Sherrod Brown

Mr. BROWN

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, we have an opportunity. We have an opportunity to come together to cut taxes for American families in my State and for the families of more than 500,000 children, and to cut taxes for American manufacturers. The deal negotiated by Finance Chairman Wyden, a Democrat, in the Senate and Ways and Means Chairman Smith in the House, a Republican, along with their colleagues of both parties, has overwhelming bipartisan support. It passed the committee in the House 40 to 3. It passed on the House floor with 357 votes. When does that happen here? It is how Congress is supposed to work. We talk with the people with whom we serve. We hear their concerns, and we act. Families are dealing with costs that are far too high because corporations continue to raise prices to pay for executive bonuses and stock buybacks and higher profit margins. I often think of this, because I hear, when my wife and I are at the grocery store near our church in Brecksville, when I am out talking to people at a roundtable, or just at an airport, people talk about high food prices. One of the reasons--the biggest reason--when people go to the grocery store, they realize they are paying for stock buybacks and executive bonuses. The American manufacturers have been telling us they can't compete with countries like China without more investment in research and development, but expiring provisions mean the Tax Code isn't rewarding that kind of investment as much as it should. I heard in Ohio from people in East Palestine. I am going for, I believe, the ninth time there next week. They are worried. This is the place, the community in Ohio on the Pennsylvania border in eastern Ohio, where the Norfolk Southern train derailed, causing all kinds of hardship for people. But people in East Palestine are worried, they tell me, that they can be hit by a surprise tax bill for the payments they rightly received from Norfolk Southern after the derailment last year. It is unacceptable. People in East Palestine have endured enough. So we came together to write a bipartisan, consensus bill that does all of those things. At a time when Washington seems pretty broken, we have an opportunity to come together and show the American people we can get things done. We can cut their taxes, we can support their businesses, we can help keep intellectual property in this country, we can help create jobs, and we can help families. The expansion of the child tax credit will help Ohio working families keep up with rising costs, including all the extra expenses that come with raising kids. It has broad support. Everyone--from the Nuns on the Bus to the National Association of Evangelicals--supports expanding the child tax credit. I know the Presiding Officer, the Senator from Arizona, and I have talked about how important the child tax credit is. It supports work. The nonpartisan scorekeepers at the Joint Committee on Taxation confirmed that this bill won't reduce work. When I hear from Ohio parents, the No. 1 thing they say they use their tax cut for is childcare, so they can work. We know how expensive childcare is. Also, when we passed this child tax credit--it is a tax cut for working families, where 90 percent of children and the families of 2 million children in my State benefited from it. We passed it 3 or 4 years ago, and it expired, unfortunately. But I got letters from families all the time saying: Now my daughter can play soccer, and we can afford the school fees. Now my son can be in a school play and afford the fees. Now we can maybe go to a movie once a month. These are all the kinds of things that families living on the edge or families not quite living on the edge contend with. It gives them that. It is key for Ohio manufacturers that invest in research and innovation. It is expensive. It is vital for keeping up with global competitors. These tax credits will allow Ohio companies to compete. Last month, I did a news conference with two longtime friends of mine, two former Ohio Republican Congressmen, Steve Stivers and Pat Tiberi. Steve Stivers is now president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and Pat Tiberi is now CEO of the Ohio Business Roundtable. They both talked about how crucial these tax cuts are for Ohio businesses. They are a major priority for American companies, as my Republican colleagues in the Senate have made clear to us all year. That is why Chairman Wyden and many of us worked with Republicans to write a bill that is a win-win for everybody. It is a true bipartisan process from the start. It includes ideas that have support from both parties. Take the lookback provision in the child tax credit, allowing parents to use the previous year's income to make sure they get the maximum possible tax cut. This is an idea that Senator Cassidy from Louisiana and I worked on together during the pandemic. We got support from both parties. This will make this bill work better. It will enable this bill to help children and families more. It is the same option that corporations have in the Tax Code. Why not make it available to families? Corporations often do lookbacks to look at the year before in calculating their taxes. Why wouldn't we make it available to families too? The way Chairman Wyden and Chairman Smith negotiated this bill is how we should do this. We listen to the people we serve. I know that Chairman Wyden spoke with a number of Republican members on the Finance Committee. He spoke with me often during this process as we worked on both the R&D tax credit and the child tax credit. I know that Chair Smith worked with members of both parties on his committee. That is why he passed it out of his committee 40 to 3. Imagine 40 to 3 on a tax bill in a Congress that has difficulty getting a consensus and getting things done. We made sure Members of both parties were in the room in these negotiations or were in the room in terms of having discussions. We got something done that brought people together. It supports families. It supports businesses. It includes priorities of both parties. It supports work. It supports American innovation. It won't add to the deficit. It is paid for by cracking down on fraud. There is no reason not to pass this deal. I mean, again, 357 votes in the House, overwhelming bipartisan support in the committee, then in the House--there is no reason to wait other than playing politics. We see it far too often here. We need to move. Tax season is underway. Families and businesses need these tax cuts now. Why would we walk away from a bipartisan bill that we could pass today if Members would put aside egos and politics and all that too often gets in the way. Let's come together to cut taxes for working families and cut taxes for Ohio manufacturers. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, today I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Warren Copeland, an Ohioan, an educator, a man of deep faith, and a dedicated public servant, who passed away this January. Warren Copeland's life and career are the epitome of public service. He believed in justice and opportunity for all, and worked every day toward that goal. He was one of the longest serving mayors in Ohio history, representing the people of Springfield from 1990 to 1994 and, again, from 1998 to 2023. Warren retired in November 2023 during his 35th year as mayor. He also served on the city commission from 1988 through 2023. Springfield was lucky to have Warren at the helm. Warren put the people of Springfield and the good of the city first. He was dedicated to his community and cared deeply for those in it. Over the course of his career, Warren achieved so much and helped make Springfield the vibrant community it is today. For members of the community, Warren was a constant; he rarely missed local events and was always there if you needed him. As a leading voice in the bipartisan Ohio Mayors Alliance, Warren offered guidance and advice to new mayors. He served as a mentor and supporter for many of his counterparts across the State. I had the privilege of working with Warren and appreciated his dedication to our State. We fought together to protect manufacturing jobs in his city and region. He knew that good jobs with a living wage are the key to strong communities. Warren also served his community and lived his faith as a professor of religion and the director of urban studies at Wittenberg University. Warren was an accomplished scholar with a master of divinity from Christian Theological Seminary and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He joined Wittenberg faculty in 1977 and continued teaching throughout his time as mayor. During his time at Wittenberg, he helped to establish the Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Civic and Urban Engagement, where he served as faculty director. The center and Warren supported students as they explored careers and interests connected to community service. He cultivated partnerships that were beneficial for his students and for Springfield, including with our mutual friend former Congressman Dave Hobson. Warren shared his wisdom and knowledge and passion with class after class. He taught his students to be engaged citizens who embody the values found in the Beatitudes and in Matthew 25, values that Warren championed throughout his life of service. Today, we recognize Warren's commitment to Ohio, we honor his life of service and faith, and we recommit to the example of service he set. Because of Warren, Springfield is a better place, and Ohio is a better place. We are grateful for his leadership and his service. Our thoughts are with his wife Clara, his three children, and seven grandchildren and all those who were blessed to know Warren.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the scheduled vote occur immediately.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise today on a pretty solemn occasion in Eastern Ohio. Frankly, I rise today to recognize a town in Eastern Ohio, one that most of my colleagues probably didn't even know existed a year ago. On February 3, 2023, less than a year ago, 38 railcars from a train spanning 1\1/2\ miles--think about that: a train spanning 1\1/2\ miles--derailed and overturned right outside the center of East Palestine, OH. Flames flared and thick, black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky. Toxic chemicals started spewing into the air and the water and the ground. We saw the footage. We all saw that footage that dominated the news. People read the articles. They scrolled through it on social media. Americans watched it, but the people of East Palestine lived it. They had to pack up and evacuate their homes in the middle of the night. They didn't know if the air they were breathing and the water coming from their faucets was safe. Their lives were turned upside down. My job is to always, always fight for Ohio. When disaster struck, we got to work. Residents in the surrounding area needed air, water, and soil testing. We secured it. They needed initial health screenings. We made it happen, and we got the Centers for Disease Control to support a free health clinic. They needed answers and help with cleanup. We got that done. Local business owners and farmers and manufacturers needed investment to keep their community alive. We delivered through a loan program through the Department of Agriculture. Now, essentially, the reporters have packed up and the cameras left the community to chase the next big story, but the people of East Palestine are still there, trying to move forward. Over the last year, I have visited East Palestine a number of times. Our staff is there even more often. Each time, we ask residents what we can do. They want the contamination cleaned up completely. They want continuous monitoring of the air they breathe, the water they drink, and screenings to see if their long-term health has been impacted. They want assurance that they won't be hit by a surprise tax bill this season, and we included a provision in the bipartisan tax deal to guarantee that--that tax deal that included breaks for our research and development and the child tax credit, voted out of the House Ways and Means Committee 40 to 3. We are fighting for all of it. We are not giving up. We will keep asking and listening and making sure they get what they need. As we sat at roundtables of their local businesses and toured the health clinic and walked through the fields of their family farms, I had the privilege of getting to know better this town and the people who call East Palestine home. They have a rich history. For decades, this community, this county, manufactured ceramics in this area, and their economy boomed. And like my hometown of Mansfield, when bad trade deals shipped those jobs overseas and the factories closed their doors, the community came together and persevered. I listened to their family stories, their hopes for their hometown, and their concerns for its future. In every visit, every conversation, every interaction, I saw determination and heart. When I think about East Palestine, I don't just think about a train derailment; I think about the resilience they have shown the world. I think about firefighters who were first on the scene that night of the derailment, having no idea what they were exposing themselves to; but that was their job. And all but one at the fire department--the chief is the exception--all but one of them is a volunteer. They have returned to work every day, despite what they found, to serve their community. I think about the parents who fought to make sure the town will still be their home and where their families feel safe. I think about the business owners and farmers and manufacturers working to resume pre- derailment operations, and I have no doubt they will. The people of East Palestine want the support and the compensation they are owed. They do not want this derailment to define them. I don't want that either. I don't want any other community in Ohio or around the country to have to deal with a disaster like this ever again. Make no mistake, this derailment was preventable. The train barreled past sensors that raised the alarm, but Norfolk Southern didn't tell the crew to stop. Norfolk Southern laid off a third of their workers in the last decade. Now, they are trying to take even more crew members off trains--trains that can be miles long and carry dangerous chemicals. Understand that in the 10 years leading up to this, a third of Norfolk Southern workers were laid off. There were stock buybacks, big dividends for the executives, and look what happened to public safety. The company is known to rush safety inspections--inspections that could help spare communities from disaster. It paints a picture of a company culture obsessed with profits at the expense of safety and the communities their trains pass through. It is the Wall Street business model: cut costs to boost your stock price, cash out millions in executive bonuses, dole out eye-popping stock buybacks--the people of East Palestine be damned. We aren't letting Norfolk Southern get away with it again. We aren't going to let them dismiss another vibrant heartland town as collateral damage. We have to make sure it doesn't happen again. One month after the derailment, Senator Vance and I teamed up to introduce the bipartisan Railway Safety Act to hold big rail companies accountable and to stop a disaster like this from ever happening again. I spent last year advocating for rail safety across Ohio in cities and towns that have had train derailments. It is not just East Palestine. It is Steubenville. It is Ravenna. It is Sandusky. It is Springfield. It is Massillon and more. All had Norfolk Southern derailments within a year of the East Palestine crash. Each one of these communities is another reason why we must get this commonsense bill across the finish line and hold Norfolk Southern accountable. After the derailments in Sandusky and Springfield, Norfolk Southern refused to pay what they owe. When local leaders came to us, we demanded they make their payments; and, finally--of course, reluctantly, because it affected their bottom line--they did. That is how I approach this job. I listen to the people we serve. Here is my message to the people of East Palestine and every single Ohioan from Cincinnati to Ashtabula, from Toledo to Athens, and everywhere in between: I will continue to fight for Ohio every single time. When disaster strikes, we show up. We find ways to make sure every community gets what they need. We fight to make sure these tragedies never happen again. I have told the people of East Palestine--and I keep telling them-- that I am there for the long haul. I can count the number of times that people said: Well, nobody will come back once the cameras leave. Well, the cameras have mostly left. I have been there eight times. I will continue to be there. I will continue to fight for the people of Columbiana County. I will always fight to hold Norfolk Southern accountable. I will always fight to make our railways safer.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BROWN

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

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, this is not the speech I really ever wanted to give. I appreciate being recognized to give it. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Pam Rosado, a longtime member of my staff, dedicated public servant, and advocate, whom we lost last week. I have known Pam from the community in her work as an advocate for unions and for social service agencies, and especially for people individually. And then she joined our office more than 4 years ago. I will get to that. She embodied the true meaning of service. She spent her life fighting for others. She understood and supported the whole idea of dignity of work. She bettered our State. She bettered our country. She touched so many lives along the way. She joined our staff in the beginning of 2019--almost 5 years ago--as a constituent advocate on our casework team. We don't think about it enough around here, but the foundation of our work in these jobs--the foundation of our work--is individual service to individual people. We look at, you know, taxes and Medicare and Social Security and foreign policy and Ukraine. All of those things obviously are important. It is what we are elected to do. But, fundamentally, these jobs are about helping individual people when they have an issue--whether it is Social Security, whether it is Medicare, whether it is a passport, whether it is a tragedy in somebody's life-- and we cut through redtape and do that. Nobody, nobody represented that service--and I have a lot of people in my office who represent that service, and a lot of people, on their first day, they understand the importance of individual service. We just interviewed someone who joined our staff this week. I interviewed her several weeks ago, and what made me want to hire her is she said the most important thing in these jobs is helping people one at a time, individually. We forget that in this job far too often. Pam joined our office about 5 years ago. Not long afterward, we were taking on a record caseload as Ohioans dealt with the effects of the pandemic. Too many workers were reaching out. So many people were reaching out to our office for assistance. The world was an uncertain place. Pam was a rock for Ohioans. She was a rock for other staff persons because she had already had a life of service and, especially, was a mentor to young people in the office. And she was a source of hope. She made things happen. We have calculated this. She worked on 1,331 cases in those 5 years. She was a relentless advocate, known for quick responses in care and handling. And for every case, she provided a space for Ohioans to be heard and showed unwavering kindness. In letters people sent us and descriptions people gave of Pam during the time and since her death, the word ``kindness'' comes back over and over and over again. Humility is the foundation of virtue, and I would say kindness is too. And Pam understood that. She didn't bring that to our office; she had lived her life that way. Ohioans were lucky to have Pam on their side. We were lucky to have her on our team. For some Ohioans, she resolved disputes with the Veterans Administration or the U.S. Postal Service. For others, she helped secure a federally compliant driver's license. One Ohioan shared that, because of Pam, he was able to return to his union job as a driver for UPS. And those jobs, because they have an effective union-- something Pam understood--those jobs have good pay, good benefits, good retirement--again, because of an effective union at the bargaining table. Pam understood all of that, but this was a gentleman who needed a little bit of help to return to that job. In the numerous notes she received, they thanked her for her dedication and determination in seeing her cases through. They wrote in for different reasons. Every letter shared heartfelt gratitude and warm wishes. In reading those letters, it is clear the impact that Pam had. Again, ``kindness''--we heard that word over and over. ``After receiving help from Pam,'' one Ohioan wrote in--I mean, people, after they get help, most of them don't think about writing in because we are the government, even though we are individual people in the government, and the caseworkers are doing what they do. But people don't think to write in. But an unusually high, an inordinate number of people wrote in to thank Pam Rosado. This one Ohioan wrote: There is tremendous value in being able to speak with a kind and understanding person after hours on the internet. Then he wrote: You are exceptional, Ms. Rosado. My staff and I couldn't agree more. She was exceptional. She cared deeply for the people in her life, strangers whom she met through our office--or never met, only online or on the phone or a few coming in. But she cared deeply for the people in her life. She was closest to her family, her friends, her colleagues, and, of course, every Ohioan who reached out. And action always accompanied that care. She wanted to help everyone have a better day, a better life. That makes a difference for so many Ohioans and so many of our colleagues. To my staff--to the person, I believe--Pam was more than a coworker. She was a friend. She believed in her colleagues. She lifted them up. She knew our job was to help people individually, including coworkers. Her joy, her spirit were infectious. She lit up every room she walked into. This past November, in a meeting that we did with all members of the staff, she greeted everyone with excitement as she reconnected with colleagues. We have offices all over the State: Cleveland and Columbus and Cincinnati and Lorain. So they don't all see each other all the time. And she met new members of our team. Whenever a staffwide email went out announcing a departure or a new hire--we have had members, people on our staff--it seems to be happening a good bit--who are called up to serve in the military or they are National Guard people, or whenever somebody leaves for a better job or retires or whatever it is, she was the first to respond with heartfelt congratulations, words of encouragement, and--several people told me--a smiley face emoji. She made every member of this office feel appreciated and welcomed, and that warmth touched each of us. In the Cleveland office where she worked, her laugh filled the halls as she spoke with constituents and colleagues. When you heard her, you couldn't help but smile and laugh too. She made a difference for every member of our staff and for so many Ohioans. Our office is a better place because of Pam. Ohio is better because of her. It wasn't just in our office. Throughout Pam's entire life, she served others and fought for others. She served the community in a number of ways. She served on nonprofit boards. She was an active member of her church and community, and she was a mentor to aspiring advocates and policymakers. Before joining our office--and this was the first time, I believe, years ago; I believe it was the first time I met Pam--she was the political director of the Service Employees International Union, a union that typically represents people who are not the highest income workers. They are people who, because they have a union, make a living wage and have the kind of benefits that unions bring. She was their political director. She advocated for the United Labor Agency. She organized and taught classes to future union leaders about the history of the labor movement. Something, my God--I know that some people in this body don't think we should teach history, and many don't even think of the history of the labor movement. She understood that if you know the history of the labor movement, you know the history of the middle class, you know the history of the dignity of work. She taught about the fight for good jobs, good benefits, and what their union card means. She dedicated a decade of her career to leading outreach for Policy Matters Ohio. She made sure their efforts were grounded in what workers needed and reached as many Ohioans as possible. Her colleagues at Policy Matters recognize Pam's integral role in making the think tank and the labor movement what they are today. They recall Pam's ability to make things happen, whether it was planning a last-minute event or helping to secure an Ohioan's deserved interim benefits. That ability made her an indispensable member of our team. Frankly, it made her an indispensable member of any team that she interacted with or was a part of. Her legacy will be upheld by her friends, her family, and every member of our staff. We honor her memory. We grieve for her mother and her family. We will honor it by continuing her public service, her activism, her advocacy, and the work we believe in and she believed in, as we fight for Ohioans with her tenacity and dedication. Today, our thoughts are with Pam's family, her friends, those who knew and loved Pam, my staff, all who had the privilege of working alongside her, and all who had the privilege of benefitting from her work. And that was a huge number of people in a State of 12 million. This office will be forever grateful for our time with Pam. We will miss her every day. I am grateful for my years of time with Pam, on and off, in her different roles, and we were thrilled to have her as a member of our staff. May she rest in peace.

Mr. BROWN

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

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, everything we do here should come back to the dignity of work, the idea that hard work should pay off for everyone, no matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter what kind of work you do. When work has dignity, people have good jobs, a secure retirement. They can count on Medicare. They can count on Social Security to be there for them. That is why we, 2 years ago, saved the pension of 100,000 Ohioans who worked their whole lives to earn a pension and peace of mind in retirement. That is why we are still fighting for Delphi retirees who lost their pensions through no fault of their own. That is why we will always--always--fight back against attacks on Social Security. Making sure that all Americans have a secure retirement shouldn't be a partisan issue. Social Security and Medicare are two of the most popular and unifying institutions in the country. Social Security is our government's promise to working men and women--a promise that they will, in fact, be able to retire with dignity. Support for Social Security cuts across party lines, geographic lines, and racial lines. Americans want not only to protect Social Security and Medicare, they want to make it stronger. Martin O'Malley, whom we confirmed last night, understands this. As Commissioner, he will make sure that the Social Security Administration is accessible and responsive. He will ensure we are keeping this bedrock promise to the American people. We need to do our part in this body too. It means passing my Social Security Fairness Act to repeal restrictions from two old laws that are preventing more than 3 million Americans--about 250,000 people in my State alone, including Ohio law enforcement--from receiving the Social Security benefits they have earned. Ohio first responders put their lives on the line to protect our communities. They paid into Social Security just like everyone else. All these Ohio workers are asking for is what they have earned; that is, the dignity of a secure retirement. We need to pass my bill to reform the supplemental security income-- so-called SSI--program's outdated restrictions that punish people for working and saving, preventing 8 million Americans with disabilities from building a better life for themselves. It hasn't changed in 40 years. We should update it. If these Americans have even $1 more than $2,000 in their savings account or $3,000 for married couples--not very high, frankly--all their SSI benefits are taken away. With these outdated rules, there is no way to save for an emergency or plan for the future or, in essence, have agency over your own life. There is broad support for this; it is not partisan; it is not ideological. At the committee I chair, the Banking and Housing Committee, I asked the CEOs of the eight largest banks if they supported this change, and every single one of them said yes. Every single one endorsed my bill. The big banks and I don't agree on much of anything, but we do agree on this. By passing our bipartisan bill to update this outdated program, we also can fix the root cause of the SSI overpayments and clawbacks that have been hitting too many Ohioans. This has gone on for far too long and has hurt too many Ohioans, who--again, through no fault of their own--have been forced to deal with the issue of overpayments because of the SSA's outdated policies. Ohioans shouldn't be paying for the government's mistakes. Martin O'Malley, our new Commissioner, made it clear to me in a one- on-one meeting that he is committed to working with us to finally address the root causes of these overpayments; and by increasing the asset limit, we are addressing what the SSA calls the leading cause of overpayments--stopping them before they ever go out in the first place. These bills are bipartisan. They provide real fixes to real problems for hard-working Ohioans. People who don't have special interests are speaking out on their behalf. They have us, and it is what we should be--those who are speaking out for them. For years, they have watched politicians give corporate tax cuts; they have watched Wall Street bailouts, in many cases in this body while plotting to cut their Social Security. In the end, it is about whose side you are on. I will always fight to protect Social Security and to make sure Americans get the retirements that they have earned. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Thank you. With your leadership, we took an important step forward in the National Defense Authorization Act we passed last night. I thank Senator Risch for his work on that. We need to finish this job. I want to see American companies--in Ohio--enriching uranium in the United States, creating jobs, supporting communities like Piketon, Waverly, Pike County, making our energy supply more secure. I withdraw my objection.

Mr. BROWN. I reserve the right to object.

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I agree with my colleagues Senator Manchin, Senator Barrasso, and Senator Risch. We need energy independence, whether it is West Virginia natural gas, Wyoming coal, Ohio solar, or whatever you do in Idaho.

Mr. BROWN. OK. It means stopping Russian uranium imports into the United States. It means expanding our domestic enrichment capabilities. We need to do both. It is a matter of national security. It is a matter of economic security. There are Ohioans doing important work with companies like Centrus and Oklo in Piketon in Southern Ohio. In an industry like this, they need the support to get off the ground and be successful--not far from Senator Manchin's home State. If we do this right, it will mean good jobs in the energy industry in Appalachia, where union workers have powered our economy for generations. To do that, we have to pair these policies together: stopping Russian imports and--and--investing in the domestic enrichment industry and all the jobs and opportunities that come with it. My question is--and I will then drop my objection, of course--to ensure the action we take today is successful, Senator Barrasso and Senator Manchin, do I have your commitment to work together to pass real resources to strengthen our domestic supply chain?

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak in opposition to the Paul amendment. Members of both parties have always agreed an independent--underscore independent--central bank is critical to a functioning economy. Congress put in place restrictions to shield the Fed's monetary policy from political influence. This longstanding restriction ensures that the Fed isn't subject to the whims of Congress, to the partisanship, to the nihilism--if I could use another word--of, too often, people in this body. Whether it is threatening a default or a government shutdown, all too common because of dysfunction and chaos in the House of Representatives--whether it is threatening a default or government shutdown, we have already seen how partisanship so negatively impacts people's pocketbooks in the broader economy. We don't need it here too. This amendment would make the Fed less effective. It would open it up to all kinds of nefarious political pressure. Congress already requires that the Fed undergo regular review of their operations, of their programs, of their balance sheet, of their financial statements. These are some of the ways Congress holds the Fed accountable while avoiding dangerous political interference. This amendment is irrelevant to what we are voting on today. It is yet another impediment to keeping our government open. It shouldn't be partisan. It shouldn't be political. Those antics should stay out of this debate. I urge my colleagues to vote no on the Paul amendment. I yield the floor. Vote on Amendment No. 1217

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. We know our middle class relies on strong, small businesses. Small business ownership is the second largest source of personal wealth in this country, only behind owning a home. Small businesses make up more than 40 percent of our economy--no better example than that of the Presiding Officer from Colorado and the work that he did as he had the phenomenal success he did starting small businesses. We know, to build strong businesses, entrepreneurs need credit. A loan lets you turn an idea into a business or invest in your company to hire more workers. That is why small business credit is so essential to our economy and to our middle class. Today, small business lending takes place in the dark. We don't have good data about how lenders are serving the small businesses in their communities. We don't have good data about whom lenders might be leaving behind. Without transparency, it is all too easy for entrepreneurs in Ohio and around the country to lose out. The data we do have suggests too many small business owners aren't getting a fair shot at a loan for their businesses. Take rural small businesses. We know that rural communities have seen bank branch close after bank branch close for years, drying up access to credit for lots of small businesses in rural Ohio. We need the data to understand how to reach these business owners and how to grow smalltown economies. Or take small businesses owned by women or by people of color. The data we do have suggests they are more likely to be denied loans and they are more likely to be charged higher interest rates. You don't need reports and studies to know that most Ohioans don't get a fair shake from big banks and the financial system. You do need accurate information to fight back. That is why, in 2010, Congress required the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to get that information; and this spring, the CFPB issued a rule to finally implement the law and to bring transparency to the small business lending market. We are talking about basic data on the borrowers' demographics, loan pricing, application approvals, and other critical information--just like we do with mortgages. It is not that complicated and not that difficult and not that expensive. With this data, we will be able to see gaps in the small business lending market, allowing programs to expand access to credit for small businesses, especially like small businesses in rural areas. More data means more accountability, ensuring that lenders reach minority communities and helping to root out discrimination. We have seen this model work before. After we began publishing data some years ago about home mortgages, more Americans of all races and backgrounds were able to achieve the dream of homeownership. This still protects people's privacy. Borrowers are not required to submit information if they don't want to. Of course, big banks and their lobbyists are putting up a fight. They always do. Any time there is a rule that might change their behavior, they come up with the same song and dance: It is too expensive. We have to hire new people. Actually, it helps them serve the community better. I am not going to help Wall Street avoid accountability. There has been too much of that. When I took over chairmanship of this committee, it was called the Senate Banking Committee, and it was a committee all about Wall Street. We changed this. The colloquial name of this committee is the Senate Housing and Banking Committee. Our charge is to build more homes, to make them more affordable, to help with transit systems in places like Atlanta and Denver and Cleveland, and to look out, especially, to help small banks and communities. That is why we are going to hold Wall Street accountable. I want to see more rural small businesses get loans and grow and be successful. We are not going to let the banking lobby stand in the way, as it all too often has. I hope my colleagues will stand up for small businesses, will stand up for entrepreneurs, and will vote no on this resolution. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I rise today to congratulate the Ohio History Connection, National Parks Service, and local Tribal communities on their historic achievement of earning Ohio's first World Heritage designation. The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks join the Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, and 21 others as U.S.- designated World Heritage sites. The designation is reserved for the places on earth that are of ``Outstanding Universal Value'' to humanity and will support the protection of the site for future generations. The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks are a series of eight ancient monuments built in the middle of the Woodland period, between 1,600 and 2,000 years ago by people we now refer to as the Hopewell Culture. The Earthworks embody the artistry, spirituality, and architecture of the Hopewell peoples. They also reflect the commitment to preservation and collaboration that archaeologists and Tribal nations have maintained over the years. This designation would not be possible without the collaboration of the Ohio History Connection, the National Parks Service, and local Tribal communities. May the celebration and preservation of the Hopewell Earthworks tell the story of Ohio history for generations to come. Congratulations.

Mr. BROWN

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

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, sometimes we come to the floor in maybe a less serious vein. We are all incredulous that while we do our work here and keep the government open, the people down the hall there are playing political games and threatening a shutdown. And when 55,000 people in my State and probably 10,000 people in the Presiding Officer's State will lose their jobs temporarily, will be furloughed, will be laid off, all because they are trying to play political games, we talk about that a lot. We need to fix that. But, today, I want to rise for a moment on something more lighthearted than that, and that is to honor the retiring manager of the Cleveland Guardians, Terry Francona, called in Cleveland--referred to as ``Tito'' Francona. Cleveland will play their last home game with Tito as their manager starting in maybe 20 minutes from now, something like that. Tito has been a part of the team since 2013. I call him by his first name. I don't know the Cleveland manager. I have never met the Cleveland manager. But I have watched him. I watch a lot of games on television. But we all refer to him by his first name, ``Tito.'' I was at a game earlier this summer, and we were pulling out in a traffic jam, and Tito does what I have read in the Plain Dealer that he does. All of a sudden, he passed us. The game was about an hour over, and he rode by on his little scooter to his little Cleveland condominium downtown, just the manager by himself. (Mr. OSSOFF assumed the Chair.) He didn't have airs about him. He is a normal guy, and we will really, really miss him. In his baseball career, he left Cleveland. He was the manager in the 2016 World Series, where my daughters and my wife and I--they broke our hearts in game 7 to a team like the Chicago Cubs. And it was really amazing that there was a rain delay in the ninth inning, and then they came back and Cleveland lost in extra innings. A week later, Donald Trump was elected. So I don't think it was a good week for the country. But that is just my biased opinion, perhaps. But in Ohio, in Cleveland, if you are a Cleveland Guardians fan, you know about perseverance. His baseball career extends back to when he joined Major League Baseball as a player. Spending 9 years in the field, he played a year for Cleveland, but he is a baseball lifer. But his life is very inextricably linked to Cleveland, as a baseball player and manager. I am not sure he was born in Cleveland. He lived in Cleveland when his dad played for the Cleveland Indians in the old Municipal Stadium. Notably, his dad twice was traded for Larry Doby, the first African- American player in the American League and one of the Hall of Fame members because of his baseball play, his courage, his guts, and his note of being so important to history and breaking the color line. I grew up watching his father play. I saw his father, once in a double-header, get seven hits. And the eighth time he came to the plate, Brooks Robinson--the third base player from the Orioles who just passed away--Brooks Robinson threw him out. He would have been 8 for 8 in a double-header. As I said, his dad was traded twice for Larry Doby. His dad, one year, should have led the league at hitting, at .363 but was disqualified because he had one too few plate appearances. He batted 399 times instead of 400, even though he walked a number of times--too much inside baseball, maybe, for the Senate floor and for my colleagues to care about. But his dad played for years and was an All-Star in 1961. He hit .363 in 1959 and was a fan favorite. So the Francona family was formed in Cleveland and grew up in Cleveland in that sense. It reminds me of how baseball is a game that spans generations and brings people together. I grew up 2 hours south of Cleveland. My dad used to take us to Major League Baseball games, to five or six games a year--five or six times a year, often double-headers. And my dad hated the New York Yankees so much that he would never take us to a Yankees game because he didn't want Mickey Mantle, the star of the Yankees, to get 10 cents of his ticket. So I never saw the Yankees play until I could drive myself to New York. When Tito Francona joined the Montreal Expos in 1981, he succeeded his father as a baseball player. He played in Cleveland for a year. In 1990, he retired from the game and not a particularly stellar baseball career, not as good as his father's. But then he became a manager. He managed the Phillies. He managed the Red Sox in two world championships. He then came home to us in Cleveland in 2013. In 2016, Cleveland won the American League Championship with the Indians--now, of course, the Guardians. He led the team to the World Series. As I said, game 7 was quite an experience that I could take my daughters to, then in their thirties. And we had gone to baseball games. And my dad took me for years, and we got to see this team we loved and this team we followed so closely go to the World Series--a team that wasn't considered at the beginning of the season World Series caliber. And it was quite a season. And the next year, Cleveland came back. They, at one point, won 22 games in a row. Only once in Major League Baseball did a team win more than that, when the Giants, in 1926, won 26 in a row. So it was an incredible streak. But more important, his players reached a level of excellence that was beyond what most people think was their skill level. Cleveland, to owners that have never spent the money--owners in the Presiding Officer's home State, in Atlanta, they try to buy pennants like the Yankees do and the Mets do and the Dodgers do and the Red Sox do. They spend so much money to try to buy the best players. Cleveland has never had owners that were either that rich or that generous. So Tito had to figure out how to win without that kind of money. But what he has done, which I so much like, is he gets out of his players a skill and a drive that most managers are not able to achieve. You can tell he loves America's game. I mean, he shared that with all of us. He loves the city where his team plays and where he manages. He has been there for 10 years, in Cleveland. I guess 11 years. His players could have gone somewhere else and made more money. The star player for Cleveland, a young man named Jose Ramirez, signed a long-term contract, made a whole lot of money, but everybody said he could have made so much more money if he had gone to New York or Atlanta or L.A. or Boston and signed huge contracts with really rich, generous owners. I think his players want to play for him, and he helped put our team on the map again. I just wanted to say to Tito Francona, thank you for everything you have done for Cleveland. Thank you for the memories and the joy you have brought so many of us as fans. We celebrate his contributions to baseball, his commitment to Cleveland, and his extraordinary career. Remembering Tom Conway Mr. President, on a much more serious note, I want to honor a friend of mine who passed away this week, a national leader of stature who made such a difference in working people's lives. I come to this floor to talk about the dignity of work, to talk about people who put their lives on the line and put their careers front and center about workers. Tom Conway did that. Tom Conway passed away in the last few days, the president of the United Steelworkers. He joined the labor movement in 1978. He worked as a millwright. ``Millwright'' means those workers who essentially fix and make equipment work inside plants. He worked at the Burns Harbor Works of Bethlehem Steel in northwest Indiana. Forty years ago, 45 years ago, he joined Local 6787. He dedicated his life to expanding opportunity and economic security for workers. Whether on a picket line or sitting across from the steel executives, his values were on his sleeve. His commitment to workers never wavered. On trade issues and worker safety, always one of the first calls I made was to talk to Tom Conway, to get wisdom from Tom Conway, to get perspective from Tom Conway, because I knew always he was looking out for the workers whom he represented. Steelworkers in Ohio knew what those bad trade deals--from NAFTA to PNTR with China, to TPP, to CAFTA--all the issues that, frankly, are a big part of the reasons my State has struggled with so many lost jobs. Given this devastation, Tom saw across the industry. You might understand if he became a pessimist, threw up his hands, and gave up. He was never that--far from that. He drew his energy from the resilience of American steelworkers and steel communities across the Midwest. He knew what we know in Ohio, that American workers can compete with anyone. They just need a level playing field. He never stopped fighting for that level playing field, for fair trade, for real investment in American industry, for strong enforcement of our trade laws. Because of his advocacy and the advocacy of so many Ohio steelworkers, we made real progress. We passed the original Level the Playing Field Act, the landmark overall of our trade remedy laws, to allow steelworkers to fight back against cheating by China, against dumping steel from China, against other unfair foreign competition. We passed the strongest ever ``Buy America'' rules to ensure that American tax dollars support American workers. He never gave up on American steel. He never gave up on American workers. He saw the potential in this union to grow. He knew that, if more people carried a union card, their lives would be better. It would mean higher wages and better benefits. It would mean a more secure retirement. It would mean a safer workplace. It would mean more control over your schedule. That is what carrying a union card means. My wife will say that her dad's union card saved her life. She grew up and at 16 had an asthma attack. She lived almost 2 hours from Cleveland Clinic. She got an ambulance to take her to the clinic. She was there for a week. It saved her life. Her dad could afford that care, that ambulance, that time in Cleveland Clinic because he carried a union card, and they negotiated for healthcare benefits. That is what Tom Conway did his whole life. I wear on my lapel a pin depicting a canary in a birdcage. The mineworkers used to take the canary down in the mines a hundred years ago. If the canary died, the mineworker was on his own. He knew that he didn't have a union strong enough or a government that cared enough to protect him. That is why he carried the canary down into the mines. This was given to me by a steelworker some 20 years ago in Lorain, OH. I have worn it on my lapel ever since. And that is what Tom Conway is about. John Shinn, the secretary-treasurer of USW said: Solidarity wasn't just a word to Tom. It was a way of life. He understood that, by working together, we balance the scales against greedy corporations. We see it now. Chrysler, now called Stellantis, has made $12 billion just in calendar year 2023. Stellantis' CEO makes 800 times what the entry-level worker at Stellantis makes. Tom Conway understood that we fight against that kind of worker greed, and we help lift up workers so they can share in the wealth created by their work. Balancing those scales is what unions are all about. It is why autoworkers are in that picket line. That is what they are doing. It is what Tom Conway led the steelworkers to do. We honor his memory, his legacy best by carrying on his life's work. His successor at USW is Dave McCall, fellow Ohioan. Dave McCall worked with and has known Tom Conway for over 40 years. He will serve out the remainder of his term. I can't think of anyone better to carry on Tom's legacy than Dave McCall. Dave and I have been in the trenches together for the better part of our entire careers, walking picket lines, talking to Ohio workers at union halls and fighting against bad trade policy that this body far too often falls for because corporate lobbyists swarm this place and push these bad trade agreements, always, always, always at the expense of workers. Dave McCall understands the dignity of work, as Tom did. He spent his whole life fighting for it. He would have made Tom Conway proud. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Tom Conway today. Our thoughts are with his family, his longtime partner Carol, his three sons and six grandchildren, and with steelworker sisters and brothers in Ohio and around the country. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, right after workers for Stellantis--the old name of Stellantis was Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler. Their plant is in Toledo. They make the Jeep Cherokee. It is made by union workers in Toledo, OH, my State. My wife and I each drive Jeep Cherokees. One of those cars once saved my life when a young high school kid, at 40 miles an hour in the middle of the day, ran a stop sign and hit the side of the car where I was sitting. There were essentially no injuries because these are well-made American cars by union labor. I was over to the picket line Friday morning. I talked with a lot of workers. I know many of them. There are 6,000 at this plant. And 1,000--actually, 1,100 of these workers are at this Chrysler plant, this Stellantis plant in Toledo. Those 1,100 workers at the Jeep plant are on what is called a tiered wage system where they make fewer than $19-and-something an hour. They have been at this Jeep plant, some of them for 1 year, some of them 3 years, some of them 5 or 6 years, yet they make less than $40,000 a year as union workers. The reason for that is some years ago, when Chrysler--then Chrysler-- and GM were in real serious economic trouble, the union--the government helped, but the union, in order to save these plants, in order to save, essentially, the American automobile industry--they did major givebacks of their wages and their benefits. They set up--management insisted and the workers went along because they wanted to save these companies--they took major pay cuts and set up a tiered wage system. So new workers, hundreds and hundreds--over 1,000 from this plant of 6,000 union workers--were making substandard wages. That is troubling enough that those workers, years later, are still making those substandard wages. In some cases, you can't support a family on these wages. Yet that is when Chrysler and GM were in such economic trouble. Since then, we know how well Chrysler--Stellantis now--and GM are doing. We know how well they are doing by a number of measurements. No. 1, Chrysler--sorry, Stellantis; I always think of them as Chrysler and Jeep in my State. Stellantis made $12 billion just in this calendar alone. This company made $12 billion. When they were in trouble, the workers, by giving up a lot and making sacrifices, saved them. Now these companies are so profitable--$12 billion just this year alone, Stellantis--they have essentially given nothing back to the workers, and they are unwilling to provide the workers a decent benefit-- benefits, wages, all of those things. At the same time, I met an entry-level worker there. She just started. The CEO of Stellantis makes 850 times what this worker makes-- 850 times what this worker makes. The CEO of Stellantis makes 365 times what the average worker in Chrysler--the average worker in Stellantis makes in that plant and other plants around the country. The fact is, these workers--clearly, we come down on the side of these workers. The industry has done very well because of America's economic system. The industry has done very well because they have had the opportunity to do well in this country because the workers sacrifice so much. That is why I will go back to the picket line. There may be picket lines and shutdowns and strikes in other parts of the auto industry. The public clearly sides with these workers. The public understands that these CEOs are making between $22- and $29 million a year. The three CEOs have gotten 30-percent, 40-percent increases since the industry did so well. Again, a decade ago, workers were willing to give up a lot to keep these companies going. Now, they are immensely profitable--$12 billion in profits this year alone with the CEO making $22-23 million. The auto industry is simply not willing to come to the table and negotiate in good faith so these workers can share in the prosperity they created. We know it not only hurts those workers when they are making $16 an hour; it hurts the community. It hurts Toledo, Lucas County, Wood County--those communities that don't have the taxes they would if these workers were making decent wages. And they don't have the economic prosperity they would if workers were making decent wages and buying-- spending a little more at the grocery store, on movies, on clothes, and on all the things that help create a prosperous economy. No question, I will continue to stand with workers. I think most of the Senate stands with workers. I know most of the American people stand with these workers. I implore GM and Stellantis and Ford to come to the table and make a good faith, decent offer and get these workers back to work. They don't want to strike. Their backs are to the wall. They had to strike. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

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

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I hope my colleagues will join me, as I know the Senator from Michigan, the Presiding Officer, does, in standing in solidarity with thousands of UAW workers in Ohio and Michigan and around the country who demand that automakers--a simple demand really--respect the work they do to make these companies successful. There is still time, the rest of the day and, really, beyond this, for the Big Three to avert a strike, which we know is always a last resort for workers. My wife is the daughter of a utility worker in Ashtabula, in the far northeast corner of the State. She, first of all, credits her dad's union card with saving her life. She was 16 years old and had an asthma attack, I believe at school, and was picked up in an ambulance and taken to the Cleveland Clinic and spent more than a week there-- something she could not afford without her dad's union card and her dad's healthcare benefits from the utility workers union and from that company. She also said that, twice during her growing up, the union struck because their backs were against the wall; they thought they had no choice. She acknowledges that the workers never really recover the lost wages from a strike. These UAW members in Michigan and Ohio, in Toledo, in Cincinnati, in Dayton, and all over our State and in other States, they want to be on the job. They don't want to strike. They don't want to be on the picket line. But when companies refuse to recognize the work they do, workers are backed into a corner. It is why union cards matter. A union card means workers can stand together for fair pay and benefits, for better working conditions, for safer workplaces, for control over their schedules, for a voice in their company, and a voice in their community--because, to be clear, autoworkers surely are the engines behind these companies' success. GM, Ford, and Stellantis--people around the country know Stellantis as the old Chrysler--the Big Three wouldn't be making a dime, of course, in profits without the workers who actually make their cars and trucks. Remember, autoworkers--this is the most important thing. Autoworkers stood up and made sacrifices a decade ago, especially at GM and Chrysler--Stellantis--because those companies were in trouble. And taxpayers stood up, and government stood, finally, on the side of those companies, and the workers made sacrifices to help the American auto industry when times were tough. Who remembers the depths of the recession? UAW workers stood behind the Big Three when a whole lot of politicians in this town wanted to abandon these companies. Now that times are good, all that workers are asking for is their fair share. Let's be clear, times now are very, very good for these companies and very, very, very good for these CEOs. We know auto executives--I don't know how many. But I know auto executives in all three companies--many, many of them--make more than a million dollars a year. Some of them make tens of millions of dollars a year. Together GM, Ford, and Stellantis brought in $21 billion--that is with a ``b,'' a thousand million--$21 billion in profits the first half of the year alone. Think about that. These companies were struggling a decade ago. They were in real trouble. They were losing money. They were in trouble during the recession. Workers gave them major kinds of givebacks, gave them major kinds of concessions. They took less money for themselves and set up a three-tiered rate structure that hurt workers, but they had to do it to save these companies. They agreed to do that. But, now, times are really, really good for these companies. Again, GM, Ford, and Stellantis together brought in $21 billion of profits just in the first half of 2023, but they don't want to share those profits with these workers. And who makes these profits possible? Again, the history: These companies were in trouble. The government helped them. Workers gave up a lot. Workers sacrificed. Workers gave back money they shouldn't have had to give back because they wanted to save the companies. Now, the companies are doing well. Now, the executives are doing very, very well with $21 billion in profits, and the company is not willing to appreciably share in those profits. The CEO of GM makes 362 times what its median worker makes. With Ford, it is only a modest 281 times that. Think of that. The GM CEO--a company that, when struggling, was saved because of worker concessions--is making 362 times what the median--not the lowest paid worker but the median--worker of that company makes. So, frankly, I hesitate to call names, and I am really not. I don't want to hear whining from companies that they can't afford to pay workers what they are worth. And that goes for all workers, all autoworkers making all kinds of vehicles--cars and trucks and SUVs. I know what the future is. I know these companies. These companies plan to be overwhelmingly making batteries, making electric vehicles. That is their decision, to be sure. But I don't want those--because some politicians whine about, ``Well, we don't want electric vehicles''--these are the companies' decisions, the companies' plans, the companies' futures. But I don't want those jobs--those politicians that whine, if they get their way, they are going to see these electric vehicles made in Japan and China and Taiwan and overseas. We went through that already. We know what my hometown of Mansfield, OH, looked like. I know what Dayton, OH, looked like. I know what Hamtramck and cities in the Presiding Officer's State looked like. I know what happens to those counties, those workers. And do you know what? I know what happens to those cities, those communities. I grew up in Mansfield, OH, a town of 50,000. I went to Johnny Appleseed Junior High School. That was really its name--Johnny Appleseed Pioneers. And I went to school with sons and daughters of autoworkers at GM, rubberworkers at Mansfield Tire, electrical IUE members at Westinghouse--there were several thousand at one point--machinists at Tappan Stove, and the sons of daughters of pipefitters and plumbers and electricians and bricklayers, millwrights, insulators, and laborers and--I am forgetting others--and operating engineers. And do you know what? Within 10 or 20 years, most of those jobs were gone. They were gone because companies, always looking for lower wages, wanted to go to non-union States. First, they went to Alabama. That wasn't good enough. So then they jammed, and I mean ``jammed''--sorry to say it this way--by buying off a whole lot of politicians--they jammed these trade agreements, like NAFTA, through the Congress, and then it got worse. It wasn't just the companies going to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Then they weren't greedy enough; they wanted even cheaper labor. Then they went to China and Mexico. That means that in my community of 50,000, where I grew up, you just don't see the prosperity there that you did when I went to school with those kids. So, as I said, we have heard a lot of politicians blaming electrical vehicles for the dispute, as if, somehow, corporations wanting to squeeze their workers was a new development. I will make it clear. I don't care what kind of car Americans drive. My wife and I drove Chevy Cruzes for a while, and they were made in Lordstown, OH, by GM, about an hour and a half from our home. Now, we each drive a Jeep Cherokee, made about 2 hours from our home, in the other direction, in Toledo. So people can drive what they are going to drive. I always hope, and I know the Presiding Officer thinks the same way, that people buy union-made cars made in the United States. But I see what happens when both parties--both parties--frankly, unfortunately, it wasn't a partisan thing. My party was almost as guilty as Republicans on this--the push for NAFTA--which sent thousands of jobs overseas. We fought them. When politicians said, ``Let these companies die; they are not worth saving; foreign automakers can do this better,'' we fought them every step of the way. Now, today, for anyone who doubts that autoworkers in Ohio are the future of this industry, for anyone who wants to give up on these plants or force workers to settle for less, we will fight the way I fought NAFTA my first year in Congress, the way I fought permanent normal trade relations, the giveaway to the Chinese--not Chinese workers, but giveaway to Chinese Communist Party officials and corrupt leaders--a different kind of corruption from American leaders who sold them short, but nonetheless. We know this industry is changing. Forty years ago, when Jeep rolled out the Jeep Cherokee--Chrysler now--most people had never heard of an SUV. Now they dominate the market. Twenty-three years ago, hybrids came along. Whatever the auto industry looks like in 20 years, in 50 years, in 100 years--I am not an auto expert. I don't know what they are going to look like 20 or 50 or 100 years from now, but I do know this: Ohio autoworkers, American innovation will be leading it, if we let them, if we reward these workers and don't let companies searching for cheap labor and going to anti-union States, moving overseas--as long as we don't let them run the show. I was in Lordstown a couple of weeks ago. That is where the Chevy Cruze plant was, near Youngstown. I was at UAW Local 1112. I have been to that union, I don't know, 50 times in my life, with my friend Dave Green, a UAW superstar who came up through that plant. There were two locals at that plant. I don't remember if he came from 1112 or the other one. These are the workers now at the new Ultium cell battery plant. Many of them worked for the Cruze plant before GM closed it. There are reminders everywhere of what bad trade deals did to the Mahoning Valley. But, do you know what? GM was paying. This was a joint venture. This was GM and a Korean company called LG. This was a joint venture, 50-50. Those workers at this Ultium plant were making $16 an hour. And I said to GM: Well, how can you do this? They voted for a union, by the way, the UAW there, just recently, by a 90-plus percent vote. I said to GM: How can you pay them $16 an hour when you have the national UAW contract? It is much more generous than that and negotiated, earned together. They said: Well, we can't do anything because this is a jointly owned plant, and we are just half of it. Well, they are General Motors. Of course, they can do something about it, and, of course, they need to do something about it. Well, we were able--I hate to say it. We were able--partly by shining a light on General Motors and what they had done and what their history is--we were able to get a $4- to $5-an-hour raise working with Dave Green of UAW Local 1112 and getting thousands of dollars in stock buybacks for those workers that had been there a year or more. These workers are, again, at the forefront of their industry, and they are not getting paid like it. America should continue to lead the global auto industry, but the Big Three can't do it without their workers. There is still time for this to happen, for these autoworkers and auto companies to agree to a fair contract. There is still time for these great American companies to do the right thing. It means something we probably don't do enough of here. It means listening to their workers. It means foregoing strike-busting tactics, like we saw the last time, when UAW workers were forced to picket. In 2019, GM cut off striking workers' health insurance, a bad-faith tactic that not only hurts their most vulnerable asset, their workers, but it hurts their families and really hurts their communities. I was at Local 14 in Toledo, talking to one worker. Here is what happens when an auto company uses its prowess and its power and its anti-union fervor, when they do that and take away healthcare. There was one worker whose healthcare was cut off at the Local 14 in Toledo, at the Chrysler plant. His 4-year-old daughter Chesney needed surgery, but she couldn't get it because GM canceled the family's health insurance. They are workers who had a contract. They paid in. They were picketing because they didn't think over these 10 years GM and Chrysler and Ford lived up to their side of the bargain. I have a bill with Senator Casey, who sits next to me, to make sure it doesn't happen again, the Striking Workers Healthcare Protection Act. We shouldn't need that. We shouldn't need for companies to be strong-armed or forced by government to honor the dignity of work. That shouldn't be necessary when these iconic companies have done so well, paid good dividends, and rewarded their executives with compensation nobody would have dreamed up a generation ago. We shouldn't have to do that. But until these companies understand, ``You should respect the dignity of work,'' if they don't, then maybe it is time that government says: OK, we are going to have a Striking Workers Healthcare Protection Act. It is time to do the right thing, to bargain in good faith, and to agree to a contract that indeed honors the dignity of work. I yield the floor. Confirmation of Michael C. Casey

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I have five 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. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I have permission to complete my remarks before the rollcall vote.