Cory Booker

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, I rise to support the ``Not My Boss's Business Act,'' which will help to fix the recent Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision by making it illegal for a company to deny their workers specific health care benefits, including birth control, as is required to be covered by Federal law. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill which is necessary to ensure that all women have access to preventive care. I wish to say, on a personal note, I was a young child growing up in a household with a working mother. Mom worked for a big corporation and worked in human resources. My table would often be one where it was discussed that my mother was dealing with challenges of racial discrimination, challenges of sexism in the workplace. I watched how my mother, in human resources, would fight to make sure that we as a nation, as well as this particular corporation, continued to advance in fairly treating all of its employees. I was proud to watch my mother assert her independence, her freedoms, and her basic sense of equity, which resonates with the highest values of this Nation. What is frustrating to me now is here we stand in 2014, and we seem to be fighting so many battles and advancements we won before that are still needing to be fought. It is unthinkable to me that as we should be turning our focus toward other things such as paid family leave or raising the minimum wage, here we are again fighting about whether women should have the right to have access to birth control. This is unfortunate because contraception is essential to a woman's right to make her own personal health care decisions. Birth control is not only basic to making health care decisions, but it is one in which 99 percent of women avail themselves. Throughout their lifetime we will see 99 percent of American women avail themselves of birth control. These women should not be forced to decide between contraception and a tank of gas or between contraception and meals for their family, contraception and paying rent. The Hobby Lobby decision, if you think about it, is imposing the will of a corporation--one corporation's board member's religious beliefs or what-have-you can be imposed such that it would cost women who now want to exercise their freedom up to $1,000 a year. For minimum-wage or low- wage workers, the out-of-pocket cost for birth control each month is a real and substantive financial burden. Let's be clear. Workers have insurance coverage through their labor. It is part of their earned pay. This is not a free giveaway. They earned this coverage. What they spend their health care coverage on is their business, not their boss's business. I deeply value ideals of religious liberty. This is what this country was founded on. But religious liberty belongs to all of us; it does not belong to a corporation. Religious liberty means being free from having other people's religions foisted upon you, imposed upon you, or forced upon you. Most employees would never dream of telling their bosses what they must decide and abide by in terms of religious freedom. And by that same principle, no boss should have the right to impose his religion on the people who work for him. That is one of the reasons why so many faith leaders have spoken against the Hobby Lobby decision. It is now making it acceptable for a corporation to impose on the individual liberty of others their religious beliefs, also the financial freedom that goes along with that, and also the ability for a woman to make critical health care decisions. They might even be interfering with a doctor telling a patient what is best for them and their health. The views held by companies' owners should not be able to interfere with this basic understanding of fundamental rights. The Not My Boss's Business Act protects workers' religious liberty by not allowing their bosses to impose this hardship, to impose their religion, and to impose what I believe ultimately comes down to discrimination. Finally, the precedent set by this decision could open the door wider and wider for more court cases and more employers who want to deny more aspects of basic health coverage and services because they claim it conflicts with the boss's religious beliefs. From blood transfusions to vaccinations, we are now in a minefield in which we can have the destruction of religious freedom of employees and the health care freedom we have fought so hard to manifest. The Hobby Lobby decision is a step backward that we must correct. It is a step against women's rights. It is a step against religious freedom. It is a step against workers who earn basic benefits to have the ability to make those benefits real in their lives. The Not My Boss's Business Act will make it clear that bosses cannot discriminate. The Not My Boss's Business Act will make it clear that there should be equal treatment under the law for the tens of thousands of workers whose coverage now hangs in the balance. A woman's health care decisions should be between that woman and her doctor. There is no room for a boss's religious beliefs in that equation, period. I watched for decades, growing up, not only my mother but countless people fight to establish basic principles in the workplace. We cannot go back now. This is such a critical piece of legislation, to correct for the mistakes in this Supreme Court decision and assert those fundamental American ideals, that individuals should be able to make their own health care decisions, that bosses and corporations should not impose religious beliefs on others, and that we are a nation where every woman can create a sacrosanct and private relationship with her doctor and make ultimately the health care decisions that are best for her, not ones in any way influenced or affected by a corporation. I thank again the Senate and the Presiding Officer for this time but, most importantly, I thank Senator Murray and other Senators who have led on this issue. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I rise to speak about our Nation's broken criminal justice system, a system that has taken an unimaginable and I believe unsustainable toll on our Nation. The United States remarkably is home to between 4 and 5 percent of the entire globe's population, but we have 25 percent of the world's prison population. This phenomenon is unacceptable, that the land of the free would have 25 percent of the globe's imprisoned people. What is startling about that is the majority of those people are nonviolent offenders. In fact, the majority are nonviolent drug offenders. This phenomenon has largely emerged since around 1980, a period during which the Federal prison population has grown nearly tenfold. Since 1980 we have seen a 10-time increase in our prison population. Again, if we were locking up violent offenders, people who are terrorizing our streets or inflicting vicious and violent harm on our communities, then ridding our streets of such dangerous criminals would be understandable and it would be a price worth paying. But that is not the story of this unbelievable explosion of our Federal prisons and our Nation's incarcerated people. The reality is that nearly three-quarters of Federal prisoners are nonviolent and have no history of violence whatsoever. What is worse and what is anguishing is that once they are convicted of a crime, American citizens then face daunting obstacles to successfully rejoin society, to being able to raise their family, put food on the table, provide for themselves. As a result of that, our State and Federal prison exits have now become revolving doors, with two of every three ex-offenders getting rearrested within 5 years. Two- thirds of those nonviolent folks leaving our prisons come back within 5 years. When ex-offenders return to prison again and again, they are not just paying a price; we all are paying the price. We are contributing so much of our national treasure to rearresting the same people over and over, to reincarcerating the same people over and over. A recent Pew report concluded that if just 10 States cut their recidivism just 10 percent, it would save taxpayers $470 million--money this Nation urgently could use either to keep in the pockets of taxpayers or invest in things such as lowering the cost of college or in our roads and bridges or our crumbling infrastructure. As hard-working, taxpaying Americans have increased the fund for our prisons, funding more and more, there have been fewer and fewer resources left for these other crucial parts of our society--fewer resources for law enforcement, fewer resources for rehabilitative programs, fewer resources for proven investments in children that help prevent crime in the first place. The result has been a cycle of spending and incarceration that has led to the ballooning of this Federal prison bureaucracy, more than one-quarter of a trillion dollars a year from our economy going to unproductive and even counterproductive uses. Our country's misguided criminal justice policies place an economic drag on local communities and on our Nation's global competitiveness. Remember, if we are putting 25 percent of the globe's prison population in our American prisons, paying the price for that, our competitive democracies, our competitive economies aren't paying that price, we are paying this egregious price, and it is not making us any more safe. In fact, I would say it is making us less safe as a community. Many of my colleagues in this body, I am proud to say, recognize the urgent need for reform and have already put forth pieces of legislation that seek to improve various parts of this broken system. I am grateful and I applaud the bipartisan efforts that exist in this body amongst my colleagues--Senators Leahy, Flake, Durbin, Lee, Whitehouse, Landrieu, Franken, and others--who stand up to say: We have to save taxpayer dollars, we have to elevate human potential, and we have to make our streets safer. So to build off the momentum of these leaders in the Senate, I join with Senator Rand Paul to introduce today the Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment--or REDEEM--Act. This bipartisan legislation will establish much needed, sensible, pragmatic reforms that keep kids out of an adult system in the first place, protect their privacy so a youthful mistake can remain a youthful mistake and not haunt young people throughout their lives, and help make it actually less likely that low-level nonviolent offenders reoffend. Among other measures, our bill incentivizes States to raise the age of original jurisdiction for criminal courts to 18 years old. Trying juveniles who have committed low-level, nonviolent crimes as adults is counterproductive. They don't emerge from prison reformed and ready to reintegrate into a high school. The criminal record they have won't help them as they try to get a job. We need a system that treats juveniles toughly but fairly and with an eye toward a productive adulthood, with an eye toward restorative justice. For kids in the dozen States that treat 17- and even 16-year-olds as adults, no longer would it be likely that getting into a scuffle at school would result in an adult record that could follow an individual for the rest of their life, restricting access to a college degree, limiting employment prospects, and increasing the likelihood of engaging in further criminal activity. It is time that we empower our children to succeed, not undermine their long-term prospects for life's success. The REDEEM Act also enhances Federal juvenile record confidentiality provisions and provides for automatic expungement of records for kids who commit nonviolent crimes before they turn 15 and automatic sealing of records for those who commit nonviolent crimes after they turn 15. It will also ban the very cruel and counterproductive practice of juvenile solitary confinement that can have immediate and long-term detrimental effects on youth detainee mental and physical health. In fact, the majority of suicides by juveniles in prisons happens by young people who are in solitary confinement. Other nations even consider it torture. For adults, this legislation offers the first broad-based Federal path to the sealing of criminal records. A person who commits a nonviolent crime will be able to petition a court and make his or her case. Furthermore, employers requesting a background check from the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be provided with only relevant and accurate information thanks to a provision that will protect job applicants by improving the quality of the Bureau's background check. Think about this: 17 million background checks were done by the FBI last year, many of them for private providers, and upward of half of them were inaccurate or incomplete, often causing people to lose a job, miss an economic opportunity, and be trapped with few options to address the basic economic security that could lead someone to reoffend in order to feed a child. The REDEEM Act lifts a ban on receiving Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits. These benefits were conceived in a way that should empower people when they have to leave, and those convicted of drug use or possession having paid their dues now have a path to the reinstatement of those benefits so that they can get their lives together so they can be empowered and successful. Taken together, these measures will help keep kids who get in trouble out of a lifetime of crime and help adults who commit nonviolent crimes become more self-reliant and less likely to reoffend. The time to act is now. We cannot afford to let our criminal justice system continue to grow at the rate that it is. We cannot afford to sap billions of taxpayer dollars from a broken system that is locking people up and then doing nothing to empower them to succeed. We are wasting human potential and human productivity. We are hurting our economy, and by trapping people without options, we often end up making our communities less safe. We have seen how other individual States are doing things to address this issue and are actually lowering recidivism and lowering their prison population and on top of it lowering actual crime in their States. It is time that the Federal Government act to do the same. I urge my colleagues to support the REDEEM Act so we can make our communities safer and stronger and truly be a nation that savors and values freedom and empowers its citizens to live productive, strong lives of contribution. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Will my colleague yield for one short question?

Mr. BOOKER. Thank you, Madam President. Our amendment would maintain critical evidence-based safety rules that reduce truckdriver fatigue. I am disappointed that this bill currently includes a provision that would roll back the enforcement of these rules--rules that are based on years of scientific evidence. It is doing so without further study. It is rolling back these safety rules without public input. It is rolling back these safety rules without even a hearing. At a time when truck crashes are actually on a rise in the United States of America, it is paramount that Congress do more in transportation safety to improve the protection of lives--not remove an evidence-based element of reform. Keep in mind that the rule the bill currently suspends enforcement of was the result of feedback from more than 20,000 formal comments submitted by industry and stakeholders. It was a result of 6 public sessions and incorporated 80 sources of scientific data and research, as well as a regulatory impact analysis. Over the past week alone, New Jersey has been impacted by at least four major, separate accidents involving tractor trailer collisions. National statistics, unfortunately, show that these tragedies are unfolding more and more frequently. Many of my colleagues may not spend much time in New Jersey, but I am willing to bet that many have driven on the more than 38,000 miles of public roads that exist in my State. If you know the New Jersey Turnpike, this corridor connects our State and drivers, much of our commerce, and our economy all together. This highway also sees a lot of trucks at all times of the day, all around the clock. So I am compelled by these facts: Nearly 4,000 people are killed in truck accidents and over 100,000 people are injured every single year. From 2009 to 2012, truck crash injuries increased by 40 percent and truck fatalities increased in our Nation by 16 percent. Truckdriver fatigue is a leading cause of major truck accidents. These drivers, who work extensively long days delivering the goods we depend upon, deserve basic protections allowing them to get sufficient rest to do their job safely and efficiently. Just this morning the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report about a truck crash that happened on the New Jersey Turnpike on June 7 which killed one passenger traveling in a limousine, and four others were airlifted to a hospital. Six cars were impacted by the collision between the truck and the limo. The truckdriver, according to the NTSB report, had logged 13 hours 32 minutes of work at the time of the crash. Had he reached his destination, he certainly would have exceeded the number of federally permitted hours to work in a given day. The truckdriver will clearly be punished for pushing the limits. Truckdrivers are working extremely long days to deliver the goods that keep America moving, but it should never ever be at the cost of safer roads. At a time when we should be doing more to improve safety, we should not be rolling back evidence-based rules. Our amendment prevents readopting a policy that could force many truckdrivers to work over 80 hours per week. It maintains a balanced rulemaking that provides for truckdrivers to be allowed two nights' rest at the end of a taxing workweek. The Department of Transportation itself--our Federal Department of Transportation--estimates that the current rulemaking is preventing 1,400 crashes each year, saving 19 lives and avoiding 560 injuries on American highways. Our amendment would simply retain a provision to authorize--it would actually retain a provision to authorize further study. We believe further study on the issue is good. I am not against further study, nor are we against further analysis. But we believe it is absolutely unacceptable to consider suspending these driver rules while the study is being conducted. Safety cannot wait. I have not been in the Chamber very long and even today may have violated some of the rules of comity of this great body, but I know this effort is an important one, and I know it will be an uphill fight. There are some entrenched interests who tend to have a lot of influence on Capitol Hill, but this, to me, is one worth fighting. I urge my colleagues to join me. I have heard a lot of the arguments and questions about why this should possibly be rolled back, why we should roll back safety regulations in the face of increasing accidents on our highways. Somebody might say that DOT rules make the roads less safe by forcing trucks on the road during busy rush hour traffic. The notion that the DOT's rules--which were based on all of those hearings, all of that public input, the scientific study--somehow make the roads less safe, to me, is unfounded. To be sure, the rule does require that scientifically proven optimal sleep hours of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. be included in the DOT's mandatory 34-hour ``restart'' period. But let me be clear. This restart period only applies when a truckdriver has reached his or her maximum driving hours for the week--the maximum allowed. It only triggers that provision when someone has worked a 70- hour workweek. Keep in mind that most people work 40-hour workweeks. Requiring those drivers operating 80,000-pound trucks on busy roads to get some rest is not only common sense, it is supported by the science. The Department of Transportation estimates that the current rule, again, is preventing crashes, is preventing the loss of life. Nineteen lives they believe these rules around hours have saved, 560 injuries, 1,400 crashes. Suspending this rule without studying it first is not common sense. I have heard another argument that the DOT rules are a solution looking for a problem, that truckdriver fatigue is somehow not that common. A study that was conducted by FMCSA in 2006 found an astonishing number of truckdrivers--65 percent of truckdrivers--reported that they often feel drowsy while driving. Over 40 percent of truckdrivers responded they have trouble staying awake at the wheel. An alarming 13 percent admitted they have fallen asleep while driving. Fatigue is an issue. The survey illustrates how vitally important rules governing hours of service and rest periods are in keeping our roads and highways safe. Now is not a time to roll back those rules without studying, without evidence, without a hearing, without information. There are some people who might say this is a partisan issue, that somehow Democrats are safety advocates and are exploiting the severe accident that faced a comedian named Tracy Morgan, that we are using this as a political opportunity. But that suggestion is wrong. Somehow it misses that fatal accidents are common on our highways. This concern continues to rise in our country as the number of accidents increases. While the accident involving Tracy Morgan on the turnpike was tragic, it was one of thousands of accidents and crashes that occur in our country each day. The incident has brought needed attention to a rising trend of trucking accidents. This is a problem policymakers have long been trying to address through Federal rules and initiatives, based again on years of study and analysis. In fact, last month I sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation regarding important truck safety concerns. My predecessor, Frank Lautenberg, spent years of his life in public service trying to make our roads safer. I also have heard that most truckdrivers are negatively impacted by the current rule, that language in the Senate appropriations bills stops this impact that most truckdrivers are seeing. That is simply not true. A driver is only required to use the 34-hour restart if and only if he or she works the maximum number of hours allowed under the Federal regulation. This restart is most frequently in effect for those long-haul drivers who make up only about 15 percent of the trucking workforce. Those averaging 70 hours per week or less are not affected by the changes to the 34-hour restart, because they would never work the number of hours that would require them to use the restart under the current rule. The Senate amendment would allow drivers, though, to return to the extreme schedule allowed under the pre-July 2013 rule, when a company could require a driver to work a maximum of 82 hours a week, pushing the limit of human endurance. Not only 82 hours in 1 week, trucking companies would force the limits of human endurance of 82 hours week after week after week after week, 82-hour week after 82-hour week after 82-hour week. I have also heard this HOS provision in the T-HUD appropriations bill is a low-impact change to the hours-of-service rule, that this is actually not that much of a change. Suspending enforcement of these DOT hours-of-service rules substantially increases the number of hours a truckdriver could be forced to work each week and forced to push the realm of human endurance. In fact, the change would be from an already high 70-hour workweek to a more than 80-hour workweek, which is the equivalent of an extra workday each week and nearly twice the amount the average American works. The appropriations bill will remove this commonsense guarantee that truckdrivers themselves, as we have seen with the support from the Teamsters Union, that truckdrivers themselves get at least a 2-night rest, the humane 2-night rest at the end of a tasking workweek. What these changes mean in practice is that drivers may be forced to work grueling hours now, week after week by truck companies that are pushing the limit. Studies have shown this leads to the fatigue that causes accidents such as we are seeing on the New Jersey Turnpike. The DOT hours-of-service rules, some people say, implemented last year were based on insufficient analysis, that somehow these were rushed rules. But I have said already, this came out of a balanced rulemaking effort and process that took into account both safety and industry interests. DOT rulemaking involved the feedback from 21,000 formal document comments submitted by a wide range of stakeholders, including six public listening sessions, and incorporated 80 basic scientific research data provided by scientists, as well as conducted a formal regulatory analysis. By contrast, the bill rolling this all back was done in an appropriations process. It was not reviewed. It was not considered by the committee of jurisdiction upon which I sit. It was not subject to public comment. It had no hearings established where both sides were listened to and their comments were weighed and engaged. It rolled back a rule that now will allow truckdrivers to be pushed more into the limits of their human endurance and put more fatigued drivers on our roads. Some people say this amendment I am putting forth, with many of my colleagues, somehow would prevent further study. That is not true. Our amendment only strips the provision of the appropriations bill that ties the Department of Transportation's hands and prevents them from enforcing the current rules on the books. But we actually leave intact authorization for more study, which I am open to. This should be done on scientific studies in an open process, with hearings, with information, with testimony. It should not be saddled onto an appropriations bill that ultimately would roll back rules which the DOT themselves are saying will help to preserve the safety and the lives of American citizens. So I caution right now, why not wait? Why not do a study, leaving the current rule intact? Why not keep these regulations, these safety regulations in place, and let's do another round of studies? Let's do another round of hearings. Let's have debate and discussion in committee and the committee of jurisdiction before we roll back rules that put truckdrivers on our roads, pushed by trucking companies, to further their limits of exhaustion. I yield the floor.

Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, I rise to speak on an amendment I have filed on the appropriations bill that this Chamber is now considering. The amendment is cosponsored by Senators Rockefeller, Feinstein, Menendez, Schumer, Blumenthal, Gillibrand, Markey, Warren, and Brown. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to add as cosponsors to the amendment Senator Durbin, Senator Boxer, Senator Hirono, Senator Murphy, and Senator Schatz.

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

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, today I recognize David Giordano, the former director of the Newark Fire Department. A driving force for good in the City of Newark, Dave's exceptional career as firefighter, fire director, and trusted advisor created the foundation for the long- term strength of the department, setting it on the path to a sustainable future, and improving safety for the city's residents. A native of North Newark, Dave grew up near Sacred Heart Basilica and is a product of the Newark Public School system. As Newark invested in him, so, too, did he invest in Newark--first as a small business owner in 1979, and then, in 1985, as a firefighter. Committed to serving as a strong voice for his colleagues, Dave became active in the Newark Firefighter's Union, serving as treasurer and vice president, and ultimately union president. When I became mayor of Newark in 2006, I knew Dave's knowledge and experience would be an asset to my team. Indeed, he worked hard to obtain new equipment, shorten response times, and streamline the delivery of service to make our fire department more effective. In an emergency, every second counts; Dave's commitment to excellence surely saved lives. Dave retires from the City of Newark on June 30, 2014, after 29 years of dedicated service to the city. These years have been marked by exemplary dedication to the best interests of the community and his fellow firefighters. It is an honor to formally recognize the contributions that David Giordano has made to the citizens of Newark throughout his career, to thank him for his tremendous service, and to wish him happiness in a well-deserved retirement.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, I rise today to express my disappointment that earlier today this Chamber could not even proceed to the consideration of the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act. This would have allowed those with outstanding student loan debt to refinance at the lower interest rates currently offered to new borrowers. This is deeply disappointing to me, and it should be to the American public--that we could not even get on to the bill to debate it. This is why it is particularly disappointing: Our Nation's young people and their families are burdened with extraordinary debt--$1.2 trillion of student loan debt. This exceeds the aggregate--the total-- auto loan, credit card, and home equity debt balances in America, making student loans the second largest debt of U.S. households, following mortgages. Today, the average student graduates from college with around $29,000 in loans. In New Jersey, that is up from an average of $27,600 in 2011 and $23,792 in 2010. More than 16 percent of my constituents now have student debt. That is over 1 million New Jerseyans who are weighed down by a significant financial obligation that limits the amount of money they are able to put back into the economy--in buying homes and in investing in their futures, in pursuing their American dream. Reduced purchasing power due to high student loan debts not only holds back a family's day-to-day spending but it keeps them from making those large investments. I believe it is irresponsible and shortsighted for us to think that we can saddle young people--the true engines of our economy--with this burden and maintain our position as the world's most powerful economy. Historically, the United States has done things differently. We were the leader in expanding college opportunity. From the GI bill following World War II to Pell grants in 1980, we have taken bold steps to ensure that Americans have access to college regardless of their ability to pay their way entirely on their own. We created these programs because we understood that an educated workforce is essential to our Nations's economic competitiveness. The most valuable natural resource any nation on the planet has is the genius and mental acuity of its people. Without highly skilled workers, without trained minds, without that opportunity that comes with higher education, America simply will not be able to compete as well in the global economy. The cost of college in America puts our young people at a disadvantage compared to their peers. We are not leading; we are lagging. These obstacles to a college education deny a level playing field. We are disadvantaging our young people in their fight to compete and lead against other nations that are doing so much more. Take this important data point: More than 51 percent of the median income is the cost of college in the United States, while the cost of college in Germany is just 4.3 percent of that country's income. In Canada it is about 5 percent. In England it is about 6 percent. Compare that to us--51 percent of median income in the United States. It is less than 7 percent in Canada, in England, in Germany--our competitors. We should be doing everything in our power to encourage forthcoming generations to pursue higher education so that we do not slide further in global rankings and compromise our ability to compete. Where we used to lead the globe in percentage of population with a college education, now we lag. We cannot be the leading economy if we are the lagging nation in education. I commend my colleagues, including Senators Harkin, Reed, Warren, and Gillibrand, who have been so active even before I came to this body in calling attention to this issue. I urge my colleagues to step up and be a part of preserving this grand American tradition of college access, which is so essential to the other grand tradition in our Nation of social mobility, that no matter where you are born, no matter what your economic status, no matter what your color or your creed, this is the Nation where, if you have grit and toughness, discipline and hard work, you can make it. We are a country that will remove those obstacles and allow genius to be made manifest. I hope we can begin to get bills like this that are so common sense-- this idea that we can refinance student debt--to the point where we can discuss the bills on the floor and they can escape the trap of the filibuster. Truck Safety Before yielding the floor, I wish to take this moment to express my deepest condolences to the family of victims involved in a tragic tractor trailer accident Saturday night on the New Jersey Turnpike. My thoughts and prayers go out to the several individuals who were injured in the crash. I obviously wish them a full recovery. We owe many thanks to the emergency personnel who responded to this weekend's accident and countless others who worked tirelessly along our highways to keep them safe. During times like these, though, we must ask ourselves whether this tragedy and so many others in New Jersey and across our Nation along our highways could have been prevented with common sense. It is too early to tell, but I am grateful to the National Transportation Safety Board for investigating this particular accident thoroughly. I eagerly await their findings, but in the meantime, it is worth reviewing what we do know. Larger and heavier trucks cause greater damage when collisions occur. It is just physics. That is why there are rules governing truck size and weight limitations on our highways. I have concerns about any attempts to increase truck size and weight limits. I hope that sound data and science will inform our decisions, the decisions this body must make on that issue. Another major highway problem--one that I know is affecting the lives of families from coast to coast--is the problem with driver fatigue. Studies show that fatigue contributes to 30 to 40 percent of all major accidents--all major truck accidents. Thirty to forty percent of truck accidents are contributed to by fatigue. When drivers do not get enough rest, when they are more tired, they are much more likely to get into an accident. That is why there are limitations in place on the number of hours truckdrivers may work in any given week. I am concerned about any efforts to weaken those rules, which would allow people to push the limit of human exhaustion even further and would therefore create an environment where more accidents are possible. The bottom line is that truck accidents and the deaths and injuries caused by them are actually increasing in America. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to take a serious look at what we can do to improve the safety of our highways. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Freight Priorities Act, which takes an all-of-the-above approach to addressing our Nation's freight needs. We must improve the movement of freight and strengthen our economic competitiveness by examining a comprehensive, multimodal, national network that includes not just our major highways, but our rail, seaports, local roads and intermodal facilities. This bill would authorize the Department of Transportation to broaden our approach to freight policy, set goals for reducing air pollution, and creates a pilot program to study the disproportionate impacts on urban communities that can be caused by the movement of freight. In 2011, 17.6 billion tons of goods were transported throughout the United States, valued at more than $16.8 trillion. The Federal Highway Administration estimates there will be a 60 percent increase of freight being moved over the next 30 years. In New Jersey, hundreds of millions of tons of freight are annually shipped through our ports, by rail, and highways. The port of New York and New Jersey, as of 2012, supported over 296,000 jobs and 28.9 billion in business income. This major economic engine drives New Jersey's economy and boosts U.S. economic competitiveness. 1However, too often, our lack of investment and our limited focus on the highway network causes our freight to get stuck in congested, heavily trafficked urban areas. Extended truck, rail and ship idling negatively impacts the health and air quality of local urban communities. With a slight adjustment of our priorities and a strong national commitment to investing in our infrastructure, we can dramatically reduce congestion, improve the health of American communities, make sure goods get where they need to go faster and cheaper, strengthen our economy and create jobs. The Freight Priorities Act sets goals for increasing efficiencies. It outlines goals to reduce air pollution and congestion, and requires the inclusion of port authorities in freight infrastructure investment decisions. The bill requires DOT to meet performance measures for all modes of freight movement, and establishes a pilot program that will help find ways to reduce the impact on local communities and help create access to jobs at ports and other multimodal facilities. By refocusing our priorities, we will ensure that the smartest, most- cost effective projects secure funding. In New Jersey this could mean investing in the Raritan intermodal hub project in Essex, Union and Middlesex counties, which would create a direct connection for freight cars to access the port of New York and New Jersey. The project would relieve congestion on the roads and shift freight off of Amtrak's passenger lines. This bill would also prioritize investments that reduce air pollution, such as shore power technology at the port of Newark, which would help reduce emissions by allowing major cargo vessels to plug into the electric grid while at port. Rather than finding ways to merely skate by on the limited infrastructure funds we have each year, the conversation we should be having in Congress is how we can dramatically increase investments in our infrastructure and improve the safety and functionality of our entire network that transports both people and goods. This bill is a strong step in that direction. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of legislation, and look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Commerce Committee to carry these priorities as we draft our portion of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Freight Priorities Act, which takes an all-of-the-above approach to addressing our Nation's freight needs. We must improve the movement of freight and strengthen our economic competitiveness by examining a comprehensive, multimodal, national network that includes not just our major highways, but our rail, seaports, local roads and intermodal facilities. This bill would authorize the Department of Transportation to broaden our approach to freight policy, set goals for reducing air pollution, and creates a pilot program to study the disproportionate impacts on urban communities that can be caused by the movement of freight. In 2011, 17.6 billion tons of goods were transported throughout the United States, valued at more than $16.8 trillion. The Federal Highway Administration estimates there will be a 60 percent increase of freight being moved over the next 30 years. In New Jersey, hundreds of millions of tons of freight are annually shipped through our ports, by rail, and highways. The port of New York and New Jersey, as of 2012, supported over 296,000 jobs and 28.9 billion in business income. This major economic engine drives New Jersey's economy and boosts U.S. economic competitiveness. 1However, too often, our lack of investment and our limited focus on the highway network causes our freight to get stuck in congested, heavily trafficked urban areas. Extended truck, rail and ship idling negatively impacts the health and air quality of local urban communities. With a slight adjustment of our priorities and a strong national commitment to investing in our infrastructure, we can dramatically reduce congestion, improve the health of American communities, make sure goods get where they need to go faster and cheaper, strengthen our economy and create jobs. The Freight Priorities Act sets goals for increasing efficiencies. It outlines goals to reduce air pollution and congestion, and requires the inclusion of port authorities in freight infrastructure investment decisions. The bill requires DOT to meet performance measures for all modes of freight movement, and establishes a pilot program that will help find ways to reduce the impact on local communities and help create access to jobs at ports and other multimodal facilities. By refocusing our priorities, we will ensure that the smartest, most- cost effective projects secure funding. In New Jersey this could mean investing in the Raritan intermodal hub project in Essex, Union and Middlesex counties, which would create a direct connection for freight cars to access the port of New York and New Jersey. The project would relieve congestion on the roads and shift freight off of Amtrak's passenger lines. This bill would also prioritize investments that reduce air pollution, such as shore power technology at the port of Newark, which would help reduce emissions by allowing major cargo vessels to plug into the electric grid while at port. Rather than finding ways to merely skate by on the limited infrastructure funds we have each year, the conversation we should be having in Congress is how we can dramatically increase investments in our infrastructure and improve the safety and functionality of our entire network that transports both people and goods. This bill is a strong step in that direction. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of legislation, and look forward to working with my colleagues on the Senate Commerce Committee to carry these priorities as we draft our portion of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, it is an honor to stand here with a chorus of my colleagues speaking about an issue that goes to the core of the idea of this country; that is, every generation will be better than the one before. It is the idea that in this Nation we should lead globally in enriching the lives of our citizenry. The Presiding Officer and I talked a few seconds ago. He said he was going home after this to put his kids to bed. I hope the Presiding Officer doesn't mind me sharing that. I know the Presiding Officer is going to teach his kids the same thing my parents taught me: Work hard and play by the rules so you can go to college and try to achieve your dreams. When I have traveled all over the State of New Jersey--North Jersey and South Jersey, from urban towns to suburban towns and even rural towns--I have heard the same kind of frustration, which is the rising costs of college. Not only that, I see more and more people who try to take on the challenge of paying for those rising costs and find themselves saddled with staggering debt. The facts reflect the sentiments, frustrations, concerns, and anguish that I hear. Today the average student graduates from college with around $29,000 in loans. That is up from an average of $27,600 in 2011 and $23,792 in 2010. In fact, right now in New Jersey 16 percent of my constituents are carrying student debt. That is over 1 million New Jerseyans who are weighed down by this significant financial obligation. Let me put this in perspective because it has a ripple effect within our economy. Take, for example, our housing. Housing is such an important driver to economic development, and it is an important driver to jobs. Owning a home is a dream many people in America have as well. Well, the reduced purchasing power due to high student debt levels is holding back people's ability to help drive our economy forward. The housing industry, which is still recovering from a crisis, is an example. The National Association of Realtors cited student loan debt as a primary reason for the decline in housing purchases among first- time buyers. Of 20 percent of first-time buyers who find it difficult to save for a downpayment, 54 percent of first-time buyers said student loans make it tough to save money. According to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, about half of all the people polled in a survey said student debt was a huge obstacle to buying a home. According to the Federal Reserve of New York, from 2009 to 2012 home ownership rates fell twice as much for 30-year-olds who had a history of student loans than it did for those who don't. This is a problem which is impacting families, and it is stifling people's ability to participate and make our economy robust. It is making job growth a challenge. It has many different layers. What I want to focus on for the last few moments is my desire to keep America No. 1. When it comes to educating our populous, we should be and have been historically top in the globe, especially at the higher education levels. When we created programs that many of my colleagues have cited--I heard Senator Durbin speak about programs that literally took him from a lower middle-class environment to achieving his dreams. Accessing affordable college loans allowed him to achieve his dreams. We created these programs because we understood that the workforce in this Nation is essential for economic competitiveness. Indeed, in a global knowledge-based economy, it is the knowledge of the people that drives the economy forward. Without highly skilled workers, America simply won't be able to compete in this new global economy. This wisdom has been understood for decades, for generations. You educate your workforce to the highest levels on the globe, and your economy will lead the globe. Well, today we are seeing challenges, and we are seeing this reality change. Today the average price of a college degree in the United States has climbed to $13,856. Compare that with some of our critical global competitors. Take the UK, for example. In the UK, the average cost is $5,288 for a higher education. Take Germany, another one of our global competitors. German students pay a mere $933. Those competitive economies understand that they don't want to put up barriers so their young people can learn. They want to remove them. The cost of college in America puts our young people at a severe disadvantage compared to their peers around the world. It is not a level playing field. We are asking our kids to compete globally, but we are putting up barriers that are unique to this economy. When the cost of college in the United States is now more than 51 percent of the median income in America--let me say that one more time. The cost of college in America is now 51 percent of the median income in America, while the cost of college in Germany is just 4.3 percent of that country's median income. When the United States has one of the highest percentages of adults--we are one of the top in the globe for adults 55 to 64. That generation of Americans which had the kinds of student loan programs and opportunities Senator Durbin talked about are at the top, but only 43 percent of Americans ages 25 to 34 have a degree. Instead of that younger group being at the top, America has now--compared to our competitors--fallen to 16th place globally. In other words, older Americans who benefited from a rational system of affordable college and abundant affordable loans are leading. Madam President, 55- to 64-year-olds are leading the globe in the percentage of population with a college degree. The younger we are getting in our country, the lower we are falling in our competitiveness with our competitors in terms of the kids who have college degrees. We wonder why that is. It is because the ability to afford college has been getting more and more difficult. I am encouraged by my colleagues. We should be doing everything to encourage forthcoming generations to pursue higher education so we don't slide further in global rankings and compromise our long-term ability to compete. That is why I am standing here right now. That is why I am proud to cosponsor Senator Warren's newly introduced legislation, the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, which would allow those with outstanding student loan debt to refinance at the lower interest rates currently offered to new borrowers. It simply allows them to refinance loans the way you can with a mortgage and other types of loans. This will make us more competitive. I commend a lot of my colleagues who spoke here. I especially commend Senator Harkin, Senator Reed, and Senator Gillibrand, who have been so active in calling attention to this issue. We cannot afford for the cost of obtaining a higher education to be decades of crushing debt. It is unacceptable. The legislation we are talking about today seeks to lighten the burden on student borrowers and to put money back in their pockets and to help fuel our economy but, more importantly, to help everyone understand that in this Nation we are still doing everything possible to lead the globe in education. There is a lot of work to do. My team is trying to focus on some issues I saw as mayor. For example, when I was mayor we worked with schools and financial aid counselors to help families simply fill out these forms that are necessary to obtain aid. The College Board estimates that 2.3 million students do not fill out the free application for financial aid form, better known as the FAFSA form. They don't fill it out because of its complexities. They don't fill it out because of issues that make it difficult to even report what is necessary. As a result, many qualified students are skipping this process because they find it complex and burdensome. They are not even getting into college, not even afforded that pathway to cultivate their genius and apply it to our economy. So much more can be done. This should be a national call to make college as affordable in this generation as it was for past generations. Past generations in America led the globe and drove the top economy on Earth because of that education, but now we are raising the wall and shutting out more of our young minds from this pathway because of unaffordable colleges. For individuals, a college education translates to more than just odd job opportunities, more than just higher earnings, it is an ascent up the economic ladder.

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I will conclude with this: In a recent study, it was found that the United States could add $500 billion to the gross domestic product over the next 15 years by increasing the number of workers with postsecondary education by 20 million--more workers, a greater economy, a more successful America, and a nation that leads the globe. Let's do and learn from what our parents and grandparents knew and did in this body and around the Nation. Let's make college affordable for our citizens. I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce with my colleague, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Leveraging and Energizing America's Apprenticeship Programs or LEAP Act, which provides a tax credit to employers to help increase the number of registered apprenticeships in the U.S. and put more young Americans to work. Today, there are still more than 10 million unemployed Americans, and our young people continue to be especially hard hit. Nearly six years after the start of the Great Recession, 16 percent of 16 to 24 year olds are without a job. The numbers are far worse among youth of color and for those without college degrees. Yet 4 million jobs remain unfilled in the U.S., and part of the reason is that key gaps persist between the skills of young adults and workforce needs. By 2020, the United States is expected to experience a shortage of 3 million workers with associate's degrees or higher and 5 million workers with technical certificates and credentials. Apprenticeships are a proven way to help young people develop in- demand skills and to meet the needs of employers, yet they comprise just 0.2 percent of the U.S. workforce. While competitor nations around the world are investing in robust apprenticeship programs, the U.S., by contrast, had just 358,000 active, registered apprenticeships in 2012. That is 7 percent of what England offered when adjusted for population. In Germany, nearly half of all young people go through apprenticeship programs. We can't let America continue to lag behind. That's why Senator Scott and I are introducing the LEAP Act, an initiative that provides a paid- for Federal tax credit to businesses to develop apprenticeship programs that are registered with the Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency. The bill addresses the fact that the average age of apprentices is currently as high as 29 years, by offering a tax credit of $1,500 for apprentices under the age of 25. The tax credit for apprentices 25 or over is $1,000. The cost of the tax credits are offset by a provision that cuts printing waste by barring the Federal Government from producing publications that are available online, unless the printing is for seniors, Medicare recipients or communities with limited Internet access. A thriving apprenticeship system should be an essential element of an effective workforce development strategy; registered apprenticeship programs help individuals attain a recognized post-secondary credential and provide workers with the education and on-the-job training needed to succeed. Studies show that apprenticeships are a wise investment for both participants and the U.S. government: individuals who complete registered apprenticeship programs earn over $240,000 more over their careers than people who did not participate in such programs, and the tax return on every Federal Government dollar invested in registered apprenticeship programs is $27. Our future competitiveness--our economic strength as a nation-- depends on the innovation and skill of our workforce. I am proud to join with Senator Scott in putting forward this bipartisan legislation that will create opportunities for more Americans to learn the in- demand skills that will help meet employers' needs and fuel our economy. I look forward to working with my colleagues to build support for and pass this bill.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce with my colleague, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Leveraging and Energizing America's Apprenticeship Programs or LEAP Act, which provides a tax credit to employers to help increase the number of registered apprenticeships in the U.S. and put more young Americans to work. Today, there are still more than 10 million unemployed Americans, and our young people continue to be especially hard hit. Nearly six years after the start of the Great Recession, 16 percent of 16 to 24 year olds are without a job. The numbers are far worse among youth of color and for those without college degrees. Yet 4 million jobs remain unfilled in the U.S., and part of the reason is that key gaps persist between the skills of young adults and workforce needs. By 2020, the United States is expected to experience a shortage of 3 million workers with associate's degrees or higher and 5 million workers with technical certificates and credentials. Apprenticeships are a proven way to help young people develop in- demand skills and to meet the needs of employers, yet they comprise just 0.2 percent of the U.S. workforce. While competitor nations around the world are investing in robust apprenticeship programs, the U.S., by contrast, had just 358,000 active, registered apprenticeships in 2012. That is 7 percent of what England offered when adjusted for population. In Germany, nearly half of all young people go through apprenticeship programs. We can't let America continue to lag behind. That's why Senator Scott and I are introducing the LEAP Act, an initiative that provides a paid- for Federal tax credit to businesses to develop apprenticeship programs that are registered with the Department of Labor or a state apprenticeship agency. The bill addresses the fact that the average age of apprentices is currently as high as 29 years, by offering a tax credit of $1,500 for apprentices under the age of 25. The tax credit for apprentices 25 or over is $1,000. The cost of the tax credits are offset by a provision that cuts printing waste by barring the Federal Government from producing publications that are available online, unless the printing is for seniors, Medicare recipients or communities with limited Internet access. A thriving apprenticeship system should be an essential element of an effective workforce development strategy; registered apprenticeship programs help individuals attain a recognized post-secondary credential and provide workers with the education and on-the-job training needed to succeed. Studies show that apprenticeships are a wise investment for both participants and the U.S. government: individuals who complete registered apprenticeship programs earn over $240,000 more over their careers than people who did not participate in such programs, and the tax return on every Federal Government dollar invested in registered apprenticeship programs is $27. Our future competitiveness--our economic strength as a nation-- depends on the innovation and skill of our workforce. I am proud to join with Senator Scott in putting forward this bipartisan legislation that will create opportunities for more Americans to learn the in- demand skills that will help meet employers' needs and fuel our economy. I look forward to working with my colleagues to build support for and pass this bill.

Mr. BOOKER

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

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on behalf of the 2.3 million Americans, including the 140,000 New Jerseyans who have been without a job for months and desperately need our help. These Americans are Americans who are veterans who stood for us in the military and Armed Forces. These are families and individuals with children. These are our seniors. These are folks who have been working for decades and suddenly found themselves in the worst economy of my lifetime without a job. I am very proud of this body. We are inching closer toward passing legislation to restore Federal unemployment insurance. What this money does is it takes families from crisis with these meager checks to give a little bit of stability so they can do what is necessary to look for work. It helps them keep their car insurance so they can ride to interviews. It helps them keep the cable service going so they can apply online and actually file their reesumees as they look for jobs. It helps them meet mortgage payments, so they can keep a roof over their heads or rental payments as well. I want to thank the incredible bipartisan leadership of Dean Heller and Jack Reed. Senator Heller and Senator Reed have been working hard together with a group of us relentlessly to bring us this far. I have been so grateful for the leadership of those two Senators and others because it made us so close in this body to getting unemployment insurance extended. This is a bipartisan bill. It involves compromise. It is what the American people want us to do, Republicans and Democrats coming together for millions of Americans that are in crisis right now through no fault of their own, in an economy where there are three people looking for a job for every single job that is available. I want to express my gratitude to the entire bipartisan group cosponsoring the bill. My colleagues, Senator Reed, Senator Heller, Senator Merkley, Senator Sherrod Brown, Senator Durbin, Senator Susan Collins, Senator Rob Portman, Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Senator Mark Kirk, Republicans and Democrats alike who hammered out a compromise, have done the difficult work and are pushing to move this forward. I also want to thank people from New Jersey who have shared their stories with me, who have been active and engaging from online posts, letters, and phone calls--all of them fighting to find work. I have heard from Republican New Jerseyans and Democratic New Jerseyans. I have heard from military veterans and single moms. I have heard from folks who are so hungry to work. But while they are looking, they are looking to this body, to all of Congress to help them meet the basic minimum needs so that they can continue to have some stability and not be swallowed up by the quicksand of economic crisis and to be able to continue to find a job. They are living examples. Each and every one of those millions of Americans are examples of what is at stake if we do not act. I have heard painful stories of people facing real crises, from homelessness to skipping medications, doing everything they can to keep some semblance of stability so that they can find a job. Unfortunately, many are falling through the cracks. Many are facing the darkest of days. As the Senate prepares to vote on this incredibly vitally important bill, I want to stress that this legislative body is only as effective as both Chambers and parties being able to come together, to really follow in that great American tradition that for the last 50 years, Democrats and Republicans during times of economic crisis, have come together and found a way to hammer out compromises to extend unemployment insurance under Reagan, under Bush, under Clinton, and under Carter. We found a way to get forward, both Chambers being there for Americans in the economic crisis. Today is a significant step in our fight to restore hope to America's unemployed but only if this bill is also voted on and passed in the House of Representatives. I have sat in living rooms, diners, and soup kitchens all across the State of New Jersey, and I can tell you the crisis is real. I am hopeful that if my colleagues in the House of Representatives listen to the voices--Republicans and Democrats, red and blue, North and South, all across this country--of their unemployed constituents, they will do what is right. They will shun that intellectually unreal idea that Americans are lazy, that they don't want to work. We have millions of Americans out there fighting for their hope of finding a job, and they need the help of the House of Representatives, as I believe they will get it from the Senate this week. No matter our party, all of us have folks in our home States who are unemployed and suffering because we have thus far failed to do what every other Congress has done in the past when long-term unemployment rates have been so high, as they are today. We must extend Federal unemployment insurance. America needs our House of Representatives to listen to the pleas of those who are barely making ends meet. I remember Joan and her daughter, a recent Rutgers University graduate. They live together and were both cut off from unemployment insurance the same week in December. The modest unemployment checks that Joan and her daughter were receiving had helped them to keep up with mortgage payments. While they waited for us to vote, their home was placed into foreclosure. Then there is Lauren from Clifton, who wrote my office saying she had sent out close to 1,000 resumes without luck and had reached the point where she couldn't pay to keep the heat on in her house during this brutal winter and she feared her phone was going to have to be cut off next. She wrote: I've been looking for work tirelessly. What does someone in my situation do? These folks have worked hard all of their lives. They have played by the rules but unfortunately happen to be in a bad economy not of their making, which they did not contribute to, and are caught in these difficult times. They are doing everything right and so should their representatives in Congress. Today we are casting a vote for them. Today I am proud to say that in the Senate we are coming together, Democrats and Republicans, hammering out a compromise, meeting each other in the middle, and doing what is expected of us by Americans--reaching out, lending a hand, in a time of crisis. I implore my colleagues in the House of Representatives to do the same. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, Senator Menendez is absolutely correct. When I was mayor of New Jersey's largest city, we sat upon a critical transportation superstructure--a key node in the larger region. I wish to thank my senior Senator, whom I relied upon then for being the champion he is for infrastructure investment, for the critical nature of the rail lines that crisscross our region, and really being a promoter of jobs, of business growth, of security, and of the health of this critical system. It is very good to have my senior Senator make such important remarks. I wish to pick up from there. It is a little uncomfortable not having the Presiding Officer on the floor with me, but I will continue nonetheless. I wish to thank all of my colleagues who have already spoken from neighboring States about this absolutely vital transportation corridor. If this were a country of its own, this corridor, from Washington to Boston--this area--we would be the fifth largest economy in the world. This region continues to grow, with more than 12 million residents projected by 2040. In New Jersey, our tracks and tunnels are simply no longer able to meet the growing demand of our Amtrak and commuter rail lines. New Jersey commuters--passengers up and down the Northeast corridor--are profoundly frustrated by overcrowded trains and by delay after delay after delay. It inhibits their transportation. It inhibits their productivity. It inhibits their ability to be successful because of those delays. Our underfunded passenger rail network forces too many of our residents to then drive, where they end up stuck in traffic, contributing more greatly to smog and pollution, and really making it even more dangerous for them on our already overly congested highways. Amtrak needs the ability to reinvest the growing profit from the Northeast corridor back into the critical Northeast corridor infrastructure. This much needed budget request would allow Amtrak to invest $300 million of their profits back into this region and would allow Amtrak to make overdue updates and repairs. This would create jobs at this incredibly important time in our economic present. It would create jobs and allow our busy commuter lines to travel more safely and more reliably. We need this economic growth. We need to alleviate the problems with this infrastructure. We need to make the daily lives of tens of thousands of people better. One of the most important steps we can take to alleviate this congestion and delays in New Jersey and throughout this region is to make this investment. But I also say another critical aspect of making those investments is to make a strategic investment in the Gateway project. Amtrak's 2015 budget request seeks to continue investing in needed preliminary work on the Gateway project. The Gateway project is Amtrak's most important initiative--a project that is going to generate benefits throughout the Northeast region that will have a multiplier effect throughout our economy, enabling growth, enabling job creation, improving the quality of life, and helping one of the most prosperous regions on the globe continue to grow. Currently, there are just two tunnels connecting New Jersey to New York via rail. These tunnels are currently operating at full capacity, with roughly 24 trains at peak hours carrying over 70,000 riders daily, with no space for additional riders during rush hour. In order to execute repairs and safety checks on these 100-year-old tunnels, Amtrak is required to shut down the entire tunnel and suspend half the trips in and out of the city. This causes so much of a burden. This is an unnecessary burden. This is a threat to the safety of thousands of New Jersey Transit and Amtrak passengers. Ridership demand in and out of Manhattan is actually predicted to double in the coming decades--double. It is critical for the economic health of our region to accommodate this increase and ensure that urgently needed growth and the safety and security of so many Americans. The Gateway project itself would build two new rail tunnels from New Jersey to New York City and expand Penn Station in New York to handle all of this additional capacity. This project alone would create thousands and thousands of jobs. It would reduce commuter times and make traveling by rail more flexible and, very importantly to resident after resident who has reached out to me, it would make it more reliable. This critical investment will drive economic growth throughout that entire region. Upon completion, the Gateway project would allow Amtrak to run 8 more trains during peak hours and allow New Jersey Transit to run 13 more trains. This is a significant capacity increase that would take thousands of cars off the roads every single day. It would increase revenue for Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. It would allow intercity and commuting passengers shorter and easier trips up and down the Northeast and in and out of Manhattan, and it would improve significantly the air quality of our region, alleviating the respiratory challenges so many people unnecessarily face because of commuter car pollution. In short, all of these reasons point to something critical: It would make it easier for our region to be prosperous, for businesses to grow, and American opportunity to increase. It is essential that Congress join with Amtrak in advancing this important regional project and support Amtrak's overall mission to deliver reliable, efficient passenger rail service across the United States. For Amtrak to be successful in the long term, Congress needs to become a more reliable investment partner and fund multiyear Amtrak budgets, to have predictability in that funding, making it again multiyear. Our current approach of lurching from annual budget to annual budget does not allow for Amtrak to flourish and serve our citizens as it could and as it should. We need a level of predictability to make these kinds of investments. Support for the Amtrak fiscal year 2015 budget request would be a step in the right direction. I urge my colleagues to appreciate this critical understanding that we are a people who thrive through connectivity, whether it is virtual connectivity on the Internet or even human connectivity; that we need to, in environments such as this, one to another, work together. Indeed, it is the words of Martin Luther King, written in a jail cell in Birmingham, AL, in 1963, in the spring of that year, almost 50 years ago--he wrote in profound manner, and I paraphrase it: We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a common garment of destiny. It was an elevation and understanding of the power of human connection, that we share one destiny, and that when we exalt our connections, prosperity grows, equality grows, opportunity grows. What King talked about in a spiritual way lives also in the physical: Country, from its transcontinental railroads, a country that united itself in early innovations and AM/FM dials; all the ways we as a nation have made more robust connectivity. It has spurned industry, it has spawned industry, and it has made jobs multiply and multiply-- economic growth connecting American to American. Right now, in this critical time, we must continue. I hope my colleagues will join me in making sure we support the Amtrak budget. I know from personal experience the challenges and the trials and the dangers from the status quo. It is time for us to advance. It is time for us to come to together, to invest in America, to expand opportunity, and make real, in a physical way, those deepening connections we have, one to another. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor and I note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, today I recognize Samuel DeMaio, the dynamic director of the Newark Police Department. A driving force for reform, Sammy is one of those people who talks the talk, walks the walk, and does both to the benefit of the community at large. Samuel Anthony DeMaio was born on December 25, 1966, in Newark, where he was raised with his younger sister Sherri by his father Carmine, a Newark police officer, and his mother Marysue. In 1986, on what he would later say was ``one of the happiest days in my life,'' Sammy followed in his father's footsteps and began his career with the Newark Police Department at the age of 19. A hard worker from the start, Sammy proved his dedication and skill by consistently becoming the youngest officer to hold each position as he ascended the ranks of the Newark Police Department. His focus on transparency, officer training, and collaboration made our communities safer and more unified. It is that dedication and openness that helped set our community on its upward trajectory, and it is why his shoes will be so hard to fill. Sammy was in and of the community. He is a cop's cop who is respected by everyone in the department, from rank and file to top brass. Sammy is held in high esteem in the greater community, from the city council that unanimously voted to appoint him, to once-skeptical community leaders won over by his commitment to transparency and accountability. Sammy took great pride in collaborating with and incorporating the communities he policed. He began conducting the officers' roll call out on the street in an effort to change the way the officers and residents viewed each other. When I started Newark's Super Summer program, aimed at keeping kids out of trouble during the summer months, Sammy was right there with me. He founded the Annual Youth Public Safety Academy, a hands-on, joint project of the City of Newark's Police and Fire Departments in conjunction with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, where participants learned how to report crimes, prevent fires, and resist criminal activity. Sammy retired from the police department on February 21, 2014, after 28 years on the Newark police force. These years of service were spent exclusively in New Jersey's largest municipal police department, and were marked by exemplary dedication to the best interests of the community and his fellow officers. When considering on the day of his retirement, Sammy said, ``This is probably the saddest day I'm going to have in my life.'' It is an honor to formally recognize the contributions that Sammy DeMaio made to the citizens of Newark throughout his career in law enforcement, to thank him for his tremendous service, and to wish him happiness in a well-deserved retirement.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BOOKER

Mr. BOOKER. I don't mean to question the Senator's integrity, but I just don't know if he was alive at the time.

Mr. BOOKER. For us then to take the innovators that are trying to invest the money and the resources to keep America on the cutting edge of alternative fuels to be denied any kind of flexibility, and for the Senator illustrating earlier what is happening at a local level as the money interests from fossil fuel firms that get involved in legislatures that are trying to do things to create a level playing field, to me that should be something we should all say no to. It should stop completely.

Mr. BOOKER. I will ask one more question and then invite Senator Schatz--who has been the catalytic agent in pulling this all together-- to address this idea of a level playing field and free markets, the subsidy that is given to oil and coal, and the predictable subsidies that have been given to oil and coal which have helped fuel the industry, compared to the unpredictable subsidies that are given to alternative energy sources such as wind, which has led to more disjointed advancements in those areas. Again, I think of arguments about picking winners and losers. I heard a lot about this when I came to Washington. ``Why is Obama picking winners and losers?'' It seems to me this is anti-philosophy of allowing the free market to work, because we seem to be favoring--based, I imagine, on very powerful lobbies--favoring tax loopholes and tax breaks for certain industries and not allowing them for other industries, and the industries of the future that would help us to have a more blended all- of-the-above strategy. I know you have a lot of insight into this, which to me flies in the face of conservative ideology. It flies in the face of progressive ideology. The only ideology that seems to make sense is money interests that want to corrupt a free market, corrupt common sense, and corrupt what we think should be a unifying force toward moving as a nation toward a more sound energy policy.

Mr. BOOKER. Again, the Senator said it. On the local level, dealing with the urgencies of the moment, we don't have time to philosophize and don't have time for politics. We have to solve problems. The Senator's point is something I experienced as a mayor on multiple occasions. We got teenagers and trained them in solar panel installation. What happened to the buildings? It reduced the costs. People saved money. Our surrounding environment actually improved, burning less fossil fuels, putting less carbon in the air. Every time we attended to our environment, we were able to find win- wins. We looked at that and said: Let's create multiple farms and create more locally-grown food. We found a way to address crime issues in our city. By the way, there are studies which show cities with more trees and plant life and what have you often see some correlations with crime. We did it in a different way. We created greenfields, planting food, locally-grown produce, able to source it to restaurants over in New York across the Hudson River. But what excited me is we created a reentry program for men and women coming home from prison. So this is the creativity we see in industry and local communities, people realizing that this is not an either-or choice, the economy or the environment. No. That is a false choice. So people who see this as incredibly threatening haven't looked at the facts that we can create wins on multiple levels for the United States of America. So we can get the win on the economy. We can get the win on the environment. We can get the win on the costs being spent. We can get the win from being less dependent upon nations who have helped destabilize our planet. Then the biggest patriotic win of them all is an America that can lead again in this area, that can show the world the way to go. Frankly, we can show other countries that are saying: Why should I do anything on this issue, we can show a way forward which isn't about self-interest. It is about enlightened self-interest, if you go the way we are going. We heard one of the other Senators talk tonight about what China is already seeing in terms of their pollutants and environment and how the public is reacting to that. That is one area I might question one more time--the hope that somehow bipartisanship will come here. The feeling I have is the statistics the Senator was reading about the number of people on the Web site is such an important thing for me. Often as I look at the history of this institution, change does happen here, but often it comes from people demanding it, standing up for it, letting their politicians know: I don't care if you are a Republican or a Democrat; if you don't get on board with this, you are going to pay for it at the polls. What gives me hope is it is such common sense that folks are going to start putting pressure on this body--just like I have seen on some other issues which have come around of recent--pressure on folks to say: Hey, you have got to get on board because this is common stuff which is going to benefit my neighbor, my community, my school, my kids, my country. I am hoping those numbers you were revealing show some of that energy. I wonder if that is your view.