Floor Statements

Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills en bloc, Calendar No. 574, S. 4370; and Calendar No. 563, S. 4365.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments, where applicable, be agreed to; that the bills, as amended, be considered read a third time.

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

I ask that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the cloture motion with respect to the Ditelberg nomination.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume consideration of the Marzano nomination.

Madam President, we are running out of time. We have just over a week left before Congress goes home for the holidays, and we cannot leave town without passing long-term disaster relief.

People have waited and waited and waited and waited for help to arrive, and every day that we don't get this done is another day that survivors can't start to get back to life as they knew it--going to work, going to school, dropping their kids off at basketball practice, getting together with friends and neighbors.

For the people in Lahaina, help cannot come soon enough. Almost a year and a half after the tragic fires, it is as hard as ever to make ends meet. Housing is scarce. Prices are going up. Jobs are hard to come by. People are doing everything they can to get by and to help each other out. So it is not for a lack of trying; it is that they were never meant to confront this recovery alone.

When you have lost everything, when you are still mourning friends and loved ones, when you are 16 months into a recovery and normalcy still feels so far away, you need help, and getting that help is the difference between people being able to stay on Maui or leaving. People are leaving the only place they have ever called home. Those are the stakes. They are not theoretical. This is happening to hundreds of families in West Maui.

Lahaina is not the only community that has been devastated by a disaster. Communities in 40 States are building back from a disaster of some kind--a flood, a wildfire, a hurricane--and more than 25 States are relying on long-term Federal assistance to get survivors back on their feet. No one is asking for charity. What they are asking for is the kind of aid that has helped to restore so many communities across the country over many, many years. This is what Congress is supposed to do--Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, New York and New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy, Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, California after the 2018 wildfires, and more than a dozen States nationally as recently as 3 years ago.

The Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program-- known as CDBG-DR--works. It has supported millions of Americans struck by disaster over the last 30 years by giving them flexible, long-term assistance. So to fail to do this now for people in Lahaina and across the country would be quite unusual and shameful.

We have a simple task here: to help our fellow Americans in their hour of need. I want to be perfectly clear. We cannot and we will not leave town without passing disaster aid.

I yield the floor.

I ask unanimous consent I be permitted to speak for up to 4 minutes and Senator Kennedy be permitted to speak for up to 30 minutes prior to the scheduled vote.

Madam President, as President Biden considers candidates for clemency in the final weeks of his term, the Native American activist Leonard Peltier is among those who deserve grace and mercy.

Peltier was arrested in 1975 for his alleged involvement in the murder of two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. But the process that led to his conviction had major issues and inaccuracies from the start.

For example, one witness whose statements were used at trial said she was told to lie and say that she was in a relationship with Peltier and that she had witnessed him shoot the agents. She later recanted that statement saying:

I was forced into this, and I feel very awful. I just wish

that Leonard Peltier would get out of prison.

In another instance, according to reporting, a juror who, on day two of the trial, professed her prejudice against Native Americans was allowed to remain on the panel.

If that wasn't enough, take it from the very U.S. attorney who tried the case. The prosecutor who tried the case, James Reynolds, said Peltier had served his sentence on ``the basis of minimal evidence, a result that I strongly doubt would be upheld in any court today.'' In the same letter, Reynolds urged President Biden to commute Peltier's sentence, writing:

I write today from a position rare for a former prosecutor.

To beseech you to commute the sentence of a man who I helped

put behind bars. With time, and the benefit of hindsight, I

have realized that the prosecution and continued

incarceration of Mr. Peltier was and is unjust. We were not

able to prove that Mr. Peltier personally committed any

offense on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Peltier is now 80 years old and has been in prison for 50 years. He is in declining health, experiencing vision loss and other illnesses. And in spite of all that, earlier this year, Federal officials denied his request for compassionate release and parole.

And so even if you believe that he did, in fact, commit the crime, surely now, the time is now to let him spend whatever remaining days he has at home to die with his family. He has done his time. He is of old age and in poor health. This is what clemency is for. This is what mercy is for. He poses little threat to society.

If there was ever a case that merited compassionate release, Leonard Peltier's is it. This is exactly what this awesome Presidential power is for--to right a historic wrong. And if not that, then just to show mercy and let an old man die with his family.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, the past 4 years have been the most productive ever for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Working on a bipartisan basis, we have secured the largest investment in Native communities in American history and enacted more than two dozen bills into law. The progress we have made is real, it is tangible, and it is meaningful. But there is still a lot of work to do to live up to our responsibilities to these communities, including in the final weeks of this Congress.

There are currently more than a dozen bills that have advanced out of our committee on a unanimous, bipartisan basis but have yet to receive full Senate consideration, and there is no good reason for them to languish for months or even years without action.

My bill, S. 385, makes technical corrections to the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act, which authorizes grants to Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations for recreational travel and tourism activities. This bill was reported out of committee more than a year and a half ago. There has been more than enough time to raise concerns and rectify any issues. It is time to get this done now.

S. 1322, the Unlocking Native Lands and Opportunities for Commerce and Key Economic Developments, or UNLOCKED, Act would enable Indian Tribes to lease their own land for up to 99 years for business and other purposes and to approve certain rights-of-way on their lands under existing law. Senator Murkowski and I introduced this legislation that will incentivize more businesses to invest in Indian Country. This commonsense legislation will support Tribes and their economic development needs.

Finally, S. 2868 was introduced by Senator Smith on behalf of the Lower Sioux Indian Community to revoke the Tribe's Indian Reorganization Act, Section 17 Charter of Incorporation. The Tribe testified in committee that the charter is actively hindering its economic development activities because it can't do things without the Interior Secretary's approval. The Tribe's charter has been in place since 1937. Only Congress has the power to revoke such charters and has acted to revoke such charters previously for a number of Tribes.

So, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills en bloc: Calendar No. 34, S. 385; Calendar No. 342, S. 1322; and Calendar No. 490, S. 2868.

I further ask that the committee-reported substitute amendment to S. 1322, be considered and agreed to; and that the bills, as amended, where amended, be considered read a third time, en bloc.

I know of no further debate on the bills, as amended, where amended, en bloc.

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

Mr. President, I took the floor today to pass several Indian Affairs bills that have been languishing for months and, some, for even years. I continue to intend to fight to pass several bipartisan bills, so it is good that we passed three of them. But there is a lot more work to do.

Senators Padilla, Lujan, Heinrich, Smith, and others all have bills that are ready for consideration today and can end up as Federal law by the end of this Congress. They would improve the lives of Tribes and their communities from water rights settlements to protecting children from abuse and neglect. All of these bills have to be considered.

I am told additional time will be needed to clear these bills over the Thanksgiving break, and so I will stand down for now. I just want to make it clear to everybody: We are going to spend a lot of time on the floor together. There will be no cheap holds. There will be no convenient holds. We will give people a chance to work out their problems. But we are going to do this on the floor live like a real legislature and we are going to get this done.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, on Monday, President Biden submitted to Congress an emergency supplemental funding request for nearly $100 billion to help communities across the country recover from disasters.

Whether it is Lahaina, Maui, or Burlington or Davenport or Asheville, every community that has had the misfortune of being struck by a disaster deserves help. No one is ever fully prepared for a tornado or a flood or a fire,

but everyone has to go through the long and difficult and painful process of rebuilding--rebuilding their lives, rebuilding their homes, rebuilding their stores, rebuilding their communities--which is why every time a disaster has devastated our fellow Americans, Congress has recognized the need for help and stepped up to fulfill our responsibility to provide that help. We don't first check to see if it is a blue or a red or a purple State or county.

And, today, disaster survivors in almost 40 States, including my own, are counting on us to do exactly that. They have had their lives turned upside down, and in the wake of awful death and destruction, they are trying to find some semblance of stability and peace in their lives. But, to recover quickly and fully, they need our help. It has been more than 15 months since Lahaina burned down to the ground--in a matter of hours--by ferocious fires. More than 4,000 homes were destroyed, and yet, as of today, just one home has been rebuilt--one home. There are 4,000 homes gone, 12,000 people without a house, 2,200 structures incinerated--1 home rebuilt.

Even before the fires, Lahaina was a working-class town where people were mostly renters, and while a disaster of this scale is catastrophic for any community, the financial burden inflicted on these survivors is especially, especially acute. Everyone is doing the best that they can to recover. They are working so hard. They have pulled together so much. They have so much courage and compassion and persistence. They have plowed through every barrier put in front of them. They have saved each other's lives. They are trying to rebuild this beautiful, historic, pluralistic, joyful, multicultural town, but they need our help.

This is a core responsibility of the United States Federal Government. There are certain things that we should be arguing about; there are lots of things that we should be arguing about. Among those things is, What does the Federal Government do, exactly? What is the Federal Government's role, exactly, in education? in healthcare? in transportation?

One thing we cannot argue with each other about is this: when your fellow Americans are in a situation where their counties, their churches, their communities, their States are just simply overwhelmed and cannot recover without the resources of the Federal Government, that the Federal Government steps up and does their job.

So we are about to wrap this week up before the Thanksgiving break, and then we have a tight, little work period to get a hell of a lot done. The one thing we cannot leave undone in December--the one thing we cannot leave undone in December--is disaster aid not just for the people of Maui but for people all across the country. If the Federal Government is for anything, it has to be for this.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask unanimous consent that we start the vote now.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, every month in States all across the country, more and more communities are confronting the awful burden of recovering from a disaster. The process is long. It is expensive. It is confusing, and it is painful.

Some communities are at the very beginning of their recovery, and others, like Lahaina on Maui, are more than a year into the process but still nowhere near back to normal. And they need our help.

It has now been more than 15 months since the ferocious fires leveled Lahaina in August of last year, destroying 2,200 structures--most of them homes--and displacing more than 12,000 people.

For more than a year, survivors and their families have shifted from one temporary housing unit to the next, struggling to find any semblance of stability.

Finding a new job when tourism is still lagging is hard. Rebuilding small businesses without access to capital and a robust workforce is hard. Catching up children on lost time in school is hard. Helping loved ones cope with their grief and trauma is hard. And even after enduring months of uncertainty and persistent hardship, survivors have little assurance that the road ahead will be any easier.

They are doing all that they can to get back on their feet for themselves and their families, for their communities. But the simple fact is they cannot do it alone. They need the Federal Government's help.

Thousands of homes need to be rebuilt, yet only a small fraction have begun the process. Small businesses need help rebounding. Critical infrastructure, including water and wastewater facilities, are not fully yet restored. A permanent site for the King Kamehameha III Elementary School is still under deliberation.

The needs are great, and there are many. And as resilient as the people of Lahaina have been thus far, they cannot and should not bear this burden alone.

While a strong Federal response to the fires has helped to complete the cleanup process ahead of schedule, much more help and a different kind of help will be needed in this next phase of recovery. As cleanup gives way to rebuilding, survivors will need significant financial assistance over a period of months and years. Building a home, building a store, building a community takes time and it takes resources.

These things don't magically appear overnight, nor do they happen without enormous Federal investments, which is why it is essential that Congress, as part of any forthcoming disaster aid package, includes flexible, long-term assistance in the form of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding.

Short-term assistance to respond to the immediate aftermath of a horrific disaster is vital. But that isn't enough. It is not enough to clean up the wreckage and say: The rest is on you. The rest is on you.

The Federal Government's responsibility to help survivors does not end when the streets are clear. Walking away halfway through the process, leaving exhausted survivors high and dry, with no one to turn to, is not an acceptable or successful outcome.

Survivors in Lahaina and in more than 20 other States are not asking for a miracle. They are not asking for a handout. All they want to do is return to life as they knew it--to go to work, to drop off their kids at school, to come back to a home of their own--a life of stability, a life of safety, a life of security. And to do that, they need our help.

They need Congress to do the thing that they have always done, which is to show up for survivors and stick up for them for as long as they need help. It is my understanding that the administration will, in the coming days, submit to Congress an updated request of disaster needs.

And I want to be very, very clear. We cannot--we must not--leave town for the holidays next month without passing the long-term relief that survivors across the country need and deserve. This is not optional. We have to get this done.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time on the Huitema nomination be considered expired and that the Senate vote on confirmation of the Huitema nomination at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader, and that the Senate resume consideration of the Fung nomination; finally, that the cloture motion on the Fung nomination ripen at 5:15 today.

Mr. President, it is good that the Senate and the House are working on a bipartisan basis to pass a short-term spending bill to keep the government open. But make no mistake, our work is not over, because, once again, we are leaving town, for a long period of time, not having passed disaster aid to help survivors on Maui and elsewhere.

Over the past 13 months, since tragic fires tore down the town of Lahaina and claimed 102 lives, I have been here on the floor repeatedly pressing for urgent disaster relief, and in that time, more disasters have devastated communities all over the country.

So many people on Maui and in Texas and Vermont and New Mexico and California and Iowa and Florida and in 20 States total and, unfortunately, rising--they are waiting for help, and the Federal Government has not come to their aid yet. They have lost loved ones. They have lost homes. They have lost businesses. They have lost livelihoods. And all they want is help and a little bit of hope to get their lives back to something close to normal.

What are we doing as a Congress if we can't even deliver help to our fellow Americans when disaster strikes?

So when we return in November, passing disaster aid has to be the top priority of the U.S. Congress. There is no excuse not to do this.

What is being asked of us is what Congress always does. We simply need to do the thing that we have always done, which is to show up for disaster survivors and get them the help that they need.

And if you are a Member that represents any of the 20-odd States that need this help, we need your help. And if you are a Member from one of the other 30 States, there but for the grace of God go I. It will always come around. Everyone needs disaster help. So consider it your priority, even if your State, thank God, hasn't been hit this year or last--even if you don't have 20 or 30,000 victims waiting for help.

This is an American priority, and we cannot close up shop for this Congress, leaving all these Americans behind.

Mr. President, here in this Chamber, it is your vote that counts--not your tweets, not your public statements, not your TV interviews. Your votes. And today for the second time in 3 months, Republicans voted against protecting IVF. Some of them claim to support IVF. All of them profess to be pro-life. But given a chance to be both, they failed.

Republicans are doing a lot of mental gymnastics to try to justify their cruel extremism on this issue. But let's be very clear about what the Right to IVF Act does. It protects every American's right to access IVF and lower the cost of treatments for families who need it. That means anyone struggling to start or to grow a family can undergo IVF without fear of interference or punishment by the government.

And think about the fact that we have to make a law that says families should not be punished for trying to start a family. That is what this bill does. It says you should have access to this care and you cannot be punished for trying to start a family. It means providers can administer the treatment without worrying that they will be thrown in jail or have their license taken away just for doing their jobs. And it means insurers can cover IVF without implementing absurd restrictions and onerous requirements that would make it all but impossible to access this miraculous treatment.

This bill is a commonsense measure that is necessary precisely because of the environment Republicans created with the fall of Roe, an environment where over half of women of reproductive age in America now live in States that are hostile to abortion rights. And let's be clear, Republicans did that through their vessel of the U.S. Supreme Court.

And so they can pretend to be for IVF but vote against the bill that would actually protect it for good. They can pretend to be for life while also trying to restrict access to a miraculous treatment that creates life. They can pretend to have their own bill to support IVF when, in fact, that bill literally does the opposite. It literally does the opposite because here, it is your vote that counts. It is not your rhetoric. It is not your statement. It is not even your explanation. They voted no against IVF. And shame on them.

I yield the floor.