Floor Statements

Mr. President, I was just listening and paying close attention to my colleague from Alaska describing the uselessness and the misery march of a government shutdown, particularly one that has lasted longer than any one that has occurred over the history of this country. I couldn't agree more, and I associate myself with her comments, having had many conversations, as many of us have, with our TSA agents and with our Coast Guard--yes, West Virginia has a Coast Guard presence; I would like to emphasize that--with our prison guards and others who have had just foisted upon them, through no fault of their own, some very difficult decisions and sleepless nights, I am sure.

So while we want to celebrate, there is really little cause to celebrate. I think it is more of a breath of fresh air or a deep sigh of relief. Probably, in the minds of the veterans whom I was with at the Martinsburg Medical Center this morning, it is a deep breath and: Well, no kidding. Let's get back to the business of governing and making decisions and making good decisions for the country.

I chair the Subcommittee on Homeland Security in the Senate as part of the Appropriations Committee. I am very pleased that the President has made this announcement that our leaders, both Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer, have come together with a commonsense, breathable solution to give us some space to work through what we call here regular order. For people listening who don't understand what that is, it is what we should be doing every day, where I sit down as the chair of the committee, with Senator Tester from Montana, who is the ranking member on the committee, and other members of the committee, and we work things out. I want this, and he wants this. Well, maybe pick in the middle, or maybe I will give you this if you give me that.

So I look forward, with the bold leadership of Senator Shelby and Senator Leahy, as chair and ranking member of the full committee, and the leadership, certainly, of our leaders, with the President, to working out a good solution here.

I firmly believe that border security is important. That is reflected in the bill we passed out of our subcommittee that the Chair and the Senator from Tennessee both voted on in the full committee. We had 10 Democrats who voted for that bill, which had border security, a pedestrian fence, wall, technology, and the polar security cutter for our Coast Guard, which is something very important to Alaska and the Arctic and to us as Americans for our safety, and a lot of very reflective priorities in there for the rest of the country.

We can't lose sight that homeland security is more than about one structure or the one placement of a structure. It is about a full-out array of ways of looking at protecting our country internally, in our transportation sector, in our energy sectors, and in others.

While it sounds like a steep mountain, I embrace this. I embrace the ability to play a role and to find a reasonable solution, and we have been granted until February 15 to work this out. With that, I have rolled up my sleeves. I am getting ready to go to work with many, many others here in this body and across the way and at the White House.

To the American people, I agree that shutdowns are useless. They are painful. Nobody wins. The big discussion is, Who is winning here? It is pretty clear the American people aren't winning, and in the end, I don't think anybody is winning.

With that, I yield my time, and look forward to getting to work and to finding the right solution.

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

Mr. President, I come to the floor today as the chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee to express my strong support for the End the Government Shutdown and Secure Our Borders Act. This legislation includes many important priorities, and they are important priorities that we need to address now.

In the past several days and weeks, there has been a lot of talk about who has more leverage, who is winning, and what the political stakes are. You hear a lot of different answers to those questions, depending on whom you ask, quite frankly, but I will tell you one thing: Those are not the questions on the minds of our Federal workers.

Just this morning, at about 4 o'clock, I had a conversation with several TSA agents at Yeager Airport, where I fly out of to come to Washington. In talking about the situation, what I got in response from them was a lot of headshaking and a lot of questions. Their questions had to do with this: How are they going to pay their bills and when is this going to end? I understand their frustration. I am frustrated.

That is exactly why I have always said that a shutdown is no way to govern. It is not in anyone's best interest. It is a disservice to our Federal works. It is a show of our inability to do our jobs in conjunction with those on the other side of the aisle, and it is a signal to the American people that we think this confusing and ineffective way to govern is OK, when it is not. It is not OK.

We are here in this body to work together, to get over the rifts that we may have, and to move forward to do the people's work. We have to fix this situation, and we have to fix it now.

We have an opportunity today to do that, and I plan to do that by voting for the President's proposed compromise. This proposal does two things that we should all want. It reopens the government, and it helps to secure our southern borders. If we pass this amendment--and I hope we do--we will bring our furloughed workers back to work, and they will get paid. We will pay the dedicated men and women of our Coast Guard, our Federal prison guards, our TSA and Border Patrol personnel, and many others--many of whom I have talked with--and we will take a major step forward in securing our Nation.

I believe the resources in this bill are necessary because I believe we do face a crisis on our southern border. Last year, in the last 3 months of 2018, over 153,000 people were apprehended illegally crossing the southern border. And that number does not include the people who crossed illegally, but were not apprehended. The number of illegal border crossings was up more than 80 percent in the last 3 months of 2018, as compared to the last 3 months of 2017.

The composition of those being detained for crossing the border is changing. In 2000, 98 percent of those detained for illegally crossing the border were Mexican nationals, and most were single adults. They could be repatriated to Mexico very quickly, within hours. But, in 2018, more than 56 percent of individuals detained were from places other than Mexico. A large portion were from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

Increasingly, individuals are showing up at our borders from all over the world. Forty percent were either unaccompanied minors or arrived as part of a family unit. That number is way up. That number is way up. That means longer detention proceedings that have placed a burden on our immigration court system, and it means an increased need for facilities to safely and responsibly house these people for a longer period of time.

I have visited the detention centers in Texas. I believe the facts make it very clear that there is a crisis. The amendment that we will vote on today offers a solution.

We also know that physical barriers work. In the San Diego, Tucson, El Centro, and El Paso regions, where there are constructed physical barriers, the illegal border crossings have gone down by more than 90 percent. That is undeniable. Right now, we have 654 miles of physical barrier in place.

I have heard folks say that we don't have any walls or that we don't have any barriers. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. If we pass this amendment, we can build 234 miles in areas like the Rio Grande Valley, where career Border Patrol personnel tell us it is most needed.

There has been a lot of talk that the professionals should be in charge here in terms of telling us how and what the best methods of protecting our borders are. Well, they are in charge. As subcommittee chair, I have had several meetings with them for them to tell me what their border security plan is, and the CBP has that.

This amendment would fund the bulk of the top 10 requests. They have a 33-point plan. This would get us through the top 10.

The funding in this bill provides for a border wall system--a system--which is much more than just a physical barrier. It provides lighting, sensors, cameras, and access roads to help our Border Patrol agents gain and maintain operational control of the border. These are the things that the Border Patrol has asked for. A wall is not the only solution, but it is a critical part of the solution.

The resources included in the amendment for the southern border are important to the security of our Nation, and they are especially important to address our drug crisis. Fentanyl seizures by the Border Patrol away from ports of entry are up 122 percent over last year.

Remember, fentanyl is a killer. Over half of the deaths by overdose in our State in some bit or in some part involved fentanyl.

Methamphetamine seizures by the Border Patrol away from ports of entry are up 75 percent in the last three years. The border wall system will reduce the flow of these illegal drugs between our points of entry.

We know that much of the heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine that are hurting so many Americans cross our border at the ports of entry. This amendment addresses that issue as well. It provides $805 million for technology, canines, and personnel to stop the flow of illegal drugs into our country. That is what West Virginians are interested in. This drug crisis is really impacting us. This would be an unprecedented investment in these types of detection capabilities--a complete game changer.

The amendment would allow us to hire more people, which is another thing the CPB says that they need--750 new border agents and 375 new Customs officers to complement these investments.

The combination of technology and personnel, both at our ports of entry and along the border, with the border wall system, would enhance our security. It will choke off a major source of the heroin and fentanyl that has devastated my State, and I am sure the Presiding Officer's State, as well, and across our country.

Resources are also included in the amendment to detain those who are apprehended for illegally crossing our border. I support the important work of the men and women of ICE, and I want them to be able to maintain custody of offenders, rather than being forced to release those who have entered our country illegally due to a lack of space. In my view, that is not only more safe and secure for us, but it is actually more safe and secure for anybody who is involved in the immigration system.

They and many more of the brave men and women of the Department of Homeland Security continue to perform these difficult tasks without getting paid during this shutdown.

Chairman Shelby's amendment is not a short-term patch. We are kind of past the time where we need a short-term patch. We need to move forward. It is not a continuing resolution that runs our government on autopilot for a little while and denies the Senate the ability to make smart choices in exercising the power of the purse.

Instead, it includes seven full appropriations bills that received significant bipartisan support in the Appropriations Committee, one of which is my bill at the Homeland Security Subcommittee, which was passed in a bipartisan way. Four of these bills passed the Senate floor with overwhelming support. I am very proud that the bill that I put forward in committee, along with some additions, are a part of this package.

There is $11.9 billion provided for our Coast Guard--this was in my bill--including to begin construction of something that I think is critical to our national security, which is the polar security cutters. More than $4.8 billion is provided for the TSA to improve transportation security, and $19.8 billion is appropriated for FEMA to make sure we have the necessary resources to respond to past and future natural disasters.

There are important priorities within these bills from other subcommittees as well. A couple I would like to highlight are these. The Agriculture title has $550 million for a rural broadband pilot project that I strongly support as part my Capito Connect plan in the State of West Virginia. The FSGG title has resources for the Drug-Free Communities and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program, which is critical for stopping the drug epidemic that I have spoken about. The CJS title has $468 million to combat the opioid epidemic and another $30 million for economic development assistance to coalfield communities. These are just a few examples of what the Shelby amendment has.

The amendment that the Democratic leader has proposed reopens the government through February 8. It provides no new resources to address the security and humanitarian crisis on our southern border. Let me repeat that. It provides no new resources to address the security and humanitarian crisis on our southern border. Passing the Schumer plan would put us in the same position on February 8 that exists today.

We don't need to pause the shutdown for 15 days and ignore border security. Article I of the Constitution gives us, as the Congress, the power of the purse, and we should exercise it by making smart choices based on the situation that is in front of us today.

Continuing resolutions only cut and paste the choices that we made last year. Instead, we should pass the seven appropriations bills before us to fund the government for the rest of the year in a thoughtful way, in a bipartisan way, while also providing the necessary resources to protect our Nation.

President Trump has made a significant concession by asking that we include a provision giving 3 years of certainty to those covered by the DACA Executive order, as well as those who have been on temporary protected status. That provision is included in this amendment. This is the type of reasonable compromise that is necessary to pass major legislation during a period of divided government. No one--not the President, not any Senator, not any Representative--gets everything they want in this bill or any bill, really.

The bill includes items that many of us individually might have left out if we wrote the bill ourselves, but that is the nature of compromise.

The seven appropriations bills that make up the Shelby amendment are the product of significant bipartisan compromise on behalf of the Nation. I believe we should embrace the spirit of compromise to end this shutdown and secure our border. What can't be compromised is our Nation's security.

We just celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr., Day last Monday. As was I reading a lot of his famous quotes, I thought about this one because of the situation that we find ourselves in right now:

If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if

you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to

keep moving forward.

Let's start moving forward together. I hope that all of my colleagues will embrace this sentiment, and I hope that as I vote for the Shelby amendment, we will get enough to push it over the Senate floor and over to the House.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

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

Madam President, we are faced today with an escalating crisis on our southwest border. We all know it. We see news of it every day, and it is very real.

As the chairman of the Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Homeland Security, I would like to present some facts to the Senate that make the case for increased investment in our border security.

In the fiscal year 2018, Border Patrol apprehensions at the southwest border were up more than 30 percent compared with fiscal year 2017. In real numbers, over 396,000 people were apprehended.

It is getting worse because, if you look at October of 2018 compared to October of 2017, apprehensions were up 88 percent. The numbers are going up.

The facts I have laid out don't tell the entire story. Border Patrol estimates that it could be catching as little as half of the traffic that is illegally crossing our southwest border between the ports of entry, so we really don't know who we are catching, and we don't know what they are carrying.

Border Patrol apprehensions of gang members is up 50 percent from fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2018. Mexico is a primary source for narcotics entering the United States. This is extremely important to me as a representative from the State of West Virginia. Fentanyl seizures by Border Patrol were up 115 percent over the past year, from 2017 to 2018.

We know that a significant portion of opioids enter our country through ports of entry, but we cannot ignore the fact that we are seeing opioid smuggling between the ports of entry increase at alarming rates as well.

Similarly, methamphetamine seizures by Border Patrol have increased 75 percent since the year 2015. In more populated areas along the border, aliens and smugglers are crossing the border unimpeded and quickly vanishing into our neighborhoods, into our commercial areas, and onto highways, headed to places like Mississippi and West Virginia.

A single load of fentanyl, walked across our land border in an unassuming backpack, could threaten the lives of several thousand Americans. Failure to better secure our border will have consequences for all American communities.

I am very sad to say that my home State is an acutely affected area. In the year 2017, drug overdoses were responsible for more deaths per capita in West Virginia than in any other State. Listen to this. This is so sad. Overdoses tragically took the life of 1 out of every 1,700 West Virginians and 1 out of 46 Americans in this country. We saw a 500-percent increase in meth overdoses in West Virginia from the years 2013 to 2017. What I have learned about this is that we have gone from prescription drugs to heroin, to heroin laced with fentanyl, and now it is synthetic methamphetamines that are the threat. This is occurring while we are seeing an uptick in meth that is mass produced in places like Mexico, trafficked across our border, and then distributed across the United States. Even more troubling, these types of meth are also being laced with the synthetic and dangerous opioid, fentanyl.

In this current debate, it is easy to forget that just over a decade ago, on a bipartisan basis, Congress--and I was over in the House of Representatives at the time--was making significant investments in our border security infrastructure. What we have seen from these past investments is that physical barriers actually work at the border. The statistics show that.

In the 1990s and 2000s, we built physical barriers in four sectors: the San Diego sector, the El Paso sector, the Tucson sector, and the Yuma sector. In each of these places, the number of apprehensions dropped by more than 90 percent after the infrastructure was installed. In these areas, investment in border security has enhanced the safety and the security on both sides of the border.

Neighborhoods that were once overrun with illegal activity are vibrant. Commercial areas that were once considered dangerous and unprofitable are now flourishing with economic development. Nature preserves that were once trashed and trampled are again full of our native plants and animals.

The cartels on the other side of the border profit in places where we haven't invested. Criminals aren't going to stop smuggling humans and narcotics into the United States because we have invested in certain key places; they have simply changed their routes and shifted their tactics to areas where we haven't yet built infrastructure.

If we fail to better secure our border, we are inviting vulnerable migrant populations, many of whom may be fleeing danger in their own home communities, to subject themselves to dangerous journeys through rugged terrain. They are often doing so under the thumb of cartels who profit from the illegal human trafficking, just as they profit from drug trafficking.

We need to secure our borders and encourage these migrants to instead seek entry legally at the designated ports of entry.

This past summer, I traveled for several days to the southwest border, both in California and in Texas. I witnessed the needs that we have there firsthand. I saw the open pathways across the border and into our communities. I saw the gaps in our border security. I also saw communities that have become safer because we have provided border security. I didn't just see those things; I heard from the men and women who patrol our border each and every day. It is a tough job. It is a tough job. They expressed the need for and the value of the investments I am talking about here today.

While the need for additional investment in border infrastructure may be obvious to some, Congress has recognized that we need to be strategic in these investments. It was said on the Senate floor last week that there is no plan for these investments. I am here to tell you that is not the actual, true story.

In fact, the bipartisan fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill required Customs and Border Protection to provide us with a comprehensive border security plan, an improvement plan, to ensure that we get it right. This plan was developed sector by sector by agents in the field, and it was weighted by illegal activities that are occurring in those sectors. It was written from the bottom up by career law enforcement professionals who walk the line every day, sometimes on boats on the Rio Grande--we did that too--and know where new infrastructure is needed most.

The plan was delivered in January of 2018 and provided us with a 10- year roadmap for border security investment based on operational requirements. Here is what we learned from this plan.

As traffic slowed in San Diego, in Arizona, and in El Paso, we have seen it shift to South Texas, to the Rio Grande Valley sector. This sector covers just 17 percent of the mileage of the entire border, but it now sees 40 percent of the illegal border traffic. This sector also accounts for an outsized number of narcotic seizures and a significant portion of the assaults on our Border Patrol agents.

Through the fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill enacted in March, Congress provided a downpayment of nearly $1.4 billion toward this plan, this improvement plan.

Despite claims on the Senate floor last week to the contrary, Customs and Border Protection is executing this funding at an astounding rate. About one-third of it is already under contract. Another third will be under contract in the next several weeks, and the entirety of this funding will be under contract within a year of enactment of this legislation. They are spending it where it is needed most and as fast as we can get it to them.

In June, the Appropriations Committee, led by my subcommittee, produced a bill that recommended border security funding in line with this plan. Specifically, the bill recommended significant funding for new physical barriers along the southwest border. This is a very good bill, but over the summer and over the fall, this crisis on the southwest border has escalated.

I believe we in Congress must demonstrate that we are flexible enough to respond when the situation calls for it. The statistics I cited certainly make a compelling case.

Providing additional resources in fiscal year 2019 and fiscal year 2020 for border security infrastructure would be consistent with the border security improvement plan when viewed through the lens of an escalating crisis. This funding would go straight to the places in South Texas where we are seeing the most illegal traffic.

It is important to note that providing an appropriate level of funding is possible without exceeding any of our budget caps and without shortchanging any of our other very important programs, as long as we get serious about finding a bipartisan way forward.

I will take a time out here to recognize that Senator Schumer and rising Speaker Pelosi are going to be meeting with the President on this very issue today, so I urge them to reach a bipartisan way forward.

I urge my colleagues here in the Senate to take a long, hard look at the undisputable facts, which demonstrate that the crisis on the border is escalating. Our law enforcement personnel have provided us with a plan to work toward improving and solving that problem, so let's work together and get this done.

I yield back my time.

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

Mr. President, I wish to recognize Timothy J. Goode on the occasion of his retirement as Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of West Virginia. Chief Deputy Goode is stepping down after a long career of accomplishment and service to his country and to West Virginia.

Since he came to West Virginia, my staff and I have had the pleasure of working with Chief Deputy Goode and his colleagues in the Southern District office. He has been a consistent advocate for the U.S. Marshals Service and served as a valuable liaison between the Service and my office. Before he came to West Virginia, he had already accrued a number of accomplishments in a storied career.

Chief Deputy Goode received his bachelor's degree from Indiana State University in 1983, entering the U.S. Marshals Service as a deputy in 1986. Over the next three decades, he served as a mentor to numerous deputies, coordinated and led operations that resulted in the arrest of dangerous criminals, and served in various administrative and informational capacities, including two stints as Acting U.S. Marshal. Among his many approbations was a special recognition by the Indiana General Assembly in 1990 for his role in the arrest and extradition of General Manuel Noriega.

In addition to his long record of service, Chief Deputy Goode serves as a Sunday school teacher and holds a master's degree in Christian Ministry. An outdoorsman, he is also an avid hunter and fisher. Finally, and most importantly, he is a devoted husband to his wife, Kyle.

Exemplary public service should be praised, and we all owe a debt of gratitude to Chief Deputy Goode for his service. I wish him well in retirement and in his future endeavors. It is an honor to call him a friend and fellow West Virginian.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, today I rise to strongly support the passage of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, the SUPPORT Act. Actually, I think that is a great title, the SUPPORT Act.

The SUPPORT Act combines the work of the House of Representatives with the Senate's Opioid Crisis Response Act, which we recently passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

As we anticipate voting on this groundbreaking legislation soon and sending it to the President's desk, I wanted to highlight some of the provisions I think are most critical, many of which I worked on with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to move forward.

The SUPPORT Act successfully builds on the work Congress began with the passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act back in July of 2016, and it is a critical next step in our fight against an epidemic that continues to devastate families and communities across this country, especially in my home State of West Virginia.

This legislation reflects what we have learned in the past few years since we passed CARA. West Virginia has been struggling so much with the opioid crisis; we have been struggling longer and harder than many of our other States. This is not something we are particularly proud of, but it is a reality with which we live, and we really face the challenge.

This crisis has shaped our ongoing response to the epidemic, as well as my contributions to the bill. In West Virginia, we understand better, I think, some of the causes of the crisis and how we can deal with them. We have discovered what is working in our State, and we have learned that the ripple effects go far beyond those struggling with addiction. It affects families and children and communities.

When thinking about next steps for fighting the opioid epidemic, one of the first things I realized was that the formula for State funding was not providing adequate resources to the hardest hit States--States like West Virginia. I joined with my colleague Senator Shaheen from New Hampshire--her State also has been devastated by this epidemic--to help change that formula.

I am pleased that this bill reauthorizes the State grants in a way that ensures that States like ours--small States with very large problems--will begin to receive more resources and those resources that we desperately need.

Something else we quickly realized in West Virginia was that we didn't have the treatment facilities or the trained workforce to adequately support individuals seeking treatment. To address these needs, I worked with my colleague Senator Hassan from New Hampshire to create a grant program establishing comprehensive opioid recovery centers, or CORKs, in the most affected areas, and I worked on provisions that will help increase and better prepare our healthcare workers.

We also realized, sadly, that there will always be bad actors who attempt to take advantage of those in crisis. I have talked to friends of mine whose young adult children are in the throes of addiction and will literally pay anything--anything--to get the help they feel their loved one deserves, making them particularly vulnerable, I think, to bad actors and to folks who might take advantage of that. So we introduced the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act with Senator Cortez Masto from Nevada. This measure will hold fraudulent substance abuse treatment programs and recovery centers accountable by empowering the FTC to bring enforcement actions against them.

Another issue I hear about often is the need among employers for potential employees who are able to pass a drug test. Our economy is booming, our workforce is expanding, but we are having difficulty in some areas finding enough employees who can actually pass a drug test. It is not unusual; I will hear that 10 people get tested, and only 2 will pass.

We also have the need for recovering addicts to be able to find that pathway back to employment. To address both of these needs, this legislation authorizes grants that will align job training and treatment services, including several provisions from the CARA Act that I sponsored with Senator Brown from Ohio.

As to the causes of the crisis, there are many, but there are two areas that come up again and again.

First is the need to reduce the number of prescriptions for opioids. To get at the root of the problem, Senator Feinstein and I introduced the Using Data to Prevent Opioid Diversion Act. Our bill, which is now a part of the SUPPORT Act, provides drug manufacturers and distributors with data to identify pharmacies that are suspiciously ordering prescription opioids, and it grants law enforcement the authority to hold them accountable, as they should be, if they fail to use this data to identify, report, and stop suspicious orders.

Had something like this been on the books before, we may have been able to stop--and I want you to hear this statistic--the 780 million oxycodone and hydrocodone pills that were distributed to pharmacies in my State alone--my 1.8 million population State, between the years of 2007 and 2012, 780 million pills, including the nearly 9 million pills that were distributed between 2007 and 2008 to a single pharmacy in Kermit, WV, where the population is 392.

The second issue that comes up often is the need to reduce the amount of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which is killing--killing--people. It is 100 times more potent than heroin.

The STOP Act will help prevent the shipment of synthetic opioids into the United States through the international mail system, where the vast amount of these originate. This measure, which Senator Portman led and I joined with him to introduce, imposes tough new requirements for our U.S. Postal Service and Customs and Border Protection. By better targeting illegal packages, we can keep those dangerous drugs from ending up on our streets and in our local communities.

West Virginia has a more mature opioid epidemic, which has helped us to learn what is working and what is not working. One great example of something that is working is our Quick Response Teams, or QRTs, which has been piloted in Huntington, WV. Based on

similar programs around the country, a QRT is a three-pronged effort by medical professionals, mental health agencies, and law enforcement. These teams contact individuals who overdose within 72 hours of their overdose to help get them into treatment programs. In other words, let's not have them just go to the emergency room, stop the overdose, and have them walk back out with no followup.

Given the success of the QRTs in our State, I worked with Senator Murphy to include a grant program in the SUPPORT Act that will allow communities across the country to implement similar programs.

When it comes to what is not working, over the last year or so, I began to hear from hospice staff who, due to a DEA rule--I seriously didn't understand this rule--were not allowed to destroy unused medication unless authorized by State law.

A lot of times in hospice, particularly elderly people in hospice--or anybody who is in a great deal of pain--have medications on the shelf, and if they are left to the disposal of a family member, you could see how they are ripe for falling into the wrong hands of a grieving family member or possibly somebody in and out of the home who has an addiction issue. I worked with Senator Collins to ensure that the SUPPORT Act includes language that would allow hospice employees to dispose of those controlled substances.

Another example of a policy that is not working is a 40-year-old regulation related to substance use disorder privacy records. This came to my attention following a terrible tragedy for my fellow West Virginian, Jessie Grubb, which was caused by confusion and misinformation.

Jessie was a daughter, a great sister, an athlete, and someone who was recovering from addiction. Following surgery from a running injury, despite her family's and her own best efforts to make clear that she was not to be prescribed opioids, she was discharged from the hospital with a prescription for 50 oxycodone pills. Jessie overdosed on those pills. She was 30 years old.

Following her tragic death, Senator Manchin and I introduced Jessie's Law. Jessie's Law makes it easier for doctors to know if a patient has a history of opioid abuse. It requires HHS to develop best practices for prominently displaying this information in electronic health records when requested by the patient so that they can see them right there as they are discharging the patient.

Although Jessie's Law passed the Senate in August, it had not passed the House, and I am glad to see it in the SUPPORT Act.

Still, while this may help avert future tragedies, many in the addiction community have encouraged further action to assure that providers can safely and effectively coordinate high-quality treatments for patients with substance abuse disorder. To meet those needs, Senator Manchin and I introduced the Protecting Jessie Grubb's Legacy Act. Part 2 is not in the SUPPORT Act, and we will continue to work on this Legacy Act to make sure that this important policy change happens.

Something we have seen in West Virginia are the ripple effects of the opioid epidemic. These are the children, the families. An unbelievably increasing number of children are being raised by their grandparents, raised by their great-grandparents, or are in foster care. It is putting a major strain on our social services but also on the individual child who, through no fault of their own, has ping-ponged from house to house in very emotional kinds of ways.

There are more babies receiving neonatal care, and I have worked with my colleagues to make sure the CRIB Act, which I worked on with Senator Brown as well--this measure clarifies a State's ability, under Medicaid, to provide care for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome in residential pediatric recovery centers like Lily's Place, which we have in Huntington, WV. The First Lady actually visited Lily's Place, and we would welcome her to come back.

We also reauthorized the Residential Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women, a grant program I worked with my former colleague Senator Ayotte to include in CARA. This provides new resources to identify, prevent, and mitigate the effects of trauma related to the opioid epidemic on infants, children, and their families.

If nothing is done for this generation and the ripple effect on children, I fear we are at real risk of losing not just one generation to opioids but the next generation as well. Fortunately, there are lots of things that are being done. I will mention one: the Martinsburg Initiative in West Virginia, which is a combination among Shepherd University, the Martinsburg Police Department, and Berkeley County Schools, as well as the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Eastern Panhandle working together, based on a CDC study which shows that when children have adverse childhood experiences, such as exposure to drugs and alcohol, it can have a major impact on their physical and mental development. When we started CARA 2 years ago, it was a good start, and the SUPPORT Act is a great next step. A lot of this has to do with funding. The Defense-Labor conference report that the President signed into law last week includes $3.8 billion for the opioid epidemic--an increase of $250 million. With this year's funding, funding for related programs has increased by more than $3.5 billion over 4 years. Clearly, we have a commitment to this as a body, as all of us working together.

I would like to applaud the efforts of all the committees involved and especially the dedication of the HELP Committee--Chairman Alexander and his staff and those who have worked together. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on ongoing and emerging problems in this space. Methamphetamine is something that is way on the rise and taking over, unfortunately, from heroin, which is just a terrific tragedy.

There is no one silver bullet when it comes to the opioid epidemic, but one thing is certain: I and we will keep fighting against those who are bringing deadly drugs into our communities. We will fight for those struggling with addiction and seeking treatment. We will fight for the children who are caught in the middle, and we will fight for every other person who is affected by this crisis.

I am going to keep fighting for States like mine. Even in the darkest hours in West Virginia with this crisis, we have continued to move forward to a better place. Overdoses are down in Huntington, WV, by 41 percent because of our community efforts toward a brighter, drug-free future. That is what we are all fighting for.

I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I am on the floor to thank the ranking member of the full committee for his good, hard work on this bill and certainly Senator Shelby and the subcommittee chairs.

We are here to talk about some of the important issues in this bill and how consequential this bill will be and has the potential to be.

We are encompassing both Defense and Labor-HHS, both of which passed out of our committee a few weeks ago with bipartisan support and a lot of input from Members in the process.

Bills of this magnitude deserve to be debated on the Senate floor, as we are doing today. I will first address the defense part of this measure because I think it impacts not only our standing here and our military here but also has a global impact.

President Trump has made rebuilding and strengthening our military one of his administration's primary objectives, and this bill helps him do exactly that.

This legislation invests in programs, projects, technologies, and capabilities that will strengthen our Nation's military. More importantly, it invests in the people behind all of these efforts by including a 2.6-percent raise for all of our military. That includes our National Guard.

Our National Guard's presence in West Virginia is essential not only to our Nation's security but to all the core values and the core strengths the National Guard brings to the State of West Virginia. All of these men and women deserve our support and our commitment to provide them with what they need to defend freedom both here and abroad.

Of course, the legislation under consideration doesn't just focus on the military; it also focuses on another war being waged right here in our country, and that is the fight against the opioid epidemic.

Under the leadership of Chairman Blunt--and he has been fantastic in the committee--the Labor-HHS Subcommittee has made this issue a top priority, and I could not be more grateful, more proud, and, even more importantly, more hopeful.

We saw the statistics come out last week that there have been over 70,000 deaths across the country. It is deeply troubling as to how to get the best handle on this very difficult problem.

Over the past 4 years, we have increased funding for this effort of fighting the opioid crisis by more than 1,275 percent, but we haven't done this blindly. We are just not throwing money at the problem. I think we have been very thoughtful, as have our partners in the State and local areas.

We have focused on treatment through our community health centers. We have focused on prevention, working with the CDC. We have focused on recovery through our workforce initiatives. We have focused on research at NIH, where, hopefully, NIH can develop a nonaddicitive opioid treatment, which I think will be a major breakthrough for this problem, and we have focused on directing funding to the States to meet the local challenges through their State opioid response grants. We have also focused on the ripple effects of this epidemic, including the impact on families and children in foster care. These are all important resources and much needed.

I want to call special attention to our work, something that is extremely important to my home State of West Virginia. In the previous funding legislation, when we were dealing with this problem, I authored language with Senator Shaheen. We had language directing funds in the State opioid response grants to those States with the greatest needs.

The unfortunate metric in my State, and certainly in the Presiding Officer's State as well, is that we have States with smaller populations, but we have some of the biggest impacts, the highest addiction, the highest overdose, and the highest death rates across the country. This has enabled us to focus more funding on those States that are more deeply affected but don't have the population to have enough formula funding in those States to meet our needs.

Just a few weeks ago, our State Department of Health and Human Resources released the preliminary numbers. So far in West Virginia, we have had almost 500 opioid-related deaths. While this is the most devastating statistic, when it comes to West Virginia and the opioid epidemic, it is not the only one. It is not the only one we need to look at.

We are seeing an increasing number of children in foster care. This has impacted the entire family. There are more grandparents and great- grandparents who are raising their grandchildren and their great- grandchildren.

Our State has an increased need for treatment facilities. We have more babies who are requiring neonatal care, as well as the services as they grow. This has impacted our entire State very deeply. I have seen these needs firsthand through visits to the facilities, conversations with families, counselors, recovering addicts, healthcare professionals, and first responders.

I can say that living in a smaller area, more rural area of our country, I know families personally who have been impacted by this. It is heartbreaking how many people need help, and I think this bill takes major steps to help in delivering that.

While the opioid epidemic is a very significant focus of Labor-HHS, I wish to highlight some of the other valuable investments. One that is a personal priority of mine, and I know of Chairman Blunt's, and many of us, as well as Senator Collins, who is here today, is the funding we provide for Alzheimer's research.

In the last 4 years, both of my parents have died with severe dementia and Alzheimer's. It is probably the saddest and hardest thing we, as a family, have ever had to face.

I understand the emotional, physical, and financial toll it takes on patients, their caregivers, and families, because a lot of the caregivers are family members. It is a devastating disease, which is why I have been such a supporter of a wide range of Alzheimer's-related legislation.

With this bill we have surpassed, with the help of Chairman Blunt and his leadership, a $2 billion milestone when it comes to Alzheimer's research. That isn't just for research. It is also to figure out the best way to help our caregivers.

Also in this bill, we have directed help to other priorities to a lot of rural States like mine for community health centers, which are critical.

As for apprenticeship grants, I was just with the plumbers and pipefitters. Apprenticeships are absolutely critical to the workforce that we need.

There is the IDeA Program at NIH, which drives research dollars out to universities, away from the main campus of NIH. Certainly, our colleges and universities are taking advantage of this, in particular West Virginia University.

We also fully fund--and I am very excited about this--with the help of Senator Reed, our bill on childhood cancer. It is called the STAR Act. We introduced it, and we passed it. This legislation will expand opportunities for childhood cancer research, improve efforts to identify and track childhood cancer incidences, and enhance the quality of life for our childhood cancer survivors. Many of them have cancer and have treatments in their younger years, but what happens to them as they enter their teenage years, their young adult years, or if they move into family life? There are impacts that impact our childhood cancer survivors all throughout their life. So I am really pleased with the efforts we have made there.

In short, this legislation aims to improve the health and well-being of every single American.

When it comes to the Department of Labor, very briefly, this is important for us in West Virginia. There is a training program there for displaced coal workers and coal miners. We have re-funded that. We have pushed more funding to that, I should say. ``Re-fund'' sounds a little confusing, I think.

We have also increased the maximum amount for Pell grants.

These are just a few highlights of this piece of legislation with a few critical resources that will make a big difference.

I know this bill will benefit my State of West Virginia because it recognizes the needs and opportunities facing our State and Nation and it provides the resources we need to seize those opportunities. It also demonstrates, for the first time in a long time, that we have worked together and we have worked across the aisle. We have been able to have our say as Members--every single one of us--as to where and how we want to see both Defense and Labor-HHS, these enormously impactful agencies, and how they impact our lives. For me, that is a major victory, being a member of the Appropriations Committee.

So I want to extend again my gratitude to the subcommittee chair, Senator Blunt, and the ranking member, Senator Murray, and then to our two major chairs, Senator Leahy and Senator Shelby. It is a good day here on the floor of the Senate.

Thank you.

I yield the floor to Senator Moran.

Mr. President, I wish to acknowledge the loss of a public servant, veteran, and good man, Paul Joseph Gilmer, Jr., and recognize his years of service to the people of West Virginia.

Paul's life serves as an example to those who strive to be the change they want to see in their communities. He was an active member and leader of several community organizations and a mentor to innumerable Charleston youth. Furthermore, he was a family man whose memory and legacy will live on through his wife, children, grandchildren, and all those who knew and loved him.

A lifelong resident of Charleston, Paul went to Dunbar High School before serving in the U.S. Army. He returned to the Kanawha Valley to continue his education, graduating from West Virginia State University with a bachelor's degree, and went on to work for IBM for 25 years.

Following his career with IBM, Paul entered public service and worked for the city of Charleston in the city manager and mayor's offices before being elected as a city councilman. He was the executive director of the Community Council of Kanawha Valley, Inc., and senior vice president of the United Way of Kanawha Valley. An entrepreneur, Paul was also the owner of Business, Tax and Accounting Services, as well as PJ Gilmer, Inc.

Beyond his career, Paul devoted his time to various community organizations, serving in leadership capacities at the Kanawha Valley Collective, the National Association of Planning and Research Councils, the West Virginia Center for Civic Life, and the Schoenbaum Family Enrichment Center, among many others. He also served as a volunteer manager of several youth sports programs, impacting the lives of the next generation by his example and his message of working tirelessly to effect positive change.

Above all, however, Paul was a family man. He leaves behind his wife of 45 years, Linda, as well as his children Batese, Melissa, Ryan, Charles, Shawn, and Anthony, and their children. He is also survived by his mother and four siblings.

Paul told the young men and women he mentored ``not to achieve, but overachieve,'' in order to do something positive with their lives. Paul's life was a testament to his message, as he overachieved in making Charleston, WV, a stronger community. It was an honor to call him a friend and fellow West Virginian.

Mr. President, I am really pleased to be on the floor today to join my fellow Senator from Missouri to talk about, as a fellow member of the Appropriations Committee, what I think are the real highlights and the good parts about the fact that the process is moving but also what is contained within the process.

Senator Blunt did a great job, I think, of explaining some of the more detailed areas that are important to the entire Country but also to his area. I am going to do the same for my State of West Virginia.

I want to commend the committee leadership, both the committee chairs and the ranking members, and our Senate leadership, both Senator McConnell and Senator Schumer, for moving this process forward and for making good on the promise that we are going to return the appropriations process to regular order.

I tried it to explain it in a radio interview today. I found myself saying: Well, of course, we would be doing this every year, because appropriating money every year is one of the core missions of the Congress. It kind of hasn't worked out that way. This progress that we are making on these four bills and the three previous bills, I think, are an indicator that we will have overwhelming bipartisan support. Each of these bills was written under the budget agreement that we passed and President Trump signed into law.

These bills address a broad range of national concerns and priorities. They highlight areas that we found bipartisan agreement and support on. I am also happy that many of these bills not only have national priorities, but a lot of the national priorities are focused toward different States--rural America, urban America, agriculture America, highly technical jobs, et cetera.

Since my first days in the Senate, I have been committed to doing all that I can to advance the issues that help the Mountain State, including improving our economy and making room for

growth and development, fighting burdensome and overreaching environmental regulations that have crippled our coal industry, improving broadband access in our rural communities and across the States, and fighting the opioid epidemic that has disproportionately affected my State of West Virginia and is devastating so many families and communities not only in our State but across the country.

The bills under consideration today include resources and directions to address each of these priorities and many others.

In our Omnibus appropriations act of 2018, we made a significant investment in a pilot project at the USDA to improve rural broadband in unserved and underserved areas. The State of West Virginia is right in there in terms of lack of broadband deployment in our most rural areas. The Agriculture appropriations bill in this minibus builds on those investments and provides an additional $400 million into that pilot program.

Closing the digital divide has been one of my top priorities. I started my Capito Connect plan to talk about the progress that can be made. This pilot program will help us to build on that progress and connect areas that previously lacked service, making that the highlight of the bill for me.

We had a hearing today about 5G in the Commerce Committee and about how much faster speeds and more advanced technology can improve the economy and how it can be extrapolated to the numbers of jobs and the numbers of dollars into the economy. I am a firm believer that technology is going to drive this, but for those areas that are still left behind or are still on the wrong side of the digital divide, certainly, the program within the USDA is going to be a big boost.

I have already had several conversations with USDA to make sure they understand the unique challenges that we face in West Virginia when it comes to connectivity and so that they continue to keep these challenges in mind as they move forward on the pilot programs.

Every Senator here could make an argument on what their particular challenges are. One of the challenges that we face that some of our midwesterners don't face as much is our terrain. We are not called the Mountain State for nothing. It is hard to drive from one place to another without being in a mountain. If you don't live on a hill, you live in the valley. That creates challenges for connectivity that technology is going to drive. I am very encouraged about this. I am very encouraged, not just about the broadband part of agriculture but the rural development, water, and electricity infrastructure and about opposing cuts to several programs that have been very helpful to our rural communities.

West Virginia, as does every State, also has challenges and opportunities in the transportation sector. I see the chairman of the Transportation Subcommittee here, Senator Collins. She has done great work on the T-HUD appropriations bill. Some of these--certainly, the Airport Improvement Program and the Contract Tower Program--are very important to our smaller airports as well as to our cities, which receive the CDBG funding. They provide ways to improve communities and ways to move forward with the housing and development we need. Also, just in a smaller sense, they help the rail service by ensuring we have a ticket agent in Charleston for Amtrak. It sounds like a small thing, but it is good for tourism and good for our city and good that our Hinton Railroad days will be able to go on uninterrupted.

One thing that has been interrupted in the last several years is any kind of sustained economic progress in our coal and energy sectors--the result, I believe, of the previous administration's never-ending war on coal. Thanks to the new administration, that war is over. This bill will help us in making sure that what remains will give us a fair and even playing field.

The Interior portion of this bill ensures that the EPA returns to its core mission of environmental cleanup. The Interior bill, which, I should note, passed the subcommittee by 31 to 0--everybody voted for it in committee--also emphasizes the need to fund the deferred maintenance of our national parks. This is something for which I have long advocated. We are at a point at which we are really going to make a significant difference here.

The Secretary of the Interior is really devoted to this, as is the President. This is very much a bipartisan effort.

It restores proposed cuts to the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds and grants programs that are tremendously helpful to States and localities. Some of these grants are not very large, but they make the difference of there being clean, drinkable water and water systems as opposed to having to bring your water in, which, in this day and age, in my opinion, in our country shouldn't be happening.

The bill also includes funding to continue a pilot program through the Abandoned Mine Lands Funds to invest in projects that will strengthen our local economies. Obviously, this has been very helpful in West Virginia and in Pennsylvania. We have a lot of abandoned mine land area that needs reclamation, that needs repurposing, and this program is very helpful for that.

The final bill is the Financial Services and General Government bill. I served as the chair of the FSGG bill in the last Congress, during the fiscal year 2018 budget. I was pleased that the funding levels we placed in fiscal year 2018 have remained and that some of the priorities have remained in fiscal year 2019, including a historic increase for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, called the HIDTA Program. This is out of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, where you get a coordinated effort from your State, local, and Federal law enforcement to stop the illegal flow of drugs into our country, which is literally killing a generation and is killing a lot of our communities.

We have an increase in there for drug-free communities, something that is a ground-up program, where your communities get together and ask: How do we solve this problem we have in our small communities? This increase, I think, demonstrates a commitment to the Office of National Drug Control Policy and a rejection of the proposed elimination of the ONDCP.

In having been a Member who voted for the historic tax cuts and tax relief we passed in December, I want to make sure the IRS can implement this so we don't have a glitch or a hitch while people are getting more money back when filing their new taxes. The IRS needs these resources. It just so happens that a lot of those IRS workers actually live and work in the State of West Virginia, so this will have a great impact, I think, in my region.

As one can see, we are doing the people's business by taking up and debating these appropriations bills. I think the committee is functioning, and the Senate floor is already functioning with three bills having gone out and there having been the opportunity for everybody to have weighed in, yea or nay. That is kind of why we are sent here, isn't it? We are sent here to express an opinion, to vote, to make the thoughts of our constituents and our own thoughts known. I am even proud that a lot of the resources we are going to be addressing in these bills will help to address very important West Virginia priorities.

I look forward to the continuing debate on amendments, to the continuing openness of the process, and to the continuing cooperation and dedication of spirit to do the work we have been sent to do--to appropriate the money, to prioritize our tax dollars, and to show the efficiency and care that every single one of our taxpayers deserves. That is what we are doing today.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I want to take a few moments to talk about what I believe is an excellent choice that President Trump made on Monday, and that is in selecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Judge Kavanaugh's credentials are those of a person very well suited for the U.S. Supreme Court. He excelled as an undergraduate and as a law student at Yale and clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is retiring--the man he would replace--and was also a clerk for two Federal appeals court judges. He served in a very critical position in President George W. Bush's administration.

Beyond his resume is a record of respect and effectiveness. Judge Kavanaugh is highly regarded by his colleagues in the Federal judiciary. I think that says a lot about his potential and his character in terms of potential to become a Supreme Court Justice. He has also impressed others over his long and very prestigious career.

We saw his wonderful family on Monday night. We can tell they are very proud of their dad and their mom, and I was very honored to have the opportunity to meet all of them, along with Judge Kavanaugh's parents.

He has been very effective. As a matter of fact, this Supreme Court has adopted his reasoning in their opinions on 11 separate occasions, and the 300 opinions he has written are frequently cited by Federal judges all across the country.

But perhaps Judge Kavanaugh's most qualifying characteristic is something I heard him say at the White House on Monday evening. When the President announced his nomination, Judge Kavanaugh committed to be open-minded in the cases that come before him as a Supreme Court Justice. Open-minded--I think that is critical, and his record backs up that commitment.

He has a long and clear record of fairly applying the text of our Constitution and our laws. There will be a lot to consider on Judge Kavanaugh because he has such a long and very clear record of writing, and the President mentioned his very precise writing skills.

When I consider nominees for the Supreme Court, I don't look for a person who promises particular policy outcomes or someone who is out to actually create laws; what I look for is a person who reflects experience, fairness, and respect for the Constitution as it is written. That is because the Constitution assigns legislative authority to us, to elected representatives in the Congress. Accountability to the American people is diminished when unelected judges pursue their own policy goals.

A newspaper in the Northern Panhandle of our State, the Wheeling Intelligencer, editorialized today:

Kavanaugh has said that if confirmed to the Supreme Court,

his allegiance will be to the Constitution as it is written,

not to his personal preferences. That is precisely what the

Nation needs.

Another editorial appearing in West Virginia today--this one from the Daily Mail--said:

A conservative Supreme Court justice interprets the U.S.

Constitution for all, not just those on the right or the

left.

I believe Judge Kavanaugh truly understands a Justice's and a judge's proper role, and I think no one puts that better than the judge himself. I would like to read a portion of a speech he gave last fall:

One overarching goal for me is to make judging a more

neutral, impartial process in all cases, not just statutory

interpretation. The American rule of law, as I see it,

depends on neutral, impartial judges who say what the law is,

not what the law should be. Judges are umpires, or at least

should always strive to be umpires. In a perfect world, at

least as I envision it, the outcomes of [cases] would not

often vary based solely on the backgrounds, political

affiliations, or policy views of judges. This is the rule of

law

as the law of rules; the judge as umpire; the judge who is

not free to roam in the constitutional or statutory forest as

he or she sees fit.

In my view, too, this goal is not merely a preference of

mine but a constitutional mandate in a separation-of-powers

system.

I believe that Judge Kavanaugh and I share the belief that faithfulness to the text of the law as written, not the pursuit of a particular policy outcome, should be the goal of a judge.

In the same speech last year, Judge Kavanaugh discussed his meeting with then-West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd during his confirmation process to the DC Circuit. Most West Virginians and Americans know the reverence that Senator Byrd had for the text of the Constitution. During his speech, Judge Kavanaugh spoke of reading the text of Article I with Senator Byrd. Senator Byrd was among the Democrats who voted to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the DC Circuit. I think Judge Kavanaugh's record on the DC Circuit and his experience merit a bipartisan confirmation process--the same type of bipartisanship that Senator Byrd showed when he voted for Judge Kavanaugh.

For all of the noise and debate outside of this Chamber, the confirmation process for a well-qualified Supreme Court nominee does not have to focus on trying to guess how a Justice Kavanaugh might rule in a particular case. As a matter of fact, I think that will be a futile exercise and quite damaging to the process at the same time. If we are looking for a fair umpire, which we are looking for, there is no reason a nominee with a strong record of applying the text of the Constitution and the law should not be confirmed with overwhelming support.

President Trump made clear in his campaign that he would appoint judges with respect for the Constitution. I believe he kept his commitment when he nominated Brett Kavanaugh to become a Supreme Court Justice.

The process is just beginning where Judge Kavanaugh's record will be scrutinized to the nth degree. We are going to have hearings, and I hope all of us--and I am certainly putting myself in this category-- will have the opportunity--and I think we will--to sit down one-on-one, to talk with Judge Kavanaugh, to make our own judgments about his qualifications and his abilities in terms of becoming a Supreme Court Justice.

I look forward to advancing the process, and I look forward to meeting with Judge Kavanaugh.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I wish to acknowledge the loss of one of West Virginia's brightest and recognize the life of a dedicated advocate, educator, veteran, and good man: Roger L. Sherman.

Throughout his life, Roger was known for his dedication to responsible forestry and the people of rural West Virginia. From championing economic development to advancing graduate-level education, Roger made significant contributions in the areas of public advocacy, education, and community service that benefit West Virginians to this day. Above all, Roger was highly regarded as a man of conscience, whose integrity pervaded every aspect of his life and work.

A veteran, Roger served in the U.S. Army for 3 years until 1969. He graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor's of science in forestry and went on to obtain a master's degree in forestry from Yale University. He joined Westvaco as public affairs forester in 1977, and from there, embarked on a more than 40-year career advancing the interests of private landowners in West Virginia. During this time, he served as volunteer chair of the legislative committee of the West Virginia Forestry Association, WVFA, a position he held for 38 years. He also received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Outstanding Service to Forestry Award

and the President's Service Award from the WVFA and the Society of American Foresters' John A. Beale Memorial Award; and in 2011, he was inducted into the West Virginia Agriculture and Forestry Hall of Fame.

In addition to his storied career, Roger was an active participant in his community and various organizations. He was a board member of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and forcefully advocated for the interests of rural West Virginia, organizing the informal rural caucus in the West Virginia House of Delegates. He also organized and obtained funding for a graduate-level course in economics that he cotaught with professors at West Virginia University.

Above all, Roger was a man of faith and family. He is survived by his beloved wife, Marlo, and son, Zachary, as well as his mother and sister.

Roger's love of forestry and West Virginia lives on through the positive impacts he made on the State and countless West Virginians. He approached his job with integrity and positivity, and I think I speak for many when I say he will be sorely missed. It was an honor to call him a friend and fellow West Virginian.

Mr. President, I have 11 requests 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 commerce, science, and transportation

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Complex Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities: Lessons Learned from Spectre and Meltdown.''

committee on environment and public works

The Committee on Environment and Public Works is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``the Long-term Value to U.S. Taxpayers of Low-cost Federal Infrastructure Loans''.

committee on foreign relations

The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, to conduct a hearing.

committee on the judiciary

The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Ryan Douglas Nelson, of Idaho, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit, Stephen R. Clark, Sr., to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri, John M. O'Connor, to be United States District Judge for the Northern, Eastern and Western Districts of Oklahoma, Joshua Wolson, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and James W. Carroll, Jr., of Virginia, to be Director of National Drug Control Policy.

committee on indian affairs

The Committee on Indian Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing on H.R. 597.

committee on indian affairs

The Committee on Indian Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing on S. 2599.

select committee on intelligence

The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 10:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Election Security Preparations: Federal and Vendor Perspectives''.

committee on rules and administration

The Committee on Rules and Administration is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 10:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Election Security Preparations: Federal and Vendor Perspectives''.

subcommittee on national parks

The Subcommittee on National Parks of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 3 p.m. to conduct a hearing.

subcommittee on federal spending oversight and emergency management

The Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Examining Warrantless Smartphone Searches at the Border''.

subcommittee on social security, pensions, and family policy

The Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy of the Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, July 11, 2018, at 2:30 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Examining the Importance of Paid Family Leave for American Working Families''.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to highlight the 6-month anniversary of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I would like to illustrate what it has meant to the people of West Virginia since President Trump signed this into law. I will speak in a larger sense, as well, regarding what a difference it has made in this country.

We see it in the news every single day, and the benefits are really undeniable. Since Congress passed tax reform, we have seen incredible job creation--more than 1 million jobs, to be exact. We have seen unemployment drop to historic lows and wages are on the rise. Our small businesses and their employees are feeling optimistic again.

When I travel throughout the State and visit our small businesses, there is a real hop in the step of those small business owners and those who work there because of their increased business, because of their ability to expand, and other things that they have wanted to do for years. So it really has been an incredible transformation.

Only a few days ago, a ``CNBC News'' survey showed that 54 percent of Americans say the economy is ``good or excellent''--good or excellent. That is the highest percentage that has ever been recorded in the 10 years that CNBC has been doing the survey.

But even more important are the number of stories that I have heard of what has transpired since we did tax reform. In letters, in meetings, and everywhere around town, I have heard from West Virginians who are feeling the positive effects of tax reform. Our small businesses have been able to expand and hire new employees. They have been able to give back to their employees, whether in the form of bonuses or reaching out to their communities with more charitable donations. Others have been able to create jobs and hire more workers.

Just this month, I received a letter from a constituent, Chris from Charleston, who owns an eye consulting business. Chris wrote that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is ``legislation that has benefited small business owners all across the country and our folks back here in West Virginia.'' He said that as a result of the tax cuts, small businesses have hired more people, raised employee wages, and expanded opportunities and operations.

He continued to talk about the other aspects of the tax cuts. He said:

That doesn't sound like a tax cut that only caters to the

rich and powerful. As each week passes, more and more of our

fellow Americans support the new tax code. I hear it from my

patients in the office all the time.

Chris isn't alone. I have heard from families who are better able to cover expenses and invest in their children's education. When President Trump traveled to West Virginia this spring, we spoke to one family, the Ferrell family from Huntington. Thanks to tax reform, the Ferrells were able to open a 529 savings account for the first time to help support their children in their education.

I have heard from families who have been able to afford high-speed internet for the first time. That might sound like a little thing to a lot of people, but it is a big thing to a family and to a child who comes home from school and can't do their homework because they don't have connectivity. Because of that change, one more student in our State is able to complete their homework at home. They no longer have to feel left behind when they get back to school. That is a powerful thing.

But it is not just West Virginia's small businesses and working families who are benefiting from tax reform. In our State, these benefits are helping to improve entire communities.

During President Trump's roundtable--again, in West Virginia--we also heard from Tony, who is a rural mail carrier. Tony and his wife Jessica live in Hurricane, WV, with their two sons. Tony explained that because of tax reform, their family was not only able to make home improvements, but they were also able to make more charitable contributions.

Specifically, they took extra money that they are seeing in their paychecks and gave it to their church, specifically for the faith-based initiative that has

been a very successful resource in fighting the opioid epidemic that we see throughout our State. It is no secret that this opioid epidemic is severely damaging and having devastating consequences in our State with our communities and our families. But because of tax cuts and Tony and Jessica's generosity, at least one community has extra support that can be used to fight back against the drug crisis.

I know this is not an isolated incident. It is one that illustrates a very important point: Tax reform is making real and meaningful changes in West Virginia and across the country. That is certainly not crumbs to us in the Mountain State.

Just think that it has only been 6 months--only 6 months--and already 4 million workers have received bonuses across the country. Consumer confidence is at an all-time, 18-year high, and 102 utility companies have cut their rates. Think of what that does for the folks at the lower end of the economic scale. When your power bill is $50 or $100 less or even $25 less a month, that makes a difference. That makes a real difference. And more than 8,000 low-income communities have been designated as opportunity zones.

I am excited to see what else is ahead for the State of West Virginia and for all Americans thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I am excited to continue building on the incredible momentum that we have created, and I am excited to continue delivering pro-growth solutions that will help to improve lives all across this country.

Tribute to Dennis Frye

On another note, Mr. President, I was just visited by Dennis Frye, who is a retiring park ranger in Harpers Ferry. He has been a good friend to me. He is a historian of the highest degree on the Civil War and the critical battles that were fought in and around Harpers Ferry and in that region of our State and in Virginia and Maryland.

I want to thank him for his service, for his 42 years, 32 of those in the Park Service. He is a public servant who will never be forgotten in our region. I know he is going to continue to give back to the community.

So I want to say thank you to Dennis for his depth of knowledge, for his appreciation for our history, and for his appreciation of what we can really learn about our future if we look back at our history.

So thank you to Dennis Frye.

With that, I yield the floor.