Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, following leader remarks on Thursday, June 13, 2019, the Senate be in a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each; further, that at 10:45 a.m., Senator Paul or his designee be recognized to make motions to discharge S.J. Res. 20 and S.J. Res. 26 and that the motions to discharge be debated concurrently until 11:30 a.m., with 7 minutes reserved for the chairman and ranking member, respectively; further, that at 11:30 a.m., the

Senate vote in relation to the motions to discharge in the order listed and that following disposition of the motion in relation to S.J. Res. 26, the Senate proceed to executive session and the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Crawford nomination; finally, that if cloture is invoked on the Crawford nomination, at 1:45 p.m. on Thursday, the Senate vote on the confirmation of the Stilwell nomination and the Crawford nomination; further, that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider consider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 248, submitted earlier today.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 249, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I further ask that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 299.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill 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 when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m., Thursday, June 13; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business 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.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

I rise to remind the Senate of two anniversaries that are happening this week. This week is the 75th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. It is commonly known as D-Day. One hundred sixty- thousand-plus individuals crossed the English Channel by aircraft, by boat. They moved in every way possible, starting in the middle of the night and with the major invasion that was the largest naval invasion in the history of the world. They would have crossed into France--what was the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany.

The loss of lives of Americans and Allied forces was catastrophic as they pushed in. The boys, 18, 19, 20 years old, got on aircraft, got on ships, launched out into the water, knowing there was a tyrant on the other side who had to be stopped. It is entirely appropriate for the Nation to pause to remember D-Day, to know the freedom we have right now was protected by a generation that stood for that freedom. As the Nation looks toward Normandy a couple days from now, I think we should once again thank the ``greatest generation'' that guarded our freedom.

100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment

Mr. President, today is also a 100-year anniversary, though. One hundred years ago today, June 4, 1919, the Senate voted to pass the right for women to vote. As a son of a pretty amazing mom and as the husband of a really remarkable lady and as the dad of two daughters who are both voters now--they cannot thank the ladies enough who started in the 1800s working toward a basic human dignity and right; that is, the right for people to vote. It is astounding to us as a nation to think that it took that long, all the way up until 1919, to have a vote in the Senate to allow women to vote. That vote--with 36 Republicans and 20 Democrats that day who voted on June 4, 1919--changed the direction of how we would vote and how we would cooperate together as a nation.

Now, we have a lot of other areas to fix, but that one was a big one, and my family is grateful for what was done in the past. People who come through the Rotunda of the Capitol often see a statue there that looks like it is not finished. It is a block of stone, and there are three ladies who are carved out of it, but a part of it is not carved. I often hear people say they don't understand that statue. That statue is Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott, the three ladies who led the movement of ladies all over the country to just speak out and say ladies should have the right to vote. Those three ladies are carved into stone that is in our Rotunda, but what is interesting is, the statue is unfinished because the assumption was in the days ahead, there would be more ladies in the future who would step out and would lead a nation to make sure that we allow the rights of every single individual to be honored.

So, for the sake of my mom and my aunt, my grandmother, my wife, my daughters, and millions of ladies, we cannot thank those ladies enough for standing up for what was right at that time period. I think it is appropriate that we pause for just a moment in the Senate and remember June 4, 1919, 100 years later, and thank those ladies for standing up for the rights of ladies in their generation and the ladies in the generations to come.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, just to give the Senate body a quick update of what is happening in my State right now, we have had some pretty dramatic flooding and over 15 tornadoes in the last 48 hours across the State. Thankfully, most of those tornadoes hit in open areas. They did not hit structures. There have been some structures that have been damaged, but the flooding has been far worse than the tornadoes and the high winds.

Just 2 nights ago, in one of our counties, Osage County, we had severe flash flooding, where from 10 p.m. to 2:30 in the morning, over 100 different homes had to be evacuated in the middle of the night. Many of those folks had law enforcement, firefighters, and first responders arriving at their home with a boat or with a truck to get them out, literally, in their pajamas so they could escape. Many of those homes have 4 to 6 feet of water in them now.

It has been intense for those folks who are in the area. In fact, it is interesting. The director of emergency management for that area spent the entire night saving homes and helping people get out. When dawn broke and they knew they had gotten everyone out, he headed back to his own house only to find out he could no longer get to his home anymore because of the floodwaters.

We have had folks all over the State, whether that be in Perry, where we had two homes that were destroyed in a tornado that night that, thankfully, did not hit the center of town. We had other spots, like around Eufaula, where we had some serious flooding; Stillwater, where there has been flooding. In Dale we had a very dangerous overnight tornado that came in, literally, while everyone was sleeping. There are pockets of folks who are there who have been affected by this, literally, all over the State.

For the department of transportation folks, for the folks in our police and fire departments, for the emergency management individuals-- both for the State and the counties--for mayors and city managers, for hospitals, for county workers, for city staff, for the Corps of Engineers, and, quite frankly, for just neighbors down the street, it has been a long week. There have been a lot of folks serving each other to take care of those needs, and there will be for a while.

I thought this body would need a quick update because sometimes people feel a long way from the center of the country when you are in Washington, DC, but we need to understand what is happening in the center of the country right now--literally, the center of America. It is affecting all Americans.

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

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, the month of May is Military Appreciation Month. It is a time when we as a country can come together, pause, and recognize the sacrifices of those who have raised their right hands, worn the cloth of our country, and continue to serve the world's greatest military day in and day out.

They have exceptionally long days and difficult tasks. Sometimes they fight the fight of boredom while hanging out and guarding a spot. Sometimes they are in exceptionally stressful full-on combat mode. They are prepared for both.

Throughout the month of May, there are actually six different days of observation to honor our Nation's military and their families, who have sacrificed so much: Loyalty Day, Public Service Recognition Week, Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, Military Spouse Appreciation Day, Armed Forces Day, and, of course, at the end of the month of May, a pause for Memorial Day. All of these observances within 1 month, in May. It is a clear sign that our military is one of the most important cornerstones of our country and that their sacrifice is unmatched. So we should honor and celebrate it.

In addition to our servicemembers and veterans, I hope all Americans also recognize the service of their family members while their husband, wife, son, daughter, mom, and dad are wearing the uniform. They could be gone for months at a time on multiple deployments.

I had the opportunity to meet with many family members in Oklahoma. Their spouse, mom, dad, son, or daughter has been deployed multiple times into several different theaters. While they are fully deployed, their family waits, and it is a long and difficult wait. It is tough for the family.

For those who serve in our National Guard, it is tough on employers. It is tough on their personal finances. It is a stressful environment. For those folks who have done it and continue to serve--that 1 percent of our Nation that defends the other 99 percent of our Nation--we could not be more grateful for them and for their family members.

To our Gold Star families, those who are left behind to continue the legacy of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, we thank you for your service and for your love of country.

As a nation, it is our duty to continue to support our Gold Star families, to encourage them, to check on them, and to live life with them.

Just last week, I introduced legislation with Senator Carper to expand certain educational benefits to the survivors of guardsmen and reservists who have died as a result of their service. This is the least we could do as a nation to walk alongside those Gold Star families.

Over 33,000 Active-Duty Guard, Reserve, and Active-Duty personnel are currently assigned in Oklahoma. We have Oklahomans serving our country and protecting our interests, literally, all over the world right now. We are home to Altus Air Force Base, Tinker Air Force Base, Vance Air Force Base, Fort Sill Fires Center of Excellence in the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, as well as countless different National Guard locations all around the State. We train and equip our soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines, and I am proud of the Oklahomans who wear the uniform.

As we continue this Military Appreciation Month, I hope all Americans take the time to remember that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, whether you are awake or asleep, someone is on guard watching our Nation right now, and someone is defending our freedoms right now. Whether you are hearing about Military Appreciation Month while you are at work, while you are at play, or while you are at rest, someone is not resting right now. They are defending your freedoms, and we are grateful.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Christian Braunlich, an Air Force defense fellow in Senator Sullivan's office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the Congress.

Mr. President, typically, when we talk about Federal employees or a Federal Agency, the story starts something like this. There was a mixup in paperwork for our constituent who had Social Security Administration retirement benefits. She ended up not having Part B Medicare coverage until later, and there was a lapse in coverage.

Everyone gets frustrated over the mixup, the dropped paperwork, the problem, and they never hear the story of Amber Craft, who works in the Tulsa Social Security office. She chased the whole issue down. She did everything possible with the payment center to get inputs switched on the Medicare application and ended up getting the constituent's coverage to begin in the desired month to be able to get them taken care of. They were taken care of on their medical bills because a Federal employee saw the gap, ran to the need, and helped somebody in our State.

This is Public Service Recognition Week, and I want to take a little bit of time because in this body, as with many people in the Nation, we catch ourselves at times complaining more than we praise. There are a lot of people who are scattered around the Nation right now serving their neighbors as Federal employees. We have a lot of those in Oklahoma, and there are some pretty remarkable folks who are my neighbors whom I get the opportunity to meet with.

There are over 93,000 Federal employees, both active and retired, both Federal and on the Postal Service side--93,000 just in my State in Oklahoma--and that doesn't include the many teachers, firefighters, first responders, and other folks who work with public agencies on the city, State, and county levels as well. We are grateful to those folks because they make an incredible difference.

There are folks like Martha Gibson, who works in the VA center in Muskogee. She works in the benefits office, taking care of trying to get benefits for our veterans when there are problems--and there have been problems at times. Martha works incredibly

well with our team. As we get a call from a constituent and try to chase down the issue to be able to help figure out how we can resolve it, Martha is typically the one we call in the Muskogee office, and Martha, quite frankly, pretty often gets it solved--not just helping us but helping other Oklahomans.

Alexandria Hyatt is another good one to be able to talk about. She works in the Enterprise Services Center at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center with the FAA in Oklahoma City. She is an exceptional example of a Federal employee who not only works incredibly hard--not just for the FAA but for other Agencies, as well, that the FAA serves through the Enterprise Services Center--but she is one of those folks who we are glad is our neighbor.

You see, she is a Federal employee, but she also, just last year, in 2018, gave 850 hours away of her volunteer time serving with welfare agencies, working on weekends, and using her own leave. She is a licensed journeyman for HVAC. So she finds places where she can use that skill to serve other people, including putting in duct work and insulation, working on mold remediation, first aid, and teaching.

After Hurricane Katrina, she spent 3 weeks roofing and providing mold remediation in the Hurricane Katrina area. In 2015, she spent 6 weeks in New York City insulating and inspecting HVAC supply vents on residency floors. After Hurricane Irma, she spent 2 weeks repairing and installing roofs.

She is a Federal employee. She gives away her time, not just in her day job but in serving people on nights and weekends and taking her own vacation on this.

We have Donald O'Connor, who spent 50 years as a civil servant. He also served Active Duty in the Air Force and in the Air National Guard for 30 years. He is a pretty remarkable servant with a pretty long legacy.

Bryan Whittle is another FAA employee and an Oklahoma National Guardsman. He served very faithfully both for the Oklahoma National Guard and the FAA. It was last year when he walked into a restaurant in Oklahoma City and heard and saw a gunman who was opening fire in a restaurant. Bryan was one of them who actually ran toward the shots, and in a historic work and in a heroic act, he stopped a shooting at a restaurant in Oklahoma City, because this Federal employee and Guardsman actually engaged to be able to serve.

We have Lieutenant Wayland Cubit. He is from the Oklahoma City Police Department. He has a program that he actually works very actively in called the Family Awareness and Community Teamwork program, or FACT. He spends a lot of time working with students trying to help to engage people with police officers, because a lot of times kids grow up in neighborhoods and communities or maybe in families where they don't hear positive things about their police departments. So he is constantly reaching out to help people. He is active in mentoring programs.

This statement was written about him:

On any given week, Cubit and fellow officers will work with

up to 100 children. Once a week they hold a character-

building night in northeast Oklahoma City. Another night they

host the same program in south Oklahoma City. First-time

offenders come for a juvenile intervention program one night

a week. FACT hosts a youth leadership academy once a month.

He is a police officer, but he is also a mentor and an activist to help the next generation of people.

We have folks like Casey Farrar. He is a lead engineer on the B-2. Now, we don't think about the B-2, other than we are very grateful that we have the B-2. But here is what is interesting. Mr. Farrar was directly responsible for saving the U.S. Air Force--therefore, the U.S. taxpayers--$63 million in 2018. His work on several projects, including replacement of electrical cables on the rotary launcher system, as well as upgrades to those rotary launchers, improves the B-2 capabilities way into the future and will make an incredible difference and save the taxpayers a lot of money. At times, we hear about things that actually waste dollars, and we lose track of folks like this, an engineer, who just saved the taxpayer $63 million.

Matt Lehenbauer works as an emergency management director for the city of Woodward and Woodward County. He has been very influential working through the fire seasons that we have had in northwest Oklahoma. He is one of those folks who is actually helping to protect his neighbors by working with emergency management.

He has folks working alongside of him who are traveling down the roads, like Trooper Austin Ellis in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. He was on a routine patrol but was shot last August--just another day for him. He was able to withstand the bullets and recover, despite a fractured rib. And, by the way--as he would want me to say to you--they got the guy.

Tommie Nicholas works for USCIS, or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Ms. Nicholas reviews and makes case determinations, provides technical and administrative advice, and assigns work based on priorities. She has worked for USCIS for two decades and is one of those folks who is always ready to assist.

She has helped in situations where there is an individual with a pending immigration case who needs to travel to be with an ailing relative overseas or when someone who needs urgent proof of status to work for their family, and she is the one who steps up and goes above and beyond to help to take care of folks' immigration issues and needs.

You see, again, folks at times push back on people dealing with immigration issues, and they forget that there are great folks who are out there serving their neighbors all the time.

Jim Lyall began his tenure with the Community Service Council in 1980 as a help line program director and became associate director in 1991. He created Oklahoma's first 2-1-1 call center, which allowed Oklahoma to be the first to achieve national accreditation, and helping 2-1-1 to become a statewide service. At the Community Service Council, his leadership in the creation of Tulsa's Heat Emergency Action Plan and the Tulsa Weather Coalition air conditioner loan program has contributed significantly to the health and well-being of many Tulsans. He is another one of those folks serving every single day.

We can't forget our teachers, who are out there constantly helping the kids in the next generation. Ms. Annette Cain teaches second grade at Spring Creek Elementary. On the second day of school, this past school year, she saw one of her students struggling to read. She quickly connected with the reading specialist, the principal, and the parents to discuss how to help this new second grader. Her concern was that he might need to go back to first grade or that he might be behind in second grade and was just going to need some additional help in reading. That little second grader is now caught up and has now had the ``most improved reading'' award. That is good for him, but it is good for Annette Cain, who saw the problem and who responded to the needs of that child.

It reminds me of stories, day after day after day, of folks like that who are in Elgin, OK, like Don Myers, and all the crew that is there doing special education and so much work to be able to help kids with the greatest amount of need in Elgin; just like in other programs around the State, where those teachers work with the parents, work with other educators, and work with a child to help that child way behind get caught up or to help them in their own development.

I am grateful that this week we get to honor public service because there are millions of public servants doing amazing work to help their neighbors all around the country.

Of all States and of all places, I remind this body often that Oklahomans pause every April 19 and remember a domestic terrorist that parked a truck bomb next to the Federal building and killed 168 people out of his hatred for public servants in the Federal Government. We in Oklahoma remember that public servants get up and go to work every day to be able to serve their neighbors, and we, as individuals, still push back against those who just blindly hate government and blindly hate people who serve in government and serve each other.

We don't blindly hate. We deeply appreciate and are grateful for what they do. We as a State will never forget the 168 lives that were lost 24 years ago of public servants taking care of their neighbors. We are grateful.

If you are a public servant and you hear this, please accept my thank you. Well done. I am proud to be your neighbor.

Mr. President, we had three extremely well-qualified people come before this body this week who were nominated to the Board of the Ex-Im Bank, the Export-Import Bank. It is an entity that most individuals across the country don't even know about. They don't even know what the Ex-Im Bank does. But it gets caught up in a lot of politics here.

These extremely well-qualified people were confirmed, and they are now on their way to serve our Nation in that area. I had to vote against them, not because of who they are and their qualifications-- they are clearly qualified--but because of my own frustration that this body has not been willing to take on the most basic element of reform of the Ex-Im Bank.

The charter of the Ex-Im Bank requires the Bank ``to seek to reach international agreement to reduce government subsidized export financing.'' That is in their charter. The problem is, that is not being fulfilled. There has been a push for a while to try to reform the Ex-Im Bank. That push to reform it has failed so far.

My encouragement to the new quorum that is in the leadership role at the Ex-Im Bank is to push to fulfill their requirements to reduce government-subsidized export financing, not expand it, and to take the actions necessary to do that--not only with our Ex-Im structure but working with other countries to reduce theirs. The common phrase is ``We have an ex-im bank because other countries have an ex-im bank.'' Well, you know what, other countries have a Communist structure--like China. We are not trying to model that either. Should we take on every single subsidy other governments do? Let's try to find a way for them to fulfill their charter.

In the meantime, I have proposed a set of reforms that can be done to the Ex-Im Bank to make it better. Some are fairly obvious.

One of them is reducing taxpayer exposure by prohibiting the Bank from issuing direct loans.

I have also pushed very hard to have this basic statement: a sense of the Senate that the Bank is a lender of last resort, not the first place to go to. That, again, should be a no-brainer for them.

Here is the clearest and easiest reform. Ex-Im Bank brags about how many small businesses use the Ex-Im Bank services, but the next question is not asked. How does Ex-Im Bank define a small business? With chagrin, they will say that their definition of a small business is any business with 1,500 employees or fewer. That is not a small business. So 1,500 employees or fewer is a small business, according to Ex-Im Bank. There are very few companies in America with 1,500 employees.

The most basic thing we can do is have Ex-Im Bank use the same definition the Small Business Administration uses for what a small business is and then put the same requirement on Ex-Im to also use small businesses and engage with them.

We should also prohibit the Bank from providing financing services to foreign and state-owned entities. Why are we financing another government in what they are doing? Why are we actually providing competition for our own companies, as Ex-Im does? They give loans and subsidies to countries and companies that compete against American companies.

All of these ideas are basic reforms.

My push is not to abolish Ex-Im; it is for Ex-Im to fulfill its charter and to do its basic responsibility and to have the most simple reforms that I think are needed.

This is not just talk for us; we have this legislation. We have pushed for this before, and we will continue to push for basic reforms at Ex-Im in the days ahead.

With that, I yield the floor.