[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 10, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1649-S1658]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ADVANCED GEOTHERMAL INNOVATION LEADERSHIP ACT OF 2019--Continued
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 1
Mr. UDALL. Madam President, it has been 1 year since the House of
Representatives passed the most comprehensive package of anti-
corruption
[[Page S1650]]
reforms since Watergate--1 year. H.R. 1 shines a light on secret
campaign contributions, makes it easier to vote, and cleans up
corruption in Washington. It is the solution to the gridlock that the
American people are tired of in our Nation's Capital. But for 1 year,
H.R. 1 has gathered dust on Majority Leader McConnell's desk.
Every single Senator in the Democratic Congress and in our caucus
here in the Senate is cosponsoring the For the People Act, which is
Senator Merkley's and my companion bill to H.R. 1, For the People Act,
but it is buried deep in the leader's legislative graveyard.
Over the course of the last year, as the For the People Act has
languished, tens of millions of dollars were spent--much of it in
secret--to influence the policymaking process.
Almost half a dozen States passed new laws restricting voter rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court gave the green light to political
gerrymandering. And President Trump, visiting his own properties dozens
of times, funneled millions of taxpayer dollars into his own pocket.
Yet, the Republican Senate is silent--silent as our democracy faces a
crisis like none we have ever seen in our lifetimes.
We can draw a straight line from the crisis in our democracy to more
than 300 bipartisan bills buried in the majority leader's graveyard.
The bills waiting for Senate action are broadly supported by the
American people, but they are opposed by the ultrawealthy, the special
interests, the powerful corporations in that they try to buy our
elections. Like Senator McConnell, these Big Money interests are proud
of killing these bills.
Here is what happened over the year that the For the People Act has
been in the majority leader's graveyard: The number of Americans
without health insurance increased by hundreds of thousands. California
wildfires, worsened by climate change, cost $25 billion. Flooding in
the Midwest, also a casualty of climate change, cost $12.5 billion. And
22 people were gunned down at an El Paso Walmart by a White nationalist
armed with an assault rifle. Sadly, that was just a fraction of the
thousands of gun-related deaths in our country last year.
This is not the America that the American people want. The American
people want us to act. The gap between what the American people are
clamoring for and what the Republican majority in the Senate is giving
them is as wide as the Grand Canyon and is growing by the day.
Just look at the polls. Staggering numbers--closing in on 90 percent
of Americans--support universal, affordable healthcare. With these
numbers, you would think Republicans would be making sure that every
American has healthcare, but, instead, Republicans have tried to
dismantle the Affordable Care Act every chance they get. As we speak,
President Trump and 18 Republican Governors and attorneys general are
urging the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act.
The American people want exorbitant prescription drug prices reeled
in. Eighty percent of Americans think the cost of prescription drugs is
far too high, and we all know that Big Pharma is the reason why. Yet
legislation to reduce drug costs is also stuck--stuck among the
hundreds of other bills on the majority leader's desk. Over the last
two-plus decades, Big Pharma has spent $3.7 billion--yes, that is
billion--on lobbying. So today the same vial of insulin, which cost
$175 15 years ago, costs more than $1,400 today. As a result, some
diabetics ration their insulin, and some, as a result, have died.
It is not just our healthcare. The ability of our planet to support
human life as we know it is at stake. Time and again, polling tells us
the American people want us to tackle climate change. The American
people accept the science. They understand the existential threat. Yet
dozens of climate change bills lie dead in the Senate, including my
Renewable Electricity Standard Act, to move us to 100 percent clean
energy by midcentury.
Nearly 70 percent of Americans, including a majority of Republicans,
believe we need to take aggressive action to fight climate change, and
almost 80 percent believe the government should invest more in
renewable energy resources. With these kinds of numbers, you would
think Congress would be passing climate change legislation on a regular
basis, except you would be wrong. Why?
Well, an expert analysis found that from 2000 to 2016, $2 billion was
spent on lobbying regarding climate policy, and the fossil fuel
interests outspent environmental public interest groups by a factor of
10 to 1. This is not democracy at work. This is a complete perversion
of our democratic ideals.
But the good news is we can change all of this. We can reinvigorate
our democracy. We can end the reign of Big Money, empower small donors,
make it easier to vote, stop political gerrymandering, and bring
ethical conduct to Washington. The majority leader just needs to stop
doing the bidding of the wealthy special interests and bring the For
the People Act to the Senate floor.
I know my colleague Senator Merkley is here and Senator Bennet,
Senator Whitehouse, and Senator Cardin.
I yield to Senator Cardin. Thank you all for being here today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I want to thank Senator Udall for his
leadership on the For the People Act, and I want to thank Senator
Merkley for his leadership on this bill.
This bill contains many provisions that deal with the fundamental
values of this country. I also am proud of my colleague in the House of
Representatives, Congressman Sarbanes, who is the lead sponsor of H.R.
1, which is the For the People Act. It passed the House of
Representatives over a year ago, and there has been no action on the
floor of the Senate as a result of the majority leader's decision not
to bring these bills to the floor.
As I said, it includes a lot of different bills that all deal with
America's values. These are the values that are the strength of this
Nation--free and fair elections. That is what we promote globally
because we know that is key to a stable democratic society. Yet when
you look at the way we conduct elections in this country, we are not
setting a very high example. Look at how much money is involved in
elections in this country. From the President of the United States to
our local offices, too much money speaks to who is going to be able to
get the attention of the voters. We need to change that.
We know that suppression of voters has been institutionalized as a
strategy to win office. That should have no place in America. We should
want the maximum amount of voters to participate in our political
process, not try to prevent people from exercising their right to vote.
The For the People Act brings about meaningful change so that
America, which is the shining example of democracy, can lead the world
by the way we conduct our own elections. Let me mention two provisions
that I am particularly pleased are included in the For the People Act.
One is democracy restoration; that is, to allow those who have been
convicted of crime, after they have served their penalty, to be able to
participate in elections. We are one of only a few western democracies
that permanently disenfranchise an individual who has been convicted of
a felony. There are 6.1 million adults who currently are
disenfranchised as a result of that provision, yet only 22 percent of
those individuals are incarcerated. The other 78 percent have paid
their penalty, have done their time, and are now reintegrated into
society. It is in our interest to have them participate in our
democratic system. It reduces recidivism. And, quite frankly, it is
targeted at people of color. They are who have been most
disenfranchised as a result of this provision. Thirty-four States still
have restrictions, and 12 have lifetime restrictions on those convicted
of a felony. The Democracy Restoration Act would remedy that situation.
The second bill I am going to refer to very briefly is the Deceptive
Practices and Voter Prevention Act that targets primarily minority
voters to suppress their vote. It is the modern Jim Crow laws in which
we find we are using modern technology. We have campaign strategies
aimed at minority communities to give them misinformation about how
they can vote or whether they are eligible to vote or where they can
vote. That is being used today. We have to make sure that doesn't
happen in the American election system.
[[Page S1651]]
For the People provides meaningful changes so that we don't allow
suppression of votes to be an institutionalized strategy to try to win
an election, so that we have the maximum participation of voters in our
process, and it deals with the ever-flowing increase in the amount of
dollars that are put into American elections.
The U.S. Senate should not be a graveyard. Majority Leader McConnell
has prevented hundreds of bills--bipartisan bills--from coming to the
floor of the U.S. Senate. It has been a year since we have had the For
the People Act passed by the House of Representatives. It is well past
time for the Senate to take up this legislation so that we can show the
American people we support the values that have made America the great
democracy in our country.
Thank you very much.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, Shakespeare's great play ``Hamlet''
began with the phrase: Something is rotten in Denmark.
Well, something is rotten in Congress, and what is rotten in Congress
is dark money. Citizens United--perhaps one of the most foolish
decisions ever rendered by the U.S. Supreme Court--opened unlimited
spending into our politics, which benefits whom? It benefits those who
have unlimited money to spend and a motive to spend it in politics.
That is not a group of people whose voices were not being heard here
already. That is the favored group. But Citizens United opened the door
for them to spend unlimited money, and then the Supreme Court failed to
police its own decision. Its own decision said this unlimited spending
was going to be independent of candidates and transparent to the
public. Well, they are 0 for 2. It has been a decade, and they have
never even tried to enforce the basic predicates of their decision. It
is a shameful, shameful effort by the Court. Now, as a result, we have
throughout our politics this dark money tsunami of slime.
How bad is it? These groups have spent $4.5 billion since Citizens
United--$4.5 billion trying to influence Congress. Do you think they
were doing that in the public interest? Of course not. Do you wonder
why bills die here in the legislative graveyard of the Senate? Take a
guess.
Outside groups--these phony-baloney front groups for these big
special interests--are now outspending candidates in races. In fact, in
the decade after Citizens United, outside groups outspent candidates in
126 different congressional races. And it is a very small group of
people behind it. The top 10 donor households gave a combined $1.1
billion to these front groups. Do you think they were looking out for
the public interests? Dream on.
Who are the big spenders of this dark money? National Rifle
Association; Americans for Prosperity, which is the Koch brothers front
group; Crossroads GPS, which is Karl Rove's front group; and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, the champions of climate denial and obstruction.
Do you want to know why we are not getting things done around here?
It is because billions of dollars are being spent secretly by special
interests to shut things down, and it is creeping now even into the
courts. The Federalist Society, which is picking our judges, is at the
center of a $250 million dark money network. A group that ran the
campaigns against Garland and for Gorsuch and then afterward for
Kavanaugh got an individual $17 million donation for each of those two
campaigns. It is actually probably the same donor, which means somebody
out there anonymously gave $35 million to determine the makeup of the
U.S. Supreme Court, and we don't know who that is. We don't know what
business they have before the Court.
As I said, Hamlet begins with ``something is rotten in . . .
Denmark.'' Something is rotten in Congress, and the rot is creeping
over to the Supreme Court, and it is dark money, and it is the
patriotic and decent thing to do to extirpate this menace.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last year, I was proud to stand with my
colleagues as we introduced the For the People Act in the Senate just
weeks after it passed the House of Representatives. This measure has
already passed the House of Representatives.
If you took civics 101, they explain that after the House took action
on a measure, it came here. So the obvious question is, What happened
to it? It has been a year. It must be here somewhere. Well, we know
exactly where it is. It is in Senator McConnell's office. He is the
Republican Leader of the U.S. Senate, and he has made a conscious
decision that hundreds of bills just like this one will not even be
considered on the floor of the Senate. It isn't that he doesn't have a
majority; he does. But he doesn't want us to even debate or discuss
these bills before the American people.
This U.S. Senate once enjoyed its reputation as the world's most
deliberative body, which means we came here, debated, argued, and voted
on things like amendments and bills like this one. Last year in the
U.S. Senate, the calendar year 2019, we considered exactly 22
amendments in the entire year--22 amendments in 1 year in this Senate.
Six of them were offered by Senator Paul, who, with a gun to our heads,
said: If you don't give me a vote on my amendment, you can't go home.
All six of his amendments were defeated, but that just gives you an
example of why there is so little activity and why this floor is so
empty so many times.
In fact, this floor has become a museum piece where bystanders,
witnesses, and spectators can come in, sit in the Galleries, and look
down on the desks that used to be occupied by Senators who debated and
voted. We don't do that anymore. Instead, we consider one after the
other after the other of judicial nominations. I am not going to get
into that issue because it has been touched on already.
My contribution to this For the People Act goes to the heart of
political campaigns. If you don't think American political campaigns
are long enough, if you would like us to be on television a few more
months each year, hang on tight because it is coming. If you don't
think enough money is being spent on American political campaigns, hang
on tight because more is coming. If you want to reach the point where
we have no idea where most of the money is coming from that funds these
campaigns, hang on. The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court
across the street has set the stage for that, and that is where we are
headed in America today.
My proposal for fair elections now moves in exactly the opposite
directions--shorter campaigns, smaller contributions, more
confrontation between candidates over issues than to have this battle
of television ads that goes on now.
My act would create a voluntary, small-donor, public financing system
for Senate candidates who agree to raise only small-dollar
contributions. I know it is a dream, but think about what it would do
to change American politics. Here is how it would work: Qualified
Senate candidates would receive grants based on their State's
population, 6-to-1 matching grants for contributions they get of $200
or less--smaller contributors--and vouchers for purchasing television
advertising other than social media. Once candidates reach the maximum
amount of matching funds they receive, they continue to raise an
unlimited amount of contributions of $200 or less--a $200 cap on
contributions. They can also raise money from small-donor political
action committees, known as People PACs, which allow citizens to make
their voices heard by aggregating just small contributions--no big
hitters.
The fair elections public financing system would elevate the views
and interests of a diverse group of Americans, rather than the
traditional wealthy class, and we would pay for it without spending a
dime in taxpayer dollars. Our system would be financed with assessments
on wealthy bad actors and industry law breakers. In the 2018 midterm
elections, the price of victory for a successful House congressional
candidate averaged about $2 million, and 35 Senate candidates who won
in 2018 spent an average of $15.7 million apiece.
If we don't rein in the cost and length of campaigns, shame on us. We
have to reclaim the reputation of this great Congress and the U.S.
Senate, and it starts with the way we finance our campaigns.
[[Page S1652]]
In addition to the Fair Elections Now Act, this bill has measures to
increase access to the ballot box, to strengthen election security, to
improve oversight in our campaign finances, and to remove corruption
from office.
I think it is outrageous that we live in an America in which people
are dreaming up ways to restrict and restrain people's right to vote.
If there is anything fundamental to a democracy, it is the vote of
those who are legally entitled in America. I have been in this business
for a while. I started off by losing a few elections. I didn't enjoy a
moment of that, but there was a notion that at least the American
people had spoken in those elections, and I accepted the verdicts of
those people. They have come back and given me a few chances since to
be in public service.
Let's make sure the American people have the voice--the most
important voice in this process--through their right to vote. Keep
foreigners out of the process, and put Americans into them. Don't make
it hard to vote. Make it easy for those who are legally entitled to
vote.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I come to the floor to mark the 1-
year anniversary of the House passage of H.R. 1, the For the People
Act. I am honored to be here with my colleagues, and I am here to urge
the Republicans to bring this legislation to the floor for a vote.
This bill has been languishing in the legislative graveyard for a
year. I know because I have 13 provisions in this bill. This bill--the
combined work of so many people in this Chamber, including of my
friends Senator Udall, Senator Merkley, and many others--would
fundamentally improve our democracy by protecting voting rights,
securing our election systems, and getting dark money out of our
campaign system.
Why is it so important for us to act on this bill? Every one of the
things we want to get done--finally addressing the climate crisis,
immigration reform, improving people's healthcare, making healthcare
more affordable--depend on there being a democracy that works so people
can make sure their votes count.
At a time when the right to vote is under attack, when foreign
adversaries are trying to exploit our divisions and interfere in our
elections--something we are going to be briefed about this afternoon
from intelligence agencies--and when an unprecedented amount of money
from special interests is drowning out the voices of the American
people, we need to take bold action to restore Americans' confidence in
our political system. That is exactly what the For the People Act does.
As the ranking member of the Committee on Rules and Administration, I
know this bill is important. I am frustrated that we have not had more
Rules Committee hearings about things like the oversight of the FEC. I
am frustrated that, just today, a Republican Commissioner was put forth
for a hearing, recommended by the White House, when there is a highly
qualified Democratic candidate who would be the first person of color
in history to serve on the Federal Election Commission who has been
vetted and has cleared the White House. Yet we only saw the Republican
candidate. This is why this bill is so important.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th
Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. As we celebrate, we
are reminded that, throughout our country's history, the right to vote
has been hard fought and hard won. Just 2 weeks ago, I had the honor of
joining Congressman John Lewis--a true hero for voting rights--on the
55th annual Selma bridge crossing to commemorate the sacrifices made on
Bloody Sunday.
When we reflect on the sacrifices that have been made for the right
to vote, one thing is truly clear--that the fight is not over. There
are people today who are working to take the right to vote away. Their
work comes in many forms: voter ID laws, gerrymandered districts,
purging people from voting rolls, and one that we just saw just last
week on Super Tuesday--polling place closures that result in voters
having to wait hours in line just to cast their ballots. Just last week
in the State of Texas, some African-American voters waited more than 5
hours in line. When a reporter asked one group of voters how the group
got through it, a man said: We thought they were making us wait on
purpose, so we motivated each other to stay.
The policies that led to those long lines didn't happen by accident.
Discrimination in voting is happening, as the Fourth Circuit noted in a
North Carolina decision on gerrymandering--and these are the words of
the judges--with ``surgical precision.'' Discrimination in voting is
happening with surgical precision against the African-American
community.
Our democracy is stronger when more people participate, and our
policies are better when more people participate, so we should be
making it easier, not harder, to vote. Every eligible American should
be automatically registered to vote when one turns 18. That is a bill
that I lead. If Target, which is my hometown company, can track a pair
of shoes in Hawaii with a SKU number, if everyone gets a Social
Security number, we should be able to make sure that people who are
eligible to vote are automatically registered when they turn 18.
So as to end the practice of gerrymandering, we also need to reform
how we draw district maps by having an independent commission in each
State. Certainly, we also need to ban the purging of voting rolls. As
my friend Stacey Abrams has said, if you don't go to church or the
synagogue or the mosque for a year or so, you don't lose your right to
worship. If you don't go to a PTA meeting or any other kind of Rotary
Club or anything for a few years, you don't lose your right to assemble
under the U.S. Constitution, and if you have not voted in a few
elections and show up when you have been registered but, somehow, they
never sent you the notice and, because there is no same-day
registration, you find out you cannot vote, even though you had been
duly registered to vote, you should not lose your right to vote under
the U.S. Constitution. That is exactly what is going on right now with
voting purges.
I am proud to lead provisions in the important For the People Act
that would accomplish the goals to end these discriminatory practices.
Of course, we also have to make voting more secure, which is my last
topic.
It has been 1,218 days since Russia attacked us in 2016, and we have
yet to pass comprehensive election security legislation. The next major
elections are just 240 days away, and primaries, as we know, are
underway. We must take action now to secure our elections from foreign
threats. That is why I have championed legislation to beef up our
election systems, which was included in H.R. 1, by providing States
with the resources to modernize our voting equipment--some of this has
been passed here in this Chamber--but also to set standards for Federal
elections, which is the key part--requirements like paper ballots and
postelection audits. We still have States--entire States--that have no
backup paper ballots.
I am not going to spend time going through all of those States, but
let me tell you that the Russians know exactly which States those are
that have no backup paper ballots. We just had some caucuses in this
country, and people resorted to looking at those paper ballots. Imagine
if we were hacked in a certain county or in a certain State and there
were no backup paper ballots. What would that do to a Federal election?
These are the basics of a secure election system, but in 2020, as I
noted, voters in eight States will now cast their ballots on machines
that produce no paper trails. There are 16 States that still have no
statewide audit requirements to confirm the results of an election, and
a majority of States relies on voting systems that are at least 10
years old. That is wrong.
That is why Senator Lankford and I, as well as Senator Warner,
Senator Harris, Senator Burr, and many others, have been pushing the
Senate to act, but we have been gut-punched because calls were made
from the White House and calls were made from Senator McConnell a year
ago to stop the votes to get that bill through the committee to the
Senate floor.
Making voting easier and more secure is only part of the solution. We
also have to get dark money out of our
[[Page S1653]]
politics and increase transparency. Americans know this. They know
there is way too much dark money in our politics. In poll, after poll,
after poll, they overwhelmingly want to have more transparency.
Campaign finance reform is a central part of H.R. 1 for a reason. If we
don't put a check on the corrupting influence of money in politics,
American voices will continue to be drowned out by special interests.
Think about the three things I have just proposed: making voting
easier, securing our election systems, and getting Big Money out of our
campaigns. These are not radical proposals. These are proposals on
which nearly everyone in our country agrees.
I conclude by noting, in addition to marking the 1-year anniversary
of the passage of H.R. 1 in the House, today is Harriet Tubman Day.
Most people remember Harriet Tubman for her incredible work on the
Underground Railroad, where she repeatedly risked her life for the
freedom of others. I recently watched the movie ``Harriet'' and highly
recommend it to my colleagues. Yet Harriet Tubman didn't stop her fight
for freedom and equality after the Civil War ended. She took up the
cause of women's suffrage and worked tirelessly until she was 90 years
old in helping women get the right to vote. We celebrate her life today
because she spent a lifetime bending the arc of our moral universe
toward justice.
The best way we can honor her and the countless others who have
risked their lives for our country and our democracy is to continue the
work of improving our democracy so that it works better for the next
generation. That is what the For the People Act is all about.
I urge my Republican colleagues--I implore them--a group of people
who I know believes in freedom--to allow us to have this bill come up
for a vote to ensure that people have the cherished freedom to vote.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. BENNET. Madam President, I appreciate the opportunity to talk
about this bill.
I thank my colleague Senator Udall, of New Mexico, and my colleague
Senator Merkley, of Oregon, for their extraordinary work.
I don't know if they have ever had the experience that I have often
had or the Presiding Officer has had, but there are times, in my having
spent a week here after having done absolutely nothing, when I am
walking through the Denver International Airport, and I want to put a
paper bag over my head because I am so embarrassed about the failure of
this institution to live up to even the barest responsibilities that we
have.
I mean, we can't even pass a basic infrastructure bill around this
place while China is building 3,500 miles of fiber-optic cable to
connect Latin America with Africa and back to China to export the
surveillance state from China. That is what China is doing there while
we are doing nothing here. We have become the land of flickering
lights, whereby the standard of success is whether we have kept the
lights on for another 2 hours or another 4 hours.
What the American people need to understand is that this is the
ideological end state of what the Freedom Caucus came to Washington to
do. It has become the ideological end state of what Mitch McConnell can
do because, in the rubble of our institutions, they can achieve the
objectives they want to achieve. They can put rightwing judges on the
courts without our institutions working. They can come out here and cut
taxes for rich people and claim it is a middle-class tax cut without
our institutions working. Yet what we are unable to do without those
institutions working is invest in our infrastructure, is make sure that
we have an education system in this country that is actually liberating
people from their economic circumstances instead of reinforcing their
economic circumstances, is ensure that we are doing something on the
climate and doing something on guns.
It has been more than 20 years since Columbine happened in Colorado.
My State--the Western State, a Second Amendment State--passed
background checks after Columbine. My three daughters grew up knowing
they lived in a State that was actually trying to respond to what was
going on in their schools--not true of the U.S. Congress.
The reason for much of this inaction is the Supreme Court's decision
with regard to Citizens United. I will not belabor the point, for I
know my colleague from Hawaii was kind to let me go ahead of her, but
let me just repeat this: After Citizens United, 10 donors over the past
decade have contributed $1.2 billion to our policy. That has created a
corruption of inaction in the U.S. Senate. It is not corruption that
you see because it is a corruption of inaction. It is the bill that is
not introduced. It is the committee hearing that is not held. It is the
vote that is never taken for fear that, if you do that, some
billionaire is going to drop $30 million on your race and run a primary
against you in your next election.
Do you want to know why we can have a Senate in the United States
that votes on only 22 amendments in a year? That is the reason. Do you
want to know why we have a Senate wherein 75 percent of the votes are
personnel votes and 25 percent are actually on amendments? That is the
reason. We have to overcome it, not for Democrats or Republicans but
for the American people because this is their exercise in self-
government. This is the way they make decisions.
I know these reforms can work because they have worked in Colorado
with a bipartisan commission to end gerrymandering, mail-in voting, and
automatic and same-day voting registration. The result is that we have
the second highest voter participation rate in America. How can that
not be good for our democracy?
So my hope is that at some point, when he hears the voices of the
American people, Mitch McConnell will relent and allow these bills to
come to the floor.
He described this bill last year as a power grab--a power grab--and I
will accept that if it is understood that it is a power grab by the
American people, which is what it is--an effort to get money out of our
politics and to put people back into our politics so we can start doing
the work that the American people sent us here to do.
With that, I thank my colleague from Hawaii again for her indulgence.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, I also want to thank Senators Udall and
Merkley for their extraordinary work on the For the People Act.
We are confronting a crisis in our democracy. We have a President who
repeatedly invites foreign intervention in our elections, engages in
widespread corruption, attacks the news media as part of a broader
assault on the truth, and uses false claims of voter fraud to
legitimize voter suppression across the country.
These challenges to our democracy are not limited to the Trump
administration, but this President has undoubtedly made things much,
much worse. It is why I joined an overwhelming number of my Democratic
colleagues of both Chambers of Congress in cosponsoring H.R. 1, the For
the People Act.
This crucial piece of legislation is the most expansive and serious
attempt to strengthen American democracy in decades. Among its many
provisions, this bill would root out corruption by attacking the dark
money in our politics. The door was opened in the Citizens United
decision by the Supreme Court. This bill would also secure our
elections from foreign interference and restore voter protections that
Republicans have spent decades attacking for their own partisan
political benefit.
Like many of my colleagues, I am particularly focused on combating
the Republican Party's efforts to disenfranchise millions of minority
voters. I could spend hours detailing the efforts throughout American
history to make it as difficult as possible--or even impossible--for
people of color to vote.
But today I want to focus on the impact of the Supreme Court's 2013
decision in Shelby County. In this 5-to-4 decision, Chief Justice
Roberts and the Court's conservative Justices effectively gutted the
core protections of the Voting Rights Act. They decided that States
with long histories of discrimination no longer had to obtain Federal
approval for voting changes under the Voting Rights Act.
[[Page S1654]]
As author Carol Anderson explained, Chief Justice Roberts has
``[l]ong [been] an opponent of the Voting Rights Act,'' and in Shelby
County he used arguments that had been ``carefully crafted'' over
``several decades'' to eviscerate the Voting Rights Act.
Without the constraints of the Voting Rights Act, States with long
histories of discrimination ramped up voter suppression, from racist
voter ID laws to eliminating early voting, to purging voter rolls and
closing polling places.
In the 6 years following the Shelby County decision, for example,
States previously subjected to preclearance under the Voting Rights Act
closed at least 1,688 polling sites. Texas alone closed 750 polling
places.
The closures had their intended effect. A study at Harvard University
found that minority voters are six times more likely than White voters
to wait longer than an hour to vote. Longer waits impose greater costs
for voting on minorities and deter them from voting in future
elections. We saw the impact of these policies just last week on Super
Tuesday, which saw inordinately long lines in minority precincts in
Texas.
Mr. Hervis Rogers waited more than 6 hours to vote, but he was
determined to make his voice heard. So when he got to his polling place
at Texas Southern University, a historically Black college in Houston,
he patiently waited in line until he could cast his vote at 1:30 in the
morning.
Mr. Rogers's experience last week speaks to one part of a broader
problem. The Republican Party is so invested in voter suppression
because they view it as an effective tool to win elections, and these
efforts had devastating consequences for our country in the 2016
Presidential election--the first Presidential election held in 50 years
that did not have the protections of the Voting Rights Act.
We saw plummeting minority turnout across the country, including in
the key swing States of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Carol Anderson observed that in 2016, 50,000 fewer people voted in
1--just 1--overwhelmingly African-American county in Wisconsin. Donald
Trump, by comparison, won Wisconsin by only 27,000 votes.
Efforts to further suppress the minority vote in swing States
continue to date. Last year, for example, a conservative interest group
sued Wisconsin's State Elections Commission to force a purge of 209,000
infrequent voters from the voter rolls. Although a lower State court
granted the conservative group's request, a Wisconsin appeals court put
the voter purge on hold while the fight in court continues.
These ongoing voter suppression efforts serve as stark reminders of
why we need to pass the For the People Act. This bill not only blocks
common strategies Republicans have used to make it harder for
minorities to vote, but it also includes critical democracy reforms to
make their votes count.
This legislation would also set strong national standards to protect
voting access that reflect and improve upon steps that have already
been taken by States like Hawaii. Last year, for example, Hawaii became
the fourth State in the country to provide mail-in ballots to all
voters. Our State also has same-day voter registration, preregistration
for residents under the age of 18, and a 10-day early voting period.
While some States are stepping up to protect voting rights, Congress
needs to take strong and decisive action to restore voting rights and
end voter suppression across the country.
We also need to take an equally strong stand against Donald Trump's
efforts to pack our Federal courts with judges who have dedicated their
careers to undermining the voting rights of minorities.
At the Supreme Court, where Donald Trump has appointed two Justices,
there have been a number of cases attacking the voting rights of
minority communities, and there are real concerns that the Roberts
Court will continue to uphold these voter suppression efforts.
In the lower courts, Trump judges include Andrew Brasher, now an
Eleventh Circuit judge, who argued in support of gutting the Voting
Rights Act in the Shelby County case; and Kyle Duncan, now a Fifth
Circuit judge, who defended North Carolina's discriminatory voting law
that the Fourth Circuit found--and I quote the Fourth Circuit--
``target[ed] African Americans with almost surgical precision.'' These
are overt acts to suppress voting.
President Trump's hostility to voting rights is so extreme. He is
appointing anti-voting rights advocates even to courts that do not
handle voting issues, such as Stephen Schwartz for the Court of Federal
Claims and Stephen Vaden for the Court of International Trade. Both
have no experience with these courts, but both have defended North
Carolina's discriminatory voting law.
The right to vote is one of our most sacred rights, and we must do
all that we can to protect it for all Americans. That is why I will
continue to fight back against Donald Trump's court packing and fight
for the passage of critical legislation like the For the People Act.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, I am pleased to be here with my
colleagues to fight to restore the American Constitution. I am pleased
to be here with Senator Tom Udall, who has led the For the People Act,
and my colleagues Mazie Hirono, Michael Bennet, Amy Klobuchar, and Dick
Durbin--all speaking up to say that we must defend the American
Constitution.
At the root of that is our system of electing those who represent us,
and that election system, America, is now deeply corrupted by
gerrymandering, by extensive, persistent voter suppression, and by dark
money. It affects everything that we should achieve for the people of
the United States.
If we believe we need to end the price gouging of Americans on
pharmaceutical drugs, we need to end this corruption and pass the For
the People Act. If we believe that every child deserves a quality K-12
education and that our children should be able to go to college without
a mountain of debt, we need to end this corruption and pass the For the
People Act. If we believe that Americans should be living in homes and
apartments, not sleeping on the streets, we need to end this corruption
and pass the For the People Act. If we believe that we have a
responsibility to pass on a habitable and livable planet, free of
pollution, to our children and grandchildren, we need to end this
corruption and pass the For the People Act.
This corruption--gerrymandering, voter suppression, dark money--is
all about eviscerating the very soul of our Constitution--the ``we the
people'' vision of our Constitution, that we would not be like European
nations that had government by and for the powerful, but that here in
America representatives of the people would be able to have government
by and for the people.
It is Jefferson who said: The real test of whether we succeed is
whether the laws reflect the will of the people. But instead, we see
the laws in this Chamber being constructed solely, uniquely, and,
unfortunately for the most powerful and wealthy among us rather than
the people.
Gerrymandering, where voters should choose their politicians but,
instead, politicians choose their voters--that is a deep and powerful
corruption that has extensive impact on the Chamber that is just down
the hall.
We have seen what happened in North Carolina, where 47 percent of the
State's popular vote in House races won 23 percent of the seats and,
similarly, in Pennsylvania, in the election before last, and the
Supreme Court threw up its hands and said: We can't do anything about
this, even though the Pennsylvania Supreme Court understood it is so
important to fairness and equal representation and took it on and
solved it.
This bill sets up independent commissions across the country so that
the districts for representation are drawn fairly.
Then there is voter suppression and intimidation. If you believe in
our Constitution and if you honor it, you believe in voter empowerment,
not voter suppression.
We have seen a flood of suppression and intimidation since the
Supreme Court took a hatchet to the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby
County case--voter ID laws, purges of voter rolls,
[[Page S1655]]
moving polling locations, cutting back on the hours, cutting back on
the staffing. We have seen it in North Dakota. We have seen it in
Georgia. We have seen it in Ohio, and we have seen it in North
Carolina. We have seen it in Iowa. We have seen it in New Hampshire,
and we saw it in Texas last week.
There are strategies to keep the poor from voting, strategies to keep
those Americans of minority communities from voting, strategies to keep
American Native Indians from voting, and strategies to keep college
students from voting. Talk about the intense and deliberate corruption
of America. Voter suppression and intimidation is it.
But this bill lays it out--automatic voter registration, national
vote-by-mail, prohibiting the purging of voting rolls, online
registration to enable people to have a smooth, solid road to be able
to participate, rather than roadblocks and land mines to prevent them
from participating.
Then we have the dark money. These are the most powerful and richest
Americans trying to drown out the voices of millions of Americans
through unlimited dark and dirty money in our campaigns. Americans know
the system is now rigged. They know it is now corrupted by this money.
We have seen an explosion of this money since 2010 when the Citizens
United decision came down, a 5-to-4 decision from the Supreme Court. It
bloated to more than $4.4 billion.
This bill takes that on. It shines a light on all the money so we
know where it is coming from and where it is going, so it can't be
hidden in a shell game from one level, to the next, to the next. It
requires honest ads. It allows small-donor matching grants. This bill,
for the people, says no to corruption and yes to the ``we the people''
Constitution of the United States of America.
If we want to act on the fundamentals for families on healthcare, on
housing, on education, on infrastructure, and on living-wage jobs; if
we want to take on the Equality Act so doors are no longer slammed for
the LGBTQ community; if we are going to take on the carbon pollution
that is destroying so much in American agriculture and our forests and
our fishing, doing so much damage with fiercer storms; if we are going
to take this on, we must pass the For the People Act.
This act has passed the House down the hall. It has come down here,
and it has been buried by the Republican leadership in this Chamber in,
I must say, one of the most deliberate acts of sabotage of the
Constitution we have ever seen on the floor of this Senate, and that
sabotage must end.
Therefore, Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 39, H.R. 1; that
the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the
motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no
intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Blackburn). Is there objection?
Mr. BLUNT. Madam President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I must
admit I was sitting here, and I thought I was coming over for H.R. 1
from the House, which was attempted to be put on the floor--a bill that
was supposedly designed to create ballot security--and I got here and
found out that this is the bill that will right all wrongs. I had no
idea that in one piece of legislation, so many things could happen.
I understand also it is a bill that stops the subversion of the
Constitution. I actually always thought a principal purpose of our
Constitution was to divide between the State and the Federal Government
those things that could be better done by local government and those
things that could be better done by State government. That certainly is
not what I heard today.
I also thought that the reason for this bill supposedly from the
House was a bill that would create a level of election security that I
never thought the bill would create, but I haven't heard that.
I almost went down to ask as my friend was finishing up, am I really
here for H.R. 1, or is this some other bill that does so much more than
I ever could have imagined that H.R. 1 could do?
In March of 2019, the House did pass this bill. It gave unprecedented
control to the Federal Government over the elections of the country.
You take away--you moved as far as you possibly could, with this bill,
the responsibility for running an election at a precinct in a
jurisdiction.
At that time, the Senate requested that the bill be taken up, and it
was objected to--by me, actually. In the intervening year, the bill
hasn't changed. It appears to have gotten a lot better at what it might
possibly be designed to do, which appears to be everything that anybody
would ever want to deal with, but what it really does is it still
represents a one-size-fits-all Federal power grab to take control of
election administration away from the States and in most cases away
from the community and in many cases away from a locally elected
official whose--the very essence of the job they have been elected to
do is to be sure that not only can people vote but that people have
confidence in what happens on election day. That, in my view, would
change dramatically if you move that responsibility from the people who
have it now to some group here in Washington, DC, who would try to
administer elections nationally.
I am confident that wouldn't happen. In fact, the security of our
elections--since the impetus of this was supposed to be more secure
elections when the House first said they were going to pass a big
election bill that ensures elections will be more secure, I think the
thing that secures our elections the most is the diversity of the
system. This bill would undermine the decentralization of the system.
It would undermine the ability of local officials to be responsible.
I spent 20 years as either the election official in the biggest
county in our State where one person had that responsibility or as the
secretary of state, the chief election official. I have been advised by
and I have given advice to and I have worked with local election
officials who are incredibly motivated to see that what happens on
election day is what voters want to have happen--the ability to cast
their ballots with minimum obstacles and with maximum confidence that
what happened on election day was what voters intended to do. I think I
understand how hard those election officials work and everything they
do to ensure that voters will be heard.
It is not just my opinion. President Obama in 2016 said that ``there
is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could
even rig America's elections, in part because they are so decentralized
and the number of votes involved.'' I actually agree with that. I think
that was right then, and I think that is right now.
But this bill tells States how they could run every aspect of their
election. It takes away the authority of States to determine their own
process in voter registration. It requires States--many States do this.
If States do this and they think it works in their State, fine with me.
But this would require online registration. It would require automatic
voter registration. It would require same-day registration. If we were
concerned about access to the voter rolls, none of those things would
be things that from Washington, DC, we would believe we could require.
It requires the criteria of how you process how a voter can be removed
from the voter rolls. It tells States what kind of election equipment
they must use. It tells States how their ballots have to be counted. It
tells States how their ballots have to be audited. It even goes so far
as to tell States what kind of paper their ballots have to be printed
on.
That is exactly what happens when you decide you are going to make
something better by making one big one-size-fits-all system. Nothing is
too small for that system to decide they can do better than anybody
locally could decide, even what paper the ballot is printed on.
This doesn't stop at that, though. It changes Federal campaign
finance law. It includes politicizing the Federal Elections Commission
by changing it from an evenly divided number to a partisan, five-member
Commission where three members would always be of the opposite party
from the other two. It creates a program for public financing of
Federal elections, which
[[Page S1656]]
was just described as ``grants to politicians''--the most ingenious
description I have heard of giving tax money to politicians to run
elections. It would be a grant to politicians.
This bill hasn't changed since last March, but a lot has changed
since last March. The Intelligence Committee that I am a member of has
released three volumes of its report on Russian interference in the
2016 election. Those three volumes include numerous recommendations to
combat foreign election interference in our elections. The vast
majority of those recommendations are not in this law. Many of those
recommendations have been passed by the Senate and not passed by the
House.
We are going to have a briefing in just about 50 minutes from the
FBI, the Homeland Security people, and the people who are actually
working to secure our elections so that every Senator can hear what is
happening there. None of that is in this bill.
State and local officials have moved dramatically since 2016 to
upgrade their systems. All but two States, I believe, now have largely
moved to where they have an auditable paper trail, which I was always
insisting upon as a State election official. States are moving in that
direction. They are changing their own laws. Federal officials are
giving them advice when they need it but not trying to take over.
This bill not only doesn't acknowledge what State and local officials
have been doing, but it actually undermines what they have been doing
by setting standards that the brandnew equipment might not fit--
equipment that has a paper trail, equipment that States had just
bought, equipment they bought that they think would do a better job but
might not be in full compliance with this new law.
There certainly are things that the Federal Government can do to
assist, particularly in securing local elections and giving advice to
local election officials. H.R. 1 does not do most of those things. It
doesn't meet the standard that it sets for itself. It doesn't address
the actual challenges in elections. So, Madam President, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, my colleague has just demonstrated why
this bill should be on the floor. He has given extensive conversation
on a series of points that should be deliberated upon.
I say to my colleague from Missouri, isn't this what we should be
doing as a body, putting issues on the floor of the Senate and debating
them for the future of this country so that we can get, if you will,
right to the facts rather than to have things obscured by the fact that
the issue is not on the floor.
So I would encourage my colleague from Missouri to go back to his
caucus and say: You know, I just gave a vigorous opposition to this
bill, but I believe in the role of the Senate in deliberating the
issues. So I think this bill should be put on the floor, and I think it
should be open to amendments.
I can hear from what my colleague has stated that he probably thinks
the bill should be shrunk and probably thinks it could also be
expanded. Good. That is the point of having debate and amendments on
the floor of the Senate.
So I would hope, in the spirit of your comments, you would be willing
to actually stand up and debate this bill and advocate for your
colleagues to debate this bill on the floor of the Senate, because once
upon a time, this floor would have been full of Members arguing over
key issues, enlightening each other, pointing out the flaws in their
thinking, but now substantive policy bills don't arrive here on the
floor because of an unconstitutional position--one that is not
delineated in the Constitution--the majority leader has decided that
nothing should be debated on this floor that he alone doesn't want
considered.
Let's think about some of the points that were just raised. One point
was that the Federal Government should have no role in elections; it
should all be left to local officials. Didn't we have that debate in
1965 in the Voting Rights Act? Why did the Federal Government say that
we should, in fact, have laws for the integrity of our elections? It
was because there were all kinds of forms of voter intimidation and
voter suppression, keeping the people of the United States, the
citizens of the United States, from fully participating in their
democratic Republic. It is the Constitution that laid out this role for
the Federal Government, saying Congress may at any time by law make or
alter such regulations regarding elections. So it is the Constitution
that envisioned that if States failed to protect the integrity of our
elections, then we should act right here, right now.
My colleague said he didn't like the idea that the bill says what
type of paper to use. Well, that's certainly something that can be
worked out. But shouldn't we have paper ballots everywhere?
My colleague said local officials are doing a great job. Then why
were people in minority districts waiting 7 hours to vote, when people
in many other districts--more affluent districts--were waiting 7
minutes to vote? That is discrimination, straight and simple. Shouldn't
we debate eliminating that discrimination here on the floor of the
Senate?
This is about the integrity of our elections. This is about the
vision of our Constitution. This is about not letting the wealthy and
powerful control what happens in our United States of America.
If we do not address this corruption of this Senate and of the voting
institutions, then we, in fact, will fail to fulfill our responsibility
under the Constitution of the people, by the people, and for the
people.
Thank you, Madam President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
Australian Wildfires
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today to honor the
alliance we have between America and Australia. Specifically, I want to
pay tribute to the partnership we have with regard to firefighting.
America's century-old friendship with Australia has safeguarded two
great nations.
July of 2018 marked the 100th anniversary of our historic victory in
the pivotal Battle of Hamel during World War I. The Australia, New
Zealand, United States Security Treaty came together to cement this
military alliance. Since that treaty was signed in 1951, we have always
supported each other in times of crisis. It is this enduring spirit of
mutual concern and cooperation and commitment that we celebrate today.
Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland and I have put together a bipartisan
resolution paying tribute to our firefighting alliance.
In recent years, the United States and Australia have suffered some
of the hottest, driest weather on record. As a result, we have seen
longer, fiercer wildfire seasons. For over 15 years, the two nations
have come together to battle some of the most damaging and deadly
fires. In 2018, more than 100 Australians helped the United States
combat wildfires ravaging the West Coast.
For our part, U.S. agencies have been sending American firefighters
to help the people of Australia. These agencies include the Bureau of
Land Management, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Most recently, 362 firefighters helped battle this season's brutal
Australian brush fires. These brush fires burned over 30 million acres
before the last fires were put out just this month.
Tragically, three former American servicemembers died in a plane
crash fighting the wildfires in Australia. One of these heroes, Ian
McBeth of Montana, was actually a member of the Wyoming National Guard.
Also killed were firefighters Paul Hudson of Arizona and Rick DeMorgan
of Florida.
This resolution honors their ultimate sacrifice. It also recognizes
the sacrifices of all of the courageous American and Australian
firefighters.
I especially want to thank the 15 firefighters from my home State of
Wyoming who assisted Australia: Travis Braten, Anna Cressler, Peter
Freire, Kyle Miller, Chris Rankin, Eldred Slagowski, Traci Weaver,
Timothy Haas, Richard Howe, Frank Keeler, Robert McConchie, Shane
McCormick, Heath Morgan, Rance Neighbors, and Jonathan Ziegler.
I ask unanimous consent that the complete list of all of the names of
those U.S.-Australia brush fire firefighters be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
[[Page S1657]]
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Federal Employees
US Australia Bush Fires
Charles Russell, Peter Butteri, Bradford James Reed, Dylan
Howard Brooks, Kyle Cowan, Raymond Anthony Crowe, John Craig
Fremont, Evan Elliot Karp, Adam Kohley, Theodore Plumlee,
Karen Irene Scholl, Brian A Lopez, Sean W Snyder, Lori E.
Hisek, Anthony Edward Acheson, Jonathan F Catron, Sean C Cox,
Nathanial Curtis Dierking, Melanie N Dolan, Jared B Gilmore.
Bill Kuche, Bethany Dawn Kurtz, Clyde England, Benjamin
Stuart Evans, John M Garrett, Cody Goff, Ryan Hagenah,
Koreena L Haynes, Jake T Rocke, Jamie Rogers, Brady Schultz,
Greg Smith, Eugene H Thul, RobRoy Williams, Corey Wood, Mark
Empey, Leander Real Bird, Angel Acosta, Kristen M Allison,
Victor Almanza.
Matthew A Aoki, Pablo Arriaga, Shane W Bender, Salvador W
Cody Blanco, Fred Brewster, Danielle T Cardenas, John Casey,
Ernest Ceccon, Armando Ceja, Hector Cerna, Brad W Corbin,
William Richard Crews, Daniel R Diaz, Leonard Dimaculangan,
Timothy Dunfee, Catherine B Eurbin, Isaac Flattley, Jason
French, Santos Gonzalez, Brian P Good.
Justine Gude, Keegan Guillory, Joshua H Haddock, Charles
Hixon, Patrick Howard, Janes, Brian Janes, Sean D Johnny,
Paul Johnson, Joseph P Jones, Kyle Jones, Kenneth C Kempter,
Ken H Kumpe, Alex E Malson, Tony Martinez, Josh Mathiesen,
Jack Lincoln Matteson, Alex McBath, Jonathan Merager, Vicente
Moreno.
Richard Noggles, Jackie Ortega, Adam D Park, Jorge L Perez,
Adam Ramirez, Richard Reposa III, Gabriel J Romero, Mark S
Smith, David Ernest Soldavini, Sean Stalie, Teresa M Stelman,
Greg Stenmo, Johnny Summers, Matthew R Tarango, Joshua
Thomas, Kevin Tkoch, Sergio Jose Toscano, Harold D Updike,
Eduardo Valle, Eric Verdries.
Jason Withrow, John Worsley, Kurt M Yearout, Grant J
Gifford, Tim Klukas, Jason W Loomis, Robin Wills, Rick L
Young, Kyle Landon Bonham, David Carrera, Jeremy Scott
McMahon, Elizabeth A Schenk, Jeremy Stocks, Jeremy Strait,
Nate Gogna, Jeffrey Michael Bade, Thomas Barter, Michael
Bryson, Andre Camacho, Dennis Fogel, Tyler Hoest.
Jay L Karle, William F King, Scott McCreary, Tracy
Milakovic, Joshua Alan Morris, Jonathon Michael Richert,
Kelly Rudger, Isaac Shinkle, David Smallman, Michelle S
Smith, Kelly J Stover, Eric Zanotto, Richard Barrett, Shawn M
Phillips, Todd D Ruzicka, John Weil, Richard I Sterry,
Patrick B Blair, Geoffery C Harrison, Owen Johnson, Matthew M
Ringer.
Russell Stark, Tyler S Webb, Robert Dodgen, Jason
Pertruska, Jason Steinmetz, Steve G Parrish, John G Ramsay,
Greg Titus, Michael W Dueitt, John Allen Mason, Greg
Funderburk, Benjamin Hobbs, Carroll Stewart, Cole Moore,
Benjamin Covault, Tony L DeMasters, Mary F Fields, Robert
Harper, Sean D Johnson, Albert L Linch.
James Greg Loper, Douglas Marolf, Monica Christine
Morrison, Gary Brian Munson, Ricky Jackson, Robert MacDonald,
Stuart Rodeffer, Destry Wayne Scheel, Kyle Lee Smith, Roger L
Staats, Brian J Watts, Joel A Welch, Nicholas D Yturri, Alex
Abols, Elden Alexander, Daniel A Betts, Ray M Bilbao, Lester
Brown, Kristian Lee Bruington, Chris Belliston, Todd Jinkins.
Michael Evan Johnson, Mark L Kelley, Kenneth Bochniak,
Farron Leslie Kunkel, Jennifer Dawn Myslivy, Page Nolin, John
C Noneman, Stephen F Price, Ivan Kendrick Smith, Clay
Stephens, Thaddeus Labrum, Kafka, Joseph P Kafka, Joel
Kerley, Michelle Moore, Charles Jason Barnes, Kimberley S
Owczarzak, Brian Stearns, Michael Richard Crook, Ann M
Niesen, Martin Cassellius.
Reggie E Bray, Allen C Briggs, Robbie Gerald Hollsingworth,
Jared Bohrman, Michael D Burow, Jeannette M Dreadfulwater,
James C Flint, Michael D Goicoechea, Gump, Robert Gump,
Jermyn, Robin Jermyn, Justin Kaber, James L King, Morganne M
Lehr, Chris J Loraas, Dennis Arthur Morotn, Nate Ochs, Brent
H Olson, Brett Pargman, William Phillips, Kathy A Pipkin,
Cameron L Rasor, Scott Schrenk, Julie N Shea, Charles
Showers, Trent Daniel Sohr, Mike N Granger, Christopher M
Barth, Leroy Steven Evans, Richard Hayner, Richard C Lang JR,
David C Lee, Julie Polutnik, Mike J Williams, Bonnie
Strawser, Scott Beacham, Cody Wienk, Rick Beal, Gilbert
Calkins, Marcus Cornwell, Jonathan Henry Crane, Terrance
Gallegos.
Barry Edward Lee, Jennifer Martynuik, Chris Niccoli, Ezra C
Engleson, Matthew James Peterson, Justin Cutler, Brian C
Holmes, Ian McQueary, Jacob Keogh, Juan Islas, Kevin Kelly,
Joseph L Miller, Dylan Rader, Timothy P Roide, Eric T Tilden,
Tyson A Albrecht, Jason Amis, Lorri Ann Benefield, Josh
Diacetis, Clayton A Farnsworth, Nathan D Goodrich, Jason
Matthew Green.
Edward Hiatt, Mark Hocken, Michael C Ingman, Brett Edward
Johnson, Ruth M Johnson, Bart Cory Kicklighter, Laura B
Livingsotn, Eric A Miller, James Norman Osborne, Todd M
Pederson, Alexander R Plascencia, Alex Robertson, Norman Arno
Sealing III, Sandra M Sperry, Cameron M Stinchfield, Samuel D
Tacchini, Kip Forrest Turner, Michael S Graham, Jeremiah
Maghan.
Jada Altman, Scott Barnes, Kenneth R Boles, Tavis N Fenske,
Justin Fenton, Josh Fulton, Brenda Hallmark, Natalie L
Simrell, Chanel Sitz, Benjamin Thayer, John Toelle, John
Szulc, Tomas K Liogys, Paul E Churchill, Joshua J Ball, Kurt
Bassestt, Kevin Lloyd Merrill, Eric K Allen, Lee Justin
Dueker, Janan Hay Sharp, Tommy M Barnes, Michael Allan Davis,
Jason M McDaniel.
Reynaldo Navarro, Jr, Brian Burbridge, James Holbrook
Chadwick, Linda Milbury Chappe, Chris Marson, Clint C Coates,
Dustin Blair, Renee F Flanagan, Audrey Huse, Kim J Martin,
Jonathan Peel, Robert Lopez, Megan Saylors, Matthew W Way,
Tracy Swenson, Michael J Doherty, Jason Kirks, Jeffrey
Wilson.
Dameon Julander, Pila Malolo, Matthew Pippin, Jason Porter,
Jeremy Seng, Tommy Braun, J Bradley Washa, Tyler Van Ormer,
Robert F Allen, Steven John Brady JR, Kyle Cannon, Britt J
Davis, Mike Daivs, Marge Hutchinson, Lindsey Kupfer, Patrick
McGabe, Daniel E Pickard, John E Wirth, Scott Ebel, Jeff Dean
Dimke.
Steven Rudolph Miller, Brendan P Neylon, Travis Braten,
Anna Cressler, Peter L Freire, Kyle Miller, Chris Andrew
Rankin, Eldred Jay Slagowski, Traci E Weaver, Timothy J Haas,
Richard Howe, Frank Keeler, Robert McConchie, Shane
McCormick, Heath Morgan, Rance Neighbors, Jonathan E Ziegler.
Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, the fact is that America's
firefighters put their lives on the line every day to keep people safe.
They do it here at home, and they do it when they go abroad.
This resolution applauds the brave men and women who responded to the
Australian people in their hour of need. It also promotes the sharing
of critical resources, research, and best practices. This will help us
prevent and suppress future fires.
Be assured that the American-Australian firefighting alliance will
continue to protect us in the time of crisis. Our bipartisan resolution
celebrates this enduring partnership.
Thank you.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
Honoring Ian McBeth
Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Wyoming for his
comments. I come here today to express some very similar ones.
I come here today at a sad time--a sad time for Americans and
especially a sad time for Montanans. You see, at the end of January, we
lost three great Americans who paid the ultimate price for risking
their lives for our allies down under. Those three great Americans are
Flight Engineer Rick DeMorgan, First Officer Paul Clyde Hudson, and
Captain Ian McBeth, who is a Montanan. They all lost their lives when
their plane went down fighting a devastating bush fire in Australia.
Captain McBeth lived in Great Falls, MT. He was a dedicated pilot and
servicemember. He was a member of both the Montana and the Wyoming Air
National Guards and he completed several combat deployments, including
tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Captain McBeth was one of the best pilots Montana had to offer. It
was as if he was born to fly C-130s. But even more, he was born to be a
caring father, husband, brother, and son to the incredible family he
has left behind. At 44 years of age, he was taken from them far too
young.
Captain McBeth was devoted to his family, leaving behind his wife,
Bowdie; his kids, Abigail, Calvin, and Ella; and his parents and
siblings, whose hearts have to be aching right now.
My wife Sharla and I are keeping them in our prayers and in our
hearts through this trying time.
Captain McBeth heard the call to serve this country and did so
honorably, taking that call to duty even further to help the folks in
need on the other side of the world to fight wildfires.
Now, Montanans are no stranger to the risks that come from fighting
wildfires, but that doesn't make it any easier when we lose one of our
own. Captain McBeth and so many other Montanans who bravely run into
danger when others run out--these are our heroes, plain and simple. We
owe a debt of gratitude to Captain McBeth that can never be repaid.
Montana has lost one of its finest, and he will be missed.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
[[Page S1658]]
Ms. McSALLY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Honoring Paul Hudson
Ms. McSALLY. Madam President, last week, I cosponsored a bipartisan
resolution honoring the three American firefighters who lost their
lives fighting Australia's bush fires this year, including First
Officer Paul Hudson, from Buckeye, AZ. Each of these men gave the
ultimate sacrifice in service to others.
Paul dedicated his life to protecting others, first as a marine and
then as a firefighter. He served in the Marine Corps for 20 years,
including as a C-130 pilot, before retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Paul graduated from the Naval Academy in 1999 and later went on to earn
a master's degree in business administration and information technology
management from the Naval Postgraduate School.
When aid was needed in Australia to combat the devastating wildfires,
Paul jumped into action and put his life on the line to help others. He
was only 42 years old when he was killed in a plane crash while
fighting to extinguish these awful fires. My heart and my prayers, and
Arizona's heart and Arizona's prayers, go out to his wife, Noreen, and
her loss. Arizona will not forget Paul's immense selflessness and his
sacrifice.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________