Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to bring attention to a recent decision by the Department of Defense to authorize a new military decoration--the Distinguished Warfare Medal--as a way to recognize the contributions of silent warriors, such as drone pilots and cyber warriors.

I have absolutely no objection to the creation of the Distinguished Warfare Medal. Every day our silent warriors use modern warfare technology in ways that have had an extraordinary impact on today's battlefield--saving the lives of countless American service men and women and enhancing the national security of our country.

However, I adamantly oppose the decision by the Defense Department to

elevate the Distinguished Warfare Medal above the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, which are awarded for acts of valor and heroism on the battlefield, and above the Soldier's Medal, which is given for acts of gallantry beyond the battlefield.

I believe medals earned in combat or in other life-threatening conditions should maintain their precedence above noncombat awards. Placing the Distinguished Warfare Medal above the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart diminishes the significance of such awards earned by risking one's life in direct combat or through acts of heroism.

I am not alone in my opposition to the precedence the Defense Department plans to give the Distinguished Warfare Medal. A bipartisan group of 21 other Senators, our colleagues, has joined me in a letter to Defense Secretary Hagel urging him to reconsider the Department's decision.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars in my State and in the Presiding Officer's State have also asked Secretary Hagel to reconsider. And while the Secretary has told the VFW that he is satisfied with the criteria and placement of the Distinguished Warfare Medal, I believe we can still make the case that combat awards and medals for gallantry should remain the military's highest honors.

In his response to the VFW defending the new medal, Secretary Hagel asserts:

There are numerous existing medals that may be awarded for

non-valorous achievements which are higher in precedence than

the Bronze Star.

That is true. There are medals, such as the Legion of Merit, not directly linked to a single act of valor. But these medals recognize distinguished service often spanning several generations of service. These awards are given for vastly different periods and different types of service.

Comparing awards for lifetime achievement to the Distinguished Warfare Medal, which even Secretary Hagel's letter states is awarded for ``a single''--I repeat, ``a single''--``extraordinary act,'' is not an appropriate justification for its precedence above the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Veterans groups are understandably upset. The new Distinguished Warfare Medal appears to be a wartime medal based on a single event that trumps acts of valor on the field of battle.

In this dispute I think it is instructive to consider why the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart were created.

The Bronze Star was conceived by COL Russell ``Red'' Reeder in 1943. At the time he and other military officers believed there was a need for a ground combat medal equivalent to the Air Medal, which was awarded for meritorious achievement to our pilots and flight crews. In fact, originally the award that became the Bronze Star was proposed as the ``Ground Medal.''

The award was created to boost the morale of American ground forces during World War II. As GEN George C. Marshall explained to President Roosevelt in a letter:

The fact that the ground troops, infantry in particular,

lead miserable lives of extreme discomfort and are the ones .

. . (most) close in personal combat with the enemy, makes the

maintenance of their morale of great importance. The award of

the Air Medal has had an adverse reaction on the ground

troops, particularly the Infantry Riflemen who are suffering

the heaviest losses, air or ground, in the Army, and enduring

[some of our] greatest hardships.

The Purple Heart, of course, is one of our country's oldest military decorations, originally instituted by George Washington, then the commander in chief of the Continental Army, in 1782, to reward troops for what he called ``unusual gallantry'' and ``extraordinary fidelity and essential service.''

The Purple Heart was revived as a military decoration in 1932 on the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birthday. In 1985, by an act of Congress, it was given its current precedence just below the Bronze Star and directly above the Meritorious Service Medal--a clear recognition of the special valor of those who receive it. I recognize that military awards should be updated as the tactics of warfare change. Drones and cyber warfare play a role in the defense of this great country, and there is no question that each member of our military plays a crucial role in protecting our Nation and every American. But I have listened to West Virginia veterans and agree with them: Our brave servicemembers who face life-and-death situations deserve the most distinguished medals the U.S. military awards.

Again, I support the Distinguished Warfare Medal. I want to make no mistake about that. But I do not believe it should be given higher precedence than awards for those who have faced the enemy on the battlefield. Awards earned for heroism, patriotism, and a willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we all enjoy every day should not be ranked below a medal earned in relative safety.

I agree wholeheartedly with veterans who have expressed their concerns about the precedence the Defense Department intends to give the Distinguished Warfare Medal. I share their belief that combat awards are sacred, reflecting the special bravery of Americans who are willing to sacrifice all for their country as well as their brothers and sisters in arms. And I join them in urging the Defense Department to preserve the legacy of these sacred awards by leaving their precedence undisturbed.

I thank Secretary Hagel for his courageous military service to our country. Through his combat experience in Vietnam, he knows all too well the clash and the heat of battle. He shares a special bond with generations of Americans from Concord to Kabul who have risked their lives in the defense of this great country, many of whom have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. I hope, for that reason, he reconsiders the precedence of the Distinguished Warfare Medal and agrees that combat awards should remain our military's highest honors.

Mr. President, thank you.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask permission to speak as in morning business.

Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to Dr. Franklin D. Cleckley, one of the true giants of the legal system of West Virginia. I do so because Frank is getting ready to retire after nearly half a century of service to our great State--as a lawyer, as a professor, as a judge, and as an unwavering champion of justice. I wish to congratulate him for the extraordinary job he has done and to thank him for his countless contributions to the betterment of West Virginia.

Dr. Cleckley's stellar and pioneering legal career began in 1965 when he earned his law degree from Indiana University. It will end next week at West Virginia University with a retirement ceremony that so many of his family, friends, and colleagues will be attending to celebrate this great man. I only wish I could be there because I have valued and appreciated his friendship for so many years.

Frank Cleckley joined the faculty at West Virginia University College of Law in 1969, after serving as a lawyer in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps at the height of the Vietnam war. Not only was he the first African American on the staff at the West Virginia University College of Law, he was also the first full-time African- American professor in the history of West Virginia University.

As a law professor at West Virginia University, Frank literally wrote the book on practicing law in West Virginia. He authored two you will find in every courtroom and every lawyer's office in West Virginia--the ``Handbook on Evidence for West Virginia Lawyers,'' and the ``Handbook on West Virginia Criminal Procedure.'' These two books are continually updated and are, in the words of the West Virginia Supreme Court, the bible for West Virginia's judges and attorneys.

Of course, for the generations of West Virginia law students who have passed through Dr. Cleckley's classroom, the fact that he wrote those two books is a source of great amusement for them, whenever they hear him quoting himself in his lectures. ``As it says in `Cleckley,' '' Professor Cleckley would say with a smile.

Also, as a member of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, the first African-American justice in our State, Frank Cleckley would pay special attention when lawyers stumbled over evidence in their arguments. And on more than one occasion, Justice Cleckley would quietly quip to one of his colleagues: There's one lawyer who didn't take my evidence class.

Frank Cleckley grew up in Huntington, WV, the youngest of 11 children. At one point, his ambition was to play pro football. But after working for former Indiana Congressman J. Edward Roush in the 1960s, he found his true calling--to be a lawyer and champion of civil rights.

Throughout his legal career, he has been an exceptional trial lawyer, not only in antidiscrimination lawsuits, but also in representing clients who couldn't pay him. In fact, he came to be known as the ``poor man's Perry

Mason.'' He has been a one-man legal aid society.

He also was instrumental in reviving the Mountain State Bar Association, the oldest minority bar in the United States. In 1990, he established the Franklin D. Cleckley Foundation to help former prisoners with education and employment opportunities. Two years later, he set up another organization to bring civil rights leaders to the West Virginia University as lecturers.

Last fall, as he reflected on his long legal career, Frank said that when he was a kid in Huntington, he wanted to do something with his life that was meaningful and important in West Virginia. Well, he did. But it turns out it wasn't the NFL, as he once thought. It was WVU. Frank Cleckley is a true Mountaineer. He helped West Virginia University become the nationally respected institution it is today.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. And, in my view, one of the reasons it bends toward justice is there are people such as Frank Cleckley bending it with their honesty, their integrity, and their commitment to what is right.

It fills me with great pride to stand here today and tell the Senate about the accomplishments of Prof. Frank Cleckley and his service to West Virginia. He is a great lawyer, he is a great man, and a great West Virginian, and Gayle and I join his family and friends in celebrating his long and distinguished pursuit of justice.

Mr. President, are we in morning business?

Mr. President, just over a year ago my good friend, Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, and I launched a new caucus in the Senate. Our purpose was to bring attention to the problem of unemployment among our military veterans. Mark and I looked at everything the Department of Veterans Affairs and other government agencies were doing to help veterans find jobs. We believed the private sector needed to be more involved, so we created the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus.

Today, the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus is the Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus. It is a bicameral, bipartisan group of 37 Senators and 46 House Members brought together by a shared commitment to the newest generation of veterans.

This week we are kicking off the caucus's activities for the 113th Congress with a ``Day on The Hill.'' It is an event highlighting our work on behalf of veterans, and particularly our showcase program, ``I Hire Veterans.''

Not only will we be recruiting more Members of Congress to join our caucus, but we will also be enlisting more businesses to join the eight major corporate partners that have already joined our ranks. These corporations expect to hire about 200,000 veterans in the next 5 years.

The members of the Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus are leading by example. We are hiring veterans to work in our Senate and House offices. My colleagues will probably see the signs as they go by our offices that say ``I Hire Veterans.'' It is a logo displayed proudly in our offices--the same logo my colleagues will see in the businesses that share our commitment to veterans.

Our I Hire Veterans Program is basically our new yellow ribbon, a special welcome home and a commitment to serve those who have served our country in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances.

There is no sugarcoating the fact that the job market is tough, especially for our young veterans. Unemployment among these veterans has reached crisis proportions according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Listen to these figures, if my colleagues will. They are astonishing. For veterans 18 to 24 years of age, their unemployment rate is 31.3 percent--31 percent. Even more staggering is the jobless rate for female veterans in that same age bracket of 18 to 24, and that is over 55 percent unemployment. The employment situation isn't much better for the National Guard and Reserves because employers are reluctant to hire somebody who may be subject to being called to duty, and this generation of National Guardsmen and Reserves are coming home from a decade of repeated deployment that, in many cases, interrupted or delayed their careers or education. Many of them are just now realizing how difficult it can be to jumpstart school or a career.

If we don't do something it is going to get worse. With more than 100,000 service men and women expected to reenter civil life each year over the next 5 years, their challenge to find jobs is only going to intensify. Listen to the veterans, and we would be surprised when they tell us that sometimes the stress of finding a job in a tough economy can match the stress of combat in some of the most dangerous and distant places in the world.

Imagine for a moment that you are 21 and just back from the rugged streets of Kandahar, reunited with your family, and you are going up and down the streets of your hometown looking for a job week after week with no luck at all. That is real stress. That is pressure, and that is what more than 3 out of 10 of our young veterans are experiencing right now as we speak.

Like every generation of American warriors before them, today's veterans make great hires. They lead by example. They understand teamwork. They are flexible and open to change. They are tech savvy. And talk about performing under pressure--even in the most stressful situations, with limited resources, they get the job done.

After World War II, with the millions of American GIs returning home, President Harry Truman appointed GEN Omar Bradley to run the Veterans' Administration. Bradley was a popular choice, and his steely approach to helping veterans was widely admired. Bradley's marching orders to the VA were simple: ``We are dealing with veterans, not procedures, with their problems, not ours.''

You will find that same kind of commitment to today's generation of veterans in the Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus.

It is simply unacceptable that when the courageous Americans who fight our wars finally get to come home, they have to fight for jobs. The Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus is committed to making sure that does not happen.

America has said it is time to bring our troops home. After a decade of war and incredible sacrifice by our warriors, the homecomings are well underway. It is not always easy to come home from war. But the homecoming will be easier if we fulfill our obligations, and that includes making sure our fighting men and women come home to a job.

After all, as General Bradley said: ``We are dealing with veterans, not procedures, with their problems, not ours.''

I would ask all of my colleagues here--we have 37 of our Senators signed up to this Veterans Jobs Caucus--I would hope we would have 100, and we are going to be working hard for that. I want to thank my good friend Senator Mark Kirk from Illinois for helping launch this. We have worked together. We will continue to work with all of our Senators. We appreciate and thank you.

Madam President, if I may, I wish to thank all my colleagues. This is something wonderful for the people who are watching and the people watching who are here, to see a bipartisan colloquy; that we all agree, basically, about energy being the crux of what we do and how this country is made up and how we got to where we are today.

My little State of West Virginia now has a tremendous shale gas find in the Marcellus Shale, with the Utica Shale in Ohio, the shale being explored and produced all over our country. We truly have an opportunity in our lifetime to become totally energy independent.

The only thing I am saying is, where I come from, the people are such good people and they have a lot of common sense. They say: We would rather buy from our friends than our enemies. How much would this displace, as far as us buying from and depending on areas of the world that haven't been friendly to the money we give them for the product of oil they sell us; does the Senator from North Dakota have an idea about that?

My other question would be this. Since we have Senators from two of our great producing areas, knowing the challenges we had in Louisiana and the gulf coast with the BP oilspill, as well as a lot of concern about the environment and that is why it has been held up, I understand our friend, Gov. Dave Heineman from Nebraska, now has approved this. That, as I understand it, was the last concern he had.

I have always said this, and I will ask the question of the Senator from Alaska--they have one of the harshest climates and are one of the largest oil producers for our country and they have been able to do it in a safe atmosphere--will the Senator from Alaska comment on his concerns, if he has them, about doing this in a safe environment.

One very quick question, if I may, to the Senator from North Dakota.

There might be a fallacy of thinking that only oil that is going to move is what we would buy from Canada. How much oil would be moved from the United States that we produce in the United States but that is captive right now, that is not being refined, maybe down in Louisiana and Texas? Would this help U.S. production?

Just for North Dakota?

Madam President, I am proud to support Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense. If Chuck can make it through the jungles of Vietnam, he can surely make it through the bureaucracy of the Pentagon.

America needs Chuck as its Secretary of Defense to bring our troops home and to keep our military the strongest in the world. Sergeant Hagel is an American hero. When so many Americans were dodging the draft, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam. The draft board gave him the option to return to college, but Chuck refused. He said:

I think the best thing for me is to go in the Army. It may

not be the best thing for the Army, but I think that's the

way to get all this straightened out. I was the oldest of

four boys. My father [had] passed away, and I just was not

coming together the way I should come together. There was a

war going on in Vietnam. I felt a sense of some

responsibility. So I said, ``No. Let's--let's go. And so I

volunteered for the draft, went in the Army and celebrated my

21st birthday down at White Sands Missile Range.''

And Chuck didn't serve in a safe billet. When assigned to Germany, he protested and asked to deploy to Vietnam. So he volunteered for Vietnam and saw the horrors of war as an infantry sergeant.

Chuck and his younger brother Tom are the only known American brothers to serve side by side in Vietnam. At different times, they risked their own lives to save each other's. At one point, Tom frantically dressed a wound around Chuck's chest hoping, praying, that his older brother would make it out of Vietnam alive. And Chuck eventually returned the favor by dragging Tom out of a burning vehicle just before it exploded, saving his brother's life. Talk about brothers in arms, these were real brothers in arms.

These experiences made Chuck who he is, and they help you and me understand why he is the right man to run the Pentagon and to be put in charge of defending America. Just listen to how Chuck describes what it was like to serve in Vietnam. He says:

I walked a lot of point, and my brother Tom and I together

walked a lot of point, which was all right. You know what

happens to a lot of point men, but I always felt a little

better if I was up front than somebody else.

Chuck is willing to walk point for America now. He has been walking point for most of his life. This is how Chuck describes a point man:

A point man, as I think most people know, is the individual

who is out front. And these are usually squad-sized patrols,

sometimes a company-sized patrol, depending on the mission.

And you have the front--physically the front position, but

also the responsibility of essentially not walking your squad

or your company into an ambush or a trap. So you had to be

very, very focused on the peripheral vision and the antenna

and just the sense and the instincts that something doesn't

look right or grenades hanging in trees, which booby traps

were just a way of life. You dealt with that all the time.

And there were a lot of guys who just didn't pay attention to

it. They just--that's just the way they were. And I, again,

always felt better if I was up front than maybe some others.

Let me repeat that: Chuck Hagel always felt better if he was up front, where it was most dangerous. We live in dangerous times today and we need a man such as Chuck Hagel right now who has seen the horrors of war and will do all he can to prevent another generation from seeing them.

In my interactions with Chuck, I have been struck by his honesty, his sincerity, and his commonsense approach. I know if he were still a sitting U.S. Senator, we would probably be great friends. That is because we come from similar backgrounds and the same generation. He is like many Americans. He grew up in a working class, ``salt of the earth'' family. In Chuck's words, he was raised in Little Town, NE, where the local legion club and the VFW hall were the centers of the universe.

I could go on and on about Chuck Hagel, but let me say this in closing. When I think about people and I go to my little town in my community where I grew up--in Farmington, WV--and I know Chuck grew up in a small town--I can shake people's hands and look them in the eye and they see me to my soul. They know if I am sincere or I am telling the truth. And I want to say to all of you that I have shaken Chuck Hagel's hand. I have looked him in his eyes and I saw the soul of a good man, a man I want leading this country and taking care of our youth, our infantry, our men and women in uniform. So I implore all of my colleagues to consider voting for Chuck Hagel.

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

Mr. President, few Americans have helped this great country reach for the stars more than Gen. Chuck Yeager. Long before there were astronauts there was Chuck Yeager, a fearless test pilot, a true aviation pioneer paving the way for America's exploration of the galaxy. But Chuck Yeager's military career involved so much more than just testing cutting-edge aircraft and, as almost everyone knows, becoming the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound. Few Americans have been as unwavering or as relentless as Chuck Yeager in defense of this great country, in war and in peace, from World War II to Vietnam.

He was part of the ``greatest generation'' of Americans, the generation that fought and won World War II and then came home and made America the world's greatest superpower. Among the greatest in that generation was Chuck Yeager.

Today is Chuck's 90th birthday, and I invite the entire Senate to join me in congratulating him. I am so proud of this man. Not only is he a native son of West Virginia but he is also a dear friend of mine. Chuck lives in California now, with his wife Victoria, but he still comes to West Virginia to hunt with me and roam the hills where he grew up.

He also visits the State from time to time to promote the foundation which bears his name, and which supports a scholarship program at Marshall University.

When I was Governor, Chuck and Victoria would sometimes visit Gayle and me at the Governor's Mansion. Some of you know I am a pilot, and during one of his visits to West Virginia I got him to join me on a flight. We were trying out a new airplane for the State. It was a real honor, but it was a little bit daunting, if you will, that I am flying left seat and Chuck is right behind me, evaluating the entire flight. Looking over my shoulder, having the greatest pilot who ever lived sitting there, was something I will never forget.

Some of the story of Chuck's life you probably know and some of it you may not. Chuck grew up in the small town of Hamlin. That is in Lincoln County, WV, so deep in an Appalachian holler that folks there used to say you had to pump in the sunshine. His father Albert Hal worked as a driller in the gasfields. His mother Susie Mae took care of Chuck, his two brothers, and two sisters.

Chuck and his father went hunting and fishing together. Chuck also worked with his father in the oilfields. He was fascinated by the drilling equipment. He liked cars--real fast cars. He especially liked his old man's Chevy truck. He not only drove it, he studied all of its mechanical details. He could basically take it apart and rebuild it.

Looking back, it is not surprising that in the middle of World War II, a patriotic kid from West Virginia who was good with rifles, mechanical equipment, and fast cars enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as an airplane mechanic--his first step toward becoming the single greatest pilot who has ever lived.

A new ``flying sergeants'' program eventually gave him his first chance to fly. Up until that time it was officers only. His first couple training flights didn't go so well. Some people might not know this, but he had to overcome airsickness. Can you believe that Chuck Yeager got airsick? Before long he found a new home in the sky in the cockpit of an airplane.

During World War II, Chuck flew numerous combat missions over Europe and shot down 13 enemy aircraft--5 in 1 mission. He was shot down over German-occupied France in 1944 but escaped capture to fly another day. But

before he could do that, he had to argue his case against being sent home under a no more combat rule. The rule was basically if a pilot was shot down, they could not let them go back, because if they were captured, they could basically tell who the people who saved them were. He pushed his way all the way up the chain of command to Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ike ultimately granted Chuck's request to stay with his men.

After the war, Chuck became a test pilot. On October 14, 1947, he did what no man had done before--he broke the sound barrier in the experimental X-1 plane named the ``Glamorous Glennis,'' after his late wife. His fabled flight ushered in a new era of aviation that prepared America for its greatest leap into space and so began the legend of Chuck Yeager.

Tom Wolfe wrote in ``The Right Stuff''--a movie most of us have seen. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do. Tom Wolfe wrote:

There were . . . other pilots with enough Pilot Ego to

believe that they were actually better than this drawlin' hot

dog.

Chuck had a way with words, if you ever have a chance to speak with him.

But no one could contest the fact that as of that time, the

1950s, Chuck Yeager was at the top of the pyramid, number one

among all the True Brothers.

Throughout his long military career, General Yeager flew more than 10,000 hours in more than 330 models of aircraft. In 1966, he flew 127 missions in South Vietnam. He received numerous awards, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the special peacetime Medal of Honor. He was the youngest military pilot to be inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1973.

Chuck officially retired from the Air Force in 1975 but maintained his status as a test pilot for another three decades, occasionally flying for the Air Force and NASA as a consultant.

In 1997, on the 50th anniversary of his historic flight breaking the sound barrier, he again flew past Mach One in an F-15D Eagle named the ``Glamorous Glennis III.'' It was his last official flight with the Air Force. Of course, nothing stops Chuck Yeager. So last October on the 65th anniversary of breaking the sound barrier, he did it again, in another aircraft, at the age of 89.

Whenever he is asked about all his exploits, Chuck says he was just ``doing his job,'' and that all he is he ``owes to the Air Force.'' He has never ever wavered from that.

In his autobiography, he wrote:

My beginnings back in West Virginia tell who I am to this

day. My accomplishments as a pilot tell more about luck,

happenstance, and a person's destiny. But the guy who broke

the sound barrier was the kid who swam the Mud River with a

swiped watermelon, or shot the head off a squirrel before

school.

Tom Wolfe believed Chuck Yeager to be the ``most righteous of all possessors of the right stuff.'' Wolfe himself struggled to explain what he meant by ``the right stuff.'' His best explanation was that ``the right stuff'' is that rare, almost indefinable mix of bravery, heroism, hard work, and focus that someone brings to ``a cause that means something to a people, a nation, to humanity, to God.'' That describes Gen. Chuck Yeager as well as anything else I know.

He is a man of extraordinary skill and legendary courage. He has an unparalleled sense of duty and service to his country. He risked his life over and over. He is a great West Virginian. He is a great American. On his 90th birthday he is still, without a doubt, a man with ``the right stuff.''

I wish my dear friend the happiest of birthdays, and I urge every Senator to join me in saluting Gen. Chuck Yeager for his long and courageous service to this great country.

Thank you, General Yeager.

I note the absence of a quorum.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay upon the table was agreed to.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the period of morning business be extended until 5 p.m. today and that all provisions of the previous order remain in effect.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor the life, legacy and service of a dear friend--John Edward Bresch. Jack lead a life filled with compassion. He worked tirelessly for everyone to have access to affordable, quality health care, especially needy children and families. His heart was as big as heaven.

But Jack's life was also a life of great humor. Anybody who knew him also knew his warm and infectious laugh. It was a sure sign that Jack was somewhere nearby because you could almost hear his laughter before you saw his face. And everybody was glad to see Jack coming their way. He truly never met a stranger.

Sadly, we won't be able to hear that distinct laughter again. Jack passed away on September 1, 2012, surrounded by his family after a brief and courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. From the moment of his fateful diagnosis until the day he left us, we saw in him grace and courage, dignity and humility, joy and, yes, laughter--and so much love and gratitude lived out on a daily basis that, even in our sorrow, his memory will never be lost.

Tomorrow, Jack will be laid to rest in our Nation's most hallowed ground--Arlington National Cemetery--with full military honors as a decorated Naval Lieutenant who served as a Chaplain during the Vietnam war.

In his life, Jack Bresch was many things but above all, a family man, devoted to his wife, JoAnn; his children, Mary Elizabeth, James Richard, and

Jeffrey John; and 10 grandchildren on whom he doted. He also leaves behind countless friends and colleagues whose lives are enriched with memories of this gregarious, energetic, larger-than-life man. But when a loved one is gone, it is often the little things you remember most. Some of us will remember how much Jack loved neckties. Some of us will remember sharing Jack's favorite drink--a Manhattan, made with Maker's Mark, up, no bitters, with a twist of orange. Some of us will remember how often Jack quoted the 19th century German politician Otto von Bismark--``Politics is the art of the possible.'' And some of us will remember how proud Jack was to be at the White House when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act for which he worked so tirelessly. A friend saw Jack on TV and sent him a text to let him know, and Jack texted back, ``Just a pleasure to be here.''

It was a pleasure for Jack to be anywhere. Simply put, Jack enjoyed being with people, and people enjoyed being with Jack. He was a great person to talk to--probably because he began his adult life as a Roman Catholic priest. Jack was a priest in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, his native city, from 1966 to 1974. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam war, he entered the U.S. Navy and served as a Navy and Marine Corps Chaplain in posts around the world. During his time in the service, he supervised drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs and worked as a liaison with the American Red Cross. After the war, Jack left the priesthood. But in some ways, he never stopped being a chaplain, in the sense that he never wavered from his steadfast belief in social justice. He carried that belief forward in career that made the world a better place--working for Congress, the Federal Government, the Illinois Hospital Association, the Catholic Health Association, and the American Dental Education Association. Many members of Congress got to know Jack through his work as the lead lobbyist for the Catholic Health Association. They also learned quickly just how hard it was to say ``no'' to Jack.

While at the Catholic Health Association, Jack worked closely with then First Lady Hillary Clinton and the White House to develop a plan for reforming the Nation's health care system. While at the American Dental Education Association, he was instrumental in improving access to dental care for needy children. For more than a decade, he worked diligently to ensure that policymakers understood the value of oral health to overall health--the reason why he was invited to the White House for the signing of the Affordable Care Act. Jack lived long enough to see the Supreme Court uphold key portions of the Affordable Care Act. He knew the law wasn't perfect, but he was happy to see it move forward. Remember, he believed that ``politics is the art of the possible.''

To JoAnn and Jack's entire family, my wife Gayle and I extend our deepest sympathy because we are part of that family. Jack and I shared four of his 10 grandchildren, but he lent all the rest of them to me, too. It is hard to think of this world without Jack being a part of it, making us laugh--and hearing him laugh--and making us care--the way he cared.

There is a wonderful anonymous quote which may well describe how we should think of Jack's passing, especially since he served so courageously in the Navy. It offers great comfort to those who grieve. And it goes something like this:

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads

her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue

ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand

and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of

white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle

with each other. Then someone at my side says, ``There! She's

gone.''

Gone where? Gone from my sight--that is all. She is just as

large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my

side, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to

the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not

in her, and just at the moment when someone at my side says,

``There, she's gone,''--there are other eyes watching her

coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout,

``There she comes!''

Jack Bresch was a man whose optimism could overwhelm any doubter and whose joy for life was wonderfully contagious and completely irresistible. The ancient poets tell us that ``one must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.'' Our day with Jack Bresch was splendid indeed.

As we prepare to honor Jack with the military honors due a decorated Navy Chaplain, I would like to end my tribute to Jack's life with a traditional nautical blessing and wish my dear friend ``fair winds and following seas.''

Mr. President, first, I thank both of my colleagues for their diligent work. They committed themselves to this work, and I appreciate it. They keep us all informed.

(The remarks of Mr. Manchin pertaining to the introduction of (S. 3714) are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. President, I rise today frustrated, embarrassed, and angry. It is absolutely inexcusable that all of us find ourselves in this place at this time standing on the floor of the Senate in front of the American people, hours before we plunge off the fiscal cliff, with no plan and no apparent hope, but here we are, and we have to do something.

If we are as determined to go over the cliff as we seem, we have to do something to soften the landing because at the bottom of the fiscal cliff are immediate and massive tax increases, deep and indiscriminate spending cuts, and the risk of another recession. So, as we come down on the final hours, we have two choices--to do nothing and cause an unbelievable amount of hardship for our fellow Americans or to do something to reduce the suffering inflicted on our citizens by an inflexible political system.

I choose to do something. Today I am introducing the CALM Act, which stands for the Cliff Alleviation at the Last Minute Act. The CALM Act will do three important things: It will soften the financial blow of the fiscal cliff, it will calm our financial markets, and it gives us the certainty of a plan now but allows us, if we ever find the courage, to pursue the fiscal grand bargain that has eluded us so far. Make no mistake, the financial markets are watching us, and they are getting more nervous by the hour. We need to reassure them that we are capable of making big financial decisions.

This bill, the CALM Act, is not something I am excited about or proud to offer. This is not a great plan, but it is merely a better plan than going over the cliff. It should never have come to this. We have known for more than a year that this day was coming. For more than a year, I have asked Congress for a big fix to our Nation's fiscal challenges. I pushed strongly for the Simpson-Bowles framework for deficit reduction. Yet here we are, no closer to a sensible decision on how to bring our $1.1 trillion budget deficit and our $16.1 trillion public debt under control.

Guess what. Time is up. No more games. No more excuses. No more kicking the can down the road. We have to act, and we have to act in a way that puts our fiscal house in order, reassures the financial markets, and puts the people ahead of politics. We have to deal with these tax increases and spending cuts in a humane and tolerable way. The CALM Act does all of that. Just look at what happens to people in need if we go over the cliff and just do nothing. On New Year's Day the lowest income tax rate will jump from 10 percent back to the Clinton- era rate of 15 percent. That is a pretty big financial bite for people in West Virginia, and I know in Ohio, too, sir. These are people who are struggling right now.

Instead of an overnight tax hike of 5 percent, the CALM Act smoothes the transition by phasing in increases over 3 years. So instead of a 5- percent increase, the 10-percent bracket would only go to 11.6 percent the first year. The CALM Act does the same with the other tax rates, phasing them in over 3 years under the same proportions.

The CALM Act also puts the Senate on record in support of comprehensive overhaul of our tax system. We can still work toward a big fix like the Simpson-Bowles framework. If we can do that next year, we could stop the full increase from ever occurring.

Another important feature of the CALM Act is the way it treats sequestration. Again, if we go over the cliff and do nothing, nearly every government program will be hit with the same percentage cut, and that includes social services, education, research, and infrastructure. Those are all the things we need to grow our fragile economy.

The CALM Act gives the Office of Management and Budget discretion and flexibility to recommend what programs, agencies, and accounts to cut. If OMB fails to do the job, then the sequestration across-the-board cuts kick back in. Of course, the final word rests with Congress. OMB's decision can be overridden by a joint resolution.

Every provision of the CALM Act is familiar to the Senate. In fact, at one time or another nearly every feature of this plan has been offered by both Republicans and Democrats, including President Obama and Speaker Boehner. All I have done is pull them together to offer them as a compassionate alternative to what happens if we go over the fiscal cliff.

It is true that from the very beginning I have favored a comprehensive solution to put our fiscal house in

order, which was something along the lines of the Bowles-Simpson plan. We don't have that luxury right now. Perhaps the CALM Act will not only soften the blow of the fiscal cliff, but it will also give us a sense of urgency about a grand bargain to repair our financial house.

I am not so naive as to believe everybody is going to check their politics at the door, even at this late hour, but this is not a time for politicking, bickering, or partisan games. To allow the country to plunge over the fiscal cliff without any alternative plans to soften the landing is completely unacceptable. I cannot think of anything more irresponsible than to play games with the lives of Americans in such a callous way and let this great country go over the fiscal cliff. This would jeopardize the financial standing of our country and alarm our financial markets in ways that could trigger another recession.

Something has gone terribly wrong when the biggest threat to the American economy is the American Congress. I repeat: Something has gone terribly wrong when the biggest threat to our American economy is our American Congress.

It does not have to be that way. I am putting something on the table that is fair and balanced. It includes a slow phase-in of the tax increases that are going to happen inevitably if we go over the cliff. It includes a slow phase-in of all the tax increases, it includes targeted spending decreases, and it moves us closer to tax reforms. Everybody helps, and we do it in a way that keeps our country strong and prosperous.

This is one of those moments that the Senate was intended to live up to and provide leadership, find common ground, level with the American people, and be honest with each other. With our debt continuing to soar and too many Americans still looking for jobs, these are times that demand the very best of the Senate.

Everywhere in West Virginia--and, in fact, all over this country-- families are making tough choices about how to make ends meet. It is time for Washington to do the same.

Here in the Senate it seems to me that we are always fighting about something. Well, that might not change anytime soon, but more often than not, I believe we can rise to the common ground of great national purpose. I believe with all of my heart that this is one of those times.