mr. markey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator for massachusetts. mr. markey: mr. president, i would ask for a cessation of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, it's my pleasure to honor my good friend and my colleague, senator cory gardner. cory and i were friends in the house of representatives, and our friendship deepened in the senate, especially after he took the reins as chair and i as the ranking member of the subcommittee on east asia of the senate foreign relations committee in the 115th congress. we were unlikely partners in a lot of ways. he is a conservative republican, and i am a liberal democrat. i know that tom brady is the best quarterback ever. he just might say that it's john elway. but like me cory is a privatist and we did find common ground. we were a two-man wrecking crew. gardner-markey collaborated on such hits as the asia assurance initiative act, sweeping focus legislation to reorient our indo-pacific strategy around alliances, carry-on strategy and mutual security, the cambodia democracy act for the rights of political opposition, the taiwan international participation act of 2018 to signal both our commitment to the island nation and our displeasure with china's efforts to shut it out of international organizations. and the leverage to enhance effective diplomacy act to build the conditions for a future north korea that no longer threatens its neighbors and the world with nuclear weapons. with cory as chair and myself as ranking member, we convened hearings, drafted broad legislation, hosted foreign leaders. as the foreign policy gravitational pull rightly moved to the indo-pacific in recent years, cory brought the top policymakers, human rights defenders, and government witnesses to the fourth floor of the dirksen senate office building, not exactly the diplomatic room of the white house. in the 115th congress, we held 11 hearings, and it was a constant group of meetings and hearings that cory would be leading. i was always honored to be partnered with him in organizing those efforts. cory grew up on a farm, so it's no wonder that he was a workhorse. each time he gaveled in a hearing, he was professional, prepared, good humored, and he on more than a few occasions allowed particularly verbose senators to blow past their allotted time. nowhere did i enjoy our work together more than in the drafting and the ultimate passage of the landmark asia reassurance initiative act. our bill which is now the law of the land adopts a long-term u.s. strategy for the most consequential region in the world, the indo-pacific. it was a credit to our foreign policy staffs led by igor and cory's staff and mine that we were able to get it past the finish line. a fully resourced aria will ensure that the united states will remain a pacific power. investments through aria offer a critical counterweight to china by helping our partners in the region build defenses and defend democracy and the rule of law. but cory understood that passage of a law alone does not equate to the implementation of policy. when aria was signed into law, he and i convened a series of hearings to ensure that the departments of defense and state and the usaid were putting resources to the challenge. the asia pacific is the home to 60% of the world's population. this fact and the wide geographic scope of the region means that we need to respond nimbly to the latest international crisis of the day. when north korea policy vacillated between fire and fury and detente, he used the subcommittee to provide critical oversight. when china and hong kong authorities turned to batons and tear gas in a futile attempt to end democratic protest, he hosted one of the architects of the student-powered umbrella movement, nathan's law. when just this past year some wished to shake down our japanese and south korean allies, we partnered on two resolutions which reaffirms our ironclad relationships to both allies. in his farewell address, cory said that's the pillars of the senate chamber are principles shared by all americans. they are immutable. cory, it was a pleasure to work with you these past years, to also strengthen the pillars of u.s. foreign policy, standing up to human rights, our allies and the rule of law around the world. i hope that this son of yuma, colorado, is not finished with public service yet. i'm grateful for what we accomplished together on the asia subcommittee and even more grateful for our friendship. my best to jaime and your wonderful family, and to you, my friend. thank you, mr. president. and i yield back and i question the presence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. lankford: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for oklahoma. mr. lankford: is the senate currently in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. lankford: i ask unanimous consent that we end the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: mr. president, this all feels strangely familiar. it's the middle of december, facing a government shutdown, arguing behind the scenes over the final details, discussing whether we're going to do a short-term c.r., wondering what's going to happen, everyone has the sense if we don't get the bill done by tomorrow we're going to end up in shutdown and all the problems that that causes. senator hassan and i stand in the back and hold up our hand and say in february of last year, we proposed a solution to this that fits this exact scenario to keep us from holding federal workers and all of our agencies in harm's way. the ending government shutdowns bill is designed for this moment. and for whatever reason, we have not been able to agree to pass it. it's a process document. it doesn't solve all the policy issues we have, we have real policy differences, but we should not have process differences on moments like this. it is not good for the american people. it is not good for the united states senate or the united states congress to stand at the precipice of a shutdown and to say, maybe we go over, maybe we don't, maybe we have a short-term c c, maybe -- continuing resolution, maybe we pass the 12 appropriation bills wsm weed shouldn't get to that moment. our simple idea that is not pa partisan idea that senator hassan and i released was a simple, straightforward idea. you get to the end of the fiscal year, whatever that may be, if we have not finished all of the appropriation work, we continue working until it gets done, an automatic continuing resolution kicks in so federal worker is worried, no agency is panicked next about how do -- who do i have to furlough or keep and who is sectional and -- essential and who is nonessential. none of that happens. none of that waste occurs. we continue debating until we resolve that issue. that's all that it is. we have 12 appropriation bills that is not done. painfully in this year of covid, there have only been 22 total appropriation hearings in 12 months, 22, that's 12 appropriation committees, 12 months, only 22 hearings total for all of them. we've not completed the appropriation work on time so now we're struggling with the what if's? senator hassan and i have a straightforward idea. let's pass the end government shutdowns bill, let's continue our negotiations so we don't have to be in the shadow of a shutdown again next year. it's doable. it shouldn't be controversial. it should be obvious. when we get to our time period like this, if we're not complete, we keep working until it's done. in the meantime, we don't leave. it's the exact statement i've heard from everybody in the chamber so far today. we need to stay until it's done. i agree that should be the process every time we get to this moment. we stay until the work gets done. our bill just mandates that and it keeps us from ever having to stay the -- say the word shutdown again. so i would encourage this body, again, as i did all last year, as i did all of this year, let's end government shutdowns. let's keep debating the policy. we have differences, we know that, but let's end the thought of government shutdowns. with that, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator for michigan. mr. peters: mr. president, 2020 has been a year of immense challenges, we are in the middle of an economic and public health crisis, small businesses have been forced to shutter or barely staying a float. workers are out of jobs through no fault of their own and folks are stressed about feeding their families and keeping a roof over their heads. health care workers are exhausted, pressed to their breaking points from treating patients with covid. but, thankfully, there's light at the end of the tunnel. with the reasonable f.d.a. vaccine emergency use authorization, michiganders are starting it to receive reinforcements to combat and control this virus. although there is light at the end of the tunnel, we know that the next two or three months or more are going to be difficult. we cannot let our guard down. we must continue to wear a mask, practice social distancing, and wash our hands. we all can and must play an important role in defeating this virus and we can do that if we work together. mr. president, working together is the key to get through this peament. we know -- pandemic. we know what happens when we work together here in this chamber. early on in this pandemic we worked together to pass the cares act, which provided vital resources and support to keep families and workers afloat. we worked together to pass additional aid for small businesses, for testing, for lc provides -- for health care providers and for hospitals. and right now we need to come together and work together to pass another round of help. we've done it before and we did it when case counts were far lower than they are now. we need to summon the same sense of urgency, and we must come together at the end of this week and pass meaningful, bipartisan and comprehensive covid relief. we must prove to the american people that bipartisan negotiation is not a relic of the past. as i talk to michiganders each and every day, they want us to put partisan politics aside and solve the very real challenges con fonting our country. -- confronting our country. finding common ground and bringing people together has always been my approach. we have worked together to advance legislation on priorities to not only address the pandemic, but also tackle issues facing michiganders and people across this country each and every day. on a bipartisan basis, we've been able to pass legislation out of congress on a number of topics, whether it's been expanding apresentishship opportunities for veterans, closing loopholes that pose a threat to our national security, saving taxpayer dollars, protecting the great lakes, which is one of our nation's most precious natural resources. hiring more agricultural inspectors at our nation's ports of entry. or improving the department of veterans' affairs caregiver program. i want to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their partnership with me in advancing these priorities. now, mr. president, i know there is no shortages of differences among us. we have put personal politics aside and focused on addressing the problem at land, i know that we can get results. as we enter this next session of congress, i'm hopeful that we can build on some of the progress that we have made. whether it's supporting small businesses, lowering prescription drug costs, ensuring our nation remains a global leader in innovation, or getting through this public health and economic crisis, there is much more that can be done in the next congress, and it can only be done when we are all willing to reach across the aisle to find lasting solutions. two years ago, i delivered george washington's farewell address on the senate floor. it's an annual tradition here in the senate. in that address, president washington warned of the dangers of tribalism and political polarization in our country. we cannot forget president washington's message, particularly during these uncertain and daunting times. we cannot let polarization prevent us from doing the people's work. let us build on that spirit of bipartisanship. let us work together to get things done. our constituents demand it. this week, we can again work in a bipartisan way to pass a covid relief bill that makes a difference to everyone suffering from this pandemic. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the somers nomination. mr. peters: mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: vote: vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas a tea, the nays are 43. the nomination is confirmed. mr. portman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business be senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president, i'm here on the floor today to talk again about the need for us to pass a legislative package which would i will call an emergency package to deal with our covid-19 crisis we have in this country. as we talk today on the floor of the senate, there are negotiators working busily in a room nearby to try to come up with that package. that's a good thing. i know they've run into some roadblocks, at least so i've been told. we need to work through those roadblocks. they're relatively small compared to the importance of the overall mission of helping the people we represent, helping those small businesses, helping those hospitals, helping those families who find themselves without a paycheck through no fault of their own, and my hope is that we can get there. the legislation that is being looked at today, which may be part of a larger package that we'll vote on either tomorrow or the next day, is, as i understand it, informed by work that a bipartisan group of us did over the past several weeks, and i appreciate my colleagues so much. i see senator murkowski is here on the floor today. she was one of those people. senator manchin was one of the people that helped organize it. being in, i think the first meeting was because lisa murkowski invited people to have pizza at her place. and that resulted in a very positive interaction between democrats and republicans on a lot of detail, a lot of specific issues to be able to put together a package that will help our country right now to work through this crisis. i wish i could say that things are better, but when i look at my own home state of ohio, i see just the opposite. in fact, over the past few weeks, we've had annual -- we've had weekly cases that have increased, not decreased. our number of daily cases is averaging around 10,000 a day now, every day. that's double what it was just a month ago. so at least if my state, the coronavirus crisis has increased, not decreased. by the same token, the economic crisis that is a result of the covid-19 has continued to grow. so we have seen people who have lost their jobs because their restaurant doesn't have any business, not because there is a government edict, although there are in some states. some states have said you have to shut down. some states have gone so far as to say you have to shut down outdoor dining, not just indoor dining. but in many cases it is because the virus is so prevalent, people aren't going out to go shopping or to the restaurant. they aren't going to the bowling alley or the hotels. so folks are losing their jobs. again, not because of something they did or something they could control. it's almost like a natural disaster, and, therefore, they need some help and need it now. we really have kind of a k-shaped recovery here. people talk about a v-shaped recovery where you have a recession and then you come right back out the same way you went in. i wish that were the case here. instead it's kind of k-shaped. we do have some industries that are doing quite well and some areas of the country that are doing quite well. that's the top of the k. but the bottom of the k is where you are not. if you are in the hospitality business, the travel business, if you are someone who has a job that is no longer there because of this crisis, then you're in trouble. you're in trouble. i am told that i've now given 20 floor speeches on the need to do something. i think it ought to be targeted and focused. what i have said is we have this wonderful new vaccine coming out. moderna is about to be approved, i believe. pfizer was just approved. i'm in the trial for the johnson, j & j. we'll probably have astrazeneca coming pretty soon. we finally have something that will help us turn the copy. i think it is important that we wear our masks. i think it's important that we social distance. i think it's important that we use the hand sanitizer, all of that, we need to keep doing it. but the difference between that and the vaccine is that the vaccine gives you the immunity we're all seeking. people talk about herd immunity and that that could come early on people said by so many people getting infected. we can't have that happen. why in -- why? because that will lead to a lot of pain, a lot of deaths. 300,000 people have already died from this crisis. we want to bring herd immunity from the vaccine. by the way, these vaccines are safe. they're effective. i mean, if you look at the numbers, 95% efficacy? unbelievable. so do your own research appeared look at it and make your own decision. but this is not a situation where, as with the flu actually, when you take the flu shot, i'm told only about a third of the time does it work. about two-thirds of the time it doesn't. and that's happened to my family members, probably to you or your family members where you take a flu shot and it doesn't really help. but here 90-95%, 98%, take a look at numbers. that's how effective they are. the trial that i'm in, the initial numbers are quite positive. also, it was done in way that i think makes a lot of sense for the future in terms of public-private partnership. the government basically said to these companies, we'll bring a market for you -- we'll provide a market for you if you get busy producing this lifesaving vaccine. and by the way, you can go ahead and start producing the vaccine even before it is approved so we don't have to wait to after the approval to get the production up and running. it was probably the best expenditure of federal money we had here in the last package, the cares panel, because it ensured that -- the cares package, because it ensured that we would not only get the vaccines quickly but get them distributed quickly. so as an example, even while the vaccines were being approved recently and these were the pfizer vaccines, those vaccines were already on their way to my home state of ohio. they were prepositioned there, and when the approval came, we could move quickly and people are being vaccinated today in my state and your state -- primarily people who are on the front lines as health care providers. next we're helping with the nursing homes, which is obviously where most of this disease happens. then the people in the nursing homes. then our e.m.f.'s and other first responders, people who have health problems, preexisting conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus, seniors. so this is really exciting and this is the answer. this is what's going to help us turn the tide. but that's going to be a ways off until that's widely available. so what i think in terms of this package, i think of it as a bridge. age -- an emergency package toest go us from -- an emergency package to get us from where we are now to april, may where the vaccine will be widely available and we'll be able to have the herd immunity that we talked about earlier. we want community immunity. that's the idea. the package that the bipartisan group put together was $908 billion. six of the ten of us voted for that. all of us vote for a smaller people, which was $748 billion. it's important to note that of that $908 billion or $748 billion, we also repurposed a lot of money that's already been spent. so roughly $of 00 billion was -- so roughly $600 billion was pulled back from the p.p.p. program that had not been spent yet and also a program that fed had to provide loans that was not being used. that's the program that you might have heard about. that program was fortunately not tapped into because the commercial banks stepped in and provided a lot of that end willing that was necessary. rates are at historic lows right now for mortgages, as an example and other loans, so they didn't need to step in. that money is being repurposed. so instead of $748 billion, it's more like $148 billion. instead of $908 billion, if you went for the whole thing, it is more like $300 billion. so not that that's not a lot of money -- it is. but compare that to what was talked about only a couple weeks ago and for the previous nine months by the way you which was a package in the house of representatives called the heroes act which was trillions of dollars -- $3.5 trillion initially. then they agreed $2.5 trillion. then the last offer that was on the table that they didn't take was $1.8 billion. we're talking about a bridge that's targeted and focused. i'll give you an example. in this package, the department package which i think will be picked up by the package that the final negotiators are, woulding on -- that would be secretary mnuchin who has been very eager to get an agreement that helps the american people working for the president but also the leadership here, the democratic leader, the republican leader, in the house, the democratic leader and speaker, and the republican leader. what they're sawing is we want to get a package done. with the p.p.p. program they'll end up i can picking what this group agreed to, which is to have a more narrow paycheck protection program, p.p.p. to help small businesses but to particularly focus on those businesses that are small businesses instead of under 500 people as an example, maybe under 300 and those that are really hurting. in other words, those who are losing money relative to where they were last year. so when you do a quarter-to-quarter comparison -- fourth quarter this year, fourth quart back in 2019, if you have a loss, that's significant. with the funding that we have, isn't it better to target the funding towards the small businesses that are really hurting? that i think will be in the final panel. i commend my bipartisan colleagues for coming up with some of these ideas because there's some differences. and by the way, no one of the ten of us involved in this agreed with every part of this package. trust me. there's a lot of things we would have done differently. i think would have written a different package, as would of any of my colleagues. but it was necessary to get to yes, to get to a result. we've done that. i think it will inform where we end up in terms of the package coming to the floor. the paycheck protection program is a good example of that. we also provided in that program for loan forgiveness for small loans, $150,000 or less, in a very simplified manner so you don't have to go through all the bureaucracy and the cost and the loops and hoops which small businesses just can't afford to do. i am proud of our work there as well. we provided for the airline industry. we want to keep a viable airline industry in this country. we don't want them to go bankrupt and planes to stop flying. we want over this bridge period, march, april, may, we want to be sure that the economy can get back on its feet as quickly as possible. that's why we don't want these small businesses to go out of business and their employees to be put on unemployment lines. we want to be sure that the airlines can continue. they are having a tough time, but 90,000 jobs alone in this industry will be lost, 90,000 additional jobs lost. we don't want that. we want to be sure to be positioned for growth. by the way, my view, for whatever it's worth, i think this economy is incredibly resilient. i now it's not great right now, we have 10 million people out of work who were working as of february this year, we have 10 million people out of work, we have relatively high unemployment compared to where we were. in my state it's about double. but we're resilient given what we've been hit with. i believe if we get to the period of time when the vaccine is readily available, we are poised for a takeoff. i think there is pent-up demand. i think my constituents will be happy to go out and shop again and go to the restaurants and go to the hotels an travel and go to the movie theaters, go to the stages, the places where there's a performance that has to be canceled now and where people are struggling to keep these -- these venues open. those will not just be reopen, poom i think -- people i think will flock there, but we have to get to that period. it's worth it in my view to help to be sure in the interim period that we don't have more pain and more loss of jobs and prepared to move forward. on unemployment insurance, again, if you lost your job not because of what you did, but because of what is almost a natural disaster of the virus, we should provide national help and we do this in the legislation. the day after christmas, the current relief ends in terms of the federal help in unemployment insurance. that is not something that any of us should want to see. if you're self-employed, if you're a so-called gig economy worker, then you are able to get unemployment insurance right now if you don't have a job. if you can't work because of this virus, you can get unemployment insurance. that's not typical in my state and it's not typical in most states, but because of the federal law we passed, the cares act, again, nine months ago, that has been permitted, but it ends on the day of christmas. i have people coming back to me an saying, i've got to -- and saying, i've got to know. i don't know if i can pay the rent, my car payment, i need to know, i don't know if i can pay my mortgage. we hope to tell them in this legislation that passings, they will -- passes, that they will get the coverage so that the day after christmas, again, people aren't falling off the cliff. and then the federal supplement per week. originally it was $600 per week, as you know, that $600 per week, i thought was relatively high. meaning that many people were getting more in unemployment than they were in their jobs. and that was a problem for many employers, particularly smaw employers who were having a tough time getting people to come back to work after the economy started to improve after the march, april, may, time period when things started to pick up a little bit, it was tough. this compromise, i think will be $300. maybe it will be $200. i don't know what they are exactly working out, but ours was $300, which was a bipartisan compromise, many democrats would like to go back to $600, some republicans think it should be less than $300. this is for 16 weeks only so between now and the end of march, during this period, this bridge, as we talked about, if people are unemployed p through -- unemployed through no fault of their own, they should be able to make their rent, care payment. there is also funding in here for rental assistance. as you know, some people have been hanging on wondering if they are going to be evicted or not. eviction makes no sense for the tenants, landlords or the economy. we don't want people -- landlords don't want to get some help -- so there is funding in here for rental assistance to help keep people in their homes with a roof over their head as we go through this period. the final one i want to talk about, and there are a lot of other provisions in here that i don't want to go into, but what i want to talk about is one that is kind of a heartbreaker for me. because for many years now we have been challenged with this drug addiction issue, particularly opioids. it's prescription drugs and heroin and fentanyl, the deadly synthetic drug. we had the highest overdose deaths in the history of our country, 72,000 people were dying a year, and a lot of us focused here. the last four or five years this congress spent money and changed policies to try to make it easier for people to get treatment and get into longer-term recovery and to keep people from getting into the funnel of addition in the first place because this was at epidemic levels. in 2018 and 2019, we started to see a reversal of that for the first time in really three decades, so every year for something like 30 years, in my home state of ohio, we would see more overdose deaths every year, every year. in 2018 we had a 20-plus percent reduction in overdose deaths. it was about a 22% reduction in ohio. 22% reduction in deaths. that's because we all focused at the federal level, state level, local level and we made a difference and we began to change this dynamic of young people and middle-aged people and across the spectrum regardless of your zip code you lived in, you were being affected by this, we changed it so that people were actually getting the help they needed, getting out from under their addiction, getting back to work, back to their families. it was good news. the heartbreaking part for me is that having made that progress finally, we now see during this coronavirus pandemic an epidemic underneath it and it's the epidemic of drug addiction. so there is new numbers out today i saw that doesn't surprise me as much as they discourage me, which is that this year instead of 72,000 people dying of overdose deaths in america from drug abuse, and this is not just opioids, but all drugs including methamphetamine, the crystal meth from mexico is cheap, powerful, deadly, this year it is expected that the overdose death rate will be the highest ever, probably 83,000 is the number i saw today. i said 72,000 people dying almost four years ago, now we're back to 83,000. so this is a crisis within a pandemic, and we need to deal with it. there's lots of different opinions out there as to why this is happening. i believe strongly a lot of us just from the isolation that comes from this pandemic, people haven't been able to go and meet with and talk to their recovery coaches which is one way we were changing this dynamic, people were able to meet with people to help them get through it. longer-term recovery was working for a lot of people. a lot of recovery places, say a sober home, they had issue with the pandemic and not had the group homes provide that care. also people have not been able to go see their doctors or their treatment providers, telemedicine has helped, and that's one reason in our package we put more funding into telemedicine because that's the way you can get to people both with regard to behavioral health, mental health issues and with regard to a -- addiction, but it hasn't filled the gap. a lot of people are feeling a great deal of stress, despair and joblessness. if you go to the food banks in ohio, you find people who were waiting three, four, five, six hours at time. these are people who are feeling desperation to wait in line for six hours to get a box of food means that you've got a real problem in your family. by the way, some of these people because i've talked to them, i've gone to these food banks, some have never been in a food bank in their lives testimony they find themselves in a tough situation. not everybody. remember the k-shaped recovery. for some people it is fine. if you're a white-collar worker and can telework from home. maybe in -- you're in the finance industry or tech industry, you may be doing great. but your neighbor who's got a job at that restaurant or perhaps in another business like the travel business, the motor coach business, they don't have the opportunities to get that job and so they are the ones in the food bank line. so by the way put more funding into the food banks as well and into helping people to be able to afford food is obviously a big issue right -- right now. so the notion here is with this legislation that we're going to provide more help for people who are suffering from addiction with the thought of trying all we can to try to reverse this trend. ultimately, again, the best way to reverse it is to have this coronavirus pandemic behind us so that people can socialize again, gather again, aren't feeling despair, aren't isolated, and that is coming. but the bridge to there, it is important to save as many lives as we can. so there's $5 billion in our legislation, the bipartisan bill, to do just that. my hope is, again, that will be in the final package, and i believe it will be. i believe what the negotiators are working on is very similar to what's in the legislation that we came together with as a bipartisan group. my only disappointment in the group is that we couldn't end up with a combination of state and local funding stargtd toward need, -- targeted toward need, not the way it was done by per capita, targeted to need and liability protection for these small businesses, for these private nursing homes, for these e.m.s. personnel, the medical emergency people who are concerned, they are concerned about it, what we tried to put together was a package that said, okay, if you're a bad actor, if you didn't follow the rules and the rules were pretty clear, you are aren't protected, you're accountable. but if you follow the rules and you were trying your best to deal with ever-changing standards, and let's face it, they've been quite different, in march and april people were saying, don't wear a mask, we know now that was a mistake, but at the time we didn't. the notion is to protect people from frivolous lawsuits who were doing their best. by the way, there was a survey done of people saying, do you think there should be protection for people that are doing their best whereas people who are grossly neglect, that was the -- negligent, that was the word used, gross negligence, they would not be held accountable. 79% of the people agreed with that. there is something with regard to the nfib, saying that 70% of small businesses are very concerned and worried about this. think about the business, revenue has crashed, profits have crashed, they are hanging on the p.p.p.'s going to help them. we're getting more p.p.p. money, that's the paycheck protection program we talked about earlier. they hope to get through this. if they win a lawsuit, whether they win it or not, whether they can prove they were doing the right thing, just the cost of that lawsuit could well mean the difference of that small business continuing in operation or not. or a nonprofit and the known profits in ohio are very -- the nonprofits in ohio are very interested in the liability reforms as is the education community, the higher education people, the school teachers as are the people in the health care industry, across the board, in nursing homes and hospitals. my hope is that we can get back to work on that as this legislation is passed, when we look at what we do next, let's be sure that we provide that protection in addition to providing help to the state and local governments who need it where they can demonstrate the need. i don't think it will be in this package, but it will be in the next package. this legislation on covid-19 is needed and we ought to move it now. we cannot go home for the holidays without passing covid-19 rescue legislation. again, to me, it's as rescue package. it's not a stimulus pack yj as much as it is -- package, as much as it providing a bridge between now and when the vaccine is readily available. this legislation is likely to be part of a broader bill that will include a number of things so we don't have a government shutdown, that is a good thing not to have a government shutdown, but it's likely to include tax provisions which is called tax extenders, i would say one thing that i hope it includes is permanent extension of tax relief for our craft beverage industry, that includes craft breweries, craft distillers, we passed legislation that allowed them to have a deduction in the excised tax they pay in low volumes of their product. as a result many of these businesses have been able to expand, hire people and now they have the possibility at the end of the year of having a big bill due that they cannot afford. we're proud in ohio to be home of an industry of the craft beer production industry is now number six in the country. it supports 81,000 jobs. it's a business that has been hurt for two reasons, one you think about it, the restaurants are aren't doing the business they used it to do so if you're providing your product to a restaurant, you're hurt, but also a lot of these craft distillers or craft breuers have their own tasting rooms and those in some cases have been shut down all together and in other cases their revenues have crashed. so it would not be the time for them to be facing a big tax bill. it would be an excise tax which you pay rightway. more than half of the members of this body joined me and senator wyden on a letter to our leadership about this urging that this extender, which has worked so well to increase jobs and opportunity to america, can continue on a permanent basis going forward. so my hope is that that's part of the package as well. that will help in remains it of the economic stimulus part of -- that will help in remains it of the economic stimulus part of this. so i thank you for what you are doing if you are one of those people out there who is promoting the vaccines and talking about the importance of us getting the vaccine. if you're not, i hope you'll look at the research. i hope you look at the fact that we should be encouraging everyone to get vaccinated, unless someone has a health problem that makes it difficult for them. the polling data is not encouraging on this. the last gallup poll shows that only 58% of americans feel comfortable being vaccinated. that needs to change. when you look at the polling, democrats are concerned that it happened during the trump administration t take the politics out of it. these are scientists that have been working around the clock over the past nine months, ten months to get us toss this point. these are scientists who are now working around the clock to look at this vaccine to determine whether they are approved or not. these are the scientistsationing the decisions, not -- these are the scientists making the decisions, not the politicians. we need to reverse this terrible virus and the pandemic that is causing all of the issues that we talked about earlier today to our communities, to our families, so the way to do that is to ensure that we do in fact not just have this vaccine available but that people take advantage of it and are willing to be vaccinated. so i hope that if you're listening this evening, that you pass that word along. and that you again do your own research, look at it. but my hope is that the conclusion will be to get to the period where we want to get, which is to have people feel like they can reengage in the economy, they feel like they can be back with their loved ones and congregate, they feel like they can go back to church or their other place of worship, they feel like it they can send their kids back to school, they feel like they can get back to a more normal life, that will happen through the accessibility and the ability to actually get that vaccine. so my hope is that those listening tonight will do that and do their part in spreading that message instead of spreading the virus. i yield back my time. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: mr. president, i had an opportunity to listen to my friend and colleague from the state of ohio outline with great detail the efforts that a bipartisan group has been working on for just a month now. it was just a month, i was reminded, november 17 apparently, that i had an opportunity to invite some colleagues history of to my house for dinner and -- some colleagues over to my house for dinner and conversation. while it wasn't pizza -- didn't make any difference what we were eating, it was all about what we could do to be responsive to the urgency of the need. as my friend from ohio has said, people in ohio are suffering, people in alaska are suffering, people around the country are suffering. and they're looking to us for answers and for hope. and i felt on monday that there was -- there was that sense of hope that we could offer. it's not the end-all and be-all in terms of a legislative proposal, but it was -- it was a dozen members, bipartisan -- republicans and democrats from this body as well as republicans and democrats from the house -- coming together over the course of a month, hours on zoom, digging into the details and the issues in a way that, as someone who has been part of this body now for 18 years, i have not had -- i have not had the opportunity to be as engaged in every level of the debate and aspect, as we were in these conversations. the senator from ohio, while he might not have been at that dinner, was with us every step of the way and was truly leading on the negotiations when it came to the liability provisions, and the input in so many other areas. but what we were able to outline, given a framework of how we can be responsive to the pandemic and the economic crisis at hand, focusing on the most vulnerable, those who have lost their jobs, those who have a small business that is open but just barely open because there are no customers or because the limitations on your restaurant are so small, you can barely even afford to keep your doors open; to be responsive to those who have lost their jobs, to those who are looking at the 1st of january and wondering if they're going to be able to stay in their home or their apartment, to those families that have children at home that haven't been in a classroom since march of this year, for those rural health care providers that have been struggling as they have tried to meet the crush of demand and need within their small hospitals, what we tried to do was build a package that was responsive to the emergency at hand. and as senator portman has noted, this was not designed to be a stimulus bill. this is not designed to be the end-all, be-all for how we move forward. it is targeted emergency relief. and what we were able to present on monday that i felt was so hopeful was not only the debate and the contours of a framework, but then to actually put that into legislative text, five or six inches of legislative language, a bill -- a bill for this body to consider. a path to move us forward at a time when it is so incredibly critical. also on monday we were met with hope because the vaccine, the long-promised vaccine that has come about in extraordinarily short order, historic efforts by so many to get the development to this point, to get the approval, the safe approval, and now moving forward to distribution. the headline in our largest newspaper yesterday was "morale gets boost as vaccine arrives." and, boy, do we need a morale boost. this is a dark time in alaska right now. the sun sets is about, oh, i don't know, maybe about 3:45 in the afternoon right now. so it makes for a long day. but we're used to long days because we know that in the darkest times of winter, there is going to come that time when things start to change and the days actually begin to get longer, the sunlight is with us more and more. and as alaskans are considering the very deep, deep economic strife that we are in right now, we know that there is light at the end because the vaccine is is arriving -- that's coming. but in the meantime, they need to get from now, from here to there. and so what we have outlined in this proposal, this bipartisan, bicameral proposal, is just exactly that. it's that lifeline that can get them from december to march, to april when hope really starts to return. so i know that there is a great deal that is being considered right now. as i've shared with folks, i say, well, we were able to advance the ball significantly with this effort that we have made. but when we presented that multi-100-page package to the public, to the administration, to leadership that basically said, here's a gift, take it. so it kind of lost ball control, if you will -- that's good, that's fine. that's what this process is all about. but i am just urging that we commit with every sense of expediency and urgency to do our business quickly and fairly with the politics aside because the last thing that folks back home need, whether it's in ohio or alaska, is to know that we might have wrapped up our business here and we didn't hear them, we didn't respond to their need; we left them hang ago. that's not -- we left them hanging. that's not an option for us. and that will not happen. we're all pledge that we'll resolve this before christmas or we're not going home. but we can do better than that. we don't need to draw this out. we have an opportunity, working together. so i encourage those who are negotiating, we have provided not only a template and a framework, but we have really given you considerable meat in terms of this legislation. my hope is that we're going to have good news very, very shortly that will allow us to not only -- to not only address the urgency in response to this covid pandemic but also be able to resolve our end-of-year appropriations and other matters that we have had working before this body. but as they say, we're running out of daylight, so let's get moving with it. and speaking of moving, i wanted to take a few minutes on the floor this afternoon to recognize a couple individuals who are moving on. we've heard some floor speeches in these past several weeks from colleagues who have been with us, some decades like senator alexander, senator enzi, some who were with us for not quite as long or, senator jones. we have had an opportunity to hear from them and to share our thanks. but i think we all know that as members of congress, members here in the senate, we're as good as our staffs. the staff who help guide us, who help give us the information, who work with us as we not only help to build policy but just kind of probe and develop and encourage us. the would, that our -- the work that our teams do for us is considerable, and it's appreciated. and we need to show that thanks and appreciation. and i want to talk about two gentlemen today. i want to start first with a longtime friend and a longtime member of the senate, a gentleman who has provided absolutely outstanding service to the senate and to the state of alaska, and that is brian hughes. an alaskan who has worked tirelessly for our state, and he has served as my staff director on the energy and natural resources committee for the past several years. brian has been here a long time. he's in my view kind of a fixture on energy issues, and many of you know him. but brian is going to be leaving on a well-deserved sabbatical when this congress adjourns. he says he's going to spend some time with his sister and his brother-in-law. they've got 4-year-old twins out in california. and i know he just dotes on them. i'm excited for his next steps. but he's going to figure out where he's going to be going next, taking a breather right now, which is important. but brian is one of those types of individuals that's very humble. he's always giving the credit to others, and i did not want brian's senate service to conclude without giving it and brian himself -- and brian himself the recognition that he has avoided for years. brian first came to the senate during his college years at washington state. his previous summer jobs were working up on alaska's north slope and on commercial fishing boats. and then in 2004, he qualified for senator ted stevens' intern program. i'm very familiar with senator ted's intern program because i too was an intern for ted stevens. brian was pretty much a standout, though. he was there not only once, but he participated with two successful intern summers. and then even before he finished up his studies in finance, senator stevens said why don't you just come back. and brian, with his characteristic generosity, skipped the fun of his final semester and returned instead to washington, d.c. to work full time here in the senate while finishing up his degree remotely it was true to form for brian because he's an extraordinarily hard worker. it wasn't only the alaskans, though, that recognized brian's talent. less than a year and a half after he had come back and with the blessing of senator stevens, senator domenici coached brian to work on the energy committee staff. i had the opportunity to work with senator domenici when i first came to the senate, and so first met brian at that time. but when brian came over to the energy committee with senator domenici, he pretty much has gone through just about every job on the committee. he took a brief time out in 2012 to serve as a speechwriter for senator romney's presidential campaign. other than that, he's been there throughout. and every step of the way brian has distinguished himself as an original thinker, a voracious reader. i don't know where he finds the time to do all the reading that he does on top of the work that he does. i think he does not sleep. but he is an eloquent writer and a versatile high achiever. so when i had the opportunity then in 2017, it was pretty much a natural and an obvious pick to appoint brian as a staff director for the energy and natural resources committee. and during brian's tenure, we've had some pretty considerable and notable successes, some victories that i will look back on for a long, long time. the efforts that he led relating to development and conservation of our natural resources, modernizing america's energy laws. brian oversaw the staff work leading to enactment of the dingell act. he helped ensure that a talented group of nominees were confirmed to their posts in the executive branch. he was also very key, very central to the small in our team who drafted the legislation to open up alaska's 1002 area to responsible oil and gas development. and as we are working to conclude the business here in the congress, knock on wood, brian will be able to add the energy bill to his list of accomplishments as we seek to close that out. this is something that we've been working on in the committee now for over a dozen years, to update and to modernize our nation's energy policy. and i am pleased to be at this point and to know that it will be brian that will be bringing it home for this energy bill. although brian has a list of legislative and administrative wins that speak for itself, his true gift, his talent is his writing and story telling. for years now when anybody on the energy staff is writing a particular document, they take their best work, but they won't just end it there. they go to brian. and every time without fail he will take their work and he'll move it to the next level by adding what they call the brian gloss. usually driving home the point more effectively. and he throws in an anecdote, a funny story, a joke, whatever, but it is just the brian gloss. brian's got a little bit of a sense of humor. as i said, he works real hard, but he doesn't let the seriousness of the work take over. we were working on a, on an energy bill back in 2016, and we had been on the floor for a couple of weeks. there was an amendment that was pending for a voice vote, and it had to do with wild horses. and just prior to the vote, brian and i were talking back in the cloakroom, and he jokingly says to me, he says, you know, when the yeas and nays are called you should say neigh like a horse. of course you're not going to say that on the floor of the senate. then when it comes down, the yeas and nays were requested. i don't know where it came from but i literally blurted out neigh without realizing my microphone was on. i was leading the bill there. the whole chamber heard it. i turned beet red, looked straight back at brian who was sitting back with several other staff, just laughing. yeah, brian, thank you for that one. i know that i'm going to be looking back very fondly on the time that brian has spent with my team. in part, that will be because brian exemplifies three principles to which congressional staff who excel consistently adhere. the first is that staff must be well prepared, honest, and straightforward. and i've always, always been able to count on brian to just be straight with me. shoot me straight. he knows the facts, good and bad. he shares them no matter what. second is that you have to work hard and treat everyone on both sides of the aisle with respect and fairness. and i think brian's successes are the direct result of many strong relationships that he has forged even as he has relentlessly pursued his long list of to-dos. everyone recognizes that brian is one of those guys, he's a workhorse. he's not a show horse. and finally, the best staff discharge their delegated authority wisely and to good effect. and brian really takes that to heart. he constantly reminds those around him that only senators are senators, even if sometimes people would have it otherwise. i have been fortunate enough to be on the energy and natural resources committee since i came to the senate 18 years ago. best committee out there. i've been privileged now to chair this committee for six years, and prior to that i was privileged to be the ranking member on that committee for six years. everybody -- everybody on that committee works their tails off. they are hard workers, they're an extraordinary team. but i think that that work ethic is set, is set by our staff directors. and i've been so blessed to have staff directors that show and model that work ethic, and brian has done that over the years. so whether on a late night or an early morning call, on pending legislation, a trip to check up on our volcano monitoring systems, brian has been there at my side as an indispensable aide and an inspiration, i think, to all of his colleagues. he really is one of those extraordinary staff who's helped me refine my thinking, hone my voice, multiply my strengths, overcome my weaknesses and really help to serve the people of alaska and our country. so, brian, i want to say a very genuine and sincere thank you for the years that you have devoted not just to me, but the years that you have devoted to the senate, the years you have devoted to our home state of alaska and to the nation. i hope that rather than being up at 2:00 a.m. and trying to resolve a scoring issue, the only things that are keeping you up at night will be the yellowstone super volcano and your little niece and nephew. we're going to miss your leadership, wit and friendship. i speak for so many here in the senate when i wish you a well earned break and a confident and a bright future. so i've been blessed to have extraordinary leadership on the energy and natural resources committee, and i'm going to miss brian and so many of the team. i'm not leaving the energy and natural resources committee, but i maxed out, i termed out in terms of chairmanship or ranking member. it's a different place for me. i'm going to still be involved with so many who continue to do good, strong things in the energy front. another individual who came to me through the energy front, if you will, is a gentleman by the name of michael palowsky. most of you who know me and know my chief of staff don't know my chief of staff's name is actually michael palowsky because nobody refers to him as that. they refer to him simply as fish. no last name. just fish. and i think that's actually somewhat appropriate for my office, where we celebrate a lot of good things with fish. i was fortunate to be able to share some fillets of salmon with some colleagues as christmas appreciation. and i say nothing says thank you more than a fish. and this is now my opportunity to say thank you to my fish. fish came to washington, d.c., back in 2015 when we brought him on to the energy and natural resources committee. again, all good things come through e.n.r. we brought him back to be senior policy advisor in 2015, and he served in that capacity until i brought him over to be my chief of staff in 2016, and he has served me there, here in my personal office since that time. but fish is an alaskan through and through. his family has lived in alaska for five generations. he was raised in anchorage. he has worked for multiple state legislators. he has worked in our state government. he has worked on budget and energy policies. he was a deputy commissioner of revenue. he has worked to help build out so many different energy projects -- the alaska l.n.g. project. he served on the a.d.a. board, the alaska energy authority. he has been involved in so many different aspects of what is making our state move that when he first agreed to come back to washington, d.c., i figured i'd be able to keep him back here for just a couple years. somebody with this much potential, somebody with this much on the ball, how was i possibly going to be able to keep him here? i figured out how to do it. just make sure that he gets back to alaska for work throughout the summer so that he can do the fishing that he really, really wants to do, first and foremost. but that's just the human personal side of him. what fish has not only provided me is a view towards relationships and how we operate in business, in professional relationships here in the senate, working with different offices. he has worked to build relationships because he truly and genuinely cares about the people that he's talking with. he's genuinely interested. he has taken upon himself the mentoring of our youngest staff, more particularly. in the order that we have in many of the offices, you've got levels of seniority, and oftentimes the younger staff, those who may have just graduated from college that come to washington,d.c., they may be answering phones, they may be answering letters, but they don't feel like they have a real say in what's going on with the decision-making and kind of out of the loop. and fish decided that he was going to bring them in to the loop with what he called morning standups. and they were designed for the young legislative correspondents , and come in and we'll tell you what's going on. you can ask questions. we'll talk about process, we'll talk about issues. they were not a required meeting, but more informational. i think now everybody comes to the morning standups -- he is respected within thes to discommunity, the native community, the political types. he has -- he has become viewed as one of these guys, if you want to talk about proposals where you are looking to bring republicans and democrats together, fish is it. fish is part of those discussions. he is engaged with the bipartisan chiefs. he works to build those relationships across the aisle. not because he's looking for something, but because he knows that's how we're going to get something done, and when we can get something done that benefits alaska, it's ultimately going to benefit all. he is a brilliant thinker. i mean, just a brilliant thinker with a strategic mind. he's one of these guys who can come up with things i swear nobody else has thought about. i was reading an article, this is something that was published a few years ago. by a -- by a former mentor and this is from lynne halson and it provides a quote from fish talking about his education background from alaska pacific university. and he says i've learned to think strategically in a way that is unique and invaluable and allowed me to do anything from developing financing to developing multimillion dollar deals. the -- this goes on to say that fish has the temperament to be in the middle of a highly charged and polarized arena and emerge unruffled, extremely well informed, trins -- when i think about how fish will take an idea, whether is it from a constituent working on the 2016 tax bill and to provide assistance to -- to our native corporations to be table to better utilize their -- their resources, really brain storming to come up with -- with what we now have in law that is referred to as settlement trust. fish is one of those individuals who you know his mind is just on fire all the time but he doesn't -- he doesn't present as i have the best idea and you need to listen to me. he takes the good from so many. he -- he builds and uplifts and empowers, and that's good leadership. that's management. fish gets frustrated every now and again because not everybody communicates the way that he does, not everybody is the relationship builder, and he'll say, pick up the phone. just go talk to the person. this building isn't that big. put your device aside don't send a text, get up from your desk and go and talk. that may be old school, but let me tell you it's worked extraordinarily well for this man. i mentioned that fish's passion is fishing, thus the name. he likes to spend a lot of quiet time -- quiet time on the river just out where it's cold and it's clear or it's wet and you're with the water and you're with the fish and i think it gives him a lot of time -- a lot of time to do some just deep, deep thinking. he collects his thoughts. he's able to process and to really dream. and so that when he's -- when he comes back to the real world where it's busy and loud, he's got this reserve within him that he draws on and it helps -- it helps him present these ideas and the vision that he is able to articulate. but like all good alaskans, we seem to find our way back home, like a salmon returning to its stream and fish it going to be returning. i have no doubt he will continue to do great things for the people that he loves and i think he knows that we love him and we're going to miss him as we will miss brian hughes, as we will miss so many great colleagues that will be leaving us at the end of this year. but i've taken time on the floor today to recognize some of those individuals who make us as members stronger and better able to do the jobs that we do. so, with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so here's where we are, mr. president. conversations are still under way and making progress on the major pandemic relief package we've all been seeking for the american people. as i've been saying, families across the nation have waited far too long already for another significant dose of assistance. we must not slide into treating these talks like routine negotiations to be conducted at congress' routine pace. so we need to complete this work and complete it right away. that's what i've said. the senate is not going anywhere until we have covid relief out the door. we're staying right here until covid relief is out the door. in the meantime, we're going to stay productive while these negotiations are going on, so for the information of all my colleagues, we should expect continuing votes on nominations throughout the weekend. we'll continue accomplishing other aspects of the people's business -- confirming well-qualified nominees to important posts -- until we can act on the major rescue package the american people deserve. i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 895. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion to proceed. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. thompson michael dietz of new jersey to be a judge of the united states supreme court of federal claims. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of thompson michael dietz of new jersey to be a judge of the united states court of federal claims, signed by 17 senatorsals follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session and consider calendar number 912. -- 712. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, federal communications commission, john chase johnson of oklahoma to be inspector general. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of john chase johnson of oklahoma to be inspector general, federal communications commission, signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 904. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of transportation, eric j. soskin of virginia to be inspector general. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture to motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of eric j. soskin of virginia to be inspector general, department of transportation, signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. er if officer without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 757. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, tennessee valley authority, beth harwell of tennessee to be a member of the board directors. mr. mcconnell: i ssents a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of beth harwell of tennessee to be a member of the board of directors of the tennessee valley authority, signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 758. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, tennessee valley authority, brian noland of tennessee to be a member of the board of directors. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of brian noland of tennessee to be a member of the board of directors of the tennessee valley authority, signed by 17 norse as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 836. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, farm credit administration, charles a. stones of kansas to be a member of the board of directors. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of charles a. stones of kansas to be a member of the board of directors of the federal agricultural mortgage corporation signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 591. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. fernando l. aenlle-rocha of california to be united states district judge for the central district of california. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of of the rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of fernando l. aenlle-rocha to be united states district judge for the central district of california signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i yield the floor. mr. kennedy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth and for young adults age 10 to 34. it's also the second leading cause of death among college students. 39%, in fact, of college students experience a significant mental health issue, and 50% of mental health issues begin by age 14. 75% of them, mr. president, begin by age 24. senators cornyn, jones, warren , gillibrand, rosen and i have introduced the improving mental health access for students act. there is companion legislation in the house, mr. president, that is also bipartisan that has 51 cosponsors. our legislation is pretty simple. it would require colleges that participate in federal student aid programs to share contact information for suicide prevention resources with their students. and this is how it would work, mr. president. if a university distributes student i.d. cards -- most do. not all do, but most do. then the universities would be directed to include the phone numbers for the national suicide prevention lifeline, for the crisis text line, and for a campus mental health center or program on the student i.d. card. if a university doesn't have a student i.d. card, they don't have to print -- rather publish a student i.d. card just for that purpose. they can put the information on their websites. the national suicide prevention lifeline is well known, mr. president. it's a national network of over, i think, 180 local crisis centers. those centers provide confidential emotional support to anybody in a suicidal crisis or emotional distress. they offer 24/7 services. those services are free. i will also point out, mr. president, that our legislation is sponsored by the american foundation. it's also supported, i should say, by the american foundation for suicide prevention, the american national alliance on mental illness, the national association of school psychologists, and 14 other mental health-related organizations. our legislation, mr. president, finally, would not take effect until one year. so i don't want anyone to think that we're requiring our colleges to go out and immediately publish new student i.d.'s. they would -- as they publish new student i.d.'s when the current year runs out, we're just asking them to include this information on those i.d.'s. toward that end, mr. president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on help be discharged from further consideration of our legislation, s. 1782, and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 1782, a bill to add suicide prevention resources to school identification cards. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mr. kennedy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. kennedy: mr. president, i know of no further debate on the bill. the presiding officer: is there further debate on the bill? if not, the question is on passage of the bill. all those in favor say aye. those opposed no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill is passed. mr. kennedy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, the end of each congress we have the bittersweet task of saying good-bye to some of our retiring colleagues, and today i want to talk a little bit about our departing members of team texas. when i came to the senate, succeeding senator phil gramm, senator kay bailey hutchinson, always schooled us that on team texas and said we may be democrats, we may be house members, we may be republicans, we may be members of the senate, but when it comes to texas, we are all part of team texas, and i tried to carry that tradition on as well. our delegation is losing six incredible statesmen, including three ranking members in the house whose contributions have notched countless wins for our state during their time in congress. the first name i want to mention is mack thornberry. he is the dean of his delegation. his district is the second largest in texas and comprises parts of 41 counties, from dallas, across wichita falls, am reallia, and most of the -- amarillo, and they could not ask for a stronger advocate than mack. his background as a rancher, former capitol hill staffer, worked with the reagan administration, which then brought him to congress with a well-rounded view of the problems facing our country, he possessed the leadership characteristics needed. he fought to rein in government spending. as the presiding officer knows seems like a futile task. and he consistently fought to protect our freedoms an liberties and ensure that all texans have a shot at the american dream. we worked together many times over the years on everything from protecting the property rights for those along the red river and naming a courthouse after mary lou robinson. some of his greatest accomplishments related to our national defense. mack served on the house armed services committee throughout his time in congress and became the first texan of either party to chair that committee. he views this important and powerful post to ensure that our service members have what they need to defend our freedoms abroad and the training and the equipment to make it home safely. he's done a lot, more than most, to improve military readiness, including through needed improvements at our texas military installations. i remember visiting shepherd air force base in mack's district with him a couple of years ago and being taken aback by the appreciation of the airmen we encountered who knew of mack's incredit advocacy on his behalf. the national defense authorization act that just passed both chambers of congress carry his name, the mack thornberry national authorization act. there could not be more ways than anyone who improved our great country. so i want to thank mack for his incredible leadership as well as his service and friendship over the years. the halls of congress won't be the same without him, but i know he's eager to spend more time with his wonderful wife sally and the rest of his extended family. mack aspired to do what we all do, and that is to leave congress better than he found it and i thank him for all texans for being the true patriot that he is. as we like to say, everything's a little bit bigger in texas than the rest of the country and that's true not only of mack's district but also the largest congressional district represented by another one of our departing colleagues, will herd. will is a former c.i.a. officer when he was elected to the house of representatives in 2014, and one texan aptly observed, he's been running a marathon like a sprint for seven years. i think will's last congressional race he won by 900 votes in this sprawling border district. his expertise is in cybersecurity as well as intelligence matters. he helped steer our efforts to bolster our national security, counterterrorism and strengthen our intelligence community and capacity. his district includes 800 miles of our southern border. he has been a strong advocate for our border communities. we worked on cross-border trade and ensuring communities along the border are safe and prosperous. we've also been working together on establishing a national museum of the american latino here in washington. and i hope we'll be able to push this authorization bill over the line here in the coming days. unlike some folks you meet in washington who seem to be all talk and who never seem to listen, will understands the importance of sitting down for a conversation with his constituents and actually listening to what they have to say. he launched the highly popular d.c. to d.q. tour where he met with constituents at dairy queens in his district in only five days from health care to education to veterans' affairs, texans can sit down with the congressman and talk about the things that counted the most in their lives and things they would like to see him pursue here in washington, d.c., on their behalf. i hate to think how many blizzards will ate during that time, but he ensured the people of texas 23rd were truly heard here in congress. last year will and i took part in san antonio's martin luther king march. he happens to be the only black republican in the house of representatives, and become a trusted voice for those whose experience and ideas are too often overlooked or underrepresented. that's been especially true over the last several months when we've had honest national conversation about racial reconciliation and injustice in this country. and i know he'll continue to use his voice as a force for good long after leaving congress. will's been a steady hand in reminding our colleagues like the good policies should always come before partisan politics, and it's fair to say we need more leaders like that in congress these days, not fewer. i'm grateful for his friendship and service to our country and i know this isn't the end of the road for will herd. i'm eager to see where his next career takes him and i'll be happy to cheer him along the way. mr. president, much of the area that's sandwiched between mack's and will's two districts is it represented by another retiring member of our delegation, mike mike conway. mike served our country in the army and was stationed at fort hood, but he made his way to the basin and built a career in the private sector before getting involved in politics of during 16 years in congress, he represented the folks of texas 11 and burned the candle at both ends in the process of doing so. mike is a man of faith. believes in the right to life and is an advocate for a strong defense and has been a champion for our nation's veterans. his background as a c.p.a., we could use a for more of those, maybe a few less lawyers, but his background as a c.p.a. has helped drive debates on our spending habits and i know his expertise in this area will be deeply missed. at the top of his mountain of achievements are those for our farmers and ranchers. he authored the 2018 farm bill which provides the support, certainty and stability for our farmers that they need in order to operate in a modern economy. this legislation strengthened crop insurance, created seed cotton eligibility for the farm bill safety net and helped with cattle tick fever and other risks. it would have been hadder for farmers and ranchers to make it through these times but a -- the halls of congress will not be the same without him but mike's contributions, his leadership and devoted service will never be forgotten. i know he and his wife suzanne are eager to spend more time at home with their extended family and i wish them a happy and well-deserved retirement. well, it seems like we've got a lot of texans leaving the congress, and one of those is kenny marchin. kenny's a genuine statesman. quiet but serious and effective and he's devoted almost his entire career to public service. he started out on the carlton city council and then became mayor and then spent nine terms as a state representative and finally eight terms in the u.s. house of representatives, and he proudly represents north texans, and has for the last four decades of. as a member of the ways an means committee he played an integral role to keep taxes down including in the tax cuts and jobs act in 2018, which was part of the spur of our great economic growth leading up to the pandemic. he's been a staunch supporter of efforts to reduce government waste and ensure congress is a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars. he fought for service members, veterans, and for a strong national defense. as the top republican on the house ethics committee, kenny's helped strengthen transparency and public confidence in our government and there couldn't be a more important time for such a lot ofy goal. -- lofty goal. i know he is eager to spend more time at home with his wife donna and kids and grandkids, most of the children are grown now but the number of grandkids seem to be increasing at pace. we wish him the best in the next chapter. mr. president, the house will lose a true class act and the epitome of a self-made success with the retirement of congressman bill flores. at 9 years old, he tended the cattle in the texas panhandle and hasn't quit working since. he is a ninth generation texan. and you'd be hard pressed to find a more deeply divided district than texas 17, and i don't mean divided in terms of politics or geography. you've got the aggies, the bears, and the longhorns, three of texas' fan bases squeezed into one district. ever the diplomat, bill considers himself tripartisan, although he is aning ay, he will -- aggie, he has cheered for the other teams. we teamed up on legislation to designate the whacko mammothite. we renamed the waco veterans veterans' affairs system after doris miller and we attended the long overdue purple heart ceremony, honoring those from the fort hood attack to give the heroes the recognition they deserve. he has been an advocate for our free enterprise system. i want to thank him for his service to our state and nation and wish he and gina the best in the next chapter of their lives. finally, mr. president, i would say last but certainly not least is my friend, my former chief of staff and proud representative of texas 22, pete olson. as the old saying goes, pete wasn't born in texas, but he got there as fast as he could. his family moved from washington state to texas when pete was only 10 years old. he grew up in seabrook, he went to rice for undergraduate degree and went to u.t. for law school and hardly left the loan star state until he enlisted in the navy. he flew missions all over the world. he was brought to the senate as a naval liaison. he worked for fill graham, my predecessor and had a stellar representation likely due to his neaf days of -- navy days of making the ships run on time. he served as my first chief of staff for several years and made it back home to texas before making his own run for congressional office. his district is literally one of the most ethnically diverse in the state and one of the most diverse in the country. pete has consistently prioritized connecting with folks of different backgrounds and cultures to learn about the challenges they are facing and figure out how to leave positive changes in congress. pete has been a reliable hand during some of our toughest times. following the deepwater horizon accident, pete and i flew several hours into the gulf of mexico to a drilling rig rooted in 9,000 feet of water to learn more about the rigors of working on offshore rigs. after hurricane harvey, pete and i joined team rub i con to join veteran volunteers -- rubicon to join veteran volunteers to muck out some of the people in the houston area. we fought to get the funding to rebuild after hurricane harvey. it was common then to see pete around capitol hill with a houston astros jersey over his dress shirt to draw attention by any means whatsoever to the need for additional funding for folks in his district and folks in that region. it's safe to say that pete olson's presence has been a constant throughout my time here in the senate, and i will miss having him across the dome. like the others i've mentioned, i know pete is eager to spend more time at home in sugarland with his wife nancy and his extended family, but i hope he knows how much we will miss him in congress. so, mr. president, if it isn't already obvious, the texas delegation is losing some truly outstanding members, and our new additions will have some big boots to fill, but i just want to tell you how much i appreciate the opportunity to express my gratitude to each of these six outstanding congressmen for their friendship and service to our state and wish them and their families well as they take on new challenges ahead. mr. president, i yield the floor and i'd note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

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