Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a man who dedicated many great years of service to the residents of Pike County, KY, Sheriff's Deputy James I. Thacker of Elkhorn City, KY.

Sadly, Deputy Thacker was recently killed in a tragic automobile accident in the line of duty on Monday, January 23, on U.S. Highway 460 near Marrowbone, KY. He was 53 years old. I would like to take a moment to share with my colleagues the legacy that was left behind by this great man and humble public servant.

When asked to comment on the untimely death of Deputy Thacker, Pike County Sheriff Charles ``Fuzzy'' Keesee said, ``He was kind and compassionate; he treated everyone else like he wanted to be treated. He was that kind of person, just an excellent officer.'' Deputy Thacker was genuinely devoted to the people of Pike County, whom he had dedicated his life to serve. James has been described as the type of man you could call on day or night, with anything you may need, no matter how big or how small.

Deputy Thacker held an array of jobs in Pike County throughout his life. He served his country as a Marine early on in his life. Later on he became a Pike County road foreman. Next, he spent 8 years as Pike County's constable before assuming the role of Deputy Sheriff a little over a year ago.

Deputy Thacker most assuredly left an incredible legacy in each of the positions he held in his lifetime. He was cherished and appreciated by the citizens of Pike County, and this was proven when hundreds of friends, colleagues and family members attended his visitation to pay their respects. Among

those assembled, people felt that anyone who knew James was truly blessed, and could find joy in simply being in his company. ``He was very likeable and he was the type of person that once you knew him, it seemed like you knew him forever,'' said Sheriff Keesee.

Mr. President, at this time I would like to ask my U.S. Senate colleagues to join me in commemorating this fallen law-enforcement officer, and recognizing the legacy that he has left behind by making Elkhorn City, Pike County, and the Commonwealth of Kentucky a great place.

A news story on the tragic death of Sheriff's Deputy James I. Thacker recently aired on WYMT TV News of Hazard, Kentucky, and was published on WKYT.com. I ask unanimous consent that said story be printed in the Record.

Madam President, I want to associate myself with the remarks of the Senator from South Dakota and follow up in that regard.

Yesterday I came to the Senate floor and explained how the President's ideological outlook and the policies that have grown out of it will only continue to drive up the cost of gasoline at the pump. After I spoke, the President's Energy Secretary seemed to confirm it when he told a congressional panel that the Department of Energy isn't working to drive down the price of gas. They are working to wean us off of it altogether, and high gas prices add urgency to those efforts.

In other words, high gas prices actually help the administration achieve what it is trying to achieve. What I suggested yesterday and what I am suggesting again this morning is that we look at statements such as this and many others from the President and some of his top advisers in the past, along with the President's actual policies when it comes to assessing the current situation at the pump--not the speeches he gives when he starts feeling the political heat for it because he can't have it both ways.

Once again, here are the facts. The President continues to limit off- shore areas to energy production and is granting fewer leases on public land for oil drilling. At the same time, he has encouraged other countries such as Brazil to move forward with their off-shore drilling projects. The Obama administration continues to impose burdensome regulations on the domestic energy sector that will further drive up the cost of gasoline for the consumer. He is proposing raising taxes on the energy sector, a move that the Congressional Research Service has said would drive up costs.

As we all know, he flatly rejected the Keystone XL Pipeline, a potentially game-changing domestic energy project that promises not only greater independence from Middle Eastern oil but tens of thousands of private sector jobs.

All of these policies help drive up the cost of gasoline and increase our dependence on foreign sources of oil, but perhaps none is as emblematic of the President's simplistic and punitive approach to energy policy as the last one. The President simply cannot claim to support a comprehensive approach to energy while at the same time standing in the way of the Keystone Pipeline. It doesn't make any sense. It is either one or the other.

Most Americans understand that. That is why many of us were pleased when the company that is responsible for building Keystone said it plans to move forward with the southern portion of the pipeline, despite the administration's decision to block the northern portion to alleviate a bottleneck in Cushing, OK. They are just not going to let this administration punish them or the rest of those who want to build this pipeline.

Asked about the impact of delays, the company's President and CEO said they were partly to blame for the recent spike in gas prices, which is presumably why the White House came out in support of the move. But the hypocrisy is quite stunning.

How could a White House that is single-handedly blocking one-half of the pipeline to appease an extreme segment of its political base now claim to support the southern half of the same pipeline? Well, the short answer is they don't have the authority to block the southern half, so they think that by claiming to support it, then they can get credit from people for being on both sides of the issue. But if Keystone is good for America and good for jobs, the President should just come out and support the whole pipeline. With gas prices literally skyrocketing and growing turmoil in the Middle East, we can't afford another year of foot-dragging. It is time for the President to move quickly to approve the entire Keystone XL Pipeline. This is literally a no-brainer.

An overwhelming majority of Americans support the Keystone XL Pipeline in its entirety. The President should listen to them. Instead of lecturing the American people about his idea of fairness, he should spend a little more time thinking about what most Americans think is fair. Most Americans don't think it is particularly fair that the President of the United States is blocking them from tapping into our

natural resources even as he uses their tax dollars to prop up failing solar companies like Solyndra and to hand out bonuses to the executives who drive them literally into the ground. Most Americans don't think it is fair that their President would want to drive up the cost of gasoline they need to get around every day and build their families and their businesses and their lives even as he is directing more and more of their money to risky solar schemes in his own administration--risky solar schemes his own administration says sometimes fail.

Well, the American people don't ask for much, but they do expect to be able to go out there every day and try to build a future for themselves and their families without their own President throwing sand in the gears. And whether it is high gas prices or government regulations or higher debt, the American people are tired of bearing the burden so this President can build an economy in which Washington calls all the shots. Yes, Americans want lower gas prices, and, yes, this President's policies are hurting. But let's be clear about something: This debate is not just about gas prices, it is about a President who wants to impose a definition of ``fairness'' on the American people, yet most of them simply do not accept.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a woman who has answered a call to service, and given so freely of herself over the course of her fruitful lifetime. Ms. Pauline White of Cumberland, KY, has not ceased giving to her fellow man, even though she is entering her 80s. Contrary to what one may think, Ms. White has not let her age stop her from participating in the missionary work that is so dear to her heart.

Ms. White, who was working as a missionary in Sebring, FL, at the Association for Retarded Citizens in 2002, felt that she was called by God to come and bring aid to eastern Kentucky. She put up a ``For Sale'' sign in her yard, and called a few of her lady friends to come over and help her begin to pack her belongings. Just a few hours later a couple knocked on the door, asked about the price of the house, and ended up buying the house in cash later that day. Ms. White did not worry about selling her house for long, which she believed was just another sure sign from God that her journey to Kentucky was part of His plans.

Ms. White is now the director of Shepherd's Pantry, an outreach program in Cumberland, KY, that provides food for 500 to 900 low-income families on the second Wednesday of each month. Families that participate in the program are assigned appointments to come to the pantry and receive what Ms. White and her volunteers have worked so hard to prepare for them. At the pantry, the families are given food, personal hygiene items, and treats for their children. But according to Ms. White, the most important thing the families receive from Shepherd's Pantry is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The volunteers at the pantry drop gospel tracts in each of the bags that the families receive, and then they wait for the Lord to move. The staff is always available to provide those in need with spiritual counseling.

Along with their aid of food to families in need, Shepherd's Pantry also distributes government commodities to low-income families, supplies breakfast for schoolchildren, and provides snacks to mission groups throughout the area.

Shepherd's Pantry has attracted volunteers from as far as Florida, and as close as London, KY. The volunteers come to witness God's work in the community. And according to Ms. White, they have yet to be disappointed. She says that God performs miracles week after week.

Ms. White recalls one instance when the computer wiped out all of the

names of the Pantry's clients and addresses. The staff tried just about everything to get the computer to turn back on, but nothing seemed to help. After much praying, the computer miraculously booted up and printed all 500 names, addresses, and emails. Upon hearing about the phenomenon, the mail station company said ``No way!'' Ms. White responded with, ``Yes, God's way!''

Ms. White has no intentions of ending her mission work anytime soon. She has handpicked a Bible verse in Psalms Chapter 91, Verse 11, which is very dear to her heart: ``For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.'' In Sebring, FL, in 2002, Ms. White heard a preacher speak of a lady who was still serving the Lord at 86 years old. She thought to herself, ``I still have 14 years to go!'' Ms. White offers this advice to other ``old folks'': ``When he calls, I think you need to consider his call and not your age.''

The service and good works of Ms. Pauline White and Shepherd's Pantry have contributed mightily to the town of Cumberland, the surrounding region, and the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky. Ms. White is providing nourishment not just for her neighbors' bellies, but also for their spirits. Mr. President, at this time I would like to ask my colleagues in the U.S. Senate to join me in commemorating the great service of Ms. Pauline White.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Will my friend yield for me to make a couple observations on what he just said?

We have negotiated the top line for the discretionary spending for this coming fiscal year. That process is normally done by the passage of a budget by the House and a budget by the Senate, with some reconciliation between the two bodies on the top line. But we already have that number. I wish to second what my friend the majority leader said. There is no good reason for this institution not to move forward with an appropriations process that avoids what we have done so frequently under both parties for years and years: either continuing resolutions or omnibus appropriations.

We have an opportunity to avoid that this year. It is the basic work of Congress. I wish to second what the majority leader said and congratulate Senator Alexander and Senator Pryor for their leadership on this issue. I hope we can join together and do the basic work of government this year and do it in a timely fashion.

I commend the majority leader and associate myself with his comments.

Mr. President, over the past few weeks, the American people have begun to feel the painful effects of President Obama's energy policy.

Make no mistake, the rising price of gasoline isn't simply the result of forces we can't control. It is, to a large extent, the result of a vision this President laid out even before he was elected to office. That vision was on clear display just last week.

As millions of Americans groaned at the rising cost of a gallon of gasoline, the President took to the microphones to talk about a far-off day when Americans might be able to use algae as a substitute for gas. Then, dusting off the same talking points Democrats have been using for decades, he claimed there is no short-term solution to the problem.

In other words, he kicked the can down the road for another day, another time, abdicating leadership on yet another issue of national significance.

This morning, I think it is worthwhile to take a step back from the rhetoric and look at what this President has actually done about this problem and what his energy policies would mean for the future because, according to numerous private and public energy experts, gas prices are only going to keep rising in the weeks and months ahead, going up and up. Some say the average price for a gallon of gasoline could hit $4 by late spring, early summer, and could reach $5 or even $6 in some areas of our country. When that moment comes, Americans should know what the administration had to do with it.

For starters, let's not forget that as a candidate the President himself said he preferred what he called a ``gradual adjustment'' to gas prices--in other words, higher prices that went up slowly so people did not feel the pinch quite as acutely. Let's also recall that after his election the President chose an Energy Secretary who said he wanted gas prices more in line with those over in Europe, where folks pay about $8 a gallon for gas. That is what they pay for gas over in Europe, where the Energy Secretary said we should be looking to establish gas prices. Let's not forget that the President chose as Interior Secretary a man who, as a U.S. Senator, objected to increased oil and gas drilling here at home even if the price of gas exceeded $10 a gallon--right here on the Senate floor. So no one should be surprised at the fact that we are well on the road to European gas prices when the President and the two Cabinet officials he chose to deal with the issue are all on record supporting them.

Let's be honest, the only problem the President sees in all of this is the political blowback he is getting for it, and that is why last week he gave another speech--this time to absolve himself from any of the blame for high gas prices even as he sought to take credit for the actions of the private sector and that his predecessors took to increase energy production here at home.

It is kind of interesting--the President seems to blame his predecessor on a weekly basis for the problems we face today, but when he finds something he likes, he doesn't commend him but claims it as an achievement for himself. Yes, oil production is at an alltime high in this country, thanks to the decisions that were made before this President took office.

But let's be very clear about something: The actions of this President are driving down oil production, and here is how. This President continues to limit offshore areas of energy production and is granting fewer leases to public land for oil drilling. His administration is imposing regulations that will further drive up the cost of gasoline for the consumer. He wants to raise taxes on oil and gas--a proposal the Congressional Research Service tells us will increase the price of oil and gas and, by the way, send jobs overseas. And he alone rejected the Keystone XL Pipeline--a potentially game- changing domestic energy project that promises not only energy independence from Middle Eastern oil but tens of thousands of private sector jobs.

The President has done all of those things, all the while claiming there are not any silver bullets. The fact is this President's policies are designed and intended to drive up energy prices, reduce domestic oil production, increase our demand on foreign sources of oil, and drive high-paying American jobs overseas. Those are the direct results of the policies of this administration. So forget the rhetoric; that is this President's record. It is in perfect keeping with the vision he set out at the beginning of his administration. This President will go to any length to drive up gas prices and pave the way for his ideological agenda. That is this President's notion of fairness, that struggling Americans pay more at the pump while their tax dollars go to prop up solar companies like Solyndra and the executives who run them into the ground.

I do not think it is particularly fair--speaking of fairness--for people who are out there trying to scrape a living together to subsidize bonuses for folks who would not even have a business without a taxpayer handout. That is not my definition of fairness, but that is the economy this President wants. That is what his policies lead to. That is his vision. So, in my view, reversing this President's wrongheaded energy policies is the silver bullet.

Look, the President can taunt his critics for suggesting that we actually use the resources we have, but I think the American people realize that a President who is out there talking about algae when they are having to choose between whether to buy groceries or fill up the tank is the one who is out of touch. Americans get this issue. They understand it fully. They get that we need to increase oil production right here at home, not simply by relying on pipedreams--pipedreams like algae--or by wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on more failed clean energy projects like Solyndra, especially at a time when we are running trillion-dollar deficits. We cannot afford it.

It is time for the President to join with Republicans and put American energy and economic security ahead of his own ideological agenda.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of our time.

Mr. President, I yield back the time on this side.

Mr. President, I rise today to commend an organization in Kentucky that is working to build brighter futures for children by fighting the trauma of child abuse, violence and neglect. The Family & Children's Place, based in my hometown of Louisville, KY, has provided support to families and children in the region for over 127 years.

And I am pleased to report that they are taking a big step forward in being able to accomplish their mission by the construction of a new Child Advocacy Center. This center will be a model for charities with similar missions throughout the southeastern United States by including charity services, law enforcement, child protective services, and prosecutors all in one location.

The Family & Children's Place's mission is to strengthen the community through research-based services that heal the trauma of abuse, violence, and neglect and promote safe, healthy and stable families. They work to educate families to prevent abuse, respond to children on the very day that abuse comes to light, treat victims to reduce damage to their lives, and take steps to protect children from further maltreatment. They have created an array of services to prevent, end and treat these problems.

And they do all this thanks to the generous donations of many notable Louisville area businesses and sponsors, and under the leadership of the group's president and chief executive officer Mr. Daniel Fox.

Mr. President, I wish to bestow the gratitude of this United States Senate on the Family & Children's Place of Louisville, KY, and wish them continued success for many years to come. Their success can only benefit the youngest and most vulnerable Kentuckians, who need their services the most.

Recently, the newspaper the Louisville Courier-Journal published an article highlighting the new Child Advocacy Center for the Family & Children's Place, and I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record that particular article.

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the most vital components of the American economy, the family-owned business. For over a century, Kentucky's own F.S. VanHoose & Company has persevered throughout the struggles that many small businesses face, and they are still on top. The company has a rich history of serving the Kentucky communities of Paintsville, Prestonsburg, Louisa, and the surrounding area. Although they have evolved and changed throughout the years to keep up with their competitors, it is their dedication to the customer and to the employee that still lies at the heart of the organization. And that is something that has never changed--not in the VanHoose family, and not in the VanHoose Company.

Frew S. VanHoose founded the lumber company in 1910. Frew's son Howard VanHoose, who worked briefly for the company after studying at the Kentucky Military Institute, would answer the call to serve his country in 1943. Howard VanHoose was killed in action in Germany in April of 1945, his son Joe Howard VanHoose aged only four at the time.

Frew VanHoose went on to spend 54 years running the company as president and CEO, until he could not manage the business anymore due to his failing health. With the founder of the company stepping down, the course of the company would dramatically change. After a brief 2- week interlude, in 1964, Frew S. VanHoose's grandson Joe Howard VanHoose, then just 23 years old, became the new president of F.S. VanHoose & Company. In over a century of business, F.S. VanHoose & Company has had only two presidents in its entirety.

Joe was perhaps inexperienced and not entirely ready to handle the management of his family's company, which under his grandfather, had grown to become a large, multi-faceted operation. In his own words, Joe described himself as ``23 going on 18.''

``I thought to myself, Joe, it's either sink or swim. I swam,'' Joe said.

Today, the company's sales rate is 30 times greater than it was in the mid-1960s. Joe has spent 58 years as the company's president and CEO. The business is financially stable and annually injects great amounts of out-of-county and out-of-state money into the local economy. VanHoose & Company has been listed by various national trade magazines in the top 400 businesses several times.

The secret to this small-town lumber company's success is simple. By treating employees well and keeping turnover rates low, the employees are able and ready to stay at VanHoose & Company for the long haul.

Next, Joe relies heavily on the leadership of his fellow family members throughout the company. He believes it is up to them to carry on the business in the future.

Also, every business needs to be able to change with the times--and sometimes even before the times. Joe remembers VanHoose & Company using computers long before they were the norm. Now he can hardly imagine going a day without them.

Last, but certainly not least, is pride. Each individual involved with the organization cares deeply about the well-being of the company, and reveals it in their day-to-day display of upstanding character and customer service.

It is my hope that today, my fellow Senators will join me in recognizing the contribution that this company has made and is continuing to make in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Success stories like that of F.S. VanHoose & Company resonate as examples of what hard work, perseverance, and dedication can lead to in our great country.

There was an article recently printed in the publication ``Discover the Power of Southeast Kentucky,'' published by the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce in the summer of 2011. I ask unanimous consent that it appear in the Record.

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

Madam President, I have the sad and solemn task today to speak of one brave and honorable Kentuckian who was lost in the performance of his duties while wearing his country's uniform. SGT Adam J. Ray of Louisville, KY, was killed on February 9, 2010, in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device set by the enemy detonated near his patrol. He was 23 years old.

For his heroic service, Sergeant Ray received many medals, awards, and decorations, including the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Korean Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the NATO Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Weapons Qualification Badge, and the Overseas Service Bar.

Sergeant Ray knew the risks of Army service and faced them squarely without flinching. In fact, a reporter imbedded with Sergeant Ray's unit has written of how his patrol's assignment on the day he was killed was to find and deactivate explosives hidden by the enemy in culverts under the main road heading west from Kandahar connecting to major cities such as Kabul.

``People ask me if I regret letting Adam join,'' says his mother, Donna Ray.

Well, I don't. Adam died doing what he loved more than

anything else in the world. No, Adam did not go into this

wanting to die for his country, but he was more than willing

to do it. I am so very honored to be his mother and to tell

everyone about him.

Adam Ray was born March 9, 1986, to Jim and Donna Ray. When Adam was in the third grade, he went on a school field trip to a military museum. From that moment on, he wanted to be a soldier.

``He would play army with his little toy solders in the bath tub,'' remembers Donna.

He lined them up around the edge of the tub and prepared

for the attack of his dinosaurs. At night, when I tucked him

in his bed, I would have to pry the toy soldiers out of his

clenched fist.

Adam's father Jim attended West Point, and Adam wanted to follow in his footsteps and also go there. However, after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Adam felt an urgency to serve his country that could not wait, so he entered military service in April of 2005 and graduated basic combat training at Fort Benning, GA.

Adam then attended advanced individual training at Fort Sam Houston, TX, where he was trained as a patient administrative specialist. His first deployment was to Camp Casey, Korea. After 1 year in Korea, Adam reenlisted and was transferred to an infantry unit. By the time he was deployed to Afghanistan, he was assigned to C Company, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA.

In early 2009, Adam was deployed to Afghanistan. He visited his family while on leave in September of that year and returned to Afghanistan in October. By Christmas, his family was hearing less from him because he was preparing for a dangerous mission.

``The Friday before he was killed, he called about 2 a.m. our time-- he always forgot about the time difference,'' Donna remembers. ``He told me that his unit was moving and that I may not hear from him for a while, and not to worry.''

A few days later came the fateful Tuesday that was February 9. Adam's

unit was conducting ``culvert denial'' in an area where an Afghanistan soldier had recently been killed by a bomb hidden in a culvert underneath a road.

At approximately 9:30 a.m., the explosion went off, and as one contemporary news report puts it, ``Adam Ray, the third of five children, beloved son of a minister and a devoted mother, a soccer player and a flirt, who tutored dyslexic kids and was known to ask less popular girls to dance at school events, died.''

We are thinking of Sergeant Ray's loved ones today as I recount his story for my colleagues here in the Senate. We are thinking of his parents Jim and Donna Ray; his grandparents John and Doris Ray and Bobby and Marilyn Sumner; his brothers Zachary and Seth Ray; his sisters Betsy and Amanda Ray; his nephew Christopher Mitchem; and many other beloved family members and friends.

I know my colleagues join me in extending the sincere and profound gratitude of the Senate to the family of SGT Adam J. Ray. We have set aside this moment to recognize his service, service proudly and freely given, for the country he so loved. And we pay tribute to his supreme sacrifice.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to an educational institution that has been determined to create job opportunities and more easily accessible pathways to attaining professional degrees for Kentuckians, Midway College.

Midway College is a private school in Midway, KY, located in between Lexington and Frankfort. The school, established in 1847, has since created not only a rich tradition but a bright future for itself as well. Grounded in the golden rule, the school's motto is ``ama vicinum acte,'' Latin for ``love your neighbor in deed.'' And Midway College and its faculty are dedicated to living just so. The college has opened 14 different branches across the State offering numerous disciplines students can choose to study and thereby diversifying the type of student who could potentially enroll by constructing schools in an array of unique locations.

In 2009, Midway College president Dr. William B. Drake, Jr., along with attorney G. Chad Perry III, and his wife Judy Perry, had a vision to create a 15th branch of the college in a small Kentucky town. This new branch would be expected to not only strengthen the Commonwealth but the entire Nation as well. Their dream soon became a reality in January of 2010 when Midway College's board of trustees announced plans to open the Midway College School of Pharmacy in Paintsville, KY.

The small community of Paintsville is located in Johnson County, and, according to President Drake, they could not have asked for a more perfect location for the school. The town's citizens, who strongly care about education, got involved early with the project and stepped forward to ensure that Paintsville would be the right home for the school. The new institute of learning will not only offer over 100 jobs to an area that is suffering from high unemployment rates but will generate around $30 million in revenue each year.

The climate of our Nation is rapidly changing. As baby boomers age and are now in more medical need than ever before, Midway College is breaking new grounds in its attempt to combat the problem. Only four States have greater need of pharmacists than Kentucky, a State which currently has only two pharmaceutical schools. Midway seeks to provide an opportunity to students in the Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky, in hopes that they will take their professional degree and return to

their hometowns across the Commonwealth and make a difference for those in need.

Eighty percent of Kentuckians are still without a college degree. The fight to educate citizens of Kentucky wages on, and with the help of forward-thinking institutions like Midway College, the future looks brighter than ever before. So today I would like to ask my colleagues in the U.S. Senate if they would join me in recognizing the faculty and staff of Kentucky's own Midway College.

Mr. President, the Kentucky publication ``Discover the Power of Southeast Kentucky,'' published by the Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, recently printed an article extolling Midway College and its president, Dr. William B. Drake, Jr. I ask unanimous consent that said article be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, we have had a little more time now to look at the President's budget, and I have to say the more one looks at it, the harder it is to believe this is the President's considered response to the crisis we face.

President Obama knows better than anyone in this country that government spending and debt is completely out of control and that America is headed down the same road as Europe. This budget was his chance to show it. Instead, he decided to basically pretend these problems don't even exist, and to the extent he does acknowledge them, to propose solutions that are either gimmicks or that he knows will never come to pass.

Just to take two examples, he says he will bank savings by not fighting a war he already declared we wouldn't be fighting. He will take credit for saving money on a war that he has already declared we are not going to be fighting--a gimmick--and he would raise money with tax hikes that have been rejected eight times by both parties. And, by the way, forget the fact that government spends $1 trillion a year more than it takes in. The President says government spending should be even higher. He significantly increases government spending at a time when we have a $15 trillion debt, a debt that is as big as our economy.

This is what passes for leadership down at the White House. The President looks at our fiscal crisis, throws together a plan he knows is completely deceptive, and then goes on the road to sell it to captive audiences at high schools and colleges across the country. The failure of leadership is truly breathtaking. The President knows how grave our Nation's fiscal condition is. When he thinks it helps him, he admits it.

A year ago tomorrow, when debt and spending were in the news, he used his budget announcement to reiterate a pledge to cut the deficit in half. Here is what he said just a year ago tomorrow:

The only way we can make these investments in our future is

if our government starts living within its means, if we start

taking responsibility for our deficits. That's why, when I

was sworn in as President, I pledged to cut the deficit in

half by the end of my first term. The budget I'm proposing

today meets that pledge.

That was the President 1 year ago tomorrow. Here we are 1 year later and he hasn't even come close--not even close.

Last month, the President said he wanted an economy ``that is built to last.'' What he has given us instead is a blueprint for deficits that are built to last, and he hasn't done a thing to live up to his pledge to get our Nation's fiscal house in order. In fact, he has made it worse. Last year's budget wasn't worth the paper it was printed on and neither is this one. It is not worth the paper it was printed on.

The President's job isn't to tell people what he thinks they want to hear. It is to explain the problems we have, unite people around a solution, and get the job done. This President is truly failing the American people. The only question is how long it will take for that failure to catch up with us.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a thriving and successful business in Kentucky, the K-I Lumber & Building Materials company, headquartered in Louisville. K-I Lumber was founded in Louisville in 1932 by Mr. Walter M. Freeman, Sr., who was working as a lumber salesman for another company in the 1920s. As the Great Depression hit, the company he worked for began to decline, and this enterprising American decided that was the time to strike out on his own.

Mr. Freeman opened K-I Lumber's first headquarters in the Starks Building in downtown Louisville, and began selling carloads and truckloads of lumber to customers in Kentucky, Indiana, and surrounding States. By the early 1950s, he had purchased property for a distribution center and lumberyard. Walt's son, Walt Freeman, Jr., joined the business and began to expand it into Kentucky and Indiana's largest lumber company.

Walt, Jr. grew K-I Lumber until it had nine locations in three States and employed approximately 500 people, turning it into one of the largest independent lumber and building materials companies in the industry and earning it the Home Builders Association of Louisville Associate of the Year award until his passing in 2011.

Now led by the company's chairman, Sharon Freeman, and its president, Bob DeFarraro, K-I Lumber continues to serve as an example of the success Kentucky businesses can achieve with hard work, good leadership, and a passionate spirit. K-I Lumber recently celebrated its current employees for their combined total of 2,074 years of service to the company and to its customers in Kentucky and the region.

Speaking of the company's custom millwork division, Walt Freeman, Jr. was fond of saying ``If you can dream it, we can craft it.'' Whether it is custom millwork for one very special customer, or lumber needs for the largest distributors, K-I Lumber & Building Materials has survived and thrived over the past 80 years by crafting the desires of its customers, employees, and managers into reality. I know my colleagues join me in wishing many more years of success to this proud and locally owned Kentucky business.

Mr. President, President Obama released a budget today that isn't really a budget at all. It is a campaign document. The President's goal isn't to solve our problems but to ignore them for another year, which will only ensure they get even worse. Once again, the President is shirking his responsibility to lead by using this budget to divide us.

The game plan is perfectly clear. Rather than reach out to Congress to craft a consensus budget, the President will take this budget on the road, as he did today, and talk about the parts he thinks audiences will like. What he will not say is that it is bad for job creation, bad for seniors, and it will make the economy worse.

The President's budget is bad for jobs because it includes the biggest tax hike in history and continues policies such as the Democrats' health care law that is making it harder for small businesses to hire.

A little more than a year ago, the President extended current tax rates because he thought raising them would be bad for jobs. Today he will call for raising them anyway because he thinks it is good for him.

The President's budget is bad for our seniors because it doesn't protect the security of Medicare and Social Security and assures those programs keep careening toward insolvency.

The President's budget is bad for our country's economic security because yet again the President failed to take the prime opportunity this budget provides to address the Nation's $15 trillion debt.

Contrary to the President's claims out on the road, this budget is literally loaded with deficit reduction gimmicks that would trigger an IRS audit for anybody else and make our current economic situation even worse.

Now, the President isn't going to mention any of those things, but Americans deserve to know the whole truth about this budget. They deserve to know why the President's own party doesn't want to vote on it and why his own top advisers are trying to deflect serious questions about what is really going on here.

Yesterday, the President's Chief of Staff said the reason this budget will not get anywhere in the Senate is because it would take 60 votes to pass--60 votes to pass--and the Democrats don't have that many votes on their own.

Well, I would suggest Mr. Lew review his Sunday briefing materials a little more closely next time. As someone who has run the Office of Management and Budget for two different Presidents, he knows as well as anybody in Washington a simple majority is all it takes to pass a budget resolution in the Senate, a simple majority. In other words, Democrats could pass this President's budget without a single Republican vote--not one.

The inconvenient truth that President Obama and his own top advisers don't want to admit is that this budget isn't going anywhere because the President's own party doesn't want to have anything whatsoever to do with it. Indeed, the majority leader in the Senate has already declared it ``dead on arrival.''

Now, Jack Lew knows this as well as I do, and the fact that he does proves beyond any doubt the President has no intention of this budget ever actually being implemented. If he can't even count on members of his own party to support it, who does he expect is going to support it?

The truth is, Democrats want to have it both ways. The President wants to be able to take his budget around the country to talk about the parts of it he thinks people will like, and Democrats in Congress want to be able to avoid a vote on it because it is so damaging for job creation and seniors and the economy.

Well, if anybody wants to know what a failure of leadership looks like, this is it. This is it. Three years ago, President Obama promised to cut the Federal deficit in half by the end of his first term. He hasn't even come close. Here he is once again proposing the same failed policies that have prolonged this economic crisis well into the President's fourth year in office. After the national debt increased under his watch by more than 40 percent, he is still throwing good money after bad. He is still spending money we don't have on things we don't need. He still refuses to lead.

Democrats in Congress have been more than happy to enable him. They haven't passed a budget of their own in 3 years, and all indications are they will not pass one this year either--a failure of congressional leadership that will surely go down in history. At this point, nothing seems capable of rousing this President to action. Every day we hear the alarm bells sounding from across the Atlantic. It doesn't seem to phase him. Every day we hear the warnings from experts and economists that our fiscal situation is unsustainable.

Just a few months ago, the unthinkable happened when America's credit rating was actually lowered for the first time in history.

What is this President's response? A budget he knows even his own party will not support. That is his response to this $15 trillion debt. So this is a charade--a charade. The only question is when this President's own refusal to lead will catch up to all the rest of us.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I have the sad duty today to share with my colleagues the story of one brave

Kentuckian who sacrificed his life for his country. First Lieutenant Eric Yates, of Rineyville, KY, was killed on September 18, 2010, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, after insurgents attacked his patrol with an improvised explosive device. He was 26 years old.

For his heroic service, Lieutenant Yates received several awards, medals, and decorations, including the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the NATO Medal, the Combat Action Badge, and the Overseas Service Bar.

On Veterans Day last year, Lieutenant Yates's alma mater, Western Kentucky University, honored him by inducting him into its ROTC Hall of Fame. A likeness of Lieutenant Yates, etched in granite, was unveiled and placed on the university's landmark Guthrie Bell Tower.

The history department at Western Kentucky University, working with the Yates family, also established the First Lieutenant Eric Yates Memorial Scholarship. ``We have made it our mission to make it a scholarship that will be here forever, to keep Eric alive in our hearts,'' says Kathy Yates, Eric's mother. Thanks to fund raisers and generous donations, that scholarship fund now has over $20,000 in it.

Eric was born on July 1, 1984, to Kathy and David Yates, and grew up on a farm in Rineyville. A typical little kid, he liked to play with toy tractors and watch cartoons. Batman and Power Rangers were his favorites. ``He went through a phase where he wore a cape all the time so he would be ready for any impending danger,'' remembers Kathy. Eric attended Rineyville Elementary School, and played baseball.

On the farm, the Yates family grew hay and tobacco, and there was work to be done clearing weeds, topping plants, cutting the tobacco, and stripping it in the barn to get it ready for market. ``I am so thankful for that time we spent together working and talking, as that's when you really get to know your children and the work ethic they develop,'' Kathy says.

One spring when Eric was about 10 and his little brother Nathan was about 6, David told his two sons they could each pick a newborn calf after their hard work stripping tobacco all winter. Nathan picked out the biggest bull he could find. He could not understand why his big brother Eric chose a little heifer calf. ``I want the gift that's going to keep on giving,'' Eric said, and he went on to sell a calf from that cow every year for the next 13 years.

In high school Eric got his first job for Butternut Bread, filling the shelves in Wal-Mart, and was elected as treasurer of his school's chapter of Future Farmers of America.

During the summer of 2001, the Yates family took a vacation to our Nation's capital here in Washington, D.C. Eric was thrilled to visit the White House, the Smithsonian, Arlington Cemetery, the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, Robert E. Lee's house, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Kathy recalls how he practically taught the family a history lesson at every stop along the way. ``He was amazed by all of it,'' she says.

Soon after that summer trip came the events of 9/11. A junior in high school, Eric read as much about the brutal terrorist attacks on this country as he could. ``I had not seen anything that grabbed his attention like that fateful day,'' Kathy remembers. It was then that Eric began to think about a career in the U.S. Army.

After graduating from John Hardin High School in 2003, Eric started at Elizabethtown Community College. Then he transferred to Western Kentucky University and joined their ROTC program, with an eye toward a military career. He hoped to return to Hardin County one day after retiring from the Army, to teach and share his stories of military adventure.

Eric graduated from WKU in 2008. ``We were so proud of him that weekend as David and I put on his gold bars at his commissioning ceremony,'' Kathy says. After graduation, he joined the 101st Airborne Division and was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, a point of pride for Eric as that was the same division his grandfather, Herbert L. Crabb, had served in.

In May of 2010, Eric was deployed to Afghanistan with B Company, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. It would be his first and only deployment.

We are thinking of First Lieutenant Yates's loved ones today, Mr. President, as I recount his story for my colleagues in the Senate, including his parents, David and Kathy Yates; his brother, Nathan Yates; his grandfather, Herbert L. Crabb; and many other beloved family members and friends.

Eric's family learned after his tragic death that he had left behind a letter he wanted read at his funeral. His parents have gracefully shared that letter with me, and I would like to read it for my colleagues now. Eric writes as follows:

Hello to everyone in attendance,

I'm sorry that you all had to gather here today for this

event--no, really I am. But since you are here I would like

to take the chance to say a few things, try to impart some of

my knowledge and wisdom that I have stored up over the past

26 years. I consider myself fairly cultured and worldly, so

please pay attention; I have the following advice.

Number one, take a chance. Get out there and do something

you wouldn't normally do. You will see and do some really

cool stuff and meet some really fine and interesting people.

Once an Army buddy and myself ate breakfast with a homeless

man in Oklahoma City, and I must say he left an impression on

me.

Number two, watch the original Star Wars trilogy. It's an

amazing story.

Number three, no matter how old you are, get off the couch

and exercise. You will look and feel so much better, have

more energy and be happier.

Number four, read a lot books, both fiction and non-

fiction, newspapers, magazines, blogs, online stories, movie

reviews--all these things will help you understand the world

around you, your role in it, and why what happened to me

happened where and when it did.

Number five, save your money. You don't own your things;

your things own you.

Number six, liquor is better than beer.

Number seven, don't reject new ideas immediately.

That seems to be all that I wanted to say, so thank you for

coming. Please have a safe trip home and have a good life.

Love, Eric Yates.

It is a great loss, Mr. President, that First Lieutenant Eric Yates will not have a long and happy life himself, with the opportunities to share those lessons--and many more--with the people that fill that life. But I am honored to be able to share them now with my colleagues in the United States Senate.

And I am honored to stand here today and recognize Lieutenant Yates's heroic service, and the solemn sacrifice he has made on behalf of a loving family, a proud Commonwealth, and a grateful Nation.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.