Benjamin Cardin

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleagues Senators Collins, Baldwin, Blumenthal, Brown, Casey, Hassan, Kaine, King, Klobuchar, Markey, Menendez, Rosen, Smith, Van Hollen, and Warren to recognize the week beginning September 12, 2021, as National Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week. Direct support professionals are an invaluable part of our Nation's healthcare system, caring for the most vulnerable Americans, including the chronically ill, seniors, and those living with a disability. Direct support professionals include, among others, those whose titles include home caregiver, personal care assistant, home care worker, or home health aide. These varying titles speaks to the broad areas of support that are integral to the work of direct support professionals. With the assistance of direct support professionals, these individuals can perform daily activities that many people take for granted, such as eating, bathing, dressing, and leaving the house. The work of direct support professionals ensures that these individuals can be active participants in their communities. The work of direct support professionals, like all of us, has changed due to the ongoing novel coronavirus--COVID-19--pandemic. In supporting their clients in performing activities of daily living, direct support professionals are essential and must continue to work in close proximity to their clients during the pandemic. Recognizing the work of direct support professionals is important, but all the more so as the pandemic continues, given their dedication to supporting the health and well-being of their clients. Let me share with you the experience of Tommy Sharrow. Tommy is a direct support professional who was recognized this year for his dedicated and selfless work when he was given Maryland's Direct Support Professional of the Year Award by the American Network of Community Options and Resources, ANCOR. I am sure there are countless examples I could share about Tommy's work, but I will describe one extraordinary example where he went above and beyond for his clients as he continued to care for them in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. During a particularly challenging period of the pandemic, Tommy's tireless dedication was on full display as he quarantined with his clients in their home to continue caring for them when others in their home were diagnosed with COVID-19. In order to maintain the care he provided for them, Tommy incredibly slept on an air mattress in their basement for 2 weeks to effectively quarantine. As day programs and other care options closed around his clients due to the pandemic, Tommy stepped in to provide creative activities like music and playing games in outdoor spaces. Throughout a challenging year for us all, Tommy was steadfast and truly considerate in his care for his clients. Tommy's story describes a career that is fulfilling, but one that oftentimes is not easy for direct support professionals like him. The hours are often long, and the wages are low. The job can be physically laborious, as well as emotionally draining. The reward for direct support professionals, however, is that they are able to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities and help fulfill the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act by making it possible for these Americans to participate in their communities to the fullest extent possible. In our country, we are incredibly fortunate to have millions of service-oriented individuals who are willing to rise to the task of becoming a direct support professional. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of direct support professionals is projected to grow by an average of 33 percent from 2020 to 2030, compared to an 8-percent average growth rate for all occupations during that period. The demand will only continue to increase over time; the Baby Boomer generation will result in the doubling of the population of adults ages 65 and older by 2050. The increased demand for direct support professionals has created shortages in some areas, which can place strains on patients and their families or result in medical issues that could have been avoided. Unfortunately, direct support professionals are often forced to leave the jobs they love due to low wages and excessive, difficult work hours. Many direct support professionals rely on public benefits, and some must work multiple jobs in order to provide for themselves and their families. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we work to ensure that these hard-working individuals have the income and emotional support they need and deserve as we all struggle with the health and economic implications of the ongoing pandemic. I urge my colleagues to join me and Senators Collins, Baldwin, Blumenthal, Brown, Casey, Hassan, Kaine, King, Klobuchar, Markey, Menendez, Rosen, Smith, Van Hollen, and Warren in expressing our appreciation for the critically important work of our country's direct support professionals, in thanking them for their commitment and dedication, and in supporting the resolution designating the week beginning September 12, 2021, as National Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, we have been in session now for about 11 hours, and we have taken up a handful of noncontroversial nominees. The reason? The abuse by the Republicans of the rules of the Senate--filibuster after filibuster that require cloture votes--so we spend several hours on each of these nominations. Even worse, the Republicans have abused the rules of the Senate to deny us in the Senate the ability to consider critical legislation that we should be taking up and acting on. There are many, many examples. I will just cite a few. Justice in Policing: We are all committed to reforming our criminal justice system and our police system in order to deal with the values of our Nation. I know that Senator Booker has worked tirelessly on this issue. We should be able to debate that bill on the floor of the U.S. Senate, but, no, the Republicans will require a cloture vote and will not give us the votes even to consider that legislation. Or consider gun safety, which we have been debating in the public now for decades, and the Republicans are continuing to use the rules of the Senate to deny the Senate the opportunity to take up issues and debate issues and see whether we can come together. Or take immigration reform, where we see the tragedies that are occurring where we need to take action as a Senate, but, no, the Republicans won't give us the votes so we can get on a bill and debate issues and take up amendments and see whether we can't get something done on immigration. And now they are threatening to use the filibuster on the legislation that would extend the debt ceiling so that we don't default on our debt in regard to moneys that have been spent with the initiation and support of our Republican colleagues. They are threatening to deny us the opportunity to take up that bill and vote on it by the use of the filibuster, even though they were the ones who created the spending and debt. Or take the continuation of our government. But top on my list is safeguarding our election system, the bedrock of our democracy. On two occasions, Senate Democrats voted unanimously to simply begin debate on protecting the right to vote in our democracy, which has come under sustained assault in the aftermath of the 2020 elections. Both times, all Senate Republicans blocked even beginning the debate on this critical legislation. Senate Republicans put gridlock and partisanship before the rights of voters. The Senate is being blocked from having the chance to consider options and amendments and do what the Founding Fathers intended us to do--legislate. So my Senate Republican colleagues will have another chance to do the right thing, thanks to Leader Schumer and Senator Klobuchar. Over the August recess, they worked diligently to come up with compromise legislation that still preserves the essential elements of S. 1, the For the People Act, that has already passed the House of Representatives. President Biden was absolutely correct that we need to enact voting rights legislation to repair the damage done by the Supreme Court to the Voting Rights Act. President Biden rightly called efforts to limit ballot access across the country as the 21st century Jim Crow assault. He warned Americans that the Republicans' efforts to restrict voting rights as a result of their selfish challenge of the 2020 election results were the most significant tests of our democracy since the Civil War. Indeed, my colleagues witnessed firsthand the violent insurrection at the Capitol when the mob attacked, injured, and killed our brave Capitol Police officers, who put their lives on the line to preserve our very democracy and Union. In many States, legislatures and Governors have responded to the falsehoods of the 2020 elections by restricting voting accessibility. The Big Lie, repeated by President Trump, has directly led to the disenfranchisement and suppression of the right to vote for millions of Americans. I urge my colleagues and my fellow American citizens to reflect on the state of our democracy and the rights we hold dear. A blatant attempt to falsify an election and a persistent effort to deny the American people access to the ballot box has undermined the freedom and liberty that so many Americans have fought to defend and advance. Voting rights is a fundamental issue of importance to a democratic country. After elections are over and we win, we celebrate. We celebrate the fact that we have gotten the support of the majority of voters, and that is what democracy is all about. If we don't win--and I think many of us have been involved in campaigns where our candidates were not successful--we go to work to try to attract more voters in the next election so we can celebrate a victory. That is what participation in a free society is all about. That is what democracies are about. In repressive, autocratic regimes, they never accept the will of the people, so they look at ways in which they can undermine the voting record--what the voters want to do and the voters' will. In the 2020 elections, we should all celebrate the record number of people who cast their ballot. It was a record and the most ever Americans casting their votes for the Presidency of the United States. There were repeated reviews done by both Democrats and Republicans at the Federal, State, and local level. It all verified the simple fact that there was no widespread corruption or election fraud. The will of the people prevailed, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were duly elected. Congress and Vice President Pence counted the electoral votes for President and Vice President and did their duty under the Constitution on January 6, notwithstanding the armed insurrection in the Capitol. But that did not stop former President Trump from promoting the Big Lie. As a result of that, several States have now taken action to make it harder for people to cast their votes. The Brennan Center has pointed out that we have seen the worst assault on voting rights since Jim Crow. So what have these laws done? Made it more difficult for voters to vote by mail, recognizing that for many voters they prefer to vote by mail. We have States that have had 100 percent voting by mail. There have been no indications of fraud in voting by mail. States have shortened the time for requesting mail-in ballots for voting, making it more difficult for individuals to be able to vote by mail, requiring certain requirements to vote by mail, making it more difficult to deliver their mail ballots, limiting the availability of ballot drop boxes. Why did States take these actions? Because it makes it more difficult for people who are likely to vote for their political opponents to vote. That is what these State legislatures were doing. Stricter signature requirements, making in-person voting more difficult, purging voter rolls simply because a person did not vote, and, again, making it more difficult for people to vote. That should have no place in a democracy. And it goes on and on in terms of the types of legislation that have already passed or is currently being considered by many State legislatures around our country. Making it more difficult to register to vote, making it more difficult to vote, targeting potential voters more likely to vote for their opponents, targeting minorities, young voters, and older minority voters is a disturbing trend we see across this country and has no place in our democracy. The Freedom to Vote Act provides a basic Federal floor on protection of the right to vote. This legislation includes commonsense items such as automatic and online voter registration, uniform early voting, same- day voter registration, vote-by-mail and drop box standards and uniform national standards for voter identification. These are simple voter protection measures against the actions being taken by State legislatures that are aimed at certain demographic groups and set a Federal floor. The Freedom to Vote Act ends political gerrymandering. I don't know how many of my colleagues can defend the way that legislative and congressional lines are drawn today. Congressional districts should represent the communities' interests, not an individual Congressman's interests. The Freedom to Vote Act takes a major step forward in ending political gerrymandering by creating nonpartisan redistricting reform and banning partisan gerrymandering and allowing States to choose how to develop redistricting plans, including having an independent redistricting commission. In terms of election integrity, the Freedom to Vote Act requires voter-verified paper ballots, reliable audits, and voting system upgrades. I think we all would agree that we want to be able to verify votes. The only way we can is if there is a paper trail, and it provides for that paper trail. The measure takes steps to prevent State election subversion to better insulate State and local officials who administer Federal elections, after the attempts by both domestic and foreign interference in the 2020 election results. This legislation reduces the dominance of Big Money in the political system. It does this in a couple ways. One, disclosure. How can anyone be against the disclosure of who is putting money into our political system? And, secondly, by providing a way in which we can weaken the dependence on large special interest dollars. The legislation requires super PACs, 501(c)(4) groups, and other organizations spending money on elections to disclose donors and shuts down the use of transfers between organizations to cloak the identity of contributors. It ensures that political ads sold online have the same transparency and disclosure requirements as ads sold on TV, radio, and satellite. S. 2747 includes two provisions I authored. First, it includes the Democracy Restoration Act, which deals with laws passed after the end of slavery in an effort to prevent African Americans from voting. There are States that passed laws back then that are still on the books that disqualify for a lifetime a person convicted of a felony. The definition of a felony is pretty general in many States, so we have States where one out of five African Americans have been disqualified from voting because of their conviction of a felony, even though they are fully part of our society today. They don't have the right to vote. We need to remove that disqualification on voting. I am pleased that my Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act is included as a provision in the legislation. The spreading of false or misleading information intended to suppress voting and intimidate the electorate remains one of the most regularly employed and effective methods used to keep individuals, particularly Black Americans and other racial minorities, from voting. Advancement in communications, including the rise of social media platforms, have made it easier for bad actors to use these strategies. For example, the targeting of Latino voters in Florida with disinformation was widely documented. This provision prohibits individuals from knowingly deceiving others about the time, place, eligibility, or procedures of participating in a Federal election. It criminalizes efforts to intentionally hinder, interfere with, or prevent any person from voting, registering to vote, or aiding a person to vote or register to vote. My friend and former colleague was the late John Lewis of Georgia. The two of us were elected to the House of Representatives on the same day. In an editorial published after his death, Representative Lewis called an important lesson taught--recalled an important lesson taught by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And I quote our former colleague when he said: Each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up, and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something. Democracy is not a state. It is an act. And each generation must do its part. Well, we cannot take action if we don't start. And we cannot start unless my colleagues allow us to proceed to this issue on the floor of the U.S. Senate. I urge my colleagues not to filibuster the right of the U.S. Senate to start the debate on protecting voter integrity, where each Member will have the opportunity to debate the issue and, collectively, we can come together. Many of my colleagues have offered suggestions about how we can further improve S. 2747, how we can make it even a broader consensus. Let's build on the work done by Senator Klobuchar and her colleagues over the August recess. But we cannot do that unless we have the right to proceed to a debate. I urge my colleagues to support taking up the Freedom to Vote Act, which is a critical issue to the preservation of our democracy and the integrity of our right to vote. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CARDIN

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

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to be recognized notwithstanding the order that no business be conducted during today's pro forma session.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the order that no business be conducted during today's pro forma session, it be in order to receive H.R. 5085 from the House; that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all without intervening action or debate.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand adjourned in accordance with the order of August 10, 2021, for previously ordered pro forma sessions.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I thank my friend from Oklahoma. The two of us arrived in the House of Representatives on the same day. We have been friends for all this period of time. I thank him for his generosity. Budget Reconciliation Madam President, I take this time to talk about legislation we will be considering tomorrow, which will be the budget resolution. It gives us a once-in-a-generation opportunity. I would just like to pause for a moment because it is part of President Biden's Build Back Better, that we can have a more competitive nation, and we can create the jobs that we need for the future. I was with Secretary Blinken earlier today in College Park, and he talked specifically about the challenges our Nation faces. We go back a generation ago, and America was clearly in the forefront of creating jobs, of taking advantage of all innovation and new, emerging fields. We were the envy of the world. Today, the rest of the world has caught up and in some cases, exceeds us. This once-in-a-generation opportunity to build back better gives us an opportunity to do what we need to do for America's future and to show the world that our free market, democratic society is the best way to take care of its people. This is an incredibly important part to deliver on President Biden's Build Back Better. We already did with the American Rescue Plan. That gave us the opportunity to get the COVID-19 vaccines distributed so we can get that behind us. It helped our State and local governments. It took half of our children out of poverty. In Maryland, 52,000 Maryland children were taken out of poverty. Forty million families nationwide benefited from the child credit and the earned income tax credit. We took a major step forward in building back better with the passage of the American Rescue Plan. Tomorrow, with the passage of this bipartisan infrastructure package, we will take the second step in building back better, and there is a lot to be celebrated in the legislation that we will pass tomorrow I was proud to work on the transportation and water infrastructure issues, along with my colleague who is presiding, to make sure that we provided the building blocks necessary for modern infrastructure--for transportation, for roads, bridges, transit systems, and our water infrastructure, which is critically important. We will take a second step to build back better with the passage of the bipartisan bill, but there is a third step that is critically important, and that is the budget resolution we will be taking up starting tomorrow. The budget resolution takes us beyond COVID-19. Yes, we have to rebuild from COVID-19, but we also need to rebuild our Nation, make it modern and provide the needs that Americans need. The budget resolution will provide America more competitiveness, better prepared for the future, create jobs, millions of jobs, and lower the cost for Americans in dealing with their everyday needs. We are asking the wealthier people to pay their fair share--first of all, to pay their taxes, and then pay their fair share of taxes. We tackle the climate crisis, and we develop the workforce to meet the jobs of the future. So I am very excited about the opportunity of taking up the budget resolution. Let me just comment on a few specifics as chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. I expect we will be given budget instructions to deal with those issues. Madam President, you are part of that group. We need to look at access to credit, investment, and markets, particularly in underserved communities, those that have not had the opportunities in the past. I am talking about women-owned small businesses, minority-owned small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, and entrepreneurs from other underserved communities. We are going take a look at government contracting. The United States is the largest purveyor of goods and services of the world. How can we improve that in building back better to make sure all are included in that opportunity? We are going to look at innovation and growth. Small businesses are the innovator of our economy. They create a better way to do things. We saw that during COVID-19. We get more innovation from small businesses than from the larger companies. But as we look at emerging markets, there has been a real separation between the underserved communities not being able to participate in new, emerging markets. When you take a look at the amount of venture capital that goes to minority small businesses or women-owned small businesses, it is a small fraction of their demographic numbers. The last time I checked, White men controlled 93 percent of all venture capital funding. Now, I am all for everyone participating, but that is not a fair division and opportunity for emerging markets. So we need to take a look at emerging markets, incubator and accelerator programs, and then access to capital. We need direct help through the Small Business Administration to help small businesses because we know we have a better chance for the underserved community to get a fair shake with the SBA controlling the loans. We also need to have partnerships with the private sector, as we have seen in programs like the SBIC Program and other programs. So we are going to work as a committee to try to deal with the needs particularly of those small businesses that have been left behind in the past. I also serve on the Environment of Public Works Committee and chair the Subcommittee on Infrastructure, working with the Presiding Officer. I mention this because both of us have been directly involved in creating new programs to help underserved communities. There is a program that I was involved with that deals with water affordability, a pilot program that will allow those who cannot afford their clean water bills help from government, as we do for utility costs. That was included in the bipartisan package but not the funding. I am hoping that we will have the opportunity to fund that program and to fund other programs that we deal with in underserved communities, the water projects; that we will be able to deal with that in the Environment and Public Works Committee in the budget resolution. We are going to deal with climate, and we need to deal with climate. Investments in jobs and growth and dealing with the environment go together, and we are finding that America is not as far ahead internationally as other countries, such as China, investing a lot more in electric convention than America is investing in electric vehicles. We are going to work with the Environment and Public Works Committee, the Agriculture Committee, and the Commerce Committee to deal with coastal resiliency, which is critically important to my State. The Chesapeake Bay--the iconic symbol of Maryland in our region, the largest estuary in our hemisphere--it has challenges. This once-in-a-generation opportunity gives us the opportunity to do things that are going to be beneficial for our environment and help us deal with climate change; for example, the beneficial use of dredge material. We want to keep our channels dredged for commerce. It is very important. Where do we put that material? Well, in the Chesapeake Bay, we want to put it into restoring wetlands, creating new wetlands, which will help our environmental issues as well. In agriculture, we are going to look at land conservation programs, all that are important. I was pleased to see that in the explanation of the budget resolution, there is a specific reference to the Appalachian Regional Commission. It is very important to two western counties in Maryland, and we need to do more to help them and their economy and to grow back better, and we are going to have an opportunity in the budget resolution to do exactly that. As I mentioned earlier, lower costs for Americans--childcare. We need to bring down the cost so Americans can afford childcare. There is extension of the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit, because we want to make sure that the progress we have made in lifting families out of poverty--that we do that on a permanent basis. Let's get that longer period of time providing that relief. Help for high education--the cost of higher education is way out of line here in America. This bill will give us a chance to deal with the cost of higher education, community colleges, HBCUs, Pell Grant increases. I was listening to Senator Brown talk about affordable housing and home ownership. I was with Secretary Fudge this week in Prince George's County, MD, and we talked about tools that are available to help with affordable housing and home ownership so families can afford a home today. I am proud to cosponsor a bill with Senator Portman, the Neighborhood Reinvestment Act, so that communities can do the investment in their community, and where there is a difference between market rate and the cost to do the renovation or building, we have a credit so that communities can have the type of housing commensurate with their needs. We can do a lot more. Paid family medical leave--we are one of the only countries that don't have that. There is an opportunity in the budget resolution for us to be able to accomplish that. Expansion of Medicare: I have been trying to get Medicare to cover dental care for a long time. Seniors need that type of protection. We have a chance to do that in this budget resolution, along with eyeglasses and hearing aids, which should be--they are essential. They should be included in Medicare. We have a chance to do that. Then on the climate issue, we are going to have an opportunity to really deal with one of the greatest threats we have, and that is our planet is burning up. We know that. We need to take dramatic action in order to deal with the realities of climate change. We see it all around us. We see it in flooding in Maryland, wildfires out West, in flooding--lands disappearing in our community and around the world. We will have a chance with electric vehicles and transportation and research. We will have a chance with the Tax Code to reduce carbon emissions. We will have a chance in public buildings to build green buildings and energy efficiency. We will have an opportunity for weatherization programs. All that is contemplated in the budget resolution. I can't give specifics because that is what committees will be doing in the next several weeks, coming up with specifics to fill in. But to make this once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring down the cost to Americans, to deal with climate change, to deal with job creation and preparedness and job training--this is a responsible package that will help working families and have the wealthy who are not paying their taxes today to pay their taxes and pay their fair share of taxes. Winston Churchill remarked: The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. I agree with Sir Winston Churchill. Together, we can meet the most formidable challenges our Nation faces, and the Build Back Better budget is the next step in that process, and I look forward to our taking this resolution up, moving it forward, and then letting our committees get back to work and fill in the blanks and get this done in order that Americans can meet the challenges of the future, create the jobs we need in the future, and get the cost reliefs that they need to deal with life essential needs. I thank my friend from Oklahoma for allowing me to give my remarks. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and then I will be asking unanimous consent to consider legislation. We included the Restaurant Revitalization Fund in our March legislation on COVID relief. We did that because, of all of the industries affected by COVID-19, restaurants have been some of the most difficult businesses to survive COVID-19. They were ordered by government, basically, to shut down at the beginning of COVID-19. Then, as we started to make progress, they were at much restricted operations. And to this day, restaurants are still not up to their full capacity. Their revenues have been very much decimated as a result of COVID-19. We came together in March with bipartisan legislation in order to do something about that, and we included that in our legislation--$28.6 billion of relief for restaurants. Now, what it did is cover some of their revenue loss as a result of COVID-19. It gave them a lifeline to be able to survive this pandemic. We projected that $28.6 billion would be the need, but we were wrong. We were wrong because COVID-19 was more severe than we thought, restaurants were more badly damaged than we had anticipated, and there was a great deal of more demand and need than the $28.6 billion. We are now being told by the Small Business Administration that the right number was $71.3 billion, or an additional $42.7 billion that is needed. I have introduced bipartisan legislation to provide this additional authority to the SBA to complete this program. It is bipartisan. My partner in this is Senator Wicker. We are joined by Senator Schumer, Senator Murkowski, Senator Cantwell, Senator Ernst, Senator Sinema, Senator Cassidy, Senator Stabenow, and Senator Hyde-Smith. And I might add, there are many, many more Senators on both sides of the aisle who very much support our efforts to live up to our commitment. Now, why do we need to take this up right now? This is a matter of life or death for many restaurants in our community. There is also a matter of fairness. We have two restaurants, side by side, in the exact same circumstances, submitting their applications on the same day, having the exact same need. Both were advised that they will get funding. One got funding before the $28.6 billion was exhausted. The other that was told they were going to get funding, they won't get funding unless we act. That is not right. There is a matter of the credibility of the U.S. Senate and of Congress and of government. We say we are going to do something. We should live up to our commitments. The urgency of getting this done is now. I don't think there is a Senator in this Chamber who hasn't heard from restaurants in their State about how badly they need these funds and how they thought these funds were going to be in their bank, and they are no longer in the bank. I have heard from so many Senators about this. The urgency is now. Let me just anticipate one other argument that I might hear, and that is: Well, where are we getting this money from? Well, legislation before us takes $36 billion out of the small business programs--$36 billion. So this is paid for by the rescissions that have been made in this legislation that we are considering, that is before us today. So for all of those reasons, this is a fiscally responsible thing to do. Lastly, before I yield the floor to the majority leader, let me say that we made a commitment to help our small businesses. We did that-- Democrats and Republicans--working together. In some cases we overestimated the dollars that we need. In some cases we underestimated the dollars that we need. But we always came back and provided the full funding for the programs we have authorized, and, in total, it is not much different than has previously been authorized. This is a matter of fairness and a matter of absolute need that we provide the extra money now for the restaurants. Before I make my unanimous consent request, I would yield the floor so the majority leader can get the floor.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, let me thank Senator Schumer for his comments. I agree completely with everything the Senator said. I would just make one additional point before I make my unanimous consent request. What I am asking for now has been what we have been following in regard to small business relief. Let me remind our colleagues that we work together, Democrats and Republicans, to craft the programs that help small business and save so many small businesses in our community. We misprojected the costs of the Paycheck Protection Program, not by $30 or $40 billion, by over $300 billion when we set it up. And we came back, Democrats and Republicans lived up to our commitment and made the funds available that all small businesses could get fair treatment and equitable treatment under the Paycheck Protection Program. I am asking my colleagues to do the exact same thing we did for the Paycheck Protection Program for the Restaurant Revitalization Program. And as already has been pointed out, there have been funds taken away from the small business programs under the bill we are considering on the floor today to almost the same amount that we are asking in supplemental funds. With that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 2675 introduced earlier today; that the bill be considered read three times and passed; and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I regret the decision of my colleague from Kentucky. I just really want to point out, we have had hearings in our committee--Small Business Committee--in which the Restaurant Revitalization Act was very much brought up during the hearing. We have been receiving timely information about this program and how it has been implemented and the need for additional funds. So our committee has had ample opportunity to question how the program was being administered and the need for different funds. I also regret that my colleague is holding the restaurants pretty much hostage and saying it is all right for us to give money to some but not others, when the administration of this was compromised because of a court case, and certain restaurants are now desperate as a result of not having adequate funds. I am encouraged by the comments of the majority leader, Senator Schumer, that we will continue to focus on this issue. I can tell you, it is urgent. We really need to deal with this immediately, and we will be looking for every available opportunity to treat our restaurants equitably and fairly and provide the money that is needed to implement the Restaurant Revitalization Program. I regret that we are not able to act today because of the Senator's objection. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, my State of Maryland has a proud history of innovation in satellite technology and space exploration. Greenbelt, MD, is home to Goddard, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's first Space Flight Center Space Flight Center. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates a fleet of weather satellites, has its headquarters in Silver Spring. Additionally, the largest provider of residential satellite broadband service, Hughes Network Systems, is headquartered in Germantown. Hughes serves consumers in some of the most rural, hard-to-reach areas of the country. As the Senate considers the bipartisan infrastructure bill, I believe there is broad agreement that the broadband deployment grants established by the bill and administered by the Department of Commerce would help bring broadband service to unserved and underserved households in some of the most rural areas in the U.S. I also believe that satellite technology can and should be one of the technological options for achieving our broadband deployment goals. Because a geo- stationary satellite orbits at 22,500 miles above earth, however, even signals traveling at the speed of light take a split-second longer to reach their destination, causing ``latency''--or delay--in real-time broadband applications. Fortunately, satellite innovators in Maryland and elsewhere have designed measures to reduce latency by using a mix of communications platforms, including low-earth orbit satellites and fixed wireless networks. I believe that where the broadband grants provision in division F, title I of the infrastructure bill establishes a ``real-time, interactive'' standard for permissible latency, residential satellite broadband service providers may meet this standard by offering a hybrid mix of geostationary and nongeostationary satellite networks or fixed wireless networks. I look forward to working with Senator Cantwell in her capacity as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Commerce Secretary Raimondo, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on this important issue.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of amendment No. 2478, which would make permanent and expand the Minority Business Development Agency, or the MBDA, which is the only Federal Agency to focus exclusively on the needs of minority businesses. This amendment is based on the Minority Business Resiliency Act, which I introduced in April, and the language is identical to what was passed out of the Commerce Committee earlier today by a voice vote. I want to thank Senator Wicker and Senator Cantwell of the committee for their help in getting this to the floor. I also want to thank Senator Tim Scott, Senator Cornyn, and Senator Baldwin, who were also cosponsors of this amendment, for helping us reach this moment. This amendment will give the Agency the resources and leadership necessary to help underserved entrepreneurs overcome historical barriers to small business ownership, innovate and start and grow successful businesses, and create jobs. This Agency will also partner with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other minority-serving institutions to reach rural minority business enterprises and create a regional network supporting entrepreneurial education and help to coordinate Federal resources in service of minority business enterprises. Last year, the MBDA programs and services helped minority businesses secure nearly $8 billion in contracts and capital, and created nearly 12,000 jobs. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from 17 stakeholders in support of this amendment, which includes the Small Business Majority, U.S. Black Chamber, and U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I understand that we may be able to do this by a voice vote, so I would ask unanimous consent that after my colleagues have had a chance to speak, we can vitiate the 60-vote requirement. With that, I yield to my colleague from Mississippi.

Mr. CARDIN. We have cleared this with both the Democrats and the Republicans for managing the bill, and I would ask unanimous consent to vitiate the 60-vote requirement on the Cardin-Wicker amendment No. 2478.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I rise to recognize the extraordinary career of Susan Erlichman, Esquire, the executive director of the Maryland Legal Services Corporation, on the eve of her retirement after 32 years of remarkable public service. Susan is a devoted public servant and tireless advocate for civil legal services for those who need them most in the State of Maryland. The Maryland Legal Services Corporation--MLSC--is the state's largest funder of civil legal aid. Its mission, as established by the Maryland General Assembly, is ensuring that low-income Marylanders have access to reliable, productive, and worthwhile civil legal assistance by distributing and overseeing grants to nonprofits statewide. Since its creation in 1982, MLSC has distributed grants totaling over $312 million. In turn, grantees have assisted Marylanders in more than 3.5 million legal matters, ranging from family to housing to employment to healthcare cases, in which they would otherwise have been hard-pressed to access legal aid. Susan Erlichman's career with the MLSC spanned an incredible 32 years, including 17 as the organization's executive director. During her tenure in that position, Susan oversaw the tripling of MLSC's annual budget, from $6 million to $20 million. She also helped to found a robust working relationship between the Administrative Office of the Courts and MLSC that significantly expanded Maryland's Judicare Family Law program and the number of residents it serves. Perhaps one of her greatest accomplishments, however, was pioneering an innovative program to remove barriers to employment in Maryland by placing civil legal aid lawyers in projects aimed at the fostering of more productive and prosperous workforces. From the 2008 recession to our current-day COVID-19 pandemic, Susan's drive, tenacity, and compassion has been an invaluable asset to our state. Through the projects I have mentioned and the countless others that she has led, Susan has utilized her institutional insight and diplomatic skills to bring together a wide coalition of allies to support and strengthen civil legal services. Susan has been an incredible leader to MLSC staff, even during the hardest of times. Access to justice is a significant, growing challenge in Maryland and nationwide that has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In most cases, low-income Americans receive inadequate or no legal help due to lack of available resources, even though they are eligible and entitled to this legal assistance. During the pandemic, the Legal Services Corporation--LSC--reported that 94 percent of grantees surveyed said they were providing services to clients who were newly eligible for legal aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. I credit Susan and the excellent work of MLSC with making it as easy as possible for me to advocate for Federal funding. Her work and that of her peers nationwide has generated bipartisan support in Congress that was significant enough to turn back an effort to disband the agency entirely in the last administration. There is no doubt that Susan's leadership has allowed MLSC to endure as a beacon of hope in the face of the surge in demand since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MLSC is an organization near and dear to my heart. From August 1988 through June 1995, I was privileged to serve as its chair. Previously, I chaired a task force that produced an Action Plan for Legal Services to Maryland's Poor in January of 1988. Many recommendations from the action plan, such as conversion of the Interest on Lawyer Trust Account--IOLTA--program from voluntary to mandatory, were ultimately adopted. I enjoyed working with Susan, who coincidentally joined the organization in 1988, to implement the action plan and make other improvements. Although I moved on from MLSC a few years later, I was happy to know the organization was in such good hands. I am also confident that Susan's successor, Deb Seltzer, will continue Susan's legacy and make great progress towards achieving the mission of the MLSC. In announcing Susan's retirement, MLSC board chair Natalie McSherry had this to say: ``Susan Erlichman is a giant among all leaders of IOLTA and other funding entities for civil legal services. We have been incredibly blessed to have had the benefit of her leadership for so many years.'' It is clear that Susan's impact on the Maryland Legal Services Corporation, and the State of Maryland for that matter, will be felt for years to come. For that, I sincerely thank her for her service to our State's citizens and wish her a happy and well-deserved retirement.

Mr. CARDIN

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

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I rise in support of the legislation that is before us, the bipartisan infrastructure package. I applaud all of those who have worked so hard so that we could have this legislation before us. It is desperately needed when we look at the status of our infrastructure today, the aged systems that we have across our Nation. In Maryland, we have some infrastructure that dates back over a century and a half ago. We need a generational investment to modernize our infrastructure, and the legislation before us does exactly that. It will make the United States more competitive and create a lot of good-paying jobs. It will deal with the growing backlog of infrastructure projects that we have in each one of our States. I applaud the work that brought us to this point. I particularly am pleased that the legislation incorporates the work done by the Environment and Public Works Committee as it relates to transportation, infrastructure, and water infrastructure. I particularly want to acknowledge the leadership of our committee, Senators Carper and Capito. I was proud to be the chair of the subcommittee on infrastructure, working with Senator Cramer and Senator Duckworth, which contributed greatly, particularly to the water infrastructure. I also want to applaud the leadership of President Biden. It was his leadership that has brought us to this moment, his vision for America's future, what we need, and he found a way for us to move forward on modernizing infrastructure. So let me first, if I might, talk a little bit about the transportation parts of this bill that I am particularly pleased about. Clearly, we see a significant increase in our investments in roads, bridges, transit systems, rail, airports, ports, and waterways. We can talk about some of the specifics, and I am going to do that. But first I want to applaud the efforts that we have made to move forward in new directions. This bill, for the first time, in a major reauthorization of our surface transportation, acknowledges the realities of climate change. We know what is happening in our communities. The increasing amount of flooding, droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather events are frightening to all of us. In my State of Maryland, I can point to one community, Ellicott City, which has seen two 100-year floods in less than 24 months. The situation is dire, and we need to act on it. The legislation before us provides $18 billion in reducing carbon emissions and strengthening resilience and building electric charging stations and alternative fuel infrastructure. That is what we need to do, and I am pleased that the legislation addresses those issues. In a second area, I was pleased that this bill has a significant increase in the transportation alternative programs that I authored. This increased funding will make it easier for our local governments to move forward on projects that are important to their priorities. We are talking about better sidewalks and bike paths and dealing with safety. We are seeing an alarming increase in fatalities on our highways and roads and community roads. The TAP program will allow us to deal with those issues. We all need to be able to get around our community without using our cars, and the TAP program makes this a priority so we can enjoy our communities and we have local decision making in the use of our transportation funds. I am also very pleased that this legislation has a justice component to it. I worked long and hard with Senator Carper and others in dealing with reconnecting our communities that had been divided because of highways that had been put in a community that did not help that community. When we find out the communities that are most disproportionately affected, they are generally minority communities. I will give you a good example. Let me use my hometown of Baltimore City. A highway was built in the 1960s that was never completed. We call it the ``highway to nowhere.'' It is the Franklin-Mulberry Corridor. If you go to West Baltimore, you will see this gully that is a blight to the community. It divides communities. Three thousand residents, mostly African-American, are directly impacted by this ``highway to nowhere.'' It isolates neighborhoods such as Harlem Park. This legislation provides a billion dollars as a start to reconnecting communities that have been divided by highways. I know this is good news for the people of Baltimore and these communities and, for other communities around the Nation where the transportation program has hurt their community, not helped their community. As I pointed out, there is increased investments in all of our modes of transportation. This past week, I was with Secretary Buttigieg in Baltimore and with Senator Van Hollen. The Port of Baltimore is the economic engine of our community. Hundreds of thousands of jobs directly depend upon it. Baltimore is prepared for the super-Panamax. Thanks to the partnership with the Federal Government, this legislation will allow us to be more competitive in our ports, creating more jobs in our community. I also pointed out the Howard Street Tunnel that was recently authorized under an INFRA grant, which will allow double-stacking going through a tunnel that is over 100 years old, through downtown Baltimore. This will make our community much more competitive. This bill provides additional funding for INFRA grants. And then Maryland, like every State in this Nation, has significant backlogs in dealing with our bridges. I can mention the American Legion Bridge, right around here, or the Johnson Bridge, in Southern Maryland, and the list goes on and on and on. This bill will allow us to get to some of those bridges. Let me talk a moment, if I might, about transit. We need public transit. Our workers need to be able to get to work. We need to be much more sensitive to our environment and getting people out of their automobiles. We waste too much time in congestion. I can't tell you how many hours are wasted every day because of unnecessary congestion. Transit--public transit--helps us deal with those challenges. This bill takes a quantum leap forward on the transit programs. I was particularly pleased that it includes a reauthorization of the WMATA program for the transit system in this region. I call it the Nation's transit system, since it is used so much by Federal workers in order to get to work. It extends the authorization of $150 million a year from the Federal Government through this decade. Particularly, I want to thank my colleagues in this region, Senators Warner and Kaine and Van Hollen. The four of us worked together to make sure we got the reauthorization included in this legislation. Then, I want to acknowledge and I want to thank particularly Senator Brown for his help on this. There is now language in this bill that will allow those lines that were previously eligible for capital contributions but did not go forward to be able to be reconsidered for Federal partnerships in capital construction on transit. We have a rapid rail line in Baltimore City, known as the Red Line, that was stopped by our Governor. We are hopeful that we can restart that. It is needed for dealing with public transit in Baltimore. That project would then now be eligible for consideration for Federal funding. And I would hope that the leadership in Maryland would take advantage of this opportunity and put the Red Line back in the equation. I want to talk a little bit about water projects. The Environment and Public Works Committee bill that we worked on, which is the basis of this bill on water infrastructure, passed this body by a vote of 89-2. It deals with the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act, increasing funding in all those categories. We have tremendous backlogs in water infrastructure in our community. We have waterlines that are over 100 years old still being used in our communities. This bill will help us deal with that backlog. It includes authorizations that I sponsored, including affordability. I want to thank Senator Wicker, my cosponsor on this. This would allow grants so that low-income families can afford their water bills. I can tell you that in Maryland and in many other communities around the Nation, people can no longer afford their water bills because so much pressure has been put on the ratepayers. This bill will set up a pilot program similar to a LIHEAP program to help low-income families deal with their water costs. I also authored an authorization bill for resiliency grants with Senator Capito to deal with extreme weather conditions and cyber security issues, and I was pleased to see that included in the legislation. I do want to express my disappointment. There are things in this bill I am sure all of us are not satisfied with. I was disappointed that the bill does not fund those new authorized programs, as was included in the legislation that passed this body and was recommended by the Environment and Public Works Committee. I hope we will have a chance during the appropriations process to get funding for these new authorized programs. I was pleased that President Biden's initiative to remove lead pipes was included. I can tell you that in Baltimore, we have significant lead pipe issues, particularly in our school system, and I am glad to see that those programs will be funded. I was pleased also that we are moving ahead on PFOS, which is a pollutant in our community as a result of Federal installations. I was pleased to see that we will be able to move forward in that. And then broadband, we all know we need broadband infrastructure. It is included in this bill. The Brookings Institution indicates that in the spring of 2020, when we went into lockdown in our schools, 12 million out of 55 million students did not have access to classes online. That is a shocking number, and look at what they lost during this past year. In Maryland, it is estimated that as many as 324,000 people in rural Maryland do not have access to broadband, and 96,000 households in the Baltimore region do not have access to broadband. We must do better. Our goal should be that every house should have access to high-speed internet, affordable internet. This legislation moves us forward on both access and affordability on broadband. That is critically important, and I am glad to see that it is included. As much as I support this legislation, I have to express my disappointment as to how this bill is paid for. As chairman of the Small Business Committee, I helped develop the programs that helped small businesses during COVID-19. They were lifesavers for small business. It saved small businesses. It saved our community. It saved jobs, and it saved the growth engine for innovation in our community. One tool that we used that was extremely important was the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and Advance Program. Over 4 million EIDL loans have been granted, in excess of $230 billion. These grants help save businesses. These loans help save businesses. These are for the smaller of the small businesses. They are the ones that use it. These are low-interest, 30-year loans. We have had 6 million small businesses take advantage of the EIDL Advance Program, $23 billion. These are the differences between staying afloat or going under. The GAO estimated this past week that 86 percent of the EIDL loans went to our most vulnerable small businesses, 10 employees or less. So why am I talking about it? Because this bill takes away the $13.5 billion from the EIDL Program--the EIDL loan program--just at the time where we have small businesses that are going to need these loans. We see an increase in wildfires. Hurricane season is coming. We are not through COVID-19 yet, and yet they take away these funds. These are the most leveraged funds we have available. For the few Federal dollars we put into it, we leverage much larger amounts of loans. Do we really want to cut back on the ability to help small businesses through these long-term loans? Unfortunately, taking this money away does exactly that. In addition, it takes $17.5 billion from the Advance Program under EIDL. These are the grants that go to small businesses that can't afford to take out loans. Now, we know under a previous administration, they put a $150,000 cap on the EIDL loan program and $1,000 per employee on the Advance Program. Well, the Biden administration wants to increase the size of the loans up to the first $500,000 and then $2 million but also to give $10,000 to the businesses that need it the most under advances. We have taken this money away--in total, about $35 billion. It is going to make it virtually impossible for us to be able to do what we need to do for small businesses. That is not right, and we are going to need to do something about it. I might point out that we have the Restaurant Revitalization Act--and everyone here was very proud to help our restaurants--that has been oversubscribed. We are going to need a lot more money to be put into that program. Yet you are taking away our capacity in this bill to help fund small businesses. That is not right, and I hope I will continue to work with my colleagues so we can find a path forward to help America's small businesses. We all talk about helping small businesses. Here is one example where we took the step in the wrong direction. We don't have to choose between building modern infrastructure or helping small businesses. We can do both, and I am disappointed at this moment that we are not going to be able to do everything we need to do to help the small business communities in our country. I hope I will be able to revisit this at a later time. But it doesn't dull my enthusiasm for this very important legislation that I urge my colleagues to support. It will make a quantum leap forward in America's competitiveness and create more jobs for America's future. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I take this time to talk about the work of the U.S. Helsinki Commission in a recent opportunity we had to participate in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. I am joined on the floor by Senator Wicker, who is the Republican chair of the Helsinki Commission. The two of us have worked together in a nonpartisan, bipartisan manner in regards to the work of the Helsinki Commission. I just want to spend a few minutes, and then I am going to yield the floor and allow Senator Wicker to give his comments. The OSCE, as the chair is fully aware as a member of the Commission, represents the U.S. participation in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe--57 states, which includes all of Europe, all of the former Republics of the Soviet Union, and Canada and the United States. The Commission works on the principle of three buckets: one for political affairs and security, another for economic and environmental progress, and the third on democracy and human rights. But it recognizes--and I think this has been the hallmark of the Helsinki Commission--that you can't have advancements on political affairs or security or economic or environmental progress unless you make progress on democracy and human rights, that they are interwoven. In the Helsinki Commission, the OSCE is best known for its advancements for basic human rights. So I think of the initiatives that we have had in the Helsinki Commission for dealing with trafficking in humans and the legislation that came out of that and how we led the global response to dealing with trafficking. I think about the efforts we made in regards to tolerance, dealing with anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance and how we have made progress throughout the entire OSCE region. I think about the issues we did in regards to sanctions against human rights violators so they cannot use our banking system or visit our country, the Magnitsky-type sanctions. All of that came out of the work of the Helsinki Commission. So one of the major arms of our work is the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, which is the group of parliamentarians who meet every year and have meetings throughout the year to exchange views and to carry out the principles of the Helsinki Final Act. For the last year and a half, we have been compromised because we haven't had an opportunity to meet in person, and it required us to meet by internet, and we have, but we had a unique opportunity during the last recess period to actually travel and meet with the parliamentarians. We had an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly annual meeting in Vienna. And we had a chance to do this in a hybrid manner. So we were able to travel 12-strong from the U.S. Congress to be at that meeting, and we were joined by five others here in the United States, including our Presiding Officer, to participate in the Parliamentary Assembly, and we were able to advance a lot of very important issues. But I must tell you, we were noticed at this meeting. The U.S. presence was critically important in dealing with some very timely issues. I know that Senator Wicker will talk about this. He is one of the great leaders of the Parliamentary Assembly. He is Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly. We are very proud of the leadership position that he holds. By the way, his election was in Vienna to be the Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly. We had multiple candidates and several elected to Vice Presidents, but Senator Wicker led the ballot with the largest number of votes, which I think speaks to his well-thought-of respect among the OSCE parliamentarians. We wanted to make sure that this was a substantive meeting. Quite frankly, the leadership of the Parliamentary Assembly said: Let's just get in there and get it over with and not bring up anything controversial. But that is not the way we operate. We have to take up current issues. So we took up the issue of tolerance. I was happy to sponsor a resolution that ultimately passed by unanimous vote that speaks to anti-Semitism, racism, intolerance, and the growth of hate in the OSCE region. But we also made sure that we considered the recent elections in Belarus and how unfair those elections were and how Mr. Lukashenko has been acting in a way that is so contrary to the human rights of the people who live there, and the election results there do not reflect the will of the people. We also had a chance to make sure we took up the issues concerning Ukraine. Once again, there was a lot of controversy on why you should bring that up during this meeting. We did. We supported that to make it clear that Russia's aggression and its occupation of Crimea and its interference in eastern Ukraine will never be recognized as legitimate by the United States or, by that matter, the Parliamentary Assembly, because we responded in all of those areas. I am pleased to tell you that we supported Margareta Cederfelt, who is going to be the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Sweden, and we look forward to her visit here in the United States. Richard Hudson, Representative Hudson, will be the chair of the first committee. So we are going to have active participation in the Parliamentary Assembly. We had the chance to visit some other countries. But if I might, I think I am going to yield the floor and give my good friend and the leader of our congressional delegation trip an opportunity to expand on some of the things we were able to do in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, let me again thank Senator Wicker. Thank you for your leadership on so many issues. But on this congressional delegation, for those who are not familiar, it is not easy to put together the type of opportunities to advance American values. And Senator Wicker took the responsibility as the leader of our delegation to make sure that we had the opportunities to advance American values. I thank him for all the effort he put into it. It was certainly extremely successful. I just want to emphasize a few things before closing. One, in Vienna, we did have an opportunity to meet with Rafael Grossi, who is the Director General of the IAEA. That is the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has the responsibility of monitoring the nuclear programs throughout the world. Obviously, it has played a bigger role in regard to the program in Iran, and it was monitoring exactly what was happening in Iran under the JCPOA. They now don't have the same access, and we had a chance to talk with the Director General as to the challenges with the Iranian program. And I think it was helpful for all of us to understand exactly the role that the IAEA can play in regard to getting us information about what is happening on the ground in Iran. Senator Wicker talked about our visit to Estonia, a strong ally partner, NATO partner. We showed our support by going to Narva, which is on the Russian border. It is a town that has a majority of Russian- speaking Estonians. It is an interesting community. But we could see across the river, very clearly, the Russian patrol boats. We know and heard firsthand of the concern of the Estonians. They saw what happened in Ukraine and they worry that same thing could happen in Estonia with Russian aggression. I must tell you, our presence to reinforce the NATO commitment, I think, was an extremely important message that we gave to the Estonian people.

Mr. CARDIN. I would be glad to yield.

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, let me move onto Bulgaria very briefly. Senator Wicker did cover Bulgaria. The Three Seas Initiative, I wasn't that familiar with it before traveling to Bulgaria. It is an initiative by 12 States that are basically part of the Eastern European Coalition, states that are developing democratic institutions and democratic economies after the fall of the Soviet Union. They need to build up their resilience as a collective entity in energy, transportation, and digital infrastructure. The Three Seas Initiative is to attract investment to connect the 12 countries together on infrastructure needs. It is for many reasons. It is for its own economic strength and growth, but also for resiliency against the efforts of China on its Belt and Road Initiative, which is trying to infiltrate these countries and convert their way of economy to more of the Chinese system. The Three Seas Initiative is an effort to have their own independent way of attracting capital. The United States is participating in the Three Seas. We are not a member, but we are participating and providing resources for the fund that is being developed that would be leveraged for these type of investments. While we were in Bulgaria, we had a chance to have bilateral meetings. There were 12 Heads of state there. We had bilateral meetings with the President of Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Romania. We had very constructive discussions about what is happening in their country. We raised Helsinki issues with all these countries. Senator Wicker already talked about how we were welcomed by the Bulgarian leadership in regards to the imposition of the Magnitsky sanctions. We are heroes. They feel like they have a second chance to try to develop the type of anti-corruption mechanisms that they desperately need. Our visit to Varna, which is on the Black Sea, was very educational to see how Russia is trying to dominate the Black Sea area and one of the reasons why they are so aggressive in Ukraine and the Crimea. I think that was extremely helpful for us to understand the security risks and how we have to work with our NATO partners to protect the Black Sea area, particularly from the potential aggression--not potential--from the aggression of Russia. Also in Bulgaria, we had a chance to visit a Roma village. It is not my first visit to a Roma village. I have visited over the years. It is a real tragic situation. The Roma population have been in Europe for centuries. They lived in communities for hundreds of years, yet they do not have property rights. They have lived in their homes, and yet they do not have the opportunity to have their homes registered. And at any time, the government can come in and take away their property without compensation. They rarely have reliable utilities. The village we visited did not have water systems, so they had to use outhouses, et cetera. They had limited availability of fresh water. Their utility service is not reliable. And they go to segregated schools. They don't have the same employment opportunities. So we, once again, will raise the rights of the Roma population as part of our commitment under the Helsinki Commission, and we are following up with the local officials to try to help in that regard. Then, lastly, on our way back, we visited Norway. I learned a lot because I did not know about the pre-positioning program. I know my friend Senator Wicker already knew about this from his Armed Services service, but it is where we pre-position equipment so that we can respond rapidly to a circumstance anywhere in the world. The Norway pre-positioning is actually used to help us in regard to the Middle East and our needs in the Middle East. So it was an extremely, extremely, I think, productive visit to these countries. I think we did carry out our commitment under the Helsinki Commission, and we advanced American values. I think we represented our country well, and we were very well noticed. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President.