Floor Statements

Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business.

Mr. President, in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, there is a stunning 13-mile-wide crater that was created by a collapsed supervolcano. What is now known as the Valles Caldera National Preserve is home to a deep grassy valley, volcanic cinder cones, crystal-clear trout streams, and some of the best elk habitat in North America. The Valles Caldera National Preserve is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, but for many, many decades most New Mexicans could only peer into its edge from the side of a road. The entire Caldera was privately owned. That has since changed.

In 2000, we used the Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase the Valles Caldera, but it took nearly a decade and a half after that to see truly meaningful public access.

One New Mexican deserves an enormous amount of credit for unlocking the Valles Caldera and its scenic hiking trails, elk hunting, and its trout fishing. That New Mexican is Kent Salazar.

As a member of the New Mexico Game Commission, Kent sought to undo a system that allowed wealthy and out-of-state hunters to purchase greater access to elk hunting than everyday New Mexicans or Americans. In the face of big money opposition, Kent pushed to establish a fair and equal lottery system that honored the principle of ``one person, one chance,'' and he succeeded.

I have personally harvested two elk in the Caldera thanks in part to the changes that Kent made. Then, after President Obama appointed Kent to lead the Valles Caldera Board of Trustees, he quickly became a champion for transitioning the Valles Caldera to a National Park Service managed preserve.

This change has expanded public access and made it possible for many more New Mexicans--and for visitors from around the world--to experience this incredible landscape. It also protected the public's fair access to both hunting and fishing, and none of this would have been possible without the determination, leadership, and vision of my friend, Kent Salazar.

A lifelong New Mexican, Kent has dedicated himself to the idea that the outdoors are for everyone, not just for those with wealth or family connections. And from an early age, Kent found that time spent outdoors brought him a sense of renewal. And ever since, he has worked to make sure that all New Mexicans and all Americans can build a connection with nature.

For 20 years as a public administrator, Kent worked to make our land and air and water safer and healthier at the city of Albuquerque's Environmental Health Department.

An avid hunter, angler, and outdoorsman, Kent also breathed new life into the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

The legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold founded the organization that became the New Mexico Wildlife Federation more than a century ago. But when Kent took the reins, the organization had no staff and no real driving mission. Even so, Kent saw the incredible potential if he could reinvigorate the organization; and, that, he did.

Under Kent's leadership, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation grew its membership dramatically and hired professional staff. Today, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation is one of the most influential grassroots organizations in our State. The organization has become much more active and much more effective in protecting iconic New Mexico landscapes, including the Valle Vidal, the Sabinoso Wilderness, and the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument.

The impact of Kent's leadership has also grown nationally. Three years ago, Kent was elected unanimously to serve as the chairman of the National Wildlife Federation's Board of Directors. With the National Wildlife Federation, Kent helped to lead the charge to secure permanent and dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and pass historic investments in landscape restoration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

And he is still helping us today as we work to pass the bipartisan Recovering America's Wildlife Act.

Kent also helped to found the Green Leadership Trust and Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors, or HECHO. Through all of this, I have especially appreciated Kent's kindness and passion, his pragmatism and knowledge, his devoted focus on making the conservation movement more inclusive and mentoring the next generation of conservation leaders, the way he keeps an open mind, listens to others, and always seems to drive the whole room in a more productive direction.

Kent's name might not make it to the newspaper that often, but it should. He is one of the most effective conservation leaders of our time. Kent once said:

[I]f we get the right people involved, we can accomplish a

lot, and help our communities and our future, our children.

He is absolutely right. We are all better off because Kent is involved, serving our communities, our future, and our children.

I am extraordinarily grateful to have worked with and learned from Kent for all these years, and I am honored to call him a friend.

Kent, we cannot thank you enough for everything that you have done to inspire New Mexicans and to care for our Land of Enchantment.

Madam President, I have five requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the confirmation of the Syed nomination be at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader on Thursday, June 8.

Madam President, I ask that the Senate resume consideration of the Silfen nomination.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote begin immediately.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, on April 17, 2023, I was unavoidably absent for rollcall vote No. 83. My absence was due to a family commitment that could not be moved. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on vote No. 83.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, on February 13, 2023, I was unavoidably absent for rollcall vote No. 9. My absence was due to official duties in New Mexico that presented an unavoidable conflict. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on vote No. 9.

On February 13, 2023, I was unavoidably absent for rollcall vote No. 10. My absence was due to official duties in New Mexico that presented an unavoidable conflict. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on vote No. 10.

Mr. President, we must never forget the ``first to fire'' troops from the United States and the Philippines who bravely defended Bataan, Corregidor, and other critical locations throughout the Pacific theater in the early months of World War II before enduring some of the most harrowing prisoners of war experiences in history.

Their combat experiences began hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on December 7, 1941. Imperial Japanese forces launched coordinated attacks throughout Asia, striking Malaya, Thailand, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and the American Territories of Guam, Midway, Wake Island, Howland Island, and the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

By December 22, 1941, the American Territories of Guam and Wake Island were surrendered to Imperial Japan. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was under a full-scale invasion.

By March 10, 1942, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet was destroyed, and U.S. Army Forces on Java in the Dutch East Indies were surrendered, and General Douglas MacArthur was evacuated from Corregidor to Australia.

By June 9, 1942, all of the Philippines was surrendered. The Japanese occupied the Alaskan islands of Kiska and Attu. Japanese forces threw three captured American aviators from the Battle of Midway into the sea.

Only in the Philippine Islands did U.S. Armed Forces under the command of the United States Army Forces Far East--USAFFE--wage a prolonged, 6-month resistance to Imperial Japan's invasion in contrast to other Allied encounters with Japan throughout Southeast Asia.

In the Philippines, the ``first to fire'' at the Japanese invaders on December 8, 1941, were the New Mexico National Guardsmen from the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery (AA) regiments, who were stationed at Fort Stotsenburg north of Manila with the mission of protecting Clark Field.

With the activation of War Plan Orange (WPO-3) on December 24, 1941, USAFFE forces on the island of Luzon in the Philippines withdrew into the Bataan Peninsula to defend Manila Bay and await for reinforcements, which were never to come.

The withdrawal was covered by 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts) and the Provisional Tank Group commanded by Brigadier General James R. N. Weaver that was composed of the 192nd GHQ Light Tank Battalion made up of Company A from Janesville, WI, Company B from Maywood, IL, Company C from Port Clinton, OH, and Company D from Harrodsburg, KY, and the GHQ 194th Light Tank Battalion made up of Company A from Brainerd, MN, Company B from Saint Joseph, MO, and Company C from Salinas, CA, and the 17th Ordnance Company (Armored).

On January 16, 1942, when Troop G of the 26th Cavalry encountered Japanese forces at an escape route to Bataan, Lieutenant Edwin P. Ramsey ordered the last cavalry charge in American history.

For the next 4 months, an estimated 12,000 American troops, 76,000 Filipino troops, and 20,000 Filipino civilians endured siege conditions marked by hunger, disease, and confusion with dwindling and antiquated war materiel.

The Japan's successful command of the air and sea in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific combined with Washington and London's ``Europe First'' strategy foreclosed sending reinforcements and supplies to the besieged islands in the Pacific.

Despite the combat prowess, dedication, and pure heroism of the American and Filipino troops on Bataan, Commanding General Edward B. King understood his seriously degraded force could not continue. He surrendered the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942.

With surrender, thousands of troops and civilians were assembled at the Port of Mariveles at the tip of Bataan for a 65-mile merciless march in the tropical sun up the peninsula to a train station at San Fernando where they were packed standing into small unventilated boxcars for the 24 miles to Capas. From there, the survivors were forced to march 6 miles to Camp O'Donnell, a makeshift POW camp with only one source of water.

This forced trek came to be known as the Bataan Death March as it was marked by the Japanese capturers' conscious cruelty of withholding food, water, and medicine, for looting and murder, and for inflicting capricious abuse and torture upon defenseless prisoners.

For the next month, the Japanese under the command of General Masaharu Homma unleashed a continual air and artillery assault on the fortress islands of Corregidor (Ft. Mills), Ft. Frank, Ft. Hughes, and Ft. Drum in Manila Bay.

After Japanese forces breached beach defenses on Corregidor, Commanding General Jonathan Wainwright surrendered Corregidor and its associated islands on May 6, 1942.

General Homma refused to accept the surrender and kept the men and women held on the islands in Manila Bay as hostages until he received assurance on June 9, 1942, that all the USAFFE troops throughout the Philippines had surrendered.

On June 7, 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied the Aleutian Island of Attu, capturing the population of 42 Unangax (Aleut) and two American citizens, one of whom was executed and the other taken to Japan with the Alaska Natives as prisoners of war.

Included in the surrenders in the Philippines were female nurses of U.S. Army, Navy, Philippine Army, and civilian volunteers who became the first large group of American women in combat and, alongside the five Navy nurses surrendered on Guam in December 1941, comprised the first group of American military women taken captive and imprisoned by an enemy.

Between January of 1942 and December of 1944, thousands of prisoners of war from the United States who had survived the surrenders throughout the Pacific were shipped in unmarked transports, known as ``hellships'' for forced labor, often with private companies, throughout the Japanese Empire.

By the war's end, more than 12,000 Americans had died in squalid POW camps, in the fetid holds of the ``hellships,'' or in forced labor camps owned by Japanese companies where they were denied food, water, sanitation, clothing, and medical care. As a result, the death rate for American POWs of Japan was 40 percent. Less than half of the men of New Mexico Coast Artillery and the members of the 192nd and 194th Provisional Tank Battalions returned home after the war.

Surviving as a POW of Japan and returning home was the beginning of new battles: finding acceptance in society and living with serious mental and physical ailments that the Veterans Administration was unprepared to address, resulting in death rates that were more than twice those of the comparably aged White male population of the time.

The veterans of the early defensive battles in the Pacific represented all States, Tribes, and Territories of the United States, a diversity of ethnicities and religions embodying the American spirit of perseverance, faith, and optimism.

President Ronald Reagan first proclaimed National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day in 1988, which was established to coincide with April 9, the anniversary of the surrender of Bataan and the start of the Bataan Death March.

The U.S. Navy has honored the service and heroism of the veterans of early battles in the Pacific by naming several ships after the 1942 fighting in the Philippines and other places in the Pacific, including one still in service, the USS Bataan (LHD-5), homeported in Norfolk, VA; as well as the now decommissioned USS Corregidor (CVE-58); USS Antrim (FFG-20); USS Bangust (DE-739), USS Baron (DE-739), USS Elrod (FFG-55), and USS Rooks (DD-804).

It is time to recognize the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor: ordinary men and women who found uncommon courage in extraordinary circumstances to fight the impossible and endure the unimaginable for freedom from tyranny and oppression.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I am truly honored to join my friend and colleague Senator Lujan to recognize the life of Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and Gallup's own staff sergeant, Hiroshi ``Hershey'' Miyamura, who passed away this past November.

The State of New Mexico ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of one of our State's and, really, one of our entire Nation's greatest heroes.

A second-generation Japanese American, Hershey Miyamura first volunteered for the U.S. Army near the end of World War II. He did so at a time when many of his fellow Japanese Americans--and that includes his future wife--were detained in American internment camps. He served in the storied 442nd Infantry Regiment, which was composed of soldiers with Japanese ancestry and became one of the most decorated units in U.S. military history. Following the start of the Korean war in 1950, the Army recalled Miyamura, who had remained in the Army Reserves, into Active Duty.

The Korean war is often labeled the ``Forgotten War,'' and it is true that far too many Americans have forgotten the incredible sacrifices that were made by American servicemembers who fought alongside Korean as well as United Nations allies. More than 36,000 American servicemembers and more than 7,200 members of the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army gave their lives to defend a free and democratic South Korea. In the face of unthinkably harsh conditions, many servicemembers demonstrated the very best of what it means to be an American--none more so than Hershey Miyamura.

During an intense overnight firefight from April 24 to April 25, 1951, then-Corporal Miyamura ordered the men in his machine gun squad to fall back. Corporal Miyamura covered the withdrawal of his entire company from advancing enemy forces. He killed more than 50 enemy combatants in both hand-to-hand combat and with his machine gun. After he sustained severe wounds, enemy forces captured Corporal Miyamura as a prisoner of war but not until after he had allowed all 16 of the men in his machinegun squad to safely withdraw. In later years, Hershey was most proud of the fact that each and every one of the men who were under his charge that night survived the entire Korean war and returned home to his family.

After his capture, Corporal Miyamura marched hundreds of miles to a prisoner of war camp, where he would endure nearly 2\1/2\ years of captivity. During this time, he served as a source of strength and comfort to many of his fellow prisoners of war as they endured terrible conditions.

Nearly a month after an armistice agreement was reached, ending the hostilities on the Korean Peninsula, Corporal Miyamura was finally turned over to American authorities in Freedom Village. In a living history interview conducted years later with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Hershey remembered what it was like to see the American flag flying again for the very first time.

Hershey said:

Until I saw that flag, the Star Spangled Banner, waving in

the breeze, did I know that I had learned what it represents.

That alone is what makes you feel so humble.

It was also only after his release that Hershey learned that his actions had earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor. Upon his return to the United States, President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented Corporal Miyamura with the Medal of Honor at a ceremony at the White House.

Hershey also received a Purple Heart, a Prisoner of War Medal, a Combat Infantryman Badge, and a Meritorious Service Medal, in addition to the service medals recognizing his service both in the Korean war as well as in World War II. He achieved a final ranking in the U.S. Army of staff sergeant.

Hershey Miyamura's lifelong dedication to his country never ceased. It continued long after his decorated military service ended. After he received his honorable discharge from the Army, Hershey opened up a service station along Route 66 in his hometown of Gallup, NM. He remained active in his community until his dying days in advocating for his fellow veterans and in inspiring young people with lectures on patriotism, faith, and service.

It was one of the greatest honors of my public service career to work alongside Hershey in opening the VA's community-based outpatient clinic in Gallup in 2015. In 2018, I was also proud to join Hershey for a tour of the site that is now the Gallup State Veterans Cemetery.

In recent years, Hershey touched the lives of countless young people in Gallup during his regular visits with students at the local high school that is

named in his honor. The Miyamura High School Patriots wear the colors purple and silver in honor of Hershey's Purple Heart; and a bronze statue of Hershey in his Army uniform and wearing his Medal of Honor stands at the main entrance of Hiroshi Miyamura High School.

I hope that none of us will ever forget the profound example of humility and patriotism that Hershey Miyamura left to each of us as his enduring legacy. Hershey Miyamura truly embodied the best of what our Nation stands for.

My thoughts are with Hershey's daughter Kelly; his sons, Pat and Mike; his four grandchildren, and all of those in New Mexico and across our great Nation who are mourning his loss and honoring his memory.

Mr. President, I rise today to ask the Senate to send H.R. 2930, the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act, to the President's desk for his signature.

The need for this legislation is pretty straightforward.

In 2016, the Governor of the Pueblo of Acoma learned that a sacred ceremonial shield had been stolen and was about to be sold to the highest bidder in Paris. When Governor Riley informed me about this robbery of the Pueblo's cultural patrimony, I called on the State Department to take all possible action to halt the auction. Thankfully, intense public outcry and diplomatic pressure were enough to halt the illegal sale of a Tribe's cultural patrimony.

Finally, in November 2019, more than 3 years after the shield was put on the auction block, it was voluntarily returned to the Pueblo. However, this only happened because of intense public outcry and notoriety. In most cases like this, the item has been sold or simply disappears into a private collection.

Under current Federal law, it is a crime to sell certain protected Native American cultural objects, things like the Acoma shield, here in the United States. But there is still no Federal law prohibiting the export of stolen cultural items and requiring the cooperation of foreign governments in recovering them.

In many cases, Tribes in New Mexico and across our Nation have been forced to effectively pay a ransom to recover their sacred items or had to stand by and watch the sale of their priceless religious and cultural items in international markets.

The lack of an explicit ban on trafficking these items to foreign countries was actually cited by the French Government when they initially declined to stop the auction of the Acoma shield.

Grave robbing is illegal in every single State in the United States, and yet we allow Tribal religious objects, many of which were stolen literally from grave sites, to be exported and sold in foreign auction houses. We cannot let this loophole that allows foreign trade in Native religious heritage to go on for even one more day, and I would urge my colleagues to pass this bill today and end this awful practice.

Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2930, which was received from the House and is at the desk; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, through the Chair, I just want to take a moment to articulate the same commitment publicly, and we look forward to working with my colleague from Alaska, who has been so helpful in putting the STOP Act to a successful resolution. I look forward to working with her to get the Don Young package moved as well.