Floor Statements

Mr. President, on behalf of the majority leader, I ask the Chair to execute the order of December 12 with respect to the House message to accompany S. 4367.

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to

Mr. President, I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from West Virginia.

Mr. President, before we vote on WRDA this afternoon, I want to express my strong support for this bill, S. 4367, which my friend and colleague Shelley Moore Capito has graciously named in my honor.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when we came to the end of the markup a couple of months ago in our committee on this legislation, and I asked if any of our members had another amendment they wanted to offer. No one spoke up but you, and you said that you would like to offer an amendment to name this bill in my honor.

It is undeserved but very much appreciated as I prepare to weigh anchor, as we say in the Navy, and sail off into the sunrise with my wife Martha.

The Thomas R. Carper Water Resources Development Act of 2024, also known as WRDA--Water Resources Development Act--is the product of not days, not weeks, but months of hard work and partnership with you, Senator Capito, and your staff gathered here today as well as our House colleagues Congressman Sam Graves and Congressman Rick Larsen.

This year, I am pleased to say that our legislation includes far more--far more--than just the WRDA legislation itself. This package also reauthorizes the Economic Development Administration for the first time in--get this--20 years. It also reauthorizes our Federal regional Commissions and includes important transportation and Federal building provisions to increase transparency and to reduce Federal waste.

Before we vote today, I would like to take a minute or two to discuss some of the important things this legislation will accomplish, if enacted, for the American people.

First, this legislation continues the tradition of timely passage of the Water Resources Development Act. As Senator Capito knows, we try to do this legislation, pass this legislation, formulate this legislation, every 2 years. We were right on the money, too, in terms of meeting that schedule.

Some of our colleagues know I am a Navy guy, the last Vietnam veteran serving in the U.S. Senate. Having said that, I have a deep respect for the Army Corps of Engineers. I like to say: Navy and Army--different uniforms but the same team.

In my State and, frankly, I think in all 50 States, the Army Corps of Engineers does extraordinary work for the American people. For example, the Corps manages our Nation's ports, our waterways, and our coastal systems. The work of the Corps is essential for sustaining America's commerce, while protecting our environment and our communities. The Corps restores our ecosystems in critical areas such as the bayous in Louisiana and the Everglades in Florida, which are home to not only a number of endangered species but are indispensable parts of our agricultural supply chain as well. The Corps also advances flood and storm management solutions across our country to protect vulnerable communities

like the bay beaches of Delaware. As the largest manager of our Nation's water infrastructure, the Corps and the biennial WRDA bill play a critical role in job creation, job retention, and in growth as well.

Enactment of the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 is essential for enabling the Army Corps of Engineers to meet the needs of communities throughout America. WRDA 2024 strengthens the Corps' ability to address diverse water resource needs throughout America. In fact, it authorizes water infrastructure projects, studies, and programs that will impact all 50 States. Let me say again. It will impact not just our States, not just the States that are represented on Environment and Public Works--all 50 States.

Every Senator in this body had the opportunity to participate with us on the committee to help make sure the views and needs of their States are reflected in this bill.

There are I think something like 200 feasibility studies and some 22 new or modified construction projects that are covered in this legislation.

Additionally, WRDA 2024 directs the Corps to expedite implementation of authorities provided by Congress in prior WRDAs. Increasingly powerful hurricanes, rising sea levels, and record temperatures underscore the need for the Corps to develop and execute a plan to fully implement past reauthorizations as soon as possible in order to better protect our communities. The water resource challenges facing our communities are already growing in number, and this bill will help us address it.

Additionally, WRDA 2024 also contains a full reauthorization of the Economic Development Administration for the first time in 20 years. Let me say that again--for the first time in 20 years.

Some will recall that the Economic Development Administration, or EDA, is a Federal Agency that invests in the development of distressed communities across America. Through its grant programs, the Economic Development Administration helps local communities plan for economic development activities, construct ``last-mile'' infrastructure, and mitigate the effects of short- and long-term economic challenges and disasters.

By reauthorizing this Agency, EDA, we have the opportunity to modernize this legislation, WRDA. We also have the opportunity to modernize the Economic Development Administration for today's challenges, while improving its ability to foster economic growth and build resilient supply chains.

WRDA 2024 also authorizes and updates the laws pertaining to certain Federal and regional Commissions and will establish two new regional Commissions--the mid-Atlantic regional Commission and the Southern New England regional Commission. The mid-Atlantic regional Commission includes Delaware under its purview.

Finally, WRDA 2024 includes important provisions to increase transparency and accountability, while also reducing Federal waste at the Department of Transportation and General Services Administration.

As we move today to consider the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, I am reminded of an old proverb that goes something like this: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to travel far, go together.

That is what we have done. We have gone together. With this bill, I am proud to say we have chosen consciously that approach.

That is how we should approach much of our work in Congress--by reaching across the aisle to work together and find lasting solutions where possible to the problems we face as a nation. After all, bipartisan solutions are lasting solutions.

The bill before us today is a result of that partnership--not only between Members but also between our staffs.

Before I conclude today, I want to say thank you to Senator Capito's staff. She was nice enough to mention the names of some of the members of our staff on the majority side. I also want to mention the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers congressional affairs staff and the staff of the Senate legislative counsel. That includes Adam Tomlinson, Murphie Barrett, Libby Callaway, Dan Linkowski, Dom Rupp, Katherine Scarlett, Brett Jortland, Jack Cline, Dave Wethington, Amy Klein, Deanna Edwards, and Mark Mazzone.

I also want to take a moment and acknowledge the members of my own staff on the majority side and to thank them from the bottom of my heart for all their work, including late nights and long hours. Among them are Linnea Saby, Ryan Smith, Claire Shanklin, Jordan Baugh, Nicole Comisky, Jordan Smallwood, Tara Kroft, Courtney Taylor, and their leader John Kane.

In closing, let me urge all of our colleagues to join Senator Capito and me in supporting what we believe is an excellent bill--certainly not because my name is associated with it but because every State stands to benefit from the provisions it contains.

I close and add one last quick note. Almost every day, I travel back and forth on the train from Delaware to Washington. I talk to people coming and going. One of the things I hear the most is: Why can't you guys work together and get stuff done in Washington, the House and the Senate?

This legislation is living proof that we can do that and we can do it well. We have been doing it with this legislation for years and with a lot of other legislation that has emanated and come out of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

I want to commend Senator Capito for working with me and our Democratic and Republican colleagues to help make that happen, again, for the last 2 years.

In closing, let me urge all our colleagues to join Senator Capito and me in supporting what we believe is an excellent bill--certainly not because, again, of my name but because every State--every single State--stands to benefit from the provisions this legislation contains.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, before we vote this afternoon, I want to rise to express my strong support for the nomination of Matthew James Marzano to serve as a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Today there is a critical need for nuclear power in our country and in the world.

This carbon-free energy source is essential to ensuring the reliability of our electricity grid and to continuing our work to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

I have said on this Senate floor before, but it bears repeating: Nuclear energy has become the largest source of reliable clean energy in the United States.

I will say that again.

Nuclear energy has become the largest source of reliable clean energy in the United States, providing about 20 percent of our Nation's electricity--but get this--nearly half of our clean power. Nearly half. As it turns out, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission plays an important role in facilitating the deployment of safe and clean nuclear power.

Most American citizens never heard of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Every one of them have an interest in making sure that we address this climate crisis that we face as a nation, as a planet. Everybody here wants to make sure that the electricity, when we turn on the lights, that it works and that the prices that we pay for that are affordable.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission helps on those fronts. But a really big thing that they do is to make sure that the energy that is created through nuclear sources is safe and something that we can go to bed at night and not have to worry about causing calamity or disaster in this country.

That is a big reason why it is critical that we, in this body, confirm Matthew Marzano to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They have five seats. One of those seats is vacant, and we need to fill that fifth and the last remaining vacancy on the Commission.

Let me take a moment to discuss why Matt is uniquely qualified for this position. To put it simply, no other Commissioner has the distinct and valuable set of credentials that Matt possesses. He has extensive technical expertise. He has gained over the course a series of positions in the nuclear industry, including as a nuclear engineer. He has run a nuclear power plant control room and has overseen safety, operations, and maintenance personnel onsite. He has trained with sailors--I say this as a retired Navy captain, proudly I say this. He has trained sailors for service aboard our Navy's nuclear ships, one of which I was on last week: the USS Delaware. And he has actually worked on the safety systems of a new reactor that is under construction.

Most recently, Matt has applied his background as a nuclear engineer through his role as a member of my staff--our staff--on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Matt worked tirelessly with me, Senator Capito, and her team--our team--to move the ADVANCE Act--her legislation, she led us on this--but it was our legislation to accelerate the deployment of nuclear energy safely and to move that legislation through the Senate, through the Congress, and to the President's desk.

In my view, no one--no one--is in a better position to help implement the ADVANCE Act legislation that we passed here overwhelmingly--no one better prepared than Matt Marzano. And no one else on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission possesses his combination of, on the one hand, a deep expertise and, on the other hand, relevant experience.

Matt is pragmatic. Matt is hard-working. He is thoughtful, and he is kind. He believes, as I do, in working across the aisle to find common ground. He is a dedicated public servant of the American people.

It is no surprise that his nomination has won the support of a number of key organizations involved, as we attempt to bring about a new nuclear era. They include the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, Third Way, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,

Good Energy Collective, American Nuclear Society, Fusion Industry Association, and General Atomics.

In conclusion, if Matt Marzano is confirmed--and I hope he will be-- the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be fully empowered to make sure that we seize the day with respect to this crucial moment for the future of nuclear energy for our country.

I urge our colleagues to join me in confirming Matthew James Marzano as a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

With that, I yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

As you know, we have a term called ``seatmates,'' and, for years, this man has been my seatmate, and I have never been prouder of him for all that he does.

It is wonderful to be your friend and colleague.

Well, thank you very much to the Presiding Officer and to our colleagues who are coming in to join us.

In just a few weeks, I will be stepping down as one of Delaware's two U.S. Senators, ending a half century of service in the U.S. Navy and in elective office.

God willing, in the weeks that follow, Martha, my bride of 38 years, who is sitting right up there, and I will turn the page and hit the road together, visiting family members near and far and exploring parts of America that we have yet to see, before beginning to look for new ways to serve the people of Delaware and our country.

Recently, a friend told me that I have lived a charmed life. And do you know what? He is right. I have been truly blessed. Although, truth be known, it didn't start that way.

My sister Sheila and I were born in a coal-mining town in West Virginia. We didn't have much, but we had the good fortune of being raised in a home by parents who instilled in us a strong work ethic, along with a deep faith that embraced the Golden Rule: to treat other people the way that we want to be treated. Our parents also instilled in us an abiding love for our country and for this planet that we call home. Our father and most of our uncles served in World War II or in Korea or both.

My mother's youngest brother, Bob Patton was killed at the age of 19 in a kamikaze attack on his aircraft carrier in the Pacific, in 1944. His body was never recovered. Our grandmother was a Gold Star mother.

This life-size--bigger, actually; bigger than life-size--picture of him in his dress blues still hangs in my Senate office here on Capitol Hill. He was my hero when I was a kid growing up, and, truth be known, he still is.

Our parents never went to college, but they wanted us to go, and they expected my sister and I to figure out how to pay for it. Fortunately, in my senior year in high school, I won a Navy ROTC scholarship, and with the help of that scholarship, I was able to work a couple of jobs at Ohio State, including washing pots and pans, in order to keep from starving.

And I graduated at the height of the Vietnam war and would go on to complete three tours of duty in Southeast Asia as a naval flight officer and eventually as a Navy P-3 aircraft mission commander.

The best days of the week for us on those 6-month deployments were the days that the mail came, bringing cards, care packages, newspapers, and magazines. And following the 1972 election, the issues of both Time and Newsweek included stories of a stunning upset in Delaware, where a 29-year-old upstart named Joe Biden defeated an icon--a Delaware icon-- named Caleb Boggs.

I remember over, literally, on the other side of the world, thinking: I would like to meet that young guy some day and see what he is made of. And then, one day, that is what I did.

Later on, after I fulfilled my military obligation, I enrolled in the University of Delaware's M.B.A. program. Within a week of enrolling, I affiliated with the Reserve Navy P-3 aircraft squadron in nearby Pennsylvania, and I found a place to live in Delaware.

Shortly thereafter, I had just a chance meeting with a professor at the University of Delaware, on campus there, who was planning to run for Congress, and I got to know him. And later--not much later--he asked me to be his campaign treasurer, and I agreed. I think I had been in Delaware for like a couple of months, and I found myself as a campaign treasurer all of a sudden.

Miraculously, I was invited, a month or two after that, to join a pep talk and a strategy session at the home of none other than Delaware's junior Senator, Joe Biden. And that day, he could not have been more gracious, more helpful. After learning of my military service in Southeast Asia, he embraced me and welcomed me to Delaware, marking the beginning of a friendship that has lasted for 50 years.

Following the completion of my M.B.A. studies, I went to work in economic development for the State of Delaware. Less than a year later, when no Democrat volunteered to run for State treasurer, I offered to run and was elected State treasurer at the age of 29, on the same day that Republican Pete du Pont was elected our State's Governor.

When I called my parents in Florida and told them that I had been elected State treasurer at 29, they said: You don't even know how to spell ``cash management.'' How are you going to do that?

And 2 months later, in his very first State address in the legislative hall, Governor Pete du Pont announced that the State of Delaware was bankrupt, and, later that week, Delaware's credit rating fell to the lowest of any State in America.

There I was, 29 years old, and I thought: What do I do now?

Well, as it turned out, even though I didn't know a lot about cash management, the end of the story is a pretty good one. And we may not have known a lot in those days about cash management, but what we did have, fortunately, on our side was a new Governor who quickly put together a talented team to turn our State around. And he invited me, a Democrat of all things, to become part of that team. And remarkably, it worked. It worked, and less than 4 years later, Delaware's credit rating was about to be raised to a respectable AA, after it had been literally at the bottom. We were ready to go to AA within a couple of years, and the Governor asked me, of all people, to announce to the world that our credit rating was being raised to AA.

And following that announcement--I did make the announcement--I got a lot of attention. But in the regularly scheduled election, a week later, the people of Delaware elected me to serve as their lone Congressman, unseating the incumbent Republican. And the rest, as they say, is history.

So what lessons might we all take from this? For me, one lesson was that our elected leaders surrounded themselves with the best people they could find. Another key lesson was that in adversity lies opportunity. I have probably said that about a million times: In adversity lies opportunity.

The third lesson was the importance of job creation, and the realization is that, while our elected leaders don't create jobs, we help create a nurturing environment that supports job creation.

In addition, I learned from Joe Biden that all politics is personal and that all diplomacy is personal.

And I learned that just because someone is your adversary one day, they don't have to become your enemy. They don't have to become your enemy.

And I also learned an ancient proverb that some of you have heard along the way, and it goes something like this: If you give a person a fish, you can feed them for a day. If you teach a person to

fish, they can feed themselves and their families for a lifetime.

Since announcing, over a year ago, that I would not be running for reelection, I have had a number of interviews, and among the questions that have been asked of me are a lot that you might have been asked yourselves, but one of the questions is: Why did you decide not to run for reelection?

And I tell them tongue-in-cheek--only partly in cheek--that I was following the advice of singer-songwriter Kenny Rogers, whom I met my senior year at Ohio State, trying to get him and his group to come to a concert at Ohio State, and I would meet him again as Governor of Delaware, 30 years later. He was the second best male recording artist in history.

Then I met him again at the State fair, 30 years later. He did not remember me from Ohio State, but he asked me if there was a song that I would like for him to sing and dedicate to me that night at the State fair, with like 10,000 people in the stands. I said that would be great. And I asked him to sing ``The Gambler'':

You've got to know when to hold'em; [got to] know when to

fold'em.

And when I announced, with Martha by my side, years later, those words--I announced that I wasn't going to run. I gave a little tribute to Kenny Rogers, and he is getting another shout-out here today.

But among the questions that I have also been asked of late is: What are you proudest of in your 24 years in the Senate? And one of them is building a trusting partnership on the Environment and Public Works Committee with Ranking Member Shelley Capito, who is seated right over there, whose father was the Governor of West Virginia when my sister and I were born in West Virginia. And Shelley, like me, is a native West Virginian. Our committee enjoys a well-deserved reputation as a workhorse committee and one whose members consistently work across the aisle. Our relationship has enabled us, among other things, to craft a comprehensive 2-year Water Resources Development Act, which includes the reauthorization of the Economic Development Administration.

We have also learned to and worked to advance a package of critical recycling bills to confirm important nominations and to enact transformational legislation like the bipartisan infrastructure law, the most transformational infrastructure law in the history of our country--And she and I managed this bill right out here on the floor-- and also to pass significant nuclear legislation like the ADVANCE Act and major legislation to reduce powerful greenhouse gas emissions known as HFC, hydrofluorocarbons. And that is just a few.

And we have demonstrated time and time again that bipartisan solutions are lasting solutions; that even in today's polarized environment, it is still possible to accomplish a great deal for our country, for our planet, and for our citizens.

There is a lot that we have helped accomplish in this Senate, but there remains unfinished business, as you know, that I want to encourage our colleagues to continue once I weigh anchor--that is a Navy phrase, ``weigh anchor''--and sail off into the sunrise.

Almost daily, I am asked here in DC and in Delaware: How do you like being retired? How do you like being retired?

I tell them: I am not retired, and I hope I am never truly retired. And I smile and tell people: I hope--I want to find other ways where I can continue to make a difference for as long as I live.

In truth, I have spent many years helping to lead the effort to combat global warming, as some of you know, and many of you have been partners in that important effort. In Delaware, we are especially aware of the effects of climate crisis, and our State is sinking. Our State is sinking, and the seas around us are rising. That is not a good combination. Like much of our country, we are experiencing intensifying storms and scorching heat waves.

My wife spent part of last month in North Carolina, Western North Carolina, and just saw the devastation that has been wreaked on our hometown many weeks ago.

And that is why I worked so hard to help pass the Inflation Reduction Act with some of you, which is a prime example of a package that reduces, on the one hand, the cost of prescription medicines while also helping us to fight the climate crisis and, just as important, creating hundreds of thousands of new American jobs, good paying American jobs. The night that we voted here in this Chamber on that bill, we stayed up all night. We finished up at about 6 in the morning. As many of you will recall, it passed by one vote, and that one vote was cast by our Vice President, Kamala Harris, who was presiding over the Senate.

About 6 in the morning, I walked back to my office, headed down to the train station to catch a train and go back to Delaware. I got there about 7:30, got off the train. I thought on my way home, Maybe I should just go by Wawa. And for the people who don't have an idea who Wawa is, it is convenience stores up and down the East Coast people have just a great affection for. And I went by Wawa to pick up a cup of coffee before, kind of to celebrate before I went home. And it is about 7, 8 in the morning. The lady who was the cashier, I got a small cup of coffee and went to pay for it. And she said--I will never forget--she said: Your money is no good for a small cup of coffee. That is what she said: Your money is no good for a small cup of coffee.

And I said: Could I get a bigger cup of coffee?

(Laughter.)

She said: No. Your money is no good for a small cup of coffee. So I made do on a small cup of coffee. Then she went on to say, she said: You have been up all night, haven't you?

I said: Yes.

She said: I know what you have been doing, haven't you?

I said: Yes, ma'am.

She said: I have a son and a daughter, and I want to make sure that they have a planet to grow up on and a planet to grow old on.

And for all of us who have children or maybe nieces or nephews or grandchildren, the idea to make sure that--we want to make sure that they do have a planet to grow up on and a planet to grow old on.

We also want to make sure that they have jobs, good jobs, so they can support themselves and their families.

Now, this says I am supposed to conclude. I am not finished.

(Laughter.)

This is crazy. In any event, let me conclude--I am almost done, but I am not quite done, but let me conclude with a couple of thoughts relating to a date that just passed, and that was December 7. That is a date that in our State is well-known. It is called Delaware Day, and it is a celebration of December 7, 1787, the day that the people of Delaware ratified, through their 25 representatives, the Constitution. Before anybody else had, Delaware ratified the Constitution. We became the first State, and I hope that years from now we will continue to celebrate Delaware Day in my home State and, frankly, in other places, too. And I hope that people across our Nation will continue to be inspired by the words of our Founding Fathers.

As many colleagues have heard me say here on this floor in the past, Ben Franklin, as he was exiting the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, was asked: Mr. Franklin, what have you brought here? What have you created here? He said famously:

A Republic, if you can keep it.

A Republic, if you can keep it. The brevity of that response should not cause us to undervalue its essential meaning. Democratic republics are not merely founded on the consent of the people, but they are absolutely dependent upon the active and informed involvement of the people for the continued health of our democracy.

And while there were many things that our Founding Fathers disagreed upon, the one thing that they all agreed on, as you know, is that they didn't want America ever to be ruled by a king. They wanted to make sure that never happened. And you know what? We still feel that way today.

When we pledge allegiance to the flag or take an oath to defend the Constitution against its enemies, foreign and domestic, we don't pledge our allegiance to a person or to party. We pledge our allegiance to the country and the Constitution under which we were established.

Let me just close, if I can. I want to thank all of my current and former

staff members for joining. Probably have a bunch of them today, and a lot are watching as well.

Somebody came up with the word ``Carpertown.'' I don't know who, but I love it. And it refers--it is kind of like, remember the song by the Eagles, ``Hotel California''? ``You can check out, but you can never leave.'' Carpertown is like that. And there are a lot of people in Carpertown. And for people that worked with me in the Navy and State Treasurer, Congressman, Governor, Senator, to today.

But I want to ask unanimous consent that all of the names of my Senate staff here and back in Delaware be printed in the Congressional Record.

I just want to take a moment, if I could, to thank my family Martha, who is seated right up here to my right. And over the years, I have spoken with members of the Armed Forces who are married, and I have not only thanked them for their service, but I have also thanked their spouses for their service. You know, I have got the person in the uniform; the spouse is not wearing a uniform, but that spouse has served just as much as the person in uniform.

And I want to just say that during the years that I have been privileged to serve as a naval officer, as a Congressman, as a Governor and treasurer, and Senator and all, my wife Martha has served as well as I have, and we are in her debt. And God knows I am in her debt.

Martha, thank you. I love you.

I am also proud to have helped raise three boys who have gone on to become terrific young men that any parent would be proud to call their own, and I also want to salute those who served alongside me representing Delaware, including Members of the Delaware congressional delegation, over the years--people like Ted Kaufman. I am sure our leader here remembers Ted who succeeded Joe Biden; and Mike Castle, who was a House Member, Governor of the State; John Carney, our Governor, former Congressman, and gone on to be mayor of Wilmington pretty soon; and Joe Biden. Those are just some of the people I have gotten to serve with in the House and the Senate.

But I especially want to note my fellow Senator Chris Coons, sitting over to my right. How are you doing, bud?

We call each other a lot of things, but I call him ``wingman.'' And he is my wingman, and I am his as well. He has always had my back, and I will always have his. Chris is one of the smartest people and brightest people I think I have ever worked with. He surrounds himself with terrific people as well. He is the senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee. He has traveled the world, and he knows the world's leaders like I think none of us ever have. He calls Delaware home, and I know he will continue to represent our State very, very well.

And now let me just mention our Senator-elect. I don't know if she is here today.

Hi, Lisa. Lisa Blunt Rochester. Lisa is a beloved Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where she serves as a highly effective member of a much sought-after committee, and that is the Energy and Commerce Committee. But many years ago, she joined my congressional team as an intern. And from that humble beginning, she went on to become a two- time cabinet member when I was Governor of the State of Delaware. She is smart, is a caring daughter, sister, mother, and now a grandmother, too. She leads an excellent staff and has a can-do attitude, as well as a deep faith. She is also a great dancer, for what it is worth.

For when my Senate colleagues said to me: TC--a lot of people here call me TC. Some call me other things.

(Laughter.)

But when they say: TC, we are really going to miss you in the Senate, I say to them: 2 weeks after Lisa Blunt Rochester joins you in the Senate, you won't remember my name.

(Laughter.)

And they said: Oh, yes, we will. Yes, we will. I don't know that I believe them, but it is nice of them to say that.

In closing, just once again let me thank the people of Delaware for entrusting in me the responsibility of serving them for all of these years. It has been a privilege. It has been a source of great joy that I will always cherish.

I want to say to our leader, before I close, thank you very much for your kind words earlier in the morning. One of the things I understand he mentioned is our love for music and music lyrics. So with that in mind, let me close with this--with apologies to Neil Young of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, let me end with this:

Keep on rockin' in the free world. Keep on rockin' in the

free world.

It has been my joy to be your colleague, and I am looking forward to getting to know all of you and working with you in Delaware, if we can ever be of help or support in any way at all. God bless you all. Thank you so much.

(Applause. Senators rising.)

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, the Office of Government Ethics is an Agency that independently works to oversee the executive branch's ethics program. The Director serves a term of 5 years in this instance, leading work that prevents financial conflicts of interest and ensures that the executive branch, regardless of political party, holds itself to the highest ethical standards.

Our Nation has been without a Senate-confirmed Director to this critical Agency for more than a year. I will say that again: more than a year. But, fortunately, we have a highly qualified nominee for this post, one who has received support from both Democrat and Republican Senators, including Senators on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which I used to chair.

Since 2016, David Huitema has served as the Assistant Legal Adviser for Ethics and Financial Disclosure at the Department of State. In this role, he has the responsibility of managing the Department's ethics program. Previously, he served as an attorney-adviser at the Department of State, worked in private practice for several years, and completed a clerkship at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Mr. Huitema has a deep and thorough knowledge of the law and of ethics compliance in addition to his range of experience at the State Department and in private practice. I have no doubt that his skills and his experience will enable him to effectively lead the Office of Government Ethics.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 620, David Huitema, of Maryland, to be Director of the Office of Government Ethics for a term of five years; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that, if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to speak in favor of the nomination of Heather Cahoon to be a member of the Board of Trustees of the Udall Foundation.

Congress created the Udall Foundation in 1992 as an independent executive branch Agency to honor Morris K. Udall, affectionately known as ``Mo,'' who had a terrific and enduring impact on our Nation's environment, and his commitment to supporting the rights of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

In April of this year, President Biden nominated Ms. Cahoon, Heather Cahoon, to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Udall Foundation. Ms. Cahoon is a highly qualified nominee. She has devoted her professional career to the study of Federal Tribal law and policy. She is an associate professor of Native American studies at the University of Montana.

At the University of Montana, she cofounded the American Indian Governance and Policy Institute, a Native-led independent think tank that provides Tribal nations in Montana with in-depth research and analysis of Tribal-level policies. She would be a valuable--a valuable--addition to the Udall Foundation Board.

Over a decade ago, the Congress created the privileged nomination process to speed the confirmation of nominees to fill approximately 280 positions on Boards and on Commissions, including nominees to the Udall Foundation Board of Trustees.

Ms. Cahoon's nomination moved to the Executive Calendar on May 16, and we should have considered her nomination on the floor soon thereafter. It is disappointing to me--and I know to others--that her nomination has languished for over 16 weeks, with no word of any objections from either side of the aisle. Inexplicable delays undermine the improvements we have made to Senate procedures to improve noncontroversial nominees and to do so quickly. Today, I have come to the floor myself to see if we have an agreement to confirm Ms. Cahoon.

Mr. President, could I have another minute or 2 to make some personal comments, if I could?

I had the privilege of serving as Governor before I came to serve 24 years ago as a Senator. Before I was a Governor, I was a Congressman for some 10 years. One of the people I served with in the House of Representatives was Morris Udall--Mo Udall--who was a giant in the House and a giant in the country, a great environmentalist, great conservationist, and a wonderful human being, a wonderful servant. People are probably saying, what is this Udall Foundation? The Udall family--not only Mo Udall but also our colleagues who served here in the Senate, and one of them, if I am not mistaken, may still serve as our U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand. I think of them and I think of the Udall family and what they have meant to this country, to this body over many, many years.

I am pleased to be here to put in a good word for Ms. Cahoon, who I think is well-qualified. And I am pleased we will be able to act on that nomination today.

I yield the floor.

I don't know if my colleague from West Virginia can tell how much I am blushing over here from her kind and generous comments and having offered in the Committee to name this bill after me.

One of the joys of serving here for almost 24 years has been the privilege of serving--as a native West Virginian to be able to serve-- with Senator Capito, whose father, when my sister and I were born and were little kids living in West Virginia--her dad--was Governor of our State and went on, I think, to serve three terms maybe before he was finished. Maybe someday, another one of your relatives will be Governor of West Virginia.

You mentioned Hinton, and you mentioned Bluestone Dam. My family actually used to live in Hinton, and my dad taught my sister and me to fish at the Bluestone Dam. So those all bring back just wonderful, wonderful memories. And this day on the floor and this conversation and your comments will stay with me for as long as I live. Thank you.

I rise today to discuss the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, otherwise known as WRDA, which just passed the Senate with unanimous consent--a cause for celebration. In light of this wonderful news, I want to take a few moments to discuss the importance of the legislation and how it will help make life better for people across our Nation, from coast to coast.

As our colleagues may recall, the biennial WRDA legislation is an opportunity for us to consider the policies, the projects, and the programs that are the purview of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

I am a Navy guy. I spent a lot of years of my life in the Navy. I love the Navy, but I have huge respect for the Army, and especially the Army Corps of Engineers. For my own State and for States across the Nation--all 50 States--they do amazing work. On behalf of all of our colleagues, I want to say a special thank-you to the men and women of the Army Corps of Engineers.

It can't be overstated just how important the Army Corps' work is for communities across America. The corps is a principal steward of our Nation's water infrastructure. The men and women of the Army Corps work literally around the clock to protect millions of Americans against coastal and inland flooding.

Corps projects mitigate the impacts of climate change and extreme weather, while restoring critical ecosystems across America. The corps also operates and maintains some 25,000--that is 25,000--miles of inland waterways and navigation systems for our ports, which are the backbone of America's trade with countries around the globe.

In fact, some 99 percent of our overseas trade moves through the channels that the corps maintains. I am going to say that again: Some 99 percent of our overseas trade moves through channels that the corps maintains.

As a recovering Governor, I often say it is our responsibility as elected officials to create a nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation. I probably say that once a day. Maintaining our ports and maintaining our coastal waterways does just that.

The timely passage of WRDA every 2 years is essential to ensuring that corps projects can move forward. Fortunately, the Environment and Public Works Committee has maintained this 2-year cycle for the past decade now, and, God willing, we intend to continue this pattern with WRDA 2024. And with today's actions here on this floor today, I think we are moving in that direction.

Around this time last year, the Environment and Public Works Committee held its first hearing to kick off the legislative process for this bill. Since then, our committee has solicited input from all 100 Senators and engaged with stakeholders who represent the diverse water infrastructure needs of communities across America.

Along with our staffs, Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito and I considered more than 1,200 WRDA requests--I will say that again: 1,200 WRDA requests--and engaged in extensive bipartisan negotiations.

As a result of this bipartisan process, our committee passed the Senate WRDA bill unanimously 2 months ago, and, today, the full Senate has passed the bill unanimously--cause for celebration.

As my colleagues have also oftentimes heard me say, I believe that bipartisan solutions are lasting solutions. WRDA continues to be proof of that.

Now, I would like to take a moment to discuss what the Senate's WRDA bill does for communities across our Nation.

The bill authorizes water infrastructure projects and programs that will impact all 50 States. That includes 83 feasibility studies and 13 new or modified construction projects that address a wide range of challenges facing communities across America.

For example, in Hawaii, the bill authorizes a feasibility study for a project to help Maui recover from the devastation of last year's wildfires by enabling flood protection and ecosystem restoration efforts.

In Arizona, the Senate WRDA bill authorizes construction of a project in Maricopa County to protect and restore major wetlands. This project will help restore habitat and provide flood control to neighboring communities while improving water quality.

And in Texas, this bill authorizes the corps to study the expansion of ship channels and barge lanes in the Galveston Bay area. This includes channels that serve Port Houston, where expanded capacity could help maintain regional supply chains and support economic growth throughout our Nation.

This bill will also go a long way toward ensuring timely implementation of prior WRDA legislation. As we have heard in hearings in the Environment and Public Works Committee, over the last year, implementation of past WRDA reauthorizations has been taking a good deal longer than expected--in some cases, more than a decade.

In particular, the corps has significant work to do to implement the past three WRDA laws. Each of these laws significantly updated the corps' authorities to consider the impacts of climate change and extreme weather and to better support underserved and Tribal communities.

While the corps has made some important progress, there is much more that the corps needs to do to implement past reauthorizations.

And we don't have a lot of time to spare. In fact, we don't have any time to spare. The effects of climate change are all around us. Just this summer, as

you will recall, Hurricane Beryl became the earliest category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record, killing at least 36 Americans and leaving millions without power for days.

That is why WRDA 2024 directs the corps to develop and execute a plan to fully implement past reauthorizations, as soon as possible, in order to protect our communities.

In closing, let me take a moment and just thank the men and women whose incredible bipartisan work has gone into crafting and enabling the passage of this legislation.

I won't be able to mention everybody by name on Senator Capito's team or our team, but I want to mention at least a representative handful. I want to recognize Libby and Dan and Dom and Murphie and, especially, Adam.

And on our side of the aisle, on our team, I would especially like to recognize Linnea, Nicole, Cody, Jordan, Tara, John, and Courtney.

Lastly, I want to thank Deanna Edwards on the Senate legislative counsel staff and Dave Wethington and Amy Klein on the Corps of Engineers Congressional Affairs staff.

To each of these men and women, we just say how grateful we are for all of your hard work. And to each of you whose names I have just mentioned, to those that I haven't, our thanks of a grateful nation for what you have done. It really helped to further cement and strengthen across the country people's faith in our government.

Thankfully, the House of Representatives has also passed the WRDA by a vote of 359 to 13. That is a pretty strong vote. Now we begin the important work of resolving the differences between our bill and theirs.

And I want to thank and acknowledge our colleagues in the House for the good work that they have done. We look forward to continuing this work in the days to come to advance this critical legislation and, ultimately, to send it to the desk of the President for his signature.

Again, Senator Capito, to you, to your team, to everyone on our team who has worked on this, my colleagues on the Committee and off the Committee, thank you so much for your great work, thank you for letting me be your partner all these years. And I appreciate more than you know the kindness that you showed me today.

Thank you so much.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be permitted to speak for up to 15 minutes and that Senator Young be recognized to speak after that for up to 5 minutes prior to the scheduled vote.

Mr. President, good morning.

Last month, as some of us recall, marked the 80th year since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI bill, into law--80 years.

In the eight decades since the GI bill was enacted, it has helped millions of veterans, including myself, to pursue an education, to become homeowners, and to live the full American dream. The GI bill truly transformed not only our economy but a lot more than that.

I was glad to recently lead a bipartisan resolution recognizing the importance of this legislation with Senator Jerry Moran, Senator Jon Tester, and Senator John Boozman. As I have shared here many times before, the GI bill is often called the greatest legislation ever enacted in the history of the United States, including here in this Chamber.

First, the GI bill successfully enabled millions of servicemembers, including myself, to transition back to civilian life after serving our country at home and, in many cases, abroad.

Second, it uplifted millions of American families, and it reinvigorated our economy.

Third, it allowed for benefits awarded to our veterans to be passed on to their family members.

Fourth, it has paved the way for subsequent critical legislation that serves those who have served our country in times of war and in times of peace.

The effects of all four of these achievements are felt to this day, and I would like to take a few minutes, if I may at this time, to elaborate on the impact of each of those four.

First and foremost, the GI bill helped my parents' generation return to civilian life following World War II. This generation was well acquainted with hard times. Many of these folks had been raised during the previous world war and were just starting to rebuild their lives when the Great Depression ravaged the American economy, leaving one of every four Americans jobless. But despite hardship at home, these brave Americans answered the call to serve our Nation in World War II. One of those brave Americans was my father.

My father had been a chief petty officer in the Navy--a high school graduate from a West Virginia coal mining town. He and his brother and my brothers-in-law all served in World War II--several as chief petty officers in the Navy and others as sergeants in the Army or in the Marine Corps.

When the war was over, my dad came back to West Virginia and used the GI bill to learn how to fix wrecked cars. Most people don't think of the GI bill as something to be used to fix wrecked cars, but he did. That turned into a job for him in a place back in a West Virginia coal mining town. He fixed wrecked cars at Burleson Oldsmobile.

One day when he was working at Burleson Oldsmobile, having learned how to fix wrecked cars and do bodywork through the GI bill, he was visited by a claims adjuster from Nationwide Insurance. Nationwide, it turned out, had insured the wrecked car that my dad was working on that day at Burleson Oldsmobile. The fellow from Nationwide Insurance engaged my father in conversation about how was the progress coming along in terms of repairing the wrecked car.

And they talked for a bit, and at the end of the conversation, he said to my dad: You know, you seem to have a lot on the ball for a guy who's fixing wrecked cars here at Burleson Oldsmobile. My dad went on to explain how he had been a chief petty officer in the Navy. For those who know the military, the top noncommissioned officer in the Navy is a chief petty officer. That is what my dad was and several of my uncles as well. That conversation with the claims adjuster from Nationwide Insurance that day actually led to a job where my dad became a claims adjuster for Nationwide Insurance.

Years later, my dad helped to run the national training program for claims adjusters for Nationwide Insurance--a guy with a high school degree who had a chance to serve in World War II and to benefit from the GI bill--to have a great career and to be able to provide for his family along with literally hundreds of thousands of other veterans.

But my dad is just one example of millions of Americans whom this legislation helped to set on paths to success.

My dad also illustrates the second reason the GI bill is among the greatest pieces of legislation ever passed: It has lifted up millions of hard-working Americans and helped build the middle class as we know it in this country today.

With a stroke of a pen, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law one of America's most ambitious investments in our workforce in our Nation's history. It has paid dividends to generations past and will, for decades to come, to generations in the future.

Among other things, the original GI bill provided a college education to add--listen to this--450,000 engineers, 240,000 accountants, 238,000 teachers, 122,000 dentists, 91,000 scientists, 67,000 doctors, and 1 or 2 folks who could fix wrecked cars at a place like Burleson Oldsmobile back in West Virginia.

Just like my dad, countless others used their GI benefits to learn a trade or to learn a skill, and it enabled them to lift themselves and their families up firmly into the middle class. It was clear then, as it is now, that the GI bill is, perhaps, one of the most worthwhile economic investments in our Nation's history.

According to a 1988 report from the Joint Economic Committee, it was estimated that, for every dollar that the United States has invested in our veterans through the GI bill over the years, roughly $7 has been returned in economic growth for our Nation.

Almost never do we see legislation have the power to singlehandedly transform our economy and continue to do so not just for a couple of years but for decades. The GI bill exceeded and continues to exceed all expectations.

As many of my colleagues know, I have personally benefited from the opportunities provided by the GI bill. I would not be standing here today in this place, speaking on this floor, without the benefits provided me as a Vietnam veteran coming back from my third tour in Southeast Asia and eventually moving to Delaware and enrolling in business school at the University of Delaware. That education, along with my time as a Navy ROTC midshipman through Ohio State earlier in time, has enabled me to serve Delaware as their treasurer, as their Congressman--Congressman-at-large--as their Governor, and now, for the last 23 years, as their U.S. Senator.

The third reason the GI bill is truly extraordinary is that this legislation and subsequent legislation, like the current Post-9/11 GI Bill, allows for benefits to be passed on to family members of veterans who do not use or need the benefits themselves.

For my generation, when we came back from Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war, if we took advantage of the GI bill, that was fine. I did. But if we had a spouse, a spouse could not take advantage of it. If we had children--dependent children--they could not take advantage of the GI bill. That has all changed.

And for a GI who doesn't use the GI benefit today, if they have a spouse, their spouse can use it. Spouses can use it. If they have children, their children can use the GI bill. What a benefit--what a benefit not just for the GI but also for the spouse and their family members.

Today's GI bill allows countless veterans across our country to take advantage of these generous educational benefits or pass them down to their families.

Moreover, the Post-9/11 GI Bill includes a program called the Fry Scholarship--``Fry'' is spelled F-R-Y--that ensures surviving spouses and children of fallen servicemembers have access to the hard-earned benefits of their family member who served and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

We have seen the impact of this legislation firsthand in my home State of Delaware, with families like those of the late-SSgt Christopher Slutman, a Marine veteran. A native Delawarean, Staff Sergeant Slutman bravely served as a New York firefighter and as a U.S. marine in Afghanistan. However, 5 years ago, he was tragically killed in combat, leaving behind his wife and their three daughters: McKenna, Kenley, and Weslynn.

Thanks to the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which extended the benefits of the GI bill to veterans who served after September 11, 2001, Staff Sergeant Slutman was entitled to a wide range of educational benefits. And after his tragic passing, Staff Sergeant Slutman's GI bill benefits were ultimately allowed to be passed down to his three daughters, thanks to the Fry Scholarship, which was one of the provisions I was proud to support in the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Last, but certainly not least, the GI bill is among the ``greatest legislation'' ever enacted because it has served as an excellent model for how we can continue to provide resources for our Nation's veterans.

Throughout my years in the Senate--and it has been quite a few years, almost 24--I have worked to advance critical legislation that delivers on the promise to serve those who have served our Nation.

In addition to the Post-9/11 GI Bill and the Forever GI Bill, I was proud to lead passage of a bipartisan amendment that finally closed something called the 90/10 loophole. For those who may not know, this loophole allowed bad actors in the for-profit college sector to take advantage of veterans' hard-earned GI benefits.

One veteran misled or mistreated is one too many, and I was proud that my Senate colleagues and I came together unanimously to pass the amendment that Senator Moran and I authored to close this loophole. And we did.

We must also be on guard to root out the bad actors who try to take advantage of our veterans. That is why, just this week, I cohosted our annual veterans summit in Delaware with Senator Chris Coons and Representative Blunt Rochester, joined by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough, to raise awareness of the deceptive marketing tactics deployed by those we know as ``claim sharks.''

Claim sharks are unaccredited lawyers and consultants who try to take advantage of vulnerable veterans by offering to help them file claims with the Veterans Benefits Administration and then go on to take a significant percentage of the benefit that the veteran should have received.

At our summit a week ago, we spoke with dozens of veterans about the free resources--free resources--available to them through the VA to help them avoid falling for scams and ensure that they know about the full range of benefits they are entitled to.

More recently, I cosponsored bipartisan legislation to impose penalties on these ``sharks'' so that we can further protect our veterans. After all, our commitment to care for our veterans, including safeguarding their hard-earned benefits, is a sacred obligation and one that I worked hard with many of our colleagues--Democrat and Republican--to fulfill.

In closing, it is clear that without the foundation of the original GI bill, our ambition to craft and pass generations of subsequent legislation to help our veterans might not have been possible. For all of these reasons, the lasting legacy of the GI bill leaves no doubt that it is truly the ``greatest legislation'' ever passed, in this Chamber and in this Congress, in the history of our Nation.

From my family and me to the veterans of today in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and all of our branches, I am honored to lead this celebration of the 80th anniversary of the original GI bill. Here is to another 80 years and, hopefully, many more.

I will close with one thing. I used to think it was in the Bible that if you give a person a fish, you feed them for today; if you teach a person to fish, you feed them for a lifetime. As it turns out, that is not in the Bible. That is not in the Scriptures. For years I said it was.

Finally, I used that line in a speech back in Delaware. I said at the end of my speech that--I talked about our obligation to try to make sure that people have the ability to feed themselves and their families. As it turned out, there was a preacher in the audience when I said those words. He spoke to me after my speech, after the program was over. He said: Those words are not in the Scriptures. Those words are not in the Scriptures--the idea that we have an obligation to teach a person to fish so they can feed themselves and their families and all.

He said: That is really not in the Bible.

I said: Well, it ought to be. It ought to be.

We have an obligation to help people, not just to give people something. But if they are hungry and they need help, we have an obligation to help. But the real obligation we have is to make sure that, ultimately, they can help themselves; that we can help them help themselves.

One of the great things about the GI bill is that it enables our service men and women to help themselves as they go forward in the future with their lives and to help their families.

It is a great piece of legislation, and we celebrate it here today for the 80th year since its original enactment in this Chamber.

With that, I am going to yield the floor.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be granted to the following member of my staff, Kelly Powers, during the pendency of today, July 25, 2024.

Mr. President, I ask to be recognized, and I am pleased to be here with you today.

I rise today in strong support of critical bipartisan legislation that will come to the Senate floor--not later

this year, later this week, or this month, but later today. It is called the Fire Grants and Safety Act.

Importantly, this legislation includes two--not one, but two-- critical pieces of bipartisan legislation that I have been working on with Senator Shelley Capito and a bipartisan coalition of our colleagues--literally, for years.

The first part is called the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act. That is a mouthful, but it is also known as the ADVANCE Act. And we coupled that with legislation involving support for our firefighters across the United States of America.

Last month, the House of Representatives passed these two bills, not as one but as a package, by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of--get this--393 to 13. Now, we don't pass a lot of bills by margins like that over in the House or the Senate, but today we have an opportunity in the Senate to do something very much the same.

Before this evening's vote, though, I want to take a few minutes to highlight the significance of both the Fire Grants and Safety Act as well as the so-called ADVANCE Act. In my role as cochair of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, along with Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, I have shared here on the Senate floor, many times over the years, that every day--every day--our Nation's firefighters bravely run toward danger in order to save lives across America.

In my home State of Delaware, there are more than 6,000 firefighters--6,000--and a great majority of them are volunteers. The same is true in many States across America. Yet despite their extraordinary dedication to protecting our communities, their jobs are not getting any easier. In fact, they are getting harder, and the risks that they continue to face grow each year.

Annually, I am told that there are over 36 million emergency calls that fire services respond to--36 million. That is a 20-percent increase in the last 12 years. This is in no small part due to climate change and the resulting increases in extreme weather events across our country, which are translating directly into hotter, bigger, and more dangerous fires. Just this week, our country is experiencing recordbreaking temperatures from New England to California, where heat risks have been categorized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as ``extreme.''

It is clear that the kinds of emergencies that our firefighters must respond to are changing, and the demands on fire departments across this country are changing as well. For example, last year when a devastating tornado touched down in southern Delaware, in Sussex County, it was our firefighters who showed up to lead people to safety. We have seen similar acts of service across our Nation, especially on the west coast, where firefighters have long helped families escape the hazards of wildfires.

I believe we have a moral obligation, which I believe is a shared responsibility, to provide the resources that firefighters need to continue to protect the rest of us, our families, and our businesses. And today we have an opportunity to do just that.

The Fire Grants and Safety Act reauthorizes not one but two critical grant programs that fire departments across our Nation rely on to safeguard our communities. The first is called Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant Program, and it provides funding to local fire departments to hire much needed personnel to respond around the clock to emergency situations. The second is the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which helps provide fire departments and emergency medical service organizations with the vital training and equipment, like firetrucks and protective gear that they need.

Fire departments across Delaware have contacted my office to share how these grant programs are a lifeline--a lifeline for their work that they do every day--and I am sure our colleagues have heard similar stories of the essential roles that these programs play in fire departments across America.

For example, fire departments in Colorado reported a lack of critical funding and supply, which could be aided by the Assistance for Firefighters Grant Program. Firefighters in Vermont, where our Presiding Officer is from, and firefighters in West Virginia, who cosponsored this legislation--where I was born--have reported being overwhelmed and understaffed in light of recent emergencies in their community.

It is clear as day that reauthorizing these grant programs is imperative. The Fire Grants and Safety Act will also enable the U.S. Fire Administration to continue to provide leadership, coordination, and training for first responders and emergency medical personnel.

As the lead Federal Agency for fire data collection, public fire education, fire research, and fire service training, the U.S. Fire Administration ensures that the fire service is prepared to respond to any and all hazards.

Firefighters put their lives on the line for us every single day. I am proud to work with Senator Gary Peters, as well as with my Congressional Fire Services Caucus cochairs, Senator Collins and Senator Murkowski, on this legislation to equip our firefighters with the tools and training they need to do their jobs and do them safely.

There is an African proverb that many of my colleagues have heard because I have said it enough, but the African proverb goes something like this: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

I think that is true: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Today, on the Senate floor, with this legislation we are going far, and, as it turns out, we are going together, both Democrats and Republicans from all across the country and in concert with the administration, with the President, who supports this legislation.

And we are doing it by considering not one but two bipartisan priorities at the same time. That second priority before us today is legislation known as the ADVANCE Act. This is legislation that Senator Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia, my native State, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and I have worked on tirelessly for years in both a bipartisan and a bicameral manner.

The ADVANCE Act accelerates the deployment of our Nation's largest source of clean power, and that is nuclear energy. Nuclear energy powers millions of homes and businesses across this country every day with zero emissions. It is an indispensable tool in our ongoing efforts to address the climate crisis and strengthen our Nation's energy security.

My own personal interest in the potential for nuclear energy goes all the way back to my days as a Navy ROTC midshipman and later as a naval flight officer, tracking nuclear submarines throughout the oceans of the world. I witnessed how, initially, our submarines and, later, our aircraft carriers could travel millions of miles safely on nuclear power.

Largely because of the success of the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program, the United States had the technology and the workforce at the ready to build a commercial nuclear energy industry that could provide safe, reliable, and clean energy to American homes and businesses.

Today, nuclear energy provides about 20 percent of America's electricity--20 percent--but nearly half of America's clean energy.

Let me repeat that: Nuclear energy provides about 20 percent of America's electricity but nearly half of America's clean energy.

There is no question that this carbon-free source of energy can and will help us meet--it is helping us meet--our climate goals. That is why I have long believed that nuclear energy needs to be part of our work to address climate change, while also creating thousands of jobs-- tens of thousands of jobs, in fact--across this Nation of ours.

The ADVANCE Act empowers the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with the tools and with the workforce that it needs to keep our current reactors safe and to review new nuclear technologies efficiently. These resources will enable the Commission to provide the certainty needed to deploy more clean energy and to make sure that our commitment to safety remains paramount at this crucial moment in the history of our planet.

The ADVANCE Act also directs the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to support 21st century applications of nuclear energy. For example, the ADVANCE Act requires the Commission

to explore how to repurpose retired fossil fuel-fired powerplants, as well as existing infrastructure, to support new, clean nuclear energy production.

Additionally, this legislation fundamentally--and I think firmly-- maintains the core of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's mission, and that is to ensure the safety of America's nuclear power. Unless the Nuclear Regulatory Commission diligently ensures the safety of our nuclear fleet of reactors every day--every day--as well as new nuclear technologies, the United States will not be able to realize the potential of this carbon-free energy source.

And the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must maintain this commitment to safety while considering all stakeholder views and concerns equally in order to maintain the public trust and confidence.

Ultimately, this bill addresses the most pressing needs of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and will lay the foundation for the safe and successful deployment of the next generation of advanced reactors. As a result, we will strengthen America's leadership on nuclear energy and provide climate leadership on the world stage.

Let me be clear, the ADVANCE Act will strengthen our energy and our national security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as creating thousands of new jobs while growing our economy.

I am not sure what our colleagues would call that in their States, but in Delaware, something like that, we call that a win-win-win situation. We need more of those.

In closing, the legislation we vote on today will provide fundamental support for our Nation's firefighters, while bringing our Nation one step closer to a clean energy future.

Once again, I want to share my heartfelt gratitude to our colleagues and our staff members who have worked with us--Democrat and Republican, House and Senate--in some cases, not just for days or weeks or months but, literally, for years in order to bring these provisions across the finish line.

So many of our colleagues have had a hand in this effort, but, in particular, I want to thank Senator Gary Peters, who chairs the Committee on Homeland Security; Senator Susan Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski, who have been great leaders in the Fire Services Caucus over the years; Senator Shelly Capito, who, literally, is the lead author on the ADVANCE Act; and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who has been very much involved in drafting that legislation as well. We could not have done this and be where we are today without each of you.

Before I close, there is something else I want to mention. This is not something that I get to do every day, but I want to also thank the Speaker of the House, Congressman Johnson, for ensuring this bill's passage through his Chamber with resounding bipartisan support. I think it was about 393 to 13. That is an amazing, amazing outcome in legislation of this magnitude.

I want to thank our own majority leader, Senator Schumer, for working with us and his staff to bring this legislation up for a vote today. Some people might be watching this across the country and think: What is this all about, and why would we take legislation dealing with firefighters and the tools and the resources of firefighters and why would we couple that with legislation involving nuclear energy? What is the connection?

And the connection is this: Last year was the hottest year on record on this planet--the hottest year ever. This week may be the hottest week we will have had in this country and maybe on this planet--the hottest week. And what is causing that?

Well, we know what is causing it. It is too much carbon dioxide in the air, and we need to reduce it. And one of the great sources of carbon dioxide in the air is the cars, trucks, and vans that we drive. That is only about 35 percent of our carbon emissions that come from our mobile sources. Maybe another 30 percent comes from the powerplants that provide electricity for us. Maybe another 25 percent comes from our manufacturing plants.

That is where it is coming from, and we are doing a whole lot of things--House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, working together in many cases--working with the current President and the current administration in order to try to turn it around--to turn around the fact that our planet is on fire and getting hotter.

We have passed all kinds of legislation that is being enacted now: methane emission reduction program; legislation involving the release of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs; legislation that is part of the bipartisan infrastructure law, including, literally, across the country, the places where people can charge and recharge their batteries--corridors and corridors across the country to recharge electric vehicles.

That is part of what we are doing--clean hydrogen--clean hydrogen which can be used, literally, to fly airplanes and to move cars, trucks, and vans, and to provide us the electricity that we need.

We are doing a lot on wind, windmills--especially windmills--not just on land but windmills on either side of our country. And a lot is going on with respect to solar, and we can be proud of all that.

Having said that--I am probably mixing metaphors here--but we are paddling against the tide. This is a tough battle, and while we have launched a lot of smart programs and smart initiatives and doing it in a bipartisan way--and we have done it with, in many cases, not just environmental groups but business groups as well--we still have a big fight ahead of us, and we need to implement fully the Methane Emissions Reduction Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act, clean hydrogen and hydrogen hubs, and all the stuff that people hear about. And we need to not just talk about it. We need to implement it. That is what I am going to be spending the next 6 months that I serve here or am privileged to serve here in the U.S. Senate to do--to make sure that the promise of all of the legislation, all of the groundwork that we have laid will actually bear fruit.

These young pages that are sitting here, along with the Presiding Officer, have come here from all over the country. They are 16, 17, 18 years old. We want to make sure that they are going to have a planet to grow up on. We want to make sure that they have a planet to grow old on. It is up to us to make sure that that happens.

It is a shared responsibility, like most things. It is not just a Democratic responsibility. It is not just a Republican responsibility. It is not just on the President or the legislative branch. It is not just businesses. It is really all of us. We all have a dog in this fight.

A lot of us have children and grandchildren, and, hopefully, they will benefit throughout their lives from the work that we are doing here, including--including--the work that we are doing here today.

I am very proud of my colleagues for getting us to this point in time and especially anxious to have this vote later today, and I hope the kind of margin that we--it will stand up in the House. I think it was 390 to 13. I hope we can do at least as well and maybe even a little bit better.

I am grateful to the President for his strong support of what we are bringing up today. He has already telegraphed that he is prepared, when he receives this legislation, to sign it into law.

Joe Biden used to say, when he was a mere mortal, when he was a Senator from Delaware, we used to talk about volunteer fire companies. We have a bunch of them. Most of the firefighters in Delaware are members of volunteer fire companies. I think that is probably true across the country. But then-Senator Joe Biden used to say that the volunteer fire community in Delaware was really so potent, they are kind of like a third party--sort of like a third party--and they punch above their weight in many ways. They punch above their weight in many ways to make our State safer. I think that is the case across America.

We want to make sure that they have the tools, the resources that they need to do their jobs even better and to make sure they are able to do it safely, at the end of the day, so they can go home to their families and have a full and long life.

With that, I think that pretty much is what I wanted to say. I want to thank you, Mr. Presiding Officer, as someone who has been very supportive

of this initiative, and we look forward, under your leadership today, to have a strong vote, and I will look forward to coming back in an hour or so and being a part of that vote.

With that, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Yes, I can. Let me be clear on this point--and I thank the Senator for pointing it out--the ADVANCE Act does not in any way alter the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's longstanding statutory responsibility to protect public health, safety, and the environment. I do not believe that the language in section 501 in any way asks the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to do anything that it does not already do, within the limits of its existing authority and consistent with congressional intent in the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974. I believe that it is essential for the Commission to continue to adhere to congressional direction to prioritize safety in order to maintain the trust and confidence of

the public and the industry. In fact, the provisions in the ADVANCE Act, originally part of S. 1111 reported by the Committee on Environment and Public Works, provide the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with the tools and resources it needs to ensure that it can execute that safety mission efficiently and effectively into the future.

Yes. The update to the mission statement does not compel the NRC to update its approach to determining how to set safety standards beyond what is required by current law.

Yes. The notification is meant to provide an additional mechanism for Congress to use in the oversight of the Commission's activities relating to nuclear exports. However, nothing in the ADVANCE Act changes the NRC's current responsibilities under the Atomic Energy Act to determine whether the granting of an export license is inimical to the national security interests of the United States. This means that if the NRC determines that issuance of an export license to any country is inimical to the national security interests of the United States, then the NRC is required by law to deny such a license, regardless of the technology involved.

Yes. To assist Congress in understanding the extent and nature of exports to countries that have not ratified International Atomic Energy Agency safety and security protocols, the Commission must notify Congress if the NRC determines that an export license for a covered item to a covered country is not inimical to the common defense and security of the United States. This bill does not intend to establish a new standard that differs from the current inimicality requirements under the Atomic Energy Act.

The ADVANCE Act has no effect on the current authorities of the Commission, the Secretaries of Energy, State, or any other Federal Agency involved in the export of nuclear technology. The notification in section 103 exists in addition to existing authorities and does not absolve Federal Agencies charged with executing and overseeing nonproliferation polices from ensuring that the deployment of all nuclear technologies intended for peaceful civilian power uses do not contribute to proliferation, as required by law. In addition to relying on its own resources, the NRC currently, and as a matter of routine practice, consults with intelligence and other national security agencies in order to inform its inimicality determinations. I fully expect that practice will continue, and nothing in this bill would change it.

No. The bill simply allows the Secretaries of Energy and State to explore pathways to grant generally authorized status to countries other than having 123 agreements in place. The bill does not relieve those Secretaries of their statutory responsibilities to preserve standards for nuclear safety and nonproliferation in the export of nuclear technologies to any countries, including those designated as Generally Authorized Destinations.

Madam President, as many of our colleagues know, I am the proud father of two sons and a stepson. It has been the joy of my life to be their father. My wife and I love them all unconditionally.

But the journey to parenthood is not the same for every family, nor always an easy one. Being the last Vietnam veteran serving in the U.S. Senate, I know the importance of helping our servicemembers when they return home from deployment abroad.

During my three deployments to Southeast Asia many years ago, many of my brothers in combat shared dreams of coming home to marry and start families of their own. But those who made it home from Southeast Asia, as well as other war zones past and present, have often struggled with health issues for years to come, including infertility.

While IVF was not an option for returning Vietnam veterans, had it been available, I know it would have helped countless young couples start their families in the country they fought so hard to protect. We have an obligation to serve those who serve our country, and this bill does just that.

The Right to IVF Act is a commonsense piece of legislation, and bringing more life into this world should be an issue that all of us can agree on.

I urge all of our colleagues to join us today in passing this legislation before us.

With that, I yield the floor.