Floor Statements

Mr. President, in a few moments, I will be asking unanimous consent for a really special person to be the Federal Cochair of the Great Lakes Authority, but let me speak a little bit, first, about him.

Matthew Kaplan has been nominated to serve as the Federal Cochair of the Great Lakes Authority, and he really is an excellent choice for Cochair. I am so pleased that his nomination was reported out of the Committee on Environment and Public Works by voice vote in November. Matthew and I have a connection through his work for Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who is my partner in creating the Great Lakes Authority, which we successfully created back in 2022.

I am so proud that we secured the first batch of funding to be able to start the program earlier this year, and by combining Federal money with State resources, the Great Lakes Authority will serve as a new economic development agency for the Great Lakes Region. And let me say, most regions of the country already have an economic development authority; the Great Lakes are one of just a couple that have not had one over the years, so this fills that gap.

I am pleased that I was originally working on this with Senator Rob Portman here in the Senate, and our great Marcy Kaptur has been its champion in the House.

This important partnership will give State and local governments the tools they need to promote economic development and job creation, restore and protect our Great Lakes, ensure the region continues to lead on manufacturing, and so much more.

Matt is a terrific nominee to lead the new authority. He was a key adviser to Congresswoman Kaptur in her leadership of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, the bipartisan and bicameral Great Lakes Task Force, and in drafting the legislation to create the Great Lakes Authority. This experience will, undoubtedly, help him hit the ground running in his role as Federal Cochair. He is also eager to be a changemaker on behalf of the region.

I urge the Senate to advance his nomination by unanimous consent so that Matthew can get to work.

With that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, as in executive session, the Senate consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 834, Matthew Kaplan, to be Federal Cochair of the Great Lakes Authority; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions.

Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to a wonderful staffer who has been indispensable to me and the entire Stabenow team. She has left us now; so she is in the Gallery, rather than sitting next to me. But I am so grateful for Anne Stanski and her incredible work.

Anne began as a scheduler in my Washington office at the beginning of my second term in the Senate, and after just a few weeks, I wondered how I got along for 6 years without her. Anyone who knows congressional offices knows that being the scheduler is not the most glamorous job. But having a great scheduler is the secret sauce of every successful Hill office.

Anne tracked countless flights to and from Michigan, organized every detail of a codel to four different countries in Africa, planned and executed numerous events, and so much more. No task was ever too small or too large for Anne to handle. She knew how to do it all, and she did it all exceptionally well. She rolled with the punches and was always, always available to untangle the knots that inevitably make their way into a well-planned schedule.

After 10 years of being the go-to person on all things scheduling, Anne transitioned to be my deputy chief of staff. I pride myself on having the best team in the Congress, and Anne was influential in building that team.

Over the years, Anne has mentored countless interns, many of whom became staffers in our office and grew to become integral members of our team under her guidance. Her latest achievement in this area includes two of her former schedulers becoming engaged to each other.

Everyone on staff always knew they could go to Anne for help. Whether it was managing the front office, solving a scheduling issue, or just needing someone to talk to, Anne was always there. Anne's leadership and hard work has made my office effective at getting things done and a great place to work.

During her time in my office, we have had one of the lowest staff turnovers of any office in the Senate. Most recently, Anne took on the responsibility of leading the Democratic policy and communications committee, comprised of 51 Senators whose schedules often appear to be purposefully planned to thwart any attempt to get us all in one place. Despite this, Anne successfully planned and executed annual retreats, which is no small job, and weekly policy luncheons for the committee, all while carrying out the essential service of steering our party's policies and messaging forward.

May I add, she has accomplished all of this while she and her husband Matt are raising very impressive twin girls, Addie and Lizzie, who were born while Anne was working for me and are now in high school. I can't believe this.

They are such a beautiful family. Now, despite what many people think, you don't have to be a Michigan State University fan to work in my office, but it helps. As proud alums, Anne and I have always spent so much time together cheering on our Spartans, even watching them play in the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden. Go, Green.

Anne, thank you for everything--your incredible work, your loyalty, your friendship. I wish you every happiness and success possible in the future. You deserve it.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture motion on the motion to proceed to H.R. 82 be waived.

Madam President, first of all, I have to say, wouldn't you know I would get laryngitis, and for somebody who is in elected office, we know that that is not a good thing, so please bear with me; and I want to thank Chuck so much for his comments this morning and for being a dear friend.

Today is bittersweet for me, standing here on the floor of the U.S. Senate, making my last speech--my last major speech.

So many of my staff from Michigan have traveled to be here as well as staff members who have worked for me in DC over the years. I am truly overwhelmed that over 100 Michigan and DC staff are here in the Galleries and on the floor, and family and friends who were not able to fly in today are watching on C-SPAN.

As we come back from Thanksgiving, I am filled with so much gratitude and respect as I think back over my years in public service. I am thinking about the incredible number of people who have supported me and contributed in so many ways to my success--from my family, my staff, my colleagues, and, of course, the people of Michigan who have put their trust in me for over 50 years--I started when I was 5--

(Laughter.)

--from Ingham County commissioner to State legislator to U.S. Senator.

Michigan, you will always be in my heart. Today is about recognizing all of you.

As some of you know, I lost my mom just a week ago. I suspect she is tuning in from Heaven's version of C-SPAN right now, watching me, listening, just as she has always been watching and supporting me my whole life. Mom not only lived a long life--98 years of age--but a rich and meaningful one. Her hard work, her kindness, her strength, and her loyalty were a true gift to me, to my brothers, to my children, to my whole family.

There are always unsung heroes in every story, and I want to start with mine, and that is my family: my son Todd; my daughter Michelle; my daughter-in-law Sara; my son-in-law Scott; and my five incredibly talented and amazing grandchildren. They are the most talented grandchildren we have ever seen: Ari, Willow, Avery, Everett, and Violet.

My mom and my kids have all appeared in many campaign ads over the years. Even my brothers, Lynn and Lee, starred in an acclaimed closing ad that caused me to beat an incumbent Republican to first be elected to the U.S. House.

When my kids were young, they, too, broke down barriers. Todd was born when I was a county commissioner. Michelle was born when I was a State representative. It was a first in Michigan for a legislator to be pregnant and have a baby while in office. I remember a very pregnant me opening baby shower gifts in one of our statehouse committee rooms. Most of my male colleagues didn't know what to buy for a baby shower so I got a lot of stuffed animals.

My family members have marched in countless parades, attended thousands of events with me, and planned birthday parties and holidays around the legislative calendar. They have sacrificed their time and, in many cases, their personal privacy. Through thick and thin, they have always been there for me, and I am incredibly grateful.

I love you all so much.

My family story has inspired my work as an elected official.

I grew up in Clare, MI, where my mom was the director of nursing at our small rural hospital. This sparked my lifelong interest in healthcare. As a 24-year-old grad student at Michigan State University, I led an effort to save Ingham County's medical care facility from closure. It was the only nursing home that served low-income seniors at the time. I had never been involved in politics before, but I knew it was wrong to close that facility. We stopped the Ingham County Board of Commissioners from closing this critical service, and I was encouraged to run for county commissioner because I lived in the district of the commissioner who tried to close the nursing home. I ran against him. He called me ``that young broad'' and the young broad beat him and, as they say, the rest is ``herstory.''

Healthcare remained a top priority for me from those early days to today. Today, I am proud and grateful that more people in America have access to home healthcare, to hospice services, and to lower prescription drug pricing, in part, because of my work. Medicare, Medicaid, and community health centers provide stronger foundations for care for millions of Americans.

I was a new member of the Senate's Finance Committee when President Obama made healthcare reform his top priority. I was excited to be involved in every part of passing the Affordable Care Act, making sure that maternity care and mental health services and addiction treatment were all part of the new law. I spent a tremendous amount of time focusing on the affordability of the new healthcare system and was successful in bringing down the amount that individuals would have to pay for coverage. I considered it a badge of honor during the final vote in committee when then-Chairman Baucus turned to me and said: ``Here we have Senator Affordability.''

My first viral moment as an elected official on social media happened during the debate on the Affordable Care Act, and my great friend Amy Klobuchar has often told this story. When Senator Kyl from Arizona argued against including maternity care as basic coverage by stating that he did not need maternity care, I told him: ``Yes, but I bet your mom did.'' The public outcry that happened after that helped ensure to this day that maternity care is part of the Affordable Care Act.

There has been no healthcare issue more profoundly influenced by my own family's life and experience than the issue of mental health. My father had a bipolar disorder that went undiagnosed for many years, like for so many people. Our lives were changed when the drug lithium became available, and my dad had the support he needed to manage his disease and move forward with his life. I saw what happened when someone did not get the help they needed, and I saw what happened when they did.

This experience fueled my passion to reduce the stigma of mental health and mental illness, and as I have often said, we need to treat healthcare above the neck the same as healthcare below the neck. I worked on this issue in the early days of my career, chairing the Mental Health Committee in the Michigan House of Representatives. Later, I was honored to team up with Senator Roy Blunt for a 10-year effort to transform how we fund mental health and addiction services. This has been my passion and my most meaningful achievement.

On the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's signing of the Community Mental Health bill--the last bill he signed before his death--Senator Blunt and I introduced and spoke here on the Senate floor about our new legislation, the Excellence in Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Act.

President Kennedy envisioned a world where people wouldn't be housed in asylums, as they were called at the time, but would get the treatment and the care they needed in their communities. The first part of his vision was implemented over the past 50 years--mental hospitals were closed--but the second half of it, that of creating comprehensive community care, never happened. Senator Blunt and I worked intensely over the past 10 years to make the second half of President Kennedy's vision a reality by creating comprehensive community behavioral health clinics, or CCBHCs, where clinics are funded as healthcare, not just through grants that stop and start.

Now, because of our bipartisan efforts culminating in full funding in the Safer Communities Act, we are in the midst of creating comprehensive community-based care across the country, and I thank you, all of you, for your help--so many people here--for your leadership and help in making that happen. We now have more than 500 community behavioral health clinics providing care across the country, with more being created every day. Millions of people now have the dignity of receiving mental healthcare and addiction treatment in their communities instead of sitting in an emergency room or in a jail or sleeping on the street.

The goal, of course, is to have every community in every State provide these critical healthcare services. I intend to continue to do everything I can to support your efforts to make sure this transformation is completed.

I am forever grateful to the people of Michigan for the trust they have shown in me over these years. I have lived in Michigan my whole life, and I have viewed the work in DC as a commute to work, a long- distance commute to work--not as long as from the west coast but a commute to work. I see everything through the eyes of Michiganders and our beautiful State.

Our Great Lakes and our water are part of our Michigan DNA. Protecting our water has been my passion--from passing my very first bill in the Senate, which bans oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes, to authoring the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. This landmark initiative has helped transform the health of our lakes and watersheds and will continue to do so in the future.

Looking through the lens of Michigan again, I have understood that we don't have a strong economy unless somebody makes something and somebody grows something. For this reason, I have been a member of the Agriculture Committee at every level of government where I have served, both State and Federal, and I have been deeply involved in efforts to protect and expand American manufacturing, including the new clean energy revolution occurring in our country.

It has been my privilege to put my stamp on our Nation's farm and food policy. I have frequently said that you can see Michigan on every page of the farm bills I have written. As the author of the specialty crop title in the farm bill, I am grateful that the full diversity of farms, small and large, are now reflected in our funding and our agriculture policies. I am so pleased that families across our country have access to healthy, locally grown foods through farmers' markets and urban agriculture and that our children can count on permanent funding for summer meals and other critical food assistance.

I like to say that I suit up every day to fight for Michigan, and there is no truer statement than my work on behalf of Michigan workers and Michigan manufacturing. I am so proud to have championed the auto rescue in 2009, to have changed tax incentives to invest and make things in America, and toughened our laws to support American manufacturing. I know we have the best workers in the world, and I know also that Michigan--Michigan manufacturing--is well positioned to prosper in the future.

I want to take a moment, of course, to thank all of you--all of my great, great colleagues on both sides of the aisle, both past and present. So many of you have been wonderful partners in getting things done, and I am so grateful for your friendship.

I am especially grateful for my Michigan partners: first, the amazing Carl Levin and, now, my dear friend Gary Peters. I like to say we are the one-two punch for Michigan.

As we all know, to be effective, it is not necessary to agree with someone on everything. In fact, I don't agree with anybody on everything. It is only necessary to agree on one thing, one problem that needs to be solved, and then agree on the way to solve the one thing. Then we look for another colleague across the aisle to work with on one thing. That is how positive change happens.

We all realize, with all the incredible demands on our time and the constant additions and changes to our schedules, it is hard to find time to get to know each other on a personal level.

Over the years, I have been so grateful for the bipartisan women Senators' dinners and the international travel that we have. It is so important. And playing Christmas carols on the piano at the Senate Prayer Breakfast is something I have thoroughly enjoyed. Exchanging stories about our families, our faith, our personal challenges has made a real difference.

It has been a great honor for me to serve as a Member of the Senate Democratic leadership since 2005.

I want to recognize Democratic leaders Tom Daschle and our dear Harry Reid, who were so supportive of me.

I want to thank my great friend Senator Chuck Schumer and his extraordinary team--extraordinary team. Chuck loves the U.S. Senate, and he loves our country with every bone in his body. I am so appreciative of his leadership and tireless work and friendship.

When I announced my retirement nearly 2 years ago, I said I was ready to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders. I couldn't be prouder to pass the torch to Michigan's new Senator-elect, Elissa Slotkin. I know she will have the heart and the talent for this job and will do great things for our State and our country.

I thought long and hard about how to express my gratitude to the smartest, hard-working staff that I could ever have imagined. Truly, my success comes from their amazing efforts. Over 500 bright, talented professional staff have worked for me over the past 50 years--that is unbelievable--many of them for decades, and that doesn't include countless volunteers and interns.

Interns are everywhere. There are staff everywhere.

I want you to know how moved I am that so many of you took time to be here today or are tuning in on C-SPAN. You are much more than employees; you are family. I have watched many of you get married-- several times, thanks to our office--and watched your children grow up as well. You are truly my dear friends.

You have raised the bar for the kind of service that people of Michigan should expect from their elected officials. You have been there for me personally through the best of times and through the rough patches as well. You have cared and persisted, and, together, we have achieved so much, whether it is policy changes or helping literally millions of Michiganders cut through the bureaucracy and solve a personal problem. I salute each and every one of you, and I thank you for your service to Michigan and our Nation.

I am passing the torch to you because I know you will continue to care about people and public service and do great things. I could not have done this without you.

As I close out, I want to acknowledge the important moment that we are in as a country. We all know there is great division promoted by so many who want to gain their own power at America's expense. Yet we have so much in common. We all love our children and want the same things for them to be successful. We all want safe communities and a chance to be rewarded for our hard work. We can heal the divide and work together if we just look for that one thing that we can agree on to make our lives better and get it done. And then we can look again for that one thing.

If we don't let the haters divide us, we can rebuild trust with one another

and be the America we want to be. This is my hope and my prayer for all of us.

As I begin this next chapter of my life, my heart is truly filled with gratitude.

To my family, my colleagues, my staff, to the great people of Michigan, thank you, one and all, from the bottom of my heart. It has been an honor to serve you.

Madam President, there is one more thing that I would like to do. And I want to thank so many people for their kind words--so many ``kinds'' today. I am so grateful for that. But I have one more really important thing that I want to do before I relinquish the microphone this afternoon, and that is to honor a true public servant, my longtime State director and dearest friend, Teresa Plachetka.

I am going to start with a bold statement. And, by the way, Teresa has been with me for 42 years--42, not 24--42 years. And I want to start by making a bold statement: There is no one who has done more for the people of the State of Michigan and for Team Stabenow than Teresa Plachetka.

The first time I met Teresa, I was in my first term in the Michigan State House. She was my first graduate student intern. She graduated, and I hired her as my first policy staffer in 1982 for the State house mental health committee. She has been at my side ever since for every decision, big and small, for 42 years.

I just gave my farewell speech on the floor, and it is so fitting that Teresa is here because what a journey this has been. We all have policy experts and communications experts and experts to run our campaigns and experts in technology, but I am not sure anyone else has all of those skills in one person. I got her. She is truly one of a kind.

I have been trying to think of the right words or the right stories to sum up our time together but realized: How can you possibly summarize almost 42 years of history and friendship? Maybe we can start with a variation on a very simple phrase: Did you talk to Teresa? Go talk to Teresa. Or what does Teresa think? Or have we asked Teresa?

These are familiar phrases in my office and have been for decades, not just from the team but from me. Whether it is taking the temperature on an issue in Michigan, getting the history of what we have done in the past, or just checking in, the team and I have always known we needed to get her gut check on everything we did. That is how vital she is and has been for us. I can't think of any issue during our time together where she didn't have critical input.

Because of that, the Stabenow team, me, and the State of Michigan have been the beneficiaries of her knowledge, her creativity, and her gut instincts for decades--solving problems, making people's lives better every day.

Since these jobs are often so intense and incredibly stressful and time consuming, as we know, you might be asking yourself: How on Earth has Teresa been so successful for all this time?

Where do I begin?

Well, first, she is a brilliant political strategist who stays calm under pressure. During my first Senate campaign, almost no one believed we could win. In fact, pretty much everyone thought I should have stayed in the House and waited my turn, but not Teresa. We were down 9 points heading into Labor Day, but we had a strategy, and Teresa never wavered in her belief that we could win. And we stuck to it, and we knew it was a winning strategy, and we won.

In every tough situation--the auto rescue, the Flint water crisis, September 11, COVID, multiple elections--Teresa kept calm under pressure and helped us pick the right strategy to be effective and get things done.

Multiple staffers over the years have said she has taught them how to approach a tough situation. Like I said before, during all of these moments, the most asked question was always: What does Teresa think? And how would Teresa handle this?

That is how she has kept us all focused on the task at hand.

That extended no further than the communications coming out of our office each and every day. I know that there are a few staff--the press staffers right now--that are here or watching from home that remember and may be twitching at the thought of Teresa's red edits on their draft releases.

But Teresa had a phrase which went, ``People assume your only priorities are the ones you are currently talking about.'' That phrase has been burned into the memory of just about every team member we have had over the years. It sounds simple, but sticking to it is so very hard at a time when so much is happening in our State and our country. It is also what has kept us all focused on message. And, most importantly, it has reminded us that in the end, for us, it is all about Michigan.

Teresa made certain that Michigan was at the heart of everything we did, and that started with our State team--from scheduling multiday tours across the State to ensuring every constituent case, piece of mail, or phone call was responded to with respect. Teresa ran the State operation like a Swiss--or we would say Shinola--watch.

Our regional managers were literally everywhere. In fact, there wasn't a time when I would walk through an airport where someone wouldn't come up to me and thank our team for attending an event, answering their email, or helping them get something

done. I wish Teresa could have been there for all of those thank-yous because she was the one that made it all work.

So what is her secret sauce? Well, as we know, it is all about systems. Teresa is known for being incredibly organized and developing the systems that have made the office run. If she sees a problem or something that can be done better, she works with the team to find a better way to accomplish the goal. It could be something small, such as changing the days of staff calls so the week and information flow work better, to organizing huge, effective appropriations processes every single year.

If there is a system in our office that works well, it was Teresa that created it and made it work. If it didn't work well, then that staffer probably didn't check with Teresa.

During the pandemic, she regularly solicited feedback on what was working and what was not. She also took time to stop and ask important questions like: What did we learn from how we worked during the pandemic, and how should the office adapt going forward? Instead of just working in the same way we had before the pandemic, Teresa made sure our office adapted.

Some of these systems are so infamous that when staff have transitioned to new jobs, the No. 1 thing we hear is that these places don't have nearly the level of efficient organizing and that Teresa would be mortified by the lack of systems.

Teresa also knew then in order for all of this to work, we had to be a team. Teresa genuinely cares about the people she works with. Over the last few weeks, as I have been thinking about this speech, our team couldn't say enough about how Teresa supports them both professionally and personally. The best part of it all, despite all she has accomplished, Teresa doesn't take herself too seriously. Her sense of humor and levity helps keep things going.

She always made it a priority that the DC and State staff were connected as one team, making sure DC staff came to Michigan often and got to know their counterparts and were not afraid to pick up the phone, talk through an issue, and work together.

One of her tools for keeping us all together was our infamous staff retreats in Michigan. Teresa spent hours making sure every detail was just right; that we had a goal and a purpose for getting together, as well as having some fun.

Whether it was one of our staple boat cruises to ensure we experienced our Great Lakes to a few acting sessions where the very best Debbie Stabenow impression was made--while I was gone, by the way--Teresa organized all of it.

A common discussion in our office is what everyone's favorite staff retreat was over the years and swapping stories from gatherings. While they are difficult and a pain to organize, especially as the team got larger and larger, I know she loved showing everyone what ``Pure Michigan'' really means. Whether it is our food, our water, our wine, our beer, or a freezing cold boat cruise, Teresa always lit up when the team was back in Michigan.

So let me just say--as you can see, I could go on and on about Teresa, but I want to end by saying the biggest thank you possible. I know her wonderful husband Geoff, her kids, Zach and Rachel, and grandkids, Oliver, Ellie, and Valerie, are watching from Michigan and are incredibly proud of her. I know our team is here, too, watching from the Gallery and watching from home and they, too, are so incredibly proud to have served with Teresa.

Maybe the word I am thinking of right now that sums it up is ``legacy.'' Teresa's legacy for our staff and for the State of Michigan will be felt for many, many years to come. Together, we experienced more than either of us probably thought was ever possible, forgotten more amazing stories than we would like to admit--and we will keep some of the stories between just us. It has truly been a lifetime of memories and friendship.

Teresa, I can't thank you enough for being by my side through this amazing journey and for being with me these final days in the U.S. Senate. We said we would run through the tape together, and I am really grateful we have.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider with respect to the Murphy nomination be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 815 and 827; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Madam 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.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 492, S. 4305.

I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be withdrawn; that the Peters substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 7438 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 3746 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 12 noon on Tuesday, December 3; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that following the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to resume consideration of the Brindisi nomination; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; that at 2:15 p.m., the Chair execute the order of November 20 with respect to the Sooknanan nomination and that upon disposition of the Sooknanan nomination, the Chair execute the order of November 20 with respect to the Henry nomination; finally, that if any nominations are confirmed during Tuesday's session, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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

Madam President, for more than 2 years, I have been working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass my sixth farm bill, the third one that I have either been chair or ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

I have met with farmers across the country who have made clear that crop insurance is their No. 1 risk management tool, farmers who made clear that the farm safety net must be the backbone of support for all farmers and not just a handful of mostly southern commodities.

I have met with families who are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet as food insecurity in our country continues to grow.

I have met with rural communities who are struggling to access the basic things they need to thrive, like access to healthcare, including mental health,

childcare, clean drinking water, and high-speed internet that we are all working to address.

The farm bill has always been the place where we put the power of the Federal Government at work in a bipartisan way to support farmers and families and communities. That is the coalition that has always been the foundation of a successful, bipartisan farm bill.

In May, the House released a proposal that would put immense taxpayer resources into a handful of mostly southern commodity programs. I am not saying that these farmers don't need support--they do--but it can't be at the expense of millions of other farmers and ranchers in this country, farmers in the middle of the country, farmers who grow fruits and vegetables, who run smaller and diversified operations or lack access to the tools and support that are overwhelmingly favored in the House bill. The large increases in farm subsidies should not be paid for on the backs of families in need or the broader needs of our small towns and rural communities.

In the spring, I unveiled our Democratic proposal, a 90-page, section-by-section bill to try to refocus our negotiations on holding the farm bill coalition together and actually getting a bill passed, not robbing Peter to pay Paul but instead taking a balanced approach that supports all of agriculture, our friends, our families, and rural communities across the country.

But unfortunately this did not spark the serious negotiation I had hoped for in order to put forward a bipartisan farm bill that can both pass the House, pass the Senate, and be signed by the President of the United States. So today I am introducing my Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act, a 1,397-page bill. This is it. This is a tremendous amount of hard work that has gone on, both from my staff--and I want to thank a really incredibly smart, creative team of people--and great staff on both sides of the aisle that have worked with us and colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

This particular farm bill has over 100 bipartisan bills incorporated in it, and this is the full text of the farm bill that I believe should pass and can pass and needs to be passed for our farmers and for others so impacted by the farm bill.

It is a robust bill. It includes $39 billion in new resources above the farm bill baseline--$39 billion more in funding above the normal farm bill baseline. It puts more farm in the farm bill for all of our commodities, not at the expense, though, of rural communities or American families that are critical to holding the farm bill coalition together.

It provides farmers with the certainty of a 5-year farm bill, and this is really important. We can do ad hoc help, but our farmers need the certainty of a 5-year policy so they can go to the bank, so they can get the financing they need, so they can know how to plan. This does that and at the same time responds to current needs. We are going to move up payments so that we can respond now, to more urgent needs right now that need to happen.

It also authorizes a permanent disaster program to ensure we have a process in place when disasters like Hurricanes Helene and Milton strike. This new program will put a consistent process in place so farmers have certainty and the USDA can get the money out the door. No more scrambling. No more leaving farmers behind. Our farmers deserve this.

It also makes a significant investment in title I for the 22 row crops that receive the lion's share of the resources available in the House proposal. We know--I know Republican colleagues primarily are focused on title I, and so we do a number of things to be able to increase support.

We move up the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage Programs' payments by 6 months so that farmers receive assistance faster so they can keep their operations going. One of the things I have been concerned about, with so much reliance on ARC and PLC, is it doesn't pay out for a year and a half or 2 years. We have farmers that need help now, and we can fix that by putting dollars into speeding up the payments, and that is what we do in this bill.

It also increases the effective reference prices that trigger help by as much as 15 percent, with all 22 commodities getting at least a 5- percent increase for the first time in a decade.

The Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act continues to include crop insurance. Again, the No. 1 risk management tool that farmers have told us they want--crop insurance. It makes it more affordable and ensures that all farmers have access to this critical tool. It provides more coverage to more farmers at a lower cost. This crop insurance responds much more quickly than the ARC and PLC Programs, and it is important that we continue to make that as affordable as possible.

Importantly, I include a provision that will partially reimburse farmers' crop insurance premiums and what is called NAP fees to put cash in people's pockets who urgently need it right now.

Again, we can use the structure and policies of a farm bill rather than ad hoc assistance and just move up the payments, provide more assistance right now, and do it while we are passing a 5-year farm bill. That is what we should be doing.

The bill also strengthens support for specialty crops, which are almost half of what we grow--our fruits and vegetables and horticulture in this country. It strengthens support for specialty crops and ensures that farmers have the support they need to make sure we have American fruits and vegetables on our tables.

This is a significant investment in all farmers and all of agriculture because, frankly, farming is one of the riskiest businesses out there--maybe the riskiest. I don't know if other people get up and look at the weather every day to try to figure out what is going to be happening for them. But it is getting even riskier now because of what is happening with the climate crisis, and we know that.

The majority leader was talking about disaster assistance being put out. It is critical. I strongly support it for farmers as well as for communities. But that is going to get more and more and more because of what is happening in the atmosphere and what is happening with climate change. How many once-in-a-generation storms or droughts need to hit our farmers over the head before we take this crisis seriously?

This bill will roll the historic investment we made in the Inflation Reduction Act into the farm bill baseline for the future. We take dollars for voluntary conservation programs that farmers are using, that farmers want. Right now, that funding is outside the farm bill baseline. We can make a tremendous, tremendous move forward for farmers by moving it into the farm bill baseline while keeping the language regarding climate.

Popular voluntary conservation programs that go directly to farmers-- that is what we are talking about. This will make our farmers more resilient, because it is very simple: You put more carbon in the ground, you have healthier soil. You take more carbon out of the atmosphere, it is healthier for everybody. So this is a win-win, and we need to continue to support our growers and embrace the investments that we have already made.

I also am including new investments in biofuels. I see our Presiding Officer, who has been such a leader in Illinois and across the country. So important for jobs. So important as another place in which we can have a cleaner environment and cleaner fuels and more jobs.

We put more into the loan programs and local foods, trade. The list goes on and on, including a downpayment on a much needed ag research moonshot. We need reinvestment in the future of agriculture, in the future of our food supply.

But a farm bill is not just about investing in our farmers and ranchers--of course that is critical--but it is also about investing in the communities they call home. We know that rural communities are shrinking, and it is getting harder and harder to pass the farm on to the next generation.

In this bill, we are betting that rural prosperity is American prosperity. It improves quality of life for rural families by improving rural healthcare, including mental health services, and also childcare, rural childcare, which is so critical and so often not available.

It grows the middle class by creating good-paying jobs in manufacturing and entrepreneurship and small businesses in rural America.

It increases our investment in connecting communities to high-speed internet, which everyone in this Chamber agrees is essential to our success in the world. Whether it is a child being able to do their homework or a farmer being able to see a doctor or small businesses being able to access new markets beyond their rural Main Street, that all starts with reliable, high-speed internet. We have made major steps in the infrastructure bill that we passed; but, frankly, there is more to be done, and there is more focus that needs to be put on our rural communities to get that done.

And, importantly, this bill makes sure that rural communities are not left behind when it comes to accessing the resources of the Federal Government. When it comes to securing Federal grants, I know my hometown of Clare, MI, can't compete with Detroit or New York City when it comes to staffing. So we leveled the playing field by investing in the resources rural communities need to compete for hiring grant writers and planners and advisers to provide technical assistance so they can get the resources that they need.

And, finally, it is discouraging to me that the needs of families have been lost in this debate over the last 2 years. Yes, the farm bill must be the backbone of support for farmers and ranchers across the country. Yes, the farm bill must ensure that farming and a rural way of life can thrive today and into the future. Yes, the farm bill is where we put the support of the American people behind the men and women who feed and clothe and fuel this country.

And I would challenge anyone to look at my record as the leader of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee and say with a straight face that I am not a stalwart champion for farmers and ranchers.

But a farm bill must also be about the single mom in Michigan working two jobs who just needs a little bit of extra help to put food on the table for her kids so her children can thrive. At a time when food insecurity rates in our country have increased for the second year in a row, it is absolutely unacceptable for anyone to attempt to cut SNAP and other nutrition programs. I refuse to leave this mom behind. Not on my watch.

We should be investing in the farm bill nutrition programs that are the heart of the family safety net in this country. Our Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act does that. It does that and lays the groundwork to see a future where we could actually end hunger in America. It protects nutrition assistance and draws a clear line in the sand that we will not walk away from the progress we have made to keep families fed in this country.

This is a bill that keeps farmers farming and families fed and rural communities strong, all of which are critically--critically--important. And it is a robust bill that is paid for by using the same resources our Republican colleagues in the House used to pay for their bill, but we don't divide the broad bipartisan coalition that is the foundation of the farm bill to do it.

In my time leading Democrats in the community, I have locked arms with Republican leaders like Senator Pat Roberts to defend programs that may not have been my priority, but it meant holding the coalition together. That is how you get legislation done. That is how you do it on a bipartisan basis.

You know, farm bills failed to pass the House in 2012 and 2018 because Republicans included cutting food assistance in their bill, and they didn't have the votes to pass it. They couldn't pass it.

In 2018, the farm bill passed the Senate with a historic 87 votes, and the only no votes were 13 nays by Republicans--just want to underscore that. So we know how to do this and get a bipartisan bill done that is robust support for our farmers and ranchers and communities and our families.

Now, frankly, today, as I look to the future and what comes if we don't get a farm bill done, I have a lot of question marks because Project 2025, the roadmap for the incoming Trump administration, actually proposes eliminating ARC and PLC--the very programs the House Republican bill makes their top priority. It would also gut crop insurance. It would terminate U.S. sugar production, and slash trade promotion programs.

Now, I don't know what is going to happen to that. Maybe nothing. But it should worry everybody that that is the vision that is out there. And, frankly, I think that is why it is no secret why the House farm bill that came out of committee on a primarily partisan vote last spring has not yet been put up for a vote on the House floor, because I don't think--and everyone tells me--there are not enough Republican votes to pass it. And the last time I checked, the Chamber will be similarly divided next Congress in the 119th.

So I would encourage my Republican colleagues to join with us, to join with me, to get this done now, to do what we need to do for farmers: provide them certainty, provide them more immediate help, and to do it right now.

I would encourage Republican colleagues to rethink their proposal to make the largest cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in more than 30 years. That is not the way we get a bill done. I would encourage them to join us to pass a meaningful 5-year farm bill now-- there is no reason we can't--and a bill that provides immediate assistance, within the farm bill, for what our farmers need.

The Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act is robust, adding $39 billion to the farm bill baseline. It is bipartisan, with over 100 bipartisan bills included, and it balances the needs of farmers, ranchers, families, and rural communities. It holds the broad farm bill coalition together, which is critical for the future of any farm bill, and I firmly believe that it is the best--and probably only--path to pass a 5-year farm bill this year. I urge my colleagues to come together and consider this bill seriously.

I yield the floor.

Yes. Absolutely, yes.

The current farm bill expires at the end of December. So we have to do something before we leave in December.

Well, if we do nothing, then a number of programs revert to what is called a Depression-era policy, and there is something called the dairy cliff that everybody is always worried about because it goes back to a pricing structure that would completely throw the dairy industry into upheaval. And so this is not OK.

Yes, yes. It throws it back to policies of the 1930s.

Yes.

Yes. Now, we could pass an extension again and throw this into the lap of everyone next year. That doesn't create any more certainty for farmers. Those who want to just do some ad hoc payments, you know, that is not going to work.

And so the reality is we have short-term help in our bill. We have a 5-year farm bill, and we can get it done now. One hundred bipartisan bills that are included in our bill--this is a bipartisan effort, even though at this point not endorsed on a bipartisan basis. But our farmers and ranchers would be a whole lot better if we could get this done.

Right. This means now.

There is. And thank you so much. And thank you for being a valuable member of the committee.

I would just say where--we know and you know leading the Judiciary Committee, where there is a will, there is a way. If people want to come together, we can get something done and get it done by the end of the year. But people have to decide they really want a bipartisan bill and are willing to come together to do that.

There is no question. And we also have extensive evidence that when a bill is put forward on the floor that cuts the nutrition title, it never passes--2012 in the House, 2018 in the House. When Republican colleagues only put a bill on the floor that cuts nutrition, they do not get the bipartisan support, and it fails every time. This feels like Groundhog Day to me every single time.

And so I would hope that we would learn from those lessons and do what we did in 2018 in the Senate and come together and get a bipartisan bill.

Well, first of all, let me say the basic program is called SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is about $6 a day for an individual. So a mom gets $6; her child gets $6.

Not when you go to the grocery store, no, that is certainly not.

And then we add support for food banks. We add additional assistance and incentives if you are buying fresh fruits and vegetables. We do, you know, some other kinds of things, but the basic is SNAP.

And going forward, we gave an update that hadn't been done in 50 years in SNAP in the last farm bill, and it added--that $6 now includes $1.35. That was an update based on cost over a 50-year basis, and that is what folks are arguing about. And going forward, CBO says there would be an update every 5 years of about 2 percent for SNAP, and that is what our Republican colleagues are fighting about.

Thank you so much. And thank you, Senator Klobuchar, for your current leadership and future leadership on the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

You know, I would say that, at any other time, putting forward a bill would be a starting point, and that then we would negotiate and work together, which I have been trying to do for 2 years. We put something out in May. We have been working and negotiating, but, now, here we are. And so the bill is more like the end, not the beginning. It is like: This we could pass, 100 different provisions that are bipartisan--and more than that.

There are a lot of titles. There are 12 titles of the farm bill, as you know, and a number of them we have negotiated. That is what is so frustrating. We have a number of those where we have a lot of agreement. There has been a lot of good work that has come together.

But in this one area, in terms of who gets the bulk of the resources, where they go--do we continue to honor what we did on conservation as it relates to climate, which is hitting farmers over the head? And do we try to pay for what farmers need? And I agree. I agree on what they need. But do we then say to the mom who is getting $6 a day: You are going to pay for that.

And that is when I go: No.

And I know you feel the same way--that we have never said that. We have never said that. We have always said the resources in nutrition stay in the nutrition title.

We have also always said that, if you wanted to expand that, then you look for savings within the title. And so we don't put money in or out in the nutrition title. But, somehow, we see this sense of being stuck.

So next year--you mentioned next year. And I would just say that I think this is incredibly risky for our colleagues from agriculture States that want very much to get a bill done, and I know there are many. I look at the fact that the House has not been able to bring their House Republican bill to the House of Representatives, which has a majority of Republicans. They can't pass it.

And what happens next year with that?

I mean, at some point, it has to be bipartisan, and it has to be balanced and hold the whole farm bill coalition together.

The only question is, is it now or are you in a situation, in the midst of tax cuts and everything else next year, to try to put this back together to get it done? I would say farmers need certainty now. We can move up payments and get them more help now. There are legitimate concerns that farmers have in terms of costs. We need to do that now.

And I would love it if all the ag groups came in and said: We want to get this done now.

Now, I am not naive enough to assume that is going to happen, because of the politics of the world that we are in. But from an ag standpoint, it should.

So I appreciate both of you very much.

Madam President, on behalf of the majority leader, I ask that the Chair execute the order of July 23, 2024, with respect to the Taylor nomination.

I ask for the yeas and nays.