Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to the following member of my staff, Maeve Whelan- Wuest, for the duration of today, September 9, 2014.

Madam President, I rise today to support S. 2648, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act.

I recently led a congressional delegation to McAllen, TX, and to Lackland Air Force Base to see firsthand what the administration was doing to handle this border crisis. It was clear to me that the hard- working men and women on the front lines of this crisis are doing the best they can under very difficult circumstances.

We should pass this important bill to provide the necessary resources to fairly address this humanitarian crisis. We should provide Customs and Border Protection the resources they need to pay their agents overtime when needed, and to provide the necessary food, water, and medical supplies to these children.

My colleagues and I saw children in these CBP facilities as young as 7. We learned that many of these children arrive severely malnourished and dehydrated. They are clearly desperate. They are not traveling here simply because they want to. They are fleeing mortal danger at the hands of violent drug gangs. These gangs have rendered their home countries some of the most dangerous places in the world to live. We should be working together to make sure these children are given proper care in our facilities and that our CBP agents have the support they need.

It was also clear to me that these CBP facilities, meant to safely hold dangerous criminals, are no place for children to be held, even for just a few days. This is a view also shared by CBP officers on the ground who said this is no place for children.

That is why I believe it is so important to provide necessary funding to the Department of Health and Human Services so they can continue to maintain shelter capacity at places such as Lackland Air Force Base where we visited. At Lackland, I was given hope. I saw children being educated, being taught English, praying if they chose to, and learning the Pledge of Allegiance. I saw a place that reflected our values as a country.

This is why I strongly oppose altering the protections of the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. The answer is not expediting screenings and deporting these children as soon as possible at the border. All this will accomplish is to send these children back into harm's way--indeed, into the murder capitals of the world--even more quickly.

I have actually seen what these expedited screenings look like. During our trip we saw small children sitting on concrete blocks in a noisy and overwhelming CBP facility. In this environment, these children struggle to answer questions from uniformed Customs and Border Protection officers. Let me be clear. That officer was doing the best he could, but children arriving here after a dangerous journey are in no condition to quickly explain their reasons for coming to the United States, much less understand the legal basis for their claim to relief under U.S. law. When children are asked to provide that explanation in the kind of harsh environment we saw in McAllen, they have little chance of making a compelling case for asylum or other protection. At this facility children cannot access legal help to make their case. Many of these children have legitimate legal claims that they have been physically abused, raped, or victimized by gangs or human traffickers. We must give them a fair chance to tell their stories.

This bill, which I support, does not repeal these protections. Instead, it takes the important steps of funding our immigration courts to levels necessary to timely hear these children's claims.

This bill also helps with legal representation and orientation services--something the faith communities and other advocates we met with told us were necessary. This will help to speed up the legal process, while ensuring that the rights of these children are protected.

Just as importantly, this bill funds our efforts to address the root causes of

why these children are arriving in our country in the first place. It will help us stop drug trafficking from this region and will help stabilize these economies that have been ravaged by the narcotrafficking violence.

This past weekend, columnist and commentator George Will eloquently spoke on this issue. He said:

My view is that we have to say to these children welcome to

America. You're going to go to school and get a job and

become Americans.

We have 3,141 counties in this country. That would be 20

per county. The idea that we can't assimilate these 8-year-

old criminals with their teddy bears is preposterous.

We can handle the problem is what I'm saying. We've handled

what Emma Lazarus famously called: ``the wretched refuse of

your teeming shores,'' a long time ago, and a lot more people

than this.

George Will is right. We are a country that welcomes refugees--as many of these children are--from all around the world.

I urge my colleagues to support this important supplemental appropriations measure.

I yield back my time.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I rise today to speak about the ongoing humanitarian crisis on our southern border. I thank my colleagues, Senator Heinrich and Senator Mikulski, for their eloquent words in speaking to this issue.

As a woman and as an immigrant, my heart breaks for these children. My mother fled Japan, where I was born. She fled out of desperation to escape a terrible marriage. I came with her to this country as a young girl, and I remember how uncertain I was about what was in store for me.

Although we came by boat in steerage, at least we traveled safely and together. We did not face the kind of danger as did these children who are risking everything to be here. Their journeys to our border are lined with smugglers and traffickers. Children are arriving injured and malnourished. Yet they continue to come, not only to the United States but to other nearby countries, fleeing their countries out of desperation.

These children don't care about the DREAM Act or the Senate immigration reform bill. They are terrified of the violence, abuse, and death in their home countries. Young girls, who represent about 40 percent of the children who arrived this year, often face sexual assault and rape.

Let me share some recent stories from young girls who are fleeing. One girl fled an area of El Salvador controlled by gangs. Her brother was killed for refusing to join a gang that tried to forcibly recruit him. She was raped by two men and became pregnant as a result. She fled El Salvador and was attacked on her journey to the United States.

Another girl was kidnapped by a gang in Honduras that attempted to traffic her into prostitution. She escaped and reported the kidnapping to the police. The gang then abducted her again, raped her, and burned her with cigarettes. She fled to the United States and is seeking asylum.

Yet another girl fled El Salvador when she was 8 years old. Gang members had kidnapped her two older sisters. The girl's mother did not want her 8-year-old daughter to suffer the same fate, so she arranged for her daughter to be brought to the United States.

These are horrific stories. It is clear that something needs to be done.

I have worked with my colleague Senator Menendez to introduce a comprehensive plan to address this issue. The plan aims to curtail trafficking and smuggling, contain the violence and discord in Central America, and ensure that these children have access to legal assistance and are in safe and humane conditions when they arrive.

This Friday I will also take some of my colleagues to McAllen and San Antonio, TX, to view facilities housing these children during the processing and removal process. We will see for ourselves the conditions that these children are in and meet with officials and leaders on the ground.

This crisis clearly demonstrates that inaction is not an option with regard to these children.

I urge my colleagues to support the supplemental funding needed for our country to meet their humanitarian needs. We have a responsibility to ensure that those in our custody are treated according to our values as a nation, and the President's request will allow our government to keep these commitments.

I would also urge my colleagues to reject the idea that the solution is to speed up the deportation of these children back to the dangerous conditions

they fled. Stripping away basic legal protections for children in these terrible situations will not solve this problem. As Senator Heinrich so eloquently showed us, the conditions in their home countries are truly horrific.

To really address this situation, we need to do more work with our partners in the region to reduce violence and improve opportunities in their home countries. We must provide resources so that we can safely, fairly, and timely process these children, including asylum determination, as provided by law.

We should all look to our conscience in seeking a path forward. Surely we can do better than sending these children back to the horrific conditions that they are escaping. Out of sight is not out of mind. That is not what our country stands for.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support the President's supplemental request, and I urge my colleagues to work together toward resolving the underlying process of this crisis.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Kinnon McDonald, an intern in Senator Leahy's office, be granted floor privileges for Tuesday, July 15, 2014.

Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk, and I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. President, I now ask for a second reading en bloc, and I object to my own request en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 15, 2014; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until 12 noon, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half; that following morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session as provided for under the previous order; further, that following the cloture vote on the LaFleur nomination, the Senate recess until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; finally, if cloture is invoked on either of the nominations, the time until 3 p.m. be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees and at 3 p.m. the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nominations, as provided under the previous order.

Mr. President, at 12 noon tomorrow there will be two cloture votes on the Bay and the LaFleur nominations to be members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and, if cloture is invoked, votes on confirmation of the nominations at 3 p.m.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, I rise to speak about the humanitarian situation on our southern border.

Over the last year, we have seen a flood of unaccompanied children come from Central American countries such as El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. In fact, the number of children has more than doubled in the past year to nearly 60,000. This is a humanitarian crisis, and it is heartbreaking.

Sadly, there are some who believe they have found a simple solution to this problem--that we can somehow just round up these young children and send them back on a plane where they came from immediately. I disagree.

The United States has always been a leader in providing aid and assistance to those in danger and in need. These are values our country and Congress have overwhelmingly endorsed. In fact, the current procedures for dealing with children from these countries were set in a 2008 law. The law was signed by President Bush and unanimously passed by both the House and the Senate. These procedures are in place because our values as a nation dictate that we do what we can to protect children from violence and trafficking.

It saddens me that there are some who have even called for changing this underlying protective law, presumably so we can just ship these children back to where they came from without the due process protections this law affords. Of the thousands of children showing up at our doorstep, many of whom were at risk in the hands of criminal smugglers during their trip, 40 percent of them are young girls. Many are under the age of 12 and have been sent on their own without the protection of their parents or other family. These children aren't coming here because of President Obama or Democrats or Republicans. They are coming to our border because of the terrible violence and conditions they face in their home countries. In fact, there is a direct correlation between growing violence in these home countries and the increasing waves of children coming to the United States.

For example, many face join-or-die gang recruitment situations which amount to forced conscription such as we saw with the child soldiers in other countries. They are subjected to sexual violence and brutality. It is hard for someone from our country to imagine how severe this violence is, but data from the United Nations offers some perspective.

The U.N. estimates that the murder rate in Honduras in 2012 was 30 percent

higher than U.N. estimates of the civilian casualty rate at the height of the Iraq war. That is a staggering level of violence for any nation to endure. We all agree the current situation is unsustainable and needs to be addressed, but simply sending children back into harm's way is not the answer. We should be working together to address the root causes that are pushing these children to make these dangerous journeys.

I am proud to have worked with my colleague Senator Menendez, from whom we just heard, to introduce a comprehensive plan to address this issue. That plan is a bit more complicated than simply rounding up children and shipping them out, but it is clear this crisis requires action on several fronts.

First, we should continue to crack down on human smuggling and criminal activity in concert with the children's home countries. Second, we have to honor our domestic and legal requirements related to the treatment of children, refugees, and asylum seekers. This means supporting the administration's efforts to provide humane treatment to these children. Third, we have to redouble our efforts to support peace, economic growth, and social development in Central America.

I look forward to discussing more of the details of our plan with any of my colleagues who want to work together constructively to solve this problem. Only by focusing on addressing the root cause of this crisis can we truly address it.

The President has been managing a coordinated response to handle this very difficult, heartbreaking situation. I hope we can work together to provide adequate resources to professionals on the ground. We must also continue pressing for comprehensive immigration reform so our system will not be so overwhelmed in times such as these.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, it has been 2 weeks since the House and Senate Veterans' Affairs Committees held our first conference meeting to fix the VA health care system. It is a disservice to our veterans that we have not met again. My fellow conferees and I should be at the table actively negotiating a path forward.

Chairman Sanders is right when he says the situation at the VA is an emergency. I had the opportunity to meet with veterans last week in Hilo, HI. My discussion with them underscored the urgency of addressing the longstanding issues at the VA.

For those who have not visited Hawaii, Hilo is on the Big Island of Hawaii, and it is home to volcanoes, rain forests, and just about every other climate. It is also twice as big as the rest of Hawaii's islands combined. In fact, it is roughly the size of Connecticut but with only a fraction of the population. It can take hours to drive from Hilo to the second largest town, Kailua-Kona. Of the roughly 143,000 people living on the island, 15,000 are veterans.

I am raising these facts because I want my colleagues to understand that veterans in communities like those who live on Hawaii Island need our help and they need it now.

The veterans I met in Hilo expressed to me that they cannot get care anywhere other than the VA on the Big Island, as private physicians are few and far between. In fact, while 90 percent of Hawaii Island residents have health insurance, there is a serious physician shortage. This results in long wait times for non-VA health care. Given these long wait times for private physicians, Big Island veterans rely on VA for their primary care. Those Hawaii Island veterans who have private insurance have, out of their own pockets, paid for flights to the island of Oahu to get the care they need. This means over $300 out-of- pocket just to get to their medical appointments. The $300 does not include any costs associated with the care itself.

This is another reason that expanding access to non-VA providers is needed to immediately address the VA health care emergency. With this expansion, we must ensure that every veteran in our country, whether rural or urban, can more easily get the care they need if the VA is unable to accommodate them. Rural and urban veterans in Hawaii and across our Nation deserve better.

A recent audit of the VA in Hawaii found that veterans were waiting over 140 days to receive care. A more recent update found that while progress is being made, the wait is still over 100 days. Nationwide, nearly 60,000 veterans are waiting simply to get an appointment, and of course that is unacceptable. This is why I stand eager and ready to work with my Senate and House colleagues to ensure that the veterans of this country get the care they need and the benefits they have earned.

This conference committee must reconvene as soon as possible to move

forward on the important task to finalize legislation that does three important things: No. 1, directly addresses the emergency circumstances that have been uncovered at the Veterans' Administration; No. 2, ensures that all of our veterans receive access to the care they deserve; and No. 3, begins the long-term work of restoring veterans' trust not only in the VA but in Congress's ability to effectively oversee the VA and provide the resources necessary to care for our veterans.

Nearly the entire Senate agrees that the current VA situation is an emergency and that Congress must act. I am hopeful we can all agree on that point, but my fellow conferees need to be at the table now, face to face, to work out solutions to make the VA work for our veterans.

I hope we will include provisions in the Senate-passed legislation that will provide for 26 major medical facility leases and provide for the resources and authority to expedite hiring of VA doctors and nurses.

In addition, while I agree that accountability of executives is needed, we should avoid politicizing the nonappointed civil service process and allow some due process for VA employees.

Furthermore, our veterans rely on the services of qualified, committed professionals at the VA. In fact, the veterans I met with last week indicated that they really liked VA care; however, they were concerned that VA doctors were already overstretched in terms of patients. I don't believe that simply telling VA doctors to see more patients is the only or best answer, nor is it enough to allow veterans to seek care from private providers. We should be doing more to attract more health professionals to VA, especially primary care providers. We have to recognize the long-term benefits of attracting a high-quality workforce to VA and that we can improve accountability in a carefully balanced way.

Investing in the VA is an essential step toward building back the trust of our veterans.

I understand my colleagues' concerns with the cost of the proposals before us, but inaction will not overcome those concerns. Those of us serving as conferees need to sit down and discuss how to get our veterans what they need quickly. The time for action is now. Veterans in Hawaii and across the country are counting on us and deserve no less.

I yield the remainder of my time and note the absence of a quorum.

I rise today because we need a fair shot for the middle class. To join and stay in the middle class today, a college degree is more important than ever. In Hawaii, by 2018 about two of every three jobs will need some training or a degree past high school. But students are struggling to get ahead. We all know college costs have gone up way beyond inflation and students are borrowing more and more to pay for college.

Last week I joined several of the women in the Senate. We pointed out that student loan debt affects women more. Why? Because it takes longer to repay a student loan if, as a woman, you are making only 77 cents for every $1 a man makes.

I have heard from both men and women in Hawaii who are struggling under the burden of student loan debt, people such as Dawn from Honolulu, who told me, ``I've been teaching for over 3 years and can barely survive on my paycheck after paying student loans and rent,'' and Karen from Hilo, who said, ``Two of my three kids have loans that are almost non-repayable, given their size. They have a master's and almost-completed a PhD and one is home already using her expertise on our community. The other is coming this fall. Our prices are prohibitive enough without excessively high loans hanging over their heads.''

Their stories are not unique. Last year over 20,000 Hawaii undergraduates used Federal loans to pay for school. In Hawaii the average graduate with a bachelor's degree has over $23,000 in student loan debt.

Nationwide, overall student loan debt has skyrocketed to over $1.2 trillion. I know previous speakers have talked about that, but it bears repeating--$1.2 trillion nationwide in student loan debt. That is more than credit card debt or auto debt. The burden of student loan debt makes it very difficult to buy a home or start a family. Older Federal student loans are stuck at high rates of interest, and there is no option to refinance. Private loans often have even fewer consumer protections and higher rates.

In 2007 I was on the House-Senate conference committee for the bill that created the income-based loan repayment program signed into law by President Bush.

This week President Obama took Executive action to help more borrowers cap their student loan payments at 10 percent of their income. The administration will also extend partnerships with private companies, departments, and nonprofits to increase consumer protections and get the word out on existing programs. These are positive steps and ones that I have urged the President to take. But the President can only do so much on his own to help with student loan debt. Congress needs to do its part.

The bill we are discussing on the floor today would allow student loans to be refinanced down to today's low rate for new borrowers. Think about it. Just as homeowners can refinance a mortgage, we should allow student loans to be refinanced. Last year there was overwhelming bipartisan support for a bill keeping the student loan rates low for new loans.

I ask my Republican colleagues to join Democrats once again in voting for today's refinancing bill.

In addition to today's bill, I wish to point out another way we can combat student loan debt. A big reason students are taking on so much debt to go to college is the decline in State and Federal grants. Fewer college grants means more reliance on loans, resulting in more student debt.

In recent years State support for higher education has dropped. From 2008 to 2012 State higher education spending per student plummeted by 28 percent. That is a cut of over $2,000 per student on average.

At the Federal level, the Pell grant was once our main commitment to our students. Pell grants were the primary form of student aid to help low- and moderate-income students join and stay in the middle class.

Like the GI bill after World War II, which invested in our veterans, investing in low-income and moderate-income students pays off. From a strictly economic standpoint, we know these students get degrees, get better jobs, and pay taxes.

In the 1970s the Federal Pell grant covered nearly 80 percent of the cost of attendance at a 4-year instate public university. Today the Pell grant covers less than one-third.

To make matters worse, Congress chipped away at Pell grant eligibility and completely cut off the year-round Pell grant. In 2011, before this year-round program was eliminated, over 1,600 highly motivated Hawaii college students used year-round Pell grants to get a degree sooner. They are among 1.2 million students nationwide who used year-round Pell grants in that year alone.

One of those Hawaii students works in my office now--my University of Hawaii law school fellow, Janna Wehilani Ahu, who is on the floor with me. Her family is from a small fishing village in rural Hawaii Island. She graduated from Kamehameha Schools, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and now attends the university's William S. Richardson School of Law. She used a summer Pell grant in 2010, and without it she says she wouldn't have been able to attend summer school and move more quickly toward a degree.

Wehi is one of many Hawaii students who have told me how Pell grants helped them. Another student, Lehua from Waianae, wrote:

I would like to thank you for supporting the Pell Grant

program. Pell Grants have allowed me to increase my education

and [have] provided me with a higher paying job. Who would

ever think that a country girl from Wai'anae--who grew up

with society telling me that we had the lowest reading and

math scores in the state of Hawaii, the highest of everything

such as welfare, crime, teen pregnancy and substance abuse in

the state--can get a college degree.

Today, I . . . want to help people from Wai'anae to achieve

their dreams.

Pell grants have made it possible for this Native Hawaiian, single mother, and country girl--as she calls herself--to be graduating with an associate's degree in early childhood education and transferring to the University of Hawaii West Oahu.

With ever-increasing college costs, we should be strengthening Pell grants, not cutting back on them. That is why I introduced the Pell Grant Protection Act with several my colleagues. Recognizing the importance of Pell grants, Congress has been providing discretionary funds for this program for over 40 years. It is time to put this program on the strong footing our students deserve by making this a mandatory funded program with a cost-of-living adjustment. The bill would also include an updated, clearer version of the year-round Pell grant.

The bill has the support of 25 national organizations representing students, professors, financial aid administrators, college presidents, and advocates for the middle class. The Associated Students of the University of Hawaii passed a resolution of support, and several University of Hawaii campus chancellors have also come out in support.

I also worked with my colleague, Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, on a related Pell grant bill--her Middle Class CHANCE Act. Senator Landrieu's bill would restore year-round Pell grants, increase the Pell award to keep up with college costs, and let students use Pell grants for more semesters.

I look forward to working with Chairman Harkin on these and other bills to make college more affordable. These efforts are investments in our young people and in our collective future. Today is a start, and I urge my colleagues to vote for Senator Warren's refinancing bill.

Mahalo.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record Hawaii stories of student loan debt.

I yield back.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to the following member of my staff, Janna Wehilani Ahu, during the pendency of the 113th Congress.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that all time be yielded back.

I ask for the yeas and nays.