Side. But, us know, history is not the long suit. Of these woke children. They didnt take history classes apparent lit in high school and college. They were too busy taking social justice seminars. You can see tt too in philadelphia. The statue of matias baldwin. He was a committed and devoted abolitionist who funded education for freed African Americans, who gave them jobs, and they defaced his statue. Even more amazing, in boston the shaw memorial was defaced. The shaw memorial honors the 54th massachusetts regiment, the first African American regiment formed after the emancipation proclamation. Whose braver and battle on behalf of the union cause was memorialized in the movie glory. Yet it was defaced by these mobs. Not just our history. Its pop culture and entertainment too. You may have seen the news that live p. D. And cops Television Shows canceled. Paw patrol was on the cutting board too. You may know that chase is the police cop. Theres call to euthanize the police dog on social media. I wish i could say im joking but im not. Lego announced they are not going to advertise police legos for the next year. Theyre not going to recall them from stores, no, no. Woke capitalism only go so far. Theyre still capitalists. Theyre not going to advertise police sets anymore. Hbo announced theyre not going to run gone with the wind anymore. Gone with the wind for which African American actress Hattie Mcdaniel won the First Academy award, first oscar ever given to an African American woman. Hbo says no, were going to cancel it. If you think its just limited to statues or tv shows, to toys, youd be wrong. This woke mob could very soon be coming for any one of you. At ucla a College Professor has been suspend and hes under Police Investigation because he declined to postpone final exams so students could apparently go and participate in protests. Another professor is being investigated for reading aloud from Martin Luther kings letter from a birmingham jail because it uses offensive language. Martin luther king jr. s letter from a birmingham jail. A professional Soccer Player alexander was fined for his wifes tweet, not his own, his wifes tweet, multiple different Business Executives and editors at newspapers and magazines have been fired. If you think this is only for people who are not powerful and not rich, youd be wrong. Ivanka trump was scheduled to give a commencement speech last weekend at a wichita school. The speech was canceled because she was deemed too controversial. A speech about workforce training and womens opportunities in our economy, ivanka trump canceled. So where does this cancel culture take us . What is the logical conclusion . What is the end of the cancel culture . I will tell you what it is. It is right here in this city, washington, the district of columbia. Thats where it will end if we dont put an end to the madness now. Just up the wall is the Washington Monument. Are we going to tear the Washington Monument now and rename it the obelisk of wokeness. Up the hill is the National Cathedral where so many times we have gathered over the years to mourn our great leaders to pray for gods protection in moments of national strife and struggle. Are we going to rename the washington National Cathedral the temple of reason as was done during the french revolution . What are we going to call this city . Cant call it washington, cant call it columbia. Got to come up with new names all around. Because i will say this, the cancel culture, whether in its mowess or other forms ultimately is motivated by a single idea, that america at its core is fundamentally irredeemable and wicked. I reject that claim fully, wholeheartedly. America is a great and noble nation, the noblest nation in the history of mankind, that has struggled throughout our history, imperfectly but ceaselessly to live up to our founding creed that all men are created equal. The single greatest defense against tyranny, against racism, against oppression. That is the stakes of this debate. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator for florida. Mr. Scott floridians will never forget june 12. Four years ago our state, nation, the city of orlando and hispanic and gay communities were attacked and 49 innocent and beautiful lives were lost. It was an evil act, an act of terrorism designed to divide us as a nation and strike fear in our hearts and minds. But we didnt let it because floridians are resilient. We came together and we support each other. The weeks following the attack, days spent with families at funerals and wakes with loved ones and countless events throughout the community. As a father and grandfather it was one of the hardest things ive had to do. It was heartbreaking. But in this horribly dark time the selfless courage of so many from Community Members to Law Enforcement, to Health Care Workers provides a sense of hope. This incredible strength, love, and bravery uplifted the community and helped us repair and rebuild. And on the fourth anniversary of this unthinkable tragedy, the state of florida comes together to honor the lives lost too soon. And we vow to always stand up and fight against evil and hatred in this world. I ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of Senate Resolution 614 submitted earlier today. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk Senate Resolution 614 honoring the memory of the victims of the heinous attack at the pulse nightclub on june 12, 2016. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. The senate will proceed. Mr. Scott i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. The presiding officer the senator for colorado. Mr. Gardner thank you, mr. President. As we continue our debate today on the Great American outdoors act, i thought i would come to the floor one more time to talk about the benefits of this historic conservation package and what it means for the great state and the people of colorado. Several years back this Congress Worked in a bipartisan fashion to pass legislation by senator shaheen and i that required the Commerce Department for the first time in our countrys history to break out the Outdoor Economy as a part of our economic numbers to determine how many jobs this country had in the Outdoor Industry, in recreation, to determine the overall revenues generated by the recreation economy. And what we discovered was, what we knew intuitively, that the recreation economy is a huge part of jobs in this country. Over five million jobs, and in colorado youre looking at about a 28 billion part of our economy. And so if i could just talk a little bit more about what that means for colorado and what this bill means as applied to our state, our environmental, the benefits environmentally of this legislation and the Economic Impact it will have. I talked on the floor about the Great Sand Dunes National park. This is legislation that around the year 2000 turned this National Monument into a National Park. Whats neat about this of course is its not just a National Park, the Great Sand Dunes National park but an example of how the land and Water Conservation fund Work Together. To make sure the Water Resources is protected, so instrumental in keeping sand dunes in place, we used the sand and Water Conservation fund to purchase land around it like the baca ranch and some other areas to make sure we had this great resource maintained for future generations to come. If you go to Rocky Mountain National Park, of course Rocky Mountain National Park is the third most heavily visited park in the nation. Almost five million visitors come to Rocky Mountain National Park every year. Just a few years back that was only about 2. 8, 3 million people. Weve almost doubled visitors in recent times and thats caused a lot of challenges for Rocky Mountain National Park. This has benefited as well from the land and Water Conservation fund because some of the last remaining inholdings within the Rocky Mountain National Park have been purchased using the land and Water Conservation fund. If you look at the restore our parks act, the money in the Great American outdoors act that will go toward catching up with the maintenance backlog, this park has about 85 million worth of needs in terms of that backlog. 85 million worth of projects from Visitors Centers and roads and trails. Let me just show one of those trails right here. Here is a trail at Rocky Mountain National Park. You can see this is what it looks like. The erosion, the washouts, what happens over time. Heavy use and weather. You can see the work that we have been able to do to maintain and to catch up with the needs in Rocky Mountain National Park. We can do this across across our park system, thanks to the restore our parks act. We will put 1. 9 billion a year paid for by oil and gas revenues into our National Parks to catch up with the maintenance and backlog needs at places like Rocky Mountain National Park. Its 85 million in Rocky Mountain National Park. Its 7 million to 8 million in the Great Sand Dunes National park and in mesa verde National Park, about 75 million. If you go to the black canyon of the gunnison, i will show you that right now, that is nearly 8 million for the backlog needs. This is a picture i took on my iphone. This is a picture i took attending a press conference to celebrate a land and Water Conservation fund purchase. You can see the park superintendent, superintendent noble, he is pointing across the canyon to the land that was purchased using the land and Water Conservation fund. Now, the canyons right here. Its not over the horizon. Its right here. This land was on the rim of the canyon. It was it was not a part of the park. Now, you can imagine if somebody had decided why dont we build something there, why dont we develop that, why dont we do Something Else. What that would have meant to the National Park and the enjoyment of that park. So using this, they were able to get the entire rim of the canyon for the National Park system. Thats where that is. If you go to the next picture. Its not just about National Parks, the Great American outdoors act. Its not just about land and Water Conservation fund. Its about our our forests. Its about our national forests. Its about our bureau of Land Management. Its about fish and wildlife. Its about the bureau of indian education. This is actually a a National Monument. This is dinosaur National Monument. If you go to northwestern colorado, dinosaur National Monument straddles both the states of colorado and the states of utah. Some of the best Whitewater Rafting in the country goes through dinosaur National Monument. This is amazing. This is absolutely cool. You can see these archaeologists that are actually they are hanging onto a wall as they do their work. This is known as the fossil wall. Hundreds of millions of years worth of fossils are in this long wall at dinosaur National Monument. You can see the fossils, the bones in this picture and the layer after layer after layer. It is a remarkable resource in one of the most truly unique areas of colorado. And the needs here are tremendous, too, as they face erosion, as they face challenges from visitors and access needs to some of these resources. If you go to mesa verde National Park, this is truly spectacular. If you look at mesa verde, for those of you who have never had a chance to go there, i hope you would visit. This park was established in 1906. Look at this beautiful ridge, look at the plateau, look at the cliff dwellings. It is remarkable. Established in 1906 to preserve and interpret the archaeological heritage of the ancestral pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years. The park protects nearly 5,000 known archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. Some of the best and most notable preserved such dwellings in the United States. In 2019, they had about 556,000 visitors. And this is in the four corners area of the state, surrounded by towns like cortez, colorado, mancas, colorado, durango, colorado, areas that rely on tourism and recreation, farming and ranching for their jobs. In 2018, visitors spent about 58 million in these local gateway regions, supported nearly a thousand jobs, 22 million in labor income, 40 million in value added and the local gateway economy surrounding amaze verde National Park. They operate about 700 million worth of facilities. They have about 10 of that in need of deferred maintenance. 76 million is their total deferred maintenance needs. They need to rehabilitate the chapin mesas civilian conservation corps. They need to replace the mesa water and electric sewer systems. They need to replace a campground road system. They need to improve the historic operations buildings. Thats just some of the needs at mesa verde National Park. When we talk about the Great American outdoors act, we talk about parks, national forests, b. L. M. Land, we talk about monuments, but we should also talk about recreation. Because so many times this gets lost in our conversation on the floor because its not just recreation in terms of National Parks and Forest Service. Its sports complex, soccer fields, baseball fields, tennis courts. The ability for a state to determine how to use these dollars. Because its not just the federal government that is taking all of this money. 40 goes to the states. Some of that money can be used for things this is in pueblo. This is runyon park in pueblo, colorado, another southern colorado city. This is important work we can do with the money in the land and Water Conservation fund. If you look at the total Economic Impact, i think its important that we recognize before coronavirus, we were working on the Great American outdoors act as this package that presented two Great American values, the crown jewel of our Conservation Program, the land and Water Conservation fund, with the restore our parks act to catch up with our maintenance backlog, both of which are paid for by the oil and gas revenues. We talked about them, and we talked about how good it would be for our environment and conservation and preservation for future generations. But we also acknowledged then that there was a great economic benefit. We talked about the numbers. We talked about the recreation economy. But now that economic benefit becomes even more important because the First Industries that were hit by the shelterinplace orders and the economic shutdowns were travel industries, hotels, restaurants, tourism, outfitters, ski. In colorado, they closed down the ski areas months ahead of time. The Summer Recreation start has been delayed because of lingering effects of phases in restoring our economy. And so the economic benefits of the Great American outdoors act become all the more important. Some of the hardest hit communities by coronavirus in colorado first on in the first wave have some of the highest unemployment levels in the state. Hotels emptied early, restaurants emptied early, but this bill will create thousands and thousands of jobs. According to a report that was just released by the National Park service in colorado, thousands of jobs will be created in colorado alone. Look at the land and Water Conservation fund. For every 1 million that is spent on the land and Water Conservation fund, it supports between 16 and 30 jobs. Support for 16 and 30 jobs, do you know what that means in a community that may have 20 unemployment . 22 unemployment . Surrounded by public lands, the Great American outdoors act will help put them to work while doing what we love in colorado. Thats protecting our environment. And if you look at the overall numbers that the National Park service has provided, were going to be creating, helping support over 100,000 jobs through this legislation. And again, legislation that is paid for through oil and gas revenues. I think it was a commonsense approach at the time in 1965 when the land and Water Conservation fund was put together that we access one resource, we deplete a resource in oil and gas, they pay a severance tax, they pay a royalty to the federal government, and then that federal government turns around and uses some of that to protect our assets in other Natural Resource areas. National parks, national forests. Thats what this bill does through the Great American outdoors act, creating opportunity for all. This has tremendous support. John gayle, conservation director of the back country hunters and anglers and a colorado resident says the Great American outdoors act not only creates permanent certainty for the land and Water Conservation fund, americas most successful conservation and access program, it also ensures sound stewardship of our public lands and waters. Carlos fernandez, Colorado State director of the nature conservancy, the Great American outdoors act is critical to colorados recovery from this crisis. Of course, hes talking about covid19. Our mountains, trails, fields, and streams have been a welcome respite for many during the pandemic but local economies have struggled. Fully funding the land and Water Conservation fund and investing in our National Parks will put coloradans back to work, protecting important landscapes, investing in their care and creating more Outdoor Recreation opportunities across the state. These are timetested, Effective Investments in conservation that will strengthen colorados economy and amazing outdoors. Larry selzer, the president and c. E. O. Of the Conservation Fund said the terrific momentum to bring a vote on the Great American outdoors act to the senate floor is critical to the future vitality of america. Advancing legislation in both houses advancing legislation in both houses to fully fund lwcf as well as to address the maintenance backlog on our public lands is a huge step to support our public lands and rekindle and grow local Outdoor Recreation economies. Will schafra, president and c. E. O. Of the National Park foundation, wills family is legendary in colorado politics, says this the National Park foundation is thrilled that the Great American outdoors act is moving closer to becoming law. Years in the making, this bipartisan bill would go a long way towards addressing the critical maintenance needs of our National Parks. With the funds made available through this bill, we will ensure that these special places are even more special. Remain accessible to all americans, and continue to serve as economic engines for local communities. Theodore roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the Great American outdoors act is smart conservation. Senate passage of this historic and bipartisan bill will improve our Natural Resources and enhance access for americas hunters and anglers. It also makes lasting investments in our Outdoor Recreation economy at a time when we need to get americans back to work. The president and founder of the american the American Conservation Coalition our National Parks and public lands are part of our heritage as americans. By correcting and investing in them, we will ensure that generations to come will benefit from americas best idea. The American Conservation Coalition is proud to support the Great American outdoors act because it will protect this heritage and support the hundreds of thousands of americans whose livelihoods are connected to our National Parks. This list goes on and on from the archery trade association, the Outdoor Industry association. Talk about the Outdoor Industry association. The Outdoor Industry applauds the u. S. Senate for seizing the opportunity to pass the Great American outdoors act, a landmark piece of bipartisan legislation. Along with the social and Health Benefits that being outdoors provides, there is also a strong economic case for doing this now. The outdoors are bipartisan and investing in lwcf means investing in local economies and creating thousands of jobs, both of which we desperately need right now to help the country bounce back from covid19. The corps network, the Outdoor Recreation roundtable, the r. V. Industry association. The presiding officer has a significant r. V. Industry in the great state of indiana. The National Marine manufacturers association. Believe it or not, we even have Marine Manufacturing in colorado, even though were a pretty dry, landlocked state. If you look at the motorcycle industry council, the specialty vehicle institutes of america, recreational offhighway vehicle association. Jeff crane, the Great American outdoors act represents the largest commitment to conservation in public lands in our lifetime. The Great American outdoors act represents the largest commitment to conservation in and public lands in our lifetime. The National Wildlife foundatio. National wildlife federation. Now when we need it most, the Great American outdoors act will put hundreds of thousands of americans to work restoring public lands infrastructure, expanding healthy outdoor experiences, and restoring wildlife habitat, all of which will help local economies economies recover across the country. Susan oneill, executive director of the colorado wildlife federation. This commonsense legislation is long overdue to help our National Parks and other public lands meet the burgeoning demand of increased numbers of hikers, anglers, campers and wildlife watchers who have been flocking to colorados outdoor spaces in recent years. I talked about that, the fact that Rocky Mountain National Park has gone from 2. 8 million, three million visitors to nearly five million visitors. Its the third most visited National Park in the country. Now, what happens when one area of a state gets heavily visited, its not like they just stay in that area. They actually start going to other areas of the state. For instance, if youre in colorado, you go to the National Park, and maybe its busy one day, you decide to go a little further. You go toward walden, the north sand dunes area or maybe you spend a little time at the White River National forest, one of the most heavily visited forests in our state. The pike sand is a Sell National forest. Also one of the most heavily visited forests in the country. They are seeing more and more visitors because all of the other public lands are under pressure. When they are under pressure, that means they are more used. When they are more used, they have more wear, more tear, they are being loved to death, and we need to provide a way to fund it. Thats what the Great American outdoors act does. National Parks Conservation association, the American Horse council, the trust for public lands, executive director of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition and Rocky Mountain west are vital to our regions economy and our quality of life. The nature conservancy, again, the sally jewell, former secretary of interior, previous secretary of interior, she signed a letter with six other secretaries of interior to talk about the importance of this bill, two of whom are from colorado, secretary ken salazar, secretary gale norton talking about the need for this legislation, the American Society of landscape architects. The list goes on and on and on of people who support this legislation. They support it because we value the outdoors. We value our environment. We value our public lands. Colorado has long been the gateway to public lands in this country but now its the headquarters to our nations public lands with the bureau of Land Management headquartered in grand junction, colorado. So these twofer bills put together represent that chance in a lifetime as weve heard from many of the supporters of this legislation. In colorado it was called the holy grail of conservation legislation by the Durango Herald this morning. Its an opportunity for every state to benefit. I have a list of every state in the country right here and the work ill pull one out. Alabama. If you look at alabama, alabama, the National Parks backlog, nearly 30 million. Land and Water Conservation fund has provided 65 million in funding the last five decades. Alabama national forest, blowing wind wildlife refuge, clear Creek Recreation area. Thats just alabama. Lets pull another one out and see. Florida, florida has received 1. 06 billion in funding from the land and Water Conservation fund over the last five decades. Big Cypress National preserve, everglades headwaters, National Wildlife refuge, the Apalachicola National forest. I hope i got that one right. The Canaveral National seashore plus 27 other areas. They have a 240 million backlog in deferred maintenance projects, 75 million at the ever blades National Park, the dry National Park is 63 million in need. Gulf island National Seashore is 66. 6 million in need. All of these states have benefited from coast to coast, supersea to shining sea, from hawaii to maine and florida to alaska. Those are the states that have benefited from the legislation covered by the Great American outdoors act. In colorado alone the popularity of our Outdoor Recreation and public lands continues to grow. Over the last five years visitation numbers and National Parks has continued to increase. Visitation in 2019 surpassed this is National Park overall, surpassed 2018 visits by more than nine million visits. Thats 327 million recreation visits across the country, over 1. 4 billion recreation visitor hours. 13. 8 million overnight stays. You know, thats 2019. 2020 of course is going to look a little bit different. Some of our National Parks arent open yet. Some of them are staged in their openings. Rocky mountain National Park is open but its reservations are reduced. The entries are reduced to accommodate the needs to protect people during this pandemic. So these numbers are going to be a little bit different. But that means that places like estes park are going to have fewer people in their restaurants and their hotels. Fewer people stopping at the saltwater taffy shop on main street in estes. And fewer people doing things like the bumper boats and put put gulf a putt putt gulf along the way. The Great American outdoors act is one of those pieces of legislation that brings everybody and the Chamber Together for bipartisan opportunity to help these communities at a time that they need it the most. By helping the land were helping the communities. Because its there for future generations because it belongs to future generations. And so this really is an opportunity for this nation to come together at a time of great need economically and spiritually, quite frankly, to succeed. Im reminded also of this time about something that i read on the floor earlier this week by one of the the moving leaders of Rocky Mountain National Park. He talked about how in our National Parks and our trails and our forests that we find the space we need to think, the space we need to hope, to find courage, and that they can provide a little bit more kindness, that they give that to us, a little more kindness. I said often throughout this covid19 experience that we have to keep in mind as we learned in sunday school that our struggles and tribulations give us perseverance and that perseverance leads to courage and that courage leads to hope. So as we think about what ennis millions, the father mills the father of National Park said about the trails bringing that kindness we all need, i think about other areas within our National Park systems and our public lands area and Historic Sites that maybe some day could benefit from the Great American outdoors act. I think about a specific site in Southeastern Colorado known as amachi. Ive got legislation in that is a resource study on whether or not amachi, colorado should be considered as part of the National Park system. Let me tell you the history about amache because theres a monument down the road from this building just a couple of blocks away from it. It was the site in 1943 of a japanese american internment camp. Franklin roosevelt said japanese americans would be ripped from their homes unconstitutionally and put into these camps. 1943 there was a high school at established at amache and a woman by the name of marian kanashi became the valedictorian of the high school that they had created. And in her speech that she wrote for her valedictorian speech, she talked about what the country meant to her today. Did the country mean the same things that it meant to her before she was behind the search lights, removed from her home. Did it mean justice and equality and fairness. Did she believe in america . She went on to talk about all of the challenges and struggles and things in our history that we know are the darkest moments of our nation, the original sin of slavery, the continued discrimination faced by African Americans in our communities, the treatment of others in our society, waves of immigrants. And she ended up by talking about how the United States has learned from every single one of these moments and that we can overcome them all because america is a place where we learn from our mistakes in the past and we take the actions to correct them and we get back to that idea of justice and fairness and equality. I dont know about you but i think thats the kind of spirit and the kind of hope and the kind of belief and faith in this country that we need right now. As we face some of the Biggest Challenges that this generation has ever seen, confronting the issue of racism, confronting the issues of inequality, and our National Parks are historic areas, our public lands provide us with one more opportunity, one more chance to not forget the dark moments as we look for greater inspiration ahead, as we use this to learn from the past, to reach our highest peaks as a nation. Thats the inspiration of the Great American outdoors act, the work that we can do through the land and Water Conservation fund, the work to bring our parks up to snuff for future generations. Mr. President , i know my colleague is on the floor from the great state of iowa. I thank him for the support of this work weve been doing and i yield the floor. Mr. Grassley mr. President . The presiding officer the senator for iowa. Mr. Grassley on wednesday, june 3 this year, the Associated Press released an article detailing chinas stonewalling and delay tactics in withholding crucial data from the World Health Organization. That information was held was about the that was held was about the Novel Coronavirus that caused covid19. Now, this article gives us a glimpse behind the scenes of the World Health Organization. Theres a lot of questions raised about the World Health Organization today in regard to their relationship to china. The political leaders at w. H. O. Pursued a strategy of placating china in a seemingly haphazard attempt to copy its leaders into cooperating fully. Despite red flags raised by medical experts within the organization about the lack of data coming out of china and also serious doubts about the Chinese Governments claim the humantohuman transmission was not of any concern. W. H. O. Leadership through all that continued lauding chinas approach and transparency on this whole virus issue. Many career officials openly voiced their frustration with how the World Health Organization leadership lacked the willingness to push china to hand over Vital Information about the virus. Remember, the World Health Organization did publicly push china when it withheld information on the sars outbreak in 2003 but didnt seem to be as interested in pushing china as much this time. The Chinese Government then refused to share data about covid19 test results that would have allowed researchers around the world to make independent assessment of the virus spread. Now, weeks passed before the Chinese Government allowed the World Health Organization to see the map of the virus genome. And that genome was created by chinese researchers. So they had the information where other people could start out to try to find a vaccine. By that time the virus was already spreading around the globe which has led to countlesscountlessneedless deate economic damage countless needless deaths and immeasurable economic damage globally that now rests on the shoulders of the chinese for that happening. Im glad that the World Health Organization member countries approved an investigation as to how the organization handled covid19. I hope this will be a truly independent investigation that will prevent future mishaps. Now in the meantime, we already know enough about the actions by the World Health Organization management to warrant immediate changes. Politics must never again get in the way of those medical professionals in the organization that are actually dedicated to fulfilling World Health Organizations mission to share accurate and Timely Public Health information and at the same time save lives. 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 for minnesota. A senator i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Smith mr. President , last week i attended a Memorial Service for my constituent, mr. George floyd, who was murdered by minneapolis police. Like so many minnesotans, my heart is broken for mr. Floyd and his family and for a black community that has been here too many times. And i will once again add my voice to the chorus demanding that the Police Officers responsible for his death face justice. But i keep finding myself thinking that mr. Floyds death wasnt just a tragedy, and it wasnt just a crime; it was a failure. It was our failure. Systemic racism is built into every level of our society, and for 400 years black and brown and Indigenous People have paid its price. Racism isnt just evil, though it is; its dangerous. And racism isnt just a moral issue, though it is; its a Public Health issue. And the death of mr. Floyd, like the deaths of so many black and brown people before him, is an indictment of our failure as policymakers to fulfill our first and most important duty, which is to protect the lives of the people that we serve. Black lives matter. We need to say it loud and often, with strength and with purpose. And if we truly mean it, then we need to be very clear about why it is that so many black and brown lives are being stolen, and that means we cant just point to systemic racism writ large. We have to talk about the police this is about the impunity with which Police Officers are allowed to kill black and brown americans. This is about a society in which Police Departments have become fundamentally unaccountable institutions. This is about the fact that Law Enforcement in america does not deliver equal justice for all. The institutional racism that plagues american Law Enforcement is real. This is not just a few bad cops. It is the entire culture of policing, a culture that far too often encourages violence, cone dons abuse, and resists the reforms and accountability at every turn, and this culture kills, and it will continue to do so unless we stop it. And, you know, if we cant see that, if we cant say it, if we arent ready to use our power and our privilege to address this un forgivable failure, well then we might as well say nothing at all. So, why is it so hard for us to talk about these issues . Why is it so hard to even admit that there is something dangerously wrong about the role that police play in our society . Well, i think, in part, its because of the respect we have for Police Officers themselves. You know, we ask these men and women to put their lives on the line every single day. Their job is to run to trouble, and hundreds of thousands of Police Officers in my community and in all of yours fulfill their duty with skill and with courage every day. But i think there is Something Else lurking behind our inaction. The vast majority of policymakers, especially here in washington, are white, and the vast majority of the interactions that white people have with Police Officers are positive. When we are scared or threatened or hurt, well, Police Officers come to help. And when we hear the siren or we see a blue uniform, we breathe a sigh of relief. And it is uncomfortable for white people to acknowledge that this feeling of relief is really about privilege, and it is uncomfortable to imagine giving up some piece of that privilege. After all, i mean, we all want clean, safe streets. We all want quiet, orderly neighborhoods. We want to be able to call 911 when were in danger and know that the Police Officers will rush to our aid. And we may even catch ourselves worrying that a police force held accountable for its abuses, its abuse of power against black and brown bodies, will be a police force a little less empowered to protect us. You know, often when white people talk about racism, we define it as a hatred that lurks within peoples hearts, and then we search within ourselves and we can feel satisfied that we are free of prejudice. But racism, colleagues, is manifested as behavior, behavior that hurts, that kills. I mean, who even knows what is in how to change hearts and minds . But we do know, i think lets say, lets start with changing behavior. So this is something i think about a lot as a minute yawn. My home state prides about ourselves on our legacy of progressive actism. We believe in the civic participation and are proud to have the highest voter turnout in the whole country. Were them to a diverse array of communities African American, somali, mung, latin x and more. All people who belong here just as much as anyone else. And we are home to some of the nations worst racial disspares parities. Disparities. It is not just that black men are more likely to be stopped, more likely to be searched, more likely to be assaulted and killed by Police Officers. A black or brown or native child growing up in the neighborhood where george floyd was murdered can expect worse education outcomes, worse health, fewer opportunities than a white child that lives just a few miles down the road. The truth is, for all the progress that weve made in america over the course of my lifetime, and for all the hearts and minds that have changed, racism was built into the systems, our systems, from the very beginning. And while it is still present in everything, from health care to education to housing and environmental policy, itups off page when you look a it jumps off the page when you look at our nations criminal Justice System. African americans make up less than 14 of the population, but they account nor 23 for 23 of Fatal Police Shootings and nearly onethird of our prison population. Studies repeatedly show that black people and white people use drugs at roughly the same rate, but black people are more than twice as likely to be arrested for drug offensessers and nearly four times as likely when it comes to marijuana. No matter where you playbook, our criminal Justice System unfairly targets black and brown and native people threatening their freedom and obvious their lives and often their lives. And you cant just blame that on racist cops. Thats us doing that. And even if we harbor no hatred in our hearts, we are responsible for the ratist impact of a system that was built historically by white americans to serve white americans. We are the beneficiaries of a system that killed george floyd, breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery, tatyana jefferson, sandra bland, ayanna jones, jessica hernandez, erical is dago, philando castile, jamal clark and so many others. So thats a hard thing to admit. But right now hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens are demanding that we face this ugly truth. The people marching in our streets have watched us forgive ourselves time and time again for failing black and brown americans like george floyd, and theyre angry, and they are grieving, and they are exhausted, and this time they wont be denied. You know, it may make us uncomfortable to hear this anger, to see the images on television, to experience this turmoil when our country is going through so much already, but that is the whole point of protest. This crisis has longdeserved our attention and because we withheld that attention, these protesters are demanding it now. We cannot claim to support the goal of justice if we object to being confronted with the reality of injustice. We cannot walk away from this moral crisis. Weve done that too many times after too many deaths, and every time we do, we fail the next black or brown american who dies in police custody. I just cant live with that. We have to take a change. And this time white people have got to get past our discomfort. Black and brown people have been trying for too long to tell us that systemic racism isnt just limiting their opportunities; it is i will canning their children. It is killing their hadnt. To the communities of color in minnesota who i am proud to represent, i want you to know that i hear you and that i will do everything i can to make sure that everyone here in a washington hears you, too. Most of all, we have to devote our time and our energy and our resources and our platforms, our power and our privilege to helping this movement succeed. As pastor billy us us russell so me, we need to make it right. Its not right now, but we need to make it right. Mr. President i want to tell my minnesota community, my colleagues, and the American People exactly how i want to use my power and privilege to help make it right. And in the coming weeks, my office will be moving forward with legislative action focused on three priorities. First, fundamentally transforming the role of the police in our society from the way we fund and train and equip officers to the relationships between departments and the communities that they serve. We must rethink the responsibilities we assign to the police and the authority we give them to fulfill those responsibilities. We need to reimagine and reinvent american policing from the ground up. Second, we must fix the systems and Police Departments that obstruct accountability and transparency at every turn. Our system effectively puts cops above the law by insulating them from civil and criminal liability for their actions. This leads people of color to conclude that they cant trust the police, and it leads the police to conclude that theyll never face consequences for crossing the line. Theyre both right. So this means something is wrong. If you want to change the way officers act, we need to change the rules that shield them from accountability. Accountability and preventing this misconduct from being ignored will not only help Police Departments responsible for perpetuating violence and unequal justice, but it will help prevent violence and injustice the next time. The justice for policing act led by my colleagues senator harris and senator booker is an important step forward. I am proud to support it, and i urge all of my colleagues to join in. Racism is about behavior. We cant legislate what Police Officers believe, but we can and we must legislate how they behave. Third, restoring the communities that have been torn apart by injustice. In the twin cities, neighbors are already coming together to clean up the damage sustained by the unrest and upheaval of the last two weeks, but the task of making our communities whole goes far beyond repairing the physical damage. We need a new and sustained push for racial and economic justice, not just in Law Enforcement but in health care and education and in housing and in environmental policy. The people that i spoke to when i was home last weekend are grieving, theyre angry, theyre hurt. Most of all, theyre just exhausted. Communities of color have spent years fighting to be heard, fighting for justice, fighting for resources, fighting for survival. And as their senator, it is my job to carry that fight here to washington and the senate. 400 years of Structural Racism cannot be overcome with a single piece of legislation or even by a single generation of legislatures, but we cant let the enormity of the task blind us to the urgency of this work. The last two weeks have been extraordinarily difficult for minnesotans and for our country. But throughout history the hardest times have always been the times that our country of the greatest progress. And so i choose to find purpose in making sure that in this moment we lead to Real Progress towards justice and equality, and thats why i came to the floor today, mr. President. No statement of intent, no matter how thoughtful, will change the reality of this crisis, but i want this statement to be on the record, part of my record as a United States senator. And i want to be accountable for these commitments. I want minnesotans to hold me accountable and i want to be a part of holding this body and all of us in the senate accountable. So this then will be the first in a series of floor speeches that i intend to deliver examining the systemic injustice that plagues american policing and plagues native and black and brown communities more broadly. And it will be about the steps we need to take to address this injustice, redefining the role of police, accountability for Police Officers and restoring the communities that i am so blessed to serve. This is a big fight. The scale of the injustice is overwhelming and it can be hard to know where to start. But the people who took to the streets last week in the twin cities, in communities large and small across minnesota, in cities across this country, they are a movement for change and they are showing us the path forward. And this path that requires us to be courageous, requires us to be humble, requires us to be uncomfortable. But it is a path rooted in love and trust and hope. We saw it in the way the protesters brought joy to the most serious of fights they faced. We saw it in the way they stood up to those that would do dabbling damage to their communities and to their cause. We saw it in the way that they kept their focus even in the face of unimaginable brutality. So many minnesotans have showed such courage and grace. I am proud to be your senator and im proud to be your neighbor. I am committing myself to the path that you are forging, and i hope that my constituents, my colleagues here in the senate, and all of my fellow americans will do the same. Thank you. Mr. President , i yield the floor. Ms. Collins mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from maine. Ms. Collins thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , im pleased to join my colleagues in supporting the Great American outdoors act, a bill to provide full funding for the land and Water Conservation fund and to address the deferred maintenance backlog for our National Parks. Under the expert leadership of senators gardner, manchin, and daines, 59 bipartisan senators have cosponsored this bill that will allow landowners, states, local communities, and Conservation Partners to plan for the future and to restore our National Parks. Mr. President , more than 50 years ago the land and Water Conservation fund act established americas most successful conservation and Outdoor Recreation program. Theres truly nothing else like it. The fund was designed to ensure that Outdoor Recreational lands would be secured for future generations. I remember in one of my first years in the Senate Working with my colleague from colorado, senator and later secretary of interior ken salazar as we sought to boost the funding for the stateside part of the program. Mr. President , if you looked at a map of the United States and put a pin in every place where there was a land and Water Conservation state side supportedprogram, you would find that every single county in the country had at least one project. Oftentimes people do not realize that that local ballpark or the trails that run along a local stream or lake are the results of funding from the land and Water Conservation fund. And those are projects that are designed by local people, selected by local people, and then the federal government helps in the funding to acquire and maintain the land. Just last year this Important Program was permanently authorized, and now we have the opportunity to ensure for the American People that this program will have consistent funding to play the strongest possible role in preserving open spaces, special lands, and revitalizing communities for years to come. Investments in this landmark Conservation Program supports access to the outdoors for all americans, as lwcf, as i mentioned, has invested in literally every county in our country. Its funding has been used to open up key areas for hunting, fishing, and other recreational access, to support working forests and ranches, to protect them from development, to acquire inholdings and protect critical lands and National Parks, National Wildlife refuges, national forests, Civil War Battlefields and other federal areas, and as i mentioned, my favorite part of the program, which is the part, the stateside part of the program which supports state and local projects from ballparks to recreational trails. Over the past five decades, maine has received more than 191 million in funding from lwcf. Example of this funding include the cold stream forests, a forest legacy project in somerset county, to preserve a beautiful area that continues the long and proud maine tradition of conservation, Public Access to recreation, and working forests. In addition, we have the Rachel Carson National Wildlife refuge in Southern Maine where once an undeveloped 110acre tract along the coast in biddeford was preserved for natural habitat. Of the more than 850 land and Water Conservation fund sites in maine, 650 are communitybased projects, from Riverside Park in fort kent in northern maine, to halley soccer fields in kittery, right near the New Hampshire border. Mr. President , i want to repeat that statistic again. Out of the 850 land and Water Conservation sites in the state of maine, 650 are communitybased projects, like the park in fort kent that i mentioned and the soccer fields in kittery. In its more than 50year history, however, this program has been funded fully only twice at the authorized level of 900 million. I believe that congress should fully fund this program to deliver on the promise that was made to the American People back in 1964 to take the proceeds, a portion of the proceeds from Natural Resource development, such as offshore oil drilling, and invest a portion in conservation and Outdoor Recreation. I do want to recognize the work that two of my colleagues who have other ideas, senator cassidy and senator whitehouse, for bringing up the issue of funding for coastal states. Representing a coastal state, i agree that we need to do more for our coastal states, and i support their efforts to ensure additional funding that can be directed to coastal states and coastal communities. I believe, however, that that issue, regrettably, is going to have to be dealt with at a later time, but i do support their effort. Furthermore, another important piece of this bill addresses our deferred maintenance backlog on our nations public lands. Now what im most interested here is our National Parks. Our National Parks have a huge maintenance backlog, and that includes at acadia National Park, a true gem of a park on the coast of maine, where we have seen record numbers of visitors in recent years. This bill will help acadia National Park tackle the more than 60 million of maintenance backlog work on trails, roads, bridges, buildings to ensure that every visitor can experience the absolute beauty of this true gem of a National Park on the maine coastline. Mr. President , i would urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation, and i would yield the floor. Thank you, mr. President. Mr. Lee mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee its telling that the bill were considering this week called the Great American outdoors act was written behind closed doors and is now being hermetically sealed, walled off from amendments by the peoples elected representatives. Forget the theatrics in seattle. This bill is the real l capitol hill autonomous zone. In its current form, this bill enables the federal government, if its enacted, to purchase new lands in perpetuity, without accountability, without oversight or any measures to make sure that it can actually care for the land that it owns, perpetuating and worsening our already highly problematic federal public lands policy. This policy will have one overarching impact, mr. President , to make life easier for politicians and bureaucrats and harder for the American People, whom they os os ostensibly serve. Mr. President , this is not the way the senate is supposed to run. The point of this body, its whole reason for existence is to take imperfect bills, bring them to the floor of the senate, and then come together so that we can hone and finetune them, so that we can debate them and discuss them, so that we can identify their weak points and make them stronger, or at least less weak. The senate is supposed to have an open debate and amendment process precisely so that we can raise concerns and we can find solutions and arrive at genuine rather than forced compromise and consensus. And this week ive been encouraged to discover just how many of my colleagues want to do just that. Many of my colleagues from different states and from both parties are filing amendments in response to believing bill. Some of those amendments would significantly change it. Others would present simply small tweaks to tighten up the language or to provide for better congressional oversight so that the American People are guaranteed that what it says in the law is going to reflect what happens on the ground. These amendments have already been written. Theyre waiting for consideration. Anyone watching cspan 2 today will notice theres nothing else happening on the senate floor. I i mean, literally nothing else happening on the senate floor. In fact, i would note for the record there are exactly three members of the United States senate in the chamber right now, two on the floor and one at the presiding officers desk. There is literally nothing else happening on the senate floor. There is literally no other business with pressing deadlines pending before this body right now. The house of representatives is adjourned and is apparently set to remain adjourned until june june 30, so its not as throw we have any realistic deadline with the other side of the capitol. The senate right now would simply rather do nothing than vote on amendments that those of us from the west, senators from the gulf coast, and from various states around the country would like to propose and have, in fact, proposed. I myself have proposed several. One of my amendments would require state legislative approval for any Land Acquisition proposed in that state, so that Land Acquisition would be something washington does with the states rather than to the states. As many people dont realize, mr. President , there is a big disparity among and between the states with regard to how much federal land is owned. In every state east of colorado, the federal government owns less than 15 . In every state colorado and west, the federal government owns more than 15 . The average is more like 50 in the western United States, and many of those states including my own, its more like twothirds of the land. These states and particularly the Rural Communities and those Rural Communities in particular where there is the highest concentration of federal land, there is also poverty, poverty thats not just correlated with or coincidental to federal landownership, but it is causally connected to its widespread existence. Another of my amendments would require the federal government to dispose of current federal lands before acquiring new ones. Forcing land agencies to exercise fiscal responsibility and to prioritize which lands they want to keep under their control. Getting back to referring a few minutes ago to those areas, particularly those rural areas in my state, places like san juan county, utah, san juan county, utah, happens to be the poorest county in the state. Its also a place where the federal government owns 95 plus of the land. Its not a coincidence. There ought to be something in place that, you know, either requires an offset so when the federal government buys new land under the land and Water Conservation fund or otherwise, that it has to offset it by disposing of land elsewhere. There also ought to be some mechanism in place so as to give the states the states sovereign lawmaker body, the state legislature the ability to accept or reject the proposed expansion of the federal land footprint in that state. Its really easy for my colleagues from certain parts of the country, particularly those living east of the Rocky Mountains, to suggest that, you know, federal landownership is a great thing. First of all, a lot of people who say that do live east of the Rocky Mountains, and a lot of people who say that also incorrectly imagine that federal public lands are more or less Just National parks or declared wilderness areas. Theyre not. In my state, most of the federal land is not a National Park, is not a National Recreation area, is not a declared wilderness area. Its just garden variety b. L. M. Or Forest Service land thats chronically environmentally mismanaged and that leads to chronic environmental and economic problems. Ive also got a number of other amendments that would reform the ni p. A process, the process under the National Environmental policy act to help address the maintenance backlog on neglected land that washington, d. C. Already nocioni and controls, from its perch already owns and controls, from its perch thousands of miles from the land in question. And finally i have an amendment to support utahs interests under the antiquities act. Right now, other states have protected have received protection and are protected from unilateral land grabs by the federal government for designation of National Monuments. This is important, you see, because when they designate federal land as a National Monument, that changes the way that land can be accessed, the way it can be used. It goes from one federal land classification to another. Its one of the strictest classifications in the sense that its very, very difficult to use that land or for local affected populations to have influence over that land once it becomes a monument. This is significant for utah because 28 of the National Monument acreage designated within the 50 states over the last 25 years has been in utah. My state is due for the same types of protections that are already in place in wyoming and in alaska. Those states in years past had received far too many monument designations against their will. Eventually, they received statutory protection. Utah has borne far more than its share of the burden in the designation of National Monuments, monuments designated that way, by the way, by president s who were acting in open, willful defiance of the will of the locally affected populations. Now, i believe that this is one of the most important changes we need to see in federal lands policy. I will continue to fight for it until we achieve justice for utah. In fact, this change could be achieved through a single a single onepage bill, one mostly consisting of two words. Inserting the words or utah, enabling utah to receive the same protection from hostile designation of National Monuments by a president not interested in the will of the local population. But as important as all these amendments are to me and my state, im not even asking for the right to propose all of them this week. Im willing to set aside some of my priorities in order to help my colleagues pursue theirs. And most of all to help the senate as an institution get back to the essential work that the senate and the senate alone can do. The senate was created to be the place, the one place in our constitutional framework where our diverse, divided nation could come together or we could where we could air our disagreements and find common ground. Every time we have a national controversy, a lot of people throw around the word conversation. We need to have a conversation about race, about police brutality, about free speech, about the environment, about the national debt, and the list goes on and on. These are all things about which we need to have conversations. This isnt just a media trope. Senators say it, too. I agree. We need to have conversations about each of these and so many other Important National interests. But guess what, mr. President. This right here is literally the room where america is supposed to have these conversations. This place right here within these four walls. This is where these conversations are supposed to happen. Its not supposed to be done only on twitter. Its not supposed to be done only on cable news shows. Its supposed to happen right here on this floor. But here we are thursday afternoon at 4 23, 4 24 p. M. Look around. Three members in the chamber, two on the floor, one in the chair. Thats it. This is where the conversation is supposed to happen. Its not occurring. Not this conversation, not any other, not on the senate floor, not right now, not in the middle of the week, with a whole lot of things going on in the world, were not having it. Were not even having it on this piece of legislation, which, significant as it is, is the work in comparison to the magnitude of many other issues that weve got to deal with. Now, that doesnt mean that we dont need to deal with this legislation. We do. But as long as were going to deal with it, as long as were being asked to pass it, we need to at least have a conversation about it, and yet that we are not doing. The only reason that the United States senate was given the powers that we have in this body by the founders and by our constituents is to facilitate those vital conversations. Now, this isnt the New York Times oped page. Were not supposed to be afraid of debate here. The senate is here to provide the venue where all americans and all views can be heard, hash out our differences, and arrive at consensus and compromise in the public eye. It is especially important to do this in the senate because this is the place where each state has equal representation. Big, heavily populated states have two senators. So do small sparsely populated states have two senators. This, by the way, is the one type of change that cannot be made to the constitution. Its the one type of constitutional amendment that is itself preemptively unconstitutional. You cant, pursuant to article 6 of the constitution, amend the constitution in such a way, even if you follow the article 5 amendment procedures, you cannot amend it in a way that changes the principle of equal representation in the senate among and between the states. It is especially important to have these debates and discussions when it comes to legislation like this one, like the Great American outdoors act that, while important to the entire nation in many respects, affects some states differently than it does others. This bill has a very different impact in utah than it does in colorado or in montana or in tennessee or in maine. Very, very different. This is why we have the senate, so that we can air out these grievances, so that we can air out our differences, so that we can make improvements to legislation, so that, you know, perhaps we cant improve it. There are a lot of things about this bill that i dont like. There are other things about it that i could live with. But if we cant have the conversation, we dont have the ability to amend or improve the legislation. As a result, the conversation doesnt happen, and most of the American People are excluded from this debate and this discussion, this conversation entirely. This is where these conversations are supposed to occur, where we can arrive at consensus and compromise in the public eye. And this, i should note, is not for our convenience and comfort. Rather, the senates purpose as a deliberative body is to add another layer of republican and democratic legitimacy to the very laws that we passed. The house exists to assert immediate Public Opinion on the basis of the proportional representation that they have on that side of the capitol. The senate exists to identify broadbased compromise and consensus that is essential to the political legitimacy in a nation as diverse as ours. And to do so in a way in which each state is equally represented. Now, thats, thats why we require supermajorities to end debate here. Thats why we have sixyear terms. Its not to serve us. Its rather so we can serve everyone else. But right now, were abusing our constitutional privilege. Were willfully taking the powers of the American People, the powers that they gave us, that they have given us to deny them their right to a diverse, deliberative, transparent, accountable process. And were doing this for no other purpose than for our own convenience. No wonder they cant stand us. But, mr. President , its not too late. Its not even too late for this week. Theres still plenty of time to salvage this process, to flex our badly at row ph. D. Legislative badly atrophied legislative muscles and get to work. After speaking with my colleagues all of this week and, frankly, all of last week on these topics, i believe the consensus concerns about this bill are as follows. One, the inequity of Natural Resource revenue sharing between the federal government and the states. Two, the costs of the National Parks and planned Legacy Restoration fund. Three, the costs of the land and Water Conservation fund or lwcf. Four, the implications of an everexpanding federal landownership. And five, transparency for the land and Water Conservation fund. Now, we could pick just one amendment for each of the aforementioned categories, just one for each of those categories, just five amendments all together. By so doing, make significant progress on this legislation. And more than that, we could strengthen our legislative muscle memory and take a step towards restoring the rightful deliberative powers of this bo body. The senate has long called itself the worlds greatest deliberative body. These days when it doesnt debate, when it shuts out amendments from individual members, keeping in mind that this is supposed to be one of the two fundamental rules of the senate. Each member has access to unlimited debate and unlimited amendments. When it does this, its neither great nor deliberative. Its not living up to its name, to its history, to its traditions, to its capacity or to its constitutional purpose. Five amendments are not a lot, mr. President. Especially considering this legislative text bypassed the Committee Process altogether in the first place. This bill as a bill was never even processed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee on which i serve. It bypassed that committee altogether. It didnt go through it. Even if the senate votes on these amendments and votes them down notwithstanding the fact we bypassed the committee, its here now. Nothing in the constitution that says it has to go through committee. Its better if we do. We didnt here but we can still deal with some of the concerns that individual members have. This is the appropriate place to do that after all, with or without Committee Action. Regardless of the outcome of those votes, even if the senate votes those amendments down, every one of them, at least we will then be on record about our priorities and about our positions. At least then well have a chance to weigh in and say heres what i liked about the bill. Heres what i didnt like about the bill. That in turn helps us communicate with the public about why we either do or dont support whatever legislation is intact at the end of that process. That in turn would strengthen the bonds of accountability between the government and the governed and i would hope restore some of the public trust washington, d. C. Has squandered for the last several decades. If we require senators to speak on their amendments, then move to a vote, we could dispose of all five of these amendments in just a few hours. We could do this today. We could have done it earlier today. We could have done it at any moment yesterday. Its just not too much to ask. We ought to give this like all legislation the due consideration and the careful deliberation that it deserves and that the American People deserve. And now more than ever our country needs us to be able to come together, Work Together, and find solutions to the problems we face. I believe this bill presents us with an opportunity to do precisely that. And im hopeful that my colleagues and i will get the chance to take it. This is what we need to do. We know, mr. President , that the senate in the pass has functioned in such a way as to allow every member of this body to represent his or her state. We also know that cant really happen in a way that our system has always contemplated unless every senator has a chance to weigh in on, to propose improvements to each bill, and not be shut out of a process. What we get when we jettison that is instead of a process by which a small handful of individuals will write legislation, that legislation gets air dropped on to the senate floor in a hermetically sealed chamber and then members are told youve got to vote for this entire package or against this entire package. Youve got a simple binary choice. Take it all or leave it all. That isnt fair. The American People do better. Weve settled. Its time, mr. President , for us to no longer settle, but to expect more, to expect the senate to do its work. Consistent with that, mr. President , i think its important for us to propose alternatives. I have nothing but a desire to see these things debated and discussed. In order to do that, im proposing a solution. And i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendments and call up the following amendments en bloc. Kennedy amendment number 1599 which would allow gulf states to receive a greater portion of revenues produced from Energy Sources off their coasts. Cruz amendment number 1651 which would reflect honest budgeting practices. It would direct the secretary of the interior to sell off excess federal lands to the public as the pay for, for this legislation. Subject all trust Fund Spending to congressional oversight through the appropriations process. And strike the provision that allows the trust fund to receive credit for interest that will not really be earned based on money that does not really exist. Braun amendment number 1635 which would prevent unrelated spending increases in the future by reducing the discretionary budget limit by 450 million. Lee amendment number 1647 which would prohibit the federal government from making acquisitions using lwcf funds until it had received from the state where the proposed acquisition would be located. Notice that the state had enacted legislation approving the acquisition. And finally, lee number 1639 which would require reports to congress on cause of acquisition, maintenance, and administration of lands obtained under the lwcf. Reports to states and local units of Government Regarding lost property taxes due to lwcf Land Acquisitions and reports to congress on Restoration Fund projects to be funded currently being funded and the amount money expended for each project as well as an estimate of expenditures needed to complete each project. I further ask that the senate vote on the amendments in the order listed with no intervening action or debate, and that the amendments be subject to a 60affirmative vote threshold for adoption. Finally, following disposition of the amendments listed, the remaining pending amendments be withdrawn with the exception of the substitute amendment number 1617 and the senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the substitute amendment 1617. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from colorado. Mr. Gardner i object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. Mr. Lee mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Lee mr. President , id like to note now for the record that there are exactly two senators remaining in the senate chamber. Its now 4 38 p. M. Oh, now were three again, now four. Weve got four senators in the chamber at 4 39 p. M. On a thursday. This is not the end of the week. Unless perhaps youre in the United States senate. Theres no reason why the United States senate shouldnt be convening and debating amendments right now in order to do this. Theres no valid reason why members who understand and appreciate the legitimate concerns that are the focus of this or any other piece of legislation, ought not be able to raise concerns with that legislation and offer up amendments to improve the legislation in question, especially whereas is the case here. There are particular states including my own that would disproportionately be disadvantaged, be harmed by this legislation. Its interesting to note the federal government owns more of my state than it does almost any other state, than it does any of the states of any of the sponsors who are prominent cosponsors of this legislation. Some of the cosponsors, in fact, are people who live in states where the federal government owns very little land. Now look, i dont i dont blame them. I dont fault them. In some cases some of hur disagreements here represent just differences in our background or perhaps differences in the preferences of our constituencies. But as much as anything, mr. President , i think they stem from and reflect differences in the states that we represent, not just the references of the voters but the preferences of the voters but the way the public land is owned, the extent to which federal public land is owned, and the impact that it has on our local economies. This is a big deal. So like i said, i dont fault them. I regard each of the people behind this legislation as beloved friends, as colleagues, as people whom i deeply respect and trust and admire. They are people with whom ive agreed and cooperated in countless instances on many wide ranging topics. Theyre not wrong to want to pass legislation that they believe is correct. They are, however, grossly mistaken in believing that its appropriate in this circumstance to shut out members of this body who have a different point of view, to exclude them from the debate process. Now, one could argue and some might argue in connection with this, fine, lets debate it and were debating it right now. What is debate after all other than the giving of speeches in a legislative body. That is what were doing. That statement is true as far as it goes. Nevertheless, in order for that debate to have full meaning, we need to follow our own rules and we need to allow members pursuant to our rules but not just our rules, also our precedence, our timehonored traditions, in the spirit of comity that once inhabited and pervaded every corner of this room. Its that spirit of comity and those traditions and those rules that really contemplate a much more collegial environment, one in which we dont come to the floor with legislation and say thats it, there is no more. Thats it, this legislation was written as if on stone tablets. There is no more to be written. This book is sealed. You cant have anything more to say. Thats not how colleagues treat each other. Thats how one would treat a subordinate. Frankly, i think its insulting not to me but to those i represent and to those represented by my colleagues doing it. What i find also offensive is the notion that its so important somehow and so urgent to pass this legislation that we do so now and that we not wait until next week to consider it but its apparently not important enough to allow individual members to introduce amendments, even amendments crafted in good faith, amendments that wouldnt do any structural damage to the bill, amendments that may or may not pass but that havent been written by the principle authors and principle proponents of this legislation. This institution is better than that and i thought we were. I think we owe each other more than that. Now look, this isnt always going to be the case in every single piece of legislation. There are a number of things that pass through this body by unanimous consent. Others that come to the floor and receive an overwhelming vote one way or another and that dont necessarily in every circumstance trigger the need for amendments. Those are in some cases matters that are relatively noncontroversial. I would see no reason for an open amendment process if we were to, for example, to declare june 2020 to be National Sofa care awareness month. I dont think anybody is going to care that much about that legislation, certainly not enough to care deeply about filing amendments. In other cases, some legislation might have been adequately vetted through a process of Committee Action and public debate to the point where maybe no one really sees the need for additional amendment by the time it gets to the floor. But its signify but its not always going to be the case and should come as no surprise that a piece of legislation like this one, sweeping in its effect, adding to our already unaffordable mandatory spending had putting federal Land Acquisition on an equal footing with programs like Social Security and medicare by making it mandatory, anytime you trigger any of these alarm bells, it ought to send a signal that this is not an appropriate moment to expect that no member from any state will have any different perspective. Its not right. Deep down they know its not right. Ive seen each of my most vocal proponents of this legislation on the receiving end of this very kind of strategy, and ive stood with them, as theyve stood against it even when i dont agree with their substantive policy agenda, even when i do agree perhaps with their when i dont agree perhaps with their Strategic Plan in question, but i stand with them anyway because theyre my colleagues, theyre my friends. Its what colleagues do for each other. You see, the difference between a colleague and a subordinate is that you dont purport to tell a colleague what he or she can do, if you dont have the authority to do that. You dont act offended if your colleague doesnt agree with you, and you dont try to silence your colleague. That is how you treat a subordinate. Its happened for far too long here. Ive been here for knife and a half years. For nine and a half years. Ive seen it under democratic leadership, ive seen it under republican leadership. Its not how it used to work here. Its not how it should ever work. But i find it revolting. Its one thing to say i want to vote on this legislation. Its quite another thing to have the gall to say i want to vote on this legislation, but i dont want anyone else to have any say in what this legislation says. And i dont care what this does to another state. I dont care that there are parts of other states in the union, represented by my friends and my colleagues, where people will suffer as a result of this legislation. I dont care, not my problem. In fact, i so dont care that thats a problem for somebody else that im going to make sure that the other person cant care. And that he cant even make changes to this legislation. If i were their subordinate, perhaps id understand. As their colleague, i dont. This isnt how you treat a colleague. This isnt how colleagues interact in a body that can considers itself deliberative and collegial. Say what they want about this being bipartisan, about there having been a collegial process that led to this bills creation. Let them say what they want about that. Make no mistake, this is wrong what theyre doing. Im not even talking right now about the merits of the bill. I disagree with the bill. I dont like the substantive policy ends that it seeks to achieve. But im not talking about that right now. What im saying is wrong and even outrageous is the gall, the temerity they have to tell colleagues that they dont have an equal seat at this table, that their election certificate somehow matters less. Sooner or later, mr. President , i believe that our best days lie ahead of us. Im an optimist at heart. Optimism is something thats hard to have at a moment like this, when youve been completely shut out of a legislative debate. But the reason im optimistic here has to do with the very simple reality sooner or later in a system like this one, members will find a way consistent with the rules of the senate and as authorized by the rules and procedures and traditions of the senate, theyll find a way to get around this. And i think if youll see a growing dynamic in which members will reach across the aisle in order to solve this very problem. This problem is not a republican problem zingively. Its not a democratic problem disstinctively. Weve seen it under the leadership of both parties. Regardless of who has the majority. This is a problem that senators have among and between themselves. I think in time youll see more and more members coming to each others defense, regardless of political ideologies, regardless of the substantive ends sought to be achieved in any particular piece of legislation. I think the sun is setting or at least preparing to set on the days of locking out individual members from the amendment process. This isnt right. And deep down we know its not. Ill note that other than the presiding officer, at 4 53 p. M. On a thursday, i remain the only member of the United States senate within this chamber. Its just the presiding officer and me. Thats it. We could be voting now, we could have started voting hours ago. We could have started voting yesterday. We could have voted on all these amendments. For all i know, all amendments i am proposing could have been considered and they could have been voted down and they had aide have their way. What difference then would it make . First of all, im not certain they would all fame. Even if they did all fail, every last one of them, at least then members of this body would be able to face their constituents at the end of that process and be able to say, i liked this legislation, even though it had these problems. The reasons to support it outweighed those for opposing it. Or i tried to make it better. I failed. These problems remain, so i voted against it. That increases accountability rather than decreasing it. Thats good. Thats good for a Constitutional Republic like ours. Its essential for the United States senate. Thats how its supposed to work. So we could have done that yesterday. We could have done that this morning. We could still do it right now. We could start that process right now, and in a matter of hours we would have debated, discussed, voted on these amendments and then we could move on. We could put this whole thing behind us. We could do it right now. Theyll hear nothing of it. It begs the question, why . Who benefits from this . The only people who benefit are the small handful of individuals who are on any particular occasion happen to be involved in this decisionmaking become more powerful. But they do so in a dishonorable way. At the expense of all of their colleagues, at the expense of their relationship with their colleagues, but most damningly at the expense of their relationship with and obligations to the voters who elected them. And i mean those in every state. Im sure they think theyre doing the right thing, that the ends justify the means. Nobody is immune from that line of thinking. Im certainly aware of it myself, that its something we have to be conscious of. Under the circumstance, it doesnt make it okay. This is wrong. We can do better. We can, we must, and together we will. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from missouri. A senator are we in a quorum call, mr. President . The presiding officer we are not. A senator mr. President , weve got a lot of problems in america today. The pandemic, a recession, a surge of violence in our major cities drowning out a nationwide call for justice and hope. Mr. Hawley and we have work to do in this body and in this city to solve these problems and to heed that call. And our voters sent us here to make things better, to rebuild, to heal, but thats not what were doing. For the last several weeks my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and their allies in the media and some professional political activists on a payroll have been trying to divide us against each other, to paralyze us, to stoke resentment of our fellow citizens and hatred of this nation that we call home. Its really remarkable if you think about it. Just a few short weeks ago we were united and outraged at the murder of george floyd. We were united in impatience for justice for his family. And nothing has changed about that. All people of goodwill still want justice to be done. I do. But the call of the marchers has been weaponized by partisans who want nothing more than to say that only some americans really support equal justice under the law. Only some institutions of government are really committed to that cause. Only one party can be trusted to govern in good faith. Only one Political Coalition is righteous enough to rule over the other. You dont hear talk of unity watching msnbc or reading the New York Times these days. Instead those outlets are drawing up a new list of villains. Not floyds killer. Not him. Were way past george floyd now, i guess. Were talking about new grievances, structural evils endemic to america itself. The police, the military, the flag, and of course the president. Its always about the president. Actually what its really about are the president s voters. Its about the people who elected him. Its about the red states like mine. Its about the people who live there. The elite media, the woke mob, they dont like these people, and they want the rest of america to dislike them too. This is why theyre telling us that it wasnt a homicidal cop who killed george floyd. His death now is the product of systemic racism were told, and anyone who doesnt acknowledge their role in his death, anyone who doesnt bend their need to this extreme ideology is complicit in violence. Now we have to defund all the police. There is no scab they will not pick at, no divide they will not exploit, no controversy they will not gin up to make us hate each other. Well, we cannot take their bait. In the last weeks weve seen a professor put on leave for quoting the words of Martin Luther king jr. Not woke enough. Weve seen the New York Times fire its opinion page editor for daring the publish the words of a republican senator. He forgot the party line. Weve seen a literal insurrection in the streets of seattle, a breakaway antifa enclave ruled by a selfdescribed warlord. You cannot make this stuff up. Lauded now in some corridors at least as an experiment in postpolice governance, and weve had a bill introduced in the house to bring that experiment in chaos to our cities and towns all across the country and to demonize the fine men and women who put their lives on the line day and night to protect protesters rights to demand justice. The madness is accelerating this month, but the radical left has been at this for awhile. The New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize for the 1619 project, a appropriate Propaganda Campaign designed to recast americas founding as an evil event. It won that prize despite widespread criticism by historians who objected to its historical revisionism. Now with the pulitzers seal of approval, the times is developing a 1619 grade School Curriculum so that our children will be indoctrinated to hate this country at taxpayer expense. They want to do to our Public Schools what theyve already done to the universities. What does any of this have to do with healing our nation . What does it have to do with bringing about that more Perfect Union whose achievement is our shared ambition and shared obligation as americans . The answer is nothing. And thats the point. It has been widely reported this week one of my Senate Colleagues introduced a measure to strip all military installations, bases in this country of reference to confederate soldiers or confederate history. And for what purpose . To achieve justice for george floyd . To bring our nation together . No, i dont think so. The purpose was to erase from history. Erase every person and name and event not righteous enough and to cast those who would object as defenders of the cause of slavery, to reenact in our current politics that civil war that tore brother from brother and divided this nation against itself. You think the way some in the media talk about this country that theyre sad were still not fighting the civil war. They would like us to fight a new civil war in our culture day and night, without end. Id suggest to my colleagues that the civil war not only gave us villains, it also gave us heroes and a more Perfect Union to love. Maybe we should learn from those heroes. We should learn from lincoln, who called our nation to unity at gettysburg. It is for the living, he told us, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. To be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under god shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth. If you visit gettysburg, youll find monuments to the dead of free states and slave states alike, and youll see children who are brought there by their parents after long car drives from their homes, drawn in by these old symbols and memorials to the lessons those teach about our nations new birth of freedom. And the americans who visit these hallowed grounds all across our country want to know why this nation fought a war against itself, why brothers could not live in one flag, under one flag together. And we teach them there in those places how we became a better nation through the crucible of that terrible war. And we teach them there to be proud that we did so. That hard fought pride in the shared struggle that unites us is now fading. That story is being erased. A nation united in the cause of justice is dividing, and we are increasingly at war with ourselves. Mr. President , this cannot continue. This great nation and its good people cannot continue our life of freedom together if we vilify and destroy each other from within. Before we vote on this floor on the National Defense authorization act, i will offer an amendment to undo this effort at historical revisionism. I will offer it not to celebrate the cause of the confederacy but to embrace the cause of union, our union shared together as americans. It is time for our leaders to stop using their position here to divide us. Let us Work Together instead to build on the history and the responsibility that we share as americans to continue that unfinished work of this nation that we call home. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call mr. Gardner mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from colorado. Mr. Gardner i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Gardner thank you, mr. President. I want to make sure people understand we are tracking a 1 00 a. M. Vote before i get into some of these bills. Again, tracking a 1 00 a. M. Vote. I ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 467, s. Res. 454. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 467, Senate Resolution 454, calling for the Immediate Release of cuban democracy active activist jose daniel ferrera, and so forth. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. The senate will proceed. Mr. Gardner i ask unanimous consent the committeereported substitute amendment to the resolution be agreed to, the resolution as amended be agreed to, the committeereported amendment to the preamble be agreed to, the preamble as amended be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Gardner i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 470, s. Res. 523. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 470, Senate Resolution 523, recognizing the 199th anniversary of the independence of greece, and so forth. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. The senate will proceed. Mr. Gardner i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Gardner i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 474, s. Res. 567. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 474, Senate Resolution 567, commending career professionals at the department of state, and so forth. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection. The senate will proceed. Mr. Gardner i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Gardner i ask unanimous consent that the Senate Recess subject to the call of the chair. The presiding officer without objectio