Floor Statements

Mr. President, I move to recess until 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, 2024.

Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Robert ``Bob'' Wolfe of Concord as March's Granite Stater of the Month. Since 2000, Bob has welcomed and supported new refugees to Concord, and he has particularly focused on connecting refugee children with local sports leagues to help them fully immerse themselves into their new community.

Bob was inspired to start working with refugees 24 years ago, after he met a man from Sierra Leone who told him about the violence that he had left behind in his home country. Bob knew that he wanted to help refugees navigate their new country in any way that he could. Recognizing the extreme culture shock and language barriers that can prevent newly settled refugees from fully adjusting, Bob has assisted refugee families in Concord in many different ways, for example, by helping them to get houses and apartments, send their children to college, and get rides to immigration court.

One of the biggest ways that Bob helps refugee children settle in is by connecting them with recreational sports. He assists families in getting the right equipment and finding a sport that they enjoy. Although the kids are dealing with a new country, new language, and new way of life, playing a sport is something that everyone can understand and connect over.

Bob has built ties throughout the community over the years to help new refugees feel comfortable in their new home; he is always there to lend his help in whatever way that he can. Bob truly showcases the Granite State spirit of helping your neighbors and building a stronger community. I am proud to recognize Bob's boundless generosity to new Granite Staters.

Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Dr. Bob Andelman of Portsmouth, NH, as February's Granite Stater of the Month. After a 34-year-long career as an anesthesiologist, Dr. Andelman retired and retrained in addiction medicine. He then spent the next 7 years volunteering with Greater Seacoast Community Health, helping patients get the addiction treatment that they need and demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to his community and State.

Dr. Andelman began his career as an anesthesiologist at Wentworth- Douglass Hospital in 1979, where he worked for 6 years before moving to Portsmouth Regional Hospital in 1985, where he worked for 28 years. He also volunteered for the New Hampshire Board of Medicine for 10 years. In the later years of his practice, addiction grew from a problem into a crisis and spread throughout our State, touching nearly every community in New Hampshire. As Dr. Andelman began to contemplate retirement and the time came to decide whether to renew his medical license or let it lapse, Dr. Andelman decided that he could not stop practicing medicine; instead, he chose to change course and work to address the opioid epidemic. Given the dire need for more doctors to prescribe medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder, which cuts the craving for addiction and is the gold standard for treatment, Dr. Andelman connected with Greater Seacoast Community Health and underwent new medical training in order to prescribe medication- assisted treatment to Granite Staters.

This transition required learning entirely new medical content and a new electronic medical record system as well. But for Dr. Andelman, the biggest difference was in the one-on-one relationships he developed with his patients. As an anesthesiologist, Dr. Andelman was used to gathering information about the patient, consulting with doctors, and helping patients understand the process of being anesthetized before, during, and after medical procedures. In his role at Families First Health Center, part of Greater Seacoast Community Health, he started to build long-term relationships with patients, often learning about their lives starting from childhood on; and this rapport was essential for building trust with his patients to help them stay in recovery. For 7 years, Dr. Andelman volunteered at Families First, helping countless patients and their families change their lives.

Dr. Andelman was inspired by his time at Families First Health Center, particularly by patients who courageously sought treatment and faced their conditions head on. He understands that addiction is a chronic illness where people can relapse, but some patients continue to push through the illness and work to get better. Many patients who come in for addiction treatment have not had any positive reinforcement, and Dr. Andelman saw the impact that such reinforcement provided when he complimented their efforts to seek help and communicated his belief in the patient's strength and ability to succeed.

Dr. Andelman's selfless determination to help others is truly inspiring. His long career and volunteer work in medicine exemplifies the Granite State spirit of lifting up others and doing what we can to help each other out. I am proud to recognize Dr. Andelman's compassion, hard work, and the difference he has made for countless Granite Staters when they need a doctor--and a friend.

Madam President, reserving the right to object, we all share the grief and horror we saw unfold when Hamas committed the atrocities against the people of Israel. We all continue to work, as the President and his team have been doing, to find a way to get the hostages released while also addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But to cut off all humanitarian aid at this point in time would mean that innocent civilians and children in Gaza would be irrevocably harmed.

We need to continue, as the administration is doing, to develop this framework, to get the hostages out, and to get a pause in the fighting while we do, but we also need to address the humanitarian crisis.

I would also note that if my colleague from Florida is interested in securing the border, there was a bipartisan agreement to secure the border that Republicans turned and walked away from last week because they would rather keep this as a problem and a political issue than actually work to pass a solution. They could have, of course, after we had gone to the bill that included a border security package that was supported by the National Border Patrol Council, representing 18,000 Border Patrol agents, because they knew it would make our border secure. They walked away from it.

The last thing I will just say is that if we are interested in standing up to authoritarians and standing for freedom, as my father did in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II and as I just heard my colleague speak of how his father did the same, then we need to make sure that we make clear to Iran and to China and to North Korea and to Vladimir Putin that the United States of America stands for freedom.

If my colleagues are serious about that, they will be supporting this bill.

With that, I object.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Mary Lawler of Jaffrey as January's Granite Stater of the Month. After retiring from a 50-year nursing career, Mary has continued to volunteer at Monadnock Community Hospital--MCH--for the past 12 years, helping to welcome new employees and set them up for success.

Mary has always had a close connection to the hospital, which is where her mother worked as a nurse and where Mary herself started her career, working in the operating room. MCH is also where Mary gave birth to her children. She says that the hospital staff is very close- knit, with everyone making an effort to be friendly and make people feel comfortable. The hospital's focus on taking excellent care of patients and building such a strong community is a big part of what draws her to continue volunteering even at age 86.

Mary hopes to keep volunteering as long as possible. Her medical experience lends itself to many different potential roles at the hospital, but she most often volunteers in the human resources department because that is where they need her help the most. Mary is driven by the example that her mother set when she worked at the hospital; Mary was inspired to become a nurse in part after seeing her mother's career, and she has always admired her mother's compassion for others.

Mary's work ethic, generosity, and kindness is emblematic of the Granite State spirit of rolling up our sleeves and pitching in to help out, recognizing that, regardless of our stage in life, we can always make a difference. I am proud to recognize Mary's dedication to supporting the staff and the patients of Monadnock Community Hospital.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Paige Youschak-Thompson of Laconia as December's Granite Stater of the Month. Paige is known throughout the Lakes Region for her service to different organizations. Although she has always volunteered, she became more active when her daughter was in school, and now, with her daughter an adult, volunteering has become the equivalent of a full-time job. Paige volunteers 5 days a week for more than 40 hours a week.

Paige will never say no when someone asks for her help. Although she does not have a favorite cause or organization, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, a local thrift shop, has a special place in her heart since it is where she first started to consistently volunteer. In addition, Paige is especially fond of helping kids in the community and believes in giving all children a chance, regardless of their income level. She worked with a local boutique to help provide free prom dresses to girls who may otherwise not be able to have one. Paige is also the chair of the community engagement committee for the Greater Lakes Region Children's Auction, which helps local children and families in need; it has distributed more than $8 million over the last 40 years to the community.

Paige's strong pull towards volunteer work stems from her deep and lifelong desire to be a person who helps out and holds space for others. Paige makes other people happy in any way that she can. Being able to help the community brings her great joy, and she plans to continue volunteering for as long as she can.

Paige showcases the Granite State spirit of giving every day of the year, and I am honored to name her Granite Stater of the Month. Especially as we enter the holiday season, I hope that we can all aspire to give our time and support to our community as freely as Paige does.

Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Connor Nicol of Hampton as November's Granite Stater of the Month. For the last 3 years, 15-year-old Connor has helped to ensure that servicemembers who died overseas are remembered. Connor creates dog tags for people to carry, or place somewhere prominent, so that servicemembers' names and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

Connor was inspired to create the military identification tags, commonly called ``dog tags,'' while watching a movie about World War II, and he was struck by how young the servicemembers were. Knowing that many servicemembers never came home, he wanted to make sure that those who died overseas are always remembered. Using information from the National Archives, Connor has now made dog tags for 40,000 servicemembers who died in the Korean war, and he has recently expanded the project to create tags for those who died serving in the Vietnam war.

The tags have been distributed across the country, including to veterans service organizations, church groups, Scout Troops, and schools. Connor works to ensure that the tag goes to someone who actively wants it and is dedicated to honoring the name of the servicemember. In addition to keeping the name and memory of the fallen servicemember alive, the tag also serves to remind the person carrying it of the sacrifice these men and women made in service to our country.

Connor's goal is to create and distribute dog tags for those who died in additional overseas conflicts, including World War II, the Vietnam war, and the Global War on Terror. If you would like to request a tag, you can do so through his website, www.wewillremember.us. Connor's dedication to respecting and commemorating military service is a strong reflection of the Granite State spirit of patriotism. In New Hampshire, we honor those who keep our country safe, secure, and free. I thank Connor for his work to make sure that those who died in service to our country will never be forgotten.

Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Dr. Reiko Johnson of Newfields and Dr. Nathan Swanson of Durham as October's Granite Staters of the Month. The duo is working to provide free dental care for patients in need, including recently hosting a Dental Day of Caring this past month.

In March 2021, recently vaccinated and with an urge to give back to her community, Dr. Johnson began looking for medical volunteer opportunities. In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she had provided telehealth services as a primary care provider at Catholic Medical Center, and she was itching to be face-to-face with patients again. When she was not able to find a volunteer clinic in the area, she decided to take matters into her own hands and start her own mobile clinic, modeled on a free health clinic that she had previously volunteered at in Hampton.

Dr. Johnson established the Volunteers in Medicine of New Hampshire-- VIM-NH--and held its first free clinic in January of this year, providing primary and acute care services for uninsured and underinsured patients and connecting them to long-term primary care providers. However, over the months that followed, it became clear to Dr. Johnson that many of the clinic's patients had critical dental issues that she and her volunteers were not equipped to deal with.

To address this issue, Dr. Johnson partnered with Dr. Nathan Swanson last month to host VIM-NH's first Dental Day of Caring. Dr. Swanson had learned about Dr. Johnson's work from Emily Komerska, a UNH pre-med student and longtime family friend, and he immediately knew he wanted to get involved. During the event, which took place at Dr. Swanson's office using his equipment, the 4 volunteer dentists and 6 assistants provided 19 extractions, 10 fillings, and 1 root canal--donating $11,531 total in services.

Dr. Johnson and Dr. Swanson's partnership is a shining example of the Granite State spirit of coming together to help people in need. Many of the clinic's patients, including people experiencing homelessness and people without insurance, would not be able to receive this vital care otherwise. I applaud Dr. Johnson and Dr. Swanson's dedication to making a difference, and I look forward to seeing how they continue their Dental Day of Caring initiative.

Mr. President, I am honored to recognize Barbara Hays of Bow as September's Granite Stater of the Month. Barbara leads a group of women at her senior living center who make fidget and lap quilts to donate to local hospital patients and veterans.

When Barbara retired after decades of working at a telephone and communications company, she found herself with a desire to make a positive difference in her community during her new free time. With a friend, she began sewing small lap quilts and donating them to Concord Hospital. During one dropoff, the nurses at the hospital asked if she had ever considered making fidget quilts. These quilts have zippers, elastics, and different fabric textures sewed on to provide sensory stimulation for patients with Alzheimer's and other health challenges.

Barbara wasn't familiar with this type of quilt, but she was eager to try a new way to help people. She watched videos on YouTube to learn how to make them, and earlier this year, she helped start a workshop for the women at her senior living center in Bow to start making them together. They began to meet twice a month in the community room, each putting together different parts of the quilts.

This past June, Barbara put together a Fidget Quilt Showcase at her White Rock Senior Living Community in order to showcase 40 quilts that the ``Happy Quilters of White Rock'' had made. In addition, she invited some nurses to join to explain how these quilts can help keep patients' minds busy and prevent them from picking at an IV, for example. Afterward, the group donated a total of 70 fidget quilts to the Visiting Nurse Association, Concord Hospital, the Tilton Veterans Home, and the Manchester VA Medical Center.

Barbara's initiative is emblematic of the Granite State spirit of generosity in many ways. Not only do the fidget blankets make a tremendous difference in the lives of patients with Alzheimer's or dementia, but her quilting group also brings people together at her senior living center. Barbara made sure that even those who had no experience quilting could participate, creating a sense of belonging for everyone. I commend Barbara for making a positive difference in her community, and I am sending the ``Happy Quilters of White Rock'' my well wishes as they start another round of quilt-making this year.

Mr. President, I want to offer my condolences to Dianne's family, to her colleagues in California, to the Speaker Emerita, to my colleague Senator Padilla, and to so many of our friends and colleagues who are watching today. I wanted to rise just because I am one of the newer women in the U.S. Senate, and I wanted to acknowledge the difference that Dianne Feinstein's example and work has made for me, for my constituents, for our daughters, and our granddaughters.

When I came to the Senate, the bipartisan women's dinners were long- established. I didn't have to think about how I would get to know my women colleagues and share experiences and learn the ropes from them because Dianne Feinstein and her other colleagues who were early pioneers in the Senate had already done some of that work for us. I didn't have to think about whether there was going to be a women's bathroom right off the floor that I could use just the way the men use their bathroom in quick moments because Dianne Feinstein and others had paved the way.

I didn't have to think about whether I would be accepted in the same way

that Dianne Feinstein had to because she had already done that really difficult work of being that much better than everybody else to make sure that she never let women down and that she never let her constituents down.

This morning, after Senator Murray called us and said that we are all going to be on the floor, I was rushing to get ready, and to Senator Murkowski's point, I put on different shoes than I was planning to. They were shoes that Dianne had admired. She had the same pair, and she told me they were good ones to wear.

I wore a scarf--it is not one Dianne gave me but because I thought Dianne would think it would add a little something to my presence today. In the last few months of her service, Dianne graced us with her dignity and with her friendship. She had a way of sitting down next to me in caucus lunch and checking in. She knew I had had some particular caregiving challenges at home, and she would always say to me: Who is with Ben right now? Ben is our son. How are things with the family? I am not sure people really understand that women still have family responsibilities that aren't easily transferable.

She wanted me always to know that we had made a lot of progress but that there was still progress to make. And in her way of nudging us and being an example for us, she was reminding us that we still have work to do and she was counting on us to do it.

The last meeting that my senior Senator and I had with Dianne about an issue that was really important to our State and we needed a vote on, she had been home in California recuperating, and she had just made it back to the Senate. And we went to meet with her in her hideaway, and I, frankly, didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how her health would be. She had a memo--it wasn't a short one--that laid out the entire issue that we were there to talk to her about. She went through that memo, several places, and said: Well, I read here that this is the case, and I read there that that is the case, and you both are telling me that you think I should vote in a particular way.

We went back and forth about a couple of issues. We reinforced our arguments, our belief in why she should vote to support our position. She asked us questions. She knew her stuff. She had read the memo. And she said for a number of reasons--and she laid them out--that she would vote with us.

She had muscle memory that pulled her up to her full height. She had the intellectual discipline and memory to understand how to cut to the chase and make sure she understood the essence of the issue we were dealing with. And she was reminding us of what you are supposed to do to serve your constituents, your State, and your country as a U.S. Senator.

May her memory be a blessing.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I am honored to recognize Georgia Merrill of Brentwood as August's Granite Stater of the Month. For the past 8 years, 14-year-old Georgia has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the New Hampshire Food Bank through her Peach Project initiative.

When Georgia was 6 years old and driving in a car with her grandmother, she saw a homeless person on the side of the road holding a sign that read, ``I'm hungry.'' It was a moment that stuck with her and inspired her to give back to her community. She went home and asked her mom if they could set up a bake sale with proceeds going to people like the man she had just seen on the road.

Georgia--along with her mother Erin, her dad Josh, and brothers Owen and Miles--started holding bake sales, with sales going to the NH Food Bank. Georgia's nickname is Georgia Peach, and so they decided to name the initiative the ``Georgia Peach Project.'' Georgia's parents were touched by their daughter's commitment to helping those in need and worked with Georgia to take the project even further. Georgia started new projects, and they spread the word about them on social media and got other families in their community involved.

Now, the project's various initiatives include making and selling bracelets with proceeds going to the NH Food Bank, holding a food collection, passing out cards to classmates at school encouraging them to donate, and hosting a community holiday concert. In addition, every year, they organize a holiday stroll partnering with local organizations and families who commit to decorating a part of the walk. The event also includes a bake sale, a silent auction, and live entertainment--with all donations from the night going to the NH Food Bank.

Since the start of the Peach Project, Georgia has raised more than $66,000 for the NH Food Bank. Her commitment to serving her community at such a young age is an inspiration for all of us. After she saw a neighbor in need, it was clear to her that she needed to bring her community together to do whatever it could do to help. Georgia's ability to think about the needs of those around her and then act to address them exemplifies the Granite State spirit of generosity, and her work demonstrates that you can always make a difference by getting involved in your community.