Floor Statements

Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague from Utah and his eloquent comments about the Supreme Court nominee. I would like to associate myself with everything he said. He has the kind of experience and insight that I hope so many Members on both sides of the aisle will listen to.

I am here to talk about the spirit of bipartisanship and getting things done. I submitted an editorial to my local newspaper down in Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. The whole premise of my opinion was that in November the voters did not vote for a Republican mandate; they voted for a results mandate. They are tired of the gridlock they see up here in Washington. They are tired of people promising things they know they can't deliver. They are wanting for a leader in President Trump and in the congressional leadership people who want to produce results. They want people who want to work across the aisle and come up with bipartisan solutions to a lot of the problems that confront this Nation.

You would have thought that I changed my registration and became a member of the minority party with the criticism that I got from people on my side of the aisle. I was called a RINO. For those of you who don't know what that is, that is a Republican in name only.

When I was the speaker of the house in North Carolina, the last thing I was ever called was a RINO. We worked on a conservative agenda that made sense. We gained the support of a number of Democrats along the way. North Carolina is a lot better place because of the courage of those folks who were willing to work across the aisle to help our great State, to go from one of the laggards in terms of economic performance to one of the leading States in the Nation for economic performance over the course of about 4 years.

I don't really care about the criticism from the talking heads--from the far left or the far right--because I consider them one of the great threats that we have to actually turning this Congress around and getting things done. I am going to do everything I can to reach across the aisle and produce solutions to some of the most vexing problems we have.

There are solutions within our reach. If you think about immigration reform, there is a 40-year-old failure on the part of the Republicans and Democrats to address the immigration problem. Everybody wants their position on one end of the spectrum or the other versus what the American people want or a solution to the problem--a solution that makes sure the American worker is respected and taken care of, that our borders are secure, and that we end this 40-year-old failure on the part of Washington to solve the problem.

They want solutions on criminal justice reform. We have many people in prison who, after they get out, are more likely to go back into prison because we really haven't thought about commonsense ways to help them enter back into society and have productive lives, beyond just going back into a criminal enterprise. We can solve that problem, but we can only solve it if we have Republicans and Democrats come together--and silence the voices who want their perfect version based on their ideology--on a solution that makes sense to the average American.

The agenda that we want to complete can only be completed if we have people who have the courage to come to this floor and do what I consider to be political courage. It is not courageous for me as a Republican to stand up to a Democrat and oppose their view. That is my job. I am a conservative. I am a proud conservative. Courage, in terms of someone who would walk onto this floor, is someone who can look at a person--a fellow Republican and conservative--and say: We are not going to go where you want to go because we are here to get something done-- not just to make speeches, not to talk about an unachievable goal, but to make progress on things that are sound, conservative policies. But maybe we have to make some compromises. Maybe we have to go a little bit further than we want because we want to get something done. We want to pass things that are good. If we wait to only pass things that are perfect, then we will be guilty of doing exactly what many other people have done in this body--to promise a lot and deliver very little.

I took a lot of hits for my op-ed and my public comments about bipartisanship, about compromise, about respect, about reaching across the aisle. I am willing to take those hits because I would rather go down as someone who is willing to go get something done than someone who is willing to only settle for the perfect, knowing that perfect never happens here. The Founding Fathers didn't expect perfect. The Founding Fathers introduced defects, if you read the Federalist Papers, that

prevented any one ambition from prevailing. To have ambition set against ambition is foundational to our democratic institution here. We are not going after perfect. We are going to go after good.

I was really excited. I got some great comments from my friends across the aisle. I thought this is an area where we can work together. There are a lot of areas where we can't work together because our world views are so different. Let's not focus on those. Let's focus on things on which we can work together. I thought we had a minority leader who was actually committed to that. At least that is what I thought. But I have to say I am beginning to wonder if we haven't gotten a different sort of view of the leadership. Comments today do not reflect the comments of not so long ago. In 2012, the minority leader said:

Everything doesn't have to be a fight. Legislation is an

art of working together, building consensus, compromise.

I could have written that. I absolutely agree with that principle. That is why I got criticized by folks on my side of the aisle--or the talking heads, anyway, the conservative talking heads--because I wasn't willing to take a purist position.

Now, you fast forward. And the minority leader made this comment when he was not the minority leader. But today this is what we are hearing just within the last month: ``The only way we're going to work with him''--that would be President Trump--``is if he moves completely in our direction and abandons his Republican colleagues.''

Does that sound like bipartisanship? Does that sound like somebody who wants to reach across the aisle and work on immigration reform, criminal justice reform, sentencing reform--things where I believe there is a majority of people in this body, as many as 60 or more votes--who would be willing to move legislation? I don't think so.

We have to make sure that people like this are accountable to the American people, the so-called real people. I will get to that in a little bit. That is not bipartisanship. That is not leadership. That is divisiveness. That is gridlock. That is the stuff that inspired me to run in 2014. That is the thing I am against, whether it is a Democrat saying it or a Republican saying it.

I think we can also expect more of what really stems--or what you can infer from the latest position of the minority leader, more gridlock. We will go to the next chart. The sort of a double standard here, duplicity, really drives me crazy. Situational ethics I will call it or situational principles. On the one hand, you stand firm on something. You fast forward because you didn't like the outcome of the election, and suddenly you no longer take that same position.

People can rationalize it any way they want to, but I think the real people, the real voters, the folks out there, see this for what it is. It is taking a so-called principled position when that particular position benefits your agenda, not necessarily something that is bipartisan, something that actually serves a political agenda.

The Supreme Court, I think that is what we are going to see here. I have presided. I have been a freshman for 2 years. We get to preside a lot. I get to hear a lot of these floor speeches. I heard endless speeches talking about how we needed to do our job, how we actually-- here is another quote from the now minority leader:

The Supreme Court handles the people's business. As

President Reagan put it, every day that goes by without a

ninth justice is another day the American people's business

is not getting done.

Now what we are hearing is that same group of people say they are going to use every lever they can to stop us from seating a ninth Supreme Court Justice. What has changed, except for the fact that you are not happy with the outcome of the election? So I think we need to recognize that the American people are sick of Democrats and Republicans promising things, but if they don't get their way in the election outcome, if they are not able to set the agenda, then they are no longer interested in bipartisanship.

I have a lot of confidence in this body. I have a lot of confidence in a number of people on the other side of the aisle. I think there is a pent-up demand among Members here who want to see results--not perfect, but good. I am going to do everything I can to work with those. I will do an equal amount of time focused on those who I don't think are acting in the best interests of their own constituents. They are not listening to the real people in America, the real people who did not endorse a Republican mandate in November.

They said: It is time to stop. It is time to get things done. It is time to treat people with respect on both sides of the aisle. It is time to accept good, and it is time to stop pretending that this body can produce perfect. Now, I have to say I am glad to see my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are starting to look at the so-called real people.

Last week, the Republicans were in Philadelphia. We were at a retreat. At the same time, there was a group of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who were meeting up in West Virginia. There was a Politico article that I thought was particularly interesting. This was a part of the published agenda that was reported by Politico, an agenda that says they are getting people together. They want to talk about speaking to those who feel invisible in rural America, listening to those who feel unheard, and a discussion with Trump voters.

There was another entry in the agenda, I believe, that says talking to real people. I am here to talk to the real people tonight. You have Members in the Senate who want to get things done. We know you are hurting. We know the government has failed you, Democrats and Republicans. We have failed to actually take the tough votes. We have failed to deliver. It is time for us to deliver.

I believe we have a President who expects us to reach across the aisle and solve problems. I am going to be a part of solving that problem. We have a great opportunity here with the Supreme Court nomination. It is time to get past the election results, get over it, and get to work. It is time to recognize that the real people, the people who sent a mandate here--but the mandate was not Republican, it wasn't far right, it wasn't far left--all they said was produce results.

I am going to produce results. I am going to expect my Members to produce results. I am going to go into my conference, when it looks like we are going down the path of taking an intransigent position that does not produce a result, and I am going to call them out. I am also going to hold my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to the same standard.

I am going to hope to find folks who want to solve the immigration problem in a respectful, methodical way. I want to work with people on the other side of the aisle who want to solve the criminal justice problem, the sentencing reform, the judicial reform bills that are moving through that have, I believe, far more than 60 votes to support it.

We have to work on these. We will save the other ones where we simply can't find common ground, and those will be the arguments that we can have that can influence future elections, but for the next 2 years, let's get work done. Let's actually be able to go back to our State and proudly proclaim that we had the courage to stand up to people on our side of the aisle when getting to perfect was at the expense of doing something good.

If we do that, we will have one of the most productive legislative sessions. The 115th Congress could go down in history as one of the most productive Congresses in the last 100 years. I want to be a part of that story. I want to go back to North Carolina and be proud of what I did, proud of the compromises, proud of the bipartisan relationships that we did to solve these problems.

I am going to go to other States who may be up for reelection in 2018 and either thank the Members on the other side of the aisle who worked with us for those solutions or campaign against them because they failed to actually look at their constituents and do the right thing.

There are a lot of opportunities here. I, for one, am going to spend every waking hour to make sure I do my part, and I can be proud of the work I did to produce results, to answer that mandate by the electorate that came in November to produce results.

I have every confidence that there are enough Members here to join us.

With that, we will do great things. We will fulfill the promises we made. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to look your constituents in the eye and say: We did it. We listened to you. We compromised. We treated people with respect. We delivered.

I call on all my Members to think again about what they can do to be a part of providing the solutions. I look forward to working with them in this Congress.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up my amendment No. 102.

I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Madam President, earlier this week--actually, yesterday and today--the Department of the Interior announced a plan that will allow the permitting in 2017 for offshore oil and gas drilling off the Outer Continental Shelf of our beautiful east coast.

The concern we have with this measure is not unlike the concern my friends may have in Alaska, with steps taken by the administration that actually limit the true potential of these regions. Like Alaska, we have a number of opportunities for offshore oil and

natural gas drilling that have not been exploited in the past, and I am afraid that under the current course and speed of the administration's action, they will not be fully exploited to the benefit of North Carolinians and many east coast States.

That is why Senator Burr and I have sponsored an amendment that directs the administration to take more decisive and more comprehensive action so we can seize the opportunity for North Carolina and many of our neighbor States.

The main reason we are doing this is because I think North Carolina and the east coast can do their part to make our Nation an energy super power. We can also have enormously positive impact on our economy as we move forward. This slide depicts some of the initial estimates for the economic impact that we could have by simply directing the Department of the Interior to issue leases and to allow exploration and ultimately extraction off the coast.

This graphic gives us an idea, from Delaware down to Florida, of the potential jobs creation. We can see that in North Carolina that is 55,000 jobs. It is 55,000 jobs in some of the hardest hit areas of North Carolina, where people are out of work, and the unemployment rate is well above the State average. It is a jobs creation opportunity that we are just waiting to be able to provide to the States with the ultimate authority to decide whether they are going to move forward.

In terms of the economic impact, it is over $190 billion in capital investment and nearly $51 billion in revenue to the Federal Government and to State governments between 2017 and 2035.

This opportunity is something that I hope doesn't go without the full efforts of the State to actually determine how we can do it in an environmentally responsible way.

I was speaker of the house before I came into this great body, and we took the steps to put into place a regulatory framework to allow potential natural gas drilling within the State of North Carolina. We did it in a very responsible way, and we did it in a way that made sure stakeholders had the opportunity--environmentalists, business people, travel and tourism--so we make sure we get it right. I believe we have laid the groundwork with the State. Now we want to do the same thing for the opportunity that we have near the Outer Continental Shelf.

The process will involve the input of several stakeholders. It will involve the input of environmentalists and key stakeholders across the State to make sure we get this right. Ultimately, it gives the States the right to determine whether they want to pursue this--from Florida to Delaware.

The other thing it does is addresses a number of concerns I heard when I was a legislator and since I was speaker. It has to do with one of the greatest assets we have in North Carolina; that is North Carolina's beautiful coast.

This is a picture of a North Carolina beach today. It is beautiful. It is why we have millions of people come visit our coast every year. Based on our amendment, this is a picture of how that same beach will look after we authorize drilling and we are actually creating those jobs. It is that same beautiful beach because we have taken the steps to make sure that any drilling would be beyond the sight line of our beautiful beaches. I believe, as a result, we will have travel and tourism on our side because those jobs create additional opportunity to expand opportunities for travel and tourism.

Then, finally, I want to talk about what good the revenue to the State can do for this very same area. We desperately need increased infrastructure in the eastern part of our State. We desperately need funds to renourish our beaches, and we desperately need funds to clear our inlet and outfit our ports so that North Carolina can play a part in the new shipping patterns that will occur post-Panama Canal upgrade.

So in terms of economics, it is fairly simple. We are looking for about 50 percent of a revenue share, with 37 percent of that going to the States and for the effective regions for items such as inlet clearing and beach renourishment.

We are also looking to have 12.5 percent of the revenues dedicated to the Land and Water Conservation Fund so we can continue the good work of setting aside irreplaceable lands and increase outdoor recreation activities.

I believe this is an opportunity for North Carolina to do its part to make America the energy super power that we need it to be, to improve our economy in North Carolina, and to contribute to improving the economy of this great Nation.

Madam President, long before I was actually sworn into the Senate, I traveled across the State of North Carolina. I promised the citizens of North Carolina that I would work toward commonsense solutions to provide opportunities for economic growth and opportunity.

Today I hope to send forth amendment No. 102 with the support of my good friend Senator Burr from North Carolina on the approval of the Keystone Pipeline, to take a look at things that we can do to do our part in North Carolina to contribute to the ultimate goal of energy independence in this Nation.

The amendment, the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Access and Revenue Share Act of 2015, will expand domestic offshore production, natural gas exploration and production, which, in turn, will create jobs and set our Nation on that track to energy independence.

Families across the country are too familiar with the impact energy prices play in our day-to-day lives, making decisions that are very difficult for them in these difficult economic situations.

When utility bills and gas prices increase, hard-working Americans face hardship and struggle to make ends meet. We need to make that easier and lift the burden on those hard-working taxpayers.

We also cannot underestimate the great impact energy plays in America's foreign policy decisions. We are in many ways dependent on oil from the Middle Eastern States that do not share our democratic values.

The predicament does not certainly place America in a position of strength. America has more energy potential than any other nation. It is time that we start realizing its full potential.

What the amendment does is fairly straightforward. It instructs the Secretary of the Interior to finalize the 5-year program for 2017 to 2022. That includes annual lease sales in both the Mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf and the South Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf region. It grants to States in both of these regions a 37.5-percent share of all revenues collected from the Outer Continental Shelf leasing activities.

Each State in the region gets a minimum of a 10-percent share of that allocation. It directs 12.5 percent of the revenues collected for the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf activities to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The 37.5 percent for the States and the 12.5 percent for other regions

mirrors the revenue split given to the Gulf Coast States--Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama--under current law.

North Carolina has received approximately $209 million in funding over the past 5 decades, protecting places such as the Cape Lookout National Seashore, the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests. The Department of Interior is currently developing a 5-year leasing program for 2017 to 2022. The language of the amendment merely instructs the Department to include the Mid-Atlantic and the South Atlantic regions as part of that plan.

Current law requires that the Department of Interior give deference to the preferences of States when developing a leasing plan for areas within 50 miles of the shore. Keep in mind, the drilling that we are talking about in North Carolina, off our coast, is greater than 30 miles off the coast, far beyond the site horizon of our beautiful beaches in North Carolina.

I want to close by saying why we are moving this amendment now. First, it is the fulfillment of a promise I made to the citizens of North Carolina. It also does enormous progress for creating jobs and helping our economy get back on track in the State and the region.

It is estimated that more than 55,000 jobs can be created by 2035; more than $4 billion annually in economic contributions to the State of North Carolina. Almost $4 billion in government revenue for the State of North Carolina--$4 billion. As someone who served as Speaker of the House of North Carolina, I cannot tell you what an enormous impact that will have in terms of reducing the burden on taxpayers and businesses in North Carolina, creating more opportunities for economic expansion and job growth. There will be up to $577 million annually in revenue share payments according to a report published by the Southeast Energy Alliance in 2009.

These numbers increase opportunities in North Carolina unlike anything I saw in my 8 years in the State legislature. It is an opportunity for North Carolina to do its part to make the Nation energy independent and to help me fulfill my promises to the citizens of North Carolina, which is to create jobs and provide great opportunities for this generation and future generations.