Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the Murillo cloture motion be waived.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor a truly remarkable public servant.

For more than 40 years, my friend Mike McGrath has served the people of Montana and the people of the United States of America with distinction. Next month, he will leave active public service, retiring after 16 years as the chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court.

For many, that accomplishment alone would represent a lifetime accomplishment. For Chief Justice McGrath, it was the continuation of a career dedicated to justice and to public service. Raised in Butte, a proud product of Butte Central High and an Air Force veteran, Mike McGrath took his first job in Montana State government in 1977 as an assistant attorney general and after 4 years, was elected to his first of five terms as Lewis and Clark County attorney in 1982.

During this time, as he and his wife Joy raised their family in Helena, Mike showed himself not only to be a skilled prosecutor, but an inspirational mentor to attorneys and young people across Montana.

It was natural then when the State called him to serve in a bigger role by electing him twice to serve as attorney general, where he played a key role in the early war on methamphetamines and worked on many environmental issues including the historic removal of the Milltown Dam at the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers.

Chief Justice McGrath leaves public office having made a real difference in the judicial system in Montana, in public policy, and in his profession. Few can match this record of success, and on behalf of a grateful State, I thank Mike and his family for the sacrifice, commitment, and care that went into every day of this service to our communities.

God bless you, Mike. God bless your family, and God bless America.

Mr. President, I rise to congratulate Kate M. Kaufer, the fearless leader of my defense staff, on more than 20 years of distinguished Federal service and on her well-earned retirement.

For the last 4 years, it has been a privilege of a lifetime to serve as chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee supporting our military and our intelligence community. The subcommittee's unique jurisdiction appropriates more than half of the Nation's discretionary funding: $852 billion in this year's Senate bill. It is almost impossible for any one human being to wrap their arms around such an enormous national security enterprise. But I can think of at least one exception: Kate M. Kaufer.

Born in Germany, Kate began her Federal service as a Presidential Management Intern for the U.S. Marine Corps in June 2003; she joined the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in December 2004. In her 20 years on the subcommittee, she has managed just about every appropriations account and issue in our jurisdiction with an incisive hungry analytical mind. Shipbuilding, satellites, intelligence activities, research, and innovation--you name it, Kate has left her mark. I want to extend my particular thanks to her and her loved ones these last 2 years as my clerk, for the late nights and weekends, the interrupted family vacations, and the weight of leading an indispensable subcommittee.

Kate exemplifies the unique spirit and culture of our subcommittee. Her mantra was always, ``We solve problems.'' In every interaction-- whether with me, my colleagues, or fellow staff--she focused on getting real things done, in the most bipartisan way possible. That is quite an achievement in Washington these days. In short, she was always an upbeat professional of the first order. The Senate will miss her, as will this subcommittee.

In addition, Kate is a tremendous mentor to those around her, teaching defense appropriations courses at Georgetown University, University of North Carolina, and Defense Acquisition University. She somehow also finds the time to be an accomplished triathlete, an avid traveler and hiker, and a passionate soccer fan.

In closing, I wish continued success and happiness to Kate, her partner, and her family as she embarks on her next great adventure.

Mr. President, I am going to start by saying that, being 68 years of age, I oftentimes do things that may not be the smartest, and one of the things I did yesterday was play basketball due to the influence of my bald-headed chief of staff Dylan Laslovich and my legislative director Justin Folsom, who I have no comments for, quite frankly.

(Laughter.)

So if I shed a tear while I am up here today, it won't be because I am emotional; it will be because my back is killing me right now.

(Laughter.)

Look, I have seen a number of these exit speeches. To be honest with you, they remind me of a bit of an obituary. And the truth is, this is the end of this moment in time, this last 18 years that I have spent in the U.S. Senate, but the truth is, there have been other periods of time very similar to that throughout my life.

When I went to school and high school and college, for example, it was about an 18-year period. When that time period was over with, we moved on. My wife Sharla and I cut meat for almost exactly 18 years on the farm--a custom butcher shop. When we shut that down when I got in the State legislature, that period of time in our lives was over. And now my time in the Senate is over.

By the way, every one of those time periods was wrapped around by my family and I--Sharla and I in particular--doing production agriculture on the family farm.

Now I will tell you that I expected to serve 12 years in this body when I got here. I jumped in feet first, but I realized in short order that this is a seniority-driven body and that the longer you are here, the more ability you have to get done for your State and your country, and I very much appreciate the time that Montanans have allowed me to serve as their representative in the U.S. Senate.

In the end, I was able to chair two major committees that have an incredibly large--in fact, the biggest--impact on our U.S. budget: the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. These are the two largest Agencies from a funding standpoint in the U.S. Senate. In those committees in the U.S. Senate, as a whole, I have

been able to do some good things, some long-lasting things for Montana and the United States of America, and I want to visit for a moment about why I was deemed one of the most effective Senators by a nonpartisan group from a policy perspective.

I am the product of my grandparents Fred and Christine Pearson, both who were homesteaders in North Central Montana. My grandfather Fred Pearson passed away when I was 6 years old, so my memories of him are dim, but I do remember him smoking cigars, White Owls and Roi Tans--a family tradition--and I remember him being pretty deaf. In fact, as a young kid--probably 5 years old--I remember riding in his 1953 Chevy pickup with a 235-6 in it and the motor just screaming before he shifted gears because he was deaf, and hearing aids obviously didn't work so good in those years. He also was missing an index finger on his hand. But what I found out since his passing is that he loved to work and was literally outworked by no one. Whether it was pitching bundles into a threshing machine or picking rock, this is a man who knew how to work, and he knew how to work hard.

Then there was my grandmother Christine Pearson, who emigrated from Sweden to this country when she was 16 years of age and never went back to Sweden. She passed when I was 16 years old. My memories are clear of her. She believed in a strong public education. In fact, all three of her daughters were teachers. She talked politics with my mother regularly and always had a copy of The Nation on her end table.

My parents Dave and Helen Tester were socially liberal and fiscally conservative. They were FDR Democrats. They were children of the 1930s Depression. They were both alive when I started my State legislative endeavor, and my mother was alive when I started my endeavors in the U.S. Senate.

David O. Tester, my father, was born in Utah--the son of a miner and a sheepherder. He was raised in the Wasatch Mountains by Salt Lake City. He met my mother after the CCCs brought him to Montana. He was a horseman. He knew horses from the inside out. He knew how they thought, and he knew how to train them. He loved the outdoors, and he said the finest cathedral he ever saw was God's cathedral in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. He had a fiery but forgiving personality. In that vein, he was somewhat like John McCain. In one minute, he would be mad as hell at you, and shortly thereafter, he had forgotten all about it, and he was your friend. He enjoyed life and always said: ``Life ain't worth living if you can't have fun.'' He was a hard-working free spirit.

Helen M. Tester, my mother, was the daughter of homesteaders. She was raised on the farm that Sharla and I operate today. She loved the land, and she loved farming. She, like her dad, would taste the soil and tell you if it was ready to plant. She also loved politics. She absolutely loved John Kennedy and the Kennedy family. In fact, she was here for my first swearing-in and said it was the greatest day of her life. Of course, she was proud of my swearing-in, but she also got to meet Ted and Ethel Kennedy. She was proud of her three boys and took a back seat to no one when it came to being smart and savvy. She also believed strongly in public education.

So what did these ancestors instill in me? They instilled Montana values, like telling the truth, like your word is your bond, like your handshake means something and that you respect people and absolutely never, never sass your elders. But, most importantly, they taught me that hard work creates luck and hard work is essential for success. Finally, from a government/ag perspective, they told me: Don't depend on farm subsidies to cash flow the farm, and don't borrow money. If you don't have the money, don't buy it.

My two older brothers--and I emphasize ``older''--are Dave and Bob. Dave is a retired veterinarian. Bob is a retired chief master sergeant. They have taught me by example to always work to make your community a better place. They both, by the way, are political animals even though, most of the time, they don't care to admit it.

My wife Sharla--47 years my soulmate--has put up with me and kept me grounded, whether it was teaching or processing meat or farming. We took the farm over when I was 21 years of age and Sharla was 19. For the first basically 20 years of our marriage, we spent 180 days a year processing beef and pork. That meant that every other day of the year, our workplace put us across from one another with knives--very sharp knives--in our hands. That taught us to choose our arguments carefully.

(Laughter.)

She has always been my right-hand man or my right-hand person. Sharla has always been there, whether it was working together to seed or to hay or to harvest or even to butcher beef in miserably cold weather, and in the end, she always supported my many public service endeavors, even when she really didn't think it was a good idea.

Our kids, Christine, Shon, and then, later, Melody--I am very proud of what they have done and the causes they have advocated for, Christine in healthcare and Shon in fixing up classic cars and Melody in education. All three of them work every day to make their community a better place. They are not coffee drinkers and bitchers; they are doers.

Then there are my public service influences. I guess I first got started when I was elected student body president in high school. Then, after college, I spent the next 20 years doing community service before I got elected to the State legislature. Those boards included the Soil Conservation Board in Big Sandy; the Big Sandy School Board, which was the hardest public service job I ever had; the Chouteau County Farm Service Agency; the Executive Board of the International Organic Certification Association; and then the Montana State Legislature, which was the funnest job I ever had. If not for term limits, I would probably still endeavor to be a State legislator.

I had my share of successes and failures, but all of these commitments taught me, most importantly, that you have two ears and you have one mouth--act accordingly. You never are right all the time, and you are never wrong all the time, so listen to what people are saying. These public influences taught me how to get stuff done--in other words, how to go to work and be a workhorse, not a showhorse.

Then there were influences outside of politics--of course, our family farm. It didn't take long for me to understand that democracies don't work when you have hungry people. Over the 47 years that Sharla and I have been on the farm, we have witnessed the challenges of consolidation in land and markets and inputs and an increased dependence by farmers on government subsidies.

Public education--the great foundation of our democracy, the great equalizer, the ability for us to have the American dream--taught me a lot both as a student and as a teacher. But it was what the teachers taught me. I learned so much from them. The ones I liked I learned a lot from, and in retrospect, the ones I didn't like I probably learned more from.

If you want to know what is wrong with public education today, you have to look no further than what we are paying our teachers.

Infrastructure--something that we use every day--is the foundation of our economy. For those folks who brought themselves up by their bootstraps, their boots would have no straps without good infrastructure.

Valuing our natural resources, especially water. Water needs to be respected, not abused. The well on Sharla's and my farm is 450-feet deep, and it is saltwater; it is not drinkable. Good water is scarce, so we ought to work to protect it because water is life.

The importance of a strong, accountable military and the folks who serve to deter our enemies. I was a first grader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember the teacher talking about the bomb shelters and where they were and instructing us to get under our desks if we were attacked. As a 6-year-old kid, that kind of stuff stays with you.

Then there was the influence from the folks, the giants I have served with--of course, Robert C. Byrd, who always called me the Mountain Man. Now, Robert C. Byrd was not at the top of his game when I came here, but he was still pretty damned good--I will tell you that--and did some amazing things during the years I served with him.

There was Teddy Kennedy--the perpetual worker, the guy who went to

Montana to campaign for John Kennedy. During the Bucking Horse Sale in Miles City, he walked up to the crow's nest and said: Can you announce that I am here and that John Kennedy is running for President?

The announcer said: The only way we get the name ``Kennedy'' announced here is if you get on the back of one of those horses.

And he did it.

(Laughter.)

Danny Inouye--a true American hero. I can't say enough about this dude. He was the best. And I got to play ``Taps'' at his funeral at the Punchbowl--something I will never forget as long as I am alive.

Johnny Isakson--the Senator from Georgia and the Vets chair: a more quality man you will never ever meet. This guy had my back even when times were tough. He didn't go run to the press and trash me; he had my back, and he explained what was going on. I will be eternally grateful to Johnny Isakson.

Richard Shelby--the character, the Approps chair who understood how to get things done in the U.S. Senate, an amazing guy. When he talked with that southern drawl, it was good that you paid attention because he had information to relay that would be helpful.

Then, finally, Jay Rockefeller--the man who stood at this desk right here, who, the first time I saw him when I got to Washington, DC, walked up to me--a big man--and put his arm around me--I felt like a midget--and he said: You know, Jon, we started out in different spots, but we ended up in the same place.

No truer statement could ever be said, which leads me to some of my accomplishments.

Veterans' mileage reimbursement was the first bill of significance that I got passed, and I got it passed because Robert C. Byrd helped me get it passed, and every disabled veteran in this country got a benefit from that mileage reimbursement that was long overdue to be increased.

Then we did other bills in the veterans space. The John Scott Hannon mental health care bill is absolutely critically important for our veterans, as is the Deborah Sampson women's healthcare bill. The largest growing group of people in our VA is women. Getting that done was important.

Then the last major VA bill--and we had many in between--was the PACT Act. Veterans, veterans, veterans--they all got together, and they made this the highest priority. Some of you can remember the veterans being on the swamp in July--hotter than hot--and we got it passed because of their influence. Democracy worked. It has resulted in 1 million Americans and 35,000 Montanans being screened.

In the area of conservation, you know, I believe in gold-mining, but mining gold on the doorstep of the Yellowstone National Park isn't the place to do it. There was a proposal to do that, and we got it stopped. We also got the Rocky Mountain Front and North Fork Watershed protected for generations, and we got the Land and Water Conservation Fund fully funded--our best conservation tool in this country.

Then, banking, for community banks and credit unions, access to capital for rural America is critically important, and they are the ones that do it. We got the regulations to fit the risk.

In infrastructure, it has been talked about a number of times by a number of people who are no longer going to be in this body next year. But I got to serve with 10 Senators--some I knew pretty well; others I didn't know that well. I can tell you, after those negotiations for that infrastructure bill, which resulted in the largest investment in infrastructure since the year I was born, in the middle of the Eisenhower administration, you wouldn't have known which one of us was a Democrat and which one of us was a Republican.

I remember arguing with Warner and Shaheen and agreeing with Cassidy and Romney. I mean, I am telling you, when we got done, we had turned everything inside out and upside down and ended up with roads and bridges and water and broadband, electric transmission, rails--the list goes on. It was an incredible experience, opportunity, and something that I will cherish after I leave this body.

There was a CHIPS and Science Act. You know, we have been outsourcing jobs forever, but we finally passed a bill to start bringing those jobs back home. That is what the CHIPS and Science Act did. It also resulted in a tech hub for Montana, which will allow our private sector and our university system in Montana to be an important leader when it comes to tech.

For our Native Americans--and we cannot forget about our Native Americans. We have trust responsibilities to them that are exclusive to them. So when it came to water settlements and healthcare and law enforcement, sovereignty, and self-determination, I made it a high priority. Also, we ended up getting the Little Shell Tribe recognized, something that they had worked on for literally generation after generation after generation.

I can't talk enough about the important work. I took credit for all of this. But the Senators sitting on this floor know that the staffs are the ones who really do the work. My DC staff was outstanding, and it is outstanding. I appreciate them a lot.

I also appreciate the work of my State staff who do constituency work. I think they are some of the best in the country, and I appreciate them.

I also want to thank the committee staff--all of the committee staff but especially the Vets Committee staff and the staff on the Defense Subcommittee on Appropriations. These guys are the energy that keeps the wheels of democracy moving.

I ask unanimous consent to have their names printed in the Record.

So you may ask what do I see as my greatest accomplishment. As a U.S. Senator, I see my greatest accomplishment as a citizen legislator, having a real full-time job outside this body, in my case, as a farmer. This is what our forefathers had in mind: trips home every weekend, not only preparing the seedbed and seeding sometimes until 3 in the morning or haying, plowing down peas, getting the equipment ready but also traveling the State, having meetings with my constituents, doing my job as a Senator. I loved every minute of it, most days.

I was asked to go on codels and almost always declined because I went on a codel every weekend back to Montana.

Moving forward, I would ask this body to please focus on public education. It is a great equalizer. It is the foundation for our democracy and our economy.

Continue to work for healthcare that everybody can afford when they need it.

In family farm agriculture, work to put more competition in the marketplace. This is ultimately what will result in less reliance on farm subsidies.

Work for a fair tax code. Work for equity. Stop these damn carve-outs of our Tax Code.

Continue to address the funding challenges in defense, climate, hunger, education, and housing.

Capitalism works if there is competition, so address the consolidation the best you can in agriculture, energy, and finance.

Work to grow the middle class. The problems with income disparity are absolutely real.

Address the defense budget in ways that keep us safe while holding our military and our contractors accountable. China, Russia, Iran, North Korea--those threats are real. They are doing some god-awful stuff, and we need to make sure that we have a military that will deter. Hopefully, we will never have to use it, but if we do, we win. Put some sideboards on AI, maintaining creativity and protecting privacy and freedom while stopping AI's potential to ruin humanity.

And last but certainly not least--and please listen to me. I have just been

through this meat grinder. We need to do some campaign finance reform. Because of our campaign finance system in this country today, we have more division than ever. We are more paralyzed as a body to do policy than we ever have been before. Campaign finance reform would be good for democracy. And let me tell you something, it has to be solved with bipartisan solutions. It needs to happen.

One of the frustrating things that happened was our conservative Supreme Court made the finance rules. Whether it is Citizens United or McCutcheon or whatever it is, I despise these rules. I think they are horrible. I think it allows candidates to stay underground and not go out and talk to people. But I will follow the rules, and I will go by the rules. Then I get criticized by the same people who voted to put those folks on the Supreme Court. Crazy.

Now, for the staffs that we take for granted, I want to thank the folks who are on the rostrum, whether it is the Parliamentarian, the bill clerks, the reading clerk--did I forget anybody? The truth is, the work you guys do is absolutely amazing and sometimes way, way, way too late at night.

The Sergeant at Arms and the employees under you, thank you very much for keeping us safe in this building.

For the policemen out on the street, man, I have never been around a police department that does a job as well as them.

To the cloakrooms, thank you for keeping us on task.

Some things we don't think about, like the wood shop, the metal shop, and the painters. These folks are artisans. They do amazing work. You don't think about it, but these chairs, they are hand-built. Most of the furniture we have in our office is hand-built by some of the best people--woodworkers, metalworkers, the painters--you can imagine.

To the janitors, thank you very much for keeping this place clean. You guys are all the lubricant that keeps this place operating.

Look, I spent 2 days a week for 18 years on airplanes. I was served by United and Delta, so I want to thank them, too.

And the press--my God, the press. Look, your job is to hold us accountable. Do it. If any of these folks don't like it--and occasionally, they won't--just remember that democracy and accountability go hand in hand. You need to be able to do your job, and thank you for doing the job you are doing.

As I close, I would say this: This democracy has resulted in the greatest country that has ever existed. It is because of our forefathers' ability to compromise and think clearly about the challenges ahead and set the rules that would address these challenges. The U.S.A. exists as the greatest country ever to exist because of previous generations of Senators and public officials exhibiting the ability to make sound decisions based on facts and reality, not decisions promoting political power but realistic decisions promoting a strong future for our country and for future generations.

To say that I am worried about this country's ability to maintain the strongest economy and the most powerful military in the world would be an understatement. However, I know that a majority of people who serve in this U.S. Senate today are real legislators who want to do real legislating.

To those Senators, you need to make sure your voices are a majority of this body. If not, this country will change in a way that our children will not thank us for.

God bless you all and tally-ho.

(Applause, Senators rising.)

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, we have a vote coming up real quick, so I am going to be very, very, very brief.

First of all, Mitt, you have been an incredible U.S. Senator. We are losing some good ones this time around, but you are at the top of the list.

My father was born and raised in Utah, the State that you represent. My father and mother were both really good Democrats. But I am going to tell you that they would have loved Mitt Romney. The reason they would have loved Mitt Romney is because Mitt Romney is a realist, not an idealist; somebody who looks at issues and tries to solve them, tries to get to yes, not to get to no, without giving up his principles.

Your time here in the U.S. Senate, the gift that the good Lord gave to me to work with you and eight other folks besides us on that infrastructure bill, is something that I will never forget in this body. And you stood up time and time again and talked realism to all of us.

As you go out, just know that there is not a soul in here that doesn't know you are a man of faith, and I appreciate that because you exhibit that faith. You don't preach. You walk the walk.

I just want to say, as others have said before, because it is true, the U.S. Senate will be diminished because of your absence. And I appreciate the opportunity to get to know you and work with you and get some stuff done.

Mr. President, today I would like to honor the life and service of a distinguished Montanan and veterans advocate: Bob Pavlovich.

Bob is a native son of Butte who graduated from Butte High School in 1947 and enlisted in the Army immediately after. He was deployed in the Pacific at the end of World War II as a member of the 18th Engineer Construction Company, building facilities as part of atomic bomb testing.

Upon returning home after his service, Bob opened the Met Tavern in Butte in 1951, bringing Montanans together for 50 years. He continued his public service in the Montana State House which he was first elected to in 1978 and where he would serve Butte residents for 20 years.

As a Montana legislator, Bob was a fierce advocate for veterans. He led legislation in 1993 to build a veterans nursing home in southwest Montana, but at the request of a legislator from Glendive, Bob amended his legislation to place the veterans nursing home in eastern Montana with one request: that they continue working on a veterans home for southwest Montana.

And Bob kept pushing towards his goal for the next 20 years, working with veterans and officials like myself to ensure that the project had State and Federal funding. Finally, in 2019, the Southwest Montana Veterans Home broke ground and officially opened 2 years later. Bob was a force leading the decades-long fight to build this home, and it was a great privilege of mine to work with him on this project. Through this home, his work for southwest Montana veterans will be felt for generations to come.

Today, it is my honor to commemorate Bob's incredible service to our country as a veteran, public servant, and steadfast champion for veterans. On behalf of myself and a grateful nation, I commend Mr. Pavlovich for his lifetime of serving Montana and extend our deepest appreciation to him and his family. His exemplary service in the Army and career in public service is what makes our country the greatest in the world and Montana the Last Best Place. He is a true patriot who has made Montana proud, and we owe him a deep debt of gratitude.

Madam President, I rise today to recognize an outstanding Montanan who today took home the bronze Olympic medal in women's 100m backstroke.

Katharine Berkoff, a Missoula native and Hellgate High School graduate, has been setting records since high school. She made her name on the national stage at just 17 years old and has already led an impressive career in and out of the pool. Today, she rose to the top among the best of the best when she finished the 100m backstroke in just 57.98 seconds, earning her spot on the Olympic podium.

Katharine, you have made Montana proud. Team USA is lucky to have you.

I join today with my fellow Senators to congratulate you on this remarkable achievement. I have got a feeling you will continue to do great things.

Madam President, today I would like to honor the career and service of a distinguished Montanan and U.S. Navy veteran, Captain Patrick J. Fitzpatrick.

Captain Fitzpatrick has faithfully served our country in the Navy for 33 years, including serving 25 of those years on Active Duty. And after three deployments, two tours overseas, and being stationed across multiple States, Captain Fitzpatrick is retiring from military service and finally returning home to Montana.

A native son of the Treasure State, Captain Fitzpatrick was raised in Missoula. He is the second generation of a three-generation Navy family and worked as a cabinet installer in western Montana before answering the call to duty and enlisting as a SEABEE in the Naval Reserve in 1992. Not long after, he was commissioned as a Reserve nurse corps officer in 1998 and soon transferred to Active Duty in 2000.

Captain Fitzpatrick began his Active-Duty career serving as an emergency/trauma registered nurse at Naval Hospital Bremerton in Washington State. From there, he went on to serve at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Naples, Italy, before attending the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. He then served as an emergency clinical nurse specialist and emergency nurse practitioner at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FL, where he was instrumental in helping implement their flu clinic during the 2009 flu pandemic.

After Jacksonville, Captain Fitzpatrick was deployed to the Joint Forces Role-III hospital at Bastion in Helmand, Afghanistan, where he served as a trauma coordinator for the Joint Theater Trauma System and participated in wartime trauma research. He was then transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital in Guam to serve as the command's transition coordinator. There, he oversaw the final design and outfitting of a multimillion-dollar state-of-the-art replacement hospital, all while ensuring hospital services did not lapse.

Captain Fitzpatrick deployed once again as a surgical care coordinator to the USNS Comfort as part of Continuing Promises 2015, a humanitarian mission to 11 countries in South and Central America. When he returned home, he then served as the associate director of medical services at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Virginia before becoming the executive officer of Naval Health Clinic Cherry Point, NC. In August 2021, he returned to the place his Active-Duty career began, Navy Hospital Bremerton, to serve as the commanding officer and director of the Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command and hospital.

In recognition of his incredible service and career, Captain Fitzpatrick has received the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal,

the Joint Service Achievement Medal, and the Navy Achievement Medal.

It is my honor to commemorate Captain Fitzpatrick's incredible service to our country. Patrick, on behalf of myself and a grateful nation, I thank you and extend our deepest appreciation to you and your family for your enduring service and sacrifices. Your exemplary service in the Navy is what makes our country the greatest in the world and Montana the Last Best Place. You are a true patriot, and after 33 years of service, Montana is proud to welcome you and your family back home to the Treasure State.

Madam President, I rise today to honor the memory of an outstanding Montanan and leader.

Arlyne Reichert was one of Montana's greatest public servants, whose legacy is as a State legislator, a Cascade County Study Commissioner, a trustee on the Great Falls Public Library Board, a founder and president of the Great Falls Chapter of the American Cancer Society, an officer for the Great Falls Public Radio Association, a president of the Great Falls Chapter of the Montana Rhodes Scholarship Committee, a chair of the National Civic League, a member of the Montana Comprehensive Health Council of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, a member of the committee responsible for the magnificent restoration of Montana's State Capitol, and the driving force behind the preservation of what was once called the Tenth Street Bridge.

Her service led her to be a delegate at Montana's Constitutional Convention, playing a pivotal role in the vision of our State's constitution, a document that has continued to embody Montana values and forge the way for the greater good in the Treasure State.

Arlyne's legacy was one of service. That legacy includes many things we can still see today: a constitution, a bridge, a public radio presence, a medical research institution. But her legacy also includes contributions that we can't see, shaping the character that defines Montana politics: fairness, service, and love for State and country.

Arlyne was a true Montanan. She never failed to meet challenges, reach across the aisle, and fight for her community at every turn. Her commitment to Great Falls and the common good left a lasting mark on Montana, and I think we can all learn a thing or two from her.

As the late Montana reporter Chuck Johnson once noted, Arlyne Reichert was a Montana treasure.

I stand today to thank her and to ask that we remember her by taking a moment to honor the heroes in each of our lives.

Mr. President, I appreciate the recognition.

I rise today to talk about an issue that is a disaster. Earlier this week, we saw a water diversion project, that takes water from the St. Mary drainage and puts it in the Milk River, literally blow up. That siphon that blew up had been around for over 100 years. It is critical for Northern Montana. The project is near a town called Babb, MT.

The siphon failure caused thousands of gallons of water to flood the surrounding area, leading to extensive damage to local businesses in that area, and will damage irrigation opportunities for 120,000 acres. What do I mean when I say ``damage irrigation''? They won't have any water to irrigate. It also provides water to four municipalities, two rural water systems, and two Tribes. It is a vital source of water for North Central Montana's water users and to so many farmers who feed the world.

Now, the timing of this could not be worse because there are literally hundreds of farmers and ranchers who are currently depending on the Milk River Project to irrigate their crops. Because of the severity of the situation, I immediately called on the Biden administration to work to ensure that the local community and irrigators have the resources they need to fix this problem and include the Milk River Project in the administration's domestic supplemental package.

That is what the administration can do, but Congress also has an opportunity and actually an obligation to do our job. Congress can unlock critical funding for the Milk River Project once again by passing the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement.

The Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act is a critically important piece of legislation that addresses a wide range of issues. I am not going to get into all the details, but I will say this: When finalizing this settlement, the Fort Belknap Indian Community recognized how important the St. Mary Canal is to all the water users in North Central Montana. Because of the leadership and the vision from Tribal leaders like President Stiffarm, the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement

was included and the St. Mary Canal project was included. Now, if this Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement passes, we can rehabilitate the St. Mary Canal, what exploded earlier this week.

The bipartisan bill passed the Senate earlier this Congress--this Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement--as an amendment to the NDAA, but Speaker Johnson and House Republicans stripped it from the final version.

For nearly a year, the House has failed to act to provide the North Central Montana water users the certainty they need. These folks are farmers that need to feed the country and entire world, but they are also businesses that will go broke without water.

Now is the time to move forward. The siphon failures that occurred earlier this week are a reminder that we must invest in infrastructure to protect water supply and food supply. So, today, the Senate hopefully will once again pass this critical water rights compact. This time, it is a stand-alone bill, not part of the NDAA.

I want to be clear: The House needs to pass this bill. The House needs to put aside the politics and pass this bill. Farmers' operations that have been generational in this region--their livelihoods are on the line. Water for municipalities is on the line. This is no time--no time--to play politics.

The siphon bursts that we saw earlier this week have left Montana families reeling. Congress can do its job. The Senate will do its job. It is time for the House to act responsibly too. Let's get this done so we can repair the Milk River Project and give the water users in North Central Montana the certainty and predictability they need to survive.

Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 1987 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Tester- Daines substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to and the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time.

Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the bill, as amended.

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

Madam President, I rise today to honor the longstanding work of the Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory.

Today, Montana's very own Fort Keogh Livestock Range and Research Laboratory is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Since 1924, Fort Keogh has done critically important and cutting-edge research on a wide range of agricultural areas from beef and cattle to soil and drought, truly making this facility a leader in agriculture across the West. The work being done at Fort Keogh benefits not only our State's family farmers and ranchers, but all of our Nation's rural communities.

As a third-generation Montana farmer, I have seen firsthand the importance of their agricultural research to Montana's producers, and I can say with confidence that the hard work of the folks at Fort Keogh plays a key role in keeping agriculture the No. 1 industry in Montana. Every dollar that is invested in this critical research is returned to the community, and it is research that is done at this facility that informs policy decisions like those we make here.

I am proud to have consistently fought for funding for this facility, and I appreciate all of the people at Fort Keogh that have kept this facility alive for 100 years.

So thank you to all the folks that have played a role in the Fort Keogh Livestock Lab, and congratulations. I look forward to the next 100.

Madam President, I was absent due to a personal matter when the Senate voted on vote No. 177 on confirmation of Angela M. Martinez, of Arizona, to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Arizona. On vote No. 177, had I been present, I would have voted yea.

Madam President, I was absent due to a personal matter when the Senate voted on vote No. 178 on the motion to invoke cloture on Dena M. Coggins to be U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of California. On vote No. 178, had I been present, I would have voted yea.

Mr. President, I was absent due to a personal matter when the Senate voted on vote No. 172 on confirmation of Seth Robert Aframe, of New Hampshire, to be United States Circuit Judge for the First Circuit. Last week, I voted to invoke cloture on Mr. Aframe. On vote No. 172, had I been present, I would have voted yea.

Mr. President, I was absent due to a personal matter when the Senate voted on vote No. 173 on the motion to invoke cloture on Krissa M. Lanham to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona. On vote No. 173, had I been present, I would have voted yea.

Mr. President, I was absent due to a personal matter when the Senate voted on vote No. 174 on confirmation of Krissa M. Lanham to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona. On vote No. 174, had I been present, I would have voted yea.

Mr. President, I was absent due to a personal matter when the Senate voted on vote No. 175 on the motion to invoke cloture on Angela M. Martinez to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Arizona. On vote No. 175, had I been present, I would have voted yea.

Mr. President, I was absent due to a personal matter when the Senate voted on vote No. 176 on passage of S.J. Res. 58, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to ``Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Furnaces''. On vote No. 176, had I been present, I would have voted yea.