
Those are just some of the additional inflation that is hitting them every order for the quorum call be rescinded.
things that we need to do as part of the day under the Biden economy. They The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem-
American Families Plan and as part of are not going out to buy expensive new pore. Without objection, it is so or-
passing the overall Build Back Better electric vehicles. Seniors and middle- dered.
agenda. class families are hurting right now be- The Senator from Connecticut.
I look forward to working with my cause of inflation hitting them when REMEMBERING RICHARD TRUMKA
colleagues to do all of that. But every they buy gas, when they buy groceries, Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Before I begin
journey begins with a big step, and this when they buy other goods. And this is, the remarks that brought me here
is a very important big step forward on of course, triggered by massive Demo- today, I want to say a word about Rich-
that Build Back Better agenda. crat spending, including the borrowing ard Trumka, a hero to all of us who
So I am pleased to join many of my and spending that has occurred under care about working people and a good
colleagues, and I urge my colleagues to the last coronavirus—the so-called friend to many of us.
support this bipartisan infrastructure coronavirus relief bill. I am proud to call him a friend and
modernization bill as part of a very im- So Democrats aren’t looking out for proud to have been with him as an ally
portant first step to implement the them under the proposal. Oh, no. in causes and principles that are so im-
Build Back Better agenda and make Nearly 80 percent of tax credits for portant to the present of America and
sure that we truly build an economy electric vehicles go to households that
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
the future of America. I am proud to
that works for every American. earned at least $100,000 a year. Let me have been with him on picket line and
I yield the floor. repeat that. Nearly 80 percent of the platform, to have stood with him and
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- tax credits for electric vehicles go to behind him in supporting the rights of
pore. The Senator from Wyoming. households that have earned over working men and women to decent pay,
THE ECONOMY $100,000 a year, not to mention the fact fair treatment, and safety on the job.
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President. I that these drivers don’t pay for the use He came from America, and he never
come to the floor today to comment on and the abuse that occurs to the roads forgot where he came from. His life is
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5909
a lesson to so many of us who seek to and a strong support of a labor union He was with me on the Dream Act.
emulate his devotion to the public in- gave them a chance to earn a decent He understood, as the son of immi-
terest. living on a safe job and to raise a good grants, that immigrants are a vital
As a leader of the labor movement, family. part of this country, and they should
his life also reminds us that unions I reflect on that at this moment be- be for years to come.
count; that collective bargaining cause we have lost one of the pillars of Trumka was on the side of growing
means something; that the rights of the union movement in the United this American economy the right way,
working men and women succeed be- States of America, Richard Trumka. not from the top-down, not trickle-
cause they come together in unions, What an amazing biography. I used down, but from the bottom-up. He be-
and we ought to respect those unions to think back. I had heard he was the lieved, growing up in Pennsylvania and
and listen to them and champion their son of immigrants, and I knew that he the life that he led, that it was critical
right to represent fairly and freely and worked in the coal mines, but then I that we be there for families when they
to organize men and women on their knew he also went to law school, and made the basic decisions about whether
jobs. he became head of the AFL–CIO, the or not they were going to buy a new
So we will miss Richard Trumka, but largest gathering of unions in our home, buy a new car, be able to pay for
his legacy is going to be an inspiration country. their kids to go to college. He believed,
to all of us—certainly to me—in fight- If you ever met him, with his little as my old friend Paul Wellstone would
ing even harder for the great convic- brush mustache and the gruff way say, ‘‘We all do better when we all do
tions, sense of conscience, the wonder- about him, you knew he was no push- better.’’
ful heart and spirit that embraced peo- over. How could you be a pushover and He was a giant who led the labor
ple who disagreed with him. A life’s head of the United Mine Workers union movement in America through one of
lesson for all of us. which he was at a very early age? How the most challenging periods in our
(The remarks of Mr. BLUMENTHAL could you be a pushover and be head of history, when his leadership was need-
pertaining to the introduction of S. a national labor organization like the ed the most.
2654 are printed in today’s RECORD AFL–CIO? He did that, and he was an It is on us now—isn’t it?—those of us
under ‘‘Statements on Introduced Bills amazing advocate for the women and who think about Rich and what he said
and Joint Resolutions.’’) men whom he represented in the labor to us so many times privately, pub-
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- movement. licly. The responsibility that we have
pore. The assistant majority leader. I can’t even start to count the num-
is to stand up for the men and women
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, let ber of meetings that I attended with
who work in this country who don’t
me say a word of support for the Sen- Richard Trumka. When we wanted la-
bor’s voice, we called Richard Trumka, have a voice otherwise. Our responsi-
ator from Connecticut as well as the bility is to give those in the labor
Senator from New Jersey. I couldn’t and we knew that when that door was
closed, he was going to be brutally hon- movement the respect they deserve for
agree with them more. There is no rea- fighting for the right cause.
son why this information—full disclo- est with us. He would spend a few min-
utes thanking us, and then he would My wife Loretta and I send our con-
sure of this information—has not been dolences to Rich’s wife Barb and their
made known first to the families but spend the rest of the meeting telling
how we needed to do better: The work- son and family.
certainly to the people of this country I understand that he was with his
at this moment in history, 20 years ing families of America were expecting
us to stand up and fight for them. And grandson when he was stricken this
after that terrible tragedy. It is time morning. As a grandfather, I will tell
he took no prisoners when he went
for the truth to be known. you it is a happy moment when you are
I support your efforts completely, through the roster and the rollcall of
how people had voted and where they with your grandkids, and that is the
Senator BLUMENTHAL, and I will help way it should have been for Rich.
you in any way that I can. stood on union issues. It was an amaz-
ing performance by a man who had the President Trumka’s friends, his sis-
REMEMBERING RICHARD TRUMKA
credentials to deliver it, a man who ters and brothers in the labor move-
Madam President, when I grew up in ment, and to all the families to whom
was part of the labor movement from
East St. Louis, IL, I knew I was from a Rich Trumka devoted his life, they and
working in those coal mines, and a
railroad family because, well, both man who had developed the skills and we have lost a true champion.
Mom and Dad worked for the railroads. talents at law school and beyond to be America is better for Rich Trumka
I knew we had a pretty comfortable able to fight for those men and women. having lived and been part of fighting
life. I have come to learn that we It is stunning to think that we lost for those who worked to make America
weren’t by any means rich, but we did him today at age 72. That is way too a great nation.
well enough—two older brothers and young. He did such an amazing job as I yield the floor.
myself. I knew that my mom and dad the son of a coal miner himself. You The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. COR-
worked for a railroad, and eventually never had to ask ever which side Rich TEZ MASTO). The Senator from Massa-
all of us in the family did in some ca- Trumka was on—ever. chusetts.
pacity. I have got to be honest with you. Ms. WARREN. Madam President, I
I also knew that we were a union There are some people who are fighting am here to honor the memory of my
family, and I didn’t realize until much for causes in Washington, DC, because friend and the friend of every working
later in life a couple facts: No. 1, there there is a paycheck at the end of the person in America, Rich Trumka.
were a lot of families around us who day, but there are some people who are We lost Rich this morning, and all I
weren’t that lucky. We were fortunate fighting for causes who couldn’t give a kept thinking is the kind of man we
to be a union family. Secondly, what damn about a paycheck. They are there have lost and what that means to all of
the union did for my family in East St. because they believe it. Trumka was us.
Louis, IL, it did for millions of families one of those people. He was fighting for Rich was real. He was a third-genera-
across America throughout our his- working people across the United tion coal miner who rose to become the
tory. Those labor unions could stand up States night and day, endlessly, 24/7. president of the United Mine Workers
and fight for people who couldn’t fight He was on the side of workers who and the president of the American Fed-
alone and have a chance to win. built America’s roads and bridges and eration of Labor. Rich was also a hun-
I have a healthy respect for unions. I of the men and women who were not in ter, and he had the patience of a hun-
believe that, more than any other force ter—the planning, the long hours,
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
the labor movement but trying to be-
in American history, the American come part of it. He fought for the men sometimes long days, but always on his
labor movement, the union movement, and women who kept our powerplants target. And Rich was a fighter. He was
created the middle class in America. I running and our schools, homes, offices relentless. When Rich got in a fight,
am living proof of that. My mom and running. Rich never gave up. Might not plan
dad had eighth grade educations. My He always asked for one basic thing: every one of those fights, at least not
mother was an immigrant to this coun- respect and fairness for working men the first time out, but he never gave
try. But hard work, a good work ethic, and women. up.
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S5910 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
From his growl to his laughter, Rich ing field, to see workers be able to I have heard from State and local
was real all the way through. He lived work in safe conditions, to see workers leaders who are frustrated by the strict
his heart every single day. He was al- get a chance to build some real secu- rules on the funding. They have needs,
ways Rich. rity for themselves and for their fami- but somehow the limitations that Con-
Back during the financial crash in lies. gress has put on their access to the
2008, 2009, we were trying to build an Rich measured everything that came money are stifling their ability to deal
idea for a consumer agency to make his way against that test: What is it with priorities that they have at the
sure that people wouldn’t get cheated going to do for working people? And if local level.
next time around the way they had you could show him this is going to They are able to use these dollars on
been, and what led up to that crash. help working people, Rich was in it all some of the tough financial dealings of
Rich was there, and he was there be- the way. the pandemic, but not all. One of the
cause he had seen firsthand what it is During COVID–19, Rich was here back greatest needs they have is to deal
like. He had seen his brothers and sis- and forth and back and forth, trying to with infrastructure. When folks
ters in the labor movement, who had push this government to get more hunkered down at home to stop the
lost their homes, had lost their jobs, workers’ safety in place, more regula- spread of COVID–19, State and local
and seen their pensions disappear be- tions that were going to protect people transportation budgets took a big hit.
cause a handful of greedy banks and so people weren’t out there dying try- As a result, many infrastructure
feckless regulators had permitted the ing to do their jobs. projects ended up on the chopping
rich and powerful to take over our gov- Rich was there, trying to protect the block.
ernment and to take over our economy, economic security of workers, people In 2020, States and cities across the
and they brought that economy to its who had been laid off, people who had country delayed or canceled transpor-
knees. It fell hard on working people, been shut out of the workplace. It was tation improvement projects totaling
and Rich was determined that would Rich who helped lead the charge, watch about $12 billion. Many of these
not happen again. out for working families. projects are still in limbo. Without suf-
He didn’t need the glory. He didn’t
I remember the day when President ficient funding, there is no timeline
need the spotlight, but, boy, he was in
Obama announced that they were when that planned construction might
there pushing in the way that only
ready to lay out the first—first out- actually begin.
Rich Trumka could do it.
lines of what the financial response For months now, there has been a
Rich understood that when we put
should look like, what kind of laws we clear need to bridge the gap. Back in
workers at the center of our policies,
should pass here in Congress in order then families win; when we put work- March, nearly three dozen organiza-
to make sure that this didn’t come ers at the center of our policies, then tions wrote to Treasury Secretary
again. And there were a bunch of folks our economy wins; when we put work- Yellen urging her to make transpor-
who were invited to the White House. I ers at the center of our policies, then tation infrastructure an eligible ex-
was invited. It was my first time there. our Nation wins. That is how Rich pense. They said the pandemic had im-
I am looking around—wow. lived, and that is how Rich died. pacted every State and community dif-
And a bunch of people crowded, and To Rich’s family, I am so sorry for ferently, and they wanted and asked
all we cared about was: Hand us the your loss. For Rich’s brothers and sis- for flexibility. They said that flexi-
list. I want to see what is on it. Is there ters in the labor movement, I am so bility will be critical to ensuring funds
a consumer agency on this? sorry for your loss. Rich is gone, and are used expeditiously and with max-
And we get in our assigned seats, and that is a hard blow to you and to our imum impact.
I am sitting on these tiny, little chairs, whole Nation, and this is the moment I have gotten the same sort of re-
jammed together so they can get as to honor Rich’s legacy not just with quests from the people I represent in
many people as possible. And Rich, who words, but by staying in the fights that Texas, so I drafted an amendment to
was a man of considerable size, is sit- Rich led us on, by staying in the fights this legislation to provide that flexi-
ting directly behind me, kind of relentlessly for workers’ rights. bility. Thankfully, I found a partner in
mashed up against the back of my We are going to miss Rich. Senator ALEX PADILLA of California,
chair and leaning out, and we were on I yield the floor. and our bipartisan amendment, which
the aisle, both of us, and furiously The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- will, I believe, when we vote on it, re-
going through it to see what is there. ator from Texas. ceive broad bipartisan support. I am
And, sure enough, the White House INFRASTRUCTURE hopeful we can vote on that amend-
had said there is going to be a con- Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, ment sometime later today.
sumer agency, or at least that is what since last March, State and local gov- This amendment puts decision-mak-
they are going to ask for. ernments have received about a half ing power at the local level and gives
So I am smiling. I turn and I say: See trillion dollars in Federal funding to these leaders more flexibility to invest
this? You see this? bolster their fight against COVID–19. in the most critical projects for their
And he said: Yeah. Leaders in my State have used this communities, whatever those might be.
And I said: You know, it makes me a funding to cover the mounting costs of In some places, that may still mean
little nervous for you to be right be- expenses at the start of the pandemic. pandemic-related expenses.
hind me here. It enabled them to stand up testing, in- The Delta variant has thrown us a
And he leaned over and he whispered crease bed space for ICUs and hospitals, curve ball, to be sure, and is surging in
in my ear and he said: I will always and provide grants to small businesses some places, and leaders in those areas
have your back, Elizabeth. without the fear of cutting other crit- are going to continue to use this fund-
And I reached back, patted him on ical services. ing to bolster the fight against the
the leg. As time has gone on, the battle virus.
And it was true. I never got in a fight against this virus has shifted, and so But this change doesn’t interfere
for working people that Rich Trumka have the needs of my State and our with those plans in any way, because
wasn’t already there, that he was al- local communities. Many simply don’t what Senator PADILLA and I propose is
ready in that fight, that he already saw have the continued need or even oppor- to make that strictly an option—not a
what was happening to working people tunity under the guardrails Congress mandate, but an option—so leaders at
on the ground, and what it was that we imposed to spend this money within the State and local level can decide
needed our government to do by way of what fits their particular need.
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
the set timeline.
response. That is especially true in some of the It simply gives States and localities
Rich fought for decades for working rural parts of my State or places where that aren’t facing a mountain of
people. It was his true north. He never COVID numbers are, thankfully, low. COVID-related expenses the ability to
varied from that. He never wanted any- Qualifying pandemic-related expenses invest this funding in—you guessed it—
thing for himself. All he wanted to do are few and far between in some of infrastructure projects, something that
was to see workers get more power so those places, as strange as that may the bill we are currently considering is
that they were playing on a level play- sound here in Washington, DC. designed to do.
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5911
But one of the things I have noticed put this funding toward its intended His family is in my prayers as we re-
since I have been in the Senate is, fre- purpose, the very purpose we are debat- member and honor his legacy as a vital
quently, we will appropriate money, ing right now, to both alleviate the leader in the labor movement and in
and it takes not just months, but some- burden of the pandemic on cities and the larger quest to make us a more just
times years to get to the intended ben- States, as well as to refurbish and ex- society, providing opportunity for all
eficiary. I know the Presiding Officer pand our critical infrastructure, in- of us.
has seen with me the fact that we ap- cluding broadband. HEALTHCARE
propriated $46 billion to prevent evic- So this isn’t just a win for our local Madam President, I am back on the
tions for people that can’t pay their communities; it is a win for taxpayers floor of the Senate because I believe
rent, and yet that money has simply too. that healthcare is a human right, and
not made its way to the intended bene- Here is something that may be a lit- it is certainly something that the rich-
ficiaries in a timely and expeditious tle unexpected: The cost of this amend- est Nation on the planet can afford to
way. Hopefully, that will improve. But ment is zero. It is nothing because the provide for all of its citizens.
this is money that is available imme- money has already been appropriated I have come to the Senate floor with
diately to our local and State officials and already been scored on previous the same message week after week be-
to use now. COVID–19-relief acts. All it does is it cause I think it is vital and important.
This infrastructure bill, to the credit removes the handcuffs from the local With all of the incentives on the table
of the bipartisan infrastructure negoti- jurisdictions and allows them to meet for my home State of Georgia to ex-
ating committee, I think, has some their needs based on their best judg- pand Medicaid, it is past time for Geor-
good, very positive elements to it. But ment. So this does not increase the def- gia and the other 11 nonexpansion
the truth is, what we are doing in this icit and does not add to the debt. States to finally expand Medicaid.
bill probably will not flow quickly to This amendment has been endorsed My home State of Georgia has the
local jurisdictions in our States, like by more than two dozen organizations opportunity to provide affordable
the money that they already have but representing a diverse set of stake- healthcare to 646,000 people who could
are handcuffed from using for infra- holders. The National Governors Asso- qualify. Instead of allowing Georgians
structure purposes. ciation—which, as you know, is a bi- to continue to suffer and be cut off
Whether it is widening highways, partisan group of Governors—has en- from care while politicians are playing
constructing bridges, extending rail- dorsed this amendment. The U.S. Con- games, I introduced the Medicaid Saves
ways, or expanding access to ference of Mayors and a long list of or- Lives Act. This is legislation that
broadband, the list of new qualifying ganizations have thrown their support would provide people in States like
expenses is a long one. As I said, there behind this commonsense change. mine that have not expanded Medicaid
is simply no requirement that they This will give communities in Texas an alternative path to health coverage.
spend a penny on infrastructure if they and Nevada and all the other States In the richest country in the world in
don’t want to or if they think they the ability to use pandemic-relief fund- 2021 and amid a once-in-a-century pan-
need to hold more of this money that ing when and where it is needed most. demic that has both illuminated and
the Federal Government has appro- They know the needs of their com- exacerbated the consequences of long-
priated in reserve. All we are doing is munities far better than we do sitting standing disparities in healthcare, too
simply giving them the freedom to use here in Washington, DC. And I hope many Georgians are still struggling to
these Federal dollars on these projects this amendment will be adopted to give get what they deserve and what is al-
if that makes sense for these commu- these leaders greater decision-making ready available if we would just expand
nities. flexibility. Medicaid.
Senator PADILLA and I have worked I want to thank Senators on both And for far too many, access to af-
with our colleagues to make some sides of the aisle who have worked with fordable, reliable, and continuous
changes that support a vast array of in- Senator PADILLA and myself on this healthcare is quite literally the dif-
frastructure projects. We added addi- amendment. And, later today, I hope ference between life and death.
tional qualifying infrastructure we will receive broad, bipartisan sup- We do policy here, but we can only do
projects to ensure unique, but no less port for this amendment. And I antici- policy in an effective manner when we
important, needs in the various States pate we will, because I know the cir- keep in front of us the human faces be-
are eligible. cumstances in my State dealing with hind the policy we would create or the
The White House initially raised con- my constituents is really no different consequences for real people when we
cerns about the amount of funding that when it comes to giving flexibility and fail to do what we were sent here to do.
we might authorize under our amend- access to those Federal COVID–19 dol- So I want to share the story and re-
ment, and worried it would take away lars, that the story is probably largely member the life of a Georgian who
from necessary COVID–19 expenses. the same in whatever State you rep- fought to expand Medicaid. She and
Well, Senator PADILLA and I have resent. other Georgians live in the coverage
worked with the White House, and I be- I yield the floor. gap. She advocated for herself and oth-
lieve we have come up with a good- I suggest the absence of a quorum. ers like her.
faith resolution of their concerns and The PRESIDING OFFICER. The This is Lorie Davis and her husband
our interest in getting this money to clerk will call the roll. Bob, both from Covington, GA. Lorie
be available. The legislative clerk proceeded to was one of our heroes. She spent much
Under our amendment, up to 30 per- call the roll. of her life serving her neighbors as a
cent of the unspent COVID–19 funds Mr. WARNOCK. Madam President, I trauma nurse at the Grady Memorial
would be available to the States and ask unanimous consent that the order Hospital. I have been to that hospital
local government for infrastructure for the quorum call be rescinded. time and time again as a pastor and
projects. It is difficult to quantify ex- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without now as a Senator. I have seen firsthand
actly how much of the money will be objection, it is so ordered. the important work that they do.
spent on infrastructure projects be- REMEMBERING RICHARD TRUMKA She was a trauma nurse there at
cause, as I said, the States and local Mr. WARNOCK. Madam President, Grady, and while working as a
governments are not required to spend before I begin, I want to take a mo- healthcare professional in Georgia,
a penny of that money on infrastruc- ment to pause and remember an effec- Lorie was diagnosed with pelvic adhe-
ture. tive leader in the labor movement and sive disease. The chronic pain associ-
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
But should they wish to do so, and a real champion for working families, ated with this condition eventually
should local conditions permit, this Richard Trumka. pushed her to leave the nursing profes-
will open up tens of millions of dollars Richard Trumka believed in the dig- sion.
for infrastructure projects in commu- nity of work, and he also believed in After that, while also working to
nities across the country. This can help the dignity of workers and that they manage her own chronic condition,
critical projects that were delayed by should share in the prosperity they Lorie struggled to maintain steady em-
the pandemic get back on track and provide for others. ployment in the restaurant industry—a
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S5912 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
healthcare professional no longer able She is not the only one. There are but there are very, very important and
to serve in her profession as a trauma millions of hard-working people all interesting additional use cases that
nurse, working as hard as she can, as across our country who went to school, are occurring.
hard as she could in the restaurant in- played by the rules, and they don’t One of the things that I am fas-
dustry. have access to lifesaving care, costing cinated by is the potential to have this
She believed in working. She under- them their lives and costing us more dispersed mechanism for validating
stood the dignity of work. But while money. ownership. Think of all the amount of
working, she could not afford health So we need to pass the Medicaid time and money and effort we spend on
insurance. She made too much to qual- Saves Lives Act. It is not just the all kinds of transactions where, ulti-
ify for Medicaid but not enough to af- name of a bill; it is actually true, Med- mately, we are trying to validate some-
ford other insurance plans. And while icaid saves lives. one’s ownership: the title to their
in this limbo, Lorie had to wait many Until we get this done, I am going to house, the title to their car, your own-
years for her Social Security disability keep lifting up Lorie’s story and the ership of the stocks that you bought
claim to be adjudicated. She finally stories of others who would benefit from your broker.
qualified for benefits in 2017, but even from this lifesaving legislation. We have developed very expensive,
then, she was unable to qualify for Thank you. actually, and sometimes time-con-
Medicaid because of her and Bob’s com- I yield the floor. suming processes by which we do this.
bined marital income. This left Lorie The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. This can all be done on a blockchain.
in the coverage gap, unable to purchase WARNOCK). The Senator from Pennsyl- This can all be done almost instantly,
coverage because it was financially out vania. at almost no cost, and I think that this
of reach. H.R. 3684 is the direction that we are going to be
Lorie went without health insurance Mr. TOOMEY. Mr. President, I want heading in.
for years, relying on her own medical to address an opportunity that we have That is just one example. There is
training and free healthcare clinics to in this body to fix a flaw in a provision another whole category that is fas-
treat her chronic condition—a trauma in this infrastructure bill. cinating to me, which is what people
nurse who had cared for others, unable I want to thank my colleague from refer to as programmable money.
to receive any care. Oregon and our colleague from Wyo- Think about it, programmable
Then, in August of 2020, Lorie began ming. The three of us have been work- money; what is that? Well, here is a
feeling ill, and her condition got no- ing on this, and I really hope we get great example that we heard at our
ticeably worse. Fearful of costs, she de- this done. I am going to insist on hav- hearing from a witness who works for a
layed seeking healthcare. Unable to ing a vote on this. company that actually provides these
follow the advice that she, no doubt, Let me just give a little context here. kinds of services. But here is an exam-
had provided to other patients: Seek So we are all aware of this new cat- ple. You know, one of the things that
healthcare early. Many things are pre- egory of assets some describe as cur- has always been a challenge is, how do
ventable if you can get there earlier rencies, which are also called you ensure that, say, a person who has
rather than later. She was not able to cryptocurrencies. And this is a fas- a copyright is properly compensated
follow her own advice. But I want us to cinating development. Actually, some when that copyright is used in one
think about that. She put off seeking have been around for some time now, form or another?
the care she needed because she was but they have come into the public eye I used to have a restaurant. And
afraid she would not be able to afford in a much, much bigger way in recent when we played music in the back-
it. years—very recent years. ground to create a certain ambiance in
As Members of this body, we should And while sometimes we think of our restaurant, how do you make sure
be ashamed that in the richest Nation this as some kind of unit of value that that the people who have the copyright
in the world, a country with all of our is traded and has some pretty spectac- on those songs gets paid properly for
resources, with all of our medical tech- ular volatility sometimes, for me, that? I will tell you, it is a terrible sys-
nology, that some citizens would while that is very interesting, what is tem. It is completely arbitrary, and
choose not to seek treatment even much more interesting is the under- there is no precision to it. There is no
when they know better because they lying technology and what that might way to monitor it.
fear they cannot afford the pricetag of make possible. I am still trying to un- Well, how about an idea where you
lifesaving care. That is Lorie’s story. derstand. I am still on a steep learning have a programmable capability where,
The next month, in September of curve about all the possibilities of the if I listen to a music app on my iPhone,
2020, Lorie was admitted to the hos- distributed ledger technology, the for every second of a particular artist’s
pital with pneumonia. And while there, methodology by which music I listen to, it automatically
she learned, sadly, that she had lung cryptocurrencies can be exchanged sends a corresponding tiny fraction of
cancer, a treatable condition had she without an intermediary. There is no some currency to the person who owns
received an earlier diagnosis. bank that the money has to go that copyright? That is completely do-
Put together, it was too much. On through. able in the context of this kind of tech-
September 17, 2020, Lorie passed away. It is an amazing and fascinating nology.
This is the human face of our public technology where individuals scattered I just mention these two things just
policy. These are the tragic casualties around the globe actually validate the to provide a little, tiny glimpse and il-
of the games that politicians play. legitimacy of a transaction and it be- lustration of the kinds of amazing
As a pastor, I am praying for Lorie’s comes immutable. And there is a per- things that I think this underlying
family as they mourn her unspeakable manent record in some cases. There are technology is capable of, and it is like-
and, perhaps, unnecessary loss and the other models where it is different. But ly going to change the way we do an
legacy she left behind. this is an amazing technology. It has awful lot of things in the coming years.
As a Senator who believes that tremendous potential. I say that as background because in
healthcare is a human right, a sacred We had a hearing in the Banking this legislation, there is a very reason-
obligation, I refuse to stop fighting Committee just last week, at my re- able intent, but I think the drafting
until Georgians, like Lorie Davis, have quest—the chairman agreed to a hear- doesn’t get it quite right. The intent is
access to the care that they need when ing—where we talked about some of to say: for those exchanges, for those
they need it. the use cases for this underlying tech- places where people go to buy and sell
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
Like Lorie, who advocated Members nology, and we heard some amazing cryptocurrencies—and there are cen-
of this body for healthcare during her things. tralized exchanges where that happens
lifetime, I am committed to gaining So the most common activity now is every day in huge, huge volumes—we
ground in this fight to improve access trading in these digital currencies, want to require these exchanges to
to healthcare for Georgians in every whether it is Bitcoin or Ethereum or have the same kind of reporting re-
corner of the State. She can no longer others. There are many, many of them. quirements that a conventional broker
speak. We must be her voice. And that is the biggest single activity, would have when a security is bought.
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5913
So, in other words, we want the folks opment of this technology, and that is pects of blockchain technologies—don’t
who run the exchange to report the what I am most concerned about. That even have the tax documents that they
name, some identifying number— is what I want to avoid. would have to file, normally, if they
maybe it is a Social Security number— This technology is very, very excit- were one of these big crypto exchanges.
the dollar amount. And all of this is be- ing. It has tremendous potential. And Now, the fact is, making changes in
cause people buying and selling these the last thing we should do is allow a both tech and tax policy is hard work
cryptocurrencies are generating cap- flawed drafting exercise to have this that takes time. When I wrote the
ital gains and losses. It is an asset. If chilling effect on the further develop- Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act
you sell it later after a gain, you ment of this technology. that ensured that the rules online and
should have to pay a capital gains tax I see the Senator from Oregon is here the rules offline would be the same, we
on that asset, depending on how long on the floor, and I want to thank him had hearings; we had debates; we fo-
you have held it. If you have lost for his leadership on this effort, for his cused on the issues and produced bipar-
money on it, then you ought to be able work. He and I, I think, have a very tisan legislation.
to take that loss against gains that similar way of viewing this. And if he The Senate is going to debate these
you may have elsewhere. would like to make some comments, I issues further in the months and years
It is completely reasonable to have a will yield some time to him. ahead. As the chairman of this com-
provision that requires the reporting of Mr. WYDEN. I thank my colleague, mittee, I am open to working with any-
the transaction. That, I think, is the and I will be brief. body who wants to show that tough, ef-
intent of this legislation. But, unfortu- As Senator TOOMEY has indicated, he fective tax enforcement and promoting
nately, the way it got drafted, to my and Senator LUMMIS and I have an innovation is not mutually exclusive.
reading, and to—I am certainly not amendment to the infrastructure bill Smart policy—smart targeted policy—
alone; I think this is almost univer- dealing with cryptocurrency and taxes. will get you both.
sally acknowledged—the language And I am going to go into some of the Our amendment simply says that no-
would impose this reporting require- philosophical underpinnings of what we body can use crypto to avoid paying
ment on people involved in the are doing, but I want to note some- the taxes they owe, and anybody acting
cryptocurrency world who don’t even thing at the outset. as a broker in the cryptocurrency in-
have the information about the person Our amendment, this bipartisan dustry must comply with reporting re-
making the purchase or the sale. amendment, ought to be accepted when quirements, the same as brokers in
So, for instance, it might very well the author of the underlying provision every other industry. That is because
be interpreted to impose this reporting has said publicly he will vote for it if they are brokers. They are not the peo-
requirement on the miners, the people the Senate gets a chance to vote, as ple who Senator TOOMEY and I have
who are involved in the arithmetic Senator TOOMEY and I have indicated. been concerned about with going to be
process by which you validate trans- So let me just outline a couple of swept up in this treatment of crypto
actions. They don’t even know the fundamental propositions about our exchanges and the like.
names. They have a numerical rep- proposal and start with one that ought We advocate a smart, targeted ap-
resentation of the transaction. They to bring the U.S. Senate together. Peo- proach and we make sure that report-
don’t know who is buying it. They have ple avoiding taxes they owe on money ing requirements, just like brokers in
no idea. They have no way of knowing. through cryptocurrencies is a serious every other industry, are complied
So it is not a reasonable—not an even issue. It is fundamentally unfair to with. That is the kind of policy in the
slightly reasonable burden to impose every working person whose taxes crypto area that lays the foundation
on them. come straight out of their paycheck. for future debates.
That is one little example of how Now, my view is the Senate needs to What Senator TOOMEY and I are
badly flawed this language is. It wasn’t make sure that new rules addressing doing is very focused in one specific
intended that way. The good news is, it this tax avoidance ensure that it is area: Making sure we come down hard
can be fixed. And Senator WYDEN and possible to run down the crooks, have on tax avoidance by brokers and people
Senator LUMMIS and I have come up strong tax enforcement, while leaving in crypto exchanges, but we also make
with language that fixes this problem. a clear field for an innovation here at sure we are not discouraging innova-
It would make sure that the reporting home. tion in other areas.
requirement on a centralized exchange, We want that innovation here. The This is going to be a debate that is
the folks running that who have this fact is, when you don’t innovate some- going to play out over the years, but
information, would, in fact, have to re- place, it goes somewhere else. We want when the author of the provision in the
port it. They don’t right now. There is it here at home. bipartisan proposal on crypto, the au-
no statute. There is no regulation that Without our amendment, this bipar- thor of the underlying provision in the
requires that. This would require the tisan amendment, it seems to us that legislation in front of us today, has
reporting. essentially the whole notion of dealing publicly said in the last few hours he
And the industry is fine with that. with tax avoidance somehow is going will vote for what Senator TOOMEY,
They recognize that they should have to get lost in approaches for the brick- Senator LUMMIS, and I have developed,
to report this. But they also recognize and-mortar rule. And, as I said, those we certainly ought to get a vote. My
that it should only be imposed on peo- rules run the very real risk of chilling own view is it ought to be accepted by
ple for whom it makes sense, right? innovation in the digital economy and this body.
The people who actually have that in- driving the core innovations in crypto I yield the floor.
formation. So our amendment address- to places far beyond the reach of the Mr. TOOMEY. Reclaiming my time.
es this. It fixes this. It solves this prob- U.S. Treasury and other law enforce- I want to thank my colleague from
lem. I think it achieves the intent. And ment. Oregon for his thoughtful leadership on
we are having a little trouble getting So two sentences about what we do in this.
the ability to offer this as an amend- our amendment: We want it stated the I thank the Senator from Wyoming.
ment here on the Senate floor on this tax enforcement rules should focus on Senator LUMMIS, is on her way down.
bill. the companies that deal with buying, She is going to join us, as she has been
I am not here to ask that we simply selling, and trading cryptocurrencies. an integral part of this effort to just
adopt it by acclamation. I welcome de- These rules don’t need to sweep up correct this.
bate and welcome a vote, but we ought other uses of blockchain technologies This is a big deal in a number of re-
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
to be able to have a vote. We abso- that have nothing to do with tax avoid- spects. I would point out—I want to
lutely should have this debate and have ance. stress, right now there is no statutory
a vote before we go ahead and impose Senator TOOMEY and I serve on the reporting requirement in this whole
this requirement. And if we were not to Senate Finance Committee. I am the space. There is no regulatory require-
adopt this amendment, then we could chair; Senator TOOMEY, a senior mem- ment. I don’t think you could have a
be doing a lot of damage. We could ber. We have been struck by how many regulatory requirement without a stat-
have a very chilling effect on the devel- people in that space—the various as- ute authorizing it.
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S5914 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
So this is a big deal. It would require Senator GRASSLEY so that we could guarantee survivors certain basic
the companies operating these ex- talk about our legislation that we are rights in the criminal justice system.
changes to report this financial infor- introducing this week, that would Unfortunately, we have a lot of other
mation so that it dramatically en- build upon our efforts to protect the States that have not followed suit and
hances the likelihood that capital survivors of sexual assault in the don’t have legislation that protects
gains taxes would be collected. This criminal justice system. survivors. That is why the bill that
provision scores as a source of revenue Unfortunately, I got delayed, but Senator GRASSLEY and I came to the
because it increases the likelihood of Senator GRASSLEY was here on the floor today to discuss is just so impor-
compliance. floor. I want to recognize all of his ef- tant.
I don’t know why anyone would ob- forts to address this critical issue, and The Survivors’ Bill of Rights in the
ject. I am not aware of any objection of appreciate, again, his willingness to States Act would establish a grant pro-
the substance of this on my side of the work with me. gram accessible to States that have in
aisle. I know Senator WYDEN has like- The effort to extend rights for sexual place a law which guarantees the
minded folks on his side of the aisle. assault survivors across the country is rights contained in the Sexual Assault
It is really important that we not critically important, and I am hopeful Survivors’ Rights Act. States could
overreach, that we not do this wrong. that when the bill that we introduced then use the funds to implement sur-
We have not gone through the ordinary gets to the floor, that all of our col- vivor rights, preserve sexual assault
process for developing tax legislation. leagues will join us in passing this bi- evidence collection kits, reduce the
Tax legislation is notoriously com- backlog of kits, and provide support for
partisan legislation.
plicated and difficult to get exactly I first became involved in the pre- victim services.
right and prone to unintended con- Now is the time to pass this legisla-
cursor to this legislation in 2015, when
sequences. tion. The risk of sexual assault and do-
a young woman named Amanda mestic violence has increased during
Normally, we have hearings in the Nguyen of the Rise organization con-
Finance Committee. We get input from this coronavirus pandemic. We can
tacted my office. She had been trav- look at any of the statistics and they
all kinds of experts. We make drafts. eling from office to office here in the
We circuit the drafts. It is a long proc- show us that.
Senate, trying to find somebody to lis- We need to ensure that States pro-
ess to make sure you get it right. This ten to her story. vide the same level of protection for
has gone through none of that, zero. Amanda is a survivor of sexual as- these survivors as they receive at the
What we are trying to do is say let’s sault, and she is a fierce advocate for Federal level. No survivor should be
restrict this to where it belongs, let’s change in the way our criminal justice compelled to bear the indignity of peti-
clean this up the best we can. system treats survivors. When she de- tioning law enforcement merely to en-
You know what? tailed her harrowing story of sexual as-
This space is changing. A year from sure that they are given a fair shake in
sault and subsequent interactions with the criminal justice process.
now, there will be new innovations we the criminal justice system, it was It is my hope that this legislation
haven’t thought of, that probably no- very clear something had to change. will lead to an increase in States pass-
body has thought of, and we will prob- Amanda described a system that fur- ing bills that protect survivors’ rights.
ably have to go back and revisit this. ther traumatized survivors and pro- Let’s again show survivors that Con-
What we wouldn’t want to do— vided scarce protection of their rights. gress is behind them and that we will
shouldn’t want to do—is have an overly Evidence of assaults was being de- stand up for their rights. Let’s pass the
broad mandate, a reporting require- stroyed without survivors even know- Survivors’ Bill of Rights in the States
ment on people who can’t possibly ing about it, and survivors were forced Act.
comply with it because they don’t have to periodically follow up with law en- Again, I want to thank Senator
the information. We wouldn’t want to forcement to preserve evidence of their GRASSLEY for all of his efforts. I hope
impose that and have a stifling impact assaults. together, with the support of other
on the development of a really, really The broken process that survivors sponsors in this body, that we can get
exciting and potentially powerful new were forced to endure resulted in a sys- this bill across the finish line.
technology. That is what this is about. tem where they were often revictim- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
As I said earlier, I am going to insist ized. This system forced survivors to ator from Rhode Island.
on having a vote on this. I don’t know confront the trauma of reliving their Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I
why we wouldn’t win by a big margin attacks each time they sought to pre- would like to ask unanimous consent
since, after all, we are just ensuring serve evidence or gather information to speak as if in morning business for,
that we get the intent of this legisla- about their cases. let’s say, 22 minutes.
tion rather than a miscarriage of it. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without
Working with Amanda, I introduced
As the Senator from Oregon pointed objection, it is so ordered.
the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights
out, Senator PORTMAN from Ohio, who U.S. SUPREME COURT
Act to ensure survivors were guaran-
has worked so long and so hard on this Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President,
teed basic rights while pursuing jus-
infrastructure bill, supports us getting these speeches on the scheme by dark
tice. The legislation created the first
a vote on this. He supports the amend- money interests to seize control of the
legally recognized set of rights for sur-
ment that we have drafted. Supreme Court are designed to describe
I am hopeful that this is going to vivors to enforce in a court of law.
it in all its repulsive intricacy.
I am so grateful that Senator GRASS- My last speech discussed an oper-
pass. I will be insistent that we get our
LEY worked on this effort with me, and
vote. That is something we ought to ation in this scheme within the Fed-
he included the legislation in the Adam eralist Society. This speech will take
do.
I yield the floor. Walsh Reauthorization Act so that it you literally down the hall from the
I suggest the absence of a quorum. could be signed into law. Federalist Society to something called
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The The legislation that we passed back the Judicial Crisis Network, or JCN.
clerk will call the roll. in 2015–2016 provided survivors with They share the same purpose, the same
The senior assistant legislative clerk greater protections in Federal cases hallway, and likely the same control-
proceeded to call the roll. with a focus on notice, access, and the ling donors.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- preservation of sexual assault evidence Remember David Koch’s disastrous
ator from New Hampshire. collection kits. bid for Vice President on the Liber-
Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I ask By creating this set of court-enforce-
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
tarian Party ticket that showed how
unanimous consent that the order for able rights at the Federal level, Con- unappetizing his rightwing extremism
the quorum call be rescinded. gress established a model for all States was to normal people. And remember
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without to adopt similar legislation to protect the Lewis Powell playbook, which ad-
objection, it is so ordered. the rights of survivors. And that has vised:
SURVIVORS’ BILL OF RIGHTS ACT happened in many States, including in Strength lies in organization . . . and in
Mrs. SHAHEEN. I had intended to my home State of New Hampshire. the political power available only through
come to the floor earlier today with States have adopted legislation to united action and national organizations.
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5915
No one corporation or wealthy indi- One, it began work fast. Just months In any event, dark money funding of
vidual needs to, as Powell said, ‘‘get after starting, JCN ads hit the air in JCN hit escape velocity during this pe-
too far out in front and . . . make itself support of Bush nominees. riod. According to tax records obtained
too visible a target.’’ Let inter- Two, it had lots of money. Beginning by OpenSecrets and others, JCN re-
mediaries do that work. in 2008, Ann Corkery took control of ceived big donations in fiscal year 2015
Corporate interests like Big Tobacco something called the Wellspring Com- to 2016. One single anonymous donation
and the fossil fuel industry have, for a mittee—a dark money, identity-laun- alone totaled $17.9 million. Wellspring
long time, used coordinated webs of na- dering group, seeded with funding from separately channeled $23.5 million in
tional front groups in their plots to Charles and David Kochs’ donor net- dark money to JCN in 2016, then an-
fend off accountability for the dangers work. Thereafter, Wellspring funneled other $14.8 million the next year. When
of tobacco and carbon emissions. seven- or eight-figure dark money do- Wellspring dissolved in 2018, big slugs
These front group webs grew and nations to JCN every year—millions of of dark money continued to flow
multiplied and specialized, all while anonymous dollars. through other conduits. JCN received
concealing their true interests and Three, they brought on a lawyer with four separate, individual, anonymous
funders. They got more numerous, and heavy rightwing chops to run the donations, each of $15 million or more
they also got smarter and more stra- place. Wendy Long, a former clerk to following Justice Scalia’s death. We
tegic over time, polishing up front Justice Clarence Thomas, became chief cannot say for sure because the donors
group names, like the not-too-subtle counsel and mouthpiece. hide behind the dark money screen, but
Tobacco Institute, to names like the Thus, in just a few months, JCN ap- these donations, over $60 million in all,
more wholesome-sounding Heartland peared and became a polished, power- could well have all come from the same
Institute. ful, anonymized campaigner for the big donor.
It is quite a web. They created donor scheme to take over the Court. And one wonders, what are the odds
science groups to counter real sci- And then came the election of that someone willing to spend $60 mil-
entific research on public health and Barack Obama, and JCN had to go from lion anonymously to influence the
climate change with fake science; offense for nominees to defense against makeup of the Supreme Court is some-
think tanks to churn out white papers nominees. That ‘‘C’’ in JCN, for ‘‘con- one who has business before the Court?
and hire sound bite-friendly fake ex- firmation,’’ no longer made much Pretty high, I would say, but dark
perts; legal organizations to challenge sense, and the scheme now faced a cri- money scheming keeps this informa-
and delay government regulation of sis—the crisis for it of a President tion secret.
harmful products; academic hothouses nominating judges who had not been
How did JCN spend all this money?
in which to grow donor-friendly, right- screened by them, judges whose fealty
Attack. Leonard Leo’s Federalist Soci-
wing judicial philosophies; identity- to the corporate rightwing could not be
ety operation had handed Trump a list
laundering screens to hide the true do- confirmed, judges who might even rule
of approved nominees. JCN spending
nors and controllers and their inter- against the rightwing donors’ agenda.
poured into TV ads, pressuring Sen-
ests; and political attack groups to So they quickly rebranded JCN as the
ators, and to media blitzes to sell the
pressure elected officials. People who Judicial Crisis Network, but even in
Federalist Society list. The group
study this have reported these groups the Obama years, the Republican 5-to-
spent $7 million to attack Merrick Gar-
numbering in multiple dozens, and 4 majority on the captured Court deliv-
land; $10 million to boost Neil Gorsuch;
their backers play the front groups like ered big things for JCN and its secre-
$10 million or more to prop up Brett
keys on a piano. tive backers.
In the administration’s first term, Kavanaugh’s deeply troubled nomina-
Apply this method to the scheme to
the Roberts Court handed down Citi- tion with its—now we know—fake FBI
capture the Court, and you see that the
zens United and other decisions open- tip line; and $10 million in under 2
dark money donors needed more than
ing donor pipelines to 501(c)(4) groups months to support Amy Coney Barrett.
just the nominations turnstile that
they ran out of the Federalist Society. like JCN. This caused the tsunami of On its own, this anonymous $37 mil-
They also needed a bare-knuckle polit- slime we saw in our politics, and cor- lion barrage smells terrible, but it is
ical brawler. porations and rightwing donors rushed only part of the Judicial Crisis Net-
One night in early 2005, at an upscale to the feast. Anonymous money flooded work operation. JCN has a corporate
Italian dinner, with special guest Jus- in. Annual donations laundered twin, the Judicial Education Project,
tice Antonin Scalia, major donor and through Wellspring to JCN rose from each group backing up the actions and
corporate lawyer Ann Corkery, Cali- millions of dollars to many millions of finances of the other. Let me walk you
fornia real estate tycoon Robin Arkley, dollars. JCN even expanded the scheme through this setup because it is a cap-
and Federalist Society executive vice to seek to influence State supreme sule summary of how political schem-
president Leonard Leo got together courts and State attorney general ing is accomplished in our corrupted
and celebrated George W. Bush’s sec- seats. The scheme was flourishing. dark money era.
ond term. The political importance of Then, on a 2016 all-expenses-paid trip First, you pair a 501(c)(3) and a
the Supreme Court would have been on for Justice Scalia to a luxury hunting 501(c)(4). The Judicial Crisis Network
everyone’s mind there as it was the ranch in Texas, the Justice died, leav- was chartered as a 501(c)(4) social wel-
five Republicans on the Supreme Court ing a Supreme Court vacancy, with the fare group, the Judicial Education
who gave George W. Bush his first better part of a year left before the Project as its allied 501(c)(3) nonprofit
term. Presidential election. Now there really organization. Under a perverse reading
According to reporting by was a crisis. The big donors suddenly of the law, the 501(c)(4) organization is
OpenSecrets and the Daily Beast, this faced the prospect of a Democratic allowed to operate as a dark money po-
dinner linked to the creation of a President appointing Scalia’s replace- litical attack group. We see this ar-
501(c)(4) dark money group, then called ment, shifting the balance of the Court rangement commonly now in the clan-
the Judicial Confirmation Network. By 5 to 4 against them, taking away their destine world of dark money politics.
the end of that year, this group would precious majority, undoing the scheme. In fact, a recent Supreme Court case
spend money—lots of money, lots of big So the donors swung into action. about dark money was brought by a
donor money—and they would spend it Within days, MITCH MCCONNELL quick- group called Americans for Prosperity
anonymously, first to boost John Rob- ly pledged to hold the seat open, and Foundation, which was the 501(c)(3) as-
erts as Chief Justice and then Samuel within days, Republican Senators uni- sociated with Americans for Pros-
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
Alito as Associate Justice, cementing formly lined up behind that decision— perity, which is the Koch brothers’
rightwing corporate control over the a decision very possibly explained by 501(c)(4) that spent millions of dollars
Court and shifting its decisions further the overlay between dark money do- to help Amy Coney Barrett get her
in big donors’ favor. nors to the scheme and dark money do- seat, and yet she didn’t recuse herself
There are a few things to note about nors to Republican Senate political op- from the case involving the 501(c)(3).
the Judicial Confirmation Network’s erations. History will have to judge the So, second, you operate the two as
early days: extent of that overlay. one unit: Judicial Crisis Network and
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S5916 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
Judicial Education Project are con- Where did he hop to? He hopped from of us through our least democratic
nected by staff, by dollars, and by loca- the Federalist Society to the Honest branch—the branch that doesn’t care if
tion. Elections Project so he could get to normal people hate this stuff because
According to the most recent tax work on the Presiding Officer’s favorite they are in robes for life. That is our
records, long-serving JCN staffer cause, voter suppression. Same guy, Federal courts, and particularly, it is
Carrie Severino is also the sole and same corporate network, new name, our Supreme Court.
principal officer of—you guessed it— and new purpose: voter suppression. The big dark money donors have
the Judicial Education Project. As if this weren’t enough, both of pretty well pulled it off, too, following
Severino is not listed on JCN’s tax these groups have now filed new ficti- Lewis Powell’s old admonition to use
forms, but she serves as its public-fac- tious names. This is to help them wade ‘‘strength . . . in organization’’ and
ing ‘‘chief counsel and policy director.’’ into the rightwing fuss over what the ‘‘united action’’ of all of this com-
JCN and JEP tax records both list the rightwing likes to call critical race plexity. They have just made it all
same address in Washington, DC, theory. So the Concord Fund has now clandestine, which is why I am going to
which, by the way, is right down the added the fictitious name ‘‘Free to keep digging.
hall from the Federalist Society at the Learn Action,’’ and the 85 Fund has To be continued.
same address, and both groups share now added the fictitious name ‘‘Free to I yield the floor.
day-to-day staff. There is a doctrine in Learn.’’ Again, you see the pairing of The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
the law called piercing the corporate the 501(c)(3) and the 501(c)(4) as part of ator from Washington.
veil. In this case, the corporate veil be- the basic structure for dark money po- REMEMBERING RICHARD TRUMKA
tween these two is a web of holes. litical influence operations. Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise
What is the next thing you do? You By the way, the same person filled today to join my colleagues in saying I
soak up dark money together. out all these forms for both organiza- am deeply saddened to learn of the
It is hard to know much about these tions and is listed with various titles passing of my great friend Richard
two groups’ dark money funding—that on each. Trumka.
is why they keep it dark—but we know So now we have one group that calls To say Rich was a champion for
the Wellspring Committee has funded itself the Concord Fund that operates workers is really an understatement.
both groups. Both have also paid simultaneously as the Judicial Crisis He dedicated his life to fighting to se-
money to something called BH Group, Network, the Honest Elections Project cure and strengthen workers’ rights.
which is a mysterious LLC that Leon- Action, and the Free to Learn Action, Everyone who knew Rich knew just
ard Leo once disclosed as his employer, and we have a sister organization, the how deeply committed he was to that
that made a $1 million mystery dona- 85 Fund, that operates simultaneously mission. He understood how hard peo-
tion to Trump’s inaugural. It seems to as the Judicial Education Project, the ple in this country work for their fami-
do no other business. They used the Honest Elections Project, and Free to lies. He understood the dignity of
501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) status precisely Learn—all with overlapping staff, loca- work. He grew up understanding it. His
because it lets them hide their donors tions, and funding. grandfather was a coal miner, his fa-
and controllers. By the way, when you are the funder ther was a coal miner, and so was he.
And the last thing is that you get to of these groups, you are their con- It is because he knew how hard peo-
play shell games with your name. A troller. ple across the country work that he
couple of years ago, those two organi- Now, imagine this level of com- was driven to work so hard himself, to
zations formally changed their legal plexity multiplied many times over, hold Washington accountable and
names in Virginia. Now, follow this for because that is what the Washington make sure our country was looking out
a minute. Judicial Crisis Network Post disclosed. And I borrow a photo- for working families.
changed its name, and it became the graph from their video of their inves- For decades, Rich led the charge in
Concord Fund. Judicial Education tigation. creating a country that treats all
Project changed its name, and it be- That Washington Post exposé on the workers with the dignity and respect
came the 85 Fund. covert court-capture operation exposed they deserve and where every worker
The Concord Fund then registered its the Judicial Crisis Network as one had the right to join a union, including
old name, Judicial Crisis Network, as part, just one part of a massive—there by fighting to root out systemic in-
what is called a fictitious name, a kind it is, Judicial Crisis Network—one part equities and racism in this country.
of corporate alias under Virginia law, of a massive web of groups, a web of Rich once said:
and continued to operate as the Judi- groups that took in over $250 million in There’s no evil that’s inflicted more pain
cial Crisis Network. dark money between 2014 and 2017. and more suffering than racism and it’s
Here is the Virginia law that allows This effort to capture the Supreme something we in the labor movement have a
them to do that: Court? They are not kidding around. special responsibility to challenge.
A fictitious name is a name that a person Spending $250 million in dark money is He worked to live up to that chal-
(individual or business entity) uses instead a serious investment that demands a lenge and to push others as well, and
of the person’s true name, usually in the serious return. And guess what. Expert this country is better because of it.
course of transacting or offering to transact testimony before my Senate Courts I have worked with Rich for years
business. Subcommittee has since raised that and seen firsthand how hard he fought
It also registered the name ‘‘Honest number to $400 million through 2018. every day to make sure workers had a
Elections Project Action’’ as an addi- Through all these allied and coordi- seat at the table on healthcare, edu-
tional fictitious name to carry out a nated front groups—the keys on the cation, taxes, climate change. What-
new voter suppression project. The 85 dark money piano that the big donors ever the issue, you could expect to hear
Fund likewise registered its old name, can play in chords and singly as they from Rich because of how those issues
the ‘‘Judicial Education Project,’’ as a wish—dark money donors can, from affected working people.
fictitious name, and it separately reg- hiding, covertly channel tens if not I will always remember working to-
istered as the ‘‘Honest Elections hundreds of millions of dollars in gether to develop and draft the PRO
Project’’ as an additional fictitious anonymized money toward the Act, which embodied our vision to give
name. scheme’s court-capture goals. workers and their families a fair shot
It gets even better than this because, Colleagues, this is a scheme akin in in this country—something Rich not
as I said before, when the Washington complexity and trade craft to an intel- only fought for every day, but, in my
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
Post exposed the $250 million scheme ligence agency covert operation—only mind, will always be remembered for
that Leonard Leo was at the center of this one is not being run by one coun- on this floor, in the halls, and all
to pack and control the Supreme try against another; this one is being across our country.
Court, to capture it like a captured run in and against our own country by If you didn’t hear him in a meeting,
agency, he wasn’t much use any longer. a handful of creepy billionaires and you would hear him over the bullhorn
He was like a blown agent in a covert their foundations, trying to impose soon enough because he was as com-
operation. He had to go someplace. their self-serving ideology on the rest fortable on a picket line as he was in a
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August 5, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S5917
boardroom or in the Halls of Congress, track’’ and ‘‘wrong side of the track.’’ Policy and Plans; and Jonathan Meyer
if not more comfortable, which is why, This was an opportunity to actually to be General Counsel.
even as Rich shaped national policy change that dynamic. This was an op- Both nominees are well qualified for
conversations and led one of the Na- portunity to create equity in our infra- these important roles, and both of
tion’s biggest unions in the country structure system, to make sure that them have strong bipartisan support,
through some of the most trying times those divided communities no longer including from former national secu-
in its history, including a recession and were divided and that all of them had a rity officials who served both under
a pandemic, his legacy stretches far be- highway to opportunity, to make sure Democratic and Republican Presidents.
yond his legislative accomplishments that transit access to minority com- Mr. Silver’s public service includes
and beyond his leadership of the AFL– munities struggling for employment several senior roles in the Department
CIO, and it will stretch onward still as could be realized. Even though, you of Homeland Security, including Dep-
we continue his lifetime work of fight- know, there is a transit provision, it is uty Chief of Staff and Assistant Sec-
ing for our workers. That is how we can $9 billion less than what we were origi- retary for Cyber Policy during the
honor Rich’s legacy. nally told, but other elements are Obama administration.
Rich may have been a recognizable much, much higher. As a lawyer in the private sector
face on television, especially with his Those provisions not only have a con- since 2017, Mr. Silvers has been a leader
mustache; he may have met with Presi- sequence to the communities for which on cybersecurity, data privacy, and ar-
dents regularly; he may have changed transit mobility is a critical element tificial intelligence issues. As Under
the history of our Nation for the bet- in order for employment, it often deals Secretary for Strategy, Policy and
ter; but perhaps the most remarkable with minority communities that find Plans, Mr. Silvers will help the Depart-
thing is, even at his tallest, he never themselves disadvantaged in terms of ment to take a strategic and coordi-
talked down to people. Even at his big- mobility for minority communities to nated approach to address challenging
gest, he fought for the small. Even opportunities for employment. policy areas, including domestic ter-
after all that he accomplished, he Look at the pay-fors. The pay-fors, it rorism, border security, and cybersecu-
never stopped fighting to do more, is pretty remarkable, one of them par- rity.
which is why we must not either. ticularly ends a rebate that is supposed Jonathan Meyers’ previous govern-
My heart goes out to his wife Bar- to ultimately end up for consumers at ment service spans 17 years and in-
bara and his son Rich Junior during the prescription drug counter. I often cludes senior roles in the Department
this tragic time. hear from people across the spectrum of Justice, the U.S. Senate, and as Dep-
I yield the floor. that we need to ultimately ensure that uty General Counsel for DHS during
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- the cost of prescription drugs are low- the Obama administration. Since re-
ator from New Jersey. ered, but then here we have a pay-for turning to private practice in 2016, Mr.
H.R. 3684 that has absolutely nothing to do with Meyers’ legal work has continued to
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I lowering the cost of prescription drugs. focus on cybersecurity, technology,
come to talk about the process that we Then I hear that, ‘‘well, we are wait- and Homeland Security.
are in here; first of all, the process that ing for amendments.’’ Well, I have bi- DHS needs qualified Senate-con-
brings us the legislation that is before partisan amendments, amendments on firmed leaders in place to effectively
us. flooding, amendments on our national carry out its critical mission of safe-
Now, I respect my colleagues on both ferry system that many parts of our guarding our Nation, and I urge my
sides of the aisle have come together to Nation depend upon, amendments colleagues to confirm these qualified
draft the legislation that we have been about eligibility for bus terminals; and nominees today.
debating on and off, voting even less, Mr. President, I ask unanimous con-
they are bipartisan, but the gate-
but that process shortchanges, I think, sent that the Senate proceed to execu-
keepers are keeping us away.
the Senate and the American people. Here we are. It is 5:30 in the evening. tive session to consider the following
It is a process that our colleagues— We have yet to vote on one single nomination: Calendar No. 158; that the
well-intentioned and working incred- amendment. We have yet to vote on nomination be confirmed, the motion
ibly hard but had no geographic diver- anything today. So this cannot be the to reconsider be considered made and
sity, had no ethnic diversity, had no process by which the world’s most de- laid upon the table with no intervening
racial diversity, and that is consequen- liberative body operates under. action or debate, that no further mo-
tial. It is consequential in the legisla- And I just want to serve notice that, tions be in order to the nominations,
tion that we are dealing before us. For as it relates to this Senator, this Sen- that the President be immediately no-
example, this legislation does very well ator has no intention of supporting leg- tified of the Senate’s action, and the
in taking care of dealing with aban- islation that comes through this proc- Senate then resume legislative session.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
doned mines, but it doesn’t do all that ess again and that ultimately does not
objection?
well with dealing with Superfund have that diversity of geography, of
The Senator from Oklahoma.
sites—the sites that most Americans ethnicity, of race. It doesn’t have a Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I do
who happen to be from disadvantaged committee process which provides for object.
communities ultimately reside along. that diversity to be represented and The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec-
This legislation does much to help those points of view. I may not win, tion is heard.
with the challenges of wildfires in our but I would like to have my point of The Senator from Oklahoma.
country, which I support, but doesn’t view and those of the communities I Mr. LANKFORD. Reserving the right
do very much for the questions of represent have a shot. After all, that is to object.
flooding—flooding that takes place what the American dream is all about, I would say this is a complicated
along the Mississippi, flooding that having a shot at it. issue to walk through the issues of im-
takes place in Louisiana, flooding that So 5:30, no votes. This is a fantastic migration, and there are a lot of ques-
takes place in my home State of New process, but one that I can serve notice tions that hang out there. Secretary
Jersey and along the Atlantic coast. on, I have no intention of supporting in Mayorkas was in front of our com-
So that lack of diversity is not only the future. mittee on May 13 to be able to walk
consequential in terms of the legisla- I yield the floor. through the issues we are facing.
tion—geographic, ethnic, and racial—it The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Just as a quick review, we had a
is also consequential to disadvantaged ator from Michigan.
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
record number of people illegally cross
communities. UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUESTS—EXECUTIVE the border in March. That was beaten
For too long, our infrastructure and CALENDAR in April. That was beaten in May. That
transportation system have often been Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I rise in was beaten in June. That was beaten in
used to divide communities, split com- support of two nominations to critical July.
munities, where a highway goes positions within the Department of In July, we had 210,000 people ille-
through it and ultimately divides the Homeland Security: Robert Silvers to gally cross our border, that we know
community into the ‘‘right side of the be the Under Secretary for Strategy, of.
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S5918 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE August 5, 2021
The DHS, in a recent court filing— documents, they were very commend- facility they are looking to open is in
actually filed in a court filing where able on how they actually answered western Oklahoma, to move people
they made this statement: those. from the border, process them in west-
Based on current trends, the Department To DHS, I would ask specific ques- ern Oklahoma, and then release them
expects that total encounters this fiscal year tions on how they are handling sex of- from western Oklahoma.
are likely to be the highest ever recorded. fenders, because ICE agents have told It is not an unfair question for me to
. . . The Department also expects that these me over and over again sex offenders ask: What is this facility? What is its
numbers will climb even higher if the CDC are not being interdicted in the num- purpose? And will individuals who are
Order [Title 42] is enjoined.
bers they were in the past. They gave not legally present in the country be
There is a real issue that is going on. us very specific answers on that. released in western Oklahoma?
So when Ale Mayorkas was in front of But the problem was, half of the This is the same question that has
our committee, our committee had di- questions they gave us answers to and been asked by mayors and leaders in
rect jurisdiction for oversight in what half they did not. For instance, we Arizona, who have a facility like this
is happening in Homeland Security. asked about the study that they start- in Arizona, where processing was done
There have been a lot of changes that ed January 20th on the border wall. there and then they were released from
have been done this year in how we are That study was supposed to be 60 days. there. And mayors and individuals
enforcing or not enforcing the border. It has now been more than 200 days. We there have asked the question: Why are
We have record numbers of individ- just asked for the status of that study individuals who are not legally present
uals crossing the border. The border and, if we could see any of it, what in the country being brought from the
wall and that whole infrastructure, as were the findings. border to my town, and then released
well as the technology on the southern Instead, I was sent a press release in my town?
border, all the construction has that they had put out. That is not what It is not unfair for me to be able to
stopped on that. The best we can tell, I need. In fact, that press release was ask that as well. I have already had
we have spent $2 billion this year not copied in multiple places in the docu- that conversation with the Secretary
building the wall. ment to say ‘‘this is responsive.’’ That of DHS. I do not have an answer.
Currently, it is not getting better. It is not responsive. So, yes, I object because we need to
continues to be able to get worse. We There is a new process that has been get some straightforward answers to
have 10,000 migrants in the Rio Grande put in place by this DHS called notice some very straightforward, very fair
Valley currently being held right now. to report, where literally there is a questions.
That is 783 percent overcapacity in the large number of people crossing the I object.
Rio Grande Valley right now. border at once. They are taking those The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec-
And on the Interior enforcement side individuals out, doing biometrics, tion is heard.
with ICE—we have 6,000 ICE agents— background checks and releasing them Mr. PETERS. Mr. President.
and the last number that we saw last into the country with the statement of: The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
month, they did 3,000 deportations Turn yourself in at an ICE office some- ator from Michigan is recognized.
among 6,000 ICE agents in a month. where in the country. Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I ask
The standard for them to actually No administration has ever done unanimous consent that the Senate
interdict, detain, or deport an indi- that. As far as we can tell, 55,000 people proceed to executive session to con-
vidual has now reached such a high this year have been released into the sider the following nomination: Cal-
standard that they have to contact re- country under a notice to report. That endar No. 159; that the nomination be
gional leadership and ask permission is a new process that is undefined. The confirmed, the motion to reconsider be
by name to be able to interdict some- questions we asked about that were considered made and laid upon the
one. completely unresponsive. table with no intervening action or de-
That has dramatically slowed down The Supreme Court made a decision bate, that no further motions be in
what is happening in Interior enforce- on what is called a notice to appear order to the nomination, that the
ment, what is happening at our border just this year that should change the President be immediately notified of
area. process from how DHS handles notice the Senate’s action, and the Senate
And as we continue to be able to to appear. We asked very specific ques- then resume legislative session.
watch the number of individuals cross tions on how DHS is handling this issue The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
our border that are COVID positive, we based on the Supreme Court decision objection?
have this odd situation where the Na- that was made a few months ago. They Mr. LANKFORD. I object.
tion and the President are talking to were completely unresponsive on that. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objec-
companies and telling companies, ‘‘you We asked about cost analysis for the tion is heard.
need to mandate vaccines and you need border construction, what is happening The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-
to mandate masks,’’ when at the whole on eminent domain on those issues and ator from Michigan.
time we are literally bringing people areas where they are choosing not to f
from all over the world across our do eminent domain, and they were EXECUTIVE SESSION
southern border and releasing them completely unresponsive to that.
---
into the United States. So literally half our questions they
We have legitimate questions that answered completely, and half our EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
need to be answered. May 13, when Ale questions they sent us fluff. Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I ask
Mayorkas was in front of our Com- I am the only one who is holding this unanimous consent that the Senate
mittee, there were multiple questions up—I am very aware—but it is also my proceed to executive session to con-
that I had. It was a very cordial inter- committee of jurisdiction that specifi- sider the following nomination, Cal-
change and very frank going through cally has border management. I am the endar No. 158.
the issues. I asked him very specific one who is supposed to ask these ques- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
questions for specific numbers. tions, and I am asking these questions, objection?
He said: I will follow up with that. and they are not unreasonable ques- Without objection, it is so ordered.
We wrote him a list of specific ques- tions. The clerk will report the nomination.
tions and asked for specific answers for We are just asking to be able to get The bill clerk read the nomination of
that. To their credit, 2 months later— an answer to the questions so we can
SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with SENATE
Robert Peter Silvers, of the District of
2 months later—we got a list of an- figure out what is the process and what Columbia, to be Under Secretary for
swers to the questions that I had is happening. Strategy, Policy, and Plans, Depart-
asked. That was 24 hours ago. As recently as today, I learned that ment of Homeland Security.
The very specific answer on the ICE is currently looking at a facility in Thereupon, the Senate proceeded to
issues—I asked about the volunteer western Oklahoma to do what they are consider the nomination.
force in DHS. The humanitarian excep- calling a surge overflow temporary fa- Mr. PETERS. Mr. President, I ask
tions to Title 42, including the policy cility. That surge overflow temporary unanimous consent that the Senate
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