Floor Statements

Mr. President, I am so happy to join my colleagues on the floor in a very solemn effort to think through the meaning, at a 1-year anniversary, of the attack upon the Capitol on January 6.

Today is not only that anniversary. Today, in the Christian tradition, is the Feast of the Epiphany. And I remembered, sitting in the Chamber last year, as we were barricaded in, under attack, and with the confusion all around me, at one point I realized: Today is the Feast of the Epiphany--the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6.

What is Epiphany? The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the arrival of the magi at the manger. Wise men of the day saw a portent and disturbance in the sky, and were led to a place where they believed something remarkable would happen.

What they found completely surprised them. It wasn't what they were expecting. It wasn't power. It wasn't pomp. It wasn't majesty. It was a tiny baby, born to a family too humble to even get a room at an inn, lying with his mother in a stable, surrounded by barnyard animals.

They found something that they couldn't have imagined, and it changed their lives and it changed the world.

Why do I reference the Feast of the Epiphany? I reference it because, like many things in the Christian story, it has gone way beyond Christianity.

By the middle 1700s or 1800s, the word ``epiphany'' now had a broader use. It was not just about the arrival of the magi at the manger. The word ``epiphany'' now means something much more widespread in the English language. It is defined as a moment in which you suddenly see something in a new or very clear way.

The word ``epiphany'' comes from a Greek root meaning reveal. All of us--all of us--no matter how long we have been around, have the capacity for epiphanies--deeper understandings of essential truths that reveal themselves in our lives.

I want to talk about January 6 and one epiphany I have had as a result of it.

Before I do, I want to acknowledge five people, five Virginia law enforcement officers, who lost their lives in the days after the Capitol attack.

I thank my colleague Senator Warner, who talked at really important length about the contributions of the Virginia State Police and the VA National Guard. I want to focus on five people: Brian Sicknick, U.S. Capitol Police, 42-year-old, after service in the military, had been with the Capitol Police for 13 years, dying immediately after the attack because of injuries he received that day; Jeffrey Smith, another Virginian, 35 years old, 12-year patrolman with the Metropolitan Police Department, died after the attack, by suicide; Howie Liebengood, 51 years old, a 15-year veteran of the U.S. Capitol Police, died shortly after the attack, by suicide; Kyle DeFreytag, 26-year-old, 5-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, died a few days after the attack, by suicide; Gunther Hashida, 43 years old, an 18-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, died in the days after the attack, by suicide--all Virginians.

I am haunted by these deaths, and I will say, I am particularly haunted by those who died by suicide, whose families are now fighting to get line-of-duty benefits for their deaths.

All of us, in our lives, have been affected by suicide in families and friends. And suicide is complicated. There is not a single thing, as you dig into a suicide, but I just use the insights I have gained as a member of the Armed Services Committee, together with you, Mr. President.

Over the time we have been here, there has been a slight shift in understanding of causes of suicide within the military.

The conventional wisdom about it, when I came here, was that suicide was driven, maybe, as a principal factor in the military and among veterans because of the cumulative effects of trauma. The trauma was so significant that that led to suicide. Of course, trauma is a key factor, but a more recent understanding of suicide suggests that an even more important factor may not be trauma, but a sense of abandonment.

I was in a military unit. I had a lot of people around me. They had my back. We were close. We were connected. We were really tight. And then I moved into a civilian world, where I didn't have that connection and people didn't have my back, and I was lost, and I didn't know whom to turn to or who would look out for me.

I am haunted by the deaths of these four Virginians to suicide because I wonder if they felt abandoned. Did they feel abandoned by us?

They were fighting that day to save our democracy, to save this Capitol, and to save their lives, and yet 147 of the 535 Members of Congress voted with the mob to overturn the election, to throw out the democracy, to do the bidding of a would-be authoritarian.

If you are fighting to protect these 535 Members of Congress and this institution and you watch nearly 30 percent of the Members side with the attackers, I would suggest that they might have felt abandoned.

When I was here on January 6, I experienced a lot of emotions, and I am just going to describe two: relief and anger.

Relief? How could that day create a sense of relief?

I was relieved that I had told my staff to stay home. My chief of staff disobeyed me. But I was relieved that I had told my staff to stay home. Thank God, they were safe.

I was relieved to look right here and see no pages. I was relieved that pages were not here in this Chamber, because, thank God, they would be safe.

And I was relieved not only because my staff was safe, but I was relieved because I didn't want their youthful, altruistic, public- service motivation to be damaged or demoralized by what was happening that day.

I expressed this to my staff this morning. I sent a note to them, and I said: In the middle of all these emotions, I was relieved that you weren't here; that I had told you to stay home so you wouldn't be in danger like so many were. But I don't want you to be demoralized by what happened.

And I had a staff member come to me right before I came to the floor and said: January 6 didn't demoralize me; it energized me.

Thank God for that.

The second emotion that was so powerful in me, and even so powerful that I couldn't quite understand it, was anger. Now, of course, anger would be an acceptable and completely understandable reaction to what was going on. And I have known anger in my life, but the anger I felt that day was different than what I had felt in 63 years. There was something different about it.

And it took me months--it took me months--to figure it out. Was it just the physical attack? Was it the friends and staff and other people who were in danger? Yeah, that was all part of it.

It took me months to figure out exactly why I was so angry. And then I had an epiphany. I had an epiphany.

No one in my life had ever tried to disenfranchise me. I am a White male, born in 1958. I am a civil rights lawyer in the capital of the Confederacy, fighting for voting rights for all kinds of people. Of course, voting rights were important. I was passionately committed to it in my professional life before I came here, but it was something that I was sort of, you know, trying to do to help others. No one had ever tried to disenfranchise me.

But what was going on on the floor that day was an effort to object to the very first State, as you went through them alphabetically, that had voted for Joe Biden, to object to that State and try to disenfranchise, through that objection and others that were lined up, the 80 million people who had voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. All of us who cast our ballots that way, we were being disenfranchised that day.

It had never happened to me before. For some Americans, they had experienced disenfranchisement often in their lives. Some Americans have experienced disenfranchisement during their whole lives. Some Americans have experienced disenfranchisement not for 4 hours but for 4 centuries. It had never happened to me.

For a few hours, and just a few--and just a few--I felt the pain of those who have faced disenfranchisement efforts to take away or threaten their vote for their whole lives, and I hated it. I hated that feeling. I hated that feeling.

My epiphany was one of empathy: So this is how it feels when others scheme to take your vote, when they try to exclude you, when they try to say you don't count. This is how it feels. It hadn't happened to me before, and for a few hours, it did.

The next morning, I walked into the Capitol and the Sun was shining and the threat to me was past. We had finished the work. The insurrection delayed the certification and peaceful transfer of power, but it couldn't stop it.

But the epiphany of briefly being in the shoes of those who have been disenfranchised throughout their lives has changed me profoundly. It hasn't changed my personality. It hasn't changed my relationships. But it has changed my priorities.

Again, I was a civil rights lawyer doing voting rights work in the capital of the Confederacy. Protecting the right to vote has always been important to me. Protecting the integrity of campaigns and elections have always been important to me. But now it is beyond that. It is not just an important priority, it is an existential necessity that we respond to the mass disenfranchisement effort of January 6, with guaranteeing the franchise; guaranteeing people's right to vote; guaranteeing that, when they vote, they can be secure that their vote will be counted; guaranteeing that they can trust the integrity of the officials that will call the outcomes of elections.

My epiphany of empathy has put me in the shoes, for a few hours, of those who have experienced disenfranchisement, and I have concluded that the only response to that has to be--has to be--a concerted effort to protect voting and protect the democracy that relies upon it.

I will say this and conclude: January 6 will always be remembered as the attack on the Capitol. January 6 will always be the Feast of the Epiphany. January 6 was a day in our history of epiphanies.

But what is the purpose of an epiphany? Is it just to kind of see things a new way?

I think the purpose of an epiphany is to change your life; it is to be surprised. Go and see something that you didn't expect, and then be willing to adjust your life and your priority as proof that you were paying attention.

We will be faced with a most significant decision in the coming days. Having been the 100 Senators out of the 2,000 in history who have inhabited this

Chamber who were here during the attack, will we understand what happened, absorb that epiphany, and then act to protect people's rights to participate in this democracy?

I pray that we will. I pray that we will.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, communities of color and those living in rural and underserved areas face significant barriers to healthcare, including physician shortages that have only been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, in many communities of color and rural areas, there are few pathways to enter the medical profession. While medical school enrollment is up by 30 percent, the number of students from rural areas entering medical school declined by 28 percent between 2002 and 2017, with only 4.3 percent of all incoming medical students coming from rural areas in 2017. Similarly, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students face several barriers to matriculate and graduate from medical school, and there is significant underrepresentation of these students at all U.S. medical schools with the exception of historically Black medical schools. These medical schools represent 2.6 percent of all medical schools but 15 percent of Black medical students, indicating the important role that these institutions play in increasing the diversity of the physician workforce. Health outcomes for patients of color improve when they receive care from doctors of their own racial or ethnic background, and the shortage of providers of color exacerbates the barriers to care that these communities experience. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened long standing health inequities, and it is critical that we expand the diversity of our physician workforce to tackle these rampant disparities and the systemic biases within our health care system.

This is why I am introducing the Expanding Medical Education Act, which aims to tackle the lack of representation of rural students, underserved students, and students of color in the physician pipeline by encouraging the recruitment, enrollment, and retention of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The bill would provide grants through the Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA, to colleges and universities to establish or expand allopathic or osteopathic medical schools in underserved areas or at minority-serving institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities, HBCUs. These grants can be used for planning and construction of a medical school in an areas in which no other school is based; hiring diverse faculty and staff; recruitment, enrollment, and retention of students; and other purposes to ensure increased representation of rural students, underserved students, and students of color in our physician workforce.

Our rural communities and communities of color face significant challenges accessing healthcare. It is time our physician workforce reflected these communities. We need to diversify our physician pipeline and change the disparity in representation, and this bill will help get us there. I am proud to reintroduce this important legislation to help us get one step closer to ensuring communities across Virginia and the Nation have access to the medical professionals they need. I hope the Senate passes this legislation quickly.

Mr. President, communities of color and those living in rural and underserved areas face significant barriers to healthcare, including physician shortages that have only been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, in many communities of color and rural areas, there are few pathways to enter the medical profession. While medical school enrollment is up by 30 percent, the number of students from rural areas entering medical school declined by 28 percent between 2002 and 2017, with only 4.3 percent of all incoming medical students coming from rural areas in 2017. Similarly, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students face several barriers to matriculate and graduate from medical school, and there is significant underrepresentation of these students at all U.S. medical schools with the exception of historically Black medical schools. These medical schools represent 2.6 percent of all medical schools but 15 percent of Black medical students, indicating the important role that these institutions play in increasing the diversity of the physician workforce. Health outcomes for patients of color improve when they receive care from doctors of their own racial or ethnic background, and the shortage of providers of color exacerbates the barriers to care that these communities experience. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened long standing health inequities, and it is critical that we expand the diversity of our physician workforce to tackle these rampant disparities and the systemic biases within our health care system.

This is why I am introducing the Expanding Medical Education Act, which aims to tackle the lack of representation of rural students, underserved students, and students of color in the physician pipeline by encouraging the recruitment, enrollment, and retention of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The bill would provide grants through the Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA, to colleges and universities to establish or expand allopathic or osteopathic medical schools in underserved areas or at minority-serving institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities, HBCUs. These grants can be used for planning and construction of a medical school in an areas in which no other school is based; hiring diverse faculty and staff; recruitment, enrollment, and retention of students; and other purposes to ensure increased representation of rural students, underserved students, and students of color in our physician workforce.

Our rural communities and communities of color face significant challenges accessing healthcare. It is time our physician workforce reflected these communities. We need to diversify our physician pipeline and change the disparity in representation, and this bill will help get us there. I am proud to reintroduce this important legislation to help us get one step closer to ensuring communities across Virginia and the Nation have access to the medical professionals they need. I hope the Senate passes this legislation quickly.

Madam President, I am honored to join my colleagues today to speak about the child tax credit and to do something similar to what they have done and just make it personal to families.

Tomorrow, on the 15th of December, more than 930,000 Virginia families, who together have 1.6 million kids, will receive a child tax cut payment--$300 for a child under age 6 and $250 for each child between ages 6 and 17. Those are big numbers. Those are big numbers-- 1.6 million children; 930,000 families.

And I am here joining my colleagues to ask that this payment to parents--this parents' tax cut--to help their children is not the last, because unless we act, the sixth payment that will go out tomorrow will be the last.

Now, the numbers are big, but sometimes the numbers can obscure--data and statistics can obscure--what is really at stake. So just a week ago, I put up on my Senate web page a question: What has this tax cut meant to your family?

In 1 week we have received more than 200 responses, and I just want to share a few with you.

Heather, from Glenn Allen, is a full-time caretaker of her physically disabled daughter. Her daughter started having trouble with the stairs in her home. So they used the child tax cut payment to help them buy a new stair lift so her daughter is still able to navigate the home.

Heather wrote this to me:

My family deeply appreciates the child tax credit because

we routinely incur additional expenses while caring for a

loved one with a disability. I take care of our daughter full

time, which makes us a one-income household, so the tax

credit helped make a difference.

Beatrice from Rockingham, in the Shenandoah Valley, works at Cooks Creek Presbyterian Church, and she sees how the child tax cuts have affected families they work with. One mother of six, whose husband is incarcerated, relies on the payments to help with her child's medical expenses. Another couple that comes to this church, who are in their sixties, are raising their great-nephew because his mother suffers from addiction. The tax cut is helping them cover necessities for this great-nephew.

Lawanda--I have a picture of Lawanda and her family. She is a single mom from South Boston, down on the North Carolina border. Lawanda sent me this picture and said: Use this picture. She used the payments to help buy clothes and shoes for her children and to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, which they usually can't afford.

I love this picture because this is a picture of people with smiles. These are resilient people, who dream of a better future, and this child tax cut is helping them achieve at something as simple as being able to buy fresh vegetables rather than canned, or shoes. Something as simple as that is what this child tax cut is about.

A Virginian from Lynchburg wrote that the tax cut has helped buy healthy food, clothing, and shoes. And then she said this:

Children grow so fast now and eat more, which causes many

trips to the grocery store. We are senior citizen, retired

grandparents with legal guardianship of our granddaughter.

With this being the last payment in December, which would be

used partly for Christmas gifts for her, we will [really]

have to stretch this.

Grandparents--grandparents raising their granddaughter and finding in this tax cut the ability to afford Christmas gifts.

Nicole from Leesburg is using the tax cut for therapy for her autistic son because insurance no longer covers it.

In another picture is Sasha from Midlothian, which is right outside of Richmond. Sasha wrote to me and said this--and this is Sasha and her young one:

My husband and I both have secure jobs, but the cost of

full-time infant care is very high. We spend 23 percent of

our combined monthly income on daycare for one child--our 1-

year-old son. We also just paid off my student loans and

are saving to buy our first house next year. The child tax

credit has allowed us to save more money for that house

and to pay off debts. We would like to grow our family but

worry about our financial burden.

She also wrote:

Thank you for working so hard to pass the Build Back Better

bill. I am following it closely because it means so much to

my family's future.

From Alexandria, a constituent wrote:

Before the pandemic, the high price of childcare made it

difficult to balance my family's budget. Each month we went

into debt a little bit more. My husband is a full-time

student, and I am the sole breadwinner.

The child tax credit helped them start to pay down debt, to begin an emergency fund, and to start a college fund for their son.

A resident from Waynesboro:

I benefited tremendously with the child tax credit. I am a

single parent in every aspect, raising two growing boys. It

has helped me out with getting things they need for the

school year. Also I saved some to be able to give them a good

Christmas.

Finally, Laquanda from Roanoke--all she said was this:

Please fight for us. Please fight for us.

I could go on for a long time with these messages, as could my colleagues, but I will stop there. I have read you stories from people who live in every region of Virginia.

I want to thank my colleagues Senators Bennet, Brown, Booker, Warnock, Cortez Masto, and others for leading the charge on getting this policy into the American Rescue Plan earlier this year, and I want to thank all of my Democratic colleagues because this thing passed by one vote in March. If any of us had been absent, if any of us had lost our last race, the American Rescue Plan would have failed, and none of these families would have received the support of the child tax credit.

Well, we are going to have that opportunity again, and, given the fact that one party has said they will not support this bill, it is on our shoulders. These families who are struggling and working so hard and who have hopes as high as any of our hopes, they need us. As Laquanda said, they need us to fight for them.

Thank you to my colleagues for joining in that.

With that, I yield the floor but would defer to my colleague from Colorado.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote not begin until following my remarks.

Madam President, in a minute, I am going to ask unanimous consent for the approval of three important nominees who are not controversial. We have been hearing reasons to oppose a nominee who has some controversy, and I am going to raise three who are not controversial.

In July, I had the opportunity to travel to Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, and Guatemala as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation. The first question we received in Mexico was not about COVID-19 and not about immigration. It was, When is your Ambassador going to get here?

Fortunately, since then, the Senate has approved the nomination of Ken Salazar to be Ambassador to Mexico, but the exchange underscores the importance of having U.S. Ambassadors on the ground and the value that other nations see in Senate-confirmed representatives of the United States.

I take the floor today to talk about three noncontroversial nominees: Adam Scheinman, of Virginia, to be Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation; Marc Ostfield to be Ambassador to Paraguay; and Cynthia Telles to be Ambassador to Costa Rica.

Mr. Scheinman has had a long history in the State Department and on the National Security Council at the White House on Nuclear Nonproliferation issues.

Marc Ostfield is a career Foreign Service Officer with deep experience in the Americas.

Cynthia Telles is the daughter of the first Hispanic to be a U.S. Ambassador. Her father was the U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica 60 years ago, and after a very distinguished career, she has been nominated to inherit the post that he ably inhabited.

These were all nominees approved noncontroversially by the Foreign Relations Committee on October 19, nearly 2 months ago.

I will just mention to my colleagues one thing about Mr. Scheinman. It is particularly important that he be confirmed as soon as possible. An important duty of the Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Nonproliferation is to lead the U.S. delegation to the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty Review Conference. This conference happens once every 5 years--once every 5 years--and it is going to happen next month. If he is not confirmed before then, the United States will not have an Ambassador-level official to lead the American delegation at this existentially important meeting.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations: Executive Calendar Nos. 433, 436, and 439; that the nominations be confirmed; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order on these nominations; that any related statements be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Madam President, may I invoke regular order? This is not a response to any of these three nominations.

Madam President, we have no interest in silencing Senator Cruz. In fact, the Democrats agreed to allow Senator Cruz to present his amendment on Nord Stream 2 last week, and it was blocked by Republican colleagues.

I have made a request for unanimous consent about two Ambassadors to the Americas and about someone who needs to attend a nuclear nonproliferation conference and lead the delegation from the United States. It happens once every 5 years, and it is coming up.

The Senator is allowed to speak about Nord Stream 2 for as long as he wants, but he shouldn't interrupt a UC for these three individuals to give a speech that he has given many times and that he is going to continue to give many times, and I am sure we are all going to hear it many times.

I would like a ruling on my request for unanimous consent on these three nominees.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, Parliamentary inquiry. This is impromptu because I wasn't aware of this until the Senator from New Hampshire just spoke.

Is it the case that a Senator making a live UC on the floor to advance a nomination can be blocked from making a live UC by someone who will not even agree to appear on the floor of the Senate?

I have learned something new about the Senate rules that I wish I did not know.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise to support the position of my colleague.

When you are unwilling to describe something accurately, it betrays a weakness in your position. I heard my colleagues complain about the vaccine mandate. It is not a vaccine mandate. It is a vaccine or testing mandate. If you don't want to get a test--if you don't want to get a vaccine, don't get a vaccine. Get a test so you can go to work each week without infecting your colleagues with the deadly disease.

What my colleagues are asking is that people be protected so that they can go to work with a deadly disease, infect coworkers, and still get a paycheck--and still get a paycheck. If you don't want to get a vaccine, get a test. If you are unwilling to protect your coworkers, don't demand a paycheck.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.

Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk about the unique partnership between the United States and Switzerland. I had the opportunity earlier this month to meet with President of Switzerland Guy Parmelin to discuss the U.S.-Switzerland partnership on apprenticeship and workforce training. Our meeting came on the heels of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing considering the nomination of Scott Miller to be the Ambassador to Switzerland. My questioning of Mr. Miller covered many topics, to include the recent decision by the government of Switzerland and Swiss voters to purchase Lockheed Martin F-35s as their next-generation fighter jet.

In the following weeks, I have received more information on the benefits of the F-35 and the incredible opportunity this security cooperation provides for both Switzerland and the United States. In fact, prior to making a selection, the Swiss Federal Council completed a comprehensive analysis and determined that the F-35 offered the highest benefit, at the lowest cost: $2 billion less than the next lowest bidder.

In making their choice, the Government of Switzerland and Swiss voters clearly recognized the value of the F-35, as well as the superior capabilities the F-35 offers. The deal has my enthusiastic support, and I appreciate our continued partnership with the Swiss Government and the Swiss people.

Mr. President, I am glad to follow my colleague from the Dakotas because I would certainly never attempt to interpret the electorate of another State.

I can tell you about the Virginia elections that happened a couple weeks back. The message, I think, from our voters pretty loud and clear was: We want you to get stuff done. If we in the Senate and in the House had passed the infrastructure bill and passed the Build Back Better bill before the Virginia election, I think the outcome would have been different.

What we were hearing again and again from voters is: We gave you a majority. Please act on it, especially at this time when Americans are so challenged by now nearly 20 months of pandemic and economic devastation.

So I stand on the floor as a proud Virginian, very focused on celebrating the accomplishment of yesterday--President Biden's signature on the infrastructure bill--but also saying we have to pass the Build Back Better bill in order to respond to what our constituents are asking of us at this challenging time.

Mr. President, I want to speak today, sort of, maybe not so much as a Senator but as a former city councilman and mayor.

I am sort of unique. There are 30 people in the United States who have been a mayor, Governor, and U.S. Senator--1 of only 30 in our entire history. The first time I was introduced and someone said that, I thought, that clearly cannot be right. So many Governors become Senators, that clearly cannot be right. I asked the Historian to research the matter because someone introduced me that way. And it came back that that is correct. Only 30 people in the history of this country have been a mayor, a Governor, and a Senator. And as I pondered the reason for that, it suddenly occurred to me: Being a mayor will kill you.

Governors can become Senators, but mayors often make everyone mad, and it is hard to go from being a mayor to having a post-mayoral political career because the job is so tough.

And yet, when people ask me: Which job do you like better, Governor or Senator, I always say: Look, I like them all. But if you made me give up every title I ever had except one, the one I would hold on to is mayor. I would hold on to being a mayor because when you are a mayor, it is 24/7, 365. There is no recess for a mayor. City councils and mayors don't go into recess. You are dealing with people on the issues that are the closest to them. You can make people happier or madder.

You can convince people in local government, in a nation of 330 million, sometimes they think: What does my vote matter? What does my voice matter? No one will listen to me. In local government, you can convince people that actually they will be listened to.

So I would hold on to that mayoral role, and, frankly, if I had not been mayor, I never would have been a Lieutenant Governor or Governor or a U.S. Senator. So I owe anything that I am or do in politics now to the fact that I started in local government.

I spoke yesterday to the Virginia Association of Counties, the gathering of all county supervisors of all 95 counties around Virginia. They gather once a year, usually in person. Last year, it was by Zoom.

They were so glad to be back together, in person, in Norfolk yesterday, hundreds of them in a conference room. And they asked me to come and talk about what is going on in Congress. And I said: How much time do you have? But what I really focused on was three things, and I want to focus on those three things now, speaking about them from the perspective of local officials not just in Virginia but all over this country: first, the American Rescue Plan, which was passed in March, but it is just beginning to have an impact in Virginia's cities, counties, and towns; second, the bipartisan infrastructure bill that was signed at the White House yesterday; and, third, the education and workforce bill that we are working on now that I believe will reach the President's desk in December.

I started off by telling these county supervisors what I truly believe; that anybody in public life right now, elected or a first responder or any classroom teacher, when we are all finished with our times in public life, I think we will look back on this period of time, beginning March 2020, as the most important period of our public service careers. The pandemic has created such destruction, death, economic catastrophe, illness, and division that we have all been tested in our personal lives and our work on behalf of our citizens. Our constituents have needed us in unparalleled ways since March of 2020.

Last year, on a cold Saturday in March, we passed the American Rescue Plan. It contains significant funding in four basic pillars: healthcare, relief to individuals and families, aid to businesses, and then, finally, aid to State and local governments, including educational institutions.

The American Rescue Plan immediately affected millions of Americans-- families, healthcare, institutions, businesses--through measures like massive vaccine deployment, checks to individuals, business grants. These kept families afloat and helped protect themselves against COVID, and they also kept the lights on for many of our local businesses.

But what I want to focus on is the aid that we gave to State and local governments and, again, particularly--particularly--to local governments. Virginia and its localities, through the American Rescue Plan, received $7.2 billion in the American Rescue Plan; $4 billion to the Commonwealth of Virginia and $3.2 billion to our cities, counties, and towns.

And as soon as we passed it, I started to go around and talk to our cities, counties, and towns: How are you going to spend these local moneys? What they told me was interesting in April

of last year. They said: Well, first, we are going to wait and see how the State decides to spend their $4 billion because we don't want to spend on something and have the State spend on the same thing. So we are going to let the State, the Governor, Governor Northam, the General Assembly program the $4 billion. But while the State is doing that, we are going to go out and dialogue with our citizens.

And I really applaud my local governments. Recognizing this was one- time money that wouldn't happen every year, they had intense public dialogue with local constituents about what can we do to really transform? How can we use this money? And they have done it in fascinating ways.

As I traveled around the State and talked to these local governments, I see them advancing long-delayed capital projects, water and wastewater upgrades, closing the digital divide by investing in broadband, constructing community centers in parts of the community that haven't received investments in the past.

Many gave hazard pay to first responders. The American Rescue Plan helped people fund police, ambulance, fire, mental health workers, public health workers, grants to local nonprofits and churches that supported the community during COVID, grants to shore up Virginia's hard-hit businesses that were engaged in the tourism industry as people stopped traveling. This is what our local governments have done with these dollars.

The investments are supplemented by more than three and a half billion additional dollars to Virginia childcare providers, K-12 school systems, colleges, community colleges, with billions more for other local priorities like transit and broadband infrastructure.

So it was heartening to talk to these county officials. And there are more red counties in Virginia then there are blue counties, so I was talking to county officials from all over the State, and more would have been in Republican counties than Democratic counties. But they were thrilled that Congress--that the Senate by a one-vote margin, as we all remember--passed the American Rescue Plan to invest in these key local priorities.

Mr. President, on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, I told them: I am going to leave this floor and race to Washington and hope that there aren't any State troopers nearby because I need to get to Washington to go to the signing at the White House of the infrastructure bill.

This is the Nation's biggest commitment to infrastructure since the Interstate Highway System initiative in the Eisenhower administration. It will employ hundreds of thousands of people and raise the platform for economic success for decades.

The Presiding Officer was in local government just like I was, and if you are in local government, you care about infrastructure. When I was a mayor, I had a transit system, I had roads, I had bike trails, I had an airport, I had an Amtrak station, and I had a port on the James River, which is connected to the Chesapeake Bay. There is a lot of oceangoing and freight going out of our port. I had all of that. If you are in local government, you care about infrastructure. That is why it was exciting to see so many mayors and local officials at the White House yesterday when the bill was being signed.

I was proud to cheer on my colleagues who worked on that bill, and I thank all of them. I am especially proud that a provision that I had with Senator Wicker, of Mississippi--to enable our historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions to be involved in training the workforce and creating the innovations that we will need to make this infrastructure investment--was included in the bill.

I want to give a special thanks to my Virginia colleague, Mark Warner, who, I think, was sort of an unsung hero in the negotiations around the infrastructure bill.

The impact of the bill is going to be felt in Virginia for generations: billions for roads and bridges, ports and dredging, airports, rail to trails, railroad, climate resiliency, broadband, energy grid modernization, waste and wastewater infrastructure. The infrastructure bill contains a significant investment for Chesapeake Bay cleanup--that really matters to us--and a significant investment in the Appalachian Regional Commission. That really matters to southern and western Virginia, the parts of our State that are in Appalachia.

Allocating these dollars to States in smart ways will allow them to prioritize the use of the funds in our cities, counties, and towns in a way that will ensure that each State gets to tackle the most important priorities, because the Virginia solution wouldn't be the California solution or the New Hampshire solution. Every State can use these funds to fund the projects that are the most important there. Virginia is going to receive a minimum of $100 million for affordable broadband, at least $7.6 billion for roads and bridges, and at least $2.7 billion for transit, among other sizable investments.

As I explained this to my Virginia Association of Counties yesterday morning, they were overjoyed because they all had--and the Presiding Officer remembers this--their local capital improvement projects lists, with projects that had been bumping along for years, and there were never enough dollars to really advance them. Now the dollars will be there to get the projects done and cross them off the lists.

Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill to improve stormwater management practices at Department of Defense, DOD installations across the country.

Climate related impacts, such as increased rainfall intensity and sea level rise, exacerbate the problem of stormwater runoff. Excess stormwater can threaten our military readiness and pollute surrounding waterways and ecosystems.

This phenomenon is acutely present in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where DOD is the second largest Federal landholder, and stormwater is the only pollutant in the watershed that continues to increase. Therefore, it is imperative that the DOD, as an official partner to the Chesapeake Bay Program, do all that it can to support reduction in pollution runoff consistent with the State-based watershed implementation plans required by the Environmental Protection Agency. Climate change has put numerous Virginia and Maryland military bases at increased risk of flooding, including Naval Station Norfolk, Naval Air Station Oceana, Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, Langley Air Force Base, Naval Support Activity Annapolis, Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Joint Base Andrews, and Naval Support Activity South Potomac.

While there are 137 DOD installations, sites, and facilities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, this proposal will help ensure stormwater and natural resources beat management practices are constructed, maintained, and repaired at DOD facilities across the Nation.

The Federal Government provides State and local governments with billions in financial assistance each year to invest in stormwater infrastructure through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Very limited funding exists for the financing of stormwater infrastructure on military installations. The EMBRACE Act would make stormwater management projects eligible for Federal funding under either military construction projects, military installation resilience projects, unspecified minor military construction projects, defense access roads projects, the Defense Community Infrastructure Program DCIP, and the Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program ERCIP.

The bill instructs the Defense Department to give priority to projects that retrofit buildings and grounds on bases and improve access roads prone to flooding. It backs the building of stormwater ponds and other retention strategies. It also supports replacing impermeable paving with materials that let water seep into the soil rather than run off. Projects such as rain gardens, cisterns, and planters also would be eligible for funds.

I am proud to be joined in this effort by Senators Warner, Cardin, and Van Hollen. The bill has also been endorsed by critical partners such as the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the

Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Chesapeake Conservancy, Choose Clean Water Coalition, American Flood Coalition Action, the Nature Conservancy, Southern Environmental Law Center, and Wetlands Watch. I was glad to see that Representative Bobby Scott successful in including his bipartisan companion EMRBACE Act as an amendment to the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act NDAA for fiscal year 2022. It is my hope that this legislation will be included in the NDAA upon its final' passage in Congress.

Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill to improve stormwater management practices at Department of Defense, DOD installations across the country.

Climate related impacts, such as increased rainfall intensity and sea level rise, exacerbate the problem of stormwater runoff. Excess stormwater can threaten our military readiness and pollute surrounding waterways and ecosystems.

This phenomenon is acutely present in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, where DOD is the second largest Federal landholder, and stormwater is the only pollutant in the watershed that continues to increase. Therefore, it is imperative that the DOD, as an official partner to the Chesapeake Bay Program, do all that it can to support reduction in pollution runoff consistent with the State-based watershed implementation plans required by the Environmental Protection Agency. Climate change has put numerous Virginia and Maryland military bases at increased risk of flooding, including Naval Station Norfolk, Naval Air Station Oceana, Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads, Langley Air Force Base, Naval Support Activity Annapolis, Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Joint Base Andrews, and Naval Support Activity South Potomac.

While there are 137 DOD installations, sites, and facilities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, this proposal will help ensure stormwater and natural resources beat management practices are constructed, maintained, and repaired at DOD facilities across the Nation.

The Federal Government provides State and local governments with billions in financial assistance each year to invest in stormwater infrastructure through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Very limited funding exists for the financing of stormwater infrastructure on military installations. The EMBRACE Act would make stormwater management projects eligible for Federal funding under either military construction projects, military installation resilience projects, unspecified minor military construction projects, defense access roads projects, the Defense Community Infrastructure Program DCIP, and the Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program ERCIP.

The bill instructs the Defense Department to give priority to projects that retrofit buildings and grounds on bases and improve access roads prone to flooding. It backs the building of stormwater ponds and other retention strategies. It also supports replacing impermeable paving with materials that let water seep into the soil rather than run off. Projects such as rain gardens, cisterns, and planters also would be eligible for funds.

I am proud to be joined in this effort by Senators Warner, Cardin, and Van Hollen. The bill has also been endorsed by critical partners such as the Chesapeake Bay Commission, the

Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Chesapeake Conservancy, Choose Clean Water Coalition, American Flood Coalition Action, the Nature Conservancy, Southern Environmental Law Center, and Wetlands Watch. I was glad to see that Representative Bobby Scott successful in including his bipartisan companion EMRBACE Act as an amendment to the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act NDAA for fiscal year 2022. It is my hope that this legislation will be included in the NDAA upon its final' passage in Congress.

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