Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I rise to talk about an extremely qualified person who has been nominated to be the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

I just left a meeting with Gina Haspel, who is a woman who has spent her entire career at the Central Intelligence Agency protecting our country. Over the decades, she has been in the field a number of times and has been in a number of dangerous situations. She has been an analyst. She has been in leadership. She is currently the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. By the way, she is the first woman who has ever been the Deputy Director of this Agency. Of course, she would be the first woman Director if she is to be confirmed.

I had an opportunity to talk to her about a lot of issues, including the morale at the CIA and how people feel about her being the Director. As you can imagine, folks over there are extremely excited about this-- one of their own, someone they know and trust. They understand she has their interests at heart. I think it would be terrific for that Agency to have someone with her capability. She would be only the second Director in the history of that Agency who came up through the ranks.

I also went down to what is called the SCIF, which is a place where you can look at classified information. This week, I had the opportunity to review her background, not just what is available publicly but also what is in a classified form. Suffice it to say, I was very impressed.

I spent my time looking at her record, looking at her background, talking to her personally, talking to other people in the intelligence community to understand the impact she would have on the men and women of that Agency. I can state that I truly believe she is not only qualified, but she may be the most qualified person you could think of to run this Agency, and she will be good for the Agency.

I have the opportunity, when I go around the world to make visits on behalf of the Foreign Relations Committee--I am a member of the Foreign Relations Committee--to meet with CIA personnel. I was in Ukraine, in the Czech Republic, in Germany over the Easter break, with our troops on Easter, and had the opportunity to meet with some of the CIA employees overseas. I can just state, you would be so proud if you had the opportunity, as I have had, to meet with some of these people and talk to them about what they are doing every day to help protect us and the risks they take every day to help protect us on behalf of our national security.

Who better to provide the President of the United States with the sort of intelligence analysis needed to deal with so many challenges we face around the world than someone who has been in the trenches, who has been one of those people out in the field like the folks I met with as recently as last month? She is someone who has a deep understanding of intelligence operations.

By the way, she is not political at all--not a Republican, not a Democrat. She is a career professional. What better Agency than the Central Intelligence Agency to have someone who is a consummate professional? I believe that is one reason she has such strong support from former CIA Directors. You probably have seen this, but former Secretaries of State and former CIA Directors have come forward to support her, including Republicans and Democrats. The list includes Leon Panetta, John Brennan, and James Clapper, who were all intelligence leaders in the Obama administration. They have come out in support of Gina Haspel. It is easy to see why she is so widely supported.

Let me share one quick account I have read about. She is probably too modest to talk about it. One of her assignments was in a difficult part of the world, a dangerous part of the world. She was a station chief there. She got news that there were two senior al-Qaida associates linked to the Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. You may remember those horrible bombings. They were on their way to the country where she was stationed. With that little bit of information, she went to work. As a result of her swift actions and her dedication and intensity, she actually went full time, 24/7--they say she slept on the office floor to the extent she slept at all--and she was able to determine that these terrorists had gone to a particular hotel. Intelligence tracked them there, and after a firefight, they were apprehended. These two evil men who had killed so many people in Africa through terrorist attacks were stopped, but just as important, their computers were seized, and their computers revealed the next terror plot they were planning. Lives were saved, and Gina Haspel was awarded by George H.W. Bush the Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism.

So she has received a lot of honors like that throughout her career. I tell you that story just to give you a sense of who this woman is because I think when we hear debate in this Chamber and talking back and forth, sometimes we forget the fact that these people do work in dangerous situations to protect us.

She has been in situations where gunshots have been fired upon her vehicle, as an example. She is one of those people who all of these years has been out there serving us, and now for us not to support her, I think would be the wrong thing to do.

I look forward to the confirmation. It will be another first for her, the first woman Deputy Director, the first woman Director, but that is not why she is doing it. She is doing it, as she told me today, because she is a patriot.

She is from Kentucky, right across the river from where I live in Cincinnati, OH. She grew up as a kid who believed in patriotism and service and protecting our country, and she has devoted her life to this.

One final point I hope some of my colleagues who might be listening or who are undecided might think about. This is an incredibly dangerous world we live in right now. Unfortunately, we face a lot of dangers. I just had the chance to talk to Gina Haspel about what is happening with regard to Iran, Syria, and the latest news with regard to the conflict between Israel and Syria. We had a chance to talk at some length about what is happening with regard to the Russian influence in Eastern Europe and particularly what is going on on the eastern border of Ukraine--the line of contact where I was a month ago, learning some of the challenges we now have with getting good intelligence with regard to what is happening in that part of the world. We talked about issues relating to North Korea and the recent return of the three hostages. I can just state, without going into detail, this woman knows the world. There would be no on-the-job training. She has been Deputy Director for 18 months, but long before that she had a grasp of what is going on around the world. She knows the people around the world, and she knows her senior leadership team as well. She is a woman who is prepared to step forward at a time when we cannot afford mistakes, when we need to have somebody who has that experience.

I would just say to the families we all represent, we are charged with voting up here, but ultimately we are charged with representing millions of Americans, each of us in our respective States. Think about their safety and think about whom you would want--whom you would want in that position. I would challenge my colleagues to think of somebody who is better qualified.

I know there are some concerns that have been raised by some of my colleagues about actions that were taken by the CIA immediately after 9/11. One, we have to put ourselves in that mindset after 9/11 and the great dangers we faced. Certain decisions were made that were considered absolutely legal. In fact, the congressional leadership, the so-called Big Eight, including the Intelligence Committee, Democrats and Republicans, were all read into it and knew what was going on and were approving of it. In fact, some would say that some Members of Congress even pushed the CIA to do even more in terms of interrogating people and getting more information to reveal thoughts that were being planned to save lives.

I understand there is new thinking about that, and Gina Haspel herself

said in her testimony yesterday that she has evolved her thinking about that, but I would ask those same Members who were talking about what happened in the early 1990s to think about what is happening today and to wonder who could be more qualified.

By the way, if she is not qualified, that means a number of other people, such as anybody in a senior leadership role at the CIA who happened to have been there at that time, would not be qualified, including John Brennan would not be qualified, who got a large bipartisan vote in this body to be the Director of the CIA, even though he was in a higher leadership role at that time at the CIA.

So, again, I hope she will be confirmed. I think she will be confirmed, but I do hope that any colleagues who are wondering which way to go will think about where we are today. It is a dangerous and volatile world. We do need somebody who has that experience, knowledge, background, and wisdom that comes with years of experience borne of actual experience in the field. And to have this smart, decent, well- qualified woman not be confirmed would be not just bad for the CIA but bad for our country and indeed bad for what all of us hope for, which is a more peaceful world and one where we do have the kind of intelligence we need to be able to keep that peace.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following nominations: Executive Calendar Nos. 740, 830, and 831.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate vote on the nominations with no intervening action or debate; that if confirmed, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; that no further motions be in order; and that any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the Record, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate resume legislative session for a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 505, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 506, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 931 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Alexander amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, May 14; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. I further ask that following leader remarks, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Scudder nomination under the previous order; finally, that following disposition of the St. Eve nomination, the Senate resume consideration of the Carson nomination.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

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

Mr. President, first, I want to talk about our growing economy. I listened to my colleague's comments, the Senator from Wyoming, about the importance of the tax legislation. I couldn't agree with him more. I think it is stimulating not just economic growth but higher wages and more jobs. I also want to talk about the need for us to connect to those jobs the Americans who are not currently employed. Then I want to talk about some very shocking, new information we have about why people are outside of the workforce.

We just had a good jobs report from April. It showed a steadily growing economy. It showed unemployment at 3.9 percent. That is the official number, but that is the lowest the official number has been since the year 2000.

In my home State of Ohio, there was a recent survey done by PNC Bank--it has been doing this for 9 years--that asked small- and mid- sized companies: What is your level of optimism about the future? They said their business optimism has been at record levels for the past 9 years. So there is something going on that is very good in the economy.

If you talk to the small business community, the National Federation of Independent Business survey shows the same thing, not just optimism but also a sense that companies are getting ready to invest even more. So there are some good things going on in our economy.

This week, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce issued its own report, and it shows something interesting, which is that three out of four businesses in Ohio are saying they want to add people--three out of four. More than half of them said they want to add more than 25 people. I was just home and had a lot of interaction with small business people over the last week. I can't go to a business in Ohio where I don't hear people talking about the need for a qualified workforce. They tell me, yes, the tax bill is helping--no question about it. It is helping middle- class families throughout my State. Ninety percent of Americans are getting paychecks that read Uncle Sam is going to withhold less money-- on average, $2,000 for a median-income family in Ohio just from the tax cuts this year alone.

Again, small businesses are investing more. Companies are doing everything from investing in people, with bonuses and higher pay and better 401(k) matches, to investing in equipment and technology and, therefore, in the productivity of those workers, which will lead to better economic performance. So those things are happening.

On the regulatory front, I also think that much of what we have done in Congress is beginning to help. This includes 16 different times when Congress has said we shouldn't have this new regulation that was put on by the Obama administration at the end of his term. Rather, we ought to free up the economy more--over $60 billion, by the way, of relief to our economy. That is helping.

I think it is also very helpful, as Senator Barrasso said, that with regard to the administration, there is a new attitude, which is, yes, we need rules and regulations, and let's make sure they make sense, and let's make sure we partner with businesses and try to help them comply with those rules and regulations rather than have an attitude of saying: Let's try to find out how we can punish businesses for not complying. I think that difference alone may be even larger than what we have done in Congress, in terms of passing this legislation to eliminate regulations, because that attitude change has helped, particularly, small businesses in my State feel like, OK, they have an opportunity now to be able to take a risk--to take a chance--to invest in work. They are not thinking the Federal Government is out there to get them.

I see that, and I am really happy to see it because it is not, again, just about growing the economy. Over the past few months, if you have looked at the numbers, for the first time in really a decade and a half, we have seen wages starting to go up in my home State and around the country. That is what we should all want.

Let me talk about something that concerns me greatly about the direction in which we are going--again, positive. The economy is picking up. Things are going well. Workers whom I talk to are happy with the tax bill because it is helping them both directly with their families and through the benefits they are getting at work. Yet what I am hearing is, the workforce is really the challenge. When you look at that, you come up with a shocking situation, in which the reason there aren't people showing up for work is, we have a record number of men and probably close to a record number of men and women--you would probably have to go back to the 1970s to find these kinds of numbers-- who are out of the workforce altogether.

Now, what does that mean?

This means they are not working, and they are not looking for work so they are not showing up in the unemployment numbers. The number of 3.9 percent--again, the best since 2000--is all good news, but that is not the real number. I say that with respect because the Bureau of Labor Statistics does the best it can, but it can't include the people who aren't trying to find work. Those people are outside of the workforce. What the economists call this is a low labor force participation rate-- in other words, the low percentage of Americans who are even showing up. That concerns me a lot because, one, obviously, it is hurting the economy. You have this huge pool of workers out there. There are 8.5 million men between the ages of 25 and 55--able-bodied men--who are in this category. They are unemployed, yes, but they are not even looking for work so they are not showing up in these numbers. When you add women and men together, it is millions of Americans. So we need them in the economy now because it is important for these small businesses I am talking to in Ohio who are looking for people.

Even more concerning to me is what is happening to these people and to these families, because they are not getting the dignity and self- respect that comes from work. They are not able to achieve whatever their goal is in life, their piece of the American dream. They are missing out. They are on the sidelines.

The 3.9 percent unemployment rate, by the way, is not a real number. Why do I say that? Because if you go back to the normal labor force participation rate--we are talking about people actually working in our workforce in more normal levels--the unemployment number would be far higher. How high would it be? Go back to the year before the great recession when we had a more traditional workforce participation rate. With that labor force participation rate attached to today's economy, the unemployment number would not be 3.9 percent. It would be 8.6 percent.

If we were to talk about an 8.6 percent unemployment rate, we would all be very concerned; wouldn't we? We should be very concerned because that is the real number. We need a more concerted effort to get all of those Americans back to work for all the right reasons.

So who are they? It is a complicated question. No. 1, there are people who don't have the skills that meet the needs out there. So today, in Ohio, if you go on OhioMeansJobs, our website, you will see 140,000 jobs being offered, and yet there are 250,000 people out of work. You will see that a number of these jobs require a certain level of skill.

People are looking for welders. People are looking for technology expertise, including coding. They are looking for people in the biosciences or the healthcare professions, where you have to have a certain level of skill. What workers are finding in Ohio is that if

they don't have those skills, it is hard to get those jobs. So there is a skills gap--there is no question about it--and we should be addressing that.

In Congress we have a great opportunity to do that through some relatively commonsense legislation. One measure is called the JOBS Act--a great name. The JOBS Act says quite simply that if you are able to get a Pell grant for college, shouldn't you also be able to get a Pell grant for a short-term training program? This is because what employers will tell you is that they don't need a 2-year training program or somebody with a 4-year college degree. What they need is someone willing to go through a training program to get the ability to learn how to weld or the ability to learn how to code or even to go through a commercial driver's license program. All these programs can be accomplished in less than 15 weeks, and you can get people to work. But guess what. You can't get a Pell grant for a course that is less than 15 weeks.

So our goal with the JOBS Act is very simple. Let's level the playing field. Let's give an opportunity to those young people who may not choose to go to college, at least now, but who understand that those jobs are out there. We are talking about good-paying jobs, making $40,000, $50,000, $60,000 a year. They are waiting out there right now. These jobs are open. Let's give them the ability--because they are low- income families, and they can't afford these training programs--to take advantage of Pell grants as they would if they chose to go to a 4-year college or university or a 2-year college for a number of years.

Senator Kaine and I have introduced this legislation with a bipartisan group. We think it is something we ought to do right away. Who are these people? People with a skills gap. That is one specific idea--just one of many that would get people the skills they need.

No. 2, there is something I would call the dependency trap. These are people who are on a government dependency program and they are not working. When they look at going to work they see two things. One, they see a reduction in their benefits. That is pretty obvious. But second, they see an increase in their taxes. Now the tax bill actually helps here, because it actually reduces taxes for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Specifically, I will state--because I asked the Joint Committee on Taxation about this, and they gave me an official response--that 3 million Americans who currently have income tax liability based on last year's Tax Code--in other words, the code that was changed at the end of last year--no longer have any income tax liability. That is good because it will help with this transition from welfare to work, because although people may be losing those benefits, some people will not see that cliff where they have a relatively high tax to pay. That is good, but we could do more to assure that people who are willing to make that step out of welfare and into work are not penalized by this tax cliff. I think the dependency trap is also part of the issue for this unprecedented level of people who are outside of the workforce altogether, and we need to address it.

I think there should be more work requirement programs for able- bodied Americans who are on these dependency programs. I think that would help partly to give them the work experience to get the dignity and self-respect that comes with work as they step into welfare-to-work transition. So that certainly is another issue. So it is the skills training and the dependency trap.

Another issue that I think is very clearly out there is that we have a lot of people in America who are getting out of prison or jail. Some of them have a record that makes it hard for them to get a job. Let's be honest. We have record numbers of people behind bars. It started in the 1980s, when we wanted to lock people up for lots of good reasons because of the violence or serious crimes they were committing. But 95 percent of the people in prison are someday going to get out of prison. When they do get out, we need to provide a better transition for them to get to work. Why? Because right now more than half of those people are back in the system within a couple of years. That makes no sense for anybody, particularly for those who are subject to the crimes that might be committed and to the taxpayers who are paying $35,000, $40,000, or $45,000 a year, when you include incarceration, the prosecution, and the additional costs that are associated with that.

So should we do more there? Yes. There is legislation supporting that. I think it is called the Fair Chance Act. It says that when somebody applies for a job with the Federal Government, for example, they have to be allowed to go through the process even though they may have a felony record. Why? Because you want to give them a fair shake, not just take the resume and put it in the circular file and toss it because you see a felony record. We have to give some of those folks a chance.

I was at a great program in Ohio last week. It is called the Flying HIGH welding school and the GROW Urban Farm. Their job is to teach ex- offenders a skill. They teach people how to work. A lot of them have not had a job before. Specifically, they teach them a welding skill that is badly needed in Northeast Ohio right now.

Their placement record is unbelievable, and their recidivism rate is so low. They are not only placing people into jobs, but they are working with businesses in what is called a junior apprenticeship program, where the workplace is actually working with the welding shop to give people work experience.

They are keeping people from going back into the prison system. They have a great record doing it. They got a loan and grant money from the Federal Government, including the Department of Labor. It is a program that is working very well to give people the ability to get a job and to get out of the trap. In this case, a lot of them have felony records, and they are able to take care of their families and be productive citizens. There are very encouraging stories there.

There is the skills training, which we talked about, and the dependency trap, which we talked about. For the people who are coming out of prison at very high numbers now and who have this background, we need to be sure that those people are getting engaged and getting into work.

Let me tell you what I think is the No. 1 reason we have these historic levels of people who are on the sidelines outside of work. It will not surprise some of you because you are involved with this, like my colleagues here in the Chamber, including the chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, who has now arrived and has been very involved in this. It is the opioid crisis.

The numbers are shocking of those people who are out of work altogether. They are on the sidelines, not even trying to get into work. They are people who would lead our unemployment numbers to be really more like over 8.5 percent rather than 3.9 percent. They are millions of Americans, over 8.5 million men between the ages of 25 and 55--able-bodied men. Of those people, based on two recent studies, about half of them are taking pain medication on a daily basis. When asked in one of the studies, it was found that two-thirds of them said it was prescription medication.

What does that mean? That means that we have a huge problem in our country of opioid addiction, and that is keeping people out of the workforce altogether, tearing apart those families and causing crime in our communities.

The No. 1 cause of crime in my State of Ohio is the opioid epidemic. People are involved in things they would never dream of except for the fact that they have this addiction. It is shoplifting, thievery, and fraud. It is an issue that affects every part of our community. The point I wish to make more strongly is that it is affecting our labor market in a huge way.

One study by the Brookings Institution says that 47 percent of men are taking pain medication on a daily basis. That is not being over- reported--I will guarantee that--because of the stigma attached and the legal consequences for some of these individuals. So I think that 47 percent has to be viewed as a relatively low number. But isn't that shocking if it were 47 percent?

Another study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the Department of Labor, stated that 44 percent had taken pain medication the previous day.

Now these numbers should be a wake-up call for us here in this Chamber, and

it should be a wake-up call to everybody, including the business community. As I go around my State, I am seeing firsthand what the Ohio Chamber of Commerce reported this week: Three out of four businesses want to add workers. Half of them want to add up to 25 workers, and they can't find workers. You have millions of people at historic levels who are outside the workforce altogether, leading to an unemployment number that should be 8.5 percent, instead of 3.9 percent.

How do you get them back in? I think those three things we talked about today are important, but, unfortunately, given the opioid epidemic in my State of Ohio and spreading around the country, I think this is probably the single largest problem that we face.

What are the solutions?

We have made major strides in the past year in this Chamber. We passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. We passed the Cures legislation. We are now working on additional legislation called Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act 2.0.

We are doing things we have never done before in terms of funding, recovery, treatment, prevention, and education, and we need to do more. We have begun the process of turning the tide, I believe, by some of this legislation.

We need to do more on the law enforcement side. We have legislation called the STOP Act, which simply says that with regard to the most difficult problem we now face in Ohio and around the country, which is synthetic opioids--think fentanyl or carfentanil--let's at least stop the Post Office for being a conduit for its coming into the country, because that is what is happening.

All the studies show--including the study we just did in our committee, spending a year studying this--that fentanyl is coming through the Postal Service--mostly from China, by the way--and poisoning our communities.

In Ohio, two-thirds of our deaths in Franklin County last year were from fentanyl. Sixty percent of the deaths in the State of Ohio as a whole the year before were from fentanyl. That is the biggest problem we have right now.

Just as we were making progress on prescription drugs, then, heroin comes along. Just as we were making progress on heroin, then, synthetic heroin comes along. It is cheap and incredibly powerful. Three flakes can kill you. It is being spread on other drugs, such as cocaine, crystal meth, and marijuana, which last week law enforcement in Ohio just confirmed. Can we do more? This is a big issue, but, yes, we are starting to take some steps.

Where we perhaps have an opportunity that we are not taking advantage of is to get the private sector and the business community to get involved in this effort, because Washington can and should do more, but the problem is not going to be solved in Washington. It is going to be solved at the local level, in our communities, in our families, and, ultimately, in our hearts. We can get the business community more engaged, as an example, by pointing out statistics: If you are looking for more workers, you are going to have to deal with this issue.

Many workers are not able to pass the drug test. So that is something the business community does understand. In fact, I just left a group of employers from Ohio about an hour and a half ago in my office, and I asked them the same question I asked of employers in our State: How many people can pass the drug test who show up? The answer was that about 30 percent can pass. Another said: 50 percent are not passing. These are different kinds of businesses. The second is a more heavily manufacturing business. So there are people with lower incomes or lower wages and, therefore, lower income individuals. But the point is that it is a huge problem passing the drug test.

What I say to them, which is what I will say today, is that it is bigger than that. There are millions of Americans not even showing up to take the drug test. They are sidelined, and we have to deal with this opioid epidemic.

So what should the business community do?

I have three ideas. One idea is to roll up your sleeves and get involved in your community on projects that do work. There is one in Columbus, OH, called the Maryhaven Addiction Stabilization Center. The business community got engaged. They took $1 million from the CARA Act. They leveraged that for foundation money. They have a place where they have a great success rate getting people from overdosing and the application of this miracle drug Narcan, which can reverse the effects of the overdose, and then go into treatment. Unfortunately, in most parts of the country, of the people who are revived by Narcan, the vast majority go back into the same environment. Here they have been able to figure out a way to have those who are overdosing get to a central location where, right there, where the detox center is, there is a door you walk through with 50 beds to get people into treatment. They claim an 80-to-90-percent success rate in getting people into treatment. Do they stay in treatment? Not all of them.

But that is the first big gap I see in the system. People fall out of the system. Narcan is applied by the first responders. They do the best they can, but it is not their job to get them into treatment. People go back to their community and overdose again and again. Talk to your EMS personnel and police officers. I assume they will tell you the same thing they tell me.

The business community was involved in that thinking. Let's look at this as a business process. How can we help to change this obvious problem we have in the current way that people who overdose are treated and taken care of? Every business ought to roll up its sleeves and get involved in a creative, innovative project like that.

Second, over the years, back in the 1980s and into the 1990s, there was significant private sector participation in a prevention and education program. Now, locally in my State of Ohio, some businesses are starting to think about how they can do this more effectively, I believe, nationwide. Columbus is coming up with some very good ideas.

We need significant investment from the private sector in a national messaging program, a prevention and education program. Back then, it was TV ads. You may remember the ``Just Say No'' program and other programs on prevention under President Reagan. Some of those ads were very effective. Some of you may remember the ad ``This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs,'' with fried eggs being cooked in a pan, which is your brain on drugs. It is not going to be TV ads today. There will be some TV. I hope it will be broadcast media in various ways. But there will be a lot of online communication because that is where most people are getting their information, particularly younger people. It should be a concerted effort that is based on good research, good science.

What is the prevention message that works out there? Part of the prevention message that works with some young people I talked to is the fact that all these street drugs are subject to the possibility of fentanyl being included in them. Some people are taking drugs they would never think were dangerous and yet becoming addicted through fentanyl. So there is now a danger out there, with any street drug, of ruining your life.

But there is a broader prevention message that we need private sector help. This place, again, has authorized more money for this. There is $10 million in CARA 2.0 for a prevention and education program. That is good, but it is going to take more than that. The business community and the private sector have a strong interest in this for so many reasons. One, as we have talked about today, is to have the workforce they say they desperately need.

There are other opportunities for the business community to get involved. Walgreens recently took a step that I thought was very important to limit the number of days on prescription drugs. Every single business that has a healthcare program has an opportunity to be involved in this and say: Let's limit prescriptions. Probably 8 out of 10 people who overdose from heroin or fentanyl today started with prescription drugs in terms of the opioid that got them started with their opioid addiction. There still is overprescribing with regard to prescription drugs. Have we made some progress? Yes.

Our new legislation, by the way, CARA 2.0, has a 3-day limit on prescription drugs for acute pain--not chronic pain but acute pain from an accident, an injury, or a procedure that

you might have. We have that in there because the Centers for Disease Control has new guidance out that shows that after the third day, the chances of addiction rise significantly. For the vast majority of pain associated with acute procedures, 3 days is plenty. In fact, for many acute episodes, no opioids at all are needed as long as you use other pain medication.

That is something every business that provides healthcare can do. Every business that has a pharmacy can say: Let's limit those prescriptions ourselves. They don't need a government program to do that. There doesn't need to be a government edict or mandate to do that. They can just do it.

I know this issue of the workforce is frustrating to a lot of employers out there. I know that the benefits of a great tax bill are creating more economic opportunities. A better regulatory environment is providing real relief and is growing the economy in such positive ways. Wages are starting to go up. We see economic growth numbers that are very encouraging, showing that, in fact, this legislation is creating more economic growth and therefore more revenue, higher wages--the things we all hoped would happen. The investment is happening. We are not going to be able to take advantage of all of that if we don't have the workforce out there.

When we have millions of Americans--8.5 million men between 25 and 55, able-bodied, as an example--who are on the sidelines, not even showing up to look for work, we are not going to be able to fulfill our potential in this country for our economy and for them and for their families to achieve their God-given purpose in life, to have the dignity and self-respect that come from work.

We listed four very specific issues today, how we need to address this issue of people who are sidelined, who are not in the workforce, but the one that I think probably has the most impact is the final one, and that is dealing with this opioid crisis. Unless and until we do that, we will continue to see people fall between the cracks, and we will see ourselves as a country not meet our potential.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I join my colleague from Alaska in commending the U.S. Senate for confirming Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. I think he is the right person at the right time, and we need somebody there. There is too much going on around the world to have that job vacant, and there is an important meeting of Foreign Ministers of the major countries in the world that is going on tomorrow that he needs to attend. Whether it is North Korea and what is happening there--where he has been very involved--or whether it is the continuing concerns we have with regard to the nuclear agreement with Iran or whether it is what is happening in Syria and certainly what is happening on the eastern border of Ukraine, where I was recently, there are lots of hot spots around the world right now, and there is the need to have somebody in place who understands the importance of addressing those issues and addressing some of the bigger and longer term challenges we have with countries like Russia and China to be sure we can have more constructive relationships. It is good to have somebody in that job.

When John Kerry came up for confirmation in the Senate, not everybody agreed with him on the policies. When Hillary Clinton came up for a vote, not everybody agreed with her on the policies. They agreed they were qualified, as Mike Pompeo clearly is, and they agreed that a President should have the ability to have his or her person in that job, particularly as the Secretary of State. Therefore, in both of those cases, the vote was 94 Senators in favor.

Again, I am just glad the Senate chose to confirm him, but I do wish we had had more of a bipartisan approach to it because I think it is important for us to show around the world that we, indeed, do have momentum behind this nominee and his ability to lead our country in the area of soft power diplomacy all around the world. I think he will do a good job, and I think he will earn the trust of those of us who voted for him today. I also think he will be able to change the views of, perhaps, some of my colleagues who voted no today.

Congratulations to Mike Pompeo, and I am happy for our country that he is in place.

Opioid Epidemic

Mr. President, I come to the floor to talk about an issue that has gripped my State and every State represented in this Chamber, and that is the opioid epidemic. This is prescription drugs and heroin and fentanyl-carfentanil. It is something we have talked about on this floor more in the last couple of years than we have at any time, really, in the history of this body. We have passed some good legislation, but, boy, there is so much more to do. Sadly, this crisis continues to unfold, and at least in my State and I believe in most States in this country it is getting worse, not better. So we started to take some important actions, but it is time to take more.

Just last week, a couple in Youngstown, OH, were cited for reckless homicide and endangering children after their 16-month-old daughter overdosed and died. She was exposed to carfentanil, one of these synthetic forms of opioids that unfortunately has come into so many communities in this

country and, in fact, is the biggest single concern we have right now in Ohio and many other States.

In fact, in Ohio we had an increase of overdoses last year, and 60 percent of those overdoses were from fentanyl or carfentanil--this synthetic form of opioids that was hardly present 5 years ago. So as we made progress on prescription drugs, heroin came in. As we made progress on heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil came in.

There is a need for us to push back and push back hard. Opioid deaths are now the No. 1 cause of accidental death in my State of Ohio and the No. 1 cause of accidental death in the United States of America. Think about how many people are being affected by this. It is across the board. It knows no ZIP Code. It is not just in urban areas, not just in rural areas or suburban areas, it is everywhere. It is something on which we can make a difference.

I have seen some programs that are actually working well to try to turn the tide and push back. One I will mention is funded, in part, from legislation we passed in this Chamber just 1\1/2\ years ago. It is the Maryhaven Addiction Stabilization Center in Columbus, OH. It is an attempt by Franklin County, which is largely Columbus, OH, to come together and say: We have to do something to get more people who have overdosed into treatment. One of the many challenges we face in the crisis is the gap, and one huge gap is the fact that people who overdose have their lives saved through this miracle drug called Narcan, which reverses the effects of an overdose, but after coming out of their overdose, getting conscious again, they simply go back into the community and the environment that created this potential overdose situation in the first place. Once again, a week later, perhaps, maybe days later, in some cases hours later, the person may overdose again. The answer is not just applying Narcan--as important as it is because we do need to save lives. The important thing is to get that person into a program where they can begin to deal with their addiction, where they can get longer term support through a recovery program to stay away from the old environment and the old gang that got them involved in this issue in the first place.

Addiction is a disease. Treatment is required just as it would be for other diseases. I am excited about what is happening at Maryhaven Addiction Stabilization Center because at this center, they are bringing people in who overdosed and then in the same facility there are about 50 beds for treatment. Instead of having the vast majority of people who overdose and come into an emergency room go home or go back to the old environment, 80 percent of the people at Maryhaven are going into treatment. That is a huge change. That is a sea change. That will have an enormous impact in dealing with the 200,000 people or so in my State of Ohio who are currently addicted. It will help them get into a decent program, get through the detox, get into recovery, and have the opportunity to get their lives back together.

That program is funded, in large part, from Federal funding that came from this legislation we passed about 1\1/2\ years ago. Maybe $1.2 million has been matched by private funding and State and local funding. We have this new project that I think can be emulated around the State because it seems to be working really well.

The CURES Act, which we passed, has provided to Ohio just recently $26 million in new funding, and we need it badly. We need to put it to use in ways that work. This is an example of something that is actually well-thought-out that is going to help close the gap and make a difference.

In 2016, we were told we had the deadliest year on record in terms of overdoses. Unfortunately, it looks like, in 2017, the numbers are going to be worse. It certainly will be in Ohio.

In the Franklin County corridor, the Columbus, OH, area, the coroner recently came out with their numbers in 2017. They had an overdose death rate that was higher than 2016. We lost 520 of our citizens to overdoses in Franklin County in 2017. That was a 47-percent increase from 2016. So it is not just a little increase; it is a huge increase. A staggering two-thirds of those--66 percent of those deaths--were from this synthetic heroin we talked about, the synthetic opioids fentanyl and carfentanil.

That is really the issue now in so many communities around the country. Just last month, Franklin County experienced 18 overdoses in 1 week--1 county, 18 overdoses in 1 week. This was just last month. That is an average of over two deaths per day. Think about that when you are thinking about 1 county out of 88 and the impact this is having.

We need to do more at the Federal level to combat this epidemic, and I would like to talk about a couple of pieces of new legislation that would build on the success we had in this body in terms of legislation that would help direct this money in ways that will make a difference, toward evidence-based programs--not just throwing money at the problem but making sure the money is well spent.

One of the pieces of legislation is critical to this issue of fentanyl and carfentanil coming into our community. Unbelievably, this poison that we talked about today, two-thirds of the deaths in this county in Ohio last year were because of fentanyl. The 16-month-old baby we talked about was killed through carfentanil and another synthetic. Unbelievably, this stuff is coming in through our U.S. mail system, primarily. It is coming not over the border, primarily, or not in some other way like heroin might or even prescription drugs, but it is literally coming through the mail primarily from China. So evil chemists in China are mixing up this poisonous brew that becomes fentanyl, and then it gets shipped through the mail system into our communities--sometimes to a P.O. Box, sometimes to someone's home, sometimes to a business. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability within the U.S. Postal Service to push back. To me, this is an obvious example where this body ought to come together and say: You know what, let's provide law enforcement with the tools they need to be able to stop some of this poison from coming in.

If you were to send this same fentanyl by FedEx, UPS, or DHL, a private carrier, they would have to provide data to law enforcement in advance: what is in the package, where it is coming from, where it is going. With that data, law enforcement can target those packages and pull them off the line and pull some of this poison out of our communities.

I have been to these distribution centers where the carriers do exactly that. They have Customs and Border Protection officials there. They have rooms that have the proper venting to be able to open these packages. This fentanyl and carfentanil is so dangerous, our first responders are putting their lives at risk every day just by dealing with it. What they are able to do is stop this poison from coming in, which helps, at a minimum, to raise the cost. Right now, one of the reasons it is expanding is because it is relatively inexpensive, but it is also deadly. It is something that is causing many more overdoses and deaths than ever before.

So our legislation is very simple. It is called the STOP Act. It is cosponsored by Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota. The notion is to say to our U.S. Postal Service to provide that same information because law enforcement tells us that unless they have that information, it is like finding a needle in a haystack. With 900 billion packages a year, it is hard to imagine how they are going to be able to stop those packages without having at least the tools of knowing what is in those packages, where it is coming from, where it is going, so they can use their analytics, the big data, to be able to identify those packages and stop them.

Last month, a man from Cleveland, OH, was charged after undercover agents found he was selling fentanyl he had just bought online from China. According to the prosecutor, ``The defendant ordered thousands of deadly doses of fentanyl from China, brought it to a residential neighborhood in Euclid and then mailed the dangerous drugs all over Ohio and across the country'' using our own mail system.

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in the U.S. Senate, which is a group I chair, did a yearlong investigation into this issue. We completed this several months ago. Unfortunately, what it showed is exactly what you would suspect. The traffickers, when asked: How should we ship these drugs if we are buying them from you

online--because we had an undercover person working for us. He was a member of the Homeland Security Department, someone who deals with these issues every day. He actually contacted websites around the country. Unfortunately, the websites all said the same thing: We will sell you this deadly drug, but you have to ship it through the U.S. mail system. We will guarantee delivery if you do that.

We were able to find five different websites that were openly selling fentanyl. They all told us where to send it. By using some of the information that we had based on the payment systems they were using, we were able to identify the people who had been shipped drugs through these sites. We found, incidentally, that just in a short period of time, seven people had died of overdoses after getting drugs from these particular websites. We also were able to refer to law enforcement some other people who apparently were dealing these drugs by taking large quantities.

Even with this person in Euclid, OH, we talked about, thousands of deadly doses of fentanyl were found. That could be in a package about this size. Three flakes of this stuff can kill you. So, at a minimum, we have to be sure our U.S. Postal Service is giving law enforcement the tools to be able to help stop this deadly poison.

The Postal Service has begun over the last year or so to make some progress in this area. Still, they tell us that only 36 percent of the packages transported into this country have any kind of advanced electronic data. As we dug deeper, having researched and gone to some of these sites where the U.S. Postal Service is providing information, we found out it was not 36 percent because 20 percent of the packages that had the required information still went into the community anyway because of lack of communication with law enforcement.

Finally, we are finding out that it may be 36 percent of the packages, but much of the information is not helpful. We need to have new rules in place to say to countries: If you want to do business with the United States and send packages here, you have to play ball with us and provide this digital information upfront so our law enforcement can deal with what is clearly a crisis in this country. It is a glaring loophole in the screening process. It undermines the safety and security of our country, not just for drugs but for other issues as well, and it is time we fix it.

After 9/11 and the terrible tragedy of that day, this Congress decided to require private carriers to require all of that information--the advanced electronic data--because of the risk of terrorism, frankly. At that time, we said the Post Office needed to do a study on this to give them time to get ready. That was over 15 years ago, and they still haven't done it. They need to provide law enforcement the tools they need by requiring advanced electronic data on all packages entering the United States. Thirty-one of my Senate colleagues--19 Republicans, 12 Democrats, and 1 Independent--have signed on as cosponsors to this legislation. It already has support of one-third of the Senate. It has been endorsed by President Trump's opioid commission because it is a commonsense solution to a growing problem around the country. There is House companion legislation to do this. Stopping this influx of fentanyl is going to happen only if we stop how it is coming, which is through our Postal Service from countries overseas, primarily China.

We also need a more comprehensive approach, of course, to the drug issue. It is not just enough to stop the supply if there is a strong demand. Dealing with the demand includes prevention efforts that are included in legislation we passed in this body about 1\1/2\ years ago and still needs to be implemented. We have new legislation to help increase that comprehensive approach. The last bill was called the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act, signed into law at the end of 2016. We now have a new bill, CARA 2.0. It provides more resources for evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery programs. It will help people get into longer term treatment so they can truly overcome their addiction. It has helped to overcome the stigma by treating the addiction as a disease, and now it is time to ensure that we are looking at what works and building on it.

I introduced this legislation with my colleagues, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and six others: Senators Shelley Moore Capito, Amy Klobuchar, Dan Sullivan, Maggie Hassan, Bill Cassidy, who is the Presiding Officer today, and Maria Cantwell--four Republicans and four Democrats. We kept this bipartisan. Other Members have joined in as well. Again, it picks up where the Cures legislation and the CARA legislation left off, to provide a better framework, because now we can spend the extra resources this Congress has wisely determined to put up against this fight.

In the spending bill that was just passed, there was an additional $6 billion over 2 years put against this issue. Let's be sure the money is well spent. Let's be sure we have a roadmap to build on the successes we have had and ensure that that money is going to things that actually can make a difference.

We talked about one earlier, the addiction stabilization center. We also know that one way we could spend our money better is to have a better prescription drug monitoring program nationally. So every State now has some sort of prescription drug monitoring program, but often they don't talk to each other. This is something that is required in my State of Ohio. West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are all States where there is also an opioid crisis. We need to be sure that they are talking together, so that when someone goes to get a prescription, the information is logged. If the person goes out of the State to order a prescription across the border--maybe just right across the border--that information is provided just as it would be if it were within that State. That is in our legislation as well.

We also target addiction at its source. About 80 percent of the people who die of overdoses today probably started on prescription drugs. That is the latest data we have. Some of that was prescription drugs that were provided to that individual as the result of an accident or an injury, and they became physically addicted because they were prescribed an opioid for pain relief.

The stories are heartbreaking. The parents have come to me and say-- and this has happened twice: My son or my daughter went to get a wisdom tooth extracted, and the dentist gave my son or my daughter opioids. In one case, it was 60 pills of Percocet or OxyContin. Sure enough, that young person had a physical addiction develop because of that. Then when the pills were harder to get or more expensive, they turned to something less expensive and more accessible, which was heroin or fentanyl or carfentanil, and then overdosed and died. These are 17- year-old children who were prescribed this medication.

There are other cases as well. I have met adults who are well into their thirties or forties and are leading successful lives, well established in their community, well connected in their loving families. They had an accident or injury. Maybe it was a car accident. They were given pain medication--opioids--and they became physically addicted.

This addiction is a tough one to climb out of. So many people then turn to another substance that is more available, more accessible, or maybe less expensive and then overdose and then the death.

People say how could this have happened? When you go back, it happened because of a prescription drug--something was overprescribed.

Others might buy prescription drugs on the street. This Saturday is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in America, and I hope that everybody who is listening here will think about whether they could go into their own medicine cabinet or maybe their parents' or grandparents' and take out some of these opioids and then have those disposed of properly at a police station or someplace else. I know Kroger is doing this in Ohio and other States.

Find out where your drug take-back location is. Take these drugs in and get rid of them because I have just heard too many cases, unbelievably, of people stealing these drugs and using them and then, again, developing that addiction or selling them and someone else

develops the addiction. Again, the thought is that probably 8 out of 10 people dying of overdoses started with prescription drugs. So our legislation does deal with that.

Our legislation deals with overprescribing because it must be dealt with. It requires doctors and pharmacists to use drug monitoring programs to ensure that we are not overprescribing, and it sets a 3-day limit on prescriptions for acute pain.

We except chronic pain. We have exceptions for cancer. But for acute pain--the surgeries we have talked about--we are using the good science from the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, and others that say two things: One, after the third day of using these opioids, on that fourth day, fifth day, and sixth day is when the opportunity for an addiction grows dramatically, and the chances of your falling into that addiction increases significantly.

Second, in terms of pain and dealing with pain, we have also learned that for acute pain for most kinds of procedures, there are other kinds of pain medications available.

I have talked to the dentists a lot on this. There is a dentist from Ohio who is a good man, Joe Crowley, who is now President of the American Dental Association. He is working with the dentists to try to ensure that we have new policies in place that discourage the use of opioids altogether for things like a wisdom tooth being removed. But to the extent it is used, after the first, second, and third day, it is much, much less necessary and much less useful, and other pain medication can take its place. So, as a result, we do have in our legislation something that is a dramatic difference from the unfortunate overprescribing that continues to go on in our country in too many instances, and that is a 3-day limit. After 3 days, if you continue to have the kind of pain that can only be dealt with opioids, if you are one of the few individuals for whom that is true, you go back to the doctor and get another prescription, but you have to go through a process to do that. The alternative is that we are going to continue to see more and more people become addicted through prescription drugs as a gateway and then again getting into this terrible cycle of overdoses and eventually overdose and dying in too many cases.

So CARA 2.0 has these policy changes, as well as the additional funding for prevention programs, treatment programs, and recovery programs. It also helps our first responders by saying: If you can't afford the cost of Narcan, we will help you out but also give you training in Narcan and also to deal with this gap between the immediate overdose reversal using Narcan and then going into detox--between detox and treatment, between treatment and longer term recovery--to try to ensure that you have continuity. This is something that just makes so much sense and can save so many lives.

These legislative efforts we are talking about here are important. So for those who are watching--and maybe some staff members are watching from some of the offices--please check it out. Check out the STOP Act, if you are not already a cosponsor. Check out CARA 2.0, if you are not already a cosponsor.

Let's be sure that we are doing everything we possibly can here to make a difference and begin to reverse this tide, begin to save lives again rather than having this discouraging increase in addiction.

It is not all about overdoses and deaths, as tragic as that is. It is about the millions of Americans whose lives are getting off track, who may not overdose and may not end up needing Narcan but who are pulling away from their family, who are not working, who are not engaged in their community, who are giving up on their friends and their loved ones.

A lot of people in this Chamber are concerned about the fact that so many Americans are out of work today and not showing up even on the unemployment rolls because they have left work altogether. They are not even looking for work. Economists say our labor force participation rate for men is historically low. It is probably the lowest it has ever been in the history of this country. When you combine men and women, you have to go back to the 1970s to see as many people who are out of work altogether. I agree that is a big problem, and I would urge my colleagues to look at the impact of opioids on that problem.

There are two recent studies, one by the Department of Labor and one by the Brookings Institution, which indicate in the strongest possible terms that opioids are driving much of this dysfunction in our workforce today. So to employers out there who are saying, ``The economy is growing, the tax cuts are working, regulatory relief is working, but I can't find workers,'' 44 percent of those who are out of the workforce, according to a Department of Labor study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, took a prescription pain medication the day before.

The Brookings study shows that 47 percent of able-bodied men between 22 and 55 are taking pain medication on a daily basis. These are frightening numbers. By the way, I can't imagine that is overreported. I imagine it is underreported because of the stigma attached to this issue of opioid addiction and because of the potential legal liability people could be in for admitting it. Even so, almost half of those surveyed say they are not working. They are not even looking for work, but they are taking pain medication on a daily basis. So this affects all of us.

Go to your firehouse in your community and ask them if they are doing more overdose runs or more fire runs? I will bet you that they will say the former. They are doing more drug overdose runs than they are fire runs. We are all paying for that. Talk to your sheriff or your local police chief and ask them what the No. 1 driver of crime is in your community. I bet they will say it is opioids. Often it is people who are committing crimes like theft or shoplifting or fraud to be able to pay for the habit--$300 to $400 a day or more. Particularly if you are not working, there is a temptation to commit those crimes and there is a craving for this drug that puts people in positions they never would have imagined they would find themselves in.

Think of the families who are broken up. Think of the kids who have lost their parents to this epidemic. In Ohio, we have more kids in foster care or under the care of the State than ever in our history.

Go to your neonatal units at your hospital and ask them about this. They will say it is the No. 1 issue affecting them because so many kids are being born to a mother who was addicted, and these kids have to be taken through withdrawal themselves--little babies. You can hold them practically in the palm of your hand.

I have gone to these neonatal units in Ohio and have seen these babies, and it is heartbreaking because, just like adults, they have to go through this tough withdrawal process. No baby should have to do that.

So this issue is one when Congress has taken steps in the last year and a half, and I congratulate this body and the House for moving forward with some positive steps. There is so much more to be done, and these two bills are a start. These two bills will help. They will help to save lives. They will help to get people back on track and help to ensure that people can live out their God-given purpose rather than get distracted through this epidemic, rather than getting off track with regard to family, work, dignity, and self-respect.

These two bills will help, giving law enforcement in our communities the tools they need and helping our communities to be able to have a comprehensive approach here to turn back this assault of addiction in our country.

I hope we can move quickly in the Senate to pass this legislation so the President can sign it into law and we can begin to make a bigger difference.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I wish to honor 591 high school seniors in 12 northeast Ohio counties for their decision to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. Of these 591 seniors, 163 will enter the Army, 134 will enter the Marine Corps, 107 will enter the Navy, 19 will enter the Air Force, 7 will enter the Coast Guard, 153 will enter our Ohio Army National Guard, and 8 will enter the Ohio Air National Guard. In the presence of their parents-guardians, high school counselors, military leaders, and city and business leaders, all 591 will be recognized on May 9, 2018, at the Northeast Ohio Foundation for Patriotism ``Our Community Salutes'' event.

In a few short weeks, these young men and women will join with many of their classmates in celebration of their high school graduation. At a time when many of their peers are looking forward to pursuing vocational training or college degrees or are uncertain about their futures, these young men and women instead have chosen to dedicate themselves to military service in defense of our rights, our freedoms, and our country. They should know that they have full support of this Senate Chamber and the American people who are with them in whatever challenges may lie ahead.

These 591 young men and women are the cornerstone of our liberties. It is thanks to their dedication and the dedication of an untold number of patriots just like them that we are able to meet here today in the U.S. Senate and openly debate the best solutions to the many diverse problems that confront our country. It is thanks to their sacrifices that the United States of America remains a beacon of hope and freedom in a dangerous world. We are grateful to them, and we are grateful to their parents and their communities for instilling in them not only the mental and physical abilities our Armed Forces require, but also the character, the values, and the discipline that leads someone to put service to our Nation over self.

I would like to personally thank these 591 graduating seniors for volunteering to risk their lives in defense of our Nation. We owe them, along with all those who serve our country, a deep debt of gratitude.

I ask to have printed in the Record the names of the 591 high school seniors.

The material follows:

United States Army--163

Aguerrero--Jefferson; Allen--North Canton; Allen--

Wellsville; Ambiz--Ashtabula;

Ashley--Fairlawn; Banegas Valladares--Barberton; Bansek--

Lorain; Beckley--Youngstown; Benco--North Ridgeville; Besosa

Cortes--Brooklyn; Black--New Waterford; Bluford-Brown--

Lorain;

Bost--East Liverpool; Bowser--East Palestine; Bradford--

Oakwood Village; Branch--Cleveland;

Brandenburg--Broadview Heights; Breeds--Lorain; Brown--

Wooster; Bush--Columbia Station;

Bush--Uniontown; Calhoun--Medina; Campbell--Kent;

Cardarelli--Youngstown;

Carducci--Ashtabula; Casenhiser--New Franklin; Chaplin--

Euclid; Cheung--Cleveland; Ciha--Kent;

Clark--Parma; Coker--Cleveland; Combs--Parma; Crawford--

Avon Lake; Crecraft--Hubbard;

Cross--Youngstown; Daley--Salem; Deka--North Royalton;

Dillinger--Ashtabula;

Downing--Garrettsville; Driggs--Canton; Duncan--Cleveland

Heights; Ellis--Cleveland;

Facemyer--Elyria; Fanara--Stow; Garrow--Columbia Station;

Gillespie--Conneaut;

Gilman--Lakewood; Grace--Struthers; Greer--Parma Heights;

Gregg--Lorain; Griffith--Hartville;

Griffith--Girard; Groat--Medina; Gross--Brunswick; Hall--

Ashtabula; Hall--Mayfield Heights;

Hanson--Westlake; Harris--Youngstown; Heestand--Alliance;

Hendren--Akron; Hively--Canfield;

Holdridge--Medina; Holocker--Parma; Hunker--Oberlin; Ice--

Lorain; Jacobs--Cleveland; Jacobs--Parma; Jakes--Cleveland

Heights; Johnson III--Cleveland; Johnston--Cuyahoga Falls;

Jones--Euclid; Jones--LaGrange; Kauffman--Millersburg;

Kessler--Wadsworth; Konjovic--Norton;

Lar--Akron; Laubacher--Louisville; Lednik--Elyria;

Lennerth--LaGrange; Lessears--Akron; Likes--Litchfield;

Linden--Elyria; Lohr--Avon Lake; Loosemore--Youngstown;

Lopez--Deerfield;

Malone--Cleveland; Medina--North Ridgeville; Miller--New

Franklin; Miller--Canton;

Minarchick--Brunswick; Morales--Wickliffe; Morris--Beloit;

Morrison--Smithville;

Multunas--Brunswick; Murphy--Salem; Ochenkowski--Lorain;

Palmer--Canton; Parker--Beach City;

Parks--Avon Lake; Patterson--Medina; Perez--Wooster;

Pestka--Doylestown; Peters--Vermilion;

Peters--Youngstown; Poling--Niles; Potase--Masury; Prell--

Parma; Proctor--Ashtabula;

Rambo--Columbiana; Ramsay--Wadsworth; Reis--North Olmsted;

Reyes--Cleveland;

Reynolds--Elyria; Rhodes--Amherst; Robinson--Cleveland;

Robinson--Macedonia;

Rollingson--Bellevue; Saikaly--New Franklin; Samela--

Cuyahoga Falls; Santos--Elyria;

Schell--Conneaut; Sharier--Barberton; Shelton--Wellington;

Shrout--Eastlake; Singer--Elyria;

Smith--Columbia Station; Smith--Akron; Smith--Lake Milton;

Smith--East Liverpool;

Smithers--Cuyahoga Falls, Spagling--Akron; Spoon--Orwell;

Stewart--North Canton;

Stipanovich--Youngstown; Stockwell--Akron; Stokes--

Barberton; Summers--Cleveland;

Swiger--Campbell; Tanner--Medina; Tindel--Akron; Townsley--

Elyria; Traster--Lorain;

Tun--Akron; Upperman--North Canton; Vandoren--Orrville;

Vinson--Barberton;

Wallbrown--New Franklin; Wesner--Medina; Weston--Canton;

White--Cleveland; White--Elyria;

Williams--Strongsville; Williams--Canal Fulton; Williams--

Youngstown; Wilson--Mentor;

Witherow--Columbiana; Wolf--Malvern; Wood--Parma; Wray--

Akron; Wright--Cleveland;

Wyley--Cleveland; Yarian--Alliance; Zeisler--Youngstown;

United States Marine Corps--134

Aronov--Solon; Aviles--Cleveland; Bailey--Akron;

Baileyperschka--Conneaut; Bartek--Ravenna;

Bates--Barberton; Benson--Medina; Berry--Tallmadge;

Berryhill--Aurora; Bish--Madison;

Bjornholm--Painesville; Block--Akron; Bolton--Akron;

Britton--Conneaut; Brockett--Atwater;

Bryan--Perry; Burge--Cleveland Heights; Burianek--

Brunswick; Burton--Painesville;

Byler--Jefferson; Casey--Ashtabula; Chandler--Medina;

Cilluffo--Geneva; Clapp--Wooster;

Cochran--Lakewood; Cotter--Copley; Dages--Kirtland;

Deguzmancacho--Cleveland;

DeMarco--Medina; Douglas--Mantua; Dunn--Creston; Durbak--

Ravenna; Elmore--Medina;

Elswick--Chardon; Fedor--Aurora; Friedmann--Strongsville;

Galarce--Parma; Gill--LaGrange;

Goulbourne--Bedford Heights; Griffin--Cleveland; Guttliep--

Parma; Hamm--Solon;

Harris--Maple Heights; Harris--Stow; Harris--Bedford;

Harris--Akron; Hartman--Newbury;

Hatchell--Garfield Heights; Hayes--Fairview Park; Haywood--

Bedford; Heathfield--Cleveland;

Helsel--Brookpark; Helton--Medina; Helton--Rittman; Hemmi--

Jefferson; Henry--Cleveland;

Hernandez Cedeno--Cleveland; Hickman--Akron; Hiott--Mentor-

on-the-Lake; Hodgdon--Orrville;

Hotz--North Olmsted; Howe--Akron; Huff--Painesville;

Jacobs--Dorset; Jones--Bedford;

Jones--Barberton; Juist--Madison; Kamel--Brookpark; Kay--

Macedonia; Kerr--Madison;

Knight--Akron; Koziol--Burton; Lee--Cleveland Heights;

Leipold--Cuyahoga Falls;

Lindsay--Akron; Lively--Cleveland; Lor--Atwater;

Lynhamsimoes--Austinburg; Mabee--Akron;

Mack--Akron; Mancuso--Akron; Mannarino--Ashtabula;

Marallo--Lyndhurst; Marshall--Copley;

Martinesquinones--Cleveland; Mayo--Kirtland; Mckee--

Jefferson; Michalske--Middleburg Heights;

Miller--Akron; Miller--Willoughby; Mitchem--East Cleveland;

Munaretto--Mentor;

Niemi--Jefferson; Orantescruz--Akron; Otis--Cleveland;

Palmer--Chagrin Falls;

Pamer--Mogadore; Papp--Brookpark; Parker--Madison;

Patterson--Cleveland;

Pemberton--Chagrin Falls; Perdue--Medina; Plaza--Westlake;

Price--Copley; Proctor--Akron;

Reeves--Akron; Richmond--Conneaut; Rodriguez--Columbia

Station; Scales--Shaker Heights;

Schafer--Madison; Scott--Rock Creek; Sears--Cuyahoga Falls;

Severns--Akron; Shelton--Akron; Shipton--Akron; Skye--

Mogadore; Spencer--Barberton; Stewart--Smithville; Sutton--

Atwater;

Taylor--Painesville; Thomas--Strongsville; Tisdale--

Conneaut; Toth--Ashtabula;

Troyer--Apple Creek; Vanbrunt--Orrville; Wagner--North

Olmsted; Wiley--Warrensville Heights;

Wilson--Orrville; Wilson--Chardon; Withers--Akron;

Wooster--North Olmsted; Wright--Bedford;

Zdanczewski--Windham; Zmauc--Cleveland;

United States Navy--107

Adkins--North Olmsted; Baker--Warren; Berry--Willoughby;

Bhagmath--Lorain; Blews--Girard;

Bolha--Austintown; Bolton--Middlefield; Boyd--Farmdale;

Burns--Ashtabula;

Buzzelli--Austintown; Byczek--Lakewood; Cantrell--

Jefferson; Cantu--Wellington;

Caraballo--Lorain; Cate--Parma; Chase--North Royalton;

Clark--Middlefield;

D'Amico--Mineral Ridge; Davis--Painesville; Dawes--Geneva;

Derry--Newton Falls;

Dudra--Fairview Park; Dyling--Warren; Eltringham--Geneva;

Enos--Ashtabula;

Evanitcka--Sebring; Farahay--Parma; Ferguson--Youngstown;

Fisher--Cleveland Heights;

Fitzpatrick--North Jackson; Fuerst--Chardon; Garrido--

Ashtabula; Glagola--Parma;

Gustovich--Girard; Hanson--Burton; Harper--Cleveland;

Harris-Michetti--Fowler;

Henderson--Lakewood; Hernandez--Elyria; Holderman--Warren;

Hove--Mentor;

Huffman--Elyria; Hunchuck--Geneva; Ingram--Niles; Jakupca--

Mentor; Johnson--Cleveland;

Johnson--Elyria; Josselson--Parma; Kamsing--Madison; Karp--

Avon Lake; Kenreich--Girard;

Keyes--Ashtabula; Kidd--Wellington; Koharik--Broadview

Heights; Kowalski--Mentor; Kristof--Rocky River; Krouse--

Norwalk; Ladiha--Mentor; Long--LaGrange; Lozinak--Parma;

Lugo--Cleveland; Maldonado--Geneva; McMinn--Mentor;

McNally--Boardman; Meeker--Niles;

Merriman--Mentor; Mickus--Painesville; Morgan--Lorain;

Myres III--Fowler; Nebe--Mentor;

Needham--Youngstown; O'Neill--North Olmsted; Pastor--

Mentor; Price--Westlake; Prochko--Parma;

Rado--Parma; Ragland--East Cleveland; Rangel--Aguirre--

Perry; Reilly--Westlake;

Reynolds--Hubbard; Rodriguez--Parma; Ross--Painesville;

Rutledge--Boardman;

Scheuer--Painesville; Schivitz--Mentor; Sexton--Youngstown;

Sharp Jr.--Lyndhurst; Shoaff--Parma;

Shultz--Salem; Slifko--Hubbard; Smith--Parma; Snowbrick--

Bay Village; Sverko--Kirtland;

Thistlewaite--Columbiana; Tripodi--Huron; Vandenberg--

Chardon; Velez--Lakewood;

Voll--Parma Heights; Walker--Andover; Wear--Brecksville;

Weber--Huron; Wells--Lyndhurst;

Williams--Cleveland Heights; Wilson--Canfield;

Windelspecht--Brecksville; Zborowski--Madison;

United States Air Force--19

Barnes--Wickliffe; Casto--Cuyahoga Falls; Duesing--

Painesville; Fisher--Uniontown; Kaiser--Akron; McEldowney--

Akron; Polosky--Uniontown; Robinson--Cuyahoga Falls; Rojas--

South Euclid;

Romine--Akron; Scheidler--Stow; Schleis--Akron; Shafer--

Akron; Shaver-- Munroe Falls; Slater--Euclid; Spencer--Silver

Lake; Staley--Rittman; Washko--Stow; Yovanovich--Barberton;

United States Coast Guard--7

Crawford--North Ridgeville; Langer--Concord; Nelson--Clyde;

Robles--Berlin Heights; Slagle--Salem; Smith--North

Ridgeville; Tryon--Eastlake;

Ohio Army National Guard--153

Anderson--Lakewood; Anthony--Andover; Arnold--Lorain ;

Aumann--Mentor; Barrios--Lorain;

Baxter--Maple Heights; Berndt--Bristolville; Black--

Massillon; Bouchonville--Oberlin;

Bradford--Brook Park; Bradford--Brook Park; Brady--

Massillon; Brown--Cleveland;

Carlton--Fairview Park; Carper--Akron; Chase--Youngstown;

Chen--Cleveland; Church--Euclid;

Cook--Cuyahoga Falls; Coonrod--Avon; Copley--Barberton;

Coreno--Cleveland; Corriere--Akron;

Cox--Youngstown; Cozens--Madison; Cromer--West Salem;

Culbertson--Rock Creek;

Dahler--Berlin Center; Dalessandro--Wooster; Dalton--

Andover; Dampier--Elyria;

Danielly--Hudson; Davidson--Cleveland; Deleon--Amherst;

Deleon--Alliance;

Delsanter--Richmond Heights; Depasquale--Canton; Dibo--

Boardman; Dieffenbaugher--Hartville;

Dragos--Niles; Dreher--Minerva; Dunay--Chardon; Ehrlich--

Strongsville; 1. Estrada--Cleveland;

N. Estrada--Cleveland; Fein--Elyria; Ferguson--Euclid;

Freeman--Canfield;

Fuentes--Broadview Heights; Gallagher--Brook Park;

Gassama--Cleveland; Gehret--Alliance;

George--Hubbard; Gipson--Elyria; Glover--Bay Village;

Goins--Tallmadge;

Gonzalez Sanabria--Lorain; Goodson--Euclid; Grubbs--North

Olmsted; Gunter--Elyria;

Gwinn--Barberton; Hadley--Cleveland; Henderson--Kent;

Hladun--Berlin Center; Hoyle--Akron;

Huff--Shaker Heights; Huff--Alliance; Huffman--Wooster;

Hughes--Alliance; Irizarry--Lorain;

Isaac--Solon; Jones--Rock Creek; Kamuda--Akron; Kinne--

Tallmadge; Kline--Akron;

Kubalski--Stow; Kurpil--Alliance; Lane--Fredericksburg;

Lara--Olmsted Falls;

Lewis--Broadview Heights; Lin--Cleveland; Loar--Lorain;

Lucky-Baker--Elyria;

Mahaney--North Ridgeville; Martin--Elyria; Martinez--

Brooklyn; Martinez--Cleveland;

McCrory--Kirtland; McCullough--LaGrange; McEachern--Lorain;

McGonagle--Cleveland;

Meder--Brook Park; Meyers--Clinton; Mondry--Cleveland;

Monk--Alliance; Monn--Parma;

Morrow--Avon Lake; Morton--Warrensville; Murrell--

Cleveland; Napier--Alliance;

Occhionero--Pepper Pike; Osorio--Ashtabula; Owen--Elyria;

Pacheco--Columbia Station;

Palmer--Lakewood; Pawcio--Warren; Perryman--Elyria; Pilch--

Brook Park; Rader--Elyria;

Reaves--Lakewood; Rendon--Youngstown; Rhea--Creston;

Richards--Cleveland;

Ritenour--Warren; Robbins--Ashtabula; Robertson--Kirtland;

Robinson--Northfield;

Robison--Warren; Rose--Leavittsburg; Rosenlund--Euclid;

Rossi--Stow; Rowe--Bay Village;

Russo--Boardman; Sandell--Conneaut; Scahel--Brunswick;

Scott--Maple Heights;

Scott--Deerfield; Shaffstall--Wellington; Sheese--

Louisville; Shreve--Jefferson; Shupp--Andover;

Skipper--Grafton; Slot--Ashtabula; Smith--Akron; Stanley--

Ravenna; Strifler--Massillon;

Sunyak--Akron; Teeple--Newton Falls; Thomas--Massillon;

Thompson--Windham;

Tolbert--Cleveland; Torres--North Olmsted; Trzebuckowski--

Brook Park; Udell--Andover;

Valdez-Torrez--Alliance; Vanest--Uniontown; Ward--Euclid;

Watson--Elyria; Wheeler--Akron;

Whitecar--Strongsville; Wilson--Cleveland; Wood--Amherst;

Young--Warren;

Ohio Air National Guard--8

Bushwaigeer--Stow; Eash--Massillon; Fissel--Middlefield;

Heards--Alliance; Miles--Canton; Ransom--Amherst; Tector--

Medina; Torres--North Olmsted.

Mr. President, I come to the Senate this evening to talk about the nominees who will be up for a confirmation vote.

The first of those is Ric Grenell. Ric is being nominated to serve as our Ambassador to Germany during an important time, not just with the danger and volatility around the world but with our relationship with Germany. Ric is well qualified, and I think it is urgent that we get him confirmed.

Ric Grenell was actually nominated last fall. He was reported out of the Foreign Relations Committee with a positive vote on October 26, 2017. So for 6 months, he has been in limbo, even after getting reported out of committee. He has been blocked by just a couple of Democrats--I think maybe just one--and this body has not had a chance to vote on him.

That is why I was pleased to see today that the majority leader filed cloture, and that is why we will get a vote this week on Mr. Grenell. I assume that he will get supported by a majority of this body, but I hope it is not just a bare majority because I think he is very qualified for the position.

He is someone who has a lot of experience in diplomacy and international issues. In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as Director of Communications and Public Diplomacy for the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In this role, he advised four of our Ambassadors--John Negroponte, John Danforth, John Bolton, and Ambassador Khalilzad--on the formulation and articulation of U.S. policy at the United Nations. He was also appointed by John Danforth to be the Alternative Representative of the United States to the U.N. Security Council with full voting rights and privileges. He served as spokesman there during a turbulent time, an important time. But he also did more than that. He was appointed to be a U.S. delegate to a variety of United Nations conferences over the years, including the Financing for Development Conference, the World Food Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Iraq Donor Conference, the Preparatory Committee for the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty Review, the High-Level Meeting on Ending HIV/AIDS, and the Commission on Population and Development, among many others.

He has moderated a lot of United Nations panel discussions over the years on subjects ranging from Children and Armed Conflict to post-war construction issues, clean energy solutions that my colleague was talking about a moment ago. He is up to speed on the world's pressing issues, so he is very well qualified to be an Ambassador representing the United States.

He has also been an active speaker, speaking on topics around the country that relate to crisis communications, the United Nations, and international issues ranging from Sudan to North Korea and Middle Eastern issues.

He has been on a lot of TV programs. This is one reason he has generated some controversy on the other side. Yes, he has spoken his mind on occasion, but he is also someone, again, if you look at his qualifications and experience and his abilities--as he did for President George W. Bush--to be a team player and work with the team to communicate clearly, he is an excellent candidate to be a U.S. Ambassador to just about anywhere but particularly to a country as important as Germany.

He received his master's degree in public administration from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Finally, I would say the timing is really important. One reason it is key that we vote this week is that we need an Ambassador to Germany.

Over the Easter break I was in Germany. I was meeting with our troops over there on a factfinding mission. We have a lot of American troops in Germany still. We were looking at some of the weapons systems that have been developed in my home State of Ohio and how they are working. The people I talked to--our U.S. military officers but also German officials and others--were saying that it is important to have American leadership in Germany right now with all that is going on, with what is happening in Ukraine--Germany is a key player in keeping the European Union together--what is happening in the Middle East, where they play an important role, and what is happening in terms of our economy and trade issues. I heard from everyone: Why don't you send an ambassador over here? So it is time we do it.

Finally, there is a particular urgency this week, because Chancellor Merkel

is actually coming for a visit to Washington later this week. I think she will be here on Friday at the White House in meetings, and wouldn't it be great if we were to confirm this qualified Ambassador to represent our interests in Germany and to begin the process of improving our relationship with Germany and deepening that relationship.

I hope we have the opportunity to have this vote in the next couple of days, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to take a look at Ric Grenell's background. I don't think you will find one of the Ambassadors who is a noncareer Foreign Service person to be a better person on some of these tough foreign policy issues, and I think he will do an excellent job for us in Germany.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor the achievements of Richard W. Pogue on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Mr. Pogue is a respected attorney and community leader who continues to this day to work tirelessly to serve greater Cleveland, the State of Ohio, and our country. The impact of his generosity, commitment to the northeast Ohio community where he lives, and tradition of service has touched countless organizations and individuals. I am pleased to recognize Mr. Pogue's over six decades of service today.

Mr. Pogue was born on April 26, 1928. He graduated from Cornell University in 1950 and the University of Michigan Law School in 1953. After serving 3 years, from 1954 to 1957, in the office of the Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army, in the Pentagon, he was honorably discharged with the rank of captain and joined the Cleveland law firm of Jones, Day, Cockley & Reavis as an associate in 1957. He became a partner in the firm nearly 60 years ago.

In 1984, Pogue became managing partner of the firm, which was at this time known as Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. During the 9 years he spent as managing partner, he led the firm during a period of unprecedented growth, including taking the firm into international markets. His area of practice has primarily focused on antitrust and corporate takeover work, and he has served as a mediator in a large number of major commercial disputes.

Mr. Pogue retired from Jones Day in 1994, only to take on a second career as senior adviser to Dix & Eaton, a Cleveland public relations firm. He returned to Jones Day in 2004 and currently serves as senior adviser to the firm.

Mr. Pogue's distinguished professional career as an accomplished lawyer and corporate adviser alone warrants this recognition. However, his caring leadership and dedication to civic engagement is even more impressive and has left a lasting impact on countless organizations throughout our community and State. He has served as chairperson of many organizations, including the Cleveland Foundation, Greater Cleveland Growth Association, Business Volunteers Unlimited, University Hospitals, and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs. He is known for his commitment to helping young people, improving our neighborhoods, many philanthropic endeavors, advising public and private sector leaders, and guiding business organizations through changing times. He chairs the advisory committee for the Regula Institute at Mount Union University and was a founding trustee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. He is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association Committee to preserve the legacy of Ohio Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, the Access to Justice Task Force appointed by Ohio's Supreme Court Chief Justice, and the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation.

He continues to be committed to higher education and has remained an active contributor to the University of Michigan Law School, which honored him as the inaugural recipient of the Michigan Law School Distinguished Alumni Award. He has served as a trustee of Case Western Reserve University, University of Akron, and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

As he approaches his 90th birthday, Mr. Pogue is known to rise early each morning, work long days, and engage with community leaders and citizens in a wide variety of endeavors. He is a dedicated and loving husband, father, and grandfather to his wife, Patricia; their three children, Mark, Tracy and David; and their eight grandchildren. He is modest and quietly effective. His kind nature, integrity, professionalism, and dedication to community service has touched the lives of so many and has truly made a difference for greater Cleveland, our State, and Nation. It is my pleasure to recognize Richard W. Pogue and offer my best wishes as his family, friends, and the community he loves gather to celebrate his 90th birthday.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor North Central State College in recognition of its 50th anniversary of providing quality higher education to the citizens of Ohio. Chartered by the Ohio Board of Regents and certified by the Ohio Secretary of State in May 1969, North Central State College moved to its current Mansfield location in 1970. North Central State is a regional economic and innovation leader where the community as a whole benefits from the increased occupational and investment opportunities of students remaining in Ohio after their graduation. More than 4,300 students enroll each year.

North Central State offers more than 70 associate degrees and certificate programs in public services, health sciences, business, and engineering technologies. The mission of North Central State College is to provide individuals with the knowledge, skills, and inspiration to succeed in their chosen path. During this year's commencement ceremony, North Central State will present a degree to its 14,000th graduate.

I am here to honor North Central State College and to congratulate everyone who was involved in making its first 50 years a success.