Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20240712

Chief of staff. Now, live coverage of the u. S. Senate. Vice president under the previous order, the senate will consider the following nomination. The clerk nomination, general charles q. Brown, jr. , to be chief of staff and general of the United States air force. The Vice President under the previous order, the question occurs on the nomination. Is there a sufficient second . It appears there is a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the Vice President are there any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote . If not, on this vote, the yeas are 98, the nays are zero. And the historic nomination of general charles q. Brown, jr. As the United States air force chief of staff is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. Mr. Alexander madam president . The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Alexander thank you, mr. President. I have is it requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Alexander madam president , United States senator tim scott, who is an African American republican from South Carolina, once told our bible study that police in his hometown stopped him several times for being a, quote, black man in the wrong place, even though at the time he was serving as chairman of the charleston city council. During these last few days, ive been thinking a lot about what tim scott told us. And i wondered, how many white americans know that things like that happen, white americans like me. And i wondered how i would feel if i were stopped for being a white man in the wrong place in my hometown, especially if most of the people in the town were black. Would i feel hurt, scared, disillusioned, angry, wary, disappointed, intimidated . Probably all of those things. One result of George Floyds killing is that black americans are telling more stories like tim scotts. A professor of religious studies in nashville wrote in the tennessean, that he carries a licensed firearm with him when he goes for a run. A columnist remembers that as a 6yearold a white woman outside a dallas gas station restroom said to him, now, you dont belong here. Welleducated black businessmen count the times theyve been profiled because of their race. One of my friends in memphis, who is now Vice President of memphis largest hospital, holte told me that when he went to memberties state in the 1960s, it was clear to him that almost everyone thought that he didnt belong they. During my lifetime, ive seen profound changes in racial attitudes. In 1958 when i enrolled at Vanderbilt University, i had no black classmates. African americans couldnt sit at lunch counters in nashville. Blacks striving across tennessee couldnt stay in most hotels, they couldnt teet at most restaurants, they couldnt ride at the front of most public buses. Then in 1962 in the spring, the Vanderbilt University board of trust changed its policy and admitted black undergraduate students. In august of 1963 i remember standing in the back of a huge crowd late that month i was an intern in the United States department of justice, and i heard a booming voice, which was dr. Martin luther king jr. s voice, say i have a dream. In 1986 i was a senate aide here and i remember being in the room which is today the Republican Leaders office, where senators were around a big table and senator Everett Dirksen and thenpresident Lyndon Johnson were writing a civil rights bill. During the 198 1990s, i saw tennessee adopt a Martin Luther king holiday, swear in its first black Supreme Court justice. In the 1980s, the university of tennessee hired its first two block black Vice President s and it hired its first black High School Basketball coach. I saw the Voting Rights act, helped to elect thousands of African American public officials, including president barack obama and senator tim scott. Last week, i asked senator scott if i can tell the story that he told us privately in the bible study. He said sure. It happened again just last month. So despite a half century of profound change, an African American United States senator is stopped again by police for being a black a black man in the wrong place in his hometown. So what do we do now . Bringing those who killed george floyd to justice will help. Dealing firmly with looters who hijack peaceful protests will help. Some new laws and government actions will help, such as criminal Justice Reform and permanent funding for historically black colleges that became law in this congress. It would also help to open schools and colleges in august and to open them safely because of good education because a good education is the surest ticket to a Better Future for minority students, and those students will suffer more from schools being closed than minority students. Benjamin hooks, the former knapp knapp president from memphis the former naacp president from member. He was the former president. He lived in memphis. America, dr. Hook said, america is a work in progress. Weve come a long way, but we have a long way to go. That long way to go, i would say, will not be as easy as passing laws. It will take changing behavior. One way to do that could be last weeks peaceful protests organized by nashville teenagers which was a textbook example of First Amendment citizenship. And it hopefully will encourage more victims of racism to tell their stories and more white americans to adjust our attitudes. Madam president , im grateful that tim scott gave me permission to tell his story. And perhaps a good first step to changing attitudes toward Racial Discrimination would be for each of us who are white to ask ourselves this question. How would i feel if police in my hometown repeatedly stopped me from being a white man or a white woman in the wrong place, especially if most of the other people in the town were black . I thank the president and i yield the floor. A senator madam president. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. Mr. Heinrich madam president , during these past months, in the midst of a pandemic that has kept most of us inside our homes, americans have grown to appreciate in new ways how critical each moment of fresh air can be to maintaining both our physical health and our mental wellbeing. More people are getting outside than ever before, whether for a quick walk in their local Neighborhood Park or by seeking solitude on the many public lands held in trust for each and every american citizen. Coming from a state that is blessed with expansive skies and remote open spaces, im convinced that investing in the future of our parks and our public lands will be a key path for our nation to recover from the challenges that we currently face. Thats why im so proud that we are coming together this week to bring the Great American outdoors act to the senate floor for a vote. Our Bipartisan Legislation will permanently and fully fund the land and Water Conservation fund and finally dedicate real resources to begin tackling the multibilliondollar infrastructure backlog in our National Parks, our National Forests, and our wildlife refuges. So if you have spent time enjoying your local parks, your trail systems, ball fields or open space in the last 50 years, you have almost certainly experienced the impact of the land and Water Conservation fund. In new mexico, lwcf has been instrumental in protecting some of our most treasured public lands, places like the valla calderas national preserve, with its trout streams, meadows, and elk herds. This is me actually not catching a trout here in this preserve, but its okay because any day in the preserve is a good day. It also helped us establish the valla del oro in south valley, a place where young people will be introduced to nature, many for the first time in a real meaningful way and a place that is at the heart of the local community now. It purchased and protected the entirety, the entirety of ute mountain, which is now a centerpiece of the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument. It almost boggles the mind to think about the scale of that, but this entire mountain used to be private, and there was no Public Access, and today it is one of the most treasured places in taos county, a rural county that relies on recreation and fishing and boating and camping to to drive its economy. Land and Water Conservation fund is also our most effective tool for opening up Public Access to our public lands. Just recently, the land and Water Conservation fund helped the bureau of Land Management acquire land parcels that finally opened up Public Access to the rugged save nosa wilderness in northeastern mexico. This is save nosa with its narrow mesas and spectacular canyon walls which had previously been completely offlimits to the public, despite being part of the National Wilderness system. It had become entirely surrounded by public lands, so there wasnt a legal trail, a legal road to be able to enjoy this place, and today that landscape is something that the local community and visitors from afar share on a daily basis. Lwcf also funds recreation areas and Neighborhood Parks, sports fields in communities all across our state and all across our nation. Last year, i was proud to be part of a successful bipartisan effort here in the senate to permanently reauthorize lwcf. However, without guaranteed permanent funding, Congress Still needs to approve lwcf expenditures each year, year after year after year. And this has resulted in us falling far, far short of the 900 million per year commitment that was originally intended when lwcf was established over five decades ago. Permanently and fully funding lwcf will be a monumental victory for conservation and the places where we all get outside. It might well be the greatest investment that we can make that will pay off for many generations to come because every one dollar spent on lwcf creates an additional 4 in economic value just in Natural Resources, goods, and services. That doesnt account for the longterm growth in the Outdoor Recreation sector and the tourism industry. Teddy roosevelt once said conservation Means Development as much as it does protection, and i believe that this type of investment in conservation is exactly what president roosevelt meant. Now, to the second leg of our landmark Great American outdoors act. We all know how important it is to rebuild the infrastructure in all of our National Parks. You cant enjoy visiting these iconic american places if the bathrooms dont work, if the trails and the campgrounds arent open, if the roads are in disrepair. These places that we are so proud of, that we cherish from our Oldest National parks like yellowstone and yosemite to our nations Newest National park, one im particularly close to, White Sands National park in new mexico, they all deserve better. I am proud that the Great American outdoors act also includes dedicated funding to address similar infrastructure needs in our National Forests, in our wildlife refuges, on our bureau of Land Management lands. We have also included dedicated funding to address the unacceptable maintenance backlog at schools managed by the bureau of indian education. There are many b. I. E. Schools that serve students across Indian Country that are in truly dangerous states of disrepair. Through this legislation, we are finally going to make major progress on providing these students the kind of safe schools and educational facilities that they truly deserve. In the wake of our current economic crisis, rebuilding all this Critical Infrastructure will provide tens of thousands of new jobs across the nation. Its estimated that just investing and fixing the National Park Service Infrastructure alone would generate nearly 110,000 new jobs. These investments will also create a lasting heritage that will grow the Outdoor Recreation economy and provide us all with more opportunities to get outside. And we know this can work. The last time we as a nation faced an economic downturn on the scale of what we are experiencing today, americans turned to our public lands. At the height of the great depression, Franklin Delano roosevelt understood well that outofwork americans were not without worth but rather that they could leave an indelible mark on our country. Now, over the years, i have been lucky to have met many of the men who served in the new deal civilian conservation corps or c. C. C. Boys, as they often referred to themselves as. While most of these men have now passed away, sadly, the trails, the Visitor Centers, the other important infrastructure on our public lands that they had so much pride in building almost a century ago continue to serve this nation. Throughout our long recovery, we will be a stronger nation if we can provide a new generation of americans with meaningful opportunities to serve their country and leave their mark. There is so much work we need to do to rebuild our country. In the midst of a Real National reckoning on race over these recent weeks, and as we continue to face the most severe economic and Public Health crises in generations, we should all be thinking about how we can rebuild our country in a way that includes all of us. I firmly believe that this urgent goal is intertwined with our efforts this week in the senate to grow opportunities in our Great American outdoors. And that is because our public lands and outdoor spaces are fundamental to who we are as americans. They are the places where we can each find a real sense of belonging in this great country of ours. I think we must, frankly, acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that the outdoors have not always seemed like such a welcoming and accessible place for all americans. Many of our National Parks have a fraught history with the tribal nations whose Ancestral Lands they are on. In new mexico, many of our National Forests were established on the very same lands that were deeded as land grants to families by the spanish crown. Our public land agencies have not always recognized that history, and there remains much more hard work ahead to provide meaningful seats at the table in the management of these landscapes to the communities whose heritage and living, cultural ties date back hundreds and in some cases even thousands of years on these lands. We must also recognize that outdoor excursions that many of us, frankly, just take for granted are not always within reach for all of us. I grew up exploring the outdoors on my familys ranch and on surrounding lands, and i strongly believe that just one opportunity to get outside can change a childs whole world. It can inspire a lifetime commitment to conservation and encourage the Health Benefits that come with an active lifestyle. But far too many kids dont have access to parks or open spaces. According to the trust for public land more than 100 million americans, and that includes 28 million children, do not have access to a park within a ten minute walk of their home. That number, mawp, should mawp that number should be zero, especially during the pandemic, that number should have been zero. On top of just physical accessibility, many children grow up in households where their parents cannot afford a vacation or feel unsafe, such as Christian Cooper in central park recently. We are not solving all of these challenges with what were voting on here this week, but the increased investment in the Great American outdoors act will create more outdoor opportunities that i hope will truly benefit all of our nations children. Because our public lands are places we should all be able to access regardless of how thick or thin our wallets are, where we grow up, or the color of our skin. To learn about the natural wonders all around us, to really learn about our history by exploring the stories that reside in these places, i dont know of any easy answers to the numerous historic challenges that were facing as a nation today, but i do know that the right answers will only come if they are based on an honest appraisal of our deepseeded history, the good and the bad, the inspiring and the painful. I believe one of the best ways for kids, really all of us, to learn about that complex history of our country is by visiting our public lands. Let me share just one example. When you visit el moreo National Monument in western new mexico, you walk up to a massive sandstone rock wall that dmom naits the landscape dominates the landscape. You begin to see etching and carvings in the stone. This gives physical form to the history of many, many generations of people who have come through our state or called it home. There are petrogliffs from indigenous cultures and in some cases carved over them are significants of spanish priests dating back to the late 1500s and early 1600s. There are records left by american homesteading families traveling westward on wagon trains. And you can find the names of u. S. Army soldiers, including the strange but true Army Camel Corps that trained nearby in the late 1850s. And, yes, you heard that right, camel corps. The military was testing out camels in the new mexico desert before they tested rockets and satellites in new mexico. When you see all of these images left behind on el moros rock you get an idea of how different our history is. You begin the process of learning that we have always been a country filled with diverse and reel sill yent people but also a country riddled with conflict and shortcomings. Thats why it is so important to protect our parks, to protect our public lands. These are the places where new generations of americans will learn about both our natural and our human history. Its where they will go to find inspiration to chart new paths forward for our great nation. For all of these reasons, i am so proud that we have come together on this legislation. We can all understand why investing and restoring and expanding opportunity in our public lands has to be part of our national recovery. These are the places where all of us belong. These lands are our lands and they heal us in a way that few things can. I think of all the generations of americans who have cared for these places so that my family and i can enjoy them and learn from them today. With this historic legislation, the Great American outdoors act, we are going to help do our part to literally pay it forward. Madam president , we often invoke Teddy Roosevelt when working on conservation legislation. That legislation rarely meets up to the level of accomplishment that you see written in the story of his presidency. And while im not superstitious, i have to admit that i always visit his bust here in the capitol just outside these chambers before an important conservation vote. This bill this bill is the first time in my career that we have done something truly on the scale of Teddy Roosevelts work, and i stand here proud to be a part of it. Madam president , i would yield back. I would note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call a senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn madam president , i would ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Cornyn madam president , if you were to approach a random person on the street in any city in America Today and say, who is george floyd, i could all but guarantee you that youd be met with a quick response. They would tell you about their horror at seeing this video of him being killed at the hands of a Minneapolis Police officer, and that, sadly, he was not the first victim of this type of crime. And that his death has now mobilized americans of all races, ages, and backgrounds to demand action. A friend of mr. Floyds for more than 35 years said, everybody in the world knows who george floyd is today president s, kings, and queens. They know george floyd. And i. T. True. His name and its true. His name and face is everywhere. Hes the subject of artwork and passionate speeches and dinner table conversations. He is the reason for marches all over. Today, after two weeks of grieving, the floyd family will finally lay their beloved brother, father, and friend to rest. In his hometown of houston, texas. Over the past two weeks i have joined the chorus of voices calling for justice for mr. Floyd. The first step is under way now that the officers have been charged, but this aloan is not enough alone is not enough. Our country has the responsibility to do the best we can to prevent another Family Member from another family from burying their son or daughter as a result of Excessive Force by a Police Officer. People of all races are now actively engaged in a National Conversation about the Racial Injustices that exist in our country, one thats deeply needed and long overdue. I want to assure the people of texas that these conversations are happening here in the United States senate as well. Our friend and colleague, senator tim scott from South Carolina, briefed the republican Conference Today on the package of bills hes developing with help from a group of our members to combat the Racial Injustice that still exists in our country today, particularly as it applies to Law Enforcement. This is a product of discussions that leader mcconnell and i and others have had that would make real and lasting changes in communities across our country. Im proud to be part of the discussion led by senator scott, and i want to commend both him and the majority leader for their leadership and sense of urgency, one that we all feel. I think the necessary changes begin within our criminal Justice System. Despite calls from some to defund or even disband the police, i believe these steps would do far more harm than good. Its not the right answer. Instead, we need to do a toptobottom review of our criminal Justice System, something that has not happened in more than 50 years. Senators peters and graham and i have introduced a bill to create a National Criminal Justice Commission that would do just that. Over the course of 18 months, the commission would examine our criminal Justice System and provide recommendations on specific changes that should be made by congress. Ive recommended this bill be included in the legislation senator scott is developing, and im eager to work with him and all our colleagues in the coming days in the hope of gaining broad bipartisan support. As we know, thats the only way things get done around here is with bipartisan support. And i cant think of anything more urgent at this particular time than we demonstrate that we can come together and rise above our partisan differences in addressing this very real need. Of course, theres nothing we can do to reverse what happened in minneapolis, but theres a lot that can be be done to prevent the name of another black person in america from becoming a trending hashtag. A former classmate of mr. Mr. Floyds at Jack Yates High School said he always would say, im going to change the world. And while this is certainly not the way he or anyone could have fathomed his story is sure to have a Lasting Impact on our countrys history. So today id like to offer once again my condolences to the entire floyd family for their loss. I had the privilege of speaking with them on the telephone yesterday. Rodney floyd reminded me that the family was from houston, texas, and he said, we want texassize justice. And i said, mr. Floyd, you will have it. In the wake of this tragedy, i hope we can come together and deliver that change. So i appreciate senator scott and leader mcconnell leading the charge here in the senate and look forward to sharing more details of this proposal soon. Madam president , on another matter, since the cares act was signed into law more than two months ago, millions of Small Businesses i think 4. 5 million businesses have gotten loans from the Paycheck Protection Program. This program has allowed restaurants, retailers, manufacturers, farmers, and Small Businesses from virtually every sector of the economy to stay afloat and keep their employees on payroll. Dr. Nora walker operates a pulmonary practice in san san antonio, my hometown, which experience add near patient stop once covid19 began to soar in march. Pay volume her largest expense and without that source of revenue, she and her husband were worried they wouldnt be able to pay the practices three employees. But then the lifeline came in the form of the p. P. P. Loan. They applied for 26,000 loan, and they received the funds two weeks later. And because of that funding, these three employees could stay on the payroll as dr. Walker continued her practice via telemedicine. Her practice is a great example of p. P. P. Beneficiaries who dont receive enough attention. Small employers who took out small loans to help workers in a big way. From the truly Small Businesses to those who have grown their footprint in our state, the p. P. P. Has been essential to the survival of these businesses and to the likelihood of their employees. As ive spoken to Small Businesses throughout the state, ive repeatedly heard how vital the pt. P. P. Has been the pt. P. P. Has been. But that praise has been coupled with requests to make improvements to the program to make sure it makes the most maximum benefit. Last week we took the first step in making some of those changes through the paycheck protection flexibility act, which was signed into law by the president on friday. It extends amount of time businesses can use these funds from eight weeks to 24 weeks and it reduces the portion of the loan that must be used on payroll in order to be forgiven from 75 to 60 . Many of our restaurants and other businesses have simply closed their doors and said, theres no way we can spend our p. P. P. Loan on payroll when we dont have when our business isnt even open. So this provides flexibility for them and others. In a nutshell, it gives Small Business owners the ability to use these loans when and where theyre needed. In the short term, these changes will be critical to protecting jobs and supporting Small Businesses as they reopen their doors following the coronavirusinduced shutdown, and the jobs report we got this last week provides great hope and promise that this recovery will come soon. In the longer term, we need to ensure that these loans dont end up creating even more burdens for Small Businesses down the road. Under normal circumstances, businesses can deduct their expenses from their taxable income. Of course the Paycheck Protection Program covers the cost of many of these expenses, and theres some confusion, particularly at treasury, with how businesses should handle their taxes. I believe the intent of congress was to allow businesses to continue deducting those expenses. Basically, we were trying to get the money where it was needed most the fastest and by allowing them to continue to deduct those expenses, we do that. But the guidance recently issued by the i. R. S. Said the opposite. Well, its fair to say that this has led to confusion and frustration among many, and Congress Needs to take action to eliminate the misunderstanding. Last month i introduced a bill to make clear that Small Businesses can still deduct their expenses that were paid for with a forgiven paycheck protection loan for their taxes. Now, i know this is an unusual circumstance, but isnt the pandemic the most unusual circumstance weve experienced in our lifetime . And it calls for extraordinary measures, and i believe under the circumstances, trying to get money to these Small Businesses is necessary. Our goal with this loan program was to help them remain solvent and keep their employees on payroll so they can recover as soon as possible. So without this change, the p. P. P. Loan will fail to deliver to the maximum on this most basic objective. The bipartisan Small Business expense protection act will ensure that Small Businesses have the cash flow they need to survive today and prosper in the future. After all, were not interested in handing out meals now only to slap people on the hands later for taking free food. The bill has bipartisan support here in the senate. In fact, i introduced it with the chairman and Ranking Member of the finance committee, senators grassley and wyden. As well as senator rubio, who chairs the Small Business committee and senator carper. Its gained the support of organizations that advocate for Small Businesses, including the u. S. Chamber of commerce, the National Association of manufacturers, and the National Federation of independent business. Its also been endorsed by groups in the Financial Services industry including the Texas Society of certified public accountants, the American Institute of c. P. A. s and the independent bankers of the texas. But most importantly, this bill is an answer to the real concerns that Business Owners are facing. As we work to strengthen our Coronavirus Response and recovery, that should be the guiding principle here in the senate figure out whats working, what isnt, and act appropriately. This is a big contrast, mr. President , between the approach were seeing from our house colleagues. A few weeks ago they passed a bill that was chockful of ideological policy proposals. Thet know it has absolutely no chance of gaining any traction in the senate, but they didnt seem to care. They had did a driveby vote on a friday and left town and they havent been back since. Tax breaks for blue state millionaires. They actually want to cut taxes on the richest people in america by reducing or raising the cap on the state and local tax deduction. They want to support marijuana banking, Environmental Justice grants, soil health studies, changes to election laws. Well, forget about solving the problem at hand. Our democratic colleagues in the house with this socalled heroes act are attempting to use this pandemic as an opportunity to slip their liberal wish list into mustpass legislation. And theyre eager to stick taxpayers with another 3 trillion tab. But this isnt going to happen. Its not going to it has no chance of passing here in the senators and they actually know t these unwanted, unaffordable, and frankly laughable proposals are not the types of Solutions America needs to recover from this crisis. Indeed, i think it would be wise for a number of folks in the House Democratic leadership to start listening to their constituents for a change. Rather than try to figure out how do you posture and position yourself favorably for the next election. I have lost count of the number of video calls i have held, and i know my colleagues have had the same experience. The Small Business owners, medical professionals, farmers, educators, mayors, and representatives from nearly every corner of my state. And i appreciate the countless texans who shared their feedback with me to help me do a better job on their behalf. And who will no doubt continue to point out the gaps that need to be filled in the months ahead, particularly when it comes to the next installment of a covid19 legislation. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Scott mr. President , i rise to speak today about the growing threat of communist china. Xi, the general secretary at the Chinese Communist party, is a dictator, and human rights violator who is denying basic rights to the people of hong kong, cracking down on dissidents, militarizing the south china sea, and imprisoning more than one million uighurs in internment camps simply because of their religion. General secretary xi is interested in one thing global nomination. Its time we all open our eyes. Communist china despises the freedoms americans cherish. The threat we face from communist china is a nuclear war. This is a cold war created by general secretary xi. Its a cold war fought with technology, misinformation, and political persuasion. And communist chinas latest weapon of choice is the coronavirus. Communist china lied about what they knew and spread misinformation around the world. Costing hundreds of thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and creating massive economic impact. All freedomloving nations around the world need to come together to hold communist china accountable and financially liable. One thing we can do today is make sure communist china cant steal or sabotage american covid19 Vaccine Research. We know communist china steals u. S. Research and intellectual property. Weve seen it at our universities. Weve seen it at our Research Institutions and hospitals. U. S. Officials have been warning american firms to safeguard their research against china and others known for stealing u. S. Technology. The f. B. I. And the cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recently warned organizations researching covid19 of likely Insider Threat targeting a Network Compromise by communist china. Communist china wants to be first in vaccine development, and unlike the United States and other freedomloving countries, communist china will not be quick to share. Communist china wants to be the dominant world power, and they have made it clear they dont care who is harmed in the process. Thats why i led my colleagues in introducing the covid19 vaccine protection act which will require a thorough National Security evaluation and clearance by the department of homeland security, the department of state, and the federal bureau of investigation of all Chinese Students and visa holders taking part in activities related to covid19 Vaccine Research. We need to know who in our country is working on Vaccine Research so we can make sure american efforts are protected. The United States and all americans need to get serious about the threat from communist china. The covid19 vaccine protection act is a great first step, and i look forward to all of my colleagues supporting this effort. Im also urging everyone to buy american products. Its the single most important thing we can do to send a message to communist china that their behavior is unacceptable. I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of okay. Mr. Scott i ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be charged from further consideration of senate 3837, and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I ask unanimous consent 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. The presiding officer is there objection . Ms. Duckworth reserving the right to object. The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Ms. Duckworth mr. President , none of us in this body are naive enough not to understand the challenge that the peoples public of republic of china presents to our country and the world, but this bill which threatens to further incite the tensions already tearing at the fabric of our nation, this time targeting asians and asian americans, is not the answer. Yes, we know about how the p. R. C. Has targeted our intellectual property and sought to benefit from the Research Excellence and technological insights developed by our universities and our companies. All for its own scientific and military advancements. All to support an authoritarian system that is dangerous to those living within and outside of its borders. But taking advantage of this moment of fear and division in our country to stoke xenophobia and paint an entire people as guilty by association is not the right way to address this challenge. Its not the american way. If we have specific counterintelligence threats, lets have our intelligence and Law Enforcement communities target the press. I have faith and confidence in their ability to do so if provided the right leadership. But rather than take that sort of discriminate approach, this bill just discriminates. And even setting aside that blanket moratoriums are the wrong way to deal with the situation at hand, the Aapi Community is right to be suspicious that Senate Republicans arent putting forth any bills today barring nationals from other adversaries like russia. They are only doing it when it comes to china. If we need to we need to work more closely with our universities to make sure they understand who they are engaged with as students and accepting donations, then we can do so. Without attacking an entire group because of their ethnicity or national background, but with little other basis or rationale. We can do better. We as a nation must do better. We cannot and should not go back to the days when there were signs that said no irish need apply or when we had quotas for different races and religions at our major universities, let alone the days of the chinese exclusion act. That is not the right direction for america, and it is not the america any of us should be seeking to build. Unfortunately, there are too many today who would rather see us specialize as a nation, who would rather see us divided, not united. In fact, few things would make the p. R. C. Happier than to see this sort of legislation go forward, because it achieves their ends. So lets take a serious approach to the challenges that we face with the p. R. C. With safeguarding our universities, our intellectual property, and our scientific research, but let us also take an approach that is consistent with our values as a nation. We can do both. We can and will do better. I object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. Mr. Scott mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from florida is recognized. Mr. Scott i appreciate my colleagues remarks. Florida and the United States is an amazing melting pot. Our state and our country have both benefited greatly from the contributions from people from all over the world. This bill isnt about race. This is a commonsense bill to protect american citizens from the government of communist china which has decided to become our adversary. This is about protecting americans from a ream that is actively trying to sabotage our efforts to create a vaccine. We have evidence from our Intelligence Community that china is trying to do this. My bill would identify who in our country are trying to steal or more importantly delay or sabotage our success in the vaccine. That is communist chinas goal. My colleague has even introduced her own resolution recognizing the importance of vaccinations and immunizations in the United States, and we all agree with her. So blocking my proposal today makes absolutely no sense. Why would my colleague not want to save american lives and make sure we have a vaccine done as quickly as possible . American lives are on the line and depend on this vaccine. Im clearly disappointed my colleague objected to passing this bill today, but i am completely committed to working with her to get it across the finish line. As long as our Vaccine Research remains vulnerable, communist china will not hesitate to use any tool necessary to obtain this sensitive information. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mr. King mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from maine. Mr. King mr. President , someday 100 years from now, a family will camp on a mesa in utah or a hillside in North Carolina or a canyon in new mexico or they will hike the rocky coast of maine. Theyll play on a ball field in kansas, and it will be because of the work that were going to do this week in this congress. They wont know king or daines or alexander or portman or warner, manchin, or gardner, or all the others that are going to support our efforts. Our names will be long forgotten, but what we do will be benefiting this country for generations. There are very few things we can do in our work here that are permanent. Bills can be repealed. Programs can be amended. Times change, and all can change with it. But what we are talking about this week in the Great American outdoors act is making a gift to our fellow americans. Setting aside special places, setting aside opportunities for outdoors and recreation is a sacred trust, and its one that goes back to the beginning of this country. As i say, there is very little that we can do thats permanent, but this is one of those things. Its the right thing to do, but it also makes sense from the economys point of view in all of our states. Acadia National Park in maine generates more than 300 million a year in Economic Activity in the surrounding communities. Our new catoddin woods and waters National Monument is already generating Economic Activity in the area where it is located. A visit to maine to see the seacoast and the forest at those two sites would be rewarding for any family. And what we are doing today will enable families to continue to make these kinds of journeys, the next generation, and the next and the next. That family will see a sunrise on the coast of maine, a sunset on a mesa in arizona. They wont know who it was, but they will know what we did. In maine, there is a wonderful mountain, mountain catoddin, the highest point in the state. It was proposed to be set aside for the people of maine by the governor named Percival Baxter in the 1920s, one of my predecessors. The Legislature Said we shouldnt have to do that, who is going to pay for the roads, we will take property out of the tax base, what about the trees . There were all kinds of reasons for not doing it, so it didnt happen. It didnt happen while Percival Baxter was governor, but he dedicated the rest of his life to making it happen. Individually, privately, he purchased parcels of land to assemble what is now baxter state park, one of the gems in this country that contains at its center mount catoddin. He did this as one of the greatest acts of private philanthropy in the history of the United States. It was the legacy of a lifetime. Few of us will have an opportunity to do what baxter did, but we have that opportunity now. Where does the money come from . It comes from the people in the sense of revenues from the use of federal lands for mineral extraction. This is an idea that was brought forth in 1965 when the land and Water Conservation fund was created, and the idea was were using the publics resources and assets and therefore the money that flows from that should go back to the people. And should go back into conservation. Its a beautifully symmetrical idea. The problem is that the fund that was created in 1965 has been systematically looted by the congresses in successive years. There have only been two years since then that its been fully funded with the funds that are available. Today, this week, were going to correct that historic error and make a commitment, not only to the people of the United States today, but to people that we dont even know, the children and grandchildren and great grandchildren of todays citizens. The other thing that this bill will do is begin to fund the backlog of maintenance at our National Parks bureau of public lands and other public lands across the country. This sounds pretty boring, pretty mundane. And some of my friends are going to say, well, you cant do this. Were going to raise a budget point of order because this is money, again, coming from excess funds in the generation of minerals, oil and gas, but they are going to say, no, no, you cant do that. Mr. President , what were doing here is paying a debt. Deferred maintenance was a debt. When i was governor, i used to go to new york and kiss the ring of the rating agencies and hope they would give us a high bond rating so the interest cost for our state would be low. At one point i was making a presentation about how prudent maine was and we paid off our debt in ten years and needed this high bond rating and one of the analysts stopped me and said, governor, dont forget, if youre not fixing your infrastructure, if youre not maintaining your infrastructure, thats debt just as sure as if you borrowed money from the bank, and its debt thats going to have to be paid and its going to have to be paid in the future with which which means it is going to cost more. I never thought of that before. Thats why what were doing here is imminently fiscally responsible because were paying off a debt, and we preserving these wonderful, incredible places for people to visit and enjoy. And, believe me, after this spring people really want to get outdoors. In maine, for example, arcadia National Park has 3. 5 million visitors a year. Thats a big number. Its a really big number when you realize its more than twice the population of our state comes to visit this one, small, beautiful incredible spot on the coast of maine on mount desert island. What were talking about today is making paying a debt and making a contribution to the wellbeing of the American People for generations to come. When baxter finished katahdin, he had an amazing quote that i think that applies to what were talking about today. He said man is born to die. His works are shortlived, buildings crumble, monuments decay and wealth vanishes, but katahdin in all its glory will forever be the mountain of the people of maine. Areas across our country and all their glory will forever be part of the legacy of the people of america. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. And suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. A senator thank you. I ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Barrasso thank you, mr. President. I come to the floor at a time when you and i heard the democrats latest rallying cry. Astonishly, the rallying cry is defund the police. Defund the police. Thats what im hearing from democrats all across america. This comes on the heels of a previous battle cry abolish i. C. E. Thats what the democrats are calling for today. Leading democrats, radical leftwing lawmakers like alexander owe comes ya cortez owe comes ya cortez are pushing these dangerous ideas. Liberal democrats all across the country are asking all of us to defund Law Enforcement in america. Mr. President , if we did that, if we did that, crime would go through the roof. School safety would cease to exist. The most vulnerable in our society would have no one to turn to or call in case of an emergency. Yet democratic mayors across the country seem to be on board. Last week the democrat mayor of los angeles said he plans to slash the l. A. Police departments budget. New york city mayor de blasio has vowed to cut funding for the new york Police Department. The Minneapolis City Council announced sunday that it would vote to disband, disband the citys Police Department and said they had a vetoproof majority. House democrats have now just released a new bill that supposedly seeks police reform. This is from a party that just last month pushed a trillion dollar the total bill was 3 trillion with a heroes fund to support the police. Well, now funding for police has purposely been left out of the bill. Mr. President , as our economy begins to recover and ill tell you the jobs numbers are very promising we need to make sure that our communities are safe. This starts at the local level with governors and mayo mayors n cities like minneapolis, new york, and los angeles. Last week the wall street journal had an editorial that was titled liberal cities, radical man. Democrat mayors and governors seem unable to stop the lawlessness. It included a warning. It said this isnt merely about damage to property. Its about destroying the order required for city life. They went on to say noncriminals are afraid to go into these cities in order to make a living. New york Governor Cuomo blaming mayor de blasio as well as the new york Police Department for failing to stop the violence in new york city. The Manhattan Institute says that the riots likely cost new york businesses tens of millions of dollars last week alone. This is in damages. Nationwide at least 12 people have been killed in the riots last week, including Police Officers. The rioters have committed many acts of violence against Police Officers as well as against innocent bystanders. In new york city alone, 292 officers have been injured last week. One new York Police Officer was stabbed in the neck. Two others were shot last wednesday night in brooklyn. In los angeles 27 hoifers were injured during just one night of rioting. One officer suffered a fractured skull, another a broken knee. Now, on thursday attorney general bill barr gave a briefing on the administrations efforts to end the violence. The attorney general also said that President Trump has directed him to spare no effort in seeking justice in the george floyd case. The state has filed criminal charges against the four officers and federal authorities are investigating civil rights violations. The attorney generals claiming and now has said that there is now clear evidence that extremist groups like ante f. A. A. Were antifa were exciting the riots. The lawlessness, he said, must stop. In our free our free Society Depends on the rule of law and the attorney general has said that the rule of law will prevail. We need to continue to focus on social, economic, educational, and police reforms. Still no sensible reform involves defunding the police. Police are civil servants. Their job is difficult. Their job is dangerous. They may need more resources, not fewer as democrats across the country are calling for defunding. Im saying they may need more. They may need more training. They may need more resources. They may need more resources to help recruit officers who match their communities. Mr. President , theres much more that needs to be done and defunding is not part of it. We can never abandon those who protect us. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer and the clerk shall call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Rubio i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Rubio murder of mr. Floyd at the hands of Law Enforcement officers was an outrageous crime that has shocked this nation. But it would be a mistake to conclude that the unrest of the last two weeks are only about his death or are only about relations with the police. At its core what this unrest is about is the question of what kind of society we are and what kind of society do we want to be. A society is a voluntary agreement by people to live together for a society to thrive those in it must believe that their interests are protected and their voices are heard. But when a substantial number of people in a society come to believe that they are not valued, that they do not matter or that they are not wanted, then that society will have big problems. For decades African Americans have complained that they feel that their voices are being ignored, their problems not being addressed, and their lives not valued. Given our nations history with race, this is an uncomfortable grievance, one many would rather avoid. But like a bad debt that must eventually be paid, it is a grievance we can no longer ignore. Like before the latest unrest has given rise to voices arguing that the foundations of our republic are built on systemic racism and must therefore be brought down. The only difference is that this time claims like these dont just come from the fringes of our politics. Like before we also have voices to say that today race is only a factor in individual cases, distinct from our society at large. Both of these views are wrong. The foundations of our country are not irredeemably racist. Abolition, womens suffrage, desegregation, the Civil Rights Movement these were not appeals to overthrow our values. These were demands that we fulfill them. And the constitution that once considered slaves threefifths of a human being was ultimately the vehicle that was used to free them and eventually to secure their most basic rights. It is also true that we have made tremendous progress on racial equality over the last 50 years, but there remains shocking Racial Disparities on health, on education, on housing, on economics and criminal justice, and there remains the fundamental truth that in any society in which a substantial percentage of the people believe that they are treated unjustly is a society that has a problem, a society that can never fulfill its full potential unless those grievances are addressed. None of this excuses radical, violent extremists setting fires, looting buildings, hurting innocent people. It also shouldnt lead us to stupid ideas like defunding the police. And this is not going to be fixed by endless emails from corporation after corporation trying to prove how woke they are, even as they outsource their jobs to china. But its also not going to be fixed by pretending that race is no longer an issue and by accusing everyone who disagrees and says it is of hating america. Yes, there are still vial racists among us and though few of them will openly admit it. But in 21st Century America few people considered themselves racist, the primary reason why race remains relevant today is because the African American Community Faces a unique set of challenges that far too people in positions of power and politics fully understand. If a child is raised in a stable home, in a safe neighborhood, attends a good school and they have a private tutor to help them with the s. A. T. While another child two miles away is raised by one parent or maybe even a grandparent, they live in substandard housing, in a dangerous neighborhood, they attend a school that is failing or failing them, and they dont have a private tutor for the s. A. T. , on most days, they dont have access to wifi, do these two kids really have an equal opportunity to go to the same college . In one College Student has the connections or the money to complete unpaid internships to do unpaid internships in the summer or to study abroad and another student has to work in the summer just so they can afford to go back to school in the fall, do they really have an equal opportunity to get hired when they graduate . If one young adult does something stupid, gets arrested, its parents hire good lawyers and hes able to avoid having a record, another young adult who does the same thing, has to get a public defender, pleadsguilty to a lesser charge but now has a criminal record. Do they really have an equal opportunity when they apply for the same job . The employers send jobs overseas in an effort to benefit those employed in technology and finance. How can we truly expect widespread prosperity for all americans . And when a disproportionate number of those with these disadvantages come from one race while a disproportionate number of those with the advantages comes from another, the result is the a racial disparity. Some suggest that these disparities are the result of institutionalized racism or of a deliberate effort designed to harm African Americans. What i truly believe is that its the product of something far less sinister. Sometimes equally damaging. It is the result of racial indifference, the fact that many in positions of power and influence are oblivious, are unaware of the unique challenges that disproportionately face African American communities across this country. We must now acknowledge these challenges and address these disparities that they create because when disparities go unaddressed, they become grievances. And when grievances are ignored, it leads to friction and division and ultimately unrest. By no means do these disparities alone fully capture the entirety of the challenge before us. There still remain points of friction, more reminiscent of a different and shameful era in our history. And here, too, we can also suffer from indifference because the vast majority of americans do not simply do not personally know the sting that comes from implicit and sometimes explicit reactions to the color of your skin, which is why true progress requires that we listen to the viewpoints of those who do. Listen to the young man that i know who sees reports of a young man that looks like him, his uncles, his grandfather, being murdered by vigilantes in a case of mistaken identity. Who knows that had they not taken video of themselves doing this, they would have gotten away with it. Listen, and he will tell you that he feels his life wouldnt matter either if it wasnt because he played professional football. Listen to the Police Officer i know, who was pulled over while offduty at least seven times by his own department for no reason, and he will tell you of the humiliation of having to explain this to his teenage son. Listen to what it feels like to see on the news that when a mother in miami recently drowned, her own autistic son in a terrible tragedy, you know how she tried to cover it up . By falsely telling the police that he had been abducted by two African American men demanding drugs. And listen to what it feels like to read about the indictment of the chief of police of biscayne park, florida, who in an effort to brag about having a perfect crimesolving record ordered his officers to arrest anybody black walking through their streets and if they had any kind of criminal record, pin one of their unsolved crimes on them. Listen, not because it is your fault, not because you are to blame. Listen because this is what people who want to live together in harmony must do. This is the respect we owe one another, as colleagues, as coworkers. This is the empathy that is required of us as neighbors, as friends, and as children of the same god. This may not be your fault, but this is our problem. Because until we heal this divide, we will never, ever have the kind of society we want, and we will never fulfill the full promise of our nation. There is reason for hope, even in a deeply divided country where the political and cultural lines that divide us continues to harden. A clear consensus has emerged that we can no longer ignore matters of race in america. But it is a fragile consensus, already being tested by loud voicing appealing to our most basic fears or see the opportunity to advance extreme ideas and divisiveness. This is the path we choose. We will all look back at this time of profound regret. We will be left with a society that is even angrier and more divided than it is now. We will be left with an america that no longer resembles the one that we honor when we stand during the national anthem. And ironically, we will also be left with an america even further away from the one some kneel to demand. The only way forward is to treat each other with the respect and empathy of people that have decided to share a nation and a future. Mr. President , i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a remain q. The presiding. The presiding officer the clerk should call the roll. Quorum call a senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Portman im here on the floor today the presiding officer were in a quorum call. Mr. Portman i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Portman im here tonight on the floor to talk about a historic opportunity for our country and for our National Parks, two treasures of this country. When Teddy Roosevelt started the National Parks, he wanted to preserve some of the most beautiful, pristine lands in america for public use. It was a good decision. Now we have 84 million acres of parkland all around the country. Some of them are historical parks, battlefields, president s homes. Some of them like yosemite, yellowstone, the tetons are known for spectacular, beautiful vistas. Others like Cuyahoga National Valley park are in ohio and are suburban parks. Its the 13th most visited park in the United States of america. Its a fantastic park for fishing, for hiking, bicycling, for going on a scenic railroad. People love the parks. Theres a good reason for that, because they are spectacular. In fact, visitation at the parks is up. During the ten years just before the park centennial which was in 2016, we had about a 58 million increase in visitors to our National Parks. And as the coronavirus begins to fade, thank goodness, more and more people are wanting to be outside, do things with their family, do stuff thats not expensive but is fun and healthy. Well, our National Parks are the perfect place. As our parks begin to reopen, were going to get more and more visitors to those parks. The problem is when they go to these parks, theyre going to find that there are some issues, and these issues are that our National Parks over the years have not kept up with their maintenance, with the basics of what you would expect in any organization. The water systems, the roads, the bridges, the bathrooms, the Visitor Centers, the trails. Many of these are now closed in some of our parks because they havent had the funding to do the Capital Improvements so that the things you would think about in deferred maintenance at your home, for instance, if your roof starts to leak, you want to fix it because if you dont, then your wall begins to get moldy or your floor begins to couple. Thats whats happening in our National Parks. Not only have congress not provided the money for these more expensive infrastructure changes in our parks, but that has caused additional damage. And every day its causing more and more damage. So its the biggest challenge we have in the parks. I was a member of whats called the Centennial Commission for the National Parks, which is a private sector group that was formed when i was not in Public Office a few years ago, and working up to the 2016 centennial. The top issue, the top issue was this deferred maintenance. I have been on the energy and Resources Committee and have been passing legislation related to the park. The centennial act we passed in 2016. That was very important because it provided more funding to the parks. But actually we could not come up with enough funding through the appropriations process to deal with these longterm problems. Why . Because they are so expensive. In the parks, its believed that there is now a 12. 5 billion shortfall, 12. 5 billion of deferred maintenance projects. Again, we fund the parks every year, but we fund them for the rangers, for the naturalist programs. We fund some of the good work thats being done with School Children and so on, but these big expenditures, like a new road or a new bridge or in the case of cuyahoga valley National Park, a new Railway System because the scenic Railway System, the rails themselves need to be improved and replaced, those things are just too doggone expensive for an annual appropriation. So several years ago, some of us came up with an idea of providing more publicprivate partnerships with the parks. The centennial act which i authored does that. In fact, we have been able to provide a match of greater than one to one for money thats put into whats called our centennial challenge fund. So the money goes in from the federal government and its been matched more than one to one by private sector money. Thats helpful. But it cannot again handle these huge expenditures. So another idea, senator mark warner of virginia actually came to me on this several years ago and said why dont we take some of the revenue thats coming from our oil and gas and other Energy Projects that are on federal lands, both onshore and offshore, and take some of those royalties, revenue that the federal government derives from that which is not going for another purpose and say that a part of those revenues not all, but a part of it should be focused on this issue of infrastructure, of this, again, deferred maintenance that is growing and growing in our parks. They are getting more expensive every year if we dont fix it. I love that idea because thats exactly what the oil and gas revenue money ought to be used for, to help in terms of our Natural Resources. And its not everything. The 12. 5 billion has about 6 billion of immediate projects that need to be handled right away. These are the priority projects. Those are the ones we have focused on. For the next five years in our legislation, we are requiring that enough of those resources from the royalties come in to handle that 6 billion. Assuming that the royalties are there. Right now, the cost of oil is so low that it would be tough to meet that, but we think over time that will even out and we will have enough. If there is not, then the money wont be there. If it is, the money will be there to do exactly what we have to do, which is in the end save taxpayers money by fixing some of these problems before they get worse. Some people say well, its better to do it with an annual appropriations in congress. I would say to that, in many respects, this funding for our parks is a debt unpaid. In other words, its money that we should have been paying all along to keep up with the roads, the bridges, the buildings, the Railway Systems, the seawalls that we will talk about in a minute, but we havent, so we have allowed this to build up. So in a way, this is sort of a debt thats on our books that we have to deal with. Think about it in your family or in your business. If you allow these deferred maintenance problems to continue to grow, you end up having even additional costs. We need to take care of it. This is a great way to do it, taking these revenues and applying it to these immediate problems. By the way, there is a lot of discussion here in congress over the years about shovelready projects. When you do Infrastructure Spending, you want it to be shovel ready. These are shovel ready because they have been vetted. We require the Parks Service to provide us every year what are their infrastructure needs, what are their priority infrastructure needs, and to rank them. So for every single National Park property in america, we know what it is. As an example, here, this is the William Howard taft birthplace in my hometown of cincinnati, ohio. As you can see, the ceiling is leaking. What happens is the ceiling leaks and then the call is getting damaged and the floor is getting damaged, and some beautiful furniture here from the taft era is getting damaged, so we need to fix it. Its a big expense because really its the entire the entire roof that has got to be repaired. And their annual budget is not nearly enough to do that. They have an annual budget. It takes care of a few park rangers who are naturalists and interpreters. They have a lot of school kids that come through as an example and others that want to see the history of William Howard tafts upbringing who was chief justice as well as president of the United States, but no way is the annual appropriation of congress enough to do Something Like that. It needs these kind of additional resources. Here we are at the cuyahoga valley National Park. This is one of the buildings that you can see thats not in great repair. They dont have the money to take it down. They dont have the money certainly to be able to repair these kinds of buildings. All they want to do with this building is take it down. Its a hazard because as you can imagine its attracting crime and drug use and other issues, so they have got several buildings like that. Heres another one. This is the railway i talked about at the cuyahoga valley National Park. Im here with the park director. This range is a guy who has been all around the country. He told me that at every single one of our parks, he has had to work through this issue of how do you take our budget and be sure you have the rangers, have the naturalist programs, keep things just in order, but then dont have enough to pay for these big expenses. Were right near a bridge here which is also falling down. When the bridge is falling down, people arent going to be able to access the trail and the bike trail. Its a big expense, but you have to do it. Here i am at the Perry Monument. This is on lake erie. Those of you who have been to putin bay. You know its a great place to go. The Perry Monument is awesome. It not only talks about William Perry and his history and legacy but thear war of 1812 and all of the veterans of that war and the relationship now between canada, the United States, and the u. K. Now being our great allies. That wasnt always so. But the war of 1812 was essential for the United States and something, you know, as part of an historical park to be remembered. But the seawall that protects that memorial is crumbling. Seawalls dont last forever, and this one is not lasting forever. Particularly as the lake erie water level is increasing. You can see not only is the seawall crumbling but there are loopholes behind me potholes that are behind them, sinkholes people call them. People arent allowed to go on the lakefront here in many places because of that. Thats a huge expense to do a seawall, but they have to do it to protect the monument itself. The Visitors Center is also not a. D. A. Compatible. We need funding to do that, which is a major expense. These are the kinds of things we are talking about. This isnt just my home state of ohio. This is about 100 million that needs to come out of this fund just for the state of ohio. Again, there are other states that have bigger National Parks and more needs and more infrastructure, more roads and bridges that need help, but for us, this is really important. We have got to be sure that we are protecting this incredible treasure for future generations, and thats what this legislation is about. Its going to be on the floor here this week and voted on as part of the Great American outdoors act, which includes also money for the land and Water Conservation fund. I will say with regard to the National Park funding, this funding is directed at stewardship. In other words, not a single penny of the money were talking about with the restore our parks act that i have been describing can go toward expansion of a park, not one penny. All of it has to go toward restoring the parks, toward stewardship of the park. And i think thats because whether you are a republican or a democrat, i think you should agree we have these parks and we have these lands, we need to take better care of them. Our generation again are the stewards for future generations, and we have not done it. This is an opportunity to right that wrong and to get back on track. So my hope is that well continue to see support for this on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the capitol. Its really important. We saw on monday night there was the first trial vote to be able to proceed to the debate on this bill, and that vote was overwhelming. 80 senators voted for it out of 100. Now, thats unusual around here. But that shows, again, the bipartisan nature of this and the fact that this is carefully thought out. We spent a lot of time on it. We have gotten it out of committee not once but a couple of times. We have done a lot of research on it. We have made sure the parks again are providing us good data to know exactly what these projects are, which are their highest priorities. There is a lot of discussion in this chamber about putting more money into infrastructure, and maybe that will be done as part of the next legislation. They have talked about it in terms of the next stimulus package, to have infrastructure funding. Whether its Rural Broadband or whether its our ports or our roads or our bridges, i think there is an opportunity there. You put a dollar in, you get more than a dollar back. If you do the right kind of smart economic infrastructure. But there are two problems with it. One, often its not merit based if congress does it. Remember the bridge to nowhere years ago. There was a bridge in alaska that i guess didnt go anywhere but yet we were going to pay millions for it. These are not be bridges to nowhere. These projects have all been vetted. Its a meritbased process. Second, times they just arent shovel ready. In other words, the priority is to fix something but you dont have the permits, you dont have the approval. These are on National Park lands. They have the approval. Theyre ready to go. So they are shovel ready, they are merit based. Discussion around here often about dealing with infrastructure is not to pay for it with an offset but rather because Infrastructure Spending returns capital, which it does if its done properly, and this would return a lot because this is stuff that is going to involve more visitors, more revenue being raised through people coming to the parks, attending the parks, for the communities certainly where the parks are in but even the parks themselves. We are talking often about not paying for it. Here we actually do have it paid for. Its not a traditional payfor, i acknowledge that, but it is funding that comes from the royalties, again, from offshore and onshore oil and gas and other Energy Projects that goes into fixing our National Parks. Its our responsibility as stewards to do that. My hope is that we will what we will see tomorrow and the next day and maybe into next week, depending on how long people want to debate this, that we can continue to have the support that we saw on monday night for our parks. Its one of the true treasures of our country. Its a great asset that if we dont fix it will not be there for future generations because these things, once they start to crumble, once the seawall is gone, the monument is gone. When you have a situation where bathrooms are closed or trails are closed, again people are going to show up and be understandably disappointed that the United States congress did not take advantage of this opportunity if we do not vote for this to be able to fix the parks for future generations. Finally, i would like to thank not just my colleague, senator warner, who i talked about earlier who has been a champion on this issue, but also senator Lamar Alexander and senator king, senator angus king. Senator warner was involved for many years. He was on the he was on another commission about the Great Outdoors which deals with this issue. If we can pass this legislation, 6. 5 billion over the next ten years for our parks, this will be historic. This is in a sense a Teddy Roosevelt moment. This will help us to right the wrongs, fix the problems, get our parks back on track so they will be there for future generations. I also want to thank the president of the United States and his cabinet. The secretary of interior, the Office Office of management and budget, and President Trump increased the size of this program by saying lets not just include our National Parks, lets include our wildlife areas and our National Forest. This is even an Broader Program than just the National Parks now. This is really important and it was in the president s budget each of the last three years. I appreciate that and that gives us a chance how to get this not just through the senate and house, but actually signed into law. The president s prepared to sign it if we can get it done here. I hope my colleagues will do what we did on monday night, recognize this is an Important Initiative at a time when our country is once again polarized and we have plenty of issues between the coronavirus and whats happening on the streets, isnt it good to see senate, house and the president together to do something thats important future generations. Thank you, mr. President. I yield back. Mr. Durbin mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from illinois. Mr. Durbin mr. President , this week my state of illinois is saying a fond and final farewell to a deeply loved and respected public servant. Ulary walsh devoted larry walsh devoted 50 years to serving as he called them the folks back home. He won his first election to the local school board in 1970 at the age of 21. He served in local and county government positions and in the Illinois State senate. For the last 16 years larry was county executive in will county, the fourth largest county in my state of illinois and one of the fastest growing. Larry walsh was as good at retail poll licks as poll particulars and anybody i have seen. Farmers, democrats, republicans, city folk, they all loved larry. He was one of the longest serving executives in the countys history. When he announced he wouldnt run for a fifth term because the cancer he was battling for five years was gaining the upper hand, there was hardly a dry eye in the room. Everyone he worked with was sadden the by that announcement. He said ive been a blessed man and lucky man. Well, from where im sitting, i think the really lucky ones were larrys folks back home, also lucky were those who worked with him and called him a friend. Im honored to count myself among them. Laurence michael walsh, born on a farm in hellwood elwood, illinois, the second of eight children, his parents were farmers, as were his grandparents and great grandparents. He carried on that family tradition. Farming was in his blood. He won his first election to the school board about three weeks before his first child was born. Three years later he was elected to the local board of supervisors. He was elected to the will county board in 19 4 and again in 1992. From 1997 until the year 2005, larry served in the Illinois State senate in springfield. His senate district, the 43rd included cities, suburbs and farms. In springfield, he sat in the back row of the chamber. He became good friends with another senator who sat in the seat right next to him. To some it was an amazingly odd couple to see the two of them, larry, the farmer and conservative democrat and his seatmate, a very liberal, leftleaning lawyer from hyde park in the city of chicago. But both men had an ability that is all too rare in todays brand of politics. They could see beyond labels. They were both passionate about building coalitions and finding Common Ground and they both liked a good game of poker, they so became good friends. In 2004, when his friend decided to run for the United States senate, larry walsh was the first senator to endorse him. Larry took his seatmeat to seatmate to meet his constituents. Four years later that seatmate of his was elected president of the United States and larry walsh was right here in washington to see barack obama inaugurated as the leader of our great nation. Larry walsh was a fine and decent man. He was thoughtful and witty, loyal and trustworthy. He seemed to radiate joy and his joy would fill a room. He was grounded in reality and modest. He had a big, booming voice. You couldnt miss it and you sure as heck could not miss his laugh, and there were plenty of them. His friends included a president , cabinet members and governors and member and women who swept the floors in his offices. In 2007, will county democrats created a new honor award, rather, to promote. They named it after the man who exemplified those qualities, the larry walsh Lifetime Achievement award. Fittingly the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement award was larry walsh. I laughed about that so many times and never let him forget it. Every time he visited my office i would remind him he was the first recipient of the larry walsh award. George pearson, chairman of the will county Republican Party told a reporter that larry greeted me each time with a handshake, a smile, a pat on the shoulder. You would never know we were on opposite sides of the political aisle and thats what made him popular with will county residents. The other thing that made him popular with the people of his county was that he was incredibly good at his job. He worked hard nodernize county government and make it more responsive. He build a Strong Financial foundation for this great county which improved its bond rating and led the largest Capital Improvement program. It built new roads, bridges, new county Health Facilities and a new courthouse scheduled to open in october. In the Illinois State senate he was instrumental, and among other things, in developing the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in elwood, the rebuilding of the juliet arsenal and the designation of the medawin tall grass prairie, the first in the United States. There was a time when we thought it was the end of the world for will county when the juliet arsenal was given up, but instead it became a show piece for the rest of the United States to show how this piece of real estate had a bright, bright future. Larry was proud most of his family. My wife and i offer our deepest condolences to irene, larrys wife. I called her on the phone the other day when larry passed and we talked about the rough period toward the end of his life. We knew it was coming and today we look back on it as a moment of trial that he endured. Until that moment when he left and left behind not only that love of his life irene, but their daughter sarah, their five sons, larry jr. And sean, both of whom followed their dad in public service, frank, matthew, and bryan, and 20 grandkids. He was so proud of every single one of them. Because of the pandemic, the sendoff for larry is going to be much smaller than it would have been in will county. There will be visitation from 2 00 to 8 and local folks are expected to line the route from the church to the cemetery. A couple of final thoughts about my friend larry. He was a bridge builder. He had an inexhaustible patience to finding Common Ground and solve problems. Dont we need more leaders like him today. Larry loved life. Every christmas season, for years, the local Theater Company in juliet put on a stage production of that classic movie, its a wonderful life. The show was always broadcast on a local radio station. And for many years right up to this last christmas, larry walsh played the part of clarence. You remember clarence at the end of the movie, he was the guardian angel. He was always hoping to earn his wings and always watching over George Bailey who was so despondent that he was thinking about upjudgment jumping off a bridge. Clarences job was to get george to change his mind and he did that by showing how much the people in his hometown would have been missed if george was not part of their lives. Clarence tells george, strange, isnt it, each mans life touches so many other lives and when he isnt around he leaves an awful hole, doesnt he . Many of us are feeling an awful hole today with the passing of larry walsh, this good man and devoted public servant. But even though we cant schedule the kind of irish wake that larry so richly deserved, there is something we can do. Besides his family, his faith, his community and public service, there was something that larry was also fond of. After a hard day of work, larry was known to enjoy a pabst blue ribbon beer. In his honor, if you are so inclined, may we raise a p. B. B. To larry and follow his uncommon example. Mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the next statement im about to make be placed in a separate part of the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Durbin thank you. Mr. President , this past weekend, i went back to illinois and visited with two different groups, one on friday, another on saturday. They were young African Americans on the southside of chicago and in my hometown of springfield. I wanted to sit down with these young people, some just barely high school students, who had been engaged in the protests and demonstration in their hometowns and asked them what happened it was about, what it meant to them. I wanted to hear it first hand. They talked about the killing of george floyd in minneapolis and how it changed the conversation about justice in america, and it moved them to stand up and speak up. Im proud to say that those that i met with have engaged in Peaceful Demonstrations quint with american consistent with American Values and our constitution. Im proud of them because there were no distractions. They were focused on black lives matter an true justice and true justice in america. When we met, i asked questions of some of them. I wanted to know a little bit more about them and their lives and what brought them to this moment. I asked each of them about the conversation, you know, that conversation when young people are called in by their parents and warned about the perils of challenges of being black in america. One young woman remembered her mother cautioning her to always ask for a receipt with every purchase to prove, if ever challenged, that the item had not been shoplifted. Many talked about hair styles and clothing that they learned to be dangerous by some white americans many they were warned about the danger of any contact with police and how their tone of voice and every move had to be carefully considered. Every one of them every one of them remember the first time they were called the n word. That graphic video of the last moments of George Floyds life when he was pleading, i cant breathe, and the cold stair of stare of the policeman with his knee on George Floyds neck, ignoring the pleas for mercy, those images touched the conscience of america and the world and these young people were touched by it. They know and we all know sadly that what happened to george floyd was not an exception. Since 2015 the Washington Post has been following the number of people shot and killed by poli police. Through 2019 the total number has hovered near 1,000 annually. 94 of the victims were armed. The post reports and i quote, the number of black and unarmed people fatally shot by police has declined since 2015 but whether armed or not, black people are shot and killed at a disproportionately higher rate than white people. End of quote. They note in their newspaper this morning the death rate by race in unarmed shootings was 7. 3 for whites, 10. 7 for hispanics, and 30. 3 for blacks. The anger and pain that we have seen on the streets in recent days is a reflection of generations of trauma. People are fed up with racism that has led to this injustice and many of these young people leading this protest are determined not to live in its shadow any longer. There are hundreds of thousands of Police Officers in our nation. Most will never use their firearms. Many who do must make splitsecond lifeordeath decisions. I know many of them personally. I believe the ones i know are professional and humane. But if were honest, we know that within their ranks of Police Officers who do not have the training or temperament to be entrusted with the authority and power they have been given. We need an honest conversation with police chiefs, Law Enforcement leaders, use of on use of force, training, and accountability for unjust actions. Prosecutors and judges need to join us in the pursuit of real justice and legislators like myself need to undo the damage of a criminal Justice System fraught with racial disparity. The Obama Task Force on 21st Century Policing released a report in 2015 to strengthen Community Policing and restore trust between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve. The Trump Administration shelved this effort in 2017. It is time to take it off the shelf. This week i joined senators booker and harris in cosponsoring the justice in policing act of 2020, a comprehensive approach to bring accountability to policing, change methods and practices, and build trust. It draws the line on odious Police Practices and sets goals and standards for recruitment, training and retraining. But even that is not enough. Justice in america requires more than improving Law Enforcement. We cannot put racism behind us until we invest in opportunities for quality education, medical care that meets the highest standards, jobs with livable wages, and opportunities, and safe, affordable housing. The young people i met with want an america that is more just. Let them lead us into a future where we can all breathe more easily. I can recall hearings on race in america when i was chairman of a subcommittee on the constitution and civil rights in december of 2014. The hearing was held just a month after the death of tamir rice, a 12yearold boy shot and killed by a Police Officer in cleveland while he played with a toy gun. I said then and sadly i must repeat today when unarmed African American men and boys are killed in our streets, there is much work to be done to find justice in america. This followed a hearing id held the Previous Year where we heard heartbreaking testimony from sabrina fulton, the number of Trayvon Martin and lucy mcbath, the mother of jordan davis. Lucy has been elected to the u. S. House of representatives from florida since. Both of these innocent young black men were gunned down by violent white vij antes vigilantes. Now we again grieve the lives of two black men and a black woman, lives cut far too short in incidents of inexplicable, inexcusable violence, Ahmaud Arbery out for a jog. Breonna taylor at home in her bedroom. And george floyd on a curbside in minneapolis. Once again those gutwrenching words i cant breathe brings tears to our eyes. How many more names of black men, women, and children will we cry out in protest before things change . We need to have an honest american conversation with Law Enforcement officers about training, inherent bias, use of force, and consequences for wrongdoing. We need to prohibit Police Misconduct that is discriminatory and deadly. We must recruit and train the next generation of Law Enforcement to protect and serve everyone in america. And we need to invest in social services instead of expecting Law Enforcement to intervene in crisis situations that theyre not equipped to deal with. This will require us senator, other legislators to continue to undo the damage of a criminal Justice System that is unfair in many respects. Most importantly, it will require those of us with privilege and power to step back and listen to African Americans affected by pervasive, systemic racism. What can we do . Good place to start is president obamas task force. As i mentioned earlier, it was that administrations response to deal with Community Policing and trust in the community. It was shelved by the Trump Administration and i think it would be a good start, a bipartisan start for the Trump Administration to bring it down from the shelf and start a conversation. We have an Important Role to play right here in congress. Unfortunately since republicans took the Senate Majority in january 2015, the senate Judiciary Committee has rarely addressed issues of racism in our nation. The last hearing on policing in the Judiciary Committee was actually five years ago. November 2015 chaired by the junior senator from texas. It was entitled the war on police. How a federal government undermines state and local Law Enforcement. It was a thinlyveiled attack on the efforts of the Obama Administrations civil rights division. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham has announced the senate that the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Police Misconduct next week. I was glad to hear t. I hope its hear it. I hope its not just one and done. We need multiple hearings long overdue. Its critical we also hear from attorney general william barr. We need to know whether the Justice Department will revive the efforts of the Obama Administration to address Police Misconduct and we need answers about what happened at Lafayette Square last week right outside the white house when the attorney general reportedly ordered federal Law Enforcement to clear peaceful demonstrators. They used rubber bullets and some form of gas. The attorney general insisted it wasnt tear gas but ive seen it and it looks like some sort of a gas spray designed to push the demonstrators away. Hearings arent enough. We need to do something the senate rarely does anymore, pass a law. How about that . We need legislation on this subject, not lamintaition. Our bill includes the legislation ive cor response cosponsored for many years prohibiting the scourge of racial profilling. In 2012 i held a hearing on this bill to end racial profiling. This was the only hearing that the senate has held on racial profiling in 20 years. Our bill would ban choke holds like the one that killed george floyd. It will ban no narc warrants. In 2014 Many Americans were shocked to see tanks rolling through the streets of ferguson, missouri. Shortly afterwards i held a hearing in the same subcommittee where we heard compelling testimony about the shocking reality that local Police Departments all over the country are armed to the teeth with billions of dollars of military surplus equipment. Our bill will limit the transfer of military grade equipment to state and local police so the weapons of war dont become commonplace on the streets of america. The justice and policing act also requires the use of dashboard cameras and body cameras for federal officers, state and local Law Enforcement. Our bill establishes a national Police Misconduct registry to prevent officers who have engaged in misconduct from simply moving to another Department Without accountability. It will ensure that individuals whose Constitutional Rights are violated by Police Officers can recover in court. After the civil war the Congress Passed the Civil Rights Act of 1871 to ensure that any person acting in an official capacity who deprives another of a constitutional legal right can be held liable in court. However, judges have strictly limited the use of this statute to recover damages for Police Misconduct by creating whats known as qualified immunity for Police Officers. The justice and policing act will end this. This is a doctrine created by judges and never approved by congress. I call on senator mcconnell to do more than just doing speeches on george floyd. I call him to bring the justice and policing act to the floor as soon as possible. Wouldnt it be amazing with all the protestation and all of the statements made by all of the people in the streets, by representatives of this administration from the department of justice who came before our committee today and each and every one standing up and saying theyre concerned about george floyd, if we in the United States actually considered a bill on the subject, actually considered passing a law on this matter . We owe it not just to the senate. We owe it to george floyd, to breonna taylor, to Ahmaud Arbery and all the black and brown lives that weve lost in these brutal acts of Racial Injustice. Madam president , i yield the floor. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Ms. Murkowski madam president , last night i had the opportunity to join probably more thanle 80 of my more than 80 of my colleagues in voting for a motion to proceed to s. 3422, the Great American outdoors act. This bill is sponsored by a strong group of senators here. Senator gardner of colorado, senator daines of montana, senator manchin have been working very hard on the lwcf piece. Senator alexander, senator portman, senator warner working on the parks deferred maintenance aspect of this measure. A lot of work from a lot of members and a lot of good thought that has gone into it. And some good policy behind it but id like to share with colleagues some of the reservation that i have albeit this is great policy, solid policy in so many areas. As with much everything we can do here on the senate floor, we can always seek to improve. And with some of my colleagues i think we have some ideas in areas where we can improve our Great American outdoors act. I come from a state where we know a little bit about our Great Outdoors. I know we all like to advertise our scenery, the wildlife that we have that back in alaska we have some pretty unrivaled scenery. We have the mountains. Weve got the glaciers. We have some of our states most important natural features that have been conserved in some world famous National Parks from cat my in denali, to the fijords, glacier bay, names that so Many Americans know, have visited off hope to visit one day before they die. We actually had an advertising campaign. You see these majestic landsca landscapes before you die. Americans recognize the importance of preserving our very best lands and making the most of our ability to experience their natural splendor. And we are not welcoming visitors this year in a very different time as were dealing with covid but we have no doubt that the tour imindustry will be back. It tour imindustry will be back. It will be back better than before in yet another advertising expainl. We remind people that alaska awaits for you and we will welcome you at any time. Weve got more than 223 million acres of federal lands in total. Including within that are 70 more than 76 million acres that are managed by u. S. Fish and wildlife service. More than 71 million acres managed by the bureau of Land Management. More than 52 million acres managed by the National Park service and more than 22 million acres managed by the Forest Service. So weve got a lot. Weve got a lot of federal land. And that means that the federal government has a major responsibility to help us maintain it and preserve it, just like in never state. Just like in every state. So id like to take a few moments to discuss how the policy well be considering can help us do just that. The Great American outdoors act combines two bills that we reported from the energy and Natural Energy and natural Resources Committee last year, first is the restore our parks act, which aims to tackle the Park Services 12 billion deferred maintenance backlog. The second one is s. 1080 from senators manchin, gardner and daines to provide full and mandatory funding for the land and Water Conservation fund. To tackle deferred maintenance needs, the Great American outdoors act establishes a new National Parks and public land Legacy Restoration fund. That fund will provide up to 1. 9 billion per year for five years to relevant federal Land Management agencies. The Great American outdoors act also expands the list of agencies that can receive funding beyond the park service to include the Forest Service, fish and wildlife service, b. L. M. , and bureau of indian education, which also have significant maintenance needs. This was something that we recognized within the Energy Committee as were looking at the status and the situation of deferred maintenance on our National Parks. It sort of begs the question, what about our other public lands . Our forest public lands are great sources of recreation and opportunity. But they, too, have seen have seen a maintenance backlog just continue to accumulate. When you visit denali, the grand canyon, yosemite, you may not necessarily notice immediately the deferred maintenance issues, but likewise, as you drive into washington, d. C. , here you might not even realize that the George Washington parkway is part of our National Park system, let alone a major contributor to the agencys maintenance backlog. But the reality is that the park service in particular has carried substantial backlogs for a long time. As the chairman of the interior appropriations committee, this is something that we have been working to try to get on top of, but its like getting on top of this wave. If you cant get on top of it i. T. Just going to its just going to bury you, and that is what has happened when you think about a 12 billion backlog. And so these deferred maintenance needs just arent possible to resolve through the annual appropriations process, despite the considerable best efforts that we have made. And the longer they last, the more they jeopardize the visitors ability to safely enjoy our national treasures. In alaska, the park service has about 106 million of deferred maintenance, so when you think about what ive just outlined to you in terms of the number of acres that we have in federal land and parks and b. L. M. The refuge, 106 million out of 12 billion doesnt seem like a much. Its a lot to us back home. 33 million of that is considered critical within denali National Park, we have a pretty significant Visitor Center there, the isleson Visitor Center and the roof and the furnaces in various buildings need to be replaced there. Weve got a Water Treatment center that needs to be replaced. And i think its important for people to realize because those arent things that youre going to notice. You are a he not going to youre not going to notice that the road is in disrepair or that you dont have restaurant facilities. But when youre going into the park toward the ends of the summer, early september, and theres no heat in the Visitor Center, youre probably going to notice that. But i think it is important to recognize that this current list of deferred maintenance does not account for some of the very major challenges that were facing in alaska, like the situation with the denali road. Its the only route in and out of the park. It needs substantial improvements going due to ongoing subsidence. The estimates are all over the map, but in fairness were talking of tens of millions, perhaps in excess of 100 million, to help repair or to perhaps even have to reroute that. You know, when you think about the deferred maintenance in alaska and in the parks, we can only account for a fraction of that system. Recreation is the biggest user of our National Forest system lands. But the our forestlands, our trails, our campgrounds, they need about billion in repairs. In alaska weve got about 105 million in backlog up there. B. L. M. Manages nearly 50,000 structures, bridges, trails. Mostly in Western States. But they have hes also got a backlog. Weve got about 17. 3 billion in deferred maintenance in fiscal year 2019. You combine that with the Forest Service, they are maintenance backlog totals about 22. 5 billion across our federal Land Management agencies. And so, the Great American outdoors act is attempting to do is to remedy the issue by providing a down payment to upgrade and improve the i am aning infrastructure on our public lands. So ive kind of outlined the need for why we are here today. Ive indicated that i support i support funding to address the maintenance backlogs and making sure that visitors are able to enjoy our landscapes, have the safest, most enjoyable experience as they see americas beauty. And thats important, but i think its also important that we are cognizant about how we pay for this maintenance, how we address that. And again i mention im on the appropriations committee. Were trying to get ahead of this. But making sure that we are that we are not seeking to add more to the account without making sure that we are carrying for caring for these lands that are already under our jurisdiction. The second part of the Great American outdoors act focuses on the planned and Water Conservation fund, lwcf. It provides for both federal water and Land Acquisition and states for recreation development. Youll hear me talk a lot about lwcf Stateside Program because i think that it recognizes the role that states play in facilitating recreational access and leverages funds to build out those opportunities. Weve certainly seen the benefit in alaska. A few local examples the state of alaska has used lwcf matching funds to build ball fields and an accessible urban playground in anchorage and a ski area in cordova. But i do think it is important to remember sort of how lwcf really was established, the core purpose, why it came about in the first place. Congress established this program in 1965 to build a National Recreation system primarily in the east. And to accomplish that the federal government said, we need the ability to acquire this federal this private land. And so our predecessors provided lwcf with the authority and the financial means to do so. And that was through revenues through offshore oil and gas. So weve had a lot of discussion in our committee, in the energy and Natural Resources subcommittee, about the land land Water Conservation fund. It was a proud sponsor of last years lands package which made permanent the collection and the deposit provisions in the lwcf and put a year an end to years of uncertainty and lapses in those deposits. And i was pleased to be able to help author a series of commonsense reforms including a requirement that at least 40 of its funding go to the Stateside Programs every year. But i also continue to believe that lwcfs ability to acquire new federal lands should be focused on the eastern states, where the proportion is dramatically lower. And i also believe that it is better, much better, much better to decide lwcfs funding in the appropriations process each year in the context of the rest of our nations conservation and budgetary priorities as opposed to mandatory funding. So i have been one that has said, lets have an opportunity to discuss these priorities related to our parks and our obligations to our parks and to our conservation efforts. But again, i believe that it is only fair and honest as we do this debate we recognize that there are things that we can do to improve this bill. I come at this debate from a very constructive place. I think ive got some very commonsense ideas to expand the bill, to include conservationrelated priorities, priorities that make sense for alaska, priorities that make sense for our states across the country, priorities like offshore revenue that im going to be speaking to in just a moment here. Some Pretty Simple common sense things. Like if were going to allow for deferred maintenance to be addressed using within the lwcf account, why would we not want to make sure that our states have similar flexibility . In states like alaska, where we have significant federal lands already, its not that we need to be buying up additional lands into the federal account in alaska, but one of the things that we do need is we need to help preserve those lands that we have now but that are subject to aggressive erosion. So to be able to use funds from the lwcf accounts, to be able to deal with a Coastal Resilience Initiative is something that my colleagues from louisiana, my colleague from rhode island, weve been talking about how we can help improve that. And so i do think that these discussions are not only timely but smart policy. I think its unfortunate if the senate chooses not to allow good ideas to be incorporated. And so and we have a measure in front of us that has strong, strong bipartisan support. We recognize that. And thats good, at a time when were trying to come together as a congress and as a nation, i take great pride in the fact that once again leadership turns to members of the energy and natural Resources Committee for good ideas that have come out of our committee. But, again, the opportunity to include strong measures that will enhance this is something that i think we need to be focusing on. So id like to address the amendment that my colleague from louisiana, senator cassidy, has filed and that im cosponsoring. This initiative that he has worked and has explained is a matter of equity. Its a matter of equity and fairness as to how revenues are shared with the coastal states that enable offshore energy development. So adding portions of the coastal act, s. 2418, which im a proud cosponsor of. Weve reported this out of the energy and natural Resources Committee to the measure in front of us, i think makes sense. Senator cassidy has spoken to how this would expand offtheshore revenue sharing for states along the gulf of mexico, which hosts and supports some of the most impressive and extensive coastal facilities anywhere in the world. And if any of our colleagues have not had the opportunity to view what happens in the offtheshore areas of louisiana, it is a trip that is should be a priority. So, mr. President , i know that as if in morning business cassidy has spoken to the so, mr. President , i know that senator cassidy has spoken to the mexico part of it. But i want to speak to what the amendment would do for alaska. Because it includes provisions that have been written by myself and senator sullivan to establish a revenuesharing Program Specific to our state, which has prolific offshore resources that we would hope that one day to be able to safely produce for the good of the nation. But were in a very, very different position than they are in the gulf. We need investment to improve our coastal infrastructure particularly in the arctic. Weve got different conservation priorities than some noncoastal states, which are enshrined in the purposes of the language in the amendment. And these are these principles of equity and fairness that we talk about as it relates to the gulf of mexico, theyre the same principles here. Just like from onshore federal development, local governments and communities need to share in the revenues from offshore development. Were the ones that host it. We bear the impacts and the benefits of the entire country derive that derive from it simply wouldnt be possible were it not for these host states. I think that this bill, this Great American outdoors act, this bill is the right place to address offshore revenue sharing because everything within it relies on oil and gas revenues. Lwcf, the fund that will help with our deferred maintenance, everything relies on oil and gas revenues. And so for as much vitriol as there may be out there and criticism as the industry takes, i think this might be a good time to recognize that oil and Gas Production generates federal revenues, and its from these federal revenues that fund these conservation priorities, priorities for dozens and dozens of members here on this floor and priorities for hundreds of stakeholder groups. So its again, that is what is has been happening within the lwcf, and its about to be true for the deferred maintenance backlog, that where you are getting this Funding Source is from the oil and gas revenues. Those funds wouldnt come were it not for places like louisiana, the gulf coast states, and again, hopefully one day alaska, because when it comes to offshore revenue sharing, alaska faces a disparity not only with onshore rates but with other coastal producers. So you have the four gulf states, alabama, mississippi, louisiana, and texas. They currently have a limited revenuesharing program established by the gulf of Mexico Energy security act of 2006, but alaska receives no revenue sharing, zero revenue sharing beyond the near shore areas that all coastal states receive under section 8g of the outer Continental Shelf lands act. So if alaska is granted offshore revenue sharing, know that we will put it to productive use for conservation and environmental purposes. And i i think its instructive because i think there is so much so much rhetoric and concern we cant be doing further development in alaska. It just shouldnt happen. Well, let me share with you again, were seeing coastal impact. Were seeing levels of erosion. We would like to be able to address the the expenses that are associated with it, and so within the amendment that senator cassidy has filed, in the alaska provision, we look we look specifically to authorized purposes, coastal protection, conservation, and restoration. Assistance, including relocation for communities that are directly affected by coastal erosion, melting permafrost and Climate Changerelated losses. Another authorized use is mitigation of damage to fish, wildlife, and Natural Resources. Adaptation planning, vulnerability assessments, Emergency Preparedness to build healthy and resilient communities. The installation and operation of Energy Systems to reduce energy costs and greenhouse emissions, and then programs at institutions of higher education. So these these are the primary purposes that alaska would use its shared revenues for. So if you support the Great American outdoors act, you will be able to support offshore revenue sharing and the significant environmental benefits that it would provide to the gulf of mexico and to the state of alaska. But we can only get there if we have an opportunity for the the good ideas, the substantive ideas that senator cassidy is leading with his coastal act, that i have introduced with regards to concerns that i briefly outlined, and i know that other members have raised and shared as well. So i appreciate the support that we have received for offshore revenue sharing within the Committee Process itself. Were now asking for the full senate to support the coastal states and equitable sharing of revenues. I think this is a key step, and i would urge that we have an opportunity to adopt that as we move forward. With that, madam president , i yield to my friend, the senator from louisiana. I thank him for his leadership on this initiative. I have been so impressed not only by his advocacy when it comes to addressing the fairness and the equity issues that are associated with revenue sharing, what we need to do to lift the cap, but also his commitment to ensure that that his state and other coastal states that are seeing seeing impact from Climate Change, seeing impact from erosion, that the conservation purposes that we have spoken to will have an opportunity to be addressed. So im thankful to be able to work with him and to follow his lead on this. The presiding officer the senator from louisiana. Mr. Cassidy first i thank the Energy Committee chair for her kind words and for her advocacy. Madam chair, i may be speaking for a bit, and then when the majority leader comes, i will interrupt and allow him to close, and then i will finish my speaking if thats okay. Thank you, madam president. Im on the Senate Floor Today to talk about protection and restoration of the gulf coast, an issue extremely important to those i serve in louisiana, in the guff coast, but in the gulf coast, but important to the rest of the nation, whether the rest of the nation knows it or not, and i will explain why that is. Madam president , in the coming days, the senate will vote on whether or not to pass the Great American outdoors act. This bill dedicates funding over five years towards deferred maintenance. We have spoken about it at length. It adds an additional 900 million to the 900 million to the landWater Conservation fund. This would make it mandatory that it is funded. Many would say this is a good thing or even a great thing. I will tell you for louisiana, for the gulf coast, and for a lot of other states, this is not a great thing in its current forms. In fact, i will show how this bill currently benefits only certain states at the expense of others. First, its almost entirely funded with money from the gulf of mexico oil and Gas Production. 50 to 60 of the dollars go to five states. So were going to put up about 9. 5 billion, and 50 to 60 of it goes to five states. Needless to say, that lacks equity. And i would argue that we could make this bill better in terms of benefiting many more americans than it currently does. First lets speak about where the revenue comes from. Again, about 1. 9 billion a year comes from energy production, redistributing that across the country as we mentioned for deferred maintenance programs. About 90 of that revenue from which this money will be extracted comes from oil and Gas Production in the gulf of mexico. This will be about 4. 3 billion coming from the gulf of mexico. Now, this makes the gulf of mexico the primary Revenue Source for this whole project. So it adds 900 million to what is already designated the landWater Conservation fund. There is 1. 9 billion a year for five years to go for deferred maintenance. And this is in addition to 125 million a year which is currently being spent on the landWater Conservation fund. Some of the advocates, by the way, just for point of clarity will say that and imply that these dollars are not otherwise allocated. Lets just be clear. The dollars are allocated. Right now, the dollars that will be used for this fund come to the United States treasury and are used for the priorities of the American People, and they are allocated for, you name it, higher education, debt service, paying troops, defense, et cetera. But this would make it mandatory that a certain amount of this money would go towards both deferred maintenance and the landWater Conservation fund. Now, the land and Water Conservation fund is supposed to be a fund that functions to benefit kind of all americans, but i would argue that it really benefits select regions of america. If you look at this map, madam president , where the dollars are spent are not where the people live. These are the coastal states. And here are the inland states. As it turns out, the areas that are most benefited by this funding is not on the coast. And yet, as you will see in a second, thats where the people live. So the coastal the per capita amount if you live in a coastal state, on a per capita basis, your state receives about 7. 53 per person. If you live in one of these inland states, from the landWater Conservation fund, you get 17. 66, more than two times plus. In fact from 2011 to 2015, if you were in one of these inland states, you got a ratio of almost 81 in terms of the dollars spent in coastal states. If you take out washington, d. C. And virginia and maybe new york, then this 7. 53 is going to go far lower. If you are not in one of those three states and youre on the coast, youre not doing very well on a per capita basis. So to make that point, in 2015, about 40 of the nations population lived in a county or parish that was directly on a coastline, and 82 of people lived in a state which is which has a coastline. So 82 of the people live in one of these yellow states, and yet on a per capita basis, twoplus times is spent on those living in states which are inland. Now, my point is the dollars are not spent relative to where people live. This disparity disproportionately impacts states such as South Carolina, georgia, North Carolina, maine, other coastal states. Now, im a person who would rather have a solution, and the solution im going to propose does not take money away from the Great American outdoors act. They will still continue to receive in relatively sparsely populated states a significant sum of money, but i have worked with senator whitehouse on a bipartisan solution that would at least add some equity for those states which are coastline as opposed to being inland. Now, that said, we acknowledge National Parks have deferred maintenance. At the end of fiscal year 2018, this was estimated at roughly 12 billion. But those parks are not uniformly distributed. I mentioned earlier how a disproportionate amount of money is going to go to five different states. According to the park service data, if you just looked at deferred maintenance, which will presumably guide where this money is spent, california, washington, d. C. , virginia, new york, North Carolina, wyoming, arizona, and the state of washington make up nearly 60 of the deferred maintenance needs at National Parks. So if you live in one of those states, youre doing well. But fur living in a state other than those, not so well. Now, some will say that even though almost 60 of the money is going to seven states, everyone in the country benefits because you might visit the park or were all in it together, and so why shouldnt i support a state a National Park in a state which is far away from my hometown . I suppose there is something to be said to that. Well, on the other hand, if the person saying that lived in one of the states which is getting just a tiny fraction of the total sum of dollars, and, yes, the people in their state will leave their state and go spend their money in montana, for example, that will be great. People in montana on a per capita basis get far more than anybody else. That, you know, were in it together, i suppose, but you probably wouldnt reverse it. You probably wouldnt say wait a second, we think its unfair that seven states get almost 60 of the dollars. We actually think its better to be more equitably spread, or maybe you would. I hope that you would. States like kansas, iowa, and nebraska see almost no benefit. Collectively, the deferred maintenance in these three states, kansas, iowa, and nebraska is. 2 of the total deferred maintenance backlog. The same for connecticut, delaware, minnesota, new hampshire, and again while there is deferred maintenance in gulf coast states, the real benefit to our states is investing in the coastline which has a direct impact on the sustainability. To be fair, by the way, gulf of mexico states do currently benefit. The gulf of Mexico Energy security act shares revenue with the four gulf coast states. We use this revenue by state constitution for coastal restoration. Theres a little bit of irony as the senator from alaska pointed out that those who strongly support this bill oftentimes strongly disapprove of drilling for oil and gas, particularly in coastal areas, but they are now reliant upon that drilling in order to fund the Great American outdoors act. But i do believe that we can address this inequity which has been highlighted. Put together a bill as i mentioned earlier with Sheldon Whitehouse called the coastal act. Were working with other colleagues. We passed it out of the Energy Committee. Actually, senator whitehouse we passed the coastal act out of the Energy Committee with a bipartisan vote. The junior senator from alabama is my cosponsor. He should cosponsor and he did. Alabama benefits exponentially more from the gomesa act than anything that the Great American outdoors act has to offer. So all this to say that the gulf coast just wants equity. We want a more general benefit not almost 60 of the benefit now almost 60 of the benefit going to seven states. We also want the money to be distributed nationwide where people live at opposed to where they might go oneweek vacation every five years. So ill speak just very briefly about the coastal act. Bipartisan bill. Again massed by the passed by the senate Energy Committee, provides more dollars to Environmental Protection, flood risk to businesses and industries along the gulf coast. Protecting regions of the gulf coast for recreation. We talked about recreation elsewhere but committing dollars to all coastal states for Environmental Protection once more does not take money away from the Great American ououtdoorsact. Colleagues have heard me talk about the importance of revenue sharing for Environmental Protection. The coastal act passed out with bipartisan support and its goals are consistent with the Great American outdoors act. And by the way, the recent flood event in louisiana criste ball flooded. We have flooding now. This bill would help prevent that flooding. So the coastal act also places millions of dollars in a coastal fund which benefits all coastal states, including those along the great lakes. Putting money to protect where people live. Let me just show this. This is where people live. 82 of the people live in a state with a coastline and yet where the money is going is yes to the coast if you consider washington, d. C. And virginia the coastline. But typically its going to five or six places, not to the places which have had the most flood events. I walked along Barrier Islands in georgia. Theyre evaporating. Barrier islands in South Carolina are similarly under great duress. Louisiana i already mentioned. We just had flood events this past week. The coastal act would put money for resiliency where in states where 82 of the population lives. I just dont understand what is the objection to spending money to protect where people live . Why must we only do something nice for places where people vacation . If you put it to a referendum, people would first take care of their homes and then they would take care of the place where they vacation. Im not saying, by the way, dont take care of where they vacation but im saying we should at least give some dollars to where people live. Ill quote a statistic once more. 42 of americans live in a parish or county that is directly on a shoreline, directly on a shoreline. Why do we do why dont we do something to protect the shoreline where 42 of americans live, not taking any dollars away from the sparsely populated places where people vacation. By the way, when the coastal act passed the Energy Committee, environmental groups such as the Energy Defense fund, the National Wildlife federation, oughtmans awed mons society, and the coalition to restore Coastal Louisiana signed a letter saying quote, as we move to address the significant land, water and Wildlife Conservation funding needs in our nation, it is important that our coastlines are also equipped to confront the unique challenges that Climate Change presents. Gomesa has been a critically important funding stream for louisiana and other gulf coast states and expanding upon this success will protect National Economic assets, providing better protection from storms, and inenhanced coastal and enhanced coastal habitat. Bill sponsors will rightly say the Great American outdoors act does not impact revenues going to gomesa states but lets face it. It does cannibalize these dollars. Sooner or later you run out of money. So if were going to take all these dollars that could be spent elsewhere and put it in these sparsely populated states where people vacation but not spend is in states where people actually live, not spend it in the 42 of the counties where 42 of the of the people live which is directly on a coastline, sooner or later you run out of money. Just like a vacuum cleaner were going to suck those dollars down to these sparsely Populated Areas where people love to vacation. So my point being that in louisiana, for example, we have a 50 billion, 50year master plan to protect our coastline reducing flood risk to communities and assets so important to the rest of the nation. The Great American scout doors act will make Great American outdoors act will make it difficult to secure future dollars for this gulf coast restoration. Now as i mentioned before, data from the a lot of people live in coastline communities and counties and than counties and parishes and from 2000 to 2016, the gulf of mexico region grew by almost 25 , more than any other coastline region. Harris county, texas, areas in florida and new york also accounted for stu substantial gh along our coast. It commits dollars to these states so they can have a steady revenue stream and the future for needed investments. If you ask people in new york after hurricane sandy, would they like dollars in new york to protect a future flood event they would say yes. Houston, galveston have really borne the grunt. Hurricanes striking their coastline. Could they use more money . Yes. After hurricane rita, and cameron parish, have we talked about louisiana with Hurricane Katrina, the gulf coast of mississippi and alabama, devastated after Hurricane Katrina. Would it be wise as a nation to put dollars there in order to have coastal resiliency to prevent, if you will, more flooding in the future so as to actually save more relief dollars that might be needed . There are people there are regions battling rising sea levels and i am mindful about their concerns and how we can address those. Im told recently, by the way, that the army corps of engineers has proposed a 3. 5 billion flood wall for miami. Think about that, 3. 5 billion. This is in response to rising sea levels but were passing legislation now in which folks refuse to consider spending money for coastal resiliency. Instead were going to spend money on a 3. 5 billion seawall because we dont want to spend the money on other forms of coastal resiliency. I recently spoke to one of my house colleagues donna that louisiana who Donna Shalala and she speaks about the rising sea levels and investments they need to make around south beach. It is something touching where people live, not where people vacation. I am not sure why we emphasize where people vacation over where people live. Madam president , the pay to pay for this bill, again we are taking dollars from an area of the country greatly impacted by coastal erosion and so these gulf funds actually play a role in restoring or maintaining i think its this one. Madam president , youll see a poster later on which shows the oil and Gas Development taking place off the coast of louisiana. The oil and Gas Development that funds the Great American outdoors act. And louisiana coast is a working coast in which people from this working coast go out to maintain that source of revenue. But look what is happening to louisianas predicted land loss. Over the next 50 years in a reasonable scenario, all this red spot will be lost to erosi erosion. The ability by the way, look what happens to new orleans. It is now directly along the gulf of mexico. The next hurricane comes and there goes the port structure. There goes the ability for people in the midwest to get their grains to the international market. And the ability of this working coast to support the oil and gas drilling and, therefore, to support the source of revenue required and relied upon by the Great American outdoors act will be lost. Its not just me saying it. Of course im the senator. I love my state. Im going to do whatever i can. You may not believe me. But on the other hand, the states land loss has been highlighted in countless feature stories, including in the New York Times and National Geographic to name a few. Were looking by the way, google maps cant keep up. When looking at the louisiana coastline, google maps will show an area of land that has now been replaced with open water. Louisiana loses about, oh, a football field of land i think its an hour. Whenever i say it, i cant believe it. Its so fast. Its so rapid. Not only does this pose a risk to the Energy Assets, a risk to communities, a risk to port assets, it poses a risk to our national livelihood. Now, folks in louisiana are going to look at this and say how does the Great American outdoors act going to help us. Were going to work to produce all this oil and gas and were not going to get the benefits. Senator kennedy and i recently had a call from more than 20 louisiana parish president s. Theyre very understandably concerned about the lack of equity. Concerned is diplomatic. Ticked off is how better to describe. Had another close to a hundred businesses. They, too, are pleading for equitable treatment along the gulf. So when i speak about the Great American outdoors act, cannibalizing collars from the gulf of mexico to spend money in places where people dont live as opposed to protecting my coastline which in turn ensures we can continue to have a source of revenue but also coastlines around the nation in counties and parishes where people actually live as opposed to going to places where people only visit, im trying to make a case for those people. Thinking about these Energy Assets that are required, its one thing to say it. Its another to look at it. All these are part of the Gulf Coast Energy infrastructure that the rest of our nation relies upon. Im a doctor. I think like this. If you saw a map of the nation, you would see pipelines coming out of this region across the rest of the nation. And in my mind as a doctor, i think of this as being a heart. And if we need energy to fuel our lives, the heart is right here. And it beats here. And the aorta if you will, the pipelines that flow out taking gasoline to philadelphia, taking natural gas to another part of our country, to take the refined fuel products to atlanta, georgia, in the case of jet fuel. You name it, they come out of this area. If this area cannot be sustained, we cannot sustain that part of our energy economy. We will not have jet flights to hawaii or jet flights from atlanta around the world as the hub or from new orleans, people coming in for mardi gras, jazz fest or for a crawfish festival, wont happen because this pipeline structure cannot be sustained with a coastline which is eroding. Some of these let me just speak. Oil import sites, Natural Gas Market centers, processing facilities, liquefied natural gas export facilities, Strategic Petroleum reserve, major working ports such as port fucon, i could go on. These assets and companies then employ hundreds of thousands of men and women contributing billions of dollars in government revenues with a greater impact on our annual g. D. P. This is what powers our country. This is where the revenue is coming for the Great American outdoors act. This revenue stream will not be sustainable if we dont at least have some consideration of how to restore this. The senator from ohio had spoken about the leeky roof and it increased its leak. Now all those assets are being damaged within a, pa. Thats great. People like to visit a park and we should take care of leaky roofs . Im more concerned about a coastline which is dissolving and as we dissolve, we lose the Energy Infrastructure which is required to pay for that Park Building to be fixed. Ill also point out the Flooding Risk for the folks in my state. I spoke about the communities at risk. This is future predicted future flooding from a hundredyear flood event without action. Lets just say if its colored, its bad where you get. 5 to 5 feet of water north of new orleans. If you want to speak about something which should be done now to prevent future problems, ive got bigger issues than a leaky roof in a Park Building. I have entire communities washed away into the ocean at risk for great flooding. And im speaking of new orleans. I could be speaking of miami, of houston, of new york. Why dont we spend money where people live as opposed to only spending it where people vacation . You might be speaking in iowa or kansas or nebraska. Im only going. 2 of this money. Why does it matter to me to have a coastline . Why does it matter to me at all . Lets look at how investing in the coast impacts our nation economically. Lets look at what happened after Hurricane Katrina. After Hurricane Katrina when flooding took out the port structure in south louisiana, therefore the end place for all the goods coming from the ohio, missouri, mississippi, and other rivers for export to the rest of the world, the rest of the United States was terribly impacted. If you look at this, if we have a lack of coastal investment, corn exports down 23 postHurricane Katrina, barley done a hundred percent, wheat down 54 . Soybean down 25 , total grain exports down 24 after Hurricane Katrina. If that port system in south louisiana and in the lower Calcasieu River and in in houston is dandle by flooding thats going to happen under current scenarios that enour midwestern farmers are not able to ship to International Markets their livelihood is damaged. And moving goods across our country for export, one coalition committed to ensuring future navigation on the mississippi said the Lower Mississippi had as ha as estimated impact of 735 billion to the nations economy and is responsible for 2. 4 million jobs. That starts with being able to navigate goods through the various goods and port complexes through the mouth of the river. Usda recognizes this. It says in a report on the importance of inland waterways, quote, Farm Products are 14 of total commodities moved along inland waterways. Further, processed flour, animal feed, middle Grain Products and fertilizers add another 5 to agriculturalrelated products. Its important to remember the Mississippi River valley encompasses 60 of our country so many major rivers connect with the mississippi to deliver those products around the world. If were going to have a port system which is going to take those goods, allow them to be transported around the world, it has to be a sustainable a sustained reinforced coastline. In my state we have some of the largest barge and container ports in the country. The port of south louisiana is the largest grain exporters in the country. Port of baton rouge is home to the largest grain exporter operator in the state. Portsfurther to the south in mobile and texas are likewise important. If were going to have rising sea levels and spend all of our money on the inland areas, not where people live, but where people visit on vacation, as opposed to the coastlines, which have the ports that sustain where people live and sustain the vitality of those in the heartland, were being foolish with our public policy. The same usda report highlighted the consequences of an inadequate infrastructure along the waterways saying that inadequate infrastructure leads to reduced transportation capacity, raising shipping rates. Meaning less income to the farmers who are shipping, which reduces u. S. Economic activity and a loss of global competitiveness. I could go on. Ill just say that associated industries impacted by the iowa grain imports support business from forestry, real estate, restaurants, pesticides to name a few. This is just in iowa. The ports in the gulf coast support those folks in iowa. We should support the ports. We should support the ports. We support iowa. Which support iowa. Madam president , to summarize, my colleagues are here and my colleagues and i are fighting for fairness and equity. Thats what this is b ive highlighted obvious inequities both in how the gulf region is treated and how other states are treated, spending money not where people live but where people visit. Im pointing out the consequences to midwestern farmers. They dont benefit very much at all. If you live in iowa, kansas, or nebraska from the Great American outdoors act, but they would benefit from a sustainable port system which means that those ports they rely upon to ship goods around the world will be there even as sea levels rise. Now, i am all for, by the way, taking care of deferred maintenance and parks. But i think in the relative hierarchy of what we should do, we should take care of where people live and ill repeat once more, 42 of the people live in a parish or county that is directly on a coastline, 82 of americans live in a quotal state. Thats not where the in a coastal state. Thats not where the bulk of these dollars are spent. We have environmentally focused groups supporting this as well. What theyre supporting as an amendment which would actually help create this equity, that would allow dollars to be put into a fund to help coastal states where people live but would be part of a bill to take care of where people visit. I wish it were the other way around but thats not the priorities of the people who are promoting the Great American outdoors act. Madam president , i thank you for this time. I yield the balance of my time. Mr. Mcconnell madam president , are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are not. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the provisions of rule 22, the postcloture time with respect to the motion to proceed to h. R. 1957 expire at 12 15 tomorrow. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 00 a. M. Wednesday, june 10. Further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. Further, following leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to calendar number 75, h. R. 1957, under the previous order. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell so if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator lee. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Lee madam president . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee madam president , to most americans, the socalled Great American outdoors act is a mistake. Its expensive, shortsighted, and its wrong. But to those of us who live in the american west, its a disaster. Despite its rosy claims, this legislation combines two bills that will only tighten the federal strange galhold on strangle hold on our lands and drive us deeper into debt to the detriment of our economy or environment and to livelihoods and the freedom of the American People. So just how you might ask does it do that . Well, let me explain. The first title containing an expanded version of the restore our parks act attempts to address the roughly 19. 3 19. 3 billion maintenance backlog on our federal lands concentrated primarily within National Parks projects which approach 12 billion maintenance backlog just on their own. But it seeks to do so by spending 9. 5 billion of federal offshore Energy Revenues over five years without any means whatsoever of offsetting those extra funds. Now that, to be clear, is money that is currently going to the United States treasury to pay for a number of other costs, a number of other expenditures from aircraft carriers to federal courts and everything in between. And will only add to our already ballooning national debt. It is, we have to remember, congress job to set priorities for the funds in the treasury. If we prioritize something, if we prioritize one thing, we must either proportionately decrease the funding for Something Else or find another way to generate new revenue. This bill does neither. And furthermore, without any measures to prevent it, it guarantees that a similar backlog will only reemerge in the future. There are better ways to address this problem. For example, there are much better ways in a proposal thats been introduced by senator enzi in a bill called the real act. The real act would modestly increase park visitor fees by 5, businesses and tourist visa fees by 25, and Visa Waiver Program fee by 16 estimated to bring an additional 5. 5 billion in revenue over the next ten years. This, the real act, introduced by senator enzi, is a reasonable, practical solution to sustainably address the maintenance backlog on our National Parks, which is a problem. It is a problem that needs to be dealt with. And the real act does it in a very responsible, sustainable fashion. Whats more, the real act would create a permanent and independent way of supplementing the funding for our National Parks and do so without adding to the national debt. The second title of this bill, of the Great American outdoors act, creates almost 1 billion of mandatory spending every single year on new federal Land Acquisition through the land and Water Conservation fund. In other words, it adds a new entitlement adding to our already unaffordable system of entitlements. It puts on a level Playing Field with things like Social Security and medicare, other entitlement programs. The land and Water Conservation fund. Now why would we do this when were already on a collision course with our ability to fund federal programs, including and especially those programs that americas seniors have paid for for years and come to rely on . Why would we do that for this program . Why make it mandatory spending and thus convert it into yet another unaffordable entitlement program. Lets talk a little bit about the land and Water Conservation fund or lwcf as its known. This was originally put in place pursuant to a law passed in 19 1964. The lwcf as it was created and enacted into law back in 1964 was put in place in order to promote and preserve access to recreational opportunities on federal public lands, on public lands generally, in fact. So the fund was set up to be the principal source of money for federal Land Acquisition and to assist states in developing recreational opportunities on their own. Originally it directed 60 of its funds to be appropriated for state purposes and 40 for federal purposes. But unfortunately the program has since drifted far from its original moorings and far from its original intent and its been rife with abuse. In 1962 the law was amended to remove the 60 state provision stating simply that not less than 40 of the funds must be used for federal purposes while remaining silent on whether a state would receive a penny. Now just over the last year or so, not less than 40 of the funds are dedicated to state purposes. So that still means that up to 60 of the funds can still be used for federal Land Acquisition. The result . Well, it hasnt been good. Its been used more for federal Land Acquisition than for improving access to or care of the vast federal lands that we already own and manage or in many cases fail to manage. 61 of the funds have historically been used for acquisition compared to the 25 that have been allocated to state grants. Spending close to 12 billion to purchase new federal lands. So despite peoples images of charming ribbon cuttings at local parks and scenic wildlife, the lwcf has functioned as the federal governments primary vehicle for federal land grabs resulting in a massive restricted and neglected federal estate. The federal government, madam president , now owns 640 million acres of land, more than 640 million acres within the United States. To put this in perspective, this amount, the more than 640 million acres of land currently owned by the federal government within the United States is a total larger than the entireties of france, spain, germany, poland, italy, the united kingdom, austria, switzerland, and the netherlands combined. Now, im not talking about the governmentowned lands or the park lands within those countries. Im talking about the entirety of the countries themselves. The federal government owns more land than that. Thats 28 of the total acreage within the United States and more than 50 of the land in the west. And this is proven to be far more land than the federal government is capable of managing responsibly. The condition of the vast federal estate ranges from fair to poor to dismal. These lands face problems with rampant wildfires, soil erosion, mismanagement, and littering. With the staggering combined maintenance backlog of nearly 20 billion. Resources are only being spread thinner as theyre being stretched to serve more and more lands, more and more lands that are now going to be bought with the new entitlement spending that were putting in place with this bill should we enact this ill conceived illconceived legislative proposal. On top of that, many of the lwcf funds have been diverted to a vague other purposes category that has in many instances little to do with access to Outdoor Recreation at all. In fact, many of the programs it has funded have instead aimed to pull land from public use, regardless of how the land in question is classified. So rather than increasing opportunities for hunting and fishing, snowmobiling, hiking, camping, mountain biking, or kayaking, the land policies in place have slowly been squeezing out recreational opportunities. And this has been going on for decades. And so, too, have these policies impose severe economic restrictions. As the federal estate has ground since the time the lwcf was established in 1964, Natural Resource production, including mining, energy, timber, and livestock grazing have sharply declined depriving Rural Communities and their economies of crucial jobs and Economic Activity. Timber production, for example, has been cut by about 90 since the 1980s so instead of providing sustainable, renewable, economically productive logging in the northwest, these forests are now quote, unquote, managed by catastrophic wildfire under the supervision or i should say the failed supervision of the Forest Service and the bureau of Land Management. If you dont believe me, ask anyone who lives in the western United States. Ask anyone who lives in the communities of utah, who have seen the environmental and economic devastation brought about as a result of failed Land Management policies. Now, some claim rather audaciously, that the Outdoor Recreational economy is a major boom to the same communities that are being impoverished by it. But nearly always people who say that are people who live in those communities. Seasonal tourism is not a sustainable core industry for most communities. And much of the money spent on Outdoor Recreation ends up going to apparel, equipment, and gear from large outoff state companies. Outofstate companies. Rural counties dont see a penny of it. This is especially true in those counties where the federal government owns not just 67 of the landmass as is the case throughout utah as a whole but 90, 95 plus of the land in some counties. To make matters worse, federal lands also mean a loss of property taxes. And as a result, a loss of huge sources of revenue and opportunities for states and for local communities its no coincidence that the poorest Rural Counties in the west are the very same communities, the very same counties where they have the most federal land. The poorest counties are the counties with the most federal land. Why is that . Well, there are a umin of reasons, but, you know, one of the this i. S. P. That needs to be taken into account is that one of the things that needs to be taken into account is that without property taxes, schools are crippled, Fire Departments are ironically depleted and unable to properly take care of the lands theyre charged to protect in the first place. This by the way says nothing of the loss of Economic Activity as a whole. Im just talking here about the lack of property tax revenue. Now, there is a federal program for this. The payment in lieu of taxes program also known as the pilt program is the abbreviation. Theres a program that was intended to address this disparity by compensating counties and local communities for their loss of property taxes; that is, the loss from property taxes that comes about as a result of significant federal landownership and the federal governments declaration by law that it these lands may not be taxed. But pilt payments have provided only a pettance of what would be due to local governments, were federal lands not exempt from property taxes. In 2018, the Utah Legislature commissioned a stateoftheart evaluation of 32 million acres of federal land in utah, excluding roughly 3 million acres of National Parks and wilderness areas. Now, this may that same Commission Found that appraising these b. L. M. And Forest Service lands, according to their lowestuse value, would result in an annual property tax bill of 534 million. And this, by the way, in addition to excluding National Parks and wilderness areas from that equation, was a study that involved only those federal lands extending to within one mile of any municipal boundary or of any city or town in utah. So this fraction would produce 534 million annual lay in property tax revenue, even if it were taxed at it lowest value. In 2019, the pilt payments to utah statewide totaled just 41 million. Just 7. of the potential revenue 7. 7 of the potential revenue from property taxes. Were not talking about the lands outside of one mile beyond any municipal boundary. While states and localities are the ones carrying the unfair economic burden, washington only pours salt on these wounds by neglecting its oversight responsibilities. In may 2019 a g. A. O. Report found that b. L. M. Fails to maintain centralized data on lands acquired and that an increasing amount of lwcf funds across agencies are being spent on acquisition projects that occur without and in some cases contrary to congressional approval. Not only that, but in december 2019 g. A. O. Report found that numerous agencies have blatantly disregarded lwcf requirements in order to illegally purchase more land. Yes, theyre buying land in many cases contrary to their statutory authorization and limitations imposed by law. Under the original lwcf act, no more than 15 of the land added to the National Forest system is to be west of the 100th meridian. Essentially everything west of oklahoma. But the g. A. O. Found that between fiscal year 2014 and 2018 the federal government had acquired more than 850,000 acres of land in the United States, more than 80 of which were west of the 100th meridian. In another recent review of Land Acquisition policies across agencies conducted by the departments of interior and agriculture, officials said that 40 of lands acquired with lwcf funds were not even requested by the agencies. Not even requested in the first place, and yet they were purchased, in some cases contrary to an explicit statutory command. So as it turns out, billions of lwcf dollars are being spent without congress, without the relevant agencies or the public being informed of where or why or pursuant to what authority they were made. Why then would it ever make sense to turn this into an entitlement program, to turn this into something that is selfperpetuating, into a selflicking Ice Cream Cone that needs no oversight or support or reauthorization from year to year from congress . Last year the senate permanently reauthorized this broken, harmful, dangerous, unaccountable fund without reform and without any incentive to offer future reforms. But as if that werent bad enough, the legislation before us now proposes to make that funding mandatory. Now, before congress could at least appropriate varying amounts to be used from the fund. Now this bill would, if passed, turn the lwcf into a true trust fund, automatically requiring that the full 900 million be spent primarily on federal Land Acquisition each year, in perpetuity without accountability and without oversight. The unofficial Congressional Budget Office score estimates that this bill has a as a whole will cost nearly 17. 3 billion over the next ten years, all for land projects that we cannot afford, let alone maintenance. Maintain. Madam president , this is not how congress is tasked with exercisings the power of the purse. This is not how its spode to work, not in this country, certainly not in this legislative body. It is the tough business of congress to set priorities and to decide which among worthy causes should receive our limited resources. These funds could be going to provide relief in the midst of the current pandemic or to our National Defense or to shoring up benefits for veterans or to a myriad of other goals. Putting these funds into a directdeposit mechanism, however, means that we are not having those conversations and not actively evaluating how we can best spend those taxpayer dollars each year. No. No, instead were going to put it on autopilot. Thats what this bill wants to do rather shamefully. And this provision of the bill automatically puts more funds toward the harmful cause of growing the federalist state, putting us on an even worse path than were already taking. In fact, the first provision of the bill is only evidence to the fact that weve bitten off far more than we can chew. Madam president , we can do better. As it currently stands, we have nothing to gain from this legislation. The agenda of aggressively and endlessly growing our state has already put us on a dangerous path, with devastating effects for the lands and for the people who live and recreate and survive off of them, as my home state of utah has already experienced far too well. But if we do not change course, this path will only worsen for the rest of the nation, too. I want to point out something. A common misperception that people often have about federal land and what it is, what it does. In many cases, if you dont live in the western United States, youre not necessarily aware of the fact that the overwhelming majority not just most federal land but the overwhelming majority of federal land is not a National Park. National parks are one of the few things people consistently like about the federal government. Theyre frequently the favorite thing about the federal government. We all love National Parks. Theyre beautiful. Theyre fun. Theyre something the federal government loves, it does that everyone still enjoys and loves. But most federal land is not a National Park. The overwhelming majority of it isnt anything like a National Park. And the way these lands are divided out really isnt fair. In every state east of colorado, the federal government owns less than 15 of the land. In every state to the west of colorado, including colorado, the federal government owns at least 15 and in many cases, many multiples of that. My state happens to be about 67 . A tiny segment of that land consists of National Parkland. Most of it is just land that you cant use for anything else, that the local governments cant tax, that people cant access for economic or Recreational Purposes without a mother may i from the federal government. Thats what it is. And most of this land isnt either a National Park or a National Recreation area or a wilderness area or anything remotely worthy of that. This is just about federal control. And most of its not managed very well. Look, the National Park system has been underfunded. They in many ways do the best job they can with what theyve g but theyve been chronically underfunded. The National Parks are quite well run compared to the vast majority of federal public land that we have, which is chronically neglected, environmentally mismanaged, often to the economic and environmental detriment of those states where theres a lot of federal public land take, for example, san juan county, utah. The federal government owns something a little on the order of 95 of the land in san juan county. Also happens to be utahs poorest county. These two things are not a coincidence. The fact that they appear in the same land mass is not coincidental. Its causal. The federal government is the cause for the impoverishment of these and other communities in utah and throughout the western United States. Why . Well, because people cant own their own land. They cant develop the land. They cant tax the land to fund their schools their search and rescue services or any other government priority. Nor can they access it for most economic purposes. Finally, madam president , all of my other observations about this legislation notwithstanding, this is the senate. Just like church is for sinners, the senate floor isnt for perfect or medically sealed, finished bills. Were supposed to bring imperfect bills to the floor to debate and deliberate and amend and discuss and ultimately find consensus. Thats why i and many of my colleagues have been trying to do exactly that in this very situation, with this very bill. I have a number of amendments. Many Western State senators do as well. Several gulf state senators have their own concerns about this bill in its current form. The way the process is supposed to work is that we bring this and other bills like this to the floor, we offer up changes and see where the senate is, see where the process goes, using reason, gentle persuasion, and offered ever offer improvements to each piece of legislation as our guide. Thats how its supposed to work. So there are a number of senators from Western States, from gulf states, and from states that really arent in the west or in the gulf states that dont really even have much to do with federal public land but that can see the procedural and substantive defects in this bill. Thats why a umin of us have come together from different thats why a number of us have come together from different parts of the country who really would like to make improvements to this bill. That process of actually legislating has gone out of fashion in washington and quite regrettably out of this chamber in recent years. But its something that i think the whole senate would like to get back to. And i mean the whole senate, democrats and republicans alike. This is an issue thats neither republican nor democratic. Its neither liberal nor conservatism it it is not an ideological viewpoint. I know people in this chamber on virtually every point along the ideological political continuum who very much would like to see the Senate Working as an actual legislative body rather than has a rubber stamp for whatever a small handful of people happen to write out behind closed doors and decide must be the finished, perfect, her metically sealed object of our votes. This is wrong. Its an insult, not just to the 100 senators who are here. Its that to be sure. But nobody cares about that. Its more about those we represent. Its those who equity willed us. Those election certificates dont belong to us. They belong to the voters in our various states who expect us to represent them. Regardless of how we might vote on any particular piece of legislation, they expect us to have read it, they expect us to do our job by showing up, to offering to make it better where we see flaws and we see defects. There is no perfect bill out there. But we can still make legislation a lot less bad. We can make it better. We can bring about actual consensus, consensus is not found by ramming something through without the opportunity for amendment, debate, or discussion. This is wrong. Its gone on for far too long. Ive seen it under the leadership of democrats and republicans alike in this chamber, and it has to end. It will end. The question is how long is it going to take us, and how much misery will the American People have to endure . Well, most of their senators are effectively locked out of meaningful legislative debate, discussion, and amendment. This is wrong, and it has to end. The debate on this bill has now been extended by a whole extra day. Theres no earthly reason why we cant use that extra day to work through a handful of 15minute votes on a handful of amendments. Its just not that hard. And the amount of time that i have been speaking in the amount of time i have been speaking tonight, we could have processed a couple of amendments. And the amount of time that will be devoted only to handwringing and dismissal of legitimate concerns with this legislation, we could process every amendment that anyone wants to introduce. And this legislation could still be passed weeks before the house of representatives is even poised to return. So why are we not doing this . There is no persuasive answer here. We have to start doing our job. I look forward to working with our colleagues to get an agreement on some amendments so that we can get this legislatios legislation the due consideration and the careful deliberation that it deserves, that we deserve, that those who elected us deserve, and then move on to the important nominations pending before the senate and to the National Defense authorization act that is next in line. In the meantime, i hope democrats and republicans alike can unite behind the fact that we cant skate forever. The mantra that the senate is the worlds greatest deliberative body when it does not deliberate. The good news is its entirely within our power to reclaim use of that title, justifiably and with dignity. Thank you, madam president. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer will the senator withhold . Mr. Lee madam president , i ask unanimous consent to suspend the quorum call, and i yield the floor. The presiding the presiding officer the the presiding officer the a final vote on as possible this weeks senators confirmed general Charles Brown to be the next air force chief of staff. And off the floor work continues to for motion to mate with the house on fisa reauthorization. You compiled the senate, live on cspan2 and members return. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell analyses asking South Carolina senators tim scott to lead