Sherrod Brown

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, thank you for your leadership and your desire to continue to lead in our country. Everything I do here, everything that most of us do here, I think, 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 whether you punch a clock or swipe a badge, no matter if you are management or labor, no matter if you are self-employed, where you live, what kind of work you do. When work has dignity--by definition, the ``dignity of work,'' brought to us originally by Leo XIII, ``the labor Pope'' of 120 years ago--with the Presiding Officer's faith, he knows about Leo XII-- and brought to us by Dr. King--when work has dignity, people have a secure retirement. It means you count on Social Security and Medicare. It means we protect people's pensions. It means the VA continues paying benefits that you earned if you were exposed to Agent Orange or to these massive football field-size burn pits. It means people make enough money for retirement and for a rainy day. It is why in this body, just 2 years ago--in March, slightly fewer than 2 years ago--we saved the pensions of 100,000 Ohioans, tens of thousands in Virginia, a million around the country, people who worked their whole lives. They earned the pension and the peace of mind in retirement for themselves and their families. Think about what that means. It is why we are still fighting for the Delphi retirees who, again, lost their pensions through no fault of theirs. It is why we will always--always, always--fight back against attacks on Social Security, attacks on Medicare, and efforts to privatize the Veterans' Administration. A secure retirement should never be a partisan issue. On August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. Ever since that time, it should not--it was partisan then. Most Democrats were for it, and most Republicans were, I will just say, less for it. But it has become a partisan issue far too often. Social Security and Medicare are two of the most popular, most unifying institutions of the country. It is our government's promise to working men and women, a promise that they will be able to retire with dignity. You pay in every paycheck--twice a month, whatever--and you are guaranteed that benefit. Support for Social Security cuts across party lines. It cuts across racial lines. It cuts across geographic lines. Americans not only want to protect Social Security and Medicare--that goes without saying, although many of my colleagues want to undermined it--but they want to make these programs stronger. But that is what Republicans--I don't want to make this into a partisan issue, but it has been, unfortunately. It is not what the Republicans in Congress want to do. I want every American to understand that Republicans in Congress are planning to hold your Social Security hostage. They have done it several different ways over the years. So let's talk about it today. They have threatened not to raise the debt limit. Raising the debt limit sounds complicated and sounds expensive. It is not. Raising the debt limit, said another way, is about paying our bills, paying the bills our Nation owes and keeping our word. We did this three times under Donald Trump with no drama. Their refusal to pay our bills undermines U.S. global leadership. For seniors, it would be a disaster. It means that Social Security checks would stop going out. It would mean that seniors won't get their Social Security checks if we don't keep our promises and pay our bills. It is the first way this year that Republicans will attack Social Security. Second, they want to take this country and the American economy to the brink of default and then leverage their fiscal lunacy to cut your Social Security. Ten years ago, 15 years ago, Republicans didn't act this way. It is this new--just going down the hall here, you can see the other place, the place where the other ones work. The people who are the most extreme in that body clearly are trying to bring this country to the brink. They are willing to take the U.S. economy hostage and only agree to pay our bills--bills we have all run up, including a huge part of that with President Trump and the Republican Congress with the big tax cut giveaway to the richest people in this country--they are willing to take the economy hostage and raise the debt limit if Congress cuts Social Security. The only way they are going to pay their bills is if Congress cuts Social Security. That is what they are saying. Let that sink in. Congressional Republicans intend to use the fact that we need to pay our bills, pay our bills that already have accrued--to pay our bills is their tool for cutting Social Security. You might disguise their policy as a commission. Every time you hear the word ``commission'' and then they describe the next part of the sentence to reform Social Security, you know what it means. Their plan is to leverage this: We are going to not pay our bills to cut your Social Security. Finally, there is privatizing Social Security. The details differ. The terms may change, but the goal is the same: to kill off Social Security by shrinking it and privatizing it and undermining public support. It doesn't matter if you voted for this Republican or that Republican who sits at these desks or Senator Casey or Senator Wyden or Senator Kaine. Overwhelmingly, people who go to the polls and vote support Social Security and don't want Social Security privatized. What is happening is nothing less than an attempt to go back on the bedrock promise made to America's middle class that Social Security would be there for them. On August 14, 1935, Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act. In 1940 or 1941, for a woman in New Hampshire, I think her first check was $24. I believe she was a retired schoolteacher and got the first Social Security check. It doesn't matter to them, to Social Security beneficiaries, about all the politics here. But we know that for Social Security checks, people paid into the program their whole entire working lives. Our government should work for people who paid into Social Security, not against them. When work has dignity, we honor the retirement security people earned. I urge my Republican colleagues in this body--colleagues, I point out, with healthcare and retirement plans; all of us with healthcare and retirement plans paid for by taxpayers--our retirements aren't at risk. Why should it be for Social Security beneficiaries? None of my colleagues over here are saying: Let's privatize the retirement system for Members of Congress. They never say that. They say: Let's privatize Social Security. Let's privatize the Veterans' Administration in Richmond or Cleveland or Cincinnati. Let's privatize Medicare. They never talk about privatizing their benefits. But think about the generations of Americans who have benefited from Social Security and the generations to come relying on the promise of Social Security and Medicare. For the last part of my remarks, Mr. President, I introduced a resolution affirming the Senate's commitment, last year, to protecting and expanding Social Security. Dozens of my colleagues got on this bill, including, I believe, the Presiding Officer--a resolution affirming the Senate's commitment to protecting and expanding Social Security. But you know what? Not one Republican signed onto this resolution; not one recommitted to the promise of the American people that if you work hard all of your life, Social Security will be there for you. What is more American, what is more basic, what is more family- oriented than: I pay into Social Security my whole life, I pay into Medicare, and if I get prematurely sick or disabled or when I retire, why would we not honor that commitment? Why do some Members of Congress want to privatize this program? Because we know what happens when they are privatized. The investors come in, the banks come in and end up undermining it, and there is less dollars--fewer dollars available and less public support. Americans shouldn't have to worry that politicians secure with government pensions are going to try to take away their retirement benefits that they earn. I will again introduce that resolution-- probably next month--affirming the Senate's commitment to protecting and expanding Social Security, opposed to privatization. I will again ask all my colleagues to sign on. I assume we will get many. I am hopeful this time--hopeful--that some Republicans join us. Republican seniors in Ohio would support it. It is just, their elected officials so often don't. People shouldn't have to worry if politicians who put our entire economy at risk by using this debt limit fight--this ``are we going to pay our bills or not'' fight--to cut social security, but here we are. I urge my colleagues to do the patriotic duty to raise the debt limit, without condition, without threatening economic calamity. And I ask that you work with us to do what the American people overwhelmingly want: protect and expand Social Security and Medicare and VA benefits. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I rise to urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the nomination of Martin Gruenberg to be a member and chairperson of the board of directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation--what most of America knows as FDIC. Mr. Gruenberg is an extraordinary and qualified nominee who came out of the Banking and Housing Committee with bipartisan support. He has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate, unanimously, five times. Senator Toomey, the ranking member of the Banking Committee, someone whom I have not always agreed with on nominations, voted in favor of Mr. Gruenberg's nomination as part of a bipartisan package to fill the FDIC Board. I thank my departing friend from Pennsylvania for his support and his cooperation. Mr. Gruenberg's credentials speak for themselves: a career public servant, the longest-serving member of the FDIC board. As I said, the Senate has confirmed him unanimously five times. He has been nominated and confirmed over and over again. He first joined the FDIC in 2005 after spending 25 years on Capitol Hill and working as a senior counsel on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee for Senator Sarbanes. As the Presiding Officer knows, this committee has just been known as the Banking Committee for some time, and the Banking Committee was, essentially, Wall Street's committee. When I took over as chair, we emphasized this committee is Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Its priorities are housing; its priorities are public transit; its priorities are making the banking system safer, not just to do the bidding of Wall Street. Since joining the FDIC, Mr. Gruenberg served as chair, as vice chair, acting chair, and member of the FDIC. Take a minute and think about that in his qualifications: chair, vice chair, acting chair, and member. I have served on the Banking and Housing Committee since 2007. I don't remember any FDIC nominee, or I am not sure I remember any nominee for anything that has had that kind of experience, that level of expertise. Since becoming acting chair in February 2022, Mr. Gruenberg has wasted no time getting to work for the American people. He has focused on strengthening the Community Reinvestment Act to expand access to credit and investments in low- and moderate-income communities. He is reviewing the FDIC's bank merger process to ensure it assesses the impact bank mergers have on competition and on access to financial services in communities across the country. We all know that as banks have gotten larger and larger, gargantuan in many ways compared to what their sizes were during the disaster of 15 years ago--and we know that that can be a problem for our economy. So he is going to look at that much more closely than others. Under his leadership, the FDIC evaluates the risk posed by cryptocurrencies and digital assets to consumers and to the overall safety and soundness of the banking system. As I said during his nomination hearing, Mr. Gruenberg has seen our financial system at its highest and its lowest points. During the financial crisis when Wall Street and big corporations crashed our economy, Mr. Gruenberg worked on a bipartisan basis with then-FDIC Chair Sheila Bair to pick up the pieces. He helped to restore--alongside her, helped to restore--a Republican, I would add--trust and confidence that our money in banks is safe. He helped implement reforms passed by Congress to strengthen capital requirements and protect depositors from future financial crisis. He brings this experience and dedication with him as our country emerges from the pandemic. I can think of no better person to serve as chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation than Marty Gruenberg. Before I conclude, I want to note that, in addition to Mr. Gruenberg, the Senate is considering the nomination of two other seats to the FDIC Board. Once we have Mr. Gruenberg and the other two FDIC nominees, Travis Hill and Jonathan McKernan, confirmed--both Republicans--the agency will have in place for the first time since 2015 a full board of directors. So almost a decade it has been, three-fourths of a decade since this FDIC has had a full board of directors. I credit President Biden for making this a priority. I credit Laura and Mohammad and others on my staff for making this a priority, and I credit the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for doing this: first time since 2015, a full board of directors. I urge my colleagues to support Mark Gruenberg's nomination to the FDIC Board.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, it is always an honor to speak on the Senate floor, and it is especially an honor when the Presiding Officer is one of my favorite Members of the Senate and especially an honor when I am going to be followed by the other Senator from Ohio, about whom I spoke yesterday.

Mr. BROWN

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

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I wanted to just say a few words--not a formal speech--about my junior partner, the junior Senator from Ohio. He is only the junior Senator not in intellect or actions but only in seniority, which is the way it works here. I know I am talking when the Presiding Officer has such a record of bipartisanship and working with others in the Senate--the junior Senator from New Hampshire and the work she has done. And I just wanted to talk for a moment about RobPortman. I was at the last speech he gave, his retirement speech, last week. I wanted to just say a few words about his work. He and I, on the big issues, no surprise--Senator Portman, from Cincinnati; I live in northern Ohio--have looked at the world differently on big trade issues, on tax issues. I mean, he was for the Trump tax cut that gave big tax breaks to corporations and, I think, squeezed middle-class and low-income taxpayers. But on the big issues, we, in a sense, canceled each other's vote out, and we talk about that sometimes. But on a lot of Ohio-specific things, we are able to work together on really, really important problem-solving kinds of issues. And a few of them come to mind, like ``level the playing field''--the first issue--and then ``level the playing field'' 2.0,'' which will help the United States enforce its trade laws. While Rob was for NAFTA and I was against it--or for PNTR with China, and I was against it--we did come together in making sure our trade laws are enforced, which helped Ohio businesses and Ohio manufacturing. That is one example. Another example is what we were able to do in the infrastructure bill. He was a leader on writing the infrastructure bill, always thinking about how important it was--the Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati and the Western Hills Viaduct on the western side of Cincinnati, but also what we did on the 71-70 interchange in Columbus, what we were able to do on small township roads around small counties in rural Ohio, what we were able to do in Appalachia, what we were able to do in major transportation projects. Another example, Rob Portman cared a lot about the environment. He loves canoeing. We worked on issues that matter on the Ohio River and especially issues that matter on Lake Erie. One of my favorite statistics is that Lake Erie, the smallest of the Great Lakes in area, the most shallow, only 30-feet deep, and around Toledo, 90-feet deep, around my wife's home county of Ashtabula. Lake Erie is 2 percent of all the water in the Great Lakes but has 50 percent of the fish, and Lake Superior, the largest lake, has 50 percent of the water and 2 percent of the fish. We know how important Lake Erie is to fishing. We know how important Lake Erie is to our water supply. And we know how important Lake Erie is just as one of the beautiful parts of the Great Lakes that matter to all of us. So when I think about Rob, I regret he is leaving. I look forward to working with Senator Vance. I am hopeful that we can be as cooperative and effective as Rob and I have been on issues that are Ohio-specific, and we will continue to search out those issues. Another one was NASA Glenn in Cleveland. We have one of the 10 NASA facilities in the country. NASA Glenn is particularly important, with the Armstrong Center in Sandusky, to the State's economy, and to our space program. That is in my part of the State. Rob has been helpful there. I have been helpful in his part of the State with Wright- Patterson Air Force Base, one of the key facilities for our U.S. Air Force. So on issue after issue, many of them, Rob and I have each cosponsored dozens of bills that have become law--some 35, I believe, with each other, that have become law, and dozens more with other Senators in both parties, including Senator Hassan from New Hampshire, who has been one of the real leaders on doing bipartisan work. So those kinds of issues don't get the attention of the media, and I don't blame them. They would rather cover when Rob and I disagree than when we agree. But my job, as Senator Portman's job, has always been to look for opportunities to do things together. We found dozens of those opportunities in our 12 years together. I came in 2006, and he came in 2010. He is retiring at the end of 2022. We had 12 years together, and we were able to accomplish a lot of things for the State. I will miss him. I will miss his leadership. I will miss his reasonableness. And we will continue, I hope, once he retires, in working on other things that are State-specific for my State. I thank the Presiding Officer for allowing me to speak for a couple of minutes about my friend Rob Portman. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Dr. O'Dell Owens, a champion of public health and public education in Cincinnati whom we lost last month. He was a longtime friend, longtime activist, longtime Ohioan, a public servant, and a trailblazer. Dr. Owens' story and his unwavering dedication to the public good serves as an example for all us in Southwest Ohio, throughout Ohio, throughout the Midwest, and throughout the country. So much of his work was aimed at empowering young people of color and encouraging them to recognize their potential by staying in school and attending college. He often shared a memory from his year as a ninth grader. A college counselor said he was ``too poor and too dumb to go to college.'' Imagine a counselor saying that. Dr. Owens proved that counselor and everyone who didn't believe in him--he proved them wrong. He graduated from college; he got a masters and a medical degree from Yale University. He completed his fellowship at Harvard Medical School. After gathering degrees and credentials that provided him with opportunities anywhere in the world, Dr. Owens returned to his home in Cincinnati where he spent his career serving his community. He was a pioneering fertility specialist at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He became the first African American to hold office in Hamilton County when he was elected the county coroner. He served as president of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. That is where I worked with him the most closely. He served as the Hamilton County interim health commissioner and as president of the nonprofit Interact for Health. His work always came back to his community and extended far outside of medicine. He sat on the boards of various organizations and foundations, including the University of Cincinnati, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center--the only one of its kind in America. It is an extraordinary place. Anyone anywhere in the vicinity of my part of the Midwest should visit it--and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's Cincinnati Business Advisory Council. He was chairman of the Cincinnati Preschool Promise. He volunteered as chair of the annual children's Cincinnati Educational Television Action Auction in support of Cincinnati's public television programming. Dr. Owens empowered each of us to make the world a better place, and he so succeeded. He reached out to me and my office to make sure we were paying close attention to issues impacting people in Cincinnati. He was a very talented speaker known for his passionate delivery-- always, always standing up for what he believed in. He was well- respected. He was dearly loved throughout our State for his courage and--what I would like most to think about--his moral clarity. He took care of Cincinnati. I join our entire community in expressing gratitude for his lifetime of service. Today we recommit to his example. Our thoughts are with the Owens family and with all those who knew and loved him.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I ask unanimous consent that I complete my remarks--I think they will be concluded by 11:30--but that I be allowed to go a minute or two over before the rollcall.

Mr. BROWN

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

Mr. BROWN

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

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask my colleagues to join me today in honoring journalists. A free, independent media is vital to our democracy. It is enshrined in our Constitution. We depend on reporters around the world to both tell the stories that have an impact on our day-to-day lives and dig for those stories that might not be told otherwise. Journalists are generally tenacious and dedicated. They ask the tough questions. They challenge special interests. They connect us with our communities and our world. They put themselves in harm's way to tell the unvarnished truth, unfiltered by government propaganda, at a time when the world needs it more than ever, and too often, that comes at a cost. Increasingly, journalists find themselves under attack, arrested, or targeted for simply reporting facts. Some even make the ultimate sacrifice to reveal the truth. In March, I spoke on this floor about three talented, brave journalists who were killed while reporting on Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine. Since then, at least nine other journalists have been killed in Ukraine, journalists who were covering this war. In May, Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed while reporting on an Israeli military raid in Jenin in the West Bank. This danger is not something American journalists are immune from. In September, Jeff German, a reporter with the Las Vegas Review- Journal, was murdered--was murdered--for his investigative reporting here in the United States of America. These are only a few of the journalists who lost their lives this year while trying to uncover the truth. Since Mahsa Amini's death on September 16, Reporters Without Borders has found that ``at least 42 journalists have been arrested throughout Iran.'' The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that since the beginning of 2022--fewer than 11 months--60 journalists--6-0 journalists--have been killed. Politicians in this country throw around all kinds of incendiary language describing journalists, making fun of them, demeaning them, contributing to this view too often that could lead to the injury or attacks or even murders of journalists. We remember those who lost their lives. We recognize their unwavering commitment to the democratic ideals of truth and accuracy and transparency, a commitment so strong that they put their lives on the line--often putting truth before personal safety--to cover floods and hurricanes and the important stories from global war zones. We have a better understanding of what is happening in the world today because of journalists, because of journalism. Our thoughts are with the families and the friends and the colleagues whose loved ones were killed in search of truth, but thoughts and prayers aren't enough. We need to support efforts here and abroad to hold those who kill or even threaten journalists accountable. That is why the work of organizations like Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists--why organizations like that are integral to ensuring our basic right to freedom of the press. Earlier this month, we commemorated the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. Attacks and threats against journalists are attacks and threats against all of us, attacks and threats to freedom of speech and expression itself. I have called for the release of journalists unjustly detained in Egypt, Morocco, and elsewhere. I will keep calling for justice. We honor the memories and the work of journalists best by defending the freedom of the press, defending the right to free speech, protecting journalists in their pursuit of the truth, and holding the regimes--no matter where they are--that attack journalists accountable. Today, we recommit ourselves to that fight.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I have six 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 asked my colleagues to join me in honoring and thanking the heroic individuals who have served our country. Every year on Veterans Day--just a couple of days ago--we come together as Ohioans or Oregonians and New Mexicans and Americans generally to remember with deep respect and gratitude all that our veterans have done for our country. Veterans and their families have sacrificed so much to keep us safe. They put their lives on the line to protect us. So often veterans don't speak about their service. My dad was a World War II veteran. He rarely talked about it. It was pretty typical of that generation; not so different from Vietnam vets, many of whom suffered from Agent Orange, or from Iraqi or Afghan war vets. They don't brag, they don't ask for recognition, but they have earned it. As we pay tribute to all who serve and all who have served, we must remember that we owe veterans and their families more than just a thank you on Labor Day--or on Veterans Day. We owe them what they have earned: healthcare benefits, education opportunities. Taking care of our veterans is a cost of going to war. Now, I have heard--I am going to talk about the PACT Act in a moment. Senator Merkley and I were just talking about it, the long overdue step we took to pass the PACT Act. A number of our more conservative colleagues said it cost too much. They never say it costs too much to send people to war. It only costs too much to take care of the men and women who have served us in providing healthcare at the CBOC in Mansfield or the VA in Dayton or the VA in Cleveland. We took this year a long overdue step to pass the PACT Act. We secured the most comprehensive--the single-most comprehensive benefit expansion for veterans in our Nation's history. Some of you in this body remember, with Agent Orange, at the beginning, to get Agent Orange benefits you had to prove that you got sick because of the exposure to Agent Orange, and some veterans had to hire lawyers, and it just didn't make sense. Well, we learned the lessons from Agent Orange in the PACT Act. When President Biden signed this bill he delineated--we delineated--23 illnesses, mostly bronchial and cancers--bronchial illnesses and cancers. And if you as a veteran who served in Iraq or Afghanistan or, you know, in some other theaters, if you had one of those illnesses, you could get treatment at the Zanesville CBOC or the Chillicothe VA or the Cincinnati VA. It means now that post-9/11 combat veterans are now eligible for this VA care. It means we also expanded coverage for veterans exposed to Agent Orange and for those exposed to burn pits and other toxins. It means if you are exposed to toxins while serving your country, you get the benefits you have earned--period, no exceptions. We couldn't have done it without the lessons of Agent Orange and the activism of our servicemembers and families. I have spent much of the last 6 weeks doing roundtables of 6, 8, 10, a dozen veterans, in rural communities and cities alike in my State, and most of them weren't yet aware of what this bill meant. It does mean that if they have any one of these illnesses and they were exposed to these burn pits--these football field-size burn pits that burn everything from industrial waste to tires to computers to human waste to who knows what--if they were exposed, then they got the help that they have earned. I encourage all veterans to go to va.gov/pact--p-a-c-t--to find out more about the law and see what benefits you may be eligible for. This is just the start of veterans finally, finally, finally getting the help of a grateful nation. This bill came to my attention about 5 years ago. This problem came to my attention. A woman from Sandusky, OH, told me about her son-in- law, who was healthy, a distance runner, until about a year earlier, and he was diagnosed with a bronchial illness and then a cancer--a rare cancer, but a cancer that was recognizable to VA doctors. He has since passed away. His name is Heath Robinson. We named this bill that Senator Tester worked so hard on and Senator Moran, a Republican and a Democrat--they worked so hard on it to make sure it was enacted into law. Again, I urge veterans to go to va.gov/pact to find out more about the law. Earlier this month, the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced an 11-percent drop in veterans' homelessness over the last 2 years, in part because of the work of this new President and this new Senate and the work we are doing with the VA. It is progress. We have more work to do. I will continue to travel across Ohio and to hold roundtables with veterans to talk about the PACT Act. I am going to keep talking to veterans around the State. With my colleagues in the Senate and with members of the Veterans Affairs Committee, we will continue fighting so every veteran has the benefits they deserve. We will never forget the debt we owe. We are humbled by their commitment to service. And you can't talk about veterans without thanking the military families--the families of Heath Robinson--the family of Heath Robinson, who fought to make sure he got those benefits. And his legacy--in spite of his tragic death, his legacy of helping veterans will move on. It was the county veterans service officers. Ohio is lucky. Most States don't have this. We have a veterans service organization, a commission in every one of the 88 counties, so that there are at least 2 employees--and in some cases 50, in the largest counties--who take care of veterans who have all kinds of issues and problems. So for our veterans service officers and then all the veteran service organizations, like the VFW and the DAV and the American Legion and the Polish-American Veterans, and so many others who work every day to support veterans and their families, we honor their sacrifice. This bill happened because of the activism of veterans' families, because of the veteran service organizations, and this body recommits-- as Senator Merkley does, I know, and the Presiding Officer recommit--to fighting for veterans, fighting for military families. On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your service.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Max Morrissey and Ben Morrissey, two brothers who went to work on September 20 at the BP-Husky oil refinery in Oregon, OH, and never returned home. In the tragic explosion at the refinery that night, Max and Ben were fatally injured. At 34 and 32, their lives were cut short. Max and Ben were loving husbands and fathers, proud union steelworkers with Local 1-346, and lifelong Ohioans. They spent their lives serving their families, their community, their union, and their country through their dedication to their jobs and through Max Morrissey's distinguished service in the U.S. Navy. Their work at the plant powered our State, our economy, and provided for their families. Family was everything to Max and Ben. They shared a dedication and commitment to each other, to their parents, to their wives, and to their young children. On Friday, I visited the steelworkers hall. I had the honor of speaking with the Morrissey family and Max and Ben's steelworker brothers and sisters in Local 1-346. From all I learned about Max and Ben, I know their memories will live on. I know their legacies will be upheld by those whom they loved and who loved them so. We talked about this pin I wear, a canary pin given to me years ago at a Workers Memorial Day in Lorain, OH, by a steelworker honoring the workers who lost their lives on the job, working and supporting their economy and building a life, a future for their families. This pin is a depiction of a canary in a birdcage. If you know labor history--and I know the Presiding Officer from Georgia knows this--the mineworkers used to take the canary in a cage down into the mines. If the canary died from lack of oxygen or toxic gas, the mineworker got quickly out of the mine. He had no union strong enough in those days to protect him and no government that cared enough to protect him. A strong union changed that because of worker safety laws and because of the labor movement. This tragedy reminds us that our work to protect workers and make our workplaces safer never ever ends. No worker should ever have to worry about not returning home at the end of the day. No family should ever have to be concerned about that, not steelworkers like Max and Ben, not first responders who rush to their aid--no one. I want to recognize those first responders--the steelworkers, the fire brigade, the Oregon Fire Department--those first responders at the scene whose bravery made a difference. Today, we rededicate ourselves to Max and Ben's example of dignity of work, importance of family and community. Our thoughts are with the Morrissey family, with all those who knew and loved Max and Ben, and with those who worked alongside them. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I thank the majority leader for those comments and for his leadership on this and so much else, including the subject that Senator Wyden and I will be talking about today: Social Security. I rise to discuss an issue that Senator Wyden and I have worked on, and I am honored to be part of this with a Senator who began his career active in the Gray Panthers. So his commitment to Social Security almost goes back to almost before I was born, if I can say it that way. Everything we do here--everything we do here--should come back to the dignity of work; the idea that hard work should pay off for everybody no matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter what kind of work you do to support yourself and your family. When work has dignity, people always, always, always should have a secure retirement. That means they can count on Medicare. It means they can count on Social Security. It means we protect in this body--Senator Markey has been very involved in this, too, as the Presiding Officer. It means we protect people's pensions. It means people should make enough to save. It is why we saved--this body. I remember sitting here with Senator Casey on March 6, 2021, and saying to him this was the best day of my career, when we voted 51 to 50 to save the pensions of 100,000 people in Ohio, over a million workers around the country, the same day we passed the Child Tax Credit extension, which dropped the poverty rate in this country by 40 percent. It is why we still fight for the Delphi retirees who lost their pensions through no fault of their own, through no wrongdoing of their own, through no malfeasance or anything else of their own. They lost it because the system didn't guarantee it. It is why we will always, always fight back against attacks on Social Security. A secure retirement should never be partisan. Social Security and Medicare are two of the most popular and most unifying institutions in the country. Think back. We have had Social Security since the Roosevelt days. We have had Medicare since the LBJ days--so 80, 90 years of Social Security. The first Social Security check was in 1940 to a woman in Vermont. We have had Social Security for 82 years. Medicare, passed by a Democratic House and Senate, with some Republican support joining President Johnson creating Medicare in the 1960s--again, two of the most popular and most unifying institutions in the country. Social Security is our government's promise to working men and women, a promise they will be able to retire with dignity. Support for Social Security among the voters, among the public, cuts across party lines, geographic lines, racial lines. Almost everybody in this country supports Social Security. Americans want to not only protect Social Security and Medicare, but they want to make it stronger. I said almost everybody in the country supports Social Security and Medicare. Well, Mr. President, as you know and Chairman Wyden of the Finance Committee knows, almost everybody except a whole lot of people who come to the Senate and, down the hall, come to the House of Representatives and think their mission is to privatize Social Security and privatize Medicare. So why do they do that? Well, it is their answer to pay for everything. How can we afford handouts to corporations? Well, the way to pay for it is to cut Social Security and you privatize Medicare. How do you pay for tax cuts for the wealthy? Well, you wipe out the retirement security of Americans. You cut Social Security. You privatize Medicare. That is their answer, time after time after time. They don't really want to talk about it this close to an election. As soon as this election is over, we know the crescendo; we know the loud voices, again, from Senator Scott, the leader, who happens to also run the Republican Senate Campaign Committee--the Senator from Florida who is a freshman who believes that privatizing--that we should have to renew Medicare and Social Security every 5 years. Like we don't want anybody to feel comfortable or be able to plan for the future or to feel, like, just secure in their retirement. So it is always the same plan from the corporate elite and think-tank extremists. So when I said almost everybody, it was not quite fair to say it is only Republican Senators and Republican House Members. It is also the corporate elite, in many cases. It is the people at these rightwing think tanks, funded by billionaires, who think this is some way that-- they come up with some new scheme to disguise their unpopular agenda: privatize Social Security or means-testing Social Security. Whatever it is, the plan is the same: to kill off Social Security. This time it is Senator Rick Scott and Senate Republicans' plan to terminate Social Security. As I said, they want to get rid of this bedrock promise. It doesn't matter to them that most Americans support Social Security. That is why, this week, Senator Wyden, who, as I said, began his activism as an activist for the Gray Panthers in Portland, OR; Senator Casey, who sits next to me, one of the leaders in this Senate, a Senator from Pennsylvania--he came to the Senate the same day I did-- who is one of the leaders of this Senate and on Senator Wyden's committee to fight to affirm that Social Security should remain a guarantee for every American whom we want because our government should work for people, not against them. When workers have dignity--when work has dignity, we honor the retirement security people earned. It should be an easy decision. I urge my Republican colleagues in this body--colleagues, frankly, with healthcare and retirement plans paid for by taxpayers--we all have that in this body--to think about the generations of Americans who have benefited from Social Security and the generations to come who are relying on the promise of Social Security. I have listened to their speeches for years extolling the value of hard work. I have heard some of them trying to run from their own plans to end Social Security. But the American people are on to Senate Republicans. The American people watched as all 50 Republicans voted against or essentially did nothing to solve the multiemployer pension crisis. They are watching--a few exceptions. Senator Portman has been helpful on this, on the bipartisan Delphi retiree fix, but many are trying to block it. The public watches as the Republican caucus tries to end Social Security for good. If the American people don't need to worry about the Republican Senate plan to end Social Security, now is your chance to prove it. This is your chance, by voting--this is your chance to live up to your own words and cosponsor this resolution that Senator Wyden and I and Senator Casey are leading. Show Americans that if you work hard all your life, your government, your Senator will be there for you and that you are not working in this body to undermine the promise of Social Security. Senator Wyden and I have worked together to protect Social Security for years. What is at stake with these attacks? Why do we need to show a united commitment to Social Security in the U.S. Senate? Senator Wyden.

Mr. BROWN. Senator Wyden, would the Senator yield for one moment?

Mr. BROWN. I would like to ask you this. You had said that Senator Scott, who is the chairman of the Republican Senate campaign committee, represents the third largest State in the country, Florida. He said he wants to sunset? What exactly--just explain that so my colleagues understand it. The word ``sunset'' doesn't sound so bad until you really explain it. And I know Senator Markey understands it, but explain that, if you would.

Mr. BROWN. So he is saying then, so I understand this right. Senator Scott, the chair of the Republican Senate campaign committee, representing the third largest State in the country, is saying that every 5 years, if the Senate doesn't say yes to Social Security and Medicare, then they are unraveled and they die. It is up to the Senate to say yes every 5 years?

Mr. BROWN. So if there is a President and a Senate and a House in 5 years that want to privatize Medicare and Social Security, or a President who wants to veto it, or a Senate leader, like Senator McConnell, who has never really believed in it, they can do nothing. They just do nothing. So it is up to the people who support Social Security and Medicare to keep it going every 5 years. In other words, the burden is on the supporters, the public--which is, to me, 90 percent of the public who likes this. So that is the way it works, right?

Mr. BROWN. Well, go back to that. You said ``a brand-new fight.'' I am not a historian. I like reading history, but I know enough about Medicare because I care a lot about the history, as you do, of that-- and Senator Markey and others and Senator Leahy, who is on the floor about it too. President Truman wanted to enact Medicare, but he couldn't get the Congress to do it. And then President Kennedy wanted to enact Medicare, and he couldn't get Congress to do it. It probably took the Kennedy assassination and all that was happening to sort of light the fire under Congress to pass Medicare. So you would need that kind of political will. In other words, it took almost 20 years to pass Medicare. So if Medicare were to expire, you would need a huge public wave with elected officials who want to do it to get it back, in effect.

Mr. BROWN. Let me ask another question. So if Senator Scott gets his way or Senator McConnell, the Republican leader, gets his way, and all the new candidates Senator Scott is helping to get elected, if they get their way and pass Senator Scott's bill to sunset, would Senator Scott still have government healthcare and a government pension?

Mr. BROWN. Thank you, Senator Wyden. And I will yield back my time in 30 seconds. Mr. President, thank you for your indulgence. Senator Leahy will be speaking in a moment. And, Senator Leahy, chairman of the Finance Committee, we are just asking for cosponsors. We have a number of colleagues that have cosponsored this to make sure that Social Security is with us--a strong, good Social Security system--as long as we are a nation. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

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

Mr. BROWN

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