Quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senator for ohio. Mr. Brown i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Brown right now, at this moment, thousands of u. A. W. Workers in ohio, in places like the chevrolet plant in the cleveland area, the transmission plant in toledo, the plant in defiance, ohio, all over the country are going without their paychecks, without their Health Insurance to demand that General Motors respect the work they do to make their company successful. In a nutshell, workers are fed up. More and more of them are beginning to see that unions are the best way to make their voices heard. For too long, General Motors hasnt listened. Auto workers are the engine behind g. M. s success. G. M. Wouldnt be making a dime in profit without the workers who actually make their cars and trucks. Back up for a moment, mr. President. Think about whats happened to General Motors, and you have you have auto workers in your state of indiana as i do in ohio. Back up ten years when General Motors and chrysler went into bankruptcy. The taxpayers and workers through givebacks rescued that company both companies. G. M. For ten years has gotten more and more profitable. Workers are working hard, but workers were making significantly less money during these ten years. Then you saw workers then you saw this companys profits increase, this company g. M. Started sending more jobs to mexico. The chevy blazer, for instance, the same day they announced the shutdown the layoff of one shift in lordstown. And then the stock buybacks from the trump tax cut where 80 of the tax benefit went to the richest 1 of people in this country. The stock buybacks with the g. M. Executives meant tens of millions of dollars more in their pockets, yet they continue to squeeze workers, and now workers are simply saying we want to be in essence paid back for the givebacks we did when we as taxpayers and workers rescued that company. But rather than invest in american workers, the company shut down its most productive plant in north america and laid off hundreds of workers. 4,500 workers, actually, in lordstown, ohio, while announcing they are going to build the blazer in mexico. They could retool the lordstown plant, they could build the blazer in ohio, but instead they throw workers out of a job. They pay workers way, way, way less to make cars in mexico. Now g. M. Workers are saying enough. I stand with them. They stand up and fight for increased investments in their local communities. We know if that lordstown plant would reopen with the blazer, with an electric with a couple of electric vehicles or whatever they put there, we know what that would mean for those lordstown families, those g. M. Families. We know what it would mean to that community. I spoke yesterday with dave green, the former president of local of the g. M. Local 112, and he is now working in another g. M. Plant in the home state of the presiding officer. Hes away from his family, hes away from home. He didnt choose that. Dozens of workers are in that situation, all because g. M. Wanted to move its production offshore. Those workers are saying enough in lordstown. The workers whose jobs g. M. Took are picketing in solidarity with other u. A. W. Workers at the empty plant. Reporters asked them why and they answered brotherhood, brother and sister support. Workers who transferred to other plants in michigan and missouri and kentucky and indiana are coming back to join them. Thats what the Labor Movement is all about, brotherhood, sisterhood, solidarity. The recognition that workers should have a voice and should have a share in the profits that they create for their companies. G. M. Made more than 10 billion. Thats 10 billion. 10 billion in north america in 2018. Its u. A. W. Workers who made that money for the company, but whats g. M. Do . They shut down plants. Now they have thrown striking workers off of their Health Insurance. We heard one worker at local 14 in toledo who said his 4yearold daughter chesney had a doctors appointment scheduled for next week to check on the tubes in her ears to help her hear, but g. M. Canceled that familys insurance, so they had to cancel the appointment. Thats whats happened. Its despicable. G. M. Needs to agree to a contract that honors the dignity of work, a contract that recognizes that auto workers and communities and families who help drive the success of the Auto Industry in ohio and across the country. Mr. President , again, ten years ago, taxpayers rescued g. M. Out of bankruptcy. Workers did major givebacks to that company, taking much less money in order to save the company. G. M. Profits are soaring. G. M. Executive compensation has exploded upward. G. M. Owes that to our communities. And g. M. Owes that to its workers. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senator from alaska. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that ariel haas the presiding officer the senate is in a quorum call. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that ariel haas, an intern in my office, be granted floor privileges through september 27, 2019. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sullivan mr. President , its that time of week, the end of the week here in the United States senate that i come down to the floor and get to recognize someone special in the great state of alaska, someone who is doing something important for their community, for the state, the country, and its the highlight of my week. I know for our pages we have some new pages here, but its commonly recognized this typically is the favorite speech of the week for the pages because you get to hear stories about real people, particularly people in alaska. So youll hear a lot of these as youre here working hard in the senate, so were glad the new pages are here. Now, mr. President , as you know, my state is certainly one of the most interesting imagined states in the whole country by the way, people watching if people watching in the gallery have a friend up there, my friend scott lee is up there, watching on tv, come up to alaska. You will love it. I guarantee it will be a trip of a lifetime. Nobody comes to alaska and is disappointed. I like to talk about alaska here on the senate floor. People see a lot of us going a lot of whats going on in the state in the nature channels, the adventure channels. There is a story about alaska on tv daily, almost hourly, but not nearly enough of these stories focus on the people who live there. Independent, patriotic, generous men, women, and guests, kids, children who call alaska home. So, mr. President , today i want to recognize 13yearold elainea vic who lives in eagle river, alaska. Thats a Beautiful Community about 15 miles north of anchorage. Elaina is a young woman with a big heart. She lives with her mother amy who owns her own Real Estate Company and her father curtis, who is an alaska state trooper, someone i know well because he and i served together with the very outstanding Marine Corps Reserve unit based in alaska, echo Company Fourth recon battalion. So trooper vick, semper fi, and to you and amy, great job on raising such an exceptional daughter. So why is she so exceptional . Lets get into what elaina has done for us. Let me first talk about whats going on in alaska. I always like to update in this speech whats happening. I was home for the whole month of august, actually almost five weeks and did a week of my own reserve, Marine Corps Reserve duty. But it was great to be home. Got to travel all over the state. When i mean travel all over, were talking hundreds if not thousands of miles literally between communities. There was a lot going on. Unfortunately as it happens in so many summers in alaska, fires were taking their toll but the weather was amazing. Beautiful blue skies. For the most part the sun was out. Perfect for fishing, hiking, camping, all the things that so many people in alaska come to visit and live there do in the summer. Now were heading into the fall. Leaves are starting to turn. Its moose hunting season. The snow isnt far away for most of the state and in some partle of the state, its parts of the state, its actually already on the ground. Some might say winter is coming but i think its too soon. Winter is coming but not just yet. Ill let you know when that happens. School has started and elaina vehicle has entered eighth vick has entered eighth grade. Her favorite subject is art and shes been busy. What has she been busy doing . Why are we honoring this Young Alaskan who is doing a lot for our state. First, as a girl scout in troop 6930 under the 690 under the amazing melissa jones. Elaina sold more cookies than any other girl scout in the entire state of alaska, more than 5,000 boxes. I mean, thats amazing, isnt it . I love girl scout cookies. Theyre the best in the country but 5,000 boxes in one state, thats pretty darn impressive. Whats her secret . She said, well, my mom told me to go out almost every day to sell cookies, to talk to people, to interest them in buying the cookies and her older brother kyle who is an eagle scout you can see what a highachieving family this is also helped coach his sister and helped take her out to sell cookies. And she said elaina said im a really hard worker when it comes to girl scout cookies. Obviously she is, 5,000 boxes. But selling cookies wasnt good enough for her. She wanted to do more for her girl Scout Project so she took her passion to the next level. Using her selling skills to help others and focusing on our men and women in our military, particularly those who are deployed. Now, alaska we proudly boast the record of having more vets per capita than any state in the country. And so this is something that a lot of our communities can get behind. So she and her fellow girl scouts began to send our deployed military members cookies, girl scout cookies. She got the idea when the father of one of the members of her girl scout troop was deployed. Her troop wanted to make sure that he felt remembered on his deployment. All told in 2017 she was able to donate 800 boxes to our troops, some of whom are deployed in can you wait and qatar but she didnt stop there. As ive often said we live in one of the most patriotic states in the country so alaina vick is just one more bit of proof of that. She wanted to do more for the men and women in uniform. Theyre fighting for us, she said. Theyre protecting us. They deserve to be appreciated and remembered and honored. This is a 13yearold girl. Remember, shes also the daughter of a recon marine and with the help of her mother, amy, and her father, curtis, and the two and her two younger brothers. She expanded her effort into what is now called operation sweet support. And you can find that on facebook. Now in addition to not just cookies, shes also sending snacks, pencils, duct tape, toys because who doesnt need a toy when theyre deployed or duct tape . You can use it for everything. So when the news got out about this project, she started to receive donations from all over the community in eagle river and all over alaska. So this year she sent out over 98 care packages through this project to alaskan troops who are deployed overseas tinkly kosovo and kuwait and shes aiming to send out 75 more by the end of the year. One 13yearold girl in the great state of alaska. She puts a personalized handwritten note into each of the boxes thanking them. This is my way of saying thank you, one of her notes read. Heres another one. You are amazing and appreciated and loved. Thank you for your service. Thats another note from alaina to our service men and women deployed overseas. She gets notes back, of course. One wrote, thanks for everything youve done for us. Please keep supporting the troops and sending cookies. Our military members love cookies. They say it makes a big difference. Someone also sent her an American Flag that was flown overseas in appreciation of the cookies as well as a unit coin, military coin sent to alaina by our appreciative troops. It was amazing, she said, when she got this. So, mr. President , as someone who has been deployed myself away from family and friends, i know what it means to get such care packages. It means the world. It means people back home are remembering what youre doing. So alaina, thank you for your great work supporting our troops, for the example youre setting for all the young men and women, not just in alaska but america and amy and curtis, thanks for raising such a wonderful daughter. And alaina, keep up the great work and congratulations once again on being our alaskan of the week. I yield the floor. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call the presiding officer senator from West Virginia. Mr. Manchin are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Manchin id like to vitiate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Manchin i would like to recognize the month of september as National Cancer childhood month. More than 300,000 children are diagnosed globally. On average, more than 75 children in West Virginia alone are diagnosed with cancer every year, which is a steady increase over the last ten years. Weve made a lot of progress over the last few decades in research for prevalence and care but there is more work to be done. That is why i am here today, mr. President , to continue the drumbeat and elevate the issue. Id like to share a story of a young man i met last week. I had the honor of visiting with students and the teachers at George Washington high school in charleston, West Virginia. One student by the name of nicholas, which is knick expense, came up to me and shared that at age 15 he was diagnosed with cancer. He later the sent me a letter telling me about his story and asking knee to help raise awareness asking me to help raise awareness of Childhood Cancer. Nicks letter goes like this. Dear senator manchin, thank you for visiting my school on friday. It was really cool to meet you. As i shared with you at age 15, my life was changed forever. Before then it never crossed my mind that i would become a cancer patient, much less a pediatric one. I was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy. As a result, in may 2018, i had to have my leg amputated. After two long years i am proud to say that i finally overcame and defeated my cancer, and i am currently a senior at George Washington high school. I feel very strongly that there needs to be more awareness about Childhood Cancer in West Virginia, and i appreciate speaking with you about that during your visit. Thats why im writing today to ask you to continue to fight for West Virginians and to do whatever you can to help raise awareness about Childhood Cancer. Signed, nick spence. So i want to thank say thank yo, nick. I will eight never forget you walked across the gym after we got through with aest mooing with the students at with with all the students at your high school. Id like to recognize some very special guests also whove driven here today from West Virginia and theyre in the Senate Chamber today. From charleston, West Virginia, weve kelly wy maine r. They are in town representing the West Virginia kids cancer crusade at the cure fest here on the national mall. When ali was just 6 1 2 years old, she was diagnosed with cancer. Were so proud to have ali here in the chamber with us today. Shes the currently 21 years old, healthy as can be. They say healthy as a horse. Im going to say healthy as can be. And a student at Bridge Valley community and technical school, majoring in health care. Nick, i know you are at home watching this now. I really want to thank you for sharing your story with me. It really touched me how brave you are for speaking up and advocating for others than yourself. And im glad that we were able to do this in such quick order. Usually things do happen this quick in washington. But through it comes to the but truly when it comes to the children of our home state, i am proud to help. I have teamed up with senator josh hawley from missouri to introduce this resolution. This resolution is also supported by senator jack reed, shelly moore capito. In addition to recognizing september as national Childhood Cancer awareness month, this resolution calls on federal, state, and local governments along with nonprofit organizations to create and host programs and activities that focus on increasing Public Knowledge on the risk of cancer. Finally, this resolution recognizes the human toll of cancer and makes a pledge that the United States of america will make the prevention and cure of cancer a Public Health priority. So im proud to introduce this resolution and, nick, thank you again, ali, thank you, and all of those who are so brave and to families that support them and help raise awareness for Childhood Cancer. And i urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. Mr. President , i notice the absence of a quorum, and i yield the floor. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call
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