Floor Statements

Mr. President, Senator Merkley and I wish to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Juneteenth Oregon Celebration in our hometown of Portland, OR. Every year on June 19, people in Portland and across the State of Oregon and the Nation join together to celebrate when, on June 19, 1865, more than 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were finally declared free more than 2 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and recognition that emancipation was delayed for many enslaved people even after the Civil War was over. This day is among the most important days of commemoration in our Nation.

The Juneteenth celebration was brought to Oregon in 1945 by the late and beloved community leader Clara Peoples. She led the first-ever Juneteenth celebration in Oregon at work. When her supervisor told her that if the celebration ran over 15 minutes she would be fired, she announced to her coworkers, ``Hear ye, hear ye. It's Juneteenth. We have 15 minutes to celebrate.'' Thanks to Clara's tireless efforts in the community and her work to create the nonprofit organization Juneteenth OR, the first official citywide celebration of Juneteenth occurred 50 years ago on June 19, 1972--and is today celebrated with a parade and other festivities like delicious food, art and live music.

Clara Peoples continued fighting for her community by lobbying at all levels of government to make Juneteenth a recognized holiday on the State and national level. While, sadly, Clara did not live to see her efforts realized, she clearly paved the way for Juneteenth to at long last be declared a Federal holiday and a State holiday in Oregon. Today, we remember and honor her as, in the words of the Rev. Dr. Ronald Myers, ``the mother of Juneteenth.''

Soon after Clara Peoples passed away in 2015, her granddaughters Jenelle Jack and Jynnefer Robinson took over as leaders of Juneteenth OR. Jenelle and Jynnefer continue to champion this special and important event, creating and coordinating online celebrations for 2 years during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. They even sent Oregon's candidate for last year's Miss Juneteenth, Aceia Spade from Eugene, OR, to Galveston, TX, where she was crowned National Miss Juneteenth Queen. It was through Jenelle and Jynnefer's efforts--and the efforts of the dedicated staff and volunteers of Juneteenth OR--that Portlanders and Oregonians across the State will once again be able to celebrate Juneteenth in person this year. We look forward to another Clara Peoples Freedom Trail Parade this year, as well as another Miss Juneteenth competition where young Black women will have the opportunity to showcase who they are, their talents, and their confidence.

While celebrating a victory in the fight to keep the film ``Birth of a Nation,'' which celebrated the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan, from being played in Portland, another Oregon hero and notable civil rights advocate Beatrice Morrow Cannady said, ``human rights, the greatest of all rights, and human happiness once again triumphed.'' So we want to say that when enslaved people in Texas finally learned that they were free, human rights and human happiness triumphed. When Juneteenth became a citywide celebration in Portland 50 years ago, human rights and human happiness triumphed. When Juneteenth became a national holiday in 2021, human rights and human happiness triumphed. And now, on the 50th anniversary of Portland's first Juneteenth and the first time that Oregon has recognized this important day as a State holiday, human rights and human happiness have triumphed.

Juneteenth is an opportunity to celebrate the emancipation of Black Americans and progress made in the fight for human rights and human happiness. It is also a reminder, however, that the fight for true equity for all Americans is far from over. Together, we must

press forward and never stop until all are equal.

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize Millie Brother, the founder of Children of Deaf Adults, also known as CODA. As the name implies, CODA is an international group that works to support children of deaf adults, including helping them pursue higher education.

Millie grew up in Palo Alto, CA, where I first met her in high school. She was raised in a household with two deaf parents and a hearing sister. Describing her life moving between the deaf and hearing worlds, Millie said ``I felt comfortable in both but not fully immersed in either. The CODA world would become my third option where I felt balance between my Deaf and hearing cultural experiences.''

After Millie finished her graduate program at Gallaudet University, she established CODA in 1983. It began its work to serve both the hearing and nonhearing community.

Millie's vision and leadership has allowed CODA to grow from a small, grassroots organization to a worldwide entity with strong familial bonds reaching across global borders, international languages, and societal boundaries. It has become a respected, well-regarded, and vital resource for families that navigate both the hearing and deaf world.

CODA works to connect children of deaf parents and support them by organizing conferences and retreats, as well as providing scholarships and financial aid. The Millie Brother Scholarship is an annual financial award given to hearing children of deaf adults to help them pursue their postsecondary education. Over the past few years, scholarships have been awarded to students pursuing postsecondary educational opportunities in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, England, New Zealand, Zambia, and the United States.

I want to express my profound appreciation to Millie Brother for her life's work, dedication, and advocacy for CODAs around the world. The recent Academy Award-winning movie ``CODA'' underscored the numerous challenges facing families with deaf parents and hearing children. Millie Brother personally understood those challenges and used them as fuel to create a global organization that provides support, compassion, and friendship to CODAs everywhere.

Mr. President, it seems very appropriate that Senator Murray, our chair of the HELP Committee--she and I--I am the chair of the Finance Committee--often work together on these issues. As Northwest colleagues, we see how serious and how incredibly damaging the last 24 hours have been to our country.

I am going to speak in a few minutes about a Health and Human Services nomination, but I want to pick up where Senator Murray left off with respect to guns and specifically talk about the atrocity--the atrocity--that took place yesterday in Texas.

I think Senators can barely begin to imagine the pain the families in Texas are feeling at this moment. They are living every parent's worst nightmare.

This morning, around the country millions and millions of parents dropped kids off at school, and they were fearful. In a country that we all believe is and must continue to be the greatest country on Earth, parents drop their kids off at school in fear that a gunman would walk into their classrooms and murder them.

Let's think about that.

And it has been going on for decades--decades--in our country. We can remember the sinking, empty feeling after Sandy Hook. For a few days, there was a glimmer of hope that the Senate would do something on a bipartisan basis, but then the other side caved to the gun lobby. Congress has done nothing in response to all this carnage in our schools, in our grocery stores, in our churches. Atrocity after atrocity after atrocity, and yet people still live in fear that their kids are next. They live with hopelessness due

to the fact that their elected officials are unwilling to act.

There are no excuses left. This happened in a State that is flooded with guns. There was armed security at the school and still 19 kids and two teachers are dead, still their families are broken. No excuses.

Perhaps that is why I have heard multiple Republicans say today that there is nothing you can do to stop the shootings; that they are just going to happen. That is the way it is. They are going to happen regardless.

I just believe with all my being that is just nonsense, and it is ridiculous coming from so many Senators who haven't lifted a finger to do anything about the violence.

My wife always says I am a glass-half-full guy. I try to be positive, always about bringing the two sides together. But on this issue, I don't know what else to say. The truth is that if we act, then maybe-- maybe--it will be possible to prevent another massacre in another school. That should be enough. That should be enough.

The 100 of us here in the Senate are the ones with the power to act-- not anybody else. It is about us. So, Senators, we have got a choice, either we can choose to act on moral courage or just let the fear and hopelessness win out. As far as I am concerned, if you don't have the moral courage to act here on the Senate floor or at least try to prevent more of these massacres, then you ought to hang it up, go home, and let somebody else have the job.

Madam President, I come to the Senate floor today to speak about Senator Orrin Hatch, and I think it is very fitting that the distinguished Senator from Nevada be in the chair because she has been doing very good work on the Senate Finance Committee. And as she knows, Senator Hatch was my partner in leading the Senate Finance Committee for 5 years.

The Senate greatly mourns his passing, and I am going to take a few minutes to reflect on the important work he did serving the people of Utah and all Americans, particularly with respect to the Finance Committee.

It is no secret that Senator Hatch and I did not always agree 100 percent of the time. We had differences on taxes. We had differences on asylum and immigration. We had differences on the environment. One thing that the two of us did agree on was the value of showing up every day and searching for bipartisanship and for common ground.

And we were able to do that, sometimes defying the odds on the Senate Finance Committee, and I am going to briefly recount some of those accomplishments in honor of his memory. First, the landmark reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program, for a decade, the longest ever commitment to children's health since the program was created.

And by the way, Senator Hatch was the coauthor of the original bill with his Democratic partner, the late Ted Kennedy. What a success CHIP has been shown to be. A wonderful State-Federal partnership. More than 9 million kids have affordable, quality healthcare thanks to CHIP. Within 2 years of becoming law, 47 States have set up a CHIP program, and today every State participates in CHIP.

As my friend from Nevada knows, sometimes it is hard to get the States to agree on whether you might buy a 7Up, all the States, but the CHIP program is a huge effort, and what a remarkable accomplishment, led by Senator Hatch, in keeping kids covered and healthy. In fact, just 5 years after the program was enacted, CHIP reduced the uninsurance rate for children by half.

Now, the road to a 10-year reauthorization was not exactly smooth. In fact, the authorization actually expired for nearly 4 months, but despite the setbacks and, as I say, taking on long odds, Chairman Hatch and I just kept at it, focusing on the impact that this historic legislation would have on the reason we all do public service, which is to make people's lives better. And it was clear that this was a real opportunity to make a lasting investment in the well-being of kids, and we were committed to doing that together.

So, now, thanks to the leadership of Chairman Hatch, the healthcare for millions of America's kids is secure until 2027. And I know because I remember looking over just a few desks away to Chairman Hatch and wondering if we were going to be able to keep this effort bipartisan, if we were going to actually get it done. He would smile, and he would look over at me in that kind of way, just sort of ``Stick with me, colleague,'' because he so often treated me almost like a son. And it always made me feel that there was a chance, as I said, to show people that even in a very polarized and divisive time, we could get something really important accomplished like standing up for kids.

Now, the next item that I want to mention involves transforming the Medicare Program. As my friend from Nevada knows, my roots are with the Grey Panthers, a senior citizens group. When I was coming up, Medicare was a program for acute illness--if you broke your ankle, if you had a horrible case of the flu, you went to a hospital, you saw your doctor-- not Medicare today in Nevada and Oregon.

Today, Medicare is about chronic illness: cancer, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, COPD. That is overwhelmingly the Medicare Program today.

And when I briefly was chairman of the Finance Committee, I held the first hearing on updating Medicare to place the focus squarely on updating what we always have called the Medicare guarantee. Medicare isn't a slip of paper; it is a guarantee. And Chairman Hatch graciously agreed to continue that effort.

It began when I was the chair. And it took the better part of 2 years and a lot of guts for Chairman Hatch to take that on because the rule-- the rule at that time--was you didn't even bring up fundamental Medicare reform because everybody went to opposite sides, and that was the end of the discussion. Chairman Hatch said: Not on my watch. We are going to do something very different.

And there were groundbreaking developments in that chronic care bill that make a difference today for Americans. Throughout the pandemic, it was clear that we needed to make bold reforms to increase the role and opportunity for telehealth to serve our people.

All our colleagues would come back from a visit home, do something about telehealth. Well, what happened was that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services was trying to move quickly, and they were looking for a model. And I remember then-Secretary of Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma called me up and said essentially: Would you mind if we used the model for expanding telehealth which Chairman Hatch and you led in the Finance Committee?

And we said: We are thrilled, all in, let's go.

And today that model continues to expand. As my colleague from Nevada knows, in the recent major budget bill, we expanded it to audio only because we had so many rural communities where they didn't have broadband, where there was a big senior population, and they wanted to expand telehealth. None of that was possible unless Chairman Hatch was willing to take on a big Medicare reform undertaking, updating the guarantee, recognizing that in the 21st century it wasn't like Medicare when it began, and it really is going to make a big, big difference.

And as I say, we are going to keep expanding telehealth. My colleague knows we are looking to have a major mental health reform effort in this session. A big part of it will be expanding telehealth in covering mental health services. Chairman Hatch did so much to make that debate possible.

Finally, a third area--and this was all in one Congress, three major bills--and I could take kind of another prism and talk about the chairman, but we

passed the Family First Prevention Services Act. What an incredibly important task that was.

We saw with foster care families, there was a challenge in getting the care that people needed in those facilities, and we saw that many families who weren't in the foster care system were trying to make decisions about how to do what was best for their family. Maybe a loved one, a parent of a child had had some drug challenges, an alcohol challenge, and the choice at that time--Madam President, I think you will recall this--was essentially two options: One, keep the child in a family situation that was far from desirable or, two, send the child off to a foster care facility that left something to be desired, some good foster care, some not so good.

Chairman Hatch led the effort to a third path, Family First, so that now when you have families, there might be an older relative, a grandparent, it is called Kinship Care. The grandparent can step in and help the family as a parent might be dealing with that alcohol challenge.

And States all over this country now are moving to use Family First. They are moving to make it possible for a grandparent to step in as a caretaker for grandkids.

Building flexibility into the system, as my friend from Nevada and I have often talked about, that is not a Democratic or a Republican issue, that is just common sense. And often--often--Chairman Hatch would say: What is just a commonsense approach here?

I am going to talk for the remainder of my time about what a pleasure it was to be with Senator Hatch, personally.

We met almost every week, alternating between our offices. He would tell stories. He wore a mezuzah with great pride because he so valued his friendship with the Jewish people.

He told wonderful stories about his childhood in Pittsburgh, saving up money to take the trolley to the symphony, and fascinating stories about his friendship with Muhammad Ali, which almost invariably led to putting his fists in the air and showing me a little bit about the shadowboxing that he did with his wonderful friend, Muhammad Ali.

And then, of course, you would always hear about his side career as a platinum-record-selling musician and composer. And, finally, he was so good to his friends; he almost invariably inflated their accomplishments to those he was with, such as he did for years with me about basketball.

He loved talking about books, especially history books. I gave him books that my father had written; he read them closely. He would often bring big books to the floor of the Senate on a late night. And I see so many of our wonderful staff who can probably picture Chairman Hatch sitting right there--and I see the nods--with a big book, reading, and that was a special moment as he made his way through a thick history volume and then told us a little bit about it.

What an accomplished Senator. What a good man. Nancy and I send our condolences to Elaine, to their children, to the many staffers who worked with Chairman Hatch over the years. And I want to close this way because this is how Chairman Hatch often closed a meeting. We would meet in each other's offices every week.

And I remember, often he would stand up at the end of the meeting, giving me one of those inimitable Orrin Hatch smiles, and he would look at me and he would go: ``So long, friend.'' That was Orrin Hatch today.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

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

Mr. President, I have six request for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

committee on armed services

The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs

The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on energy and natural resources

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on homeland security and governmental affairs

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at 10:15 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

committee on the judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at 9 a.m., to conduct an executive business meeting.

subcommittee on consumer protection, product safety, and data security

The Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Sydney Beasley, a legislative fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the Congress.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 601.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following Senate resolutions introduced earlier today: S. Res. 617, S. Res. 618, S. Res. 619, and S. Res. 620.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 621 submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this important 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 suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, this Congress and the Clean Energy for America legislation, which passed the Senate Finance Committee, is the best opportunity in the past decade for bold action that deals not just with the threat of climate change but gives us a chance to get those big investments here in the United States with domestic manufacturing and good jobs--an economic win-win.

Our country should be doing everything possible to invest in a technology-neutral, private-sector-driven approach to promote a clean energy future, including investing in renewable energy projects, including the manufacturing of solar, wind, and other technologies here at home.

Further, I would note that our country has a clear prohibition on products made with forced labor that is restricting and will continue to restrict renewable energy products produced with forced labor in China from entering the United States.

My friend, whom I always like working with, introduces a new, vague restriction that would unfortunately tie our hands, limit our businesses' ability to source necessary materials for their products with vague and overly broad restrictions.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the motion.

Vote on Motion

Madam President, I speak today to honor the memory of an esteemed and beloved Oregonian who spent his life bettering our State. On March 13, Oregon lost its most devoted citizen and advocate: Gerry Frank.

Gerry's life and service to Oregon has inspired so many to learn, laugh about, and love what makes Oregon so special: our State's jaw- dropping beauty, our unique independence, and our incredible capacity to land on our feet. And Gerry has always done it in his own special way. No one I know has managed to do as much good as Gerry Frank with a simple piece of chocolate cake.

Gerry was a true renaissance man. A graduate of both Lincoln High in Portland and Cambridge in the U.K., he made his mark as a successful haberdasher, restauranteur, politician, and World War II veteran. But we all knew his true loves: Oregon and a great piece of cake. Gerry used the best chocolate cake in the world to bring us together at the State fair, a contest he selflessly judged annually for 60 years. He kept a terrific restaurant and retailer called Gerry Frank's Konditorei which paired delicious Oregon food with that cake. And he went to bat for Oregon community organizations of every size and shape, saying, ``How much cake do you need to give a good cause a boost?''

After the family business of Meier & Frank was sold in 1965, Gerry turned to politics, joining Senator Mark Hatfield's office. Gerry's politics were always pretty simple. He would ask, ``Is that idea fair? Does it make sense? And is it a part of Oregon's long tradition of welcoming fresh approaches to tackling big challenges?'' For almost 20 years Gerry worked as Mark Hatfield's chief of staff, gaining the nickname ``Oregon's Third Senator,'' for his dogged work ethic and devotion to Oregonians. Gerry is an incredible testament to what we call back home the Oregon Way: where we put aside partisan leanings to get things done for our State.

After leaving politics, Gerry followed his passion for meeting new people and seeing new places. A talented writer, he was the travel columnist at the Oregonian newspaper for many years and published multiple books, including one of my personal favorites: ``Gerry Frank's Oregon.''

Gerry, a man of many talents and passions, never forgot about his home in Salem. Despite travelling to over 150 countries, he always returned home in time for some of Oregon's beloved traditions, including the State fair and the Rose Festival. In 2019 the Gerry Frank Salem Rotary Amphitheater was built in his name, just another testament to the impact Gerry had on his community as a lifelong Rotarian and lover of live music. And soon, Providence Health in Portland will complete the Gerry Frank Center for Children's Care in his memory.

The State of Oregon will not forget Gerry Frank, and neither will I. While his passing brings us sadness, it also bring us gratitude for his tireless work to make Oregon a better place to call home. I honor the illustrious life of Gerry Frank and unforgettable legacy he left in our State for generations to come.

Mr. President, I am going to be very brief, and I want to echo what the majority leader said, particularly with respect to revoking permanent normal trade relations with Russia.

The Senate, and those who are following this, should understand that in just a few minutes, the Senate is going to take another crucial step in bringing every tool of economic pressure to bear on Vladimir Putin and his oligarch allies. Ending normal trade relations hammers home that Putin has made Russia into a full-fledged pariah state.

As the leader noted, Americans have been watching these atrocities-- these brutal acts perpetrated by Vladimir Putin--day after day--on TV, phones, and the like--and now the Senate is saying ``there is going to be clear, clear, clear evidence that what he has done has forfeited the right to normal trade relations.''

And I will just wrap up by way of saying that when we get done, on the Senate Finance Committee, we are going to continue to work in a bipartisan way to send Putin additional messages that are going to rein in his economic power.

In particular, I think it is high time to take away the subsidies he gets from American taxpayers for his war machine. That happens when you have American companies doing business in Russia. They pay taxes to the Russian Government, and they get foreign tax credits. I don't believe the people of Michigan or Oregon or anywhere else believe that their tax dollars--their hard-earned tax dollars--should be used to subsidize Putin's war machine.

So this is a very important step today towards making sure, as I indicated, we are putting in place every single economic tool to hammer Putin and his oligarchs.

I urge my colleagues, as Senator Schumer has just done, to vote yes, and I also want to thank the ranking member of the Finance Committee. I talked to him a few minutes ago. He continues to do everything he can, every step of the way, to make this a bipartisan effort.

That is the message we ought to send. I urge colleagues to vote yes when we take away normal trade relations from Russia here in a few minutes.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I have already announced that I intend to support Judge Jackson's nomination. Her character and her qualifications are unassailable, but, unfortunately, that hasn't stopped a number of Senate Republicans from treating her disgracefully. Too often, behavior in the hearings was simply shameful.

It doesn't have to be this way, and it wasn't always this way. For example, even though I disagreed with him on plenty of issues, I voted for Chief Justice John Roberts, and he was treated very fairly by Democrats. Serious questions were asked and answered, and there wasn't anything resembling the over-the-line, juvenile theatrics like those shown for Judge Jackson.

Things changed when President Obama's final nomination was stolen by Republicans. They refused to even hold a hearing or consider the sitting President's nominee on just fabricated grounds.

Democrats are trying to maintain a sharp focus on legal questions and personal qualifications. Faced with sideshows and personal attacks, we stuck to issues. What was particularly striking about those attacks was they were attacks against somebody whom Senate Republicans had voted for unanimously when she was nominated to a lower level court.

My view is, the radicalization of the Court and the nominations process are just poisonous to our democracy, but that was what was on display when Republicans attacked Judge Jackson.

I want to start setting the record straight on several of the key issues.

First, Judge Jackson is squarely within the sentencing norm for cases involving child sexual abuse material. She was smeared anyway as going soft on predators. It was a gross and baseless accusation, more of a dog whistle to conspiracists than an attempt at honestly vetting a nominee. Even the National Review--nobody's idea of a liberal publication--published a column that called the comments of our colleague from Missouri, Senator Hawley--it called his attack ``meritless to the point of demagoguery.'' Those were the words of the National Review.

The fact is, on this hugely important issue, the whole question of kids' safety, as the Presiding Officer of the Senate knows, there is a big difference between talking about protecting child victims and actually doing the work. Far too many of our Republican colleagues just come down on the wrong side of the divide.

It is absolutely right that government at every level has failed to protect kids from exploitation online. That failure has a lot of causes. One is that the Justice Department, for reasons I will never understand, has consistently declined to put enough manpower and funding behind protecting these vulnerable kids. Another reason is that Members of Congress talk a really big game, but when there is serious legislation to protect vulnerable kids, they disappear.

Now, I have proposed an alternative. It is the Invest in Child Safety Act. It puts serious funds into tracking down the child predators and prosecuting these god-awful monsters and protecting the kids they target and abuse. It would create a new executive position, to be confirmed by the Senate, to raise this level of protecting kids and strengthen oversight.

Now, instead of supporting that legislation, where we put real prosecutors and real investigators to the task of protecting our kids, putting more law enforcement on the beat, a number of Senate Republicans spend their days going after section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. So, yet again, vulnerable kids are being used as pawns by politicians to advance their agenda.

I simply believe that child abuse and exploitation is too serious an issue for U.S. Senators to cheapen it with baseless accusations and ill-conceived legislation. This is the last subject--protecting our kids--that elected officials ought to be playing politics with.

Mr. President, the Senate will soon vote on an important nomination to the Department of Health and Human Services. January Contreras is President Biden's choice to serve as Assistant Secretary for children and families.

The Senate Finance Committee is taking a special interest in kids, families, and fresh approaches to strengthen opportunities for them and for America's future.

Now, people have been a little bit surprised that the Finance Committee is taking this big interest because, normally, they think that the Finance Committee deals primarily with big money issues. Taxes and trade would be two examples.

Those are certainly very, very important, and we spend plenty of time working on those. But the committee also feels very strongly that we can't afford to write off the hopes and dreams of our future, which are our kids and our families. We can't afford, as a country, to lose these young minds and these young families, to take away the kinds of opportunities they could have with just a few well-targeted, sensible investments in their future. And when January Contreras is confirmed, that is exactly the kind of work that she is going to be doing: caring for some of the most vulnerable young people in our Nation, those young people who are in the child welfare system.

One of the big challenges in the last few years of the Administration for Children and Families has been the implementation of our bipartisan Family First Prevention Services Act. This was an extraordinarily important law, particularly for kids who are in foster care.

We had, until this law came along, essentially two choices for these kids. We could send them off to a foster home. Some of them might be good; some of them we know aren't so good. Or we could leave them in a family situation at home that wasn't too desirable. You might have a parent who had been caught up in drugs or alcohol or something else.

What the Finance Committee did in enacting the Family First Prevention Services Act is it said: We have got these two choices over here, neither of them are ideal. What we will do is create a third path, which is the Family First Prevention Services Act.

So, for example, for a family in Arizona--the Presiding Officer's home State--that family would be in a position to stay together but also to receive some of the services--the anti-drug services, the efforts to get people off alcohol and addiction--and keep the family together. Very often, a grandparent would help out.

Family First is, in my view, the future of much of our domestic policy in this country because it means we aren't going to write off our kids and families caught up in the child welfare system.

The bill was bipartisan. Chairman Hatch was then the chairman. I was the ranking member. I think this bill is a once-in-a-generation overhaul of how child welfare works in America.

As I described to the Presiding Officer, before Family First, families, in effect in Arizona and elsewhere, were broken apart by default. In other words, you had the two choices, neither of them very good. Family First--put together on a bipartisan basis in the Finance Committee--recognized that young people grow up better at home, and families have an incredible capacity to deal with the proper support. So we signed Family First to help families stay together whenever it is safe and possible.

As I mentioned, maybe the parent needs a little help with substance abuse or mental health treatment; getting clean will make the home safe and the community often safer.

And, as I have mentioned, I was particularly thrilled that we could look to grandparents once again to step in as a caretaker for their grandkids, because when I was a young member of the other body, I wrote the Kinship Care bill, which was something that really came out of America's churches, where grandparents could step in and provide a compassionate role model and caretaker for the grandkids. The new approach builds that smart flexibility into the system so the kids and families could get the support they need.

In my view, it is especially important right now to help address mental health. The Finance Committee had a hearing today on that. Senator Crapo and I have vowed to have a bipartisan bill on that. And it is particularly important to have Family First right now because it allows us to address mental health and substance abuse and strengthen families at the same time. This is what families are all about.

Now, implementing the law takes a lot of close collaboration between the Federal Government and the States. It has not been easy. The previous administration made it pretty challenging. But because this is a bipartisan priority for the Finance Committee, we just pushed ahead. And I am especially looking forward to working with Ms. Contreras on that task.

Ms. Contreras and I have some work experience that might be of interest to the Presiding Officer. Ms. Contreras led the Arizona Legal Women and Youth Services, a legal aid organization for children and young adults who have experienced abuse, neglect, family separation, homelessness, and human trafficking.

Before my time in the Congress, I ran the Oregon legal services for the elderly program, a legal aid program specially for seniors. And then the rest of the time I was codirector of the Oregon Gray Panthers helping, again, families and seniors and others. Back then, seniors were constantly getting clobbered by insurance scams and bill collectors, and somebody needed to be there for them. So Ms. Contreras is very, very qualified for this job--qualified to steer Family First into a period of exceptional progress because States are really hungry for this option, the option that makes a big difference because it ensures that we are not writing off our families; we are not giving up on them.

That is something that I think is particularly important to hear from our Finance Committee members because everybody thinks that the committee just focuses on all these things with Big Money, but we are especially interested in seeing nominees like Ms. Contreras come forward.

I think she will do a terrific job as the head of the Administration for Children and Families. She is going to do a terrific job of moving Family First ahead. She had bipartisan support in the Senate Finance Committee.

I urge all Members of the Senate to vote for January Contreras when she comes up later this evening.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.