February 24, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 36 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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EXECUTIVE SESSION; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 36
(Senate - February 24, 2020)
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[Pages S1096-S1103] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] EXECUTIVE SESSION ______ EXECUTIVE CALENDAR The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the following nomination, which the clerk will report. The senior assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Robert Anthony Molloy, of the Virgin Islands, to be Judge for the District Court of the Virgin Islands for a period of ten years. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania. Black History Month Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I rise today to celebrate Black History Month and to pay tribute to Pennsylvanians whose work has made a real difference in our Commonwealth. This year we will honor three individuals who have dedicated themselves to uplifting the lives of others. We know that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said: ``Life's most persistent and urgent question is: `What are you doing for others?' '' For purposes of today's remarks, I will substitute one word. I will substitute the word ``children'' for the word ``others'' and ask: What are you doing for our children? It is an important question, not only for those of us who gather for Black History Month today and to celebrate this month, but it is also an important question for every Member of Congress to ask themselves. This year we are going to honor these three Pennsylvanians: Kathy Elliott, Rosemary Browne, and Ellyn Jo Waller. All three have dedicated their lives to answering this urgent question and to building pathways toward hope for children in their communities. I can think of no calling more important and no mission more essential than this one: to help our children. It is an honor for me to have the privilege to recognize these remarkable Pennsylvanians. They are beacons in their communities, and they are each, in their own way, an inspiration to me in my work in the Senate and, I know, to the work of our staff as well. American children face a crisis created by policy choices made by adults over now several decades. Despite low unemployment and overall economic growth, children are being left out and left behind. Almost half of young children in the United States of America live in poverty or near poverty, with infants and toddlers at greatest risk. [[Page S1097]] Nearly half of children live in those circumstances. According to the Census Bureau's ``Supplemental Poverty Measure,'' which takes into account many of the government programs designed to assist low-income families and individuals, childhood poverty worsened--worsened--in 2017 for the first time since the Great Recession. Poverty harms children both immediately and for a lifetime, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine concluded in their 2019 seminal report, ``A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty.'' They found that poverty itself, especially when it occurs in early childhood or is persistent over time, is damaging to children in ways that last a lifetime. Specifically, the report finds the following--and I am quoting the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine: ``We find overwhelming evidence . . . that . . . a child growing up in a family whose income is below the poverty line experiences worse outcomes than a child from a wealthier family in virtually every dimension, from physical and mental health, to educational attainment and labor market success, to risky behaviors and delinquency.'' This is a crisis of untapped potential opportunities. It is a crisis, as well, of contributions not made. When a child faces needless obstacles to becoming the person he or she might become, it is a profound tragedy that affects all of us because we are denying not just that child but also that family, that child's family, their community, and our country the contributions that child could make if we were investing in that child. Over time, corrupt forces have perverted the basic notions of freedom while creating a society that works for corporate interests rather than our children's best interests. Freedom, as we know, is not simply the right to be left alone. Real freedom must include the opportunity--the affirmative ability--to achieve one's dreams. A country that claims to support the freedom of its people must provide opportunities to its citizens. For example, in his second inaugural address, President Obama said the following: We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other . . . these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. They don't make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. President Obama was right, and he knew then that there were and are today extraordinary people across the country who are working to give our children the opportunity to achieve and grow and contribute so much to our Nation. Today I will speak about three women who are doing this work in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: first, Rosemary Browne of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. For over 35 years, Rosemary Browne has been a leader in South Central Pennsylvania. During that time, she has held a number of critical roles in both the government sector and the nonprofit sector. She is currently the President and CEO of Alder Health Services, the mission of which is to improve the health and well-being of persons living with HIV/AIDS and members of the LGBTQ community in a culturally competent, affirming, and empowering environment. The agency provides behavioral health, primary care, case management, wellness services, HIV/STD testing and treatment, family planning, and a host of other programs. Critically, Alder Health provides a safe haven for LGBTQ youth, and we know that significant progress has been made in advancing the rights of LGBTQ individuals. However, the progress has been uneven, and we are still falling far short, for example, in serving transgender young people, especially transgender young people of color who face disproportionally higher rates of suicide and violence. Alder Health, under Rosemary Browne's leadership, has played an indispensable role in helping us better understand the challenges of LGBTQ adolescents and providing them with the services they need. In 2018 Rosemary was appointed to Governor Tom Wolf's Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs, the first-of-its-kind statewide commission in the Nation. Rosemary's work at Alder builds on her primary work at the Highmark Foundation, where she led efforts to address emerging community health challenges and to make sure that uninsured and underserved populations in South Central Pennsylvania had the attention and the services that they needed. In this capacity, she spearheaded efforts to address bullying in our schools and our communities as a public health problem and also provided leadership on a strategy to reduce childhood obesity through school and community-based partnerships. Prior to her work at Highmark Foundation, Rosemary spent a decade at the Foundation for Enhancing Communities as a program officer and then director of programs and community investment, where she oversaw tens of millions of investment in community services and tuition assistance, giving hundreds of area college-bound students the opportunity to pursue higher education. Over her career, Rosemary Browne has heeded the call of service and lent her considerable passion and expertise in many different capacities. Whatever the role, the work has been the same: putting a spotlight on the needs of the underserved populations--LGBTQ youth, girls of color, and other underserved populations who lack access to healthcare, higher education--and always--always--helping them to obtain the services they need and to remove the obstacles that stand between them and their full potential. Service has always been a part of Rosemary's work, believing, as she does, that we are given resources and influence not for ourselves but for others. Also, like Rosemary Browne, Dr. Kathi Elliott's career has been defined by her service to others and to the children and young people of Pennsylvania. In this case, in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Kathi came to this work naturally, having had those values instilled in her by her late mother, the former police commander of Pittsburgh, Gwen Elliott. We have had South Central Pennsylvania with Rosemary Browne. Now we are in Southwestern Pennsylvania with Dr. Kathi Elliott. Kathi's mom, Gwen, the late police commander, was herself a trailblazer and someone whose story also should be told. We don't have time for two stories in one family today, but I will tell part of Gwen's story as well. Gwen was one of the first African-American women officers in the Pittsburgh Police Department, joining the department in 1976 and eventually rising to the rank of commander. In 2002, Gwen founded Gwen's Girls, an organization dedicated to empowering girls and young women through holistic, gender-specific programs, education, and experiences through after school--school and community-based programming throughout the communities in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Gwen's Girls has grown to provide service throughout the region with sites in Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg, and Clarendon, PA. Given her mother's leadership, it is no surprise that Dr. Kathi Elliott has demonstrated the same commitment to and passion for leadership, development, and empowerment of girls. Prior to accepting the position of CEO of Gwen's Girls in 2015, Kathi spent years providing leadership in social service, community, and individual mental health treatment. Kathi began her career as a victim advocate at the Center for Victims, working mostly in the juvenile justice space. She also remains a practicing psychiatric nurse practitioner. In that capacity, she provides psychiatric evaluations, medication management, and clinical consultation services and treatment at the VA of Pittsburgh--their outpatient mental health clinic. Dr. Elliott completed dual master's degrees in nursing and social work from the University of Pittsburgh and earned a doctor of nursing practice degree from Chatham University in 2014. Through Dr. Elliott's leadership, Gwen's Girls has become recognized as a frontrunner in the integration of evidence-based, clinical prevention and intervention policies and practices that enhance the child and social welfare system. [[Page S1098]] Gwen's Girls convenes an annual equity summit for Black girls to address the racial and gender biases that exist within the juvenile justice, health and wellness, child welfare, and education systems. Dr. Elliott has also remained a constant leading force and convener of the Black Girls Equity Alliance--a collaboration of over 75 stakeholders committed to addressing systemic inequities in the juvenile justice, child welfare, education, and healthcare systems. Dr. Elliott currently serves on the board of trustees at Chatham University. In December 2017, she was appointed by Mayor Bill Peduto to serve as a commissioner on the newly formed Gender Equity Commission for the City of Pittsburgh. Our third honoree today, Dr. Ellyn Jo Waller, though she was born in Queens, NY, we are proud to call her a daughter of Pennsylvania. Many in Philadelphia know her as a member and a leader at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, as well as the partner, in both life and ministry, of Dr. Alyn Waller, senior pastor of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. Ellyn Jo Waller earned a bachelor of special education from Ohio University, a master of education in curriculum, instruction, and technology in education, and a doctor of education and curriculum, instruction, and technology in education, with an emphasis on literary education, from Temple University. Dr. Waller has devoted her passion and her time to promoting women's education and empowerment. She has especially devoted much of her time to combating human trafficking, both here in the United States and internationally. She is an active member of the Philadelphia Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition and serves as cochair of the religion subcommittee. In 2011, Dr. Waller founded She's My Sister, an anti-human trafficking ministry at Enon Tabernacle. She's My Sister works to ensure that the faith community in Greater Philadelphia is aware of the issue of human trafficking and also partners with the Greater Philadelphia Salvation Army on the issue of participating in street outreach, supporting and strengthening the drop-in centers, and advocating on behalf of victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. In October of 2015, under Dr. Waller's leadership, the ministry hosted its Inaugural Human Trafficking Awareness 5K Walk/Run to raise funds for a transitional residential program for young women exiting the life and aging out of the child welfare system. Internationally, Dr. Waller regularly participates in rescue and restoration efforts in Italy and South Africa. Dr. Waller also serves on a number of boards and provides community leadership in other ways. She is a member of the board of the City School in Philadelphia, on the advisory committee of the United Negro College Funds, Delaware Valley Women of Faith for Education annual luncheon, and is president of the Charitas Foundation, which is the philanthropic Waller family foundation established to positively impact the lives of individuals by sowing financial seeds into organizations that change lives through their missions. Dr. Waller has served on the Foundation Board of the Community College of Philadelphia since 2014 and currently serves as the president of the Foundation Board. Each of our honorees today--these three remarkable women--have worked tirelessly to ensure that our children can flourish and can fulfill their potential. When others may look the other way or even wash their hands of the solemn duty to help our children, our honorees have instead volunteered for service over and over again. To refer back to the first question I started with, ``What are you doing for our children,'' each of us has an obligation to answer that question. Each of our three honorees today have answered that question by devoting their lives to the urgent work of helping our children. These three remarkable women--all Pennsylvanians--have provided pathways to hope. For that, we owe them our deepest gratitude. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Abortion Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, this week, the Senate will vote on two bills that will protect our most vulnerable citizens--literally, our babies. The first bill we will vote on is the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which was introduced by our colleague from Nebraska, Senator Sasse. This legislation is simple and straightforward. It requires physicians and healthcare providers to treat babies who survive an abortion with the same lifesaving care that other infants born at the same stage receive. While you might be forgiven for wondering, why would we need such a bill; surely, that standard must already exist in our law--unfortunately, no. There are no Federal laws requiring healthcare providers to care for abortion survivors, just as they would for any other infant in their care. One of the most notorious reasons why we need this law sits in the Governor's mansion in Virginia. About this time last year, our country was shocked and outraged by comments made by Gov. Ralph Northam--a pediatrician, believe it or not--about what should happen when a baby is delivered and survives an abortion. He said: The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother. Rather than immediately doing everything possible to save the baby, to provide the same sort of care he would to any infant, he wants to sit around and decide whether the baby will live or die. That is not healthcare; that is infanticide. Voting for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act is how each Member of this Chamber can go on record to say they are against killing innocent babies. While some are desperately trying to paint this as an anti-abortion bill, which would infringe on women's reproductive rights, those claims could not be further from the truth. There is nothing in this bill about limiting access to abortion, no mention of first, second, or third trimester abortions, nothing about overturning Roe v. Wade. There is one goal with this legislation and one goal only: to give every baby a fighting chance. In a rational world, we wouldn't be having this discussion but would, rather, unanimously be condemning this practice for the evil that it is. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of the bill and, once again, vote to stop the practice of infanticide and protect babies who survive abortions alive. We will be voting on a second bill, which will provide protections for unborn children that are practiced in almost all of the civilized world. This is the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act that would make it a crime for doctors to perform abortions on unborn babies at or beyond 20 weeks. There is significant medical research that shows that unborn children at this stage experience pain. At 5 months into a pregnancy, these babies are beyond halfway to delivery. One of President's Trump's guests at the State of the Union a few weeks ago was 2-year-old Ellie Schneider--one of the youngest babies to survive in the United States. Ellie was born at 21 weeks and 6 days-- just 13 days beyond the point in time we are discussing. She weighed less than a pound at birth and is living proof of the medical achievements and advancements that have improved the chance of survival for extremely premature babies. Ellie and her mother Robin are an example of the impact this legislation would have on the lives of many Americans families. Unfortunately, just as our Democratic colleagues have tried to deceive the American people about the purpose of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, they are trying to mislead everyone about what this bill would do as well. First, this bill would apply only to elective abortions, not those involving rape or incest or where the life of the mother could be in danger. It in no way places the mother in legal jeopardy for seeking an abortion. It clearly and solely places responsibility on healthcare providers. [[Page S1099]] Passing this legislation wouldn't make the United States an extreme outlier when it comes to abortion practices. In fact, it would put us in line with international norms. Currently, only seven countries in the world allow elective abortions after 20 weeks. One, of course, is the United States. The other countries on the list should make all of us second-guess allowing abortions beyond 20 weeks--China, Vietnam, North Korea. Countries with a history of human rights violations are hardly the model we should aspire to. It is time to give every baby a chance to live and stop doctors from performing abortions on infants who feel pain. I am proud to be a cosponsor of both of these bills and stand with my colleagues in the fight for human life. Our friend from Montana, Senator Daines, established the first-ever Senate Pro-Life Caucus to fight for the lives of our most vulnerable citizens. A couple of weeks ago, he said: ``These back-to-back votes will present an opportunity for Senate Democrats and all of us to show the American people whether there are any limits at all to radical abortion extremism.'' We will soon learn the answer. I appreciate our colleagues--Senator Sasse, Senator Graham, and Senator Daines--for their leadership on this legislation and for consistently fighting for the most vulnerable among us. I will be a proud ``yes'' vote on both of these bills--yes to protecting newborn babies, yes to equal medical care for all infants, and yes to a fighting chance for all babies. Coronavirus Madam President, we are returning to Washington, DC, from time spent in our States. I was happy, for one, to get time to spend in Texas with constituents. I traveled the State, as I am sure many of us did, traveling from Midland, to Ft. Worth, to Corpus Christi, and a number of spots in between. Texas is a pretty big place, so it takes a little time to move around, but it is really great to be able to hear from the folks I represent--the folks we all represent--about what they care about the most. One of the most interesting things to me is how little they talk about what is talked about inside the bubble here known as Washington, DC. In San Antonio, for example, I met with State and local officials to discuss their growing concerns over coronavirus. Lackland Air Force Base is one of the designated locations where Americans evacuated from overseas with suspected exposure to coronavirus are being held under the first Federal quarantine in more than 50 years. Folks were naturally concerned about the fact that these evacuees were scheduled to be transported to local civilian hospitals for testing rather than remaining on the base where they are quarantined. In our meeting, we were able to speak with not only the mayor and two council persons, but we were able to speak with officials from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Defense Department about these concerns, and I am glad we were able to come up with a better solution. The Department of Health and Human Services has now updated their protocol to ensure that testing for coronavirus will be conducted at Joint Base Lackland's quarantine housing, so evacuees will not be sent to hospitals in the area for their tests. I appreciate my colleagues at the city who have been working overtime to keep their residents there safe. I am grateful to the administration for addressing our concerns and being responsive to those questions. On the very day we met, 90 evacuees were released from quarantine, and I am happy they are finally headed home. I am sure I am not as happy as they are after being quarantined. We owe a huge thank-you to the medical professionals who have and will continue to care for those in quarantine and to the Bexar County and San Antonio officials who are working to safeguard public health. Prescription Drug Costs Madam President, I traveled up I-35 and was in Ft. Worth at the Northside Community Health Center to hear about an entirely different healthcare challenge, which is high prescription drug costs. I met with local healthcare professionals, advocates, and patients to hear about their experiences with these rising costs, and I have introduced legislation to address them. For example, we heard from Randall Barker and his daughter Emma, who both have diabetes. They need insulin. They told me that one bottle of insulin costs upwards of $281. Randall continues to make sacrifices to afford the lifesaving drugs he and Emma need to lead healthy lives. As I mentioned, to address the high costs of prescription drugs, I introduced a bipartisan bill with our colleague, Senator Blumenthal from Connecticut, called the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act. The purpose of the bill is straight forward: to stop drug companies from gaming the patent system to keep their profits high. Patents, of course, are granted for scientific innovations in order to encourage more of them. What happens under the period of a patent is that whatever the item is--in this case, a drug--that company reserves the right to sell it exclusively, without any competition, in order to recoup its costs and incentivize innovation when it comes to these drugs. But when companies game the system by establishing patent thickets--multiple patents used to unfairly block competition--this prevents new drugs, as well as competing drugs at a lower price, from entering the market. For example, the most widely prescribed drug in America is called HUMIRA. It has more than 120 different patents, for no real purpose other than extending that period of exclusivity as long as possible to continue to make money. In Europe, there are five competing products, but in America, there is only HUMIRA. That is a patent thicket. That is gaming the system, and it is hurting American consumers. I appreciate the support from healthcare providers and advocates and patients I heard from in Ft. Worth. They encourage us to get our work done sooner rather than later. I have come to the floor twice and asked unanimous consent to pass the bill. It was voted unanimously out of the Judiciary Committee. The Democratic leader blocked it both times. I hope he will reconsider his position. I am sure his constituents in New York would like a little bit of a break when it comes to prescription drug costs. I happen to think it has to do more with the upcoming election than it does the merits of the legislation. E-Cigarettes Madam President, I traveled to a couple of other Texas cities, where I was able to talk to people about the rise of e-cigarette use, particularly among teens. In Corpus Christi along the gulf coast and in Odessa in deep West Texas, I met with a range of local officials, health professionals, and community advocates about the impact of teen vaping. One study found that in the Permian Basin, in the middle of the Odessa area, about half of high school students used e-cigarettes and 25 percent of them had vaped in the past month. This study found that in schools, the average age of first-time e-cigarette users is just 13 years old. E-cigarettes--even the closed systems, where you can't add other ingredients, like the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC-- even in the closed systems that are designed to deliver only nicotine, nicotine is an addictive drug. When children get access to these addictive drugs, it may well end up being a gateway to other use-- whether it is tobacco or other drug use--later in life. It certainly encourages them to remain a user of this nicotine delivery device. I have introduced legislation called the Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act, which would make it difficult for children to get their hands on these devices, particularly when they buy them over the internet. All it does is apply the same safeguards already in place for online purchases of tobacco--it applies that to e- cigarettes. Customers would have to verify their age at the time of delivery--a practice which, shockingly, does not currently exist. A recent survey published in the American Journal of Health Promotion found that 32 percent of underage e-cigarette users reported purchasing products online, making online sales the single largest source of purchases for underage users. We recently raised the age from 18 to 21 to get access to these e-cigarettes, but still, as these studies [[Page S1100]] indicate, use of e-cigarettes and vaping devices is epidemic in our middle schools and our high schools. It is dangerous to the physical and mental health of our children. That is something you would think we would be able to address. If we are going to turn the tide on e- cigarettes and prevent more young people from facing their deadly health consequences, passage of this legislation is a necessary first step. State Work Period Madam President, when I was home in San Antonio, I was able to help celebrate the investiture of one of our newest Federal judges, Jason Pulliam, who filled the vacancy in the Western District of Texas. Then I got to spend a little time in Midland with folks and talk about the importance of our oil and gas industry and why innovation in that space and concern about conservation and the environment were not mutually exclusive. At each step along the way, I was able to hear from countless other Texans about changes they would like to see coming out of Washington. They encouraged us to try to work together and avoid some of the partisan gridlock we have seen that characterized so much of the recent impeachment proceedings. It was a great week recharging at home. I came back ready to get back to work. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Veterans Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam President, the Disabled American Veterans is celebrating 100 years of helping military veterans, and I rise to recognize this remarkable occasion. Throughout its history, the DAV has been influential in identifying ways to best support our veterans--from pushing for the consolidation of veterans programs, in its early years, to direct outreach to veterans in communities with the launch of the Field Service Unit Program, to pressing for more funding for VA healthcare and benefits. There has been so much progress in advancing veterans services thanks to the DAV's efforts. The organization's members and partners have a lot to be proud of. DAV members have been leading advocates for injured and ill veterans and their families, which has made a difference for countless wounded warriors. The DAV's advocacy has helped and continues to build better lives for disabled veterans. We are thankful for the more than 1 million DAV members and auxiliary members who are doing great work to ensure our country keeps the promise we made to the men and women who have served in uniform. This week, members of the DAV Department of Arkansas are visiting the Nation's Capital to share the organization's legislative priorities for 2020. They are part of an extensive network that has been influential in identifying how the Department of Veterans Affairs can strengthen its services. They are among the DAV members from across the country who are in Washington, DC, to advocate on behalf of veterans. There is simply no substitute for coming to our Nation's Capital and visiting with Members of Congress to let them know of DAV's priorities. These include strengthening veterans mental healthcare and suicide prevention programs, improving benefits and services for women veterans and ensuring veterans who have been exposed to toxic substances receive full and timely benefits. The good news is we are working on these priorities because we all agree that our veterans deserve nothing less than quality care and the benefits they have earned. Last month, the Senate's Committee on Veterans' Affairs advanced the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act. This comprehensive legislation will strengthen our ability to provide veterans with the mental healthcare they need. It includes language Senator Warner and I authored to leverage the services of veteran-serving nonprofits and other community networks in our overall strategy to reduce veteran suicides. VA Ranking Member Tester and I are also working to improve services to our women veterans. Our Deborah Sampson Act legislation would eliminate barriers to care and services that many women veterans face and would help to ensure the VA could address the needs for women, which is so critical because they are more likely to face homelessness, unemployment, and to go without needed healthcare. We are pleased to have the support of the DAV for this important legislation. I am proud to cosponsor the Veterans Burn Pit Exposure Recognition Act, which would allow veterans who suffer from the effects of burn pits to get the benefits and services they have earned. I encourage my colleagues to support these bills so we can provide the resources that have been promised to our veterans. For years, the DAV members have supported the passage of the Blue Water Navy bill. Thanks, in part, to their advocacy, Congress approved this critical legislation last year that extends benefits to more veterans who were exposed to toxic chemicals during the Vietnam war. The DAV's attention extends beyond the Halls of Congress. Its National Service Program helps to direct services to veterans across the country. I applaud the efforts of the more than 11,000 DAV members in Arkansas whose outreach is helping veterans to understand and access their benefits. They have spent countless hours in advising fellow veterans about the assistance they qualify for and in helping them fill out the paperwork to secure those benefits through the VA. One of the well-known services provided by the DAV is the transportation of veterans to VA medical centers and hospitals. In rural States like Arkansas, the services these volunteers offer is critical to meeting veterans' healthcare needs. The Arkansas fleet is made up of 16 vans. Last year, more than 6,600 veterans were driven to medical appointments with the help of volunteers who logged more than 18,000 hours behind the wheel. I look forward to continuing to work with DAV members as Congress crafts and reforms policies to improve services for veterans and their families. This country made a promise to our veterans that we must live up to, and I am proud to join with the DAV to ensure we follow through on that commitment. In working together, we can find solutions and take action to deliver the results veterans have earned and expect. We will continue looking to the DAV to understand how we can improve the lives of the men and women who have served in uniform. As a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs and as chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees VA funding, I have seen the dedication of the DAV to support disabled veterans in Arkansas and across the country. I am proud to recognize the DAV on its 100 years of engaging veterans, in its advocating to advance benefits, services, and care, and in its making a positive difference in the lives of veterans and their families. Remembering Charles Portis Madam President, on a separate subject, I also pay tribute to an Arkansas veteran who is one of the State's most famous sons--literary icon Charles Portis. Mr. Portis, the author best known for his 1968 Western novel ``True Grit,'' passed away on February 17, 2020. Born in December 1933, in El Dorado, AR, Portis spent his childhood in southern Arkansas. He enlisted in the Marine Corps and served as an infantryman and, during the Korean war, reached the rank of sergeant before his discharge in 1955. Following his military service, he attended the University of Arkansas and wrote for the student newspaper, the Arkansas Traveler. He graduated from the university in 1958 with a degree in journalism. After graduating, Portis began his career as a reporter. He first worked at the Arkansas Gazette and then at the New York Herald Tribune. Though he voluntarily ended his journalism career in 1964, he used the skills and tools he had acquired as a reporter when he returned home to Arkansas to begin writing fiction. His most celebrated work is the Western classic ``True Grit.'' This book chronicles the efforts of a Yell County [[Page S1101]] teenager, Mattie Ross, along with U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, to avenge the death of Mattie's father at the hands of a drifter. The novel incorporates distinct references that are familiar to many Arkansans, and it depicts life on the frontier in what was then the wild, wild West. It was later adapted into film in 1969 and 2010. While it is his most well-known work, Mr. Portis also wrote four other novels and several shorter works of fiction and nonfiction. During his career, Portis was honored with the Oxford American's first Lifetime Achievement in Southern Literature award and was presented with the Porter Prize's 30th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Award. ``True Grit'' has been praised as ``one of the great American novels.'' I take this opportunity to say how proud we are of Charles Portis and his legacy as an acclaimed writer and storyteller. My thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family as they remember and reflect on his life. I hope they find comfort in the fact that Mr. Portis has left a profound, lasting mark on Arkansas, as well as within our Nation's culture and literary traditions. Charles Portis had a remarkable career that will be remembered for a long time to come. I wish to honor him and his loved ones today and help to celebrate his life. On behalf of all Arkansans, we celebrate Charles Portis and his notable contributions to our State. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas. Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I am pleased to have arrived on the Senate floor just a bit early to have heard the Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Boozman, pay tribute to the DAV, Disabled American Veterans, and I very much want to join in his comments. I will also take a moment to thank him for his continual service for veterans, not only for those of Arkansas but of our Nation, and to recognize that he and I, since our days in the House of Representatives, have worked together on veterans' issues and both now find ourselves in positions in the hopes that we can do even more. To Senator Boozman, I say thank you for his continued efforts in making sure that all who serve our Nation have a better future and that the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as the American people, do everything they can to make sure that what they are entitled to they will receive. So I thank the Senator from Arkansas. Tribute to Kent Cornish Madam President, I come to the floor to congratulate and pay tribute to a Kansan, Kent Cornish. He is retiring as the President of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. He has spent the last 40 years in the broadcast business and the past 12 at the KAB in his advocating on behalf of broadcasters across our State. His dedication to making certain that rural communities in Kansas have access to quality broadcasting programming is a testament to his commitment to rural America at large. I, in particular, find that very pleasing as we know how important broadcasting is--local broadcasting in particular--to the future and well-being of the citizens of Kansas and, particularly, to those who live in our smallest communities. Kent is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and effective advocates for broadcasting in our State and around the country. He has been a leading voice in Topeka and Washington, DC, and is someone whom I hold in high regard. Kent is a native of Topeka who dedicated his life to broadcasting at an early age. With dreams of becoming a sportscaster, Kent attended the University of Kansas, where he earned a degree in journalism. He later attended Washburn University School of Law. After joining his hometown station, WIBW, as an intern, Kent worked his way up through the ranks to become a news reporter, anchor, and, eventually, an assistant news director. He also spent time at WDAF in Kansas City and later returned to WIBW. He left the station in 1980 and turned his attention to sales. He served as executive director of the Kansas Manufactured Housing Institute, but he could not keep his passions in the background. He left that job to return to broadcasting. Four years after leaving WIBW, he rejoined the station at which he would ultimately be named program director and operations manager. He later took over as general manager of KTKA, in Topeka, and eventually moved to Wichita to manage two television stations. After having spent decades running broadcast stations that Kansans from all over our State have relied on for both local and national news, he became the president and executive director of the Kansas Association of Broadcasters in 2008. Kent has had a long and successful career. He has earned esteemed awards, including the Grover Cobb Award from the University of Kansas. He has also served in numerous leadership capacities, including as the former president of the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations and as the former chairman of the Greater Topeka Chamber of Commerce and of the Topeka Community Foundation. Kent has been a powerful voice in the Nation's Capital for critical Federal policy, all framed in the larger lens of improving communities' access--people's access--to quality broadcasting. Like the rest of us from rural States like Kansas, Kent knows how quickly these communities can be forgotten and has always been determined to ensure access to local information, news, and weather. I am proud to call Kent a friend, and I look forward to seeing where his life now takes him. We meet many people in the business that we are in here in the U.S. Senate and in politics in general. Kent is one of those whom you appreciate from the first day you become acquainted with him. He is straightforward and honest and tells it like it is. He is there to be supportive but is there to provide the necessary information for me and others to make the best decisions, not just on behalf of broadcasters but for those they serve in their communities. I add my voice to the well-deserved praise that he has received and will continue to receive. Congratulations and thank you to Kent for all his work. On behalf of Kansas broadcasters, you are highly regarded by them and their listeners. Your efforts have benefited Kansans and have improved our Nation. You will be missed at the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, but I have no doubt you will continue to make your community a better place. I look forward to many more years of friendship and working together on behalf of Kansans, and I thank you for your friendship and for all you have done to make our State a better place. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Boozman). The Senator from Arkansas. Abortion Mr. COTTON. Mr. President, this week the Senate has another chance to vote on basic pro-life protections for babies, both born and unborn. This week we have another choice to live up to our Nation's highest principle--that every person has the right to life--or to stoop down to a narrow vision of humanity peddled by the abortion industry and its cronies. The first bill we are considering--the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act--would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, when there is clear, scientific evidence that these young babies can feel pain in their mother's womb. The abortion lobby and all of its defenders will dispute this science, claiming that babies or fetuses--which is the euphemism they like to use for babies--can't feel pain at all or at least until the very latest stages of pregnancy. Anyone pedaling that myth must have never visited a neonatal intensive care unit, or the NICU, as they are usually called. Ask any one of those NICU nurses who cares for little preemies, even micro-preemies, and they will tell you how they can hold that small infant sometimes even in the palm of their hands, and they can see it grimace at a poke or a prod, maybe even slap away a tube or a needle as they approach--just as older kids do, just as some grownups do. The undeniable fact of fetal pain in these young babies influences every aspect of how we care for the young in our hospitals. We swaddle them with only the softest fabrics because their little bodies are so easily stimulated. We give them pain medicine during surgery, whether they are in the womb [[Page S1102]] or outside it. But we offer no such comfort during abortions, even in the latest stages of pregnancy, when abortionists crush a baby's skull and dismember it. Indeed, a scientific paper published earlier this year in the Journal of Medical Ethics noted a curious fact: Abortion is the only--the only--invasive procedure performed on unborn infants without pain medication. Then again, abortion is unusual in so many ways, as so few hospital procedures are designed to end a life, not to save a life. Are we comfortable with this state of affairs? Are we comfortable with the fact that more than 11,000 abortions were performed after 21 weeks when, again, we have clear, scientific evidence that these babies feel pain and that many of them could survive outside their mother's womb? I would suggest the American people are not comfortable with this situation, and we can do something about it in the U.S. Senate this week. The second bill we are voting on, called the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, is even more modest but perhaps even more urgent. This bill would simply protect babies when they are born alive during an abortion. I know it is amazing to even hear this, but there are rare and horrible cases in which babies are intended to be aborted, yet they are born alive, and the doctors are under no obligation to provide medical care for that young baby with a spark of God living in its soul. So this bill would simply obligate abortionists to render lifesaving medical care to a baby struggling for life on the operating table. It would require abortionists to act as those babies' friends and their doctors, consistent with their oath--not act like the baby's mortal enemy. Of course, the abortion lobby will tell you: Oh, this never occurs. All of their defenders in the media will say that it never occurs. But if you are being honest, the facts are, they do occur. The implication here is clear. They simply want us to look away from this horror. That doesn't mean we should, though, because, in fact, we do know--we do know--that babies can survive abortions. We have the numbers to prove it from a handful of States that require abortionists to confess when they fail to kill a baby in the mother's womb and, instead, murder it on the operating table. In Florida, 11 babies were born alive during abortions in 2017; another 6 were reportedly born alive in 2018; and another 2, last year. There were 19 precious little babies born alive during abortions in just 1 State in just 3 years. Other States have reported dozens more cases. Still, the abortion industry will dismiss these lives as a mere rounding error: Let's not even focus on it. It is not a serious matter. But forgive us if most Americans see the matter differently. These are precious little children, made in the image of God and endowed by him with the same worth and dignity as you and me and all of us. We have a duty to these little children. We have a duty not to look away from them. These pro-life bills are modest and humane. They have the strong support of the American people--clear majorities. But the real reason we must protect these babies is not because it is popular but because it is right. Every human being is created equal and deserves recognition and protection under our laws. It says so right in the preamble to our Declaration of Independence. Our country doesn't always live up to that noble principle. But right now we have an opportunity to live up to it just a little bit more, if only in just a few more cases--but those cases in which life is most vulnerable and most innocent. So I urge my colleagues to seize this opportunity and protect life by acknowledging the humanity of these precious little children. We must not look away any longer. I yield the floor. Recognition of the Minority Leader The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized. Coronavirus Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, well, the World Health Organization has now reported that there are 79,000 cases of coronavirus across at least 30 countries, with at least 53 confirmed cases here in United States. As the virus continues to spread, the global economy is already beginning to suffer. All of the warning lights are flashing bright red. We are staring down a potential pandemic, and the administration has no plan. We have a crisis of coronavirus, and President Trump has no plan, no urgency, no understanding of the facts or how to coordinate a response. We must get a handle on the coronavirus and make sure the United States is fully prepared to deal with its potentially far-reaching consequences, but the Trump administration has been asleep at the wheel. President Trump, good morning. There is a pandemic of coronavirus. Where are you? Where is your plan? It is just amazing. As the crisis grows and grows, we hear nothing. Coronavirus testing kits have not been widely distributed to our hospitals and public health labs. President Trump's State Department overruled the recommendations of the scientists in the CDC and allowed infected passengers from a cruise ship to be flown back into the United States. Amazingly, at a time when we know that these pandemics can spread, this administration cut the CDC--the agency in charge of fighting these global viruses--with a 16-percent senseless cut to its budget. My fellow Americans, that is what they do on all these things. They just cut, and then the President tries to claim credit after we restore the money. He did it in his State of the Union. He was claiming, because of his great work with NIH, we are curing cancer. He has cut the NIH every budget, including this one. It is a disgrace how this man can say one thing and do another and confounding that it doesn't catch up with him with too many Americans and none of my colleagues on this side of the aisle, and it is probably, right now, most dangerous and most egregious when it comes to coronavirus. It wasn't just that the President cut CDC last year. It follows years of drastic cuts to the global health division at CDC by the Trump administration. In 2018, CDC was forced to reduce the numbers of countries it operated in from 49 to 10. That is how bad it is. We have crises, and we have a world that is different, and this administration, instead of stepping up to the plate, runs away, listening to the clarion call of the far right: Just cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, no matter how it affects people. In 2018, even worse, President Trump ordered the National Security Council to scupper its entire global health security unit and asked the Department of Homeland Security to do the same. We don't have epidemic teams in the National Security Council or DHS. I hope and pray to God that corona doesn't spread here, but if it does, we have been inadequately prepared because of President Trump's lack of leadership, lack of understanding science, lack of ability to listen to experts and do something about them instead of being concerned--it seems all the time--with his own ego. The President has not even taken the simple, sensible step of designating a single official to lead response efforts. In 2014, President Obama made the smart decision to appoint Ron Klain to lead an interagency response to the Ebola outbreak. But President Trump, in contrast, has hollowed out so many agencies that one of the key figures responding to coronavirus is Ken Cuccinelli, an immigrant hard-liner with no experience in public health. Unbelievable. A man totally unprepared for coronavirus, an ideologue--a rightwing, nasty ideologue who has spent his career kicking around immigrants--is now in charge of our fight against coronavirus. This is after the President cut CDC, eliminated the global health security units in Homeland Security and at the NSC, and we are in trouble. President Trump has not only failed to marshal a capable domestic response to the coronavirus; he has been slow to take action to confront the virus abroad. We all know that the best thing to do is to stop it from spreading abroad before it spreads to these United States. Of course, the President--ego above anything else--has been afraid to criticize President Xi or the Communist [[Page S1103]] Party of China for silencing dissent and obscuring the truth about the coronavirus--where it originated. When China obscures the truth, it puts Americans in danger. Where is President Trump's voice? The videos emerging from behind the Chinese Communist Party's internet wall show Chinese people pleading--pleading--with the international community to expose the scope and scale of this epidemic. The response so far by the Trump administration is exactly what happens when science skeptics with alternate facts try to run emergency response that requires expertise, planning, knowledge, money, cooperation, and science-based actions. But being anti-science is not just rhetoric. It hurts us. It hurts every American in many ways, and that is what President Trump and his administration do, and our Republican colleagues just blithely go along. After months of tiptoeing around the Chinese Communist Party, after 3 years of cutting funding for our epidemic response programs, President Trump simply has left the United States unprepared to confront a possible epidemic like corona. I will have more to say this week about what the administration must do to right the ship. National Defense Mr. President, on another front, again, the frustration of how this administration has conducted itself is unprecedented. I know some of my colleagues like to say that it is just like Obama. It isn't even close. Here are some more examples, unfortunately, on the trampling of the rule of law in this country. Emboldened by the refusal of Senate Republicans to hold him accountable in his impeachment trial, President Trump has been interfering with the Justice Department and retaliating against officials in his administration who dare testify truthfully before Congress. In the short week that we have spent in recess, the President has managed to plunge our country even deeper into chaos and certainly has shown the need for having a trial during impeachment with witnesses and documents, getting the truth and not rubberstamping President Trump's behavior. The President continued to purge his administration, firing officials who refused to pledge allegiance to the President over their allegiance to the Constitution. The President classified Bolton's book in another blatant attempt to cover up the facts. This is what dictatorships do-- dictatorships. They say something is classified; they hide the truth. It is a disgrace. The President continued to abuse the pardon power, in one instance commuting the sentence of a notoriously corrupt former official without rhyme or reason. Maybe most egregious of all, the President, angered that the Director of National Intelligence had the gall to conduct a bipartisan briefing for the House Intelligence Committee on foreign interference in our elections, replaced him with a political lackey--a yes-man as the head of DNI, where truth needs to be spoken probably more than any other place in the government. He has no experience in the intelligence community and is simply known as an acolyte to President Trump. With each of these actions--I hate to say it, but it is true; any objective person will know--President Trump brings our Nation closer and closer and closer to a banana republic, a government not of laws but of one man, a government where officials are asked to swear loyalty not to our country or the Constitution but to the President himself, a country where truth is obscured or covered up or deemed fake simply because it is not flattering to the President and is not what he wants to hear. President Trump's decision to dismiss the DNI Director, the Director of National Intelligence, is particularly pernicious. Our intelligence community is an institution that is supposed to report on threats to our country with accuracy, without regard to politics, to speak truth to power, to protect us. For the President to install a yes-man at the top of the intelligence community, to politicize a part of our government designed to be apolitical, to so debase the morale of the brave men and women in the CIA and the NSA, many of whom risk their lives for our safety, is a disgrace. There are media reports that our intelligence community has found that Putin continues to engage in activities to influence the outcome of our election. That is reportedly what former DNI McGuire's team was briefing Congress about. So today, along with my Democratic colleagues on the Banking and Foreign Relations Committees, I am sending a letter to Secretary Pompeo and Secretary Mnuchin urging them to impose new sanctions on Putin and his cronies using existing sanctions authority. They have it; they can do it. Let me repeat that. The Trump administration has broad authority to impose sanctions for meddling in our elections. It does not need new legislative tools or approval. Our message is clear: Secretary Mnuchin, impose sanctions now. No one on the Intelligence Committee, Democrat or Republican, has disputed that Russia is attempting to interfere in our elections. Most say Russia has already started to do so. So this should be an easy, bipartisan effort. We are being attacked today in real time by foreign adversaries. This is not about party politics. It is not about what Trump doesn't want to hear. The Russians wanted him to win in 2016 and in all likelihood will want him to win in 2020. It is about the oath we swear to defend our Republic. Americans--I don't care what their party, what their ideology--if they start believing our elections are not on the level, this democracy will be in big trouble. I hope my Republican colleagues will join us. The administration could impose sanctions tomorrow, and it should. A repeat performance of 2016--another campaign of foreign influence in our elections--is perhaps the greatest threat to our democracy. The Founding Fathers thought so. Read what James Madison said. We demand that Secretary Pompeo and Secretary Mnuchin identify and target all those determined to be responsible for ongoing election interference. Anything less would be an abdication of their responsibility, their sacred, solemn responsibility to protect and defend the United States from the serious threat to our national security and the integrity of our electoral process. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine is recognized. ____________________
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