Floor Statements

Mr. President, from January 8, 2024, through January 11, 2024, I was unable to be present for rollcall votes due to illness. However, had I been present, I would have voted as follows.

On the rollcall vote No. 1, on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of John A. Kazen to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, I would have voted yea.

On the rollcall vote No. 2, to confirm the nomination of John A. Kazen to be U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, I would have voted yea.

On the rollcall vote No. 3, on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of S. Kato Crews to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Colorado, I would have voted yea.

On the rollcall vote No. 4, to confirm the nomination of S. Kato Crews to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Colorado, I would have voted yea.

On the rollcall vote No. 5, on the question of whether to override the President's veto of S.J. Res. 32, a resolution of disapproval of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, I would have voted nay.

On the rollcall vote No. 6, on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Erika L. McEntarfer to be Commissioner of Labor Statistics, I would have voted yea.

On the rollcall vote No. 7, to confirm the nomination of Erika L. McEntarfer to be Commissioner of Labor Statistics, I would have voted yea.

Mr. President, for the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation I report favorably the following nomination lists which were printed in the RECORDS on the dates indicated, and ask unanimous consent, to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that these nominations lie at the Secretary's desk for the information of Senators.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote occur immediately.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise today in support of the nomination of Michael Whitaker to be the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Last week, the Commerce Committee unanimously advanced Mr. Whitaker to the Senate floor, and this resounding bipartisan approval is in addition to the broad support that Mr. Whitaker has received from the private sector. He has the support of the aviation workforce, pilots, flight attendants, machinists, air traffic controllers, and safety specialists at the FAA.

Aviation safety advocates like the 737 MAX crash families have called Mr. Whitaker a ``strong leader'' for the FAA with the ``ability [to] restore public trust and confidence in its oversight and safety standards.''

The conclusion is clear, Mr. Whitaker is the right person to lead the FAA. And America's chief aviation regulator has a critical mission: protect the safety of the flying public.

Each day, 44,000 FAA employees oversee the safety of 25,000 daily commercial flights, 2.5 million travelers, and over 5,500 airports.

These Agencies set the safety standards for aerospace manufacturing, and safety starts at the top with the Administrator. America's safety system is under stress, given the changes to FAA and the innovation that we are seeing in new technology. We have challenges in the post- pandemic rebound of air travel and making sure that we have a workforce.

And the FAA's workforce, I know that Mr. Whitaker, in his confirmation hearing, committed to making this a No. 1 priority: build a strong safety culture, attract new talent, and keep pace with technology transformation.

Mr. Whitaker must build an organization that meets the challenges of incorporating new users and technologies like drones and advanced air mobility, electric propulsion, commercial space, and just the continued growth of the busy aviation aerospace around the globe.

Among the most pressing problems is addressing air traffic controller hiring and training, and Mr. Whitaker has stated this will also be a top priority.

Finally, the FAA must be among the global leaders in aviation safety. Mr. Whitaker must work internationally at the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, and through bilateral partnerships to lift the baseline for aviation safety regulation throughout the world.

This work of rebuilding leadership starts here at the FAA, and he is committed to implementing the critical safety reforms that were part of the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act. These are strong challenges, but no doubt this Administrator can meet those challenges and live up to these commitments.

I am confident that Mr. Whitaker's abilities will make sure that this legislation is fully implemented.

In addition, yesterday, the President of the United States and the Secretary of Commerce announced a series of tech hubs in response to the legislation that we passed, the CHIPS and Science Act. I know the Presiding Officer, I think, is pretty happy about that because I think one of those tech hubs was in his State. And certainly there was one in Washington that is really about the next generation of advanced materials in aviation.

The designation made possible by CHIPS and Science is to think about lab-to-market testbeds on thermoplastic composite fabrication equipment and help the United States stay in a leadership position in the next generation of aerospace workforce.

The United States leads in ideas, but we don't always lead in the implementation of the innovation, particularly at a time where now everyone, in an internet age, is reading about our innovations and trying to implement the same things.

The tech hub idea can leverage a lot of ideas across the United States and help translate the science faster into real application and real competitiveness for our Nation and grow jobs and help grow actually rising incomes in various parts of our country as well.

The tech hub, in this instance, in the aerospace ecosystem where we have millions of people employed nationally and we have leading institutions that are doing aviation research--we need to show that innovation can move beyond just where we are today on composites but on next-generation research that then gets translated to the workforce and the skilling of the workforce.

This means creating more patents, translating discoveries, and keeping U.S. manufacturing competitive. I know that many of my colleagues here in the Senate were very pleased to hear this announcement by the President and the Secretary of Commerce.

With over 30 years of diverse experience in these issues, like aviation, Mr. Whitaker will be able to help, I think, in this next- generation aviation technology: thermoplastics.

This is also important for our space companies that want to get into a more rapid production of thermoplastic piece part production, and I think this kind of R&D alliance will help for the future.

So I thank our colleagues for the time today. I hope they will support Mr. Whitaker. I hope that we will move quickly on this nomination, and I hope that it will give us a chance to have an FAA Administrator who will also help us move quickly to resolve the FAA authorization issues and get that authorization before both bodies before the end of the year.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, for the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation I report favorably the following nomination list which was printed in the RECORD on the date indicated, and ask unanimous consent, to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that this nomination lie at the Secretary's desk for the information of Senators.

Mr. President, I follow my colleague from California, and I believe he said it correctly--the legacy of Dianne Feinstein.

Our colleagues are in shock today, even though we knew Dianne was ill, even though we knew she was 90 years old, even though we knew she was the longest-serving woman Senator. The fortitude that she showed and demonstrated was constant. Sitting here just a few months ago in all-night vote-arama sessions, when the youngest of us wanted to crawl into our hideaways and sip coffee at 2 a.m., Dianne was at her desk voting.

At 90, she had the fortitude, as Senator Murray said, to vote just yesterday. I don't know if it was the steel that was cemented into her at that moment of the mayor's assassination or the tragedy and cost of serving and knowing that you still had to move forward. No matter how disastrous the situation was, Dianne moved forward.

I am so blessed to have served with her. But I want people to know the Nation has lost a legislative giant, women have lost a hero, and the Senate has lost a true colleague. Those of us who are out here today know when we say the word ``true colleague,'' we mean like a true collegial colleague. Sometimes we say the word with a little more disdain, like our ``frustrating colleague,'' or as Senator McConnell said, our ``good friend,'' when maybe in reality, it is hard to get those words out.

But Dianne was the epitome of what the Senate is losing. Let's just face it. Dianne, one of her most famous phrases was ``I have to go home and read tonight.'' I bet you her family or her staff heard her say that because she meant it. She meant: I don't know enough about this subject to go just spur off. I am literally going to study and analyze and find out what it actually is all about.

How many times did Dianne stand up in caucus and say: I have been reading a lot about this subject, but I think we need to know a lot more? And she would communicate what she knew and, as many of my colleagues know, she was always asking questions.

For me, as a young Member coming here more than 20 years ago, I was amazed and astounded at what I might call the polite pushiness of Dianne Feinstein. I don't know how she did it, but serving on the Judiciary Committee with her--and Dianne will observe--when Dianne's time ran out and somebody tried to cut in and debate her, Dianne had this way of saying: Mr. Chairman, this is a really important point and I just need to make this point. And the chairman would let Dianne go on for another 5 minutes. And I thought, How does she pull this off? Well, I will tell you how she pulled it off: because people knew she was serious about legislating. She was serious about working across the aisle.

And probably in my early days here, she forged the greatest impression of what working across the aisle was really all about. There were times, probably, when I didn't even agree with her, but she had the cache of a Senator who could put a deal together with both sides.

I saw her great work on the California Desert Protection Act, landmark legislation protecting California. I saw it on the 2007 energy bill where we raised CAFE standards for the first time in 25 years. Dianne had a provision called Ten-in-Ten. She just evangelized every minute of the day about why we needed higher fuel efficiency standards. She thought we could improve it 10 miles in 10 years and she was right, and it became the basis of what that bill was. She never let anybody off the hook during those negotiations. She made sure that we got that done.

I saw her work tirelessly as my colleague Senator Murkowski--she may not have been here yet--but she worked with Jon Kyl on water legislation until the cows came home, because Arizona and California had real water issues and Dianne was forever adamant about trying to address this issue for the western part of the United States.

So for me, I want to thank her family for your sacrifices, for sharing Dianne with us, letting us have her as long as she was willing to serve and for making it the dedication of her life.

Yes, that personal side of her was also so sweet. Most of us doodle, but Dianne doodled in masterpieces. And she was always inviting people to dinner, always doing those kind little things for us, which means that you really made the Senate a more human place. That is what she really did. She just made this a more human place by just giving a little time and attention to some of the needs of your colleagues. But what sweet blessings; what sweet stories.

I want to honor Dianne by remembering her great legacy and thanking all of those who were part of her life because, for women, we didn't really know how to get all of this done here--how hard you push, how loud you can be, how much you can just get in here and grind away sometimes. Dianne showed us that, yes, we can be trailblazers and do it and that the results really, really, really, really matter for people.

I hope that people will remember that legacy of her and the kindness that went along with it and realize that this institution really does need to return to the ways of Dianne Feinstein.

And if you are from California, you should be damn proud that your Senator is going to go in the history books as a forerunner for so many other women and for policies and behavior that we should be amplifying.

I thank the President.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today in support of President Biden's nomination of Anna Gomez to be a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission.

Americans need an FCC fully equipped to deliver affordable high-speed connectivity, strengthen local broadcasting, foster spectrum innovation, and promote emerging technologies. Ms. Gomez will deliver on these priorities.

While she has dedicated much of her career to public service, working in various roles at the FCC, serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary at NTIA, and at the National Economic Council during the Clinton administration, she has also worked in the private sector.

For 3 years, she served as the vice president of State and Federal regulatory, government affairs for Sprint Nextel, and for 9 years, she worked at Wiley Rein, as part of the law firm's telecommunications practice.

Ms. Gomez will focus on ensuring affordable, reliable broadband across America's cities, suburbs, and rural communities. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that for healthcare, education, labor, and so much more, broadband is a necessity.

For this purpose, Congress allocated $65 billion for broadband in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including $42.5 billion allocated based on the FCC's broadband maps. Ms. Gomez has pledged to work to improve the accuracy of these maps and deliver broadband to all.

We also need to lower the cost of broadband deployment. By leveraging our existing electrical grid infrastructure, we can build out more middle mile capacity. This will spur competition and help lower the cost of broadband.

While Congress invested $1 billion to create a middle mile grant program at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the demand for this funding was more than seven times the amount available. We must do more.

Given her experience working at NTIA, Ms. Gomez has unique expertise in middle mile broadband deployment issues.

The FCC also plays an important role in sustaining local news. Local stations provide trusted on-the-ground reporting that informs the public and strengthens our democracy.

Ms. Gomez understands that we must protect local broadcast news and has pledged to delve into what the FCC can do to protect it.

She will also fight to ensure that the United States remains a leader in global spectrum policy. As countries like China compete for spectrum leadership, we must develop smart spectrum policies that promote national security and innovation.

We know the FCC has a crucial role in making sufficient spectrum available for wireless innovation and our federal agencies' critical missions.

Over the past year, Ms. Gomez has worked hard to prepare the United States for the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference and develop a comprehensive U.S. global spectrum strategy. She has also built a strong team that is well-informed and

well-equipped to represent U.S. interests in spectrum policy.

Some of my Republican colleagues have complained that they did not have an opportunity to meet with the nominee or that we should not confirm her until the World Radiocommunication Conference is over.

It has been 100 days since Ms. Gomez's nomination and 57 days since the committee's vote. Ms. Gomez has been available, willing, and eager to meet with all Senators to discuss her qualifications for the role.

The State Department also has extremely qualified experts who can step in for Ms. Gomez, just as she has planned for.

Anna Gomez has the knowledge, skills, and qualities to be an FCC Commissioner. I am proud to support Ms. Gomez's nomination, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. President, I rise tonight to speak about important legislation that was included in the National Defense Authorization Act tonight and something that will help us fight the scourge of illicit fentanyl in the United States of America.

An urgent public health crisis is gripping our State and many other parts of the United States. I want to thank my colleagues Senator Scott from South Carolina and Senator Brown from Ohio for their leadership on the bipartisan legislation known as the FEND Act that was included in tonight's legislation.

The fentanyl crisis is having a direct and dire impact on families in the State of Washington and all throughout the United States. In the past 12 months, more than 65,000 Americans have died by overdosing on synthetic opioids like fentanyl. That is why it is so important that, tonight, included in this legislation is the FEND Act, and that is part of a response that we need to have to take this national crisis seriously.

This legislation declares the international trafficking of fentanyl, and its precursors needed to make it, a national emergency. This gives the President and us the focus that we need to fight, as it says in the legislation, ``an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.''

Mr. President, a crisis of this magnitude demands a robust Federal response, and that is why this legislation provides the President with new tools to stop the illicit fentanyl flooding our borders and those who are trying to transport it into our country.

First, the new tools in this legislation are sanctions targeting transnational criminal organizations and foreigners engaged in international fentanyl trafficking. The bill specifically calls out eight known cartels in Mexico, which means that Treasury can investigate suspicious activities involved here and declare sanctions. It recognizes that these traffickers, once identified, can have sanctions imposed and can have forfeiture of their property.

Recognizing that fentanyl production is not simply these entities but also diverse networks of players, this legislation helps us go after those. Sanctions will enable the U.S. Government to try to disrupt the flow of this product: the distributors, the brokers, the wholesalers, the retailers, the sellers of precursors--anyone who is involved in trafficking these deadly pills can now be targeted.

Second, the Senate-passed legislation goes after financial institutions that participate in fentanyl-related money laundering. Once caught, property forfeited by international fentanyl traffickers can be used by the Department of Justice and State and local law enforcements to help participate in additional investigations, and this legislation also empowers Treasury to use special measures to pursue fentanyl-related and other types of drug laundering activity. For example, a foreign financial institution engaged in fentanyl-related money laundering, it can impose restrictions on those banks and U.S. banks doing business with those foreign entities.

So the bottom line is there are new tools. Once this legislation makes it to the President's desk and through the finish of our colleagues working together on a final House and Senate NDAA package, it will give the U.S. Government Agencies more tools to disrupt the illicit fentanyl trafficking and the supply chains that exist internationally.

Severely penalizing those engaged in fentanyl trafficking is just one step. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, my State, Washington, experienced the single highest increase among U.S. States in reported drug overdoses last year--an increase of more than 21 percent.

Hundreds of traumatized families that will never be the same, thousands of first responders struggling to cope with this daily tragedy that they respond to--the statistics are stunning, but they are also just very tragic. Sometimes it is hard to even listen to the stories, but I have been going around my State listening to people affected by this crisis and talking to those in my State about the opportunities to do something--the heart-wrenching stories of individuals who have been impacted by this: a mother whose son went off to college and just simply didn't come home; a beloved brother who fought addiction for years and who got help to kick heroin, got sober, and got his life back but then, sadly, succumbed to fentanyl; a woman struggling with addiction who realized she needed help but then couldn't find a bed available for detox, only to hear, time and time again, that such a bed did not exist; a young man who took a single pill he thought was Percocet who died from an illicit counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl.

That is why we need legislation. In addition to the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, we need to do more with just the supply. In the Tri-Cities, a police officer told me that their local task force has already seized over 200,000 fentanyl pills this year. Statewide, we have already surpassed the number of fentanyl seizures in all of last year. Law enforcement in Washington has already seized more than 1.6 million fentanyl pills this year compared to a total of 1.3 million in all of last year.

So the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has seized over 379 million deadly doses of fentanyl. That was last year. That is more than enough supply in the United States. We need to do something now to also aid in the stopping and obstruction to make sure that we are preventing this from happening in the rest of the United States and to stop it in my State of Washington.

I plan to work with TSA and DEA to make sure that we strengthen the laws that allow for the investigation of fentanyl distribution at our airports, to make sure that we are tracking the supply and investigating and giving our law enforcement any tool that they can use to help stop the movement of this product.

I am also grateful that our colleagues tonight acted in a bipartisan way, and I hope they will act in a bipartisan way in the future. There are other things that we need to do to stop the cycle of addiction.

As one doctor told me: We could have access to recovery be as easy as access to the drug, but it is not.

We have heard from people all over the State--from our firefighters, from our police officers, from our courts, to our healthcare treatment centers--and we have seen unbelievable pilot programs that are being used to try to tackle this problem. We have seen fire stations use new equipment and first responders so they can quickly get to the scene and have the tools in place.

We have heard from our State and from our healthcare officials like Dr. Banta-Green from the University of Washington, who has helped to understand and pioneer a program so that people can just walk into a facility that is community-based and get access to care and treatment immediately. So no more trying to respond every day of where to go or having a first responder having to go back to the same place, but giving people a place that they can go.

I hope our colleagues will look at some of these innovative prevention

measures that my State is trying to undertake. I hope that we can work in a bipartisan effort to give more tools to DEA, but I hope tonight we will be happy that we are now declaring this a national emergency, that we have given the President and Treasury and our officials new tools to stop the trafficking of this product and to pursue those who are involved in it in an aggressive way around the world.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, for the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation I report favorably the following nomination list which was printed in the Record on the date indicated, and ask unanimous consent, to save the expense of reprinting on the Executive Calendar that this nomination lie at the Secretary's desk for the information of Senators.

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

Mr. President, I am pretty sure I am joining my colleague from Washington, who probably just spoke on the same subject, but I come to the floor to support the nominations of two very exceptional nominees to serve as judges for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Kimberly Evanson, born and raised in our State, grew up in Grays Harbor County before attending Tacoma High School in Tacoma. She attended Seattle University and went on to graduate from Georgetown University Law Center.

Nearly her entire legal career has been spent in the Western District of Washington and the district in which she will serve, if confirmed. She has nearly 15 years of experience with constitutional and Federal law procedure, making her--as the American Bar Association said-- ``well-qualified'' for the Federal bench.

Ms. Evanson has dedicated her free time to supporting her community through volunteer work, and since 2013, she has been a regular volunteer with the Western District of Washington's Federal Civil Rights Legal Clinic. There, she provides legal advice to King and Pierce County residents who face employment discrimination, disability, housing, prison misconduct, and excessive force claims.

Ms. Evanson's commitment to ensuring legal services and counsel is available to all, regardless of income, shows her dedication to a fair and inclusive justice system.

I urge my colleagues to confirm Ms. Evanson to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington without delay.

I also want to urge my colleagues to vote to confirm Tiffany Cartwright for the Western District of Washington. This is a historic nomination. If confirmed, Ms. Cartwright would be the first woman to serve as Federal district judge from the Tacoma courthouse.

Ms. Cartwright is a proud Washingtonian who grew up in Kitsap County and attended Central Kitsap High School. She went on to earn a bachelor of arts from Stanford University in 2007 and a juris doctorate from Stanford Law School.

Ms. Cartwright is extremely experienced in our court system. She has served as a law clerk in the Alaska State Supreme Court and has served as a Federal law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Ms. Cartwright currently serves as a civil rights attorney in Seattle, where her practice focuses on police misconduct and gender discrimination. In addition to her work as a civil rights attorney, Ms. Cartwright serves on the Local Rules Committee for the Federal Bar Association.

Ms. Cartwright has made it a priority to improve the accessibility of the courts. In her free time, she has served as pro bono counsel for cases involving women's and LGBTQ+ rights. And at the Seattle law firm where she works, she has developed a successful fellowship program to draw a diverse range of applicants to the firm and help reduce bias in the workforce.

A real champion for her community and civil rights, she would make an outstanding addition to the district court in the Western District of Washington. And again, I urge my colleagues to vote to confirm Tiffany Cartwright for the Western District of Washington.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today is a very good day for one of Washington's most famous products; that is, Washington apples. And that is because retaliatory tariffs that had been put on Washington apples in India really impacted our growers across Washington State.

I want to thank Ambassador Tai, and I want to thank the Biden administration--Secretary Raimondo especially--and I also want to thank Ambassador Garcetti for making sure that, in the negotiations leading up to today's visit by Prime Minister Modi and discussions between the United States and India, removing these retaliatory tariffs on apples was included on the list.

So, today, our growers know that they can go back to marketing a great worldwide product, our Washington apples, that had access to what at one point was a $120 million market. This retaliatory tariff being removed will help boost sales to India. It will help

the bottom line of farmers in Washington State, and it will be essential for the 1,400 growers that I have just recently visited along with my colleague Senator Stabenow, in discussion of this year's farm bill, to say these are important markets for Washington products.

We heard from people like Jorge Sanchez from Northern Fruit in East Wenatchee that ``India was a critical market for the Washington apple industry, and the tariffs have hit the producers of Red Delicious apples especially hard.''

These growers are looking forward to an opportunity to rebuild this market access. This deal also includes removing some of the tariffs on chickpeas and lentils, also a great Washington product that suffered under these retaliatory tariffs. India was a top export market for U.S. chickpeas and lentils prior to the tariffs, and these important pulse crops are a very great product to see into the Indian market.

At its peak, the pulse crop value was over $180 million. And they, in the last year, with the retaliatory tariffs over the last 6 years, had dwindled down to next to nothing. That is why it was so important to speak directly to Prime Minister Modi, to ask him to consider more trade with the United States, to open up these opportunities for us, Washington and India, to work together and for the United States and India to work together.

Trade and investments are an essential part of our relationship with India. They are essential for all our allies and partners. And they should be in tandem with growing our partnership on critical, leading- edge technologies. I know the discussions that will happen today at the White House and in the future will be about marrying our technology economies as well--very important work to be done in the post-CHIPS and Science legislation that was passed--and working together on important national security issues.

But today is also very good news because it shows that the partnership between the United States and India can get us off of these retaliatory tariffs, help our farmers grow new market opportunities, and produce and sell our product in India, a very growing market for our apples and lentils.

So I want to thank everybody involved again--President Biden, Commerce Secretary Raimondo, Ambassador Tai, and Ambassador Garcetti-- for making this happen.

I look forward to hearing Prime Minister Modi's comments--and Foreign Minister Jaishankar--for continuing to see the work that our two countries are going to do together.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for the motion to reconsider with respect to the treaty document No. 112-8, Tax Convention with Chile, be considered made and laid upon the table and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be able to complete my remarks before the vote starts.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to honor distinguished Washington State senator, Tribal leader, and my friend John Richard McCoy.

State Senator McCoy dedicated his life and career to public service. John served in the Air Force for two decades. He was a steadfast and fearless leader for the Tulalip Tribes in the State of Washington. And he was one of the longest serving Native legislators in Washington State history.

His story is an inspiration and testament. He overcame unbelievable odds. And most importantly, he showed what one person can achieve in the service of others. John led a life and career that will be remembered for generations.

He was born in 1943 in Washington. He was born in the middle of World War II and started his career as a commercial fisherman in Puget Sound before he joined the Air Force. He served in the Air Force for 20 years, retiring as a technical sergeant at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, near here.

He was then recruited as a computer programmer before computer programming was really hip and was assigned to staff the Reagan White House situation room. His skills as a computer programmer and technical expertise led the late Stan Jones--one of our other Tribal legends who was then Chair of the Tulalip Tribes--to recruit him back to Washington to help transform the Tribe's communications system. At the time, the Tribe was struggling to build the infrastructure that was needed to take advantage of economic development and continue to move forward with their plans.

But John took this project and telecommunications infrastructure and helped the Tribe build one of its greatest economic successes. The Quil Ceda Village is about a 500-acre unique business park that was approved in 2001. It was so successful that in 2005, the Puget Sound Business Journal named him Executive of the Year for his contributions to the successful project. He not only brought computers and high-speed internet access to the village, he made the whole thing a reality for the Tribe.

John McCoy never lost his ideas about public service. In 2003, he was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives, and he served our State legislature for 17 years. Senator McCoy served the 38th Legislative District in Northwest Washington covering Tulalip, Everett, and Marysville. During that time, he became a standout legislator for the State of Washington. He was a tireless advocate for K-12 education, healthcare, the environmental policies, and, most importantly, he was outspoken on Tribal issues.

One important piece of legislation John championed and created was the ``Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State'' curriculum which is now taught in all Washington State public schools. ``Since Time Immemorial,'' endorsed by all of Washington State's 29 federally recognized Tribes, is a curriculum that focuses on their history in the State of Washington. The lessons help students understand the importance of treaties, the history of Tribes in the Pacific Northwest, and the challenges of reservation life. It also teaches students the influence of geography and where Tribes are located in the State of Washington--and, importantly, the distinct cultures of the 29 federally recognized Tribes in Washington State. The knowledge our students are gaining about Tribes is invaluable. And this is just one example of Senator McCoy's leadership in the State of Washington.

He also helped expand dental care. He passed legislation requiring telecommunications companies to provide call location information to emergency responders. He helped emergency responders locate victims and patients more quickly. And he passed a bill that allowed our State to provide jurisdiction to Tribes over criminal and civil matter on Tribal lands to Federal and Tribal governments. These were all important roles, and we can never give enough thanks to him and his family for his contributions.

He also served in leadership roles. Senator McCoy was elected by his colleagues to serve as caucus chair for the then Washington State Senate Democrats. He served as chair of the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators, playing a Tribal leadership role nationally. And something he always took pride in was not only serving the Tribe he grew up in, but he took great pride in serving the rest of Everett and Marysville. He never lost sight of what it meant to represent the people of the 38th District. That is the kind of person he was, dedicated to his Tribe, but also dedicated to all his neighbors.

He retired from the Washington State Senate in April of 2020, and he said, ``Through the changes in committees, leadership roles and even chambers over the course of my legislative career, it was always an immense privilege to represent my neighbors . . . I am deeply grateful for that privilege.''

Senator John McCoy will go down in our State's history as one of our most effective local leaders, someone who came up against roadblocks and found ways to bypass those roadblocks to get progress for our State.

He will be missed by all of us, especially his wife of 58 years, Jeannie McCoy--my heart goes out to her and her family--his siblings; his children: Angela McCoy, Sheila Hillaire, and Cara Tohanniep; and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

We all thank you for sharing your father with us. He will be missed not only as a leader in our State, but also a leader that helped us across the United States to better understand Indian Country and certainly the leadership of the Tulalip Tribe.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the scheduled vote occur immediately.