Floor Statements

Mr. President, I had the feeling at one point in time tonight that we were very, very close to an agreement. I think, as we look around this body, we see folks on both sides of the aisle who want to come to an agreement and will work hard for an agreement.

It is a fact that we need a better budget. We need a budget that works for America. We need a budget that goes to the end of the fiscal year, which isn't that long from now, by the way--only the end of September. It is a fact that we need CHIP funding and money for our community health centers, certainly for our military, and money for the northern and southern borders and for opioids and the list goes on.

The majority leader has said that they have been working on a budget settlement for weeks. I think most of us, if not all of us, are willing to stay here and work until this work gets done. I am certainly willing to.

This is supposed to be the most deliberative body in the world. I know that some will say there is just not enough time, but there is. I have watched this body work very quickly when necessary. I think a government shutdown would require that.

We have pushed this budget off now for 112 days. That is why I am proposing a 3-day continuing resolution so we can work together to come to a conclusion to do what the American people want; that is, have a budget that works until the end of the fiscal year that funds critical programs for our military and domestic.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 36, H.R. 1301; that the amendment at the desk that would provide for a continuing resolution to fund the government through Monday, January 22, 2018, be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the remarks I gave at the medal presentation to Joseph William Novotny's family on January 13. 2018, in Glendive, MT.

Mr. President, I was necessarily absent due to a flight cancellation out of my control when the Senate voted on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 370.

On this vote, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 370.

Mr. President, I thank Senator Isakson for his words. I thank the Presiding Officer, who is currently sitting in the chair, for his work on the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

I want to talk a little bit about Chairman Isakson before I talk about the Care Act. Over the last year, I have been able to work with a great man from Georgia who has done great work. When we started out, we talked about doing stuff we could agree upon and set the stuff we disagree upon apart, and it has ended up where we have agreed on a lot of stuff, and we have been able to get a lot of stuff done.

I would just say, in a body that is full of impasse over this last year, Chairman Isakson has been a great guy to work with because the fact is, we have set aside the political labels, and we have worked for our veterans in that committee. It is not only Johnny and myself, but members on both sides of the aisle in that committee have worked very well together and communicated so very well to make sure we could take care of the needs of our veterans across this country, whether it was in rural America or whether it was in urban America, but our work is not done.

The Care Act Chairman Isakson talked about is a very important piece of legislation. It is a bipartisan compromise. It is a bill we all negotiated on, so not everybody got everything. There are always things in it that you wish would be better, regardless of where you are in the spectrum, but this program does a lot of good things for our veterans.

It, first of all, will eliminate the Veterans First Program and replace it with one that is much easier for veterans to navigate in a system that puts in place where the veterans can seek care. It puts that system in the hands of a veteran and their doctor.

This is a bill that passed out of committee 14 to 1, and it has 26 veterans service organizations, representing millions of veterans who have endorsed this bill. It is a good bill.

I wish the Veterans' Administration, which we worked so closely with on this bill, would come out and forcefully endorse it. I think that would help a lot.

What it does is it establishes a Veterans Community Care Program. It merges seven VA community care programs into one program, with one set of rules for both providers and the veterans. It puts the decision of where to seek care in the hands of the veteran and their doctor. No more one-size-fits-all eligibility.

If a local VA doesn't have the equipment for a certain test and there is not another VA locally that can provide that test, the vet can go to the community doc. If the roads to another VA facility are closed for snow, veterans could go to their local doctor rather than waiting for the roads to clear, which is a big issue in rural America.

If a nearer VA clinic has a type of doc a vet needs to see, but there is a community doc closer and the vet has a bad back, that vet can see that doc in that community, as an example. It offers convenient, walk- in care so vets can get care closer to home for minor illnesses.

Third-party administrators--also known as government contractors-- will have a smaller role at the local level, and the local VA will have the flexibility of when to use them for scheduling so what makes more sense for the local VA will not be decided by bureaucrats in Washington.

The second thing it does is it improves accountability and transparency of VA's spending. It requires the VA to give Congress more notice when funding levels of programs that impact veterans are running low. It forces the VA to put together a businesslike plan about how it is going to spend taxpayer dollars, and it gives Congress more visibility in the VA contracts. It requires accountability at the medical center, regional, and the Federal levels. If the clinic isn't brought back up to snuff, we know who has failed to do their job.

I could give you a timeline on what has been going on in the last 3 years with the Choice Program--not having enough money, having more than enough money, not having enough money. That will end when we pass this bill. Congress will be able to have the oversight over the Community Care Program that it needs.

It will give long-term certainty to our veterans because a lack of long-term certainty is devastating to those veterans, and it will give those who have served the consistency and the certainty they need. No more bandaids. We need a cure.

The third thing it does is it improves VA resources in healthcare. Veterans tell me, time and time again, once they get through the door, they love the care the VA gives them. I have been told by a number of veterans that VA has saved their lives. The problem has always been getting through the door, and the biggest reason for those delays to get through that door is workforce shortages.

So our bill incentivizes medical staff to work in rural and underserved areas and Tribal VA facilities. It deploys more mobile teams to provide additional care. It removes the barriers for veterans to access telemedicine, including mental health care, closer to home. It brings more nurses and heart and lung specialists to work at the VA and clinical staff to work at vet centers.

The answer to the VA is not privatization. It is to build the VA and use the private sector to fill in the gaps that the VA cannot provide. That is what this bill does.

It also expands the VA caregiver program to veterans of all areas and their caregivers. Right now, the VA caregiver program only applies to post-9/11 veterans. We have a whole lot of veterans--especially the folks from the Vietnam war--who are getting a lot older, and this caregiver program expansion to the veterans before 9/11 is absolutely critical.

So the bottom line is this: We have worked well on the committee. We have put out a good bill. We put out a bill that works for the taxpayer and, most importantly, for the veterans.

This bill is a long-term solution. We don't need another bandaid fix. The Care Act is our long-term solution. It provides the VA what it needs to hire staff for top-notch care. It provides an integrated network of community providers to fill in the gaps for that care.

It is a balance between those two, and the veterans win.

The VSOs are on board. They were part of the discussion on this bill. We talked to the VA extensively to make sure this bill would work for the VA, and they agreed.

As I said earlier, I would love to have the VA come out forcefully for this bill. I think it would help get it passed in this body.

One thing in closing. We are going to pass a temporary stopgap measure for our budget, and VA Choice funding will probably be a part of it. I will tell my colleagues that this is the last bandaid that I am willing to put on the Choice Program. We need a long-term solution, and if we don't get that long-term solution, we are not doing right by our veterans in this country.

With that, I would again like to thank Chairman Isakson for his leadership and for his good work on the VA Committee. When we come back here in 2018, hopefully we can get this bill passed early in the session because it is the right thing to do for our veterans.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, tonight, once again, Congress is proving to the American people that Washington is broken. This bill is not a product of deliberation of the world's most deliberative body. It is a not a product of meaningful public hearings. It is not a product of compromise or months of hard work among multiple committees. It is certainly not the product of a grand legislative idea that was desperately needed to meet the demands of the public. The bill in front of us is the product of dysfunction, partisanship, and political desperation.

Thirty years ago, the Senate passed President Reagan's tax reform 97 to 3. After the conference committee had worked it over, it passed overwhelmingly with 74 votes. That could have been the case today, but there was never an attempt to have an honest debate about this bill, and there was no attempt to get bipartisan buy-in. I reached out to lend my perspective and Montana's perspective--the perspective of rural America--but my offer fell on deaf ears, and I never heard back.

I asked the President to work with me. I raised my concerns early, and they have never made an attempt to address those concerns. There was no effort to reach across the aisle and build consensus for this bill.

Once again, the leadership of this body chose to draw a line in the sand. They chose to empower the fringes and leave those in the middle out in the cold. As a result, the first major tax bill in Congress in a generation will likely pass with the support of only one party. That is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

As for me, I wanted a tax bill that would ensure that hard-working Montana families and businesses had a say in this process. I wanted to construct a bipartisan bill that provided folks with tax relief without adding to the debt. I wanted to simplify the Tax Code without gutting provisions that would help build our middle class. Today, we are stuck with this final bill that does none of those things, and our options are yes or no.

There are some things in this bill that are good--three, to be exact. This bill keeps in place important medical deductions that benefit seniors and help them pay for care as they age. It expands the child tax credit to provide a boost to families across the country. It lowers income tax brackets to keep a few extra bucks in your pocket each year. But when we look at the bill, we have to weigh the good and the bad.

Speaking of those individual tax cuts--the ones I just talked about a few seconds ago--well, they are only temporary. They are short-term promises that will disappear with the wind. Estimates show that more than 80 percent of this bill's benefits will go to the top 1 percent; 60 percent will go to the top one-tenth of 1 percent of our population. In fact, hard-working families will actually see a tax hike within 10 years.

But for this country's biggest corporations, this bill makes their tax cuts permanent. So at the same time that taxes start rising for teachers and farmers and electricians and nurses

and working folks, large corporations and big businesses will still be reaping the benefits from the giveaways in this piece of legislation. On top of huge benefits, this bill makes no attempt to ensure that these corporations will use the savings to create more good-paying jobs.

This bill also destroys the foundation of our healthcare system. Because of this bill, 13 million Americans will become uninsured, and everyone else's premiums will go up by about 10 percent. It will be more expensive to see your doctor. It will be harder for rural hospitals and clinics to keep their doors open. More folks will end up in emergency rooms--the most expensive medical treatment. They will be sicker, their treatment will be more expensive, and the rest of us will be forced to pay for it.

The bad list doesn't stop there. It forces a $25 billion cut to Medicare. This bill pushes millions of people out of itemizing their deductions--reducing incentives to buy a home or donate to a charity. It caps State and local income tax deductions, and this targets middle- class families. It changes the way we adjust tax brackets for inflation, which will force future generations to play catchup. It will force State budgets into the red and put critical healthcare, education, and law enforcement initiatives on the chopping block. It opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, but that is not the worst thing about this bill. The worst thing about this bill is it saddles our kids and grandkids with more crushing debt.

In 2008 and 2009, this country was going through one of the worst economic crises since the 1930s. The debt was increased in that period of time. People often say that the government needs to be run like a business. Well, if you have a business, and income is not coming in, you have to borrow some money. That is what happened. With the economic downturn, the money wasn't coming in, so our debt went up. On the other side, if you are in business and you are making a few bucks and times are better--and they are good--you pay that debt down. Well, this country is in a lot better shape now than it was in 2008 and 2009. We should be paying that debt down at this moment in time, not adding $1.5 trillion to it.

I am going to tell you, as sure as I am standing here today, within the first quarter of 2018, there will be folks standing up on the other side of the aisle saying that we need to cut Medicare, we need to cut Social Security, and we need to take away subsidies for everyone, whether they be farmers, mothers, young families, the disabled, or veterans. Money that is used to keep our public lands in public hands, dollars that are used to make education more affordable, dollars for healthcare overall--they will tell us that we simply cannot afford them because our debt is so high. But today we are going to tack on $1.5 trillion for the sake of giving the richest of the rich a tax benefit and middle-class families a temporary benefit that will go away over the next 10 years.

How they have so quickly forgotten the fiscal restraint that we talked about when Democrats controlled this body. Our national debt is already above $20 trillion. This is more than $64,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country. The path we are on is truly unsustainable.

It is not the first time we have been down this road. Bush tax cuts were sold to the American people, and we were told that they would pay for themselves. Guess what. Today those Bush tax cuts are directly responsible for one-third of that $20 trillion debt. We know this to be true. Yet here we are, about to swipe the credit card one more time for over $1.5 trillion--to put our kids and our grandkids on the hook to pay it back while we get temporary relief and the large corporations get permanent relief.

For those of us who were ignored during this process, this is what we are stuck with. There are some good things but a whole bunch of bad things--more than I can count on my hands. We can't celebrate the good things and ignore the bad. Just because we ignore it doesn't mean that it is not going to come true.

This bill will not strengthen the middle class. It will not improve our schools. It will not lower the cost of healthcare.

Let's call it what it is. It is a tax giveaway to the wealthy masked as tax reform, and those who vote yes on this bill will do so at the expense of our kids and our grandkids. They will be paying this tab long after we are gone. What is ironic about this is that most of the people who serve in this body say: I am here to make sure the next generation has an opportunity. We are taking away their opportunity with this bill. It will limit their opportunity. It will cap their potential--all for what? I am not really sure because when I go back to Montana every weekend, folks aren't stopping me on the streets and telling me that the corporations and the wealthy need a tax giveaway. What they do tell me is this: We need to make sure programs like CHIP are around. We need to make sure Medicare and Social Security are there for future generations. We need to protect our public lands. We need to pass a farm bill that works. We need to invest in infrastructure. Folks, this tax bill takes away all of that potential.

We have been at war for 16 or 17 years. The military needs rebuilding. It makes it much tougher. Everyone knows what is going on in North Korea. The potential to have to spend a bunch of money there is real. Infrastructure--whether it is broadband, highways, bridges, or water systems--is in dire need of help.

The fact is, the tracks are greased; this bill is going to pass. Rather than working on the pressing issues around here, the next excuse is going to be entitlement reform, which means we are going to do our level best, in the name of the debt, to gut Medicare and Social Security. Who knows what else will be put on the chopping block to be ripped away from working families?

This bill ties our hands and prevents us from making the kinds of investments we need to build a strong middle class, which has been the envy of the world, and it puts our most vulnerable at risk.

I am going to vote no on this bill because it is a step backward. It raises the debt. It does nothing to solve the income inequality in this country, and it pushes the American dream further out of reach.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I want to go back to what this motion does. This is to remand the bill back to the Finance Committee so it can come back without adding nearly $1.5 trillion to the national debt--maybe a heck of a lot more than that.

I am in business too. I will tell you that if I ran my business and did the things in my business that this bill is doing, I would go out of business. Why? Because my kids wouldn't be able to afford to stay farming because I would have acquired too much debt. That is why this is so important. It is why I applaud Senator King for bringing this motion forward.

I sat on this floor, and I listened to folks talk about the threat from North Korea, which is absolutely real. The money it is going to take to deal with that threat is not going to be cheap.

I come to the floor, and I listen to people talk about the national security interests of this country and how there are people who want to do bad things to our country. We have to keep our country safe, but it comes with a cost.

I heard Senator King talk earlier today about rebuilding our military. We have been at war for 16 years, and there is a cost it is going to take to rebuild our military. All of those things take money. They are expenses of what we have to do here to keep this country secure.

It is absolutely incredible to me that we have people walk to the floor and talk about a 38-percent effective rate. Everybody on this floor that is in business knows that is not the rate that corporations pay in this country. By the time you do your deductions, your effective rate is far less than that. In fact, some people feel it is about 20 percent.

But nonetheless, I will agree--I think both sides of the aisle can agree--that we need to do tax reform. We need to modernize our code. It hasn't been done in 30 years, but it can't be done in a way that adds $1.5 trillion on to our kids.

Right now, we have a $20 trillion debt. There is no doubt about that. That is $63,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country. When I sat in that chair that the Presiding Officer is sitting in now, when I first got elected some 11 years ago, I heard folks from that side of the aisle talk about the debt every single day. After the 2014 election, it has been crickets on that side of the aisle when it comes to the debt. The debt is still real.

When we had the biggest meltdown in this country since the Dirty Thirties, we had to make an investment into this country. I had people in the construction business in my office with tears in their eyes saying: There is no work in the private sector. You have to do something to help stimulate this economy or things are going to go to heck.

Times were tough. The debt increased. We had to get the economy turned around.

Now, times are good. For all the folks who are in business--or at least claim that they are in business--in good times, what do you do? You pay down your debt. You save. You make a rainy day fund because you know it is not always going to be like this.

Instead, in this body, we say times are good, but we are going to add another $1.5 trillion on the debt. Just do it. Our kids can worry about it. Hell, we will be dead and gone.

That is why this motion is so critically important--so we can send it back to finance; so that there can be a true bipartisan discussion in committee about what needs to happen with this bill and to have it come back so it is revenue neutral. We can do that. We can help push the economy forward, and we can help have a bright future for our kids, but we are not going to do it with this bill. We are not going to do it with a partisan bill like this is right now.

So I want to commend Senator King for pushing this motion forward to remand this bill back to the Finance Committee so that they can bring it back in a revenue-neutral position. We can cut taxes. We can broaden that base without adding to the debt, and we need to do it. We need to do it for our kids--the same reason that most of us claim we are here. We are here to make sure we have a better future for our kids and our grandkids. Let's do it with this bill. Let's walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I have long supported efforts to reform the Tax Code--tax reform that gives a break to working-class Americans and small businesses so that they can create more jobs and keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets, tax reform that provides permanent, long-term certainty for job-creating businesses and middle- class families so that they can plan for the future, and tax reform that doesn't burden future generations with loads of debt. Unfortunately, the bill that we are going to vote on this week is not tax reform.

The majority and the administration can call this proposal whatever they want, but from where I come from, which is north central Montana, we call it how we see it. This is a tax giveaway to the wealthy--a tax giveaway that will cut taxes for the wealthiest families while raising taxes on nearly 14 million middle-class Americans. This tax giveaway benefits wealthy out-of-staters at the expense of hard-working Montanans. In fact, folks making less than $30,000 a year will see a tax hike in 2019, and folks making less than $40,000 will see a tax hike in 2021. That pattern continues climbing until every individual will see a tax hike in 2025.

Why is this important?

We haven't done tax reform in 30 years, and 2025 will be here tomorrow. A tax break for the wealthiest will continue not only to add to our debt, but it will continue to take money out of the pockets of hard-working middle-class families. All the while, the large corporations will enjoy permanent tax giveaways.

It doesn't have to be like this, but the majority has chosen, once again, to write a bad bill in secret--no bipartisanship, no input from working families, no regard for how this bill is going to impact folks down the road. This tax giveaway to the wealthy reeks of the swamp, and it represents everything that folks hate about Washington, DC.

So why are we rushing this process?

During the Reagan tax cuts in the eighties, the House and the Senate combined to hold over 20 committee hearings before bringing a bill to the floor. Why was there no public input in this process today? Why aren't we waiting for final estimates from the Joint Tax Committee to let us know what the impacts will be? Why don't we know what the long- term impacts--past the first 10 years--are going to be? Why are we voting before we have analysis on what happens to those folks 12, 14, 16 years from now? Why are we voting on a bill before we have even had time to read it?

There is an appetite in this Senate for good tax reform--a tax bill that will cut taxes for middle-class families and small businesses and will not add to the debt, a bill that will actually drive our economy. I don't understand why folks in this body are rushing to pass this tax giveaway that is going to hurt the folks who need a tax cut the most. This is not the first time we have been down this road. Next year, nearly one-third of our national debt will be a direct result of the Bush tax cuts--over $5.6 trillion. Yet here we are again, a decade later, and we are about to make the same mistake.

Most folks who serve in this body will say that they came here to provide more opportunities for the next generation, that they came here to work on bills and pass bills that will help our kids and our grandkids succeed. I am here to tell you that actions speak louder than words. This bill saddles our kids and our grandkids with even more crushing debt by adding, at a minimum, $1.4 trillion to the debt. Why? It is so that we can give tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations and so that some politicians can claim a political victory. If you vote for this bill, you are putting $1.4 trillion on the credit card that our kids and our grandkids are going to be forced to pay. That is a fact. Where are the deficit hawks? Where have they flown? My, how times have changed.

We can do better than this. Our kids and our grandkids deserve better than this. Hard-working families in this country deserve better than this. We need to do the right thing and pull this bill from the floor and work together in a truly bipartisan way to pass real tax reform-- get public input, get support from both sides of the aisle--and get a bill that Democrats, Republicans, and, as far as that goes, Independents can support.

The truth is apparent. The other side of the aisle doesn't want to be bothered by differences of opinion or public input, so we end up with a poorly written bill that doesn't do what it is advertised to do. Let's help businesses create more jobs and raise wages, and let's make sure that hard-working folks can keep more of their money in their pockets. That is the kind of tax reform that America deserves. Instead, we are stuck with a partisan gimmick that makes the rich richer while the rest of us pay the bills.

I am voting no on this bill, and I am voting no for Montana's kids and grandkids. I encourage my colleagues to take a look at this bill, by the way, that we don't even have yet. Take a look at it, what is there, and vote no to avoid, at a minimum, a trillion and a half dollars being added to our national debt.

When I go home, one of the things that folks ask of me is to work together--to work together and find bipartisan solutions. Don't just cast off those on the other side as being wrong. Listen to them. Try to find that middle ground. That hasn't happened here with this bill. Anything but that has happened. We have a bill that has been crafted by one party in secret and has been put in front of us, and they have said: Here. Take it or leave it. We don't even know the impacts of this bill, and they don't know the impacts of this bill. Once this passes, it will be too late. This is the most deliberative body in the world. We ought to do a little deliberating and get some public input and find bipartisan support and move forward with a bill that works for America.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I was necessarily absent due to a family funeral for the votes on confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 407 and the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 159.

On vote No. 268, had I been present, I would have voted nay on the confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 407.

On vote No. 269, had I been present, I would have voted yea on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 159.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor the prisoners of war and those missing in action and commemorate the empty chair that was placed in Emancipation Hall this Veterans Day week.

I want to thank Montana veteran Ed Saunders for contributing his thoughts to today's Congressional Record:

The greatest tragedy befalling an American serviceman or

woman is not that they may be killed or left missing-in-

action: that is the greatest sacrifice on the altar of

freedom.

The greatest tragedy is that America's finest in uniform

may be forgotten . . . forgotten in life and in forgotten in

death by the very same nation whose constitution, freedoms,

and way of life, they defend.

The United States of America cannot and must not leave any

serviceman or woman behind in body, in spirit, or in memory.

If we cannot bring home the revered mortal remains of those

who died, who are missing, or who remain unaccounted for,

then we have an enduring responsibility to ensure their

memory remains forever etched in these hallowed halls.

This chair is more than a symbol. It is a memory of their service and sacrifice for this great Nation. It is a lasting reminder that we have an obligation to fulfill our promise to our Nation's veterans and their families when they return from war--and when they tragically don't.

We, as a nation, must redouble our commitment to that cause and work relentlessly every day toward fulfilling that promise.

I want to thank every servicemember in attendance, your families, the families of the fallen and missing in action, and those who remember them.

Thank you, and God Bless America.

Mr. President, I was necessarily absent due to a family funeral for the votes on confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 384 and the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 407.

On vote No. 266, had I been present, I would have voted nay on the confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 384.

On vote No. 267, had I been present, I would have voted nay on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 407.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor the hundreds of Montana women who honorably served our country during World War I.

They braved the German u-boats to serve on the frontlines. Women cared for the wounded and connected calls to the battlefield offices of GEN John Pershing. Without them, the American forces serving in Europe could have faced catastrophe. Without them, the course of the war could have been much different.

We shouldn't be surprised. Montana women have been breaking down barriers for generations.

Merle Egan Anderson pressured the U.S. Government for 60 years to get the women who worked the Army's telephone switchboards the status of ``veteran.'' Montanans like Merle Egan Anderson and Lena Roy volunteered to be a part of the Army Signal Corps without promise of pay, benefits, or recognition of their service. The Signal Corps women, nicknamed the ``Hello Girls,'' proved their worth immediately. Merle, Lena, and their peers' speed and precision allowed officers to communicate across battlefields, enemy lines, and war-torn terrain. They served at the frontlines and quickly garnered the respect of the men with whom they served. They braved enemy fire and suffered casualties among their ranks. Despite their outstanding service, they returned to an indifferent government who denied them veteran status, including healthcare and burial rights.

Merle Egan Anderson took on the government, and 60 years later, she won. When the government granted the ``Hello Girls'' veteran status, only 18 of the 223 women were still alive.

Nearly 200 Montana nurses entered military service, 86 of whom braved enemy submarine-patrolled waters to care for troops on the frontline. They came from 56 cities, towns, and forgotten railroad stops across the Big Sky State.

Nurses Elizabeth Sandelius from Cokedale and Harriett O'Day from Billings were cited for heroism under fire for their service in France. Cora Craig from Glasgow, MT, received a Silver Medal from the King of Siam for her care of soldiers from present-day Thailand. Eula Butzerin braved the carnage of post-war France to find the battlefield grave of her brother Roy, marked only with a stick and his dog tags.

Thirteen Montana women enlisted in the Navy and served stateside. Gertrude Zerr from Chinook achieved the rank of chief yeoman, directing fellow yeoman in the naval headquarters.

During the war, these women proved to their fellow Americans and the world that women were an asset in battle. Their service defied gender stereotypes and helped changed the tide of public opinion that culminated in the 19th Amendment of our Constitution, granting women the right to vote at long last. They helped pave the way for women to take on combat roles in World War II and beyond.

After the war, Montana's World War I women veterans faded into history. Their service remains largely unknown. These women gave voice and power to a nation of women. Their service and actions helped change the

course of history. These strong Montana women were followed by more strong Montana women who have carried the fighting torch of equality for generations.

It is my honor to present this legacy today and my privilege to represent the past and present women of Montana.

On behalf of a grateful nation, I commend Montana's women veterans of

Mr. President, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria have left a path of destruction along the Texas gulf coast, Florida, and Puerto Rico. The damage caused by these storms will be felt for many years to come.

This emergency supplemental is another step forward to recovery for the millions of Americans who call these places home. But I want to remind my colleagues that there is still an ongoing natural disaster in the West that is leaving families displaced, costing taxpayers billions of dollars, destroying structures, and taking human lives.

As of today, 5,000 firefighters are still battling more than a quarter of a million acres of wildfires burning across the West.

In my home State of Montana, despite an early snowfall, families this last weekend in Musselshell County were forced to evacuate after a fire ripped through a dry landscape and put their homes and livelihoods at risk.

In California, more than 8,000 structures have been lost to wildfires this year alone, and with temperatures expected to be in the 90s all week, there doesn't seem to be any end in sight.

Across the country, in total, fires have burned nearly 9 million acres--significantly more than the yearly average--and 1.2 million of those acres are in Montana. These fires have cost the taxpayers nearly $3 billion to date.

Quite frankly, these wildfires have been devastating in Montana and in States across the West. It is critically important that we take quick action to mitigate the damage caused by these fires and get communities back on their feet.

The funds in this emergency package will reimburse the Forest Service for the funds borrowed to fight wildfires. When the Forest Service has to borrow from its nonfire accounts to cover firefighting on the ground, we lose out on critical maintenance, mitigation, and restoration work. This funding will pay back those accounts and support the work needed to recover after a recordbreaking fire season. This funding can help restore the trails and roads that were lost in fires, as well as keep our fishing streams clean and clear from runoff this spring. It will get folks back in the woods, thinning, cutting, and removing debris. It can provide the Forest Service with the resources to quickly salvage the dead and dying trees that are still usable and get that timber into our local mills.

Unfortunately, though, this bill fails to provide a long-term budget fix to pay to fight wildfires. Fire seasons are getting longer and more intense, which is quickly transforming the Forest Service from a forest management agency into a forest firefighting agency.

Folks, our climate is changing. History is telling us that our fire seasons are becoming more intense and they are becoming longer. Longer fire seasons will mean more borrowing from the Forest Service to fight these wildfires. We need a long-term fix.

Fires are burning a hole through the Forest Service budget, which too often leaves our forests unmanaged and at further risk for more catastrophic fires in the future. Money that should be used to curb the fire risks, maintain and improve forest health, research and develop better forest policies, and fund the work that must get done to make our forests more resilient is borrowed to fight wildfires. We must change the way we are paying for fighting wildfires.

The bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act is one step toward that fix. We must keep pressing forward to get this bill signed into law. Then we need to adjust the disaster budget cap to make sure this is truly a long-term fix.

As I said, this bill doesn't contain all of the answers we need to reduce wildfires, but it is no doubt a step in the right direction. It lets the Forest Service treat wildfires just like other natural disasters. This means more reliable support for forest management projects and emergency funding for catastrophic wildfire seasons.

These important wildfire and forest resources, combined with providing the necessary FEMA, flood insurance, and food assistance to those displaced by hurricanes, will take us a major step forward after a series of devastating natural disasters. But I want to underscore that we aren't at the finish line yet, and I will work with Chairman Boozman on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee to ensure that all Montanans and all Americans impacted by natural disasters aren't left waiting for Congress to act.

Folks from both parties are going to have to work together to ensure that every community impacted by hurricanes, floods, and fires will have the resources to recover and turn the page. Americans directly impacted by these natural disasters continue to wake up each morning displaced, hungry, without power, and surrounded by destruction. Congress must remain diligent and ensure these communities have the support that they need and that they deserve.

Finally, I will just say this: We are here today talking about the disaster funding bill. We are talking about the disaster funding bill because disasters are becoming more and more common. It is not going to change. We need to address the root cause of this, which is an ever- changing climate. Until we do, we are going to continue to see taxpayer dollars go out the door for disasters year after year.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor two titans of military and community service, who will be laid to rest forever in Arlington National Cemetery.

Frederick Hollister Campbell and Amy Strohm Campbell were, together, a force to be reckoned with.

Fred served the United States in the Marine Corps during World War II, the Korean war and the Vietnam war--one of only 46,000 Americans to fight in three wars. Fred was a member of the American Legion Post 27 in Missoula, MT.

Amy earned a master's degree and began a teaching career during a time when few women did either. She became active in the Navy-Marine Corps Wives, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Philanthropic Educational Organization and was a life member of both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Auxiliaries.

At the Battle of Iwo Jima, Fred dug trenches while taking heavy Japanese fire from the mountains above. His bravery saved the lives of 250 of his fellow marines and earned him the Navy Commendation Medal. He fought in the Battle of Okinawa and was a part of the reconstruction effort in Japan after the war ended. Fred picked up the language and enjoyed friendships with the locals, spurred on by a shared love of stamp collecting.

During law school, Fred was selected for officer's candidate school. His transition from private to officer earned him the informal title of a mustang in military circles. Fred reenlisted for Active Duty to serve in the Korean war.

It was during this period of service that he met Amy on a blind date at a square dance.

They danced through life together for 61 years. The life they built brought them a treasured daughter, Susan, and many trips to Europe and one voyage through the Panama Canal.

Fred continued his career as an attorney for the Marine Corps, and his service culminated with a third enlistment during which he served in Vietnam. He retired from the U.S. Marines as a lieutenant colonel after 25 years, 2 months, and 17 days. Amy and Susan were able to fill a large shadowbox of Fred's medals as a gift for his 85th birthday.

Fred and Amy didn't slow down once they hit retirement. Fred earned a Ph.D. in American history at the age of 73. He taught at Colorado College and the University of Colorado for 13 years. Amy continued her involvement in service and military organizations in Colorado, Montana, and California.

Fred and Amy enriched the lives of friends, family, and strangers alike. Now, they will rest forever in Arlington near the statue commemorating the battle of Iwo Jima, where Fred proved his mettle by saving 250 fellow marines' lives 72 years ago.

It is my honor to present their story today.

On behalf of a grateful nation, I commend Lt. Col. Frederick Hollister Campbell and Amy Strohm Campbell for their lives of service to our Nation.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor George James Wright, a resident of Laurel, MT, and a veteran of the Second World War.

George, I would like to thank you and your family on behalf of Montana and the United States of America for your service to our Nation in times of war.

George was born on June 14, 1923, in Hinsdale, MT.

Like many Montanans from Valley County, he made a living off the land farming and ranching. He worked hard alongside his older brother, where he remembers driving the tractor and looking up into the big blue Montana sky.

Also, like many Montanans, he did not back down from answering the call to serve his Nation when we needed him most.

In 1943, George enlisted in the Army, making him the first in his family to serve in the military.

He spent over 2 years fighting in the jungles and on the beaches of the Philippines and New Guinea as a proud member of the 32nd Infantry Division.

He braved the mud. He braved the rain. He braved the bugs, and he braved the bullets.

He saw the unimaginable, as Japanese kamikaze pilots slammed their airplanes into American ships.

He did the unbelievable, driving Army bulldozers into the unknown, making sure our soldiers got the supplies and food they desperately needed.

He served our Nation with bravery, courage, and dignity, working his way up to the rank of T5.

After America's victory, George came home, and returned to those same Montana fields and skies.

After seeing the war's destruction firsthand, he knew that the world needed to be rebuilt, and he knew he was the person for the job. He took what he learned on the battlefield and spent his next years doing construction work.

He married the love of his life, Vivian, who we remember today, and they had two children Roland and Sharon.

At the time, he did not receive the recognition that he was due for his service to our Nation, but we are here today to make that right.

Now, a proud father, grandfather of two, and great-grandfather of seven, he will get that long overdue acknowledgement.

I have the proud honor of presenting him with the following: Bronze Star Medal with one Bronze Service Star, Good Conduct Medal--Army, American Campaign Medal with three Bronze Service Stars, World War II Victory Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Bronze Service Star, and Honorable Service Lapel Pin--WWII.

George, you are a Montana farmer through and through, whether feeding Americans at home or soldiers in the field.

I am proud to call myself a farmer, if only because it means I have something in common with a man like George Wright.

George, you have spent your life providing for Montanans at home and protecting Americans overseas.

These medals serve as a small token of our Nation's appreciation for your service and your sacrifice. You are an American hero and one of Montana's best. Thank you for your service.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor Gerald Robert Zelmer, a veteran of the Vietnam war.

Gerald, I would like to thank you, on behalf of the State of Montana, and the United States of America, for your service to this Nation.

Gerald, known by his friends and family as Gerry, was born in Bismarck, ND, on June 25, 1947.

He married the love of his life, Dora Jean or D.J., on October 12, 1968, in Worden, MT, at the height of the Vietnam conflict.

Two months later, Gerry was off to war.

He attended boot camp in Fort Lewis, WA, and then moved on to advanced infantryman training in Fort Eustis, VA.

He deployed soon thereafter, serving proudly with the 101st Airborne Division out of Camp Eagle.

Gerry served as a helicopter crew chief, ensuring that pilots and crews were safe as they flew aerial missions. His skills on the battlefield ensured that rotary-wing aircraft were fine-tuned and ready to take off for their missions.

Gerry is a fixer and a problem solver.

In Vietnam, he fixed helicopters and kept our birds in the air, covering our soldiers on the ground.

When he returned from war, he worked as a maintenance foreman at Montana Sulphur and Chemical.

It is his skills on the battlefield, his bravery and courage, and his service to our Nation that earned him these commendations decades ago. It is my honor to finally deliver them today.

As a father to Carrie and Cody and grandfather to two grandchildren Sienna and Aden, he will get that long overdue acknowledgement.

I have the proud honor of presenting you, Gerry, with the Bronze Star Medal for your meritorious service in connection with ground operations against a hostile force.

I am also presenting you with copies of your previous awards: Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with Silver Service Star attachment, Expert Badge with Auto Rifle Bar, and sharpshooter badge with rifle bar.

Gerry, these medals are but a small token of our Nation's appreciation for your service and your sacrifice. You are an American hero, and Montana is proud to call you one of our own.