Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 13; further, that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of S.J. Res. 54 under the previous order.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Reserving the right to object, we have a standing order.

I object.

Thank you, Madam President. I come to the floor today to talk about a very important conservation program--the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This is one of the crown jewels of our Nation's conservation effort. The preservation, protection, and conservation of our public lands is something we take great pride in in the western part of our country and, in fact, all four corners of our State, and this great country takes great pride in the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the efforts that it pursues to maintain our public lands, to show our public lands, to allow the exploration and use of our public lands for generations to come.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund has had over 40,000 projects in its existence, billions of dollars in consumer spending driven by the outdoors--$2 billion in State and local tax revenue driven by our love of the outdoors. Hiking, hunting, fishing, skiing in the winter, rafting in the spring are all tied to the incredible conservation work we do in these incredible programs through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Colorado's outdoor recreation activities have made it the destination, not just part of the year but all of the year, for people looking for adventure opportunities in our great outdoors. As I mentioned, we generate $28 billion in consumer spending just in the State of Colorado for our outdoors economy.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund isn't just about preserving land because we want to conserve the land; it is about our economy--our recreation economy--and those $2 billion in State and local tax revenues generated by that. It employs over 200,000 people in an outdoors economy. The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a critical part of that. We have this economy because of our public lands--the extensive efforts we have undertaken to conserve them in a condition that the next generation will also get to enjoy.

One of those tools, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has lapsed. It has been 60 days since the Land and Water Conservation Fund expired. Those who would permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund cleared the committees of jurisdiction in both the House and the Senate. The Land and Water Conservation Fund authorization of full funding has bipartisan support--Democrat and Republican support, House and Senate support. It is a program to sustain access to land that would otherwise be cut off--public land held and owned by the American people that we don't

have access to. We can't get to that land, even though we own the land--the American people own that land--because it is closed off. The Land and Water Conservation Fund allows us to get to that land, to recreate on that land, and to hunt on that land.

In the days leading up to the Land and Water Conservation Fund expiration, a report was published by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. It published some figures on public land acreage that talked about the inaccessible number of acres in the American public land system. It identified over 9.5 million acres in the United States that was inaccessible to the public because of surrounding private land. In Colorado alone, there are over 250,000 acres of public lands that are closed off to the public. That translates to just shy of 400 square miles of public land in Colorado. There are 400 square miles of public land in Colorado--almost the size of Rocky Mountain National Park--that can't be used to hike, hunt, and fish because we can't access it. We can't access it to explore, to hope, to think, to dream--all of those things our public lands represent. The Land and Water Conservation Fund can be used to help access that land, to find ways to utilize that land. The 400 square miles of property that the public owns can be utilized by the public through programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

I want to talk about this picture right here. This is the Superintendent of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park had a Land and Water Conservation Fund-purchased acquisition. You can see it here on the rim of the canyon. This was at risk of being sold to a developer. The park is right here. This is the park. Imagine if this rim of the canyon had been developed what that would have meant. It would have prevented this national park from meeting the ideals and aspirations of what we believe it should be and what it means to be a national park. Imagine the 2,500 acres on the rim of this canyon inside the boundary of the national park being sold and what it could have done to this public land that surrounds it.

The land acquired provides access to Gold Medal fly fishing on the Gunnison River, creates potential opportunities for the National Park Service to provide more family-friendly hiking near the visitor center, and serves as a potential source of water to the South Rim, which will reduce the operational costs of hauling water like they do now to meet visitor and staff needs. It is a win for all involved. You can see right there what it means.

In the next picture, we have the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Near it is a 12,000-acre ranch, the Medano Zapata Ranch, which borders the Sand Dunes on three sides. It has been 60 days since the Land and Water Conservation Fund has expired, but this program, this chunk of land, this 12,000 acres was bought by the Nature Conservancy, one of our great conservation partners, and is going through the process to be incorporated into the park using LWCF dollars.

This is an important purchase for our access to existing public lands--12,000 acres to our existing public lands. You can see the Great Sand Dunes in the background there. This preserves access to these public lands and keeps beautiful lands conserved for healthy wildlife habitat.

Inholding purchases are not the only way the Land and Water Conservation Fund benefits the outdoors, however. The National Park Service, through the LWCF State and Local Assistance Program, provides matching grants for State and local park projects that aren't just inside national park boundaries.

Just last week, three State parks in Colorado were awarded funding through the LWCF. Funds awarded to Crawford State Park will be used to complete a trail between the east and west sides of the park, including the construction of two prefabricated pedestrian bridges.

Road improvements will be funded at Chatfield State Park, one of the most heavily used State parks in Colorado, to include resurfacing damaged asphalt, adding asphalt surface to a gravel access road, and adding bicycle lanes.

Finally, funding awarded through the LWCF to Cherry Creek State Park will allow them to resurface one-third of a mile on the Parker Trail.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund isn't just about the West. It is about the East as well. It is not just about our national forests or BLM land or national parks, local parks, bike trails, and playgrounds. It is about those little slices of heaven among the concrete and chaos of our urban corridors, as well.

I urge my colleagues to come together to find ways to permanently authorize and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Think about what our public lands mean to this country, and go back to the words of Enos Mills, who was one of the founding fathers of Rocky Mountain National Park, who said this: ``Within National Parks is room--glorious room--room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.

These are our public lands. We have a chance to act before this Congress closes to reauthorize and to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund. I am going to fight tooth and nail to make sure that we get that job done.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today, I want to remember Bill Coors, who passed away on October 13, 2018, at the age of 102 years old. I want to recognize Bill's dedication to the State of Colorado and the Coors Brewing Company, which he helped build.

Bill was born on August 11, 1916, and started his work at Coors after finishing a graduate degree at Princeton University; by 1959, he had become chairman of the company. During his tenure, he was known for innovation and creativity. As if pioneering the aluminum can weren't enough, Bill then strengthened similar recycling efforts through buyback programs for returned cans.

``Barley is to beer as grapes are to wine.'' These are words that Bill uttered often and emphasized his understanding that only the best ingredients can make the best beer. He was committed to relationships with barley growers in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, some of whom have been growing for Coors since 1949. For Bill's 100th birthday in 2016, barley growers honored his commitment to them by naming a barley strain after him, known as the Bill Coors 100.

Bill believed in family values, and his employees were a part of his family. He placed great emphasis on working together, saying, ``We don't believe in a `you' and a `we'. We believe in `us'.'' With this commitment to driving progress as a whole, Bill was able to transform Coors from a once regional brewery to one of the most recognized names in beer across the country.

The values and morals that Bill instilled in the Coors Brewery Company are the same that we hold dear in Colorado. Bill will be remembered for his dedication to Coors and for the work he did to advance the prosperity of our great State.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I stand here today to honor the distinguished veterans of the Northern Colorado Honor Flight who have made their 21st and final flight to Washington, DC. The Colonel Stan Cass Memorial Flight, in honor of Northern Colorado Honor Flight's founder, consisted of over 120 distinguished veterans.

Military service is an exceptional duty to the country. Though these memorials honor our veterans' service, no statue or monument can truly express the level of gratitude we feel for the veterans who risked their lives for our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When the United States has been threatened, our veterans have stepped up and answered our country's call without reservation or fear.

Twice a year, veterans are able to travel to our Nation's Capital, where we are able to recognize them for their selflessness, fortitude, and bravery. Thirteen years after the founding of the Honor Flight Program, it spans across our country and recognizes veterans from every generation and every branch. In the past decade, Honor Flight Northern Colorado alone was able to take almost 3,000 veterans to Washington,

Mr. President, thank you for the opportunity to be here to talk with my colleagues about the importance of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. I am pleased to be here.

Over the past several months, the press conference Senator Burr referred to marking 100 days until the expiration of Land and Water Conservation Fund--we have since come to the floor offering unanimous consent agreements. We have introduced legislation. We fought for amendments to make sure we extend not just temporarily, not just for a year or two but to make sure we fight for the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

I was struck by the words Senator Burr said, in particular, about the suffering in his home State of North Carolina and the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. I was reminded of a quote that Enos Mills, one of the Founding Fathers of Rocky Mountain National Park, said about our national places and spaces. I think you can apply this to public lands everywhere, the public parks, national parks, forests, you name it. He said: ``Within national parks is room--glorious room--room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.''

That is the importance of our public lands across the West, across the East, and everywhere in this country--from corner to corner--as we fight to preserve our most sacred places.

Senator Daines, there have been valiant efforts in Montana to preserve our public lands in both of our States--public land States. In Colorado, if you add in the State and Federal public lands, you are looking at nearly half the State of Colorado and of course the numbers you laid out earlier. These are important management issues, important issues to resolve. Then, once in a while, there is an opportunity ahead of us to preserve a parcel of land, a portion of forests for a recreational opportunity for future generations. We use the Land and Water Conservation Fund to do just that.

Teddy Roosevelt said: ``There is a delight in the hardy life of the open.'' He went on to say: ``The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased; and not impaired in value.''

That is what the Land and Water Conservation Fund allowed us to do. I want to show you a picture of an incredible, glorious space in Colorado I visited a few weeks back. This is the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It is pretty impressive. I can tell you, if you are able to go down next to the Gunnison River and enjoy that opportunity to be alone, to be in that space, you indeed will live up to Enos Mills' quote, where you will be able to find that time to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest, and to resolve.

If you look at this canyon, you will notice some of the uplands, the flats, the rim of the canyon. You would assume that would have been a part of the national park. When they created the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, there was a private holding, and you can see part of it right here.

Imagine the risk to this great national park, this great public place that could be posed by somebody who decided they wanted to develop that space, and all of a sudden that great natural wonder, the great open space this presents to not just the people of Colorado but truly people around the world would be gone, would be blemished, would be impaired.

We worked with the Land and Water Conservation Fund. In bipartisan fashion, Senator Bennet, myself, and Congressman Tipton have had great bipartisan support from within the Colorado congressional delegation-- Congressman Lamborn, Congressman Tipton, Congressman Coffman. They all strongly support the Land and Water Conservation Fund. In this case-- the Western Slope of Colorado--Congressman Tipton, Senator Bennet, and I worked with the agencies in Colorado, which do so much great work, to make a purchase of this private land using Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars. In this case, it was the conservation fund out of Boulder, CO.

If we go to the next chart, you can see where that land was. This is Bruce Noble, the superintendent of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and he is pointing--that river is just right down here, and this is the land the Land and Water Conservation Fund helped to purchase so that this asset will be preserved for future generations. Not just for 5 years or 10 years, but for as long as this great and hallowed Nation exists, you will be able to come to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and be at one with your thoughts, your self, and you will have the opportunity to think, to resolve, to plan, to hope. That is the respite that this brings to all of us, because we are better people knowing that some of our most wild and natural places exist in truly wild and natural spaces.

To the leadership of the Conservation Fund, Christine Quinlan, and the other folks who have worked with the Land and Water Conservation Fund, thank you for making this possible. This is just one of many examples in Colorado. In fact, over $268 million has been appropriated to Colorado through the Land and Water Conservation Fund to make purchases such as this in a recreation economy in Colorado that is responsible for over 230,000 jobs in the State of Colorado alone and an outdoor economy that is nearly $10 billion in wages and salaries and $2 billion in State and local tax revenues--a nearly $30 billion outdoor economy overall in Colorado. That is what the Land and Water Conservation Fund is able to be a part of.

So this isn't just about protecting our open spaces. It is not just about protecting these great, sacred lands that we have. It is also about a thriving economy in Colorado, in Montana, and in North Carolina, and the opportunities we have to drive those outdoor economies with hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue. This Congress, in a bipartisan fashion, passed legislation to promote that outdoor economy, but it is all related back to this crown jewel of our conservation programs, the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

We are just days away from seeing the clock tick 1 day beyond what it should and what we should allow. And I think one of the reasons we are here is that we have heard the frustration of our voters back in Colorado, North Carolina, and Montana who get frustrated with Washington and are probably wondering why something that everybody agrees with can take so long to get done. Washington seems to be the only place where the more people agree with it, the longer it takes to happen. So let's fix that.

I truly am grateful to Senator Burr for the times he has come to the floor with Democrats and Republicans alike to champion this. I thank Senator Daines for his leadership. We have days left. We have hours remaining. We should work with every moment to make sure we get this reauthorization--permanent reauthorization, full funding--across the finish line. It is an honor to be with my colleagues to fight for this great program.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the Defense appropriations bill that we are now debating. I congratulate Senator Shelby and Senator Leahy, and other Senators for working together in a cooperative manner to fashion and advance this important legislation.

For my home State of Colorado, this legislation means critical funding for our men and women in uniform at installations such as Peterson, Buckley, and Schriever Air Force Bases, the Air Force Academy, and Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, and beyond.

This bill provides the first significant pay raise--the first significant pay raise--for soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines for close to 10 years, and it is well deserved and long overdue.

As the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, I want to highlight several provisions related to these areas. The bill provides $356 million in additional funding to expand and accelerate cyber research across the Department of Defense, including $117 million for Army cyber security research efforts and $116 million in Missile Defense Agency cyber security enhancements.

This legislation will support critical cyber security programs, including CyberWorx at the Air Force Academy, DIUx in Silicon Valley, and the Army Futures Command in Austin, TX.

The bill focuses on our ability to modernize not only what we might use in conflict but also to understand how conflict might be waged through technology.

Through a fully funded and equipped Cyber Command, we will be armed not only with new funded capability and technology but with new titles and authorities to be able to downgrade, disrupt, and destroy cyber attacks on our infrastructure and economy.

As our force evolves and changes, the Cyber Command will continue to be a vital stakeholder in our defense communities.

I am also pleased that the legislation supports the administration's concept of a ``free and open Indo-Pacific'' by fully funding our military activities in the Indo-Pacific region, including U.S. Pacific Command theater cooperation activities with partner nations.

I am also pleased that the bill specifically includes funds to support activity with the Pacific Island nations, including Palau. These nations are at risk of falling under more and more Chinese influence, and it is important for the United States to exert an active leadership role to keep these allies engaged.

Countering China's rise represents a grave challenge for U.S. national security, but it is a challenge that we must absolutely rise to meet. According to the ``National Security Strategy,'' released in December of just last year, ``for decades, U.S. policy was rooted in the belief that support for China's rise and for its integration into the post-war international order would liberalize China. Contrary to our hopes, China expanded its power at the expense of the sovereignty of others.''

According to the 2018 ``National Defense Strategy,'' ``it is increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model--gaining veto authority over other nations' economic, diplomatic, and security decisions.''

According to the annual ``Department of Defense Report on Chinese Military Power,'' released just last week, ``China's military modernization targets capabilities with the potential to degrade core U.S. operational and technological advantages. To support this modernization, China uses a variety of methods to acquire foreign military and dual-use technologies, including targeted foreign direct investment, cyber theft, and exploitation of private China nationals' access to these technologies.''

I am pleased that both the administration and Congress are now recognizing this reality and taking steps to rebuild our military to stand up to China.

I am leading a bipartisan effort in the Senate called the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, or ARIA, which will set a generational policy toward the Indo-Pacific. I expect that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will mark up ARIA in September, and I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this very important effort.

We know that China will continue to bully its neighbors and to test U.S. resolve, and we must respond accordingly.

On Monday, we heard the disturbing news that the nation of El Salvador,

under Chinese pressure, has decided to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of Beijing. This is an outrageous and unwarranted move for El Salvador, which has enjoyed official relations with the Republic of China since 1933.

In response, I have introduced an amendment with Senator Rubio to this legislation that will restrict U.S. funds to the government of El Salvador.

It is our sincere hope that this amendment will send a direct message to Taiwan's allies that the United States will use every tool to support Taiwan's standing on the international stage and will stand up to China's bullying tactics across the world.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my fellow, John Price, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the year.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 519, S. 2497.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Rubio amendment at the desk be agreed to, the committee-reported amendment, as amended, be agreed to, and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session for the en bloc consideration of the following nominations: Executive Calendar Nos. 630, 631, 632, 730, 732, 767.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc with no intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; that no further motions be in order; and that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following nomination: Executive Calendar No. 697.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; that no further motions be in order; and that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.