Floor Statements

Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this unnecessary bill will undermine our efforts to end a pandemic that has killed over 685,000 people and counting.

We are fighting a highly contagious virus. If people don't get vaccinated, variants like Delta will continue to spread, undermine our economy, and take lives. Getting people vaccinated is one of the most important things we can do to stop COVID-19.

And let's be clear. Immunization requirements are nothing new in this country. State and local governments and school districts have required vaccination against diseases like polio and measles for over a century. Taking similar steps against COVID is just commonsense.

Tailored exemptions for legitimate religious and medical considerations already exist in current law and are included in President Biden's policy.

This bill could undermine existing protections and create a massive loophole that would lead to more unnecessary and preventable deaths.

It is so frustrating to know how scared people are of this virus, to know how many people it has killed, to know how hard people are trying to do the right thing and how eager they are for this to end, only to have Republicans offer ideas that would create political division, prolong this crisis, and cost more lives, so I object.

Mr. President, early this week, the administration extended its border closure with Canada for another month. Another month that vaccinated Americans can travel into Canada, but vaccinated Canadians cannot cross our border; dealing another monthlong blow to American businesses all across our northern border.

Now, I am glad to see the Biden administration taking the pandemic seriously and delivering much-needed relief in a lot of different ways, but I am not going to stay quiet about this serious, completely unnecessary harm this border-crossing closure is causing to small businesses and workers in Point Roberts, WA.

Now, as I have said to everybody who will listen, and some who, I am sure, are tired of hearing me, Point Roberts must at least have an exemption as we work to safely reopen the U.S.-Canadian border.

And here is why. For those of you not familiar with this particular part of Washington State, Point Roberts is right here. It is called an exclave community. People who live in Point Roberts, in order to get to the rest of our State, have to travel through Canada and back down to Washington State. If Canadians cannot come across the border, Point Roberts is really isolated. That is what is happening right now.

Now, let's paint a picture. You can take a boat right now from Canada to Point Roberts. You can fly across the border from Vancouver down to Seattle. But right now, because this border is closed, a Canadian family who lives within here can't go to Point Roberts for lunch, and they are sitting right here. This is this Canadian border, and this is Point Roberts.

Now, Point Roberts has some small businesses, and its entire economy cannot survive without that easy border cross for folks who live within this region. They can't count on people from down here to come up to their restaurants or to their businesses.

Their local economy depends on Canadian tourists, especially since, by the way, the only ferry between Point Roberts and the rest of Washington State is closed because of the pandemic. So people can't get up there right now. The only people who can help that community survive have to come across this border, and they can't because it is closed.

Now, this has been going on for 17 months and counting, and I have heard from so many small business owners there, including the owner of the only grocery store in town who is now on the brink of shutting down his doors for good--the only grocery store here for the people who live there and for the people close by.

Now, I really appreciate the administration's science-based approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have to follow science, and we need to follow the evidence, and I am proud we have taken COVID-19 extremely serious from the very start in my home State of Washington. But I firmly believe the evidence supports at least a narrow and tailored exception to the Canadian border closure to allow for a reopening right here for this community, Point Roberts. It is their port of entry for Canadian travel, and it needs to be open if we want those people to survive.

I have yet to be presented with a compelling reason why a border exemption for this small little community has not yet been provided.

I have spoken directly with DHS Secretary Mayorkas about this. I have talked with Jeff Zients, the White

House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, and a lot of other top officials at the State Department and White House as well. No one--not a person--can explain to me what evidence is being used to support that border restriction right there for Point Roberts.

So I am here on the Senate floor today to make sure that President Biden and his administration understand me. At the very least, we just need an emergency exemption from these restrictions for this small little Point Roberts community right here so that they can get their economy back up and running and that people there have the services that they need.

I am going to continue to press the administration on this and do whatever I can to help this community. But I want this on the record: Maintaining this ban on cross-border travel for Point Roberts is absolutely unacceptable. It should have been addressed months ago, and I will not stop until this is resolved.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print the following letter in the Congressional Record.

Mr. President, we are about to take two votes, and I will speak on both of them for just a few minutes.

Mr. President, right now, many students in higher education across the country are back on campus for the start of a new school year, and although I know many of them are excited to finally be able to return to their classrooms and their friends, there are still many challenges in higher education we need to tackle immediately, including keeping our students safe and healthy as the COVID-19 crisis continues.

We also cannot lose sight of the fact that student debt is at a historic high as borrowers across our country are drowning in student debt. The cost of higher education continues to rise, forcing students to give up on higher education dreams simply because they can't afford it. Predatory for-profit colleges continue to target first-generation students, students of color, and our veterans. Across the country, campus sexual assault, harassment, and discrimination, and systemic racism leave too many students feeling unsafe in their own school communities.

Students across our country deserve leaders who are committed to addressing these urgent problems and who will work to always put students and borrowers first. I believe James Kvaal is exactly that kind of leader, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting his nomination to serve as Under Secretary of Education. Mr. Kvaal's background reflects a deep commitment to our Nation's students and the experience needed to hit the ground running on day one.

As president of the Institute for College Access and Success, Mr. Kvaal fought to improve student outcomes and quality, reform Federal and State financial aid, support student loan borrowers, and increase State and Federal investments in higher education. He also has a long record in public service, including as Deputy Under Secretary of Education and as Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Obama administration, where he helped strengthen college accountability, expand investments in Pell grants, and worked to ensure students had critical information about the outcomes of the colleges and universities they might attend.

To me, it is a clear vote to confirm Mr. Kvaal. It is a vote to support our students and borrowers and to help build a stronger, more equitable higher education system.

Mr. President, the second vote we will take is on Judge Estudillo's confirmation, and I rise today in support of the nomination of Judge David Estudillo to serve as U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Washington in the Tacoma courthouse.

I had the honor of recommending that President Biden nominate Judge Estudillo for this position, and I am so glad he did. Judge Estudillo is tremendously qualified for this job, currently serving in his third term as a Grant County Superior Court judge, and he is someone who will bring a powerful and important perspective to the Federal bench.

Let me tell you a little bit about him and the kind of person he is. He was born and raised in the Yakima Valley of Washington State. Judge Estudillo is the son of immigrants--the 9th child of 10--his parents coming here from Mexico through the Bracero Program. His mother and father were farmworkers until they were able to open up a small grocery store, where Judge Estudillo worked while growing up and through college.

He is someone who worked hard to give back to his community in working as an immigration lawyer. He represented clients in tough removal proceedings, successfully presenting and trying claims for asylum, cancelations of removal, and other forms of relief from deportation. He also consistently provided pro bono services at immigration legal clinics to help immigrants applying for citizenship and often presented information in Spanish about immigration policy and procedure all around the community.

That work as an immigration attorney is important to me because it means, when Judge Estudillo is in the Tacoma courthouse and Washington State families look up to the judge's bench--who maybe don't speak English or just aren't familiar with our court system--Judge Estudillo is someone who will make sure that every person who walks into his courtroom feels heard and that every person who walks out believes equal justice under the law is real in America.

Don't just take my word for it. The judge is endorsed by both the Republican and Democratic Parties of Grant County, where he first ran for his current post, and he was recommended to me by my Judicial Merit Selection Committee, which has both Republican and Democratic members. He has earned an outstanding reputation for leading a courtroom where everyone is treated with respect and dignity.

If we want people in this country to have faith in our Federal courts--an absolutely vital part of our democracy's checks and balance system--then we need to appoint judges who will serve with integrity and independence and who will reflect the communities they serve. I know Judge Estudillo will do exactly that. He will be an exceptional Federal district court judge for the Western District of Washington, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting his nomination.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. We all agree that in-person learning is a top priority this school year. Democrats actually passed the American Rescue Plan without a single Republican vote so schools have the resources to make safe, in-person learning possible. The CDC also updated its guidance on reopening, and State school districts and schools are working towards that goal.

But in addition to ensuring in-person learning, we need to encourage adherence to public health guidance, especially as this Delta variant is surging. We also need to support learning and the mental health needs of our students and much more. There is no disagreement on in- person learning, but the Scott amendment falls short on these very important points.

By the way, we need to stop politicizing this issue.

So I encourage a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

Mr. President, this amendment is a serious threat to women's safety that would allow someone else's personal beliefs rather than a patient's best interests determine a patient's care.

No healthcare provider should be able to refuse to give lifesaving information about where to get care to someone who is miscarrying. No healthcare provider should be able to refuse to transfer a patient who needs an abortion. No healthcare provider should be able to turn patients away in an emergency situation for purely ideological reasons. Everyone should be able to make their own choices about pregnancy and parenting and exercise their constitutionally protected right to an abortion.

This amendment would vastly expand abortion restrictions on Federal funding.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.

Mr. President.

Mr. President, you know, this amendment is simply an attempt to force the Federal Government to interfere with local school district decisions about curriculum and academic instruction.

There are several longstanding provisions in Federal education law that prohibit the Federal Government from mandating or directing school curriculum. This amendment would contradict that bipartisan consensus and allow the Federal Government to have a say over what schools can and cannot teach our children.

I oppose this amendment because I believe States, local school districts, and educators should be in the driver's seat when making decisions about curriculum, and I urge my colleagues to vote no.

Mr. President, even in the midst of a pandemic, a climate crisis, a childcare crisis, so many issues facing our working families, it is so disappointing but not surprising that Republicans continue to focus on restricting access to abortion care.

Let's be perfectly clear about this amendment. It is a clear attempt to undermine Roe v. Wade. It would impose a 20-week abortion ban with no exception for rape or incest, and it would harm women and families across the country.

In fact, leading medical groups like the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists oppose policies like this because they interfere with doctors' and patients' ability to make decisions based on science and based on what is best for their patients' healthcare.

Everyone has the right to make their own decisions about their own reproductive healthcare.

I urge a ``no'' vote on the amendment.

Mr. President, you know, when a disaster strikes--a tornado or an earthquake or a wildfire--the first thing we do is work to keep people safe, but that is far from the last thing we do. When the storm has passed, we rebuild. We rebuild homes and schools, hospitals, businesses, communities; and, if we are doing our job right, we build them back even better so we are ready when the next crisis strikes. That is exactly what this budget is about--rebuilding our country now stronger and fairer.

We need to pick up where the infrastructure package leaves off by making bold investments in all of our infrastructure. In addition to building roads and bridges and even broadband, we need to build our public health infrastructure and help our local health departments expand their capacity and modernize their data and lab systems and more

We need to build our affordable housing infrastructure to make sure every family can keep a roof over their head, and it doesn't need to break the bank to do so.

We need to build our school infrastructure to make sure schools don't have lead pipes or mold and do have adequate lighting and electricity and AC systems, not to mention so many other resources students need to learn and grow, like libraries and gyms.

And we need to build our climate infrastructure. The climate crisis is here, and it is an existential threat. If we don't take this opportunity to protect our planet for current and future generations, we may not get another one.

Of course, rebuilding is about more than just infrastructure. We have to build a stronger, fairer country for our workers and our families too. Our Nation is stronger when no worker has to choose between a paycheck and taking care of themselves, a child, or a loved one who is seriously ill; and every worker can afford to take time off after giving birth, a partner's delivery, or adopting a child, which is why we must establish a national paid leave plan.

Our Nation is stronger when every parent can get quality, affordable childcare; every young learner gets a strong start with quality early learning programs; and every adult learner can pursue a higher education, which is why we need to expand quality, affordable childcare and establish universal pre-K, and why we need to open the doors of higher education to even more people, starting by providing tuition- free community college.

Our Nation is stronger when older Americans and people with disabilities have the care they need to live independently in their communities, which is why we need to invest in home- and community- based services and make sure the workers who provide that critical care get fair pay and better benefits.

Our Nation is stronger when healthcare is truly a right and not a privilege, which is why we need to extend the huge healthcare expansion we made in the American Rescue Plan, which has already helped 138,000 people in my home State of Washington save an average of $90 on their healthcare coverage, and we need to keep pressing for further progress toward universal coverage.

And, of course, our Nation is stronger because of the contributions of so many hard-working immigrants, which is why we need a fair pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented residents living here, including Dreamers, farmworkers, those with temporary protected status, and the many essential undocumented workers who do so much to keep our country running.

You know, after a wildfire, would we leave the fire department in ashes, or the schools or the businesses or the homes?

Of course not.

So, after a pandemic and an economic crisis, shouldn't we rebuild our public health departments? Shouldn't we rebuild our economy? Shouldn't we address the deep-seated inequities that have made things so much worse for so many people? Shouldn't we help families get childcare and paid leave and healthcare and housing and citizenship? Shouldn't we build back our Nation stronger and fairer?

That is not a trick question, and it shouldn't be a hard one either. The answer is obvious to anyone who has been listening to people back home.

Democrats are listening. We know what families are going through. We know they want us to act, and that is exactly what we are going to do.

I yield the floor

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Minority Veterans of America on the occasion of their fourth anniversary on August 7, 2021. Minority Veterans of America is doing important work in home State of Washington and around the country advancing equity and justice for nearly 5 million underrepresented veterans, including women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, and religious and nonreligious minorities. As a nation, we make a promise to take care of our veterans when they return from service. It is the least we can do for those who have sacrificed to defend our freedoms. Minority Veterans of America addresses the additional challenges minority veterans face in receiving the benefits they have earned.

Minority Veterans of America was founded in Washington State in 2017 by two military veterans, Lindsay Church and Katherine Pratt. Over the course of 4 years, Minority Veterans of America has grown to include thousands of members spread across nearly every State. They have worked tirelessly advocating for reforms that address economic and health disparities among minority veterans. In my home State of Washington, they have organized innovative programs that address the unique need of minority veterans in transitioning to civilian life, financial stability, social engagement, and access to resources. At the national level, Minority Veterans of America has organized grassroots movements to address issues such as discrimination in the military, military sexual trauma, and the transgender military ban. They also work directly with the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase equitable and inclusive access to services.

It is clear to me that Minority Veterans of America has made a substantial contribution to veterans in Washington State and across the country. It is my pleasure to thank Minority Veterans of America for their hard work and commitment. I congratulate Minority Veterans of America on 4 years of outstanding service to our military veterans and look forward to working with them in the years to come as we continue to advance equity and inclusion for our veterans.

Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues in saying I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my great friend Richard Trumka.

To say Rich was a champion for workers is really an understatement. He dedicated his life to fighting to secure and strengthen workers' rights. Everyone who knew Rich knew just how deeply committed he was to that mission. He understood how hard people in this country work for their families. He understood the dignity of work. He grew up understanding it. His grandfather was a coal miner, his father was a coal miner, and so was he.

It is because he knew how hard people across the country work that he was driven to work so hard himself, to hold Washington accountable and make sure our country was looking out for working families.

For decades, Rich led the charge in creating a country that treats all workers with the dignity and respect they deserve and where every worker had the right to join a union, including by fighting to root out systemic inequities and racism in this country.

Rich once said:

There's no evil that's inflicted more pain and more

suffering than racism and it's something we in the labor

movement have a special responsibility to challenge.

He worked to live up to that challenge and to push others as well, and this country is better because of it.

I have worked with Rich for years and seen firsthand how hard he fought every day to make sure workers had a seat at the table on healthcare, education, taxes, climate change. Whatever the issue, you could expect to hear from Rich because of how those issues affected working people.

I will always remember working together to develop and draft the PRO Act, which embodied our vision to give workers and their families a fair shot in this country--something Rich not only fought for every day, but, in my mind, will always be remembered for on this floor, in the halls, and all across our country.

If you didn't hear him in a meeting, you would hear him over the bullhorn soon enough because he was as comfortable on a picket line as he was in a

boardroom or in the Halls of Congress, if not more comfortable, which is why, even as Rich shaped national policy conversations and led one of the Nation's biggest unions in the country through some of the most trying times in its history, including a recession and a pandemic, his legacy stretches far beyond his legislative accomplishments and beyond his leadership of the AFL-CIO, and it will stretch onward still as we continue his lifetime work of fighting for our workers. That is how we can honor Rich's legacy.

Rich may have been a recognizable face on television, especially with his mustache; he may have met with Presidents regularly; he may have changed the history of our Nation for the better; but perhaps the most remarkable thing is, even at his tallest, he never talked down to people. Even at his biggest, he fought for the small. Even after all that he accomplished, he never stopped fighting to do more, which is why we must not either.

My heart goes out to his wife Barbara and his son Rich Junior during this tragic time.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to print the following letter in the Congressional Record.

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

Mr. President, over the past 4 years, the National Labor Relations Board, which was founded to protect workers' rights, has again and again tipped the scales in favor of very large corporations.

While Democratic nominees to the NLRB were blocked and anti-worker nominees were jammed through, we saw decades of worker protections reversed. This has had a devastating impact on workers in our country, who are not only struggling through this pandemic but who have also seen their rights to strike and organize and bargain collectively undermined and constrained in ruling after ruling.

But, today, the Senate has the opportunity to begin healing this damage by confirming two exceptionally qualified individuals. That is why I am urging all of our colleagues to join me in supporting David Prouty and Gwynne Wilcox to serve on the NLRB.

Mr. Prouty's career is defined by his commitment to workers, with a long record representing textile workers, hotel workers, restaurant workers, baseball players, and now as a lawyer for the SEIU Local 32BJ, property service workers.

Ms. Wilcox's experience as a field attorney for the NLRB, as a lawyer representing workers before the Board, and defending healthcare workers and protecting their rights makes clear that she has the right qualifications and values for this job.

Ms. Wilcox is not only a high-qualified nominee, she will be a historic one. She will be the first Black woman to serve on the Board, and her confirmation will bring us a step closer to ensuring our worker protections Agencies represent the diverse workforce they serve.

It is clear to me we need David Prouty and Gwynne Wilcox on the NLRB to reverse the damage done by years of anti-worker attacks and get us back on the right track of building back an economy that works for everyone, not just huge corporations and those at the top.

Now more than ever, we need to join with workers and defend their rights. Today, that means voting to confirm Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Kimi Chernoby and Daniel Elchert, fellows who are assigned to my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of this year.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Andrew Zacher and Hannah Oakley, fellows who are assigned to my office, be granted floor privileges through September 1, 2022.