Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn to then convene for a pro forma session only with no business being conducted on the following date and time: Friday, June 17, at 8:30 a.m. I further ask that when the Senate adjourns on Friday, June 17, it next convene at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate be in a period of morning business for debate only and with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each until 5:30 p.m.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order, following the remarks of the patient colleague Senator Portman of Ohio.

Mr. President, like a lot of other Americans, I didn't sleep much last night, didn't sleep much at all. I couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of sorrow that I felt for the community of Uvalde, TX. Nineteen innocent children, fourth graders, were gunned down in their classroom 3 days before summer break--3 days. Two teachers were murdered as well. Countless children witnessed their classmates and teachers shot and killed as they climbed through windows to try to escape the massacre. Twenty-one families are living every parents' worst nightmare--the loss of a child. Instead

of planning their summer vacations, those families are now planning their children's funerals. Their nightmare is our national nightmare.

Though my own boys are now grown adults, I can't help but think when my wife and I used to help them with their homework and tuck them into bed at night. I can't help but think of when they were the same age of the 19 elementary children gunned down at their school yesterday. Like millions of American parents across our country, my wife and I are brokenhearted today.

Millions of Americans dropped their children off at school this morning, and my guess is they probably hugged them extra tightly. They said goodbye and watched those kids walk into school. And they left to hope and pray today that their children will be there, alive, at pickup at the end of the day or that they will be on the bus ride coming home at night. They are left to hope and pray that they never get the shattering call that those families in Uvalde received yesterday.

We are the only country in the world where parents have to hope and pray that their children will not be murdered at school by a gunman. We are the only country in the world where a fourth grade classroom can be turned into a battlefield by a madman with an assault weapon.

This has to stop. We can't go on this way. We are mourning this tragedy, and I refuse to accept inaction. I refuse to accept that the mass slaughter of children in their fourth grade classroom is somehow normal. This has to stop. We can't go on this way.

For as long as I have been in this Chamber--that is some 21 years--we have been failing to address the epidemic of gun violence in this country. This has to stop. We can't go on this way. I refuse to believe that Congress can't reform our gun laws in a way that the American public broadly support. I refuse to believe that changing our laws won't reduce gun violence and make these tragedies less likely from recurring in the future.

We are long overdue to make commonsense reforms to our Nation's gun laws. To put it bluntly, this is not going to be easy. I know it. I think we all realize that.

Many of our friends in this Chamber revere the Second Amendment and respect the tradition of lawful gun ownership in this country. I myself am a gun owner and have been one since I was 12 years old when I bought my first BB gun. However, the Second Amendment does not give us the right to murder children at school or gun down worshippers at church or kill African Americans at a grocery store.

In our Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote these words that we all remember. He wrote:

All men [and women] are created equal, that they are

endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of

Happiness.

These 19 children were denied the right to life, to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

So in Uvalde, there is no little league game this weekend. There is no fifth grade next year. They will never get to be teenagers, go to the prom, graduate, go on to college, have a career, or have children of their own, and, if lucky, maybe grandchildren someday. Their lives were stolen from them by a gunman; and, tragically, we can never bring them back.

What we can do though--what we can do though--is to try hard, really hard to prevent this from ever happening again.

We need to be able to say to the American people: We have had enough. This has to stop. We can't go on this way. We won't go on this way.

Today, we are a nation in mourning. We also need to be a nation working together to address this epidemic, working to reform our gun laws, and doing whatever it takes to prevent another massacre in an American school, in a place of worship, or in a grocery store.

May God bless the community of Uvalde. May the Lord be with those 21 families during this time of unfathomable heartache and anguish.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, as we heard from previous speakers, we will shortly vote to invoke cloture on the nomination of Dr. Christopher Frey to be Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development. I rise today in strong support of his nomination.

Chris Frey, as he is known to his friends and colleagues, is an outstanding public servant, a deeply respected scientist, and an excellent choice to fill this leadership role at EPA.

The Office of Research and Development provides the bedrock of scientific analysis upon which we establish our Nation's critical environmental protection regulations. The EPA is able to fulfill its responsibilities to protect our air that we breathe, to protect the water that we drink, and the land we build our communities upon because of the robust scientific research provided by what is called O-R-D, the Office of Research and Development.

Dr. Frey's nomination received a bipartisan vote in the Committee on Environment and Public Works. He has the experience, intellect, and integrity to lead this indispensable office. I am eager to see him confirmed.

I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting cloture on his nomination. This is about restoring science as the guiding force in EPA's work.

I yield the floor.

Vote on Thompson Nomination

Madam President, I know of no further debate on the nomination.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I have 10 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority Leaders.

Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate:

Mr. President, this week, the solar industry in this country is at something in naval aviation that we call refusal speed. Now, what is refusal speed? Refusal speed is the speed at which an aircraft continues to pick up speed on its takeoff roll or abandon, abort that takeoff roll and remain on the ground. That is what refusal speed is.

In recent years, America's solar energy industry has been rolling down the runway, picking up speed every day. Unfortunately, there are forces at large today that threaten to abort the takeoff roll and ground this vital industry.

Today, I join my colleagues in rising to express our grave concerns about a challenge that threatens to bring the solar industry to a halt--to a halt--not from climate change deniers but from our own Federal Government.

As we speak, Mr. President, the U.S. Commerce Department is investigating whether solar energy products coming from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia should be subject to the same tariffs as are currently in place for products coming here from China. This investigation is currently freezing access to these products for American businesses that import and deploy

them across our country, and the threat of astronomical tariffs looms large.

As a result, a number of our colleagues are deeply concerned about the impact of the Commerce investigation not only on the solar industry but also on our ability to combat the climate crisis and meet President Biden's bold climate goals. We are already in danger of running out of time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I know that. The Presiding Officer knows that. All our colleagues realize that. Now this investigation threatens to create an unforced error--an unforced error--in our commitment to protect our planet. We don't have time for an unforced error. We are not waiting for the climate crisis to arrive; the climate crisis is here, and it is here now.

Without bold action, our country and our planet will continue to feel ever more devastating impacts. Already, in the last year alone, we have witnessed wildfires burning millions of acres in California, Montana, Arizona, and other Western States--fires as big as my State. The same hurricane that knocked out access to power and water for a million people in Louisiana and Mississippi then went on to produce flash floods in New Jersey and New York. People there actually drowned in their basements, unable to escape the torrent of floodwater.

To prevent further devastating, irreversible effects of climate change and protect our planet for future generations, we need to continue transitioning our Nation and our planet away from fossil fuels. Among other things, we should be doing everything in our power to lift up innovators in the solar industry, to boldly cut emissions from our power sector, and to attack this climate crisis head-on. But, unfortunately, the Commerce Department's investigation threatens to hamstring one of the strongest weapons in our fight: clean renewable energy.

The prospect of as much as a 250-percent tariff on solar products will have an immediate, disastrous impact on a leading renewable energy source for our Nation. Effectively, we would be punishing the very green industry that is helping to lead the charge to curb emissions and further reduce our Nation's reliance on fossil fuels.

We would be punishing the hundreds of thousands of Americans who work in the solar industry. In fact, the Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that this investigation currently underway threatens 70,000 jobs between now and 2025--70,000 jobs. But more than that, we have heard from businesses in the solar industry that say that the very threat of these tariffs is already freezing imports needed to build solar infrastructure and bolster our defense against the climate crisis.

The idea that solar companies may have to sit around waiting for January 2023 to come around just to see if industry-rocking tariffs will be announced--that alone is destabilizing. It is worse than destabilizing; it already risks bringing investments to a standstill, while adding uncertainty to the solar market and pushing utility companies to slow their transition away from fossil fuels out of fear for a change in American climate priorities, because that is what is at stake here. What do we value? Are we committed to a clean energy future, a transition to a 100-percent carbon pollution-free electric sector by 2035 and to protecting American jobs and lives from an impending climate crisis or are we OK with the status quo, with holding back our renewable energy prospects and continuing to let politics dictate our planet's future?

Across this Nation, Americans are feeling the effects of climate change in every storm surge and every coastal flood. We certainly see that in my home State of Delaware. We are the lowest lying State in America. The seas around us are rising. My State is sinking. Americans across the country are ready to do whatever it takes to save our planet and create a ton of jobs at the same time.

I implore the Biden administration to swiftly expedite its investigation rather than drag this process out and add to the uncertainty of businesses across our country and to rule out retroactive, job-killing tariffs in the process.

In this moment--in this moment--we have to act with greater urgency to drive down emissions. In this moment, we have to unleash the power of American clean energy. In this moment, we need to protect our planet for generations to come.

To fall short of our commitment would be to let down all of those who inherit this planet from us. Make no mistake, future generations will look back at this critical moment in our Nation's history to see what we did when our planet was on the line. Heaven forbid they look back and see that our own hand--our own hand--forced this error.

Again, I implore this administration to end this investigation, lift up the solar industry, and help us meet our Nation's climate goals.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that several individuals serving on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works majority staff and one individual in my personal office be granted privileges of the floor for the remainder of the Congress. Their names include Janine Barr, Mayely Boyce, Susan Kimball, Milo Goodell, Matthew Marzano, Grace Fluharty, Connor Ransom, Alex Smith, and James Drueckhammer.

Mr. President, Senator Capito and I are introducing legislation today to reauthorize appropriations for the National Wildlife Refuge System's volunteer and partnerships program. I want to share with our colleagues some information about the Keep America's Refuges Operational Act and ask for their support.

The Keep America's Refuges Operational Act reauthorizes the volunteer and partnerships program, with no increase, at $2 million per year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses the modest Federal funding it receives for this program to leverage volunteer contributions by providing uniforms, training, equipment, and necessary travel.

Our National Wildlife Refuge System is an exceptional network of more than 850 acres of public lands and waters dedicated to fish and wildlife conservation. Tens of millions of people visit our refuges each year to explore, fish, hunt, and view and study wildlife. This ecotourism strongly supports local economies. During the pandemic in particular, our national lands, including refuges, were safe outdoor spaces for recreation.

Volunteers are critical to refuge operations. They assist with fish and wildlife surveys, restoring habitat, and supporting refuge office functions. Without volunteers and partner groups, refuges would likely have to cut back on public programs and reduce hours of operation.

In my home State of Delaware, we have two beautiful refuges--the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge and the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Both refuges are highly dependent upon volunteers.

Each year, people come to our refuges to observe the federally threatened red knot shorebird, which stops along the Delaware Bay to refuel on horseshoe crab eggs along its migration journey. Volunteers make sure these visitors have memorable experiences.

When people can see these pristine habitats and the many species that call them home, they are inspired to be good stewards of our planet for the enjoyment and benefit of future generations.

I want to ensure that these opportunities opportunities abound in Delaware and around the country. A small annual investment in the refuge system volunteer and partnerships program goes a long way. Every $1 appropriated to coordinate these volunteers translates to approximately $10 worth of volunteer services.

These appropriations also help cut government costs. In fiscal year 2021, more than 11,000 volunteers donated 68,879 hours, with donated time equaling that of 318 full-time employees. The value of this time contribution is about $18.5 million.

I want to thank Senator Capito for cosponsoring this commonsense legislation. I look forward to working with her and our colleagues in the House to pass the Keep America's Refuges Operational Act and enact it into law.

Mr. President, Senator Capito and I are introducing legislation today to reauthorize appropriations for the National Wildlife Refuge System's volunteer and partnerships program. I want to share with our colleagues some information about the Keep America's Refuges Operational Act and ask for their support.

The Keep America's Refuges Operational Act reauthorizes the volunteer and partnerships program, with no increase, at $2 million per year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses the modest Federal funding it receives for this program to leverage volunteer contributions by providing uniforms, training, equipment, and necessary travel.

Our National Wildlife Refuge System is an exceptional network of more than 850 acres of public lands and waters dedicated to fish and wildlife conservation. Tens of millions of people visit our refuges each year to explore, fish, hunt, and view and study wildlife. This ecotourism strongly supports local economies. During the pandemic in particular, our national lands, including refuges, were safe outdoor spaces for recreation.

Volunteers are critical to refuge operations. They assist with fish and wildlife surveys, restoring habitat, and supporting refuge office functions. Without volunteers and partner groups, refuges would likely have to cut back on public programs and reduce hours of operation.

In my home State of Delaware, we have two beautiful refuges--the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge and the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Both refuges are highly dependent upon volunteers.

Each year, people come to our refuges to observe the federally threatened red knot shorebird, which stops along the Delaware Bay to refuel on horseshoe crab eggs along its migration journey. Volunteers make sure these visitors have memorable experiences.

When people can see these pristine habitats and the many species that call them home, they are inspired to be good stewards of our planet for the enjoyment and benefit of future generations.

I want to ensure that these opportunities opportunities abound in Delaware and around the country. A small annual investment in the refuge system volunteer and partnerships program goes a long way. Every $1 appropriated to coordinate these volunteers translates to approximately $10 worth of volunteer services.

These appropriations also help cut government costs. In fiscal year 2021, more than 11,000 volunteers donated 68,879 hours, with donated time equaling that of 318 full-time employees. The value of this time contribution is about $18.5 million.

I want to thank Senator Capito for cosponsoring this commonsense legislation. I look forward to working with her and our colleagues in the House to pass the Keep America's Refuges Operational Act and enact it into law.

I rise reluctantly in opposition to the motion to instruct offered by our friend from South Carolina. I genuinely enjoy his friendship. And working with him, I agree with him on many issues. This is one where we just disagree.

I have serious concerns with the motion he is offering tonight to prevent U.S. greenhouse gas emission mandates from being enacted unless China enacts similar mandates. Greenhouse gases that drive climate change threaten our planet, threaten our lives. They threaten our livelihood.

They also present an opportunity for the United States to lead on the global stage. We have an opportunity--a now-or-never opportunity--for our country to lead in deploying clean, American-made technologies, to lower greenhouse emissions, create American jobs, and position our economy to compete with and beat competitors, including China, like a drum.

Our ability to provide clean energy leadership or to collect climate change data should not be contingent on the action of our foes, as this motion to instruct recommends. The leadership is keeping out of step when everyone else is marching to the wrong tune, including China.

In conclusion, our country should be leading by example--not from behind--in tackling the climate crisis so that our businesses, our workers, and our planet reap the benefits of a clean economy.

And that is why I will be voting reluctantly on this motion to instruct our colleagues, and I hope you will join with me.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print the following letter in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to print the following letter in the Record.

Mr. President, I am honored to follow my colleague from Wisconsin, and I rise as well regarding the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.

As some of you will recall, one of our colleagues from New Jersey, Senator Booker, delivered unusually poignant and unscripted remarks recently in the Senate Judiciary Committee about Judge Jackson's nomination and credentials and character. He moved many of those who were present to tears and spelled out as only he can what this nomination means for our Nation and particularly for the millions of Black Americans who look at Judge Jackson and see their own mothers, their own daughters, their own sisters, and their own friends.

Unfazed by the unfair attacks that day on Judge Jackson, our colleague said these words:

Nobody is going to steal my joy.

I second that emotion. This historic moment and this historic nominee bring me great joy as well.

For the next several minutes, I am going to talk about Judge Jackson's impeccable qualifications. I am going to discuss her sterling record as a public servant, including nearly a decade as a Federal judge, that makes her supremely qualified to serve on our Supreme Court.

I also want to talk for a bit about the historic nature of this nomination and attempt to put in context just what it means for our Nation and for me personally to cast a vote to confirm the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, because today, indeed, it brings a lot of us real joy in this body to know that we have the opportunity and the privilege to play a small part in Judge Jackson's confirmation.

Similar to President Reagan delivering on his promise years ago to nominate the first woman--Justice Sandra Day O'Connor--to the Supreme Court, President Biden has delivered on his own promise. He has nominated the first Black woman to the highest Court in our land, and our Nation can be proud of the nominee we are here to debate and to confirm.

Let me begin, however, by taking just a moment to thank Justice Stephen Breyer for his exemplary service to our country.

As many of our colleagues know, Justice Breyer was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1994, when I was serving as Governor of Delaware. Our Presiding Officer was an astronaut up in the ether above our planet. Justice Breyer was confirmed, some will recall, by an overwhelming bipartisan vote--87 to 9.

Justice Breyer served our country with distinction for over six decades, including as a corporal in the Army Reserve, a Federal circuit court judge, and for nearly three decades on the Bench of the highest Court in our land.

Justice Breyer is known as a consensus builder on the Bench--a trait I have long admired in judges dating back to my time as Governor of Delaware, when I had the opportunity to nominate literally dozens of highly qualified individuals to serve on Delaware's highly respected courts. Over the past three decades, Justice Breyer has helped forge principled compromises to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to uphold the rule of law.

During a small ceremony at the White House in January when Justice Breyer first announced that he would be retiring, he brought with him a pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution. In his brief remarks, Justice Breyer reminded us of how Lincoln and Washington and so many other giants of American history have described that document, our Constitution. They described it as an experiment.

As Justice Breyer reminded us, during the time of Washington and Lincoln, there were plenty of folks who doubted our system of government could ever work, plenty of folks who said: Well, that is a great idea in principle, but it will never work, at least not for long. But, as Justice Breyer said that day--he said: It is our job to show them that it does work and it will continue to work.

Our Constitution has made possible the greatest experiment in democracy in the history of the world. Over the past several years, I have spoken any number of times on the Senate floor about the wisdom of the Framers of our Constitution. In the hot summer of 1787, they met in Philadelphia, as you will recall, and designed an intricate system of checks and balances. Article I dealt with the Congress; article II dealt with the executive branch of our government; and article III, the judiciary.

America is the longest running experiment in democracy, and our Constitution is more replicated across the globe than any other Constitution in the world. But our Constitution has never been perfect. The Framers never pretended that it was perfect.

This past weekend, I was privileged to give the keynote address during a commissioning ceremony at the Port of Wilmington for a new Virginia-class, fast-attack, nuclear submarine that bears the name of Delaware--the first Navy vessel named after the State of Delaware in over 100 years. At the end of my remarks, there was a crowd of about several thousand people gathered on the Delaware River, right beside the submarine and its crew. Among the folks in that crowd were the President of our country and the First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, who was the sponsor of the boat.

I asked everyone there to stand and hold hands and join me in reciting the preamble to the Constitution, which begins something like this:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect Union--

It doesn't say ``a perfect Union''; rather, it says ``a more perfect Union.'' Why is that? Because our Framers understood that this would be an experiment and that it would be up to each generation that follows to decide how this experiment will proceed and if it will succeed, up to each generation to face those who say that this great experiment in democracy will never work.

It is through our actions on days like this that we show them that it does

still work. Judge Jackson's nomination is proof that, indeed, we have made this Nation more perfect over time and that despite our divisions--and we have them--generations of Americans have worked together, often across party lines, across State lines, across philosophical lines, to make a nomination like this possible.

Like many Americans, I have seen remarkable progress in my own lifetime. While my sister and I were born in a coal-mining town in Beckley, WV, we were raised in Danville, VA, right on the North Carolina border, just north of Greensboro.

Danville, VA, was known as the Last Capital of the Confederacy. Forced to flee Richmond after Union victories started piling up in early 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis actually held his Cabinet's last meeting--their last meeting--in Danville, where I grew up. He did that a few days before Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox.

Although it was nearly a century after the Civil War ended when my family moved to Delaware--nearly a century--racial prejudice and discrimination still prevailed there.

Growing up, my sister and I witnessed racism up close and personal. Every morning, for example, our schoolbus would take us to an all-White high school 10 miles away from our home, and about half an hour later, another schoolbus would come by and pick up Black students who had been waiting along with us and take them to their school, past my school and another 10 miles to their school, which was not a better school. It was a school that none of us would be especially proud of.

If my sister and I went to lunch with our family, we would sit at the lunch counter, but Black families were denied service.

If we went to the movie theater in Danville, VA, we sat on the ground floor; the Black patrons had to sit up in the balcony.

That is the America many of us lived in not all that long ago--the same America that Judge Jackson's parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, were born into. It was an America where discrimination on the basis of race was sanctioned by State governments; an America where the judicial doctrine of ``separate but equal'' was still enshrined into our laws by the Supreme Court; where arbitrary literacy tests kept Black Americans away from poll booths; an America that treated back Americans like second-class citizens despite a civil war, an Emancipation Proclamation, and ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to our Constitution. It was an America that was far from perfect.

But through decades of struggle, and thanks to the heroes of the civil rights movement, our Nation began to confront injustice in our communities and inequality in our laws. And thanks to brilliant Black lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and Wilmington, Delaware's Louis Redding, a number of legal challenges to America's separate but unequal classrooms went all the way to the Supreme Court.

And perhaps the greatest decision in the Supreme Court's history, Brown v. Board of Education declared to the Nation that the principle of separate but equal could never truly be equal. Brown v. Board of Education did not make our Nation perfect. But it was proof that when the Supreme Court is at its best, America and our Constitution are at their best.

The Supreme Court changed the America that my sister and I lived in-- that Judge Jackson's parents lived in--for the better. Combined with the landmark civil rights bills of the 1960s, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it made the America that Judge Jackson was born into more perfect than it was for the generations that came before her.

And I hope and pray that each generation will continue to recognize the uniquely American opportunity that our Constitution affords us--the ability to change our communities and our laws for the better--and take on the task themselves.

As Judge Jackson stated in her confirmation hearing, her parents taught her that--and I want to quote her. This is a quote from her:

Unlike the many barriers that they had to face growing up,

my path was clearer, such that if I worked hard and believed

in myself, in America I could do anything or be anything I

wanted to be.

And, my goodness, did she work hard. The daughter of two graduates of HBCU colleges, Judge Jackson was a star on her high school debate team and was elected ``mayor'' of Palmetto Junior High School and student body president of Miami Palmetto Senior High School. Judge Jackson then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and cum laude from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She clerked for not one, not two, but three Federal judges, including for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Judge Jackson could have done anything she wanted with a resume like that--anything--including pursuing any number of well-paying opportunities in the legal profession. Instead, Judge Jackson chose public service, in part because service was instilled in her by her parents, both of whom were public schoolteachers. And public service, no doubt, runs in her family.

Her younger brother felt a similar call to serve. After graduating from another fine HBCU university, Howard University right here in Washington, Judge Jackson's brother enlisted--enlisted--in the U.S. Army right after the 9/11 attacks. He was deployed to Iraq. He also ended up going to Egypt. And then following in the footsteps of two of Judge Jackson's uncles, he became a Baltimore police officer.

When I had the opportunity to meet with Judge Jackson in my office last month, we talked about a wide range of things. Among them, we talked about the diversity of her professional experience, including her time as a public defender right here in the Nation's Capital.

As most of us know, public defenders work very long hours for very little pay. They represent clients who cannot afford an expensive lawyer, and in some cases, they cannot afford any lawyer at all. But our system of government affords every person charged with a crime the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair trial, and the right to a competent defense.

It is a testament to the character of Judge Jackson that she is so committed to equal justice under the law that she was willing to commit the early stages of her career to this important work.

If confirmed, Judge Jackson would be the first Supreme Court Justice to have served as a Federal public defender in this Court's long, storied history and the first with significant criminal defense experience since Justice Marshall.

Now, in 2005, I voted to confirm Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court; not every Democrat did that. As you may recall, he was appointed by former President George W. Bush, a Republican. Some of my colleagues might remember, before Chief Justice Roberts was ever nominated to a Federal judgeship, he worked in private practice where his firm represented an individual appealing a death penalty conviction for the murder of eight people.

During his 2005 confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Roberts was asked about it and stated--and I want to quote him right now. Here is what he said:

In representing clients, in serving as a lawyer, it's not

my job to decide whether that's a good idea or a bad

idea. The job of the lawyer is to articulate the legal

argument on behalf of the client.

Chief Justice Roberts likened this work to John Adams defending British soldiers after the Boston Massacre, saying that Adams:

. . . helped show that what our [Founding Fathers] were about

was defending the rule of law, not undermining it. And that

principle that you don't identify the lawyer with the

particular views of a client or the views that the lawyer

advances on behalf of the client is critical to the fair

administration of justice.

Like Chief Justice Roberts, Judge Jackson has lived up to the values set out over 230 years ago, and in doing so, she has protected and defended our Constitution.

After her time as a public defender, Judge Jackson served as a vice chair for the U.S. Sentencing Commission. She was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate.

Judge Jackson was then nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate for that post.

And last year, President Biden nominated Judge Jackson to serve on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, oftentimes referred to as our Nation's second highest court. Yet again, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate with bipartisan support.

During the decade that she served as a Federal judge, Judge Jackson established a track record as a consensus builder, just like Justice Breyer. During the decade that she served as a Federal judge, Judge Jackson has been evenhanded and she has been impartial. During the decade that she has served as a Federal judge, Judge Jackson has ruled for and against the government, in favor of prosecutors and for criminal defendants, and for both civil plaintiffs and defendants.

As Judge Jackson told our colleagues on the Judiciary Committee recently, she has, she said:

a duty to decide cases based solely on the law, without fear

or favor, prejudice or passion.

Judge Jackson is always guided by our Constitution. And it is why she received the support of judges nominated by Democrat and Republicans alike, by law enforcement and the civil rights community, and by Republicans and Democrats in this body on multiple occasions.

Now, these past few weeks, I heard some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle use this confirmation process to mention the unfairness toward past nominees. Well, every one of these nominees-- every nominee that they referred to received a hearing and a vote. The same cannot be said of Merrick Garland, former chief justice of the DC Court of Appeals who was nominated by former President Obama to serve on the Supreme Court. Judge Garland did not receive a hearing. Judge Garland did not receive a vote because our colleagues on the other side of the aisle decided to invent a new rule, and most of them even refused to meet with Merrick Garland, one of the finest servants I have ever known. And this shameful blockade led to what many Americans, myself included, view as a stolen Supreme Court seat, a permanent stain on this body's reputation and a reduction in the Supreme Court's credibility.

Then 4 years later, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle broke their own precedent and invented yet another new rule to confirm a Supreme Court Justice 8 days--8 days before election day, when tens of millions of ballots had already been cast.

And while I will never forget this truly shameful behavior, this week we have a chance to move away from politics. We have a chance to place an extremely well-qualified nominee to the Supreme Court and to do so with the support of Senators from both sides of the aisle.

In the end, the American people need to trust the Supreme Court to make decisions on questions that impact every single American: whether we have access to clean air is one of those issues, whether we have access to clean water, whether we have access to good healthcare, whether women have the right to make their own healthcare decisions. We need a Supreme Court that stays above the political fray. We need a Supreme Court that calls ``balls and strikes,'' as Chief Justice Roberts once said--a Supreme Court that maintains the trust of the American people as the arbiter of a Constitution that protects the civil rights of all Americans.

Judge Jackson will bring a breadth and a diversity of experience to the Supreme Court not often seen. Judge Jackson's resume--Harvard; Harvard Law; clerk to three Federal judges, including Justice Breyer; a public defender; U.S. Sentencing Commission vice chairman; Federal district court judge; and Federal Circuit Court judge--is evidence that she is among the most-qualified individuals in our country for this esteemed role.

Her character and her intellect are beyond reproach. She weathered a grueling confirmation process with grace and dignity.

Let me close by noting that Judge Jackson's nomination is proof that today in America one's qualifications and unrelenting work ethic earn you your spot, that public service is valued and commitment to the principles that protect our country do mean something, that the sacrifices of one generation slowly but surely make for a better America for the next generation.

So count me among the millions of Americans who are inspired by Judge Jackson's life story, a uniquely American story that provides proof that our Nation can be made more perfect over time.

And it brings this Senator from Delaware, who grew up in Danville, the last capital of the Confederacy, into a much different America. It brings me great joy to be able to cast a vote for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.

And with that I yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to mark a moment in history for the First State, your neighboring State, to celebrate the first U.S. Navy vessel to be named after Delaware in more than 100 years.

In 2 days, I will be joined by the Secretary of the Navy, the First Lady of the United States, and what will feel like half of Delaware at the Port of Wilmington to commemorate the commissioning of the Virginia Class of nuclear submarine, the USS Delaware.

And while the vessel was first officially commissioned underwater and underway on a mission at sea due to the COVID restrictions on April 4, 2020--a first in Navy history--a first in Navy history--this weekend, we will get to give the USS Delaware, its crew, and the people of Delaware a fitting celebration above the surface of the water.

It has been a long time coming for the USS Delaware. So many people across Delaware and in the Navy have worked hard not just for weeks, not just for months, but for years to make this weekend a reality for our State and the crew.

I would be remiss not to mention my wingman in the U.S. Senate, Senator Chris Coons, and our wing-woman in the U.S. House of Representatives, Lisa Blunt Rochester, as well as our Governor John Carney for their long-standing support for the USS Delaware. They will be joining us on Saturday to celebrate.

You probably wouldn't be surprised to learn that SSN 791--that is the number assigned to the USS Delaware, is not the first Navy vessel to bear the name ``Delaware.''

The first USS Delaware was launched in 1776. Its role? Delaying the British Fleet's approach to Philadelphia and thus impeding the ability of the British to resupply their army in our War of Independence. That was the first USS Delaware.

The sixth USS Delaware was completed in April of 1910. Armed with ten 12-inch guns, it was the most powerful battleship in the world at the time. Over 100 years would pass before another US Naval vessel would bear the name ``Delaware.''

Then, one day in 2012, I came across a letter to the editor from a constituent in Delaware whose name is Steven Llanso. He wrote to the editor. He said: You know, it has been a long time since a ship was built and named after the State of Delaware. Maybe somebody should do something about it.

I thought about it for a while. I thought about it for a couple of weeks, actually. I pulled my staff together and said, ``Why don't we do something about this?'' And they said ``Let's do,'' and we did.

The next week, I was on the phone with then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, former Governor of Mississippi--us both being former Governors-- and a long-time friend, and he would go on to become the longest serving Secretary of the Navy in the history of our country.

I explained the situation to Secretary Mabus. He graciously heard me out and agreed 100 years was a long time. Before we hung up, he said to me, ``Let me think about it, Tom. I will get back to you in a couple of months.'' And true to his word, 3 months later, he gave me a call and said that over the next several years, the Navy would begin construction on not one, not two, but three, maybe four Virginia Class nuclear submarines, and the first one off the line would be named the USS Delaware.

Now, I was talking on a mobile phone, but if I had a landline--if I was talking with him through a landline, I could have reached through the landline and kissed him. I was so happy. And I didn't do that. But it was a wonderful moment, one that I relished in, and I certainly do today. He is a great friend, a great leader of the Navy then and a patriot, and he has done so many things for our country. So thank you, Ray.

So this weekend, almost a decade since I first spoke with then- Secretary Mabus, I will have the honor of finally introducing the newest USS Delaware to the people of Delaware. And there is a whole lot of it to take in.

The USS Delaware is a Virginia Class U.S. nuclear submarine. The Delaware will carry 26 MK-48 torpedoes, which enable it to conduct the sub's more traditional role of tracking and, if necessary, sinking enemy submarines, as well as a wide range of surface vessels.

The Delaware is also designed for versatile operations in shallow water, closer to land, performing reconnaissance activities, delivering Special Forces. It is also configured to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles which can be launched while the Delaware is on patrol. The Tomahawk can strike targets nearly 1,000 miles away with pinpoint-- pinpoint--accuracy.

This is one hell of a fighting machine. You know, they have a saying down in Texas you have probably heard. It says ``Don't mess with

Texas,'' and I would just add to that, to our adversaries, ``Don't mess with the USS Delaware because, if you do, we will eat your lunch. I promise.''

And, oh, yes. There are 136 crewmembers aboard the USS Delaware. They hail from 20 States across our country. Almost half of the States are represented in the crew of our sub. The crew also includes 15 officers and 121 enlisted men, a dozen or so who are chief petty officers. My dad was a chief petty officer for nearly 30 years, World War II and beyond. And he always told me when I was a midshipman, he used to say, ``Tom, the chiefs run the Navy.'' And you know, they did, and my guess is they still do.

But in addition to having an opportunity to introduce the crew of the USS Delaware to the people of Delaware this weekend, we will also have an opportunity to introduce Delaware to the crew of the State that they are representing.

With tongue in cheek, I like to describe Delaware as the 49th largest State in the Union, and it is comprised of three counties and 1 million people. We are about 100 miles from north to south and about 50 miles from east to west along our southern border with Maryland, the Presiding Officer's State.

Native Americans, including the Lenape Indians, lived in Delaware for hundreds of years before the Dutch arrived some 400 years ago and established Lewes, DE, the first town in the first State, located where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Delaware Bay.

A quick story: The Dutch were not all that kind to these Native Americans who lived in that greater area which is now Lewes. And the Native Americans literally wiped out the Dutch colony. Later on, the Dutch would come back in greater numbers, be more kind to the Native Americans, and the colony of Lewes grew and prospered.

The British looked askance at this and worried about the growth of this Dutch colony surrounded by British settlements and forces. One night, the Dutch went to bed to sleep in Lewes, DE, and the Brits burned the town to the ground. The next morning, when the Dutch surveyed what happened, there was one house still standing, the Ryves Holt House, believed to be maybe the oldest permanently standing house in North America. The Ryves Holt House is now a part of a national park.

Later on, in 1631, the first Swedes and Finns sailed by what would become the Port of Wilmington. Their sailing ships--the Kalmar Nyckel and the Fogel Grip--took a turn to the west for a couple miles on a smaller river that they named the Christina after Sweden's 12-year-old child queen. Along its banks, they established the colony of New Sweden, where Wilmington stands today. The church they built there is believed to be perhaps the longest continuously serving church in North America--Old Swedes church--and believe it or not, there are now more Swedish-Americans than there are Swedes in Sweden.

Fifty-one years later, William Penn would sail up the Delaware, past Wilmington, past the Port of Wilmington now, to what is called Penn's Landing, about 25 miles north of Wilmington, and carried with him the deeds from the King of England to what would later become the Colony of Pennsylvania and something called ``the Lower Three Counties.'' That would be us, Delaware. But the real Penn's Landing, ironically, was in what is now New Castle, DE--not Pennsylvania, but New Castle, DE.

And there is a legend. Legend has it that not only did he stop there, but he spent the night in Delaware. And later on, he was asked why did he stop in Delaware, and he said, ``Tax-free shopping.'' ``Tax-free shopping.''

A few hundred years later, up the Christina River, 10,000 shipbuilders, mostly women, would build many of the ships, including destroyer escorts and troop landing ships that enabled us to emerge victorious in World War II. And that is only part of the storied history that the USS Delaware joins today.

Throughout Delaware history, the letter ``C'' has figured prominently. Our first settlers planted corn--a lot of it. They raised chickens, a lot of them, and fed them corn. Our State bird is, believe it or not, the ``fightin''' blue hen. Today, there are nearly 300 chickens for every person who lives in the First State of Delaware. Later, we become known as the ``Chemical Capital of the World.'' Thank you, DuPont, for hundreds of amazing, amazing inventions. Delaware's coastline is not large, but the last I checked, it was home to the most five-star beaches than any other State coastline in America--and one of them is Rehoboth. And Rehoboth is a name that is translated to mean ``room for all.''

Not long ago, we built more cars in Delaware per capita than any other State. Not surprising is that they were Chryslers and Chevrolets.

And while we have no sales tax, Delaware is the home of incorporation of half the Fortune 500 and half the New York Stock Exchange. So corporations are important to us. While I don't know what credit card is in the wallet of most of the people on the floor today, there is a good chance it is issued by a bank with operations in Delaware.

Now, that is a lot of C's, but even our political leaders have gotten into the act with names like Carvel, former Governor; Castle, former Governor; Carney, current Governor; Coons, our senior Senator; and Carper, his wingman. And even though Joe Biden didn't start out as one of the C-boys, he was close, just off by one letter. Joe Biden has ended up, as you know, as our Nation's Commander-in-Chief. That is a lot of C's put together in a very nice way. Not bad for a scrappy kid from Scranton, PA.

By far, the greatest contribution that Delaware has made since the founding of our country occurred on December 7, 1787, when Delaware became the first State to ratify our Constitution. I like to say we are the first to ratify, followed shortly thereafter by Maryland, Pennsylvania, and others; but for 1 whole week, Delaware was the entire United States of America. We opened it up and let others in. And I think for the most part, it turned out pretty well, at least until now. But the Constitution that we ratified on December 7, 1787, would become the most enduring Constitution in the history of the world and by far the most replicated.

You know, none of us are perfect--certainly not me--and our Constitution was not perfect either; but over time, we have made it better, a lot better. Along with the Bill of Rights, it provides a framework, if you will, and a path that has made our country the envy of much of the rest of the world.

But at the end of the day, our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence are words on a piece of paper without the resolve made real by the commitment and sacrifice of men and women who wear and have worn the uniform of our country.

Let me end with this. I suspect that most of my colleagues remember studying the Constitution in school--maybe in grade school, maybe in middle school. I remember it. In fact, my sister and I had to learn and actually recite the Preamble in middle school. As you know, it begins with something like this:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic

Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the

general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to

ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this

Constitution of the United States of America.

The Preamble of our Constitution doesn't say ``in order to form a perfect Union''; it says ``a more perfect Union.'' Why is that? Because as citizens of our great country, it is up to each of us to do our part to ensure that the arc of American history bends toward perfection and justice, even knowing that we will probably never fully achieve it.

The men who serve and will serve aboard the USS Delaware will bear our State's namesake literally for decades to come, maybe a half- century or more, in defense of our Nation. The crewmembers are answering the call of our Nation written over 230 years ago. Through their sacrifice, through their service, may we grow even closer to that more perfect Union. We are--I know I am--grateful for their service today.

May God bless and protect the crew of the USS Delaware, both now and in the decades to come, and may each of us live our own lives in ways to ensure

that America remains a nation worthy of their sacrifice so that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people will not perish from this Earth.

USS Delaware, long may she sail.

And before I yield back my time, I guess we have been joined on the floor by our friend and colleague, John Cornyn from Texas. And Senator Cornyn, I think maybe before he arrived, I used the phrase--I acknowledged the phrase, ``Don't mess with Texas.'' ``Don't mess with Texas.'' And I went on to explain all the weapons systems that the USS Delaware has on board. It is a pretty amazing, incredible submarine. And I said: It is all right not to mess with Texas, but you better not mess--for our adversaries, you better not mess with Delaware, either.

With that, I yield the floor to my friend from Texas, Senator Cornyn.

Madam President, I stand in solidarity with my friend from Kansas. I say to Senator Moran: Thank you for your great leadership and for allowing me to be your wingman as we do our best, not just to save the Postal Service, but to make sure that they are robust and germane to the futures--germane to the future and integral to the future of our country as they have been for the last 200-plus years.

When folks in Delaware gathered--we had about 25 men who gathered in a place called Dover, DE, on December 7, 1787. We voted, after debating for 3 days a draft Constitution. We adopted it unanimously and sent it off to the other 12 Colonies.

One element in the Constitution that was sent to us from Philadelphia by our Founding Fathers was the creation of a Postal Service--a Postal Service. It has been mentioned before that the first Postmaster General was Ben Franklin, of all people. What the Founding Fathers had in mind was a way to bind us together as a country--to bind us together as a country. The idea of being able to communicate through the mail, that was important; the idea of fostering greater economic growth, that was important. But they also were looking for a way to pull us together as a new nation, and the Postal Service was integral to doing that.

Over the years, the Postal Service has changed. For the most part, I think it has changed in good ways. It used to be people got their mail by going to post offices that were maybe in the community where they lived or close to the community where they lived, but they had to go to the post office to get it.

Eventually, the mail was delivered to farms and to homes and to businesses across the country, and people didn't have to leave their homes to get the mail. There was a time, not that long ago, when we didn't have the internet, and if we wanted to communicate--we wanted to send letters to people or cards to people, a lot of gifts to people--we would use the Postal Service.

Today, we can use the internet. The internet doth taketh from the Postal Service--taketh and giveth away. A lot of folks, well, they just hit a ``send'' button for a birthday card or a Christmas card or any kind of holiday card. They used to send the actual cards; a lot of people don't do that anymore.

If you look at the financial condition of the Postal Service, one of the things that has happened most noticeably in the last 10, 15, 20 years is a drop in first class mail, and a large part of that is from the internet. I would like to say again the internet taketh and it giveth away.

One of the great things that comes out of the internet is that a lot of people are ordering items over the internet for purchase. A lot of people order food, but a lot of people order clothes; they order shoes; they order all kinds of things. And you know who has a chance to deliver it? The Postal Service. The Postal Service delivers, not just 1 day a week, but 7 days a week. They are omnipresent.

And as we hear Johnny Cash--every time I turn on my TV, I hear Johnny Cash singing ``I've Been Everywhere, Man,'' and the Postal Service still goes everywhere, man.

They also have a great partnership with--believe it or not--UPS and a great partnership with FedEx. FedEx and UPS, they don't want to go to every mailbox in the country every day. The Postal Service does it at least 6 days a week. And what the Postal Service does in a partnership with UPS and FedEx is take a handoff and deliver the last mile, last 5 miles, last 10 miles to the places that the Postal Service is going to go to anyway.

I mean, one of the challenges that the Postal Service has had to try to balance their books, their finances, comes--I remember when I was Governor of Delaware and going to the rating agencies, and the rating agencies said to us--before they lowered our credit rating a long time ago--they said: You don't have a pension fund. You haven't funded your pension costs for your pensioners. And so we created a pension fund fully funded.

After we had done that--later on, we finally got a AAA credit rating years later. One of the things they said is: You still haven't fully offset the healthcare costs for your pensioners. For us, that was a concern, but not an enormous concern, because our pensioners had access--they were covered under Medicare.

Unfortunately, for the Postal Service--the Postal Service has paid into Medicare for years for their employees. Unfortunately, when those retirees reach the age of 65, they don't have full access to the full benefits of Medicare. That is not right. These are benefits paid for by the employee of the Postal Service, and this legislation fixes that to make sure that the right thing is done. The benefits that have been paid for through Medicare are actually inured to and flow to the pensioners of the Postal Service.

The other thing that I would mention is 6-day service. I used to see--good service by the Postal Service would be maybe 1-day service for local maybe in the same city, 2-day service maybe to other parts of the State, 3-day service coast-to-coast; and the legislation that is before us today calls for delivery within 6 days. For me, that is not good enough, and my hope is we can come back and somehow better replace or better restore the term service.

Having said that, the Postal Service has a Board of Governors; and every now and then, Presidents have the opportunity to nominate people to serve on the Board of Governors. We have the opportunity to vote them up or down. We need people on the Board of Governors who are very good at figuring out: How do we help the Postal Service monetize the burden of going to every single mailbox in the country 6 days a week? How do we do that? How do we help the Postal Service turn that into financial opportunity, much as they have with UPS and FedEx? And are there other ways, as well? Delivering medicines is a great example there, and there are other examples--vote by mail. I think we are only scratching the surface on vote by mail. Those are all ideas that help the Postal Service monetize and realize revenue from this responsibility to go to every mailbox in the country.

One last thing I would mention that is not in this legislation is postal vehicles--postal vehicles. There are a bunch of them--I think well over 150,000 across the country. Almost every one is gas- and diesel-driven.

You have seen others--UPS, FedEx, Amazon, others with big fleets--are transitioning away from gas and diesel, and they are doing it rather quickly. We are seeing the same kind of transformation in the vehicles that we drive. Why is it important? Because we have way, way, way too much carbon dioxide in the air. It is creating not just climate change, but it is creating a climate crisis.

My State--we are the lowest lying State in the country. My State is sinking. The seas around us are rising. Down in Louisiana, every 100 minutes, they lose a piece of land to the ocean the size of a football field--every 100 minutes. If you go out on the West Coast, you had wildfires each year--last year bigger than my State. Temperatures in the Arctic Circle reached, I think, last year, 90 degrees--90 degrees. There were more named hurricanes in the last year than any year in history. The hottest summers on record.

Something is going on here, and what it is, is way too much carbon in the air. A lot of that carbon is coming from mobile sources, including the vehicles we drive, including the fleets like the Postal fleet. The Postal Service's fleet is about 25 years old on average. They have the opportunity here to update that. The cost of moving to electric vehicles and having charging stations is a cost that the Postal Service says--I think somewhat generously--that we, as taxpayers, need to help underwrite that cost.

Having said that, the Postal Service and their calculation for buying gas and diesel-fired vehicles to replace their fleet, I believe--my understanding is they are using, as an assumption for the cost of gas and diesel fleet, $2 a gallon charge for gas and diesel going forward-- $2. We would like to see $2, wouldn't we? That is just basically understating by half the cost of gas and diesel for future of the fleet, and that needs to be fixed.

We have a great opportunity to make sure that the Postal Service is not just delivering the mail rain, snow, or shine, but they are also doing so in a way that helps us on the climate crisis side. We can do both, and we need to do both.

I will close by saying this: I want to thank and applaud the leadership of our chair and ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction here--our chair, Gary Peters, and ranking member, Rob Portman. Thank you and your staffs for your work on this and for a lot of other folks who have worked on this before--most certainly, Jerry Moran and his team.

I especially want to thank the members of my staff who have worked on these issues forever.

And my friend Susan Collins--Susan is not on the floor right now, our Senator from Maine--but she has spent, God knows, plenty of time and effort working with me and others on these issues.

This is not the end. This is not the end in terms of what we need to do on Postal. This is maybe the beginning of the end; this the end of the beginning, but it is a good end of the beginning. We need to build on this and go forward on this, and I hope and pray that that is exactly what we do.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce, along with the Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Casey, the Junior Senator from Delaware, Mr. Coons, the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Booker, the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Menendez, and the Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer, the Delaware River Basin Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2022.

The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act became law as part of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of 2016. This legislation, which I was proud to lead, responded to the need for Federal, State, and local governments and regional partners to come together to identify, prioritize, and implement restoration activities within the Delaware River Basin. The legislation also created a nonregulatory grant program for which appropriations have flowed through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has done an excellent job of working with the Fish and Wildlife Service to administer the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund under the authority of this act.

In just a few short years, this program has grown tremendously. To date, the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund has awarded more than $25 million to projects that support recreation, water quality, water management, and habitat. Grantees have matched that investment by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1--an impressive total conservation impact of over $70 million.

This program is a great example of how when the government--at all levels--works with diverse suites of nongovernment stakeholders, we can achieve meaningful results on the ground that improve the lives of people and wildlife alike.

For example, the program has funded several diverse projects in Delaware, including installing pollinator gardens at places of worship, removing a dam in White Clay Creek, improving fish passage in the Brandywine River, and restoring wetlands at our national wildlife refuges. These restoration efforts protect the species we love, clean up our drinking water, and provide a boost to local tourism.

The legislation I am introducing today would reauthorize the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act and make some minor improvements to allow even better results on the ground throughout the Delaware River Watershed. This reauthorization has clear benefits for our environment and economy--a win-win for Delaware and our region.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact this important legislation this Congress. I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the bill I am introducing today appear in the Record following my statement.