Floor Statements

Mr. President, I will be very brief. There are two reasons why Senators should vote against the Lee anti-vaccination amendment that affects our dedicated healthcare workers and our superlative military.

First, vaccines for healthcare workers protects the most vulnerable, particularly seniors and those with chronic illness. Three in four COVID deaths in America were seniors. Two hundred thousand were people living in long-term care. Vulnerable people are safer when their homes, hospitals, and doctors' offices are safe. Furthermore, flu shot requirements for healthcare workers were already common. Health workers know vaccinations are part of the job.

Turning to the Armed Forces, I am simply going to quote the letter General Milley wrote with respect to the vaccination requirement. Here is General Milley:

We need each and every Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, Marine and

Guardian healthy and capable of performing our duties. COVID-

19 is a threat to force protection and readiness.

General Milley went on to say:

With this in mind, the Secretary of Defense intends to

mandate vaccinations for all Servicemembers.

And then he makes it clear:

The Joint Force medical professionals recommended this as a

necessary step to sustain our readiness and protect our

force, our coworkers, our families, and our communities.

For these reasons, when we get a chance to vote on the Lee anti- vaccination amendment affecting healthcare workers in the military, I urge my colleagues to oppose the Lee amendment.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to speak for up to 15 minutes, followed by Senator Marshall for up to 1 minute, prior to the scheduled rollcall vote.

Madam President, as my colleague from Utah just noted a minute ago, he has been asking for votes on this matter repeatedly. And today, he and others seek to invalidate a regulation issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that require most healthcare providers to be vaccinated.

And suffice it to say, this is something that the Supreme Court has ruled on. The Supreme Court has actually taken this up and agrees with our position that, in effect, this is an area where there is a strong public interest. And I believe what my colleague is proposing is just far outside the mainstream of opinion regarding vaccinations in America. There simply is a point where an anti-mandate agenda becomes a dangerous anti-vaccine agenda, and my colleagues on the other side, in my view, have crossed that line quite some time ago.

So I am just going to take a few minutes to describe why I think this is such an extreme position outside what the vast majority of Americans agree and in contrast to what the Supreme Court has said.

Americans support a vaccine provision or requirement for healthcare workers by a 20- or 30-point margin--no surprise about that. Everybody is concerned about sitting in a room with a doctor or nurse who may be contagious and who has been unvaccinated. I want to particularly emphasize the people affected here who are the most vulnerable based on what we have seen during the pandemic. We are talking about those with chronic illness and seniors.

Three-quarters of the Americans who died of COVID-19 were seniors, and 200,000 of those COVID deaths were Americans living or working in long-term care facilities like nursing homes. Many others were in and out of hospitals and doctors' offices routinely.

Making sure that healthcare workers are vaccinated, colleagues, I don't think is about any partisan position. It is about a commonsense policy designed to keep seniors--people I have worked with for 7 years; before I came to the Congress, I was director of the Gray Panthers--I think we all believe we want vulnerable people to be safe. So I am going to start by quoting a ruling by the Roberts Court--hardly, at this point, colleagues, some kind of radical left judiciary. Recently, they allowed the vaccine requirement for healthcare workers to go forward, and I am just going to quote:

Ensuring that providers take steps to avoid transmitting a

dangerous virus to their patients is consistent with the

fundamental principle of the medical profession: First, do no

harm. It would be the very opposite of efficient and

effective administration for a facility that is supposed to

make people well to make them sick with COVID-19.

This vaccine provision or requirement is about keeping our healthcare workforce safe. Doctors and nurses in our country are overwhelmed. That is what they just told me as I went about my State, going to hospitals and vaccination sites and other healthcare programs.

These providers have been working nonstop for years under extraordinary stress, and what they are all about is honoring that Hippocratic Oath and trying to save lives. At times in this pandemic, our hospitals have been jampacked with COVID patients. If lots of doctors and nurses are out sick during a big COVID wave, that has got an impact on the standard of care for everybody. It drops for COVID patients, for stroke patients, for people hurt in car accidents. Our country desperately needs to protect our healthcare workforce.

Now, right at the heart of my colleagues' case--and as my friend from Utah said, we have had a number of debates about this subject--my colleagues say every person is unique, and there needs to be flexibility when it comes to vaccines. Colleagues, I am just fine with that. The fact is, the administration is allowing for medical and religious exemptions. Flexibility is written into the rule because that is just plain old common sense.

Vaccine requirements aren't anything new for healthcare workers. Flu shot requirements have been common for a long time. When you go into healthcare, it is understood that a vaccine requirement can be part of the job.

Furthermore, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has already pushed back the deadline for healthcare workers in several States to have their first vaccine dose. Originally, the deadline was in December. Now, it is February. The idea that this is somehow an inflexible and unreasonable mandate coming from nowhere is just plain wrong.

I would just close by way of saying it is time for us to move past these battles that I think regrettably continue to make this pandemic-- which strikes me as having nothing to do with politics--such political hutzpah.

It is good news that the Omicron wave is receding. With any luck, that will be the last major COVID wave that threatens to overwhelm our healthcare system. We all want our lives to get back to normal, and the way to do that is with smart public health policies--and smart public health policies, we know, consistently get broad support from the American people. That is what the vaccine provision requirement for healthcare workers is all about. That is why the Supreme Court upheld it.

I would urge that we oppose this joint resolution and do everything we can to make sure that healthcare workers are going to be vaccinated. And as I said to my constituents when I was home this weekend, what I wanted to make sure was that everybody who could, get vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the following members of my office be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the Congress: Maia Hamin, Bonnie Million, Panya Gupta, Katie Rader, Felicia Chou, Raghav Aggarwal, Sarguni Singh, James Maloy, and Nadia Laniyan.

Madam President, in a bit, I hope to be able to put forward and pass a unanimous consent request, asking the Senate to take up and approve the nomination of Ms. Michele Taylor to serve as the U.S. Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council, with the rank of Ambassador. Before I put that request forward, I want to

take just a few minutes to talk about why Ms. Taylor is, in my view, the right choice for this important role and why the Senate must act on her nomination quickly.

In blunt terms, Michele Taylor is simply a champion for fundamental human and political rights. She now serves on the board of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. She has been a leader with other humanitarian groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council. She has battled for the rights of women and other vulnerable Americans.

On a personal level, I come from a family who lost some relatives in the Holocaust. Ms. Taylor is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. It is absolutely essential that fighting against the rise of anti-Semitism is a key part of America's diplomacy. Ms. Taylor certainly understands that.

I am confident she will work to lead our partners and allies toward a more peaceful, prosperous future, grounded in respect for human dignity.

In the Senate, there is bipartisan interest in ensuring that the United States stands up and battles for human rights around the world. For example, on the Finance Committee, Senator Brown, Senator Crapo, and I have put in a lot of hours in recent years to address the scourge of forced labor in China and elsewhere in the world. I know, also, that this is a subject that the President of the Senate cares deeply about. This is just one of the human rights atrocities that our country must stand up to forcefully.

The Senate must show that our concern for these issues is more than just idle talk. That is why the Senate must not delay the nominations of highly qualified individuals, like Ms. Michele Taylor, who are up for consideration in key roles in advancing human rights.

There is a matter of the sensitivity of the time as well. The regular session of the U.N. Human Rights Council begins on February 28, which is, obviously, just days away. It is essential, in my view, that we confirm our representative now. Delaying Ms. Taylor's confirmation simply hinders the United States' ability to advocate for American values and help vulnerable people who are suffering under abuse and oppression around the world.

Moving this nomination forward is an opportunity for the Senate to show this Chamber's commitment to advancing human rights is, in fact, more than just talk. There is a deadline--a specific, concrete deadline, February 28--that is bearing down on the Chamber. There simply is no more time to delay on this important nomination.

We await a colleague who would like to have a chance to be heard on this, to consider it. I do hope that we can work this out here in the afternoon. Hopefully, the Senate will wrap up business this afternoon because this really is time-sensitive.

Members talk about matters that actually may be coming up; this one is upon us. I do hope that we will be able to clear Ms. Michele Taylor to serve as U.S. Representative to the U.N. Human Rights Council with the rank of Ambassador before the close of business today.

Thank you.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, earlier this afternoon, I made it clear I was going to put forward a unanimous consent request asking the Senate to take up and approve the nomination of Michele Taylor, to serve as the U.S. Representative to the UN Human Rights Council with the rank of Ambassador, and in just a minute and a half or so, I will make that unanimous consent request.

Ms. Taylor has an exceptional record with respect to humanitarian issues. She has served on the Anti-Defamation League, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. She has been a strong advocate for the rights of women.

I come from a family who lost relatives in the Holocaust. Ms. Taylor is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. And it is absolutely essential that we up the ante in the fight against anti-Semitism, and that is a key part of this country's diplomacy.

The reason that I am making this unanimous consent tonight is that Michele Taylor is unquestionably qualified for this important post, but there is a real time sensitivity to her nomination being cleared tonight. The regular session of the U.N. Human Rights Council begins on February 28, obviously just a few days away. It is absolutely essential that we confirm our representative now. Delaying Ms. Taylor's confirmation would obviously hinder the U.S. ability to advocate for American values and help vulnerable people who suffer under abuse and oppression around the world. And she will be able to build on some particularly important work that is going on in the Senate Committee on Finance, led by Senator Brown and Senator Crapo, working, for example, on forced labor and other issues that involve critically important human rights questions.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 640, Michele Taylor, of Georgia, for the rank of Ambassador during her tenure of service as United States Representative to the UN Human Rights Council; that the Senate vote on the nomination without any intervening action or debate; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, today is a doubly special day. February 17 is the 46th anniversary of the founding of the Pension Rights Center. February 17 is also the birthday of Karen Ferguson, the long-time director of the Pension Rights Center, who passed away recently.

The Pension Rights Center as helmed by Ms. Ferguson was known as a tireless advocate for the right of workers and senior citizens to enjoy a dignified and secure retirement. Their passion for retirement security is something that I have also shared since the 1970s, when I helped to found the Oregon Gray Panthers, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of senior citizens. The support of the Pension Rights Center and Ms. Ferguson was instrumental in the passage of recent legislation such as the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 and the financial assistance program for distressed multiemployer pension plans in the American Rescue Plan Act.

On this double anniversary, I urge my colleagues to reflect on the progress that has been made so far in improving retirement security in the United States and to double down in our efforts to fight for further improvement.

Mr. President, it has been 11 years since the people of Bahrain gathered in the streets of Manama to urge their leaders to grant them stronger economic, social, and human rights. Bahrainis of all backgrounds called upon their leaders for meaningful change, for a voice at the table in the matters that affected their everyday lives. But their activism was met with brutal repression from the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Journalists and human rights activists have shared with the world how Bahrain's national security forces violently beat unarmed protestors in the crowds, severely injuring and even killing protestors with tear gas, rubber bullets, and other live ammunition. The forces arbitrarily arrested and detained journalists, pursued volunteers who were helping the injured, and spared no one, not even children. This anniversary is stained by the blood of the Bahraini people, and it pains me that despite over a decade of asking for

accountability and reform, there has been little change from their government.

The country's leadership continues to commit and permit appalling human rights violations. Past reports from the U.S. State Department have highlighted the mistreatment of prisoners, including torture, inhumane punishment, and lack of proper access to medical care. Conditions have been further exacerbated by COVID-19, with two major outbreaks in overcrowded prisons last year. Yet the government continues to deny access to human rights experts, including the U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture.

The Bahrain Government has also attempted to silence dissent by imprisoning opposition leaders, outlawing opposition parties, and banning online content as they see fit. The government restricts free speech on social media from their people and requires news and broadcasting outlets to be government-sanctioned, effectively stifling all independent journalism and healthy discourse. Additionally, reports indicate that the Bahrain Government monitors activists and other targets of interest by hacking into their phones.

My father was a journalist, so I know how vital freedom of speech and freedom of press are to a flourishing, stable country. As a staunch defender against government overreach and unwarranted surveillance, I cannot stand idly by as the people of Bahrain live in constant fear of surveillance, arrest, and imprisonment for simply voicing their thoughts.

America must hold Bahrain to a high standard, as we do with all our allies. The United States maintains a strategic relationship with Bahrain, as the country cooperates on U.S. defense initiatives in the region and hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. The United States represents a beacon of hope and democracy to the rest of the world, and we cannot remain silent in the face of over a decade of human rights violations and repression.

This is a key year for change; Bahrain is slated to hold its parliamentary elections later this year. I strongly urge the Bahrain Government to allow peaceful demonstration and dissent, open their doors to independent oversight and international election observers, address their violations of human rights, and cease their attacks on free speech and free press. And during this pivotal year, I also urge the Biden administration to hold the Bahrain Government accountable for their overdue promises of reform.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to remember the late Frank Moore of Oregon. Frank passed away last month at 98.

The story of Frank Moore is really at least three stories. It is a story about a war hero; it is a story about a natural resources hero; and it is a love story, which is the only way to describe his wonderful marriage with his wife Jeanne, who survives him.

To begin, Frank will always be remembered in our corner of the Nation as a legendary fly fisherman who channeled his love of the Umpqua River into protecting and preserving this extraordinary natural treasure in Southern Oregon.

It has been said in fishing circles:

Most of the world is covered by water. A fisherman's job is

simple: Pick out the best parts.

And my friend Frank picked out, consistently, the best parts of his extraordinary life, and all of us as Oregonians are better off for his good judgments about the Umpqua and about so much else in Oregon.

After returning to our State from World War II, storming Utah Beach at Normandy on D-day and later fighting at the Battle of the Bulge, Frank bought the Steamboat Inn with his wife and work teammate, Jeanne. Together, they provided generations of

visitors an unmatched recreation experience on the North Umpqua.

In the decades that followed, Frank became a fly fisherman so, so revered, so quintessentially Oregon, that he could count our late Governor, Tom McCall--an extraordinary fisherman in his own right--as just a fishing buddy. We call it the Oregon Way, where Oregonians come together to keep our State so special for living, working, and raising a family.

I will tell the Presiding Officer, I know Oregon is a long way from Georgia, but the fact is, there isn't anything that is more ``Oregon Way,'' that shortens the distance between Oregon and the rest of the country, than priorities like fishing and having a special relationship with somebody like Tom McCall.

With respect to his war heroism, in addition to earning France's highest award of merit for his World War II service, we saw Frank's extraordinary accomplishments in Oregon when we talked about his work in natural resources and what we saw when he got together with friends, and I am going to talk about one particularly eventful meeting.

Frank was named Oregon's Wildlife Federation's Conservationist of the Year in 1969. He served on the State Fish and Wildlife Commission from 1971 to 1974. He was among the leaders in getting passed the Oregon Forest Practices law to protect fish in streams. He earned the International Federation of Fly Fishers Conservationist of the Year Award in 2003, and he was inducted into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in 2010.

I had a chance to have some of the most memorable experiences I have had in public service with Frank Moore. Back when I was chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I remember being in the backyard of the Ratzlaffs, Jim and Jane Ratzlaff, of Roseburg, OR. Jim has passed. I continue to stay in touch with Jane. And in their backyard one wonderful day, where my former staffer, Mary Gautreaux, who is up in Heaven listening to this discussion, the late Mary Gautreaux, we conceived of the idea of all working together to protect 100,000 acres of public lands in the Steamboat Creek watershed for steelhead preservation.

I say to the Presiding Officer, as former chairman of the committee, I have been through some of the rituals that we all see in the committee process--and I am sure my colleague has gnashed his teeth over one or two of them already--but one of the things that we noted early on is that this incredible love affair between Frank and Jeanne that went on for decades didn't really fit into the legislative process so I wanted to name a Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary after both of them because they were partners in life, partners at the Steamboat Inn, partners in everything.

Well, I just checked in with the inimitable David Brooks, who is our guy at the Energy and Natural Resources Committee who has worked for decades on preserving these treasures. At the time, David reminded me, you really had a tradition of not being able to name one of these bills to protect your treasures after two people. It was not like it was a law; it was a tradition, but members felt kind of strongly about it. I won't mention any names.

But Frank Moore, when I told him that, he said: Ron, I love you to pieces, but this bill has got to be named for both of us because we have been partners in life. We have been partners in the Steamboat Inn and in the sanctuary and the like.

So I went back and told David Brooks about this. And, finally, I am not sure everybody actually agreed to name it after Frank and Jeanne, this wonderful love affair, but I just basically did it. And around here, as the Presiding Officer knows, sometimes if you do it, other people won't raise a fuss. That is how Frank Moore of Southern Oregon ensured that, for all time, we would have a wonderful place known as the Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary, as a monument to make sure, for generations to come, young people would have a special place to go.

I would just note, because I talked to her just a few minutes ago, that Colleen Moore Bechtel, who is a teacher at West Intermediate School in Sutherlin--she and her class may be watching this proceeding today. They were trying to figure out how to get C-SPAN on live. I will have more to say about Colleen before I wrap up.

But I am so pleased because that is exactly what Frank and Jeanne, to this day, have always wanted--was to make sure that our treasures, our really special places, would be there for the future. So I am hoping, if they weren't able to see it live, that Colleen will be able to show these remarks to all the kids at the Douglas County school, West Intermediate in Sutherlin, what their U.S. Senator thought about Frank Moore.

The last time I visited with Frank and Jeanne in October 2020, circumstances had really dealt them a tough hand. We had a horrible fire known as the Archie Creek Fire. It had destroyed the log cabin that Frank had built above the Umpqua, and Frank and Jeanne were living with their daughter, Colleen, and her family in Glide. But you would have never known from Frank about that loss of a lifetime's work and care.

Instead, that fall afternoon, on a pretty front porch in rural Douglas County, Frank came striding out onto the porch with that wonderful smile, a bone-crushing handshake, and one joke after another, with a twinkle in his eyes. He was always optimistic about our State, an optimist on that day right after his treasured home had been ravaged by fire.

He never wavered from that focus. In fact, this past July, I was so pleased that he wrote an opinion piece in our publication, Eugene's Register-Guard, that detailed how the ``wild & scenic river'' designation had helped the North Umpqua. He talked about his involvement with me to promote the River Democracy Act--a really fresh approach endorsed by hundreds of small, rural businesses to ensure that we preserve our treasures and also tap the full potential for the recreation economy.

Now, there have been a lot of recent remembrances of Frank, and almost all of them talk about him being a giant of Oregon. Those characterizations--certainly of his impact on the southern part of my State and our entire State--are on point. I want to make sure, though, that something else that Frank said can stick with me. He was always quoted as saying the important thing was that Jeanne was with him.

Referring to Jeanne, his wife of 79 years, Frank said:

I have the treasure with me. That's my treasure.

And I can tell the Presiding Officer that virtually every time I saw this wonderful couple, they were holding hands. It just said it all-- holding hands. And they had been married for 79 years.

So tonight I just want to say to Jeanne, to all of Frank's loved ones, to all of the kids who may be following this in Oregon schools, I am just going to add: Frank is always going to be Oregon's treasure. And on behalf of Oregonians, who are certainly scattered almost everywhere, I thank you for sharing Frank with all of us. And I am speaking on behalf of Oregonians everywhere.

Through the Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary and so many other ``best parts'' that Frank leaves as his legacy, Frank Moore will never be forgotten.

With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that, at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 636, Neil Harvey MacBride, of Virginia, to be General Counsel for the Department of the Treasury; that there be 30 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form on the nomination; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate vote without intervening action or debate on the nomination.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate

proceed to the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 637, 702, 703, and 709; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc; that the motions to reconsider be made and laid on the table without intervening action or debate; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time with respect to all nominations on which cloture was invoked on February 2 and 3, 2022, be considered expired and that the confirmation votes be at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader.

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.