Floor Statements

Madam President, my State has lost one of our finest citizens. Mary Ann Mobley, a friend to many and one of our best known Mississippians, passed away Tuesday. Mary Ann was the first young woman from Mississippi to be crowned Miss America, an accomplishment that was a source of great pride to my State. I got to know Mary Ann at the University of Mississippi, where she was really a superstar and a fine actress. Incidentally, we were cast in a University Players production of ``Tiger at the Gates'' at Ole Miss. She made Mississippians proud of her success as an entertainer in Hollywood and a person who kept our State close to her heart throughout her career.

I ask unanimous consent that a December 11, 2014, article from the Clarion-Ledger newspaper titled ``Mary Ann Mobley `never forgot her roots' '' be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I am pleased to congratulate Lt. Col. Mark A. Schramek on the occasion of his retirement from the U.S. Air Force after more than 20 years of service. A native of Duluth, MN, he has served our country with distinction both at home and abroad.

An intelligence officer by training, Lieutenant Colonel Schramek has held a number of important operational and headquarters assignments. In 2009, he became a Congressional liaison officer for the U.S. Air Force, a demanding and important position within the Department of Defense. As a Congressional liaison officer, he developed and implemented effective legislative strategies and supported some of the most important programs to the Department of Defense.

Having worked with Lieutenant Colonel Schramek over the past few years, I am pleased to commend him for his distinguished service to our country. I wish him and his family the very best as they begin the next chapter of their lives.

Mr. President, I would like to express appreciation to those who volunteer their time to serve as mentors.

A recent New York Times column by Thomas L. Friedman titled, ``It Takes a Mentor,'' discussed the importance of mentors to students and those starting careers. This article highlighted research conducted by the Gallup organization that underscored the significant role mentors can play in helping individuals achieve post-secondary education and career success.

The Gallup research focused on the benefits of mentorships for young adults, but those advantages can also be applied to the academic and athletic mentor programs available to children in grades K-12.

While policymakers and educational experts address concerns about whether American children will learn the skills needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy, we should not overlook the role that mentors play on an individual basis to inspire K-12 students to set higher goals and achieve more.

Volunteer mentors serve as positive role models who can help build self-esteem and confidence in youth, particularly in at-risk children. The best mentors endeavor to challenge students, enhance their self- confidence, and make them excited about learning.

I appreciate the efforts of organizations such as the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi, Tougaloo College and others throughout Mississippi that sponsor a variety of mentorship programs with missions to improve the education and wellness of children in my State. The individuals, college students and professionals who give of their time to be part of mentor programs also have my respect.

Mr. President, as a new school year gets underway in earnest across the Nation, I think it is worthwhile to consider and encourage the benefits and rewards that come with volunteering to serve as a mentor.

I ask unanimous consent that a copy of Mr. Friedman's column be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I wish today to honor George Long of Vicksburg, MS, a World War II veteran to whom I had the pleasure of presenting the Congressional Gold Medal during the August recess.

Just months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 16-year-old George Long bravely volunteered to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was one of the African-American recruits who volunteered for service after President Roosevelt signed an Executive order in 1942 lifting a prohibition against their enlistment.

Mr. Long is part of a group of American warriors known as the Montford Point Marines--those African-American recruits assigned to the segregated basic training facility at Montford Point, adjacent to Camp Lejune, NC.

Given the magnitude of the threat our country faced in Europe and the Pacific, President Roosevelt recognized that the status quo of Jim Crow segregation, which at that time prohibited African Americans from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, would not suffice. In 1941, he signed the historic Executive Order 8802, which required the military to accept recruits regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin. This action would later become a crucial component of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and help bring an end to segregation in the United States.

Approximately 20,000 African-American marines received basic training at Montford Point, before the Marine Corps became fully integrated in 1949. Of those, about 13,000 would serve overseas during World War II. These marines fought valiantly in the fiercest battles of the Pacific island hopping campaign, as allied forces reversed the tide of Imperial expansion. Mr. Long notably served as a guard for Japanese prisoners of war during the legendary Battle of Iwo Jima, where ``uncommon valor was a common virtue.''

On November 11, 2011, legislation was enacted granting the Congressional Gold Medal to the Montford Point Marines. This honor--the highest civilian award in the United States--was bestowed on these courageous veterans for their brave and honorable service to our country, despite segregation and other prejudices that were common at the time.

Due to his health, George Long was unable to attend a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in June 2012 where the Congressional Gold Medal was presented to some 370 of the estimated 420 remaining Montford Point veterans. I am grateful that his daughter Felicia Hawkins and friend Steve Houston worked with my office to ensure that Mr. Long eventually received the medal.

It was an honor to present the Congressional Gold Medal to George Long on August 5 at the G.V. ``Sonny'' Montgomery Veterans Medical Center in Jackson in recognition of his contributions to our country. Mr. Long and all the Montford Point Marines will be remembered as trailblazers who bravely helped protect our Nation from foreign threats and helped improve our society by bringing about change within our military.

Mr. President, I wish to make some comments about the remarks of our distinguished leader and to join him in calling on Senators to remember this day and historical experience of 9/11 and to commit this body to our best efforts to help ensure our political institutions and our country remain free and safe for all Americans to continue to enjoy the blessings of liberty, the opportunities of an economic system that is the envy of the world, and to commit ourselves to a new sense of responsibility as representatives of our States, to help ensure this is a reality and not just a hope.

We appreciate the remarks of the leader on this important occasion and ask all Senators to express their views as may be appropriate.

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

Mr. President, my office continues to receive an inordinate number of complaints about persistent problems with the delivery of health care services and other benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs to those who have served in our Armed Forces. This is very troubling to me.

Evidence of serious and systemic mismanagement and negligence within the Department led to the resignation of a former Secretary of the Department and a call for a thorough assessment of how to better serve our veterans. We should take very seriously our responsibility to those who have served in our military. Robert McDonald, the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs, will face many challenges to improve the VA system. He will have the support of many of us in Congress as he assumes this important position.

I have recommended on several occasions continued, vigorous oversight by the Department of Veterans Affairs during the implementation of a corrective action plan at the G.V. ``Sonny'' Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, MS. Reports from VA patients, their families and VA hospital officials in Mississippi have served to guide corrections and improvements at the facility.

I support measures to correct the VA's problems and improve the quality of, and access to, care for veterans. I am hopeful that the pending VA reform legislation and the confirmation of a new Secretary of Veterans Affairs will be reassuring steps toward enhancing the delivery of health care services to our veterans.

We can and should do better for those who have devoted themselves to serving our country.

Madam President, 2014 is the 12th year in which summer interns working in congressional offices have benefited from a program run by the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership. This 6-week program is designed to enhance their internship experience by providing an inside look at how Congress works and a deeper appreciation for the role that Congress plays in our democracy. Each week, the interns meet with senior congressional staff and other experts to discuss issues such as the legislative process, power of the purse, separation of powers, the media and lobbying, foreign affairs, and more.

Interns are selected for this program based on their college record, community service experience, and interest in a career in public service. This year, 27 outstanding interns have taken part in the program. Most of the participants are juniors and seniors in college who are working in Republican and Democratic offices in the House or Senate, including two interns in my office, MaryBeth Cox and James Moody.

I congratulate the interns for their participation in this valuable program and I thank the Stennis Center and the Senior Stennis Fellows for providing such a meaningful experience for these interns and for encouraging them to consider a future career in public service.

I ask unanimous consent that a list of 2014 Stennis Congressional Interns and the offices in which they work be printed in the Record.

Brennen Bergdahl, attending the University of North Dakota,

interning in the office of Representative Kevin Cramer;

Samantha Bisogno, attending the University of Minnesota

Duluth, interning in the office of Representative Rick Nolan;

Ariel Lee Bothen, attending the University of Maine,

interning in the office of Senator Angus King;

Tyler Brown, attending The College of Saint Benedict and

Saint John's University, interning in the office of

Representative Erik Paulsen;

Paul Bruins, attending the University of Illinois,

interning in the office of Representative Rodney Davis;

Molly Cain, attending Stanford University, interning in the

office of Senator Chris Coons;

Simon Cardenas, attending the University of the Incarnate

Word, interning in the office of Representative Ruben

Hinojosa;

Sarah Carnes, attending the University of Georgia,

interning in the office of Representative Sanford Bishop;

MaryBeth Cox, attending Mississippi State University,

interning in the office of Senator Thad Cochran;

Will Giles, attending Duke University, interning in the

office of Representative Ralph Hall;

Sophia Herzlinger, attending Tufts University, interning in

the office of Representative Alan Lowenthal;

Ben Hutterer, attending The College of Saint Benedict and

Saint John's University, interning in the office of Senator

Al Franken;

Natasha Jensen, attending Northern Illinois University,

interning in the office of Representative Robin Kelly;

Kaitlyn Kline, attending South Dakota State University,

interning in the office of Representative Kevin Cramer;

Namrata Kolla, attending the Georgia Institute of

Technology, interning in the office of Representative Sanford

Bishop;

Adam Lewis, attending Willamette University, interning in

the office of Representative Peter DeFazio;

Emily Madden, attending the University of Dallas, interning

in the office of Senator Mike Enzi;

James Moody, attending Louisiana State University,

interning in the office of Senator Thad Cochran;

Mackenzie Muirhead, attending the University of Wyoming,

interning in the office of Senator Mike Enzi;

Harnek Neelam, attending the University of Michigan,

interning in the office of Representative John Conyers, Jr.;

Meghan Oakes, attending Virginia Tech University, interning

on the House Committee on Ways and Means;

Caleb Orr, attending Abilene Christian University,

interning in the office of Representative Ralph Hall;

Meg Richardson, attending Smith College, interning in the

office of Senator Angus King;

Sapna Sharma, attending Carnegie Mellon University,

interning in the office of Senator Debbie Stabenow;

Rachel Shields, attending Wake Forest University School of

Law, interning in the office of the Speaker of the House;

Julia Winfield, attending the University of Michigan,

interning in the office of Senator Debbie Stabenow; and

Shannel Wise, attending Howard University, interning in the

office of Representative John Conyers, Jr.

Madam President, on Memorial Day 2014, I will join a grateful nation in paying homage to the men and women of our Armed Forces

who have given their lives to defend this Nation.

The people of Mississippi are proud and supportive of those in military service. On Memorial Day, citizens all across our State will join other Americans to remember, honor, and say a prayer of thanksgiving for those who gave their lives in service to their country. We will also remember and comfort their families, who mourn the loss of loved ones. We will enjoy the fellowship of our friends and neighbors with whom we enjoy the liberty that has been so preciously guarded by the fallen.

The national day of commemoration that we observe today evolved from a practice first started in the aftermath of the Civil War. In April 1866, citizens of Columbus, MS, started what became Decoration Day, time set aside to decorate the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers alike. That tradition of honoring all those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice continues to this day. It is the right thing to do.

While we naturally look back to battles now consigned to history, we will also honor those brave men and women who, in more recent times, have died for their country. This Memorial Day 2014, my State will remember Army SPC Terry K.D. Gordon of Shubuta, MS, who lost his life in a helicopter accident in Now Bahar, Afghanistan, on December 18, 2013. We will mourn his loss and honor him for his courage, dedication and sacrifice.

This Memorial Day should also prompt us to recommit ourselves to meeting our obligations to the men and women who take up arms to protect this great Nation. The serious problems that surround the delivery of benefits and services we owe to our veterans are unacceptable. The Department of Veterans Affairs has an important and sacred mission to uphold the full faith and trust of our government's commitment to our veterans.

As I observe Memorial Day and honor those who have given their lives to their country, I will also be mindful of our commitment to protect and support veterans and their families.

Madam President, I am pleased to commend Mr. Gibb Steele of Longwood, MS, for his service and contributions to the State of Mississippi while serving as the 78th president of the Delta Council. On May 30, 2014, Mr. Steele will conclude his term as president. I am grateful for his leadership and dedication to improving the quality of life in the Mississippi Delta and the entire State. Since 1935, Delta Council has played an important role in the promotion of agriculture, flood control, and economic development in the delta, which is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world.

Mr. Steele's tenure as council president coincided with the development and eventual enactment of the 2014 farm bill. Throughout that process, he provided beneficial input from Southern rice, cotton, corn, soybean, and catfish producers, which helped Congress craft a new, 5-year agriculture policy bill. He was committed to meeting the diverse needs of producers from various regions of the country who face different risks when providing food and

fiber for the Nation. Mississippi has a rich agricultural history, and agriculture and related businesses support the livelihoods of thousands of Mississippi families and communities. Mr. Steele's leadership over the past year contributed to the overall success of the farm bill endeavor, and I appreciate his advice and counsel related to serving the interests of our State.

In addition to his role as president of Delta Council, Mr. Steele himself farms rice, soybeans, corn, and wheat on several thousand acres scattered throughout Washington County. He also holds leadership positions with the Mississippi Rice Promotion Board, the Mississippi Rice Council, and the USA Rice Federation, and is a commissioner of the Washington County Drainage Commission and past president of the Hollandale Rotary Club.

Mr. Steele grew up on a small sheep farm in Greenwood. After earning a degree from Mississippi State University, he began farming with his father in Hollandale in 1973. Their farming operation has grown 20 times the size of the roughly 500 acres they first cultivated in the early 1970s. Gibb Steele has achieved great success in agriculture, and his willingness to give back to the Delta region by serving as president of Delta Council is commendable. I applaud Mr. Steele for his service to Mississippi, and share this appreciation with his wife Pam, his son Gibson, and his two grandchildren.

Madam President, my impressions of the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are that it is too costly, too complex, and too intrusive.

Small business owners in my State have been particularly vocal about having to choose between making payroll or paying the increasing costs of insurance.

Many small business owners would like to provide health insurance for their workers but are finding the premium costs are just too expensive. A small business owner in Hattiesburg, for example, who in the past paid 100 percent of the premiums for his employees was recently informed of a 21-percent increase in these costs. He is having to choose between reducing staff or shifting the health insurance costs to his employees.

Another constituent from Southhaven reported to me that his son's work hours were cut to fewer than 30 per week so that his employer would not be forced to purchase insurance coverage. With his hours reduced, he cannot afford the private insurance that he had hoped to be able to purchase.

The administration has struggled to implement several of the health care law's mandates. Billions of dollars have been spent on a flawed enrollment system that has not made significant progress in reducing the number of uninsured Americans. The stories I have heard from my State confirm for me that the Affordable Care Act is an unfixable and expensive mess, and it should be repealed.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, it has come to my attention that one of our finest Civil Engineer Corps officers, CAPT Marko Medved, who is the officer in charge of Construction, Marine Corps Installations West, has announced his retirement from the U.S. Navy.

Captain Medved was born and raised in St. Paul, MN. He and his wife Maria Nagy, reside in San Diego, CA, with their children Jack, 15, and Carly, 13,

I ask unanimous consent that his biography be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I am pleased to advise the Senate of the accomplishments of a fellow Mississippian, Mr. Samuel B. Olden of Yazoo City, on the occasion of his 95th birthday.

Mr. Olden is from Yazoo City, the ``Gateway to the Mississippi Delta,'' where he was born in 1919, to a family of Mississippi planters. Throughout his youth, he read widely in the B.S. Ricks Memorial Library--the oldest privately-funded public library in the State--which greatly contributed to his personal development and admission into the University of Mississippi in Oxford. There, he received a B.A. and M.A., reportedly conversed with Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner, and was ultimately recruited to Washington, DC, to serve at the Department of State. Prior to American involvement in World War II, Mr. Olden was sent abroad as the Vice Consul at our embassy in Quito, Ecuador, from 1941 to 1943. Upon his return, Mr. Olden enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving from 1943 to 1946 at posts ranging from Shanghai, China, to Paris, France.

After the war Mr. Olden transited the North Atlantic on a Liberty ship. A fellow naval officer noted Mr. Olden's fortitude during this stormy passage. While tending to his ailing father back in Mississippi, he received a letter from Washington asking him to consider defending our Nation's freedom, in a third essential way. Mr. Olden returned to the District of Columbia, where he was invited to join the newly formed Central Intelligence Group. Commencing in 1947, Mr. Olden spent 2 years in the group's Washington office, followed by 3 years in Vienna, Austria, where he defended freedom and democracy against Communist aggression.

Following a decade in public service, Mr. Olden entered the private sector, where he employed his experience abroad for a predecessor of Exxon Mobil. From 1952-1957, he was posted in East and West Nigeria, British and French Cameroon, the Congo, Chad, and Gabon. He joined Mobil's government relations department in 1957 and returned to New York. There, he attained observer status at the United Nations and strode the halls with Adlai Stevenson and Eleanor Roosevelt. Later, he went abroad once more to serve as general manager of Mobil's affiliates in Tunisia, Algeria, Peru, and Spain.

By 1974, Mr. Olden was fluent in English, French, German, and Spanish. He had connections around the world. And where did he go? He chose to retire to the finest place he had ever lived: Yazoo City. There, he owned and operated a cattle ranch for 15 years, while continuing to pursue his passion for the study of history. He was twice a board member and was elected president of the Mississippi Historical Society, served 15 years on the State committee for the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, and founded the Yazoo Historical Society's remarkable museum--housed in the same Triangle Center building where he had attended elementary school. Even in his nineties, he established and helped to fund the Yazoo Memorial Literary Walkway, which stretches between the Triangle Center and the B.S. Ricks Library. The walkway memorializes more than 100 Yazooan authors to include former House Minority Leader and Senator John Sharp Williams, literary critic and editor Henry Herschel Brickell, Gov. Haley Reeves Barbour, beloved writers Willie Morris, Teresa Nicholas, and Ruth Williams, and educator Henry Mitchell Brickell. His large collection of pre-Columbian ceramics is now on display in the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.

This remarkable man has served his Nation as a diplomat, military officer, and emissary, during wars hot and cold. He served the world in the energy industry as a global businessman of distinction. He returned to his hometown and has continued to serve his State, his university, and his community as a historian, educator and philanthropist even into the 10th decade of his life. His friends across the Nation and around the world celebrate with him today.

Madam President, I first of all want to commend the distinguished Senator from Michigan for her outstanding leadership of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. As we proceeded from the hearings to review those suggestions being made for change and modernization of our agriculture act to the final days of committee hearings and now full debate in the Senate and in the House, it comes to this final vote.

Last night there was a decisive vote of 72 to 22 to end debate on the farm bill. That reflects the appreciation and respect the Senate has for the work of this committee, led by our distinguished chairman, the Senator from Michigan. So I thank her, as well as our House committee counterparts, Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and ranking member Collin Peterson of Minnesota, as well as the members of their staff, as we worked our way through the conference between the House and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry leadership.

I wish to thank, too, our majority staff director Chris Adamo and all of Chairwoman Stabenow's staff for their hard work in developing this farm bill. Our committee clerk Jessie Williams and her staff have also provided great assistance throughout this process. They have worked diligently and competently and thoughtfully on this legislation. Their dedication to developing the bill and the conference report led to long days, many working weekends, and we do owe them a very strong debt of gratitude and commendation for this work product.

My staff director T.A. Hawks has been at the job, it seems like, day and night for a long time to help make sure we pass a bill that reflects the sentiment and the suggestions for this Congress for modernization of our agriculture legislation. James Glueck also worked closely with T.A. Hawks and has been a trusted adviser. I am grateful for his good help as well.

All of our staff members have done great work in helping move the farm bill to a successful conclusion and the approval by the Senate of this work. My personal office agriculture LA Daniel Ulmer also was involved in the work of this committee and advising me personally as we worked our way to the conclusion of our responsibilities. He worked very closely with the committee to help develop the farm bill; likewise, chief of staff Bruce Evans, legislative director Adam Telle, legislative aide Bennett Mize, and others from my staff have added valuable input into this process, and I appreciate their good work.

With that, I yield the floor.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. President, I am honored to be invited by the distinguished chairman to proceed in describing our work product, the farm bill conference report. It has been a true pleasure working with her and the members of her staff, it seems like over a long period of time with her coming to my State of Mississippi and traveling to other regions of the country to get a first-hand impression and a lot of knowledge about the challenges being faced by the agricultural sector in our country. She has brought to this effort a lot of enthusiasm and commonsense intelligence and pure old hard work. Also, there are the personal courtesies that abound to all of us who serve on the agriculture committee in the Senate, during hearings preparing for the mark-up of an agriculture bill and during conference with our colleagues in the House to produce a conference report.

I am pleased that this conference report represents a 5-year farm bill. It is very important to production agriculture and to all Americans, as a matter of fact. The leadership that we have had from other Senators on the committee is reflected here too. We have had an active committee participating in hearings as well as our mark-up sessions. It has been a pleasure to work with Senator Stabenow and with all of our fellow colleagues on the committee.

We are recommending reforms in this legislation that are designed to assure producers that we understand the value of a safety net that will support them when they are struck by disasters or other things that are out of their control. Marketing disasters are just as severe as weather-related disasters. The risk management policies in the bill recognize the regional differences in priorities of agricultural production throughout the country. The commodity and crop insurance titles of the conference report reflect how Congress can work effectively to support American agriculture and at the same time be responsible to taxpayers.

The conference agreement consolidates and improves programs to encourage farmers and ranchers to use healthy land and forest management practices to conserve land, water, and wildlife resources. Programs such as the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, which will become a part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program, are very important elements of a new emphasis on conservation.

We also achieve savings that are significant from reforms in the nutrition title of the program. The expected costs of nutrition programs are reduced by $8 billion. The conference report includes programs to combat waste, fraud, and abuse.

I am particularly proud of our work to address the needs of our Nation's food banks because whether it is in Jackson, MS, or in Indianapolis, IN, many people turn to these facilities when other options are not available.

Other titles of this legislation, such as the research title, have proven that keeping the United States' lead in agricultural research is essential to our maintaining an edge in global competition. Our land- grant universities, such as Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University in my State, have seen their university-based research commercialized to improve American agricultural production.

In addition to agricultural production reforms, this conference agreement contributes to the goal of deficit reduction. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will save taxpayers nearly $17 billion. The farm bill baseline was trimmed by $6 billion from sequestration, resulting in an overall savings of $23 billion.

Failure to enact this farm bill would leave farmers and related businesses with uncertainties that have been hanging over the agricultural sector for the past 2 years. This bill achieves significant savings and addresses a variety of agriculture needs across the country.

I urge the Senate to support passage of the conference report.

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.