Floor Statements

I ask unanimous consent that I complete my remarks--I think they will be concluded by 11:30--but that I be allowed to go a minute or two over before the rollcall.

Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Dr. O'Dell Owens, a champion of public health and public education in Cincinnati whom we lost last month. He was a longtime friend, longtime activist, longtime Ohioan, a public servant, and a trailblazer.

Dr. Owens' story and his unwavering dedication to the public good serves as an example for all us in Southwest Ohio, throughout Ohio, throughout the Midwest, and throughout the country. So much of his work was aimed at empowering young people of color and encouraging them to recognize their potential by staying in school and attending college.

He often shared a memory from his year as a ninth grader. A college counselor said he was ``too poor and too dumb to go to college.'' Imagine a counselor saying that. Dr. Owens proved that counselor and everyone who didn't believe in him--he proved them wrong. He graduated from college; he got a masters and a medical degree from Yale University. He completed his fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

After gathering degrees and credentials that provided him with opportunities anywhere in the world, Dr. Owens returned to his home in Cincinnati where he spent his career serving his community. He was a pioneering fertility specialist at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He became the first African American to hold office in Hamilton County when he was elected the county coroner.

He served as president of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. That is where I worked with him the most closely. He served as the Hamilton County interim health commissioner and as president of the nonprofit Interact for Health.

His work always came back to his community and extended far outside of medicine. He sat on the boards of various organizations and foundations, including the University of Cincinnati, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center--the only one of its kind in America. It is an extraordinary place. Anyone anywhere in the vicinity of my part of the Midwest should visit it--and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's Cincinnati Business Advisory Council.

He was chairman of the Cincinnati Preschool Promise. He volunteered as chair of the annual children's Cincinnati Educational Television Action Auction in support of Cincinnati's public television programming.

Dr. Owens empowered each of us to make the world a better place, and he so succeeded. He reached out to me and my office to make sure we were paying close attention to issues impacting people in Cincinnati.

He was a very talented speaker known for his passionate delivery-- always, always standing up for what he believed in. He was well- respected. He was dearly loved throughout our State for his courage and--what I would like most to think about--his moral clarity.

He took care of Cincinnati. I join our entire community in expressing gratitude for his lifetime of service. Today we recommit to his example.

Our thoughts are with the Owens family and with all those who knew and loved him.

Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Julia Reichert, an award-winning filmmaker, activist, and Ohioan whom we lost last week.

Julia was born in New Jersey, but she moved to Yellow Springs, OH, in Greene County to attend Antioch College where her interests in activism and storytelling emerged--interests that led her to become a strong, well-known voice for working Americans.

During her time at Antioch, she combined her passions by hosting a feminist program on the campus radio station and making ``Growing up Female,'' a groundbreaking feminist documentary that explored the socialization of women. Decades later, it would be added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

After college, Julia made Dayton her home as her work gained national attention. Her documentaries ``Union Maids''--M-A-I-D-S--which followed women active in the Chicago labor movement, and ``Seeing Red'' were both nominated for Academy Awards.

Her 2010 film ``The Last Truck'' followed the workers at a GM plant in Moraine, OH, as they built their final truck and the plant closed down. The film became the prologue for her Academy Award-winning documentary ``American Factory,'' which focused on the next chapter of that GM plant after a Chinese company bought it.

In ``American Factory,'' Julia took a global story; she made it local; she made it understandable; and she made it very popular. She gave a voice to the workers and the communities overlooked by the headlines, which happens all too often with a plant closing.

In her films and documentaries, as she explored feminism and family, labor and politics, globalism and the economy, she took these big ideas and showed what they meant on a human level. Julia had a unique ability--an extraordinary ability--to connect with all kinds of people and tell their stories in respectful, empathetic, and understandable ways.

She highlighted issues that were often overlooked. Her work sparked important conversations. People who watched these films had really no idea what it was like to be these workers until they understood so much more when they came to the theater and watched these.

Julia also taught at Wright State University in Dayton, serving as a mentor to the next generation of filmmakers. She instilled in her students that no matter where they came from or who they were, they have a voice and a story to tell--no matter who they were or where they came from, how little wealth their family might have had, they have a voice and a story to tell. And it is up to us to listen to those stories. They remember her genuine interest in their lives outside of the classroom. She cared about them. That is who Julia was.

She was a champion of the labor movement, the feminist movement, and an extraordinarily talented storyteller. She was a friend, a mother, and a mentor. Our world is a better place, not just Southwest Ohio from whence she came, but our State, our whole country is a better place because of Julia and her work.

Julia's husband and fellow filmmaker Steven, whom I know, and her daughter Lela, whom I have met and is an activist just like her mother, they will together uphold--as I will try to do--uphold Julia's legacy and will continue her work.

Today our thoughts are with Steven and Lela, Julia's friends and family, and all those who knew her and loved her and so appreciated her and had the privilege of working alongside her.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the scheduled vote begin immediately.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, I have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Madam President, I ask my colleagues to join me today in honoring journalists. A free, independent media is vital to our democracy. It is enshrined in our Constitution. We depend on reporters around the world to both tell the stories that have an impact on our day-to-day lives and dig for those stories that might not be told otherwise.

Journalists are generally tenacious and dedicated. They ask the tough questions. They challenge special interests. They connect us with our communities and our world. They put themselves in harm's way to tell the unvarnished truth, unfiltered by government propaganda, at a time when the world needs it more than ever, and too often, that comes at a cost.

Increasingly, journalists find themselves under attack, arrested, or targeted for simply reporting facts. Some even make the ultimate sacrifice to reveal the truth.

In March, I spoke on this floor about three talented, brave journalists who were killed while reporting on Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine. Since then, at least nine other journalists have been killed in Ukraine, journalists who were covering this war.

In May, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed while reporting on an Israeli military raid in Jenin in the West Bank. This danger is not something American journalists are immune from.

In September, Jeff German, a reporter with the Las Vegas Review- Journal, was murdered--was murdered--for his investigative reporting here in the United States of America.

These are only a few of the journalists who lost their lives this year while trying to uncover the truth.

Since Mahsa Amini's death on September 16, Reporters Without Borders has found that ``at least 42 journalists have been arrested throughout Iran.'' The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that since the beginning of 2022--fewer than 11 months--60 journalists--6-0 journalists--have been killed.

Politicians in this country throw around all kinds of incendiary language describing journalists, making fun of them, demeaning them, contributing to this view too often that could lead to the injury or attacks or even murders of journalists.

We remember those who lost their lives. We recognize their unwavering commitment to the democratic ideals of truth and accuracy and transparency, a commitment so strong that they put their lives on the line--often putting truth before personal safety--to cover floods and hurricanes and the important stories from global war zones. We have a better understanding of what is happening in the world today because of journalists, because of journalism.

Our thoughts are with the families and the friends and the colleagues whose loved ones were killed in search of truth, but thoughts and prayers aren't enough. We need to support efforts here and abroad to hold those who kill or even threaten journalists accountable.

That is why the work of organizations like Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists--why organizations like that are

integral to ensuring our basic right to freedom of the press.

Earlier this month, we commemorated the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. Attacks and threats against journalists are attacks and threats against all of us, attacks and threats to freedom of speech and expression itself.

I have called for the release of journalists unjustly detained in Egypt, Morocco, and elsewhere. I will keep calling for justice.

We honor the memories and the work of journalists best by defending the freedom of the press, defending the right to free speech, protecting journalists in their pursuit of the truth, and holding the regimes--no matter where they are--that attack journalists accountable. Today, we recommit ourselves to that fight.

Mr. President, I asked my colleagues to join me in honoring and thanking the heroic individuals who have served our country.

Every year on Veterans Day--just a couple of days ago--we come together as Ohioans or Oregonians and New Mexicans and Americans generally to remember with deep respect and gratitude all that our veterans have done for our country.

Veterans and their families have sacrificed so much to keep us safe. They put their lives on the line to protect us.

So often veterans don't speak about their service. My dad was a World War II veteran. He rarely talked about it. It was pretty typical of that generation; not so different from Vietnam vets, many of whom suffered from Agent Orange, or from Iraqi or Afghan war vets. They don't brag, they don't ask for recognition, but they have earned it.

As we pay tribute to all who serve and all who have served, we must remember that we owe veterans and their families more than just a thank you on Labor Day--or on Veterans Day. We owe them what they have earned: healthcare benefits, education opportunities. Taking care of our veterans is a cost of going to war.

Now, I have heard--I am going to talk about the PACT Act in a moment. Senator Merkley and I were just talking about it, the long overdue step we took to pass the PACT Act. A number

of our more conservative colleagues said it cost too much. They never say it costs too much to send people to war. It only costs too much to take care of the men and women who have served us in providing healthcare at the CBOC in Mansfield or the VA in Dayton or the VA in Cleveland.

We took this year a long overdue step to pass the PACT Act. We secured the most comprehensive--the single-most comprehensive benefit expansion for veterans in our Nation's history.

Some of you in this body remember, with Agent Orange, at the beginning, to get Agent Orange benefits you had to prove that you got sick because of the exposure to Agent Orange, and some veterans had to hire lawyers, and it just didn't make sense.

Well, we learned the lessons from Agent Orange in the PACT Act. When President Biden signed this bill he delineated--we delineated--23 illnesses, mostly bronchial and cancers--bronchial illnesses and cancers. And if you as a veteran who served in Iraq or Afghanistan or, you know, in some other theaters, if you had one of those illnesses, you could get treatment at the Zanesville CBOC or the Chillicothe VA or the Cincinnati VA.

It means now that post-9/11 combat veterans are now eligible for this VA care. It means we also expanded coverage for veterans exposed to Agent Orange and for those exposed to burn pits and other toxins.

It means if you are exposed to toxins while serving your country, you get the benefits you have earned--period, no exceptions.

We couldn't have done it without the lessons of Agent Orange and the activism of our servicemembers and families.

I have spent much of the last 6 weeks doing roundtables of 6, 8, 10, a dozen veterans, in rural communities and cities alike in my State, and most of them weren't yet aware of what this bill meant. It does mean that if they have any one of these illnesses and they were exposed to these burn pits--these football field-size burn pits that burn everything from industrial waste to tires to computers to human waste to who knows what--if they were exposed, then they got the help that they have earned.

I encourage all veterans to go to va.gov/pact--p-a-c-t--to find out more about the law and see what benefits you may be eligible for.

This is just the start of veterans finally, finally, finally getting the help of a grateful nation.

This bill came to my attention about 5 years ago. This problem came to my attention. A woman from Sandusky, OH, told me about her son-in- law, who was healthy, a distance runner, until about a year earlier, and he was diagnosed with a bronchial illness and then a cancer--a rare cancer, but a cancer that was recognizable to VA doctors.

He has since passed away. His name is Heath Robinson. We named this bill that Senator Tester worked so hard on and Senator Moran, a Republican and a Democrat--they worked so hard on it to make sure it was enacted into law.

Again, I urge veterans to go to va.gov/pact to find out more about the law.

Earlier this month, the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced an 11-percent drop in veterans' homelessness over the last 2 years, in part because of the work of this new President and this new Senate and the work we are doing with the VA.

It is progress. We have more work to do. I will continue to travel across Ohio and to hold roundtables with veterans to talk about the PACT Act. I am going to keep talking to veterans around the State.

With my colleagues in the Senate and with members of the Veterans Affairs Committee, we will continue fighting so every veteran has the benefits they deserve.

We will never forget the debt we owe. We are humbled by their commitment to service. And you can't talk about veterans without thanking the military families--the families of Heath Robinson--the family of Heath Robinson, who fought to make sure he got those benefits. And his legacy--in spite of his tragic death, his legacy of helping veterans will move on.

It was the county veterans service officers. Ohio is lucky. Most States don't have this. We have a veterans service organization, a commission in every one of the 88 counties, so that there are at least 2 employees--and in some cases 50, in the largest counties--who take care of veterans who have all kinds of issues and problems. So for our veterans service officers and then all the veteran service organizations, like the VFW and the DAV and the American Legion and the Polish-American Veterans, and so many others who work every day to support veterans and their families, we honor their sacrifice.

This bill happened because of the activism of veterans' families, because of the veteran service organizations, and this body recommits-- as Senator Merkley does, I know, and the Presiding Officer recommit--to fighting for veterans, fighting for military families.

On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your service.

Mr. President, I rise to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Max Morrissey and Ben Morrissey, two brothers who went to work on September 20 at the BP-Husky oil refinery in Oregon, OH, and never returned home.

In the tragic explosion at the refinery that night, Max and Ben were fatally injured. At 34 and 32, their lives were cut short. Max and Ben were loving husbands and fathers, proud union steelworkers with Local 1-346, and lifelong Ohioans. They spent their lives serving their families, their community, their union, and their country through their dedication to their jobs and through Max Morrissey's distinguished service in the U.S. Navy. Their work at the plant powered our State, our economy, and provided for their families.

Family was everything to Max and Ben. They shared a dedication and commitment to each other, to their parents, to their wives, and to their young children.

On Friday, I visited the steelworkers hall. I had the honor of speaking with the Morrissey family and Max and

Ben's steelworker brothers and sisters in Local 1-346. From all I learned about Max and Ben, I know their memories will live on. I know their legacies will be upheld by those whom they loved and who loved them so.

We talked about this pin I wear, a canary pin given to me years ago at a Workers Memorial Day in Lorain, OH, by a steelworker honoring the workers who lost their lives on the job, working and supporting their economy and building a life, a future for their families.

This pin is a depiction of a canary in a birdcage. If you know labor history--and I know the Presiding Officer from Georgia knows this--the mineworkers used to take the canary in a cage down into the mines. If the canary died from lack of oxygen or toxic gas, the mineworker got quickly out of the mine. He had no union strong enough in those days to protect him and no government that cared enough to protect him. A strong union changed that because of worker safety laws and because of the labor movement.

This tragedy reminds us that our work to protect workers and make our workplaces safer never ever ends. No worker should ever have to worry about not returning home at the end of the day. No family should ever have to be concerned about that, not steelworkers like Max and Ben, not first responders who rush to their aid--no one.

I want to recognize those first responders--the steelworkers, the fire brigade, the Oregon Fire Department--those first responders at the scene whose bravery made a difference.

Today, we rededicate ourselves to Max and Ben's example of dignity of work, importance of family and community. Our thoughts are with the Morrissey family, with all those who knew and loved Max and Ben, and with those who worked alongside them.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I thank the majority leader for those comments and for his leadership on this and so much else, including the subject that Senator Wyden and I will be talking about today: Social Security.

I rise to discuss an issue that Senator Wyden and I have worked on, and I am honored to be part of this with a Senator who began his career active in the Gray Panthers. So his commitment to Social Security almost goes back to almost before I was born, if I can say it that way.

Everything we do here--everything we do here--should come back to the dignity of work; the idea that hard work should pay off for everybody no matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter what kind of work you do to support yourself and your family.

When work has dignity, people always, always, always should have a secure retirement. That means they can count on Medicare. It means they can count on Social Security. It means we protect in this body--Senator Markey has been very involved in this, too, as the Presiding Officer. It means we protect people's pensions. It means people should make enough to save.

It is why we saved--this body. I remember sitting here with Senator Casey on March 6, 2021, and saying to him this was the best day of my career, when we voted 51 to 50 to save the pensions of 100,000 people in Ohio, over a million workers around the country, the same day we passed the Child Tax Credit extension, which dropped the poverty rate in this country by 40 percent.

It is why we still fight for the Delphi retirees who lost their pensions through no fault of their own, through no wrongdoing of their own, through no malfeasance or anything else of their own. They lost it because the system didn't guarantee it. It is why we will always, always fight back against attacks on Social Security. A secure retirement should never be partisan.

Social Security and Medicare are two of the most popular and most unifying institutions in the country.

Think back. We have had Social Security since the Roosevelt days. We have had Medicare since the LBJ days--so 80, 90 years of Social Security. The first Social Security check was in 1940 to a woman in Vermont. We have had Social Security for 82 years.

Medicare, passed by a Democratic House and Senate, with some Republican support joining President Johnson creating Medicare in the 1960s--again, two of the most popular and most unifying institutions in the country.

Social Security is our government's promise to working men and women, a promise they will be able to retire with dignity.

Support for Social Security among the voters, among the public, cuts across party lines, geographic lines, racial lines. Almost everybody in this country supports Social Security.

Americans want to not only protect Social Security and Medicare, but they want to make it stronger.

I said almost everybody in the country supports Social Security and Medicare. Well, Mr. President, as you know and Chairman Wyden of the Finance

Committee knows, almost everybody except a whole lot of people who come to the Senate and, down the hall, come to the House of Representatives and think their mission is to privatize Social Security and privatize Medicare.

So why do they do that?

Well, it is their answer to pay for everything. How can we afford handouts to corporations? Well, the way to pay for it is to cut Social Security and you privatize Medicare. How do you pay for tax cuts for the wealthy? Well, you wipe out the retirement security of Americans. You cut Social Security. You privatize Medicare. That is their answer, time after time after time.

They don't really want to talk about it this close to an election. As soon as this election is over, we know the crescendo; we know the loud voices, again, from Senator Scott, the leader, who happens to also run the Republican Senate Campaign Committee--the Senator from Florida who is a freshman who believes that privatizing--that we should have to renew Medicare and Social Security every 5 years. Like we don't want anybody to feel comfortable or be able to plan for the future or to feel, like, just secure in their retirement.

So it is always the same plan from the corporate elite and think-tank extremists.

So when I said almost everybody, it was not quite fair to say it is only Republican Senators and Republican House Members. It is also the corporate elite, in many cases. It is the people at these rightwing think tanks, funded by billionaires, who think this is some way that-- they come up with some new scheme to disguise their unpopular agenda: privatize Social Security or means-testing Social Security. Whatever it is, the plan is the same: to kill off Social Security.

This time it is Senator Rick Scott and Senate Republicans' plan to terminate Social Security. As I said, they want to get rid of this bedrock promise. It doesn't matter to them that most Americans support Social Security.

That is why, this week, Senator Wyden, who, as I said, began his activism as an activist for the Gray Panthers in Portland, OR; Senator Casey, who sits next to me, one of the leaders in this Senate, a Senator from Pennsylvania--he came to the Senate the same day I did-- who is one of the leaders of this Senate and on Senator Wyden's committee to fight to affirm that Social Security should remain a guarantee for every American whom we want because our government should work for people, not against them.

When workers have dignity--when work has dignity, we honor the retirement security people earned. It should be an easy decision.

I urge my Republican colleagues in this body--colleagues, frankly, with healthcare and retirement plans paid for by taxpayers--we all have that in this body--to think about the generations of Americans who have benefited from Social Security and the generations to come who are relying on the promise of Social Security.

I have listened to their speeches for years extolling the value of hard work. I have heard some of them trying to run from their own plans to end Social Security. But the American people are on to Senate Republicans.

The American people watched as all 50 Republicans voted against or essentially did nothing to solve the multiemployer pension crisis. They are watching--a few exceptions. Senator Portman has been helpful on this, on the bipartisan Delphi retiree fix, but many are trying to block it.

The public watches as the Republican caucus tries to end Social Security for good.

If the American people don't need to worry about the Republican Senate plan to end Social Security, now is your chance to prove it. This is your chance, by voting--this is your chance to live up to your own words and cosponsor this resolution that Senator Wyden and I and Senator Casey are leading.

Show Americans that if you work hard all your life, your government, your Senator will be there for you and that you are not working in this body to undermine the promise of Social Security.

Senator Wyden and I have worked together to protect Social Security for years.

What is at stake with these attacks? Why do we need to show a united commitment to Social Security in the U.S. Senate?

Senator Wyden.

Senator Wyden, would the Senator yield for one moment?

I would like to ask you this. You had said that Senator Scott, who is the chairman of the Republican Senate campaign committee, represents the third largest State in the country, Florida. He said he wants to sunset? What exactly--just explain that so my colleagues understand it. The word ``sunset'' doesn't sound so bad until you really explain it. And I know Senator Markey understands it, but explain that, if you would.

So he is saying then, so I understand this right. Senator Scott, the chair of the Republican Senate campaign committee, representing the third largest State in the country, is saying that every 5 years, if the Senate doesn't say yes to Social Security and Medicare, then they are unraveled and they die. It is up to the Senate to say yes every 5 years?

So if there is a President and a Senate and a House in 5 years that want to privatize Medicare and Social Security, or a President who wants to veto it, or a Senate leader, like Senator McConnell, who has never really believed in it, they can do nothing. They just do nothing. So it is up to the people who support Social Security and Medicare to keep it going every 5 years. In other words, the burden is on the supporters, the public--which is, to me, 90 percent of the public who likes this. So that is the way it works, right?

Well, go back to that. You said ``a brand-new fight.'' I am not a historian. I like reading history, but I know enough about Medicare because I care a lot about the history, as you do, of that-- and Senator Markey and others and Senator Leahy, who is on the floor about it too.

President Truman wanted to enact Medicare, but he couldn't get the Congress to do it. And then President Kennedy wanted to enact Medicare, and he couldn't get Congress to do it. It probably took the Kennedy assassination and all that was happening to sort of light the fire under Congress to pass Medicare.

So you would need that kind of political will. In other words, it took almost 20 years to pass Medicare. So if Medicare were to expire, you would need a huge public wave with elected officials who want to do it to get it back, in effect.

Let me ask another question. So if Senator Scott gets his way or Senator McConnell, the Republican leader, gets his way, and all the new candidates Senator Scott is helping to get elected, if they get their way and pass Senator Scott's bill to sunset, would Senator Scott still have government healthcare and a government pension?

Thank you, Senator Wyden. And I will yield back my time in 30 seconds.

Mr. President, thank you for your indulgence. Senator Leahy will be speaking in a moment. And, Senator Leahy, chairman of the Finance Committee, we are just asking for cosponsors. We have a number of colleagues that have cosponsored this to make sure that Social Security is with us--a strong, good

Social Security system--as long as we are a nation.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Madam President, earlier this week, we celebrated Labor Day, a day when Americans come together to honor the people who make this country work.

Whether you punch a clock, whether you swipe a badge, whether you earn a salary, whether you make tips, whether you are caring for children or an

aging parent, all labor has dignity. When work has dignity, hard work pays off for everyone, no matter who you are, where you live, what kind of work you do. Yet we know that for so many Americans, their work simply doesn't pay off like it should.

Look at what has happened in Minnesota, Ohio, and Rhode Island--and I know Senator Grassley is coming out--and in Iowa. Look what has happened over the last 30, 40 years. Executive salaries have soared. CEO pay is up 1,300 percent since 1978--1,300 percent. Corporate profits have risen. Stock prices are up. Workers are more productive than ever before. But for decades--for decades--wages barely budged for most Americans. Their purchasing power has largely been flat for some five decades because Wall Street rewards corporations that raise prices without raising paychecks. Wall Street rewards stock buybacks. Wall Street rewards union busting. Wall Street really rewards shipping jobs overseas. Wall Street rewards automating jobs. Wall Street rewards outsourcing full-time, in-house work to contractors.

Wall Street analysts actually downgrade stock prices when American companies invest in American workers, in American production. If a company owns a new factory in Ohio, Wall Street might often downgrade its stock. If that same company instead buys back its own stock, sending 40 percent of the returns to foreign investors, Wall Street rewards it.

We work to change that. For the first time in far too long, we have a government on the side of workers. We have a dues-paying union member as Labor Secretary.

Contrast this Labor Secretary--a laborers' union activist who carried a union card before he came; I think he still does as Secretary of Labor--contrast that with the Trump Secretary of Labor, who worked for one of the major world leaders in union busting and who made millions of dollars a year by busting unions.

We took on Big Oil--I am sorry. We have a National Labor Relations Board actually looking out for workers and willing to go after union busting. We passed the most pro-worker infrastructure bill ever, the strongest ``buy American'' provisions ever in a piece of legislation. We have taken historic steps to put workers first, to invest in American workers, to make our economy work for every American, not just CEOs and not just Wall Street.

That is what you came to the Senate from Minnesota for, and that is what Senator Whitehouse came from Rhode Island for--to make these fights.

We passed the CHIPS Act to bring our supply chains home, to bring down prices for American families, and to create thousands--tens of thousands of good-paying union jobs in Ohio and across the country.

This groundbreaking that President Biden and I and Congressman Ryan and others are going to do this Friday in Licking County, OH, will mean, at a minimum, 5,000 good-paid, union, building trades jobs-- carpenters, electricians, pipefitters, laborers, ultimately millwrights, so many others--at least 5,000 over the next 2 or 3 years that will last at least for 10 years.

Passing the CHIPS Act brings our supply chains home to bring down prices for American families. We passed the Inflation Reduction Act, taking on three of the most powerful special interests in Washington. We took on the big drug companies, Big Pharma, to bring down drug prices. We took on Big Oil to lower energy prices and create jobs, union jobs, in the industries of the future. We took on Wall Street, finally taxing stock buybacks that reward CEOs and executives at the expense--always at the expense--of workers and jobs.

These are big wins for workers--together, the biggest steps we have taken in decades to create an industrial policy that puts our most valuable resource--American workers--first. It counters the business model where corporations hopscotch the globe in search of lower wages and lower wages and lower wages.

From the infrastructure bill, the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, we have laid down a new marker. The technology of the future, from semiconductors to batteries, to electric vehicles, will be developed in America, made in America by American workers.

It hasn't been easy. Our work is far from finished, but I am optimistic. I see more momentum behind the labor movement than at any time in my career. All over the country, more and more workers are seeing that unions are the best way to have a voice, from Starbucks to Amazon. Seventy percent of Americans--I don't ever remember it being that high--70 percent of Americans approve of unions; for sure, the highest level of support in 50 years.

More people than ever want to join a union. They know that carrying a union card means higher wages. It means better benefits. It means better working conditions. It means more control--particularly for young families or families taking care of an aging parent--more control over your schedule.

We know what workers are up against when they organize. Corporations unleash all their power to fight their own workers--too often, illegally. It is why I will never stop fighting to pass the PRO Act to finally level the playing field between workers and corporations in union organizing.

This week, we honor the workers who built this country. We recommit ourselves to the fights ahead because when work has dignity, every American is paid the living wage they have earned. When workers have dignity, all workers can afford childcare and healthcare and housing. When workers have dignity, American workers have retirement security and paid leave and power over their schedules and their lives--because when you love this country, you fight every day for the people who make it work. That is what the labor movement has done for a century; it is what I will continue to do.

Madam President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Ohioan David Kiska, a Korean war vet, a tank commander, and a decorated war hero.

Mr. Kiska served our country by enlisting in the Army and fighting in Korea. He fought bravely in the Battle of Outpost Harry and many other battles--that battle, one of the most devastating of the war. After 8 days, he and his fellow soldiers prevailed, securing a strategic military route despite being significantly outnumbered. The Battle of Outpost Harry is remembered as an outstanding military feat of the Korean war.

When David returned home to Ohio, he worked at the Thew Shovel Company in Lorain and raised a family. His service to our State and to fellow veterans never ended. He became a director of the Lorain County Veterans Services, where he worked for 20 years as head service officer.

Ohio is blessed in our 88 counties that each of our 88 counties has a veterans service officer. Cuyahoga and Franklin have dozens of people serving. In small counties like Vinton and Noble, there is maybe only one veterans service officer, but they are always there every day to serve veterans.

David wanted to make sure in that job that every veteran received his or her full benefits, regardless of when and where they served their country. He helped with paperwork. He supported veterans through career transitions.

For David, the job never ended there. He took veterans out to lunch, paying out of his own pocket often. He visited sick and injured vets just to keep them company--a friendly face to help through hard times. Every Memorial Day, he volunteered to put American flags on the graves of veterans.

That was how David Kiska lived his life. He fought with bravery; he gave back selflessly. He fought with bravery; he gave back selflessly.

Our thoughts are with his family. We recommit ourselves, as we did with the Heath Robinson PACT Act, to following his example of serving those who have sacrificed so much for our country.

Madam President, I know that Senator Grassley will speak in a moment.