Floor Statements

Madam President, I rise today to honor a proud educator, a dedicated public servant, a beloved native of my home State of West Virginia, and my very dear friend, Mary Jo Brown. Words cannot express my gratitude for Mary Jo's service and friendship.

Since my days as Governor, Mary Jo has gone above and beyond to uphold the standards not only of professionalism, loyalty, and dedication but also of what it means to be born in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

Mary Jo has always had a noble passion for education. She worked for Berkeley County Schools as a teacher, a library media specialist, director of public affairs, and finally as principal of Burke Street Elementary School, where we first became acquainted.

Upon her retirement from Berkeley County Schools, I invited Mary Jo to work with me as a regional coordinator, a role she kept through my entire time as Governor and now as U.S. Senator. Her warm personality and sense of humor truly have a way of making you feel at ease-- laughing quite frequently at not only her but yourself.

I have heard many times from members of the Eastern Panhandle community that when she is out meeting with elected officials, business owners, and fellow West Virginians, she provides every confidence that their voices are being heard, and I can assure you, they are. She gets in contact with me immediately.

When Mary Jo is given a task, she doesn't take no for an answer. She is the most tenacious person I have ever met. She gives each project or challenge her all because it is for the good of her community, our State, and her hometown.

It would be difficult to find anyone as knowledgeable and dedicated to our home State as Mary Jo. Among her many contributions to the Eastern Panhandle, together with her loving husband Walter, was founding the Walter and Mary Jo Ziler Brown Fund in 2006 to help Eastern Panhandle students study animal husbandry, agriculture, and veterinary medicine.

We bonded over our passion for public service, inspiring the next generation of leaders, and we share the common goal of helping the rest of the country discover all that our great State of West Virginia has to offer.

Now that she is retiring after a long career of teaching, public service, and more than a decade of Federal service, I know that Mary Jo will carry the same passion for the Eastern Panhandle and for West Virginia that she always has, and she will continue to make a difference wherever she may be and wherever she goes--always for the State of West Virginia and her community.

It is my greatest honor to extend to her and to Walter my very best wishes in the days and years ahead.

Thank you, Mary Jo, and God bless you for everything you have done for me, for our office, and, most importantly, for our State of West Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle. God bless you.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor Thomas Cerra, a noble veteran, an inspiration to his community, and a beloved member of my home State of West Virginia.

Growing up in the northern panhandle of our beloved State, it is ingrained in each West Virginian that you have to work hard for what you want in life. Tom is indeed one of the hardest working men I know. Early on, he worked odd jobs during summers and after school and learned the value of a customer service mentality.

Prior to joining the military, Tom worked on the B&O Railroad, drove a truck for a meat-packing plant and worked for the State road, while also attending night school for industrial drafting.

In 1959, Tom joined the U.S. Army to serve his country and was honorably discharged in 1962. This experience only added to Tom's outstanding character, as he continued to develop his leadership skills and discipline. His service will never be forgotten.

One of my favorite stories about Tom is that, once he was discharged from the Army, he returned to the YMCA where he had trained and instructed for many years. It was the year of West Virginia's centennial celebration, and the community hosted the Mister West Virginia Centennial Weightlifting Contest. Tom won the top award in the 181-pound lifting class and the physique contest and was crowned ``Mister West Virginia Centennial.'' Throughout all of his training, Tom never missed a day of work and still had time to get his weightlifting trophy engraved 2 weeks ahead of time. His sharp wit and sense of humor only add to his unforgettable character.

Tom worked all over the country, but found an opportunity to come home to Wheeling when he applied for a job with then-Ohio Valley Builders Exchange. After a few short years with the company, he convinced the board of directors to change the name of the company to more accurately define what they did, and so it became the Ohio Valley Construction Employers Council, Inc. Tom then led the charge to form a labor management organization in order to promote the contractors and building tradesmen to their customers. The group adjusted the name to Project BEST: Building Efficiency by Striving Together and was incorporated in 1982.

Project BEST is now comprised of hundreds of contractors and thousands of building trades craftsmen and apprentices in the Upper Ohio Valley region. This group is known for providing annual scholarships to area universities and colleges, promoting workplace safety and productivity, and provides a forum for the discussion of industry matters with all those involved with economic development endeavors.

What remained the same throughout the years was Tom's dedication to his parents, Christine and Thomas, and his brother, Jimmy, who always provided him with unwavering support throughout his career. It is my hope that he enjoys his well-deserved retirement with his loved ones-- including his son, Bryan, his niece, Tina Marie, his grandchildren, Makayla, Angelina, and Wyatt, and his entire family.

Tom is the epitome of the American Dream. He worked hard his entire life and always stroved to give back to his community after he served his country. It is my great privilege to recognize his accomplishments and to extend thanks, on behalf of all West Virginians, for his unwavering service.

Mr. President, I rise in support of the motion to commit by my friend from the State of Washington. Let me tell you why.

We have a problem that most all of you have in your States, which is opioids. This opioid addiction that goes on is affecting everybody--not just Democrats, not just Republicans. I don't care whether you are poor or rich or whether you are conservative or liberal--it has no base at all; it is a silent killer.

For the first time, under the Affordable Care Act, we are able to get some treatment. We have not been able to do that before. The only treatment people have gotten before--when a parent comes to you and says: I just have to hope my child--if my child gets arrested, they can go into drug court, and maybe they can get some care, some treatment.

For the first time, through Medicaid, we can give treatment for opioid addiction. We never had this chance before, never had this opportunity. It is really lifesaving for these people. It gets them back into the workforce, too, and they can clean up their lives. They really want this done.

We are talking about 33,000 Americans who lost their lives in 2015. In any other scenario, that would be an epidemic or a pandemic. Here we go. We still don't have any adequate treatment centers. We have no way that we can go forward and fight this illness. We sit here and talk about it.

Now we are talking about, well, we know 16 million people are going to be thrown off. We know that. We know the premiums will go up 20 percent.

Some one said: You know, you can still have preexisting conditions. We are going to take care of them. They can find it. It is available.

I have said this before: A Rolls Royce is available to me; I just can't afford to buy it. That is what we are going to be faced with.

But this is fixable. What we have said about fixable, we as Democrats--there are those of us in this body who will sit down--as Senator Murray has said--will sit down tonight. We will start tonight if you want to and look at ways we can make this more effective, more beneficial for everybody.

When you think about the reinsurance, we know it has worked in Alaska. The Affordable Care Act--the so-called ObamaCare--has been out long enough now that we know where the problems are, we know where the fixes need to be, and we know how do it. We have seen Alaska do something that looks very promising.

Also, when Vice President Pence was Governor in Indiana, they did a Medicaid expansion in Indiana. They are putting in accountability and responsibility. It has great effects. My good friend Mitch Daniels was the Governor at the time they put this plan into place, and it has worked and worked well.

We are willing to sit and talk. These are good things. We think we can make this happen. We have been shut down at every turn. I have said: This is not how we were taught in West Virginia. It is not how we do business. We sit down and work through it.

I don't care what side of the aisle you are on--we came here to do the right thing for the country. We are all Americans. We all have something in common. We are all on the same team, I hope, and that is Team America. Let's fix this.

Let me tell you what will happen if you don't fix it. Let me tell you what will happen for the people who lose it. Do you know where they go back to? And I don't know why people think there is a savings involved. They are going back to the emergency room.

When I was Governor, every year they came to me and said: Governor Manchin, we need $12 million for a rural hospital. We gave all this charity care away.

They are going to go back to that. Do you think that is quality? There is no preventive care. There is no planning. There is nothing to help these people

have a better quality of life. We are going to pay again. We are going pay dearly for this. We are not going to have any chance to get people back in the workforce.

All we are asking for, please vote for Senator Murray's motion to recommit. Give us a chance to do what we were sent here to do. Let's work the legislation. Let's sit down and find the commonality that we can find as Americans and move forward with a piece of legislation that can change people's lives, that can save people's lives and can give them hope again for the first time. That is all we are asking for.

I would ask each and every one of us to search our souls and our hearts while we are here, what we are here to do, what our purpose of being here is, and give us a chance to fix a healthcare system that needs to be fixed but also needs to be available for the people in my great State of West Virginia and everyone in this great country.

With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Madam Pesident, I intend to offer the following motion to commit that would send H.R. 1628 to the Finance Committee with instructions to eliminate any provision that would hurt the clinics serving miners with Black Lung by increasing the number of uninsured individuals. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senators Manchin, Brown, Warner, Kaine, and Coons.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to commit that would send H.R. 1628 to the Finance Committee to include provisions of S. 523, as introduced in the Senate on March 2, 2017, the Budgeting for Opioid Addiction Treatment Act, commonly referred to as the LifeBOAT Act. This amendment would increase funding for substance use disorder treatment by establishing a 1-cent fee on every milligram of an opioid medication. It would exempt medication assisted treatment and include a rebate for cancer and hospice patients. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senators Manchin, Murphy, Whitehouse, King, Klobuchar, Nelson, Heitkamp, Shaheen, Baldwin, and Blumenthal.

Madam President, I intend to offer the following motion to commit that would send H.R. 1628 to the Finance Committee with instructions to include provisions that would improve health literacy and access to wellness programs and provisions to encourage State and local governments to educate their constituents about healthy choices. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record. The motion is supported by Senator Blumenthal.

Mr. President, I am proud to stand before you this evening to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the founding of the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. First built on Court Street in Charleston, WV, St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church has served as a bedrock of faith since its founding in 1892.

With humble beginnings, St. Paul AME first organized in the basement of the old Charleston courthouse under the leadership of Rev. Lewis McGhee, Sr. One year later, construction began on a permanent home, and in 1897, that home was completed.

The St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church has been a leader of the community for its entire existence. In the early 1900s, Rev. Francis Herman Gow formed the first African American Boy Scout troop in Charleston. Reverend Gow's trailblazing did not just end there, and in 1915, Reverend Gow established the Mattie V. Lee Home to provide housing for African-American women who travelled to Charleston in search of work.

The Mattie V. Lee Home still stands today under the direction of the Prestera Center, where it serves as an addiction treatment facility. Just as the Mattie V. Lee Home continues to make a difference in the Charleston community so long after its founding date, so too does the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Today the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church works to provide both healing and spiritual guidance in Charleston. Under the direction of Rev. John Sylvia, the church serves free weekly dinners for all interested, and associate pastor Rev. Roberta Smith was involved in creating RESET, a group to foster positive dialogue between law enforcement, clergy, and community of Charleston, WV.

It is through these acts of positivity and spiritual guidance that St. Paul AME has flourished in the Charleston community. I would like to thank Rev. John Sylvia and the entire congregation at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church for their commitment to the Charleston community. I am proud of the work done by St. Paul AME, and I know that the church will continue to spread the Word of the Lord for many more years to come.

Mr. President, I thank my good friend from Rhode Island. I have been to his State, and we have gone to the algae farms. It has a lot of potential. I agree with the Senator 100 percent.

I applaud Senator Heitkamp and Senator Capito for leading the effort to update and improve this tax credit for carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration. We have the support of 25 Democrats and Republicans--totally bipartisan--and when you have Senator Whitehouse and Senator Barrasso on a bill, you know you have a real bill. It can happen. So that is very encouraging.

Senator Capito and I come from West Virginia, and Senator Heitkamp comes from the energy-producing State of North Dakota. Coal was one of the most abundant energy sources in the world. It is lying on most continents, and most countries have it, and they are going to use it. It is a very efficient way of producing energy because it is plentiful.

Yes, sir.

I am so encouraged that you remember the history of your great State in not forgetting those coal mines.

We have to face the facts and the realization that there are 8 billion tons of coal being burned in the world on an annual basis. We burn less than 1 billion in the United States of America, and we are the country that has done more to clean up the environment than any other country. They all talk about doing different things, but we have taken the SOx and the NOX and the mercury out and the particulates. We have done more in the last two decades than has ever been done, and there is more that can be done.

I have to be very honest with you. The last 8 years was very challenging and difficult for us. No one wanted to make the effort. They talked a good game, but no one would put the investment into the technology that was needed. Now we have this bill--it is bipartisan that everybody is working hard on--that has a chance to really put us in the forefront of how we utilize this carbon capture and sequestration.

West Virginia has one of the first powerplants, the Mountaineer Power Plant, that shows it can be done commercially. We did a commercial test there. We know it can be done. We know it is expensive. At the time, President Obama said to go ahead and build a coal plant, and we will break you. He knew it was not financially feasible, and that is where that statement came from.

First of all, coal was a baseload fuel. There are only two baseload fuels in the world today. Baseload is 24/7 uninterrupted power. That is coal and nuclear. Gas has now replaced coal in the United States of America in its being more plentiful for the production of energy, which we depend on, but it still can be interruptible because the gas pipelines could be sabotaged. They could break, and weather conditions could change that.

So you have to make sure everything is working for the people of the United States of America who have always been used to and been dependent upon turning the switch on or their heat and their power or opening their fridge, and everything is working. It comes because you have baseload that is dependable, reliable, and affordable. You are going to have that.

I think, maybe in my grandchildren's lifetimes, they are going to see, maybe, commercial hydrogen, which will be water vapor. I think that is coming. It is just not here yet. So we are going to use what we have and what we need and make sure we do it in the cleanest fashion. The United States should be and will be the leader of this. This is what helps us do it, and it gives us incentive to move forward on it.

When we were doing scrubbers back in the eighties, the Clean Air Act, I will never forget, at the time, to do scrubbers that take sulfur out, you have to inject, basically, limestone. This crushed limestone, basically, clings to the sulfur, and the sulfur drops out in the form of the ash. What are you going to do with all of this byproduct of this ash? Can it be detrimental? Is it hazardous? Guess what. A lot of the drywall you are using today is made out of the ash that came out of the new scrubbers from which we did not know we were going to have a byproduct.

So there is value. I still believe in my heart, with this piece of legislation, that we are going to find a valuable use of this waste. Can it be solidified? We know we can take clear stream CO2 off. Can we solidify this CO2? It would not just be sequestering it. We are doing it in liquid form now and pressuring it into the ground. If you have oil or some other energy that is valuable to return back, then you can offset the cost, but in a lot of parts of the country, we do not have that oil so we are not able to have a value returned. It is pure cost, and the cost is about one-third of the production. A perfect example: If you have a 900-megawatt powerplant and you have carbon capture sequestration, but you have no value in return, you lose 300 megawatts by pushing it into the ground. It makes it nonfeasible financially, and that is when the statement came, ``You build it, and we will break it.'' That is how they break it. You cannot do it. So if we don't have to sequester it and pressure it in the ground when we solidify this clear stream carbon from liquids to solids, can we use the spent fuel of a solid carbon, CO2?

This is what we should be working on. These are the things we should be doing. We missed 8 years. We had a hiatus for 8 years. Let's catch up. This piece of legislation puts us on the path to make something happen, to truly make us unique in the world of what we do and how we do it. The rest of the world counts on us. All the other countries are talking about all the things they are doing in climate; trust me,

they are not. They are talking about it; they are not doing it. Even our NATO allies aren't using what we have already developed and perfected. They are not using scrubbers, and they are not using baghouses for mercury.

It is not CO2 killing people in Beijing; it is basically particulates. It is particulates that we have taken out of the air. We can do this, but we need to work together. We can't be fighting each other. There is not a West Virginian I know who wants to breathe dirty air or drink dirty water--or an American--and they are not going to. We have improved and will continue to improve. But we can't be pitting one environmental group against another manufacturing or production group, and that is what we have done. We are just tearing each other apart because we are picking sides: Are you for the environment or are you for the economy? I am for both. I am for the environment, and I am for the economy, and I think there is a balance between the two.

If we do the technology and the manufacturers or the producers of electricity refuse to use the technology that is proven, then they should be shut down. They get a certain period of time to retrofit. If they will not do it, then shut them down.

We haven't gotten there yet on this, and that is why this piece of legislation is so important. All of the working groups and environmental groups--everybody should be behind this. We have an array of Senators who have come together, unlike most bills. We don't often have this happen. I am proud of what the Presiding Officer has done. I am proud of my good friend from North Dakota. I am proud of my friend from Rhode Island. I am proud of my friend from Wyoming. I am proud of everyone coming together and saying: If we are going to use it, let's do it better.

With that I say thank you--thank you to all of us for working together on this and for continuing to move the United States of America forward. West Virginia will do its part, I can assure my colleagues of that.

With that, I yield the floor.

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

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I wish to honor an exceptional officer in the U.S. Army. LTG Karen E. Dyson will retire in July after more than 37 years of distinguished service to the Army and our great Nation. General Dyson's long and distinguished career admirably culminates as military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Financial Management and Comptroller. This is the highest military position within that office.

For nearly four decades, General Dyson has personified the Army values of duty, integrity, and selfless service to our Nation's defense. She comes from a legacy of selfless service, as her father served as a special forces officer in Germany. Lieutenant General Dyson began her own legacy upon graduation and commissioning as a second lieutenant into the regular Army, Finance Branch, from the ROTC program at Southwest Missouri State University. Her extraordinary career is a testament to her hard work and dedication; she is an exemplary role model and mentor who made Army history as the first female finance officer to obtain the rank of lieutenant general.

Lieutenant General Dyson has commanded soldiers at all levels through brigade, leading soldiers in peacetime, stability operations, and war. During her command of the European-based 266th Finance Command, she deployed with her troops in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq. Her command funded each and every Army mission within the contingency operation, the infrastructure of all military operating bases, and critical equipment that ensured warfighters were ready to fight. She also commanded the 208th Finance Battalion during Operation Joint Guard and Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia; and the 66th Finance Detachment in the 101st Airborne Division during Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia.

Lieutenant General Dyson was an integral part of the of the White House team during her time serving as the chief of staff and comptroller, White House Military Office. She is also a familiar and respected presence in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. During her time as the military deputy for budget and the director of the Army budget under the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Financial Management and Comptroller, she dedicated herself to engaging Congress on important financial issues for the Army, answering questions that ensured transparency and understanding of the Army's funding requirements. She served in numerous positions within the Pentagon to include the chief of the Army Coalition Provisional Authority Support Team, the director of Business Operations Office of Business Transformation, the director of operations and support Army Budget Office and the executive officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Financial Management and Comptroller, and to the Under Secretary of the Army. She influenced the way the Army viewed auditability and was the driving force behind numerous initiatives to make every dollar count, ensuring accountability to Congress and our Nation's taxpayers.

Together with her husband James Chamberlain, a retired Air Force officer, she will undoubtedly continue her service to our Nation in some capacity following her retirement. On behalf of the State of West Virginia and the U.S. Senate and a grateful nation, I congratulate LTG Karen E. Dyson on her retirement from the U.S. Army. I wish Karen and Jim the best in their future endeavors and the next chapter of their lives.

Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to an exceptional officer in the U.S. Army. LTC Rebecca B. McElwain has served admirably as a senior budget integrator for the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Financial Management and Comptroller, for the past year.

Lieutenant Colonel McElwain began her career in North Dakota where she spent time as a medic in the Army Reserves, later transferring to the Minnesota National Guard. After graduating with a bachelor's of science in business administration from North Dakota State University in 1997, she received a commission into the Finance Corps.

LTC Rebecca McElwain's earliest Active-Duty assignment was with the 125th Finance Battalion in Hawaii, where she assumed her first company- grade command and participated in Asia-Pacific training exercises such as Cobra Gold in Thailand. After her time in Hawaii, she transitioned to Schweinfurt, Germany, where she assumed detachment command in the 106th Finance Battalion and deployed her unit to Kosovo in support of Task Force Falcon. She also served as a military mentor in support of the U.S. Ambassador's efforts to encourage Kosovar women to assume leadership positions in Kosovo's developing government.

After her return from Kosovo, she moved across Germany to support U.S. Army Europe transformation initiatives as the 266th Finance Command executive officer. Shortly after, she was selected for graduate school and attended Hawaii Pacific University, where she earned a master's degree in business administration with an international finance focus. After graduation, she returned to Germany, activated and assumed command of the 106th Financial Management Company, deploying her unit in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to establish a new headquarters in southern Iraq.

While in Germany, Lieutenant Colonel McElwain was selected to attend the Australian Command and Staff College, a joint military school.

During her time in Australia, she earned an additional master's degree in strategy and management from the University of New South Wales and attended classes with 182 students from 22 different nations, to include China, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Next, Lieutenant Colonel McElwain served as the chief of financial management security assistance in the CENTCOM J8, supporting the fiscal requirements of 17 security cooperation offices throughout CENTCOM. She also served as a primary member of the CENTCOM operational planning team for Afghanistan transition. As the division G8 comptroller for the 25th Infantry Division, she managed funding for five rapidly deployable brigades and received broad exposure to the ongoing Pacific partnership efforts within the PACOM footprint, as well as joint force engagements.

Lieutenant Colonel McElwain's husband, James, has deep family roots in West Virginia and served as an Army ordnance officer. Since leaving the military, he spends his time as a health and fitness consultant and independent chef. Together they have a 13-year-old son, Andrew, who enjoys Boy Scouts, loves all types of sports, and keeps them on their toes.

Throughout her career, Lieutenant Colonel McElwain has positively impacted her soldiers, peers, and superiors. Her extraordinary career is a testament to her hard work and dedication. Our Nation has been enriched by her leadership, thoughtful judgment, and exemplary work. On behalf of the State of West Virginia and the U.S. Senate and a grateful nation, I join my colleagues today in recognizing and commending Rebecca on her service to our Nation. We wish Rebecca, James, and Andrew all the best as they continue their journey in the Army.

Madam President, I rise to speak with a lot of my colleagues coming down speaking on the opiate crisis we have in all of our States.

West Virginia has been hit the hardest in the Nation right now, and I want to speak to this because it is something we must address. This has been a silent killer for far too long.

I don't know a person who I have ever met who doesn't know somebody in their immediate family, extended family, or close friends who has not been affected by either prescription drug abuse or illicit drug use. With that, here we are.

I rise with my colleagues who have been coming down--they will be coming the rest of the day--to bring attention to this national crisis that is devastating every community. Many of the Senators you are going to hear from--and have already heard from--are from States that are dealing with an increase in this opiate abuse, just like my State of West Virginia. Just like I have, they have heard from families, community leaders who are on the front lines. They are begging for solutions, funding, and they need facilities to properly combat the scourge we have right now.

Let me say to everybody who is watching, everybody who is listening in any way, shape, or form that you are hearing this: 20 years, 30 years ago, I was as guilty as everybody in the public policy arena in government, in my State government in West Virginia. If you fooled with drugs back then, we thought, well, we will put you in prison; you committed a crime. Well, guess what. We have been putting them away for 20, 30 years, and we never cured a single soul.

Finally, we have come to the realization that addiction is an illness. Any other illness gets treatment. So we need treatment, but we don't have treatment centers. Budgets are tight.

I have a cousin who is a judge. Every day he says: Joe, I sentence people for the crimes they commit every day. He says: I have never had the first person say: Hey, Judge, we don't have a prison cell or a jail cell to put this person in. But if it happens once a day, it will happen 5 or 10 times a day, if I believe someone needs to get treatment because of their addiction, they will say: Well, Judge, I am sorry. We have no place to put them. We have no treatment centers. We will find a jail cell for you, but we will not find a treatment center because we don't have them.

The States don't have the money. Counties don't have the money. Municipalities don't have the money. The Federal Government has never dedicated enough money for this. So we keep talking about everything that happens.

Last year, over 800 West Virginians died of prescription drug abuse. They died of abuse from prescription drugs, and everyone says: Well, how do people get started? I don't know. Most of them have done heavy work in West Virginia. We do mining and manufacturing. That is heavy work, and sometimes they get hurt.

I am going to read a letter later--I do every week try to come down to put real families, real faces, for you all to understand that this is a real issue.

When I have said this is a silent killer, we never talk about it. If you have somebody addicted in your family, you are kind of ashamed of it. You don't want anybody to know because they think that something is wrong with your family if someone has an addiction. They try to take care of themselves and they can't and that person doesn't get the help they need.

So when you look back at the use and the lack of a treatment, let me just tell you about the epidemic we are dealing with. Any other epidemic of this sort--and knowing it is an illness, it can be called a pandemic. Remember the Ebola concerns we had. All of the different things we were concerned about that could turn into a pandemic, we acted immediately. Well, we haven't acted immediately on this. We have had over 200,000 West Virginians die since the turn of the century. That is unbelievable, and to not do anything about it and keep our mouths shut, we have done that for far too long.

Today, 2.1 million Americans abuse or depend on their opiates. According to the CDC, Centers for Disease Control, three out of four new heroin users abuse prescription opiates before moving to heroin. I am told they move to heroin because it is cheaper, but they have already been hooked and addicted. Most of them got hooked and addicted on legal prescription drugs. That means there was some doctor who said: Here is something that is really going to help you, and they write that prescription. They think everything in a bottle is going to heal you.

In the United States of America, less than 5 percent of the world population--7.2 billion people live on planet Earth, less than 330 million in this country--4.6 percent of the world population consumes 80 percent of all the opiates produced and consumed in the world. What in the world happened to us? How did we become so pain-intolerant? How did we become so addicted?

Between 2009 and 2013, only 22 percent of Americans suffering from opiate addiction participated in any form of addiction treatment, and more and more people go without treatment every day.

Misuse and abuse of opiates cost the country an estimated $78.5 billion in 2013 just in lost productivity. So for those people who don't have compassion, don't think we should be doing these things, and you only look at the bottom line, if you are going to the bottom line, look at this bottom line: $78 billion of lost productivity, medical costs, and criminal costs.

Talk to any of your law enforcement in any community you live in and ask them: Of all the calls you have gone on, how many have you gone on that are drug-related? A minimum of 80 to 90 percent of everything that they are called in, any type of assistance, any type of a crime that is committed, it is because of drugs. Some form of drugs are involved for our police. So think about what they are doing and how it takes them away from protecting the law-abiding citizens.

I have a bill called--and we will talk about treatment--it is LifeBOAT. I am still waiting for some of my friends and fellow colleagues on the Republican side to look at this bill very seriously. All I am asking for is one penny to charge the pharmaceutical manufacturers--one penny per milligram--that will go toward treatment centers throughout America, and every State needs them.

That one penny, they said: That is a new tax. We can't vote for a new tax. I said: Wait a minute. This opiate arena is pretty profitable, and we are not going to charge people whom opiates were designed for, which are people with severe illnesses, cancer patients. Basically, this is just for opiates, no other pharmaceutical products, just opiates. That is $1.5 to $2 billion a year. Can you believe that? That one penny.

Now, when they tell me, I am not going to vote for any new tax. I say: Well, you didn't hesitate to vote for a tobacco tax. You didn't hesitate to vote for an alcohol tax.

We have more people dying of this than anything else, and I am asking for a treatment plan. I can't get one penny, not one penny.

So I am asking for everyone to consider it. I truly believe no one would lose their election over voting to fund treatment centers for people who are desperately in need. That is the LifeBOAT Act.

I want to read you a letter, and I do this every week. It is just heartbreaking, these letters, but it shows real people's lives, and it shows what it has done to their lives.

This letter is from Shadd Baisden. He writes:

My name is Shadd Baisden, and I am from Dingess, WV. I am writing to tell you my story of opioid addiction. I am an out-of-work coal miner with 9 years' experience. I was injured in the mine in 2011. I was dragged down a belt line 200 feet and messed the disks in my back, the L5, S1 in my back. This was how my addiction got started.

I was prescribed painkillers and needed surgery but felt I was too young for that. I was out of work for a year when I decided to settle my compensation claim so I could return back to work. While I was injured, the mine I worked in shut down so I had no job to go back to. I had been on painkillers the whole time I was out of work, but I stopped being prescribed after my settlement.

So when he made his settlement, basically that went away, his healthcare on that. So he had no other way of getting prescribed medicine.

He continues:

I was buying them off the street just to ease my pain. In 2013, I started using oxycodone and could not stop. I even got my wife hooked on them.

I have three daughters--11, 10, and 3 years of age. My youngest wasn't born at the time. Our addiction became so bad that we would steal things from our family just to get the drugs. I lost my license to drive. I lost my two oldest daughters because of my addiction. That is when I knew I had to have serious help.

I sought counseling and treatment. I took parenting classes, and my wife and I worked our tails off to get our girls back. We have now been clean and sober for 3 years and have custody back of all three of our girls.

I am currently out of work but do lots of odd jobs in my area because I can't afford to get my license back, and the vehicle I own was vandalized 3 months ago because I gave an officer info on a dealer not far from my home, and somehow the dealer found out and beat the windows out of my car while I was working.

I thank God every day for helping me and my wife stay clean.

I thank you for everything you do for the people of West Virginia and hope my story helps someone. I may be out of work right now, but good things will come as long as we stay clean and positive.

Now, the conclusion of this is Shadd and his wife are perfect examples of the people we can help if we made it easier for people dealing with substance abuse to get treatment. Shadd and his wife are the people I am fighting for every day. I will continue to fight for the people and families and children who have lost their way and need our help, and I am not going to stop fighting until they get it.

Every one of you all probably have a story. Every one of our young people--our pages and everybody else, everyone in the audience, whoever it may be, younger people--have probably been approached to try something, have probably been approached in their own schools to try something: Well, this is no problem. It is the hip thing to do in school.

They have recreational marijuana. A lot of people tell me they get started by experimenting, and then it moves into different things.

I don't know what it is. We don't know what our body chemistry is made up of. We don't know why some people are addicted and some people don't get addicted, but we know opiates are extremely addictive. We know that. It affects you. The only thing I can tell you is, it is something we are going to continue to fight. We are going to make people aware. We are starting education classes.

The United States of America should start educating in every class from preschool, kindergarten--you are not too young to know what this can do to you--all the way up through adulthood. We have to prevent people from getting on these horrific drugs that are killing people. Then we have to treat the people who are addicted and get them back into the workforce.

I ask all of you--and the concern we have, and I know in your beautiful State you have the same challenges we do. We all do. We are willing to fight together. This is a bipartisan effort. This is not one side and the other side taking credit or one side blaming the other side. This is one that we have to rise up as Americans--forget about Democrats and Republicans--and fight this. The U.S. Congress is responsible for fighting it and helping the people all over our country.

I yield the floor to my good friend from West Virginia.

Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the concerns of the good people of my great State of West Virginia, about their healthcare and the needs they have. If the American Health Care Act is passed, which is the Republican plan that was passed over in the House, many West Virginians are going to lose their current insurance coverage.

Individuals on Medicaid expansion would not be guaranteed coverage after 2020. That means that for anybody that has gotten insurance for the first time, there is no guarantee they can keep it at all past 2020. The American Hospital Association estimates that 68,200 West Virginians would lose their Medicaid coverage in 2018, and another 126,000 people who currently have it would be without Medicaid coverage by 2026.

The American Health Care Act, which is being sent by our friends in the House--our Republican friends in the House--increases the cost to our State. The bill cuts $834 billion from Medicaid, meaning that the State would receive less Federal Medicaid funding, and it would not increase if costs rise in the case of health crises.

In fact, the American Hospital Association estimates that my State of West Virginia would lose a total of $9.8 billion over the next 10 years--$9.8 billion over the next 10 years alone in my great State. With all of the hard work they have done, to go without healthcare is unbelievable.

This bill would also increase costs for older, sicker, poorer, rural West Virginians. We have this type of a population in all of our States. Older Americans would face higher costs because insurance companies could charge them five times more than younger beneficiaries--five times more. So if a young beneficiary is paying $2,500 a year, they can end up paying $10,000, $12,000 a year. That would increase the costs to older Americans nationally by anywhere from $2,000 to $8,400.

We did this little comparison here of what that would actually look like. Let's say there is a low-income senior, somebody who hasn't gotten to Medicare eligibility yet because of their age, and they are over the 138th percentile of the poverty guidelines, and they are paying about $1,700 now for their insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

With this piece of legislation, they are going to pay upwards of $13,000--$13,000, which they don't have. The cost to purchase insurance for low-income seniors in West Virginia who buy insurance on the exchanges, as I just showed you, could go up to almost 800 percent--800 percent of the costs they are paying.

So today I am going to share the story of a West Virginian who is concerned about losing her healthcare. This West Virginia native is Stephanie Fredricksen. She told me her story at a townhall that we had in the Eastern Panhandle in March. She asked me to make sure I shared this story with all of you. This will be printed in the Record. So this is going to be Stephanie's story. This is one of many stories throughout my State of West Virginia:

My name is Stephanie Fredricksen and back in April 2016, I

woke up one day unable to turn my head due to stiffness in my

neck and terrible pain. At first I thought I had just slept

on it wrong and it would go away. By early May, the pain had

spread to every joint in my body.

Then, I began to experience painful spasms in my back, my

shoulders, my neck, and even my jaw. I started having blurred

vision and shooting pain in my eyes. I also began suffering

from extreme exhaustion, on really bad days activities as

simple as getting out

of bed, getting dressed, and brushing my hair can tire me out

for hours. I could go on and on with a long list of other

horrible symptoms.

My illness began to affect my job as a Property & Casualty

Insurance Agent. I started missing more and more time from

work, first due to doctor appointments and then due to the

worsening of my symptoms. Eventually, I was forced to file a

claim for long-term disability insurance. I had been

undergoing multiple tests and examinations and I thought the

physicians would soon determine what was wrong and prescribe

the appropriate treatment so I could get back my life and get

back to work.

That never happened. During this time I had physical

therapy and after a couple of weeks of treatment I was able

to move my neck again. But by August, I was diagnosed with

Systemic Lupus, Systemic Sclerosis, Osteoarthritis and Severe

Spinal Stenosis among other related conditions. Although my

employer assured me they had my back, in October, I received

a certified letter from an attorney advising me that my

employment had been terminated.

As a result, I lost my healthcare coverage and was offered

COBRA coverage for a period of only three months.

On February 1, 2017, I became one of millions who rely on

the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I was already familiar with

the ACA because my husband had been covered by it since 2012.

My husband works for a small business that doesn't offer

health insurance. The ACA was about $350 less than for him to

be added to my former employers's plan. Some of you may be

thinking after hearing about some of my conditions that they

aren't life ending but you would be wrong.

I suffer from autoimmune diseases. My immune system attacks

my own body instead of resisting hostile foreign invaders. So

my immune system will not fight off but will actually help

the bad things to spread and become even stronger.

In approximately 50 percent of people with Systemic Lupus a

major organ or tissue in the body such as the heart, lungs,

kidneys or brain will become affected.

Between 10 and 15 percent of Lupus patients will die

prematurely. However, it is widely believed that number is

substantially underreported. Many deaths are reported as a

result of the complications such as kidney failure and not

the Lupus itself.

1 in 3 patients with Lupus also have another autoimmune

disease. I fall into that category having been diagnosed with

Systemic Sclerosis as well. Systemic Sclerosis can also

involve the heart, kidneys, lungs, liver and brain. Internal

organ complications are common and are often not symptomatic

until the late stages of disease, thus routine screening is

essential. Lung involvement is the leading cause of death.

She shared her story and much more with me at a townhall in Martinsburg. She asked me to read this on the Senate floor. She asked me to share her story because she has tried to share it with all of the elected officials herself, not just for herself but also for the protected 24 million Americans who are at risk of losing their insurance if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and replaced with the American Health Care Act, the act that was just passed in the House which is being sent to the Senate.

So she is asking us: Please, do not pass this. Do not repeal the ACA but fix it. We all know it needs to be repaired. The private market needs to be fixed, not to mention those who will no longer be able to afford it with the premiums going up, especially for the older, poorer senior citizens.

I obviously have pre-existing conditions, no job, and my

husband's job does not offer health insurance. In other

words, without the ACA, I would not be able to get the

insurance I need so badly. I also fear that based on numbers

provided by the CBO, if insurance is still available to me, I

won't be able to afford it and of course there is also my

husband's insurance to worry about.

At the same time many young and healthy people chose to

take a gamble believing like we all do when we're young that

nothing bad is ever going to happen to us.

As a result, the ACA risk pool was not as diverse as it

should have been. Robust participation is so critical to

ensuring citizens have access to and a real choice in

affordable coverage. Imagine if those that oppose the ACA

actually got behind it for the good of the country.

The ACA even with all of its opposition helped millions and

it appears that the American people realize this, even many

that were originally fooled by the negative rhetoric have

decided they want to keep it. Please do what is right for us

the citizens that have chosen each of you to represent us.

As I pointed out earlier, many of those people have come

around to a different way of thinking as of late and I

wouldn't be so sure that they will be there for you the next

time when they vote if you have taken away their health care

or their parents, siblings, children, grandparents, aunts,

uncles, nieces, nephews, neighbors, friends, church members,

coworkers, classmates, and so on. Of course we can't forget

that a lot of those people will die as a result of not being

able to keep their health care as well.

Putting your politics, egos, agendas, and parties aside in

this case will actually save human lives. I ask you all not

to repeal and replace the ACA and instead to work together to

fix it and make improvements.

Please don't allow the CEOs of insurance companies and the

wealthiest Americans to make even more money at the expense

of those Americans who are the most vulnerable, like the

disabled, the sick, the elderly and those with lower incomes.

I beg of you, PLEASE oppose the repeal of the ACA and

please oppose any plan that could leave me and millions like

me without health insurance or that will increase our

premiums or deductibles or reduce or eliminate any current

coverage. Our lives are depending on it and we are depending

on you.

So, as I have promised, I have read this letter, Stephanie's story. I am hoping that Stephanie is listening and watching, but also for all the people that she represents--people who have serious illnesses, who are going to be left out or who are afraid they are going to be left out, elderly people who are going to not be able to afford insurance.

There are a lot of things that we can do, but one thing that we can all be doing is working together as Republicans and Democrats and putting our country first and people in our States and fixing this. We know it needs to be fixed. Get off the political rhetoric and quit blaming each other and sit down and say: OK, this needs to be repaired. This private market doesn't work the way it was intended to.

We need to get more young people involved. We need the market forces to work. We need for everyone who has insurance for the first time to use it in the most efficient, effective, and appropriate way. There is a lot that can be done, but not just by taking political votes and holding each other in harm's way.

I thank you for allowing me to tell Stephanie's story. I hope it helps. I can't wait to sit down and start working with all of our colleagues in this body.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, today I am incredibly honored to rise and recognize a group of 25 heroic veterans who have traveled from West Virginia to visit our Nation's Capital as part of the eighth Always Free Honor Flight. On behalf of our State and Nation, it is a true privilege to recognize them for their courageous service and unparalleled sacrifice as they tour the memorials that have been built in their honor.

With one of our country's highest per capita rates of military servicemembers and veterans, West Virginia is undoubtedly one of our Nation's most patriotic States. According to the Department of Defense, West Virginia had the highest casualty rate in the Nation during the Vietnam war, and I am so proud that the Honor Flight will allow these West Virginia veterans to pay homage to their brethren at the Vietnam Wall. Throughout our State's history, West Virginians have demonstrated selflessness and courage time and again in making tremendous sacrifices to defend our freedoms and to keep our homeland safe. As these veterans tour the monuments made in their honor, I offer my sincerest thanks to them on behalf of our Nation for their service.

The veterans joining us in Washington range in age from 62 to 94 and hail from the coalfields of West Virginia and Virginia. These patriots come from seven West Virginia coal mining counties and three Virginia counties. Of the Honor Flight veterans attending, two served in World War II, one served in the Korean war, two served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars, 18 served in the Vietnam war, and two Veterans served stateside. They have participated in decisive overseas battles and won a myriad of accolades for their accomplishments in uniform.

I would especially like to recognize our World War II veterans who will be on this Honor Flight for the second time. Ninety-four-year-old former SN William ``Ray'' Calvin Sexton from Tazewell joined the Navy in Bramwell, WV, in 1943 and was a gunner stationed in Panama and the Galapagos Islands. We will also be joined by Machinist Mate 3rd Class Marion Grey Noel who joined the Navy in the 1940s and bravely fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

These men represent our Nation's Greatest Generation, and their sacrifices and valor embody American patriotism. They fought in such a pivotal war, in an era that threatened our existence as a nation. Unfortunately, as the years go by, we are losing so many of our World War II veterans, and we must show them our utmost gratitude each and every day.

As I mentioned, we will also be joined by veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars. These men and women served courageously in a variety of ways, working both at home and abroad. They engaged in combat all over the world. They were pilots, helicopter gunners, and radio operators. One of these veterans is MSgt Reese Williamson Moore who joined the Air Force in 1951 in Bluefield, WV. He was first stationed in Iwo Jima as part of the Japan Occupation Forces in 1952. Then he moved to the Royal Thai Air Base Nam Phongin in the Kingdom of Thailand. He served during a pivotal time following World War II and went on to serve in the Vietnam war.

We will also be joined by Iaeger, WV, native Sergeant Marion ``Mario'' E. Deskins, who joined the Air Force in 1968 in Beckley, WV. He served with the 15th Aerial Port Squadron at Danang, where he maintained records on unit personnel and transported documentation to the headquarters of the 7th Air Force in Saigon via C-130 Hercules airplanes. Sergeant Deskins was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal for his service in Vietnam.

Another Vietnam veteran participating in this week's Honor Flight is Sergeant Marshal G. Mann from Princeton, WV. Sergeant Mann served in combat as an aircraft loadmaster, bravely preparing and air lifting urgently needed ammunition to combat troops fighting in the Republic of Vietnam. For his service and extraordinary achievement, Sergeant Mann received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

This week's Honor Flight and the continued support of our veterans would not be possible without the dedication of so many volunteers and caregivers. I would like to thank the five JROTC Cadets from Montcalm, Bluefield, Pikeview, and Princeton High Schools, as well as the military spouses serving as the guardians on this year's Honor Flight. The care and love these Patriots provide for our veterans is invaluable and deeply appreciated.

I also commend those in the Always Free Honor Flight network for their dedication to providing our veterans with such a unique and meaningful experience. Without the diligence and passion of Dreama Denver, president of Always Free Honor Flight network and owner of Princeton, WV, Little Buddy Radio, as well as Pam Coulbourne, the coordinator of these flights, many of our veterans would never have the opportunity to travel to Washington and pay homage to the men and women they fought beside. Dreama and Pam launched the Always Free Honor Flight in 2012, and every year, they continue to make this dream a reality for many of our West Virginia veterans.

I would also like to recognize SFC Paul Dorsey, vice president of Always Free Honor Flight and official photographer Steve Coleman, who have done a tremendous job of ensuring that our veterans receive the recognition they deserve. Dreama, Pam, and Steve have also dedicated themselves to the Denver Foundation, serving as incredible examples of how individuals can give back to their communities.

This week, as we celebrate these incredible veterans and their answering our Nation's call of duty, we must remember that the men and women who have given so much to ensure America's safety deserve the utmost care and support upon their return home. We must continue to fight for a Department of Veterans Affairs that provides our veterans with the services they very much need and deserve.

I am filled with pride every time I meet the patriots who have served our country, and I am so pleased to welcome West Virginia's most courageous veterans, who are all heroes, to Washington, DC. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in saluting them. They truly inspire us all as we are reminded of their selfless service. It is because of their bravery that all Americans enjoy the greatest liberties and freedoms in the world.

God bless our many servicemembers and veterans, the great State of West Virginia, and the United States of America.

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

Madam President, I rise today to recognize National Police Week and the service and sacrifice of our country's law enforcement officers. As past Governor of the State of West Virginia, I worked with West Virginia State Police very often and saw firsthand their dedication to the rule of law and commitment to keeping West Virginians safe.

Last year, the State of West Virginia lost one of our own, West Virginia State Police first sergeant Joseph Portaro. Joseph was from Clarksburg and joined the State police in 1998 and served in Kingwood. In 2008, he was assigned staff officer at the academy and was then promoted to deputy director of training. Joseph was a veteran of the West Virginia Army National Guard and served in the West Virginia State Police for 17 years.

Although the loss of Joseph will never heal, I know I join all West Virginians and the entire law enforcement community in praying for Joseph's family and friends.

National Police Week acknowledges the service and sacrifice of our country's law enforcement officers and the safety and protection they provide our communities. Madam President, I know you do too. I go to a lot of schools and talk to the children. I want them to understand that anytime they see a person in uniform, whether it be a policeman, fireman, or EMT, these are people willing to get in front of harm's way for their safety and sacrifice themselves for them. When you have a police officer willing to take a bullet for you, that is a pretty special person. They don't do it for the pay. I think we all know that. They are dedicated and committed to the well-being and safety of every American. We are very lucky to have them in our respective States of Iowa and West Virginia.

This week, we must remember Joseph and the other 139 law enforcement officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2016 and continue to support their families as they continue to mourn their loss. We can never bring back the person who basically sacrificed for all of us, but we can make sure we never forget their families, and I hope we all do that.

This is a special week and a special day for these people we recognize. One hundred and thirty-nine people gave their lives for us. The least we can do is make sure that not only do we remember them but that we go beyond that in order to support the members of the family, their children who need a father or mother they might not have now, who need the nurturing and the financial support for their education so they can continue to grow to be good, healthy, productive adults. I hope we never forget.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, first of all, I cannot express how humbled I am and how proud I am of all of us, and my colleagues here, my dear friend Senator Warner. We were Governors together. We split the Virginias--Virginia and West Virginia. We worked together. He has the same constituency base I have in West Virginia, in Southwest Virginia, and all of West Virginia. He knows the mining industry. He knows the hard-working people.

To Senator Donnelly from Indiana, we have been there together with the coal miners and the people who moved the coal and do the hard lifting. To Senator McCaskill from Missouri, Senator Casey from Pennsylvania--Pennsylvania has a rich tradition in coal mining--Senator Klobuchar and everyone who has spoken, and I want to thank the Presiding Officer too. He was an original cosponsor from Arkansas. So this is truly bipartisan. From Arkansas, the Presiding Officer understands hard-working people. He signed on to the bill without hesitation. I want to thank him. So it was really a team effort.

People have been talking about all of the things and the passion we have for different things. My passion comes from the people I was born and raised and grew up with in the coal mining towns. So all I ever saw in my life was people around me who nurtured me and guided me and taught me who were truly coal miners or coal miner families. That is all I knew. My Little League coach was a coal miner. My Boy Scout leader was a coal miner. A lot of my teachers were coal miners, basically, off and on, trying to supplement their incomes. My teammates whom I played ball with through high school became coal miners. My grandfather was a coal miner. My uncle was a coal miner who lost his life in a 1968 mine explosion. My next-door neighbor in 1954--I remember I was 7 years old, and I wanted to throw a ball all the time.

I would come home from school, and Pinchy would be there. He would throw a ball with me. I can still remember this so vividly. One day I was ready to play ball and Pinchy did not come home. I asked Mercia, his wife: Mercia, where is Pinchy?

She said: Joe, honey, he is going to be a little late today.

Well, we just had a mine explosion. I did not know anything about the mine explosion, but I knew there was no Pinchy to throw a ball with. So the second day, I asked: Mercia, where is Pinchy?

Well, they still didn't know the outcome. The rescue was going on. They did not know if they lost their lives or not or what had happened. So they were still in limbo.

She said: Joe, Pinchy has to work over again tonight.

That was her explanation to me, the little boy. The third day, she-- by that time they knew. She had to tell me. So she is probably--I know Mercia had to labor with this. How is she going to tell this 7-year-old neighborhood kid who played ball with Pinchy?

She said--this is a tough one. She said: He is not going to come home.

When you think about the hard-working people who suffered--she never had anything. If it was not for healthcare and if it wasn't for a pension, Mercia would have had nothing. So I know the families and I know the sacrifices. What you all saw was my passion for the people I grew up with. So when I say thank you, I thank the President for supporting miners--President Trump--I thank my Republican colleagues, and I thank all 48 Democratic Senators who never wavered.

A lot of them don't even know a coal miner. What they know today, after 5 years that we have been talking about this and working toward this, is that you would not have the country you have today if it hadn't been for those people who sacrificed, who worked hard, never asked for a thing, gave everything they could back, took care of their families but took care of their country.

Basically, the energy they produced gave us the country. People, whether in California today, wherever they may be, understand that coal miners produced the energy that allowed us to win World War I, World War II, and every war we have been in, that supported the industrial might that we have that built the middle class.

I am so thankful for all of that. I get choked up when I think about it because that is what we were fighting for. They never asked for a thing. My grandfather was run out of the mines in 1927 because he was trying to organize and say: We can't make it.

If you have ever heard the song lyric, ``I owe my soul to the company store,'' my grandfather owed his soul. He never had any money. He had script. He said: We have to do something different. We can't live like this.

They blackballed him. On Christmas Eve, 1927, my grandmother was pregnant with my uncle. She already had four children. My dad was the oldest. They came to the house and threw them out of a company house in the middle of a snowstorm. That happened in 1927.

So we know it. We lived it. In 1946, they talked about the history. In 1946, the Krug-Lewis amendment--Krug was Secretary of the Interior and John L. Lewis was at the United Mine Workers, and they said: You have to give those people something so they have something to live for. They have no health care. They have no pension. They have given you everything they have.

Harry Truman said: We are going to take care of them. You can't go on strike because if you do, our economy collapses. This is in 1946. So that is how this came about. Now, people said: Well, I have heard this. They are going to bail them out. We are not asking for a bailout. You understand, these people basically made an agreement that every ton of coal that was mined from 1946, the United Mine Workers basically, there would be an amount of money set aside that came from every sale of a ton of coal that went into this fund.

Every union contract negotiation, they contracted and they left money in their contract to pay for their benefits of healthcare and pensions and did not take money home to their families that they could have used. They made all of these sacrifices for all of these years. It wasn't their fault that the bankruptcy laws that were passed in Congress allowed companies to walk away and leave them high and dry.

It was not their fault. They did everything. So finally we have all come together to do the right thing that should have been done. It shouldn't be played politics with today. Everyone says we have winners and losers. We are all winners. If you can get something like this accomplished and be part of it, then you have to feel good about it. It gives you a reason to even be here.

That is what I am so appreciative of. I am so proud of everyone who has stood together on both sides, my colleague Shelley Moore Capito, a dear friend of mine, a Republican. I am a Democrat. You know what, we are Americans and we are West Virginians. That is what we were fighting for. That is the winner today. The winner is this great country that basically stood up and protected the people who gave them everything they needed to be the superpower of the world. That is what we fought for.

So there is enough praise and enough accolades for everyone to take home and say: We all did it, and we all did a job well done. We do have pensions now. These are not big pensions. These are $300, $400, $500 pensions. It supplements the way of life that is not extravagant by any means. So we are going to start working as soon as this is finished this week, and next week we will start on that.

To the 22,600 miners and their families who say thank you--I have heard from most of them--to all of the people who came up here, they were coming up here, a lot of them every week driving just to be here, to be part of it and put a face, put a family, put basically the challenges they would have being able to even exist or live without this healthcare--they made it possible. I want to thank all of them.

To Cecil Roberts, president of United Mine Workers, who was so diligent on this, Phil Smith, all of the people who worked so hard, I thank them, but really thank all of our Senators and the Congressmen. My congressional delegation, I am appreciative of them, our Republicans and Democrats on the House side who voted. They are voting now as we speak. The Senate is poised tomorrow for us to vote and support this.

I know President Trump will sign it. People are saying they used it, played bargaining games with it. I am not going to get into that because I don't know how you could ever sincerely mean that you were using people's livelihoods and the healthcare for them and their families as a bargaining chip. I don't think anybody meant to do that. Maybe it came out in something that should have not been said, but with that, we have to forget all of that.

Let me just say thank you. To the Presiding Officer, to all of my colleagues, thank you. Thank you for a job not only well done but basically very appreciated that it was done, and people's lives will be different because of what we did. God bless each and every one of you. Thank you.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to engage in a colloquy with the Senator from West Virginia, my friend and colleague, Senator Capito.

Mr. President, I wish to thank my friend from West Virginia, my colleague, Senator Capito, for her support and leadership in our fight to keep the promise made in President Truman's White House more than 70 years ago.

For the past two Congresses, Senator Capito has been an original cosponsor

of the Miners Protection Act with me, and I am proud to say that the healthcare portion of that bill is included in the Omnibus appropriations bill that we are set to vote on later this week. Before sending this permanent fix to the President's desk for his signature, I want to confirm our specific understanding of how the language would apply to the eligibility for benefits of the former employees of Patriot Coal, Alpha Natural Resources, and Walter Energy.

The language states that anyone who would have received retiree healthcare coverage from one of these three companies, but for the orders entered in their bankruptcy proceedings terminating the employer's obligations to provide these benefits, becomes a participant in the UMWA 1993 Benefit Plan.

I understand that the language encompasses anyone who would have received such coverage from the bankrupt employers and not just those who meet the 1993 plan's general eligibility requirements. This includes miners or widows who might have been specifically bargained into the plan, such as the miners who worked at the ill-fated Upper Big Branch Mine. We all know the drastic situation of those great miners.

Also included are miners who do not meet the 1993 plan's general eligibility requirements because their employers rejected their collectively bargained obligations and withdrew from the UMWA 1974 Pension Plan but who would have become eligible if their service for the bankrupt employer or its successor were included in determining their eligibility.

Let me say that both of us representing the great State of West Virginia from both sides of the aisle--a main purpose has been protecting the people who did all the heavy lifting in this great country and gave us the energy we needed to be the superpower of the world.

I know that Senator Capito is as proud as I am. I am proud to be working with her to make this happen. This is truly a bipartisan effort. It is the way legislation used to be done, and it is the way it should be done, and hopefully we can start something anew here. I thank my colleague.

I think we have both been able to educate not only our fellow colleagues, our Senators, but basically the entire country on the hard work the miners have done and what they have provided for this country for us to be the superpower of the world--to respect the work they have done and continue to do.

With that, I am so proud of everybody who worked so diligently on this issue and this effort, for the Republicans, our President, and our leaders on both sides, Democratic and Republican, making sure this was first and foremost the main obligation for us to accomplish. I thank my colleagues.

With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor Clyde See, Jr., a noble veteran, a dedicated community leader, and a beloved member of my home State of West Virginia.

Clyde and I were friends for many years, and I witnessed his unwavering dedication to public service, firsthand.

Clyde was born in Hardy County and continued to give back to his community throughout his life. He was a high school dropout, who received his GED after serving in the U.S. Army. With use of his G.I. Bill, Clyde earned his undergraduate degree from West Virginia University and then attended WVU's Law School. He served as an attorney in Hardy County for 47 years.

Clyde always took great pride in helping others achieve their goals. From 1975 through 1984, he served in the West Virginia House of Delegates, with 6 years as speaker of the house. Among his many achievements and roles in leadership, he served as president of the board of directors of the Mutual Protective Insurance Association for the 20 years, serving on its board for more than 40 years.

He ran unsuccessfully for Governor in 1984 and 1988, but never gave up the opportunity to give back to the State he loved.

He was a member of the Moorefield Volunteer Fire Company and fought

fires years ago because he believed so deeply in public service. He knew that, if you can count your blessings, you can share your blessings, and he did indeed share them with the Moorefield region and with our entire State.

Clyde was especially passionate about the passage of Hardy County School Bonds that would enable new schools to be built in the county. He worked tirelessly for this cause and was so very proud to see the passage of the bond for the new Moorefield High School. Clyde knew that our students are the future of our State and Nation and that we must do everything in our power to equip them with the tools they need for success. He had great compassion for students who needed support and was very proactive in making sure they were prepared for the future.

One of Clyde's favorite projects was Brighton Park, located just outside of Moorefield. It is a project that came to fruition, thanks to Clyde's design, development, and funding efforts, as well as with his determination to create something special for the entire region to enjoy. Clyde often enjoyed walking through this beautiful park, and now it remains in our hearts as a place to cherish his memory.

Clyde had the most wonderful sense of humor and such a quick wit. He was also one of the most brilliant and eloquent speakers I have ever heard. It is my hope that his friends and family have found comfort in one another and in the support of our entire home State for their loss.

What is most important is that he lived a full life, surrounded by his loved ones. Clyde was a true West Virginian, always willing to help a neighbor in need. I extend my condolences to his loving companion, Marion Marshall, his children Josh, Lucas, Jenny, and Amy and their families, and to his brother Jack. Again, I am honored to recognize Clyde's memory, as well as the unwavering love he had for his family, friends, and our home State.