Floor Statements

Madam President, the Senator from Minnesota was going to be recognized first. She is not in the Chamber, so I will go first and then we will get back in order.

I ask unanimous consent to be recognized for 15 minutes.

Madam President, now that the results are in, I think it is time to talk again--as we did 5 years ago--about what is happening on what I consider to be the greatest failed foreign policy we have experienced.

When we look around the world and we see what happened and what is going on now--and this may be a narrow opinion--it is a result of the apology tour President Obama took immediately after becoming President of the United States.

I remember standing at this podium at that time and saying you don't go to the Muslim world and say: I will not make a speech until we have the Muslim Brotherhood coming with their required numbers. That was not good. This is a deviation from what we always stood for and that was certainly a slap in the face of our best friends in the Middle East, Israel.

Two weeks ago, three Israeli teenagers were found dead in shallow graves in a West Bank village, and it was such a tragedy, and, of course, reciprocity has taken place since then. Hamas has launched over 365 rockets indiscriminately into the Israeli civilian population. I have to say that when I look at some of the things we have worked on together with Israel--for example, the iron dome has performed very well during that period of time. Also, I will say that Prime Minister Netanyahu responded with some 700 or so airstrikes primarily using F- 16s and doing it very well. This started 5 years ago, and we have had unrest in that area ever since then.

The Israeli Defense Minister said this week: ``We are preparing for a battle

against Hamas which will not end within a few days.''

Obviously, I strongly support our greatest ally in the Middle East, and so often we do what we can to directly and indirectly continue that support. There has been unrest in Israel for the past 5 or 6 years.

We sent letters to the President some time ago regarding Iraq in 2013. We said when you leave Iraq, be sure to leave the intelligence and the logistics. You cannot just walk out. Yes, we have great trained fighters in the Iraqi security force, but they cannot be totally on their own. They needed to have ISR support. ISR is intelligence and reconnaissance. We have to learn a lesson from this so we don't make the same mistake in Afghanistan. But nonetheless, we did. So now Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists have returned and have overtaken key cities.

ISIS is the most terrifying terrorist group out there. They have taken over towns such as Mosul, Tikrit, Ramadi, and Fallujah.

I have a guy who works for me as a field representative in my State of Oklahoma. His name is Brian Hackler. Prior to the time he came to work for me, he was in the Marines. He was actually deployed twice to Fallujah. If you will remember, Fallujah was the closest thing we had to door-to-door combat like we had in World War II, and we lost a lot of lives.

When I called him, he had not yet heard that we lost Fallujah after they took it over. He actually physically cried. He said, the blood, the sweat, and the tears of all of my friends. He said, we had that secured, and we have now lost it.

We are doing everything we can now to rectify that situation. I am glad the Obama administration is doing what we asked them to do 2 years ago. While we will lose lives, hopefully we can keep the terrorists from having a safe haven in that area.

I am very much concerned about what has happened in Iraq. While the President continues his assessments, it leads me to wonder what the people in our embassy have been doing over there. We are empowering Russia and Iran to lead and become key influences in the region.

Iran reportedly has two battalions of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, in Iraq. It is kind of funny. Right now a lot of people are saying Iran is our friend. Let's keep in mind that our intelligence determined quite a number of years ago that Iran will have the weapon and the delivery system for that weapon by 2015. Well, 2015 is on us now, so I think if anyone out there is naive enough to think we can depend on Iran to help our situation, they are sadly mistaken.

We have a very serious problem now in Iraq. While the United States has most recently provided some equipment intelligence, this is what we should have been doing and preparing for 2 years ago. Since January, Prime Minister Maliki has asked for help, and the President waited until it became a dire crisis.

Then there is Afghanistan. We know what is happening in Afghanistan. Currently the Presidential election in Afghanistan has taken place. The primary took place and the runoff took place, but the problem is it is obviously a sham. The election is not an honest, transparent election. I believe there is no greater threat that can be imposed on us than by allowing the people of Afghanistan to look at an election and find out it is a rigged election.

I will give an example. While we have not taken sides in this country between Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, I personally would fall down on the side of Abdullah. It seems as though all of the real problems in that election ended up benefiting Ghani as opposed to Abdullah.

For example, in one province--it was Wardak Province--17,000 votes were cast in April. Now the runoff came along and 170,000 votes were cast. If you stop to think about it, that is mathematically impossible, so we know that is rigged. While everyone agrees that Ghani's support is in the rural areas, I would defy anyone to come down to the Senate floor and point out an election that has ever taken place where you have a much larger percentage of rural votes as opposed to urban votes. There is a logical reason--rural voters have to walk a long way to get to the polls and some voters can't get there as easily.

The results of the runoff: There was a 75-percent turnout from the rural areas as opposed to a 24-percent turnout in the urban areas. That couldn't happen. We have to have an audit. I think everybody agrees we have to have an audit, but it has to be a thorough and transparent audit. We have to be sure the Afghan people, when they determine the outcome of this election, know it was a legitimate election so they can rejoice in it.

I think most everyone knows a few hours ago Abdullah declared victory in spite of the fact that the first count I described showed him as losing.

We have this problem right now. It is a problem I hang on President Obama and his administration because we told them in advance what needed to be done to avoid this type of situation from happening.

We are now looking at a situation there that is one where we can act now and preclude something from happening there and is happening as we speak in Iraq.

Remember what took place in terms of the five Taliban terrorists who were released. We thought--and I felt all the time--that was a very controversial issue. A lot of people wanted to close Gitmo, and I have strong feelings against that. We need to have that facility and that resource, which I will explain in a moment.

When the President turned the five Taliban leaders loose--these were the most brutal and heinous of all the terrorists who were in Gitmo. There were five of them. When they found out, they were celebrating. One of the terrorists released was referred to as the toughest of all of them. One of the top people who was on the other side of the Taliban said in response to the release of the terrorists that this is the Taliban rejoicing that the President has turned loose five of the terrorists who were incarcerated in Gitmo. They said it is like putting 10,000 Taliban fighters into battle on the side of jihad. Now the Taliban have the right to lead them into the final moments before victory in Afghanistan.

We all knew the President should not have done it. Anticipating that the President was going to do this, the last bill we passed before the current one, which is on here, we put language in there anticipating that the President, in order to reach his goal and ultimately close Gitmo, might take some of the worst individuals and turn them loose. We put language in there from section 1035(d) of the Defense Authorization Act. He said the President had to notify us 30 days in advance if he was going to release or make any transfers from Gitmo. He blatantly broke that law and did not do it. Everyone was on our side in terms of why we should not let this, what they referred to as the ``Taliban dream team,'' be turned loose. Right now, supposedly, there is some kind of a deal made where they are in Qatar for a period of a year, but even if they were able to enforce that--stop and think about the theory behind this. The President is saying in essence we are going to turn you guys loose but you have to promise not to kill Americans for a period of a year. Because it says for 1 year they have to remain under some level of control by a country that hasn't even told us how they are going to do that. Consequently, I have no doubt they are free to go anywhere they want.

We had reviews conducted by the Department of Defense, Department of State, the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, the National Intelligence, and all the rest of them saying these five people are too dangerous to release. Leon Panetta, who was the Secretary of Defense at that time, made the same statement. He said these people are too dangerous, as did General Dunford. By the way, General Dunford, who is the commander in Afghanistan, was not even notified in advance this was going to take place.

So we have all of these circumstances that are going on right now. We have the law that was broken. My feeling has always been, as we are getting down midway into the President's second term, looking at what he is going to have for a legacy, one of his desired legacies would be to close Gitmo. He has talked about that for a long period of time. I think the American people have now caught on, because there is a poll on June 13 by Gallup that shows 66 percent of Americans oppose the closing of Gitmo. So this has changed now.

Why is it important? There is no place else anywhere in the world where we can put these enemy combatants. These guys are not criminals; they are enemy combatants. They are terrorists. And when the President came up with the original idea of putting them into our prison system, we had to go and make sure everyone was aware they are terrorists and not criminals. By definition, they teach other people to be terrorists. If there is anything we don't want in our prison system, it is for all of those criminals to learn how to become terrorists.

We have had Gitmo since 1903. It is one of the few good deals we have wherein we pay a little over $4,000 a year for that facility. We should stop and see the advantages we have in Gitmo as opposed to putting them someplace else where they can either get out through jail breaks, as has been happening, or if they were to be intermingled in the United States with our prison population.

One of the places, incidentally, that the President first wanted to send the Gitmo inmates was to Fort Sill in my State of Oklahoma. I went to Fort Sill and they said, We don't have the capability here to get this done. So what we want to do is--in fact, the lady who runs the facility at Fort Sill said, I don't know what it is that individuals don't understand. She said she had three deployments to Gitmo. It is the perfect institution for these people. They are well taken care of. The Red Cross and everyone who goes down there says, Yes, the health facilities are better than they have ever had before, the food is the best they have ever had. So it is a facility we need to continue to use.

Benghazi

Lastly, before I completely run out of time, I want to jump ahead a little bit and mention Benghazi. I think it is important for us to understand there are four people in our system who advise the President of the United States. We have the CIA Director who, at the time this happened in Benghazi, was John--anyway, the CIA Director; the Director of National Intelligence, that was James Clapper; the Secretary of Defense, who was Leon Panetta; and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey. All of those people said they knew unequivocally, in Benghazi, when they bombed the annex, it was an organized terrorist activity. I think right now people are realizing that was the real issue. It is not who is responsible for it; it is the fact that we knew it was going to happen. Our Ambassador, who was killed, gave us ample warning for well over a month and a half before it took place that it was going to take place.

So I think we understand now why Gitmo is important and we understand the whole reason this is taking place. I am certainly hoping we can stick together and make sure we don't end up losing one of the most valuable facilities we have in this day of terrorists by having to close it down.

We have a serious problem. I think if there is anything we should learn from this, it is, No. 1, we have a valuable institution called Gitmo. No. 2, what is important is that we don't let happen this year what happened last year. Last year we didn't get the NDAA bill until December. If we had gone to December 31, there would not have been hazard pay and a number of bad things would have happened, but we ended up finally at the last minute getting it done. I have talked to both the majority and minority leaders about the advisability of bringing the NDAA to the floor of the Senate, and consequently we now have invited Members to send their amendments down. We have almost 100 amendments already on the floor. So I am hoping during the next week, we can come down with a specific date--hopefully before the August recess--where we can bring up the NDAA and let the people know who go over there risking their lives that we are going to be here to support them. We are going to be putting together an NDAA bill.

I know my time has expired. I will not suggest the absence of a quorum quite yet because no one has arrived.

Going back to Benghazi, everybody had the information on Benghazi. I neglected to mention we also had General Hamm come in and testify before us, again, that he was one of several who was fully aware of what happened.

With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, it is my honor to remember Army SGT James E. Dutton. James died March 31, 2012 in Logar province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

James was born December 25, 1986 in Weleetka, OK. He graduated from Weleetka High School in 2006 and later moved with his parents to Checotah, OK where he served as a firefighter for the Lotawatah Rural Fire Department and worked for Winkle's Hardware until joining the Army.

After completing basic combat training at Fort Jackson, SC, James was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, NY where he worked as a firefighter and mechanic. In 2008, James had a son, William Tyler Anderson and in 2009, shortly after the birth of his son, he was deployed to Afghanistan.

He returned to Fort Drum in 2010 and in October of 2011 he was reassigned to the 125th Brigade Support Battalion, 3d Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, based at Fort Bliss, TX. He deployed for his second tour to Afghanistan in December 2011.

James loved the U.S. Army and planned on a long career serving his country. He believed in and loved what he was doing and that is where he wanted to be.

On April 23, 2012, the family held a funeral service at First Baptist Church in Checotah, OK and James was laid to rest in Fort Gibson National Cemetery in Fort Gibson, OK.

James was preceded in death by his sister Kimberly Ann Dutton, grandfather James H. Dutton, grandmother Ruby M. Dutton, and his great grandfather Sgt. Charles William ``CW'' Kincannon. James leaves behind his wife Ellen Marie Dutton, parents James K. and Trina M. Dutton of Checotah, his young son William Tyler Anderson of El Paso, TX; sisters: Valarie Hammond and Roxanne Gibson, both of Weleetka, and Stephanie Walker of Oklahoma City, brothers: Derek and Jeremy Johnson, both of Wewoka; special friends, Brittany Brown and daughter Ally, of Watertown, NY, Jerie-Lynn Woody, mother of William Tyler Anderson, Jacob Rector of Weleetka, Dale McBride of Checotah, his extended family of Army brothers and sisters; as well as many other relatives, friends and loved ones too numerous to mention.

Today we remember Army SGT James E. Dutton, a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Army Sergeant Dick A. Lee, Jr.

Mr. President, as well I would like to pay tribute to Army SGT Dick A. Lee, Jr. Alson and his assigned military working dog Fibi both of whom died April 26, 2012 in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Alson was born July 23, 1980 in Keystone Heights, FL and graduated from Keystone Heights High School in 2000. He enlisted in the Army in August of that same year.

Alson was assigned as a military working dog handler with the 529th Military Police Company, 95th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, Sembach, Germany. He stayed safe on three previous deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, but this deployment only lasted 23 days before the incident that tragically claimed his life.

His commanding officer remembered him as a great soldier and dog handler. ``Always quick with a smile and laugh, he was the kind of person you always wanted to be around,'' said COL Brian Bisacre.

On May 15, 2012, the family held a funeral service and Alson was laid to rest in Jacksonville Memorial Gardens in Orange Park, FL.

``He was the best handler I had in my kennels and the best NCO I had in my kennels,'' SFC Joseph Jones, the 529th Military Police Company's kennel master said after the service. ``He wasn't just good, he was great.''

Alson is survived by his wife Katherine Lee, a native of Shreveport, LA; their two sons: David and Joshua, his mother Brenda Carroll, and her husband Larry of Keystone Heights, FL, his father Dick Lee of Newcastle, OK, a sister Vanessa Compton, and her husband Danny of Fort Riley, KS, his nephews: Zachary, Devin and Eric, of Fort Riley, KS, and a brother Michael Carroll of Keystone Heights, FL.

Today we remember Army SGT Dick A. Lee, Jr., a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Army Captain Jesse A. Ozbat

Mr. President, it is my honor to also pay tribute to the life and sacrifice of a remarkable young man, Army CPT Jesse A. Ozbat. Jesse died May 20, 2012 in Tarin Kowt Province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The son of a retired Army first sergeant, Jesse was born February 21, 1984 in Caro, MI. He was a member of the Prince George High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps in Virginia and graduated in 2002. He then enrolled in Virginia State University's Reserve Officer Training Corps program where he earned his commission on May 13, 2006, finishing in the top 10 percent of all cadets nationwide.

Upon entering active service, Jesse attended Basic Officer Leaders Course, BOLC II at Fort Benning, GA, and BOLC III at Fort Sill, OK. He was then assigned as the fire support officer for the C/1--4 Stryker Infantry Company, Schofield Barracks, HI, where he deployed to the 1st and 14th Infantry, 2nd Stryker Brigade in support of Iraqi Freedom in 2009. He then returned to Fort Sill where he graduated from the field artillery captain's career course and was assigned to Headquarters Headquarters Batter, HHB, 214 Fires Brigade as the fire controller officer and Current Operations Office. From Sept. 2010-March 2012, he served as the commander of the HHB, 214th Fires Brigade.

``He was a soldier. That's all he ever wanted to be . . . a soldier. He died doing what he wanted to be,'' said his grandmother Shirley Scott.

A funeral service was conducted on June 2, 2012 at Fort Lee, VA. Interment with full military honors followed the service at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, VA.

He is survived by his wife Danielle T. Ozbat of Petersburg, VA, parents Aaron M. and Cynthia A. Ozbat of Prince George, VA, mother and father-in-law Dahlia and Anthony Fontaine of Petersburg, VA, brother Elijah A. Ozbat, sister Marisa N. Ozbat, both of Prince George, VA, grandmother Lillian Scott of Petersburg, and grandparents Richard and Shirley Scott of Caro, MI, as well as many other relatives, friends and loved ones too numerous to mention.

Today we remember Army CPT Jesse A. Ozbat, a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Mr. President, I wish to remember the life and sacrifice of a remarkable young man, Army 2LT Tobias C. Alexander. Along with one other soldier, Toby died May 20, 2012 of injuries he sustained when his unit was attacked with improvised explosive devices in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Toby was born June 8, 1981 in Wesel, Germany and graduated from Eglin High School in 1999.

Toby entered the Active Duty Army in August 2002 as a signal intel analyst. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2007 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force--Afghanistan (3rd Special Forces Group, Airborne). He obtained the rank of sergeant first class.

In 2011 he earned a bachelors' degree in interdisciplinary studies from Cameron University where he was a part of the Reserve Officer Training Corps. After receiving his commission, he attended the Field Artillery Basic Officer Leader Course B at Fort Sill, OK and was then assigned to the 1st Battalion, 14th Field Artillery, 214th Fires Brigade. He served as a platoon leader for Alpha Battery before being selected for the Security Forces Advisory Team, SFAT, which was responsible for the training of Afghanistan's national security forces. He deployed for his second tour to Afghanistan in June 2011.

His friend, Myles Mendez, said ``He was the guy you went to if you needed to know something, so a lot of people were always going to him with `What's this? What's that? Can you help me?' He was the go-to guy.''

``I honestly don't think that he would have had it any other way. I think if he had to choose to go out, I think he would have wanted to have it serving his country. He was a patriot.''

On May 30, 2012, the family held funeral services at Cameron Baptist Church in Lawton, OK.

He is survived by his wife Amanda, his children: Angelicia, Kevin and Lexie, and his parents Bill and Heike Alexander.

Today we remember Army 2LT Tobias C. Alexander, a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Army Private First Class Jon R. Townsend

Mr. President, I also wish to remember Army PFC Jon R. Townsend. Along with three other soldiers, Jon died September 16, 2012 in Zabul province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom due to injuries sustained due to enemy small arms fire.

Jon was born October 28, 1992 and was raised in Claremore, OK. Two days after he graduated from Claremore-Sequoyah High School in 2011 he left for Army basic training at 17. His friends and family watched as he transformed--downing 5 dozen eggs a week--from an average kid into a bulked-up recruit.

After completing initial training, Jon was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA. He deployed to Afghanistan in December 2011.

His mother said that Jon believed in the mission and was particularly fond of the children he encountered. He asked her to send him care packages with treats that he could give his ``babies,'' and he'd use his wet wipes to clean the children. ``Jon loved life and wanted to share it with everybody,'' she said. ``He wanted to make everybody happy.''

In February 2012, he went home on leave from Afghanistan and married his high school sweetheart, Brittany Carden. They had 3 days together as a married couple before he departed back to Afghanistan.

``I'm not mad. . .Jon did this because he loved his country,'' his mother said. ``He wanted to make it safe, and (joining the military) was the only way he knew how.''

On September 28, 2012, the family held a service at First Baptist Church and Jon was laid to rest in Lone Chapel Cemetery in Claremore,

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

Mr. President, there are a few of us who want to come down and talk a little bit about specific things in our States that are reaching a crisis point by having to participate in ObamaCare. But before doing that I want to make just one comment to make sure it is in the Record and that we can talk about the election that took place over in Afghanistan.

We have had quite a time over there. We have lost actually 2,197 of our own troops in Afghanistan, and we have had about ten times that many who have been injured. So it has been a real crisis for a lot of people. For a long period of time things had been going well. I think when the decision was made by this President to pull everything out at a given time things started turning around a little bit. Now they are in the middle of a--in Afghanistan the election took place. I know we are not supposed to say this, and there is no official position--I want to make that clear--by the United States of America, but to me there are two people running against each other. There is a good guy and a bad guy--that holdover from the old administration, whose name is Ashraf Ghani, who is Karzai's chosen one, who is one who would continue to go in a lack of leadership and not take advantage of the opportunities they have right now; then Abdullah Abdullah is the other one.

My concern with this--and I expressed this concern on the Senate floor about 3 weeks ago. I said: I know we have deadlines. We are going to have a primary, which we already had. Then we are going to have a primary runoff. Then on June 22, which is 2 weeks from today, there will be an official declaration as to who won the primary runoff.

The Presiding Officer is fully familiar with this. We talked about that this morning. Well, in this runoff situation, we have found a lot of discrepancies. It seems to me that while I consider one guy to be the good one and one to be the bad one, all of the mistakes that were made and the irregularities that were found were found in favor of Ashraf Ghani, as opposed to Abdullah Abdullah.

Let me give you an example. In one of the provinces--it was the Wardak Province--Ghani's vote count went from about 17,000 in April to 170,000 in the runoff. Stop and think about that. That is almost mathematically impossible. When you consider the number of registered voters there, this number actually exceeds the number of registered voters. So you went from 17,000 in the same province when they went through the primary back in April, and then that jumped up by tenfold to 170,000 in the runoff. That is an increase of 1,000 percent over April's result. All of those, of course, were in an area where--it is in a part of the country where Ghani's vote was more favorable.

Then the other thing I think is unprecedented, I think we all know in our own States, whether it is in West Virginia, Oklahoma, or any of the rest of them, the vote percentage turnout is less in rural areas than it is in urban areas. In urban areas you have to go next door to vote. It is very convenient. In many rural areas, certainly in my State of Oklahoma, you have to drive maybe 30 or 40 miles to vote. So the percentage turnout is less. It happens that Ghani's support comes from the rural areas. In this runoff election that just took place, they had a 75-percent turnout in those areas. At the same time, in the urban areas, they only had a 24-percent turnout.

First of all, I do not think we can name one election in history that had a larger turnout in a rural area than it did the urban areas in the same election. So we are looking at something that could not happen and logically it did not happen. That was something that certainly worked in the favor of Ghani's election.

Right now everyone agrees on one thing; that is, that the election was at least falsified. If not, it was just a rigged election. There are a lot of organizations out there--the European Union, for example, and the U.N. and other groups such as OSCE, which is the Office of Security and Cooperation in Europe--that all agree we should have an audit of this election--at least an audit which should include some independent source. So I want to get on record now, because I fear if nothing is done in the next 14 days, he will be declared the winner, with these discrepancies, I think that would be doing a great disservice to the people of Afghanistan. They would lose faith in their system, because what I am saying here on the Senate floor they already know.

Health Care

Let me jump into another area I am very interested in, as is every Member of this body. I can remember back in the 1990s we had what was referred to as ``Hillary health care.'' At that time, there were several members of Parliament--one of them was up here and we had a hearing. That person said: You know, it is hard for us in the United Kingdom to understand why we have had this type of socialized medicine for as many years as I can remember--this is his quote. He said:

Yet we are now finally realizing that your system over in

the United States is a much better system. We are now

starting to discard the whole socialized medicine system.

That is something we saw way back in the 1990s. It came again with the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare. We have a lot of examples in my State of Oklahoma, heartbreaking accounts. Since the rollout last fall, my office has been flooded with stories from Oklahomans who found ObamaCare to be one massive broken promise from President Obama.

These stories include a woman from Broken Arrow, OK, who reported a 20-percent increase in her monthly premiums.

A father from Owasso, OK, shared a story--I talked to all of these individuals personally--of his son and daughter who serve as missionaries in Indonesia. Their health care deductibles in the United States have more than doubled from $1,200 per person to $2,600 a person.

One teacher, a public schoolteacher from Copan, OK, who teaches-- actually not in public school, it is adjunct college classes. She shared that not only did she have her work hours cut but is now paying $950 a month in premiums for health care with a $6,000 deductible.

Another teacher from Sallisaw, OK--that happens to be the strawberry capital of the world in case you guys did not know that--shared that her deductible increased by $1,000 from last year.

A man from Noble told us his company modified health plans to match the ObamaCare requirements. It is a company he owns. He says these changes cost him a 40-percent increase in his out-of-pocket expenses and his premium costs.

A man from Tulsa who lives actually in my same neighborhood has a family of five. He works for a small business. He shared with us that he is now paying $4,000 more for insurance than he had paid a year ago.

This November, a new open enrollment period will begin in at least one State, Virginia, which has already reported an astounding 22- percent increase over the past year.

All of that is happening. People from any State, any of the 50 States, could come down and talk about the individual cases in their States. We have one good thing that is going on right now. We have a great attorney general by the name of Scott Pruitt. Scott Pruitt, the attorney general from Oklahoma, has a lawsuit. It is called Pruitt v. Burwell. Oklahoma has standing to proceed on a case that the IRS acted beyond Congress's intent in its effort to impose penalties in States that have Federal exchanges.

We have 36 States that have Federal exchanges. These exchanges are-- well, first of all, the administration had a motion to dismiss. It was overruled 11 months ago, so this is a real case. The State has asked for summary judgment.

Success in this case would mean the dismantling of the ObamaCare employer and individual mandates for all 36 States that have at least a partially federally facilitated exchange. I guess you can say it might end up being our attorney general from the State of Oklahoma is going to be the one who is going to be the most successful in doing something about this thing we should have learned a long time ago was not going to work.

I have a personal interest in this, having had--there are states or countries that have socialized medicine. We have Canada, we have Great Britain, we have many other countries. In making a study of these, you find there is limited coverage for people when they reach a certain age.

I see our good friend from Wyoming who is a medical doctor. He has given his second opinion many times. In one of those he talked about you get past a certain age, you are unable to get the treatment. I happen to have had occasion to have four bypasses at an age when in some countries I would not have qualified.

It is something we have been very active in. We are going to hopefully be the heroes from the State of Oklahoma in offering relief to at least 36 of our States.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I wish to remember the life and sacrifice of a remarkable young man, Army SPC Ryan J. Grady. Ryan died July 1, 2010 in Bagram, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom due to injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.

Ryan was born May 30, 1985 in Marion, KS and later moved to Bristow, OK. After graduating from Thunderbird Military Academy in 2003, he joined the Army as a combat engineer. He was awarded a Purple Heart from shrapnel wounds he received when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device during his first deployment to Iraq in 2005-2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

After returning home in 2006, he joined the Vermont National Guard. In 2008 he transferred to the Oklahoma National Guard and then returned to the Vermont National Guard in 2009 because he heard the unit was deploying to Afghanistan.

Ryan grew up in a military family, with his father and brothers serving in the Army as well. On the day of the incident, Ryan shared a meal with his brother, Kevin Grady, who was also deployed to Afghanistan with the Vermont National Guard.

Jim Grady, Jr. said Ryan's size 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds sometimes intimidated people, but said anyone who met him quickly could tell he had a warm heart. As a soldier, he would sign off on notes with the words ``saving the world one mission at a time,'' his brother said.

At the grand opening of the Grady Dining Facility on Bargram Airfield's Camp Warrior, acting director of the Army National Guard, MG Raymond Carpenter, said ``Specialist Ryan Grady represents to us what the modern National Guard is. He joined the guard because he wanted to serve his country.''

Ryan was posthumously promoted from private first class to specialist and was laid to rest in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. Johnsbury, VT.

Ryan is survived by his wife Heaven, of Bristow, OK, his daughter Alexis, his father SFC James A. Grady of West Burke, VT, his mother Debbie Hudacek of Bristow, OK, stepfather Tom Hudacek of Bristow, OK, and his brothers: Kevin Grady of St. Johnsbury, VT and James Grady of Muskogee, OK.

Today we remember Army SPC Ryan J. Grady, a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Sergeant Charles S. Jirtle

Madam President, today I also wish to remember the life and sacrifice of a remarkable young man, Army SGT Charles S. Jirtle. Along with four other soldiers, Scott died June 7, 2010 of injuries he sustained from an improvised explosive device in Dangam district of Kunar Province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Scott was born September 13, 1980 in Lawton, OK and graduated from MacArthur High School. After graduating, he served in the Navy Reserves in Oklahoma City.

The son of an Active Duty Army master sergeant, he enlisted in the Army in 2007. After completing basic training at Fort Benning, GA, he was assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, KY as an indirect fire infantryman.

Scott, who served a tour in Iraq in 2007 and 2008, knew the impact the deployments had on his family. His final posting on Facebook read: ``Savannah is having a real problem with this deployment, and I pray to God that He will watch over her and my children.''

Pastor Trey Smart said Scott's four older brothers would recruit him when they heard the ice cream truck coming down the street. ``They always knew if they sent Scott to ask Terry and Virginia for money, they wouldn't turn him down because he was the youngest,'' Smart said.

His parents said, ``Our son Charles Scott Jirtle joined the Army because he wanted to take care of his children. He extended his enlistment for this deployment, knowing that he was going to a very hot spot.''

Those thanking Scott for his ultimate sacrifice for the protection of this great country say John 15:13 describes his selfless virtues perfectly: ``greater love hath not man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.''

On June 16, 2010, the family held church services at First Baptist Church East in Lawton, OK.

He is survived by his wife Savannah, daughters: Chelsie and Cheyenne, a son Jordan, unborn son Charles Scott Jirtle, Jr., stepdaughter Rylee Jo Jirtle, parents, MSG (Retired) Terry L. and Virginia Jirtle, Lawton, OK; 4 brothers: Joseph Elkins and wife Tammy, James Jirtle, Kendall Jirtle and wife Brandi, all of Lawton and AME2 (AW) Anthony Jirtle, Oak Harbor, WA; stepbrother, Danny Henry and wife Shauna; several nieces and nephews: Ashley, Kayla, Starr, Alexis, Skyler, Payton, Preston, Morgan, Bryce and Kolby.

Today we remember Army SGT Charles S. Jirtle, a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Specialist Augustus J. Vicari

Madam President, I now wish to pay tribute to a true American hero, Army SPC Augustus ``Augy'' J. Vicari of Broken Arrow, OK who died on July 29th, 2011 serving our Nation in Paktia Province, Afghanistan. Specialist Vicari was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard.

Specialist Vicari died of injuries sustained when his unit was attacked with an improvised explosive device while on patrol in the town of Janak Kheyl. He was 22 years old.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those in his family he left behind: his wife Holly, parents Michael and Evelyn Vicari, and siblings: Joseph, Michael, Emily, and Mollie.

A native of Lowell, IN, Augy graduated from Lowell High School in 2008. After graduation, he and his wife then moved to Broken Arrow to be close to his father-in-law. Augy then enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard and attended basic training and advanced individual training in 2009.

In addition to being a soldier, Augy enjoyed working on cars and spending time with family and friends. As evident by reading through some quotes from family and friends, he consistently impressed and touched the lives of those he interacted with on a daily basis:

John and Barb Slankard said ``Augy's smile lit up every room he was in . . . a truly amazing person that was taken far too soon. We thank him for his courage and sacrifice and we are honored to have known him.''

MG Myles Deering, the Oklahoma National Guard Adjutant General said, ``This loss of life has shaken every member of the Oklahoma National Guard to their core. We have lost a very brave man who once raised his hand and took an oath to defend our nation. He courageously gave everything he had to ensure our freedom and safety and his sacrifice will not be forgotten.''

SSG Kyle Wachtendorf of the Oklahoma National Guard praised Augy by saying, ``He was a Oklahoman who chose to stand up and fight for what was right. Chose to leave his family in order to fight for others and made the ultimate sacrifice for God and their country.''

Reverend Tony Janik said ``Augy wanted to see the world. He wanted to see justice in the world.''

U.S. Congressman Peter Visclosky from Indiana's 1st District honored and paid tribute to Augy on the floor of the House of Representatives on September 7, 2011.

A true warrior, Augy died while participating in a patrol in the town of Janak Kheyl of Paktia Province on his way back to the U.S. combat outpost just barely over a month after arriving in Afghanistan. This tough fight took Augy from us prematurely, but make no mistake; it is a fight we will win. We must continue our unwavering support for the men and women protecting our Nation and allies.

I extend our deepest gratitude and condolences to Augy's family and friends. Augy lived a life of love for his

wife and daughter, family, friends, and country. He will be remembered for his commitment to and belief in the greatness of our Nation. I am honored to pay tribute to this true American hero who volunteered to go into the fight and made the ultimate sacrifice for our protection and freedom.

Madam President, I wish to remember the life and sacrifice of a remarkable young man, Army SPC Dylan J. Johnson. Dylan died 3 years ago today, June 26, 2011, of injuries suffered from an improvised explosive device in Diyala Province, Iraq, in support of Operation New Dawn.

Dylan was born November 07, 1990, in Tulsa, OK. His father Jeff Johnson said Dylan ``had aspired to military service for years and dressed as a soldier for Halloween six years running.'' After Dylan graduated from Jenks High School, he joined the military in August 2009, largely inspired by the men on both sides of his family who served with the military during World War II and Korea.

After completing basic training at Fort Knox, KY, Dylan was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division in Fort Hood, TX.

Specialist Johnson departed on Memorial Day 2011 for his first overseas deployment and arrived in Iraq June 2. On June 26, 2011, Dylan tragically died of injuries he sustained when insurgents attacked his armored vehicle with an improvised explosive device. One other soldier in the vehicle was killed alongside of Dylan.

``Dylan possessed a kind spirit and was a bit reserved in my world literature class,'' said teacher, Ron Acebo. ``We all ache for the loss of this young life and grieve with his family. As teachers, we all hold hopes and dreams for our students. We do not know what he could have achieved but we are humbled that he had made the supreme sacrifice for his country. . . . and that is how he will be remembered.''

A memorial service was held July 6, 2011, at Kirk of the Hills Church in Tulsa, OK and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on August 9, 2011.

At a ceremony on his birthday in 2013, the State of Oklahoma dedicated to his memory the bridge on U.S. 75 across Polecat Creek, just south of Main Street in Jenks, OK. A sign reading ``Specialist Dylan Johnson Memorial Bridge'' was emplaced on the structure, and his father asked those gathered to remember Oklahoma's other fallen soldiers when they cross it.

Dylans's military honors include the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Iraqi Campaign Medal with Combat Service Star.

In addition to his father, Dylan is survived by his mother Joy Sehl; his stepmother Lynda Johnson; two sisters, Alexandra Johnson and Kathryn Sehl; and two stepsisters, Brittany Dinan and Brooke Dinan. All are of Tulsa, OK.

Today we remember Army SPC Dylan J. Johnson, a young man who loved his family and country and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Specialist Jordan M. Morris

Madam President, I now wish to remember the life and sacrifice of a remarkable young man, Army SPC Jordan M. Morris. Along with 4 other soldiers, Jordan died August 11, 2011 of injuries he sustained from an improvised explosive device in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Jordan was born in Elk City, OK on February 12, 1988, and later moved to Ripley, OK. While attending Ripley High School, he was a member of the baseball team, National Honor Society, 4-H, and served as Student Council president. He was concurrently enrolled and graduated from the Oklahoma School of Science and Math. As an active member of the Hillcrest Baptist Church, he was very involved with the youth group and enjoyed spending time serving others on various mission trips.

After graduating as class valedictorian from Ripley High School in 2006, he fulfilled a dream he had from the age of 8 as he was accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Jordan spent 4 years at West Point, majoring in mechanical engineering. Friend Caleb Eytcheson said Jordan ``wanted to be the best, and he knew West Point is where they trained the best. He wanted to serve his country,'' he said.

Jordan joined the Army in January 2011, serving as an infantryman. After completing training at Fort Benning, GA he was assigned to 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, NY. On May 5, 2011, Jordan deployed to Afghanistan.

Doug Scott, assistant principal of Ripley High School said Morris was intelligent, had a great sense of humor and was very popular in school. ``He showed his unselfish side by going overseas,'' Scott said.

Jordan's baseball coach, Donnie Hoffman said: ``The world is not as good a place, when you lose people with the character that he was. The legacy he leaves behind was the way he led his life, the character, the discipline, the dedication, the honor.''

Jordan was buried August 20, 2011 at Palmer Marler Funeral Home in Stillwater, OK.

Jordan is survived by his parents Brett and Nita (Faber) Morris of Stillwater; two brothers Levi James and Jesse Isaac Morris of Stillwater; grandparents Wilma Faber, of Tulsa, James and Patricia Morris, of Broken Arrow; numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, as well as his former West Point classmates and fellow soldiers in the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.

Today we remember Army SPC Jordan M. Morris, a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Specialist Joshua M. Seals

Madam President, I also wish to remember the life and sacrifice of a remarkable young man, Army SPC Joshua M. Seals. Specialist Seals died August 16, 2011 of non-combat injuries at Forward Operating Base Lightening in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 279th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma National Guard.

Joshua was born April 10, 1990, in Glendale, AZ and later moved to Porter, OK. While attending Porter High School he played football, was an honor roll student and a member of the academic team. He was also active in Wagoner County 4-H and showed Dutch rabbits.

He joined the military as a truck driver in 2008 while still in high school. Aunt Trina Seals said ``his mother and father served in the Army, and he felt it was just something he wanted to do.''

``My thoughts and prayers go out to the Seals family and friends,'' said Maj. Gen. Myles Deering, Oklahoma's adjutant general. ``As we mourn his loss in the days ahead, we will be forever honored and proud that he chose to serve his country and the people of Oklahoma in the National Guard.''

Principal Larry Shackelford described him as a great student and a wonderful young man with a bright outlook.

A memorial and burial service was held August 27, 2011 at Greenwood Cemetery in Porter, OK.

Specialist Seals is survived by his parents Rhonda and Stanley; wife Andrina; and siblings Jeremy, Sarah and James.

Today we remember Army SPC Joshua M. Seals, a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Specialist James T. Wickliff-Chacin

Madam President, I pay tribute to a true American hero, Army SPC James T. Wickliff-Chacin of Edmond, OK who died on September 20, 2013 serving our nation in Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan. Specialist Wickliff- Chacin was assigned to 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Fort Stewart, GA.

James died at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol during combat operations in Pul-E-Alam, Afghanistan on August 12, 2013. He was 22 years old.

Born February 18, 1991 in Venezuela, James moved to Oklahoma with his family in 2006. He graduated from Edmond Santa Fe High School in 2010. After graduation, he enlisted as an infantryman in the Army in June 2010 and arrived at his unit in October 2010.

``He had a good future,'' his father said. ``He had all the scores to go to whatever college he wanted.'' But James wanted to join the Army. Friends said he was proud of his service even before he graduated from high school.

``I remember him as a young man who very much wanted to go into the military,'' said his former high school principal Jason Brown. The following year, before graduation, James had asked ahead of time if the school was going to do anything to recognize students who would be serving in the military. ``I told him he would have to wait but he was in for a surprise,'' Brown said. ``During graduation we always asked for those individuals to stand up who wanted to go into the military. I distinctly remember looking for and finding him in the audience and he was smiling ear to ear.''

This was his second deployment; he previously deployed to Iraq from March to June 2011.

In May 2013, James wrote on his Facebook page ``I am proud to carry the legacy of my family. We are warriors at heart that fight against all odds to protect those who need us. There is nothing else that I would rather be doing with my life.''

James was laid to rest at Fort Sill National Cemetery, Elgin, OK on October 3, 2013. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Army Commendation Medal of Valor.

Today we remember Army SPC James T. Wickliff-Chacin, a young man who loved his family and country, and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to a true American hero, Army 2LT Joe Cunningham of Kingston, OK who died on August 13, 2011 serving our Nation in Laghman Province, Afghanistan. Lieutenant Cunningham was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Army National Guard, Stillwater, OK.

Joe enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2001 and joined the Army Reserves as a military policeman. He volunteered to

deploy to Iraq in 2005 where he served as a team leader. After returning from Iraq, he served as a weapons instructor for deploying soldiers. In 2008, Joe switched to the Oklahoma National Guard, serving 18 months in the Air Guard before moving on to the Army Guard, where he was accepted to Officer Candidate School. In August 2010, Joe was commissioned as a second lieutenant and deployed in June 2011 to Afghanistan as the executive officer of B Co 1/179 Infantry.

Joe leaves behind his father Kirk Tucker, from Kingston, and siblings Tracy, Terri, Bethany, Ashton, Ricky and Taylor. He was preceded in death by his mother Dorothy Cunningham. He touched the lives of many as evidenced by comments written on his online guest book.

``I knew Joe he was an inspiration to the soldiers of Bco.

1/179 he always put soldiers first he is what a soldier

wanted to be professional thru and thru in the short time I

had to work with him he truly opened my eyes and changed my

views on things he was and always will be a great friend and

a soldier that will be greatly missed. God Bless Joe

Cunningham may god watch and protect you thru ``through'' the

gates of heaven you shall be missed. ''

You will be missed by all. It was pleasure and an honor to

have you as troop under my supervision while assigned to the

138th Security Forces Squadron. RIP friend and brother.''

Joe lived a life of love for his family, friends, and country. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and sports. Joe was a big Oklahoma Sooners fan and held season tickets for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He loved kids, and one of his greatest joys was spending time with Korlee Cunningham.

Joe will be remembered for his commitment to and belief in the greatness of our Nation. I am honored to pay tribute to this true American hero who volunteered to go into the fight and made the ultimate sacrifice of his life for our freedom.

Sergeant Bret D. Isenhower

Mr. President, I now wish to pay tribute to a true American hero, Army SGT Bret D. Isenhower of Lamar, OK, who died on September 9, 2011, serving our nation in Paktya Province, Afghanistan. Sergeant Isenhower was assigned to 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Battalion, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard.

Sergeant Isenhower was killed by enemy small arms fire when his team was attacked while conducting combat operations in Zurmat District. He was 26 years old.

Our prayers go out to those in his family he left behind: father Kevin Isenhower; mother Janet Dawsey; sisters Bridgette Hall and Krysten Isenhower; and nephew Jackson Hall.

Bret graduated from Seminole High School in 2003 and then attended East Central University and was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter. Determined to be a soldier, he joined the Oklahoma National Guard in 2006 as an infantryman. He deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom for a yearlong deployment in 2007-08. He rose to the rank of sergeant and team leader.

Bret actively looked for ways to serve his community and his fellow citizens. On one occasion, he and a friend were enroute to school to take a final and noticed a woman pulled over on the side of the road with a flat tire. Bret pulled the car over and helped change the tire without regard to the time that it took. Needless to say, he missed his final exam, but didn't care because it was the ``right thing to do.'' Bret also served as a volunteer firefighter at the Seminole Fire Department and the Seminole County 911 dispatcher.

Bret cared deeply for his family and would often let his 3-year-old nephew Jackson use him as a human jungle gym. He was full of kindness and yet very brave under fire.

It is clearly evident how much this young man impacted his family, community and fellow citizens and soldiers by reading through some of the following quotes.

Laura Rose, a former teacher at Seminole High said, ``Not only did he give the ultimate sacrifice for his country, but he was a good person too. Some students go on their way and you never see them again, but Bret would come and visit and let me know how he was doing.''

Specialist Randen Allison credits Bret with saving his life in Afghanistan by reacting quickly and placing a tourniquet on his arm. When Specialist Allison thanked Bret for helping, Bret responded by saying, ``Don't worry about it. I'm just doing my job.''

A warrior indeed, Bret died in the heat of a firefight. These tough fights took the life of Bret from us prematurely, but make no mistake; it is a fight we will win. We must continue our unwavering support for the men and women protecting our Nation and allies.

I extend our deepest gratitude and condolences to Bret's family. He lived a life of love for his family, friends, and our country. He will be remembered for his commitment to and belief in the greatness of our Nation. I am honored to pay tribute to this true American hero who volunteered to go into the fight and made the ultimate sacrifice of his life for our freedom.

First Lieutenant Damon T. Leehan

Mr. President, I also pay tribute to a true American hero, Army 1LT Damon T. Leehan of Moore, OK, who died on August 14, 2011 serving our Nation in Laghman Province, Afghanistan. Lieutenant Leehan was assigned to A Company, 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard.

Lieutenant Leehan died of injuries sustained when the vehicle in which he was riding was attacked with an improvised explosive device in the Alingar District while conducting combat operations. He was 30 years old.

Damon graduated from Edmond High School and enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard in 1998 at the age of 17. He had previously deployed to Afghanistan in 2003 as a combat medic. In 2008, he successfully completed Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

In his civilian role, Damon served his community as an Xray technician since 2001 at the Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

Damon consistently impressed and touched the lives of those around him. This is evident by reading through some quotes.

Ashely Hale, his supervisor at the hospital said, ``He was a hard- working, outgoing, well-known, well-liked co-worker . . . he had many friends here.''

Major General Myles Deering, the Adjutant General of Oklahoma said, ``LT Leehan served his nation and our state with great honor and distinction for more than a decade. His sacrifice will never be forgotten.''

Wendy Deatsch, of Edmond said, ``I was one of his high school teachers. He was one of my very favorite students. He always had a smile on his face and had a saying that always put one on mine. He would say, `Miss Wilks, turn that frown upside down!' It always worked!''

Curtis Meloy, of Cushing said, ``Damon was a great soldier, and a better man. I am truly better for having known him.''

Members of Damon's platoon posted, ``LT, we miss you and you were a true friend and leader. Our platoon will never be the same without you! Your leadership will be missed.''

I extend our deepest gratitude and condolences to Damon's family and friends. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those in his family he left behind: his wife Audrey, children, Emma and Ethan, father Dennis, and mother Marina Blevins.

Damon lived a life of love for his wife and two children, family, friends, and country. He will be remembered for his commitment to and belief in the greatness of our Nation. I am honored to pay tribute to this true American hero who volunteered to go into the fight and made the ultimate sacrifice for our protection and freedom.

Private First Class Tony J. Potter Jr.

Mr. President, I pay tribute to a true American hero, Army PFC Tony J. ``TJ'' Potter Jr. of Okmulgee, OK, who died on September 9, 2011, serving our Nation in Paktya Province, Afghanistan. Private First Class Potter was assigned to 1st Battalion, 279th Infantry Battalion, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Oklahoma Army National Guard.

TJ was killed by enemy small arms fire when his team was attacked while conducting combat operations in Zurmat District. He was 20 years old.

Born 3 months early, TJ wasn't the biggest kid growing up, but he more than compensated for it in drive and enthusiasm. TJ graduated from

Okmulgee High School in 2010 after leading his football team to a state championship. Determined to be a soldier and join the Oklahoma National Guard, even over his parents' reservations, TJ enlisted as an infantryman prior to graduation in April 2010.

In such a short time on this earth, TJ had an incredible impact on his family, his community and his brothers in arms.

TJ's friend Samuel Trout said, ``Everybody knew him, everybody got along with him, you could talk to him.''

Fellow co-worker Jon Skinner said, ``He was always a great guy, he was always a hard worker, down to earth, great guy to kick it with.''

Fellow high school student Earnest Woodruff said, ``He tried to help everybody at practice. He always wanted us to run harder so we would do better when we went out to the games. He was always going 100 percent. I just know that he's going to be in a better place.''

Football coach Shane Page said TJ could do anything that he put his mind to and ``Just every day we have to be thankful for the fact that we do have the soldiers out there fighting to protect us and everything. I mean it's an honor to know that he was a part of that but it's a very, very sad day.''

His mother, Yvonne said, ``He was the rock of our family. He held everything together.'' His father, Tony Sr. added, ``If he felt we were drifting apart, he would bring us back together. He was our glue. You could always count on him for everything.''

TJ lived a life of love for his family, friends, and our country. I extend our deepest gratitude and condolences to TJ's family, his wife and high school sweetheart Emily, his son Tony James `TJ' Potter who was born after his death, and parents Tony and Yvonne Potter. He will be remembered for his commitment to and belief in the greatness of our Nation. I am honored to pay tribute to this true American hero who volunteered to go into the fight and made the ultimate sacrifice of his life for our freedom.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I do appreciate that. I might elaborate a little bit.

Oklahoma is not just the place where they first started hydraulic fracturing, it was done in Oklahoma in 1948, and, according to Lisa Jackson, who was the Obama-appointed EPA Director, never has there been a confirmed case of groundwater contamination.

I know we are getting strapped for time here and I regret that. I draw the Presiding Officer's attention to the chart I am holding up here.

It happens that Cushing, OK, is considered to be the crossroads of the pipelines throughout the United States. In Cushing, OK, we had I guess the only trip President Obama has ever made to Oklahoma. He came to Oklahoma. Looking in the background, there are all the tubes up there to dramatically make a statement. And that statement:

I'm directing my administration to cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority, to go ahead and get it done.

That is what the President said in Oklahoma. I wasn't there, but that is what he said. That is a direct quote. Then he did everything he could do to destroy the Keystone Pipeline.

He made the statement down there: I'm not going to do anything to create a problem for the southern leg that goes from Cushing down into Texas. Well, there is a reason for that. The reason is, he couldn't do it. The reason he is stopping up there, because it crosses the country line from Canada into the United States. He has some jurisdiction there. But there is nothing he could do to stop it. So he came down to tell us that he wasn't going to do that.

I have to say to the President: People in Oklahoma aren't that dumb. They know you didn't have that authority or you would have stopped it.

The portion between Canada and Cushing is the part that remains stalled. At this point I think the reason is one guy named Tom Steyer. Let me introduce him.

First, we always hear a lot of things about the Koch brothers and other people who are putting money in or are concerned about it. This actually is a statement made by this very wealthy person. I am sure he is a nice person. Tom Steyer is a multibillionaire. He is very liberal. He is from the State of California. He is a good friend of the junior Senator from California, and he has made the statement that he is going to put up $100 million to spend in campaigns of people who would do two things: one, try to resurrect the issue of global warming--which is dead. I can remember when global warming would be polled as the No. 1 or No. 2 problem in the country. Right now, according to last week's Gallup poll, it is No. 14 out of 15. So that is a dead issue.

But $100 million would do two things: first, to resurrect that issue; secondly, to stop the Keystone Pipeline.

A few weeks ago he said explicitly--and these are his words, not mine:

It is true that we expect to be heavily involved in midterm

elections. We are looking at a bunch of races. My guess is

that we will end up being involved in eight or more races.

We just learned this week that as the President marks his 1-year anniversary of his climate action plan, Tom Steyer is going to meet personally with him. So there is $100 million at work right there, if that is what it takes for a meeting. And we all know what the cost would be.

This is very important. One thing that has not been refuted, way back in the beginning of the whole global warming thing they talked about the cost is going to be somewhere between $300 billion and $400 billion a year. The Wharton Economics Foundation, MIT, Charles Rivers, everyone agreed with that.

The Keystone Pipeline, which Tom Steyer wants to stop, would create 42,000 jobs, and tens of thousands more would be supported in the manufacturing sector. But Keystone is just the tip of the iceberg.

If we look at this chart, No. 3, we can see all of the domestic energy resources being developed around the country right now. We are going through a shale revolution in America, and the only thing that is getting in the way is the Federal Government.

This is interesting: In the last 6 years, oil production on private and State lands is up 61 percent. On Federal land, however, oil production is down 6 percent. Now how could that be?

This map shows throughout the United States--not all in the western part. Look at New York and Pennsylvania. This is where the development is coming from, all of it on State and private land, an increase in 5 years, 5\1/2\ years, of 61 percent. At the same time, on Federal land it is down by 6 percent.

The IFC International, a well-respected consulting firm, released a report last month which said U.S. companies would need to invest $641 billion of infrastructure over the next 20 years to keep up with the growing oil and gas production.

What does it mean for jobs? According to the analysis, the spending on these new pipelines alone will create 432,000 direct jobs. And that is based on a conservative estimate. That does not assume we develop all of the resources in our country. If that were included, it would be a lot more.

So keeping this from happening would be a great impact for imposing anti-energy, global warming policies. We need to build the Keystone Pipeline and provide regulatory certainty for the entire energy infrastructure sector. Without it, we will never reach energy independence.

How much time is remaining on our side?

I ask unanimous consent I be given 4 more minutes.

If I could ask my friend if we could compromise: 2 minutes.

I appreciate my good friend from California thinking it over.

Anyway, 432,000 direct jobs. And when we stop and think about it, keeping it from happening would have the impact and effect of stopping us from becoming oil independent. We could do that.

The Keystone Pipeline needs to be built. We all know about the jobs. More importantly, there is not a single good reason why it shouldn't happen.

Tom Steyer's goal is to stop the oil in Canada from being developed, but he can't do it. We have seen this just in the last week. The Canadians have conversations going with China to have them accept it if we don't complete our Keystone Pipeline.

With that, I yield the floor.

Would the Senator yield to that point, because I was a cosponsor of that act.

A parliamentary inquiry, I ask of the Chair.

Our point is, I believe the distinguished Senator from California is reserving the right to object. I would ask her does she object.

A further parliamentary inquiry: Is the time unlimited to finish remarks before objecting or not objecting?

Reserving the right to object.

Mr. President, I do reserve the right to object. I have listened carefully to my very good friend from California, and it affects my decision as to whether to object.

The reason the American people are no longer interested in all the hype and all the world coming to an end on global warming is for four reasons. No. 1, according to the IPCC--let's keep in mind, the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is the science that is behind this opinion. They even admit today that there has been no warming in the last 14 years. This is not just a report from the IPCC but Nature magazine.

I am reserving the right to object.

I recall that a few minutes ago, the distinguished Senator from California reserved the right to object and gave her reasons. Is that incorrect?

Very well. I object.

Madam President, I wish to remember the life and sacrifice of a remarkable young man, Army CW2 Randy L. Billings. Randy died December 17, 2013, of injuries he sustained when his helicopter crashed in Zabul Province, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Randy was born September 1, 1979, in Poteau, OK, and later moved to Heavener, OK. After graduating Heavener High School in 1997, he joined the military and served our country for 16 years.

While attending flight school to Rucker, AL, Randy met his wife Ashley. Bonding through a mutual enjoyment of the outdoors, they were married in 2008.

In September 2009, Randy transferred to the 3rd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, and 1st Infantry Division in Fort Riley, KS.

The couple made a home in Manhattan, KS, but they planned to move south after he retired from the military and start a family.

Ashley and her family are suffering their second loss to war. Ashley Billings' brother died in a 2004 helicopter crash in Iraq. ``It's much harder because we've been through this before,'' she said. However, they were comforted by the knowledge that Randy ``loved what he did and was going to do it right.''

On December 17, 2013, Randy tragically died of injuries he sustained when his Black Hawk U-60 helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan. Five other soldiers on board were killed alongside of Randy.

His uncle Hurschel Billings said, ``He really loved it. Every time he came back, he couldn't wait to go back.'' He served two tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. ``He died loving what he does. Serving the country.''

``He was just one of the nicest people you could possibly be around . . . He was the definition of what a hero is. He served his country well,'' said Amanda Morrison, Billings' cousin.

A memorial service was held January 4, 2014, at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Inverness, FL, and he was buried at Florida National Cemetery. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin ordered flags on State property to fly at half-staff from 3-6 January, 2014.

``He's pushed me to be a better person for myself every single day of my life,'' his wife Ashley said. ``That's the kind of person he was.''

Chief Warrant Officer Billings' wife Ashley Billings resides in Manhattan, KS; mother Eva Cooper in Poteau, OK; and father Robert Billings in Heavener, OK.

Today we remember Army CW2 Randy L. Billings, a young man who loved his family and country and gave his life as a sacrifice for freedom.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to speak until the arrival of the Senator from Alabama, Mr. Sessions.

Mr. President, the subject today, of course, is the failed foreign policy of this President and this administration. It is really hard to do it in a limited period of time because once something happens like Benghazi, and we get into the middle of that thing, then all of a sudden you turn around and this President turns loose arguably the five most heinous terrorists from Gitmo. At the same time, we have a policy that was going so well in Iraq, and now we find out that is not working out either. If I have time, I will touch on that.

But the first thing I want to do is just mention this Benghazi thing. Being the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, I had the opportunity to really be in there and see as it was happening. It happens that Chris Stevens--the Ambassador who was sent over there and who was killed, one of the four who was killed in Benghazi--was a friend of mine. He was in my office. We spent time together. We talked about the threats that were out there. Then, as we got closer to this time, he realized and started sending messages to the President, to the White House, to us, to send security over there. He said that right now the terrorists are actually training in Benghazi. They actually had their flags flying. They knew they were organizing something, probably for an anniversary of 9/11. So he knew that. He had requested it, and the President elected not to send help at that time.

The question a lot of people have is--they will say: Inhofe, how do you know the President knew that was an organized attack? Well, I can tell you how. In our system of government, we have four people who are responsible for advising the President on threats, on intelligence. They are the CIA Director--at that time it was John Brennan. The Director of National Intelligence was James Clapper. The Secretary of Defense at that time was Leon Panetta. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was General Dempsey.

Now, all of them acknowledged, when the annex was hit in Benghazi, that it was an organized--that same day--an organized terrorist attack. They all knew it. They expected it, but then they knew for a fact it was.

So you are talking about the individuals who are responsible for advising the President. All of them were well aware that on the day of the annex attack in Benghazi that it was an organized terrorist attack. It was several days later that they sent Susan Rice to all of these shows in order to try to make it sound like it was some video that somebody had.

Now, why would the President not want to admit that this was an organized terrorist attack? It was right before the election and the polls showed a lot of the people thought--Osama bin Laden having been captured--there was no longer that big threat out there in the Middle East and that would inure to his benefit. So it was for political reasons, and we ended up losing four lives.

Then, just recently, they are saying, oh, they have now found this Abu Khattala. This is someone who has been around for 2 years. The press has been talking to him for 2 years. Why, all of a sudden, are they saying--now of all times--this is the guy who perpetrated Benghazi, when, in fact, this all came from the White House? I just think it is just covering it up, and I am very much offended by that.

But the one thing I wanted to talk about--and I know some of the other Members are going to be here, and I will not abuse the time that has been given to me--but it is having to do with the release of the five Taliban terrorists on the American people. Let me tell you a side of this that people are not talking about that I feel strongly is the reason for it.

First of all, this President is in the last half of his second term-- or approaching the last half of his second term. As is always the case, when you get down toward the end of your term, you start looking for a legacy. What was his legacy?

One of his legacies is closing Gitmo. This President has been talking about

closing Gitmo for as long as I can remember, certainly longer than he has been President.

Now, you wonder why. I go back and I tell people in Oklahoma--they say: Why does he want to close Gitmo? You cannot answer that. We have had Gitmo since 1903. It is one of the few good deals we have in government. We only pay $4,000 a year for that, and half the time the Cubans do not cash the check. So we have this thing. We had actually 778 people there incarcerated and being interrogated prior to the time that Barack Obama became the President of the United States. Now we are down to 149.

But as far as Gitmo--that resource--no one argues with the fact that the humane treatment is beyond anyone's expectation. There is no place else in the world they can do that. They are fully compliant with the Geneva Convention. They have had people go in there and look at the maximum security prison, and it is attested to. Human rights organizations, the Red Cross, and everyone else agrees that it is a very humane place while they are interrogating. As I said, there is no place else they can do this. Because if you start doing this in our court system, obviously, they get Miranda rights, constitutional rights, and people are pretty offended when they find out. That keeps us from getting information that would affect some of the others.

We have an expeditionary legal complex there. It is the only one like this in the world, where they can actually do this.

So this is a place where we can actually get in there, interrogate, get information, incarcerate people, not intermingle the terrorists with the prison population in this country, which is what the President has been talking about doing.

Why do I say that? I say that because these guys are terrorists. They are not criminals. You put them in our prison system, and by definition their job is to train other people to become terrorists, and that is what they would be doing in training the prison population to become terrorists.

I have to say this too. All of the talk about Osama bin Laden and the fact that we do have him--and I am very glad we were able to bring him down. But how did we do it? We did it through information that we received through interrogation at Gitmo, Guantanamo Bay.

So I only say that because people wonder, why in the world would he be wanting to do this? And how does he want to fulfill this expectation or this legacy he has?

Let me tell you, tell you how I think. If he would take, out of the 149 individuals who are left there, the 5 most heinous terrorists, most dangerous Taliban terrorists, and turn them loose, that would put him in a position, then, to get rid of the rest of them, with the exception of those who are awaiting war crimes trials.

So what happened? He turned them loose, No. 1. No. 2, he told the Taliban exactly when the United States is going to leave, regardless of the conditions on the ground. And then, thirdly, he has said that he is going to declare an ``end of hostilities.''

That is a proper phrase, ``end of hostilities.'' This is not a war, it is a hostility. If he does that, that would then give him the justification for opening the gates, turning everyone loose from Gitmo and closing Gitmo. That, in my opinion, is the estimation.

What are the threats we are facing as a result of that? We are in a position right now where we have five people who are turned loose. Even if we trusted Qatar to hold these five guys for a period of 1 year, still the philosophy there would be: All right, we will turn you loose if you few promise not to kill Americans for 1 year. That does not make sense.

So this is something that should not have happened. We now have the people there making decisions, and they are celebrating as we speak. One of the five individual's name is named Fazl. I will end with this: There is a guy named Mullah Salem Khan. He is a Taliban commander over in Afghanistan. Listen to this. He is talking about Fazl, one of the five guys. He said:

His return is like putting 10,000 Taliban fighters into the

battle on the side of jihad. Now the Taliban have the right

lion to lead them in the final moment before victory in

Afghanistan.

That is what happened with these guys. That is how it is viewed over there. It is an atrocity that it did happen.

I yield the floor for Senator Cornyn.

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

Mr. President, which appropriations bill is this that we just announced?

I thank the Chair.

Let me make two comments on two amendments actually to the THUD appropriations bill having to do with CNG, natural gas vehicles. If I could speak very briefly on two amendments, the first is amendment No. 3245. That amendment is the regulatory streamlining for the use of compressed natural gas. This will allow us to give some of the same treatment to natural gas vehicles that are given to other alternative fuel vehicles. In fact, I am joined with Senator Carl Levin on this amendment, which also gives access to HOV lanes for certain vehicles that are using natural gas and other alternative fuel vehicles.

The other one is amendment No. 3275 having to do with light semi trucks that use natural gas, because of the additional weight of the equipment, we would give some leniency--up to 2,000 pounds--in terms of the total weight to allow them and encourage them to use compressed natural gas without facing a freight-weight competitive disadvantage.

Those are the two amendments, when the time comes, that I wanted to get into the Record that I will be proposing at that time.

I thank the Senator from Maine for yielding me a few minutes of her time, and I yield the floor.

Reserving the right to object, let me inquire of the Senator if it is his intent to speak on that tonight.

I think I had the floor, and I was objecting to the UC.

Let me just share that we would--we could--do ours probably in about 12 minutes, and then we could have more time tomorrow, if that would work out.

I withdraw my objection.

Mr. President, I first say and express my appreciation to Chairman Levin. We hear a lot of talk about bipartisanship and people getting along. That is usually just talk. In this case, it is real.

We have a committee of Democrats and Republicans concerned about defending our Nation with totally inadequate resources. Chairman Levin has responded every time we have had some kind of a controversial matter come up. Then our staff--Peter Levine

is the staff director for the majority and John Bonsell is the staff director for the minority--I have yet to call them when issues come up that we haven't been able to get this done, and this is kind of unusual. This doesn't happen in the Senate in very many committees.

I believe, and have always said, the NDAA is the most important bill of the year, keeping in mind we have actually passed one for 52 consecutive years. This is something that has to be done.

We adopted the National Defense Authorization Act on May 22, as the chairman said, 25 to 1, which doesn't happen very often around here. It contains a lot of vital work we have to do and it is within the budget caps.

I think it supports the training of the troops, the maintenance and modernization, research and development, and the pay and benefits. These are tough issues to negotiate, but we have done that, and we have it ready for more action.

What we don't want is what happened last year. Last year we had a lot of amendments. We on the Republican side were wanting to have all these amendments. I think we are entitled to amendments. We did a count last year of how many amendments were on the average bill. It was something like 140 amendments. We didn't have nearly that many requests, but we were able to get them in.

If we start now, we can do that. So I wish to tell my Republican colleagues that I don't want them to come back and start complaining later on, if we don't start getting amendments now so we can hash them out, find out what is acceptable, and find out where the opposition would be. But we don't want to wait until the end of the year.

It got so close last year, as we were approaching December 31, and we all know that if we don't have a Defense authorization bill by that time, hazard pay is at risk, reenlistment bonuses won't be paid. Stop and think about the cost. Right now, if we were to hire a person in training to be an F-22 pilot, the cost is $9 million. However, the retention bonus for over a 9-year period could be $225,000. Look at the economics of it. We don't want that to happen.

Last year we were able to get a bill. It is the first time I have ever participated in a ``big four'' meeting. Actually, three of us sat down because we had one no-show. So three of us put together a bill in a period of time, tried to consider all the amendments, and most people were pretty satisfied with it, but that is not the way it is supposed to happen.

We are going to have a lot of amendments. We always do. The only way we are going to be able to do this is to get this out on the floor. I think it needs to be passed before the end of the fiscal year. So I invite my friends on both sides of the aisle to bring down their amendments.

Let me again say how appreciative I am personally of having worked with Carl Levin in this process and with the staff, who have been so easy to work with, and so competent and professional.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.