Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 673, S. 1514.

I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 676, H.R. 2400.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 681, S. 1055.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from S. 1564 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 227 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1703.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time.

I know of no further debate on the bill.

I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 4307, which was received from the House.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 8352 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following resolutions, which are at the desk: S. Res. 936, S. Res. 937, S. Res. 938, S. Res. 939, S. Res. 940, S. Res. 941, S. Res. 942, S. Res. 943, S. Res. 944, S. Res. 945, S. Res. 946, S. Res. 947, and S. Res. 948.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 866.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned, to then convene for pro forma session only, with no business being conducted, on the following dates and times: Thursday, October 1, at 10:30 a.m.; Monday, October 5, at 4 p.m.; Tuesday, October 6, at 1:30 p.m.; Friday, October 9, at 1:30 p.m.; Tuesday, October 13, at 3:30 p.m.; Thursday, October 15, at 9:30 a.m.; Monday, October 19, at 9 a.m.; Thursday, October 22, at 9 a.m.; Monday, October 26, at 2 p.m.; Thursday, October 29, at 2 p.m.; Monday, November 2, at 4:30 p.m.; and Thursday, November 5, at 10:30 a.m.; further, that when the Senate adjourns on Thursday, November 5, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m. on Monday, November 9; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, morning business be closed, and the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 453, H.R. 2347; further, that notwithstanding rule XXII, at 5:30 p.m., the cloture motion filed during today's session of the Senate ripen.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of the Democratic leader.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pro forma session on October 26 occur at 5:30 p.m., instead of 2 p.m.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 684, H.R. 9340.

Mr. President, we are coming to the end of the first year of the Rural Health Transformation Program. This multiyear initiative created in Republicans' Working Families Tax Cut legislation will invest $50 billion in all 50 States to put rural healthcare providers on a more sustainable footing for the future.

Beyond helping to ensure that Americans in rural areas can access healthcare, it will also ensure that providers are able to leverage technology and innovation to address the challenges unique to rural States.

One year in, this program is off to a promising start, and that is certainly the case in my home State of South Dakota. Just last week, CMS announced a $13 million investment in behavioral and mental health care in South Dakota. This funding will help expand crisis services and build out our State's workforce in behavioral healthcare, and it comes after another announcement in August of funding to modernize technology and strengthen cyber security at rural healthcare providers in South Dakota, an initiative that will not only modernize care in my State but also support future innovation to address the unique needs of rural South Dakota.

When Republicans created the Rural Health Transformation Program, last summer, we didn't take a top-down, Washington-Senate approach. Instead, we designed it to give States the resources and freedom to find solutions to their particular challenges, and I am proud to see South Dakota taking the same approach when it comes to distributing the funding that it will receive.

In the words of South Dakota Secretary of Health Melissa Magstadt, ``the initiatives that we've developed came strictly from the assessments we had, the expert input we garnered, and what citizens themselves said they needed in the community.''

That is exactly how the Rural Health Transformation Program is supposed to work, and it is not just working in South Dakota. As I mentioned, all 50 States are taking advantage of this transformative program.

Ohio is putting $3 million toward expanding offerings at pharmacies in rural communities.

A nearly $5 million award will help a hospital in central Maine update its electric medical records system to integrate it with the wider health system it is part of.

Providers in Kansas will benefit from nearly $17 billion this year to support new technologies and improve transportation options for specialty healthcare.

And Missouri will use $35 million to support 20 rural hospital projects and another $4 million to train its rural EMS workforce.

A hospital in South Carolina will use funding to add an additional operating room and upgrade its technology.

And a nonprofit in Alaska received $16 million to improve primary care offerings and bring in more providers and staff.

This is just some of the funding States are receiving for the first year of this program. As this list suggests, the Rural Health Transformation Program will make an impact in every corner of this country. All 50 States are receiving funding from this program, red States and blue States alike, which makes Senate Democrats' opposition to this program particularly baffling.

Our Democrat colleagues have made their opposition to the Rural Health Transformation Program very clear, with the Democrat leader going so far as to say this last year:

This little fund to help reimburse rural hospitals is just

a fraud.

Let me repeat that.

This little fund to help reimburse rural hospitals is just

a fraud.

That is from the Democrat leader.

Well, perhaps the Democrat leader should check in with his State's Governor, who said of a recent $76 million investment from this program:

These investments will bring rural hospitals, health

centers and community providers together to strengthen

regional health care networks and make it easier for New

Yorkers to get the care they need closer to home.

That is from New York's Governor.

Let me repeat that:

. . . and make it easier for New Yorkers to get the care

they need closer to home.

Well, that doesn't sound like fraud to me. But whether this would help the people in rural parts of their States didn't seem to matter to Washington Democrats. In fact, Senate Democrats voted more than half a dozen times, last year, to repeal--repeal--the Rural Health Transformation Program.

That is right.

Around this time last year, during Democrats' record-long government shutdown, Senate Democrats were working to end this program. I am curious if the Democrat leader would like to claw back the $212 million that rural healthcare providers in New York are going to receive from this program this year.

Should already-strapped rural hospitals not spend this money because Democrats are going to take it back the next time they have the power to do so? Let's hope it never comes to that.

The Rural Health Transformation Program is helping Americans in rural areas across this country. It is helping South Dakota, Ohio, Idaho, Kansas, Rhode Island, Alaska, and everywhere in between. And I am proud that Republicans are delivering for rural Americans.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.