Floor Statements

Mr. President, I have 5 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing

Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized

to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Committee on Armed Services

The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 9.30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on the nomination of General James C. McConville, USA, for reappointment to the grade of general and to be Chief of Staff of the Army.

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Daniel Habib Jorjani, of Kentucky, to be Solicitor, and Mark Lee Greenblatt, of Maryland, to be Inspector General, both of the Department of the Interior.

Committee on Foreign Relations

The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 9:30a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Humanitarian impact in the Syrian war.''

Committee on the Judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a business meeting and hearing on the following nominations: Jeffrey Vincent Brown, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, Robert J. Colville, and Stephanie L. Haines, both to be a United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Brantley Starr, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, Virgil Madden, of Indiana, to be a Commissioner of the United States Parole Commission, and Jeffrey A. Rosen, of Virginia, to be Deputy Attorney General, Michael G. Bailey, to be United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, Timothy J. Downing, to be United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, Brent R. Bunn, to be United States Marshal for the District of Idaho, and Eric S. Gartner, to be United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, all of the Department of Justice.

Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 2, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Mr. President, from time to time, our country has listened with empathy and heartbreak as survivors of various forms of sexual abuse come forward, men and women alike, who have bravely shared their stories, reviving a national conversation about sexual violence and inviting others to share their stories after years or even decades of silence. We know that these cases aren't limited to any class, place, age, gender, or circumstance. We have heard from major public figures and close friends alike, highlighting an issue that has for too long hidden in the shadows.

Some of the most disturbing allegations are those that take place against our children in school. Last month, Senator Hassan and I introduced the Jenna Quinn Law, which would help educators and caregivers identify and prevent child sexual abuse. It literally teaches people how to recognize the symptoms, what children are saying, when they are not vocalizing their plight, by the way they act. It would allow the use of grant funds for specialized training to ensure that teachers and school personnel are prepared to recognize and report child sexual abuse.

This legislation is named after a brave Texan, a child abuse survivor herself, and has been modeled after successful State legislation. It is an important step in our efforts to stop sexual abuse, and I hope we can take these reforms, which have been adopted now by more than half the States, and make them nationwide.

Of course, protecting students from sexual abuse doesn't end after high school, as we know. In recent years, our country has followed high-profile cases involving students even at our colleges and universities. We all remember 2011, when the now notorious Penn State football coach, Jerry Sandusky, was arrested and charged with 52 counts of sexual abuse of boys. What happened next was a combination of support for the survivors and disgust with those who knew about the allegations but did nothing. Employees, ranging from a graduate assistant to the university president himself, were aware of the allegations but remained silent.

Then there is Larry Nassar, an employee at Michigan State University and a former USA Gymnastics national team doctor. He was accused of molesting hundreds of young athletes under his care, and more than 250 women shared their testimony at his sentencing last year. Despite numerous complaints about Nassar's behavior, some dating back to the 1990s, university officials kept quiet. Law enforcement was never informed, and his disgusting abuse was allowed to continue unreported for years.

Sadly, these are not the only instances of university officials turning to avert their gaze from sexual misconduct. It has happened at other major universities across the country, including one in Texas. In each of these cases, university leaders did not take action against the abusers despite the fact that official title IX or external investigations had been conducted. Some of them said: ``We just simply didn't read the results of the report.''

These stories of abuse are difficult to hear, but they have led to positive changes by highlighting the ineffective and sometimes nonexistent policies to handle these types of abuse.

That is why last month, along with my colleagues from Michigan, Senator Peters and Stabenow, I introduced the Accountability of Leaders in Education to Report Title IX Investigations Act, or ALERT Act for short. The purpose of this legislation is to ensure greater accountability by requiring colleges and universities to submit an annual certification to the Secretary of Education, to include the following:

First, it would affirm that the university president and the board members have reviewed all title IX and Clery Act sexual offense reports of an employee involving sexual misconduct. This would compel administrators to take this matter more seriously and thoroughly examine all the allegations.

Secondly, it would require that the university certify that the president or board members had not interfered with or inappropriately tried to influence an ongoing investigation.

In any educational institution, especially those that receive taxpayer funds, administrators should be held accountable for their actions and place the health and well-being of their students above all else.

The public conversation regarding these abuses has encouraged more victims to confront their abusers and pursue justice.

Throughout my career, dating back to my time as Texas attorney general, it has been my privilege to work with advocates for victims' rights and to help provide them with the resources they need in order to heal and recover. But what if we could do more to prevent people from becoming victims in the first place? What if we could improve accountability on college campuses related to reports of sexual assault perpetrated by their employees? Well, it seems to me the answer is obvious. While there is nothing we can do to turn back the hands of time and prevent these young men and women from being taken advantage of in the first place, we can take action to hold universities accountable for employee sexual misconduct that they already know about and stop abusers from continuing to harm students.

I hope this bill can work its way quickly through the regular order through Congress, the House and the Senate, and make its way to the President's desk so we can begin to improve accountability on college campuses all across our country.

While we continue our work to prevent sexual abuse in all its forms, there is more we need to do to support victims. Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on what I have no doubt will be a major bipartisan achievement for the 116th Congress.

We see many pieces of legislation that divide Members of the Senate, and sadly those are often the ones that get the most attention. But the Debbie Smith Act is the type of bill we should be talking about and celebrating. The namesake of this legislation is an incredibly courageous woman whom I have had the pleasure of working with over the years.

Debbie Smith is an ardent advocate for eliminating the rape kit backlog and expanding the DNA database to provide victims with answers and peace of mind. Sadly, her personal advocacy was borne from experience. In 1989, Debbie was home doing laundry when a stranger broke into her house. He blindfolded her, abducted her, and took her to a wooded area behind her home, where he robbed and repeatedly raped her. Debbie reported the crime to the police and went to the emergency room for a forensic exam, but because of the nationwide backlog, there were no immediate answers. Her rape kit was not even tested right away, as it should have been.

Although exact numbers are difficult to estimate, experts believe that as many as 400,000 rape kits remain untested in the United States. We really don't know with any precision. Each one of them represents a story of a sexual assault victim and holds the key to identifying and apprehending a vile criminal. Like every other victim whose DNA evidence sat or still sits on a shelf, Debbie simply had to wait. In her case, it took 6\1/2\ years before she finally got the answers she had been looking for when a cold hit revealed the identity of her rapist.

Debbie knows the fear and uncertainty that comes upon victims just by not knowing the answers to who did it and how we make sure justice is served. She made it her mission to eliminate the backlog. She has become a trusted voice for sexual assault victims all across this country and, of course, works the Halls of Congress on a bipartisan basis to make sure we don't lose sight of this important goal, which is to eliminate the rape kit backlog.

The Debbie Smith Act was signed into law in 2004 and provides local and

State crime labs with resources they need to end the backlog of unsolved crimes. So far, more than $1 billion has been provided to forensic labs because of this law and has led to some pretty incredible results.

One reason it is important that the Federal Government assumes part of this responsibility is because many jurisdictions--small police departments, rural counties--simply don't have the tax base, don't have the money, and don't have the expertise to be able to solve this problem of untested rape kits. Since 2005, thanks to Debbie Smith, more than 860,000 DNA cases have been processed because of the Debbie Smith Act, accounting for 43 percent of all forensic profiles in the FBI's DNA database.

Though the primary goal is to reduce the rape kit backlog and identify their assailants, processing this DNA evidence can assist investigations for nonviolent crimes as well. Similar to criminal fingerprint databases, this DNA evidence can help convict people who commit other crimes.

The Debbie Smith Act of 2019 will reauthorize this important funding that supports testing of these rape kits so we can eliminate the backlog and ensure it will not grow again in the future. This law also authorizes important training for law enforcement, correctional personnel, forensic nurses, and other professionals who assist victims of sexual assault.

So I am grateful to Debbie for her courage and the courage of countless other survivors who have shared their stories publicly--it can't be easy--and who continue to advocate for reforms to eliminate the backlog. Two other inspiring survivors from Texas, Lavinia Masters and Carol Bart, have also been strong advocates in my State and at the Federal level. It has been my privilege to know them and work with them on this issue.

This legislation is undoubtedly stronger because of the input of these and other brave survivors who are champions for victims all across the country. I admire these women who have given their voice to the voiceless and continue to fight for these reforms.

I thank Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Feinstein of the Senate Judiciary Committee for quickly moving this important legislation through the committee, and I hope we will soon be able to vote for it on the Senate floor.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I have 8 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Policy principles for a Federal data privacy framework.''

Committee on Environment and Public Works

The Committee on Environment and Public Works is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Foreign Relations

The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 10:15 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Humanitarian impact in the Syrian war.''

Committee on Indian Affairs

The Committee on Indian Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on the Judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Select Committee on Intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on the nomination of Christopher Scolese, of New York, to be Director of the National Reconnaissance Office.

Subcommittee on Strategic Forces

The Subcommittee on Strategic Forces of the Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the upcoming vote.

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

Mr. President, with the 2-week hiatus we have had here in Washington, DC, so we could be back home visiting with our constituents, some things have not changed; they are just the way they were when we left, and that would include the heart-breaking stories that illustrate the situation along our southwest border.

I have talked, as you might imagine coming from Texas, with a lot of Border Patrol personnel who found migrants crammed in parts of cars that you didn't even know exist. I visited the unmarked graves of those who have been abandoned by their human smugglers in essentially desert conditions and left to die. I have seen the disgusting stash houses, where dozens of migrants are held at a time to avoid being caught before they are transported up through the Interstate Highway System to distant locations.

I could fill a book with all of the sights I have seen and the stories I have heard over the years, and I am sure, with the stories compiled by the Border Patrol agents and officers, we could fill an entire library.

The story, though, really is about how ruthless and inhumane and completely reckless and thoughtless with regard to human life these criminal organizations truly are.

One headline, though, during this recess period, stopped me in my tracks. Even this, I thought, could not be the case. It read:

A 3-year-old was found alone in a field by Border Patrol

agents. His name and phone numbers were [written] on his

shoes.

A toddler, not even old enough to talk to the agents who found him, was abandoned.

Customs and Border Protection believes the boy was part of a larger group trying to enter the United States with their human smugglers. When the group encountered Border Patrol agents, the adults ran into the Rio Grande River and back to Mexico, leaving the little boy all by himself.

He was, as the Border Patrol does in every instance, taken into custody and treated well. He was taken to a hospital for a medical evaluation, and, miraculously, he was found to be in good condition.

While the agents tried to track down the boy's family, one supervisory patrol agent purchased clothing for him out of his own pocket; other personnel entertained the little boy, watching movies and playing games.

These agents aren't just patrolling the border to catch illegal crossers; they are now being forced, because of the crisis at the border, to act as caregivers for some of the most vulnerable individuals they come across. Unfortunately, what that means is, they are also diverted from their No. 1 job, which is law enforcement and to protect the security and safety of the American people along our borders. They are now diverted from that mission, as well as their counterdrug mission, essentially handing out diapers and juice boxes for little boys and little girls.

I think this should be a reminder for some of our colleagues who seem to think that the status quo along the border is just hunky-dory that it is far from humane. Many of our colleagues have said: Well, we need to abolish ICE because somehow that is inhumane; enforcing the laws passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, that somehow is beyond the pale.

Enforcing the law isn't inhumane. Apprehending people who try to illegally enter into the United States or import their poison so it can be used by Americans who then overdose and lose their lives due to consuming those drugs, that is inhumane. What is inhumane and lacks simple compassion is doing nothing to stop this practice. Leaving security gaps that are exploited by smugglers, traffickers, and criminal organizations who have zero regard for human life is inhumane. These people, the drugs, the contraband are mere commodities to these criminal organizations. They don't care anything about them.

Giving people an opportunity to smuggle an innocent child across our border alone and leaving him to die in the desert is not humane. Making criminal cartels rich by exploiting our porous border is inexcusable.

To be clear, the criminal organizations perpetuating this cycle are the bad guys, not our law enforcement personnel who work to protect our border at substantial risk to themselves and who take compassionate care of those in their custody.

I think one of the reasons this story garnered so much attention is because that is not what the average person imagines the Border Patrol encounters at the border, but increasingly it is. The Border Patrol encounters unaccompanied children and families consisting of one adult and one or more children along the border because the criminal organizations that smuggle them to the border are exploiting gaps and vulnerabilities in our asylum laws.

Many people believe the typical migrant is an adult traveling alone, but more likely than not, that is not the case, and, in fact, it is becoming less and less common.

In fact, according to the most recent statics, there is no new net migration from Mexico. Almost all of the migration into the United States, either by people who illegally enter or asylum seekers, is from countries other than Mexico, most notably Central America, but, literally, those could be merely the transit points for people coming from all over the world, up through Mexico, into the United States.

From October 2018 to March 2019, a 6-month period, more than 360,000 people--360,000 people--were apprehended along the southwest border. That is a remarkably high number for this point in the year, based on historical statistics. Only about one-third of them were single adults, more than half were traveling as a family unit, and the rest were unaccompanied children, like this 3-year-old little boy. He was found by agents in the Rio Grande Valley, far and away the busiest Border Patrol sector in the country. In fact, more than 40 percent of all unaccompanied children are apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley sector.

These numbers are far from normal. Unsurprisingly, our Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection agents, our local communities, the nongovernmental organizations, the churches, and others who try to lend a helping hand to these migrants coming across the border are not equipped to handle this huge surge of humanity.

Customs agents are being pulled off inspection duty to help process the apprehended migrants. Security checkpoints are being shut down. The flow of legitimate trade and travel is being impacted. Individuals are then being released because there is simply not enough space to hold them, even though they violated our laws or have not yet proven their right to an immigration benefit under our asylum system.

I had a group of manufacturers come see me before the latest break. They told me that from Juarez to El Paso, which is right across the Rio Grande River--that because commerce was backed up, the truck traffic that was transporting car parts as part of a just-in-time inventory program to manufacturers on the American side, they literally had to hire an airplane to fly 11 minutes from Juarez to El Paso. Car manufacturers that operate in Texas, Missouri, and other parts of the country, depend on this cross-border supply chain for their products. Eventually, if we don't do something about this flood of humanity and the blockage it is creating to legitimate trade and commerce across our ports of entry, we are going to see Americans lose their jobs because it simply was uncontemplated by anybody in that business that they would have to suffer those kinds of delays. Instead of a 1-hour delay coming across the ports of entry carrying manufactured goods that can be assembled in the United States or otherwise used in products made here, some are taking as much as 24 hours to get across. People are literally sleeping in their truck because they can't get through the ports of entry, in part, because the Customs and Border agents are being diverted, like I said earlier, handing out juice boxes, handing out diapers, taking care of this huge flood of humanity coming across our border.

Don't just take my word for it. I remember when President Obama made comments talking about a humanitarian crisis. He called it a humanitarian and security crisis back in June of 2014. At that time, we saw as many as 135,000 during the month of May and June 2014 apprehended at the border. Just to put that in context, in February and March of this year, 180,000 people were detained at the border--back when President Obama called it a humanitarian and security crisis, 135,000; February and March 2019, 180,000.

Simply put, this is a manmade disaster, and the only one that can fix it is the U.S. Congress, and it is going to get nothing but worse.

All of the pull factors, the things that attract people to come across the border to take advantage of these gaps in our asylum laws, are going to do nothing but attract more and more and more people.

Certainly, we all understand, as a matter of simple human compassion, why people would want to leave if they can't get a job, if they can't provide for their families where they live, but we simply cannot continue to accept the tens of thousands. Now, indeed, in a 2-month period of time, 180,000 new people have been coming into the country essentially jumping in line ahead of others who are trying to legally immigrate to the United States. It is overwhelming for our communities and our Border Patrol and our Customs agents.

We know many of these migrants pay smugglers to lead them on this dangerous journey north or have to pay others a tax to pass through territories along the way, including the so-called plazas which are adjacent to the U.S.-Mexico border. So while migrants and vulnerable children are being left for dead in the desert, and we are struggling to manage a devastating humanitarian crisis, these criminal organizations are getting richer and richer. This is part of how they do business.

While it is hard to know exactly how much money these groups are making, a recent study by RAND estimated that revenues to smugglers moving migrants from Northern Triangle countries--that is in Central America--range from about $200 million to about $2.3 billion in 2017 alone. These are the same people, again, who are commodity agnostic, who care nothing about human life. They will move migrants for economic purposes. They will move people who are being sex trafficked, and they will move drugs, some of which contributed to the 70,000 Americans who died of drug overdoses last year, since Mexico is responsible for about 90 percent of the heroin and much of the fentanyl that comes across our southwestern border.

Of course, all of this is tax-free. You better believe these networks and their operations will only continue to get richer and richer and more and more ruthless and more and more dangerous.

If you think these problems are going to go away on their own, you are wrong. The number of children and family units found along our border is already climbing at an appalling pace, and we need to take action to alleviate the strain on our personnel on the southern border and to eliminate the clogs and delays in legitimate trading commerce that is the lifeblood of our Nation, as well as our counterparts in Mexico.

Unfortunately, rather than trying to put out the fire, many folks here in

Washington would rather fan the flames. The topic of border security has become a hot button, a zero-sum game that people seem to be willing to talk about more than look for solutions.

As we all know, that is not how to get things done around here. We need to work together to try to come up with solutions to change our asylum laws in a way that is both compassionate and one that respects the rule of law and allows us to control this vast flood of humanity seeking to enter our country and take advantage of our asylum laws.

I have been speaking with our colleagues here in the Senate, as well as those in the House, on both sides of the aisle, about commonsense reforms, what they might look like, and where we might find common ground. We can't wait to do comprehensive immigration reform in order to fix this particular problem where children and families turn themselves in at the border because of these flaws in our asylum laws. We need to address that and to do what we can, but once we accomplish that, we need to move on to do other things that we know we need to do in the best interest of our country and in the best interest of the rule of law.

I think it is amazing what you can accomplish when you talk to other Members of Congress instead of just the news cameras, but that seems to be solely where the conversation is occurring--for the benefit of news cameras. We have had some productive discussions about how we can provide our frontline officers and agents with the resources they need--staffing, authorities, infrastructure, and technology.

I, for one, am here and ready to talk to anyone who is willing to work in good faith to provide relief for the humanitarian crisis occurring on our southern border. That is what President Obama called it, and it has gotten much worse. It doesn't help to be labeling this some sort of fake emergency, as some of our colleagues on the other side of the Capitol have. To deny reality is a pretty big impediment to trying to solve the problem.

I hope our colleagues on both sides of the aisle can take stock of the situation, accept the facts, and muster the courage to put politics aside and work together to create a much needed and long-overdue reform of our immigration policies because this problem is not going away. There were 76,000 people detained at the border in February and 103,000 detained at the border in March. There is no good reason why the 103,000 will not grow to 150,000, to 200,000, or to 250,000.

All of the same pieces are in place and all of the same flaws are being exploited by these transnational criminal organizations to move people into the country, where they can essentially circumvent our immigration enforcement and border security measures. It is going to do nothing but get worse when it comes to impediments getting in place of lawful commerce and trade, which are so important to our economy and the economy of Mexico and our common border.

With that, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, while many folks in Washington, DC, remain ambivalent about what is happening along the southern border, I am here to report that we are reaching a breaking point.

Every month, Customs and Border Protection releases the total number of people who attempt to cross the southern border. The total includes those who cross illegally between the ports of entry, as well as those deemed inadmissible at a port of entry. Just to give you an idea of the size and scope of the numbers we have been dealing with in the past, since June 2014--the month that President Obama referred to this as a ``humanitarian crisis''--more than 66,000 individuals were encountered along the border. At that time, we thought 66,000 was a huge number, but it pales in comparison to what we are seeing now. Last month, more than 103,000 people attempted to illegally cross the border. That is 103,000 up from 76,000 the previous month.

A few weeks ago, I know we got into a debate about what did and did not constitute an emergency or a crisis at the border. I don't care whether you call it a crisis or an emergency, but the entire system is breaking, and it is unsustainable. This is the highest number of people who has attempted to enter the country that we have seen since 2007.

The mind-boggling figure represents the strain that is being felt by the personnel--those being U.S. Government employees--whether they be Border Patrol or Customs or whoever is trying to manage the influx of the migrants. The men and women of the CBP lack both the manpower and the facilities to appropriately respond. The already understaffed Agency is reassigning personnel to try to make do, but 40 percent of the Border Patrol's manpower is spent processing migrants and providing care and transportation, and many of the agents are taken off their patrol lines to do this work, which leaves areas of the border vulnerable to exploitation by drug cartels and others.

The detention centers at which these migrants are housed and processed are relatively small facilities that are not designed for these kinds of huge numbers. They were originally built to house single adults for a short period of time, but the skyrocketing number of unaccompanied children and family units is now putting a serious strain on those resources. Last month alone, there were more than 53,000 families and nearly 9,000 unaccompanied children who were apprehended at the border--53,000 families and 9,000 unaccompanied children. Customs and Border Protection simply lacks the facilities to hold these children, and it lacks the personnel to provide appropriate care.

Do we really want the Border Patrol handing out juice boxes and diapers as opposed to interdicting dangerous drugs and other contraband that come into the United States? I don't think so. We know they are desperately asking for additional detention space and staff to be able to manage the migrants who are in custody.

Why is it so important they be detained? It is because, if we engage in the practice that has come to be known as catch and release, then it is doubtful we will ever see these migrants again, even though they will be notified of their time to appear in front of immigration judges months--maybe even years--into the future. They will simply melt into the landscape. If they were to have bona fide reasons to claim asylum but were to fail to appear for their hearings in front of immigration judges, they will have waived those rights and be deported if they are ultimately located in the United States.

We know customs inspectors have been reassigned from their duties at ports of entry to do things like process migrants and provide transportation. With fewer customs agents on the job, you are now seeing lengthy delays at the ports and checkpoints along the entire border. In what is just right across from El Paso, TX, truckers have been reported as sleeping in their vehicles for hours and sometimes days so they will not lose their spots in line.

I have heard from some of the car manufacturers that require there be a flow of their supply chains into Mexico and vice versa, so they are literally hiring aircraft to fly from Juarez to El Paso because that 11-minute flight is faster than a trucker waiting 24 hours in line. Also, when many of our car manufacturers that depend on just-in-time inventory can't get their inventory just in time but have to wait 24 hours, it disrupts their manufacturing lines and endangers their businesses. Of course, it is easy to see how this could have a ripple effect on the entire border and the American economy.

This slowdown isn't just affecting businesses along the border; it has businesses across the country worried. Mexican products feed the supply chain for many manufacturers in the United States, and these slowdowns affect production. While folks who live far away from the border may have just chosen to look the other way until now, they don't have a choice anymore. The system is breaking.

The ripples will soon be felt across the country unless Members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, work together and are serious about enacting a solution. We know what we need to do, but politics is preventing us from getting it done. It is time to provide our frontline officers and agents with the personnel, the resources, and the legal authorities they need in order to do the jobs we have asked them to do. Yet, without support from Congress, we are sending them into a losing battle, and we are setting our economy up for a disaster.

Madam President, on another matter, when the Senate is in recess next week, I, like most of our colleagues here, will be running to my State to talk to my constituents and to hopefully listen to what they have to say.

As I travel from El Paso to Laredo, some of the things I will be talking about will include the GEAR UP for Success Act with students, teachers, and school administrators. GEAR UP seeks to increase college and career readiness for underrepresented and low-income students. It currently serves about 600,000 students nationwide, and Texans have benefited from the $885 million in GEAR UP grants over the last 20 years.

I am glad I have had a chance to visit with some of my constituents in San Antonio and Harlingen about this bill and the incredible impact that GEAR UP grants have had on their students. I guess I didn't fully appreciate the fact that students really have to begin deciding in the seventh grade what their courses of study will be because, if they don't take the required courses, or the prerequisite courses, or the other courses they are going to need in order to graduate or to get into college, they may miss the boat entirely. Many of these students come from families whose parents have never attended college or who may be unaware of the requirement to plan in order for their children to make the right course selections early on as opposed to their waiting until their junior or senior year to begin to think about where to apply to college.

This legislation would allow school districts to better cater to their students' specific needs rather than to use

a one-size-fits-all program, and it would reduce the local cost share required by half.

I am eager to hear from my constituents in El Paso and Laredo and to talk about what else we can do in Washington to promote college and career readiness. In a tight labor market with a booming economy, one of the things we hear about the most back home is the fact that employers can't find adequately trained workers for the jobs that are available and return a good wage. So it is important that we continue to do everything we can not only to promote education generally but also to promote career readiness for many of the well-paying jobs that are going wanting for the lack of qualified workers.

Madam President, I will also take some time to visit the Center for Child Protection in Austin to discuss the Jenna Quinn Law. This would authorize grants for training students, teachers, and caregivers on identifying and reporting child sexual abuse. The bill is named for a courageous Texan and is modeled after successful reforms in my State. It is another great example of how we are working to bring the successful Texas model to the national level.

Madam President, finally, I will visit Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, TX, with my friend and colleague, Congressman Jodey Arrington, for a briefing on its latest operations and the recent news from the Air Force that Dyess will be receiving the B-21--the next generation of strategic bombers.

Dyess is the most dynamic bomber base in the country, and I am glad the Air Force has chosen the future home for the B-21 squadrons as well as weapons instruction courses and test squadrons. It just makes a lot of sense.

I look forward to spending time at home with my constituents. These conversations drive my work in the Senate, and I am eager to get more feedback on how these bills could make positive changes in their lives and in the lives of all of my constituents in the State.

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

Mr. President, I would like to start by sharing a story about one of my personal heroes, Debbie Smith. Debbie Smith is living proof that one person can change the world if they have the courage to tell their story and fight for justice.

In 1989, Debbie was at home doing laundry. Her husband Rob, a police officer, was asleep upstairs after working a night shift.

Suddenly a masked man entered her home and threatened to kill her if she screamed. He blindfolded and abducted Debbie and took her outside to a wooded area behind her home, where he robbed and repeatedly raped her. The man threatened her over and over, saying: Remember, I know where you live, and I will come back to kill you if you tell anyone.

After he finally left, Debbie ran upstairs to tell her husband. She begged him not to make her go to the police. But he, as a police officer, insisted that she report the crime and go to the emergency room for a sexual assault forensic exam, sometimes called a rape kit exam.

Debbie did go for that examination and did report the crime. But for Debbie and millions of other survivors there are no immediate answers. Because of the nationwide backlog of untested rape kits, it would be years before she was able to identify her assailant and find any sort of peace.

Although the exact numbers are hard to estimate, experts believe that hundreds of thousands of rape kits remain untested in the United States, and, of course, each one of them represents a unique story of a sexual assault victim and holds the key to apprehending a violent criminal.

Waiting for that evidence to be tested can be excruciating. Debbie said that fear took over her life. She was haunted by the man's voice threatening to kill her. She was terrified for herself and her family, and she even became suicidal for a time.

It wasn't until 6\1/2\ years later that Debbie finally got the answer she had been looking for when a DNA cold hit revealed the identity of her rapist. She later said in an interview that DNA gave her back her life.

Debbie chose to harness her pain and to use it to save others from living through years of uncertainty as she did. She has become the fiercest advocate in the Nation for eliminating the rape kit backlog. She has devoted her life to making a difference for victims of sexual violence.

The aptly named Debbie Smith Act was originally signed into law in 2004 to provide State and local crime labs the resources they need to end the backlog of untested DNA evidence from unsolved crimes through additional funding and increased capacity. Under this law, Congress has provided more than $1 billion since then in vital funding to forensic labs for analyzing crime scene DNA evidence, uploading the results into the CODIS database, which is what happens to the test after it is completed, and identifying violent fugitives and taking these violent criminals off the street.

Not only does this sort of testing provide relief for victims like Debbie and justice for their attackers, but the evidence is also effective in assisting investigations for other crimes. This is important because violent offenders will often commit many different types of crimes in many different jurisdictions. For example, if a criminal commits a burglary in one State, DNA evidence from that burglary case can be used later to connect this offender to an unsolved rape case in another State.

The States, thankfully, are following suit. Texas, I am proud to say, has led the Nation in passing mandatory rape kit testing laws, conducting audits of the backlog, and using Debbie Smith funds to analyze untested sexual assault evidence. I am proud to report that over the last 7 years we have reduced our statewide rape kit backlog from more than 20,000 to just over 2,000. This is an astounding achievement, and thankfully it is being replicated all across the Nation because of this important legislation and because of the courage of one woman, Debbie Smith.

By ensuring the Debbie Smith Act funds can be used to analyze evidence from all types of crime scenes, we can help forensic labs address their systemic backlogs and holistically target the cycle of violence. The Debbie Smith Act of 2019 will reauthorize the Debbie Smith Act program to continue the testing of DNA evidence from unsolved crimes nationwide, including rape kits. It will also reauthorize DNA training and education for law enforcement, correctional personnel, and court officers, as well as forensic nurses who take this DNA evidence during these rape kit collections to make sure that all of them are prepared to gather the evidence and to test it. Since 2005, Debbie Smith Act funding has led to the creation of 43 percent of all forensic CODIS profiles. Again, this is the FBI database, where the rape kit information can be entered to see if it matches previously entered DNA profiles.

Let me say that again. Since 2005, Debbie Smith Act funding has led to the creation of 43 percent of all forensic CODIS profiles as well as 20 percent of all offender samples in CODIS.

In total, Debbie Smith DNA grants are responsible for 45 percent of all matches made in CODIS, which is truly remarkable. Reauthorizing this legislation once again is a top priority for me as we work to continue chipping away at the nationwide rape kit backlog and provide these victims with the answers and relief they need.

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with Debbie several times, and we have been fortunate to have her share her perspective before the Judiciary Committee on multiple occasions.

I have also worked with two other inspiring victims from Texas-- Lavinia Masters and Carol Bart, who, like Debbie, had the courage to come forward and talk about a very difficult event in their lives, but to use their pain as a way to help others. Lavinia and Carol have also lent their voices in advocating for reforms to reduce the rape kit backlog.

I am grateful to these and countless other survivors who bravely share their stories and ideas as we work together to eliminate the backlog once and for all. I hope the Debbie Smith Act of 2019 will soon be reported out of the Judiciary Committee and will quickly make its way to the Senate floor, pass in Congress, and make its way to the President for his signature without delay.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time on the Domenico nomination expire at 2:15 p.m.; further, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action. I further ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. today.

Mr. President, I was fortunate to grow up in a military family. My dad served for 31 years in the U.S. Air Force. He actually started out at a very young age as a B-17 pilot in the Army Air Corps before the Air Force was even created.

He was stationed at Molesworth Air Force Base in England and flew missions across the English Channel into Germany during World War II. He flew 26 of those missions, and he was successful in completing each one of them except for the last one. On the 26th mission, he was shot down and captured as a POW for the last 4 months of the war.

Growing up in a military family obviously means a lot to me. I grew up with a father who demonstrated every day what it means to be a patriot. Of course, like most military brats--that is what we called ourselves--I spent a lot of time traveling around the country. Of course, I was born in Texas and consider San Antonio home, but we

lived in Mississippi and in Kensington, MD, right outside the District of Columbia. I graduated from high school in Japan. This is pretty typical of a lot of military families because they tend to move around quite a bit. One of the biggest challenges, being a student growing up in a military family, is frequently having to change schools. That requires a little bit of resilience on the part of the student because they have to learn how to make friends, even in new settings.

Despite the challenges of moving around as a kid, there was one thing I was always grateful for. I had the privilege of witnessing not only my dad but so many others of our U.S. military servicemembers in action. Seeing their courage and sacrifice showed me early on that there is nothing we can do to adequately repay these men and women for their service to their country, but you better believe we have to try, and we are going to keep trying--not just to repay them but to recognize them and to honor them.

In Congress we accomplished a lot for our military over the last few years. We restored America's defense with the greatest investment in the military in decades, including the largest troop pay raise in nearly 10 years. That is after we tried unsuccessfully to do what we have done from time to time, which is to cash in the ``peace dividend.'' Unfortunately, we can't cash in the peace dividend because there never seems to be peace, as much as we would hope and pray for that.

But supporting our heroes on the battlefield is only part of our responsibility toward the military. We are also focused on ensuring that they get the care, support, and opportunities they need once they come home and take the uniform off as a veteran.

I have heard from many of my veterans in Texas who are frustrated with the services provided by VA facilities. They shared stories about having to travel hours upon hours to receive care, sometimes forcing them to accept lower quality care or sometimes to forego it entirely.

Both in Texas and across the country, VA facilities have notably been plagued by inefficiency, lack of accountability, and quality of care issues. Making matters more challenging, the VA has been hindered by unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. The Veterans' Administration has more than 300,000 people working for them. So bureaucracy should be its middle name. It is not designed to be efficient, but it is incredibly frustrating and costly for our veterans as they seek to get the care we promised them and that we are dutybound to provide.

Sadly, in some cases veterans turn to alternative coping mechanisms that can lead to destructive addictions. We know that self-medication is a real problem, particularly for mental health issues, and veterans, unless they are diagnosed properly and receive the correct medical care, can spiral down as a result of an alcohol or drug addiction, which is a coping or self-medication mechanism that does not work out well. Those stories do not end well at all. Those are some of the challenges we have facing our veterans and trying to provide them with the services they are entitled to and have earned.

But there is a good news part to this story. Last summer we took a major step to provide veterans with the healthcare they deserve when we passed the VA MISSION Act. This legislation will make significant reforms in the Department of Veterans Affairs and provide veterans with more flexibility to make decisions themselves regarding their healthcare. In other words, they don't have to adapt to the system. The system can adapt to them and be flexible to their needs.

One of the most common frustrations I hear from my Texas veterans is that it is sometimes impractical to travel to the next VA hospital when they need care. This legislation, the VA MISSION Act, consolidates and improves VA community programs. In other words, you can get the care in your community. It allows veterans to receive care from private hospitals and doctors.

It also provides funding for the Veterans Choice Program to continue until the approved Veterans Community Care Program matures and is fully in effect.

The VA MISSION Act included some of the most substantial reforms to the veterans healthcare system in years, lowering the barriers to care for veterans and giving them more treatment options. It has also provided the largest funding increase in recent history for veterans' care and services and modernized the VA's electronic health record system.

My hope is it will provide some needed relief to veterans and their families who aren't happy with the status quo, and we will continue to work with them until we get this right, to build on these reforms until we are able to provide the sort of care all of our veterans need and deserve. We don't want to just provide for these men and women's physical needs, we also need to ensure that they have adequate mental health resources as well.

Last Congress, I was an original cosponsor of the Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act. Enacted as part of the 2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act, this law now allows those discharged under certain other-than-honorable conditions access to critical mental health care facilities. Veterans who are struggling deserve to be carefully evaluated at the onset of their mental illness and supported with the VA medical treatment necessary for their recovery.

I was proud to introduce the Mental Health and Safe Communities Act, which established peer-to-peer services that connect qualified veterans with other veterans to provide support and mentorship. One of the things I hear from our servicemembers, when they take the uniform off, is that what they miss most about the military is the camaraderie and sense of teamwork and mutual support. This legislation is designed to try to provide some transitional support for peer-to-peer services, to connect qualified veterans with other veterans during that period of time. It will also allow qualified veterans to obtain treatment, recovery, stabilization, and rehabilitation services.

While providing physical and mental healthcare for veterans is a top priority, it is only part of providing a smooth transition for those who leave military life to return to civilian life. We want to ensure that they have ample employment opportunities as well.

Last month, the veterans unemployment rate was 2.9 percent--down from 4.1 percent in March of last year and lower than the national unemployment rate. I would like to think that is, in part, a result of the concerted effort we have made to provide more opportunity to our veterans to transition into a meaningful career after life in the military. I am encouraged by those positive numbers. We will continue to follow them and make sure it is not just a blip on the radar screen.

Last Congress, I introduced the American Law Enforcement Heroes Act, which is now law. It amended a 1968 law to allow grant funds to be used to hire and train veterans as career law enforcement officers. Everywhere I go across the State of Texas, I talk to police departments that were really having huge challenges trying to fill the vacancies in their ranks. This will allow more of our veterans who are trained to serve as career law enforcement officers and use grant funds to hire and train them further to make sure they have the skills needed in a specific police department or law enforcement position. This bill makes sure veterans can get hired by local law enforcement agencies when they come out of the military with the very skills that are needed by those police agencies working to keep our communities safe.

I also introduced the Jobs for Our Heroes Act, which was signed into law last January. This streamlines the process by which Active-Duty military reservists and veterans receive commercial driver's licenses.

Finally, another bill I will mention was the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, which made much needed updates for veterans facing school closures while enrolled. It also increased the resources and opportunities for educational assistance for veterans pursuing STEM careers--science, technology, engineering, and math-- something we need more of.

Every piece of legislation I mentioned was signed into law by President Trump and represents our commitment in the Senate to supporting America's veterans. I am proud of the

work we have been able to do together on a bipartisan basis--big and small--to provide America's veterans with the support and resources they need as they transition to civilian life.

There is more I would like to accomplish this Congress to provide greater care and open more doors to veterans. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues to do exactly that.

Tribute to Lieutenant General Paul E. Funk II

Madam President, finally, I want to take just a moment to congratulate one outstanding servicemember from Texas who just received a big promotion. The Senate recently confirmed LTG Paul E. Funk II for his fourth star and for the position of commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

Since 2017, General Funk has served as commanding general of the Third Armored Corps at Ford Hood, where he commands about 100,000 soldiers on five installations across five States. As excited as we were for him to take the helm at Fort Hood, it felt more like a homecoming for General Funk.

As a matter of fact, he was born at Fort Hood and is the son of a previous commander of the Third Corps at Fort Hood. They were the first father-son duo to command the unit and joined a small but impressive group of other fathers and sons who have commanded the same corps.

Throughout his career, General Funk has been deployed five times and led soldiers during Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, twice in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Inherent Resolve. General Funk is highly decorated and has received multiple Distinguished Service Medals, the Defense Superior Service Medal, multiple Legion of Merit awards, and numerous Bronze Stars, among other medals.

I wanted to say a few words to congratulate soon-to-be General Funk and his wife, Dr. Beth Funk, on this incredible accomplishment. He is an outstanding soldier, leader, and patriot, and will do great work at TRADOC. The State of Texas is sad to say farewell, but we wish him the very best as he heads to Virginia for this incredible opportunity and his continued service to our country.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived.

Mr. President, 1 have 12 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Committee on Armed Services

The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Committee on Finance

The Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 10:15 a.m., to conduct a hearing on drug pricing and prescription cost.

Committee on Foreign Relations

The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 3 p.m., to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Jeffrey L. Eberhardt, of Wisconsin, to be Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation, with the rank of Ambassador, and James S. Gilmore, of Virginia, to be U.S. Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, with the rank of Ambassador, both of the Department of State; and Alan R. Swendiman, of North Carolina, to be Deputy Director of the Peace Corps.

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing on the pending nominations and Gordon Hartogensis, of Connecticut, to be Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on immigration.

Committee on the Judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on abortion policy.

Select Committee on Intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a closed hearing.

Select Committee on Intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a closed hearing.

Subcommittee on Airland

The Subcommittee on Airland of the Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 3 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities

The Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities of the Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing.

Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity

Policy

The Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy of the Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, 2019, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

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