Floor Statements

Thank you, Senator, I am fully supportive of the work that you have done. Is there anything that gives more pleasure than being able to do something that is generated by our local citizens, the people we represent, that reflects the dedication, the reverence, the appreciation they have for the natural world in your State of Connecticut or now in my State of Vermont? I mean, what a privilege it is for both of us to be here advocating on behalf of these aspirations of the people we represent.

I know that is true for the Presiding Officer as well, all the work that you have done.

Today, I rise in support of S. 432, the Nulhegan River and Paul Stream Wild and Scenic River Study Act. The bill will initiate the process of designating the Nulhegan River and Paul Stream in Essex County, VT, which is way up in the northeast corner of Vermont that Senator George Aiken named the ``Northeast Kingdom,'' a place that we love and that someday, when you are so lucky that you can come to the Nulhegan River, you will love, too.

I was proud to work with my colleagues Senator Sanders and Representative Balint in introducing this legislation, and it was my first act as a U.S. Senator.

These two rivers run through Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, as I mentioned, home to some of our State's most scenic parts of a scenic State.

It is very close to the annual Moose Festival that I know, Senator, you will enjoy when I finally get you up there to Canaan, VT.

But the Nulhegan, for example, passes through the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge. It is the only watershed-based refuge in the United States.

And by the way, Silvio Conte, as you know, was a Congressman from Western Massachusetts. That is where I grew up, and he did so much-- Republican--to preserve the watershed of the Connecticut River.

The Nulhegan, the river, winds through the valleys between hills and, in the fall, is framed by really striking foliage, largely undisturbed by outside visitors. They don't know about it, but now they will.

In the spring, the rivers' whitewater provides a unique and challenging place for daring fisherman and paddlers.

Healthy rivers, I know we all agree, are really essential to our State's ecosystems, and they play an important role in Vermont's outdoor recreation economy. It is no surprise that the communities neighboring these two rivers support protecting their free-flowing nature too.

And that is the point I was making at the beginning. When you have the citizens who are living there and seeing how precious this resource is and wanting to do everything they can to protect that resource and we can help them, that is a good day in the U.S. Senate.

S. 432 will preserve these two rivers, enhance Vermont's renowned recreational resources, and conserve these vital habitats.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I want to thank Senator Durbin for his ongoing commitment to highlighting the plights of people who have been imprisoned for doing nothing more than exercising free speech, for doing nothing more than speaking up on behalf of the oppressed in their own country, for speaking up on behalf of human rights and justice.

What Senator Durbin said inspires me, and that is: We don't know what the outcome will be. Is anyone paying attention? We don't know, but what we do know and we have seen is that this does help and make a difference and get some attention on people who were unjustly imprisoned for doing something that is noble.

And our goal here is not always to have everything be instrumental immediately, but it is to reassert the commitment that this U.S. Senate has to do what is within our power--sometimes it is very limited, as in this case of advocacy and attention to highlight and hopefully result in the highlighting of an oppressive situation--to

have a release of a person who has been unjustly detained.

So I just want to express my gratitude to Senator Durbin. And over the years, I have met people who used to be political prisoners and were shaking the hand of Senator Durbin. His advocacy made a difference. The advocacy of other Members of the Senate makes a difference.

And the most compelling thing for me is just think about what it is like to be a person who has made a statement, who used Twitter and you are suddenly arrested; you are suddenly cut off from your family; you are suddenly cut off from any visitation; you have no idea whether you have a future. And you have to feel, day in and day out, in that captivity, that people have completely forgotten who you are, that you have become invisible.

So the act of trying to make visible people who, as a result of the use of state power, have been made invisible is something that each and every one of us should do our best--using this office that we have and this forum we have--to stand up and remember people who have been made forgotten because they have done decent things.

I am really grateful to work with Senator Durbin on this, and I want to focus attention on other political prisoners.

The first is Maryia Kalesnikava. Maryia is a professional musician. Think about that--a gifted musician. Think of the discipline that goes into becoming a professional musician. She was admired throughout Belarus for her talents and as a leading member of the political opposition. She left aside just being a musician to speak out on behalf of her people.

She called for free and fair elections. Arrest follows. After every leading opposition candidate had either been jailed in Belarus or fled the country, Maryia was apprehended in 2020 by officials driving an unmarked vehicle and taken to the Belarus border, where they attempted to forcibly deport her to Ukraine. She wouldn't allow herself to be forcibly deported. Think about that. She had to risk coming back when she was in the custody of unknown people who had no good intention for her. They put her on trial. She was tried, and she was sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony--11 years--for the crime of calling for free and fair elections.

Her situation is obviously concerning for many reasons, not the least of which is that between February 2023 and November 2024--1 year and 9 months--she was not allowed any visits by her family. I mean, just think about that: Your son or your daughter is cut off from you, and you have no idea of how they are doing, whether they are alive, are they suffering. Only after nearly 600 days was Maryia's father finally permitted to visit her last month.

Now, I am speaking about this with some passion because I met her sister just recently. Her sister Tatsiana came to my office, and she has been out and about telling her sister's story and seeking for her release. Tatsiana was joined in my office by two human rights defenders who are courageously working to help secure the release of Maryia and other Belarusian political prisoners.

There have been a small number of Belarusian prisoners convicted of ``extremism'' who have been released, and I am hopeful that Maryia will also be released. And while the United States and Belarus have profound disagreements, including over human rights and Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, I believe that officials of both governments should speak respectfully toward each other and seek opportunities to work together to address issues of common interest. My hope is that her release will be one of them.

Madam President, secondly, I want to speak about Maykel ``Osorbo'' Castillo. Maykel is an Afro-Cuban musician and writer who won a Latin Grammy Award while imprisoned in a Cuban jail. How do you do that? He won a Latin Grammy while he was in jail. He helped write a hit pro- democracy anthem that won Song of the Year at the 2021 Latin Grammys.

One of the things that are so extraordinary about folks like this who are illegally, wrongly imprisoned is that it doesn't somehow quell their spirit to express themselves and their joy of life.

Maykel is definitely one of them. He was arrested in May 2021 following months of police harassment, including intensive surveillance, movement restrictions, and ``preventative'' detention. He was sentenced a year later on politically motivated charges of evading police custody and sharing social media critical of the government.

Maykel is one of the many who have been unjustly imprisoned, and I urge the Cuban Government to release him. I also hope the incoming Trump administration will not do what many fear, which is to tighten, really, a lot of further sanctions on Cuba even more.

Finally, I want to mention Dr. Salah Soltan. Salah is a 65-year-old U.S. permanent resident, academic scholar, and prisoner of conscience in Egypt. Dr. Salah has quite a smile, as you can see. He is a husband, he is a father, and he is a grandfather to 11 grandchildren--American citizens, by the way--with deep roots in Michigan and the Midwest.

He has been unjustly imprisoned for 12 years, and he is in fragile health. In recent years, there has been growing bicameral, bipartisan, domestic, regional, and international support for his release on medical and on humanitarian grounds.

President Sisi has taken some modest steps towards justice for political prisoners, including removing more than 700 Egyptians with tangential ties to opposition political parties from domestic terrorism lists. That is good, what President Sisi did.

We want him and urge him to release Salah on humanitarian grounds so he can rejoin his family in the United States.

Madam President, these are only three of the tens and probably hundreds of thousands of prisoners of conscience in the world. The arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of individuals for nothing more than peacefully expressing views in support of democracy, in support of freedom of expression and other human rights, is abhorrent. These folks are accused of all sorts of fabricated charges. And it is really abuse of the awesome power of the state to essentially oppress people who are critical of the state. These folks are apprehended. They are subjected oftentimes to inhumane conditions, often solitary confinement in decrepit prisons, without access to lawyers or families. They are erased. They become invisible, as Senator Durbin was discussing. Some of these folks die in prison from torture or untreated medical conditions. So anytime we can raise the possibility of their getting some attention so their case can be heard, so they have some possibility of release, is a good use of our time.

The question about why we do it kind of surprises me, actually, because the answer is simple. Americans care about people whose fundamental rights are denied, and whoever and wherever they are, we should continue to express that concern. I am proud to say that certainly is a legacy of my predecessor, Senator Patrick Leahy, who served in this body for 48 years. In fact, that right is every person's responsibility under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which no country voted against when it was adopted on December 10, 1948--66 years ago today.

I want to finish where I started by thanking my colleague from Illinois not just for his advocacy but for his inspiration to all of us to do what we can with this office that we hold for whatever period of time we have been entrusted to speak out on behalf of wonderful people like the people I mentioned and Senator Durbin mentioned.

I yield to my colleague Senator Durbin.

Madam President, if the 118th Congress were a baseball game, we would be nearing the bottom of the ninth. As every Senator is well aware, our to-do list for the next 2 weeks is long.

There are very important issues we need to resolve before the last vote of the year. We need to keep the government open. We need to extend the farm bill and vote on the NDAA. And critically for Vermont and for so many States around the Nation, we must pass the comprehensive disaster aid package.

Legislating is a team sport. If we work together and find common ground, we can send a bill to the President's desk before the end of Congress and deliver for those communities that desperately, desperately need action from the U.S. Senate.

Despite our differences, whether they are political or geographic, communities from Montpelier, VT, to Mankato, MN; from Houston, TX, to Asheville, NC, to Maui, HI, are all asking for Congress to help with the devastation that has happened in those communities.

For months, bipartisan Members of Congress from States that have been affected by floods, fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes have approached our colleagues in the time of our need. We have asked publicly and privately for the assistance and financial support that our homeowners need, our farmers need, and businesses, towns, and local governments urgently need, because when it comes to these extreme weather events, we all know that if it is not us now, it may be us tomorrow, because there but for the grace of God, go I, when the extreme weather events decide to descend upon any community.

I found in the conversations I have had with my colleagues-- Republican and Democrat--about Vermont's recovery needs, there is an unspoken acknowledgement that they are not in the Vermont situation or in the Asheville, NC, situation, but it could change.

The climate change that we are experiencing all around the country requires that, No. 1, we be ready to respond; two, we be more resilient and prepared; and, three, that we have better funded responses to recovery so that it can be faster, locally driven, and more efficient.

In July of 2023, Vermont experienced torrential rains and severe storms. For a week, the rain didn't stop. That rain quickly led to catastrophic flooding and landslides. Many homes, many of our farms and businesses and communities were absolutely destroyed, and the damage to infrastructure was fierce. Roads, rail lines, dams, bridges, wastewater plants, the capital city's post office, which after 14 months finally reopened, those were destroyed.

Nine States around Vermont came to our aid, and we are grateful. They sent

personnel. They sent resources. But a year after that flood, in July-- to the same date in July--we had another round of flooding, and many of those same homes and businesses and farms were impacted.

The last time Congress passed a comprehensive disaster aid package was December of 2022. Since then, we have had more than 50 climate disasters around our country that each caused more than $1 billion in damages--a total of $155 billion in damages and rising. We know that that number is only going to grow when we have the final losses from Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene, and they are continuing to be calculated. This is an environmental and an economic disaster.

These disasters have impacted communities from Vermont to North Carolina, to Minnesota, to Texas and Hawaii, and more than 40 States and Territories total.

As we all know, extreme weather does not discriminate based on State lines or political preferences. In a crisis, we are all neighbors in need.

Since Congress last passed a comprehensive disaster aid bill--this is just to give a sense of how repetitive this is and how what had been an outlier event is now becoming a common event in different places around our country--these are disasters that have happened: Flooding in North Dakota between April and May of 2023. Flooding near West Point and the Hudson Valley area of New York in 2023. Hurricane Helene caused damage across Georgia and South Carolina in September of 2024. Flooding in 2023 in Central California, with enormous damage in the Central Valley. Hurricane Milton slammed Florida in October of 2024. Southeastern Iowa saw devastating tornadoes in 2024. Tornadoes and severe storms hit Nebraska in April and June of this year. And 110 tornadoes ripped across Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Kentucky in May, killing 16. And more than 40 tornadoes caused damage across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee in March of 2023.

These events are all too common, and they are going to accelerate, not diminish. So we do need to fund FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, and we need to do that for the benefit of all Americans. We need to provide those farmers and producers and ranchers with dedicated recovery assistance to help them with their losses so they can farm and ranch again. We need to get our communities the flexible funding--and I emphasize ``flexible'' and locally driven funding--that they need through programs like the community development block grant disaster recovery funding, something that Senator Schatz from Hawaii has been leading on.

We need to rebuild our infrastructure. We have to reimburse our States, whose budgets have been hammered, and reimburse our communities that have spent big to get folks back on safe roads. We need to fix our wastewater and drinking water systems for the health and well-being of our citizens. And we have to help those small businesses.

That aid has to come sooner rather than later. The delay has already been really brutal on their ability to keep the lights on. The longer we wait to help disaster victims, the more disaster victims we will have. The list of needs will only grow. Delay hurts. It doesn't help.

That is why I am asking my colleagues in the Senate and in the House to act now and act quickly for Vermont and for every State hit by a disaster since we last passed a disaster bill so many storms ago. We cannot wait.

As I said, we have common ground in our common crisis. We must send a disaster bill to President Biden's desk.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, Donald H. Turner, Jr., epitomized public service.

Don grew up in Milton, VT, a town of less than 11,000 people. When he was a boy, it had half that number. Don's family owned the local bowling alley and a construction company. His family's outsized presence in the town may be why he saw the entire community as family.

Don signed up as a volunteer firefighter at 16 and remained involved with the department for his entire life, serving 14 years as chief. On my last visit to Milton in March 2023, we discussed the challenges facing small fire departments and rescue squads, input that directly influenced legislation I introduced to reimburse emergency medical services providers for care they provide patients who are not transported to a hospital.

For the past 7 years, Don served as town manager in his hometown. If the rescue squad was short a person to respond to a call, he would leave his office and hop in the ambulance.

Prior to serving in town government, Don represented his community in the Vermont House of Representatives for 13 years, including 8 as the minority leader. Perhaps that is why when he assumed leadership of his hometown government, he made his and the town staff's motto, ``Get stuff done.''

And he did.

A new town garage, something in the works before the birth of the town's current selectboard chair, was wrapped up in 2 years under Don's leadership. It is now named for him, with ``Getting stuff done'' written in large letters along one wall.

He also kept up the pressure on a transformative road project for the town, working through multiple issues to get the project underway in the past year.

Infrastructure is the most basic part of a town manager's job. Don went beyond that. A lifelong Republican, he led efforts in the town to examine its practices and policies with an eye toward making sure they were fair and allowed everyone to participate. This led to changes in the town's recreation department, where Don wanted to remove barriers to participation, including income or disabilities that might previously have kept children and adults on the sidelines. He championed an annual inclusion festival, in which he was an eager and proud participant.

In 2019, the Milton Public Library hosted a drag queen story time. When the event drew backlash, Don defended the library, attended the event, and had his photo taken with the drag queens.

When the tree topper was damaged ahead of the annual holiday tree lighting, Don made a new one in his garage.

No business in town was too small to receive Don's support. If there was a ribbon to be cut or a grand opening that needed attendees, he was there, regardless of the day or time.

When the high school needed someone to transport supplies for an event, Don pulled up in his truck.

His dedication to his town earned him the nickname ``Mr. Milton.''

Don believed that, ``If you look after people, they will look after you.'' He lived that belief, setting an example, not only for his community, but for all of us who are committed to public service.

He passed away on Saturday, November 30, after a brief battle with cancer. Don was 60 years old.

Margaret and I extend our condolences to his wife Gail and his daughters Emily, Hillary, and Erin, as well as their families and loved ones. And I also give comfort to the Milton community, who lost a neighbor, friend, and important member of their community.

Donald H. Turner, Jr., will be missed by many in Vermont.

Madam President, world leaders and other high-ranking officials from nearly 200 countries have been in Baku, Azerbaijan, this week in pursuit of an agreement on financing of future actions necessary to avert a global catastrophe caused by climate

change. The outcome of these negotiations will signal whether the international community is finally getting serious about reducing carbon emissions to halt global warming--or still capable only of setting inadequate, voluntary goals, which they then fail to meet.

It is sadly ironic that the 29th Conference of the Parties, otherwise known as COP29, is being held in an oil-rich country that has wholly failed to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement, and whose head of state, President Ilham Aliyev, has profited from his county's oil wealth. Aliyev has abused his authority, enriching himself and crushing any opposition to his authoritarian rule. In fact, Aliyev opened COP29 by praising fossil fuels as a ``gift from God'' and, in the run-up to the conference, penned several natural gas deals, boosting the fossil fuel industry in his country.

It is also distressing that rather than invest in clean energy, President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to do everything he can to increase the production of fossil fuels here in the United States and has threatened to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. The result for the American people would be dirtier air, dirtier water, more disastrous oil and chemical spills, and more hurricanes, floods, droughts, fires, earthquakes, and other extreme weather events that have devastated communities across this country.

This year, another 40 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon will be spewed into the Earth's atmosphere. That is nearly double the emissions compared to just 25 years ago, despite the repeated warnings of the world's scientists of the harmful impacts on human health and the environment.

Madam President, 2024 is expected to be the first full year when we have breached the 1.5-degree Celsius target set in Paris, with temperatures reaching life-threating levels for hundreds of millions of people. Wildfires are more frequent and intense than ever before. Water has become so scarce in some countries plagued by prolonged drought that it is more valuable than oil. Deforestation, another driver of global warming, is causing the extinction of an estimated 137 species of plants, animals, and insects every day. That is 50,000 species lost forever each year.

Economically, the story is no better. A recent working paper of the National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that for every additional degree of global warming, we can expect a 12 percent drop in global GDP. That translates to increasing costs for food, housing, clothing, transportation, and other basic needs.

To illustrate the global scope of climate change, both Vermont and Vietnam, on opposite sides of the planet, experienced catastrophic flooding this year. But they were not alone. This year has brought unprecedented flooding from torrential rainfall, hurricanes, and typhoons causing death and destruction on a massive scale in the United States, Central Asia, East Africa, West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central Europe.

Despite this ominous trend, the response of the Republican-led House of Representatives was to prohibit a U.S. contribution to the Green Climate Fund in fiscal year 2025. The House included zero funding for the UN Environment Program, zero funding for USAID's clean energy programs, zero funding for USAID's climate adaptation programs, and they cut funding for USAID's programs to protect forests and wildlife.

President-elect Trump's designated czar for so-called government efficiency has proposed to cut the Federal budget by $2 trillion. The consequences of cuts for programs to combat global warming worldwide, combined with increased investments in fossil fuels, would threaten future generations with potentially catastrophic increases in temperatures and sea levels unprecedented in human history. If President-elect Trump and the Republican Congress get their way, it is the American people who will suffer.

Climate change is a global crisis, requiring global solutions. The United States has the opportunity and obligation to be the world's leader on climate, not just because we are the second largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, but because we have the world's strongest economy and the power to drive innovation.

Taking a back seat in addressing climate change will undercut our economic competitiveness and cede ground to China and other industrialized nations. And while the President-elect may seek to reverse the progress we have made in recent years, the American people understand that climate change is real. They are already coping with the impacts, which are becoming worse each year. I, and many others in the Senate, remain committed to working to transition away from fossil fuels, protect clean air and water, support vulnerable communities, and preserve biodiversity. We will continue to do all we can to ensure the United States does its part.

Unfortunately, at COP29, we are witnessing what an absence of strong U.S. leadership looks like. Argentina has withdrawn its delegation and, following in the President-elect's footsteps, is reconsidering its participation in the Paris Agreement. The heads of state of China, France, Germany, Japan, and India declined to attend. In fact, the top leaders of the 13 largest carbon emitters, including the U.S., are absent.

International cooperation must go on. COP29 must reaffirm, despite the ebbs and flows of electoral politics, that there is still an international commitment to address the climate crisis. A recent UN report on the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement showed them falling woefully short of what is needed to avert what UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell described as a ``human and economic train wreck for every country, without exception.'' New NDCs, which will outline parties' efforts to lower emissions through 2035, are due in February of next year and must be ambitious, substantive, and actionable to avoid an economic and human catastrophe.

In another measure of our collective ambitions, negotiators in Baku will set a new climate finance goal to replace the $100 billion annual contributions pledged by developed countries to fund climate actions in developing nations. Experts have estimated that the need for financial assistance will exceed $1 trillion annually by 2035. While countries have balked at this figure, direct fossil fuel subsidies reached $1.3 trillion in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund. Negotiators must increase public contributions by several orders of magnitude--hundreds of billions of dollars--in order to successfully leverage private finance if we hope to achieve this goal.

COP29 will also seek to implement article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which allows countries to trade emission reductions, by establishing rules for international carbon markets. Any markets emerging from these negotiations must be transparent, include strong environmental guardrails, and be strictly enforced. They must account for the full lifecycle of carbon emissions, a range of conservation actions, and the unique natural resources of countries across the world. Carbon markets cannot be allowed to ``greenwash'' or ``offset'' continued emissions by polluters, but facilitate real, lasting change in our global energy systems.

Finally, we must use COP29 as an opportunity to continue building momentum in the effort to limit the climate crisis. While we need to do more, we have made positive strides in recent years. The President's Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience has mobilized billions of dollars to help developing countries manage the effects of global warming, reducing the risk of climate-fueled conflict and migration. Policies to strengthen the renewable energy sector have made renewables the cheapest electricity on the market, lowering the energy cost burden for consumers. Investments in green manufacturing will produce hundreds of thousands of new, good-paying, American jobs. Climate action is not only good for the environment, but also for our economy, public health, and national security.

COP29 must remind us of these facts and inspire action. Climate change is an existential threat that may soon dwarf all others we face. The 2050 deadline for climate action is only 25 years away. We are no longer talking about future generations; it is our generation that will have to contend with a climate that is increasingly hostile. The

clock is running out. There is no more time to waste.

First of all, I want to thank the majority leader not only for his leadership on this issue in his straightforward, direct embrace of the cause of Israel but also your openness for a debate in the Senate about what is the best pathway forward.

Madam President, I also want to acknowledge that I had to listen carefully to the words of Senator Schumer, Senator Rosen, Senator Budd. They have given eloquent arguments in favor of opposing this resolution. They raised the questions I ask myself: Can I, as a U.S. Senator who is a strong supporter of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; can I, as a U.S. Senator who is absolutely appalled at what Hamas did on October 7; can I, as a U.S. Senator who attended a presentation by the Israeli Embassy that displayed the horror of the rapes and the assaults on women who were taken captive; and can I, as a U.S. Senator who believes in a two-state solution, vote in favor of stopping the delivery of offensive weapons for Israel to use in Gaza? And my answer is yes. It is for two reasons.

First, we are into our 14th month in Gaza. And what has happened is over 43,000 people have been killed. Many Hamas, including the Hamas leadership, have been killed. Good riddance.

But many, many thousands of innocent Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed. Over 100,000 have been maimed and injured, and 60 to 70 percent of the structures in Gaza have been destroyed. That includes the schools. Young Gazans have not been in school for 14 months. Hospitals have been destroyed. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is unparalleled and is being inflicted on innocent Palestinians.

There is a second reason that I am going to support the joint resolutions. I believe the continuation of the military action in Gaza is not only jeopardizing what hostages still are alive, but it can only make Israel weaker, not stronger.

Their own recently fired Defense Minister said there is no further military purpose of offensive action in Gaza. If there is no further reason for offensive military action in Gaza, why is there a need for the United States to be providing more offensive weapons for the Netanyahu government to be used in Gaza?

That is the question we face.

We talk about the signals that will be sent to Hamas, to Iran, to Israel. There is another reality that can't be escaped, and it isn't answered by inquiring as to what ``signals'' are being sent. It is what is going to happen to these kids. What is going to happen to these families that are continuing to live under bombardment where they can't be safe anywhere, in part, because Hamas will go anywhere they can to try to use them as human shields.

But even without that--being told that they can be safe here but then are bombed and being told they can be safe there--many of these families have been dislocated six to seven times.

The humanitarian catastrophe is grinding on. It comes, of course, at a cost--enormous cost--to Palestinian families. It has come at a cost to the State of Israel--which we support--with their further isolation in the international community.

So the question before us is: What is the right thing to do, not just by way of limiting and helping humanitarian catastrophe, but what is the right thing for the United States to do with its ally Israel in pursuit of the two goals we have always had with Israel? And that is to advocate and defend and support Israel as a democratic, secure Jewish State. And because we believe this is important to make that happen, that we have an independent, secure Palestinian State, a two-state solution.

So the question that I have is, Will U.S. arms, to be used offensively in Gaza at this time and with this government, enhance American policy that has been the policy of the United States through Republican and Democratic administrations?

Madam President, the answer I have come to, the judgment I have come to as a U.S. Senator is that it would harm our goals for that Jewish democratic state, for the easing of humanitarian suffering, for compliance with international law and the Leahy Law, and for what is a goal that has to be the touchstone of our policy, and that is doing everything we can to achieve a two-state solution for a secure, democratic, independent Israel and a secure, disarmed--not armed-- Palestinian State side by side.

I intend to support these resolutions.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I just want to add my voice of support. Why do we need a farm bill? Because we need farmers, and we need food. And one of the wonderful things about our farmers is they do a job that is incredibly hard to do.

It is a job that is filled with uncertainty. What is the weather going to be today? What are the prices on the futures market tomorrow? What is going to happen in our neighborhood?

It is incredibly uncertain, but the farmers love the work.

And who among us works harder than farmers? Maybe coal miners, but not many more. So they stand for hard work and feeding America.

The second thing is farmers need stability because they have no control over things that profoundly affect them. But the other thing is farmers actually are the custodians of our landscape. And they, in all of our communities--whether it is dairy, say, in Vermont, or it might be wheat or corn in Illinois, or cherries in Michigan--they are providing a benefit to all of us who are not farmers and can't take on the courage they have to do that work.

And on the conservation title, I have talked to a lot of farmers in Vermont. They are so appreciative that, in addition to feeding us with nutritious food, they have a chance to actually get some income to help us conserve the land. That is a good thing because that is another income stream for the farmers.

So this should not be a fight among opposing sides. What do we have to do to provide stability to farmers? They have to get a fair price for their crop. And then, if they are going to make contributions on the whole issue of conservation in reducing carbon emissions, they have to get some income for that. And that is in the farm bill.

So let's pass the farm bill because we need farmers, we need food, and we need a clean and healthy environment.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to complete my remarks prior to the scheduled vote.

Madam President, the United States must continue to support the people of Ukraine as they continue to defend their country from Russia's invasion. The support provided by the United States has been indispensable in thwarting Russia's advances, but Ukraine needs continued assurances today--and tomorrow--that this support will continue.

There will be policy shifts in the next Congress and with the next administration, but we can't abandon our fundamental support for Ukraine. Doing so would be existential for the Ukrainian people, dangerous for Europe, and dangerous for the United States.

Allowing a large country to invade its smaller, neighboring country with impunity clears a path for authoritarian leaders with similar aspirations, and it sends the message that these actions are acceptable. Left unchecked, these violent actions threaten America's partners and allies.

We are at an inflection point. The President-elect has praised Vladimir Putin, the man waging an unjust war against Ukraine, for being a strong leader. He called him a ``genius'' and ``savvy'' and said:

I got along with him great. He liked me. I liked him.

I struggle to find common ground or agreement with someone who gets along with one of America's most ruthless adversaries. But I hope we can all agree that America's security is inseparable from the security of Europe. Republicans and Democrats alike have always recognized that, and I want to pay tribute to many of my Republican colleagues for their stalwart continuation of support for Ukraine to defend itself.

We must all stand up against a brutal authoritarian who has sparked a war that has killed and wounded 1 million people and displaced millions more, killed dissidents, stolen children, and imprisoned journalists, civil rights advocates, and political opponents.

If the United States were to withdraw our support from Ukraine, the consequences would be severe and exactly what Russia wants.

The Ukrainian people are doing their part. They are fighting to defend their territory and Ukraine's sovereignty with every ounce of strength, in every part of Ukraine. And they have fought back against Russian aggression since 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.

The Ukrainian people have been steadfast and resilient in protecting their land, their culture, and their heritage. But Ukraine isn't only fighting. They are also reforming and strengthening their country there. Since 2014, Ukraine has adopted anti-corruption reforms and continues to advance its efforts, including strengthening Ukraine's Constitutional Court and judicial reforms and cracking down on unauthorized trade. To date--this is really good news--there have been no credible allegations of corruption associated with international donor support.

And, in the midst of this brutal war, Ukraine's economy is tenaciously strong. Despite the war, Ukraine's GDP growth is reportedly up 5 percent from last year. Since September, more than 60 million tons of grain and steel have been sent to the global market through the Black Sea.

The World Bank and others are developing investment plans to rebuild energy, manufacturing, and agricultural infrastructure--a reconstruction for Ukraine that will cost nearly $500 billion.

We must be firm in our military, economic, and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and equally unequivocal in imposing consequences for Russia's aggression.

United States, European, and global support for Ukraine must continue. As Penny Pritzker, former Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery at the Department of State and former Secretary of Commerce under President Obama, has said, ``military assistance alone is not enough. We must match a hardened security umbrella with a comprehensive economic recovery framework.''

I could not agree more. Putin has brought war back to Europe. Putin's imperialist invasion has brought back memories of World War II. If the United States had not stayed the course to defend Europe against the Nazis, our world would look very much different today.

The world needs a multilateral court to prosecute the crime of aggression. Sanctions must continue, and the international community must seek reparation and compensation for the victims of Putin's violence, the return of Ukrainian children to their homes and families, and the proper registration of damage that has been caused by Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

We should also give Ukraine the flexibility it needs to use U.S.- provided weapons effectively against Russian military targets. Many European countries have already done so, and it would empower Ukraine to blunt the Russian attack and put Russian forces on the defensive.

Madam President, Putin's plan to isolate and erase Ukraine has backfired. There are more joint security commitments between the European Union and Ukraine than ever before. Finland and Sweden have joined NATO, strengthening our defense alliance. The European Union and member states have increased their support for Ukraine in military equipment, economic and humanitarian support, refugee assistance, and so many other aspects of resilience and defense.

The whole world is watching the Ukrainians fight to defend our common values, our fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. The world is also watching us. We are leaders, and we must remain leaders. We are not naive to the challenges ahead for Ukraine, but if we walk away now, we may seal Ukraine's fate.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume executive session and resume consideration of the Perry nomination.

Madam President, last December I joined Senators Tim Kaine, Dick Durbin, Jeff Merkley, and Laphonza Butler and Representatives Norma J. Torres and Delia C. Ramirez, on a trip to Guatemala. We arrived just weeks before the scheduled inauguration of President Bernardo Arevalo, who had been elected by an overwhelming majority. The Guatemalan people had voted decisively to reject the corruption, impunity, and malfeasance that had been the hallmark of successive governments in that country.

We went to Guatemala to speak directly to Mr. Arevalo's supporters, as well as to the powerful forces in Guatemala, including the Attorney General, opposition members of Congress, magistrates, and those who were corruptly conspiring to prevent President Arevalo from taking office. Our purpose was to make clear that if their efforts to subvert the will of the people succeeded, it would have profoundly negative long-term consequences for U.S. relations--both economic and security-- for whoever illegally seized power. It would propel the country down a path of authoritarianism and economic decline much like Nicaragua, leading to further social division, political instability, and isolation

Their efforts to overturn the election and undermine the people were flagrant; the Attorney General went so far as to attempt to nullify the fair election of then President-elect Arevalo shortly after we met with officials of the outgoing administration to urge a peaceful transfer of power.

Ultimately, the efforts to prevent President Arevalo from taking office failed. But his detractors were far from defeated. They immediately set their sights on preventing President Arevalo from carrying out his anti-corruption agenda and forcing him from office. Those efforts continue today.

I mention this because I recently met with a delegation of Guatemalan indigenous women, led by Nobel Laureate Rigoberta Menchu. Although their numbers are woefully under-represented in the three branches of government, I have never met more determined and courageous women. Women who have experienced extreme poverty, violence, and loss, yet who have become leaders in their communities and fiercely dedicated to preserving their indigenous identity, improving the lives of their families, and defending Guatemala's fragile democracy.

The United States strongly supports President Arevalo, who offers the best chance Guatemala has had in decades to chart a new path for his country--a path grounded in the rule of law, in the institutions of democracy, in transparency, in accountability. And despite the efforts of the corrupt networks whose only interest is in using the institutions of power and privilege to enrich themselves, I am hopeful because President Arevalo has the support of Guatemala's indigenous population, exemplified by the fearless women I met this week.

They are not going to let what they won freely and fairly at the ballot box be stolen from them. They are not going to allow a minority of crooked elites deny them and their children the chance for a better life. They have an ambitious social, economic, and political reform agenda. They are committed to working to strengthen education, economic opportunity, equality, democracy, and justice. It is in the interest of the Arevalo administration and the United States to help them achieve these goals for the benefit of all Guatemalans.

Madam President, climate change, as we all know, has caused major disasters all across America, from Vermont's catastrophic flooding in July of 2023 and, again, exactly a year later, this past July, to the devastating wildfires in Hawaii, to hurricanes in Texas, floods in San Diego and southern Minnesota, tornadoes from Mississippi to New York. And just this week, Louisiana was hit by a hurricane, and North Carolina was hit by historic flash flooding. And North Carolina, earlier this week, saw 18--18--inches of rain in 12 hours, what the National Weather Service in Wilmington called a once-in-a-1,000-year event. That is not normal.

From 2023 to 2024, there were 48 climate disasters that incurred losses of billions of dollars and more. These events were devastating for the communities: many demolished homes and businesses, washed away roads, destroyed fields and barns, and loss of life.

And while we can count 48 from NOAA today, we know that this list will only grow as storm damage is assessed from Vermont and Louisiana and North Carolina.

Disasters literally from coast to coast hit the United States--35 severe storms; 4 floods, including Vermont's flooding; 3 tropical cyclones; 3 winter storms; 2 wildfire events; and 1 drought. This is just going on and on and on, and it is not even the full picture. We have had 125 from the same period.

I have shared the pain and anguish of Vermont's homeowners, farms, and businesses. For over 430 days, they have waited for Congress to act when it comes to supplemental relief for the Disaster Relief Fund. Vermonters need that help, as do folks in Hawaii, as do folks in North Carolina.

There is bipartisan support for this effort because it is obviously a bipartisan crisis. These weather events don't have any favorites. Whether you are in a red State or a blue State means nothing; it is the weather, and it will do what the weather decides to do.

This week, I joined with Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii and our colleagues from Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, California, and Alaska in sending a letter to Senate leadership urging them to quickly pass disaster funding so our States can recover. We have a solid bipartisan group, and regrettably it is a growing group. The need is immense.

So we do need more financial support immediately through FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund. It is depleted, and it needs to be replenished.

One critically important program for long-term disaster recovery is through our Department of Transportation's disaster relief program. Senator Sanders and I have seen the damage in Vermont. We have suffered brutal damage to our transit system. More than 6,000 tons of debris were removed by the State of Vermont, 409 miles of rail have been closed, 149 miles of rail trail closed, 64 bridges in Vermont closed, and 46 State roads were closed. As of last fall, Vermont incurred $150 million in damages related to transportation alone. And then more flooding came.

Both Senator Sanders and I have traveled across Vermont to talk with community leaders about the financial stress they face right now. We have also talked with my colleagues about the needs of our community leaders in their States and their needs as they rebuild and recover and plan for the next climate disaster. The reality is, the numbers don't paint the full picture. We do need that relief to get people moving ahead. But when your town and your street and your home and your lives, the lives of the people you represent, are so devastated, you really can't articulate a number. It doesn't capture it.

We need the Disaster Relief Fund replenished. We need transportation funding to reimburse our State governments for the costs they pay up front when a disaster hits. We need more money for the highway emergency fund. Our need is extreme. Our States and communities cannot do this alone, and that is no less true for every other colleague's State than it is for Vermont.

Today, I would also like to voice Vermonters' continued frustration-- this is on a slightly different topic but related to the flooding--that 14 months after our post office was destroyed in Montpelier, the capital of the State of Vermont, we still don't have a fully functional post office.

After the July 23 floods, the Postal Service shifted its Montpelier Post Office operations to a series of temporary locations, and that included parked trucks miles away from where the old post office was. These were unsafe for the Postal Service workers, and they failed to ensure anything close to reliable service. There was no air- conditioning in the summer months or heat in the fall and no lighting. People literally were using like their iPhones to try to read what the labels were. That is unacceptable.

After a public outcry and demands from Senator Sanders and me and our congressional colleague, Congresswomen Balint, the UPS moved postal operations to another temporary location. We thought that was progress when the Postal Service signed the new lease downtown in April, and they said it would be open by summer. It is September. The location is still not open,

and, reportedly, little progress has been made.

The capital city of the State of Vermont has not had a functioning post office for over a year. It is not a distinction we value. You know, the Postal Service has an internal benchmark of restoring retail service within 180 days of a natural disaster. They are now 256 days overdue. This failure is real and has very practical impacts on our constituents. Right now, Vermonters who live in Montpelier have to drive 7 miles if they want to buy a stamp or mail a package, and it is obviously very burdensome for our businesses.

The U.S. Postal Service and the Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy--let me be frank. They have really failed to deliver. And it is shocking to me, but we have had instances where Senator Sanders and I and Congresswoman Balint have tried to interact with the Postal Service, and he is silent, nonresponsive. That is really an insult to the people of Vermont when they need this and can't even get an answer about what is going on.

So this is not your standard, run-of-the-mill management failure of the USPS. No. This is really a dereliction of duty, in my view, by Postmaster General DeJoy. He is choosing not to open a post office--a task his Agency has done thousands of times quickly in their 250-year history.

While the Postal Service may be independent, it is not without oversight. It does not have the authority to disregard the input of the public who so needs the services or congressional representatives, and it does not have the authority to act contrary to its statutory obligations.

I want to close by saying again that I stand ready and willing to work with any of my colleagues to get this disaster relief done. We cannot recover or rebuild without the Federal assistance that all of us in every State that has had a catastrophe, a weather event. We need the help, and we all have to help one another, not only for Vermont but for every community that needs help and will need help in the future.

Madam President, you know we can get this done. We have done it before for our constituents. But the delay is going on too long. It is that simple.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, over the past 6 years, my office, and the office of my predecessor Senator Leahy, have received reports of recurring threats, attacks, arbitrary arrests, and assassinations of members of the Guapinol, Tocoa, and other communities in the Bajo Aguan region of Honduras. Those crimes were intended to intimidate and silence those who opposed an open-pit iron oxide mine and the Ecotek Thermoelectric Project which threaten their livelihoods and the region's environment and who challenged the companies and corrupt officials who profit from those projects.

Then on Saturday, September 14, I learned of the murder of Honduran environmental activist Juan Lopez, the latest victim of this epidemic of vigilante violence. Mr. Lopez, a winner of the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award in 2019, had been a victim of wrongful imprisonment, false prosecution, and had spoken out against corrupt officials in Tocoa.

This outrageous crime struck a nerve for me because Mr. Lopez's murder was the latest in a pattern of similar killings. There have been six other assassinations of members of the Guapinol water defenders. No one has been prosecuted or punished for those crimes or for the murders of scores of other environmental and human rights defenders in Honduras.

Juan Lopez, like Berta Caceres--whose murder in 2016 was linked to officers of the company responsible for the hydroelectric project she and others in her indigenous community opposed--was a person of integrity. Both were courageous defenders of the environment and their communities, threatened by powerful interests supported by the corrupt Honduran Government of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who, throughout that period and until his arrest and conviction for drug trafficking, was supported by the United States.

Mr. Lopez was killed after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued precautionary measures in October 2023. The issuance of an IACHR protective measure is a mechanism to insist that the Honduran Government protect individuals who are at severe and urgent risk of irreparable harm to their rights to life and safety. But the Honduran Government failed to implement effective protective measures on behalf of these communities or their advocates like Mr. Lopez.

Such measures, if not enforced, are no better than the paper they are printed on. And that is the reality in Honduras, where people like Juan Lopez have had no one and nothing to protect them.

Instead, it is the victims, the activists, who are arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned, accused of crimes which in reality amount to nothing more than peacefully defending their land and their right to a healthy environment. Some have languished in pre-trial detention for years, for simply protesting a mine that has polluted the water source of thousands of people.

Honduras is currently a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Members of the council have a responsibility to uphold human rights standards. That has been a criterion of membership since the council was established in 2006. Yet the human rights of people like Juan Lopez and the other Guapinol water defenders are routinely violated with impunity.

My thoughts and condolences are with Mr. Lopez's family and with the other families in the Bajo Aguan communities. In response to this pattern of violence and the assassination of Mr. Lopez last Saturday, I believe that, at a minimum, three things need to be done, beginning immediately, and I urge the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras to insist on them as well: an international commission of experts to support the Honduran prosecutor's investigation of the murder of Juan Lopez, to ensure the investigation is credible, thorough, and impartial; protection for human rights defenders at risk in the Bajo Aguan region; and investigations of the abuses and corruption denounced by Juan Lopez and the pattern of violence against the Guapinol defenders.

The threats, false arrests, wrongful imprisonment, murder, and impunity in the Bajo Aguan have been tolerated--and in effect tacitly and even actively encouraged--by Honduran officials for far too long. It has also received far too little attention from the United States and other governments that have put the interests of foreign investors above those of the impoverished people who live in that troubled region. I hope that Juan Lopez's death will not only be answered by holding accountable those responsible, but that it will also mark the beginning of real change in the Bajo Aguan. The people of those communities should not have to live in fear that powerful companies and corrupt officials will steal their land, pollute their rivers, and murder them for peacefully defending the natural resources that are rightfully theirs.

Mr. President, today I celebrate Rachel Gilbert Hopkins, a dedicated Vermonter who has worked to improve our State's adoption system and connect children to a loving family.

Vermont's team within the Department for Children and Families, Family Services Division (FSD) is critically important and does life- changing work every day for children in need. Rachel Gilbert Hopkins, or ``Gillie'' as she is known by all, has made an incredible impact. As codirector of Project Family, a partnership between Lund and DCF, Gillie has overseen the completion of more than 2,260 adoptions, advancing child welfare and permanency in our State and changing the lives of children and families.

For this reason alone, she is an excellent nominee for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's Angels in Adoption honor. But it is also Gillie's far-reaching impact beyond adoption and permanency that has inspired this honor, and at the recommendation of her friends and peers who have witnessed her dedication, I submit her name and this honor to the Record today.

As her peers say, Gillie has an ``unwavering commitment to prioritizing the best interests of every child.'' She conducts trainings to empower her colleagues with the tools to advocate for children. She also works with the regional offices and the judiciary to address the barriers to permanency, using research to establish procedures that cultivate efficiency and smoother processes. Gillie has created inclusive spaces, groups, and supportive environments for people to live authentically and has worked on actions that enhance adoption competence among FSD staff.

Gillie Hopkins is champion for children, families, and Vermont communities and is well-deserving of the Angels in Adoption honor because of her extraordinary work and dedicated commitment to our State.

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