Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise--I want to thank Senator Schatz for making that motion and his fight for these nominees to get the government running, when the chairman of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee and others continue to block one nominee after another nominee after another nominee.

I rise to honor an Ohio public servant who is retiring this month after 32 years of service on the bench in Northeast Ohio.

Judge Patrick Carroll, whom I knew 30 years ago before he was on the bench, as a--just a good citizen of Cuyahoga County, has dedicated his life to serving Ohioans, including serving as Lakewood Municipal Court Judge for some three decades.

He grew up in Northeast Ohio. Judge Carroll spent his life in the community, from Cleveland State to the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, to the county prosecutor's office, to the local bench.

He not only served the public in the courtroom, he has been a lifelong teacher--by many different definitions--mentoring young attorneys and judges at his law school and then on the faculty of the Ohio Judicial College.

Twice in the last 3 years, Judge Carroll received the President's Award for Judicial Excellence from the Association of Municipal and County Court Judges of Ohio.

I had the privilege of joining him earlier this fall, along with Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, for a bipartisan event of highlighting the innovative work that they were both doing.

Judge Carroll--the innovative work that they have done preventing evictions during the pandemic helped get the word out to more Ohio judges about what they can do to connect Ohio with the emergency rental assistance that we provided back months ago from the Congress.

In the American Rescue Plan, we provided grants to State and local governments for emergency rental and utility assistance to families across the country. The last thing we wanted was a wave of evictions during the health crisis. We know people move in with family members, the COVID spreads even faster. We know that happened too often.

This eviction prevention effort was a lifeline for so many families that that might have happened to.

We know what it does to families even during normal times. Think about the upheaval that that causes, especially for children. Their health suffers. They may get pulled out of their school to go to a different school. They may have to give up their pet because the pet costs too much money. You can't bring them to a new apartment. They don't feel stable. It is much harder for their parents to get back to work using public transportation, if they are even served, and to earn a living.

As all of us know, when people are evicted, they end up in crowded shelters or moving in with family. It makes them more vulnerable to coronavirus. It makes it more likely to spread, especially among people who are not vaccinated.

We know that 90 percent of the hospitalizations--whether it is Columbus, GA, or Columbus, OH--90 percent of patients in hospitals with COVID are unvaccinated.

Finding another place to rent after an eviction is much, much harder.

After we passed the American Rescue Plan, not enough people knew help was available to them. That is where Judge Carroll came in. That is where Chief Justice O'Connor came in. The work they have done to divert eviction proceedings and connect people with help is literally lifesaving for many.

He taught courses to the State judiciary on eviction law. He worked with tenants and landlords to divert eviction proceedings. Judges can work to connect both renters and landlords with the help available to them.

Ohio leads the way because of Judge Carroll and because of Chief Justice O'Connor in preventing evictions and connecting people with their potential emergency rental assistance. These actions by the judges encourage them to--tenants to explore all rental assistance options before the judge proceeds with an eviction case.

Since the start of the pandemic, more than 1,000 households in Lakewood, OH, a suburb west of Cleveland, have been connected with some form of rental help--more than 1,000 households. That is because of the work that Judge Carroll did and the work that Justice O'Connor has done around the State. It is the kind of success we want to see replicated in Ohio and across the country.

In September, Judge Carroll told us that judges need to ``recognize eviction cases are more than civil cases for disposition. An eviction order impacts a person's life, home and property, and in many cases, the lives of children who are uprooted from school when forced to move.''

He is a judge that--as President Lincoln used to tell his staff, I have got to leave the White House and go out and get my public opinion bath. That is what Judge Carroll as a judge does. It is not necessarily something most judges do, but when he does that, he finds out what he can do as a judge to prevent families from being evicted.

We need more judges in Ohio and around the country to follow his lead in a final push to get rental assistance to Americans in need.

The Biden administration has worked throughout the year with us on eviction--on help for evictions, on emergency rental assistance, cutting redtape, encouraging State and local governments to move faster to get this help to families and landlords. That work has delivered impressive results. More than 520,000 renters received emergency rental assistance in October alone.

It means those families were able to keep their homes, keep their lights on in October, work to get back on their feet, and recover from the pandemic.

In total, more than 2\1/2\ million payments have gone out to tenants and landlords. Now, with the end of the year approaching, we need that final push to get funding to the renters and the landlords who need it.

As Judge Carroll prepares for a well-earned retirement, it is my hope that this will be an important part of his legacy--of the work Chief Justice O'Connor does and the work that they do in Ohio and we can do around the country--as an example to public servants in Ohio and all over the United States, showing how we can keep a roof over families' heads, allow landlords to pay their bills, and emerge stronger from this pandemic.

I urge my colleagues--ask them to join me in honoring Judge Patrick Carroll and a lifetime of service to the people of my great State.

Madam President, over the past couple of years, Ohioans and Americans around the country have worked and sacrificed to get our country through this pandemic. Among those who have risen to meet this historic moment are the dedicated public servants on our Senate staff. These patriots have given their all over these last 20 months to protect Ohioans' health, to put money in people's pockets, to keep a roof over people's heads, and to help our State and our country overcome this health and economic crisis.

I would not have been able to do the vital work we have done in the Senate without their expertise and dedication and talent, and we would not be where we are today as a country--with rising wages, record job growth, and lifesaving vaccines--without them. This holiday season, I ask my Senate colleagues to join me in thanking these dedicated professionals for their service to our country:

Ben Ashman; Mohammad Aslami; Blair Austin; Brian Ayers;

Diana Baron; Shilesha Bamberg; Sarah Benzing; Emily Blaydes;

Gabriel Bitol; Chad Bolt; Alyssa Brockington; Alea Brown;

Homer Carlisle; Dani Carlson; Megan Cheney; Min Cheng; Emily

Chipps; William Clayton; Beth Clodfelter; Beth Cooper; Alan

Cox; J. Bradley Deane; Andrew Dickson; Abigail Duggan;

Anthony Eliopoulos; Corey Frayer; Chanty Gbaye; Joe Gilligan;

Francis Goins; Anna Gokaldas; Ross Griffin; Stanley Hardy;

Sarah Harms; James Harnett; Diop Harris; Rachael Hartford;

Jeremy Hekhuis; Joseph Henry; Christian Hill; Leah Hill;

Mycheala Holley; Patrick Horn; Aarti Iyer; Alysa James; Marie

Therese Kane; Matthew Keyes; Mike King; Zac Kiser; Sue Klein;

Geoffrey Knight; Erica Krause; Ben Lockshin; Ann Longsworth

Orr; Mayra Lozano; Brian Lyons; Megan Malara; Marilee Marks;

Drew Martineau; Allison Mazzeo; Jonathan McCracken; Colin

McGinnis; Rajani Menon; John Miller; Samantha Miller; Katie

Mulhall Quintela; Paulanne Oakes; Tanya Otsuka; Sneha Pandya;

John Patterson; Emily Pellegrino; Jordan Pennell; Trudy

Perkins; Seth Pringle; John Richards; Charissee Ridgeway;

Kate Rodriguez; Pam Rosado; Phil Rudd; John Ryan; Vincent

Sarubbi; Vinny Sheu; Sarah Shalash; Ellen Short; William

Shostrand; Fatima Sierra-Vargas; Jan Singelmann; Cierra

Stewart; Laura Swanson; Che Thomas; Nora Todd; Mary

Topolinski; Elisha Tuku; Elaine Vilem; Meghan Vogel; Dariah

Williams; Carolina Young.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print the following letter into the Congressional Record.

Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to join me in confirming Brian Nelson to serve as Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Crimes at the Department of Treasury.

Mr. Nelson is highly qualified. He has had years of dedicated public service to our country.

Early in his career, he clerked for two distinguished Federal judges. He served in the National Security Division at the Department of Justice, first as special counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, later as the Division's Deputy Chief of Staff.

In these roles, Mr. Nelson supported the development, the implementation, the coordination, and the review of U.S. intelligence, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and national security policies.

He went to work for the California Department of Justice, where he served as special assistant attorney general and then as general counsel to then-attorney general, now-Vice President Harris.

He worked to combat threats like human and drug trafficking by prosecuting international criminals, starving them of their financial resources.

As Under Secretary, Mr. Nelson will be responsible for protecting our financial system from terrorists, from rogue states, money launderers, weapons proliferators, and other criminals who threaten our national security.

His nomination is another example of the Biden administration's serious--underline ``serious''--efforts to protect both our economy and our national security.

He would take on this job at a critical time for protecting our country's national security, as we work to rebuild alliances abroad, while threats of domestic terrorism are on the rise at home.

Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is one of the cornerstones of our country's efforts. That is the importance of this nomination of Mr. Nelson, one of our country's efforts to combat terrorist financing here and around the world.

The FBI Director recently testified that racially motivated and anti- government extremists are likely to be the biggest domestic threat this year and in 2022.

Think about that. The FBI Director testified that racially motivated and anti-government extremists--and we remember that day so well just 10 months ago--11 months ago. They are the likely biggest domestic threats to our country this year and next year.

Mr. Nelson will be the first African American serving in this important national security position. When we have people in these roles who reflect the country they serve, we get better, more competent government.

That is what always flummoxes me about hiring practices in this body and around the country. When you hire people that don't necessarily look like you, you get a better office that understands different perspectives. It understands better the way this country works and helps us to better serve the people whom we serve.

Unfortunately, we have seen far too many of this administration's nominees held up for months in the nominations process. You just heard an example of that in the speech right before me; not because of their background, experience, and qualifications--those are unquestioned in Mr. Nelson--but for reasons completely unrelated to that nomination.

That is what has happened here. It is the kind of partisan posturing the American people hate. Blocking critical national security and other policy nominees for months over unrelated policy issues is counterproductive; it is misguided; and it is wrong for our country. Going after human trafficking, going after drug trafficking, going after international criminals of all kinds isn't a partisan issue; it is something my Republican colleagues and I work together on all the time. So let's come together today and confirm Mr. Nelson, who is exceptionally well qualified.

He is joined today by his wife and his son.

I urge this body to support Mr. Nelson's nomination, getting in place right away an important part of our national security team.

Order of Business

Mr. President, under the agreement reached by the two leaders on November 16, the Senate will now vote on confirmation of the Nelson nomination.

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

Mr. President, I always laud and so appreciate the principled leadership of the senior Senator from Rhode Island, who never would have done what just happened on the floor when we were in the minority. Jack Reed is always there for the troops and always there for our national security, and I join my colleagues in showing our appreciation. I know the Presiding Officer from New Mexico thinks the same thing.

Small Business Saturday

Mr. President, this weekend, we celebrated Small Business Saturday for Ohioans. And people around the country showed their support for local businesses in their communities by shopping local for holiday gifts.

Small businesses and their workers drive this economy. There is always talk on this floor about small business, but the focus is rarely, in this body, actually on small business and their workers. They create jobs and economic growth in our communities and the heartland, in small towns and overlooked neighborhoods, places that often don't get a lot of outside investment.

The stakeholders in these businesses aren't nameless, faceless shareholders. They are our neighbors, our family members, the people you see at church and at the grocery store, and they are vital to our economic recovery. It is why we passed the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program last year. It is why Democrats and President Biden expanded the American Rescue Plan.

Last week, I asked Ohioans on social media to tell us about their favorite local businesses to support this holiday shopping season-- businesses that go above and beyond to help their community.

This was a little bit, Mr. President--and I have gone to the floor on this before, and you and I have talked about this--when I post on my website, ``What did the child tax credit mean to your family,'' and the effusive outpouring and excitement from so many people saying this should be the role of government. This is what really matters. That is what we found when we posted asking people to share your stories about favorite local businesses. I want to share a few of them.

Beth talked about Mootown Creamery in Berea. She said they are ``so involved in the community, never say no when help is needed.''

Robin gave a shout-out.

And that is in northeast Ohio near Cleveland.

Robin gave a shout-out to Snazzies's in Oxford for local arts. That is in southwest Ohio, north of Cincinnati, the home of Miami University.

I would add that Berea is the home of Baldwin Wallace College too.

Sarah mentioned ``Sunset Bistro in Bowling Green. They not only support their local community, they are devoted to honoring our veterans''--another community with a big State university in northwest Ohio.

Heather wrote about Let's Eat Cake in Urbana. She said: ``Owner Tina is always doing something for the downtown business association and the greater community.''

Donna said: ``I can't say enough about Scott, the owner of Salad KraZe. Scott goes above and beyond to make the city of Avon Lake''--a city on Lake Erie, just east of Lorain--``a great place to live and raise our children.''

Loria said: ``Pouka Art & Photography in Grove City''--in central

Ohio--``does amazing digital printings and photography. She restores old photographs into digital paintings.''

Tia said: ``Gemini Gems & Creations in Lancaster''--a small city southeast of Columbus--``wonderful people who started selling out of their home and during town events''--out of their home and during town events--``and now finally have their own shop.''

Teresa mentioned ``Chris Fultz's sign company, Fultz Signs and his pizza place, Bluelick General, in Lima.''

Lima just swore in this week a new mayor, Sharetta Smith, and the mayor of Dayton, my friend Nan Whaley, attended the swearing in.

Adam mentioned the Copper Penny Salon in Pettisville.

Vickie mentioned the Charmed Farmhouse in Wellington. She said: ``They take food drives and donate to those in town who directly help our community. They survived shutdown and thrive still.''

Think about that: They survived and they thrive. This pandemic hit small businesses hard. For so many of them, they are still paying their workers and serving their communities because of PPP, because of our work through the American Rescue Plan to get people vaccinated.

PPP has helped Ohio businesses survive. Vaccines are bringing back customers, allowing these small businesses to thrive again.

The bipartisan infrastructure plan the President signed just last month is going to mean investment--earlier this month. Excuse me. It is going to mean investment in these businesses' local communities.

People in Ohio and across the country remember how after the last economic crisis in 2008 and 2009, the biggest corporations recovered-- they always do--while large swaths of the country were left behind.

Many of these same communities have watched for decades as factories closed, as investment dried up, as storefronts were boarded over. We can't make that mistake again, and we are not making that mistake.

We are investing in rebuilding roads and bridges and bus and rail systems to revitalize downtowns. We know businesses can't survive on their own. They need safe streets and sidewalks. They need other businesses around. They need bus stops nearby. They need customers with money in their pockets.

As part of the American Rescue Plan, as I said earlier, we passed the largest tax cut for working families ever. Ninety-two percent of families in Ohio who have children under 18--92 percent of those families--will get at least a $3,000-a-year tax cut.

It is essential that this Congress, that this Senate extend that tax cut for at least another year. It is giving millions of Ohio families that tax cut every single month--$250 or $300 per child every single month. We need to make sure they continue.

We need this holiday season to commit to shopping local, and in the Senate let's commit to protecting small business--putting small businesses and workers at the center of our economy.

The workers who shared these--the Ohioans who shared these stories-- know the vibrancy and the dynamism and the diversity of working-class towns in neighborhoods that Senator Portman, who is in the Chamber this evening--that we represent. We need to get to work to invest in them. We need to get to work to ensure that these places--Ohio's Main Streets, America's Main Streets--are at the center of a better economy.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Tuesday, November 30; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 4350; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15

p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

If there is no further business, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of my colleague from Ohio.

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

Mr. President, this week, for the fifth month in a row-- and the Presiding Officer has been standing with us on this important issue--parents in Ohio and Maryland and all over the country, once again, see $250 or $300 or, if they have two children, $600 in tax cuts directly into their bank accounts.

Think about this: 90 percent of Ohio children, this year, will have at least a $3,000 tax cut, not a deduction. This is real money in people's pockets. This is 90 percent of Ohio families who will get at least a $3,000 tax cut, and that is if they have one child. If they have more, they will get a bigger tax cut.

You know, we know how hard parents work at their jobs and at raising their kids. Any parent knows how much work it is to take care of children, especially young children. It has gotten only harder and harder over the last year and a half.

I hear some of my colleagues, especially on that side of the aisle, say--you know, they forget what hard work it is to raise children. And I watched what we were able to do on this with the chairman of the Finance Committee, who just walked in, Senator Wyden, and his leadership on this largest tax cut for working families in my lifetime.

So often, we know hard work doesn't pay off. Think about the past few decades: The stock market went up; productivity went up; executive compensation has been stratospheric; yet, essentially, wages for most workers in this country have been flat.

And you know how expensive it is to raise kids. Healthcare, school lunches, diapers, clothes, school supplies, braces, sports' fees, camp fees--the list never seems to end. And one of the biggest expenses for so many families is childcare. So parents feel like they are stuck. The more they work, the more expensive childcare gets.

One of the reasons that people haven't returned to the workplace as much as some academicians or some professors or somebody predicted--it is not because we were providing unemployment compensation. That just kept them alive. It is because they can't find affordable, accessible, safe childcare. So that is why parents feel like they are stuck. It is why we passed the child tax credit--as I said, the largest tax cut for working families ever. It is about finally, finally making hard work pay off so you can keep up with the cost of raising a family.

One of the joys of this job--and I know that the Senator from Oregon and the Senator from Maryland share this because they do things like this--is we put on our website: What does the monthly child tax credit mean to you?

We started this in July. We voted on it, on this floor, on March 6. Five days later, President Biden signed the law. We all went to talk to Secretary Yellen about getting these checks out quickly. On July 15, 4 months after we voted for it--not even 4. Help me with my math. Three months after we voted for it, these checks started showing up.

In my State, it was 2.1 million checks that went out. There were 2.1 million individuals who got this child tax credit--you know, a million- and-some families because, obviously, some have more than one child in a family in many cases. Then they got a check on August 15; September 15; in October; and just this week, on November 15.

We know it cut the rate of child poverty by 40 percent. We also know that it helped families with school expenses or with, maybe, putting a little bit of money aside for Bowie State or Stark State, a community college in Ohio.

Maybe it was just a way that families--I mean, we know how there are so many families who are really anxious at the end of the month. Maybe we don't talk to enough families like this around here, but for families who are anxious at the end of the month, getting this $200 or $300 or $600 check in the middle of the month relieves the anxiety so many families have just to pay the rent because we know so many families, in that last week of the month, cut back on food a little bit, cut back on trying to figure out a way to get through the month so they can pay their rent at the beginning of the next month.

So, on this website, when we ask people what this means to you, we just get the most wonderful stories.

Lisa said the tax cuts help her afford ``diapers and school supplies . . . and [now] we [can] put a little into starting a 529 college fund.'' It is so exciting. Now we can finally ``save for education.''

Lin from Columbus: ``It kicked in right at a time when kid birthdays were happening for us, plus back to

school shopping, and several unexpected vehicle repairs were needed as well--it's made a very helpful impact.''

The Presiding Officer, Senator Van Hollen, sits on the Banking and Housing Committee with me. He knows that, before the pandemic, 25 percent of renters in this country paid more than half of their income in rent, and if one thing goes wrong--your car breaks down; you get sick; your child gets sick; you miss a few days of work--you can be evicted. This will stop that from happening in many cases.

Jeff from Cincinnati said it helps him afford ``car insurance for a 17-year-old,'' a 17-year-old who has a part-time job after school.

The story we hear over and over is how expensive childcare is, how parents use this money to afford childcare so they can go back to work or, maybe, work more hours than they are working.

CeCe said her tax cut helps her pay for daycare. ``Daycare is the same amount as my mortgage payment for 4 days a week! So this is so, so helpful,'' she said.

Sarah said: ``It has been critical as I started my unpaid maternity leave at the end of July.''

I mean, we want people to be able to give birth and then stay with their child, their newborn, for a period of time. Many, many, many people in Baltimore, in Cleveland, in Portland don't have any kind of leave--and how important it is that they can, maybe, stay a little longer with a newborn child and bond with her or him.

Courtney, from Athens, near the Ohio River, said the CTC is ``slightly more than half the cost of part time daycare tuition per month--much appreciated help getting kiddo back into childcare and keeping [my husband and me] in the workforce.''

These tax cuts mean more parents can afford to work and can afford to keep up with the extra cost of raising kids.

When these tax cuts are fundamentally stripped down from everything else, it is about the dignity of work. All work has dignity, whether you punch a clock or swipe a badge; whether you work for tips; whether you are on salary; whether you are raising children or caring for an aging parent. Raising children is work. We never should forget that: raising children is work.

It is a hell of a lot more work than moving money from one overseas bank account to another, as this body falls all over itself over the years giving tax cuts to rich people.

It didn't stop Senator McConnell from rewarding the wealthiest CEOs and hedge fund managers and Swiss bank account holders. We remember what happened. When they did their tax cut 4 years ago, everybody in our--I mean, look at the difference. Four years ago, they passed the tax cut. You could see the lobbyists lined up in the hall outside Senator McConnell's office. Four years ago, we passed the tax cut. Almost all Republicans voted yes; almost all Democrats voted no. Seventy percent of that tax cut went to the richest 1 percent.

Earlier this year, we passed the largest tax cut for working families everywhere. Everybody on this side voted yes; everybody on that side voted no. I mean, whose side are you on? Apparently, we know that. Senator McConnell and his crowd--they are always for the billionaires, they are always for giving more tax cuts, while Senator Wyden and the Finance Committee are fighting for middle-class tax cuts.

They then promised--and we all heard this--they promised that these big tax cuts for billionaires would trickle down, and they would hire more people, and they would pay higher wages, and the economy would grow. Well, it didn't exactly work that way. They kept so much of it for themselves. They spent that money on stock buybacks, and we know what happened then.

So the question is, Do you want tax cuts for billionaires and corporations or do you want tax cuts for working families? We want tax cuts for working families, and so do Americans from all over the country overwhelmingly from all kinds of backgrounds, from Chillicothe to Xenia, to Springfield, to Portsmouth, to Ravenna--all over the country.

Every single month now, we are showing parents and workers we are on your side. We will not stop fighting to make sure parents' hard work pays off for years to come.

The child tax credit--we will make it permanent. It may not be this year, but we will make it permanent. As Senator Wyden has said, it will become a lot like Social Security. It will be transformational. Americans will love it the way Americans have gotten used to and depend on and love Social Security. It is part of who we are as a nation.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring and thanking an outstanding public servant, Mayor David J. Berger, who will retire at the end of this month, after dedicating his life to serving his beloved city of Lima, OH. He leaves this office with a legacy of service and accomplishments.

Dave has served as the mayor of Lima, OH, for a remarkable 32 years. He is the proud son of an IBEW union worker and was raised with a keen sense of service to others and a dedication to his Catholic faith--two things that would guide him throughout his career. Dave's faith led him to attend a seminary high school and then St. Meinrad's seminary in southern Indiana. Upon leaving the seminary, he attended Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where he received both his bachelor's and master's degrees.

Following graduation, his faith and commitment to service brought him to Lima, OH, where he served as the executive director of Rehab Project. He worked to bring opportunity for a second chance to Ohioans in prison, helping provide training to build and renovate homes. This work led him to run for mayor in 1989 and, after a successful campaign, serve in that position ever since.

From his work serving as a founding member of the bipartisan Ohio Mayors Alliance, to serving as cochair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Water Council, Dave has worked with mayors and legislators on both sides of the aisle to always be a persistent advocate for the people of Lima and the concerns and challenges faced by many cities throughout the industrial Midwest.

Dave is well known for his work advocating for water infrastructure and has spent half of his career as mayor leading negotiations with the U.S. and Ohio EPAs to work to solve a combined and sanitary sewer overflow problem that has plagued many cities. My staff and I regularly met with Dave about these issues and acted upon his ideas and suggestions.

We have also worked together on several community projects. From helping to launch a My Brother's Keeper chapter in his city to advocating for public infrastructure investments or ensuring employers in Lima honor the dignity of work by respecting labor union rights, David and I have spent years collaborating to help the local community flourish.

With his commitment to push for research and economic development, and improving the city's downtown, Dave has lent his time and wisdom to serving on the board of directors of the

Ohio Energy Advanced Manufacturing Center; Downtown Lima, Inc.; the Allen Economic Development Group; and West Ohio Community Action Partnership. His pursuit of partnerships among these organizations and many community-driven task forces have helped support the city's workers and helped retain vital employers in the community, including the Lima Refinery, the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, JSMC, and the Ford Engine Plant.

I am grateful that our friendship long predates both of our political careers--Dave is a fellow native of Mansfield, OH. He is also a fellow Eagle Scout. One my most prized photos is that of then-Col. John Glenn posing with me as I am awarded the Eagle Scout badge at the Johnny Appleseed Council's Eagle Scout ceremony. What that photo does not show is that Mayor Berger was there as well.

Dave's legacy will live on in the city he loved--the jobs he saved and secured, the water infrastructure he improved, the businesses he helped thrive and grow, and, most importantly, the lives he helped change for the better.

I ask my colleagues to join me in wishing my friend, Mayor David J. Berger, a long and happy retirement. Dave has done so much good for so long for the people of Lima, and because of his work, Lima's next mayor, Sharetta Smith, has a strong foundation to continue addressing the challenges facing this city in the heart of Allen County.

Dave, thank you for 32 years of dedicated service and for the legacy you have created. I know it has not always been, easy but all your efforts are appreciated.

Mr. President, in honor of the parents--and so many others--of Senator Capito, I thank her for her empathetic, compassionate remarks. We all have had friends and family who have suffered, and her remarks are really appropriate.

So thank you for that.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote take place immediately after my remarks.

Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent that Senator Ossoff of Georgia be added as a cosponsor of S. 3076, a bill to amend the Federal Reserve Act.

Mr. President, not a unanimous consent request, but I note that joining me on the floor today is Ben Ashman, for whom we have given consent to be on the floor as a Senate fellow in our office for the year.

Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues for the upcoming vote to join me in supporting Graham Steele, the President's nominee for Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the Department of Treasury.

Graham is my friend. Graham is a former staff member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and was a stellar--was and is a stellar public servant.

I know from personal experience how ready Mr. Steele is for this job. Graham spent 7 years in my personal Senate office and on the Senate Banking and Housing Committee staff when I became ranking member.

He was a senior trusted aide. He worked with staff of so many of my colleagues from both parties. In a Senate that is, frankly, too divided and a Senate that is too rigid in its partisanship, five Republicans on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee joined in supporting Graham Steele when we voted him out of committee a month or so ago, and that is because of his relationships, because of his honesty.

He has extensive financial services experience, a track record of bipartisanship, and a history to make our system work for everyone. He understands the far-reaching effects the financial system has on workers and their families.

Throughout his career, Graham has forged close relationships with civil rights groups; with consumer advocates; and with organizations, like the bipartisan Ohio Bankers League that wrote in support of his nomination.

He stood up for families, for communities, for Main Street businesses against Wall Street greed and corruption. He has worked across the aisle to get things done for the American people.

As minority chief counsel for the Banking and Housing Committee, and as my staff director of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, he crafted legislation, he worked with other offices, he worked with community banks, and he fought to protect all Americans' finances.

He worked on a broad set of issues with two Republican chairs, Senator Crapo of Idaho and Senator Shelby of Alabama. He worked with their staffs, worked with people on both sides of the aisle.

He did vital work during and after the 2008 financial crisis, as we worked to stabilize our financial system.

In his work for our office, he traveled around Ohio in the years that followed. He talked to Ohioans who had lost their homes and saw their communities devastated by Wall Street's--and I underscore ``Wall Street's''--great recession. Wall Street didn't experience much of the recession; Wall Street caused the recession. I make that clear.

He understands the importance of listening to workers. He understands how the financial industry affects their lives every day.

He has put results for Americans above partisanship. He worked with Senator Johanns, a Republican from Nebraska, who has since retired. He worked with Senator Collins, a Republican from Maine, on an important fix to insurance regulations. He worked with Senator Moran of Kansas on innovative ways to encourage families to increase savings.

In his current role at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Graham researches important issues at the intersection of markets and business and government, looking at ways to promote a more accountable economy.

At Treasury, Graham Steele would oversee an office that plays a pivotal role in coordinating the Department's efforts on financial institution policy, community and economic development, insurance, and cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protections.

He would lead an office that oversees the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, CDFI.

His qualifications and his experience are obvious. Graham and the staff of many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle can attest to his commitment to service and the ability to find common ground-- something that will serve him well at Treasury working with Secretary Yellen and will serve this body and our government well.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the nomination of Graham Steele. He will serve admirably, I am sure of that. I can think of no better person to serve in this role at this very consequential time in our Nation's history.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, everything we are doing to lead our country to build back better from this pandemic is about putting workers at the center of our economy. It is about raising wages and bringing down costs.

We know what has happened in this country in the last decade. We have seen profits go up. We have seen the stock market go skyward. We have seen executive compensation explode upward. Yet wages in Nevada and Ohio and all over this country have essentially been flat. That is why this Build Back Better plan is about raising wages and bringing down costs.

We know what is wrong with our country. I said 20 years. It has been 30 years, 40 years where productivity has gone up. Workers are earning more and more for their companies and for their bosses, but they simply aren't sharing in the wealth that they have created. They have simply seen their wages flat.

It has gotten more and more expensive for families to raise a family and build a middle-class life. Healthcare, childcare, prescription drugs, higher education, housing are things the Presiding Officer and I have worked on in the Banking and Housing Committee.

Costs have doubled, tripled, quadrupled since people my age were trying to go to school and start a family. Meanwhile, people's hard work isn't paying off.

I remember in our Banking Committee, we did a hearing. It was more of a listening session. It was one where Senators were not asking questions. It was listening to people, which we should probably do more often. It was called the ``Dignity of Work'' session.

One woman was from southern West Virginia, who struggled her whole life and, clearly, was working hard. She said the words ``working'' and ``poor'' should not be in the same sentence. Think about that. She has worked all her life. She is making $13--she didn't go to Harvard. She didn't go to Ohio State. She worked all her life. She worked to raise kids. She is still making $12, $13, $14 an hour--and that, Madam President, as costs only ever seem to go up. Even middle-class families don't feel stable. That was before the pandemic.

We know that in this country, before the pandemic, a quarter of people paid more than half their income--more than half their income-- in housing, in rent. That means if one thing happens in their lives-- their car breaks down; their child gets sick, has to stay home from school; they maybe have a minor workplace injury and miss a week of work--everything can go wrong. Their lives can turn upside down because they can be evicted.

Then what happens?

We know this pandemic has upended the global economy. Supply chains are struggling. People feel their budget squeezed. They are anxious about whether prices that have gone up will ever go back down.

We heard a lot of politicians, particularly in this body, try to stoke families' anxiety for their own political gain, but they don't offer solutions. Their only answer is: Let's take power away from workers.

They think the only way to keep prices low is to keep wages even lower. That is a false choice.

We work on real solutions to bring down the biggest cost Americans face for the long term and to help families keep up with the cost of living.

Housing, childcare, healthcare--those are three of the biggest items in any family's budget. Build Back Better tackles all of them.

On the Banking and Housing Committee, everything we are doing is about making housing more affordable, whether you pay a mortgage or whether you pay rent. Housing is just way too expensive and not available to enough people, plain and simple. We need to build more homes people can afford. We need to make the houses and the townhouses and the apartments we already have more affordable, and we need to make it affordable to buy a home.

I visit communities in Ohio all the time with houses that look affordable. They are listed, maybe, at even $50,000 or $75,000, but families can't come up with a down payment or sometimes they can't find lenders to make the loans. Sometimes we see these lower cost properties snapped up by private equity--by investors paying cash. We are working to fix that with plans like targeted down payment assistance, expanding access to lower cost mortgages.

Look at healthcare for a moment. Monthly premiums, deductibles, and

prescription drug prices still eat away at people's budgets. In the American Rescue Plan, we strengthen the Affordable Care Act to make ACA insurance plans more affordable. Customers are saving an average of 40 percent on their monthly premiums on ACA plans because of the American Rescue Plan we passed in March. We will make sure those cost savings continue so Americans can save on their coverage.

We will make it more affordable for seniors and Americans with disabilities to get the care they need at home from a workforce that actually makes a living wage.

I was with a number of home care workers in Cleveland the other day. These are people who take care of people we love. They take care of aging parents; they take care of workers injured on the job; they take care of families. They make $11, $12, $13 an hour. Some of them have been doing this for 20 years, and they still don't make a living wage.

As I said earlier, as the lady from West Virginia said, the words ``working'' and ``poor'' should not be in the same sentence.

We know how powerful the Big Pharma lobbyists are. For years-- decades--many of us have fought to allow Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies, just like private insurance companies and the Veterans Health Administration do.

I used to, as a Member of Congress, take busloads to Canada--about 3 hours away--so that seniors could buy prescription drugs in Windsor, Ontario, because it cost half as much. It was the same brand name, same dosage, same packaging, but the Canadian Government negotiates prices directly with the drug companies. The American Government doesn't.

Why?

Well, you know why. Look down the hall at Mitch McConnell's office, who has been the Republican leader of the Senate for many years. Look at the lobbyists from the drug companies who line up outside his office. He is always telling people: No, we are going to do whatever the drug companies want. We know that the entire minority, the entire Republican Party here, is in the pockets of the drug companies. We know that.

The problem is we have got to get all 50 Democrats to stand up and say: No. We are going to negotiate. We are going to stand with Medicare beneficiaries. We are going to stand with people who need prescription drugs--of all ages--and we are going to negotiate on their behalf directly with the drug companies, cutting the price.

We do that with the VA. Whether it is in Reno or in Cleveland, whether it is in Las Vegas or in Columbus, the VA pays significantly less for prescription drugs than do the rest of us.

In this bill, we are finally standing up to the drug companies. We are going to start bringing down seniors' prescription costs. For the first time ever, we are empowering Medicaid to negotiate directly. It is going to make a difference for seniors--a huge difference for seniors--who are living on fixed incomes.

Of course, we know, for young families, they face, generally, different costs. The children of working parents often get their health insurance through Medicaid or through CHIP. Right now, if a mom takes on an extra shift, or if a dad takes a bonus for a job well done, that tiny change--that small change in their monthly income--could cause their kids to lose their insurance for the month.

What kind of policy is that?

So Dad works really hard and is really good at his job, so he gets a raise; and Mom wants to work an extra shift, so she brings a little more money home.

And then we take the benefit away?

So we are saying to them: Yes, we believe in working hard, and we believe in family values, but if you work too hard and you make too much money, we are going to take away the benefit.

That kind of policy is just stupid. That is why we are including my legislation that will keep kids insured all year. It means parents won't have to worry they will get hit with a huge medical bill if their child gets sick in the same month they work some extra hours.

Of course, the biggest cost for so many families is childcare. The Build Back Better plan will ensure that middle-class families pay no more than 7 percent of their income on childcare. What a relief that is going to be.

Again, the point of this bill is job creation. Build Back Better is job creation; it is the biggest tax cut in American history for families with children; and it is to bring costs down.

One of the most oppressive, most burdensome, most difficult costs for families is childcare. For a family with one toddler and two parents who earn $50,000 a year, our plan will save them $5,000--$5,000--in childcare costs. Some families will save up to $6,500.

Think of what that means. On top of this, as I said, is the biggest tax cut for working families in American history.

In my State and in Nevada--the Presiding Officer's State that Senator Cortez Masto represents--it is not much different from the rest of the country.

More than 90 percent of the families in Ohio who have children under 18 will, at a minimum, get a $3,000 tax cut--at a minimum, $3,000 a year. That is a real tax cut. That is not like a deduction. Those are real dollars in their pockets. Think about that: more than 90 percent of families in this country.

In my State, it is families with 2.2 million children. That many kids, that many families, will get at least a $3,000 tax cut. If they have three children, they will get an $8,000 or a $9,000 tax cut in the course of a year, and that is one of the most important parts of this bill. It will help them keep up with the costs of diapers and childcare and clothes and all of the other expenses.

One of the joys of this job is going online where we have a website. We have a ``tell your story'' about the biggest tax cut in American history for working families and what that means to you.

One woman wrote in and said: For the first time in my life, I can send my son to summer camp for a week.

A man wrote in from Cincinnati and said: For the first time ever, I can, finally, now afford fast-pitch softball equipment for my daughter.

Others have said: You know, now I can put aside $100 a month for my child to go to Eastern Gateway or to Stark State or to North Central Ohio's technical or community college.

Others have said--and this is the one we hear the most. You have heard so many families talk about the last week of the month. For the people around here who make more money than this, you don't think of it much; but in the last week of the month, so many families face the anxiety of: How do I put together enough money to pay my rent this month?

Well, the child tax credit has relieved that anxiety for millions of families because they get that $300 or that $250 or, maybe, with two children, they get $600 on the 15th of the month that can ease the making of their rent that time.

But it comes down to: Whose side are you on?

It comes down to Mitch McConnell and the lobbyists in his office and the politicians who always do his bidding and pass their tax cuts for the wealthy and the corporations that outsource jobs, and you know that. It was 4 years ago that there was the biggest tax cut, and 70 percent of that tax cut went to the wealthiest 1 percent of people. Contrast that with our tax cut whereby 90 percent of Ohio families will get at least a $3,000-a-year tax cut.

It is pretty simple. If you want tax cuts for billionaires, then vote against this bill. If you want tax cuts for working families, that is why you will support Build Back Better.

Do you want tax cuts for drug companies, or do you want to bring down prescription drug prices? Do you want tax cuts for big banks that won't give your family a mortgage, or do you want to bring down the cost of housing?

When you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work. You fight for their jobs. You fight for their higher wages. You fight to bring down their cost of living. That is what we are doing.

I yield the floor to my colleague from Ohio.