Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, at 2:30 p.m. in room SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

The Committee will hold a hearing entitled, ``Medication and Performance Enhancing Drugs in Horse Racing.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. in room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, at 10:15 a.m. in room SD- 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled, ``The Latest Science on Lead's Impacts on Children's Development and Public Health.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, at 9 a.m. to hold a hearing entitled, ``Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Treaty Doc. 112-7).''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, at 2:15 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Beyond Seclusion and Restraint: Creating Positive Learning Environments for All Students'' on July 12, 2012, at 10:30 a.m. in room SD-106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled, ``The Future of Homeland Security: The Evolution of the Homeland Security Department's Roles and Missions.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, in room SD-628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 2:15 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Federal Recognition: Political and Legal Relationship between Governments.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on July 12, 2012, at 10 a.m., in SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct an executive business meeting.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on July 12, 2012, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I so appreciate the leadership of Senator Durbin on the DREAM Act. Nobody has kept the DREAM Act alive more than he, and nobody has spoken more passionately or cares more about young people. The point of so much of what he is talking about is giving people an opportunity. If they work hard and play by the rules, they can get ahead in this country. While I do not come to the floor today to talk about immigration and the DREAM Act, I support what Senator Durbin is doing.

I come to speak about something else that is related to allowing people to have the opportunity to get ahead, and that is Ohio manufacturing and why it is so important to our country.

The best ticket to the middle class in the last 100 years in the State of Ohio and all over the country has been people making things. The way to create wealth is to either mine it or grow it or make it. The Presiding Officer in his State of Colorado understands all three of those. In Colorado they mine ore, they grow crops, they make products, as they do in Ohio. Ohio is increasingly becoming an energy State in many ways and a leading farm State. Our biggest industry in a sense in Ohio is agriculture. We are also the No. 3 manufacturing State in the United States of America. Only Texas and Colorado produce more than Ohio does. They are States two and three times our size in population and, in area, more than that.

We know that from 2000 to 2010, we lost one-third of the manufacturing jobs in this country. We lost more than 5 million manufacturing jobs, which disappeared, suffered tens of thousands of plant closings, thousands of communities abandoned or crippled, teachers laid off, librarians laid off, police and firemen laid off, families broken because of these manufacturing job losses. More than 15,000 manufacturing jobs were lost between 2000 and 2010. Since early 2010, we now have 500,000 more jobs than we had in the early 2000s. In other words, for the first time in a decade, we are actually seeing manufacturing job gains. A big part of that is what has happened to the auto industry.

I spent much of last week all over my State but especially visiting places in northern Ohio where manufacturing and especially auto manufacturing is so important. I talked to business owners who are grateful and enthusiastic about what happened with the auto rescue. The auto industry was literally dying in Ohio and across the country. At this point 4 years ago, in late 2008 and early 2009, if the U.S. Congress, the President--the House and Senate--hadn't stepped in, my State would be in a depression. Since then, we are seeing major investments--in many cases hundreds of millions of dollars of investment--tens of millions spent on major investments in Toledo, OH, by Chrysler; major investments in Ohio by GM, major investments in Ohio by Ford, and major investments in Ohio by Honda. We all understand the auto industry is alive and well and coming back.

But many of these auto suppliers--companies that make brackets or bolts or wheel covers or glass or a number of other products that all go into auto assembly--many of these manufacturers, including component manufacturers of parts for the auto industry, talk about competing against China. For too long, they tell me--and I recognize--China has been manipulating its currency to give Chinese exports an unfair advantage. The Chinese Government also gives illegal subsidies to their domestic industries for the purpose of exporting and dumping products in the American market. The term ``dumping'' simply means they subsidize it so the product itself is priced under the cost of producing it. It is called dumping it in our market.

If that weren't enough, China skirted trade volume even further with illegal duties that affected more than 80 percent of U.S. auto exports to China, including Ohio-made vehicles such as Jeep, assembled in Toledo, and Acura, assembled in Marysville. We can't afford to let China take the wind out of our sails.

Last week, the day after Independence Day, the administration announced it would stand with American workers and fight back against China's discriminatory tariffs on American automobiles. When they use illegal international trade law--when they put illegal tariffs on American products--it means the Chinese keep prices so high for American-made autos--artificially high--the Chinese simply won't buy them. Chinese motorists won't buy them. So they, in effect, by using these tariffs, have kept American products made by American workers in the United States of America, out of China. We buy so much from China. We can buy products in almost any store in America that were made in China. We buy so many of their products, but

they do all they can--illegally in many cases--to keep our products out.

Now is the time to stand for American workers, to stand for suppliers in Dayton who provide aluminum and zinc for casting, workers in Defiance, OH, who specialize in heavy-gauge steel for our domestic automobile industry. That is why the President's decision, the United States Trade Representative's decision, aimed at defending American jobs was so important. We know what rescuing the auto industry meant for us. It was not only about preventing crises, but it could have been an economic depression, especially in the industrial Midwest. Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans depend on the auto industry: workers, suppliers, manufacturers, drivers, truckers, sales representatives, dealerships.

For those of us in Congress who supported rescuing the auto industry, doing so meant standing for the hundreds of thousands of Ohioans and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Americans, as much as it was about supporting the Big Three.

Today the domestic auto industry is back on course. GM is the leading car company in the world. It is earning significant profits. As I said, plants in Toledo and Lordstown and Defiance are hiring workers. Honda, Chrysler, Ford, GM, have all announced those various multimillion dollar investments in Ohio alone, not to mention many other States I named earlier.

We have to continue making the investments in manufacturing that matter for our recovery and our economic competitiveness. I was just on a conference call with rural housing advocates in Ohio. We know historically in this country what leads us out of depression: manufacturing and housing. We are doing significantly better in manufacturing. Remember earlier in my short little talk, that we lost 5 million manufacturing jobs from 2000 to 2010. We have gained 500,000 since then, including in Ohio almost every single month over the last 30 months or so. Manufacturing is doing its part to pull us out of this recession. We have got to do better in housing. That is a subject for another discussion. But the manufacturing part is so important.

One place we must remain vigilant is the enforcement of trade laws. That is what the President is doing. We know that enforcing trade law is not just right for manufacturing, it is right for job creation. The International Trade Commission's ruling in December 2009 led to a broader measure on imports to support domestic producers of steel pipe, such as V&M Star Steel in Youngstown. By addressing illegal Chinese trade practices, this decision helped increase demand for domestic production. It played a significant role in V&M Star's decision to do something that people did not expect would happen anytime soon. V&M Star Steel made a decision to build a new $650 million seamless pipe mill in Youngstown, OH, bringing, I believe, about 1,000 building trades jobs, building the structure of the plant, and now several hundred jobs as they begin production--a new steel plant in Youngstown, OH, one of the major steel-producing centers in the country that had come on hard times, particularly in steel; a new steel mile in Youngstown, OH, because the President of the United States, because the International Trade Commission, because the Department of Commerce, because Congress pushed for it, actually enforced trade rules, and look what happened. So trade enforcement matters.

We also need to be vigilant in currency manipulation. Our trade deficit in auto parts with China grew from about $1 billion 10 years ago to almost $10 billion today. These massive illegal subsidies the Chinese are engaging in are worsened by indirect predatory subsidies such as currency manipulation. That is why my legislation, the Currency Exchange and Oversight Reform Act, the largest bipartisan jobs bill that has passed the Senate in the last 2 years, is so important. It got more than 70 votes in the Senate. Both parties supported it. The House of Representatives had passed a similar measure one other time. Now we are simply asking Speaker Boehner to schedule this bill for a vote. If it is scheduled for a vote, if the House votes on it, they will pass it, I would predict, with at least 300 votes, because large numbers of Members of both parties want to see the House of Representatives move. They voted for it before. We need Speaker Boehner to actually bring it to a vote.

It means standing for American jobs when China cheats. Without aggressive enforcement of trade laws, this unlevel playing field will cost hundreds of thousands of American jobs. It is born from the realization that stakes are too high for our workers, our manufacturers, our economy if we do not fight back. We need an all- hands-on-deck approach, at the U.S. Trade Rep, at the Department of State, at the Department of Commerce, to be involved and more aggressive, especially by initiating more trade actions.

We know our trade actions stabilized the auto industry. We know enforcement of trade law translates into steel jobs and paper jobs and tire jobs and other jobs. We know it is time to continue fighting for and investing in American manufacturing.

I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar 433, S. Res. 429.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Wicker amendment at the desk be agreed to.

Mr. President, I know of no further debate. I urge passage of the resolution.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I understand that S. 3369, introduced earlier today by Senator Whitehouse, is at the desk. I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for its second reading and object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S. 3240, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012, be printed as passed.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 11; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that the majority leader be recognized and that the first hour be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half, and that all time during morning business, adjournment, and recess count postcloture on the motion to proceed to S. 2237.

Mr. President, we hope to begin consideration of the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act tomorrow.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, it is my privilege to honor the Montford Point Marines, who today will be collectively decorated with the Congressional Gold Medal.

The Montford Point Marines served our country bravely during World War II, despite being segregated from their fellow servicemembers. In 1942, President Roosevelt directed that African Americans be recruited into the Marine Corps. These men were not sent to the traditional Marine recruit depots of Parris Island or San Diego. Instead, they were segregated and trained at Montford Point in Camp Lejeune, NC. Collectively, these Marines--who became known as the ``Montford Point Marines''--served in the Pacific Theater as part of the 51st and 52nd Marine Defense Battalions, and with various Depot and Ammunition Companies.

The Defense Battalions saw action against surviving Japanese troops on the captured island of Guam, while the Depot and Ammunition Companies participated in the fighting at Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Their jobs consisted of loading and unloading supplies, resupplying frontline units, and evacuating the dead and wounded--sometimes under heavy enemy fire. All together, the Depot and Ammunition Companies suffered seven killed and 78 wounded. Of the nearly 20,000 African-American Marines in World War II, about 13,000 served overseas. In July 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued his executive order ending military segregation. In September 1949, Montford Marine Camp was deactivated, ending 7 years of segregation.

The commitment and sacrifice of African-American servicemembers during World War II is embodied in the lives of two cousins, Howard and Kenneth Tibbs. Howard served this Nation as one of the Tuskegee Airmen. I had the privilege of honoring him in 2007 when the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen. Today, I am able to honor his cousin, Kenneth Tibbs, who served as a Montford Point Marine. Kenneth was born on May 30, 1925, in Lancaster, OH, and served from 1943 to 1944 as part of the 20th Marine Depot Company. Ultimately, PFC Kenneth Tibbs was killed in action during the invasion of Saipan. He was his unit's only fatality.

Private Tibbs and all of the Montford Point Marines exemplified the qualities for which the Montford Point Marines are so admired. Our Nation is indebted to him and his fellow Marines for their sacrifice. Not only did they contribute to the America's victory in the Pacific, but they did so within a highly segregated military. Many went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam, alongside their white counterparts. Montford Point Marine Edgar Huff became the first African-American in the United States Marine Corps to be promoted to the rank of Sergeant Major. His brother-in-law, Gilbert ``Hashmark'' Johnson, also served at Montford Point and earned the rank of Sergeant Major. Today, Montford Point's Camp Johnson at Camp Lejeune is named after him. I am proud to have been an original cosponsor of the 2006 House Resolution 80 to honor these Marines, and it is my privilege to recount their legacy today in the United States Senate.

I proudly celebrate the life and sacrifice of PFC Kenneth J. Tibbs, and all Montford Point Marines, on the occasion of this award of the Congressional Gold Medal.

Madam President, I come to the floor this evening to discuss the bipartisan transportation jobs bill that has been lingering since March 14. March 14 was pretty early in the construction season. If the House had moved as quickly as they should have, if the House were not, apparently, held hostage by some tea party members who think transportation should be a State issue and the Federal Government shouldn't be involved, there would have been so many more jobs created in the Presiding Officer's State of North Carolina and in Ohio and elsewhere. Those tea party members should think about President Eisenhower's legacy when they talk about transportation being a State and not a Federal issue.

The Senate passed this job-creating economic development bill more than 100 days ago, but this historically bipartisan highway bill remains stalled. We know investments in infrastructure mean jobs directly. We know investments in infrastructure mean economic development in the future. President Eisenhower and Congress established the Interstate Highway System not too many years after I was born, in the 1950s. A generation of Americans was set to work carving freeways, paving new roads, building bridges and tunnels across our great country that allowed people and products to travel across the 48 States.

In the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1970s, and the 1980s, we had an infrastructure which was the envy of the world--an infrastructure the likes of which the world had never seen. Since then, we have not done quite so well. Our Nation used our postwar infrastructure boom to become an economic superpower, similar to how the GI bill helps millions of families who take advantage of it--soldiers, veterans, and families--yet at the same time creating prosperity for the whole country. Infrastructure building helps those men and women who are actually doing the construction, doing the work on the highways and bridges and water and sewer systems, but it also helps the companies and the workers who are manufacturing the steel and the concrete and the glass that goes into infrastructure, and it also helps the prosperity of society as a whole.

A truck leaving Toledo, OH, could be in Miami, FL, in less than a day. A family could drive from one corner of Ohio--from Conneaut, the county my wife was born in--to North Bend on the other end of the State in several hours instead of a whole day.

We know infrastructure investments are forward thinking, with payoffs that last for decades, yet also benefit our Nation--our small businesses, our workers--both today and for generations to come. So it is unacceptable that at a time of still too high unemployment--even though the unemployment rate in my State has dropped between 2 and 3 percent in the last 3 years, it is still too high--Washington politicians, for whatever reason, continue to block progress on this bill.

No one in this Congress should be proud of the condition of our roads or the safety of our bridges. No one in this Congress should be proud of the fact the world's newest airports and most modern train stations are not in the United States of America, as they were in the 1950s, 1960s, the 1970s, and the 1980s. They are being built overseas. No one in this Congress should be proud of creating new hurdles to progress, of obstruction, when the need is so great for us to create new jobs.

Historically, infrastructure has been a bipartisan issue. There is no so such thing as a Democratic or Republican bridge. The most recent extension is slated to expire Saturday at midnight. We can't afford to keep passing short-term extensions. We need to think about consequences for businesses that plan for the long term. Because Congress keeps passing inch-by-inch, month-by-month extensions, businesses can't plan, workers can't plan, State departments of transportation can't plan. It hurts the contractor, who is unsure whether she will have the funds to buy a new bulldozer; the crane operator, who is unsure of where his next job will be; and it hurts the small business owner who sells aggregate to the construction industry. We cannot afford to keep passing the buck with these short-term extensions and disrupting the ability of businesses to plan for the future.

This past weekend I visited El Meson Restaurante, a family-owned restaurant located near the I-75 modernization project in West Carrollton in Montgomery County, OH, in southwest Ohio, near Dayton. I spoke with the owner Bill Castro. I asked him: What happens if the bill expires and this project is delayed? He tells me that construction surrounding the restaurant has already cut into El Meson's profits. I have eaten at that restaurant three or four times. It has always been crowded. The food is good, the hospitality is great, and the owners are friendly and embracing. It is a great place. But because of this delay--which happens from time to time, I understand, and should--he has had to scale back his own salary, rather than lower his workers' wages and reduce the staff. He knows this is good for Montgomery County, for Dayton, and for the Miami Valley, but it is clear if this project gets delayed it will do serious damage to his restaurant and to the other small businesses in the area.

It is clear business owners in my State are doing their jobs. It is time the House of Representatives does its job and works with us to pass this highway bill, then get it back to the Senate and the House so we can vote on it. We know what is at stake: Jobs created by infrastructure investments are almost always good-paying middle-class jobs. Whether they are the construction jobs or the manufacturing jobs producing the products that go into the construction, these jobs typically provide workers with health care and retirement benefits and are the kinds of jobs our neighbors need to create a strong middle class. These jobs enable people to buy a home, to save for their children's college education, and plan for the future.

These investments not only create construction jobs, they improve our Nation's economic efficiency, obviously creating more prosperity. This bill is about rebuilding our infrastructure as much as it is about rebuilding our middle class. It is time for Congress to pass the highway bill. There is simply too much at stake not to.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, we recognized May as National Cancer Research Month. This year, more than 1.6 million Americans will receive a cancer diagnosis and more than half a million Americans will lose their battle with cancer. However, due to the discoveries made by cancer researchers, people are living with cancer longer and, increasingly, are beating it.

Cancer researchers--world-class scientists and clinicians--are making invaluable contributions to our health care knowledge. The National Institute of Health, NIH, and the National Cancer Institute, NCI, are the leading funders and conductors of biomedical research in the world--including cancer research. According to Families USA, approximately seven jobs are created per research grant and each dollar of NIH grant money generates about $2.21 of new business activity.

In fiscal year 2011, Ohio scientists and physicians attracted more than $710 million in grant funding, including $104 million dedicated to cancer research.

Ohio is on the cutting edge of cancer research thanks to world renowned medical institutions, including Ohio's two NCI-designated cancer centers: the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center--the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, CCC, brings together the cancer research efforts at Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and the Cleveland Clinic. Through this collaboration, the brightest minds at Case, University Hospital, and the Cleveland Clinic partner on cutting-edge cancer research bringing together more than 300 scientists and physicians to work on research projects supported by more than $100 million in annual funding.

Case CCC also was awarded a Specialized Programs of Research Excellence, SPORE, grant--to promote translational cancer research.

The Case SPORE grant will allow Case to research gastrointestinal, GI, cancers. GI cancers are a leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women as well as disproportionately affect African Americans. African Americans are more likely to have--and die--from colon cancer. Additionally, the onset of colon cancer occurs at an earlier age for African Americans. Of the four projects that would be funded by the Case GI SPORE, several include a research emphasis on colon cancer in African Americans.

Case is also the lead center for the Barrett's Esophagus Research Network. This multiple center network allows for collaboration to develop a better understanding of Barrett's esophagus disorder and its correlation with esophageal cancer.

The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, also referred to as ``the James,'' was the Midwest's first fully dedicated cancer hospital and research institute.

The James researchers are drawn from 12 of Ohio State's 18 colleges to collaborate and study ways to prevent and treat cancer, including the ways genetics influences cancer development and how targeted therapies based on molecular genetics can promote treatment.

Research at the James has expanded our knowledge and understanding of cancer treatment. Researchers at the James found that 1 in 35 people with colon cancer carry a genetic disease called Lynch syndrome. Of the patients who had this gene mutation, each had on average three family members with the mutation.

Thanks to the outstanding research conducted by the James, the early detection of the mutation means that through regular colonoscopies, people with Lynch syndrome will never develop colon cancer. This is remarkable-- through genetic advances, people can beat cancer before it starts.

OSU scientists are also developing a medicated patch that releases a cancer-preventing drug onto precancerous oral lesions.

Other scientists are conducting clinical trials for new drugs to treat patients with advanced or recurring breast, colon, lung, or prostate cancer. These drugs may offer new hope to patients who have exhausted most--if not all--existing therapeutic options.

The James and the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center is expanding its cancer research as the result of a $100 million grant made available from the health care reform legislation.

The funding has spurred the largest construction project in university history, which will expand the Wexner Medical Center, including the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. Slated to be completed by 2014, the expansion includes a new cancer hospital, critical care tower, outpatient center, research laboratories, and classrooms--all designed to advance the medical center's mission to

improve people's lives through innovation in patient care, education, and research.

This project put more than 5,000 Ohioans to work constructing the facility and is expected to create 10,000 full-time jobs by 2014.

The University of Cincinnati Cancer Institute is another Ohio institution making strides in combating cancer.

UC's Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology is partnering with the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute at Cincinnati Children's Hospital to explore gene therapy for the treatment of pediatric cancers and blood disorders.

I applaud the groundbreaking work conducted every day in Ohio and across the country to increase prevention, improve treatment, and extend life-expectancies--for all constituencies.

Even though National Cancer Research Month has come to an end, I urge my Senate colleagues to continue to support cancer research. While researchers have made incredible strides in cancer research, only a mere 5 percent of Americans with pancreatic and other cancers have a 5- year survival rate. Now is the time to strengthen the investment in the revolutionary work of cancer researchers across the country.

Madam President, let me begin by thanking the chair of the Senate veterans committee for her incredible leadership on one of the most tragic issues of our times--the suicide rate among active-duty personnel in our Armed Forces, and especially among veterans.

Last week I spoke to the Disabled American Veterans in Columbus. I hear these same issues all the time, particularly among men and women who are sent for their second, third, fourth, and fifth deployments. One veteran, active in the DAV, told me about an Ohio soldier who has had a seventh deployment. That is not what we should be doing, and so I appreciate Senator Murray's leadership.

I am a member of that committee--the first Ohioan to ever serve on the veterans committee for a full term--and I am on this committee because of these problems. So I am thankful for the leadership we have on that committee and for what Senator Murray has done.

I remember when I was presiding some years ago, and she was talking on the Senate Floor about her dad, who is a veteran, and I know that is a big part of why she does what she does.

I thank the Senator from Washington State.

Madam President, let me begin by thanking the chair of the Senate veterans committee for her incredible leadership on one of the most tragic issues of our times--the suicide rate among active-duty personnel in our Armed Forces, and especially among veterans.

Last week I spoke to the Disabled American Veterans in Columbus. I hear these same issues all the time, particularly among men and women who are sent for their second, third, fourth, and fifth deployments. One veteran, active in the DAV, told me about an Ohio soldier who has had a seventh deployment. That is not what we should be doing, and so I appreciate Senator Murray's leadership.

I am a member of that committee--the first Ohioan to ever serve on the veterans committee for a full term--and I am on this committee because of these problems. So I am thankful for the leadership we have on that committee and for what Senator Murray has done.

I remember when I was presiding some years ago, and she was talking on the Senate Floor about her dad, who is a veteran, and I know that is a big part of why she does what she does.

I thank the Senator from Washington State.

Mr. President, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act, or the 2012 farm bill, represents the most significant reform of U.S. agriculture in decades. This bill is the product of many months of policy discussions and late night deliberations guided by the steady leadership of Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Roberts. I commend their efforts in successfully navigating this bill. All Americans stand to benefit from their hard work and commitment to reform agriculture policy and strengthen our rural communities.

There is a reason why people across the country--farmers and business owners, faith leaders and county commissioners--have been paying attention to what we are doing.

This bill benefits all Americans, including in Ohio, where 1 in 7 jobs is related to the food and agriculture sector. From making the farm safety net more fiscally responsible, ensuring communities have access to broadband, protecting nutrition and conservation programs, to strengthening initiatives for healthy, nutritious food--this legislation touches all Ohioans.

Also, at a time where there is too much gridlock, this bill is a welcome change.

Many thanks to Leader Reid and Senator McConnell for their patience, their cooperation, and for allowing time for proper consideration of the farm bill.

Many of the policies I proposed as legislation and worked to include in this farm bill were made at the suggestion of Ohioans. Traveling across the State on my ``Grown in Ohio'' listening tour, I learned what is working and what needs to be changed from people whose primary job is to grow our food, feed the hungry, and run small businesses and small towns. Thanks to the many Ohioans who have shared their opinions, ideas, and provided feedback over the past several months. This farm bill is better because of their involvement.

This legislation would not have been possible without the dedicated work of the Senate Agriculture Committee's leadership of Chairwoman Stabenow, Ranking Member Roberts, and that of its members. In particular, I enjoyed the opportunity to work with a number of my Agriculture Committee colleagues. Their willingness to reach across party lines ensured that this bill had a much-needed dose of Midwestern pragmatism. I would like to thank Senators Thune and Grassley, as well as Senators Harkin, Nelson, Lugar, Johanns, Klobuchar, and Casey. Their continual engagement in the farm bill process has made a stronger product and I am grateful for their efforts.

The 2012 farm bill has been many months in the making and was made possible by the work of Senate staff, often in a bipartisan manner. Mike Seyfert, Joel Leftwich, and Tara Smith of Ranking Member Roberts' staff were invaluable resources in this process, as well as Jared Hill for Senator Grassley and Lynn Tjeerdsma with Senator Thune, whose work with my staff was indispensable.

I was continually impressed with the open and collaborative nature of Senator Stabenow's staff. This farm bill was written in a unique and challenging process--all of which made the efforts by Chris Adamo, Jonathan Coppess, Joe Shultz, Tina May, Brandon McBride, Jacklyn Schneider and others to remain engaged and open to suggestions all the more invaluable. Their hard work has not gone unnoticed.