Congressional Record, Senate, November 15, 2021 — Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
Summary
Congressional Record, Senate, November 15, 2021, pages S8072 and S8073. A vote announced by the Presiding Officer, Mr. Heinrich, is recorded as 55 yeas and 38 nays, and the motion was agreed to; the Senate then resumes executive session to consider the Steele nomination. Mr. Portman speaks on infrastructure legislation the President signed that day, citing the Brent Spence Bridge, lead pipes in Ohio, and ports, and calls the bill a model of bipartisanship. Mr. Portman also voices serious concerns that the reconciliation bill would add to inflationary pressures. Mr. McConnell pays tribute to Sheriff Keith Cain of Daviess County, KY, who is retiring after 48 years with the Daviess County Sheriff's Department.
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“Congressional Record, Senate, November 15, 2021 — Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/crec-crec-2021-11-15-crec-2021-11-15-pt1-pgs8072-2-8399ef572d/
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S8072 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 15, 2021
Peters Schumer Warner help the people who I represent. We can be found—a local match, which is
Reed Scott (SC) Warnock
Romney Shaheen Warren
have a lot of aging infrastructure in less than we did before when we had a
Rosen Sinema Whitehouse Ohio on the water side, so our water in- tough time finding that local match
Rounds Smith Wyden frastructure includes a lot of lead pipes and were not able to move forward.
Sanders Tester still, as an example, and, therefore, People in my community, they are
Schatz Van Hollen
drinking water issues. ready for this bridge to be fixed. I
NAYS—38 But we also have a lot of edicts that mean, the Brent Spence Bridge is
Barrasso Ernst Murkowski have come down from the Federal Gov- something I have heard about, again,
Blackburn Fischer Paul ernment that say you have to stop the
Blunt Grassley
during my entire career.
Portman
Boozman Hagerty Risch
combined sewer overflow. Our munici- I got a little bit of funding here and
Braun Hoeven Sasse palities can’t pay for the changes. This there to do the environmental impact
Burr Hyde-Smith Scott (FL) will help them as well. statement or do the engineering, but to
Capito Johnson
Cassidy Kennedy
Shelby In Cleveland, OH, we have a two-dec- actually get in there and do it is going
Thune ade-old—I think it is a 47-year-old to be extremely expensive. You are not
Cornyn Lankford
Tillis
Cotton Lee
Tuberville
transit system. The cars, frankly, are going to find 2, 3-plus billion dollars
Cramer Lummis being taken off track because they without this kind of a Federal commit-
Cruz Wicker
Marshall
Daines McConnell Young have gotten to a point where they can’t ment. That is in this legislation, as an
be used any more, and yet it is way too example.
NOT VOTING—7
expensive. The funding for transit will It is also helpful that this legislation
Cantwell Rubio Toomey be very helpful in Cleveland, OH. deals with our ports because one of the
Hawley Stabenow
Inhofe Sullivan In my own community, we have a issues right now we have with the sup-
bridge people have been talking about ply chain crisis is things are just not
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. fixing for, literally, 25 years, because I moving through our ports as quickly as
HEINRICH). On this vote, the yeas are have been involved in that discussion they should, in part because our ports
55, the nays are 38. when I was in the House and now in the have fallen behind.
The motion was agreed to.
Senate. The problem is the bridge was I mentioned other countries who
f constructed assuming a certain spend more infrastructure. Countries
EXECUTIVE SESSION amount of traffic, and yet the amount like China spend a lot on their ports.
of traffic has more than doubled. As a China spends more than we do, as do
--- result, they have taken the shoulders other countries, because they know if
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR off the bridge in order to create more you spend money on infrastructure,
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Cloture room for another lane. As a result, you get a more efficient economy that
having been invoked, the Senate will when you have a flat tire or an acci- leads to higher productivity, and that,
resume executive session to consider dent, God forbid, on the bridge—which, in turn, leads to economic growth and
the Steele nomination. unfortunately, happens too often— more tax revenue coming in, frankly.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- there is no place to go and, therefore, These are all factors that should be
ator from Ohio. causes even more safety hazards. The considered in looking at an infrastruc-
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS ACT bridge is a bottleneck every single day, ture bill.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, for not just in rush hour. I can go there in It is not like normal spending that
many years now, there is a joke that the afternoon—you know, 2, 3 in the might be stimulative spending that
Presidents have what is called infra- afternoon and people are backed up on goes out the door right away. This
structure week, where they talk about this bridge. spending will happen over 2, 3, 5, 10,
infrastructure and the need for us to A lot of the people who are backed even 15 years for these major projects.
move our country forward and fix our up, by the way, are people who are in And then these assets that you are in-
outdated system of roads and bridges, business. Eighteen-wheelers are trying vesting in—let’s say it is a port, let’s
freight lines, our ports. to get through because it is the con- say it is freight rail, or let’s say it is
We are, as a country, behind others fluence of I–71 and I–75, two major the bridge in Cincinnati or the infra-
countries in terms of investing in in- interstates. So it is a big economic structure that is a water infrastructure
frastructure, yet infrastructure week issue with all that lost time in com- issue in northeast Ohio because of lead
comes and goes without any progress. muting every day across that bridge, pipes—what is fixed will last for a long
Well, today, we had a true infrastruc- and all the lost time in terms of the time, so it is an investment in a long-
ture week because the President of the freight has a big economic impact—bil- term asset.
United States signed legislation that lions of dollars, they say. Three per- Right now, our country is facing his-
came out of this body—it was bipar- cent of America’s commerce goes torically high levels of inflation—the
tisan—that helps to repair our infra- across that bridge every day, so it is a highest inflation we have had in more
structure in ways that is historic in real problem. than 30 years. It is a big problem. Ev-
the sense that it is a broader infra- We have never been able to figure out erything has gone up.
structure bill than we have passed how to fix it because we can’t accumu- Gas—I heard yesterday now gas has
around here in decades. late enough money locally—the State, gone up 50 percent this year. Two
It is a big day for infrastructure and, Federal—to be able to make the big weeks ago, it was 42 percent. But all I
therefore, a good day for my constitu- change that has to occur, which is know is it has gone up about a buck a
ents in Ohio and people all around the building another bridge, expanding and gallon. When I fill up my pickup truck,
country—people who are stuck in a fixing up the current one. It has been I am spending $100 now. That is tough
traffic jam or maybe people who are frustrating. for people, particularly people who
worried about the bridge they are This legislation signed today will fi- have to commute for their work.
going over, whether it is safe or not, nally provide the tools to do that. They For lower middle-income families in
which is the case of a big bridge in my have to apply like any other project Ohio, this inflation is really dev-
community; or whether it is people around the country. It is a grant that astating. You go to the grocery—I just
who don’t have access to high-speed is based on merit, but the grant is spe- had somebody show me a photograph
internet and, therefore, can’t do their cifically focused on major bridges, like recently that someone took with an
school work or can’t start a business or ours, where you have this economic im- iPhone of three rib eye steaks for $100
be able to get their telehealth. If you pact that are so-called functionally ob- at Costco. Everything is going up, and
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
are a veteran in Ohio and you want to solete, meaning they are carrying more that is really devastating.
access telehealth, it is tough to do it in traffic than they should be. Ours is car- You wouldn’t want this infrastruc-
about one-third of our State because rying twice as much. ture bill to add to that inflationary
you don’t have high-speed internet. It should fit very well, but they are pressure. The good news is, as econo-
So there are a lot of different things going to have to come up with a local mists look at this, they say that it
that are in this legislation that will match as well. I am confident that it goes into the economy in ways that
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November 15, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S8073
should actually be counterinflationary But, also, it is important, I think, that What we said is: Let’s make that
over time. this bill be looked at as a model of bi- promise we have given to the American
What does that mean? partisanship. people, something that we can actually
Well, inflation is where you have too What do I mean by that? follow through on this time, by having
much demand and not enough supply, Well, typically, around here, you a bipartisan bill that has the support of
right? kind of have a Republican or Demo- both sides.
You have, coming off the pandemic, cratic approach to something, and we So we basically took the bigger bill
more people getting out and buying kind of fight over it and there is not the Biden administration proposed,
stuff, yet the supply wasn’t there. That much space in the middle. The rec- pulled out the taxes—so no tax hikes—
causes inflation. onciliation bill that is being talked but also pulled out the so-called human
Here in the Congress, we passed legis- about right now, as an example, is all infrastructure or soft infrastructure
lation that aggravated that—made it Democrats. There are no Republicans and focused just on core infrastructure.
worse—because we passed $1.9 trillion supporting it. That was the principle basis upon
spending in March, much of which went The question is, how do you tough it which we went forward.
into people’s pockets. Think of the out through the process? The other thing that we decided was
stimulus checks, $600 more on unem- And because reconciliation can be that not only are we going to keep
ployment insurance, and some of the done with just 50 votes, not 60 votes, taxes out and focus on core infrastruc-
tax provisions. And, in effect, it cre- the notion is you get every Democrat, ture, but we were going to make it
ated more demand out there and the and the Vice President will break the truly bipartisan, meaning we are going
supply wasn’t there, which raises infla- tie. to come up with a negotiated settle-
tion. It is much better, I think, if you do ment and we are going to make conces-
This spending is different. Again, this something on a bipartisan basis be- sions on both sides to find that com-
is not stimulus spending. This is long- cause you get more buy-in from the mon ground and get this thing done.
term spending for capital assets. country. You pass better legislation. It We are going to do it.
What these economists say, including makes more sense for our country, like Sure enough, we did it. It took us 4 or
some conservatives, like Michael this infrastructure bill. 5 months. We started 8 months ago and
Strain at AEI and Doug Holtz-Eakin at And the model that was used here passed it here about 5 months ago, but
American Action Forum, they say this was that some Republicans and some we had setbacks because there were
is actually going to lead to less infla- Democrats got together and said: Let’s tough issues we had to grapple with:
tion because you are adding to the sup- come up with a bipartisan approach to how much money to put into the way
ply side. infrastructure, working from the mid- you expand broadband, as an example,
So by building that bridge, that is dle out, not taking our directions from and how should it be done through the
part of the supply side of the economy leadership on the right or on the left— States or through the Fed?
rather than the demand side of the Democrat, Republican or the White We came up with ways we thought
economy. I am pleased with that too. House. Let’s come up with something made the most sense, but also could
What we want right now is to push ourselves that makes sense. pass muster up here in terms of bipar-
back against this inflation, not do This was in the context of an early tisanship. In the end, as a rule—not in
something that creates more demand Biden administration proposal on in- all cases, but it is a rule—if it has to be
and more inflation. frastructure. Again, it is confusing be- bipartisan, if you make that your com-
One of my concerns about the other cause there are so many different bills mitment, you are going to get better
legislation that is being talked about is out there, but this one sort of com- legislation because you are listening to
not the infrastructure bill, but it is bined the infrastructure bill that was everybody, including to the Governors
called the reconciliation bill. The passed today and the so-called Build in the case of broadband, including to
Democrats, I heard today, are calling it Back Better legislation they are now the companies that provide the
Build Back Better more often, but oth- trying to pass. It had high tax in- broadband, but also including the fami-
ers call it the tax-and-spend bill. That creases—significant tax increases, lies and the parents who are driving to
is about more stimulative spending. mostly on the corporate side, but the McDonald’s to get internet access
I have very serious concerns about would affect working families. In my for their kid to be able to do her home-
that adding to the inflationary pres- view and a lot of people’s views on my work, and listening to the small busi-
sures we already have, which are so se- side of the aisle, everybody was against ness entrepreneurs who are saying, We
rious. And unlike what the administra- the tax increases. need this level of high-speed internet
tion said previously, it is not transi- Plus it had a lot of what the Biden to be able to start a successful com-
tory. It is going to be around for a administration called human infra- pany in a rural area—say my home
while. Every economist I talk to says structure. It wasn’t just talking about State of Ohio—and also listening to
expect it to be around for a year or core infrastructure, as we talked about those who are interested in having
two, best-case scenario. today, the roads and the bridges and enough access to internet to be able to
Again, what we signed today, the in- the rail and the waterways and other get their medicine online, basically, to
frastructure bill, should, over time, ac- things that you would normally think telehealth—to do actual discussions
tually have a counterinflationary ef- of when you think of infrastructure: with medical professionals online rath-
fect. Most of the money, again, is not transportation infrastructure, airports, er than having to drive to the hospital,
going to be spent in the near term. the ports. say, from a rural area.
Most will be spent over time. But when Instead it also included a lot of sup- That was all part of what we in-
it is spent, it is spent on the supply port for soft infrastructure, as they tended to do, was to not just have a
side of the economy rather than the de- called it, or human infrastructure, good bill substantively, but to show
mand side of the economy. which in that case was healthcare, tak- you can do this in a bipartisan way.
I am really pleased that we were able ing care of Medicare changes; some That group of 10—5 Democrats and 5
to pass this legislation. I hope that it changes, I believe, in terms of Republicans—then became 11 Demo-
is not just going to provide a model for childcare in the current Build Back crats and 11 Republicans. We kind of
what we ought to do in terms of sub- Better. grew out from there. By the end of the
stance—you know, helping make our What we said as a group—five Demo- process, we had Democrats and Repub-
economy more efficient, more produc- crats, five Republicans—was we want licans supporting the final product, in-
tive; doing things that make sense for to do infrastructure. This is something cluding the majority leader CHUCK
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
the people we represent in terms of re- that has been talked about, again, for- SCHUMER and the Republican leader
ducing their commute or making their ever. Every President in modern times, MITCH MCCONNELL. They both sup-
bridges safer, as I said; or dealing with every Congress in modern times, has ported it.
the online issue—not having access to promoted the idea of a significant in- And Senator MCCONNELL, in par-
high-speed internet; being sure that vestment in infrastructure because ticular, because I am on the Repub-
people will have safe drinking water. America is falling behind. lican side, gave us the space to be able
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S8074 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 15, 2021
to work this out. He didn’t agree with So I really hope that that legislation, She was very persistent. For those of
everything that we were doing all the the Build Back Better legislation, does you who know her and have watched
time. He let his views be known, of not move forward. her, that won’t surprise you. But she
course, but he knew that, you know, we But my point is, the infrastructure ensured that we kept on track, and
had in our intentions to come up with bill needed to be dealt with on its own sometimes you get off track because
something that was truly bipartisan and it got tangled up with that and we had a lot of different issues we had
and good for the country and that in- that is too bad. But at the end, there to deal with. And it took us, again, a
frastructure was an area where we was a vote permitted finally in the few months to get there, but she was
typically had had bipartisan support, House of Representatives. After several very helpful in terms of moving us for-
but we just couldn’t get it over the line pledges to have votes that did not hap- ward and getting to a resolution.
because of the partisan gridlock around pen, finally, it was voted on about 10 Ultimately, all 10 Members agreed:
here to do anything. days ago now. And when that vote oc- We are going to resolve this thing. We
And in this case, he gave us that curred, there was enough bipartisan are going to come to a solution, even if
space. We came up with a good bill, and support—not as much as I would have it means not getting everything we
he supported it, and MITCH MCCON- liked to have seen on the Republican want. And nobody gets everything they
NELL’s support was helpful. In the end, side, frankly, because I think it is a want in life, right? In your family, in
19 Republicans supported the legisla- good bill that Republicans should sup- your business, and in Congress, it is
tion in the House. port, but there was support on the Re- pretty much the same thing, and it is
Unfortunately, it went over there a publican side and the Democratic side, pretty simple, which is you can’t get
few months ago and sat and sat and and it was passed into law and sent to everything you want, but you can get
sat, and that concerned some of us be- President Biden, and he signed it most of what you want, and in this
cause we could just see it becoming today. So that is the good news, that case, you can do something great for
more political, more partisan. we were able to get this done, and I the American people.
And we had a commitment from hope, again, provide, at least in terms The other eight of those colleagues
President Biden and a commitment of what we did here in the Senate, a were SUSAN COLLINS, MITT ROMNEY,
among ourselves—not only no taxes, model going forward of finding out LISA MURKOWSKI, BILL CASSIDY, JOE
being sure that it focused on core infra- where can you find consensus between MANCHIN, JEANNE SHAHEEN, MARK WAR-
structure, but also that we would en- Republicans and Democrats on big NER, JON TESTER, and so many others
sure that it was delinked from any- issues that the American people care who were also involved and helpful.
thing else, particularly the larger rec- about. But those were some of the colleagues
onciliation bill that is now being dis- I mean, we have got plenty of them. who were part of this G–10 process.
cussed, the so-called Build Back Better I would put an issue like immigration, A couple Members that I would like
bill, but this was separate. We wanted what is happening at the border; I to mention tonight and thank them
our bill to be addressed on its merits, would put an issue like what is going are, again, Senator MCCONNELL for his
which is what our constituents expect. on with our financial situation, with help giving us the space to be able to
The American people don’t want us to this huge new debt we have and the work this out and then ultimately sup-
do Christmas trees up here, where you deficit spending every year. But there porting it and lending his critical sup-
are trading things off. They want to are so many issues: healthcare issues, port to something that is good for the
know that if you have a good bill, you issues that have to do with, you know, country, good for Kentucky.
should be able to get it to the floor and how you deal not just with the immi- Also, KEVIN CRAMER, on our side of
get it passed, which we did here in the gration on the border but people who the aisle, was very helpful to us in
Senate, and I appreciate that. are here. Shouldn’t we be able to find bringing together our group of 22 Re-
But in the House, it got all entangled some bipartisan consensus on these publicans and Democrats and then
with this legislation that was partisan things, and isn’t that what the Amer- SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO. SHELLEY
that no Republican supported. ican people expect us to do, where you MOORE CAPITO is the top Republican on
Again, this is the large taxes, large have got big challenges, whether they the committee that deals with a lot of
spending bill that is called Build Back are domestic or international, these issues, including the surface
Better, probably $2 trillion of spending. shouldn’t we figure out a way, even transportation legislation, and she was
I saw some analysis today that if you though we have differences of opinion, very helpful, along with the chair of
don’t sunset all the spending provi- to find that common ground and to that group, TOM CARPER, to get us
sions, it is more like $4.7 trillion, and move forward rather than to be stuck where we are. They actually met with
there is about $1.8 trillion in tax in- in a partisan gridlock situation? the White House, SHELLEY MOORE CAP-
creases to pay for that. Today, at the signing ceremony, the ITO and a group of her members, and
So we will see what happens. I think President spoke a little about that and that gave us a foundation for some of
there is going to be a gap in their rev- said that he supported bipartisan ef- the ideas that we had but also the com-
enue and their spending based on the forts to move the country forward. mittee work we respected.
analysis I have seen, and I just think it But by the same token, he also was One of the things that I have seen
is the wrong time in the economy, as I saying he supports this reconciliation time and time again in the last couple
said earlier, to even think about this process that is strictly partisan and weeks is that it is a $1.2 trillion bill on
sort of thing. One, to raise taxes on the would be jamming our Congress, again, infrastructure. In a way, it is and in a
economy right now, that is, I think, ex- without a single Republican supporting way it isn’t. So just to explain that,
actly the wrong thing to do. We should it and doing policy that we think is briefly, Congress, you know, every year
be helping to encourage those busi- wrongheaded, given where we are with has a process where we appropriate
nesses that are finally coming out of our economy, particularly with regard funding. We also every 5 years, typi-
this pandemic and have been strug- to inflation and the need to come out cally, do a transportation bill, the Sur-
gling, don’t have enough workers, to be of this pandemic with a stronger econ- face Transportation Act. That 1.2 in-
sure that they can get back on their omy, more people working, and con- cludes that. So the amount on top of
feet, not taxing them, and same with cern that tax increases will make that what Congress would have otherwise
families, same with the so-called—the difficult. spent, based on what the committees
passthrough companies, the smaller So, again, I would like to congratu- had done on a bipartisan basis, is
companies that would be hurt. late everyone who was involved in this roughly $542 billion. So it is really a
And then we have got to be sure that infrastructure process. It was a big $542 billion bill of new spending, not 1.2
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
as we move forward, we are not in- group up here in the Senate, but the trillion.
creasing inflation again and not—this group of five and five—the five Demo- That may make some of my Repub-
stimulus to spending that goes to the crats and five Republicans—who kind lican colleagues feel a little better
demand side that puts more money in of led the negotiation, included my col- about supporting it because they are
people’s pockets, it is part of the rea- league KYRSTEN SINEMA, who led the concerned about our debt and deficit,
son we have this high inflation. Democratic side. She did a terrific job. as am I.
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November 15, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S8075
By the way, we came up with ways to gotten into more of the partisan back- Sheriff Cain loves Daviess County
pay for that, including actually and-forth, with Republicans saying and has spent his entire life working to
repurposing some of the funding that that somehow because President Biden protect and defend his fellow Kentuck-
had gone out to COVID that had not is in the Presidency, and he was in- ians. He started his career in the Ma-
been used, but it is really more of a volved with this, it is his bill. It is not rines during the Vietnam war, show-
$542 billion in new spending—still his- his bill. It is all of ours—the bill—but, casing the selflessness and sense of
toric levels and, again, provides enough still, 65 percent approval rating is pret- duty that would define the rest of his
funding to do all the wonderful things ty rare for any major piece of legisla- life. Upon returning to Kentucky, he
I talked about in terms of making our tion. joined the Daviess County Sheriff’s De-
infrastructure work better for all of us. And so the American people get it. partment, finding a home among his
Second is, I have heard a lot over the They want us to move forward. There community’s top law enforcement offi-
last couple weeks particularly about are partisans on both sides, of course,
cers.
President Biden’s signing his bill, the who would prefer only that it moves
Biden infrastructure bill. He nego- forward if it is their way; in other Fast forward nearly half a century,
tiated with us, and I appreciate that. words, we should block everything. But and it is clear that Sheriff Cain’s dedi-
His legislation, as I said, was very dif- the vast majority of the American peo- cation to his neighbors has not waned a
ferent. It had the tax increases. It had ple understand that we have got to bit since he first started his career. By
spending on a lot of human infrastruc- more forward and ensuring that you pioneering new tactics and techniques,
ture, and I appreciate that he was will- have adequate infrastructure to com- he has revolutionized law enforcement
ing to say to the Democratic side of pete with countries like China, infra- practices in Daviess County. As a grad-
the aisle: OK. That is what I want, but structure changes that will improve uate of both the National Sheriff’s In-
I am willing to work with you guys on our economy’s efficiency, therefore, stitute and the FBI National Academy,
a bipartisan basis. So he did do that, our productivity; therefore, increased Keith brought the technical know-how
but he also, again, gave us space to economic growth; therefore, bringing needed to beat any challenge that
work that out here in the Senate be- more revenue in. Who could be against threatened his home community.
tween ourselves, and that is the re- that? When the addiction crisis started in
ality. There are differences of opinion on
earnest in Western Kentucky, Sheriff
And so when we came together with how exactly you ought to spend the
money. I get that, but I do think this Cain spearheaded Daviess County’s
legislation, we were sitting down with rollout of Operation United Front, a
his people, including a guy named is going to be over time—5 years, 10
years, 15 years from now—something program that helped combat the spread
Steve Ricchetti, his Deputy Chief of of illicit substances. He currently
Staff, and the National Economic people will look back and say: Aha.
This project which could never have serves as the chair of the Drug Enforce-
Council head, a guy named Brian
been done, now has been accomplished ment Committee of the National Sher-
Deese, and we negotiated with them on
and makes my life easier, makes my iff’s Association, using his expertise to
some of the issues.
But this really came out of, again, a community work better. That is what help communities across the Nation.
true bipartisan process. It is not really this bill is going to be about. Keith is also a leader in law enforce-
anybody’s bill. It is America’s bill be- And my hope is that, again, it will be ment training and instruction. He
cause representatives from every part a template for other projects in the fu- served as the chair of the Kentucky
of the country were involved, and those ture, where we say: Let’s figure out a Law Enforcement Council—the body
elected representatives made decisions way—despite our differences—to figure responsible for all police training in
that were in the interest of their con- out some common ground and move the Commonwealth——and currently
stituents but also our entire country. forward on these challenges that our works at a local community college as
That is why, in the end, I think this country faces and on issues that people a certified law enforcement instructor.
legislation represents not just a vic- really care about to be able to make With nearly five decades of phe-
tory for the American people, which it their lives better. Ultimately, that nomenal public service under his belt,
does, but in a way, a victory for com- should be our job. it is no surprise that Sheriff Cain has
mon sense and bipartisanship that this I yield the floor. received numerous awards from law en-
place badly needed. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ma-
forcement organizations all across the
I hope it is a template for things to jority leader.
country. There are too many to list,
come, and I hope that when someone f but highlights include the Governor’s
goes out on a limb and says: I am going LEGISLATIVE SESSION Award for Outstanding Contribution to
to support this legislation because it is Kentucky Law Enforcement, the Ken-
---
in the interest of the American people, tucky Sheriff Association’s Sheriff of
that that person is rewarded rather MORNING BUSINESS the Year Award, and the National
than attacked. Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask Sheriff’s Association Sheriff of the
And in the House I have seen some of unanimous consent that the Senate Year Award. Keith has been recognized
this with some of my Republican col- proceed to legislative session and be in by organizations like the NAACP, the
leagues who supported it; that people a period of morning business, with Sen- U.S. Marine Corps Law Enforcement
are upset on a partisan basis because ators permitted to speak therein for up Foundation, and the VFW. Needless to
they think it somehow gives too much to 10 minutes each. say, Daviess County will miss him
credit to Democrats if this were to The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without dearly when he is gone.
pass. objection, it is so ordered.
I mean, I suppose if you took that at- While Sheriff Cain is retiring, I am
f
titude, nothing would pass because it is confident we are not marking the end
either a Democratic or Republican bill, TRIBUTE TO SHERIFF KEITH CAIN of his lifelong commitment to service.
and this other side would block it. We Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, few As the past half century has shown,
need to get into a different mindset, sheriffs have accomplished as much, Keith dedicated his entire life and ca-
where we are thinking, ‘‘What is good served as long, or helped as many as reer to care for his neighbors and com-
for the country?’’ Sheriff Keith Cain of Daviess County, munity. While he will now have more
And, interestingly, when you look at KY. After 48 years with the Daviess time to spend with his wife Charlotte,
what the polling data is saying about County Sheriff’s Department, and 22 son Jason, and granddaughters, Alexis
ctelli on DSK11ZRN23PROD with SENATE
this bill, it is very popular. Initially, years as sheriff, Keith is retiring this and Alyssa, I am sure he will also re-
the numbers were, you know, 87 per- year, leaving behind a breathtaking main an ever-present helping hand for
cent approval rating, Republicans, legacy of public service. Today, I rec- Daviess County residents. On behalf of
Democrats, Independents, everyone. ognize Sheriff Cain as a Kentucky hero the Senate, I thank Sheriff Cain for his
One I saw yesterday was 65 percent be- whose record of service stands as an ex- service and congratulate him on his
cause it has gotten, again, some—it has ample for us all. well-earned retirement.
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