Floor Statements

Mr. President, I want to be very clear about the matter that is before the U.S. Senate today. We are not here to debate abortion. That is not what this bill is about that Senator Sasse has introduced. We are here to decide whether it should be legal in the United States of America to kill or neglect an infant who has been born alive after a botched abortion.

This was made very real for me just minutes ago. In fact, Melissa Odom is standing just off the floor of the U.S. Senate, just outside here probably 50 feet from where I am standing. She survived a botched saline-infused abortion in 1977. She was left to die, literally put in the medical waste heap, but thanks to the grace of God and a nurse who saw Melissa, they were able to revive her, and she is a beautiful 41- year-old mom with two children, one being Olivia who was born in the same hospital where the botched abortion took place. She is from Kansas City, married to Ryan.

We are here to vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. By now, we have all heard the disturbing defense of infanticide offered by the disgraced Governor Northam of Virginia. These babies' only crime was to survive the abortionists' attempts to poison, starve, or tear them apart limb from limb while in utero.

What this bill is about is when the abortionist wants to ``finish the job'' as the baby lies helpless on the table of an abortion clinic. Currently, children born alive who survive an abortion attempt are recognized as persons under the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, but that law is merely definitional because not one person to date has been charged or convicted under it. There is no nationwide Federal law criminalizing the actions of killers, like Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who kill or deny care to babies who survive abortions. Current Federal murder statutes have limited jurisdiction, and the States have a patchwork of different laws for born-alive infants.

The bill we are voting on today would give Federal enforcement teeth nationwide to the 2002 Born-Alive law, so that whether an infant is born alive in Montana or in Massachusetts, whether in a hospital or an abortion clinic, they would be guaranteed the same protection and level of care. Is that asking too much?

By contrast, consider that Federal law provides criminal penalties of thousands of dollars in fines and even imprisonment if you ``harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect'' any baby marine turtle, baby bald eagle, or any other baby of an endangered species.

It is absolutely absurd that we are having to decide whether we give human babies the level of protection under Federal law that we give to animals. This is truly an absurd moment on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Have we become so numb as a nation that we cannot realize we are talking about a baby?

Cindy and I became grandparents for the first time on January 23, little Emma Rae Daines, born in Denver. She is now a living, breathing member of the human family. That is what we are talking about here, a living, breathing member of the human family. Is it the position of the Democratic Party that a border wall is immoral but not infanticide?

The phenomenon of infants surviving attempted abortions is very real. These infants are not just statistics. Their lives matter, and their stories deserve to be told, just like the story of Melissa Odom. That is why I am proud of

and grateful to my Senate colleague Ben Sasse, who has introduced the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

Infanticide is not and should not be a partisan issue. It is an issue in which there should be no middle ground or compromise. A ``yes'' vote today is to uphold the bare minimum of any civilized society. A ``no'' vote is to deny protection from barbaric violence to the most vulnerable among us, an innocent, little baby.

You can either stand with Governor Northam for infanticide or you can protect the most vulnerable among us.

I yield back my time.

Madam President, this week I have the honor of recognizing Russell James of Missoula County for his impact on the Whitewater community.

A third generation Montanan, Russell was born and raised in Ovando, MT. Mr. James graduated high school from Thompson Falls, where he went to the University of Montana. Directly after graduation in 1980, Russell dove into the workforce, taking a job as a professional truck driver.

Russell has been a professional truck driver for 38 years and has accumulated over 1 million accident-free miles. He has won numerous awards during his tenure as a driver, including the 2008 YRC employee of the Year Award and the 2018 YRC Road to Excellence Award. He has represented YRC every year at the Montana Truck Driving Championships since 2005, as well as the National Truck Driving Championships in 2011 and 2014. Russell is active in the community, volunteering with the Blackfoot River Preservation Group and environmental quality improvement and wildlife habitat. He is also an avid outdoorsman and enjoys tending to his small family farm.

I congratulate Russell on his lifetime of outstanding achievements and willingness to give back to his community. A tried and true Montanan, I look forward to seeing his success in his future endeavors.

Madam President, there is a lot that I love about my State, Montana. It is where I grew up. In fact, it is where--my great- great-grandmother came from Minnesota and homesteaded just north of Great Falls. It is where my dad and my grandpa taught me how to fly fish and to hunt. It is where I got to attend college, in fact, at Montana State University. It is where I went to kindergarten through high school--in Bozeman. In fact, it is where I proposed to my sweet wife Cindy on Hyalite Peak. It was about 7\1/2\ miles up and 7\1/2\ miles back. It was about a 15-mile day that day we got engaged, July 31, 1986. It is where Cindy and I raised our four children. In fact, speaking of children, it is more recently where I walked my daughter Annie down the aisle in Churchill, MT, last October. Montana is a part of me. It is home.

But what I am here to talk about today is something that Montanans like me love most about our State, and that is our public lands, because in a place like Montana, our public lands are a way of life. Our public lands are where Montanans make memories with their families, their loved ones, and their friends. Montana's public lands are where we take our kids on the weekends. In fact, they are where we spend at least a week every August off the beaten path in the Beartooth Wilderness. They are where Cindy and I will take a couple of dogs and take along our kids now, as they have gotten older, if they have time. If not, Cindy and I go off with our two dogs and spend time in the high country. We do that every summer.

Our public lands are where we grow up learning to love the outdoors, and they are where we still continue to pass on that outdoor heritage to our children and our grandchildren. Montana's public lands play a major role in what makes our State so great.

For anyone who has time and has been fortunate enough to enjoy the Big Sky Country's public lands, I am sure you would agree that we must continue to cherish and protect those very lands we love in every way possible. That is why I am thrilled that this afternoon the Senate is going to vote on a very important, bipartisan public lands package that includes some important provisions for Montana, such as the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the protection of Paradise Valley. In fact, Paradise Valley is the doorstep to Yellowstone National Park, our Nation's first national park. That would be found in the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act.

Growing up, I spent a lot of time in that part of our State. I still do. I love fly fishing on the Yellowstone River. In fact, when I was in high school, I loaded up the station wagon--in fact, I think probably the Griswolds' station wagon by today's standards--and, with a couple of my classmates from Bozeman High--we had our homecoming dinner before we went to the homecoming dance there in Chico, MT.

This package also increases sportsmen's access to public lands, which is something that is so important to the sports men and women of Montana.

This is a historic win for Montana. In fact, it is one of the biggest conservation wins we have seen in arguably a decade. It is what is going to help preserve our access to our public lands. These are the treasures of our great State.

I very much look forward to casting my vote this afternoon when we pass it here in the Senate. This public lands package is a product of years of effort. Over 100 different pieces of legislation have been put together from the local level, grassroots moving its way up, to our now having a chance to vote on that right here for final passage in the U.S. Senate. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same.

We are blessed to be home to so many public lands in Montana, and we must do all we can to protect them and ensure Montanans have access to these public lands.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am here to urge my Senate colleagues to support S. 47, a lands package that includes over 100 locally driven as well as nationally important bills--specifically, two very important priorities for Montana. The first is the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the second is the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund is a critical tool in protecting and expanding access to what makes Montana so special; that is, our public lands. This program works with willing landowners. You see, when you look at a map of landowners in Montana, it becomes oftentimes very checkerboard in nature. You have sections owned privately, sections owned by the State government, sections owned by the Federal Government. What LWCF does is allows willing landowners to provide more access to public lands, as well as increasing outdoor recreation opportunities for cities and towns. It helps multigenerational farmers and ranchers and loggers continue to work their land.

Yet, without permanent reauthorization of this critical program, it will continue to expire, Congress after Congress, putting so much of what makes Montana the ``Last Best Place'' at risk because in Montana public lands are a way of life. For Cindy and for me, we can think of no better experience than to put backpacks on and head up to the Beartooth Wilderness, for example, during the weeks of August.

This is about teaching future generations of Montanans to love the outdoors and to spend time outside because we can access these public lands, just the way my parents did with me growing up in Bozeman and just the way I did with our four children.

It is not just about a way of life. It is also about our economy because public lands help spur a $7 billion outdoor economy in Montana. That creates thousands of jobs in our State, and they supply almost $300 million in State and local tax revenue. People all over Montana know the importance of this program, and we can't keep kicking that proverbial can down the road on this critical program for Montana. It is time we permanently authorize this program once and for all.

This lands package also has a bill called the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act. In Montana, we are grateful to be the home of our Nation's very first national park; that is, Yellowstone.

There are some places that are just too special to mine. The Paradise Valley--by the way, it is aptly named the ``Paradise Valley.'' Think about this. The Yellowstone River starts down in Yellowstone Park and comes to the north and runs through Paradise Valley. It eventually ends up in Missouri, but this Paradise Valley and the Gardiner Basin are on the doorstep of Yellowstone National Park. This bill is one example of the over 100 land exchanges, conveyances, or designations nationwide that are critically important to local communities as they facilitate economic development and are locally driven ways to resolve land use challenges.

Let me talk about locally driven. The Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act is a great example of something that is locally driven--the community, the landowners, the elected leaders. They are strongly supporting this act that I hope we pass in the U.S. Senate, get over to the House, and then soon onto the President's desk.

This bill also secures other wins for our sportsmen's heritage by including provisions that will ensure our Federal lands are open for access and only closed with consultation that comes from our States.

This bill will also help curtail the fringe litigation that halts commonsense active forest management by shining light on who gets equal access to Justice Act funds and Judgment Fund payments. The bill strengthens partnerships for our national parks like the 21st Century Conservation Corps Act.

Simply stated, this bill is a historic win for Montana and the West, but don't take my word for it. The sportsmen groups across the country are calling this bill a historic achievement for conservation--groups like the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, like the American Fly Fishing Trade Association, like the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, the Boone and Crockett Club, the Trust for Public Land, Montana groups like Businesses for Montana Outdoors and the Montana Outdoors Coalition, and the list goes on.

I urge my colleagues at this moment--this moment when we have divided government in Washington, DC--that we can come together. There is nothing as bipartisan that I have seen in a long time here than this lands package, Republicans and Democrats

who are coming together to get this bill done.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote to support this lands package. It is long overdue that we get this done for Montana and for our Nation.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, this week I have the honor of recognizing Marlo Pronovost and Carli Toresdhal for their impact on the Gallatin and Stillwater Counties.

Marlo and Carli are two sisters from Bozeman, MT. Born and raised in Montana, they both attended Bozeman High School and have stayed close to the area throughout their lives. Later in their lives, the two sisters both married members of Montana law enforcement.

Marlo met her husband 20 years ago, while working as a journalist at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Assigned to cover the Bozeman Police Department, they quickly fell in love. Carli met her husband also in Bozeman, where he worked in marketing and at the county jail, later becoming a police officer. He has now been a sergeant for 12 years.

Throughout their lives, Marlo and Carli were faced with the biggest challenge of being married to members of law enforcement--the unknown. They stayed strong in overcoming those challenges due to the sense of community between other members of Montana law enforcement and their families. Marlo and Carli relied on the Montana law enforcement community to back each other, regardless of the color of the uniform or department.

I applaud Marlo and Carli for their dedication to Montana. They stayed strong for their communities and have made a lasting impact on the State of Montana.

Madam President, last week, Governor Northam of Virginia gave chilling remarks that defended a law legalizing abortion to the point of birth--and even after. In fact, these were Governor Northam's exact words:

If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would

happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be

kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's

what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion

would ensue between the physicians and the mother.

I was asked by many what I thought about those words. The word ``evil'' comes to mind. ``Chilling.''

On January 23, my wife Cindy and I celebrated the birth of our first grandchild. Little Emma Rae Daines was born in Denver. She was about 10 days early. Her due date, in fact, was Groundhog Day. She is doing wonderfully--a healthy, beautiful granddaughter, our first grandchild.

When I think about what the Governor said, I can't help but think about looking at the pictures we receive. I think on darn near an hourly basis, we are getting new pictures of our new, beautiful, little granddaughter. But these comments the Governor made pull back the curtain on an extreme and dangerous abortion agenda that shows callous disregard for human life.

What the Virginia Governor is defending and what these ghoulish abortion-up-to-birth laws enable is the free rein of brutal killers like Kermit Gosnell. Babies who survive the violence of an attempted abortion must not be subject to further violence or neglect, and that is why we are here this afternoon.

Soon, Senator Sasse will be offering his legislation, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. What Senator Sasse is proposing is that it would be a Federal law that born alive--let me say that again on the floor of the U.S. Senate--what this law says is that born-alive babies who survive an abortion must be treated the same as every other living baby--with dignity.

As a nation, how is it that we can go to the OB-GYN, the delivery section of our hospitals, and see the NICU areas where they are doing all they can to save the lives of these preemies, and yet we are going to hear--I think our colleagues across the aisle are going to object to this law that would protect a baby who is born alive.

If we can't agree on something so fundamental--that babies born alive deserve the right to life--I fear deeply for the direction that some are taking our country. I implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle not to block legislation that would bring much needed protections for the most vulnerable among us.

I found it interesting that at the March for Life, one of the best tweets I saw that day was by someone who, in essence, said: It is the only march in America where those who are showing up to march are not marching for their rights; they are marching on behalf of those who don't have a voice. That is worth standing up for on the floor of the Senate today. Every human life must be valued. Every human life must be protected from conception until death.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, this week I have the honor of recognizing Marilyn Maddox of Lewis and Clark County. This week marks Marilyn's 100th birthday. She is being honored this week at the Montana State capitol, not only for her birthday, but also for 80 years of service with the Montana Federation of Republican Women.

Marilyn was born in Chicago on January 31, 1919, and grew up in Ohio. She attended Ohio State University where she performed as a professional dancer and concert violinist. She joined the National Federation of Republican Women in 1939 and still has her original membership card.

While in Ohio, she married Thomas Maddox to whom she would be married for 71 years. Tom, was a journalist with the Associated Press, and they lived in several Midwestern cities before Tom received a transfer out West to Helena, MT. They packed up their 1951 Plymouth station wagon with two young daughters and two dogs and headed for Montana. Like many folks who find themselves in Montana, the Maddoxes fell in love with Big Sky Country.

Marilyn is an avid outdoors woman and loves hunting and fishing. She also worked for the Montana Stockgrowers Association for many years. Marilyn has 2 daughters, 6 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, 6 great-great-grandchildren, and a Shihtzu named Toby Wong.

I congratulate Marilyn on reaching this milestone and thank her for her many years of service to the people of Montana and the Helena community.

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

Mr. President, this week, folks from all over the country--all ages, all backgrounds, and all walks of life--are coming together to celebrate and highlight one of the single most important priorities of this Nation, and that is protecting the unborn.

In fact, tomorrow, nearly 100,000 of these folks will march right here in Washington, DC, at the March for Life rally. In fact, I will be speaking at that rally tomorrow.

As American citizens, I believe in our founding principle that all men and all women are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Every human life must be valued. Every human life must be protected from conception until

death. We must stand to protect the most vulnerable in our society, and that includes the unborn.

I am grateful that under President Trump's leadership and the Republican-led U.S. Senate, we have delivered some of the strongest pro-life results in history. In fact, in the last Congress, this Republican-led Senate confirmed 85 conservative judges. That includes a record-setting 30 circuit court judges. We also confirmed 53 district court judges and two new Supreme Court Justices.

I remember when I left the private sector to come to public service that when the Senate put a judge on the bench, that meant these were lifetime appointments. We can pass laws here. Laws can be changed in the current Congress. Laws can be changed in a future Congress. But these judges are lifetime appointments.

Despite the great progress we have made over the last couple of years, there is plenty of work to be done. In fact, just this week, I was grateful and thankful to see 48 of my Senate colleagues join me in sending a letter to President Trump urging him to stop any legislation--any legislation--that is coming out of the House that would erode pro-life protections.

The good news is, this is a battle we are winning, and this is a battle we must absolutely win.

Thank you.

I yield back.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Jason Smith and Alison Graab, fellows at the Senate Commerce Committee, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the 116th Congress.

Mr. President, this week I have the honor of recognizing Kori Keller of Yellowstone County for her impact on the Billings community, through her work at the Ramsey Keller Memorial.

Mrs. Keller, a Billings native, has dedicated her time to aiding parents who have undergone the hardship of losing a child too young. Mrs. Keller and her husband lost their precious daughter Ramsey soon after she was born.

As a way of honoring their daughter, Kori and her husband founded the Ramsey Keller Memorial. The Ramsey Keller Memorial is dedicated to helping families who have lost children under the age of 1 year old. The foundation raises money through both an annual race and a pink-tie affair to pay for the funerals of Montana infants that have passed away before their first birthday. Since then, Kori has been an advocate and provided comfort for numerous parents going through the same hardships she experienced.

I congratulate Kori on her growing role in the State of Montana. She has been a constant source of hope and aid to families going through similar hardships she has endured. I look forward to seeing the success of the Ramsey Keller Memorial, as it continues to pour into Montana family's lives.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, this week I have the honor of recognizing Marshall Williams of Powder River County for his impact on the community of Broadus.

Marshall has spent the last 39 years educating students in the small southeast Montana community and ensuring their future success. Mr. Williams recently received the 2018 Montana Career and Technical Education Lifetime Achievement Award. The Association for Career and Technical Education is a nationwide organization who recognize career and technical educators for their professionalism and leadership in their field. They are one of the largest national education association dedicated to the advancement of education. This prestigious award is for dedicated educators who have spent an extended period of time in their respective fields.

Mr. Williams has selflessly given to each of his students, dedicating his time and efforts to ensure their success. Marshall is currently a teacher at Broadus High School, where he teaches ag education and shop. Mr. Williams is constantly looking for ways to improve student's education, as he works closely with teachers, administrators, and even local businesses as a means of open communication on how to progress their communities' education system.

I congratulate Marshall on being a selfless educator to the Broadus community. I look forward to seeing his success continue to grow as each of his students goes on to achieve their own success.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.