The presiding officer the senator from virginia. Mr. Warner mr. President , are we in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Warner i ask that the proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Warner mr. President , i rise today to celebrate the passage of the Great American outdoors act. The passage of this historic legislation marks a once in a generation step by this body to restore and conserve our National Parks as well as our countrys national heritage. It builds on an american tradition of conserving our natural wonders and shared public spaces. It reaffirms our commitment to preserve if for future generations. Its also important to note that this is a jobs bill. According to a recent study, the Great American outdoors act will help create or support 100,000 jobs all over the country, including 10,000 in my home state of virginia at a time when millions of americans are out of work. Currently the National Park servic
Lord, were grateful that though wrong seems strong, you continue to rule. Fill our lawmakers with reverence and trust in your prevailing providence. May that reverential awe keep them on the path of courage, integrity, and wisdom. Lord, remind them that you have invited them to seek and discover your might. You declared in psalm 50 15 call me in the day of trouble, and i will deliver you. We praise your holy name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Grassley madam president. The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley one minute for morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley the house of representatives has passed a bill thats kind of like a onesizefitsall for elections. That everything ought to be run out o
You again and welcome you here to the park. I was remarking a few minutes ago, much like it was for the soldiers 150 years ago who were in the oberlin campaign that started in 1864, it has been a long road to petersburg. We started this 150th event for 3, atparks on may spotsylvania courthouse. We have moved south ever since. T has been quite a feat it is the first time three parks within a process of these commemorations have shared programming where we have tried to make a continual program of the oberlin campaign rather than look at it as the wilderness, spill something you spotsylvania, that this was one continual process for the soldiers 150 years ago. For some of you in the audience we have senior faces before. We know you have been on the road with us, and we appreciate that. [applause] this morning i would like to introduce to you the superintendent of Petersburg National battlefield, lewis rogers. In 1984,an his career a park ranger. He took his first herman it position at tho
Believe that if those black regiments had been allowed to lead the assault, that would have been it. In other words, we can imagine black soldiers marching, charging over blanford hill, right, into petersburg. Thats a very soothing image. I think that tells us more about how we want to remember the war than the battle itself, because anyone who has studied civil war battles, they never go as planned. Right . Theres always something that goes afoul. So is it any surprise that given this massive detonation that no one really can predict what it will do to the landscape and whats beyond it. Remember, its not just that front confederate line they have to deal with. This is a complex sort of maze of bombproofs, traverses. Part of the problem is in the 1920s, the crater battlefield was an 18hole golf course. So a lot of that battlefield has been smoothed over in one way or the other. You really are hardpressed to get a sense of what it would have looked like in the 1860s. So would it have ch
Said, quote, the whites retreated into the niggers. Others were called having to, quote, fix bayonets to stop them. This was a desperate moment for the men in the 4th division, but for the other three divisions, there was now an added element of an enraged enemy that was likely to treat them as accomplices in citing foreign slaves in selection. George kilmer noted, quote, it has been properly asserted that white men fell back into the greater in order to keep whites from confederate vengeance. The 36th massachusetts, quote, mix them up so they, the confederates, didnt show white men any mercy at all. A few days into the battle, charles j. Mills of the 56th massachusetts, spoke for many when he confided to his mother, quote, they cannot be trusted for anything and are, in short, a hideous mistake, i fear. He, of course, was referring to the black division. The three white divisions had spent the morning holding precariously to earthworks in and around the crater. But now their black com