Floor Statements

Mr. President, I am here to discuss the Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act, which is a bill my colleagues Senators Shaheen, Boxer, Gillibrand, and I introduced today. It will update the child and dependent care tax credit to offer working families more relief from the rising costs of childcare.

When the child and dependent care tax credit was enacted originally, kids were playing with Rubik's Cubes and listening to eight-track tapes. As we all know, a lot has changed since then, and one of the most important changes our country has seen since that time is the rise of women in the labor force.

Since the mid-1970s, women's participation in the labor force has increased by 23 percent, and most women now do work full time. In two- thirds of families with dependent children, both parents work outside the home.

Over a period of time in which the middle class has been squeezed by an increasingly global economy with higher prices for everything from health care to college, women joining the labor force has helped to ease some of those burdens for families. In fact, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has called the increasing participation of women in the workforce: ``A major factor in sustaining growing families incomes.'' A recent study by the Center for American Progress found between 1979 and 2012, the U.S. economy grew by 11 percent as a result of women joining the labor force.

As we look for ways to create jobs and expand growth in the 21st century, it is clear our country's economic success goes hand in hand with that of women and working families. We have to make sure our policies are updated to meet the needs of today's working parents, and one area we need to take a look at is childcare. The cost of childcare has skyrocketed in recent

years. Full-time childcare for just one child can cost families more than $10,000 annually, and for families below the poverty level--those who are already struggling the most to make ends meet--childcare can, on average, swallow one-third of what those parents are able to bring home.

This is a real problem for far too many hard-working parents, and it is a problem for our economy, because when parents are struggling to find reliable, safe, affordable care for their children during the day, it is harder for them to give their all on the job. Even worse, childcare is so expensive, some parents--most often mothers--are deciding it is not even worth returning to the workforce. This means families are being held back from gaining the economic security they are working so hard to achieve.

The child and dependent care tax credit was of course intended to help parents overcome these barriers, but today the benefit working parents get from the credit is a small fraction of what childcare actually costs. Because of how it is structured, the lowest income working families cannot benefit from it at all, meaning they have to bear the full brunt of childcare costs on very low wages.

It is clear this credit is one of the policies we need to bring into the 21st century, and that is exactly what we were doing when we introduced the Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act. This legislation will boost the benefit working families can receive for childcare costs, and it will make the child and dependent care tax credit refundable so those working parents who are struggling the most to make ends meet can better afford the childcare they need to work and support their families.

If Congress passes our bill, next year working families could see a credit of $1,600 for one child or $3,200 for more than one child. That is almost three times the maximum benefit many families are currently eligible to receive.

Our bill would be a real help to hard-working families who are trying to raise their children, pay the bills, save for college, and put something away for retirement. It could break down one of the biggest barriers mothers face when thinking about reentering the workforce.

The need to expand access to affordable childcare is something I often talk about with my own constituents in Washington State. During those conversations, what I hear from parents is: I am so glad you focused on this. It is a real issue for us.

Updating this tax credit to reflect the needs of families in today's economy would be a critical step forward in terms of our larger effort to ensure that working parents, dads and moms, have a fair shot.

I believe by putting in place policies to make childcare more affordable, make sure women get the equal pay they deserve by raising the minimum wage so millions of workers have a better shot at lifting themselves out of poverty, and by taking steps to ensure students are not overwhelmed by debt after they graduate from college, we could break down some very real barriers that are holding our families and our economy back. There is no reason we should not start that right now with the bill we are introducing today.

I hope all of our colleagues will take a minute, look at this-- Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act--and take this seriously. I hope we will be able to make it easier for moms and dads to afford safe reliable care for their children while they are at work. I think we can all agree parents deserve to have that peace of mind. I believe if we enact this bill and build on it with other critical policies to help working families, our economy will be much stronger now and over the long term.

I thank Senators Shaheen, Boxer, and Gillibrand again for all of their hard work and leadership on the part of working families.

Mr. President, I am here to discuss the Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act, which is a bill my colleagues Senators Shaheen, Boxer, Gillibrand, and I introduced today. It will update the child and dependent care tax credit to offer working families more relief from the rising costs of childcare.

When the child and dependent care tax credit was enacted originally, kids were playing with Rubik's Cubes and listening to eight-track tapes. As we all know, a lot has changed since then, and one of the most important changes our country has seen since that time is the rise of women in the labor force.

Since the mid-1970s, women's participation in the labor force has increased by 23 percent, and most women now do work full time. In two- thirds of families with dependent children, both parents work outside the home.

Over a period of time in which the middle class has been squeezed by an increasingly global economy with higher prices for everything from health care to college, women joining the labor force has helped to ease some of those burdens for families. In fact, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has called the increasing participation of women in the workforce: ``A major factor in sustaining growing families incomes.'' A recent study by the Center for American Progress found between 1979 and 2012, the U.S. economy grew by 11 percent as a result of women joining the labor force.

As we look for ways to create jobs and expand growth in the 21st century, it is clear our country's economic success goes hand in hand with that of women and working families. We have to make sure our policies are updated to meet the needs of today's working parents, and one area we need to take a look at is childcare. The cost of childcare has skyrocketed in recent

years. Full-time childcare for just one child can cost families more than $10,000 annually, and for families below the poverty level--those who are already struggling the most to make ends meet--childcare can, on average, swallow one-third of what those parents are able to bring home.

This is a real problem for far too many hard-working parents, and it is a problem for our economy, because when parents are struggling to find reliable, safe, affordable care for their children during the day, it is harder for them to give their all on the job. Even worse, childcare is so expensive, some parents--most often mothers--are deciding it is not even worth returning to the workforce. This means families are being held back from gaining the economic security they are working so hard to achieve.

The child and dependent care tax credit was of course intended to help parents overcome these barriers, but today the benefit working parents get from the credit is a small fraction of what childcare actually costs. Because of how it is structured, the lowest income working families cannot benefit from it at all, meaning they have to bear the full brunt of childcare costs on very low wages.

It is clear this credit is one of the policies we need to bring into the 21st century, and that is exactly what we were doing when we introduced the Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act. This legislation will boost the benefit working families can receive for childcare costs, and it will make the child and dependent care tax credit refundable so those working parents who are struggling the most to make ends meet can better afford the childcare they need to work and support their families.

If Congress passes our bill, next year working families could see a credit of $1,600 for one child or $3,200 for more than one child. That is almost three times the maximum benefit many families are currently eligible to receive.

Our bill would be a real help to hard-working families who are trying to raise their children, pay the bills, save for college, and put something away for retirement. It could break down one of the biggest barriers mothers face when thinking about reentering the workforce.

The need to expand access to affordable childcare is something I often talk about with my own constituents in Washington State. During those conversations, what I hear from parents is: I am so glad you focused on this. It is a real issue for us.

Updating this tax credit to reflect the needs of families in today's economy would be a critical step forward in terms of our larger effort to ensure that working parents, dads and moms, have a fair shot.

I believe by putting in place policies to make childcare more affordable, make sure women get the equal pay they deserve by raising the minimum wage so millions of workers have a better shot at lifting themselves out of poverty, and by taking steps to ensure students are not overwhelmed by debt after they graduate from college, we could break down some very real barriers that are holding our families and our economy back. There is no reason we should not start that right now with the bill we are introducing today.

I hope all of our colleagues will take a minute, look at this-- Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act--and take this seriously. I hope we will be able to make it easier for moms and dads to afford safe reliable care for their children while they are at work. I think we can all agree parents deserve to have that peace of mind. I believe if we enact this bill and build on it with other critical policies to help working families, our economy will be much stronger now and over the long term.

I thank Senators Shaheen, Boxer, and Gillibrand again for all of their hard work and leadership on the part of working families.

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

Mr. President, almost exactly 1 year ago to this day, all of the Members of this Senate came to this Chamber for what each of us understood was a historic vote because after years and even decades of debate and discussion, a small group of bipartisan Senators--Members from different backgrounds, different States, and certainly different philosophies--came together to reach an agreement on landmark legislation, a bill that would truly change the lives of millions of Americans. They had reached a deal that would significantly boost our economy, make every one of our communities fundamentally safer, and help millions of men and women pursue the American dream. But most of all, it was a deal that showed the United States was still capable of adapting, improving, and striving for perfection.

Still, the deal was not perfect. After all, it was a compromise, and once it was reached, it had to survive incredible scrutiny throughout the committee process and then during the floor consideration. But somehow it made it through.

So 1 year ago this week when each Member of the Senate came to the Chamber, we did something we don't normally do: We honored an old Senate tradition and actually cast our votes from our desks. That night, we finally passed comprehensive immigration reform through the Senate. I well remember the optimism we all shared that night. After years of trying, we had finally passed--with votes from both Republicans and Democrats--legislation that would finally start to fix our broken immigration system. It would strengthen our borders, support our businesses and, most importantly, provide a real path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants who are forced to live in the shadows as Americans in all but name. The Congressional Budget Office even estimated that the Senate bill would grow our economy and reduce the deficit by nearly $1 trillion over the next 2 decades.

We sent the bill to the House of Representatives knowing the path forward there might not be easy, but we heard from Speaker of the House John Boehner, majority leader Eric Cantor, and dozens of other Members from both sides of the aisle that they also knew immigration reform had to happen this Congress.

Well, since then we have watched and we have waited as the Speaker and House Republicans simply refuse week after week, month after month to take up the Senate bill and move this process forward. For a full year we have witnessed exactly what it looks like when Congress simply fails to do its job for the American people.

Our broken immigration system is not a hypothetical problem. This isn't an obscure, philosophical disagreement over the role of government. This is an issue that has real, tangible consequences for millions of Americans. While America has watched House Republicans fail to act for a full year, we have seen some of those consequences up close.

Since the Senate passed immigration reform, tens of thousands of people--many of them women and children--have been senselessly deported from this country and separated from their families for no reason other than their undocumented status.

Businesses large and small have begged Members of the House to pass reform, including tech companies that need to hire the best and brightest from around the world and agricultural businesses that desperately need a stable workforce.

Now we are seeing hundreds of unaccompanied young children along our country's southern border. Many of these children are fleeing horrific gang violence in their home countries. They are desperately seeking safety and a new life in the United States. But because of our broken immigration laws, we are nearly helpless to respond and live up to our Nation's global reputation as a place of safety and fairness and freedom. Although these children broke our immigration laws, they are not criminals. They are simply coming to our country to escape violence at home and strive for a better life in America.

It is not only along our southern border where our immigration system is hurting families and hurting communities. In my home State of Washington I have heard from hundreds of families and businesses that have been directly impacted by this broken system, businesses such as West Sound Lumber Company on Orcas Island. It is a small sawmill that has been owned by the Helsell family for more than four decades. West Sound Lumber is only able to keep its doors open because of one young man--Benjamin Nunez-Marquez. He goes by ``Ben.'' Ben is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, and he arrived on Orcas Island more than a decade ago. He has become a cherished member of that community and an expert sawyer. The Helsells will tell you that they would have to close down if they lost Ben, and that possibility nearly became a reality when Ben was randomly stopped by an immigration official while he was taking an elderly neighbor to a doctor's appointment out of town. Although he posed no danger to his community, the Department of Homeland Security scheduled him for deportation, which was only narrowly avoided this year after I took his case directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Seattle Times told Ben's story on its front page.

We should not be kicking people like Ben Nunez-Marquez out of this country. We should welcome him, treat him as a human being, and give him an opportunity to become a citizen in the country he loves--our country.

Senseless deportations are not the only symptom of our broken immigration laws. Just this year local headlines and television reports in Washington State have revealed very concerning treatment of undocumented detainees at the Northwest Detention Center. That treatment led to a widely publicized hunger strike and protest in communities across my State.

This is simply unacceptable. We must demand better than an immigration system that leaves men and women whose only crime is pursuit of the American dream to be locked up, abused, and discarded over the border. These problems are not new, and they are not going away.

Throughout this year we have heard that House Republicans will have a window of opportunity to act on immigration reform. Well, we are in that window now. Republican primaries are behind us and the general election is months away, but that window is quickly closing. The pressure is on House Republicans, and millions of Americans across the country are hoping they do the right thing. The time to act is now.

I think it is time to hope for the best but also plan for the worst. President Obama has made it clear that he is

willing to take administrative action if the House refuses to pass comprehensive immigration reform. I am on the floor of the Senate today to lay out my principles of what that action should look like and what I will urge the President to do if the worst happens and Republicans in the House do nothing.

First of all, the administration should make changes to ensure that while we are being tough on those who are a threat to our public safety or our national security, we are also enforcing our immigration laws in a smart, humane way for the millions of undocumented immigrants who are American in all but name. Frankly, that means changing our priorities. It means focusing our immigration enforcement efforts, including deportations, on actual criminals who are a danger to our communities, not innocent people such as Ben who randomly cross paths with an immigration official and not undocumented immigrants who live in our communities, attend church alongside us, and whose crime is seeking a better life in the United States of America.

It also means we should stop relying on detention centers to lock away undocumented immigrants who pose no public safety risk, are already in our country, and are contributing members of their community. Rather than simply locking them up under terrible conditions and then sending them away, we should take advantage of more humane, more cost-effective methods of enforcement, such as weekly check-ins with our immigration officials.

Secondly, we need to reestablish in our immigration system the most basic of American principles: due process of law. For example, if you are in our country, absolutely no one should be deported or turned away from the United States without a hearing before an immigration judge. Part of making that a reality is providing the funding for immigration judges and access to legal information for undocumented immigrants.

The policies at every single Federal agency that deals with undocumented immigrants, including ICE, Border Patrol, and any other agency, should be reformed so they are consistent, transparent, and fair. For far too long the rules have been different from one Federal agency to another and the policies have been so convoluted and illogical that innocent families are being torn apart.

We should also discontinue the use of unconstitutional ICE detainers when there is no probable cause, as many counties have bravely done in the Pacific Northwest, because not only is holding someone without probable cause a violation of our constitutional rights, it is expensive to local sheriffs and diverts precious law enforcement resources away from policing and protecting communities.

We should reduce the 100-mile enforcement radius for Border Patrol agents and make sure there is not 1 inch of land in this country that can be called a Constitution-free zone.

Finally, we must expand prosecutorial discretion and decide that before we deport someone such as Ben Nunez-Marquez out of this country, we should take a second to use our common sense first. We should build on the great success the administration has had with DACA--the deferred action for childhood arrivals policy--and ensure that Federal agencies are focusing their efforts on actual criminals, not families trying to make a life in the United States.

None of these actions can solve the underlying problem of a broken immigration system. Only legislation from Congress can do that. If the inaction of the House Republicans continues--and I hope it doesn't--we could be left without a choice.

Since that historic vote 1 year ago, we have all watched as more and more of our friends and neighbors fall victim to immigration laws that were designed for criminals, not families or our economy. We have seen Members of the House of Representatives choose politics over good policy and completely ignore a full-blown crisis that we have the power to change.

I look forward to working with President Obama, along with Republicans and Democrats alike in Congress, to make sure our immigration system works. I know so many people here and around the country join me in hoping the House Republicans step up and do the job the American people expect them to do.

I thank the Presiding Officer.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I wish to honor Mr. Herman Dillon, Sr., who passed away on Friday, May 23, 2014. Mr. Dillon, Senior was the tribal council chairman of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians in my home State of Washington and at the time of his passing had dedicated an astounding 35 years to the tribal council.

Mr. Dillon, Senior served his tribe and his country throughout his life. He joined the Navy Reserves at 17, at the tail end of World War II. Following 4 years in the Navy Reserves, he was drafted by the Army and served for 2 years guarding the port and prisoner of war camps in Puson during the Korean war. Of course, his life of service did not end there, and he was first elected to the Puyallup Tribal Council in 1971. In the time since he was first elected to the tribal council, Mr. Dillon, Senior experienced a number of historical changes. He saw his fellow tribal members get arrested for exercising their treaty- protected right to fish in the Puyallup River, and on February 12, 1974, Judge Boldt of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington issued a decision affirming the rights of Washington treaty tribes to take up to half of the harvestable fish in Washington State fishing waters. Of course, he also served on the tribal council as the tribe experienced a time of great economic development and diversification of their business interests in an effort to set themselves on a path to economic sustainability.

I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Dillon, Senior throughout my time in the Senate. I was always impressed by his leadership, integrity, and dedication to the Puyallup people. He was their champion on issues from health care to the construction of a new tribal justice center. He also led by example, earning his GED when he was 50 years old and fostering children in his home. Even into his ninth decade of life, Mr. Dillon, Senior continued to advocate for his tribal community and was dedicated to solutions that would help his Tribe better themselves.

Washington State and our country lost a great tribal leader in May, and I am grateful I had the opportunity to work with Mr. Dillon, Senior and advocate on the Puyallup Tribe's behalf in Washington, DC. My thoughts are with Darlene Dillon, Mr. Dillon, Senior's, wife of over 40 years, his 12 children, the children whose lives he changed through fostering, his entire extended family, and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. We are all better for having known him and will work to carry his legacy forward.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 26, 2014, at 10:30 a.m., in room SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled ``The State of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Industry: Federal Efforts to Attract 100 Million Visitors Annually.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 26, 2014, at 10 a.m., room SD-215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Preserving American's Transit and Highways Act.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 26, 2014, at 2 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate on June 26, 2014, at 10 a.m. in room SD-430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Sexual Assault on Campus: Working to Ensure Student Safety.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on June 26, 2014, at 9:30 a.m., in SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct an executive business meeting.

Madam President, as provided under the consent agreement, I now call up the substitute amendment No. 3378.

I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

I ask unanimous consent that all after the first vote at 2:30 p.m. be 10 minute votes and that upon disposition of H.R. 803, the time until 4:30 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.

Madam President, just last month I joined seven of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats from the House and the Senate, to introduce a critical piece of legislation called the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It is a bill to reauthorize and dramatically improve the Workforce Investment Act, or WIA, which authorizes a number of critical workforce development programs in all 50 States.

This legislation is something I have been working on for several years with a number of our colleagues. It is something that is long overdue--for more than a decade. Since we introduced a compromise deal last month, we have been working feverishly with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the Capitol to iron out any issues they might have and make a few small technical fixes. We have made sure that every single Member of the Senate and their staffs have had the time to look through this deal, ask questions, and propose amendments. Now, today, we are one final step away from sending this tremendous bipartisan deal to the House of Representatives and then hopefully to the President's desk.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a list of over 100 organizations supporting this bill, including business groups, labor, educators, Governors, mayors, and countless others.

Improving our Federal workforce programs is, as I said, something I have been working on for more than a decade. During that time, I have heard from so many workers and businesses in my home State of Washington and across the country who tell me how important effective workforce programs are for themselves and their communities. Business owners, large and small, have told me that while existing programs help, it has become harder and harder to find workers with the skills they need to fill new jobs in the 21st century. Workers who want to advance their careers or get back on the job after being unemployed have told me that it is more and more difficult to get the education and skills they need to compete for the new jobs.

I am thrilled that we have reached this important step in the process. The reason this agreement was even possible is the incredible bipartisan process we have had over the last 2 months to reach a compromise on which we could all agree. So today I thank my coauthors of this bill in the Senate for all of their hard work through the process and their work to rally support for it today: Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, the great chairman of the Senate HELP Committee; Senator Lamar Alexander, from whom you heard, a Republican from Tennessee and the esteemed ranking member of the HELP Committee; and finally, my very close partner in this process, Senator Johnny Isakson from Georgia.

Senator Isakson and I are the coauthors of the Senate version of this bill to reauthorize WIA. Throughout this process it has been an absolute pleasure to work across the aisle with him to get this done. His integrity and his commitment have been key to making this a reality.

Senator Isakson's office is right next door to mine. Whether it was on the phone or while the two of us were walking over here to the Chamber to cast votes, we must have had hundreds of conversations on how to reach this point. So it means a lot for me to be here with him today.

I also thank a few other Senators whose commitment to improving our workforce systems has been remarkable.

First of all, I thank Senator Enzi, our colleague from Wyoming. Senator Enzi and I have been working for a very long time to reauthorize WIA. More than once, we would be at the White House for meetings, and regardless of the topic, wherever we were, he would tell President Bush and now President Obama: This should be a bipartisan effort we can all agree on. I think today's actions are proof that he was right all along.

Second, I wish to recognize and thank Senator Sherrod Brown from Ohio for his years of leadership on these issues. Senator Brown's understanding of the changes in the American economy and our places of work is unparalleled. The State of Ohio should be very proud to have him represent them in the Senate.

In particular, Senator Brown's work on the issues of skills, manufacturing, economic competitiveness, and education reform have been critical. In crafting this deal, we were fortunate to be able to draw on his SECTORS Act and weave the concepts of that throughout this bill. In fact, it is because of Senator Brown's strong advocacy that we were successful in requiring SECTOR initiatives at both the State and local levels, as well as including them in plans and functions and reports. I know that in my State of Washington, we use SECTOR strategies in everything from aerospace industries to maritime, health, construction, gaming, finance, renewable energy, and viniculture. They all work to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our workforce system. I am very proud that we have included sections in this bill and have worked with Senator Brown closely and have benefited from his knowledge and leadership.

I also thank Senator Kay Hagan from North Carolina for her work on this legislation. Her America Works bill provided us with a great framework to think about skills and certification and credentials and the need to be closely aligned with employers. Because of her leadership and her vision, this bill requires that training that leads to recognized postsecondary credentials receive a priority, meaning that both workers and employers benefit from the training provided through this act.

We also require that all States and locals report on the number of credentials offered, meaning that the entire workforce system will be more closely aligned to the needs of employers and workers and will yield more direct value in and for the marketplace.

I also wish to mention that Senator Hagan worked hard to ensure that we focused not just on initial credentials but credentials that are industry-recognized and both portable and stackable.

Finally, I thank Senator Franken from Minnesota, who represents the same State as the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who was my Democratic predecessor lead on this bill.

True to Senator Wellstone's legacy, Senator Franken has shown a deep understanding of the needs of job seekers, workers, and employers, as well as a passion to help them all advance and succeed.

I was very pleased to work closely with him on this legislation and ensure that a number of his priorities were included. Lead among his priorities was building closer ties with our community colleges, and we worked hard to make sure that happened.

I am also pleased that we benefited from a truly innovative program in Minnesota, Twin Cities RISE!, which has been a pioneer in pay-for- performance models for many years and which helped to inform our inclusion of pay-for-performance provisions in this bill.

So it is clear this bill is the product of many authors. And while we know that nobody gets everything they want, I think at the end of the day we can all proudly say this bill will help our workers, our businesses, and our economy for years to come, because Federal workforce programs have proven time and again that the best investment we can make as a country is an investment in our American workers.

I have seen firsthand in my home State of Washington workers who were

laid off who were able to get new training, new skills, and new jobs. I have seen so many Washington State businesses--from our aerospace companies to video game design firms--that were able to access workers with the new skills they needed to grow and compete.

But with millions of new jobs that would require postsecondary education and advanced skills in the coming years, we will fall behind if we do not modernize our workforce development systems and programs now. We have to make sure that when high-tech jobs of the 21st century are created, Americans are ready to fill them, and that is exactly what we have all done in this bill.

We have doubled down on the programs that work, we have improved the programs that have become outdated, and we have created a workforce system that is more nimble, adaptable, better aligned with what our businesses need, and more accountable so that they can continue to make it better.

We started with a House proposal, a Senate proposal, and we all met in the middle. That is exactly what the American people sent us here to do, to work together to help our workers and help our economy grow.

This is an all too rare opportunity for all of us to get behind a strong, bipartisan, bicameral bill.

I urge all of our colleagues to support the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and send it to the House for a vote.

I thank my great friend and partner, who has spent innumerable hours getting us to this point. I thank him, his staff, and all of our staffs who have worked hard to find a compromise and not to find a fight.

I yield for Senator Isakson, and I yield the floor.

Mr. President, as we end this debate, I thank my coauthors and managers of this bill, Senator Isakson, Senator Harkin, and Senator Alexander. And I also again thank Senator Enzi who was for years my partner on this bill.

For over a decade now some combination of us, along with others, has been working to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, and I am so excited that we are finally on the verge of passing this long overdue legislation through the Senate.

Let me remind everyone that the workforce development system serves over 20 million people every year. That is one of every eight working- age adults in this country--people who are looking for work, people who want to change their jobs, people who want to upgrade their skills. And the system serves thousands of employers every year--manufacturers, construction firms, health care providers, financial institutions. The list goes on.

Let's also remember that our workforce development system is a vital partner of economic developers all around the country, making sure that companies being recruited or expanded have access to training and skilled workers necessary to compete and grow.

With millions of new jobs that will require postsecondary education and advanced skills in the coming years, we will fall behind if we do not modernize our workforce development system and programs now. We have to make sure when high-tech jobs of the next century are created, Americans are ready to fill them. That is what we have done with this bill. We have doubled down on the programs that work, we have eliminated programs that have become outdated, and created a workforce system that is more nimble, adaptable, better aligned, and more accountable.

I am very proud to be at this point. I again especially thank my partner who has been with me so many critical times, Senator Isakson from Georgia, who has been incredibly hardworking and diligent in getting this done.

I look forward to the votes. We have two amendments--I will be joining all of our cosponsors in voting against those amendments--and then final passage. I again thank everyone who has worked so hard on this legislation for so many years.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second.

The clerk will call the roll.

I want to thank our chairman and ranking member, Senator Harkin and Senator Alexander, for their tremendous work and backing us as we worked through this process. I again thank my partner, Senator Isakson, who was so diligent and true to his word and worked through every issue with us. I want to thank him for that.

I also will take a minute this afternoon to extend a sincere thank you to all of the staff who worked so hard to help put this bill together, worked through its challenges, and got us to this point today where we have passed it in the Senate. If the Senate will bear with me, we have a lot of names, but I think that tells you how many people worked so hard on this. From my office: senior advisor Scott Cheney; my chief of staff Mike Spahn; my Budget Committee staff director Evan Schatz; Stacy Rich and Emma Fulkerson from my floor and leadership staff; my entire communications team, especially Eli Zupnick and Sean Coit; and everyone else from my team who has worked so very hard to move this bill forward.

I thank the wonderful staff from Senator Isakson's office: Tommy Nguyen, staff director of the HELP Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, as well as Brett Layson and Michael Black who have been incredible to work with.

I thank Chairman Harkin's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee team: senior education policy adviser Crystal Bridgeman; chief education counsel Mildred Otero; disability policy director Michael Gamel-McCormick; disability counsel Lee Perselay; Derek Miller, staff director of the HELP Committee; deputy staff director and labor policy director of the HELP Committee Lauren McFerren; and labor policy adviser Liz Weiss; and many more on his staff who have helped.

I also thank the staff of Senator Alexander: education policy adviser Patrick Murray; education policy director and counsel Peter Oppenheim; Bill Knudsen, education policy advisor; and HELP Committee staff director and chief of staff David Cleary.

We also benefited from the expertise of the Congressional Research Service. I thank David Bradley, Benjamin Collins, and Adrienne Fernandes-Alcantara.

I would be remiss if I did not thank the professionals in the Senate Legislative Counsel's office, especially Liz King, Amy Gaynor, Kristin Romero, and Katie Grendon.

As you can see, a lot of people worked a very long time to get us where we are. This has been an 11-year process, so there have been a lot of staff who worked on various versions of this reauthorization over the years. I cannot name them all, but there are some who deserve recognition as well: Gerri Fiala, Bill Kamela, Beth Buehlmann, Kelly Hastings, Pam Smith, David Johns, and Glee Smith.

Of course, my thanks to the staff in the House and the administration, of whom there are far too many to mention here.

I think that tells all of us that this is a bill that was worked on diligently by

many over the years. Who will benefit at the end of the day are our workforce and our employers and our country.

I thank again my counterpart Senator Isakson for working with me to get this done.

Madam President, I am pleased the Senate is now considering appropriations bills that fund important segments of our Federal Government. Those include the agencies responsible for scientific research, justice and nutrition programs, as well as the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

It has been some time since we have been able to fund the operations of the government through regular order, so it is encouraging that leaders on both sides of the aisle have been able to work together now to pursue that goal.

As we are here today considering these bills, I think it is helpful to remember where we were at this time last year. We were unable to start a budget conference. There was a government shutdown looming just a few months ahead, and businesses and families across the country had absolutely no certainty about whether their government could even keep the lights on.

Today we have more certainty thanks to the 2-year budget agreement, and building on the bipartisan work we all did to reach that agreement, the members of our committee, Senator Collins and I, have been able to put together a transportation and housing bill that makes responsible investments in infrastructure and community development and helps protect the most vulnerable among us.

Less than 2 weeks ago the Appropriations Committee approved the transportation and housing bill by a vote of 29 to 1--an extremely strong show of bipartisan support. This bill received such remarkable support because it helps families and communities, it gets workers back on the job, and it lays down a strong foundation for long-term and broad-based economic growth. It does this in a manner that is fiscally responsible, with growth of just a little more than 1 percent over the fiscal year 2014 level when looking at the program funding levels and factoring in FHA receipts, which do vary from year to year. After adjusting for inflation, the funding in this bill is actually 2.5 percent less than what it was in fiscal year 2008, as a result of the spending cuts we have now applied to discretionary appropriations.

This bill is timely. It makes critical, targeted investments to address concerns that have developed over the past year. In light of the dramatic growth in domestic energy production, it includes new resources to strengthen oversight of energy shipments by rail to keep our communities safe, including funding for additional rail safety and hazardous materials inspectors, training for first responders, more track inspections, research into the volatility of crude oil, and requirements for stronger tank car designs.

This bill includes $10 million to improve vehicle safety defects analysis and investigation, to help ensure we do not see a repeat of the Department of Transportation's failure to detect unsafe parts in General Motors and other manufacturers' vehicles.

This bill provides an additional 10,000 vouchers to move us closer to finally eliminating homelessness among our Nation's veterans. Due to these investments, we have been able to reduce the number of homeless vets on our Nation's streets by 24 percent since 2010. We are well on our way to eliminating it altogether.

Our bill includes direction to help communities implement the Violence Against Women Act in Federal housing programs as well as resources to improve coordination between housing programs and domestic violence survivors services. It makes it possible for HUD to support youth aging out of foster care, giving them more time to find stability and save money, thereby helping to reduce the elevated risk of homelessness facing those vulnerable young people.

This bill invests in our communities. It provides $3 billion for community development grants to State and local governments to help communities fund projects that meet their unique needs and support efforts to create jobs and $950 million for the HOME Program to help create affordable housing.

It ensures the FAA has sufficient funding to continue rebuilding its workforce after the disruptive effects of last year's sequestration. It fully funds the FAA's airport grants and research programs as well as the contract towers and Essential Air Service Program that so many of our rural communities depend on.

It includes sufficient funding for HUD's house and homeless assistance program, to preserve this vital piece of the Nation's safety net. More than half of the 5.4 million very low-income households that depend upon the housing assistance provided in this bill include someone elderly, disabled, or both. Without these programs, many of these individuals would be homeless.

The bill includes $90 million for Choice Neighborhoods. That is a program that helps tear down and rebuild distressed public housing as well as language making it possible for more local authorities to access private capital through the Rental Assistance Demonstration to renovate our aging housing stock. Notably, it includes reforms to make the programs in this bill more accountable and more effective. These include provisions to make it easier for public housing authorities to manage their capital and operations needs as well as resources for HUD to use the lessons it has learned since Hurricane Katrina to develop templates that communities can quickly implement to speed recovery effectively following a disaster.

The bill streamlines environmental reviews for Native American housing. It works to ensure accountability for property owners who do not maintain the quality of their HUD assisted housing. It increases accountability in the CDBG Program.

That is our bill. We do make tough choices. To fund increases for inflation and other uncontrollable costs, we made the very difficult choice of trimming funding for programs that Members care about, including the TIGER and HOME Program. In short, this bill is a good bill.

I note that most of the transportation funding, a total of just over $50 billion, comes from our highway trust fund. As we all know, right now, the highway trust fund is headed toward a crisis. The Department of Transportation expects the balances in this fund to reach critical levels later this summer. To deal with this uncertainty, States now are already bracing for the worst-case scenario. Some States such as Arkansas have already put their projects on hold. This crisis could also hurt workers in the construction industry who depend on jobs to repair our roads and bridges.

If Congress does not act, a shortfall in the highway trust fund will put at risk the funding we have included here in our THUD bill. We need immediate action to solve that crisis well before October when the new fiscal year starts. We need to work together to avoid that unnecessary and preventable crisis. In the meantime, I am glad we are turning to the transportation and housing bill and getting the work of the Appropriations Committee done.

Together with the Senator from Maine, Susan Collins, I encourage Members to bring their amendments to the floor and to work with us to make it even better. This bill enjoys broad bipartisan support, because it takes a practical approach to addressing the real needs we find in the transportation and housing sectors.

The investments it makes would improve safety, increase efficiency, and help our communities, and lay down a strong foundation for long- term and broad-based economic growth and help position our country and our economy to compete in winning the 21st century global economy. I urge our colleagues to support our bipartisan bill. I hope we can move rapidly to final passage.

Before I yield, I do want to thank Chairman Mikulski for her support and leadership. As the former chair of the VA HUD subcommittee, she appreciates the importance of the investments in our bill. This bill includes priorities of Members on both sides of the aisle, reflecting the Appropriations Committee's bipartisan tradition.

I thank our entire committee for their work. I especially want to take a moment to express my thanks to my ranking member Senator Collins and her staff for all of their hard work and cooperation throughout this process. I am proud that together we have written a bill that works for families and communities. Investing in families and communities and long-term economic growth should not be a partisan issue. I think the bipartisan work that went into this bill and the strong support it received in committee proves it does not have to be.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise to speak about an important vote we are going to be taking today to confirm the next U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Washington State.

It is not every day that I get to support a nominee who also happens to be a former intern in my Senate office, but it is also not every day that a man who is the son of a migrant farmworker and himself worked on farms in the Yakima Valley is called upon by the President of the United States to become the very first Latino Federal judge in the Eastern District of Washington. So I am incredibly proud to stand in support of Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr., whose confirmation we will vote on shortly.

Through his life story, Judge Mendoza represents the very best of my home State's honest, hard-working spirit. Through his work ethic, his commitment to his community, and

his belief in equal opportunity, Judge Mendoza is a leader and a role model for families throughout our State, particularly young men and women born into poverty and difficult circumstances. In fact, in his application to serve as Federal judge, he discussed his own upbringing, and I wish to quote him. Judge Mendoza wrote:

I wrote and studied hard to better myself and my family. I

understood then what I believe now, that both the quality of

the educational system coupled with a strong system of

justice will lift up the entire community.

Those are the words of a man who belongs in our judicial system. It should come as no surprise that throughout his professional life, Judge Mendoza has stayed true to those words. From serving as a trustee for Columbia Basin College to helping to coordinate the annual Tri-Cities Youth and Justice Conference, to helping create the first drug court for Benton and Franklin counties, Judge Mendoza has given his time and experience, investing in institutions that lift communities throughout our State.

Judge Mendoza is currently a superior court judge, but his judicial career spans private practice, service as an assistant attorney general, and years of experience in superior, district, municipal, and juvenile court. He is an experienced practitioner in Federal court and served from 2010 to 2013 as lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference.

Through his many years of legal practice and judicial experience, Judge Mendoza will come to the Federal bench well prepared.

Judge Mendoza has described his judicial philosophy as guided by the principles of patience, respect, and humility--the same principles that have guided his life and legal career--and principles that will serve him well as a member of the Federal judiciary.

Let me close by thanking him for his willingness to serve Washington State as a Federal judge. I have always believed that as a country we are at our best when good people are willing to give of themselves in service to others. It is that kind of service to others that has defined Judge Mendoza throughout his career and that will continue to define him as he assumes the duties of this new office.

I am proud to support his nomination to be U.S. district judge, and I urge our colleagues to support his nomination as well.

I thank the Chair.

I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, following my remarks and those of Senator Thune, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess until 2:15

p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings and that the time during the recess count postcloture on the Kadzik nomination, with the time during the recess equally divided.

Madam President, Senate Democrats have been focused on a lot of ways to expand opportunity and economic security for women and mothers in today's workforce. We have talked about the need to ensure equal pay for equal work, to make childcare more affordable, and to encourage profamily workplace policies that help workers be good parents and good employees.

We have explained how each of those policies and others would give working women and mothers a better shot at success. It is important to keep in mind that times have changed in the last few decades. Today two-thirds of families with children have two working parents. Dads are taking a more hands-on role in raising their children. This means in many working families fathers are increasingly facing a lot of the same challenges that mothers do. In fact, more and more fathers report they are struggling to balance work and family.

At a time when so many families need both parents to be at work in order to make ends meet, we clearly need to update our policies so that both mothers and fathers can succeed at work and at home. So today, since it was just Father's Day, I asked a few dads to come in and speak with my colleagues and me about how many of the policies often thought of as especially important to working women, such as affordable childcare, paid sick leave, would also do a lot for dads. I want to thank them for taking the time to share their stories and their experiences with all of us, because what we heard was really powerful. We heard fathers speak about how family-friendly policies helped them raise their kids and meet their responsibilities at work.

We heard from a dad who decided to stay home with his twins rather than pay for childcare because it was simply too expensive. We heard from a father and a small business owner who has made fair pay a priority at his business because he knows how fast those lost wages add up and how much equal pay can mean for a working family with a mortgage or student loans or car payments or all three of those.

What these fathers made clear is the economic barriers we often see as impacting women, such as inflexible workplace policies or the high cost of childcare or unequal pay, are not just holding women back, they are holding 21st century families back. There is no question in my mind they are a drag on our economy. That is why Democrats are fighting for policies that would help hard-working mothers and fathers across the country.

We are fighting to make sure women get equal pay for equal work, just as we made sure women do not get charged more for health insurance because of their gender. We have legislation to expand access to affordable quality childcare and early education so that mothers and fathers can go to work knowing their children are safe and thriving while they are away.

We have also proposed raising the minimum wage so parents are not working full time but still stuck in poverty and struggling to make ends meet. Democrats are also fighting to help our workers compete for good jobs by bringing down tuition costs and ensuring workers can get the training and education they need.

There is much more we can do as well. But any of those policies would go an enormously long way toward helping working families get the fair shot they deserve. This is why it has been so disappointing to see that when it comes to everything from the Paycheck Fairness Act to the raising of minimum wage for millions of our workers, to helping ease the burden of student loans, our Republican colleagues have so far said no, even though these policies are policies that would help millions of our working families and even though we know Americans across the country strongly support these kinds of changes. I know they would certainly mean a lot to many of the fathers I spoke with today.

I came here today to say I hope our Republican colleagues rethink the approach they have taken on all of those issues so far, because I believe if we take steps to break down the barriers working mothers and fathers are facing in today's economy, families across our country will have more opportunity and our country will be stronger now and over the long term.

There is no reason for us not to get to work on these.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 17, 2014, at 10 a.m., in room SR-328A of the Russell Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Grow it Here, Make it Here: Creating Jobs through Bio Based Manufacturing.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 17, 2014, at 10 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 17, 2014, at 10 a.m. in room SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Protecting Consumers from False and Deceptive Advertising of Weight-Loss Products''.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 17, 2014, at 3 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 17, 2014, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Conflicts of Interest, Investor Loss of Confidence, and High Speed Trading in U.S. Stock Markets.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 17, 2014, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Seapower of the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 17, 2014, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I previously filed budgetary aggregates and committee allocations for budget year 2015 pursuant to section 116 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. Today, I am adjusting those levels.

Section 251 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 establishes statutory limits on discretionary spending and allows for various adjustments to those limits, while sections 302 and 314(a) of the Congressional Budget Act allows the Chairman of the Budget Committee to establish and make revisions to allocations, aggregates, and levels consistent with those adjustments. On May 22, the Committee on Appropriations reported one bill that is eligible for an adjustment under the Congressional Budget Act: the Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which includes $100 million in budget authority and $43 million in outlays that is designated as disaster funding.

Consequently, I am revising the budgetary aggregates for 2015 by a total of $100 million in budget authority and $43 million in outlays. I am also revising the budget authority and outlay allocations to the appropriations committee for 2015 by $100 million in nonsecurity budget authority and $43 million in total outlays.

I ask unanimous consent that the following tables detailing the changes to the allocation to the Committee on Appropriations and the budgetary aggregates be printed in the Record.

Madam President, I would like to pay tribute to an incredible advocate for farmworker rights from the State of Washington, Tomas Villanueva.

Tomas's family immigrated to the United States from Mexico when he was 14 years old. They settled in Toppenish in 1958, where Tomas was able to earn his GED, allowing him the opportunity to enroll in Yakima Valley College. After being inspired by Ceesar Chavez's United Farmworkers moment, Tomas and classmate Lupe Gamboa traveled to California in 1967 to learn more about organizing. Upon their return to the Yakima Valley, Tomas and Lupe formed the United Farm Worker Cooperative, one of the first activist Chicano organizations in Washington State. Out of Tomas's activism came the Yakima Valley Farmworker's Clinic and the United Farmworkers Service Center.

After a brief break to focus on a family business, Tomas became the first president of the United Farmworkers of Washington State.

Tomas dedicated his life to improving working conditions and health care standards for farmworkers, and I could always rely on Tomas's wisdom, guidance, and advocacy on the important issues of justice, human rights, and comprehensive immigration reform.

Tomas was gifted in his ability to translate the challenging issues farmworkers face to community leaders and politicians, inspiring their support and work on behalf of farmworker rights.

While Tomas was informed and passionate, he was also pragmatic about how we as a State--and as a nation-- can do a better job of caring and advocating for farmworkers and their families.

He will be so missed, but his legacy will live on.

Mr. President, I would like to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the memory of Tomas Villanueva. During this difficult time my thoughts are with his friends, family, and all whom he inspired.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to say that this compromise is really an excellent example of what Congress can do when we work together to put our veterans first and work toward substantive solutions to the challenges they face.

Passing this legislation this afternoon is a critical step toward addressing some of the immediate accountability and transparency concerns that are plaguing the VA and fixing its deep-seated structural and cultural challenges. Each new report seems to paint a more serious and more disturbing picture of the VA's systemwide failure to provide timely access to care for our Nation's heroes. I am especially concerned by the number of facilities that serve Washington State veterans that have been flagged for further review and investigation. The VA has promised to get to the bottom of this, and I expect them to do so immediately.

However, these new reports are not only consistent with what I hear so often from veterans and VA employees but also with what the inspector general and GAO have been reporting on for more than a decade. These are not new problems, and Congress must continue to take action on them while addressing the inevitable issues that will be uncovered as ongoing investigations and reviews are completed.

I expect this Chamber to come together, as the House did yesterday-- twice, in fact--to move this bill forward so we can work on our differences with the House and send this legislation to the President's desk as soon as possible.

As we all know, there are serious problems at the VA that will not be solved through legislation alone or by simply replacing the Secretary. However, I am very hopeful these steps that are in this legislation will spark long-overdue change--from the top down--in order to ensure that our veterans are given the care and support they expect and deserve.

So I wanted to come today to commend the Senator from Arizona and the Senator from Vermont for their commitment to bipartisanship and putting the needs of our veterans first. This is an important compromise, and I urge our colleagues to continue the bipartisan collaboration that made this bill possible. Let's get it passed and in place so these reforms can begin to get started. And then we must keep working to address the management, resource, and personnel shortcomings that we all know exist at the VA.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I thank the Republican leader for his comments on the veterans situation. I believe everybody in this body agrees, on a bipartisan basis, that we should move this bill forward as quickly as possible and address the real crisis. This is an issue I have been talking about for a long time. No one who serves our country should wait in line to get the health care they need when they come home.

I am delighted both sides are working very expeditiously to move this legislation forward, and I hope we can take that up as soon as possible and move it without it becoming political on either side.