A resolution notifying the President of the United States of the election of a Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the Senate.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 368, S. 2262, the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency legislation.

Following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, the Senate will be in morning business until 5:30 p.m. this evening. At that time there will be up to two rollcall votes, the first on confirmation of the Moritz nomination to be United States Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit, and the next on confirmation of the nomination of Peter A. Selfridge to be Chief of Protocol with the Department of State.

Election of Andrew B. Willison

Mr. President, I now send a resolution to the desk and ask unanimous consent that it be considered.

This resolution, sponsored by Senators Reid of Nevada and McConnell, is important.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

I send two resolutions to the desk and ask unanimous consent for their immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to en bloc, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, just moments ago we passed a resolution appointing Drew Willison as the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate. The importance of this appointment cannot be overstated. While Senators and their staffs come and go, the office of the Sergeant at Arms provides much needed stability to support this great institution.

To put things in perspective, Drew Willison is only the 39th Sergeant at Arms in the entire history of the Senate. That is 230 plus years. By contrast, there have been 1,950 Senators who have served in this body since its inception.

As the Senate Sergeant at Arms, Drew's duties include the security and safety of the 6,500 Senate employees, as well as the millions of visitors who come to the Capitol each year. Drew's predecessor, Terry Gainer, did a phenomenal job as Sergeant at Arms, and Drew is left with his big shoes to fill. Terry Gainer was not a partisan, nor is Drew Willison. That is how this office should function. I know he is up to the task.

As Booker T. Washington said, ``Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.''

Even though Drew did not seek this position, it has come to him because of his hard work. He will thrive in the Sergeant at Arms office because of his work ethic. I know because I have witnessed his work over the years. He first came to my office a long time ago, in 1997. He was a fellow for the Environmental Protection Agency. His talents were seen very quickly by me and my staff. So then, rather than going back to the EPA, he became a member of my personal staff. Again, his talents were recognized immediately. I decided it would be important that he move to the Appropriations Committee. He became the chief clerk on our Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and did a remarkably good job.

I mention his nonpartisan approach to what he did. During those years of his working for me--I can't speak for when he was there after I became inactive on that Appropriations Committee--but while I was there those many years--I was either the chairman or the ranking member of that committee for years. The person opposite me was Pete Domenici from New Mexico. It didn't matter who the chairman was, quite frankly. We worked so well together in those days when we worked together. We would finish the energy and water bill on the floor in one day. We would bring it out of committee and finish it in one day. We worked together. Drew Willison was the chief clerk, and when he wasn't the chief clerk, he was the second in command--whatever that is. We just breezed through that subcommittee--billions and billions of dollars, the safety and security of the nuclear arsenal we have, and so many different issues in that subcommittee that were important to the country, as they are today. But now we can't even--we have such difficulty at getting a bill passed. We did it then in one day--in just a few hours many times.

So Drew is really a talented man. He is a very quick learner. Everyone who has worked with him over the years came to the realization very quickly: Tell him what you want him to do; he did it with a smile, he did it well, and he did it right.

During my tenure with this good man, now the Sergeant at Arms, his talents were invaluable to the success of my office. For 5 years he has been the Deputy Sergeant at Arms. He has been Chief Gainer's right-hand man, and that is an understatement. He has done such a remarkably good job because of his hard work and his diligence. In the process, he has helped make this Capitol a better and safer place to work and to visit.

Now, as the mantel of leading the Sergeant at Arms office falls to him, I have no doubt that he will, once again, prove himself.

The Senate and the many people who visit and work in the Capitol are in good hands with Drew Willison at the helm. I wish him the very best. All I say to Drew Willison is to continue to be the person he has been and he will be a success as the Sergeant at Arms.

National Travel and Tourism Week

Mr. President, this week is National Travel and Tourism Week. As a Senator from Nevada, I know how important the travel and tourism industry is to this Nation. Las Vegas alone attracts more than 40 million visitors each year, and 8 million come from across the globe. All told, travel and tourism generates $45 billion in revenue for the Las Vegas economy while employing 400,000 Nevadans.

This industry's impact is not unique in Nevada. People go to the Presiding Officer's State of Maine year-round. It slows down a little in the wintertime, but people go there year-round because of the beauty of the State of Maine. I have only been to Maine on one occasion, but I went as a tourist. I wanted to see that beautiful State, and I was able to do that. It is the same in virtually every State in America. Tourism is the No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 driving economic influence of every State.

So recognizing Travel and Tourism Week is more than just simple talk; it is important to do that. Annually, travel and tourism contribute more than $2 trillion to the national economy. It supplies 15 million jobs to Americans, and these are jobs that don't ship overseas. In fact, tourism is the Nation's No. 1 export.

While it is important to recognize National Travel and Tourism Week, just mentioning the industry's strength is not enough. As with any profitable business, investment helps. It will do the same in tourism, and we have proven that over the last few years.

A small investment in travel and business does great things for America. As I recall, there were about five filibusters we had to overcome on this legislation, but we did overcome them, and we finally passed it in 2010. President Obama signed this into law. It is called the Travel Promotion Act.

After we passed the law, this entity was led by a man named Stephen Cloobeck. Stephen Cloobeck is a businessman, and he has been a successful businessman. He is now extremely successful in the time- sharing business and in other areas. But he was really a good leader of that entity when it was first created, and that wasn't easy. There were a lot of bumps in the road. But being the exceptionally good businessman that he was and is, it worked out well. His leadership was phenomenal.

In countries all over the world, Brand USA--that is what it is called, Brand USA--advertisements come at no cost to the American taxpayers, and these entice foreign travelers to visit America.

By any measure, the Travel Promotion Act has been an incredible success. But don't take my word for it. An independent analysis found that Brand USA helped to generate more than 1 million new visitors to the United States, and it is only going to get better. Those international visitors spent $3.4 billion last year. Increasing international tourism and visitation to the United States creates jobs. On average, our international visitors stay longer in our Nation's hotels and they spend more money in our stores and restaurants than domestic travelers. One out of every four visitors who come to Las Vegas comes from outside the United States. Nearly 20 percent of all visitors, which is obvious from those numbers I just gave, come to Las Vegas from abroad.

So it is clear that Brand USA is helping our Nation's tourism industry, and it is helping our Nation capitalize on this growing market of tourism. That is why the Senate passed an immigration bill that is currently stuck in the House of Representatives. This legislation includes a permanent reauthorization for the Travel Promotion Act and Brand USA.

Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has so far refused to take up an immigration reform bill. We did our work, and it was led by four Democrats and four Republicans. The four Democrats: Senators Schumer, Durbin, Menendez, and Bennet; the four Republicans: Senators Rubio, Flake, McCain, and Graham. They did good work. It could not have been done without them.

Our Nation's travel industry, though, needs us to do more. Recognizing the importance of tourism, it is so important we proceed and help the tourism industry by passing the immigration reform bill.

I mentioned the good work done by these eight Senators. The current

president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and former chairman of the U.S. Association--his name is Rossi Ralenkotter--has stressed the need for investment in our Nation's infrastructure.

As we invest in airports, rail, and roads--we certainly do not do enough, but when we do, we are effectively opening this Nation's doors to our visitors. By providing safe, efficient travel for tourists, we can also ensure that the American travel industry has a reliable flow of business.

Our commitment to bolstering tourism must amount to more than just concrete and metal. We must ensure that not only do we invite people here--and they come from across the world--but that we are also facilitating their arrival and their departure.

In the Senate immigration bill we make it easier for tourists to come to America by increasing the number of Customs and Border Patrol agents who process international visitors. We hope as tourists from foreign nations become more comfortable with traveling to the United States they will do so more frequently.

We are fast approaching the anniversary of the immigration bill's passage in the Senate. Yet this bipartisan bill sits idling in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and the Republicans seem to be content to continue to ``idle,'' a code word for doing nothing.

There are many urgent reasons we must pass the immigration bill and travel promotion is one of them. We cannot be content to do nothing in promoting the United States to the world because ultimately travel promotion is job promotion. It is about creating jobs. It is about growing our economy. It is about keeping the United States competitive in the world travel business.

So this week as we consider the incredible impact of travel and tourism on our Nation's economy, I invite my colleagues in Congress to continue to invest in this vital industry. If we are successful, we will make sure America remains the ultimate tourist destination for decades to come.

I see on the floor the distinguished senior Senator from Minnesota. Her work on getting this Travel Promotion Act passed was superb. Her efforts continue to make sure it is working well in the immigration bill. No one has helped more than the senior Senator from Minnesota. She is a good legislator, and she has proven that to me many times. Her work on this legislation reminds me how tenacious she is.

Mr. President, I would like to thank the leader for his superb leadership on tourism. Anyone who represents the State of Nevada understands how important tourism is to our States and to our country. The leader knows it is not just about Las Vegas, it is also about places such as the Mall of America in Minnesota or all of those great bed and breakfast and fishing operations in the States of Maine or Arkansas or Missouri.

Senator Blunt is the lead Republican head of this bill, along with myself, and we now have 26 authors on the reauthorization of the Travel Promotion Act, Brand USA; in addition, of course, to the immigration bill, which would allow us to not just reauthorize the Travel Promotion Act but also the JOLT Act, which creates all kinds of new ways to add more jobs to America by speeding up the visa process, by creating some more visa waiver countries and other things.

We will be talking more about that later.

Nigerian Schoolgirls Abduction

Today I am here on a very important matter. I rise to discuss the outrageous abduction of 276 schoolgirls by the terrorist group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria. Now we have reports that these schoolgirls, some as young as 15 years old, are being sold into forced marriages with militants.

I know this sounds like something that might be in some kind of a late-night movie or in a strange book, but in fact this happened. This happened this last month, that these 276 schoolgirls were abducted from their school by a terrorist group in Nigeria.

With Boko Haram's leader now appearing on video vowing to ``sell them in the market,'' let's call this what it is: one of the most brazen and shocking single incidents of human trafficking we have seen in recent memory. As Secretary of State John Kerry said this weekend, it is ``not just an act of terrorism. It's a massive human trafficking moment and [it is] grotesque.''

This heinous crime demands that we take action immediately to help bring these girls home to their families and bring their kidnappers to justice. This is a test of our own country's commitment to fight human trafficking and modern-day slavery, and we must step up and help Nigeria with this challenge.

On the night of April 14, a gang of heavily armed militants attacked the dormitory of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, a town in Nigeria's Borno state. They shot the guards, loaded 276 girls into trucks, and drove them away into the forest.

That was 3 weeks ago today, and since then there has been disturbingly little action to find these girls and to get their captors. Local police say around 53 of the girls have escaped, but that still leaves at least 223 held hostage in the hands of Boko Haram. That is almost as many people as were aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. That was 239 passengers and crew, which we all know about and is a horrible tragedy and the subject of intense media coverage and a massive international search, costing tens of millions of dollars. But I have a feeling many people who are watching this right now or who are in this Chamber probably have not even heard about these girls in Nigeria.

In Nigeria no one seems to know where these girls are, and until this past weekend no one seemed inclined to do much about it. The most determined pursuit of the kidnappers had come not from the Nigerian military but from the families of the abducted girls. Some of the family members, armed only with bows and arrows to fight terrorists armed with assault rifles, rode into the forest on motorcycles to try to find their girls. That is the best the world could do so far and that is shameful.

Now the situation is more desperate than ever. The girls are reportedly being married off or even sold for as little as $12 to be wives to Boko Haram militants. Just this morning a video surfaced featuring a man claiming to be a Boko Haram leader, taunting Nigeria and the world with this shameful statement claiming responsibility for the attack. He said this:

I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by

Allah. There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I

should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I

sell women.

That Boko Haram would target these girls is actually not a surprise. The group's very name means ``Western education is sinful,'' and it systematically targets schools and kidnaps and kills children, especially girls, who are guilty of nothing more than seeking a better life for themselves through schooling.

The Nigerian Government estimates the group has destroyed over 200 schools. In February, 59 students were shot and hacked to death at the Federal Government College in the nearby town of Buni Yadi. The government had actually closed the schools in the region in the face of these ruthless attacks.

But these girls wanted to go to school. They wanted to get an education. Their school, which had been closed for 1 month, was reopened so they could just take their final exams--something my daughter is doing right now at college, something high school kids the age of these girls are doing all over the United States right now. They were just trying to take their exams.

These are girls who should be the next generation of leaders in their community and their nation--not sold off to a band of thugs.

Fortunately, after this weekend the world is finally paying attention, and I hope this Chamber pays attention. With the families reaching out through social media, using the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, protests have spread across the world, calling for the Nigerian Government to take stronger action and for the international community to help.

The United States should help lead that international effort. I was encouraged that Secretary Kerry said this weekend that ``we will do everything

possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and hold the perpetrators to justice.'' But we need actions to back up those words, and I would like to suggest three actions we should take to help marshal a global response to this heinous crime.

First, the United States should seek a resolution from the U.N. Security Council condemning this attack and calling for member countries to extend all appropriate assistance to Nigeria and neighboring countries to help locate the victims of Boko Haram's abductions and bring them home.

Second, we should move as quickly as we can to provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance assets to contribute to the search for the missing girls. The countries of the region have limited resources, and American support with aerial and satellite surveillance, similar to what we have provided to the hunt for Joseph Kony and his so-called Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa, could make a significant difference in their ability to liberate Boko Haram's hostages.

Finally, we should work to strengthen the capabilities of local authorities in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and other countries in the region to counter Boko Haram, protect children, particularly girls, in their education systems, and combat human trafficking.

I led a delegation last month to Mexico focused on fighting human trafficking, and one of the lessons I took away from that was the critical importance of training local law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges to recognize trafficking when they see it. A sharp-eyed police officer in one of these countries can make all the difference in finding these girls.

Make no mistake. How we respond to the abduction of the schoolgirls of Nigeria will send a message about our Nation's commitment to human rights and the fight against modern-day slavery.

Human trafficking is a stain on the conscience of the world. It is one of the reasons I became involved in this issue, having been a prosecutor and seeing the devastation that prostitution and trafficking and sex trafficking wreaks on these girls.

In the United States we have our own problems; 83 percent of our victims in the United States are from the United States. We have had several prosecutions in my own State. We have had prosecutions in North Dakota. It is one of the reasons I introduced a bill with Senator Cornyn. We have multiple authors who go after this crime to look at a smarter way to handle these cases, which is modeled after the safe harbor law, which Minnesota uses, as well as 12 other States.

The idea is to treat these girls as victims. Their average age is 13 years old--not old enough to drive, not old enough to go to their high school prom. It takes that concept, puts it into a comprehensive sex- trafficking strategy, and goes after this in our own country.

It is now the world's third largest criminal enterprise--human trafficking--right behind drugs and guns. So do not think this is just something that people are talking about. It is not. It is happening right now.

Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn wrote a book called ``Half the Sky,'' named for the Chinese proverb ``women hold up half the sky.'' It is about human trafficking. It uses examples from all over the world. In it they argue that ``it is not hyperbole to say that millions of women and girls are actually enslaved today.'' They estimate that 2 million disappear each year. In fact, this book was written long before this happened in Nigeria, and one of the examples they use is a girl being abducted in Nigeria. One of the examples they use is girls being abducted in Moldova, one of the poorest countries in that region. Senator McCain just went to Moldova and came back. When he was there he asked: Where are all the young girls and women? The officials there told him: Many of them have been trafficked to other countries--trafficked to Russia.

This is happening right now, and these girls in Nigeria need our help. The girls abducted and apparently sold into forced marriages in Nigeria are as young as 15 years old. They are being forced to endure what no one, let alone a young girl, should ever have to experience.

Simply put, this is a barbaric practice that must be extinguished from the world. In the book Kristof and his wife wrote they liken the imperative of abolishing human trafficking today to what the British bravely did in the early 1800s when Britain abolished slavery.

They note that what mattered most in turning the tide against slavery was the British public. It was not the abolitionists' passion and moral conviction, as important as that was, but instead what turned the tide was what they called the ``meticulously amassed evidence of barbarity''--the human beings packed into the hold of slave ships, the stink, the diseases, the corpses, the bloody manacles.

We cannot close our eyes to the clear ``evidence of barbarity'' unfolding before us in Nigeria. This is one of those times when our action or inaction will be felt not just by those schoolgirls being held captive and their families waiting in agony, but by victims and perpetrators of trafficking around the world. Now is the time to act.

I yield the floor.