Floor Statements

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I rise today to speak in support of my bill to protect IVF. Elissa Smith was living in Alabama when she heard the news this past February. She had been pregnant a few years earlier, but it had left her with scars, both emotionally and physically.

She had been in her third trimester with her first child when she had learned that she had cancer. She gave birth early to a beautiful baby girl. Then soon after, she underwent surgery, chemotherapy, multiple medical procedures--you name it--a care plan that helped to get rid of the disease but that also left her unable to conceive again. Thankfully, she had than undergone one round of IVF before her treatment for cancer.

Fast forward to early 2024, things were finally getting brighter. She and her husband had just begun to research surrogates to carry her viable embryos. Then, a gavel sounded out of her State courthouse, marking the ruling that changed theirs and so many other families' lives.

On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court declared that frozen extrauterine embryos created through IVF should be considered children under State law--a ruling that painted would-be moms and their doctors as criminals and one that uprooted the dreams and began the nightmares of aspiring parents, as IVF clinics statewide soon paused treatments out of fear that their doctors and patients would be punished for trying to start families.

Elissa was one of these women. Now, it seemed like her desperately hoped for wish of growing her family was snatched away by an extremist court that either had no idea or simply didn't care about everything that had gone into trying to turn her dreams of a family into reality.

Elissa's story is exceptional. But it is not the exception. For so many women, that lifelong hope of having children is now stuck in a hellish limbo, as they remain uncertain whether more States will follow Alabama's lead; as they are forced to live in fear that Republican success come November would even further imperil their right to try to create a family; as they remain unsure whether living in a red State under a Trump Presidency could mean getting jail time for committing this supposed sin of needing modern medicine to bring into the world a baby to nuzzle and swaddle and love.

Look, I was actually stationed in Alabama many times throughout my 23 years of military service. And I didn't know it at the time back then, but infertility would become one of the most heartbreaking struggles of my life, my miscarriage more painful than any wound I ever earned on the battlefield.

It is only thanks to IVF that I get to be embarrassingly proud when I hang my 6-year-old's drawings on my Senate office walls or that I get to be tackled in bed every Mother's Day by my 9-year-old who runs into my room bearing the biggest of hugs and sweetest of cards.

So excuse me if I find it a bit offensive when a bunch of politicians who have never spent a day in med school hint that those of us who have needed the help of IVF to become moms should be sitting behind bars rather than lulling our babies to sleep in rocking chairs.

My apologies if I take it personally when the same folks who rely on NRA blood money to get elected suggest that women like me are committing acts akin to murder when all we are trying to do is create life and not have to suffer through more miscarriages.

You know, right after the Alabama ruling came out, I came to this very spot and begged my GOP colleagues to help me pass my bill that would set the simple standard that no doctor or hopeful parent could be criminalized for IVF. And Republicans blocked it. This was after days and days of the GOP claiming to support IVF. This was after they claimed to support reproductive health. This was after days of them claiming that they actually gave a damn about the women in this country. Naturally, that was all untrue, all a ruse to mislead voters.

And at this point, it is obvious: The only thing they care about is kissing up to trial room Trump and bowing down to the most extreme wing of their party. Things like common decency or common sense doesn't even register anymore.

It comes down to this: Every woman deserves to be able to be called ``mama'' without being called a criminal. That is why, today, I am trying once again to pass legislation that would enshrine into law every American's right to IVF, now called the Right to IVF Act.

If Republicans actually care more about protecting women's health more than they do about getting invitations to Mar-a-Lago, then all they have to do to show it is help me move my bill forward--because, look, struggling with infertility is hard. Using all your savings to go through round after round of IVF is hard. This vote? Well, that is one thing that is actually really simple: Vote for it.

Madam President, today I wish to recognize LTC Joshua S. Koncar, U.S. Army, for his outstanding work on behalf of the people of Illinois and the Nation. Lieutenant Colonel Koncar served as a 2021 Department of Defense legislative fellow in my Washington, DC, office and later as a U.S. Army Reserve congressional liaison from 2022-2024. Lieutenant Colonel Koncar was born in Sharon, PA. The grandson of a World War Il veteran, the son of a third-generation steelworker, and brother to a U.S. Marine, Joshua enlisted in the Army Reserve in August 2001. Joshua served in Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 2003 to April 2004 as an operations noncommissioned officer and attained the rank of staff sergeant before receiving a direct commission to second lieutenant in 2007. As a logistician, Joshua has served in various leadership and broadening assignments throughout his Army career. During his congressional tenure, Joshua has been integral in shaping the priorities of the U.S. Army, and as a Defense fellow, he helped me secure several provisions in the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act--FY22 NDAA--that will make our country stronger and safer. During his time in my office, Joshua led my staff in orchestrating important legislative provisions for the Department of Defense. He authored sections of NDAA language, including one of my top concerns regarding modifying special and incentive pay authorities for reserve component members--Incentive Pay Parity. His contributions-- both to office morale and to our collective work--are emblematic of his phenomenal character, competence, and strong work ethic.

Joshua demonstrates a level of professionalism and hard work I have come to expect--but not take for granted--from the Department of Defense and U.S. Army soldiers. Indeed, he follows a long line of accomplished Department of Defense legislative fellows who have made impactful contributions to my office and U.S. national security policy. He distinguished himself as an Army officer, setting a high bar and providing invaluable advice and insights as he advised me on wide- ranging and complex matters under consideration before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Joshua's servant leadership showed in his work as a congressional liaison for the U.S. Army Reserve. His attention to detail and ability to effectively communicate with Congress became apparent as he successfully advanced key Army Reserve legislative initiatives and priorities.

Joshua will soon transition to his new duty assignment and attend Senior Service College at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On behalf of my colleagues and the U.S. Congress, I thank Joshua for his dedicated service to my staff, the U.S. Army, and the Nation. Part of what makes the U.S. military the greatest in the history of the world is that servicemembers like Joshua dedicate their lives to service and sacrifice for this country. Lieutenant Colonel Koncar does not do it alone, so I also acknowledge the support of his family--his wife Melissa. I wish them all the best in what I know is a bright future.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today in support of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024. This has been a truly bipartisan, bicameral endeavor, and that is how it should be. It has taken longer than we had hoped, but the final product is worth it.

This bill will empower the FAA to aggressively address the aviation system safety crisis, make our aviation system more accessible for passengers with disabilities, provide historic investments that will enhance our Nation's capacity to recruit and train the next generation of aviation workers, and do so without lowering, weakening, or watering down the post-Colgan safety system, including pilot qualification standards.

There are many important provisions in this bill, but I want to highlight just a few today. First and foremost, this bill takes important steps to address critical safety challenges facing our aviation system. During the pandemic, retirements and buyouts drained critical experience from our aviation workforce, both in the Federal Agencies, like the FAA and the NTSB, as well as in the commercial aviation sector.

The post-COVID surge in demand for air travel put a huge strain on our system and stretched the remaining aviation workforce thin. Near misses and close calls became so frequent that the FAA was forced to convene a safety summit.

Despite this, the close calls keep happening over and over and over again. Just last week, a Swiss Air flight had to abort takeoff at JFK when four other planes were crossing the runway at the same time. The week before that, a Southwest jet crossed the runway at National Airport right as a JetBlue flight was starting its takeoff roll.

The need for Congress to act is urgent, and this bill takes important steps to address safety-critical challenges.

Importantly, our bill also preserves an important pillar of the post- Colgan safety system: the 1,500-hour rule for first officer flight training. As both a commercial and a private pilot, I know how critical real-world experience is in the cockpit. It can mean the difference between life and death. As demand for air travel continues to grow, we will continue to need more pilots. But putting safety first demands that Congress always reject industry efforts to lower pilot qualification standards, and that is why I worked so hard to make sure that our bill left the 1,500-hour rule intact.

Air traffic controllers and surface detection is a key component of the FAA reauthorization bill also. Our legislation will also give a much needed boost to our air traffic controller workforce.

Coming out of the pandemic, our air traffic facilities are understaffed and our controllers are overworked. Last year, only 3 of 313 air traffic facilities nationwide had enough controllers to meet staffing targets, while controllers are working 60 hours a week to keep up.

This is dangerous. These are highly stressful, safety-critical jobs under the best of circumstances. Growing this workforce is a safety imperative, and this bill takes aggressive steps to do so. It will set a minimum hiring target equal to the maximum number of air traffic controllers our academy can accommodate. It will also require a more accurate staffing model going forward to ensure that there will be enough air traffic controllers to meet the growing demand and keep the flying public safe.

The bill will also expand deployment of surface detection technology to more airports to help prevent near misses or, worse, actual collisions.

Our bipartisan compromise also advances passenger safety by requiring the FAA to finally update aircraft evacuation standards to account for real-world conditions. Federal regulations require that, in the event of an emergency, passengers can evacuate an aircraft within 90 seconds. However, recent FAA in-person evacuation simulations used only able- bodied adults under the age of 60, in groups of just 60, on a plane with no carry-on baggage and nobody under the age of 18.

On a typical 737, you would see more than twice that number of passengers. I think it is safe to say that you would also probably see a couple of backpacks--maybe 100 backpacks--and probably some senior citizens, children, and passengers with disabilities too. All of these folks were left out of the latest FAA simulation.

So the fact is, we don't actually know if an aircraft can be evacuated in 90 seconds in real-world conditions, and that is what is so dangerous. The Miracle on the Hudson took more than twice that long to evacuate--3 minutes.

In January, when a Japan Airlines crew miraculously managed to successfully evacuate nearly 400 people from a burning Airbus A350, it took closer to 18 minutes from the point of impact and, overall, 5 minutes from the point of when the plane had stopped moving.

In 2016, it took more than 17 minutes to evacuate a 767 at O'Hare, after the

plane came to a stop, well short of the 90-second threshold.

Carry-on bags slowed down that evacuation; and since then, the NTSB has been recommending FAA take a closer look at this issue.

The bill before us today includes a provision Senator Baldwin and I championed to require the FAA to finally do just that: along with mandating the Agency, actually consider other real-world conditions like the presence of children, seniors, and passengers with disabilities.

The FAA bill will also make much needed progress in transforming commercial air travel to be safer and more accessible for passengers with disabilities.

I was proud and honored to work with individuals and organizations in the disability community when drafting this portion of our legislation.

And while we still have a long way to go to ensure equal access for millions of people with disabilities when flying, if passed, our FAA Reauthorization Act would be one of the most significant leaps taken over the past decade towards improving the air travel experience for the disability community.

Our work builds on a yearslong effort by my colleague Senator Baldwin. And I would like to thank her for her leadership on the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act, which has been a priority of the disability community for years.

And today, I am happy to say that several important provisions from that Baldwin bill are included in this reauthorization.

Today's bill also includes a new grant program to upgrade airports to make them more accessible for passengers with disabilities.

Two bipartisan, bicameral bills are also included: the Mobility Aids on Board Improve Lives and Empower All Act--or MOBILE Act--which I worked on with Senator Thune and Representatives Steve Cohen and Pete Stauber, and the Prioritizing Accountability and Accessibility for Aviation Consumers Act, which I worked on with Senator Fischer and Representatives Steve Cohen and Brian Fitzpatrick.

I want to thank my colleagues across the aisle and in the House for working with me to show that even in this divisive political moment, we can--and we must--still legislate in a bipartisan fashion on issues that impact Americans throughout every inch of this country, in States that are both red and blue.

This bill will also help grow the next generation of pilots, aviation mechanics, and aviation manufacturing technical workers by expanding the FAA's Aviation Workforce Development Grant Program. This is critical to meet future demand, which is expected to grow tremendously. The FAA estimates the 696 million mainline enplanements we saw in 2023 will grow to more than 1.1 trillion enplanements by 2044.

I want to thank Senators Moran, Klobuchar, Thune, Kelly, Fischer, Warnock, and Capito for working with me to secure the highest level of investments forever for these grants.

I want to give a special thanks to Senator Moran, who has been such a pleasure to work with, and also to my colleagues in the House and especially to our chairwoman of the committee, who has been so generous in working with me as the subcommittee chair.

While this initiative may be relatively new, in its short history, it has already proven incredibly popular with educational and training institutions, with the demands for training grants vastly outstripping supply.

Our bill will fix this imbalance by drastically strengthening the capacity and capabilities of our Nation's aviation education and training organizations, with the goal of successfully recruiting and preparing the next generation of American aviation workers.

Before yielding, I want to say a brief word about Boeing--a company with a proud heritage in American aviation. This bill does not fully address our many vexing issues that have come to light since a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight midair in January of this year.

Congress must look more closely at these issues and assess what additional legislation may be needed.

As Chair Cantwell has indicated, we will be conducting vigorous oversight, but that will take time. And this bill contains urgently needed fixes to address immediate imminent safety risks. We must not delay passage of this FAA reauthorization while we continue our oversight of Boeing and all aviation manufacturers.

So let's pass this bill.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the remarkable career of Maj. Gen. Richard R. Neely, a 40-year servicemember of the Illinois Army National Guard who will retire on May 31, 2024. Major General Neely served as the 40th adjutant general of the State of Illinois and was the director of the Illinois Department of Military Affairs.

As the adjutant general, Major General Neely oversaw the Federal overseas deployments of 4,800 soldiers and airmen to 21 countries around the world and 5,600 servicemembers on State Active Duty exceeding 500,000 duty days combined. Major General Neely served as the adjutant general since February 2019. Beginning in 2020, Major General Neely directed the largest and longest domestic operations activation in Illinois National Guard history in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Illinois National Guard soldiers and airmen assisted with 250,000 COVID-19 tests, delivered 8 million masks, administered nearly 2 million vaccines throughout the State among many other support missions. Major General Neely further oversaw the Illinois National Guard's State Partnership Program with Poland. During one mission, the Illinois National Guard servicemembers provided direct training support to Poland's newly formed territorial defense force in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Due to Major General Neely's exceptional efforts, he was awarded the Polish Commanders Cross with Silver Star Order of Merit from the President of Poland in 2022. Throughout his entire career, Major General Neely led by example, providing a steady hand through some of the most tumultuous times in the history of our State and our Nation. The Illinois National Guard is better because of General Neely's service.

Major General Neely was also the Nation's first cyberspace officer to serve as an adjutant general and was a nationwide leader in cyber security. He was the senior cyber adviser to the Chief and Vice Chief of the National Guard Bureau, national lead for implementation of the Nationwide Integration of Time Resiliency for Operations (NITRO) program, vice chair of the National Guard Bureau's Cyber General Officer Advisory Council, chair of the Army National Guard's Information (Cyber) Readiness Advisory Council, and the senior adviser for Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure for U.S. Northern Command's Dual Status Commanders Course.

Major General Neely's leadership, determination, and commitment have no doubt changed lives and helped to make our country safer. As his Air Force career ends, may he continue to be ``Always Ready, Always There!'' and forever take pride in knowing that his exemplary efforts and unwavering professionalism contributed greatly to the success of the Air Force and the National Guard mission.

I ask unanimous consent that the scheduled vote begin immediately.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

I ask that the scheduled vote begin immediately.

Madam President, I have been called a lot of names in my life: ``Tammy,'' ``Lieutenant Colonel,'' ``Senator,'' and a couple others I shouldn't mention in polite company.

``Mommy,'' though, is, without a doubt, my favorite name. It is the one my 5-year-old uses when she runs into the house after dance class and pulls on my sleeve, eager to show me what she learned during her lesson.

It is the one my 9-year-old says when she announces her latest life plan. When she was little, she wanted to grow up to be a garbage collector; now, she is leaning towards being an Army cyber warrior.

My girls are my everything. But they, likely, would have never been born if I hadn't had access to the basic reproductive rights that Americans--up until recently--had been depending on for nearly a half century, because after a decade struggling with infertility after my service in Iraq, I was only able to get pregnant through the miracle of

Madam President, I have the greatest respect and admiration for my friend from Mississippi, but I have to say that I disagree with her interpretation of my piece of legislation.

This bill does three things and three things only: It protects the right of individuals to seek assistive reproductive technology without fear of being prosecuted for seeking that technology. It preserves the right of physicians to provide that assistive reproductive technology without fear of being prosecuted, and it also allows insurance companies to cover assistive reproductive technology.

That is all that it does. It does not force anyone to seek reproductive technology; it does not force anyone to offer it; it does not force anyone to cover it. It simply says you have a statutory right, should you choose to pursue assistive reproductive technology that you will be able to do so.

I also want to note that in Louisiana there is already State law that prohibits the ``discardation'' of frozen embryos or of frozen fertilized eggs.

This has already started. In Florida, there is a bill pending before the State legislature that would deem that a fertilized egg is a human being and provide the opportunity for penalties to be put into judgments for those who would discard those fertilized eggs. So this is a real threat today.

With that, I would like to yield to my colleague from Nevada.

Madam President, I object.

Madam President, I object.

Madam President, I object.

Mr. President, if you listen closely right now, you can hear the drums of war gain momentum. I know that sound. It is the same sound that led me to deploy to a dusty desert outpost in Iraq 20 years ago, where I served alongside some of the bravest men and women you could ever meet. It is the same sound that, ultimately, led me to run for office, a decision I only made after I was shot down in Iraq, when I found myself searching for a new mission to serve my Nation.

I found that mission in giving a voice to every veteran who had willingly sacrificed so much answering their Nation's call to serve, and I found it in speaking up for the Active-Duty troops still waking up in dusty base camps throughout the Middle East, still serving tour after tour, bleeding--even dying--thousands of miles away because they had sworn an oath to defend a country they loved, no matter what it cost them.

And that sound is why, a few minutes ago, I wheeled myself to this desk with the same purpose that took me first to battle, then the campaign trail: And that is to help keep America as strong as she can be and to try to look out for the troops who never stop looking out for the rest of us.

Today, I am here in this beautiful chamber with privilege all around me to beg of my colleagues one simple thing: As tensions in the Middle East escalate, please, from this place of safety and comfort, think of the sacrifices our servicemembers make every single day. Please, as the drums of war grow louder, honor our servicemembers by thinking of what we would be asking them to risk if we risk an expanded conflict with Iran.

On Sunday morning, we all woke to the tragic, horrific news that three American soldiers were killed in an Iran-backed attack in Jordan. I imagine many who saw the news may not have even known that we had U.S. servicemembers stationed in Jordan, but I was acutely aware of it. In fact,

just 24 hours earlier, I had woken up in Illinois and helped to send almost 300 Illinois National guardsmen off to start their mission in the CENTCOM area of operation, the exact AO where this attack took place.

And since Sunday, I don't think I have gone a waking hour without thinking about the brave servicemembers who lost their lives--SGT William Jerome Rivers, SGT Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and SGT Breonna Alexsondria Moffett--and each of them was willing to sacrifice the unimaginable to keep our Nation safe. They are our heroes.

During this impossible time, my thoughts are with their families, who will never be able to say ``I love you'' in person to them again. And my thoughts are with the more than 40 other servicemembers who were wounded in the blast, with at least three among them having severe enough injuries that they had to be evacuated to Germany.

It is clear that we must forcefully and swiftly make those responsible pay for the devastation they have wrought and send a message that these attacks against our servicemembers will not be tolerated. But we must do this with clear eyes, a steady hand, and a clear, strategic end goal in mind, seeking justice and, ultimately, a swift end to these threats to our troops.

I don't have all the details yet, but based on initial reports, it seems that President Biden's planned response will do just that. It looks like it will be a well-thought-out, strong rebuttal that aims to deter Iran from supporting further attacks on U.S. troops without risking boiling tensions even further, because this is a uniquely dangerous moment, and the message we send to Iran must make war less likely, not more.

After all, after decades of forever wars in the region, the last thing we want is to send those who volunteer to serve our country into another endless, senseless conflict. And if we want to adequately honor the sacrifices of the three servicemembers killed last week, we must remain focused on preventing their brothers and sisters at arms from dying in a preventable war on foreign soil.

Sadly, over the past few days, some of my Republican colleagues have been making reckless, irresponsible comments that risk dangerously escalating tensions. They have been throwing rocks, chest thumping over social media, beating the drums of war, demanding that the President ramp up the temperature, that he ``hit Iran now and hit them hard.''

Look, I ran for Congress so that when those drums of war started beating, I would be in a position to make sure that our leaders in Washington fully consider the cost of war--not just in dollars and cents but in the sacrifices and blood of our troops. So I have come to the floor today, as those drums echo louder than they have in years, to keep my promise to do our troops justice, to beseech my colleagues to let cool heads, common sense, and sound strategy prevail over reckless impulses.

And, if necessary, I will come back to this Chamber day after day after day, speaking from this wheelchair that I earned the last time Congress rashly sent our sons and daughters into another endless, senseless war, ensuring that, this time, we do right by our troops by fully, soberly, considering the consequences of these decisions on those who serve and their families.

Listen, I am no dove. After all, I volunteered to fight in a war that I deeply disagreed with. So I am certainly not opposed to war when it is necessary to defend this great Nation. And I am not opposed to striking Iranian assets, if our approach is smart, limited, and strategically calibrated to end the spiral of violence that threatens our servicemembers.

But I will also do everything in my power to remind those who, today, are so eagerly pushing us down the path to war that there are serious repercussions involved for the Americans who would actually be in harm's way, even if they may not be filled by politicians here in Washington.

Under both the Federal law known as the War Powers Act and article I of the Constitution, only Congress has the solemn responsibility of deciding when and how the United States sends its troops into war.

So if Republicans really want to risk war with Iran, then they owe it to our troops to bring an authorization for use of military force to the floor. Instead of hiding behind social media accounts and television interviews, bring that debate to this Chamber so we can actually fulfill our duty and begin the serious business of considering the merits and drawbacks of such a conflict.

So that as we ask them to sacrifice so much, our troops downrange would at least know what their mission is, what their goals are, and that their leaders in Washington both have their backs and are following the Constitution that they are willing to die to protect and defend.

Whenever Republicans are ready--if they are ever ready--I am here to participate in that debate. And if their arguments for war are strong enough, I owe it to my constituents to consider and vote on the merits of them.

I, myself, would be the first to volunteer, if they could have use of a gimpy former Black Hawk pilot, but I will go. I can pack my ruck in 15 minutes, if needed. But for now, with those drums pounding once more, I just want to ask each of my colleagues to take a moment to think about the true cost of war for all those servicemembers still at risk at dusty desert bases thousands of miles away.

I personally cannot go a moment without forgetting them.

I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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