Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a fellow in my office, Nicole Smith, be allowed the privilege of the floor for the remainder of the day.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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

Mr. President, today, only 54 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24 have jobs--the lowest employment rate for young people since this data was first collected in 1948. It is a job deficit that cripples our economy in both the short-term and long-term. But it's also a deficit we can close if we do the right thing and invest in programs that help young people find the jobs they--and our economy-- need. That is why I am introducing the Youth Corps Act of 2012.

The Youth Corps Act of 2012 would establish a competitive grant program in the Workforce Investment Act to expand the Youth Corps program across the Nation.

The Youth Corps is a direct descendent of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, his most successful and popular New Deal program aimed at helping young men find employment during the Great Depression.

From 1933 to 1942, more than 3 million young men served in the Civilian

Conservation Corps dramatically improving the Nation's public land, while also receiving food, housing, education, and a small stipend. They helped plant nearly 3 billion trees to reforest the nation, constructed more than 800 parks nationwide, and built a network of public roadways in remote areas. In Ohio, their legacy persists across our State in organizations like the Muskingum Conservancy Watershed District, which provides the system that protects thousands of acres of land from flooding.

Today, more than 30,000 young men and women participate annually in the Youth Corps program in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. Some Corps members improve and preserve public lands and national parks, while others work with students in our Nation's public schools. Finally, some members provide disaster preparation and recovery services to underresourced communities.

The Youth Corps Act of 2012 would provide more young adults with the opportunity to experience Youth Corps, while ensuring a steady source of funding for these programs. Currently, funding for Youth Corps programs comes from a wide variety of sources, forcing many Corps to operate with uncertainty. By investing in Youth Corps, we are investing in our Nation's future teachers and principals, doctors and lawyers.

The men and women who participate in Youth Corps are selfless, dedicated, and passionate people. While some may have faced challenges during their childhood or struggled in school, all of them are interested in bridging the gap between education and opportunity that too often plagues our communities. With the guidance of an adult community leader, a modest stipend, and support services like education and career preparation, participants are able to gain valuable life and career skills.

Ohio is home to three Youth Corps programs: the WSOS Quilter Conservation Corps, City Year Cleveland, and City Year Columbus. Members of these Corps provide a great public service to the citizens of Ohio--a legacy like that of the CCC which will persist for generations.

The WSOS Quilter Conservation Corps members serve as Benefit and Tax Counselors, helping low-income individuals file their State and Federal taxes, apply for benefits like health care coverage, home energy assistance, child care subsidies and food stamps.

Members of City Year Cleveland and City Year Columbus serve as mentors and educators in our most challenged schools.

My daughter, Elizabeth, was a City Year Corps Member in Philadelphia, and my other daughter, Caitlin, was a member of City Year in Providence.

City Year is a national model on how each of us can serve our Nation. For this reason, we must invest more in these vital programs.

Each of these programs improves our state while providing skills to our Nation's future leaders. And for this reason, we must invest more in these important programs.

That is why I am proud to introduce the Youth Corps Act of 2012. By empowering our young people to serve their communities, we can help provide them with the skills they need to find jobs, strengthen our economy, and enrich our communities.

Mr. President, today, only 54 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24 have jobs--the lowest employment rate for young people since this data was first collected in 1948. It is a job deficit that cripples our economy in both the short-term and long-term. But it's also a deficit we can close if we do the right thing and invest in programs that help young people find the jobs they--and our economy-- need. That is why I am introducing the Youth Corps Act of 2012.

The Youth Corps Act of 2012 would establish a competitive grant program in the Workforce Investment Act to expand the Youth Corps program across the Nation.

The Youth Corps is a direct descendent of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps, his most successful and popular New Deal program aimed at helping young men find employment during the Great Depression.

From 1933 to 1942, more than 3 million young men served in the Civilian

Conservation Corps dramatically improving the Nation's public land, while also receiving food, housing, education, and a small stipend. They helped plant nearly 3 billion trees to reforest the nation, constructed more than 800 parks nationwide, and built a network of public roadways in remote areas. In Ohio, their legacy persists across our State in organizations like the Muskingum Conservancy Watershed District, which provides the system that protects thousands of acres of land from flooding.

Today, more than 30,000 young men and women participate annually in the Youth Corps program in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. Some Corps members improve and preserve public lands and national parks, while others work with students in our Nation's public schools. Finally, some members provide disaster preparation and recovery services to underresourced communities.

The Youth Corps Act of 2012 would provide more young adults with the opportunity to experience Youth Corps, while ensuring a steady source of funding for these programs. Currently, funding for Youth Corps programs comes from a wide variety of sources, forcing many Corps to operate with uncertainty. By investing in Youth Corps, we are investing in our Nation's future teachers and principals, doctors and lawyers.

The men and women who participate in Youth Corps are selfless, dedicated, and passionate people. While some may have faced challenges during their childhood or struggled in school, all of them are interested in bridging the gap between education and opportunity that too often plagues our communities. With the guidance of an adult community leader, a modest stipend, and support services like education and career preparation, participants are able to gain valuable life and career skills.

Ohio is home to three Youth Corps programs: the WSOS Quilter Conservation Corps, City Year Cleveland, and City Year Columbus. Members of these Corps provide a great public service to the citizens of Ohio--a legacy like that of the CCC which will persist for generations.

The WSOS Quilter Conservation Corps members serve as Benefit and Tax Counselors, helping low-income individuals file their State and Federal taxes, apply for benefits like health care coverage, home energy assistance, child care subsidies and food stamps.

Members of City Year Cleveland and City Year Columbus serve as mentors and educators in our most challenged schools.

My daughter, Elizabeth, was a City Year Corps Member in Philadelphia, and my other daughter, Caitlin, was a member of City Year in Providence.

City Year is a national model on how each of us can serve our Nation. For this reason, we must invest more in these vital programs.

Each of these programs improves our state while providing skills to our Nation's future leaders. And for this reason, we must invest more in these important programs.

That is why I am proud to introduce the Youth Corps Act of 2012. By empowering our young people to serve their communities, we can help provide them with the skills they need to find jobs, strengthen our economy, and enrich our communities.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration en bloc of the following resolutions which were submitted earlier today: S. Res. 373, S. Res. 374, and S. Res. 375.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I would like to speak on one of these resolutions, S. Res. 375, about the Columbus, OH, bicentennial.

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the city of Columbus, our largest city, one of the great cities of America, the capital of the great State of Ohio. I have lived in different neighborhoods in Columbus over the last 30 years--from German Village to Berwick to the Hilltop. My grandson and his parents live in Clintonville, a great neighborhood in the north side of Columbus. Our daughter lives in the Short North, one of the most exciting places of any city in the Midwest.

For 200 years Columbus has been a hub of economic and cultural activity for the State. We talk often in Columbus about the great brain gain; how Columbus is one of the fastest growing cities in the Midwest and east of the Mississippi.

Columbus started in its early days as a trading post along the Scioto River and continued as steamboats and railroads connected more people with new opportunities and new commerce. I should add that the Presiding Officer, if I am allowed to say this, once lived in the great city of Columbus. I think I am allowed to say that. He now is the very able junior Senator from Colorado.

During the Civil War, Columbus became an important location for the Union Army, and something I am more particularly proud of, the Underground Railroad. Through the turmoil of that era, President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act, which led to the creation of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1870. In 1878 it was renamed Ohio State University.

Today, OSU is one of the Nation's premiere public universities, and there are many other institutions of higher learning in Columbus: Capital University, established much earlier than that, 1830; the Columbus College of Art and Design, established in 1879; the Pontifical College Josephinum, established in 1888; Franklin University, established in 1902; the Mount Carmel College of Nursing in 1903; Ohio Dominican University, established in 1911, the year my father was born; and the Columbus State Community College, part of the great group of community colleges who were visiting the Capitol today--many people from those colleges--established in 1963.

Columbus is home to some of the Nation's earliest schools for Americans living with disabilities. The Ohio School for the Deaf was established in 1829. Many graduates of that school have gone on to Gallaudet University located in Washington, founded during the Civil War by Abraham Lincoln, the most outstanding school of its kind in the country. The Ohio School for the Blind was established in 1837.

In 2011, the Columbus library system was named the best in the United States, the recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. Columbus prospered in the post-Civil-War era through new banks, expanded railroad networks, extended streetcar service, and the city's first waterworks system. Manufacturers from horse-and-buggy manufacturers, to steel, and brewers made Columbus an important location for organized labor. The American Federation of Labor later merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations into what we know today as the

AFL-CIO. The American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus 116 years ago in 1886.

Today the legacy of advanced manufacturing continues at Ohio's cutting-edge Edison Networks, the Ohio Manufacturing Association, and Battelle. The spirit of the labor movement continues as workers of the Columbus local unions represent all types of industries and professions.

Attracted by world-class workforces and cultural outlets, leading retail corporations, health care, insurance companies, and financial institutions such as the Limited, Nationwide, Grange, Cardinal Health, and Huntington all call Columbus their home.

Columbus is a leader in cutting-edge medical research and hospital systems. We see it at the Ohio State Medical Center, the Arthur James Cancer Hospital, the Richard J. Solove Research Institute, and Nationwide Children's Hospitals. Of the top 10 Children's Hospitals in America, three of them are in Ohio consistently: Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, in addition to other great Children's Hospitals in Ohio: Mount Caramel Hospital, Riverside Community Hospital, and Grant Medical Center.

Columbus is a crown jewel of arts and culture in the Midwest. The majestic Southern Theatre, Southern Theatre and Hotel attracted world- class performances for more than 100 years. The Southern Hotel was one of President Theodore Roosevelt's favorite stops as he traveled through the Midwest.

The Short North is the epicenter of the burgeoning art scene, home to galleries, parks, and restaurants such as Betty's, the Happy Greek, Jeni's Ice Cream, and the North Market that attract an incredible number of young people with energy and commitment to that city.

It hosts some of the Midwest's largest concerts, fairs, and festivals ranging from ComFest to the Pride Festival. Columbus is also home to the Midwest's largest Fourth of July festival and the very famous Ohio State Fair.

Mayor Coleman and the Columbus Partnership, which is much more than just business organizations, are doing a tremendous job promoting economic development from the South Campus Gateway to the Short North, to the Scioto riverfront and the German Village.

Like Ohioans across the State, our people have long served those who serve us. One of the first Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters in the country was founded in Columbus in 1899.

Aside from the Buckeyes of Ohio State, Columbus is home to professional sports teams, including the Columbus Clippers, the Columbus Crew, and the Blue Jackets.

This year, Columbus will commence a year-long bicentennial celebration, with the theme ``Honoring the Past. Celebrate the Present. Envision the Future.'' In doing so, it will celebrate the economic, cultural, educational, and artistic contributions of the people of Columbus to our great State and Nation.

On behalf of the Senate, with unanimous consent, I wish all the citizens of Columbus a happy 200th anniversary.

Mr. President, I understand that S. 2105, introduced earlier today by Senator Lieberman, is at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent for its second reading and object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the resolution of the Senate of January 24, 1901, the traditional reading of Washington's Farewell Address take place on Monday, February 27, 2012, at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate adjourn until 9:30 on Wednesday, February 15, 2012; 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 following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until noon, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the second 30 minutes; that following morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Jordan nomination, with 2 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled in the usual form prior to a vote on confirmation of the Jordan nomination; that upon confirmation of the nomination, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session and consideration of S. 1813, the surface transportation bill.

Mr. President, the first vote tomorrow will be at approximately noon on confirmation of the Jordan nomination. Additional votes in relation to amendments to the surface transportation bill are possible.

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

Madam President, earlier today I toured Alcoa's Cleveland Works plant. The plant houses an engineering and manufacturing marvel of a 50,000-ton Mesta forging press. It stands 87 feet high; 36 feet below the surface, 51 feet above the surface. The press has enough steel to lay 42 miles of railroad track. That is roughly here to Baltimore or Akron to Cleveland. It is massive, and one of only five heavy closed-die forging presses in the United States. It is officially considered by the Mechanical Engineering Association a national historic engineering landmark.

Its original purpose was to build components for large airplanes during World War II. During the war, we discovered that German aircraft were being built with structural elements that could only be made by large forging processes that we thought had not yet been invented. So only as it could do, our government, through the Air Force, initiated the Heavy Press Program to compete with the Germans and to show that advanced manufacturing matters to our country.

After the war, we brought the Mesta supergiant forging press to America and to Cleveland, where it remains critical to the commercial and defense aerospace industries. It formed the basis of a public- private partnership, it stamps the ``Made in America'' label on some of the world's most advanced technologies and products.

Today Alcoa is investing $100 million to complete and restart its redesign of the massive press. Alcoa invested in America and it is an investment in Ohio manufacturing. It shows the company's ability to leverage public resources to meet industrial-based needs as well as commercial demands of the market. It is for our national security, and it is for our domestic security to build a middle class. It is an example of how partnerships can still pay dividends six decades later and will do so with continued investment for decades to come.

At the time it was about our national pride and need in times of war. Today it is about creating and retaining jobs. It is about showing that manufacturing is about building and it is about innovation. Manufacturing is about high-tech production, it is sophisticated engineering, it is advanced technologies, and it remains a ticket to the middle-class.

We are finally seeing recognition in Washington that manufacturing is critical to our economic recovery. For 12 years--from 1997 through the 8 Bush years into 2009--we had seen a decline every single year in Ohio manufacturing and in American manufacturing, but for the last 21 months we have seen an increase in manufacturing jobs in America and an increase in manufacturing jobs in Ohio. It started, in part, with the auto rescue where if some conservative politicians in Washington had had their way, they would have allowed the auto industry simply to declare bankruptcy with no ability to finance or restructure the auto industry. Instead, the President, in working with the Senate and working with the House, rescued that industry by investing in that industry.

Today in my State we are seeing thousands of auto jobs in the auto companies, in Chrysler and in GM, jobs that wouldn't have been there if we had not done auto rescue, and we are seeing all kinds of auto supply jobs. For instance, at the Chrysler Jeep plant in Toledo, where 3 years ago only 50 percent of components came from domestic sources, today more than 70 percent come from domestic sources.

Today plants in Toledo, in Lordstown, and in Defiance are hiring workers. The Chevy Cruze--one of the hottest selling cars in America-- is as close to an all-Ohio car as you can get. The engine is made in Defiance, the transmission is made in Toledo, the bumpers are made in Northwood, the stamping is done in Parma, the steel comes out of Cleveland, the aluminum comes out of Cleveland, part of the sound system comes out of Springboro, and the assembly is in Lordstown-- thousands and thousands of autoworker jobs, tens of thousands of jobs of auto suppliers supplying the Cruze, supplying Honda, supplying the Jeep plant in Toledo, supplying the Ford plant in Avon Lake.

In the last year alone, Honda and Chrysler and Ford and GM announced multimillion-dollar investments in Ohio alone and, in many cases, around the country. Honda announced it would build and develop its most state-of-the-art sports car ever right in Ohio. We see the same jobs creating investments from Chrysler, its Toledo assembly complex, from Ford at the Avon Lake plant, from GM at its Defiance powertrain plant.

As it did when the Nation needed the forging press for aerospace manufacturing, our government did only as it could do; it stepped up to invest in America and the American auto industry. So those who complain about the auto rescue need to read a little history to understand that so often American manufacturing partnered with U.S. taxpayers to make sure these industries were strong and solid and created good-paying jobs to build the middle-class. It is paying off dividends today. It will continue to do so in the future.

I have a unanimous consent request after I speak, that the Senator from Oregon is recognized.

One more point I wish to make. We must remain vigilant in enforcement of our trade laws. Our progress in autos is at risk of being undercut if we allow China to continue to cheat on trade rules, flaunt its predatory auto trade practices in our faces.

Only 10 years ago, our trade deficit in auto parts with China was only about $1 billion. That has grown 800 percent to about $9 billion to $10 billion. That means more than 1.6 million American jobs are at risk. Our trade deficit with China is continuing to cause difficulty for middle-class Americans. China has begun placing tariffs on American-made automobiles. These massive illegal subsidies are worsened by indirect predatory subsidies such as currency manipulation.

That is why I am encouraged by the President's announcement of a new trade enforcement panel. It is borne of the realization that the stakes are too high for our workers and our economy if we don't fight back. We need an all-hands-on-deck approach among the USTR, the State Department, and the Commerce Department to be involved, to be more aggressive, especially by initiating more trade cases.

I know from representing Ohio in the Senate since 2007 what trade enforcement laws do. Trade enforcement by the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission against China's cheating created jobs in Lorain, OH, in the steel industry; created jobs in Findlay, OH, in the tire industry; created jobs in paper and other industries around the State and resulted in a new steel mill, V&M Star Steel, in Youngstown, OH, where about 1,000 building trades people are building that plant and 500 or 600 steelworkers will be working in that plant that manufactures Oil Country Tubular steel--jobs that would have been in China if the President of the United States and the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission did not enforce trade laws.

That is why that matters. That is why the new trade enforcement panel that the President is setting up as part of his budget is so very important for the future of our national security and for the future of the middle class and our great country.

I yield the floor.

I ask unanimous consent to address the Senate for up to 15 minutes as in morning business.

Sure.

Madam President, I appreciate the comments of the Senator from California. She is on the floor today with Senator Inhofe--unlikely peas in a pod, one pretty liberal, one pretty conservative, very different views--to talk about job creation, infrastructure, building highways and bridges and public transit, and job creation. As so often is the case, people on the other side want to change the subject.

In my State, the elections 1\1/2\, 2 years ago were all about lost jobs, about lost manufacturing jobs that, frankly, accelerated during the Bush years, and we finally turned that manufacturing job loss around. We have seen 20 straight months of job increases in manufacturing.

But the legislature in Columbus, my State capital, and the Governor, what are they doing? They are not fighting for job creation. They are going after workers' rights and women's rights--the heartbeat bill, pretty extreme--instead of focusing on job creation.

That is what I came to discuss on the Senate floor today too--not specifically on this bill but another infrastructure bill, which I will get to in a moment.

The comment I heard from Senator Barrasso, only from the end of his discussion, was that he wants to repeal the health care law. How do they tell a 23-year-old who now is on her mother's insurance, who is without a job and doesn't have insurance, that she is going to lose her insurance she has through her mother's insurance? How are they going to explain it to the family who has a child with a preexisting condition who now can get insurance when the insurance company denied it before? How are they going to explain it to the Medicare retiree, the 72-year- old woman on Medicare who now has no copay, no deductible, free screenings for osteoporosis, or the man who gets prostate screenings-- how are they going to explain that? They want to repeal that.

How are they going to explain the fact that they want to repeal stopping one of the most insidious insurance company practices, which is that if people get too sick and they are too expensive, insurance companies just cut them off? They want to repeal that prohibition. I guess it is because they want to do the insurance companies' bidding over and over. That is a big part of their game.

It just breaks my heart when I see the progress we have made for the millions of Americans who now will have health insurance. I know the Senator and my colleagues, everybody in this body has good health insurance. People in this body are generally pretty affluent. They have good government insurance. But they don't want millions of men and women in our country--people who have lost jobs, people who are working without insurance--they don't want them to have insurance, all for some political gain of repealing ObamaCare. It is too bad.

Madam President, now I wish to focus on job creation. I wish to make some remarks on legislation I introduced today that is not directly Senator Boxer's and Senator Inhofe's highway bill, but it is about water and sewer systems and infrastructure.

Mr. President, earlier today I was on a call with Tony Parrott, executive director of the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati. We talked about how communities in Ohio are struggling to afford the necessary upgrades to improve sewer systems. In parts of the State with something called combined sewer systems, every time there are heavy rains waste and storm water overflows, the sewers overflow, and the water is dumped into our rivers and creeks and lakes.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 800 billion gallons of untreated wastewater and storm water from these combined sewage overflows, these combined sewer systems, are released into our rivers, lakes, and streams each year. It poses a threat to public health and the environment, and it undermines the competitiveness of our businesses. So not only do building these water and sewer systems and upgrades create jobs, but we also know if we don't, local businesses aren't going to expand. If they are not certain they are going to have good, clean water available at a decent and reasonable cost, they are not going to expand their businesses, especially if it is manufacturing.

The cost of addressing these combined sewage overflow systems in Ohio is some $6 billion according to the EPA, $1 billion in northeast Ohio, and $2 billion in the Cincinnati area.

So that is why today, because there are 81 Ohio communities requiring water infrastructure improvements, I am reintroducing the Clean Water Affordability Act. In previous Congresses I introduced this legislation with our Republican colleague from Ohio, Senator Voinovich. This bill will protect ratepayers, lead to cleaner water, and promote economic development. It would invest $1.8 billion to be distributed over the next 5 years through a grant program for financially distressed communities administered by EPA Administrator Jackson. I have spoken to her conveying the concern of Ohio's CSO communities. The program provides a 75/25 cost share, similar to what we have done on highway issues in the past: 75 percent Federal Government cost, 25 percent local government cost.

It is estimated that every $1 billion invested in infrastructure, similar to the highway bill that Senators Inhofe and Boxer are working on, will create--that for every $1 billion invested, upwards of 20,000 jobs would be created.

It will promote green infrastructure. Cities such as Bucyrus or Steubenville should be encouraged to use green infrastructure if it costs less than traditional construction and produces the same environmental benefits.

I will continue to work with mayors such as Dave Berger of Lima and Bob Armstrong of Defiance, county commissioners, and others such as Tony Parrot, who explained to me how years of reduced infrastructure investments have eroded their water and sewer systems.

When we were kids in the 1950s and 1960s and 1970s and into the 1980s, the U.S. infrastructure was the envy of the world. Whether it was the interstate system, whether it was the Federal, State, local partnerships on water and sewer systems, whether it was the building of community colleges and the beginnings of technology and wiring for our telecommunications systems in the 1950s and 1960s, we were the envy of the world.

Today, because so many in this government think we need to cut spending at all costs on everything, we simply have not kept up with the infrastructure. That is why countries such as China that are investing so much money in infrastructure--we run the

risk of them passing us by in manufacturing and all the things we care about that build a solid middle class.

This legislation is an economic development imperative. This legislation is an imperative for citizens of our country--having clean drinking water, safe drinking water, predictable access to water at a reasonable cost. It is important for our families. It is important for our communities. It is important for business development. It is important for a strong middle-class manufacturing country, which we still are.

I ask my colleagues to support this important legislation I am introducing today.

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.