Sherrod Brown

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I wish to close with a personal story about polio. My brother, born in 1947--there are three of us, three boys. My brother is the oldest, my brother Bob. When he was in about the first, second, or maybe the third grade, my father, who was a local family physician in Mansfield, was asked by--if not the CDC, some national health organization to give polio vaccines in Mansfield, OH. There were doctors in other communities who were asked to do that. They chose my father in part because he was a good doctor. They also chose him because he had son, he had a child who was in second or third or fourth grade at the time. People were afraid. They weren't sure about injecting that vaccine into their arm because a lot of families thought that actually could cause polio. There was always that fear. Scientists didn't believe that, but an awful lot of people did. There was a picture on the front page of the Mansfield News Journal in the 1950s of my brother getting a polio vaccine. I believe his was Salk. Sabin came later with the cube. He got the Salk vaccine, administered by my dad. CDC or one of the other public health groups--I apologize, I don't know which--made sure that happened all over the country so people could be more reassured. That was really the beginning, with Salk and then Sabin, of the eradication of polio in this country. It is hard to think back--the Presiding Officer is not old enough-- Senator Isakson and I can remember with our parents the fear, until the end of the 1950s, of parents that their child would go swimming and might come back, as Franklin Roosevelt did, with a case of polio. Whatever the causes, that virus spreading scared so many people. In these days of hyper-partisanship consuming Washington, I appreciate the work of Senator Isakson, working together with CDC because this is far and above, far and away more important than any kinds of political differences that we might have. I will let Senator Isakson close.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I rise today to commemorate Boy Scout Troop 414 in Wellington, Lorain County, OH. For more than a century, the Boy Scouts of America has evolved along with America. This organization has helped create a foundation for boys to realize their responsibilities as citizens. Boy Scouts learn to value leadership, discipline, equality, justice, and integrity--but, perhaps, the greatest lesson shared with Scouts is the importance of service. Good citizenship matters. It strengthens our democracy, transforms strangers into neighbors, and helps move us closer to becoming a more just and open society. Troop 414, one of the oldest troops in Ohio, remains active in the local community. From volunteering and maintaining the county fairgrounds to collecting items for the local food bank and organizing monthly camping trips, Troop 414 provides new opportunities for boys to contribute to Northeast Ohio. As an Eagle Scout, I am especially proud of the Eagle Scouts in Troop 414: Alex Coker, Bradley Cuthbert Jr., Connor Dunwoodie, Aaron Ferguson, Stephen Ferguson, and Michael Savel. With more than 30 additional active troop members under the guidance of Scoutmaster Darrell French, I know that the future of scouting is bright in Ohio.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 5 minutes. Following my remarks, Senator Sessions will have the floor.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. BROWN. Under the leadership of Chairman Stabenow and Ranking Member Cochran, the Senate has again passed a bipartisan deficit- reducing bill that will help our farms, our families, our economy, and our environment. The Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013 is a good start to cultivating a new era of prosperity in our country and reinvesting in rural America. That is because this bill benefits all Americans, especially in my home State of Ohio. One in seven jobs in Ohio, in places such as Custar and Defiance, is related to food and agriculture. To keep our economy growing, the farm bill must remain a priority here in Congress. We have shown the Senate can do its part. To people who are uncertain about our ability to work across the aisle, I say look at this farm bill. To people who are concerned about spending in Washington, I say look at this farm bill. To people who are disheartened about our ability to help low-income families make ends meet, I say look at this farm bill. This bill saves more than $24 billion, and it maintains important investments in conservation, nutrition, renewable energy, and rural development. Farmers across Ohio and across the country tell us they want a leaner, more efficient, and market-oriented farm safety net. Taxpayers deserve that too. By eliminating direct payments, linking crop insurance to conservation compliance, and by further reforming our risk management programs, the Senate has taken that first step. Every farmer knows the importance of building on last season's work. Last year, Senators Thune, Durbin, Lugar--the predecessor--the Presiding Officer, and I proposed the Aggregate Risk and Revenue Management Program, streamlining the farmer safety net, making it more market-oriented. The Agricultural Risk Coverage Program included in this bill gives farmers the tools they need to mitigate risks, ensuring that payments happen only when farmers need them most. The program relies on current data and, as a result, is more responsive to farmers' needs and more responsive to taxpayers. It also includes a provision to help Ohio farmers and producers sell their products directly to consumers. It will make a world of difference to families and schools that want to eat locally grown food. I appreciate the efforts, interest, and support of Senator Cochran in those efforts. However, this bill does not include my food and agriculture market development amendment, cosponsored by 14 of my colleagues, to provide needed funding to several important programs that support the development of a stronger, more sustainable food system. We will work on that in the House. By aligning our agricultural, health, and economic policies in ways that ensure farmers get a fair price for their product, all Americans can have access to affordable, healthy food, while contributing to strong communities and thriving local economies. The farm bill affects every American every day. It is a deficit reduction bill. It is a jobs bill, conservation bill, rural development bill, and it is bipartisan. I commend again Senator Stabenow and Senator Cochran for their work in crafting this bill, and their joint effort to work across party lines is to be commended.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that tributes to Frank Lautenberg, the late Senator from New Jersey, be printed as a Senate document and that Members have until 12 noon on Thursday, June 20, to submit said tributes.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 11, 2013; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 744, the comprehensive immigration reform bill, under the previous order; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Tomorrow at 2:15 p.m., there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the immigration bill. If cloture is invoked, there will be a second vote at 4 p.m. to adopt the motion to proceed and begin consideration of the bill.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn following the remarks of Senator Sessions, as provided for under the previous order.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, Ohio has a robust history of pioneering innovation--as the home of Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, aerospace leaders including former Senator John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and more. Today, Ohio is transforming from the Rust Belt into the Innovation Belt. This week, OARnet, a member of Ohio Technology Consortium or OH-TECH, is being honored here in the Nation's Capital for its new ultra-fast broadband network as an honored 2013 laureate by IDG's Computerworld, an international source of technology news and information for informational technology influencers. This Emerging Technology Award is based on Ohio's innovative efforts to meet the growing economic and research opportunities offered by ``Big Data.'' In 2012, Ohio invested more than $13 million to increase tenfold the speed and network capacity of OARnet, a statewide broadband network, to 100 gigabits per second, Gbps. Although several research institutions in other States are experimenting with this new gold standard of broadband speeds, Ohio is the first in the Nation to harness this capacity on a statewide scale. Ohio touts connections to 10 major cities, 90 of Ohio's higher education institutions, commercial applications, and Internet2's international network. These broadband speeds are expected to create many opportunities for Ohio. At 100 Gbps, each of Ohio's 1.8 million enrolled K-12 students could download an e-book simultaneously in just over 2 minutes; data equivalent to 80 million file cabinets filled with text can be transferred daily; 300,000 X-rays can be transmitted in just 1 minute; 8.5 million electronic medical records can be transmitted in 1 minute; and data can be sent at 50,000 times faster than current average smartphone speeds. OH-TECH's international recognition is further testament to Ohio's evolution into a high-tech environment that supports next-generation business applications to attract new employers, connects the State's higher education institutions, our cutting edge medical corridor, and serves as a platform for developing large-scale scientific research. Ohio is also celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Ohio Supercomputer Center with the launch of a new cluster supercomputer. This new supercomputer, which can perform 88 trillion calculations per second, allows researchers statewide to innovate and compete for grants and national supercomputing resources in the areas of the biosciences, advanced materials, energy, and the environment. I am proud to have worked closely with the White House to secure a $5 million grant to the Ohio Supercomputer Center and several partner organizations to support the advanced manufacturing efforts of Midwestern small- and medium- sized manufacturers, SMEs. I have also helped secure Federal funding to help small polymer companies address the technical barriers, costs, and training needed to use advanced manufacturing technologies. Through partnerships with the government and collaborations with technology leaders like Procter & Gamble, we can work together to help strengthen Ohio's manufacturing sector and provide the tools needed to compete in the global marketplace. My home State is one of the largest investors and active partners in the National Digital Engineering and Manufacturing Consortium, NDEMC, a broad public-private partnership supporting the use of modeling and simulation by small- and medium-sized manufacturers. This project gives manufacturers the ability to conduct complex simulations to test virtual prototypes and maximize production methods, all through cost- effective means. These platforms reduce manufacturers' time and labor costs and help them bring products to market faster, making them more competitive with our overseas counterparts. A Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial proclaimed, ``Ohio is wired for business. Goodbye Rust Belt, Hello Nerd- vana.'' The Columbus Dispatch similarly noted, ``For those inventing the future, Ohio is the hot spot.'' They are correct. Ken Murray, Transformatix founder and CEO, explained: One reason we located our new company, BioLinQ, in Ohio, rather than California, is because Ohio demonstrated the most forward-thinking approach to technology and high-speed innovation. Ray Leto, president of Total Sim, echoed those sentiments: Our business focuses on modeling and simulation for the automotive industry, and we chose Ohio over the North Carolina Research Triangle because of the advanced technology infrastructure available here. The knowledge economy is the pathway to restoring our national prosperity, and I am proud to represent Ohio--a pioneering State that is providing the tools and leading the way.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I thank the Senator from Wyoming for his unanimous consent request, and I ask unanimous consent that after I conclude my remarks, the Senator from Rhode Island Mr. Whitehouse be recognized for up to 15 minutes.

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, today new U.S.-China trade deficit figures from April show a 34-percent increase since March. Last month our trade deficit with the world's second largest economy was more than $24 billion. I remember about a dozen years ago when the Senate and the House approved PNTR--permanent normal trade relations--with China. Around that time the bilateral yearly trade deficit with China was barely $10 billion. Today, just for last month, it was $24 billion. It has persistently and consistently been over $200 billion a year in recent history. This kind of trade deficit keeps our domestic companies on the defensive. It means workers in Ohio, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, throughout the Midwest, and across America are prevented from unlocking their potential. Our manufacturers are still the most productive in the world. Our workers are the most skilled and the most productive in the world. Their productivity continues to go up and up and up, in part because of globalization; however, their wages have been stagnant. That is part of the price our country has paid for globalization. Our workers can't compete when China cheats. How can we win the future when our manufacturers can't win contracts because China doesn't play fair? In many ways China and so many of our trading partners practice trade according to their national interest. Yet we in the United States practice trade according to some economics textbook that has been out of print for the last 20 years. Despite universal agreement that China continues to manipulate its currency to gain an artificial advantage over American-made goods, no action has been taken down the hall by the House of Representatives and no action has been taken down the street at the White House. No action has been taken by the House despite widespread support for legislation this Chamber passed in October 2011. That legislation, worked on by many of my colleagues, would establish new criteria for the Treasury Department to identify countries that misalign their currency. The bill would trigger tough consequences for those countries which engage in such unfair trade practices. It would allow for industries harmed by currency manipulation to seek relief, the way they do for other export subsidies, which several industries in my State have sought, such as steel pipe producers in Lorain, where I visited last week, in Youngstown. We can solve this problem. The major reason there have been new investments in the Lorain U.S. Steel plant, at V&M Star in Youngstown, at Wheatland Tube, also in the Mahoning Valley, stabilization in jobs, and growth in jobs is because we have enforced trade laws. We can solve this problem further with currency reform. That is why Senator Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, and I will join our colleagues, including Senators Schumer, Collins, Stabenow, and Burr, tomorrow when we reintroduce this bill. Why? Because more nations are engaged in this practice, and it is clear we don't have the tools to address it. It is no longer just China manipulating its currency. There are a number of other countries--especially in East Asia--that are engaging in this practice, and, as I said, we don't have the tools to address it. In 2009, as nations were seeking to restore stability to financial markets and respond to the global financial crisis, G-20 leaders met in Pittsburgh to set a framework that would better promote more evenly balanced trade. Among the steps to be taken would be a more market- oriented exchange rate--something China obviously isn't familiar with-- and a move away from the practice of adopting artificial, manipulated exchange rates not based on market forces. While this appeared to be a step in the right direction, there has been too little to show for the good intentions stated back in 2009. Here is what we know. Workers and manufacturers still face an unfair advantage from currency manipulation. By keeping the value of the RMB-- the Chinese currency--artificially low, China drives foreign corporations to shift production there because it makes exports to China more expensive and it makes Chinese exports back into the United States cheaper. It has only been in recent history that business after business after business, as we have seen in the United States, has developed a business plan that involves shutting down production in Lima, OH, move that production to Beijing, and then sell back to the United States of America. Never really in history has that been a widely adopted business plan in a country--shut down production in Springfield, MA, or Springfield, OH, move that production to Shihan, China, or Wuhan, China, get tax breaks for doing it, and then sell those products back into the United States. Part of the reason for that is currency manipulation. This continued undervaluation has caused serious harm for this economy. It has cost American jobs. The first President Bush said in the 1980s that $1 billion in trade surplus or trade deficit could translate into some 12,000 jobs--meaning that if there is a trade deficit with a country, it costs this country 12,000 jobs. Multiply that by a $500 billion, $600 billion, or $700 billion trade deficit, and see what we get. A December 2012 report by the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that currency manipulation by foreign governments had cost the U.S. from 1 to 5 million jobs and increased the U.S. trade deficit by $200 billion to $500 billion per year. Think of that. By addressing currency manipulation now, we could create up to 5 million jobs and reduce our trade deficit by tens of billions of dollars, and doing so wouldn't cost taxpayers a cent. But let's look for a moment beyond the numbers. Workers in my home State who work hard and play by the rules at Titan Tire in Bryan, OH, American Aluminum Extrusions in Stark County, Wheatland Tube in Trumbull County, the people who make coated paper and lightweight thermal paper in southern Ohio, the Ohioans who forge steel into products we all use--these women and men deserve a chance to earn a living without companies in other countries illegally dumping goods--or legally if we don't do anything about currency--on our markets. We can't afford to sit idly by while our trade deficit grows and our domestic manufacturing base erodes. By addressing currency manipulation and other unfair trade practices, we create American jobs and position ourselves to meet the challenges and opportunities of globalization. I look forward to continued debate and action on finally penalizing the countries that cheat on trade. Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss one of the most important and significant reforms of our Nation's agriculture in decades. The Agriculture Reform, Food, and JOBS Act of 2013, known around here as the farm bill, is the product of months and months of policy discussions and late-night deliberations, with special thanks to the chairman of the committee, Senator Stabenow from Michigan, and the ranking member, Senator Cochran of Mississippi. I thank them both for their good work, and also a special thanks to Katharine Ferguson in my office for her good work on this legislation. There is a reason people across the country--farmers and business owners, faith leaders, and county commissioners--are paying attention to this legislation. It is a farm bill, it is a food bill, it is a nutrition bill, it is an economic development bill, it is a rural development bill, and it is a conservation bill all in one. In my State one out of seven jobs is related to food and agriculture. To keep our economy moving forward, the farm bill must remain a priority in Congress. We did our job last year on this legislation. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives didn't, but I think this year it will when we pass overwhelmingly a similar bill to the one which passed by a vote of 64 to 35 last year. The bill saves more than $20 billion while maintaining important investments in conservation and nutrition, renewable energy and agricultural research, which is so important to my State, to rural development, to broadband, and all that farm legislation can in fact do for rural development. In the last 2 years the Senate has considered reform bills that have done more than any farm bill literally in 20 years. We have eliminated direct payments and recoupled eligibility for crop insurance with the expectation that farmers do right by the land. The work of Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Cochran in committee to keep that coalition together, linking crop insurance with conservation, was especially important. We set tight limits on the amount of support any individual producer can receive. There is obviously more that can be done, but this bill takes important strides in reforming our farm program. It will increase efforts to improve water quality in Lake Erie--one of the five Great Lakes with the greatest body of fresh water anywhere in the world. It is even perhaps more important to the State of Michigan, the chairwoman's State, than even mine. It will help small towns such as Bryan, Bucyrus, and Bellaire make strategic economic development investments to jumpstart their local economies. The bill continues efforts to make sure all Americans have enough to eat and access to affordable, healthy, and fresh food. This is a forward-looking bill, and I was pleased to support it in committee and hope to work with Senate colleagues of both parties in the coming days to make slight improvements as it moves forward. The centerpiece of the bill's deficit reduction efforts is rooted in reform of the farm safety net. The era of direct payments made annually regardless of need is over. Across Ohio and the Nation we have heard crop insurance is the most important tool farmers have for managing risk, so this bill improves and preserves crop insurance. We know what that meant last year, particularly as drought hit States such as Ohio and, more severely, States west of my State. Farmers have said they want a leaner, more efficient market-oriented farm safety net. Taxpayers deserve that too. Last year, Senator Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, and Senators Durbin and Lugar and I proposed the Aggregate Risk and Revenue Management Program, ARRM, streamlining the farm safety net to make it more market oriented. Instead, the new Agriculture Risk Coverage Program will work with crop insurance to provide farmers the tools they need to manage risk-- making payments only when farmers need them most. This program is market oriented, relying on current data. It is more responsive to farmers' needs and is more responsive to taxpayers. The bill reforms a number of longstanding unjustifiable practices. For the first time this farm bill ends payments to landowners who have nothing to do with farm management. It ends payments to millionaires and puts a firm cap on how much support any farmer can receive from the direct farm support programs each year. This so-called conservation compliance provision reflects a landmark agreement put forward by a number of key commodity and conservation interests and stakeholders. People who are going to receive federally subsidized crop insurance need to show they are meeting basic conservation requirements. Again, the days of subsidies without conditions and subsidies without responsibility are over. It is an example of what can happen when groups with different perspectives--the commodities farmers and the conservationists--come together to listen to each other. By relinking crop insurance subsidies with good environmental practices, this bill makes our farm safety net more defensible and protects our natural resources. As I said, this farm bill takes great strides toward better, leaner, smart farm policy, but it is also a work in process. A key difference between this year's bill versus the one we passed last year is the inclusion of the Adverse Market Payments Program--the AMP Program-- that, to be candid, is something important to southern growers but not in line with what I believe Ohioans want to see and what I hear from Ohio farmers. I worked closely with colleagues from the middle of the country to make sure this AMP Program is as market-oriented as possible, but it was a battle not wholly won and something I want to see modified. We cannot have farm programs in one part of the country become more market-oriented while others do not. The Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act supports farmers but also provide a lifesaving safety net to American families who have fallen on hard times. The SNAP program now serves 47 million Americans, more than half of whom are children and seniors. Along with unemployment insurance, SNAP is the primary form of assistance we provide Americans who have fallen on tough times. Just understand and be certain that many of these families are people with full-time and part- time jobs who simply do not make enough money to get along. Some of my colleagues will point out the rapid increase in SNAP enrollment over the past few years. This is to be expected since it mirrors the downturn in the economy, the unemployment levels, and the fact that for 10 years most people in this country have not had a raise. As costs go up, it hits the lowest income people the hardest. That is the biggest reason people have relied on food stamps. This is evidence that SNAP is working. As our economy is recovering, SNAP enrollment will decrease. More telling is that today some 50 million Americans still live under the Federal poverty level. The number of Americans who rely on SNAP tells me we should not be gutting, we should not be undercutting, as a number of my colleagues in the House of Representatives want to do. We should not be cutting Federal nutrition programs. What we should be doing is enacting better economic policies that create jobs and reduce inequality and enable Americans to put food on the table without assistance. This bill cuts $4 billion from SNAP. That is already $4 billion too much. I appreciate the chairwoman's efforts to make that $4 billion cut as painless as possible in terms of benefits SNAP beneficiaries receive. Again, most of these--a huge number of these SNAP beneficiaries are in working families. A huge number of them are children. A huge number of them are senior citizens. It goes without saying that a bill with the level of the cuts to SNAP--some $20 billion included in the House bill--will not get my support and will not pass muster in the Senate. While we also work to preserve SNAP, we can make sure our nutrition programs are smarter. The farm bill makes important strides toward aligning our food and our farm and our economic policy. Agriculture has always been an important engine of economic growth. I said at the outset that one out of seven jobs in my State is related to agriculture and food. Shortening the supply chain benefits farmers and families, meaning that the more people eat what is grown locally, the better it is for the economy, the better it is for their health, and the better it is for the environment. It helps keep money in the local economy and helps build the economy, especially of rural communities in my State and across the country. This farm bill affects every American every day. It is a deficit reduction bill, it is a jobs bill, and it is a bipartisan economic relief bill. I again commend Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Cochran for their work in drafting this legislation. I especially appreciate the staff of individual members of the committee, their staffs, for their work. I urge my colleagues to work together and break the impasse that keeps us from making progress on this legislation. 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. BROWN. Mr. President, 50 years ago, in August 1963, Martin Luther King wrote, ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'' When a factory full of human beings collapses in Bangladesh, it matters in Bucyrus and Boardman and Bellefontaine. When the concrete ceiling of a shoe factory crumbles in Cambodia, it matters in Celina and Canton. Earlier this month we observed Workers Memorial Day. We paused and remembered those Americans who had lost their lives on the job. We honor their memories by passing laws to help ensure no other child waits by the door for a mother or a father who will never return home from work. Out of the ashes of the Triangle Shirt Waste Factory fire 100 years ago in New York City, we fought and won workplace safety reforms that have helped save countless lives decade after decade after decade in our country. Yet even though we have passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, even though we have a National Labor Relations Board, we still have a moral responsibility to be vocal about violations to worker safety wherever it happens--whether it happens in Cleveland, in Honolulu, or in Bangladesh. We are interconnected with this world. Our economy is linked to the women and children--to the people--whose names we don't know, the workers we don't know, who sew labels we all know in our shirts and in our sweaters. American and European retailers purchase some two-thirds of Bangladeshi garment production. That is why, Mr. President, in the aftermath of the deadly Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh and the Wing Star Shoes collapse outside of Phnom Penh, we might have expected outraged American companies to take action. That is not exactly what happened. Which member of this multibillion-dollar industry will speak out for workers who face hazardous conditions for a minimum wage--in many cases of just $38 per month--making the clothes we wear in this country? Today, Leader Reid, Senator Harkin of Iowa, Durbin of Illinois, Levin of Michigan, Leahy of Vermont, Murray of Washington State, Rockefeller of West Virginia, and I sent a letter to some of our leading American retailers. We are urging retailers such as Walmart to sign onto a legally binding global accord to help ensure worker safety in Bangladesh. We are asking a number of the largest retailers in America to sign onto this legally binding global accord to help ensure worker safety in Bangladesh. Remember, as Dr. King wrote some 50 years ago, injustice anywhere threatens our ability to create a more just world. Signing this accord from our retailers is one step our leading retailers can take to help us usher in a new era of justice in this new century. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I thank the Senator from California, the chair of the committee who has done an extraordinary job with Senator Vitter on this bill. I ask unanimous consent to call up amendment No. 813.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I am pleased to offer today, with my colleagues from Pennsylvania, Senator Toomey and Senator Casey, this amendment. As many of you know, the spread of Asian carp poses a threat to the Great Lakes' ecosystem. Because of the work of my Great Lakes State colleagues from Minnesota to Michigan, Pennsylvania, we are working to address this problem. But it is not, contrary to what many believe, limited just to the Great Lakes. The Ohio and Upper Mississippi River Basins also face the threat of these invasive species. This no-cost amendment that Senator Toomey and I are offering would support multiagency efforts to hold the spread of Asian carp in the Ohio and Upper Mississippi Basin. I ask my colleagues for their support. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN. I ask for the yeas and nays on the Brown amendment.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, this past week we observed in this country Workers Memorial Day--when we pause and remember those Americans who lost their lives on the job. For generations hard-working people have left their homes every morning or for second or third shift to earn an honest living, to provide for loved ones, to put food on the table. For generations too many would leave for their jobs but return home from work injured or in far too many cases not return home at all; they died operating heavy machinery on late-night shifts; they died working in coal mines; they died building roads and bridges; they died in far too many cases from lack of basic fire safety, ventilation systems, and lighting. I have shared with my colleagues before that over the years many times I will wear a depiction of a canary in a bird cage on my lapel that reminds me why we honor these workers and why honoring these workers' lives matters. One hundred years ago, a mine worker took the canary down in the mine in a cage. If the canary died from toxic gas or lack of oxygen, the mine worker quickly left the mine, understanding that he had no union strong enough to protect him nor a government that cared enough to protect him. In those days 100 years ago, when they took the canary in the mine, the life expectancy for a child born in this country was only 45 or 46 years. Today we live three decades longer because we understand everything from Medicare, to civil rights, to Social Security, to workers' compensation, to minimum wage, to prohibition, to child labor, to auto safety, to safe drinking water and clean air laws. This pin symbolizes people who work hard and play by the rules. We have taken significant steps in this country to keep American workers safe and to provide them with fair wages and benefits. We know more work needs to be done. Since the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act were enacted into law in the 1930s, workers in this country were guaranteed the right to form a union and bargain collectively. They benefited from a minimum wage and from overtime pay. Today we see vicious attacks on unions and collective bargaining from State legislatures at the behest of their corporate and far-right benefactors. We see obstructionists in this body who block even the most reasonable and clearly necessary nominations to the National Labor Relations Board. Yes, there is more work to be done. Even as OSHA--the Occupational Safety and Health Administration--works to ensure safe working conditions, job fatality rates have not changed in the last few years. More than 4,600 workers--think about that: 4,600 workers--were killed on the job in 2011. That is more than 10 a day. And 4,600 American workers went to work and didn't come home that night. About 50,000 more died from occupational disease. That is almost 1,000 a week who died because of exposure to chemicals or something that happened to them in the workplace. Given the progress we have made over the last several decades, nonetheless, Americans live longer and enjoy a better quality of life, but there is more work to be done because too many are still denied fair wages and benefits, and, equally important, too many are still at serious risk of injury or death on the job. Just days ago, on May 4, two workers in Ohio were killed when part of a crane fell on them at a steel mill construction site in Stark County, OH, in Perry Township. Brian Black, Mark Tovissi, and their families and all the workers of the Faircrest plant deserve better and deserve answers. So too do workers in McLennan County, TX, where a fertilizer plant exploded recently and was a major story in the national news. That facility in West, TX, had not had a health and safety inspection since 1985. This disaster shows the tragic consequences of not conducting regular workplace inspections. Fewer American miners died or were injured in 2012 than ever before, but in the first 3 months of 2013, 11 miners were killed in accidents that the Mine Safety and Health Administration called ``preventable.'' Stephen Koff, a reporter at the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, documented some of the problems the government has faced--the agency in charge of protecting miners' safety--the problems they have in levying fines against coal mine owners who have violated public safety rules. Yet, in an interconnected, globalized society, we can't turn away from these workplace disasters--not just in our country but overseas. The struggle to ensure that workers are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve is an international, universal, fundamental right. We have recoiled from the stories of hundreds of garment workers in Bangladesh who died in a factory that collapsed a few weeks ago and others who died in a factory fire last year. Several brand-name retailers contract work in Bangladesh. They have a responsibility, once the label of their retail establishment is sewn into these clothes, whether they own the factory or whether they are an American retailer or an American textile maker that owns the factory or whether they subcontract to others and try to wash their hands of responsibility, they have a responsibility to work with the Bangladesh Government, to work with nongovernmental institutions, and to work with the workers themselves to improve their working environment. Anything less is unacceptable. The United States has a moral duty to lead by example. We should examine contracts with companies that sell products manufactured by workers who have been denied in these countries--similar to the way they used to be in the United States and occasionally still are--who are denied even basic worker protections. Let's not forget the American rescue workers who put their own lives in jeopardy to save hundreds of people over the past few weeks in Texas and in the home State of the Presiding Officer, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. First responders across our country deserve to know that we are doing everything we can to keep them and the people they protect as safe as possible. These are, generally, public employees. They generally carry a union card. While bystanders and others tend to run from disasters, they run toward those disasters. Let us always remember those whom we have lost over the years. Whether they are public sector or private sector workers, we have lost them due to their labor. On Workers Memorial Day, particularly, remember them, but on every day. Let us honor those workers who have died by renewing our commitment to protect hard-working American workers who get up, who go to work, who try to provide for themselves and their families. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, today I wish to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus in Columbus, OH. Since 1913, the JCC and its members have supported Ohioans through physical and mental well-being activities, early childhood initiatives, summer camps, and recreational sports programs. I congratulate this vital organization on reaching this milestone and join many central Ohioans in expressing the deepest gratitude for JCC's service to the Greater Columbus community. In 1913, Joseph Schonthal worked to help ensure Columbus's Jewish immigrant population had a place to come together in brotherhood. He began providing meeting rooms for these newcomers and organizing activities for their children. In 1918, he opened the Schonthal Center and the Jewish Infants Home of Ohio on East Rich Street in Columbus. Nine years later, he purchased 25 acres of land in Union County for youth summer camps. In 1949, with the help of the United Jewish Fund, the JCC broke ground on its current home located on College Avenue. Today's center is named in honor of Leo Yassenoff, the son of Russian immigrants, who made Columbus his home in 1912. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 1916. After serving in World War I, Leo Yassenoff helped start F&Y Construction Company, which built many local drive-in theaters. Yassenoff was a philanthropist throughout his life and donated a significant sum to the Jewish Center upon his death in 1971. In 1983, the current home for the Columbus JCC was named in his honor. In many ways, the stories of Leo Yassenoff and Joseph Schonthal are chapters in the larger American story--of neighbors coming together to make stronger communities. Today, the Jewish Community Center has multiple locations throughout the Columbus Metropolitan area, which provide recreation facilities and pre-school programs. JCC also continues to host summer camps and educate both students and adults on Jewish cultural heritage. It remains a hub for education, the arts, and spiritual well-being. It engages the Columbus Metropolitan area as a whole; transcending issues, cultures, ethnicities, races, and religions. JCC also provides classes to immigrants and new Americans. It works with organizations like the United Way providing services and education opportunities for those with special needs. Throughout the past century, the JCC has grown along with Columbus and remains focused on its goal: to serve its local community. On behalf of the people of Ohio and the United States, I thank the JCC of Greater Columbus for all their efforts and wish them another one hundred years of success. Mazel Tov!

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 1071, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 127.