Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Access Act

Mr. President, last year this body, the United States Senate, passed 41 bills from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. And 25 of those bills have been reintroduced. They all have bipartisan support. They all have been vetted in committee. They all are ready to move.

Today, I am asking that we pass four of them at the same time as a modest step forward for the kind of open, Member-driven process for which the Senate was built and has long existed.

The first, from Senator King of Maine, would expand access to the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument--something that passed this body unanimously last year.

The second, from Senator Cornyn of Texas, would adjust the boundaries of Big Bend National Park--again, a commonsense proposal with bipartisan support.

The third, from Senator Gillibrand of New York, would establish a national historic park at Fort Ontario--the site of the only Holocaust refugee shelter in American history.

And fourth, from Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, would designate the Historic Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street, as a national monument.

The Greenwood District in Tulsa was once a thriving community of Black-owned businesses, professionals, and families until the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 tragically burned it to the ground.

Hundreds were killed, and thousands were left homeless. Designating this site as a national monument is long overdue. And this month, May 31--in fact, just a few days from now--marks the anniversary of that tragic, tragic massacre.

With that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Natural Resources be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills en bloc: S. 282, the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument access from Senator King; S. 1051, the Historic Greenwood District--Black Wall Street--National Monument from Senator Lankford; S. 432, Fort Ontario Holocaust Refugee Shelter National Historic Park Establishment Act from Senator Gillibrand; and S. 1112, the Big Bend National Park Boundary Adjustment Act from Senator Cornyn; further, that the bills be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I appreciate the kind words from my friend and colleague the distinguished Senator from Oregon.

I know my time is short, but I need to respond to a couple of points. First, the bills to which my Democratic colleagues are referring have been cleared. They have been cleared through what is known as our hotline, cleared for passage on the Republican side--not one objection from one Republican.

It is the Democrats that are holding it up here. We are not the ones.

Secondly, I want to make very clear: This is a very unfortunate occurrence in the Senate. It is a bad habit that we have gotten into, and it is a habit that we must break.

The habit involves raising an objection. One of the things you did not hear from my friend and colleague from Oregon is a single objection, not on the merits, not on any legitimate procedural ground to any of the bills that I just mentioned--not a single one. No, these bills are drawing an objection today, not allowed to pass the Senate today--even though they passed in the past unanimously, and they don't have any substantive objection.

They are objecting to these not because they are unpopular but because they are popular. When they are popular, when the need for them is due and undisputed, when there is no legitimate argument against them, when the House delegation, the local population, the Senate delegation is all supportive of them, they use them and take them as hostages.

And they use them so that the way these things can happen is they will cuddle together a whole bunch of bills, and these bills all accomplish similar things. They have a lot of commonalities. They do similar things. They enjoy similar amounts of support. They have passed in the past. The local communities overwhelmingly support them. It makes sense to offer these up together. We opt to do them individually as often as we can.

But what they want to do is what has been done in the past, is you cuddle together a whole bunch of bills--sometimes a dozen or more, maybe dozens of them--and then time the introduction of that package to a moment just before a major holiday or long-scheduled recess, they bring them forward, and they say: Take them or leave them.

You must take all of them or have none of them. And what that does to public land States like mine, where 67 percent of the land is owned by the U.S. Government or beholden to everything, is it puts us in an impossible decision.

Usually, these deals are put together by two or three people in secret, and they bring it forward at the last possible minute when there is no time for debate, no time for amendments, no time to say, OK, this one doesn't belong, the others are fine.

Take it or leave it. It is extortion. We have got to end that process. There is not one legitimate reason why we shouldn't pass any one of these four bills. Let's get it done today. I find it tragic that this drew an objection.

Mr. President, I have got colleagues ready to speak, and I just need 10 seconds here.

I respect and appreciate my friend and colleague from Oregon. It is not to him, personally, about taking bills hostage. But this is a process that has happened in the past over and over and over again. This is how it is playing out.

As to these bills, I reiterate there is not one Republican Senator objecting to them. Bring them forward. Let's pass them now. If there are problems, I don't know what they are, why they would arise. They are on the Democrat side, not ours.

But that is not our problem. It shouldn't be an impediment for Senator Cornyn's bill or Senator Lankford's bill or Senator Gillibrand's bill or Senator King's bill that the Democrats can't get their act together, that, for some reason, they are not willing to support that legislation. This is unfortunate. We have got to fix it.

Mr. President, I am really very glad we were able to reach agreement today to pass these four bills by unanimous consent and will send them to the President to be signed into law.

I want to acknowledge and thank my colleague and friend from Nevada Senator Cortez Masto. I also want to acknowledge Senator Markey from Massachusetts. They worked with us to try to get us to the place we are today in which we were able to move these bills across the floor.

I also want to thank the chairman of the Energy Committee and the ranking member, Chairman Lee and Ranking Member Heinrich. Their teams worked with us on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as well as the cloakroom teams, to make sure we were able to be successful today.

The Senate passed all four of these measures last December, so we have seen them once. Now we have seen them twice. But the House ran out of time at the end of the last Congress to take them up, so we are where we are. But now these bills are going to be going to the President for his signature.

Two of the bills we just passed are important for Alaska Natives, and I am proud to have been able to work on these important measures. It has been a multiyear effort to get them to the President's desk. Again, I don't care, really, if we send an H.R. or if we send a Senate bill to the President; we just want to get it accomplished. We want to get some things done for Alaska.

The first measure, which is H.R. 42, amends the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA. It amends it to ensure that when Alaska Native elders, the blind, and the disabled receive dividends from their settlement trusts, they do not inadvertently become, then, ineligible to participate in Federal needs-based assistance programs.

This is pretty common sense. You have a situation where Alaska Natives who are aged, blind, or disabled should not have to choose between accepting the settlement trust income they are entitled to or qualifying for Federal benefits such as supplemental security income, SSI, or SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as well as housing assistance. Now, with this bill, they are not going to have to make that choice.

The second measure is H.R. 43, the Alaska Native Village Municipal Lands Restoration Act. What this does is eliminate a requirement under ANCSA, section 14(c)(3), that Alaska Native village corporations convey land to the State of Alaska to be held in trust for future municipalities, which are not likely to ever be established.

So what we are doing with this measure is sunsetting this requirement and allowing village corporations to regain title to conveyed lands. This will allow village corporations to fully utilize their lands for the benefit of their communities. This is what we want to see happen. Again, it has been a long time coming. So I am pleased that we are here.

I am hopeful that the Senate can pass more of these similar, very noncontroversial bills through the unanimous consent process. We shouldn't get into the practice where we wait until the end of a Congress or perhaps even multiple Congresses for a package to be knit together. People in these communities are waiting on us, as Senator Cortez Masto noted in her State of Nevada and in my State of Alaska. They are waiting on us to deliver these small legislative priorities that will allow them to move forward, whether it is economic development or just making sure that there is a level of equity and fairness.

So I thank my colleagues, I thank the Energy Committee, as well as the floor team, and my staff who helped us move these measures forward.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, before I talk about digital assets, I want to take a moment to remember Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were tragically, senselessly murdered last night at the Capital Jewish Museum.

May their memory be a blessing for their families, their friends, their community, and their faith.

Let me be very clear. Anti-Semitism and this kind of hate-fueled violence have no place in our country, no place in the world.

I encourage you all to join me in keeping these families in your prayers in the coming weeks. I am proud to stand in support of Israel during this time.

GENIUS Act

Mr. President, now I will switch to the GENIUS Act.

The GENIUS Act is a watershed moment in how we approach digital finance while also preserving the institutions that have served our Nation for decades.

Digital assets are the future, and it is our responsibility to ensure the United States continues to lead the way. The uncomfortable reality is that our payment system is outdated. Many of our financial rails date back to the 1970s and 1980s, before the internet transformed how we live and work.

When a small business owner in Cheyenne uses a traditional payment system to send a payment to a supplier overseas, they face delays up to 10 days and 2 to 5 percent transaction fees. This isn't just inconvenient; it is a competitive disadvantage to American businesses.

But digital assets change all that. Stablecoins can complete these same transactions in seconds, at a fraction of the cost, 365 days out of the year. The GENIUS Act not only revolutionizes the way we do business but preserves critical financial institutions, and they need this opportunity.

For more than 150 years, our country has maintained both State- chartered and national banks. There are about 5,000 banks; 4,000 of them are chartered at the State level and only 1,000 at the Federal level. This system has been the engine for American economic growth, providing businesses of all sizes with diverse financial services tailored to local needs.

In Wyoming, we have seen firsthand how State-chartered banks serve the specific needs of ranchers, energy producers, and Main Street that might otherwise have been overlooked by larger institutions. We have also seen how the dual banking system permits States, as laboratories of democracy, to thoughtfully integrate new products and services into our banking system.

Wyoming and other States were the first to provide legal clarity for digital assets and show, in great detail, how they can thoughtfully be integrated into our payments and contracts. The GENIUS Act thoughtfully preserves the dual banking system by creating clear pathways for stablecoin issuance under both State and Federal oversight. The legislation also protects and builds upon Wyoming's regulatory framework for digital assets that both protects consumers and promotes responsible innovation.

This legislation, the GENIUS Act, is thoughtful, and it is a balanced approach America needs to maintain and grow our influence in financial advancement, and history will remember how we capitalize on or squander this moment.

American leadership in digital finance is a privilege. Let's ensure it stays in America and not Europe, not Singapore, not China. Let's lead in this innovation, this technology, this advantage to individuals and small communities. We need American values and American leadership to ensure prosperity in the next generation.

Let's get the GENIUS Act passed and secure America's financial future.

I yield the floor.

I know of no further debate on the bills en bloc.

Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. President, we just passed a bipartisan package of bills. Some of them were passed by the Senate in the last Congress, and recently some of them were passed by the House.

The package includes one of my pieces of legislation which was needed in Nevada, which was H.R. 618, the Apex Area Technical Corrections Act. This bill will cut through redtape at the Apex Industrial Park in North Las Vegas and speed up the cumbersome and unnecessary permitting process for businesses looking to build or expand there. Here is how:

All Nevada developers know that the Federal Government owns more than 80 percent of the land in our State. That requires us to have this Federal partnership. Every time a company wants to develop a project on public land, they need a permit from the Bureau of Land Management. That process, as we all know, can take years, and in that time, we are losing out on economic growth and on new job creation. That is what is currently happening at the Apex Industrial Park in North Las Vegas.

APEX has over 7,000 acres of developable land where various companies are building new sites. That includes Air Liquide's largest hydrogen plant in the world, an 885,000 square foot distribution center for the grocery chain Smith's, and a 1 million square foot distribution center for the footwear company Crocs. The Smith's center is projected to add 250 jobs for Nevadans, while the Crocs center could create up to 1,200 jobs.

Unfortunately, because of an outdated permitting law, too many businesses that want to set up shop at APEX are bogged down by burdensome obstacles.

When the Apex Industrial site was created in 1989, Congress passed legislation to transfer Federal land to private ownership, but the Bureau of Land Management maintained control over large utility corridors that crisscrossed throughout the whole development. That means every business that wants to start constructing or even expand at APEX has to go through the complicated Federal permitting process if they want to access necessities like gas, power, sewage, access roads, and broadband lines across those BLM-controlled corridors.

In the initial law passed in 1989, Congress gave Clark County, NV, the authorization to speed up the permitting process, but since then, APEX's primary management has changed to the city of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association as well. Unfortunately, these two entities don't have the authority to permit new pipelines, power connections, or roads for businesses and their facilities. That has caused delays that could last years.

That is why I am fighting to pass the Apex Area Technical Corrections Act. This bill will give the city of North Las Vegas and the Apex Industrial Park Owners Association the authority they need to issue permits and get new and existing businesses the utilities they need to operate.

This legislation cuts through unnecessary government obstacles and allows our businesses to grow at a sustainable pace. It is essential to ensure businesses can efficiently continue to build and expand in Nevada, including at the Apex Industrial Park, bring new jobs to North Las Vegas, and continue to strengthen our economy.

This bill has already passed through the House of Representatives, and I look forward to the President signing it into law soon.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I want to make a comment on the lands bill, my frustration of where things have gone today on things.

I do want to just pause for a moment and recognize that two staff members of the Israeli Embassy were murdered last night here in Washington, DC, simply because they were Jewish.

The murderer literally hovered outside of the Jewish museum here in Washington, DC, waiting for someone to walk out to murder--just a random person, apparently just to be able to kill a Jew. And then later screamed at the front door ``Free Palestine.''

This is anti-Semitism at its worst, and I want my Jewish friends to be able to know we are praying for you; we are speaking out on your behalf today; and we have not forgotten. And this kind of hatred and anti-Semitism cannot continue in America.

Historic Greenwood District-Black Wall Street National Monument

Establishment Act

Mr. President, today, I am also disappointed. There is a bill that is a very simple bill that literally every single Republican has released and said: We want to be able to move this.

This is recognition of a national monument for the Historic Greenwood District in North Tulsa. In 1921, on May 31, overnight to June 1, there was the worst race massacre in American history. It is a stain on our American history, but it is also a moment to be able to look back to and learn from.

Over 100 years ago, this race massacre, when it occurred, was pushed under the rug and was told for generations to forget about it. We are pulling that thread and saying: There is some benefit to not losing track of that moment.

This particular bill is a designation as a national monument for that Historic Greenwood District. Now, it is written very carefully and in very close cooperation to make sure there is no eminent domain for the Federal Government; there is no Federal takeover;

private property rights are all protected. But it puts a recognition in this area that it is a Federal designation, just a recognition, no property is taken over, but to say: We as a nation remember.

It is important to the people of North Tulsa because the families and communities and the businesses in North Tulsa are literally turning tragedy into triumph. They are looking back on that time and saying that is what happened on that day, but don't look at just that day, look at who we are; look at who we have been; look at who we are now and where we are going.

This is an important piece that literally every single Republican cleared. No struggle with this bill at all. And then my Democrat colleagues came today, of all weeks and this day, to be able to say they were going to block it.

So my challenge is to my Democratic colleagues, I don't know what the fight and struggle is on this, and I don't know why this is difficult to be able to do. We should all have agreement on this. So whatever struggle is happening among their conference, I would encourage them to be able to work it out so we can pass this because in the past, in this body, this has been a unanimous issue. This should not be controversial to say: We, as a nation, recognize what happened on that day, and we honor the people of North Tulsa for what they are working to still create there in the Greenwood District.

So my encouragement is, let's work out our differences today on this. Let's get this passed and get this done.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the pending item.