Maria Cantwell

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 25, 2014, in room SD-562 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 2:15 p.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``State of Play: Brain Injuries and Diseases of Aging.''

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 25, 2014, at 10:30 a.m. in room SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled, ``NextGen: A Review of Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities for Improving Aviation Safety and Efficiency.''

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 25, 2014, at 2 p.m., in room SD-215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Trade Enforcement: Using Trade Rules to Level the Playing Field for U.S. Companies and Workers.''

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 25, 2014, in room SD-628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, at 2:15 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Economic Development: Encouraging Investment in Indian Country.''

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 25, 2014, at 2:15 p.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Future of US-China Relations.''

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 25, 2014, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Financial Stability Oversight Council Annual Report to Congress.''

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 25, 2014, at 10 a.m., in room SD-215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk about the Export-Import Bank--the program that is a vital tool of U.S. manufacturers and small businesses across the United States of America to help them grow jobs and gain access to international markets. There has been a lot written in the last 24, 48 hours about this because there has been a lot of discussion about people who have previously supported the program--maybe voted for it five or six times--and now all of a sudden have either amnesia or have forgotten what is so important about this program. I am here this morning to talk about this issue because I believe it is so vital to the U.S. economy and to the economic opportunities and challenges we face. The Export-Import Bank basically gives assistance in the form of securitizing loans that are sought by the private sector when a U.S. company tries to sell a product overseas. You can imagine that if you are a U.S. manufacturer--and you could be involved in lots of different things; in our State, there is everything from aviation to grain silos to music stands to agricultural products-- when you go and say, well, we want to sell to Ethiopia or we want to sell to a South American country or we want to sell to an Asian country--for example, a small businessperson in the State of Washington says: Well, OK, I have found a customer in one of those countries for my product--and I will use grain silos as example because there is a company in our State that now sells grain silos to 82 different countries around the globe--that customer in that country says: Well, how am I going to finance this deal? It is not exactly like this sophistication is present in every one of these developing countries. Yet we want U.S. products to be sold into these developing countries. I guess we could sit back on our laurels and just think it is all going to happen on its own and let the Europeans sell products into that market or let the Chinese sell products into that market or we could hustle--which is what the United States of America does--and we can figure out a way to secure those deals when those customers have a challenge of financing within their country. Now, it does not mean that the Export-Import Bank finances all of those deals. It means it provides, in a lot of cases, security so that when a private bank does finance the sale of that deal, there is certainty and predictability. Why is that important? Well, as one vice president of a bank that operates in 19 different States and the District of Columbia told us: Most banks, even those as large as--in this case--PNC, cannot alone take risks for helping a U.S. company sell in countries with governments that may be less stable than the United States of America. It makes sense. Right. Look at what we are seeing around the globe. We are seeing lots of change. You cannot count on a deal and account for the capricious nature of governments. If someone stiffs me in Pittsburgh, I will just go to a court in Pittsburgh and win a judgment against these individuals. Well, you cannot practically expand that to a government in Africa or in Asia. You cannot go to a court system here in the United States and say: Hey, that government failed to pay on that particular customer deal that was enacted. But you can, with the help of the Export-Import Bank, secure those loans and make sure that payment is received. That is why so many small businesses across the State of Washington like and have used this program in conjunction with the private banking industry. For example, there is a company: Manhasset music stands. I love that company because it makes music stands somewhat like this podium I am speaking in front of that is used for placement of music, and they sell all over the globe. In fact, China is one of their best customers. I love that there is a place in Yakima, WA, that is figuring out how to sell a U.S.-manufactured product in China and that they are continuing to compete with the Chinese every day and winning that battle. I am so proud that company uses the Export-Import Bank to reduce their risk to those customers because those customers live in a place where the banking and security might not be there. Why is this so important? Well, first of all, 95 percent of consumers in the world live outside of the United States of America. So unless we just want to sell to people in the United States of America, we better have a pretty good strategy of how we are going to sell to people outside of the United States of America. So with 95 percent of consumers outside of the United States of America and a rising middle class around the globe--the middle class is going to double in the next 20 years. It is going to double. That means more people with more disposable income to buy products and to use services that are so critical. Take aviation, for example. Because there is a rising middle class around the globe and a lot more people want to travel, that is 35,000 new airplanes that are in demand. That is how many we are going to have to build over the next 20 years--35,000 new airplanes. Well, that could be really good news for the United States of America and U.S. manufacturing because those are great middle-class manufacturing jobs. But guess what. Those jobs are not secure. The Brazilians want to build airplanes. The Europeans already build airplanes. The Chinese want to build airplanes. They are all competing for that rising middle-class market that is demanding new airplanes. They all want to get in the action of having manufacturing jobs in their states. So we need to make sure we implement the Export-Import Bank, which is about to expire on September 30 of this year. Without the Export-Import Bank, we are going to be hobbling businesses across the United States of America and not giving them these tools. The Export-Import Bank has created thousands of jobs in the United States of America. It has increased exports by $37 billion and helped small businesses and created jobs. It also helps us pay down the Federal deficit. It has generated over $1.057 billion returned to the U.S. Treasury. So it has actually helped us pay down the Federal debt. So my colleagues who are now all of a sudden either having amnesia on why they supported the Ex-Im Bank or not coming forward to support it now need to remember what a vital tool this is to the U.S. economy.

Ms. CANTWELL. I want to close by saying that other countries use these same financial tools. So a lot of my colleagues can see that other countries, for the same reason, when the marketplace does not provide a private sector financial tool to securitize these products-- it is important that the United States stay competitive with everybody chasing global market opportunities. Let's not hobble U.S. manufacturing. Let's get the Export-Import Bank out of committee and reauthorized. I yield the floor.

Ms. CANTWELL. I ask unanimous consent for another 30 seconds.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor because the patent office has just ruled that the name of the Washington football team is not patentable because it is a slur. We are so excited to know that finally people are recognizing this issue can no longer be a business case for the NFL to use this patent. They will not be able to forcefully exclude other people for having derivatives of this logo or the name, thereby putting a big dent in the business case the NFL has. So many people have helped in this effort. I want to applaud them, from Senator Reid and his leadership, to Amanda Blackhorse and Suzan Harjo. Those are the people who have been fighting this case before the patent office. To all of the people who have watched the video on changethemascot.org, a Web site that basically depicts why Native Americans want to be viewed as human beings and not a mascot, we want to thank all of them. This is not the end of this case. But this is a landmark decision by the patent office that says the NFL team here in Washington, DC, does not have a patentable name, and that this is an offensive term, not patentable by the patent office. I hope all the business decisions over there at the team will understand this is no longer a business case, and will get off of this spurious name that we need to change. I thank my colleague in Maine for yielding me this opportunity to speak on this breaking important issue. I thank my colleagues here on the floor.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Maine. I will explain to her later how Maine continues to play a very interesting role in such an important issue. (The further remarks of Ms. Cantwell are printed in today's Record under ``Morning Business.'')

Ms. CANTWELL

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

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise to support the nomination of Salvador Mendoza, Jr., to be a district judge for the Eastern District of our State. I applaud the Senate Judiciary Committee for favorably reporting Mr. Mendoza's nomination on a bipartisan basis out of the committee with a 17-to-1 vote, so he enjoys a great deal of support. We are happy because we filled one vacancy for the Eastern District bench earlier in April, and now it is time for the Senate to move forward in filling the last of the two vacancies by voting to confirm Judge Mendoza. Judge Mendoza is a well-qualified, dedicated judge whose passion and perspective will serve the Eastern District of Washington very well. He has had experience serving as a superior court judge. He has served as a prosecutor, he has been in private practice, and he has been a community leader in the central part of our State. There is no question that he is ready for the challenge of being a Federal judge. I also wish to speak in terms of the historic nature of this vote. Salvador Mendoza will become the first ever Hispanic Federal judge in Eastern Washington. That is a major step forward and one that is long overdue. One in every nine residents of Washington State is Hispanic. Yet we have not yet had a Hispanic Federal judge in the eastern part of our State. Judge Mendoza is the right man for the job and he is ready to make history. Judge Mendoza personifies the American dream. Eastern Washington is home to a very large and growing Hispanic population. Many who settled in Eastern Washington did so for the very same reasons Judge Mendoza's family did. He grew up in a family of migrant workers who moved from California to Washington's Yakima Valley when he was just a small child. He went on from working alongside his parents in the fields to earn a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and a law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. Coming from very modest beginnings, Judge Mendoza has built a stellar legal resume. Judge Mendoza served as a deputy prosecuting attorney and spent 1 year as assistant attorney general. He has worked in private practice in a partner firm, and he went on to serve as judge pro tempore for Benton County Superior Court and Franklin County juvenile district court. Since 2013 he has served as Washington State's superior court judge for Benton and Franklin Counties. A few years ago I had the honor of speaking with Judge Mendoza at a roundtable of Latino community leaders in the Tri-Cities. I came away very impressed with his intellect and his ability and keen understanding of our challenges in Central and Eastern Washington and of our legal system. He talked about the importance of an effective drug court to tackle the challenges facing Central Washington, and Judge Mendoza has shown his commitment to making his community a better place to live. He helped found the juvenile drug court program for Benton and Franklin Counties, which provides the opportunities for treatment for juvenile drug offenders. He is the main organizer of the Tri-Cities Youth and Justice Forum, an organization that encourages students from underrepresented communities to seek careers within the legal system. He also serves on many other boards, including the board of trustees for Columbia Basin College. I think Judge Mendoza has earned this important position. I hope my colleagues will support him. I know my colleague Senator Murray, who just spoke, Governor Jay Inslee, and many other attorneys and judges across the State of Washington enthusiastically support Judge Mendoza's nomination. So I urge my colleagues to confirm him today.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I rise to express my disappointment in today's earlier vote, that we weren't able to pass the student refinancing legislation. I thank my colleague Senator Warren for sponsoring that bill and for my colleagues who did support it. I hope we will have a chance to bring up this legislation again, get bipartisan support, and get it passed. We can agree education is the gateway to opportunity. I was first in my family to go to college and went to school with the help of financial aid, and I know how important it is to many in the State of Washington that we help them make education more affordable. Student debt in this Nation quadrupled over the past 10 years, so the total amount of debt is $1.2 trillion. Many students in my State are anxious about this situation and they want to do something about it. Over the past 4 years student debt has even surpassed credit card debt. So when we think about that, the fact that student debt is enough to pay every American's credit card balance and still have $450 billion left over tells us how much debt is being accumulated on behalf of students just to get an education, just to basically make their way in a changing economy. We do live in an information age, and it means that everybody having a good base education and being able to adapt--as new information comes along that changes industry--is going to be critically important. The fact that student debt is now the second source of personal debt in America, only behind mortgages, puts a drag on our economy. Those who are suffering under this are real individuals. We just had a roundtable in the State of Washington last weekend with some of the best and brightest at the University of Washington. These students talked about how they were trying to invest in their own skills so they could advance in their education, and many of the stories they told were not out of the ordinary, but I think it is something we don't think about. In a lot of these cases, these individuals were talking about how they were trying to get an education. Other people in their family, their brothers and sisters, were trying to get an education, and their parents were also trying to upgrade their skills, because in an information age economy, that is what happens, everybody has to upgrade their skills. So these students are trying to do everything. But I was truly moved by one student who said: I have a debt that seems to be the size of a mortgage for me, but I don't have a house that goes along with it. He was trying to say: I am coming out of college with incredible debt and how am I going to even afford the basic things people look forward to--maybe not right after graduation but as they start their careers and start to move forward. These are individuals who contribute to our economy. They buy cars, they buy homes, everything. But this individual, a graduate of Central Washington University, told me he pays the same amount for rent as he does for student loans every month. In Washington State the average student borrower owes more than $23,000 before they graduate. That is an increase of 22 percent over the last 5 years, $4,000 for the average student borrower at the University of Washington. So over the next weeks thousands of students in Washington State will walk across and get their diploma, but when they accept this diploma and go into the world of opportunity, they will also be going with a lot of debt. We also heard from another student at the University of Washington, how at this point in her career, as she graduates, the debt will be almost $100,000. She wants to pursue a career, but when she thinks about how much she has to pay on that student loan, that is going to affect that. In fact, during her time at the University of Washington there were points at which she worked 60 hours a week. I don't know how anybody can continue their education and work 60 hours a week. So these are students who want to be able to refinance and pay down. In this case, with somebody who has a 6-percent or 7-percent loan, this bill and legislation would allow them to refinance. With the legislation, an undergraduate with $30,000 in student loans, for example, would save almost $5,000 over the life of their loan by a refinancing of that interest rate, if it was 6.8 percent, to the current direct undergraduate interest rate of 3.86. Those are real dollars to these individuals. That means much needed help for 25 million borrowers across the country. It could save, on average, for all those borrowers, about $2,000 per loan. In my State it would mean relief for 451,000 students, just like the ones we spoke to last week. The University of Washington in the Pacific Northwest took matters into its own hands and produced a report. The report showed that the typical University of Washington student would have to work 54 hours a week for a full year to pay for 1 year of student education. I am so proud of these students. They did their own report and got it on the front page of the Seattle Times because it spells out what we have already known, that the days when students could raise the amount of money they needed to pay for education by doing summer jobs is gone. The burden of debt and the amount of money owed is impacting students. There is no way they can work their way through college at 54 hours or 60 hours a week and be able to do their academic work. Entrepreneurial activity among 20- to 34-year-olds is challenged. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has found that for the first time people with student loan debt are less likely to buy a house than those without, so it is showing up in our economy. If you think about it, if this is what a generation of Americans are going to be faced with for the next decade or two, then that is going to have a ripple effect through our economy for several years. A recent study by the Brookings Institution found that student loan borrowers are 60 to 70 percent less likely to apply for graduate school than those without student debt. So again now we have another complexity. I look at this issue and I look at the fact that we have a worldwide demand for 35,000 new airplanes. We need 20,000 new workers in the aerospace industry. We have demands for computer scientists, something like 300,000 a year. We only graduate 70,000. I look at it and say: Why aren't we helping to finance everybody who wants to get an engineering degree and a computer science degree? Why aren't we figuring out a way to make that more affordable? Because in an information age economy, that is exactly what we need to do, make an investment in education, but we can't make an investment in education on the backs of these students when they are coming out of college with this much debt or trying to struggle even to learn these careers that are so vital to our economy and they have to choose between working and actually studying. We would rather they commit themselves to these careers and these educations so we can have the workforce of the future. I know some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle didn't support this legislation, but the Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would actually reduce the deficit by about $14 billion over the next decade. That is important because we want to see policies that are going to help our economy in the short run and in the long run, but they have to be fiscally responsible. So I say to those critics who say: Oh, well, if we make the interest rate lower, then students are going to borrow more money, I don't think students are looking to borrow more to add to their debt. I don't think students whom I talked to who had loans as high as $180,000 want to borrow more money just because we are going to reduce the interest rate. They want to refinance, reduce their obligation, and get back to studying. There is much more we need to do to mitigate the cost of higher education. I know my colleagues and I are going to be working on that, but the Bank on Student Loans Emergency Refinancing Act was a very good step to help students and to focus them on their careers and education. Again, I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will look again at this issue and get back to it. We need to make sure college education is more affordable. It is time for us to extend the same benefits we do for businesses and mortgages to students so they can refinance and that 25 million students in America could refinance their student loans. I thank Senator Warren for bringing up this issue. I hope we will get back to it again. I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. CANTWELL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. CANTWELL. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. CANTWELL. I ask unanimous consent that the time in quorum be equally divided between both sides.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I come to the floor this afternoon to thank my colleagues who have signed on to a letter to the NFL asking that they change the name of the Washington football team. I also thank Leader Reid for his leadership on this issue and for trying to accentuate the care and concern he has for 22 tribes in the State of Nevada and their interest in seeing the dignity and respect of those tribes with the name change as well. I also come to the floor and ask my colleagues who have not signed to sign on to a letter asking the NFL to take action as aggressively as the NBA took action and to move on this issue. I will be sending a letter to each of my colleagues asking them to either sign on to this letter or to write their own letter, as one of our colleagues did. I am convinced that if each Member of this body speaks on this issue and is forceful in their resolve, we can help initiate change. I know not everybody in America may understand why this is so important. Having personally worked with 29 tribes in the State of Washington, and for a short period of time having served as the chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and having been a Member of that my entire time in the Senate--this may not even be the top issue in Indian Country. We certainly have understaffed hospitals, challenging school situations, decaying infrastructure challenges, and concerns about fishing rights--whether they are the challenges that ocean acidification has to our fishing ability in the Pacific Northwest or whether it is in Alaska making sure that Alaska Natives who are on subsistence fishing are able to continue to do what they do. There are many issues in what we refer to as Indian Country that are about the health, safety, and welfare of those individuals. Yet this issue is a reminder to all of us that intolerance in our communities is a problem. We are here to say that we respect these tribal entities that have requested this name change. We are saying that we have a trust responsibility with these organizations and these individual tribes. So when the National Congress of American Indians--an organization that represents millions of Americans with Native American backgrounds--calls for a change, the fact that we ignore that is a disrespect to those tribal entities. There are many organizations across the United States of America who have joined this battle as well: the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the New York State Assembly, the National Congress of American Indians, the DC city council, the Prince George's County council. Even the President of the United States has spoken out on this issue. So what is it going to take to get the name of this team changed? I say to my colleagues that even the Patent Office--the Federal agency determining whether a word can be protected in commerce--has said this term is derogatory slang and is disparaging to Native Americans. We believe Commissioner Goodell should act; that he needs to do what the NBA did and make sure that one of their owners puts an end to the wrong use of a football term and to join the right side of history. We are not going to give up this battle. Similarly, like organizations who have a Web site on changethemascot.org--which is a great 2-minute to 3-minute video of why Native Americans care so much about this issue--we need to continue to respect the dignity of these individuals, and it is time to update the relationship. Yesterday at the White House there was an unbelievable ceremony, of which I am of course very proud of--the welcoming of the world champion Seahawks football team. They were walking into the White House where many Native Americans from the State of Washington were all decked out in Seahawks gear. I don't know if it was protocol for the White House. Even though they said nobody was to take pictures, telling a crowd from Seattle not to use digital devices is pretty hard to accomplish. But there they were--Native Americans from our State who are partners with the Seattle Seahawks. They are advertising partners. They are suite owners. They advertise and participate together. The logo of the Seahawks was designed by a Native American. That is the relationship of the NFL and Native Americans today in the Pacific Northwest. Juxtapose that to here in the Washington, DC, area where many people have spoken out and yet the owner remains in opposition of changing a name that has been clear to him is found to be racially offensive to Native Americans. So we are here today to ask our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join us. Join us because it was hard to unite our side, but I know with a few of their voices we can move this issue further. Why is tolerance so important? In the words of Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations: Tolerance, intercultural dialogue, and respect for diversity are more essential than ever in a world where people are becoming more and more closely interconnected. While that is a global view of the challenge we face, we need to practice that in reality here. That is why I was so happy we passed the Violence Against Women Act with a provision in it making sure that women in Indian Country would also be protected. We have to ask ourselves why did it take us so long to get that provision. Even the U.N. Special Envoy on Indigenous Rights for Peoples around the world, James Anaya, also said that the NFL should change, basically saying it is a hurtful reminder and represents a long history of mistreatment in the United States of America. He cited the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: They use stereotypes to obscure the understanding and reality of Native Americans today and instead help to keep alive a racially discriminatory attitude. So even the U.N., the world community, is calling on this community to deal with this issue and we should act. I hope my colleagues will help us in this effort to get the NFL to do the right thing. I thank the Presiding Officer, and I yield the floor.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I am glad to join my colleague, the senior Senator, to commemorate a great Washingtonian whom we lost last week, Billy Frank, Jr. Senator Murray and I were able to attend his memorial service yesterday in the South Puget Sound area with 6,000 other Washingtonians. That is what happens when a great leader is lost; a community shows up to commemorate him and his spirit. Everybody who knew Billy Frank across the United States of America--and there are many people from all over Indian Country who do know or knew of Billy Frank--will want us to remember he was a legend who walked among us because what he did was champion environmental rights and the rights of Native American people to fish and in some ways championed the salmon to make sure we had good habitat. Sometimes I wonder how a boy from the Nisqually River turned into being such a big Northwest Pacific hero, but for him, he started when he was a very young man listening to fishing stories of his father and many members of the Nisqually tribe. In a book about his life, his father Willie Frank, Sr., recalled a warden telling him, ``Your treaty isn't worth the paper it's printed on.'' So while Billy's family faced beatings and incarcerations and explicit and inexplicit racism, he decided he was going to defend those rights all the way to the Supreme Court. As he grew into an adolescent, his father said to him: Keep fishing even if they arrest you. Keep fishing even if they beat you. Keep fishing even if they say the fishing claims aren't yours and they challenge them. Keep fishing. Because he knew those fishing claims were promised in the Medicine Creek Treaty. So Billy was arrested more than 50 times in this struggle to secure the rights that were guaranteed to him by this government in a treaty. In fact, also in that book, he once was jailed and was asked by some of the people in jail--he called them bank robbers--what was he in for, and Billy just said, ``Fishing.'' So he took the beatings, and instead of turning all that into anger, he urged people to work in a nonviolent way, to stand for what they thought were important issues. He had a great sense of humor. He once said: If a salmon gets away from you, don't cuss. Don't say anything. That salmon, he's going upriver. He's producing more salmon for you and for all of us. The salmon--he's coming home. And we have to take care of his home. That is the vision that helped Billy win one of the greatest victories the tribes in the United States of America has ever seen. In a landmark decision, they abolished the regulations of discrimination against the Indian fishermen and allowed the tribe to self-regulate, comanage, and have the opportunity to catch up to half the harvestable catch. We just celebrated the 40th anniversary of that historic Boldt decision, and yesterday we had a chance to pay tribute to a man who played a critical role in that decision. But as my colleague Senator Murray said, Billy Frank did more than just fight for that decision. He continued to focus on restoration of Puget Sound, including the Nisqually Delta Restoration, one of the largest tidal marsh restorations in the Pacific Northwest. This project has increased the potential for salt marsh habitat in the southern reach of Puget Sound by over 50 percent. Because of his advocacy we have a program now called the Puget Sound Partnership, which is a public-private tribal partnership trying to improve the health of Puget Sound, and he is the reason we have an agreement called the Timber, Fish, and Wildlife Agreement, which is a model for how people around the United States of America should try to resolve some of their differences on environmental issues instead of suing and going to court forever and ever and never having any kind of resolution. This kind of collaboration helped people address the environmental issues at hand. So all of these things are things Billy Frank accomplished. As my colleague Senator Murray said, it was almost as though he was larger than life and did a job that could have, should have been for many people, but instead he just did it in his own way. We will miss him, but we are thankful for all he did and for the people in the Northwest Fishing Commission for all they have done to help us in the Northwest set the right course. While he will not be there in person, we know Billy Frank will always be with us and with the salmon of the Pacific Northwest. We will miss him. I thank the Chair and I yield the floor.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I rise today to express my support for the nomination of Stanley Bastian to be a district judge for the Eastern District of Washington. Stan Bastian is exactly the kind of highly qualified Federal judge eastern Washington needs. The Eastern District of Washington represents a wide swath of Washington that includes 20 counties that cover 63 percent of our State. Yet the court has been operating with two vacancies. So it is time for the Senate to move forward on filling this position, and I hope we confirm Mr. Bastian today. I also hope we can move forward on a vote on Salvador Mendoza in the coming weeks as well. Mr. Bastian has been called an ``outstanding choice'' for the Eastern District bench, and I want to make sure we understand why. He was born in Washington and is well versed in Pacific Northwest issues. As my colleagues Mr. Wyden and Mr. Merkley will note, he is a graduate of the University of Oregon, but he also went to law school at the University of Washington. Mr. Bastian has handled a diverse portfolio of legal matters, including representing counties, public utility districts, fruit growers, medical clinics, brokers, and individuals, and he brings more than 30 years of experience to the Federal bench, including 25 years in private practice. He has well rounded experience from all sides of the legal process, from civil and criminal trials to mediation, arbitration, and negotiations between various parties. Throughout his career, Mr. Bastian has shown a dedication to justice and equal access to the law. As an experienced trial attorney, he has earned the support and recognition of his peers. When I interviewed Mr. Bastian, I was impressed by his respect for legal precedent and his commitment to the rule of law, his work to improve access to justice, and his local knowledge that has been very important in serving eastern Washington and all of Washington. Mr. Bastian also served as a judicial pro tem in municipal courts, and recently he had the opportunity to lead the Washington State Bar Association. As the president of that organization, Mr. Bastian focused on ethics, professionalism, and civility in the legal profession. He has a long and wide-ranging background in the law and in the legal community, and that is exactly why we should put him on the Federal bench. His legal career exemplifies public service, a commitment to access to justice, and a stellar legal intellect. I am confident he will serve the Eastern District well. So I hope we move forward on these nominees this afternoon and confirm Mr. Bastian. I thank the Chair and I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. I join my colleagues and thank the Senator from Missouri for her statement as somebody who has been involved in basically making sure the law is implemented and upheld too. I appreciate her views. I thank Senator Mikulski for her leadership in advocating for equal pay for equal work. She has been a champion for many years and she is insistent now that we pass this legislation, and that is why we are here, because we want our colleagues to understand how important it is to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation and end the discrimination many women face in America. This is a critical issue, not only for women but for men because, obviously, the households of America deserve to have both people making equal pay. The message from the American people is clear: They want Congress to focus on the most important economic issues of the day; that is, jobs. And certainly having a job that pays you equally for the work you do with your coworkers is critically important. The Paycheck Fairness Act is exactly what we should be working on, ways to strengthen the pocketbooks of many Americans. While we have made progress over the past five decades since we passed the Equal Pay Act, we still have a long way to go. In my State, the State of Washington, women are paid 78 cents for every $1 that men earn for the same work. That amounts to an average wage gap of $11,000 per year. The truth is that many women are the breadwinners in their family, and they should be paid as breadwinners. They should not face discrimination. Today women make up 48 percent of the workforce in the State of Washington, and these families are very important to our economy. On average, mothers in Washington provide 41 percent of their household income, and nationally 40 percent of women are the sole primary breadwinners for their households. This is an important issue for our economy. Think of the boost they would get, the boost we would see if they were paid equally. Right now one-third of those families headed by women in Washington live in poverty, so closing the wage gap means they would be able to afford 82 more weeks of food, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families. It would mean better economic freedom, it would mean the ability to buy more essentials, and it means their families would be better off. But, more importantly, people need to realize that not only does this pay gap affect women's ability to support their family, the pay gap also reduces their ability to save for the future. From around the age of 35 through retirement, women are typically paid about 75 to 80 percent what men are paid, and over their lifetime a woman in Washington will earn $500,000 less than her male counterpart. That is money that can be saved and invested for the future. So we must pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to end this disparity because this act will require employers to provide justification other than gender for paying men higher wages than women for the exact same job. It protects employees who share that information with others from being retaliated against, and it provides victims of pay discrimination with the same remedies available to victims of other discrimination, including punitive and compensation damages. This is important legislation. It is important legislation that will end the discrimination women are seeing in the workplace. The Paycheck Fairness Act will also help eliminate the pay gap to help these families who are struggling in our economy. But just in case people get the wrong idea, I want to make sure people are clear. Even in fields such as engineering and computer science, women earn, on average, only 75 percent of what their male counterparts earn. A woman with a master's degree will only make 70 cents for every $1 of her equally educated male counterparts. It is time the Senate end the pay discrimination by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. That is why I have been happy to sponsor this legislation and work with my colleagues. I want young women growing up today to know this is not an issue they are going to have to deal with in the future. They will get equal pay. I thank my colleagues. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will help us in invoking cloture and providing the votes we need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. I yield the floor.

Ms. CANTWELL

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.