Floor Statements

Madam President, I say thank you to Senator Manchin. We are joined by Senator Capito, Senator Warren, and I know, in spirit, a number of others. I think Senator Casey will be here in a few minutes. I join them to remind this body--it is a constant reminder--that more than 86,000 miners--86,000 miners--are on the verge of facing massive cuts to the pensions and healthcare they earned.

This body doesn't always remember what collective bargaining is all about. Collective bargaining is when union members sit down and give up wages today to have something for the future, to have healthcare and to have retirement in the future.

Of those 86,000 miners, 1,200 miners and their families could lose their healthcare this month because of the Westmoreland and Mission Coal bankruptcies. The bankruptcy courts could allow these corporations to ``shed their liabilities,'' which is a fancy way of saying walk away from paying miners the pensions and the healthcare benefits they absolutely earned.

Senator Manchin is working to fix this. I thank him for his efforts, and I thank others in this body. We know the mine workers aren't alone. The retirement security of hundreds of thousands of teamsters, ironworkers, carpenters, bakery workers, and so many other retirees is at risk.

We know this affects, in my State alone, 250 businesses, mostly small construction and transportation companies, 60,000 workers in my State alone, and the health of communities. Mine worker communities are especially hurt by this because so many of them live in the same community--local stores and local businesses.

As we know, Congress pretty much tried to ignore these workers and these retirees. Senator Manchin and I saw that day after day and week after week, but they fought back. We saw workers rally. They rallied in very hot weather on the Capitol lawn, and they rallied in very cold weather on the Capitol lawn. They rallied. They called. They wrote letters. We have seen those camo UMWA T-shirts around the Capitol. Many of them are veterans. They fought for their country. We owe it to them to fight for them.

We made progress on the bipartisan Pensions Committee that Senator Manchin and I sat on. Thanks to Senator Portman, also from my State, and members of both parties who put in months of good work in good faith on this.

I am committed to these miners and workers. We will not give up. That is why I brought Rita Lewis as my guest to the State of the Union Address down the hall last week. Rita Lewis is the widow of Butch Lewis, the teamster who died from a heart attack a couple of years ago, in large part, we think--she thinks, his family thinks brought on by the pressure of fighting for his union, his Teamsters 100--1 million members around the country.

It is about the dignity of work. When work has dignity, we honor the retirement security people have earned.

As I said, people in this town don't always understand the collective bargaining process. People give up money today to earn those pensions. If you love your country, you fight for people who make it work, people like these mineworkers.

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

Madam President, last week America lost Frank Robinson, a baseball legend and a pioneer for civil rights. Frank Robinson spent much of his career in Ohio. He starred first for the Cincinnati Reds All-Star World Series championship team. They built a team around him in Cincinnati with Vada Pinson and others. Near the end of his career, he went to Cleveland, and he managed for the Cleveland Indians. He was a pioneer for change in baseball.

Larry Doby, whom we honored last year with a Congressional Medal, was the first African-American player in the American League. He played for Cleveland. He came up only several weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color line.

Then in 1974, Frank Robinson became the Major League's first African- American manager. I was at the game when he--that first game he managed. He hit a home run his first time at bat. He was the DH for the Indians. He was what is called a player-manager.

In the days since his passing, we have heard people say that Frank Robinson was one of the most underappreciated legends of the game, but the same could also be said of his importance to our country. There are few players in baseball who have accomplished anything close--on the field or off the field--to what Frank Robinson did. He is the only person to have won a league MVP in both the American and National Leagues--with the National League for the Reds and with the American League for the Orioles. He was Rookie of the Year with the Reds. He won two World Series championships. He was the World Series' most valuable player. He won the Triple Crown with the Orioles. He was a Gold Glove winner. He was a 14-time all-star. He hit 600 career home runs.

The championships, the awards, and the records alone don't define who Frank Robinson was or what his success meant to so many people. The Reds signed him right out of high school. He still strove for more. He took courses at Cincinnati's Xavier University at the beginning of his rookie season. He knew that the courses wouldn't count toward any degree; yet he persevered. He was traded to the Orioles in 1966. He witnessed redlining and segregation that prevented him and his wife from finding housing. Here was one of the best players in the Major Leagues, and he couldn't find housing in Baltimore in the 1960s. Here was the city's star baseball player, but because of our country's racist housing policies, realtors wouldn't sell him a home.

Parenthetically, I would also point out that today some of those racist housing policies continue and that we have an administration and housing regulators who simply seem too busy to want to enforce fair housing laws. My wife and I live in ZIP Code 44105 in Cleveland, OH. Our ZIP Code had more foreclosures in the first half of 2007 than any other ZIP Code in the United States. And don't think that some of these housing problems and segregated housing in this country aren't because of some of the actions of this administration and prior to that.

Frank Robinson didn't stay silent. He joined the NAACP and became a voice for the civil rights movement. As I said, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1974. The Indians made him manager. As I said, he was the first African-American manager in the history of Major League Baseball. It took exactly 27 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color line for the owners of Major League Baseball to actually hire a Black manager--27 years.

That accomplishment meant so much to so many. He proved what never should have been in question--that African Americans belong not just on the field but that they are leaders, just like any other American. That accomplishment resonated not only among baseball fans but, in fact, in schools and offices around the country. He was a symbol to so many young Americans that these roles of authority and leadership aren't just roles that only certain kids whose skin was a certain color could dream of; these dreams are for everyone. It was a powerful message that paved the way for so many great leaders on and off the baseball field.

The Cleveland Indians unveiled a statue of Frank Robinson 2 years ago in my hometown of Cleveland at Progressive Field. Mr. Robinson spoke at the unveiling. He talked about how far we have come, and then he said:

There are people out there in the minor leagues and at the

big-league level as coaches, and they have earned their way

up. But they just don't seem to be able to break that barrier

as often. All I can tell them--don't give up. Do not give up.

We still don't see nearly as many African-American managers as there should be.

As we celebrate Black History Month, we as a nation need to heed Frank Robinson's words. We cannot give up on his dream of breaking down the institutional barriers that are set up for people of color in baseball and throughout our society. We don't just honor Black trailblazers; we need to continue our country's unfinished work.

Hard work isn't paying off for far too many people in this country. Hard work doesn't pay off for far too many workers, and women and people of color have even greater challenges. It is even harder to get ahead no matter how hard they work. We know that this country doesn't respect work, it doesn't respect the dignity of work, and it doesn't honor work. As I said, we know that as much as this country doesn't compensate people for the work they do, it is, again, even harder for women and people of color. Let's honor Frank Robinson's memory. Let's honor the legacy of Black Americans not just with words but with actions to change that.

Parkland High School Shooting

Madam President, this Thursday will mark 1 year since 17 Americans were tragically and brutally murdered at Parkland High School. Seventeen families lost daughters, sons, brothers, and sisters, 17 more were wounded, and hundreds of students and teachers joined the ranks of survivors of mass shootings.

Those injured and those families will never be the same. One of the country's greatest strengths is that out of the greatest tragedies, Americans channel their outreach in grief into action.

The young people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School launched an incredible movement for change in this country. These were high school students, many not even old enough to vote, dealing with pain that most of us can't imagine. They were able to do what so many, shall I say, grown politicians have been unable or unwilling to do--something that so many Members in this body are afraid or unwilling to do.

These kids stood up to the gun lobby--if only we saw that kind of courage among politicians who take money from the gun lobby year after year after year. These kids stood up to the gun lobby. They organized and forced their government to listen.

A month after that awful day, more than a million Americans joined the March for Our Lives and marches for our lives across the country. They had a pretty simple demand: The people who represent them should protect them from gun violence.

This body, again, did virtually nothing. They demand that we stop ignoring the millions of Americans who want reasonable gun safety measures. They demand that we stop doing the bidding of special interest gun lobbyists.

We can't say we are doing what it takes to keep our country safe until we are finally willing to pass commonsense laws to protect all Americans from gun violence. Many of us have tried.

I supported the original Federal assault weapons ban in 1994. I joined many of my colleagues to try to renew it after the Sandy Hook grade school massacre. Weapons of war don't belong on our streets. They certainly don't belong in our classrooms.

We tried to pass legislation to close loopholes in our background check system. After the tragedy at the Pulse nightclub in Florida, we tried to pass legislation to prevent people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns.

Imagine this, if you are on the terrorist watch list and you go up to the John Glenn Airport in Columbus, OH, you can't get on a plane, but you can buy an assault weapon. You can't get on a plane if you are on a terrorist watch list. That is Federal law. But because of the power of the gun lobby in

this body and in this room, you can buy an assault weapon.

That is why the gun lobby, again, stood in the way. It is why the movement that these students launched matters. They showed the country that the gun lobby may have the money, but we have energy on our side, and we have voters on our side.

Look what happened last fall. So many new voters--many of them young, many of them women--were elected to this Congress promising, finally-- finally--to stand up to the gun lobby and finally to say no to the National Rifle Association.

Creating change is never easy. It often requires going up against powerful special interests, but from the Women's March to the airport rallies, to the activism to protect people's rights under the Affordable Care Act, Americans prove over and over the power of activism.

The students at Parkland clearly aren't quitting. The millions of Americans inspired by them give me hope for the future. I hope my colleagues in this body finally stand up to the gun lobby and demand change.

Remembering Bill Brewer

Madam President, on Friday, Ohio laid to rest a dedicated public servant, Detective Bill Brewer.

Detective Brewer devoted two decades of his life to the police force and made the ultimate sacrifice to keep his fellow Ohioans safe. He laid down his life while doing his job responding to a desperate 911 call with fellow Clermont County officers in southwest Cincinnati, working to protect the people he served in Pierce Township.

In the days since Detective Brewer's passing, we have heard stories of his unselfish service to his community and his family.

Last Sunday, officers from all over southwest Ohio joined the procession escorting Detective Brewer home to Clermont County. In his home of Amelia, OH, his community lined the route, paying tribute to their fallen hero. Hundreds attended a memorial service on Friday, while hundreds more watched on video. It is a fitting recognition of the sacrifice this man made to keep the people of his community safe.

Detective Brewer was a proud son of Williamsburg, OH, and a star high school athlete and a family man. Our hearts break for his wife of 13 years, Jamie, and his 5-year-old son, Braxton. As they mourn this incredible loss, we hope they take comfort in the outpouring of support and honor for the husband and father.

To his fellow officers, he was a devoted friend. He was a mentor. One of them told the press that Detective Brewer was always fair and kindhearted, that he would give the shirt off his back for anyone in need. Detective Brewer's legacy will live on through the many lives he touched.

In times of tragedy, Ohioans rise to the occasion, as do citizens in Clermont County. We witnessed an outpouring of community support in the days since he was taken from us. No gesture, of course, ever repays him or his loved ones. Today we honor this hero's memory. We lift up the entire Clermont County community.

Tax Reform

Madam President, what we have seen in the last few days is that more and more Americans are filing their tax returns and getting their tax refunds, and they realize that the President's tax law was a bit of a sham. They haven't seen the raises that the President promised.

I heard the President in the Cabinet Room say to a group of us: People will get a $4,000 raise, on average. Some will get as much as a $9,000 raise with the tax bill.

Call it an empty promise or call it a lie. Either way, the President's words were empty and meaningless.

Then they expected a huge tax cut because the President told them it was hundreds and thousands of dollars. They are not seeing that either. Then, to top it all off, there is a provision in this new tax law that says if a company shuts down in Orange Town, OH, as GM did, and then moves to Mexico, as GM is building again in Mexico, they actually get 50 percent off. They get a 50-percent-off coupon on their taxes.

What does that mean? That means that they are paying a 21-percent tax rate in Ohio--Federal tax rate--but then they go to Mexico, and they pay 10.5 percent. Believe it or not, under the President's tax law, they get a 50-percent-off coupon if they move overseas--exactly the opposite.

The President went to Youngstown, and he said: We are going to bring more jobs back. We are going to have more jobs. Don't sell your homes if it looks like there are layoffs coming because we are going to bring more jobs back. We are going to build new factories.

None of that happened. The opposite happened. Again, they shut down production in Lordstown, OH. GM did. They are laying off 5,000 people. They are moving to Mexico, and they get a 50-percent-off coupon, thanks to President Trump, thanks to the Members of this body and all Republicans who voted for this disastrous tax bill.

Now, here is what we need to do. We need to throw out the Trump tax law--just throw out the Trump tax law--and we should rewrite the Tax Code, amazingly, to put people first.

Here is what we should do. We should first pass the Patriot Corporation Act. The Patriot Corporation Act is really simple. It simply says that if you pay decent wages, if you provide decent benefits--health benefits, healthcare, and pensions or 401(k)--and if you do your production in the United States of America, you get a lower tax rate.

In other words, if you are a patriotic corporation, if you are good citizen, then, you have earned a lower tax rate.

But the other side of that is that if you are a big company where the executives are making millions--sometimes tens of millions of dollars-- and you pay your employees--if you have hundreds of employees or thousands--$10 or $12 an hour, then you are in a different category. Here is how that works. If you are making $10 or $12 an hour and you are working for one of these big companies, you are eligible for food stamps often, you are eligible for Medicaid often, you are eligible for section 8 housing tax credits often, and you are eligible for the earned income tax credit. In other words, these employees that are making $10 or $12 an hour get all of these Federal benefits, even though they are working full time. So what our bill does is what is called the ``corporate freeloader fee.'' As for these companies that pay their executives millions and pay their workers $8 and $10 and $12 an hour and those workers end up getting subsidies from taxpayers, they pay a corporate freeloader fee. They pay the government. They reimburse taxpayers for the subsidies that they give their employees.

I mean, why should all the people in the Gallery here, why should the staff working here, who are paying Federal taxes, why should their taxes go to an employer where the company is making millions and they are paying their workers such low wages that they are eligible for food stamps or section 8 housing vouchers or Medicaid or the earned income tax credit?

The last two bills that we should pass, as we throw out the President's tax law, is the earned income tax credit. If we double the credit, we make millions more people eligible. It would mean thousands of dollars in the pockets of tens of millions of Americans. It would make a difference in their lives.

Instead of giving tax breaks to rich people, which is what Senate Republicans and President Trump always want to do--the White House looks like a retreat for Wall Street executives--and instead of giving millions in tax breaks--actually, billions to the wealthiest people in this country--why don't we make the tax system fair and put money in the pockets of people making $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, or $50,000 a year.

That is what our earned income tax credit expansion would do, and at the same time, we should expand the child tax credit. Experts have said that plan would cut child poverty in half. That gives kids who grow up in my ZIP code, 44105, who are struggling, who live in homes with high levels of toxic lead in the walls--kids who don't have the breaks in their lives that my kids have--a fighting chance. It would lift half of these kids out of child poverty.

Taken together, the Patriot Corporation Act, the corporate freeloader fee, the earned income tax credit, and the child tax credit would create a Tax Code that puts money in the pockets of working people, would create opportunity for people to aspire to and join the middle class, would raise wages,

and, equally importantly, would keep jobs in the United States of America.

Why should this Congress keep passing legislation, as the President asked, that would encourage the shutdown of plants here and moves overseas? Why don't we reward companies that do the right thing? Why don't we give kids opportunities and families opportunities so they can get ahead? Why don't we put money in the pockets of working people, raise wages, and keep jobs in the United States of America?

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, yesterday I left my home in Cleveland and kissed my wife good-bye and headed to the airport early in the morning. I went to gates A, B, and C in the Cleveland Airport and talked to the TSA agents who are all working and working without pay.

Then, when I got to Washington--I flew into National Airport--I went straight to a building in Arlington where I talked to cafeteria workers. They are Federal contract workers who serve food at our Smithsonian museums and other Federal facilities. They don't work for the Federal Government. Their paychecks don't come from the Federal Government. They are contracted through a company and then paid by these companies. They have lost their jobs during the Trump shutdown.

These workers, making $12, $13, $14--some with some seniority make $15. They are union. They make 2 or 3 dollars more than the nonunion comparable workers. But they are not getting paid.

Unlike the 800,000 Federal workers, some working without pay, some furloughed--unlike them, if history is a judge, they will not get paid those lost wages. So these are people making $12, $13, $14 an hour who have already lost 2 weeks of work because of the Trump shutdown, and unless Congress acts, they have no prospect to get that back pay. Again, their wages are at that level.

Then, last night, to sort of cap the day, in my apartment here I watched the President of the United States talk about his wall and dig in a little more.

You know, I wish President Trump would talk to the workers he is hurting with this shutdown. I wish that he would go out and, as President Lincoln used to say, get his ``public opinion bath'' and listen to these workers; that he would leave the White House or Mar-a- Lago, where he spends most of his time, and talk to these workers I talked to yesterday--the TSA workers in Cleveland who are working without pay. The anxiety levels are going up and up and up for these workers because this coming Saturday they will miss their first paycheck--and then beyond that too. This also affects the food service workers.

Last week, President Trump said--imagine this, a billionaire President--his shutdown, the Trump shutdown, which he proudly, as Commander in Chief, said: ``I am proud of this shutdown.'' Last week, he said: ``This shutdown has a higher purpose than next week's pay.'' Imagine that, a billionaire President, living in this beautiful house paid for by taxpayers and having his estate in Mar-a-Lago, and he would say: ``This shutdown,'' this Trump shutdown, ``has a higher purpose than next week's pay.''

I wonder if he would tell that to TSA workers, the ones I met in Cleveland, including Aaron Bankston, who told me:

If you're the only breadwinner in your family, and to have

your kids looking up at you, it's hard to tell them, we don't

have anything to put food on the table, that's the hard part.

We just have to get us back working. We're working

diligently over here, trying to make sure we're securing

America.

Mr. President, tell the cafeteria workers I talked with there is a higher purpose than their week's pay because, remember, it is not just Federal employees feeling the pain. There are also these contractors. There are 800,000 Federal employees. We think--we can't get the number from the government yet--I am not sure the administration wants to tell us these numbers. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of contract workers making $10, $12, $15 an hour--making a little more if they are lucky enough to have a union, but some making as little as $8 or $9 or $10 an hour.

A lot of Americans don't realize that thousands of janitors and cafeteria workers and security guards are out of work because of the President. You know, it is all kinds of Federal employees. It is people who process tax returns at the IRS. It is people who are helping farmers adjust to the new farm bill we passed proudly--Senators Roberts and Stabenow and a bunch of others. It is about people wanting to get a mortgage, and they can't get it approved at FHA because of this shutdown. It is also people making $8 and $10 and $12 an hour. Unless we do something, these workers will not get the backpay they should get because they are employed by private contractors. They have no way, at $12 and $15 an hour--without pay, they have no way of making up their lost hours and lost wages. I am working with a relatively new Minnesota Senator, Ms. Smith, on legislation to try to come up with a solution to get these workers backpay, the way that workers who are actual Federal employees get backpay. Fundamentally, it comes down to respecting the dignity of work. That means respecting the dignity of work and that these workers make a decent wage with decent benefits.

Missing one paycheck may not seem like a lot to the billionaire President and the multimillionaire Cabinet with their massive investment portfolio.

I will say that again. Missing one 2-week paycheck or two 2-week paychecks or even, if the President gets his way, three 2-week paychecks may not seem like a lot to a billionaire President and a multimillionaire Cabinet with their massive investment portfolios, but it means a whole lot to these people. Missing a paycheck is a big, big deal that the President of the United States clearly either doesn't understand or doesn't care about.

The President doesn't understand that working people can't just send a letter to creditors saying: Excuse me from paying rent this month or paying my mortgage or paying for my medications. You can't put groceries or gas in the car with an IOU.

One of those cafeteria workers told me in Arlington: I have to pay rent. I have other bills. I have a college student in community college. He needs help with his books. He said: President Trump, I am asking would you please open the government. Everyone is going through hardship. We really don't want this wall you want.

I am guessing the President of the United States, the billionaire President, jetting back and forth between the White House and Mar-a- Lago in Florida, will never talk to not just these workers I talked to in Virginia or those TSA employees in Cleveland--I am sure he will not talk to them, but I hope he will talk to some people like them.

He spends his time in his resort, but he doesn't see them. To him, they are invisible, but Mitch McConnell can see them. Mitch McConnell's office is down the hall on the right about 100 feet. I have shared on this floor before how lobbyists, during the tax bill, when President Trump and the majority in the Senate and the majority in the House gave a $1.5 trillion tax cut--and 70 percent of that tax cut went to the richest 1 percent, people like themselves, the President, the Cabinet, many Members of the Senate, many Members of the House. I documented it to show--as I looked out this door and opened these doors, I showed this is the place where the lobbyists go in and out of the majority leader's office, talking to him about their special interest legislation.

So I ask--right now, Senator McConnell could come out of his office, and he could walk down this hall. I would be happy to open the door for him, if that is not contrary to Senate rules. I would be happy to open the door for him and welcome him. He could right now vote to reopen the government and get this process moving and tell the President of the United States. He also could go to Virginia. He also could go to the airport in Louisville or Cincinnati, and he could listen to their stories, but he doesn't seem to be listening either because I am guessing if he did, he might be a little more inclined to let us vote to get these workers back on the job.

I am calling on Senator McConnell to come out of that office, to walk down this hall, and to come here and begin the process of opening the government.

Let's talk for a minute about what the President said last night. The President continued his record of telling lie after lie after lie after lie, misleading the people he is supposed to serve. Facts matter. So when you hear the President say we need a wall, remember that it is a fact that illegal border crossings are at historic lows. It is not fake news. My wife says if it is fake, it is not news, and if it is news, it is not fake. It is a fact that border crossings are at historic lows.

Another fact, border crossings are down about 80 percent since 2000. Another fact, the President's wall would do nothing to stop opioids coming into our communities. First, most illegal opioids are seized at legal points of entry, not tracked over some remote area of Texas. Fact, the shutdown makes it harder for Customs and Border Protection to do their jobs intercepting those opioids.

Another fact, last year we passed the INTERDICT Act. I worked with my colleague from Ohio, Senator Portman, and Senator Markey from Massachusetts on a bipartisan bill to get Customs and Border Protection the screening devices they need to test for opioids. Why would we focus on the President's vanity project, building this wall? A promise he made--remember his promise? ``I will build the wall, and the Mexicans will pay for it.'' Well, he is now asking American taxpayers, over time, to pay $25 or $30 billion.

Why would we focus on the President's vanity project instead of getting the agents and technology they need? We can do this with agents, technology, helicopters, and all the things we need to do to protect the border because that is what we want to do. We don't want this vanity project. We want to protect the border.

Another fact, most undocumented immigrants aren't committing crimes. In fact, there are 56 percent fewer criminal convictions of undocumented immigrants than of native-born Texans. So a native-born Texan is more likely, percentagewise, to commit a crime than an undocumented person living in Texas.

Keep in mind the facts of what this shutdown is costing the American people; 800,000 Federal workers are going without a paycheck; 420,000 of them are on the job without pay; thousands of contract workers, custodians, cafeteria workers, janitors not only are not getting a paycheck, but they probably never will for this lost work.

Here is another fact. The President and Senator McConnell could end the shutdown right now. The Senate passed a bill unanimously to fund the government in December. That is a fact. We passed it. It is a fact. It was unanimous. It is a fact. The House passed bills to fund the government last week. It is a fact. Senator McConnell right now could come out of that office, walk

down this hall, and Senator McConnell could put those House bills on the floor right now, and we could vote to end this shutdown. We could send them to the President's desk, and if the President is going to continue his vanity project and continue this Trump shutdown and he vetoes it, we have the ability to override it.

The President doesn't tell us what to do. He seems to be telling the Republican majority what to do day after day. I applaud those who stood up to him recently and said they want to open the government, but it is also a fact that this President said: ``I am proud to shut down the government.''

The Commander in Chief of the United States of America--the Commander in Chief--the top person in this country's government said: ``I am proud to shut down the government.''

Facts matter. The fact is, President Trump, once again, as he betrayed the General Motors workers in Lordstown, as he betrayed the General Motors suppliers--all the companies that supply the building of the Chevy Cruz--he has betrayed these Federal workers; he has betrayed these contract workers who are making $10, $12, and $15 an hour; and he has betrayed the American worker.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, 10 years ago this summer, we lost a longtime friend of mine and colleague, a remarkable public servant, Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

When Marcia Fudge, then the mayor of Warrensville Heights, a Cleveland suburb, won the special election to Stephanie's seat to represent the 11th Congressional District, including Cleveland and the home where Connie and I live, she had big shoes to fill, but Marcia rose to the occasion. For the past decade, she has been a fighter for my hometown of Cleveland and the east side suburbs into Akron and all the Ohioans she serves.

On the Education and Workforce Committee, she has become a senior leader who knows how to get things done. She stands up for Ohio's teachers, students, and families.

Marcia also joined the Agriculture Committee, perhaps not initially seen as a natural fit for someone with an urban district like hers, but she understands that farm bills are not just about crops. They are food bills, economic development bills, conservation bills, research bills, and nutrition bills. She and I--and I am the first Senator in half a century to be on the Ag Committee for some of the same reasons Congressman Fudge is on this committee. We have worked together to write two farm bills.

This year, we both served on the bill's conference committee, and we fought House Republican efforts to erect more bureaucracy to gut nutrition programs in Ohio that families rely on. These are programs for people making $8, $10, $12 an hour who don't have quite enough income to feed their families. We won that fight.

Tomorrow the President is scheduled to sign the bipartisan farm bill we passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both Houses. Congresswoman Fudge and I worked to right a century-old wrong and get Central State University the 1890 land grant status they deserve. That designation isn't just a rhetorical honor; it means more opportunities for funding and research in partnerships with industry--the sort of results that Marcia delivers for her district.

She is a leader among her colleagues. As head of the Congressional Black Caucus, she led the fight on so many issues, including working to ensure that all Americans have a voice in their government.

A few years ago, we held a field hearing on barriers too many Ohioans face exercising their most fundamental right--the right to vote. Marcia was a star in that hearing. It came in the wake of a despicable Ohio law and, frankly, years of attempts at voter suppression by Ohio Republicans--a despicable Ohio law that cut the number of early voting days in half.

We know exactly whom these laws are aimed at. Marcia testified about how these suppression tactics hurt communities of color. Unfortunately, it has gotten worse--limiting absentee balloting, restricting provisional balloting--and the Supreme Court, a Court that puts its thumb on the scale of justice in support of corporations over workers, a Court that puts its thumb on the scale of justice to support Wall Street over consumers, and a Court that rubberstamps all these restrictions on voting.

I look forward to continuing our fight alongside Marcia against these tactics straight out of the Jim Crow era. I know Marcia will continue to be a leader. There is no doubt, even before her election to Congress, that Marcia was a force to be reckoned with: a former mayor, a former congressional chief of staff, and former national president-- as important as anything she has done, I think in her mind--of Delta Sigma Theta. She still helps lead efforts to bring Deltas from around the country to the Hill each year for Delta Days. Hundreds of driven, ambitious, smart, committed, empathetic talented Black women come to our Nation's Capitol to meet with Members of Congress and make their voices heard. They have an incredible role model in Marcia Fudge.

I am grateful, Congresswoman Fudge, to have you as my Congresswoman. I am proud to call you a colleague and a friend.

Mr. President, I noticed today news reports from Bloomberg that the year 2017 is shaping up to be or likely was the most profitable year in Wall Street history. So what is Congress's reaction to that? What happens in the majority leader's office? More special interest legislation, more breaks for Wall Street, more tax cuts. So this Congress--this Congress has decided that Wall Street never quite has enough; that the richest people in this country are never rich enough; that the most powerful people in this country are not powerful enough.

So what happens down the hall in the majority leader's office? What happens way down the hall in the Speaker's office, although voters this year decided this year to eject him and his staff and his cohorts and his fellow travelers--if I can use a phrase like that--from that office and elect a whole different group of people.

What they have done is meet behind closed doors to help the oil companies, the drug companies, the gun lobby, and help especially Wall Street. In fact, not only are there all kinds of Wall Street lobbyists day in and day out--tobacco lobbyists, gun lobbyists, and others, but the White House itself looks like a retreat for Wall Street executives.

We know that. That is why, I guess, Wall Street had such a great year in 2017.

Mr. President, I want to honor the career of Patricia Rogala, who has been with my office our entire 12 years in the Senate and my 14 years in the House before that. Pat is the model of a dedicated public servant. After more than 25 years serving the people of Ohio, Pat is retiring at the end of the year.

Her first day on the job in Cleveland, Congress was in the middle of a fight--sounds familiar--over healthcare. Some local activists sent an Elvis impersonator to the office singing a healthcare song to the tune of ``It's Now or Never.'' Pat said at the time, ``What am I getting myself into?''

Fortunately, she stayed. As our Ohio scheduler, she has sent me all over my State. She has helped me put more road miles on our made-in- Toledo Jeep Cherokee than any travel agent ever could.

She has made sure I am able to serve Ohioans through meetings and roundtables and plant visits. She juggles a Senate schedule that changes--as we see tonight--always at the last minute. She ensures that this

office serves every corner of Ohio. She works directly in concert and coordination with Diana Baron in our Washington office. It is a tough job, but Pat makes it look easy.

One of our colleagues in our office wrote this week that Pat has been a true friend and wonderful coworker. What a loss we will feel come Monday when she is not sitting in her office hard at work. It is a loss to all of us.

We will miss you, Pat. You have had an incredible impact on your colleagues. You made such a difference serving Ohio for the people of Ohio, but after a quarter of a century, you have earned a long and happy retirement. Your family needs you, and your family loves you so.

Thank you, Pat.

(Mr. RUBIO assumed the Chair.)

Mr. President, I rise to honor the career of Margaret Molnar, a dedicated public servant who has made a difference in the lives of thousands of Ohioans and who is retiring soon after 12 years with my office.

She joined my Ohio staff the very first year I came to the Senate after a long career at Legal Aid. Her entire life has been dedicated to helping those people in need. In the past 12 years, Margaret has worked on more than 10,000 cases. Those are 10,000 Ohioans whose lives she has touched. Many of these were seniors trying to navigate bureaucracy and get the Social Security and Medicare benefits they have earned. Margaret went above and beyond the call of duty for them.

She worked on one case for 5 years. It was a complicated one, helping an Ohioan who was taken as a baby from Lithuania, brought to a displaced persons camp in Germany after World War II, and then finally brought to America.

They were having trouble finding the documents he needed to prove his eligibility for Social Security and Medicare, two Federal programs for which he had paid in. The case at times seemed hopeless, but Margaret never gave up. This year she was finally able to track down the documents this Ohioan needed to secure the benefits he earned. That was par for the course.

She worked on another case for a constituent who had been trying to get someone to intervene regarding her mother's Medicare coverage. The woman's daughter wrote that Margaret's ``caring, expertise, and knowledge of the medical system and Federal programs cut through all the gobbledygook I was facing, and pointed us in the direction of help when not one other agency or politician would.''

Our office has received so many letters of praise and thanks like that for Margaret.

One Ohioan wrote to Margaret:

You and Senator Brown have accomplished what I was

beginning to believe was impossible--the Social Security

backpay was indeed transferred to my account yesterday. I

cannot thank your office enough. I cannot even begin to

explain what a Christmas gift this is. I truly was beginning

to wonder and worry about how I was going to make ends meet

for the next several months.

Again, it is par for the course for Margaret Molnar.

Another woman wrote after her brother passed away, who Margaret helped in the last years of his life:

I will never forget how much you have helped enrich

Robert's life while he was with us. Forever, we will be

grateful. You immediately responded to my email and got the

ball rolling and never gave up on Robert. You are like

family.

Another woman wrote:

I did not know how to fight this type of issue, it seemed

bigger than life to me. You truly have done a wonderful job.

I appreciate you stepping in for me . . . your office truly

cares about people.

In a last note, another couple wrote: ``I hope Senator Brown knows how fortunate he is to have you on his staff.''

I know that, and Ohio knows that.

Mr. President, I rise to honor the career of an indispensable member of my staff, Elizabeth Thames. Beth has been with my office for over 20 years--all 12 years in the Senate and about a decade in the House before that.

Now, after serving the people of Ohio for these 20-plus years, Beth retires at the end of the year. She joined our office after working as an editor at the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. Far from being the enemy of the people, Beth knew what journalism was, knew how important it is, and knew to tell stories to help people, to afflict the comfortable, and to comfort the afflicted.

Beth brought that same spirit to our office. She helped our office to connect with the community in Northeast Ohio and around the State. She writes down the name of every single Ohioan we meet together so we can better serve them. Her work has had an amazing impact on the people of Ohio.

At meetings, at roundtables, and at community events, she listens and she learns about problems. She understands what Lincoln was talking about when he said: Go out and get your public opinion. She listens to people who don't often get listened to, and she is a voice for people whose voices are often not heard.

In 2012 and 2013, she began hearing more and more about infant mortality--a huge problem in our State, particularly for African- American babies. Frankly, State government didn't seem to give a damn. Constituents would bring up this issue over and over, but no one was doing anything about it. She started calling around. She met with anyone who would talk to her about what the State and Federal Government could do.

She called Arthur James, a doctor on the faculty at Ohio State and at the Nationwide Children's Hospital. He was sounding that alarm. He met with Beth and told her how bad things were. A crisis at the time, Ohio--a generally wealthy State, which could do so much better were it not for corrupt State government--had the third highest infant mortality rate in the country, and ranked last for African-American babies.

Beth started this conversation before many people were paying attention. She pushed every level of government to take this seriously. She talked with public health departments, with home visiting programs, with hospitals, with nurses, with doctors. She started conversations with legislators and legislative staff about what we could do on the Federal level, the State level, and the local level.

It is because of her that we passed and President Obama signed the bipartisan Sudden Unexpected Death Data Enhancement and Awareness Act. It is because of Beth that we wrote to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and got them to add warnings to crib bumpers to promote safe sleep.

It is because of Beth's hard work that then-Secretary of HHS Sylvia Mathews Burwell visited my hometown of Mansfield, OH, to see the great work that the Doctors Redding--husband and wife, two doctors in Mansfield, OH, my hometown--were doing and to see the great work they and community health workers were doing to help moms have healthy pregnancies and deliver healthy babies. The change was dramatic in the number of healthy babies who were born as a result of the work of all of them.

We have more to do, but all of Beth's efforts have given our State important tools to pay attention to monitor this problem and to figure out how to solve it.

For Beth, of course, it wasn't just infant mortality. Any time she heard about an issue in a meeting or roundtable, any time she heard about how our office could look and search for and find problems and find ways to be helpful, she was. She called agencies and offices. She talked with legislative staff. She always tried to find a solution.

She heard from veterans about the challenges using GI education benefits. This year she spearheaded our first student veterans conference. We spread around the State to help student veterans, soldiers, sailors, air men and women, and marines who come back after serving to integrate into classrooms in a difficult situation, where they are around college students who are usually younger than they and didn't have their life experience. She connects those student veterans with resources that allow them to the get the most out of the benefits.

For all of her efforts, Beth never sought recognition. She is generally quiet as a person. I can imagine her right now telling me to stop. She doesn't need all this fuss.

This fall, the Elyria NAACP gave her an award--something she probably

hoped I wasn't going to talk about--called the ``Unsung Hero Award.''

That is Beth. By the end of a long career that touched so many lives, I can't let her go without giving her the recognition she reserves.

Beth Thames, thank you for what you have done for our State. Thank you for what you have done for our country.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, these are not Mick Mulvaney's decisions to make--or whatever job Mick Mulvaney happens to be in this week. These are not Alex Azar's decisions to make. Congress needs to do its job. On behalf of the minority leader, I object.

I thank Senator Tester, Senator Isakson, Senator Gillibrand, and Senator Blumenthal.

This is the cost of war. This is simple. If you were exposed to poison while serving our country, you deserve the benefits you have earned--no exception. My office holds roundtables with veterans all over the State. We have held more than a dozen over the past several months. We hear Ohio veteran after Ohio veteran raise this issue time and again.

Joe Benedict from Cleveland talked about how important these benefits are to veterans like him. Last week, I met with Mike Kvintus, another blue water Navy veteran from Cambridge, OH. He is 71 years old, and he drove 4 hours from his home in Eastern Ohio to get here. He talked to Members of Congress about what a burden the senseless policy is for so many veterans he knows who have already sacrificed for this

country. He urged us to put politics aside.

That is what Senator Tester and Senator Gillibrand and Senator Isakson have asked us to do. Last year, we introduced the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, which would guarantee that all Vietnam veterans exposed to toxic Agent Orange chemicals have equal access to the care and benefits they have earned.

A number of us, myself included, raised the issue with VA Secretary Wilkie, both in private meetings in our office and in the Veterans' Affairs Committee, pressing him to expand benefits to all veterans.

Mr. Kvintus and Mr. Benedict and all of the veterans in our States-- Georgia, Connecticut, Montana, New York, and Ohio--we all hear this. We all know that these veterans put themselves in harm's way. It is the cost of war.

We need to show the American people we can work together. We should start by putting partisanship aside, passing this bill tonight, and finally getting the care for veterans that they deserve.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, our job in this body, in public service, is to fight for the people we serve. If you are taking a government salary, your job is to fight for the people who make this country work.

Wall Street, the big banks, and corporate special interests have their own army of lobbyists that go in and out of the majority leader's office. They are at their beck and call.

Our job is to fight for everyday Americans. That is why we created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Bureau's job is to crack down on Wall Street predators and people who cheat the system and shady lenders who prey on hard-working families.

The people in this town may have collective amnesia about what happened a decade ago. They may have forgotten the financial crisis. They may have forgotten the housing crisis, but families who lost their homes, lost their retirement savings, lost their jobs, and lost their college funds haven't forgotten.

My wife and I live in Cleveland, OH, in ZIP Code 44105. My ZIP Code, a decade ago, in the first half of that year, had more foreclosures than any ZIP Code in the United States of America. I see every day the blight and the damage that the foreclosure crisis brought to us, mostly by Wall Street.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is supposed to look out for danger before it crashes down on these hard-working families and robs them of their homes, jobs, and savings. The first 6 years on the job, that is what public servants at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau did. They returned $12 billion to 29 million Americans who had been scammed, cheated, and ripped off.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau follows in this country's proud tradition of progressive achievements: workers safety laws, overtime protections, collective bargaining rights, Social Security, Medicare, safe drinking water laws--all of those things that helped our country grow, that helped build a middle class, that helped to enhance people's quality of life.

Over the last year, Mick Mulvaney turned an agency meant to stand on the side of the American people into yet another outlet for the financial industry to push its agenda. The same people who line up outside the majority leader's office down the hall and the same lobbyists line up at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and push that same Wall Street agenda.

Mick Mulvaney said to the workers and servicemembers who are served by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to students and seniors who are served by the Bureau: You are on your own now. Don't expect any protection from us.

It is not just an attack on consumers. It is the Americans who work hard, whether they swipe a badge or punch a clock, whether they work for salary, whether they work for tips, whether they are raising children or taking care of an aging parent. Americans work

hard to earn a paycheck, buy a home, send their kids to college, and save for retirement. Every day they find themselves under attack from scam debt collectors and predatory payday lenders, or they see their pensions being raided by hedge fund billionaires.

When we let financial predators strip away at the people in ZIP Code 44105--strip away Americans' hard-earned dollars through fees and scams--we undermine that dignity of work, undermine the dignity people should have when they retire, and undermine the dignity of work that makes this country great.

How do you look Americans in the eye who are working that second or third shift or starting a small business if their government is going to stand by and line up with criminals who fleece people, line up with Wall Street, line up with shady lenders?

It comes down to whose side you are on.

We know that Mick Mulvaney, who has been running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau--sort of moonlighting because he has another Federal job--has been on the side of Wall Street.

Now we have to ask ourselves about the nominee for this job, Kathy Kraninger: Whose side has she been on?

We tried to get answers from Ms. Kraninger. In her job at the Office and Management Budget, she oversaw the agencies that ripped children from their parents at the border. She was involved in that.

We asked Ms. Kraninger to show us what her role was in that policy. She didn't defend it. She just refused to respond. She came in front of the committee. She wanted this nomination. She wanted to be confirmed. She wanted this promotion, and she would not even answer questions. She wouldn't respond to letters about her involvement.

We asked Ms. Kraninger whose side she was on after a devastating hurricane left millions of American citizens--American citizens, don't forget--in Puerto Rico without power, without water, without hospital, without shelter. We asked her to show us who she was fighting for when the government failed to find relief. She didn't deny anything. She refused to answer.

She wants a promotion. She wants this job. She refused to answer questions that we asked, that Senator Whitehouse or I or others asked on behalf of the American people.

Then we asked whose side she would be on if she were head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Would she be on the side of all the lobbyists that lined up outside Majority Leader McConnell's office or on the side of those who have been harmed? Would she be on Mick Mulvaney's side or fight for workers and servicemembers and students and seniors? It is one of the questions she did answer.

She said: ``I cannot identify any actions that Acting Director Mulvaney has taken with which I disagree.''

We know exactly whose side Ms. Kraninger will be on. She is with Mick Mulvaney, which means she is with Wall Street, with the payday lenders, with the shady special interests. She is not on the side of millions of Americans--the 29 million Americans who have saved $12 billion because the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau existed. She is not on their side. She is not on the side of her neighbors and my neighbors--her neighbors in her home State and in my home State of Ohio who lost their homes, their jobs, and their retirement savings to Wall Street greed.

She is not on the side of people who work for a living. She is on the side of big corporations like GM, which is shutting down its operations in Lordstown, presumably, costing 5,000 people their jobs, and moving some of those jobs overseas. She is on their side.

She has no experience in banking, finance, or consumer protection. Her one and only qualification is that she will be a rubberstamp for special interests.

I call on everybody in this body--I call on the President: Let's find somebody who will take this job seriously, who will fight for the people who make this country work.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, we have just been through a long election season, with a lot of close races. In States all over the country, voters had to contend with relentless attacks on their voting rights. We saw it in Ohio, where voters were purged from the rolls. We saw it in my mother's home State of Georgia, where more than 50,000 voter registrations were held up. Seventy percent of those were from Black voters. We know exactly who these laws are aimed at. It is people of color, and it is despicable. It is outrageous.

Rather than working to fix this problem, making it easier for voters to exercise their fundamental right, this administration and Republican leaders in this body and in State legislatures around the country want to put a man on the Federal bench who has supported unapologetic racists and defended voter suppression laws.

This body has done nothing to try to stop voter suppression. Controlled by Republicans, State legislatures around the country, in legislature after legislature, have, in fact, emboldened people who want to suppress voting rights.

Andrew Gillum and Stacey Abrams are two candidates each who would probably be Governor-elect right now if every voters' voices had been heard. Listen to what they had to say about Thomas Farr, the nominee for the Eastern District of North Carolina: ``When it comes to the trifecta of voter disenfranchisement--voter suppression, racial gerrymandering, and restriction of voting rights--Thomas Farr is, sadly, one of the most experienced election lawyers in the country.''

When it comes to the trifecta of voter disenfranchisement, he wins the award. He defended North Carolina's voter suppression laws--among the worst in the country. The Fourth Circuit Court said that the law targeted Black voters ``with almost surgical precision.''

He defended Jesse Helms in a lawsuit where Jesse Helms campaigned and sent 125,000 postcards to African-American communities, telling them that they would be arrested for voter fraud at their polling places. Considering the history of voter suppression in that State, imagine the terror, in many cases, in the eyes of those African-American voters who saw those postcards telling them that they could be arrested for voter fraud at their polling places. Of course many of them were not going to vote then, which is exactly what Jesse Helms and Thomas Farr wanted to happen. Thomas Farr defended Jesse Helms in court. To put

this man on the Federal bench is a national disgrace.

The cherry on top of this nomination is the fact that Barack Obama nominated two African-American women to serve on this court. Under the leadership of the gentleman down the hall, the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, this body didn't even give them a hearing. Instead of the choice of two African-American women who led over a decade, they want to put a man on the bench who defended segregationists and voter suppression. They want to put that kind of judge in that seat. It is a throwback to the worst moments of our history. This body shouldn't stand for it.

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

Mr. President, this week this body began rubberstamping yet another Trump nominee who will help unravel Wall Street reform and who will give big banks free rein again. This White House increasingly looks like a retreat for Wall Street executives.

Michelle Bowman is about to become a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. We should be aware that the only reason this slot is open is because of the obstruction of President Obama's Federal Reserve nominees in the last Congress. President Trump will have already nominated six of the seven Board slots. There are other nominees we could be voting on who would enjoy more broad bipartisan support and have a direct impact on saving and creating American jobs-- people such as the four bipartisan nominees to the Export-Import Bank, blocked by two or three Members of the Senate doing the bidding of the White House, costing us thousands.

This is coming from business interests, the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Wall Street Journal, and places like that. This is costing us thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs because of an ideological hangup on this side, because of complicity in the majority leader's office, and because somebody at the White House has a problem with the Export-Import Bank. Nobody can understand what it is.

These nominees have strong bipartisan support. Instead of voting on that to create jobs immediately--immediately in my State, we are voting on someone who will make it easier for the Fed to roll back and water down more consumer protections.

Ms. Bowman failed during a hearing to provide the committee any insight on her views on monetary policy, regulation, and financial instability--in other words, all of the issues that affect our economy that she will make decisions on.

We have seen what is happening at the Fed. We have heard their plans for rolling back rule after rule after rule. Vice Chair Quarles came to our committee. Last week he said the Fed will weaken stress tests and living wills for the largest banks.

We see what is happening in other ways. The Fed put out its proposal to implement the bank giveaway bill enacted earlier this year. It rolls back rules on banks with over $250 billion in assets. But do you know what else it does? Get this. The Fed announced plans to weaken rules for foreign megabanks. These are banks such as Santander, Deutsche Bank, and UBS. These are foreign banks. Think about ``Make America great again.'' These are foreign banks, big foreign banks--foreign banks that are huge into the hundreds of billions of dollars in assets internationally and a good size in this country. They have broken Federal law time and time and time again.

What does the White House do? What does the majority leader do? He says it is OK to give these foreign banks a break, and then we have to be preached to about making America great? How does that make any sense that the President of the United States sends these nominees up here who come out of this swamp at the White House? These nominees, pure and simple, look like a retreat of Wall Street executives at the White House--excuse me, a retreat of foreign bank CEOs at the White House. They come up here, and we weaken the rules that protect Americans.

We side with foreign banks that have broken the law instead of siding with American consumers. Something is very, very wrong on that.

I worry for our country. I worry for our economy. I know what happened. There may be collective amnesia on the Senate Banking Committee, but I remember what happened. The ZIP Code my wife and I live in had more foreclosures in 2007 than any ZIP Code in the United States of America.

I see the residue from those foreclosures. I know people lost their homes. I know people lost their savings. I know people lost their jobs. I see what those homes look like. I know they have high levels of lead- based paint. Does anybody at the Fed care about that? No, they want more deregulation. They want to help the foreign banks at the expense of people in my neighborhood. It is bad economics. It is morally outrageous.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.