A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the interment in national cemeteries under the control of the National Cemetery Administration of individuals who served in combat support of the Armed Forces in the Kingdom of Laos between February 28, 1961, and May 15, 1975, and for other purposes.

Mr. President, yesterday I came to the floor to address remarks made by the majority leader. Just yesterday the majority leader came to the floor and said the Republicans were ``going quiet'' on health care. Senator Reid said ObamaCare is no longer high on the Republicans' radar screen. Yesterday I said that it was certainly still very high on my radar screen and that Republicans have every intention of continuing to focus on the Democrats' health care law and all of its harmful side effects.

Americans all across the country have been feeling those damaging side effects of the President's health care law, and the side effects are getting worse. Hard-working middle-class families who didn't want this health care law in the first place are facing higher premiums. They are facing smaller paychecks. They are facing fewer jobs, fewer doctors, and many other problems as a result specifically of the President's health care law.

Today I want to talk about another side effect of the law; that is, the millions, if not billions, of taxpayer dollars that have been absolutely wasted by bureaucrats who set up State health insurance exchanges that have failed. Under the health care law, States could choose to set up their own exchange or to use the Federal exchange. States got Federal grants to help plan which one they would do. If a State decided to set up its own exchange, it got even more money from Washington to cover the costs.

So how much money are we talking about? Well, according to the Congressional Research Service, the Federal Government has awarded grants of over $7.4 billion as of this March.

People all across the country know the Federal exchange was an absolute train wreck when it was launched. In one State after another, the State exchanges also have been collapsing and costing taxpayers a fortune. Now some of those States have absolutely given up. They have decided they want to scrap their own systems and go into the Federal exchange after all--an option they had at first, but they decided to go first to the State exchange and now it has failed. What they have done is they have spent a lot of taxpayer money--money Washington sent to them. Where is the money? The money is gone. Their system doesn't work, and now what they want to do is have a fresh start.

President Obama says Democrats should forcefully defend and be proud of the law. I want to see where the people are now coming to the floor to forcefully defend and be proud of this health care law.

I ask the President--is he proud that these ObamaCare exchanges are failing all across the country? Are Democrats who voted for this health care law ready to forcefully defend all the taxpayer dollars that we now know have been wasted? Democrats don't want to talk about the law's expensive side effects or about the Americans harmed by the law.

Republicans have been offering solutions. Today Senator Hatch and I are introducing legislation that would address these State failures and protect taxpayers. After all, that is what Americans want. They want accountability for their hard-earned taxpayer dollars. This bill, called the State Exchange Accountability Act, says that if the State got Federal money to set up its own exchange and later decided to give up and move back on to the Federal exchange, it would have to pay back the money. It is that simple. Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay twice for the mistakes of incompetent State bureaucrats who couldn't set up a working health care exchange. States would have 10 years to pay back the grants. They would have to pay them back in full. I know State budgets are tight, so they wouldn't have to come up with the whole amount all at once. They would pay back 10 percent of the total each year for the next 10 years. These States that walk away from their exchanges are conceding that they wasted the money they received, and it is only fair that these States should repay the American taxpayers.

The failure of these exchanges and the money squandered on them was a side effect of the health care law. Democrats told States they could set up these exchanges and Washington would pay the bill. So some States didn't really care what it cost. They didn't care if the work was being done well or even done at all. As far as they were concerned, don't worry, whether it works or not it is somebody else's money.

Well, this bill I am introducing today tells these State bureaucracies that it is time for them to care about the money they have wasted. This won't fix all of the harmful side effects the Democrats created with the health care law, but it is a start, and it is the right thing to do.

If you want a sense of how big the problem is, look at an article that ran in Politico on Monday this week. The headline is ``Four States in a Fix Over Their Troubled Exchanges.'' The article talks about four State exchanges

that basically embraced ObamaCare: Massachusetts, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon. It says that these four State exchanges spent at least $474 million and ``are now in shambles.''

Look at it--Maryland, $118 million; Massachusetts, $57 million; Nevada, $51 million; for Oregon, $248 million of taxpayer money from around the country was sent to Oregon for programs that are now in shambles. So now some of these States want even more money to fix what has gone wrong in the first place.

According to Politico, Maryland spent $118 million to set up its own exchange, and State officials did such a bad job that they are now planning to scrap the whole thing and use software from Connecticut's exchange. Massachusetts spent $57 million. Politico called the program in Massachusetts ``fatally crippled.'' Nevada spent $51 million. Politico says salvaging that exchange ``would be a huge feat.'' Oregon spent $248 million to set up its own exchange. It was such a spectacular failure that CNBC ran a headline on May 5 stating ``FBI probing Oregon's ObamaCare exchange.'' The FBI is probing the exchange. The State plans to use the Federal exchange from now on, getting rid of their State exchange. That is the kind of double-dipping our bill goes after.

Why should Democrats in Washington, DC, be telling taxpayers across America that they have to pay for the failures of State officials in Massachusetts, Nevada, Maryland, Oregon, and other States that may find themselves in the same situation?

Democrats have said and the President continues to say that he wants everyone to have a fair shot. Are Americans from other States who have to pay higher taxes because of these failed exchanges getting a fair shot? Well, they are not.

Our bill will start to give a fair shot to Americans who don't want to pay twice to bail out incompetent State bureaucrats. It will give a fair shot to Americans who want to reclaim some of their hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

This is just one of many ideas Republicans have offered and will continue to offer to create a patient-centered approach to health care. The plans we have offered will solve the biggest problems families face, which is the cost of care and access to care, problems that seem to have been ignored when Democrats forced this law through Congress. That means measures that would allow small businesses to pull together in order to buy health insurance for employees. Small businesses deserve a fair shot. It means letting people shop for health insurance that works for them and their families--not what the government says is best for them but what they say is best for themselves and their families. People deserve a fair shot at buying a plan that is best for themselves and their families. It means adequately funding State high- risk pools that help people get insurance--people who have disease, people who are sick--without raising the costs for healthier people. These are just a few of the solutions Republicans have offered and continue to offer to give Americans real health care reform and a real fair shot, health care reform that gives people the care they need from a doctor they choose at lower costs, without all of the harmful and expensive ObamaCare side effects.

Mr. President I have come to the floor today to reintroduce a piece of legislation that I feel is long overdue. The Hmong Veterans' Service Recognition Act is a bill to authorize the interment in national cemeteries of Hmong veterans who served in support of U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. Thousands of members of the Hmong community fought for America during Vietnam yet they enjoy no rights as veterans. The Hmong veterans are requesting to be buried in national cemeteries and I, along with a bipartisan group of colleagues, Senators Franken, Klobuchar, Feinstein, Begich, Whitehouse, and Pryor, believe this is an appropriate honor.

To preserve Laos's neutrality during the Vietnam War, the U.S., Soviet Union, North Vietnam, and ten other countries signed the 1962 Geneva Declaration prohibiting all foreign military personnel from Laos. While the U.S. and other countries withdrew all military personnel, the North Vietnamese Army blatantly violated the Geneva Declaration by keeping thousands of troops in Laos. Using Laotian territory to circumvent borders, these NVA forces posed a direct threat to America's military position in South Vietnam. Unable to be present in Laos, but needing to counteract the NVA, America required a covert military force. The Hmong were ideal candidates for America's secret war--they were renowned as being brave fighters who knew the rocky mountain terrain of Northern Laos well.

All told, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency conducted covert operations in Laos which employed some 60,000 Hmong volunteers in Special Guerilla Units. The Hmong Fighters interrupted operations on the Ho Chi Minh trail and assisted in downed aircraft recovery operations of American Airmen. In Laos, they valiantly fought the Vietnamese and Laotian Communists for over a decade and were critical to America's war efforts in Vietnam. In all, over 35,000 Hmong lost their lives by the end of our involvement in Vietnam.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, thousands of Hmong and Lao families have resettled around the United States to become legal permanent residents or United States citizens and have greatly contributed to American society. There are currently over 260,000 Hmong people in America. According to the 2010 Census, the heaviest concentrations are in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, Oregon, and my home State of Alaska.

Of the Hmong who became U.S. citizens, approximately 6,000 veterans are

still with us today, and they deserve the choice to be buried in national cemeteries. This concept is not without precedent. Currently, burial benefits are available for Philippine Armed Forces veterans who answered the call to serve during World War II, just like the Hmong. This legislation would not grant the small group of Hmong veterans full veteran benefits, but would simply authorize their interment in national cemeteries across the Nation. A small, but deserved token of appreciation and an appropriate honor for their sacrifices towards a common goal of democracy and freedom in the world.

This new legislation is improved from the previous version, S. 200, in that it connects with Public Law 106-207: The Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act of 2000 which acknowledges Hmong Special Guerilla Unit's contributions during Vietnam and provides a path to validation of a Hmong veteran's service for the purpose of naturalization. Public Law already recognizes the service of Hmong Special Guerilla Unit veterans for the purpose of naturalization, so it is a natural connection to afford them burial rights as well.

Hmong-Americans who fought and risked their lives in secret for America deserve the same public respect and honor we give the men and women they served with and rescued. I believe it's time to honor the service and sacrifice of Hmong Special Guerilla Unit Veterans by allowing them to be buried alongside their brothers in arms in our national cemeteries. Again, I appreciate the support of my colleagues from across the aisle for this legislation and look forward to working with them and others in the Senate to finally getting this approved into law this year.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, Senator Crapo and I would like to introduce the Youth Careers in Logging Act. Small family logging companies, much like family farms, rely on younger family members to help make their companies successful. The agriculture industry enjoys exemptions from child labor laws to allow for family members to learn the trade and carry on the family business. This bill will provide those same benefits for the logging industry.

The logging industry is struggling to recruit young employees. This industry, like many others, has an aging work force that will soon retire. Modern mechanized machinery opens up opportunities for a new tech-savvy generation of loggers if we give them the chance.

There are 400 independent logging contractor businesses in Idaho, most of which are family owned and operated. Current labor laws do not allow the children of these family owned businesses to work and learn in the same profession as their parents.

Should the Youth Careers in Logging Act be enacted, starting at the age of 16 young adults will be allowed to operate safe and modern machinery. These young loggers will help Idaho and the country to create healthy, fire resilient forests and bring much needed natural resources into our marketplace to help make paper and build homes.

By passing this legislation, Congress can help young adults earn good wages through hard work in the great outdoors that will create a generation of young Americans that understand the value of a great work ethic.