Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Freight Priorities Act, which takes an all-of-the-above approach to addressing our Nation's freight needs. We must improve the movement of freight and strengthen our economic competitiveness by examining a comprehensive, multimodal, national network that includes not just our major highways, but our rail, seaports, local roads and intermodal facilities. This bill would authorize the Department of Transportation to broaden our approach to freight policy, set goals for reducing air pollution, and creates a pilot program to study the disproportionate impacts on urban communities that can be caused by the movement of freight.

In 2011, 17.6 billion tons of goods were transported throughout the United States, valued at more than $16.8 trillion. The Federal Highway Administration estimates there will be a 60 percent increase of freight being moved over the next 30 years.

In New Jersey, hundreds of millions of tons of freight are annually shipped through our ports, by rail, and highways. The port of New York and New Jersey, as of 2012, supported over 296,000 jobs and 28.9 billion in business income. This major economic engine drives New Jersey's economy and boosts U.S. economic competitiveness. 1However, too often, our lack of investment and our limited focus on the highway network causes our freight to get stuck in congested, heavily trafficked urban areas. Extended truck, rail and ship idling negatively impacts the health and air quality of local urban communities. With a slight adjustment of our priorities and a strong national commitment to investing in our infrastructure, we can dramatically reduce congestion, improve the health of American communities, make sure goods get where they need to go faster and cheaper, strengthen our economy and create jobs.

The Freight Priorities Act sets goals for increasing efficiencies. It outlines goals to reduce air pollution and congestion, and requires the inclusion of port authorities in freight infrastructure investment decisions. The bill requires DOT to meet performance measures for all modes of freight movement, and establishes a pilot program that will help find ways to reduce the impact on local communities and help create access to jobs at ports and other multimodal facilities.

By refocusing our priorities, we will ensure that the smartest, most- cost effective projects secure funding. In New Jersey this could mean investing in the Raritan intermodal hub project in Essex, Union and Middlesex counties, which would create a direct connection for freight cars to access the port of New York and New Jersey. The project would relieve congestion on the roads and shift freight off of Amtrak's passenger lines. This bill would also prioritize investments that reduce air pollution, such as shore power technology at the port of Newark, which would help reduce emissions by allowing major cargo vessels to plug into the electric grid while at port.

Rather than finding ways to merely skate by on the limited infrastructure funds we have each year, the conversation we should be having in Congress is how we can dramatically increase investments in our infrastructure and improve the safety and functionality of our entire network that transports both people and goods. This bill is a strong step in that direction. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of legislation, and look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Commerce Committee to carry these priorities as we draft our portion of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill.

Mr. President, it is an honor to stand here with a chorus of my colleagues speaking about an issue that goes to the core of the idea of this country; that is, every generation will be better than the one before. It is the idea that in this Nation we should lead globally in enriching the lives of our citizenry.

The Presiding Officer and I talked a few seconds ago. He said he was going home after this to put his kids to bed. I hope the Presiding Officer doesn't mind me sharing that. I know the Presiding Officer is going to teach his kids the same thing my parents taught me: Work hard and play by the rules so you can go to college and try to achieve your dreams.

When I have traveled all over the State of New Jersey--North Jersey and South Jersey, from urban towns to suburban towns and even rural towns--I have heard the same kind of frustration, which is the rising costs of college. Not only that, I see more and more people who try to take on the challenge of paying for those rising costs and find themselves saddled with staggering debt. The facts reflect the sentiments, frustrations, concerns, and anguish that I hear.

Today the average student graduates from college with around $29,000 in loans. That is up from an average of $27,600 in 2011 and $23,792 in 2010. In fact, right now in New Jersey 16 percent of my constituents are carrying student debt. That is over 1 million New Jerseyans who are weighed down by this significant financial obligation.

Let me put this in perspective because it has a ripple effect within our economy. Take, for example, our housing. Housing is such an important driver to economic development, and it is an important driver to jobs. Owning a home is a dream many people in America have as well. Well, the reduced purchasing power due to high student debt levels is holding back people's ability to help drive our economy forward.

The housing industry, which is still recovering from a crisis, is an example. The National Association of Realtors cited student loan debt as a primary reason for the decline in housing purchases among first- time buyers. Of 20 percent of first-time buyers who find it difficult to save for a downpayment, 54 percent of first-time buyers said student loans make it tough to save money. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, about half of all the people polled in a survey said student debt was a huge obstacle to buying a home. According to the Federal Reserve of New York, from 2009 to 2012 home ownership rates fell twice as much for 30-year-olds who had a history of student loans than it did for those who don't.

This is a problem which is impacting families, and it is stifling people's ability to participate and make our economy robust. It is making job growth a challenge. It has many different layers.

What I want to focus on for the last few moments is my desire to keep America No. 1. When it comes to educating our populous, we should be and have been historically top in the globe, especially at the higher education levels. When we created programs that many of my colleagues have cited--I heard Senator Durbin speak about programs that literally took him from a lower middle-class environment to achieving his dreams. Accessing affordable college loans allowed him to achieve his dreams. We created these programs because we understood that the workforce in this Nation is essential for economic competitiveness. Indeed, in a global knowledge-based economy, it is the knowledge of the people that drives the economy forward. Without highly skilled workers, America simply won't be able to compete in this new global economy. This wisdom has been understood for decades, for generations. You educate your workforce to the highest levels on the globe, and your economy will lead the globe.

Well, today we are seeing challenges, and we are seeing this reality change. Today the average price of a college degree in the United States has climbed to $13,856. Compare that with some of our critical global competitors. Take the UK, for example. In the UK, the average cost is $5,288 for a higher education. Take Germany, another one of our global competitors. German students pay a mere $933. Those competitive economies understand that they don't want to put up barriers so their young people can learn. They want to remove them.

The cost of college in America puts our young people at a severe disadvantage compared to their peers around the world. It is not a level playing field. We are asking our kids to compete globally, but we are putting up barriers that are unique to this economy.

When the cost of college in the United States is now more than 51 percent of the median income in America--let me say that one more time. The cost of college in America is now 51 percent of the median income in America, while the cost of college in Germany is just 4.3 percent of that country's median income. When the United States has one of the highest percentages of adults--we are one of the top in the globe for adults 55 to 64. That generation of Americans which had the kinds of student loan programs and opportunities Senator Durbin talked about are at the top, but only 43 percent of Americans ages 25 to 34 have a degree. Instead of that younger group being at the top, America has now--compared to our competitors--fallen to 16th place globally.

In other words, older Americans who benefited from a rational system of affordable college and abundant affordable loans are leading. Madam President, 55- to 64-year-olds are leading the globe in the percentage of population with a college degree. The younger we are getting in our country, the lower we are falling in our competitiveness with our competitors in terms of the kids who have college degrees. We wonder why that is. It is because the ability to afford college has been getting more and more difficult.

I am encouraged by my colleagues. We should be doing everything to encourage forthcoming generations to pursue higher education so we don't slide further in global rankings and compromise our long-term ability to compete. That is why I am standing here right now. That is why I am proud to cosponsor Senator Warren's newly introduced legislation, the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, which would allow those with outstanding student loan debt to refinance at the lower interest rates currently offered to new borrowers. It simply allows them to refinance loans the way you can with a mortgage and other types of loans. This will make us more competitive.

I commend a lot of my colleagues who spoke here. I especially commend Senator Harkin, Senator Reed, and Senator Gillibrand, who have been so active in calling attention to this issue.

We cannot afford for the cost of obtaining a higher education to be decades of crushing debt. It is unacceptable. The legislation we are talking about today seeks to lighten the burden on student borrowers and to put money back in their pockets and to help fuel our economy but, more importantly, to help everyone understand that in this Nation we are still doing everything possible to lead the globe in education.

There is a lot of work to do. My team is trying to focus on some issues I saw as mayor. For example, when I was mayor we worked with schools and financial aid counselors to help families simply fill out these forms that are necessary to obtain aid.

The College Board estimates that 2.3 million students do not fill out the free application for financial aid form, better known as the FAFSA form. They don't fill it out because of its complexities. They don't fill it out because of issues that make it difficult to even report what is necessary. As a result, many qualified students are skipping this process because they find it complex and burdensome. They are not even getting into college, not even afforded that pathway to cultivate their genius and apply it to our economy.

So much more can be done. This should be a national call to make college as affordable in this generation as it was for past generations. Past generations in America led the globe and drove the top economy on Earth because of that education, but now we are raising the wall and shutting out more of our young minds from this pathway because of unaffordable colleges.

For individuals, a college education translates to more than just odd job opportunities, more than just higher earnings, it is an ascent up the economic ladder.

Mr. President, I will conclude with this: In a recent study, it was found that the United States could add $500 billion to the gross domestic product over the next 15 years by increasing the number of workers with postsecondary education by 20 million--more workers, a greater economy, a more successful America, and a nation that leads the globe. Let's do and learn from what our parents and grandparents knew and did in this body and around the Nation.

Let's make college affordable for our citizens.

I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce with my colleague, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Leveraging and Energizing America's Apprenticeship Programs or LEAP Act, which provides a tax credit to employers to help increase the number of registered apprenticeships in the U.S. and put more young Americans to work.

Today, there are still more than 10 million unemployed Americans, and our young people continue to be especially hard hit. Nearly six years after the start of the Great Recession, 16 percent of 16 to 24 year olds are without a job. The numbers are far worse among youth of color and for those without college degrees.

Yet 4 million jobs remain unfilled in the U.S., and part of the reason is that key gaps persist between the skills of young adults and workforce needs. By 2020, the United States is expected to experience a shortage of 3 million workers with associate's degrees or higher and 5 million workers with technical certificates and credentials.

Apprenticeships are a proven way to help young people develop in- demand skills and to meet the needs of employers, yet they comprise just 0.2 percent of the U.S. workforce.

While competitor nations around the world are investing in robust apprenticeship programs, the U.S., by contrast, had just 358,000 active, registered apprenticeships in 2012. That is 7 percent of what England offered when adjusted for population. In Germany, nearly half of all young people go through apprenticeship programs.

We can't let America continue to lag behind. That's why Senator Scott and I are introducing the LEAP Act, an initiative that provides a paid- for Federal tax credit to businesses to develop apprenticeship programs that are registered with the Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency. The bill addresses the fact that the average age of apprentices is currently as high as 29 years, by offering a tax credit of $1,500 for apprentices under the age of 25. The tax credit for apprentices 25 or over is $1,000. The cost of the tax credits are offset by a provision that cuts printing waste by barring the Federal Government from producing publications that are available online, unless the printing is for seniors, Medicare recipients or communities with limited Internet access.

A thriving apprenticeship system should be an essential element of an effective workforce development strategy; registered apprenticeship programs help individuals attain a recognized post-secondary credential and provide workers with the education and on-the-job training needed to succeed.

Studies show that apprenticeships are a wise investment for both participants and the U.S. government: individuals who complete registered apprenticeship programs earn over $240,000 more over their careers than people who did not participate in such programs, and the tax return on every Federal Government dollar invested in registered apprenticeship programs is $27.

Our future competitiveness--our economic strength as a nation-- depends on the innovation and skill of our workforce. I am proud to join with Senator Scott in putting forward this bipartisan legislation that will create opportunities for more Americans to learn the in- demand skills that will help meet employers' needs and fuel our economy. I look forward to working with my colleagues to build support for and pass this bill.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce with my colleague, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Leveraging and Energizing America's Apprenticeship Programs or LEAP Act, which provides a tax credit to employers to help increase the number of registered apprenticeships in the U.S. and put more young Americans to work.

Today, there are still more than 10 million unemployed Americans, and our young people continue to be especially hard hit. Nearly six years after the start of the Great Recession, 16 percent of 16 to 24 year olds are without a job. The numbers are far worse among youth of color and for those without college degrees.

Yet 4 million jobs remain unfilled in the U.S., and part of the reason is that key gaps persist between the skills of young adults and workforce needs. By 2020, the United States is expected to experience a shortage of 3 million workers with associate's degrees or higher and 5 million workers with technical certificates and credentials.

Apprenticeships are a proven way to help young people develop in- demand skills and to meet the needs of employers, yet they comprise just 0.2 percent of the U.S. workforce.

While competitor nations around the world are investing in robust apprenticeship programs, the U.S., by contrast, had just 358,000 active, registered apprenticeships in 2012. That is 7 percent of what England offered when adjusted for population. In Germany, nearly half of all young people go through apprenticeship programs.

We can't let America continue to lag behind. That's why Senator Scott and I are introducing the LEAP Act, an initiative that provides a paid- for Federal tax credit to businesses to develop apprenticeship programs that are registered with the Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency. The bill addresses the fact that the average age of apprentices is currently as high as 29 years, by offering a tax credit of $1,500 for apprentices under the age of 25. The tax credit for apprentices 25 or over is $1,000. The cost of the tax credits are offset by a provision that cuts printing waste by barring the Federal Government from producing publications that are available online, unless the printing is for seniors, Medicare recipients or communities with limited Internet access.

A thriving apprenticeship system should be an essential element of an effective workforce development strategy; registered apprenticeship programs help individuals attain a recognized post-secondary credential and provide workers with the education and on-the-job training needed to succeed.

Studies show that apprenticeships are a wise investment for both participants and the U.S. government: individuals who complete registered apprenticeship programs earn over $240,000 more over their careers than people who did not participate in such programs, and the tax return on every Federal Government dollar invested in registered apprenticeship programs is $27.

Our future competitiveness--our economic strength as a nation-- depends on the innovation and skill of our workforce. I am proud to join with Senator Scott in putting forward this bipartisan legislation that will create opportunities for more Americans to learn the in- demand skills that will help meet employers' needs and fuel our economy. I look forward to working with my colleagues to build support for and pass this bill.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to speak on behalf of the 2.3 million Americans, including the 140,000 New Jerseyans who have been without a job for months and desperately need our help. These Americans are Americans who are veterans who stood for us in the military and Armed Forces. These are families and individuals with children. These are our seniors. These are folks who have been working for decades and suddenly found themselves in the worst economy of my lifetime without a job.

I am very proud of this body. We are inching closer toward passing legislation to restore Federal unemployment insurance. What this money does is it takes families from crisis with these meager checks to give a little bit of stability so they can do what is necessary to look for work.

It helps them keep their car insurance so they can ride to interviews. It helps them keep the cable service going so they can apply online and actually file their reesumees as they look for jobs. It helps them meet mortgage payments, so they can keep a roof over their heads or rental payments as well.

I want to thank the incredible bipartisan leadership of Dean Heller and Jack Reed. Senator Heller and Senator Reed have been working hard together with a group of us relentlessly to bring us this far. I have been so grateful for the leadership of those two Senators and others because it made us so close in this body to getting unemployment insurance extended.

This is a bipartisan bill. It involves compromise. It is what the American people want us to do, Republicans and Democrats coming together for millions of Americans that are in crisis right now through no fault of their own, in an economy where there are three people looking for a job for every single job that is available.

I want to express my gratitude to the entire bipartisan group cosponsoring the bill. My colleagues, Senator Reed, Senator Heller, Senator Merkley, Senator Sherrod Brown, Senator Durbin, Senator Susan Collins, Senator Rob Portman, Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Senator Mark Kirk, Republicans and Democrats alike who hammered out a compromise, have done the difficult work and are pushing to move this forward.

I also want to thank people from New Jersey who have shared their stories with me, who have been active and engaging from online posts, letters, and phone calls--all of them fighting to find work. I have heard from Republican New Jerseyans and Democratic New Jerseyans. I have heard from military veterans and single moms. I have heard from folks who are so hungry to work. But while they are looking, they are looking to this body, to all of Congress to help them meet the basic minimum needs so that they can continue to have some stability and not be swallowed up by the quicksand of economic crisis and to be able to continue to find a job.

They are living examples. Each and every one of those millions of Americans are examples of what is at stake if we do not act. I have heard painful stories of people facing real crises, from homelessness to skipping medications, doing everything they can to keep some semblance of stability so that they can find a job. Unfortunately, many are falling through the cracks. Many are facing the darkest of days.

As the Senate prepares to vote on this incredibly vitally important bill, I want to stress that this legislative body is only as effective as both Chambers and parties being able to come together, to really follow in that great American tradition that for the last 50 years, Democrats and Republicans during times of economic crisis, have come together and found a way to hammer out compromises to extend unemployment insurance under Reagan, under Bush, under Clinton, and under Carter. We found a way to get forward, both Chambers being there for Americans in the economic crisis.

Today is a significant step in our fight to restore hope to America's unemployed but only if this bill is also voted on and passed in the House of Representatives.

I have sat in living rooms, diners, and soup kitchens all across the State of New Jersey, and I can tell you the crisis is real. I am hopeful that if my colleagues in the House of Representatives listen to the voices--Republicans and Democrats, red and blue, North and South, all across this country--of their unemployed constituents, they will do what is right. They will shun that intellectually unreal idea that Americans are lazy, that they don't want to work. We have millions of Americans out there fighting for their hope of finding a job, and they need the help of the House of Representatives, as I believe they will get it from the Senate this week.

No matter our party, all of us have folks in our home States who are unemployed and suffering because we have thus far failed to do what every other Congress has done in the past when long-term unemployment rates have been so high, as they are today. We must extend Federal unemployment insurance. America needs our House of Representatives to listen to the pleas of those who are barely making ends meet.

I remember Joan and her daughter, a recent Rutgers University graduate. They live together and were both cut off from unemployment insurance the same week in December. The modest unemployment checks that Joan and her daughter were receiving had helped them to keep up with mortgage payments. While they waited for us to vote, their home was placed into foreclosure.

Then there is Lauren from Clifton, who wrote my office saying she had sent out close to 1,000 resumes without luck and had reached the point where she couldn't pay to keep the heat on in her house during this brutal winter and she feared her phone was going to have to be cut off next. She wrote:

I've been looking for work tirelessly. What does someone in

my situation do?

These folks have worked hard all of their lives. They have played by the rules but unfortunately happen to be in a bad economy not of their making, which they did not contribute to, and are caught in these difficult times. They are doing everything right and so should their representatives in Congress.

Today we are casting a vote for them. Today I am proud to say that in the Senate we are coming together, Democrats and Republicans, hammering out a compromise, meeting each other in the middle, and doing what is expected of us by Americans--reaching out, lending a hand, in a time of crisis. I implore my colleagues in the House of Representatives to do the same.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, Senator Menendez is absolutely correct. When I was mayor of New Jersey's largest city, we sat upon a critical transportation superstructure--a key node in the larger region. I wish to thank my senior Senator, whom I relied upon then for being the champion he is for infrastructure investment, for the critical nature of the rail lines that crisscross our region, and really being a promoter of jobs, of business growth, of security, and of the health of this critical system. It is very good to have my senior Senator make such important remarks. I wish to pick up from there. It is a little uncomfortable not having the Presiding Officer on the floor with me, but I will continue nonetheless.

I wish to thank all of my colleagues who have already spoken from neighboring States about this absolutely vital transportation corridor. If this were a country of its own, this corridor, from Washington to Boston--this area--we would be the fifth largest economy in the world. This region continues to grow, with more than 12 million residents projected by 2040.

In New Jersey, our tracks and tunnels are simply no longer able to meet the growing demand of our Amtrak and commuter rail lines. New Jersey commuters--passengers up and down the Northeast corridor--are profoundly frustrated by overcrowded trains and by delay after delay after delay. It inhibits their transportation. It inhibits their productivity. It inhibits their ability to be successful because of those delays. Our underfunded passenger rail network forces too many of our residents to then drive, where they end up stuck in traffic, contributing more greatly to smog and pollution, and really making it even more dangerous for them on our already overly congested highways.

Amtrak needs the ability to reinvest the growing profit from the Northeast corridor back into the critical Northeast corridor infrastructure. This much needed budget request would allow Amtrak to invest $300 million of their profits back into this region and would allow Amtrak to make overdue updates and repairs. This would create jobs at this incredibly important time in our economic present. It would create jobs and allow our busy commuter lines to travel more safely and more reliably.

We need this economic growth. We need to alleviate the problems with

this infrastructure. We need to make the daily lives of tens of thousands of people better.

One of the most important steps we can take to alleviate this congestion and delays in New Jersey and throughout this region is to make this investment. But I also say another critical aspect of making those investments is to make a strategic investment in the Gateway project. Amtrak's 2015 budget request seeks to continue investing in needed preliminary work on the Gateway project. The Gateway project is Amtrak's most important initiative--a project that is going to generate benefits throughout the Northeast region that will have a multiplier effect throughout our economy, enabling growth, enabling job creation, improving the quality of life, and helping one of the most prosperous regions on the globe continue to grow.

Currently, there are just two tunnels connecting New Jersey to New York via rail. These tunnels are currently operating at full capacity, with roughly 24 trains at peak hours carrying over 70,000 riders daily, with no space for additional riders during rush hour. In order to execute repairs and safety checks on these 100-year-old tunnels, Amtrak is required to shut down the entire tunnel and suspend half the trips in and out of the city. This causes so much of a burden. This is an unnecessary burden. This is a threat to the safety of thousands of New Jersey Transit and Amtrak passengers.

Ridership demand in and out of Manhattan is actually predicted to double in the coming decades--double. It is critical for the economic health of our region to accommodate this increase and ensure that urgently needed growth and the safety and security of so many Americans. The Gateway project itself would build two new rail tunnels from New Jersey to New York City and expand Penn Station in New York to handle all of this additional capacity. This project alone would create thousands and thousands of jobs. It would reduce commuter times and make traveling by rail more flexible and, very importantly to resident after resident who has reached out to me, it would make it more reliable. This critical investment will drive economic growth throughout that entire region.

Upon completion, the Gateway project would allow Amtrak to run 8 more trains during peak hours and allow New Jersey Transit to run 13 more trains. This is a significant capacity increase that would take thousands of cars off the roads every single day. It would increase revenue for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. It would allow intercity and commuting passengers shorter and easier trips up and down the Northeast and in and out of Manhattan, and it would improve significantly the air quality of our region, alleviating the respiratory challenges so many people unnecessarily face because of commuter car pollution.

In short, all of these reasons point to something critical: It would make it easier for our region to be prosperous, for businesses to grow, and American opportunity to increase. It is essential that Congress join with Amtrak in advancing this important regional project and support Amtrak's overall mission to deliver reliable, efficient passenger rail service across the United States. For Amtrak to be successful in the long term, Congress needs to become a more reliable investment partner and fund multiyear Amtrak budgets, to have predictability in that funding, making it again multiyear. Our current approach of lurching from annual budget to annual budget does not allow for Amtrak to flourish and serve our citizens as it could and as it should. We need a level of predictability to make these kinds of investments. Support for the Amtrak fiscal year 2015 budget request would be a step in the right direction.

I urge my colleagues to appreciate this critical understanding that we are a people who thrive through connectivity, whether it is virtual connectivity on the Internet or even human connectivity; that we need to, in environments such as this, one to another, work together. Indeed, it is the words of Martin Luther King, written in a jail cell in Birmingham, AL, in 1963, in the spring of that year, almost 50 years ago--he wrote in profound manner, and I paraphrase it: We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a common garment of destiny. It was an elevation and understanding of the power of human connection, that we share one destiny, and that when we exalt our connections, prosperity grows, equality grows, opportunity grows. What King talked about in a spiritual way lives also in the physical: Country, from its transcontinental railroads, a country that united itself in early innovations and AM/FM dials; all the ways we as a nation have made more robust connectivity. It has spurned industry, it has spawned industry, and it has made jobs multiply and multiply-- economic growth connecting American to American. Right now, in this critical time, we must continue.

I hope my colleagues will join me in making sure we support the Amtrak budget. I know from personal experience the challenges and the trials and the dangers from the status quo. It is time for us to advance. It is time for us to come to together, to invest in America, to expand opportunity, and make real, in a physical way, those deepening connections we have, one to another.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor and I note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, today I recognize Samuel DeMaio, the dynamic director of the Newark Police Department. A driving force for reform, Sammy is one of those people who talks the talk, walks the walk, and does both to the benefit of the community at large.

Samuel Anthony DeMaio was born on December 25, 1966, in Newark, where he was raised with his younger sister Sherri by his father Carmine, a Newark police officer, and his mother Marysue. In 1986, on what he would later say was ``one of the happiest days in my life,'' Sammy followed in his father's footsteps and began his career with the Newark Police Department at the age of 19.

A hard worker from the start, Sammy proved his dedication and skill by consistently becoming the youngest officer to hold each position as he ascended the ranks of the Newark Police Department. His focus on transparency, officer training, and collaboration made our communities safer and more unified. It is that dedication and openness that helped set our community on its upward trajectory, and it is why his shoes will be so hard to fill.

Sammy was in and of the community. He is a cop's cop who is respected by everyone in the department, from rank and file to top brass. Sammy is held in high esteem in the greater community, from the city council that unanimously voted to appoint him, to once-skeptical community leaders won over by his commitment to transparency and accountability.

Sammy took great pride in collaborating with and incorporating the communities he policed. He began conducting the officers' roll call out on the street in an effort to change the way the officers and residents viewed each other. When I started Newark's Super Summer program, aimed at keeping kids out of trouble during the summer months, Sammy was right there with me. He founded the Annual Youth Public Safety Academy, a hands-on, joint project of the City of Newark's Police and Fire Departments in conjunction with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, where participants learned how to report crimes, prevent fires, and resist criminal activity.

Sammy retired from the police department on February 21, 2014, after 28 years on the Newark police force. These years of service were spent exclusively in New Jersey's largest municipal police department, and were marked by exemplary dedication to the best interests of the community and his fellow officers. When considering on the day of his retirement, Sammy said, ``This is probably the saddest day I'm going to have in my life.''

It is an honor to formally recognize the contributions that Sammy DeMaio made to the citizens of Newark throughout his career in law enforcement, to thank him for his tremendous service, and to wish him happiness in a well-deserved retirement.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

If I may interrupt for a question because I would like to stay on point.

I would like to continue to have the Senator from Rhode Island as well involved in this colloquy.

Because he brings up a tremendous point.

For all of us who are competitive and have this belief that this Nation of ours should remain a leader in the globe, the Senator from Rhode Island makes a very good point. We are a nation that has led in innovation, led in ingenuity. Generation after generation, we have seen our country excel and exceed economically because of American innovation.

What the Senator from Rhode Island brings up so pointedly is that in this area--the technologies of the future that are going to have us have an ability to produce the energy of the future--America runs the risk of falling behind some of our most fierce competitors.

But what I would like to ask the Senator from Rhode Island--because it goes further than that--we know that as to the challenges of the future, we can look at the past and see how economic policy has so dramatically influenced foreign policy. You can go back to right after World War II, how America's economic dominance helped us to advance.

Looking at the Suez crisis, when America and Britain had different agendas, it was a fact that we held their debt, that we had the economic advantage that allowed us to press our interests, but there are other threats too.

What is interesting to me is, as has been stated tonight already--and I would love to talk to folks because both of you have already talked about Senate intelligence briefings and military briefings--I would like to read from a document that talks about Navy ADM Samuel J. Locklear, III, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, stating very dramatically--and I would love to get the reaction of the Senator from Rhode Island to this--that significant upheaval related to the warming of the planet, the admiral says, ``is probably the most likely thing that is going to happen . . . that will cripple the security environment, probably more likely than the other scenarios we all often talk about.''

You see, Admiral Locklear focuses on risk management and preparedness for our Nation. He does not have time for philosophy. He does not have time for politics. He is focusing on a concrete risk analysis when it comes to the safety, security, and preparedness of our Nation.

He goes on:

While resilience in the security environment is

traditionally understood as the ability to recover from a

crisis, using the term in the context of national security

expands its meaning to include crisis prevention.

I read on:

Admiral Samuel Locklear had a meeting the other day with

national security experts at Tufts and Harvard. After this

session, he met with a reporter who asked him what the top

security threat was in the Pacific Ocean. Rather than

highlighting Chinese ballistic missiles, the new Chinese Navy

aircraft carrier, North Korean nuclear weapons, or other

traditional military threats, Admiral Locklear looked to a

larger definition of national security.

Locklear commented that ``People are surprised sometimes''

that he highlights climate change--despite an ability to

discuss a wide range of threats from cyber-war to the

North Koreans. However, it is the risks--from natural

disasters, to long-term sea level rise threats, to Pacific

Nations--that have his deepest attention.

Here he is being quoted:

You have the real potential here in the not-too-distant

future of nations displaced by rising sea levels. Certainly

weather patterns are more severe than they have been in the

past. We are on super typhoon 27 or 28 this year in the

Western Pacific. The average is about 17. Climate change

merits national security military attention for very

pragmatic reasons.

So the Senator from Rhode Island--we have talked about many things tonight--understands this issue, and he is one of the motivating factors for an amazing array of Senators from all around the country tonight to be talking about the impacts on our individual States, which I hope to do about New Jersey soon.

But the bigger issues at stake are long-term economic competitiveness, which the Senator from New Mexico has talked about, and also the threat that our military experts see to our Nation and global security. I wonder if the Senator for a moment would comment on that.

I appreciate that from the Senator from Rhode Island. I have only been in the Senate for about 4 months. As soon as I made a decision to run for this office, I asked for national security briefings to study hot points in our country. I figured if I was going to win this office, New Jersey would expect me to be prepared to serve and deal with national security issues.

I was amazed that, when I was being briefed by a group of folks who focus on national security issues, a general came up to the briefings in New Jersey as well and began to be very intent and intense on letting me understand that the military is not waiting for us to figure this out in Congress. They are preparing. He told me about flying planes on biofuels, thinking about the resiliency of our military bases here and abroad. It was amazing to hear this general talk in such fierce pragmatism about what we must do to protect the safety and the sanctity of our country.

But I will tell you this: We are in a bad economy right now. When I go back to New Jersey, I hear people talking to me about jobs. I hear people talking to me about government spending. I hear about the strength of our country.

If the Senator from New Mexico would allow me to ask him a question, what moved me about your remarks--I have to say, again, I am a new Senator. But the Presiding Officer and I have both gotten to know the Senator from New Mexico. The Senator lives and bleeds New Mexico. Our conversations when we are in the cloakroom are amazing. I have learned more about New Mexico than the Jersey boy ever did back in my own State. It is amazing the pride with which you talk about your State. I hope your constituents understand how much you are about New Mexico every day you are here.

What was amazing to me as I listened to you speak was the numbers that rolled off your tongue about the financial impact of climate change on the New Mexico economy. When you started talking about the billions--you emphasized ``b''--spent on fire protection, you mentioned the grievous loss of life of firefighters in Arizona who nobly fought fires in New Mexico. You talked about the grievous impact--hundreds of millions of dollars--on industries in your State, and those numbers, to me, which fly off the tongue, represent jobs, represent government tax dollars which are being used in your State to fight forest fires but which could be reinvested in the things that rebuild infrastructure, educate children, do research.

It is an undeniable fact that fires are burning hotter, that reservoirs are getting emptier, and that is having a serious impact on your economy, but this is the truth about our country: We are not New Mexico, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Hawaii; we are the United States of America. As much as we might think your economy is insulated from mine, that is not true. When I heard Senator Klobuchar talking about what it is doing to crops in her State, that affects food prices in New Jersey. When I heard the Senator from Maine talking about the lobster industry, we eat lobster in New Jersey as well. We are one integrated economy. King said it so profoundly--that ``injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.''

So if the Senator would comment for me a little deeper because I know when you leave here and go back to your State, you are not looking at data or the statistics, you are talking to people whose lives are not just being disrupted by climate change but severely affected, I wonder if the Senator could--we have seen lots of data and charts tonight and all day, but I was hoping the Senator could speak a little bit more to the grievous financial damage it is doing in our interconnected economy, to the people of your State and thus to the people of America.

I am grateful to the Senator from New Mexico for giving me this opportunity to say a word about my State. To keep the conversation going, if the Senator from Rhode Island would indulge me in answering that question, but I would like to get back to the Senator from Rhode Island.

I want to say to the people who are watching this, perhaps on C-SPAN or others, the reason why I am so grateful to the Senator from Rhode Island is because I have been here, again, for a little over 4 months. But the Senator from Rhode Island is--and forgive me if this sounds in any way disrespectful to say it this way, but I almost think the Senator from Rhode Island reminds me of the movie ``Shawshank Redemption.'' I say that because one of my favorite moments in Shawshank was that guy----

No. I am reminded that Morgan Freeman or the main character of the movie wanted to get a library for the prison. Frankly, their strategy was every single day they sent a letter. The reason why I have great respect for the Senator from Rhode Island is he has been relentless, to my knowledge, in a way I did not know about before I came to the Senate--but relentlessly and constantly nonstop, not only one time when we are going for an entire day, but every single week going to the floor and speaking to this issue, speaking truth to power, using his office to try to not only speak to issues pertaining only to his State, but to speak to issues that relate to our planet, and I have generated a lot of respect for the Senator in his consistency.

The Senator has it. But before I get to my Senate colleague from Rhode Island, allow me for a moment to answer the question of my colleague because I am grateful that he asked me about what is happening in New Jersey.

We know this, that no storm, no flood, no drought, was caused singularly--no single episode could be said to be caused by climate change. That would be irresponsible and give an opening for those people who choose to criticize those who talk about climate change, give an opening to pounce on that.

But we do know, when these extreme weather events happen--and I believe they are happening more frequently because of climate change-- what we know factually is that when these extreme weather events happen, they become more extreme because of indisputable climate change that is happening.

Forest fires, as the Senator said, become more extreme because of a warming climate. We know in New Jersey, and we have seen painfully from Hurricane Sandy, that when flooding happens it is more extreme and more severe because of rising sea water.

We know in New Jersey that the storm had painful effects. Let me put it in numbers, and then I want to talk about people.

The numbers that affect people so dramatically are powerful. I am going to read some of them. This is a Rutgers University report that rising sea levels, as I mentioned before, mean hurricanes will produce more severe damage such as the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, more frequent extreme weather events, heat waves. Inland flooding from heavy rains present a growing challenge to our New Jersey economy, to the environment, and to the everyday way of life of New Jerseyans and I say to Americans.

The images left by Sandy's wakes are seared into the minds of so many New Jerseyans. We saw what happened to some of the most precious parts of our State up and down the coast. The State's vulnerability to these extremes we see, the storm and its immediate aftermath resulted in 34 people dying in the State of New Jersey, and it cost New Jerseyans an estimated $37 billion. The storm, in its entirety, impacted and claimed more than 150 lives and exceeded $50 billion in damage. In New Jersey, nearly 7 million people and 1,000 schools lost power. Transit systems and streets were completely flooded, damaging our infrastructure. More than 8,000 jobs were lost in the month after the storm.

(Mr. WHITEHOUSE assumed the Chair.)

There were power interruptions that lasted for days and days, putting people into hardship. As the mayor of a city, I saw that the power disruptions actually cost people lives. There were two people who were without power in the city of Newark who tried to sustain themselves with artificial heat. It produced carbon monoxide from which they died. Hurricane Sandy displaced more than 116,000 people and damaged or destroyed 346,000 homes in New Jersey.

We have seen in our State these horrific stories and know for a fact that should more hurricanes hit with rising sea levels, they are going to do more and more extreme damage.

What I wanted to do, in answer to your question, is those were numbers, but the stories that came from Hurricane Sandy rip your gut.

This is one story of Christina, a homeowner from Toms River, as reported in the Huffington Post. They had evacuated her house before Hurricane Sandy hit, Christina did, and then returning found a mysterious note. The letter was hastily scrawled by a person who had broken into her house and taken a blanket and a black jacket to keep hypothermia at bay. The author of the note was sure he was dying.

These storms rushed in so quickly and so severely that it put people in conditions where life and death happened quickly.

I saw them as mayor of Newark. One of the people who died in my city due to Hurricane Sandy was with folks we came to evacuate from Sandy in a low-lying area east of Newark. I will never forget this because the group of men said they did not want to leave. They were going to stay on the higher floor of a structure, but one of them went to move his car at the exact time the water was rushing in so quickly and so fast that he drowned in his car.

This story continues. The man identified himself as a 28-year-old man named Mike and left contact information so that the homeowner could contact his father and tell him he had died.

The note reads: Whoever reads this, I am dying. I am a 28-year-old. My name is Mike. I had to break into your house. I took blankets off the couch. I have hypothermia. I didn't take anything. A wave threw me out of my house and down the block. I don't think I am going to make it. The water is 10-feet deep at least. There is no rescue. Tell my dad I love him, and I am trying to get out. His number is--he gives it to the newspaper and his name is Tony.

He continues: I hope you can read there in the dark. I took a black jacket too. God Almighty, help me.

The heartbreaking last words of a Hurricane Sandy victim made its rounds on social media. In an interview later, Mike told listeners the harrowing story of how he was swept out to sea.

I wish to give a couple more quick vignettes. This is Theresa, 41, Middlesex County, NJ: Walking out of my house the morning after the storm and seeing my neighbors, it was unreal. It was like a war zone. We were unprepared for what happened.

June, 51, Union Beach, NJ: Living through the storm in one of the hardest hit bay towns of New Jersey, I

learned that God is good. In the midst of the hardship and trauma, I saw His love through average people, people who care enough to smile, serve, hug, and weep with me. I saw such compassion in the young and old. I saw the best in humanity.

This is what should be driving us at the core. The heroism we see at these extreme weather conditions, made worse by climate change, shows the grit of America. It shows our strength and our courage, our willingness to be there for one another in times of crisis.

But the point of the matter is we are in a larger crisis right now, and that demands we should act. There is an old saying the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. Well, good people in New Jersey did a lot during Hurricane Sandy as our State had billions of dollars of damage to their communities, displaced people who are still not back in their homes. But as we look at rising sea levels in and around New Jersey, we know that if future storms hit that the damage as the sea level rises will be increasingly worse. So we have an affirmative obligation to act. That is who we are as Americans. We see that right now in our country there is a crisis. It is unmistakable. Every Senator who has spoken tonight has pointed to charts with the facts. We talked earlier about the military recognizing what is happening. They are active.

But of this body, the question will be asked, did this body, when the evidence was clear, when the damage was being done, when homeowner after family after neighborhood after farm town after urban area--when we knew the crisis was coming, did we do everything we could to prevent that challenge, that damage, that infliction of economic, emotional, physical pain from coming?

I ask the Senator, as I wish to switch back in a second, the cost of not doing anything is great. But the Senator mentioned before the benefit of acting. I thought that was one of the more powerful remarks of the Senator. But actually there are rewards for acting, in creating economic activity, in creating jobs, in improving environmental conditions, and in saving money.

I was wondering if the Senator would highlight some more of that intelligent, enlightened action that could actually not be as much of a sacrifice as people are talking about at the beginning.

I beg the indulgence of the Senator, because I am going to put him on the spot. The Senator was talking about Tesla, the innovative company of today. The Senator and I were sharing stories earlier, and this goes to the point of the ingenuity of our country. I know some of the people involved in Tesla, and they are so inspiring.

But the Senator, years ago, when he was in not quite in high school or college----

College. The Senator got involved in building solar cars and racing around our country. To me, that is a tribute to the lessons of what you are talking about; that is, No. 1, we are the leader globally in innovation, but we are also one of the leaders globally in education and training and preparing people.

So this idea--and I see it in schools in Newark and in New Jersey--is kids innovating in robotics competitions, kids innovating in sciences, kids using technology and using the platforms created by big companies to do things that have value and work.

So let me put my colleague on the spot. Forget Tesla. Long before we even knew what Tesla was, my colleague was doing something with solar cars back in college.

I think my colleague's point has been seen in history, before he and I were even born. We had a President put forth a noble ambition to make the Moon not a dream but a destination. What he did was he set in motion, by charting a course for America to be first, to lead the globe to be the

innovators and to go beyond human imagination. It actually affected everyone, all the way down to our schools and our classrooms and what kids were studying. Generations came up with that, and not only did we win the space race, but it fueled new technologies, new innovations for our generation.

Think about this. This company in Silicon Valley, I think it was called Keyhole, looked at the satellite information borne out of the space race. That company was bought by another company called Google, and that turned into Google Maps, something my colleague and I probably both have on our phones.

So it is amazing when America has this attitude that we are not going to put our heads in the sand and deny a new world is upon us; we are going to lead the country. That has multipliers of collateral benefits that are not anticipated. As mayor, I became not a convert, because I knew this was an issue, but I became a zealot about this idea that you could create a multiplier effect of benefits when you talk and innovate around making the American Dream a green dream.

Let me share this with my colleague. We see in a 2012 report by the Rockefeller Foundation that it was estimated that more than $279 billion could be invested in retrofitting existing buildings making them more energy efficient. This goes back to the point we were talking about--job creation and leading. This investment, the Rockefeller Foundation study found, could yield more than $1 trillion of energy savings over 10 years, reducing United States emissions by as much as 10 percent. But this is the kicker. This creates energy savings, reduces emissions, and creates a healthier environment for cities such as Newark and Camden that are on these heat islands that ratchet up asthma. So we lower those emissions, lower the heat in those areas, which has collateral benefits. Here is the one we should be talking about right now while we are coming out of a recession. It could create more than 3.3 million new jobs, direct and indirect, in the U.S. economy.

That is just by investing in retrofitting and getting a return on the investment, with $279 billion, getting a return of $1 trillion in energy savings, and reducing energy costs for families, for governments. These jobs cannot be outsourced. They are not about foreign competition. It is about putting people here to work, and not only do these energy efficiency retrofits utilize local workers, the vast majority of the materials used for the retrofits come from where, Senator?

Right here. Energy retrofits are manufactured right here in the United States of America. This is the collateral benefit, the multiplier effect we are talking about. Attic insulation, replacement windows, and new furnaces--more than 90 percent of the energy efficient materials are made in the USA, putting Americans to work, fueling our economy, and making us strong and successful in a multiple of layers.

That is all in just one segment of the green economy. I am just talking about retrofitting. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have already been created, as we both know, in the wind and solar sectors. People don't know, but New Jersey is one of the leaders in the solar industry. Only California does better than we do, and those sectors are still in their infancy.

We can have a healthy environment and a healthy economy. These false choices that people seem to be putting up are simply that: false choices. It is not the tyranny of the ``or;'' it is the liberation of the ``and.'' They are not mutually exclusive.

When I was mayor of Newark we took action. Understanding this data and these facts, we worked with the building trades, and they created a laborers local, local 55 in my area, that focused on weatherizing residential properties in Newark. We recruited Newark residents who were taught how to perform energy audits and residential retrofits. Our residents had new job opportunities, and our homeowners who participated in the program saw energy savings.

We first did this as a pilot focusing on senior citizen homes in the south ward of my city, and it was amazing. They were seeing reductions in energy costs of 25 percent or more. It was amazing. So we were able to save senior citizens money, employ young people from our community, and improve our environment, all at the same time.

We found this was of value on all the issues. We knew one of the issues was just planting trees. We said: Hey, we are going to take action by increasing our tree canopy. We brought in private dollars at the neighborhood level through community organizing, and we began the process of making Newark greener, thus cooler, and making sure that new generations had opportunities.

My colleague and I both know that one of the great definitions of leadership is that great leaders are those who plant trees under whose shade they will never sit. By our taking action on climate change, we will benefit generations to come, but the truth is--the exciting thing for me--it is going to help us in our economy right now. This is why this doesn't have to be a political issue. It can be one about pragmatism where left and right can come together.

If my colleague will allow me, on that point of left and right coming together, I want to explain why this should not be a political issue. The opportunities are too great for America not to lead, for us to bolster our economy, for us to improve our environment, for us to reduce these savage weather anomalies. What inspires me about this is that there are a lot of people--Republicans--who are realizing this is not a Republican-Democratic issue.

When forest fires rage in New Mexico, they hurt Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in that State. When droughts hit the Midwest, they hurt the farms of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. When the lobster industry suffers in Maine or scallops in Cape May, this affects all of us. If my colleague will allow me, and then I would love to get his comments on this afterwards, I love this editorial, and I think it is worthy of reading into the record right now. The writers are former Administrators of the EPA. Listen to this. This was written by Lee Thomas and William Kelly and this incredible woman from New Jersey named Christie Todd Whitman. She was our governor. She came and joined the Bush administration. These are heads of the EPA, people who had to deal with the facts, the pragmatism, every single day. Their job was to analyze what was going on around the country, and they wrote a letter, and I think it is worthy of reading, if the Senator will indulge me.

Thank you. They say:

We served Republican presidents, but we have a message that

transcends political affiliation: the United States must move

now on substantive steps to curb climate change at home and

internationally.

I'm telling you right now, and my colleague knows this, when we lead, other nations follow.

The letter continues:

There is no longer any credible scientific debate about the

basic facts: our world continues to warm, with the last

decade the hottest in modern records, and the deep ocean

warming faster than the earth's atmosphere. Sea level is

rising. Arctic ice is melting years faster than projected.

The costs of inaction are undeniable. The lines of scientific

evidence grow only stronger and more numerous. And the window

of time remaining to act is growing smaller: delay could mean

that warming becomes ``locked in.''

I know my colleague and I both believe in the free market.

But we know we see businesses now that are internalizing profits and externalizing costs. I see this in New Jersey. We are cleaning up the Passaic River, and it is costing taxpayer dollars. When we hear complaints about high taxes, it is going to this kind of stuff--cleaning up the Passaic River because corporations and businesses are dumping pollutants in there and do not internalize the cost. They said: Some future generation is going to pay for it. We are that future generation.

So getting back to this--because I love the free market--I want people who externalize the cost to internalize it. If you are polluting the air and hurting the planet, you need to pay for that.

A market-based approach like carbon tax would be the best path to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but that is unachievable in the current political gridlock in Washington. Dealing with this political reality, President

Obama's June Climate Action Plan lays out achievable actions that would deliver real progress. This is amazing to me. Four Republicans who served under Republican Presidents as heads of the EPA are saying President Obama's June Climate Action Plan lays out achievable actions that would deliver real progress.

The President also plans to use his regulatory power to limit the powerful warming chemicals called hydrofluorocarbons. People understandably don't like overregulation, but the reality is that if this is being released as pollutants into the air, we should be doing something about it.

I don't mean to question the Senator's integrity, but I just don't know if he was alive at the time.

Allow me to continue because the Senator is absolutely right. I heard some incredible examples from other Senators talking about things we did. I love the story by the Senator from Maine about the pull-top cans.

I love that. Never bet against America's ability to innovate, to be resilient, to be industrious.

So I continue on this editorial written by four past Republican EPA Administrators:

The president also plans to use his regulatory power to

limit the powerful warming chemicals known as

hydrofluorocarbons and encourage the United States to join

with other nations to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase

out these chemicals. The landmark international treaty, which

took effect in 1989, already has been hugely successful in

solving the ozone problem.

Rather than argue against his proposals, our leaders in

Congress should endorse them and start the overdue debate

about what bigger steps are needed and how to achieve them--

domestically and internationally.

As administrators of the E.P.A. under Presidents Richard M.

Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and George W. Bush, we

held fast to the common-sense conservative principles--

protecting the health of the American people, working with

the best technology available and trusting in the innovation

of American business and in the market to find the best

results for the least cost.

Highlighting the Senator's words.

That approach helped us tackle major environmental

challenges to our nation and the world: the pollution of our

rivers, dramatized when the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland

caught fire in 1969; the hole in the ozone layer; and the

devastation wrought by acid rain.

These are all points just made by the Senator from New Mexico.

They continue:

The solutions we supported worked----

Government acted. They worked----

although more must be done. Our rivers no longer burn, and

their health continues to improve. The United States led the

world when nations came together to phase out ozone-depleting

chemicals. Acid rain diminishes each year, thanks to a

pioneering, market-based emissions-trading system adopted

under the first President Bush in 1990. And despite critics'

warnings, our economy continued to grow.

Climate change puts all our progress and our successes at

risk.

It says what the Senator and so many others have said: Climate change puts all of our successes and our communities--like Toms River, like Cape May County--at risk.

If we could articulate one framework for successful

governance, perhaps it should be this: When confronted by a

problem, deal with it. Look at the facts, cut through the

extraneous, devise a workable solution and get it done.

We can have both a strong economy and a liveable climate.

All parties know that we need both. The rest of the

discussion is either detail, which we can resolve, or

purposeful delay, which we should not tolerate.

Mr. Obama's plan is just a start. More will be required.

But we must continue efforts to reduce the climate-altering

pollutants that threaten our planet. The only uncertainty

about our warming world is how bad the changes will get and

how soon. What is most clear is that there is no time to

waste.

Republicans who echoed to me these words--and I know the Senator knows who wrote them, but I will read them first and cite them later. We heard four Republicans speaking today echoing the words of someone who wrote in the 1960s:

We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow

is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.

In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there ``is''

such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the

thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and

dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of

men does not remain at flood--it ebbs. We may cry out

desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is

adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones

and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written

the pathetic words, ``Too late.''

As the Senator obviously knows, those are the words of Martin Luther King.

I know for the people in New Jersey, who stand with the understandable anguish of a State still recovering from Hurricane Sandy, that should the sea levels continue to rise in the coming years, we know cities such as Atlantic City and others could see not hundred- year floods but ten-year floods, which will severally damage those cities' ability to continue as we know them today. For my State, there can be no ``too late.'' We must act now. And the Senator sees that urgency as well in New Mexico.

I will ask the Senator about some of the vulnerable communities in his State, but I will go about it this way. I have such great memories of my father and grandfather, both of whom passed away. Probably the first time I passed through the Senator's State was in a mobile home, in which my grandfather took us and drove us across the country. I saw America, north and south. We did that a number of times. I remember standing with him and looking at Mount Rushmore. My grandfather had a great sense of humor, and if he didn't know a historical fact, he would just make it up. But he taught us to appreciate and love this country. My father was the same way. He grew up in the mountains of North Carolina and took me there as a little boy and with such pride showed me mountains and lakes, and I fell in love. My mom also took me around New Jersey to some of our great parks and hiking the Palisades of New Jersey. I have incredible memories of the Jersey Shore and walking the boardwalk with my hand in my parents' hands. All these memories are so great. My father had this story that I think makes this point about tonight. One of the slogans for tonight is ``Wake Up.''

My father tells a story about a guy walking along and sees a porch, a man sitting in a rocking chair, and this hound dog sitting next to him. The hound dog is just howling away like he was in great pain. The man says, ``What is wrong with your dog? Why is he howling so much?''

And the man says, ``Well, he's sitting on a nail.''

And the other man says, ``Why doesn't he get up?''

And the man says, ``Because he's not hurting bad enough yet.''

I tell you, the story used to always get me because my father used to always say: Son, get up. Do not tolerate bad. You are better than that. Do not just lie there.

I think about our country and know our history.

You and I have been talking about our history. You and I were born in an amazing generation. We were born after the dawn of the civil rights movement, born after going to the Moon. So much we are talking about tonight is the history of our elders who did give to us a country of unbridled possibilities. We are America, but we are hurt. We are hurt, and we represent communities that feel all this pain.

This is the point I wish to make. I heard Senator Landrieu from Louisiana in the debate about flood insurance and how these waters are rising. These are becoming more severe problems. I heard some of my Northeastern colleagues talk about the erosion, how we are losing acres and acres every year with rising sea levels. One of the times I got very moved listening to Senator Landrieu talk was when she was reacting to people who say this is about people who have lost their vacation home. I heard this in New Jersey as well. What bothered me about that is what many folks do not realize is the pain of climate change often affects the most vulnerable Americans most--the poorest people.

She was talking about those people who make a living, scratch out a living in her State, whose livelihoods--who really have not that many other choices. I was in Cape May County talking to these fishermen and listening to the kind of tough jobs they have. These aren't people who are millionaires. They go out there. Talk about an honest day's work. I have to say I am a northern New Jersey boy, listening to these men talk about the toils of pulling from the sea. Cape May is one of the most productive areas to bring in the sea's bounty in our country. They say it is No. 4.

To hear them talk about their jobs--but their fear, their worry in their eyes that with the warming waters their catch is moving north. They are getting less out of the sea. I know this as a former mayor of Newark. I see this when I go to my schools and talk to my school nurses, and they use the word ``epidemic'' with asthma, seeing the warming climate, what it is doing to the lung development on these children.

I know from Sandy that when a storm like that hits, everybody assumes why not get in the car, drive someplace, stay in a hotel. Many people, No. 1, do not have cars, cannot just pull out of their pocket a couple hundred bucks to stay in a nice hotel for 1 month or 2 months. When they lose their home, they lose everything, and then when they come back, they are told they have to build in a certain way. So this is something that affects us all.

As King said, to quote him again in the letters from the Birmingham jail:

We are all part of an inescapable network of mutuality,

tied in a common garment of destiny.

In America there is no rich destiny and poor destiny. There is no Republican destiny and Democratic destiny. There is no Black destiny and White destiny. We have one destiny here. But the truth is, in this country, the people who are most immediately impacted by this growing problem are these vulnerable populations. We have to talk more about those folks. They cannot hire lobbyists to come down here. They do not represent some industry we give tax breaks to but folks who cannot engage in expensive fundraisers. The Senator from New Mexico has a State--and again, the goodness you have done to educate me. I hope I have done as good a job educating my friend about New Jersey, and he is welcome to come to our State.

My colleague from New Mexico represents everything from Native American peoples to a very diverse State. I am wondering if he could talk for a moment about the urgency he sees of this problem for the more vulnerable populations who are becoming--the situation they are in right now is becoming much more dire and should call to the consciousness of our country and should challenge our morality as a people, should expand our moral imagination about what we can and should do and must do.

I guess what makes me emotional, I have to say, is I do not need to imagine what the future will be like because I have seen it in the urban area I have represented for the last 7-plus years. Let me go a little bit deeper into what I mean.

We wanted to do urban gardening. We were told by environmental regulators in our State that we couldn't dig into our soil because the soil in my city was toxic. Not one of my residents did it, not the folks who had been living there for generations. It is toxic because folks put things in the soil.

We have the biggest urban gardening city, Newark, NJ, but they are planting in beds above ground. I already talked to you about the air quality. This is why so many cities in New Jersey now are working very hard--and I am proud--on two items, and one of them is we have epidemic asthma rates. Go to urban places around the country and you will see that. Now we are separated from the air, separated from the soil. Go to your river. It used to be, if you were poor, you could just go to the river and get some shellfish. Go fishing, eat a meal. But somebody took that away, and now you cannot do that. Now you have to find money and see if you can buy something from the store that nature used to provide in the safe river. So you are separated from your water. So the collateral damage all through the populations, I do not have to see what it is going to be, I see it now.

There is wisdom in my community. There is still wisdom. If you will, allow me to share a story with you.

I have learned my best lessons in life from some of the humblest folks who have this wisdom. There is something about the DNA of human beings that knows we have to respect the environment that gives us everything. We are a people that used to be an agrarian society.

In my city there is a gentleman. I talked about this gentleman in the State of the City Address once who was living in a high-rise building across the street from a lot. It was fenced in by some iron, but the iron had given way, so it was full of debris and junk. There were some guys who dealt drugs out there. People looked at that as an area you just do not go to. This guy got a stimulus check in the mail. You were saying before how expensive it is. James Baldwin, the great American author, said something about is very expensive to be poor. But I also find there are those who have the least who are the most generous to others.

This retired State worker, instead of just saying, great, I got a check in the mail--he didn't do that--he said: I am going to use this check. So he went and bought a lawnmower, a rake, and gardening materials. He went into the lot the drug dealers were using--the elderly man goes into the lot and he tended to the earth; cleaned it up, mowed the lawn, a little bit every day. He didn't do it all at once.

First, people were worried about it. The drug dealers didn't pay him any mind. He tended to the earth. Before he knew it he became a hero in his building, not just because that lot became more beautiful than the White House lawn down the road but because after he made it look so beautiful, what happened to the drug dealers? They left. They left that spot.

I heard about this gentleman. I went to visit him in his building, and it was just to me this amazing story of the pride people have, of the desire they have to take care of their community.

Right.

Can we pause for station identification in the sense that the Senator from Hawaii is really the ring leader, so to speak, in bringing us together in almost a 24-hour period. The Senator has done a great job of pulling our colleagues together. There have been a little more than two dozen Senators who have come to the floor.

I thank my friend from Hawaii for his extraordinary leadership on bringing this issue to the floor. He has spoken so eloquently about Hawaii and the impact of the severe weather changes. I am very much looking forward to hearing that now.

I do want to say that right after I turned 17 and got my New Jersey driver's license, one of the earliest places where I drove was on a trip to Hawaii--the only trip I had ever taken--and I found it to be an extraordinary State.

I did not drive to Hawaii. I thank the Senator from New Mexico for that clarification. I appreciate that for the Congressional Record.

I do want to say that Hawaii was a paradise, except that it lacked some fundamental things. For one, it lacked a good Jersey diner. In a future career, the Senator might want to open a diner. It would be so successful there.

Please, Senator, go ahead.

(Mr. HEINRICH assumed the Chair.)

Mr. President, may I ask a question of the Senator from Rhode Island.

There are a number of issues here and the first is: Are temperatures going up? And for me, the air temperature is increasing. We have objective measurements on that. Ocean temperatures are increasing. We have objective measurements on that. The ocean is becoming more acidic. We have objective measurements of that. Sea levels are rising because of the expansion of warming oceans. Obviously, that is just basic, basic science we learned in our earlier years. The amount of land covered in snow is decreasing in the northern hemisphere. We have evidence of that. Glaciers are melting away. There is evidence of that. Arctic sea ice is decreasing. We have evidence of that. Again, we see in New Jersey evidence of measurements of these things happening.

Scientists at Tufts and Rutgers estimate the New Jersey shore will experience a sea level rise of 1.5 feet by 2050. This is based upon what is happening right now that they can measure. The projections for the New Jersey coast are higher than projected for average sea levels that rise globally. The projected sea level rise of 1.5 feet by 2050 for the New Jersey coast in places such as Atlantic City, if there were a 10-year storm--not a 50-year storm or a 100-year storm, but just the scale of a storm that, on average, we see every 10 years--flood levels from that storm would be worse than any flooding that has ever been seen in Atlantic City, even worse than those from Superstorm Sandy.

The temperature issues in New Jersey are the same as well. In New Jersey, the statewide average temperature in 2012 was the highest in 118 years of recording it. Nine of the ten warmest calendar years on record in New Jersey as an objective measurement have occurred since 1990, and the five warmest years have occurred since 1998. Scientists predict that by 2050 summer temperatures in New Jersey will regularly surpass the current hottest temperatures on record, making the State begin to have more such as that of Alabama. I know Senator Sessions and Senator Shelby can tell me a lot about those temperatures, but that is not the New Jersey we know.

So I guess my question is--first of all, there is no denying what is happening. The bait we often get pulled into, by using a ridiculous paucity of a study, as compared to the grand total of the other studies, is what is causing this. Is it manmade or is this some regular fluctuation? But let us hold that in abeyance for a second, that question, and just deal with what we talked earlier about--the military that deals with the fierce urgency of now. Even not dealing with the question of how this issue is created, we should be doing things right now to deal with the consequences--investments in resiliency and adaptability along our coasts. There is so much we should be compromising on both sides of the aisle. If they want to argue about what is causing it, that is an argument we should take, and I believe we will win, but absent that, even if you say these trends are happening, now what are we going to do as a country? Nothing or are we going to prepare for that? Isn't there a lot of action we can take even before we get to the argument of whether this was manmade? Because these are trends that are happening and there are things we should be doing about it.

Right. So that is sort of the frustrating thing for me. We see these challenges mounting up all around us and we still do nothing. It reminds me of this crazy story my brother told me when I was a young guy. I think originally it was a story from Lou Holtz. You will appreciate this, because if you are in it, doing nothing is not an option.

This is a story of a very wealthy man who had no heirs to leave his money to. So he lined up a whole bunch of young strapping guys in front of his big old Olympic-sized pool with a cover over it and said: OK, anybody who can swim across this pool gets my inheritance. You are the ones. So all these young men got ready to jump across the pool,

and he pushed the button, the pool cover opened, and there in the water were snakes and alligators and piranhas, and a very mean, vicious- looking duck.

Basically he waited there, and all the men now backed off and didn't do anything. He finally had enough of it and said: Aw, shucks, and turned around. But just as he walked away, thinking none of those young men were going to be up to the challenge, he hears this big splash. He turns around and he sees navigating across the pool the youngest of all the men--a guy the age of Senator Schatz--navigating through this water and battling alligators, pushing back the poisonous snakes, kicking back piranhas, dodging that vicious-looking duck, working his way over, and heaving himself onto the other end of the pool. He is now bloodied and tired and breathing hard, and the man runs over and says: I can't believe it, boy. You did it. I can't believe it. You did it. Anything you want, it is yours. Anything you want, it is yours.

The young man looks up at the guy and says: Well, all I want is to know who pushed me.

I asked my brother, after he told me the story, what is the moral of the story? He said: Cory, the moral of the story is: If you are in it, you don't do nothing. If you have challenges up to your neck, you don't do nothing. You keep moving across those challenges.

So my colleague's point is excellent, that we are at a point in America where we see clearly the challenges we are facing, but right now, because of a deadlocked legislature, we are not doing that much. The cost of inaction we can actually calculate by watching countries around us begin to advance the ball down the field in innovation and new technologies that can help reduce the dependency on carbon fuels. We see vulnerabilities being created from Hawaii to New Jersey, up and down the east coast and the west coast that we are not doing anything about. Lacking the investments and that kind of resiliency will cost us more in the long run.

The point I am trying to make is, when we hear from the military that we need to do work and they are starting to do things to learn how to run their planes on biofuels and learn how to better secure property, when we hear from people in industries who say we have to be ahead of the curve on innovation, ahead of the curve on these new technologies other countries are challenging us on, when we hear even on the issue of job creation and government responsibility in terms of saving taxpayer dollars, retrofitting buildings, lowering energy costs, helping people save more money and keep it there--all of these things should be enough alone to compel us to act before we even get to the debate about what is causing this.

So what I am asking is, understanding that debate, having been in the Senate only for about 4 months, where is the bipartisan work on what is factually happening--warming seas, rising sea levels and the obvious stuff knowing these challenges are there? Why aren't we doing more as a Nation to wake folks up and invest in what we know will make us a better, stronger, and safer Nation?

I share the Senator's sense of hope about our ability to come together as a country, crises after crises, generation after generation, and we come here to do the right thing. I know this from the history my parents and grandparents have talked to me about-- whether it was against an external threat of fascism, and how folks pulled together, from victory gardens and conserving, to people who stormed beaches in Normandy. I know for the civil rights movement we came together as a Nation and overcame those people who were trying to deny equal rights and equal opportunity in this country. It is those past victories which fuel my hopes about the present.

We as a Nation have already set limits for arsenic, mercury, lead, and other types of pollution. We have already done that and said if a private company is going to spew this filth into our climate, they are going to have to face limitations and take responsibility for those actions. In other words, they are going to have to internalize the costs and not externalize them, not put the burden on people. Again, I have seen this in countless cities across America where, when we didn't do that, people were still paying the price in the money we spent here in the Federal Government for brownfield remediation and public tax dollars paying for the cleanup of land often in urban spaces which other people dirtied up. So it is just common sense not to allow polluters to release unlimited amounts of pollutants in the air.

Don't forget about the duck.

Again, the Senator said it. On the local level, dealing with the urgencies of the moment, we don't have time to philosophize and don't have time for politics. We have to solve problems. The Senator's point is something I experienced as a mayor on multiple occasions. We got teenagers and trained them in solar panel installation. What happened to the buildings? It reduced the costs. People saved money. Our surrounding environment actually improved, burning less fossil fuels, putting less carbon in the air.

Every time we attended to our environment, we were able to find win- wins. We looked at that and said: Let's create multiple farms and create more locally-grown food. We found a way to address crime issues in our city.

By the way, there are studies which show cities with more trees and plant life and what have you often see some correlations with crime. We did it in a different way. We created greenfields, planting food, locally-grown produce, able to source it to restaurants over in New York across the Hudson River. But what excited me is we created a reentry program for men and women coming home from prison.

So this is the creativity we see in industry and local communities, people realizing that this is not an either-or choice, the economy or the environment. No. That is a false choice.

So people who see this as incredibly threatening haven't looked at the facts that we can create wins on multiple levels for the United States of America. So we can get the win on the economy. We can get the win on the environment. We can get the win on the costs being spent. We can get the win from being less dependent upon nations who have helped destabilize our planet. Then the biggest patriotic win of them all is an America that can lead again in this area, that can show the world the way to go. Frankly, we can show other countries that are saying: Why should I do anything on this issue, we can show a way forward which isn't about self-interest. It is about enlightened self-interest, if you go the way we are going.

We heard one of the other Senators talk tonight about what China is already seeing in terms of their pollutants and environment and how the public is reacting to that. That is one area I might question one more time--the hope that somehow bipartisanship will come here. The feeling I have is the statistics the Senator was reading about the number of people on the Web site is such an important thing for me. Often as I look at the history of this institution, change does happen here, but often it comes from people demanding it, standing up for it, letting their politicians know: I don't care if you are a Republican or a Democrat; if you don't get on board with this, you are going to pay for it at the polls.

What gives me hope is it is such common sense that folks are going to start putting pressure on this body--just like I have seen on some other issues which have come around of recent--pressure on folks to say: Hey, you have got to get on board because this is common stuff which is going to benefit my neighbor, my community, my school, my kids, my country.

I am hoping those numbers you were revealing show some of that energy. I wonder if that is your view.

I will ask one more question and then invite Senator Schatz--who has been the catalytic agent in pulling this all together-- to address this idea of a level playing field and free markets, the subsidy that is given to oil and coal, and the predictable subsidies that have been given to oil and coal which have helped fuel the industry, compared to the unpredictable subsidies that are given to alternative energy sources such as wind, which has led to more disjointed advancements in those areas.

Again, I think of arguments about picking winners and losers. I heard a lot about this when I came to Washington. ``Why is Obama picking winners and losers?''

It seems to me this is anti-philosophy of allowing the free market to work, because we seem to be favoring--based, I imagine, on very powerful lobbies--favoring tax loopholes and tax breaks for certain industries and not allowing them for other industries, and the industries of the future that would help us to have a more blended all- of-the-above strategy.

I know you have a lot of insight into this, which to me flies in the face of conservative ideology. It flies in the face of progressive ideology. The only ideology that seems to make sense is money interests that want to corrupt a free market, corrupt common sense, and corrupt what we think should be a unifying force toward moving as a nation toward a more sound energy policy.

For us then to take the innovators that are trying to invest the money and the resources to keep America on the cutting edge of alternative fuels to be denied any kind of flexibility, and for the Senator illustrating earlier what is happening at a local level as the money interests from fossil fuel firms that get involved in legislatures that are trying to do things to create a level playing field, to me that should be something we

should all say no to. It should stop completely.

Mr. President, it is an honor to speak for my first time in the Senate. As I speak today on the urgent need to extend unemployment insurance, I feel a sense of profound gratitude that I first want to note. First, I feel this gratitude to the people of the State of New Jersey. It is remarkable, the privilege they have given me to walk into this hall, to stand right in the area where the great Senator Frank Lautenberg stood, to work here in this hall which is filled with such history, to have the privilege of sitting there at the desk where the Presiding Officer is sitting and touch things that seem like they should belong in a museum, like a gavel from hundreds of years ago, to walk in here and see over our heads words like ``courage'' and ``wisdom'' and ``patriotism.'' Most importantly, it is a privilege to walk here among my colleagues, all 99 of them, every single one senior to me in months and years served, in wisdom, and in experience. It is my prayer, first and foremost, that I prove worthy of this incredible honor.

With all of that said, I also realize that I joined this body at a time when Congress is not really thought that well of by the American public. In fact, this institution's approval ratings are at an all-time low. I find that not surprising. Even when I was running for this office, I encountered so much frustration. In the days before I came down here, people who you would think would love Congress would look at me and say: Go down there and give them hell. I think that is because so many people in America understand what we have endured for the last 6 years, which is the worst economy of my lifetime. While we are seeing some progress in our national recovery, it has come slowly and unevenly. Many families are still hurting. Americans believe Congress is not doing all it can to address the urgent problems they face. They believe that we have, in some cases, made problems worse. Some people, I understand, have surrendered to cynicism about government, cynicism about America's future, cynicism about the ability for people themselves to shape their own lives and their destiny. But we cannot allow the pain of so many Americans to overshadow that long history we all share. There is a reason why American history does not look kindly upon cynics and naysayers, for even with all of its wrenching pain and savage problems, our collective past offers a resounding testimony to overcoming impossible challenges, to righting terrible wrongs and advancing deeper and deeper meaning to those very American words ``liberty and justice for all.''

That is what our Nation is, the oldest constitutional democracy, a country founded not so that its people get special treatment because of divine rights of Kings and Queens but because everyone is valued. We did not get there right away. Even in our founding documents, where Native Americans are referred to as savages, African American as fractions of human beings, and women not at all, we have made progress.

I know I am here in this Chamber because of what this Nation has done by coming together. Like all of my colleagues, all 99 of them, we are not here because of some royal lineage or entitled ancestor. I personally stand here like others because of the grit, work, sacrifice, and discipline of my ancestors but also because they had the blessing to labor in a Nation that for generation after generation advanced to greater and greater inclusion, greater and greater opportunity, spread among more and more people.

Our Nation has an enduring belief that when we struggle together for a common cause America is better and we are all better. It is the understanding that we are a Nation with a profound and sacred Declaration of Independence. Also, our country has a historical chorus that profoundly proclaimed a declaration of interdependence.

We began and have endured because our ancestors understood the common cause that is America. This cause was heralded by our greatest leaders in every single generation, the people whose words and speeches and examples inspired me to be here today. George Washington, an original Founding Father, reminded us of this principle and American ideal in his farewell address where he wrote:

The name American belongs to us. We have in common cause

fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty

we possess are the work of joint counsel and joint effort, of

common dangers, common suffering and common successes.

So standing here I am grateful that I have never forgotten what my mom has told me time and time again: ``Boy, don't forget where you come from.'' Well, I know from whence I come. I now from whence all of my colleagues come. I am proud that we, all 100 of us, descendents of slaves, of immigrants, labor factory workers, domestics, of farmers who through toil brought from the earth hope, of business people, who with impossible mountains before them climbed high and commanded forth new opportunity--all of us, despite our political differences, share a common heritage, and we share a common desire to solve problems, to address the challenges that plague this Nation, that hurt families, to serve our country so that we may give truth to the words like ``courage'' and ``patriotism'' and ``wisdom,'' so that they never become simply empty words etched above our heads but they constantly fuel the passion and desire of our hearts.

That is why 3 months in, almost to the day, I am inspired by the work of this body. I have not surrendered to the cynicism about it. I am inspired by the remarkable people who sit around me right now. This is a great institution. I now have an even more fervent, relentless belief that together we can address our common cause and the common challenges afflicting our national strength.

Principal among these challenges facing the United States is the persistent economic hardship and insecurity facing too many Americans. Our economy, though improving, is nonetheless failing too many people. Economic trends and challenges, not of any individual's making, and particularly not of the making of those who felt the pain of this great recession the most, are forcing too many families out of the middle class and into poverty.

This is not a threat to just some. It is a threat to us all. A shrinking middle class and intractable poverty is a threat to America. It is a challenge to the very idea of who we profess to be as a Nation; that each generation should do better than the one before; that we are a land of growing prosperity shared by a widening population; that the idea that anyone born in any station, through hard work, self discipline, and sacrifice can make it in America.

But over the last few decades this has become less and less the case. You see, wages are stagnant and by some measures have declined for the middle class. Social mobility in America, almost embarrassingly, lags behind many of our competitor nations. More and more families are beginning to question that idea that in America every generation does better than the one before.

More and more people now are getting stuck and feeling stuck through

no fault of their own in a dismal hope-subduing economic condition. I watched, when I was Mayor of New Jersey's largest city, how company after company shed workers during the recession, how retirement savings collapsed, how the ratio of people looking for jobs to jobs available jaggedly cut against the American worker, still standing now at roughly 3 Americans looking for a job for every job that is available.

Amidst this jarring recession, other economic trends continue to deepen our national economic wounds. Companies are now outsourcing jobs and investment. New technologies bring incredible societal benefit, but they are also driving many jobs into obsolescence. The worker in America is facing a weakening in negotiating position.

So as a new Senator, I am inspired by my colleagues, many of them, and especially their incredible staff, the unsung giants of our Federal Government who are working hard to meet the challenges. I profess that I hear from Members on both sides of the aisle a true understanding of our common cause and our collective responsibility here in the Senate.

Senator after Senator to whom I talked in my first 3 months is driving an agenda that gives my very hope sustenance. I am proud to roll up my sleeves and work with them regardless of party. While we may have differences in approach and disagreements on strategy, the common call to improve our economy has Senators nobly pushing what I believe are critical important legislative measures, measures that range from efforts to address our national skills gap, to expand educational opportunities, to boost our manufacturing sector, to lift small businesses, to promote research, development and investment in infrastructure, and efforts to stop the perverse incentive that drives jobs and investment overseas, and so much more.

But these critical and worthy efforts may take months or longer to move through Congress and even more time to have an effect to expand our economy at the necessary rate. Thus they do not relieve us from the urgency to do more right now to help those families caught amidst these treacherous economic trends.

These are families who so desperately want to work, who spend their days searching for jobs, sending out resume after resume after resume, going online and filling out application after application after application. There are tens of thousands of New Jersey families who are visiting food pantries for food or depleting their savings accounts or are cashing out their IRAs and who are racking up credit cards just to pay for necessities, who are skipping prescriptions, who are missing rent payments, and who are falling behind on their mortgages, letting car insurance lapse, having their utilities canceled, and having their children miss out--sitting out of field trips or afterschool activities just because their parents can't afford the costs.

This is why unemployment insurance is critical. It is America answering the call to help people in a crisis not of their own making.

I am proud, God, I am so proud, that for the past 50 years America has answered that call time and time again to help others in crisis. We are America. We have been America. This is our tradition. When times are tough, as the great New Jersey poet sings: ``We Take Care of Our Own.'' In fact, we are a nation that takes care of its own and reaches beyond. If there is a crisis, America is there. If there is a crisis, be it a typhoon in the Philippines, an earthquake in Haiti, America responds; be it an act of terror in New York or Washington, an oilspill in the gulf, flooding in Colorado or a hurricane barreling up the northeastern coast, America responds.

Our tradition is clear. When the vicious vicissitudes of the market create economic crises for our people at levels as high as they are now, America responds. Extending unemployment insurance has always been viewed in this light.

When Senator Robert Wagner rose in the Senate in the mid-1930s amidst a depression that cast millions of families--my family--into economic peril, he called the Social Security Act and its unemployment provision a compound in which blended elements of economic wisdom and social justice exist.

George Bush, who extended unemployment benefits five times, at a time when unemployment was lower than it is now, said in very plain English:

Americans rely on their unemployment benefits to pay for

the mortgage or rent, food and other critical bills. They

need our assistance in these difficult times, and we cannot

let them down.

Our inaction in the Senate in not renewing emergency unemployment benefits at the end of December, with national unemployment as high as it is now, has let millions of Americans, adults and their children down--down into an avoidable economic misery.

In New Jersey, I found it was particularly stinging to our residents, even confusing to them, that when times were not as bad as they are now, we acted with bipartisan, no-strings-attached conviction for our fellow Americans. Not only did we act when the unemployment rate was lower than it is now, but we acted to extend unemployment insurance time after time when long-term unemployment was about half of what it is today.

President after President, Congress after Congress responded--but not now.

When times were better, we responded--but not now.

When fewer people were struggling, we responded--but not now.

When foreign competition was not as fierce, we responded--but not now.

When banks were irresponsibly overleveraged and when insurance companies were dangerously undercapitalized, when rating agencies rated trash as treasure and when mortgage companies used reprehensible practices that harmed family after family, all together threatening to create cataclysmic crisis, we responded--but not now.

For millions of Americans suffering in these horrible economic conditions not of their own making, who play by the rules, who are looking for work, who are struggling, who are suffering, we have more than 50 years of history of responding and extending unemployment insurance--but not now.

I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment just to extend and single out my gratitude for the leadership of my colleague Jack Reed. For his efforts, he has been incredible in trying to extend these benefits. He, along with other of my colleagues, refused to give up. He has worked quietly and relentlessly to find a bipartisan solution. He has offered compromise, offered pay-fors, and has offered a way forward that would bring hope. But so far that solution has proved to be elusive.

If we are to honor our collective legacy and tradition, we cannot surrender in this moment to the partisanship of today. So many people are depending on this body to come together and find a way not left or right but forward for America, because every week that we delay, 70,000 Americans lose their benefits. For thousands, every week, that means losing a house, an eviction from an apartment, and depletion of savings. Because 40 percent of those who received benefits have children, it means depriving our children of things we would all consider the basics. Nearly 3 weeks ago I stood with Senator Reed and pledged to go back to New Jersey and return with stories of the people I met who needed our collective action and needed us to come together. Twelve events later, after stops all across New Jersey, my heart has broken time and time again.

It is broken by the former A&P manager in River Edge, working every day to find a job and has burned through his entire life's savings; by the Hunterdon woman whose home of decades has gone into foreclosure. She is working every day to find a job but is in crisis; by the soon- to-be father in Paterson, working hard every day to find a job but is wracked with worry about providing for his new baby; by the father of five in Bridgetowne who now struggles every day to find a job but also to afford life's basic necessities. He was talking to me about keeping the heat on, about how they can keep gas in the car and food on the table. He told me about the strain and the stress it is creating in his oldest, a 10-year-old son.

These stories from cities to suburbs, from Barbara and Robert's kitchen table in Old Bridge, NJ, to the County Griddle Lounge in Clinton, NJ, to the One Stop Center in Plainfield, NJ, were eerily similar and, most of all, they

were all avoidable with action from Congress.

Eileen from Bernardsville told me she had been looking for work for 1 year. Federal benefits allowed her to stay afloat and afford the things necessary to find a job, money for gas, dry cleaning, a cell phone. Even in front of other job seekers, she couldn't disguise her anger and disappointment with Washington. Her anger was about feeling that she and others were being ignored. She told me she felt ashamed of a country that would turn its back on its own people. She is mad about a Congress that she feels doesn't hear her, but she is mostly mad that anyone, especially a Member of Congress, would say she is lazy.

She is right to be mad, especially about the absurd notion that unemployment benefits provide a disincentive to work. That allegation frankly burns me. It is something I have heard too often; that somehow people are lazy or that unemployment insurance and payments, as meager as they are, provide a disincentive to work. This, to me, is intellectually dishonest and, according to most studies, factually not true.

This is one of those corrosive political strains that burns the collective gut of our national truth, pitting, actually, American against American and violates that American wisdom--my mom always told me--that we should not look down on another person unless we are extending a hand of help. We are not calling them lazy.

When I was mayor of Newark, I saw my share of lines of good people doing that well, offering a hand of help. These lines, I will tell you as mayor, motivated me even harder to double down because they were lines at soup kitchens where Americans were helping Americans. They were lines at the one-stop job center where Americans were helping Americans.

But the longest lines I saw as mayor were when we had successes, when a new business, supermarket or company would come to town and say they were hiring. The lines would go on for blocks or wrap around buildings with people desperate to work, even for minimum-wage jobs.

I can vividly remember scenes just like that when Newark opened a Home Depot or then-Continental Airlines held a job fair. It was Americans in line with pride in their hearts, resumes in their hands, and hunger to find a job, any job, to get to work.

I heard that the last 2 weeks all over my State from former managers applying for entry-level jobs to no avail and people with years of experience so desperate they were applying for minimum-wage jobs with no success.

The people who really blew me away, who just set me aback because I honestly should have expected it--but I didn't expect to hear it--were people who told me in order to keep their pride and to keep their feelings of self-worth, on top of all of their stress and strain of unemployment, they found ways to volunteer at their local libraries, at their schools, at their churches. These were folks such as Mary, whom I met in Hunterdon County. Mary told me she was helping women look for work as she herself was. She was helping them develop skills from her experience while she was trying to find her own job.

This is the America I know. From our cities to our wealthier suburbs, people want to work. They want to give back. They want to contribute. They want to represent the truth of who we are as a country. Time and time again I heard people say, ``We don't want unemployment insurance, we want a job.''

Even folks who had jobs, though, told me of the pain of congressional inaction.

I stopped to meet with folks in Woodbury. I went to a restaurant, Marlene Mangia Bene--Senator Menendez can probably pronounce that better. I spoke with the owners: Christopher, Maria, Frank, and other business leaders. The community of businesspeople told me how high the prevalence of unemployed people was and how many people were losing their benefits, and they came to the simple conclusion, as they watched how it hurt businesses in that town--less money coming to people in their time of need, less money spent, and that meant less revenue for businesses, which meant that some businesses might not be able to hold on to as many employees, and then those laid-off employees would then need unemployment insurance and more social services.

The cycle feeds itself.

If we fail to extend unemployment benefits, economists say it is going to cost the country almost one-quarter of a million jobs this year alone. This is another government self-inflicted wound we can avoid. Reinstating benefits will save 19,000 jobs in New Jersey alone.

But it is bigger than that. Every single job is a family-added distress. While all families are important, there are some who should weigh especially heavy on the conscience of our country.

Take New Jersey State Assemblyman Bob Andrzejzak, an Iraq war vet who lost his leg in service to our country. He pulled together a group of veterans, young and old, for me to talk with at a Rio Grande diner in Middle Township in Cape May County.

I challenge any Member of Congress who hasn't done so already to sit with veterans who are receiving unemployment benefits or who, because of our inaction, just lost them. It is not hard to find them.

Unfortunately, nearly 21,000 veterans lost their benefits earlier than anticipated when we failed to extend benefits in December, and about 3,000 or more will join them each month unless we right this wrong.

Listen to the testimony of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who have come back into this economy after fighting on the frontlines, after facing peril and danger most of us can't imagine, and then here in America they have to face the harsh realities of, despite their best efforts, being unemployed and even facing the potential horrors of homelessness.

These men and women who fought for our country, who stood for our Nation, are not lazy. There is no disincentive to work in these benefits. These are people who signed up to go to war. The assemblyman told me how hard it was for his friends and even him to find a job. He told me what it does to their spirits and what it is like to give all for your country and then have your country fail to do what it has consistently done for others during times of crisis over the last 50 years--to extend unemployment benefits.

This man, Bob Andrzejzak, is shorter than me but he stands taller than I will ever stand--and on a prosthetic leg. He works a job as an assemblyman in New Jersey, with honor, battling to give more hope to his constituents in counties with high unemployment, such as Cape May County, with an over 12-percent unemployment rate.

He has good days, he has bad days, fighting it out on the front lines of our economic struggle. This Iraq war veteran is still fighting to protect his country, to advance it, and make real his country for the lives of thousands of people. His cause is our common cause. This burden should not be his to bear alone. We too, U.S. Senators, like him, have jobs, elected by the people. We swore an oath to be there for our countrymen. We too pledged our sacred honor to serve America, to return to the words of General Washington. The name ``America'' belongs to all of us. We must be there for everyone, especially in this time of trial.

It is my hope this body, in this generation of America, finds our measure of commonality and comes together to find a way so we can better tend to those in crisis, so that we too may add our humble measure to the greatness of that enduring American ideal.

Let us extend unemployment insurance.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I would like to briefly say thank you to my fellow Senators who took time to come and listen to my maiden speech but especially those who also spoke on the issue as well. They spoke with eloquence. They spoke poignantly about people in their State. And I pray they spoke persuasively.

I thank Senator Hirono, Senator Menendez, my senior Senator, especially. I thank Senator Warren and Senator Blumenthal, who are still here. I thank, also, Senator Jack Reed and Senate Majority Leader Reid, as well, for their working on this issue.

I finally want to say that I have already gotten word from people who actually saw some of the speeches from myself and my colleagues that even the words alone made a difference to them. At least they felt someone heard them, is understanding what they are going through. But that urgency persists, and my hope is that we, working together, can find a way to extend these benefits.

Thank you very much.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.