Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 5 minutes as in morning business.

Mr. President, just a few minutes ago, I was presiding over the Senate and I heard remarks from my friend, the senior Senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, who sits next to me. I was intrigued by her response to the vote that had just taken place for my colleagues who

preach every day about deficit reduction. As Senator McCaskill said, they had an opportunity to pick the lowest hanging fruit there is, take away the tax breaks and the tax dollar subsidies that go to the oil interests in this country.

Think about that. We are giving incentives. Taxpayers are spending hard-earned dollars coming from workers in Dayton and Springfield and Akron and Canton that go directly to the most profitable industry in the history of the world, perhaps, particularly the big five oil companies, making billions and billions of dollars. Yet we are simply saying it is OK to give them those kinds of tax breaks and tax subsidies.

That is even putting aside the fact that every time there is a pipeline outage or every time there is a fire in a refinery or every time there is turmoil in the Middle East, the oil companies and the speculators use it as a chance to spike up oil prices. They do it over and over like clockwork. A problem in Iran? Prices go up. A fire in a refinery? Prices go up. An outage in a pipeline? Prices go up.

The Presiding Officer from Vermont, with his bill, has led this effort to get the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice to put the government on the side of the motorist, of small businesses, of the consumer. Just as Senator McCaskill said earlier, to save tax dollars is really obvious and, on the other side, to make sure we go after the speculators when they rip us off.

According to a recent study, 56 cents of the price of every gallon of gas you buy when you go to the pump in gas stations all over America goes to the hedge fund operators and speculators. That is about $10 to $12 to $15 a tank depending on how big a car you drive.

On the one hand, we are not saying no more tax breaks. On the other hand, we are not saying to the speculators: Stop this. You are not going to get away with this anymore. The government has to be on the side of the middle class here and fight back.

I yield the floor.

Would the Senator yield for a moment?

I thank the assistant majority leader. I heard his comments about Chrysler and what

happened with the CEO when he was in town today talking to some of our colleagues. And one of the untold stories of the auto rescue is not just that in my State 800,000 people work directly or indirectly for the auto industry. Most of those are part of the supply chain that makes products and sells those products--a large number of them--that are assembled in Lordstown or Toledo or different places around Ohio. But one of the untold stories is that not only were these jobs and these companies saved from going bankrupt--and who knows what would have happened to a State such as mine where much of the State is pretty dependent on the auto industry--but in the case of the Toledo Jeep plant, prior to the auto rescue only 50 percent of the components that went into the Jeep Wrangler were made in the United States. After the President and Vice President negotiated with the auto industry and the auto task force and the House and Senate weighed in, now 75 percent of the components that go into the Jeep Wrangler are made in the United States. So we are not just seeing the 5,000 jobs in Lordstown making the Chevy Cruze or the jobs at the Honda assembly plants in Marysville, OH, or Toledo, or Ford, we are also seeing that a lot more of the components are made in the United States. And these are often union jobs, often not union jobs, but they are almost all good-paying jobs that give people a ticket to the middle-class. It helps them to buy a house, send their son or daughter to school, or buy a car. Without it, my State would probably be in a depression.

I have been to the plant where they make the engine for the Chevy Cruze, I have been to the plant where they make the bumper for some of these cars, and I have been to the assembly plants, and the workers are excited. And the workers sacrificed a lot, as the auto industry--all kinds of people took a hit with the managed bankruptcy of those two companies. But we have seen not just the auto industry, but for 12 years, from 1997 to 2009, in my State and I assume in Illinois too and all over the country we lost manufacturing jobs. Almost every month for the last 2 years we have gained manufacturing jobs.

The auto rescue is not the only reason we have seen things turn around. We also have a productive workforce and we are training workers better. I have 55 college presidents I just met with whom I bring to Washington for a conference--it is the fifth year in a row. Senator Portman, Congresswoman Sutton, and others have met with them. They are more focused than ever on manufacturing, working to train those people so they can go into manufacturing. The students they are educating are in a whole lot of fields, but one of them is focusing on how to train people to do this high-end, much more technical, complicated manufacturing than a generation ago, and it is starting to work.

Mr. President, if my colleague would yield one more time, it wouldn't have just been Chrysler and General Motors that would have faltered. Honda--a foreign-owned company that has made a huge and positive presence in the Columbus area, in northwest Columbus and in Marysville--and Ford, obviously one of the Big Three but one that didn't ask for the rescue--both those companies wanted us to do the rescue because they knew if we didn't, their whole supply chain would begin to fall apart too. So this mattered not just for Chrysler and GM, saving them, and now that they are putting tens of thousands of people all over the country back to work, it mattered for the entire industry, including the foreign companies that have invested and hired a lot of American workers.

I thank the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. President, March 2012 marks the 29th annual National Eye Donor Month--a month devoted to honoring eye donors and corneal recipients, and increasing awareness of the need for eye donations.

Since President Ronald Reagan declared the first National Eye Donor Month in 1983, the Eye Bank Association of America, EBAA, and its 97- member eyebanks have used National Eye Donor Month to educate the general public about the donors and their families who provide life- changing corneal transplants for over 50,000 people annually.

Of the EBAA's 97-member eyebanks, four are located in Ohio, and they possess a deep-rooted commitment to restoring sight by providing corneas for sight-saving transplant procedures. In 2010, charitable eye donations made by Ohio residents allowed our State eyebanks to provide more than 1,000 corneas to help their friends and neighbors regain sight, and an additional 1,000 eyes and corneas for additional surgical procedures, as well as for research and educational purposes.

These selfless efforts have not gone unnoticed, changing the lives of thousands of Ohioans through the selfless gifts of donors and their families.

The Central Ohio Lions Eye Bank in Columbus, serving 45 counties, has made possible over 12,000 corneal transplants since 1973.

In the past 10 years, the Cincinnati Eye Bank for Sight Restoration, located in the southern part of our State, gave the gift of sight to nearly 6,300 individuals through transplantation.

In northern Ohio, the Cleveland Eye Bank has provided corneas for over 20,000 cornea transplants since its founding in 1958.

Lions Eye Bank of West Central Ohio, LEBWCO, in Dayton has provided high-quality ocular tissue to surgeons and patients since 1982 and serves more than 1 million people in nine counties. LEBWCO is dedicated to making the gift of sight a reality for the Dayton community and all Ohioans.

Since the EBAA's inception in 1961, corneal transplants have changed the lives of over 1,000,000 people. However, much remains to be done to offer more people the opportunity to receive life-changing corneal transplants.

I encourage all Americans to register to become eye donors. Inform your family of your wishes; designate yourself as a donor on your driver's license; and register as an eye donor through your State donor registry.

I urge my colleagues to work with their local eyebanks and the EBAA to promote the importance of eye donation and its life-enhancing effects on corneal recipients.

During March 2012, let us commemorate the lives of the donors who make corneal transplants possible, celebrate the sight restored by these transplants, and work to widen the path for additional advancements in corneal transplantation.

Mr. President. I rise today to honor Raymond J. Price III upon his retirement from the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, IUPAT. For more than 30 years, Ray Price has represented his fellow workers in Ohio and across the country with distinction and dignity.

In September 1978, he started as an apprentice painter at IUPAT Painters Local 867 in Cleveland. He honed his craft to become a journey worker just 3 years later. As he rose through the ranks he earned the trust and admiration of his fellow brothers and sisters progressing as a business representative, business manager, and, by 1995, as manager and secretary-treasurer of IUPAT District Council 6, which covers all of Ohio and central Kentucky.

He would become heavily involved with the Cleveland Building Trades Council and served as vice president of the Cleveland AFL CIO Federation of Labor. What IUPAT members in Ohio understood about his loyalty and toughness, soon members from across the country would also recognize. In 1999 he joined the International Union staff as a representative of the general president and, later, as general vice- president at large. With each new challenge and responsibility, Ray showed how a progressive labor movement is critical to our country and to our middle class.

Thank you, Ray, for your counsel and friendship. As you spend time at your cottage on the Sandusky River, I wish you a happy retirement with your wife Mary Ann, your children, and extended family by your side. You have left a legacy that shows how one can make a career fighting for working men and women--and making a community and country more just and fairer for all.

Mr. President, some time ago, I was reading a book about the beginnings of the interstate highway system in our country. I came across a paragraph when the highway builders and the Federal Government were going to run the interstate highway through some stable middle-class, working-class neighborhoods of Baltimore. The highway administration was greeted by an organizer who, on behalf of citizens of this neighborhood, said this is not the place to put this highway. She was successful in convincing them that the highway should go elsewhere so it would not be disruptive of so many homes, well- established small businesses, and the cohesive community in that part of Baltimore. The woman who led that effort several decades ago was Barbara Mikulski. She was not yet on the city council. She was a citizen who spoke for her neighbors and has continued to do that as a member of the city council and then as a Member of the House of Representatives and for many years--3\1/2\ decades--of the Senate.

We heard Senator Reid and others earlier today talk about Senator Mikulski being the first female Democrat to serve in both the House and Senate--to be elected to the Senate without succeeding a husband or a father and first to chair an Appropriations subcommittee. Most important, she helped to blaze this path. In 1987, there were only two female Senators. One was the daughter of a Presidential nominee a generation earlier, and the other was Barbara Mikulski. Today, there are 17 female Members of the Senate. It doesn't look like America yet. There is not anything close to the number of minority members as a percentage of the population, but I hope that changes. I think it will. It doesn't come close to representing the gender makeup of our society. But to go from 2 female Senators, when she first came, to 17 today--and if I can predict elections, which none of us can, and we certainly cannot try--I think there is a good chance there will be a number of additional women in this body this time next year.

I wish to say a couple more things about Senator Mikulski on a less serious note. I have been privileged to serve on two committees with Senator Mikulski--one being the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. During the health care legislation, she was so helpful to so many of the causes we care about and to justice in this country, and on the Appropriations Committee, where she cuts a wide swathe of involvement for Maryland and this country, she champions women's health and many talked about this earlier. She cares so much about the National Institutes of Health, not just because it is located in Maryland but because it matters so much for scientific research, for curing a whole host of diseases and preventing diseases, and the number of jobs NIH creates, not just government jobs but the jobs that come out of commercialization of scientific research.

My State is one of the leaders; whether the jobs come out of Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Southwest Hospital, and where Case Western Reserve University is and its medical center around Cleveland, we see that kind commercialization.

I often call her Coach B because she is someone who has been around here a long time and is always willing to advise newer and younger Members. She has been following, especially in my State, what is important, the issue of health care. My State has some of the leading health care institutions in America. Also, what she has done with the space program--the only NASA facility north of the Mason-Dixon line is in Cleveland, with a satellite in Sandusky, NASA Glenn, named after former Senator and astronaut, John Glenn. She has been one of the strongest advocates for the space program, and science, technology, and R&D. She has been particularly helpful to me as I fight for the kind of work NASA Glenn does in Cleveland, and I am appreciative of her for that.

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

Mr. President, I rise to talk about a new record that has been set. It has nothing to do with the number of votes the highway bill garnered last week in the Senate, and it has nothing to do with length of service of Senator Mikulski.

For the first time in history, this year one State has four teams in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Men's Division I basketball tournament: Ohio.

A special congratulations to the Ohio State University, in Columbus; the University of Cincinnati, in Hamilton County; Ohio University, in Athens, OH; and Xavier University, also in Cincinnati, for their outstanding run so far and making our entire State proud.

I am hosting, for the fifth time, an annual Ohio College President's Conference next week. We bring in 50 to 60 college presidents to meet with each other and with me and we bring in people from the administration, Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate Members, who lead on higher education issues. We bring 55 or 60 college presidents in from Ohio for a day and a half, and there are public and private institutions, 2-year community colleges, and 4-year colleges and universities. They learn best practices from one another. They build relationships that help all 55 or 60 of these college Presidents to do better.

Perhaps, we will talk more about college sports this year because of these four Ohio teams that made the Sweet 16.

We also know another point of reference for Ohio this year was that March Madness started in Dayton, in what has become an important tradition to Miami Valley and our country. This weekend, before the games started, Dayton's Oregon District hosted the First Four Festival, where 15,000 people crowded local restaurants and bars, listened to live music, and watched games on big screens.

A few days later, President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron came to the same city where the Dayton peace accords were negotiated and joined the Dayton community and teams from Kentucky, Mississippi, New York and Utah and their fans to watch the first rounds of the NCAA Division I men's tournament at the UD Arena. The UD-- University of Dayton--Arena now holds the national record for the number of NCAA basketball tournament games held in a single venue.

The business community in Dayton, one of the most active in the country--the Dayton Development Coalition--rallied together to make sure military families from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base were able to attend, and $3.5 million was pumped into the local economy, showcasing the Miami Valley's world-class tourism infrastructure of hotels, parks, entertainment, and recreation.

We saw the same thing later in the week in the Arena District of Columbus, where the city hosted games on the opening weekend. Local Columbus leaders and businesses hosted teams from St. Louis, North Carolina, Michigan, New York, Tennessee, California, and Washington, DC, with their fans.

The city expected a $10 million impact on the local community, with tens of thousands of people staying at hotels, eating in restaurants, and enjoying one of the fastest growing cities in America, where, I might add, the Presiding Officer once lived. We saw a boost in tourism in northern Ohio, where Bowling Green hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. Organizers in Bowling Green said the games were more than about basketball, it was about people from across the Nation coming to town and boosting the sales of small businesses.

All the excitement and economic activity goes to show that Ohio is a tremendous attraction of basketball tourism and basketball talent. As the tournaments continue, and Ohio's teams continue to win, I look forward to working with our communities and our business leaders to further leverage our assets in tourism and recreation to help create jobs throughout our State and to promote economic development.

I thank the Presiding Officer, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up amendment No. 1819.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Madam President, our amendment requires DOT to report annually on waivers, including analysis of taxpayer dollars that are spent on foreign materials and infrastructure. It closes a loophole that currently exists that allows the project to be split into several pieces, thus evading ``Buy American'' requirements.

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is the most outrageous example of that. The $6 billion project was divided into 20 separate construction contracts, resulting in a Chinese-owned company building a 520-foot steel tower and 28 steel bridge decks. That was not what this was meant to do.

It is modeled on language House Republicans passed. It is consistent with our international trade obligations.

I yield the remainder of my time to Senator Merkley, a cosponsor.

Mr. President, are we in morning business?

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. President, I wish to thank my colleagues today for supporting an amendment by voice vote showing overwhelming support to the Transportation bill that improves ``Buy American'' provisions by making the waiver process more transparent, giving U.S. manufacturers fair and clear notice when a waiver is sought. It tells the Department of Transportation to report annually on waivers, analyzing what taxpayer dollars are spent on foreign materials and infrastructure projects. While some Members of the Senate may oppose it, it passed in a voice vote, so, in some sense, unanimous almost. But while some Members may oppose it, I hardly ever met anybody in the American public who thinks taxpayer dollars should not go for any infrastructure projects. That is the way you want to do it, and this legislation will move us closer to it. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was the most outrageous example, where much of that steel was made in China when U.S. steelworkers weren't all back at work the way they should be.

I thank Senator Boxer and Senator Durbin. I thank Senator Graham from South Carolina and Senator Merkley for their help on this legislation.

Today President Obama signed into law a trade enforcement measure that last week passed this Chamber by unanimous consent. It is bipartisan legislation--which I cosponsored with Senators Baucus and Thune, primarily--which gives the Commerce Department authority to impose what are called countervailing duties on imports from countries that are nonmarket economies, and that means countries with sort of command-and-control economies, such as the People's Republic of China.

Last year the Federal appeals court issued a ruling that hamstrings our Nation's ability to fight back against illegal Chinese trade practices. Here is why Congress passing this bill is so important. We know China doesn't play by the rules, from direct export subsidies, to currency manipulation, to providing below-market loans to exporters. China does things our country doesn't and many other countries don't. It gives its exporters an unfair advantage.

American industries fight back by petitioning the Commerce Department to investigate these subsidies. Sixteen Ohio companies have petitioned for this relief, including steel pipe companies in Youngstown, paper companies in Miamisburg, aluminum companies in Sidney, and tire manufacturers in Bryan, which is in northwest Ohio near the Indiana- Michigan border. These are good companies. They are not looking for handouts or an unfair edge; they want a level playing field. This legislation does this. When countries such as China don't play by the rules, they suffer. This helps to fix that.

Also today, President Obama announced that his administration would pursue a case at the World Trade Organization against China's hoarding of rare earth materials. Rare earth hoarding is one of the many illegal trade practices China employs to tilt the playing field in its favor. U.S. Manufacturers rely--as they do around the world--on rare earth materials for the production of a number of products, including wind turbines and electronics.

China currently accounts for 97 percent of the world's materials. They impose quotas and heavy tariffs on their export, putting American manufacturers at a severe disadvantage. This almost forces companies to go to China to do the manufacturing because of subsidies the Chinese give to themselves, their own companies, and because of the tariffs they can extract from these companies for export, these raw-material makers for export, our companies are at a severe disadvantage.

Today the administration said that enough is enough. One Ohio CEO told me when I visited his company in northeast Ohio:

As an Ohio-based manufacturing company with roughly 80

percent of our sales outside of the United States, GrafTech

has a keen interest in protecting our ability to compete

aggressively in the global marketplace. Obtaining key raw

materials at a reasonable cost is critical to our mission.

They are not asking for handouts; they are not asking for subsidies; they are just asking others to quit cheating.

Senator Portman and I have repeatedly urged the Obama administration to take this case. Senator Portman, who was a former Bush Trade Representative, who almost always is on the other side of major trade issues from where I am--we came together on this, as we have on other trade issues that matter for our country.

In 2001 the United States had an $83 billion trade deficit with China. Ten years later, last year, there was a $295 billion trade deficit with China. President Bush once said that $1 billion in

trade surplus or trade deficit translates to 13,000 jobs. So if our trade deficit grew from $83 billion to $295 billion just with that one country, think of what it does to manufacturing in Springfield and Akron and Cleveland and what it means to a State such as Colorado, what it means to any States that make things in this country. Jobs are at stake, and addressing our trade imbalance with China is essential. To do that, we must make China play fair with the United States.

Not too long ago, the Senate passed the largest bipartisan jobs bill. In 2011 we passed my legislation on currency. The bill would curtail China's ability to illegally manipulate its currency so they could flood our markets with cheap goods, undermining our workers and making it much more difficult for our companies to sell there. After years of China gaining the benefits of WTL membership without adhering to the rules, it is time for the House of Representatives to again pass--as they did when Speaker Pelosi was Speaker--they passed it with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. It is time for Speaker Boehner to bring up that legislation so we can vote for it. It will mean more companies around my State and around the country will be able to manufacture, will be able to be competitive, will be able to export, will be able to play in the global economy in a fair and balanced way.

Mr. President, I wish to acknowledge the 60th anniversary of Young Audiences Arts for Learning and commend it for its contributions to our Nation's school children. Young Audiences is the Nation's leading source of arts-in-education services. Comprised of 30 affiliates and 5,000 teaching artists, Young Audiences, in 2011 alone, reached 5 million children in over 6,000 schools.

Specifically, I would like to recognize the Young Audiences affiliate in my home state of Ohio, Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio, YANEO. Serving 18 counties, YANEO has enabled over 2,000 students in urban, rural, and suburban Ohio school districts to benefit from arts education through more than 7,000 programs during the 2009 2010 school year.

Young Audiences' mission and goal is to help make the arts an essential part of education. For this reason, Young Audiences offers programs for students throughout the P 16 pipeline. From integrating music into a middle school math class to providing poetry writing classes for high school students, Young Audiences takes a comprehensive and innovative approach toward strengthening students' academic experiences.

According to the Arts Education Partnership, art plays a central role in a child's social, emotional, and cognitive development. Over time, this can help make students more engaged in school and thus better learners.

Arts education can alter a student's entire school experience. Involvement in the arts fosters creativity and problem solving--both of which help students during the school day and in their personal lives. From helping a student find a new social group, to providing a student with a new avenue of achievement, arts-in-education can keep students engaged and enrolled in school. Young Audiences has helped numerous students get back on track in the classroom and on a path towards higher education or the workforce.

Young Audiences not only plays a valuable role in our classrooms, but can benefit entire neighborhoods. Members of the Fullerton School community in Cleveland participated in the `Parents as Arts Partners' program. With the guidance of a Young Audience artist, community members were able to design and install a mural that now brightens the Cleveland neighborhood. The experience was so positive for the parents, students, and the Fullerton community, they are now looking for funding to create another community mural.

To all the students who participate in Young Audiences, thank you for taking a stake in your education and in your community.

To the teachers and parents like those in the Fullerton community, thank you for your commitment to integrating arts throughout your students' lives. Even during challenging economic times, you go above and beyond your duties to provide your students with a well-rounded academic experience.

And to the dedicated artists of Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio, thank you for your service to the students throughout the region. Your passion and dedication for the arts will help lead to a new generation of artists and musicians--and engaged citizens.

I am proud to celebrate the work of Young Audiences nationwide. Thank you, for your 60 years of service.

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

Madam President, I have had, over the last couple weeks around my State of Ohio, a number of conversations with workers and management both who work for auto companies, from foreign-owned Honda in central Ohio to the big three auto companies, which are very involved in the Ohio economy--Chrysler, GM, and Ford--and a number of conversations with auto suppliers: those companies that are less well known, companies such as Magna and Johnson Controls and companies that are smaller than that that are so-called tier 1, 2, or 3 suppliers, those companies that sell components into the manufacturing supply chain that ultimately end up in a Jeep Wrangler made in Toledo or a Chevy Cruze made in Lordstown, OH, near Youngstown.

In almost all these conversations, these companies, these executives, and workers are simply incredulous that the auto rescue is still being debated--that it worked or it did not work.

One just has to come to Ohio, and not just northern Ohio, where the assumption is that is sort of where the auto industry is in Ohio--it is true, but it is also in the rest of the State--but people all over Ohio and all over the whole industrial Midwest and I think all over the country understand the auto rescue worked.

We remember back when Senator Levin and Senator Stabenow and Senator Voinovich, a Republican from my State who has since retired, took to the floor--and in committee hearings and all that--in December of 2008, when President Bush realized the auto industry needed, at a minimum, some bridge loans to stay in business, not because we have any interest in the government owning auto companies but because we knew hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of workers and thousands of small businesses that manufacture goods in our State and in Michigan and in Indiana and all over the region, all understood it would be economic devastation. I think and I think most economists think and most auto people think and I think most Ohioans think it would have led to a depression. That was in December of 2008.

Because of a whole bunch of reasons, this place decided not to do what President Bush thought we should do. Then, later on, a few months later, when President Obama said we have to step up and do the right thing, it was still a difficult vote. It passed, with some Republican support but not as much as we had hoped. But it passed. This was in December 2008 and then early 2009 when President Obama took the oath of office. We can now look at what has happened in this country.

Fundamentally, we see an auto industry that is so important to manufacturing in our country and so important to building a middle class. We can see what that has meant to our country. I will give you one big example. From 1997 to 2010, every single year we have seen a decline in manufacturing jobs in our country--every single year. In my State, and I know in the Presiding Officer's State of North Carolina, in which manufacturing has been a huge presence, they have suffered as every State has. From 2008 to 2010, every single year there have been manufacturing job losses. But you know what, since the auto rescue, for the last 20, 21, 22 months, we have seen manufacturing job growth-- manufacturing job growth every single month for the country and for my State of Ohio. Every single month, we have had more manufacturing jobs than the month before. That is not good enough because it is not enough growth, but it is clearly going in the right direction.

In auto alone, you can see what is happening in my State. The four large auto companies in Ohio--Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, and Honda--all four of them have announced major expansion plans, major investments in our State, including building a new car in some cases, building a new line of cars, and in other cases expanding significantly.

Look at a car like the Chevy Cruz. Its engine is made in Defiance, near the Indiana border. Its bumper is made in Northwood. Its transmission is made in Toledo. Its speakers are made in Springboro, near Dayton in southwest Ohio, so the Dayton-Cincinnati area. There are brackets made in, I believe, Brunswick and other places. The steel comes from Cleveland. The aluminum comes from Cleveland. Stamping is in a plant in Parma--the stamping, I believe, of the components to the car. The assembly is ultimately in Lordstown, and 5,000 people work in Lordstown, OH, stamping and assembling this small car that has been one of the best sellers of any car in the United States of America.

In Toledo, where the Jeep Wrangler is assembled, prior to the auto rescue, only about 50 percent of the components in a Jeep Wrangler were American made--only 50 percent. So half of them came from production outside of the United States. Today about 75 percent of the Jeep Wrangler--the components to the Jeep Wrangler are assembled in the United States--is so-called domestic content. What does that mean? That means jobs.

That is why it is so important that the President continue to move forward--and I hope more aggressively--on the whole issue of auto supply parts. We saw how just 10 years ago we had a deficit with China of about $1 billion in auto parts. Today we have a trade deficit with China in auto parts of almost $10 billion. So I know how concerned the President is.

I know that American auto companies, including Honda, want to source more and more of their products in the United States of America. They want those products to be manufactured here in addition to being assembled here. And manufactured here obviously means it will be close to the final assembly point in the critical mass that these manufacturers want to grow jobs.

So we are seeing a partnership now that we have never seen in my lifetime, I believe, between the auto industry and the U.S. Government, not for the government to have ownership, not for the government to tell the auto industry what to do, but for the government to make the business climate for these auto companies more and more favorable. That is what is good. That is what has come out of the auto rescue for Toledo--the assembly of the Jeep Wrangler. That is what has come out of the auto rescue in Youngstown--in Lordstown, the Youngstown area--for the Chevy Cruz. All of that is good news, that economic growth, that manufacturing job growth we have seen for more than 20 months. It clearly takes us in the right direction.

It is important that the naysayers just kind of drop--I mean, they can say whatever they want about the auto rescue. They are going to say what they want for political reasons. But it is clear that we as policymakers--you know Presidential candidates are going to do what the Presidential candidates are going to do in both parties. I don't really much care. But I do care that this body, the Senate, focus its efforts on how do we cooperatively grow this industry. It means more union auto workers going to work. It means more nonunion supply chain workers going to work. All of these are good-paying jobs. What do we care about more here than preparing an environment for good-paying jobs that put people back to work and can help them join the middle class.

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.

Madam President, I join my fellow colleague from Ohio Senator Portman to offer our condolences and prayers to the people of Chardon, OH, who experienced a terrible tragedy earlier this week.

On Monday morning, February 27, a troubled young boy opened fire in the crowded cafeteria at Chardon High School. Three students were killed. Two students were wounded. The entire community remains shaken.

As fathers, we cannot imagine the loss of a child and the loss of innocence of children who will now grow up knowing tragedy all too early in life. As Members of the Senate, we couldn't be more proud of the resiliency and the love and the compassion the people of Chardon have shown in the wake of such fear and sorrow.

During the shooting, teachers and school administrators risked their lives to protect and save the lives of their students. Assistant Football Coach Frank Hall chased the gunman out of the cafeteria, Principal Andy Fetchik called 911, and countless other teachers and students provided safety and comfort until help could arrive.

Chardon law enforcement and first responders--from the 911 dispatchers to the police, to the emergency medical people--arrived at the scene to apprehend the suspect and restore calm and order.

Chardon Police Chief Tim McKenna and his team--especially the three officers who rushed to the school--did an outstanding job. Hospital staff at MetroHealth and Hillcrest cared for the victims and counseled the families of lost ones. Out of this week's turmoil and tragedy, we remain proud of the community that has come together through vigils and prayer services, through support and red ribbons worn.

The day after the shooting, more than 1,000 people crammed into the St. Mary's parish across from Chardon High School. The overflow crowd of another 1,000 was outside listening to Principal Fetchik express how proud he was of the students.

Yesterday, President Obama spoke to Principal Fetchik to say how proud he was--as Senator Portman and I are--of the school and of the community.

At the prayer service, Superintendent Joseph Bergant explained why the school would close for a few days this week to reflect, for students and families to get the help they need, for parents to hug their children, and for children to hug their parents.

Yesterday, I spoke with Superintendent Bergant to express Connie's and my gratitude and prayers. The investigation into how and why this happened continues, but resilience, compassion, and love, we know, will remain.

Tomorrow classes resume in Chardon and at Lake Academy and Auburn Career Center, where students and staff are also dealing with this tragedy. Tomorrow, Chardon High School students will march together from the town square to the school in a show of solidarity and unity. They will remember Joy Rickers and Nicoloas Wajczak, who are still recovering from their injuries. They will honor those fellow students no longer with them. Daniel Parmertor was a 16-year-old high school junior. Known as Danny, he was a student who loved snowboarding and video games and computers. He enjoyed wing nights at Cleats with friends and was excited about starting his first job in a bowling alley and picking up his first paycheck.

His father Bob, a boiler technician with First Energy, and his mother Dina, a nurse at Hillcrest Hospital, were finishing their night shifts. If we can imagine, they were finishing their night shifts when they learned of the shooting.

In their statement, the family said:

Danny was a bright young boy, who had a bright future ahead

of him. The family is torn by this loss.

He is survived by his parents, siblings, grandparents, a great- grandmother, and numbers of aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Russell King, Jr., was 17 years old. His friends described him as sociable and who got along with everyone. A junior, he was enrolled in Chardon High School and the Auburn Career Center. He was studying alternative energy such as solar and wind power as so many young people are today.

Demetrius Hewlin was 16 years old, affectionately known as ``D'' to his family and friends. Demetrius was interested in healthy living, staying active, playing computer games, and reading books.

In their statement, his family said:

We are saddened by the loss of our son and others in our

Chardon community.

Demetrius was a happy young man who loved life and his

family and friends.

We will very much miss him, but we are proud he will be

able to help others through organ donation.

Imagine that, the parents and the family thinking of others so immediately.

He is survived by his parents, grandparents, a brother and sister, and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.

On behalf of all Ohioans, the Senate, and joining with Senator Portman, we offer our continued prayers and condolences to the Chardon community.

Thank you. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I would like to talk about an important part of the transportation jobs bill the Senate is debating this week. The bill is about creating jobs by modernizing our roadways and highways, about making our bridges safer--we know what that means in Minnesota, the State of the Presiding Officer--and about improving public transportation and reducing congestion across the country. But it is also about improving the public safety of the vehicles that travel our country.

We know about the success we have had as a nation because of the partnership between the auto industry and the government and adopting safety rules and working with the industry and making our travel safer. We know about the very impressive increase in safety on our Nation's highways. And there is still work to be done.

Five years ago tomorrow, a fatal motorcoach accident rocked a small Ohio community and brought national attention to the need for commonsense safety measures that could save lives.

Bluffton University is a small university in Bluffton, OH, near Interstate 75 in Allen and Hancock Counties in the northwest part of the State. The school's baseball team was on their way to Florida for spring training when their bus lost control on a poorly marked exit ramp outside Atlanta. The bus toppled from the overpass. Like the

majority of fatal motorcoach accidents, when the bus rolled over, the passengers were ejected from their seats and thrown through the bus windows. Seven people were killed and dozens were injured.

John and Joy Betts of Bryan, OH--a couple who have become friends of mine--lost their son David, one of the students who died that day. He was a baseball player and student at Bluffton. I have gotten to know the Betts family since the accident. They have been courageous advocates in raising awareness of motorcoach safety and demanding congressional action. To the family's credit, they used the loss of their son to save the sons and daughters of many others who will not face those tragedies because of the work the Betts family is doing on behalf of this motorcoach safety legislation.

The National Transportation Safety Board's final report from the Bluffton motorcoach accident--released almost 4 years ago--echoed recommendations the NTSB has been urging for years. For nearly 5 years, I have been working with Senator Hutchison, whose State has seen its share of tragic motorcoach accidents, to put those recommendations into law. In a bipartisan manner, we are fighting to make motorcoaches safer for the millions of passengers who ride them every day.

Today, because of the Betts family, other courageous families, and activists, we are taking a step in the right direction if we pass the bill.

In the 110th, 111th, and now the 112th Congress, Senator Hutchison and I have introduced the bipartisan Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act, which includes many of the NTSB's ``most wanted'' safety improvements. Specifically, the bill would address many of the major safety shortfalls from the Bluffton accident, which have plagued tour bus operations for too long. It would mean better protection systems for occupants and stronger passenger safety standards. It would improve safety equipment and devices and the need for onboard recorders with the capability to collect crash data. These safety measures are neither exotic nor complicated; they are commonsense safety features that have been and in many cases are widely used. But since they are not required by law, they have not been installed in most American motorcoaches. Instead of saving lives, the public safety remains at risk.

Some who oppose improved tour bus safety standards will tell you that this isn't a motorcoach problem, that they have a problem with rogue bus companies or bad drivers. Certainly, that is part of the problem, but we cannot simply look the other way and reject the idea that improving the safety of motorcoach manufacturing and motorcoaches is unnecessary or fiscally imprudent.

John Betts said:

It is necessary through our current regulations to get bad

operators off the road. However, it is not sufficient as it

does nothing to ensure safety once the crash has occurred.

I couldn't agree more. We can get bad operators off the road, but that is not enough to ensure passenger safety in the tragic event of an accident. If the technology to save lives and reduce injury in motorcoach accidents exists, we must put that technology to use. This bill does that.

Last year in Cleveland I was joined by John's sister and brother-in- law, Pam and Tom Bryan of Vermillion, OH. We met with a Greyhound bus driver who showcased new Greyhound buses equipped with some commonsense safety measures that clearly will save lives and protect both passengers and motorists on the road.

The Betts family and operators like Greyhound understand the urgent need and have too often relived the painful reminders that safety improvements for tour bus operations are long overdue. That is why this Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act is important, and it is why Greyhound's endorsement of this bill is so critical to turning public sadness and outrage into public action. Bus operators such as Greyhound think we can do this, and manufacturers do too. The technology is there.

The bill is common sense, bipartisan, and it will save lives. How many more motorcoach deaths--in Ohio, Texas, and most recently in New York and New Jersey--do we have to witness before bus companies start doing the right thing? As a father and Senator, it is disturbing to know that students are still traveling in motorcoaches without even the option of buckling up. Our laws should ensure that our vehicles and roads are safer, not less safe, for students, families, and elderly people, who often take motorcoach charters to events and concerts and such.

Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of the Bluffton University tragic motorcoach accident. Our legislation is in the underlying Transportation bill we are debating on the floor. I urge its passage. I urge continued inclusion of these provisions, as Senator Hutchison and I have asked. It is commonsense, middle-of-the road, bipartisan legislation that will save lives, undoubtedly.

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

Mr. President, since 2009 the last day of February has been observed as Rare Disease Day. Each rare disease affects a small patient population--less than 200,000 people--but there are more than 7,000 rare diseases that, combined, affect 30 million Americans. Sadly, children with rare genetic diseases account for more than half of the rare disease population.

Patients with rare diseases--such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Tay-Sachs, epidermolysis bullosa, sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and many childhood cancers--face unique challenges. Too many of these conditions lack effective treatments and cures, and too often people with rare diseases experience challenges in obtaining an accurate diagnosis. In addition, there is often difficulty finding physicians or treatment centers with the necessary expertise in rare diseases or disorders.

Great strides have been made in research and treatment as the result of the Orphan Drug Act, but more must be done to prevent, identify, combat, and treat rare diseases. By designating February 29, 2012, as Rare Disease Day, I hope we create greater awareness of these conditions, encourage accurate and early diagnosis of rare diseases and disorders, and help demonstrate and support a national and global commitment to improve treatment options for individuals with rare diseases and disorders.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for up to 10 minutes.

Madam President, I was presiding earlier today before the Senator from North Carolina. I listened to Senator Boxer talk about the importance of this Transportation bill, this highway bill, which I underscore.

This week we have seen movement on extension of the payroll tax and tax cuts and unemployment benefits, two very important things--with the doctors fix too--very important things to keep our economy moving. It made me think back what has happened in the last couple of years.

In 2009, when Senator Obama became President Obama, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month in the United States. We know what was happening, especially to manufacturing and especially in States such as the Presiding Officer's, North Carolina, and my State of Ohio. In fact, we had for 12 years--

every single year for 12 years--from 1997 to 2009, we had lost manufacturing jobs every single year in Ohio and in the United States.

But after President Obama took office, we passed the Recovery Act, we did some other things, the health care bill, all of that. We have begun to see, month after month after month, job growth. Not job growth that we want yet, not the kind of strong job growth we want. But for 21, 22 consecutive months we have seen more manufacturing jobs than the month before, including my State of Ohio--more manufacturing jobs every single month than the preceding month for 20, 21, 22 months in a row.

Why is that? There are a lot of reasons. No. 1 is we have begun to put the economy on track--no longer losing 800,000 jobs a month; instead, gaining manufacturing jobs every month.

The auto rescue has made a huge difference in States such as Ohio, but really across the country as we have seen manufacturing take off.

Coming out of every recession, what leads out of the recession? Typically it is the auto industry. And in the Midwest and throughout the country, people are making cars, they are buying cars, all the economic activities generated from making a car and buying a car and running a car.

One of the untold stories, in Toledo, OH, in northwest Ohio, near the Michigan border, the Jeep plant, the Chrysler-Jeep plant--Chrysler, a company that was saved by the auto rescue. They went into bankruptcy. The restructuring and the financing by U.S. taxpayers got that company back on its feet, back into business making cars. But prior to the auto rescue in 2008, the Jeep plant in Toledo--only 50 percent of the products going into a Jeep, the components assembled in Toledo, only 50 percent were American made. Do you know what happened after the auto rescue? Now 75 percent of those products are American made, those components. That is exactly the point. Because it is not just the companies you hear about--Honda has a big operation in Ohio, Chrysler, GM, Ford, all big operations in Ohio, all expanding, all investing-- just in the last 6 months, each of those four companies has announced major investment dollars going into Ohio operations.

It is not just those auto plants, it is the supply chain. So if a Chrysler Jeep is made out of 75-percent American parts rather than 50- percent American parts, think of the jobs that creates: tires, steering wheels, blocks, transmissions, the engine, the fenders, all of the steel, all of the electronics, all of the products that go into those automobiles and trucks. That is in many ways the untold story.

The problem, though, with that is we are still seeing China, the People's Republic of China, Communist China, cheating when it comes to auto parts. The auto parts trade deficit a decade ago was about $1 billion, meaning that the U.S. companies bought $1 billion in Chinese- made auto parts more than we sold to China--auto parts made in this country. We had a $1 billion deficit in auto parts. Today, that deficit is about 800 percent bigger than that. It is around $10 billion, that auto parts trade deficit. So the point of that is if we can turn that around, if we can force the Chinese to play fair and stand up and practice trade according to our national interests, not according to some economic textbook that is 20 years out of print, if we can do that, it will mean way more American jobs making auto components in steel, in rubber, and all of those things that go into the creation of an automobile, the assembly of an automobile and a truck.

Yesterday, 100 feet from here, a group of us met with the Vice President of China, who will soon be the leader of that country, people who know China well predict. I asked him a question about that, that China does not play fair, they do not play fair on currency, they do not play fair when it comes to subsidizing energy and water and capital and land. Of course, he deflected the question. He did not answer. I did not expect him to. But I wanted him to know as eight or nine of us were sitting around the table, I was the only one who directly brought up the issue of jobs and this economic relationship, leveling the playing field.

But that is why it is so important that the House of Representatives pass my China currency bill. This is legislation the Senator from North Carolina, Mrs. Hagan, has cosponsored. It is legislation that Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, a Republican, has cosponsored. It is legislation that Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democrat, has cosponsored, along with Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine, and Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, and Senator Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, all of us who have come together.

My currency bill was the largest bipartisan jobs bill that the Senate passed in 2011. Unfortunately, Speaker Boehner in the House of Representatives is blocking it. It is important that he move on that. It will have a strong bipartisan vote out of the House of Representatives, as it did--far in excess of 60 votes in the Senate.

It works like this, briefly: With China cheating on currency, it means that a product made in Cleveland, OH, and sold in Wuhan, China has a minimum 25 percent--some former Reagan administration officials say 40 or 50 percent--but at least a 25-percent currency tariff or tax, that every one of our products is taxed that way. That cost is added to it when it is sold in China.

Conversely, if the Chinese make something and sell it into Akron or Lima or Mansfield, OH, that product is 25 percent less expensive, which means that American companies cannot compete. There was a company in Brunswick. I was talking to two brothers who run this company. They were about to make a million-dollar sale. All of a sudden the Chinese competitor came in, with that 25-percent bonus that they get because China games and cheats on the currency system, and they were underpriced by 20 percent. So that clearly does not work.

That is why I said that to the Vice President of China about the importance of currency. That is why the House of Representatives needs to pass my legislation. It will mean we can keep this recovery going. The 21 months in a row of manufacturing job growth, coupled with the extension of the payroll tax cut, coupled with the extension of unemployment benefits, coupled with the Transportation bill, the highway bill that Senator Boxer and Senator Inhofe bipartisanly are working on, coupled with standing up to the Chinese on trade enforcement and on this currency bill, will mean we are going to get this recovery, we are going to sustain it, we are going to grow it. It is going to mean significant new jobs in my State of Ohio and across the country.

I yield the floor and 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 S. Res. 377, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and that any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Portman and myself, I am proud to have submitted this bipartisan resolution--joined by 18 Senators, 10 of whom served with John Glenn in the Senate.

Fifty-years ago next week, on the morning of February 20, 1962, John Herschel Glenn, Jr. of Ohio became the first American to orbit the Earth.

I was 9 years old. Like other families around Ohio, I watched him on television at home in Mansfield with my parents and two brothers.

The broadcast also showed John Glenn, Sr. and Clara Glenn, John's parents, watching anxiously.

Across the country, others were listening on transistor radios. In New York City, the subway system broadcast the liftoff and flight progress over loud speakers.

In Grand Central Station, CBS News set up a large 12 foot by 16 foot screen over the main ticket window--by the time of lift-off 10,000 people had packed the terminal.

Like millions of Americans, they watched Walter Cronkite set the scene. Our Nation was in the midst of the Cold War--worried about Russian nuclear aggression, worried about the race into space.

Cronkite would later say that:

It was a time when the intricacies of science were

complicated by deep American doubts and anxieties over where

we stood in the race with Russian science.

With the arms race in a dead heat, space had become the

scoreboard of Cold War competition.

That's why a few years earlier, President Eisenhower launched Project Mercury as the first human spaceflight program in the United States--to put our country on the playing field.

Hundreds of our Nation's bravest and patriotic aviators signed up-- only seven were selected as the original Mercury 7: John Glenn, Jr. of Ohio; M. Scott Carpenter of Colorado; L. Gordon Cooper, Jr. of Oklahoma; Virgil I. ``Gus'' Grissom of Indiana; Walter M. Schirra, Jr. of New Jersey; Alan B. Shepard, Jr. of New Hampshire; and Donald K. ``Deke'' Slayton of Wisconsin.

Glenn later wrote of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, ``The world was at the door of a new age, and we were the people who had been chosen to take the first steps across the threshold.''

And when President Kennedy took office, he continued our Nation's pursuit into space--and race against the Russians.

He said, ``Our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security . . . require us to solve these mysteries and to solve them for the good of all men.''

Alan Shepard piloted the Freedom 7 in May 1961 and Gus Grissom piloted Liberty Bell 7 in July 1961 to prove that Americans could launch humans into suborbital flight.

But then the Russians successfully launched Yuri Gagarin into orbit around the Earth.

America's response was left to a decorated Marine aviator born in Cambridge, Ohio who grew up a few miles away in New Concord.

On the morning of February 20, 1962, the eyes of the world were on John Glenn, who was tasked with piloting our space program's most dangerous flight at the time.

He would command Friendship 7--named by Glenn and his children, Dave and Lyn, to emphasize our Nation's intentions in space.

But over weeks and months, his mission was scrubbed ten times.

The reasons were varied--from inclement weather to technical problems. Tensions remained high throughout.

Any miscues or failure would undermine national security--along with national pride and the country's psyche.

Finally, at 9:47 a.m. on February 20, 1962, with 70 degree Fahrenheit weather at NASA's Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Friendship 7 was blasted off into space.

As the rocket ascended, people cheered. Others cried and prayed--the hopes of an entire nation rested on the shoulders of a single man in a space capsule hurling into an unknown place.

Everything was going as planned--from launch to orbital entry--and once successfully in space, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.

He would observe three sunrises, three sunsets, and the wonder of the universe in 4 hours and 56 minutes.

But during the flight, problems occurred. The spacecraft's automatic control system malfunctioned, causing Glenn to manually control the capsule.

And he was prepared to do so--benefitting from NASA's vigorous training that included 70 simulated missions and malfunction response training for nearly 200 simulated system failures.

His model of calmness, which I have seen many times over the years in all kinds of situations, would become standard operating procedure for future NASA manned space missions.

And despite having to deal with the malfunctions, Glenn still carried out critical parts of the mission.

He took photographs of the Earth, observed weather on the Earth's surface, and gave constant feedback to flight controllers about his physical responses to the zero-gravity environment.

But earlier in the flight, Glenn saw an indicator light that Friendship 7's heat shield had loosened--threatening his re-entry into Earth.

With its world-class scientists and engineers leading the way--and confident in its flight planning--NASA decided to keep the retrorocket pack attached to secure the heat shield.

As planned, Friendship 7 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere--with Glenn describing the ``fire-ball'' re-entry as one of the most exhilarating parts of the flight.

It is the streak of light that people on Earth could see in the sky.

And in descent, the capsule successfully parachuted and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Grand Turk Island, at 2:43 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. The USS Noa retrieved Friendship 7 and brought Glenn aboard--validating our Nation's pursuit of discovery and ensuring its place in the space race against the Russians. And just as important--the flight of Friendship 7 and the courage of John Glenn inspired generations of new scientists, engineers, and aviators. It launched a new era of science, aerospace, and defense industries, and it showed that our advancements in science--in exploring the unknown-- are not only a national security imperative, they are an economic imperative, too--reaffirming that we have what it takes to out-compete and out-innovate any nation in the world.

After his flight, Glenn received a hero's welcome--decorated with awards and accolades--and honored in ticker-tape parades and magazine profiles. Throughout it all, he remained humbled by his patriotism and his small

town Ohio roots--as a son whose father was a plumber, and whose mother was a schoolteacher. And he remained grounded by his love for his wife, his childhood sweetheart, Annie.

Much has been written about John and Annie. Both are just as in love with each other now in their 90s as they were as children when they met--as John says, in a playpen in New Concord.

He says of Annie, ``that she was part of my life from the time of my first memory.''

It is fitting that in celebrating the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's historic orbit of Earth, we honor his family--Annie and their children, Dave and Lyn who gave public blessing and private prayers and support during his service to our Nation.

I was fortunate to sit with Lyn and Dave and Annie in the Rotunda when John Glenn, with three other astronauts, received the Congressional Gold Medal for his flight aboard Friendship 7.

We also honor the thousands of dedicated and patriotic men and women of NASA's Project Mercury Program.

It took a huge team of people as dedicated as John Glenn, and perhaps as courageous, who ensured the safety and security of their astronauts and preserved the pride of a grateful Nation. John will be in Florida on this weekend to meet with those who were part of that operation--the engineers, the scientists, the technicians--thanking them again for sending him up and bringing him down safely. Their service has inspired generations of future NASA technicians and mission control specialists--from Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, to NASA Glenn in Cleveland, to NASA centers around the country.

At one of the first press conferences of the Mercury 7 astronauts, Glenn said:

This whole project . . . stands with us now like the Wright

Brothers--Ohioans also--stood at Kitty Hawk . . . I think we

stand on the verge of something as big and expansive as that

was 50 years ago.

It is that spirit of discovery, that conviction, duty, and faith that John Glenn embodies and that his flight aboard Friendship 7 symbolizes. It is my honor to submit this bipartisan resolution celebrating such an important national and scientific achievement.

It is also my honor to be accompanied on the floor today by Nicole Smith, who is a fellow from NASA Glenn, an aeronautical engineer, who has done things as varied as having trained cosmonauts to the work she has done in our office, guiding the success of NASA Glenn, one of the best NASA centers in the country.

I am also joined on the floor by Laura Lynch, who has been with my office for 3 years--a Clevelander--who is actually leaving our office for bigger and better things in a couple of weeks. She has been part of this too.

In my last personal moment with this resolution, I remember 40-some years ago--44 years ago, I believe--when John Glenn was not Senator Glenn but still Colonel Glenn. I received my Eagle Scout award in Mansfield earlier in the year, and COL John Glenn came to a dinner with a number of other Eagle Scouts in Mansfield. I have a picture in my office in the Senate Hart Building of me standing there in my Boy Scout uniform with my Eagle Scout pin with John Glenn, and next to that is a picture of John Glenn and me some 38 years later before he walked me down the center aisle to be sworn in to the Senate with the Senator from Rhode Island in January of 2007.

John Glenn is special to our Nation. He is special to my wife Connie and me because of our love for John and Annie and our respect for Dave and Lyn, their children. He has honored our country in so many ways, it is my honor to submit this resolution and I thank my colleagues.

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