Floor Statements

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

Mr. President, we have a drug problem in this country today, and right now, there is an industry that is targeting our children with look-alike products with intoxicating levels of THC. THC is tetrahydrocannabinol. Now, this is the psychoactive ingredient that you find in marijuana.

How could we possibly let this happen? Well, let's take a step back. In 2018, we passed a farm bill, and at the time, there were those who wanted to separate hemp--a plant that has some THC in it--from cannabis, which is a marijuana plant. Hemp used to be grown in this country, made into rope back in the 1940s.

This is what we were told was going to happen. The bill was written, but in that farm bill, it said you had to keep the THC for delta-9, a certain type of THC, down to 0.3 percent by dry weight. Well, what happened was some clever chemist figured out that you could take this product, which makes CBD oil, right, which is commonly available, and take CBD oil, chemically alter it, and create delta-8 and delta-10, which also have those intoxicating effects.

The problem is, this is all unregulated, and so an industry exploded--an industry that in part targeted our kids with look-alike products that had THC at intoxicating levels, targeted kids with them.

For example, we have an example here of Sour Patch Kids look-alikes. You may say: Why are they doing that? Well, they are trying to grow their market share. Sadly, the outcome was that this past July, a 3- year-old and 4-year-old in Nebraska took these out of their mom's purse and got THC poisoning. Even worse news is that this is not an uncommon occurrence.

We have seen the potency of THC over the last few years, from 1995 to 2021, increase and increase four times.

We have seen, since 2016 to 2023, the number of THC poisonings of children under 5 go up 10 times and the number of hospitalizations of children under 5 go up 3 times.

In 2024, that was 620 children under the age of 5 poisoned. Of those children being poisoned, 100 have been hospitalized and ended up on ventilators. This is a serious health risk problem.

And I mention the Sour Patch Kids here, but let's look at some of the other examples of how this industry is targeting and trying to confuse consumers.

Here we have Nerds, a candy many children are familiar with, and a Nerds knockoff that has THC in it. Here we have Fritos--the regular Fritos product that is a safe product--and Fritos with THC in it. Here we have a safe product, again, that looks like gummy worms, and here we have a product with THC in it.

This is an industry that, because we made a mistake in the farm bill in 2018, has taken advantage of a loophole of the law to manufacture delta-8 and delta-10 THC to be able to infuse it into these products.

Now, again, you cannot grow the hemp plant in concentrations to make this. You have to manufacture this. This was done on purpose. It was manufactured. And, by the way, this kind of knockoff doesn't happen by accident either. This was on purpose too. And this is what is poisoning our children. We have to shut this loophole down.

And so last year we did. We actually changed the definition to cover all THC that would be in these types of products; that all THC products would have to stay below that 0.3 percent case. So it is not going to impact CBD oil because that is below 0.3 percent. It wouldn't impact any of those products that are used for clothing or for jewelry because they are all below 0.3 percent.

In fact, the only place it is going to impact is for the intoxicating products that are out there in the marketplace, that are only out there because of this loophole that we created back in 2018.

So, last year in our Ag appropriations bill, we closed this loophole. Now, one of the Senators in our body offered an amendment to strip out that loop--closing the loophole. And we had Republicans and Democrats vote together to stop that amendment--75 Senators, 51 Republicans all came together to say: No, we want to close this loophole.

Well, now in our continuing resolution, somebody has decided to open that loophole back up again. We gave the industry until November 12 to adjust. We said: The loophole has been out there. We are going to give you a year to get your products in line with the new law. It has got to be below 0.3 percent, and you have got until November 12.

But in our current continuing resolution, somebody wants to keep that extended until December 11.

I have cosponsored an amendment with Ted Budd to take that amendment out of the continuing resolution. I am cosponsoring that because we don't need to extend this. This has been out there for a year. People know what is coming. One month more is not going to make a big difference in doing this.

For those of you who say this is going to impact agriculture, I will tell you right now, hemp production in the United States probably presents about 0.0056 percent of all the farmland--49,000 acres--and only 17,000 are using it to grow the kind of hemp that would go into these kinds of products.

There are pilot programs right now on how to use CBD oil in the treatments of things like cancer. They are all out there. They are not going to be impacted. We should let this expire November 12.

My colleague Ted Budd and I--the Senator from North Carolina--we want an amendment vote to be able to take this out of this continuing resolution and call upon my colleagues to help pass it.

This is literally--these high-THC products disguised as candies-- could get into the hands of young children and poison them. It has done so already.

Let's stop this right now because we know when THC gets into young people's minds, it can reduce their IQs, lead to mental health issues, such as suicidal ideation, anxiety, depression. This drug is bad for young people. So let's close this loophole and keep it closed.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, integrity--integrity inspires confidence. We have a problem here in the Senate and in the House: 80 percent of Americans believe we do a poor job of keeping our financial interests separate from the insider information that we have. People don't have the confidence in us, and that leads to an approval rating of 15 percent for Congress.

But we can help restore integrity, and therefore confidence-- confidence in the Senate, confidence in the House, confidence in our institutions. We can do that with a bill that I have introduced called the Stop Insider Trading Act.

Now, it is well known that Members of this body and the House have bought individual stocks. In fact, we have seen that people will post on social media the stock trades of the former Speaker of the House and trade off of her trades. In fact, as crazy as it sounds, that has become a legitimate investment strategy because it makes money. And that undermines the confidence people have in our institutions.

We have disclosure laws, which is how people can see those trades and make them. But it is not enough for the integrity of the institution. We need to make the rules stronger. We need to stop people from being able to buy individual stocks in the Senate and in the House.

We need my Stop Insider Trading Act because that is exactly what it does. It says that, if you get elected to the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate, you can no longer buy stock. Trading on insider information will become impossible because you won't be able to make that purchase.

Now, we also want to make sure that if, say, you come from a successful business, we don't want to penalize you. We are not going to force you to sell your stock of your company. But we are going to say that you have to give notice, 7 days at least, to let people know if you are going to sell any positions you own. Remember, you can't buy any more. But if you have some already and you want to sell them, you have to give 7 days' notice.

And that will address the issue of, for example, when we had a member of the Intelligence Committee sell about a million and a half dollars' worth of stock right before the COVID pandemic selloff of the stock market.

Even the perception of impropriety undermines the integrity, and therefore the confidence the people have. So let's stop it altogether. Let's ban people's ability to use insider information to buy stocks and make sure, if they are going to sell any, that they have got to tell everybody well in advance so that Americans and the market can know.

My bill also has real teeth in it. It is a $2,000 fine or 10 percent of the proceeds. Let's say you sell a million dollars in stock, and you didn't tell the market ahead of time, like you were supposed to. You didn't follow that 7-day rule. It is a $100,000 penalty--a 10-percent penalty. So either $2,000 or 10 percent, whichever is bigger, plus you have to give up all your profits. That is a penalty with teeth that will get the attention of Members here on Capitol Hill.

It is time that we restore the integrity and the confidence in this body when it comes to inside information. We, because of our position, have access to this, but we should not benefit from it. This is supposed to be public service. No one should come here seeking a profit.

And yet, on Monday night, some of my colleagues tried to pass a unanimous consent, passing the Stop Insider Trader Act that the House of Representatives passed, and Democrats blocked it. Democrats blocked my Stop Insider Trading Act, which would have helped restore confidence in this body.

It is time that we got the Democrats on board, that we get this passed. It passed in the House with Democrat support. And 13 Democrats and 2 Democratic cosponsors are on the Stop Insider Trading Act in the House, which the House was able to pass. They have sent it here for the U.S. Senate--for us--to do our job.

I call on my Democratic colleagues--my colleagues across the aisle: Please, get on board. We need to restore faith in the institution. A 15-percent approval rating is terrible. We need to restore the integrity. We need to restore the confidence.

My Stop Insider Trading Act does just that. I encourage all of my colleagues to get on board this commonsense proposal to be able to restore integrity and confidence in the U.S. Senate and prevent insider trading from getting between us and the American people.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, integrity; integrity inspires confidence, and the reverse is true. If there is a perception of lack of integrity, it undermines confidence.

We have a problem here in the Congress: 80 percent of Americans believe that we do not do a good job of separating our financial interests from the insider information that we receive as part of our jobs. And because of this perception of lack of integrity, they don't think we are doing a good job. Our approval rating is 15 percent. Clearly, Americans are not trusting this institution on this issue.

But we have an opportunity to course-correct, to help restore the integrity and, therefore, the confidence that Americans have in the U.S. Congress, and that is by passing H.R. 7008 that includes the Stop Insider Trading Act that was introduced in the House and passed, as my colleagues pointed out, with bipartisan support. I introduced the companion bill here in the Senate.

What this bill does is it says: You cannot buy stocks when you get here.

Well, why is this important? Because we have disclosure laws right now, but yet we have the problem that 80 percent of Americans think that we do a bad job of keeping our financial interests and our insider information separate.

And indeed we have seen people post on social media, for example, the stock trades of the former Speaker of the House, and it has become a legitimate trading strategy, as crazy as it sounds, because it is successful; it makes money.

We have had a situation in the past where one of the members of the Intelligence Committee sold about a million and a half dollars' worth of stock right before the stock market tanked because of COVID. Even the perception of using insider information to benefit yourself financially is undermining the confidence.

And the same could be said as well for the voter ID. Thirty-six States have voter ID. In my State of Nebraska, when I was Governor, we passed it and put it on the ballot. It passed overwhelmingly, 65 to 35, that Nebraskans wanted to have that voter ID as part of the process of elections to make sure they could trust in the integrity and have confidence.

Now, the insider trading act has real teeth to it. It says that you cannot buy stock, and if you own stock already when you come into the Congress, you can only sell it on 7 to 14 days' notice.

Why is this important? Well, to make sure that the market and anybody in the country can see that if you are going to sell your stock positions, they can all do it first. They get that information first so that if you have some sort of insider information, it is not insider anymore because the rest of the world knows.

And if you do violate the rules and you buy stock or you sell stock out of turn without giving the proper notification, significant penalties: a minimum $2,000 fine or 10 percent of the transaction costs.

So, for example, if you sold a million dollars' worth of stock, that is a $100,000 fine--plus giving up all the profits that go along with it. That has the enforcement and the teeth that require Members of this body and Members of the House to take notice.

This bill would go a long way toward restoring the integrity of this institution, restoring the confidence in this institution. And as was mentioned already, it passed bipartisan in the House. But the President has called on us to pass it and recently the Vice President when he was speaking to House Republicans.

Let's restore the faith in this institution. Let's make sure people know that we are not using our insider information to financially benefit ourselves.

Coming to Washington, DC, to serve our communities is a privilege. We do it for public service. It is not to be a profit center for people who are coming.

So let's make sure there is no perception possible by passing H.R. 7008.

Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 7008, which was received from the House; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, what we were just attempting to do was to pass it with unanimous consent. That means all 100 Senators agree that we can move forward on H.R. 7008, which includes the Stop Insider Trading Act and the voter ID. And as I mentioned in my opening remarks, it is about integrity. Integrity inspires confidence.

Eighty percent of Americans don't believe we separate our inside information from our financial interests, and therefore we have a 15 percent approval rating. It is the lack of confidence in what we are doing, about how we are handling this, that is creating those low ratings.

So we have an opportunity to be able to address that with the Stop Insider Trading Act and the voter ID, to restore that integrity and, therefore, that confidence.

I certainly understand if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't wish to do that unanimously; that, for whatever reason, somebody objects going forward, as my colleague from California has. I offer an alternative that let's schedule a vote.

So, Mr. President, as if in legislative session and notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Democratic leader, the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 7008 and vote on the passage of the bill at a 60-vote affirmative threshold; further, that if the bill is passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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

Mr. President, people generally in this country--and Nebraskans in particular--expect when they send their elected officials to Washington, DC, that they are going to serve the communities. Sadly, that belief that we are coming here is undermined by some of our policies that we have.

For example, 80 percent of Americans believe that Congress does not do a good job of keeping the inside information that we have separate from our finances. Consequently, the approval rating of Congress is about 17 percent.

And it is not just the polling that shows that we have got a problem; so does history. We can look on social media and see that regularly, publishing the trades of Members of this body is something people try to profit off of.

In fact, the former Speaker's trades were published quite regularly. And as crazy as it sounds, that became a legitimate investment strategy because it was making people money.

We also had a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who sold about $1.5 million in stock in 2020 that occurred right before the market tanked because of the COVID pandemic.

Even the appearance of impropriety undermines the credibility of the House and the Senate, that it gives the--even if we give the perception that we are using inside information to benefit financially, it undermines the public's trust in our democracy and may depress people from wanting to vote, keep them home, and it certainly undermines the faith they have in our institutions.

I have a solution. My Stop Insider Trading Act. My Stop Insider Trading Act would go beyond our current disclosure laws. What it would say is that if you become elected to the Congress--either the House or the Senate--that you would not be allowed to buy any more stocks.

Now, if you owned it already, you would be allowed to keep those. But if you wanted to sell those, you would have to give 7 to 14 days' notice so that the public would be able to see what you intended to do and be able to take

appropriate action well ahead of what you would be able to do.

So you would not be able to take advantage of any inside information ahead of what the public had. You would not be able to sell until the public knew well in advance, and, of course, you would be prohibited from buying stocks as well.

My bill also has real teeth in it, a minimum of a $2,000 fine or 10 percent of the cost of the proceeds.

So, for example, if you went and sold a stock after getting elected, without giving the proper notice, and say it was a million-dollar transaction, you would have to pay a $100,000 fine. In addition, you would have to forfeit all of the profits. The Stop Insider Trading Act has real teeth in it to back up the policy.

By making sure that Members of Congress cannot buy stock on inside information and would have to notify the public if they wish to sell any stock well in advance of their actually being able to do that, we can help restore the faith of the American people that we are keeping separate the inside information that we get for very good reasons from our finances.

Let's be clear, no Member of the House or Senate should benefit from inside information. They should not be allowed to profit from it. This is supposed to be a public service, and we need to take steps to restore the credibility with the American people.

The Stop Insider Trading Act is the solution to be able to help restore that credibility, to let the American people know that we are not financially benefiting from inside information. It would apply to not only Members of the House and Senate but their spouses and their dependent children as well.

The President has called on us to pass the Stop Insider Trading Act. The Vice President just last week, in addressing House Republicans, said we need to pass the Stop Insider Trading Act. It is time for Congress to act on this important piece of legislation that will help restore people's faith in their institutions.

I call on my colleagues to support this bill and send it to the President's desk.

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 rise today to talk about our colleague Lindsey Graham, who tragically passed away last weekend.

Lindsey Graham was the definition of the word ``patriot.'' He loved this country and dedicated his life to serving this country. He was from humble backgrounds. His parents ran a bar. And, again, tragically, he lost his parents at a young age. His mom died when Lindsey was 20, and his dad died when he was 22. And so, as a young man, he took over the care of his sister Darline, who was only 13 years old.

He was the first in his family to go to college and then got a law degree, joined the Air Force. And to help take care of his sister, he adopted her so she could get his Air Force benefits. He served our country in the Air Force and in the National Guard and the Air Force Reserve, a total of 33 years, retiring at the rank of colonel and a Bronze Star.

He began his career in politics in 1992 in the South Carolina Legislature and got elected to the U.S. Congress, the House of Representatives, in 1994. He was the first Republican to be elected from his district since 1877. He served in the House for 8 years and then came to the Senate, 2002, taking over for Strom Thurmond. And he has been a dynamic personality in this body, and I have had the privilege to get to know him and call him my friend.

Lindsey Graham was part of the glue for the Senate, and not just for Republicans but for Republicans and Democrats. He worked across the aisle. Just a few days ago, my colleague from Delaware was talking about how he

worked with Lindsey Graham on a number of different items; one is a conservation fund that also fights terrorism. He remarked that Lindsey, in his way, was able to boil down why this was so important and had hats created that said: ``Good for animals, bad for terrorists.''

And that was very typical of Lindsey because he could boil things down very simply to be able to make a point, almost like a country lawyer. He would say: How many people think that, for example, if Iran had a nuclear weapon, they would use it on us? Raise your hand. They would raise their hand.

And he would say: So how many people think it would be bad if they got a nuclear weapon? All of those people would raise their hand.

How many people think we should stop them from getting a nuclear weapon? They would raise their hand.

That is the simple way that Lindsey would make his point.

He was supersmart and had an incredible sense of humor. It was not often fun if you were on the other side of that sense of humor sometimes. In one of our Budget Committee hearings, Lindsey Graham was presiding, and we had one of our members who was going through all sorts of points and charts and so forth. And when the presentation came to an end, Lindsey Graham said something to the effect: Well, next time we are going to record that, and we are taking it down to Gitmo because it would be more effective down there. So you wanted to make sure that you were talking to the right audience and making your points quickly with Lindsey.

He was also very charming and was very direct. When he would go talk to foreign leaders, he would be able to get across those simple ideas the way he did with audiences back at home and be able to express directly through humor, through charming them, to help them understand where their interests were aligned with our interests, how we needed to work together to be able to keep the people of their country safe and the people of our country safe.

Lindsey was very clear-eyed about the dangers of dictators like Vladimir Putin. He understood, when Putin is losing, we are winning, we are safer. He was appalled by the invasion of Russia into Ukraine--that unprovoked, aggressive attack--and was a fierce advocate for supporting Ukraine, not only because of the injustice of what Russia is doing to Ukraine but because Lindsey understood what the threat to the United States and the people of America would be if Putin is successful; that if they are successful in Ukraine, they are going to go after a NATO member, and then we will have boots on the ground in Europe. Lindsey was trying to keep us safe by advocating for the Ukrainians.

When Lindsey would see an issue, he would hop on a plane and go fix it, whether it was overseas or to my home State of Nebraska. He came to Nebraska several times.

I loved the man. I had the privilege of spending time with him here over the last 3\1/2\ years. He liked Coke Zero and Riesling wines. He was charming, funny, intelligent, dedicated to this country. Our body and this country is losing a lot with Lindsey Graham. We are losing some of the humor we had. We are losing some the glue that holds us together. We are losing a fierce patriot, and our country is worse off for it.

Susanne and I are praying for Darline and the rest of her family and Lindsey's staff at this tragic time and, indeed, for our entire country as we have experienced the loss of this larger than life patriot, Lindsey Olin Graham.

Lindsey, I know you are looking down on us from upstairs, and you are going to do your best to guide us from up there. We really, really miss you.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, our country was founded on the belief that all Americans have the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. It is fundamental to who we are as Americans, and these are the building blocks of the American dream. We live in a nation of opportunity. We live in a nation that enables kids to have it better than their parents. We live in a nation that believes that hard work leads to success. For over 250 years, people from all backgrounds have been able to work hard and achieve the American dream.

Here, in the U.S. Senate, I am fighting to renew the American dream.

One of the ways that we have done that with my Senate Republican colleagues is in the Working Families Tax Cut that we passed last year. The Working Families Tax Cut invests in American families and in American children. It invests in the next generation. With my Senate colleagues on the Republican side, we are building a path for another 250 years of opportunity for this great Nation and for the children and families of this great Nation.

The Working Families Tax Cut was great for families. One of the ways that it was great for families and for Nebraskans in my State is with the Trump Accounts that were part of that overall package. These are investment accounts that will kick-start the American dream for kids all across this Nation. You can download the app right now.

Starting on July 4, Nebraskans and all Americans will be able to start opening up these accounts. All American kids under the age of 18 will be eligible to have one of these accounts. And those born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, will also be able to enroll and automatically have $1,000 put into their account, courtesy of the U.S. Treasury, to be able to help kick-start that American dream.

Parents and guardians will be the custodians of these accounts, but the children will own them. And when those kids turn 18, they will be able to take possession of those Trump Accounts.

These accounts work like traditional retirement accounts. Up to $5,000 a year can be put into these accounts--these Trump Accounts--and it can come from your parents, your grandparents. It can come from communities, come from churches, come from governments, come from nonprofits. Employers can contribute and help build that foundation for those young people to be able to achieve the American dream.

Many have already committed to contributing to Trump Accounts. For example, Michael and Susan Dell have donated $6.25 billion to the first 25 million American kids who sign up for these accounts who also reside in ZIP Codes with median incomes below $150,000. That means that each one of those kids will get about $250 on top of the thousand dollars that the Treasury is putting in.

Charles Schwab has said he will match the government's $1,000 with another $1,000 for all the people who work at his company.

These are just a couple of examples of how philanthropists are working together with the U.S. Government to be able to kick-start young people's American dreams through these Trump Accounts.

In my home State of Nebraska, our State government is going to open accounts for all the foster kids in Nebraska. These Fostering the Future Accounts will work just the same, making sure that young Nebraskans in foster care have a little extra financial help. This money is so that these young Nebraskans can put it toward college, buying their first home, or starting a business.

For children whose accounts start with $1,000, additional contributions will not be required. The accounts will still grow, and these accounts will help launch those kids into their future.

Another way we are investing in our children and families is with the expansion of the child tax credits. In the Working Families Tax Cut, we increased that child tax credit to $2,200 and made it permanent. It was set to fall to $1,000, but Senate Republicans made it permanent and took it up.

The child tax credit will benefit over 239,000 Nebraska families. Increasing the child tax credit allows these families to have more money in their pockets, and we want to encourage Americans to work hard and support their families. This is what keeps the American dream alive.

The Working Families Tax Cut also provides an increase in the child and dependent tax credit. We increased the maximum credit from 25 percent up to 50 percent, and we took the increased tax deduction up from $5,000 to $7,500.

We made the first ever permanent paid family medical leave credit, based on legislation from Senator Deb Fischer. This will encourage our businesses to offer that benefit to families all across the Nation.

We expanded the tax credits for employee-provided childcare and created new credits for small businesses to be able to create childcare at work.

We also extended the ABLE accounts, which otherwise would have expired in 2025. These accounts help individuals with disabilities to save and invest through tax-free savings, without losing eligibility for Federal programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income.

These are real investments in American families and the next generation.

And similar to my colleague from Wyoming who pointed this out, every single Democrat--every single one--voted against these provisions that would help young Americans be able to achieve the American dream. Every single Democrat voted against it.

Senate Republicans, by contrast, are fighting in the U.S. Senate to renew opportunity for our kids' futures and supporting families in our country. We are encouraging and supporting the American dream, and we are making it possible for the good life to be more attainable for all Nebraskans.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, Nebraska is the best place in the world. Nebraska is where Americans want to be. And just recently, U.S. News just said Omaha, our largest city, is the second best place in the country for recent college grads. This is a wonderful recognition of what great quality of life we have in Omaha.

And as we welcome all the new college grads, it also reminds us that we have got more work to do with regard to housing. Housing is something that we need to make more affordable for Americans. Just 10 years ago, the average age of a new homeowner was 31 years old. Today, the average age of a new homeowner is 40.

About 25 percent of the cost of a new home is regulation and redtape. And, actually, for an apartment building it is even worse--it is 40 percent. I was talking to an apartment builder in Omaha, and he described to me how when he first got into building apartment buildings, he could build an apartment for about $15,000 and now the cost is well over $200,000.

Now, this is not a new issue. When I was Governor of the great State of Nebraska, this was something we worked on as well. In fact, I worked with my legislature to introduce the Rural Workforce Housing Act. We put about $7 million into a grant program which allowed rural communities to be able to partner with developers to be able to help build homes or apartment buildings.

The way it often worked is that the community would create a low- interest fund that developers would apply to--oftentimes using it, for example, as a bridge loan--build the housing development and then pay off the loan so the money could be recycled back into the next loan to help build more houses.

It was very successful, and we ultimately added more money to that program and then created the Middle Income Housing Fund as well to be able to help out cities like Omaha.

Here in the Senate, I continue to bring this Nebraska solution to the rest of America. We are working on our ROAD to the 21st Century Housing Act. In fact, this is something that has passed both the Senate Banking Committee and on the House side as well, and I want to commend Chairman Scott for the great work he has done working with both sides of the aisle to receive their input to create the ROAD to the 21st Century Housing Act.

This is a bill that will help cut that regulatory redtape I was describing earlier. It includes several of the bills that I have introduced, including the Streamlining Rural Housing Act.

So this bill, in particular, what it does is requires Housing and Urban Development and USDA to work together. Both these Agencies will have grant money to help build homes. And a homeowner won't be able to take money from both of those, but what happens is--they both have their own permitting and review process, which often will be done in serial and creates more regulatory redtape and bureaucracy. What my bill does is require them to work together to streamline that process to be able to make it faster.

And this is something that, again, is part of the theme of many of the bills that we have put together into this ROAD to 21st Century Housing to be able to make the process easier. If we can build more homes faster and there are more homes available, that will help bring down the cost of housing. It is a pretty simple concept.

In addition to the Streamlining Rural Housing Act, I have got a number of bills that are also included in the ROAD to the 21st Century Housing Act, including the Rural Housing Regulatory Relief Act. This was one that Mike Flood, who is the First District Congressman from Nebraska, brought up in the House.

Also Improving Housing Access Act; Housing for America's Middle Class

Act; Rural Housing Service Reform Act, which I am a cosponsor of. All of these are included here to be able to help us cut the regulatory redtape, make housing more affordable, and be able to help reduce the costs for Nebraskans and Americans across the country.

We have passed this out of our side; the House has passed their side. Right now, we are working to take the best of both of those bills to be able to get something that we will, again, both vote on and then send to the President's desk.

This is, again, how we are working in the Senate to be able to reduce the costs of living for people across the country. I am very proud to be able to work with my colleagues on the ROAD to 21st Century Housing Act. I look forward to being able to get this to the President's desk for signature.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the mandatory quorum calls with respect to the Powell and Dahl nominations.

Mr. President, this is the 250th anniversary year of the founding of the United States of America--the greatest Nation the world has ever seen. Agriculture has been a part of this country since our founding, and agriculture is the heart and soul of what we do in Nebraska. We must always work to support our farmers and ranchers. It is a privilege for me to be able to do so as a Senator from the great State of Nebraska.

However, these are tough times in our industry of agriculture. We have seen widespread drought and wildfires. We have seen commodity prices in corn and soybeans be depressed and input prices be high. This puts a lot of pressure on our farming families.

We, also, as recently as in the last day or so, have seen more wildfires in the State of Nebraska, in the northwest portion of our State, around Chadron and Fort Robinson. Our Governor is taking the appropriate action to be able to help fight these fires. But it is in very rugged terrain, and it is going to be difficult for our firefighters there. So I ask that all Nebraskans and Americans keep the firefighters and all of those who have been impacted by these fires in their thoughts and prayers as we go through it.

One of the other challenges we are now facing in agriculture has to do with one of the bright spots in our industry, and that is the beef industry. Now, the beef industry is the No. 1 industry in the State of Nebraska--we are the beef State--but this industry is being threatened by the New World screwworm. This is a parasite that we had wiped out back in the 1960s and that is now making a reappearance. In fact, we have had six confirmed cases--five in Texas and one in New Mexico. They are in livestock, but in the case in New Mexico, it actually involves a dog. This is why Mexico is taking the steps to prevent all livestock from coming across the border, including pet dogs. It is to prevent the spread of the New World screwworm.

Today, I am sending a letter to our Ag Secretary, Brooke Rollins, to encourage her to continue to expedite the steps we are taking to combat the New World screwworm. The way we do that is by producing sterile flies that ultimately then wipe out the population here in this country, like we did before.

Panama has the only facility in North America right now that is capable of producing these sterile flies, while Mexico is set to have a facility come online later this summer. Panama is producing about 100 million screwworm sterile flies right now, and Mexico is distributing those. The USDA is distributing about 8 million a week in the affected areas of Texas right now. So we are trying to combat that right now. The USDA is also investing another $750 million in a facility at Moore Air Force Base, near Edinburg, TX, so that, when it comes along, it will be able to produce about 300 million screwworm flies a week to be able to help combat this.

With the roughly 100 million a week that are being distributed right now, we are working on it. But to get there, we need to have more. This is where the USDA's investment is so critical to be able to help combat this. I appreciate the work that Secretary Rollins and the USDA are doing. I encourage them to continue to expedite this so we can combat this disease.

I would also point out that all of these investments are in addition to what the Senate Republicans did in the Working Families Tax Cut last year, wherein we added to the programs with regard to animal biosecurity and parasite mitigation. We actually were able to add about $233 million a year to the USDA's budget in three different programs, which is seven times the level of funding that was being done before-- again, all of this to help make sure we continue to protect our strong agricultural industry in the United States. Of course, as I always remind people, food security is national security.

In addition, one of the things that we have been able to do is to have Secretary Rollins and Under Secretary Fordyce come to Nebraska to see the damage that was done by the previous wildfires. The previous wildfires burned about a million acres in Nebraska and displaced tens of thousands of cattle--sadly, costing the life of one Nebraskan who was caught in that fire.

One of the things farmers and ranchers have told us is that they need to have flexibility and not regulatory redtape when it comes to this recovery. I am happy to report that the USDA is

working with farmers and ranchers to provide that flexibility. One of the areas, for example, is that a lot of fencing was destroyed, and the USDA is giving us the flexibility to be able to replace that fencing with different sizes of fences.

As for the regulations, again, somebody had some reason for them in the past, but they required that you had to replace the fencing with the exact same post fence. And that is not all available, given the widespread damage. So we are getting some flexibility to replace it with different sized fencing.

I also introduced, this week, the FENCE Act--the Fencing Eligibility for New Conservation Equipment Act--for our farmers and ranchers to be able to replace the fencing that they have lost with electronic fencing. We have collars, for example, to fit cattle with so that they can have virtual fencing. The FENCE Act would be able to get dollars from the Emergency Conservation Program so that another tool will be available for our farmers and ranchers to be able to recover from these fires.

In addition, I also want to credit Fish and Wildlife and the USDA for working to open up the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge for grazing, as well to be able to help our ranchers out from that standpoint.

So there is a lot of work going on to help our farmers and ranchers recover from these terrible fires.

In addition, in the Working Families Tax Cut, I mentioned the money that we are putting toward biosecurity. We also made a number of great improvements for agriculture.

We were able to make the death tax exemption permanent. That is important to allow for farmers and ranchers to be able to pass on the family farm and ranch to the next generation. It is one of the reasons I say that our farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists. It is because they want to pass along that family farm or ranch to the next generation so that they will take care of their land and their animals. But the death tax could get in the way of being able to do that. By making that death tax exemption permanent, we are assisting farmers and ranchers in being able to pass along that ranch. About $200 billion in farm and ranch assets will now go to the next generation of farmers and ranchers and not to the government. This will assist them, and that was all done in the Working Families Tax Cut.

We were also able to update reference pricing for things like corn and soybeans, especially given the tough time. For our row crops there, this is especially important. But we were able to update that reference pricing for the first time in 11 years. That was an important thing we got done in the Working Families Tax Cut.

We were able to renew the 45Z renewable fuel tax credit. Renewable fuels are a win-win-win situation. Consumers save money at the pump. The last time I filled up, it was with a 10-percent blend of ethanol at my local grocery store, and I saved 55 cents a gallon. It helps clean up the environment, and it is also good for our farmers and ranchers. So promoting renewable fuels is something we want to continue to do, and we were able to renew that 45Z tax credit to be able to encourage companies to invest in renewable fuels.

We were also able to double the amount of money for trade promotion. In Nebraska, about a third of everything that we grow and we raise goes overseas. We are the largest beef exporting State, for example. So we want to have more trade relationships. We doubled the amount of money for programs like our Foreign Market Development and the Market Access Programs with an initial $285 million to be able to open up those trade opportunities in markets around the world to be able to help our farmers and ranchers.

We also doubled the program for our new farmer and rancher program, from 5 years to 10 years, to be able to help out those new producers coming into the industry to be able to take advantage of some of the benefits in that program and to give them a leg up as they start their careers in agriculture.

These were all great things that we did in the Working Families Tax Cut, and there are actually many, many more things that we did for agriculture in there.

Having said that, we still need to get a 5-year farm bill. Our current farm bill authorizations run out on September 30. We have been living on extensions. Our farmers and ranchers deserve the certainty of a 5-year farm bill. I am pleased to report that the House has passed their version of the farm bill. It includes some of my priorities-- priorities around things such as rural microentrepreneurship and flood resiliency. There is my AFIDA Improvements Act, which would help us deter communist China from buying farmland around our sensitive military installations, like at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota and Fort Bragg in North Carolina. So we need to get a 5-year farm bill done.

My esteemed colleague from Arkansas, who is the chair of the Ag Committee, has been in Nebraska to hear directly from farmers and ranchers about our priorities for the farm bill, and I know he is working diligently to be able to get that farm bill passed, as I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do. We must work to find common ground and get this passed.

Again, this is not only about making sure that our farmers and ranchers have that certainty of a 5-year farm bill. It is that food security is national security. This is a national security issue as well. So it is very important that we get that done.

Also, in the farm bill, I would like to see one of my priorities with regard to fair labels. One of the things that we have seen is that products are being put on the market that market themselves as one thing but are not really. My FAIR Labels Act would address this specifically with regard to meat. We don't want something that is grown in a petri dish or something that is actually a plant to be labeled as meat or beef. Consumers should know exactly what they are consuming, and so my FAIR Labels Act would require that if you are real beef or real pork or real chicken, you can say that on the label. But if you are not, if you are a plant-based product, if you were cultured in a lab, you cannot claim that title of being meat.

This is one of the priorities that would make sure that not only would we be properly representing agriculture but consumers would know exactly what they are purchasing.

Also, one of the things that I did when I was Governor of Nebraska is have the SNAP Next Step, which is encouraging our families on SNAP to be able to get better paying jobs by helping with job coaching, with resume writing, things like that. This would be another thing that we could add into the farm bill since a lot of the farm bill--most of the spending in it, like 80 percent of it--actually has to do with the Food Stamp Program, the SNAP program. This would be a great way to be able to help those families be able to reduce their dependency.

When I was Governor, of the families that participated in that, 60 percent were able to end their need for food stamps and the other 40 percent reduced their need for food stamps. So that is a great way to be able to do it.

And then, finally, another thing that we can do to be able to help agriculture is pass E15 all year-round. Again, Adrian Smith, one of my esteemed Congressmen from the State of Nebraska, helped pass this in the House. It is now for us in the Senate to be able to pass this.

And I would point out that we have actually had E15 all year-round through emergency waivers from the EPA for the last 8 years. The refineries that were worried about this--again, the sky has not fallen. I believe that there is an opportunity for us to find common ground to be able to get this passed in the Senate.

This is important, again, for our farmers who would like to have that certainty. It would help create demand for our corn, for example. What it would do is, by passing a law that says you can use E15 all year- round, it would give consumers a choice to be able to choose that, and we would not have to go to the EPA for that emergency waiver every summer.

It would then give certainty to our marketers to invest in the infrastructure to distribute E15. And, once again, this is something that can help mitigate high gas prices. I saved 55 cents a gallon just on E10; you can save more on E15.

So I encourage my Senate colleagues to take a look at this to be able to work with my colleagues like my senior Senator from the State of Nebraska to be able to find common ground to get this passed.

We have been doing it by emergency waiver for the last 8 years. It is something we continue to do. Let's make it permanent so we get more investment in the infrastructure to help give consumers more choice and help them reduce their fuel costs at the pump.

All of this would also help out our farmers and ranchers. Our farmers and ranchers are the backbone of Nebraska, and they have been the backbone of our country since its founding. We need to continue to support our farmers and ranchers. This is very important not only for our industry of agriculture but so that we can continue to feed our Nation and, indeed, the rest of the world.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, 75 years ago, the voice of rural Nebraska made its debate on air. Broadcasting from Lexington, NE, farm families officially had a voice--KRVN.

KRVN doesn't just cover rural Nebraska, though; it belongs to rural Nebraska. The station started out of necessity. Blizzards in the winters of 1948 and 1949 killed farmers and ranchers. Livestock and crops were lost, causing economic hardships. Women and children were left worrying about their husbands and dads. Farming and ranching families were also struggling to get relevant news and government updates. Our agriculture communities were facing a bleak reality: Timely, lifesaving information was nearly impossible to come by.

In an industry that moves at the speed of information, this was unacceptable. Agricultural economist and cooperative leader Max Brown had an idea. Max believed he could organize rural Nebraskans to fill the need. He envisioned a farmer- and rancher-owned public service platform for agriculture, weather, markets, and rural education.

This idea was untested and widely doubted. Despite this, 4,719 farmers and ranchers each bought a 10-dollar share to become owners of KRVN. On February 1, 1951, KRVN had its first broadcast. From this humble beginning, the station grew. Max hired well, mentored his staff, and made sure everyone knew KRVN's vision. Max's vision continued through the stewardship of his son Eric, whom I knew when he worked at KRVN, and folks like Otto Geiger. Otto served for more than 30 years on the Nebraska Rural Radio Association board. They both guided the station through agricultural and media change while preserving its farmer-owned identity.

Since its beginning, rural Nebraskans have received the info they need when they need it. Our rural communities are safer and better informed.

Today, KRVN is the flagship of the Rural Radio Network. It is the only farmer- and rancher-owned news network in the country. The founding charter doesn't allow any of the joint owners to profit. Revenues are reinvested into the station and into agricultural education. KRVN's unique ownership model and community commitment remain strong.

We now have Nebraskans from multiple generations who can say they grew up with the voices of KRVN from dawn to dusk. The voices of radio legends like Dave Thorell kept Nebraskans company on long drives, and Jayson Jorgensen brings play-by-play coverage of local high school sports into our homes.

Even amid unprecedented disaster, Nebraskans know we can rely on KRVN for lifesaving updates. Their coverage has included special wildlife broadcasts to help ranchers recover and find resources for rebuilding. They kept us informed on State politics and ag markets, and they kept us prepared during disasters.

Over the last 75 years, KRVN has kept public service at the core of its work. Over the last 75 years, KRVN has been there for Nebraskans, and the need for KRVN still remains. AM radio stations in Nebraska and around the country are still the lifeblood of rural communities.

In the Senate, I am working to preserve this important service. Every vehicle sold in the United States should be equipped with AM broadcast radio at no charge. In Nebraska, we know this is common sense. My AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act would do that.

KRVN was a necessity at its origin, and it remains a necessity today. Thank you to our farmers and ranchers who have made KRVN possible. I look forward to KRVN's next 75 years.

Border Security

Mr. President, I have another matter I am going to talk about--the work that needs to be done on the Senate floor today. To protect Americans and our national security, we must fund Border Patrol and

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