Benjamin Cardin

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I oppose this motion to recommit. This moves us in the wrong direction. We have had bipartisan support recognizing that those who have been convicted of crime, once they paid their price, should be able to participate in our society. The motion to recommit would suggest that someone who may have participated in a rally while they were in college 15 years ago and has a perfectly clear record could be prevented from participating in the SBA programs. That is moving in the wrong direction. I hope we would have strong rejection of this amendment. Mr. President, I want to correct the record or at least clarify the record for Senator Lankford. He raised the point in regard to administrative funds being made available to the SBA. There was a small amount, $70 million, put into the program. That is additional funds. The EIDL loan program is $200 billion worth of loans, so it is a much larger program, and that was just some additional funds that were being put into the program.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, this month we are celebrating Women's History Month, which is a time for us to look back on history and recognize all of the barriers women have overcome, honor women's rights champions, and strategize on the work we still have ahead of us. Our country has made great strides and progress in recent decades. We cannot let previous generations' hard work and sacrifices go to waste. Dating back to the 1800s, women's history of philanthropists, suffragists, and activists in my home State of Maryland is rich. Margaret Briggs Gregory Hawkins, born in 1887, was instrumental in the long-haul efforts of women earning the right to vote. Her dedicated efforts for women's rights and civil rights were evident at the local level in my hometown of Baltimore. Through her membership in women's grassroots organizations, such as the Druid Hill Branch of the YWCA, Civilian Defense Mobilization, and the Progressive Women's Suffrage Club, she focused on cultivating meaningful relationships, leadership skills, and advancing civil rights and voting rights for women of color. We commemorate Margaret this Women's History Month as she is inducted into the 2021 Maryland Women's Hall of Fame. Women's History Month is a time for us to remember the fearless women who shaped history as we know it. In 2020, we lost Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Affectionately known as the ``notorious RBG,'' Justice Ginsburg paved the way for millions of women in her relentless fight for justice and equality. She was a warrior in guaranteeing women had a sound voice in the arena. Justice Ginsburg challenged us to ``think about how you would like the world to be for your daughters and granddaughters.'' While 2020 was tumultuous, it also brought anniversaries that are worth noting. In August, we celebrated the milestone of the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage. The right to vote is a central to the heart of our democracy. I cannot think of a better way to ring in this milestone than by electing our first female Vice President, Vice President Kamala Harris. It was a privilege and a joy to serve with my friend Kamala in the Senate. She has been pivotal in women's history. Aside from her groundbreaking role as our first female Vice President, she is the first woman, first South Asian American, and first African American to serve as attorny general in California's history. When looking back on her achievements, she often quotes her mother, who would tell her, ``Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.'' I could not agree more. While Vice President Harris made history and shattered the glass ceiling with her election victory this past November, there is still work we must do. The first step in leveling the playing field between men and women, today and for future generations, is to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, ERA. Justice Ginsburg once said that if she could choose an amendment to add to the Constitution, it would be the Equal Rights Amendment. That is because she would like her granddaughters, when they pick up the Constitution, to see that notion--that women and men are persons of equal stature--as a basic principle of our society. To this day, the Constitution of the United States, our Nation's key document and supreme law, does not consider men and women of equal stature. For example, the Constitution does not protect equal pay under the law. Women, especially women of color, are earning significantly less than their male counterparts for the same work. Women make up a majority of the population, yet are underrepresented in our government institutions and the business world. The ERA has reached the necessary 38-State ratification threshold for this landmark legislation to be added to the Constitution of the United States. The ERA would solidify and protect the rights of women where our legislation currently falls short. The ERA would raise the standard of scrutiny with which the courts analyze cases of discrimination on the basis of sex and send the vital message that women and men are citizens of equal stature in the United States. I have introduced bipartisan legislation in the Senate, S.J. Res. 1, with the senior Senator from Alaska, Ms. Murkowski, that would remove the existing deadline and allow us to bring this meaningful legislation to the finish line once and for all.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss two bills addressing oral health, which I am introducing today. These bills will provide incentives for dental and dental hygiene graduates to remain as dental school faculty and make the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) more affordable for at-risk patients and families. We rely on dental faculty to train the next generation of oral health providers, but too often, these educators find themselves pushed to work in private practice in order to pay off their student loans. The Dental Loan Repayment Assistance Act will ease some of this financial burden and allow faculty members to stay where they are needed most by eliminating certain loan assistance benefits from counting as taxable income. For low-income children, the CHIP program provides access to affordable oral health care. The Ensuring Kids Have Access to Medically Necessary Dental Care Act makes oral health more affordable by eliminating annual and lifetime dollar limits for dental care provided under CHIP and requires that CHIP wraparound dental coverage be the same as dental coverage for CHIP enrollees. The ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has decreased access to oral health care. Though patient volumes have improved since last spring, recent surveys from the American Dental Association (ADA) indicate that since August many private practices have been operating at around 80 percent of pre-COVID-19 patient volumes while public health practices have been operating at around 60 percent of pre-COVID- 19 patient volumes. Patients nationwide have experienced restrictions throughout the pandemic impeding their ability to visit health professionals like oral health practitioners, while dental practices have experienced financial difficulties brought on by the pandemic. Increases in operating costs to enable safe operations, such as purchasing personal protective equipment (PPE), have strained dental practices' financial resources. These added costs, coupled with reduced patient volume, have led to nearly 60 percent of dental practices applying or planning to apply for small business loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As patients and providers alike currently struggle with oral health access issues, it is critical that the pandemic not compound access to care inequities. In particular, these challenges are cause for concern for at-risk populations such as communities of color, who experienced oral health disparities before the pandemic began. As families and patients nationwide struggle to access care at this incredibly challenging time, I am introducing these two bills to ease the financial burden of dental professionals and promote increased access to oral health for low-income beneficiaries. There are nearly 6,500 dental health professional shortage areas nationwide. These are areas where nearly 60 million Americans, including 835,000 Marylanders, struggle to find a dental provider, even with insurance coverage. By 2030, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) projects that the United States will have a national shortage of 16,000 dentists. We can only hope to solve this problem if we can recruit and retain enough faculty to train the next generation of dentists and dental hygienists. Crippling educational debt should not prevent our Nation from having the oral health care providers it needs, and the Dental Loan Repayment Assistance Act will help address that I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that February is National Children's Dental Health Month. Since 1981, this month has afforded us the opportunity to acknowledge the importance of children's dental health. We recognize the significant strides we have made, but we also acknowledge the work that remains to be done. I invite my colleagues to join me to use this month to renew our commitment to ensuring that all children in our country have access to affordable and comprehensive dental services. As former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said, ``there is no health without oral health.'' Tooth decay--despite being largely preventable--is the single most common chronic health condition among children and adolescents in the United States. It is four times more common than early-childhood obesity, five times more common than asthma, and 20 times more common than diabetes. Among children in families living below the federal poverty line, 52 percent have cavities. Children with cavities in their primary or ``baby'' teeth are three times more likely to develop cavities in their permanent, adult teeth, and the early loss of baby teeth can make it harder for permanent teeth to grow in properly. If tooth decay is untreated, it not only can destroy a child's teeth; it can have a debilitating impact on his or her health and quality of life. Many of my colleagues have heard me speak before about the tragic loss of Deamonte Driver, a 12-year-old Prince George's County resident, in 2007. Deamonte's death was particularly heartbreaking because it was entirely preventable. What started out as a toothache turned into an abscess and then severe brain infection that an $80 extraction could have prevented. After multiple surgeries and a lengthy hospital stay, Deamonte tragically passed away--fourteen years ago and just a few miles from where we gather here in the Senate Chamber. Even in less tragic cases, tooth and gum pain can impede a child's healthy development, including the ability to learn, play, and eat nutritious foods. Recent studies have shown that children with poor oral health are nearly three times more likely to miss school due to dental pain, and children reporting recent toothaches are four times more likely to have a lower grade point average than their peers who do not suffer from dental pain. Tooth decay and oral health problems also disproportionately affect children from low-income families and minority communities. According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 80 percent of childhood dental disease is concentrated in 25 percent of the population. These children and families often face inordinately high barriers to receiving essential oral health care and, simply put, the consequences can be devastating. In 2009, Congress reauthorized the Children's Health Insurance Program with an important addition: a guaranteed pediatric dental benefit. Today, CHIP provides affordable comprehensive health coverage--including dental coverage--to more than 9 million children. Thanks to CHIP, we now have the highest number of children with medical and dental coverage in history. In addition, in 2010, Congress included pediatric dental services in the set of essential health benefits established under the Affordable Care Act. I am pleased to say that our actions have been working, and our numbers are improving. In 2004, nearly 23 percent of all children had untreated tooth decay. In 2016, that number had dropped to 13 percent. I am very proud that my State of Maryland is recognized as a national leader in pediatric dental health coverage. In a 2011 Pew Center report, ``The State of Children's Dental Health,'' Maryland earned an ``A'' and was the only State to meet seven of eight policy benchmarks for addressing children's dental health needs. In addition, in the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, very qualified health plan now includes pediatric dental coverage, so families do not have to pay a separate premium for dental coverage for their children and do not have a separate deductible or out-of-pocket limit for pediatric dental services. I am also proud to say that Maryland Medicaid does not place a lifetime or annual limit on pregnant women or children receiving dental benefits under CHIP. This ensures that preventive dental care like exams and cleanings, fillings, crowns, root canals, and dentures are not out of reach for low-income Marylanders because of cost constraints. This benefit is critically important nationwide as millions of Americans have joined Medicaid in the past year due to the pandemic. Not every State has the same benefit structure for CHIP as Maryland, however, which means that new and existing Medicaid beneficiaries may have limits on the types of services they can access. As we know from the terribly tragic example of Deamonte Driver, no family or child should ever face cost constraint decisions for basic oral health care. This is why I have introduced the Ensuring Kids Have Access to Medically Necessary Dental Care Act, to protect access to oral health care for millions of CHIP and Medicaid enrollees and ensure that the pandemic does not reverse the progress we have made in oral health. I urge my colleagues to join the senior Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker) and me in supporting the Dental Loan Repayment Assistance Act to help address our critical nationwide shortage of dental healthcare providers and especially dental faculty. We cannot continue to allow crippling graduate student debt to deprive the American people of the teachers and mentors we need to train the next generation of oral healthcare providers. I similarly urge my colleagues to join the senior Senator from Michigan (Ms. Stabenow) and me in supporting the Ensuring Kids Have Access to Medically Necessary Dental Care Act to improve access to oral health care for low-income beneficiaries. We must learn from the tragic example of Deamonte Driver, and ensure that cost constraints are not a barrier to accessing oral health care.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, each February, we mark Black History Month by coming together to highlight the achievements and contributions of Black Americans to our national story and remember the centuries of struggle that have shaped our society. At every turning point in American history, Black American achievements and calls to action have driven our Nation's cultural, economic, and social progress forward, helping to hold to account the promises of freedom and equality for all people that our founding doctrine failed to uphold. For too long, this history and the names and faces of those who marched, sacrificed, and fought for change have been obscured by prejudice and hate. It is our charge to remember those who marched for justice and the forces they marched against. When we ignore the injustices of our past, we cannot make amends in the present. The consequences of such inaction are grave and live on in present day: the ongoing racial and religious profiling, brutality, and killing of Black Americans by police; the high rates of COVID-19 transmission and death in Black communities; and the disproportionate impact this current economic crisis has had on Black workers and Black- owned businesses. The unemployment rate for Black workers reached 9.9 percent, for instance--far beyond the national average of 6.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These issues, including the broader economic and health consequences of the pandemic, result from systemic failures in place far before the current crisis, and they threaten to worsen racial gaps in wealth, health outcomes, and opportunities for years to come. Last year, our Nation's fight against racism gained new urgency by a police officer's callous killing of George Floyd in May. The Trump administration and law enforcement's response to peaceful protests further displayed the double standard that still exists in our society today. Protesters were attacked with tear gas and rubber bullets across the Nation and here in our capital as they organized and marched to make it known that Black lives matter. We watched on television as the National Guard forcefully removed peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park to make way for President Trump to walk to St. John's Episcopal Church for a photo op. President Trump brandished a Bible in front of the church while he continued to fan the flames of bigotry, hate, and racism. The historic election of Kamala Harris as our Nation's first Black female Vice President serves as a reminder of the power of collective action. The Biden-Harris administration gives us opportunity to take meaningful action in government to create a more just society. In the year ahead, we must work together to advance the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to bring accountability to law enforcement and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to combat voter suppression and restore the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It is our charge to mobilize all levels, from our communities to the Oval Office, to advance social, economic, and civil rights and justice to all Americans. It is time to expel all remaining vestiges of slavery and White supremacy that continue to plague our Nation. As our National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman said so eloquently in her inaugural day address, ``[B]eing American is more than [just] a pride we inherit, it's the past we step into and how we repair it.'' Black History Month is a reminder to look to this past and to act on our responsibilities in the present to make our Nation a better place for all of us. We are still fighting against the vestiges of the institutions of slavery, of targeted violence and resistance in the Reconstruction and the Jim Crow eras, and of the tactics to keep Black Americans from the polls and out of government They are not merely footnotes in our history textbooks; they are the lineage of our Nation, the obstacles that have left millions of our citizens behind in the effort to obtain the American dream. The realization of justice and true equality depends on our work to build a country committed to righting historic wrongs, closing gaps in the opportunity to achieve, and dismantling vestiges of inequality in our foundations. The 28 days in February must set the tone for the entire year--a continued commitment to justice, equality, and opportunity. Celebrating Black experiences and culture contributes to the greatness of our diverse society. Such a celebration is aspirational, highlighting one of the many fundamental components that make this Nation a beacon around the world despite our flaws. For the past 40 years, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer celebrated Black History Month by hosting a breakfast for political and civic leaders and inviting illustrious keynote speakers. Past speakers included then-Senator Barack Obama and Congressman John Lewis. Congressman Anthony Brown joined the effort to bring so many of us together for this 40th Annual Black History Month Celebration and featured Vice President Harris as the honored guest and keynote speaker. I would like to acknowledge the planning committee for this year's event, including Jackie Rhone and the former chair, Betty Richardson. Through their hard work, the celebration is a true success that everyone who participates looks forward to year after year. This year's event focused on the identity, representation, and diversity of the Black family. Maya Angelou once said: I sustain myself with the love of my family. The lasting bonds we have with our families sustain us through life. For many, our families serve as our home base through times of triumph, trial, and tragedy. The past year was a tumultuous year, from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately harmed African Americans much more severely than others, to the resounding calls for racial justice and racial equity, which have long been overdue. Through all of the turmoil, 2020 brought us together to appreciate and celebrate the gifts of life, family, and diversity. As we celebrate Black History Month and moving forward, we can recommit ourselves to promoting and celebrating diversity and advancing civil rights in our society. Black history is American history. It is a story of oppression, struggle, and, if we are to be true to our founding premise, redemption and equality. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor Dr. Sean McCagh, a Marylander whom we should all emulate for his selflessness and passion for helping others. Sean touched the hearts and lives of his family, friends, coworkers, patients, and the entire community of Allegany County in the western part of my State. Sadly, Sean was taken far too soon from his family and the many neighbors who cared so deeply for him due to complications of COVID-19. He leaves behind his wife, Terri, and three sons, Mike, Cory, and Casey. Sean was born and raised in Cumberland, MD. He graduated from Bishop Walsh High School and completed his undergraduate studies at Mount St. Mary's University. He earned his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine and completed his dermatology residency at the University of West Virginia. He returned to the hometown he loved so well and joined his brother Mike's dermatology practice in 1996. Sean was a man of vision who was never one to sit idly by. He volunteered his time as the athletic physician for Allegany High School for several years and later established a community fundraiser known as the Hooley Plunge to support the ice rink at the local YMCA. When the YMCA closed the ice rink, Sean redirected his efforts to another cause close to his heart, people with developmental disabilities. With Sean as its champion for 17 years, the Hooley Plunge has raised more than $1.5 million to support the Special Olympics of Allegany County and other local programs that serve individuals with development disabilities. It has become the largest single-day fundraising event in Allegany County, with hundreds of brave souls running into the freezing waters of Rocky Gap State Park's Lake Habeeb in return for donations. A few years ago, Sean received the Community Service Award from the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce, one of numerous entities to recognize his unwavering commitment to the greater good. Sean's sister, Erin McCagh Morrissey, has fittingly called him Cumberland's George Bailey, referring to the community-minded banker James Stewart played in the classic movie, ``It's a Wonderful Life.'' While Sean loved his job as a dermatologist and was passionate about helping others, he also loved being a cattle farmer. When his middle son, Cory, graduated from college, Sean encouraged him to follow his dream to start a brewery. With Cory's vision and Sean's support and investment, they christened the 200-year-old barn on the family's farm as the ``1812 Brewery,'' which set the stage for a growing and mutually supportive family of small brewers to attract tourists and enhance the lives of local residents. While the people of Allegany County grieve the sudden, stunning loss of a cherished husband, father, friend, doctor, businessman, and community leader, I ask my Senate colleagues to join me in remembering and honoring the life of Dr. Sean McCagh who, through his service and love for people, has left his community a better place.

Mr. CARDIN

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

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I take this time to explain why I voted to convict the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, of the Article of Impeachment presented by the House of Representatives in regards to the incitement of insurrection. Throughout his Presidency, Donald J. Trump has violated his oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. There are many examples that I can give of how he has violated his oath of office. I could also cite the basis of the first Articles of Impeachment that were tried last year as violating his oath of office. But, by far, the most egregious violation of his oath of office took place in his incitement of insurrection that occurred with the attack on this Capitol on January 6. But it started well before January 6. The seeds were planted a long time ago and even before the November elections, when President Trump pointed out, when the polls were showing that he might lose in the election, that he refused to acknowledge that he would accept the election results if he lost. He didn't say that once before the November elections, he said it on several occasions. He talked about a rigged election. He talked about a fraudulent election. He talked about the election being ``taken away from us''--the victory--with no evidence of voter fraud. One of the key provisions of our Constitution, of our democracy, is the peaceful transition of power. Donald Trump called that into question prior to the November 3 elections. Then came the November 3 elections, and, shortly thereafter, Joe Biden was declared to be the winner. Why? Because he had the most votes--most populace votes--over 7 million. But he was declared the winner because of the electoral votes, 306 to 232. By the way, that is the same electoral margin that Donald Trump won 4 years earlier and which Donald Trump called a ``landslide.'' But then came the legal challenges by President Trump. He didn't accept the electoral vote or the declared elections. And he has his right to contest the elections in the court by asking for recounts or asking for challenges, but in every one of those cases, he could not establish widespread fraud that would have changed the results in any one of the States, let alone enough electoral vote changes to change the outcome of the election. But did he stop after he was denied relief in all of those legal challenges? The answer is no. He further contested by trying to inappropriately interfere with State election officials and State public officials, urging them to take action to change the certification results. Now, we have many examples that during this period of time he was talking about a fraudulent election, a stolen election, all the different things about raising questions as to the legitimacy of the voices of people of this Nation. We have so many examples of his interference, but we actually have the tape of his conversation with the Georgia secretary of state that we all heard and heard how the President tried to intimidate and threaten the secretary of state of Georgia in order to change the certified election results from the votes of the people of Georgia--clear examples of how President Trump violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. But that wasn't the end of it. He went to his Department of Justice believing the Department of Justice is his Department of Justice, not the Department of Justice of the United States of America. Now, let's remember that the Department of Justice had found no widespread corruption. In fact, they had determined this was one of the freest elections and one of the least problem elections that we have had. It didn't stop President Trump from trying to intimidate and order his Department of Justice to conduct an additional investigation to find fraud to overturn the will of the people--once again, violating his oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He continued to do this, contrary to his constitutional obligations. ``Corrupt election,'' ``stop the steal,'' ``rigged elections,'' ``tremendous fraud''--all words that he used after the November 3 election. He knew what he was saying was a lie. He knew there was no widespread fraud, but he continued to use the Office of the Presidency and his voice to promote the big lie, and he knew his followers would believe it. He knew he could convince his loyal followers to believe that this was a rigged election--a stolen election--again, compromising our democracy and the will of the people to determine who our leaders are. And he knew his followers would be motivated to action because he knew he could motivate his followers. He put himself before the Nation and before his responsibilities as President of the United States. He put his own self-interest above his responsibilities under the Constitution of the United States and to the people of this Nation. And then he summoned his loyal following to Washington on January 6. He knew they would come. He knew dangerous people were in the group. He knew the Proud Boys were there, to which he had directly said: ``Stand back and stand by.'' He knew that they were ready for violent action. And then he incited the mob to action on January 6. We know the words that he used. We saw the videos as part of the record of the impeachment trial. ``We will never surrender,'' ``we will never concede,'' ``we will stop the steal,'' ``stolen election''--all words that he had been using during the entire 2020 election cycle, particularly when he thought he was going to lose. But the most damning part of the President's violation of his oath of office--the most serious part--is what he did and did not do after seeing the violence erupt in the United States Capitol. After the Capitol was penetrated, after we saw the violence being committed, where we knew that the Members of Congress were in danger, the Vice President of the United States was in danger, the people that work here were in danger, all the people that were in the Capitol legitimately were in danger--we all saw that--and the President of the United States knew that, and he did nothing to stop the violence. He could have called off his loyalists and told them to get out of the Capitol. He didn't do that. He could have sent in the National Guard in order to protect us. He didn't do that. And he never condemned the participants in this mob in penetrating the Capitol for what they did. I am going to sort of summarize my feeling about that by agreeing with Representative Liz Cheney, the House Republican caucus chair, who said it on the floor of the House. Let me just quote her statement: The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled this mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution. I agree with that. President Trump violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He violated that. But let's take a look at what he did do after knowing the violence that occurred--his tweet of 2:24 p.m. Now, this is after the Vice President had been removed from presiding in the Chamber, after he knew the violence that was taking place in the Capitol of the United States. He was aware of all that. He knew that we had shut down the operations of the House and the Senate, that there was violence taking place within the Capitol, and that his Vice President was the target of that attack. And what he tweeted at 2:24 p.m.--I am quoting the President: ``Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country.'' He inflamed the group even more to violence after he knew that it was a violent circumstance. He had known violence had taken place, and we heard put into the record of the impeachment trial today Congresswoman Beutler's report of Majority Leader McCarthy's conversation, which, again, is during this period of time. Here we are. The Republican leader of the House of Representatives gets the President on the phone. He says: Mr. President, we are being attacked. My office is being broken into. We need help. Send the Guard. Take care of us. And then President Trump said something like: Well, it is not my supporters. It is some leftwing group. And Leader McCarthy said: No, Mr. President, these are your supporters who are doing this. And what did the leader say? What did the President say? I guess, Kevin, these people are more upset about the election than you are. Here we have the Members of Congress in harm's way, and the President is talking about the support for those who are causing the violence and putting his own interest above the safety of the people whom he is sworn to protect as our Commander in Chief. And then, at the end of the day, about 6 o'clock, he sends out a tweet that really sums up his feelings about what these people were doing. Now, these are people who came into the Capitol. They killed people. They hurt people. They stole property. They damaged property. They invaded the Capitol of the United States. They hurt law enforcement officers. They hurt all of us. They hurt our democracy. So how does the President sum up the day? His tweet: These are the things that happen when a sacred landslide victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever! He was repeating the big lie and saying the day was a day of celebration when it was one of the bleakest days, dark days in the history of our Nation. That is what President Trump did, rather than bringing in the National Guard, rather than telling his people to go home, rather than being concerned about the safety of the Vice President and the Members of Congress as the President of the United States should have been doing. He violated his oath of office over and over and over again--a pattern of practice that we have seen for so long. It clearly establishes that he incited an insurrection against our country--that the facts included as a basis for the Article of Impeachment brought to us by the House of Representatives have been proven. The purpose of impeachment is not just the accountability for the President but also to protect our Constitution and to make sure this conduct never happens again. No one is above the law, including the President of the United States. Everyone who was responsible for the insurrection that occurred on January 6 should be held accountable--from those who broke into the Capitol and caused the harm and damage to the President of the United States who incited the violence. That is why I voted to convict President Trump of the Article of Impeachment for inciting an insurrection, and that is why I would have voted for disqualifying him from ever holding an office of trust again. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have a copy of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship rules of procedure be printed in the Record.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, first, let me thank Chairman Menendez, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for his advocacy in getting into this budget resolution the $10 billion for the global response to COVID-19. I just want to underscore what Chairman Menendez said from the beginning: This global response will not only save lives around the world, it will save lives here at home. In 1 year, 450,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19; 2.6 million worldwide. The United States has the distinction of having the largest number of fatalities and infections of any country in the world. This is a challenge that requires the leadership of the United States of America. If we are going to beat COVID-19, America must be in the leadership to do this as quickly and as efficiently as possible. So what does that require? It requires us to take the right steps at home, and the budget resolution before us gives us the resources to do that with the production and distribution--fair distribution--of vaccines and dealing with the needs for testing, dealing with the needs of those businesses and individuals who have been directly affected by COVID-19, all that is dealt with in this package, but we also need to work responsibly in the global community, and that is what this $10 billion will allow us to do--to be leaders globally as well as what we do at home. President Biden has already taken the initial steps by rejoining the World Health Organization and joining the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility so that 190 countries in the world can join together to make sure that everyone gets access to this vaccine, particularly in low- and middle-economic countries that otherwise would be challenged. Why? Because those are our values--humanitarian concerns globally, but it is also in our individual interest because if this virus is not contained in a country, it will get to the United States. And as Chairman Menendez said, the longer this virus goes globally, the more variants we are going to see and the tougher it is going to be for us to control the COVID-19 around the world and in the United States of America. With 104 million infections globally, this is a global pandemic and requires a global response, and this budget resolution gives us the wherewithal in order to do that. And as Senator Menendez has pointed out, it is not only to deal with the direct eradication of the virus, which we have to do, but the consequences of the virus in world poverty and hunger and those issues that are important for the United States to lead the global community in dealing with the aftermath of this terrible virus. So I just really wanted to come to the floor to underscore there are so many reasons to support this budget resolution, but the one that I just really wanted to underscore today is that we are not only dealing with the issues at home, we are being responsible citizens of the world, leading by example and leading by engagement, which will help the healthcare of the people in America and our national security. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the rollcall be dispensed with and we use voice votes.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I call up my amendment No. 716 and ask that it be reported by number.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that 30 seconds of my time be devoted to Senator Portman.

Mr. CARDIN. I thank Senator Portman and Senator Menendez for cosponsoring this amendment. Each of our States has challenges in the adequacy and fairness of vaccine distribution systems. This amendment would provide that there would be State and Federal support to the States for implementing a transparent and consistent vaccine administration program and bolstering States' awareness campaigns to increase awareness and knowledge of the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, particularly among vulnerable communities, including ethnic minority populations.

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

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the amendment. We all know about the inequities in our criminal justice system, and we have worked together to try to bridge some of those inequities. The SBA tools help to bridge the inequities in regard to the opportunities in America. The Kennedy amendment would attempt to impose a lifetime prohibition for a conviction of a misdemeanor for a civil disorder. It may have happened 10, 20, 30 years ago. A person may have paid their price for that, but this is moving in the wrong direction, and I would urge my colleagues to reject this amendment.

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

Mr. CARDIN

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

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I will take this time, as the incoming chairman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, to just go over with our colleagues the importance of this budget resolution as it relates to the small business community. I think Members of this Chamber know that small businesses represent the growth engine of America. That is where job creation occurs at the greatest numbers. Almost half of the jobs in America are in small companies. Just as importantly, when we look for innovation, we see innovation in small businesses. They are the ones that figure out how to do things more efficiently and better, and that has also been true during COVID-19. As we have seen small businesses around the Nation struggle, we have seen how creativity among small business has saved so many small businesses in America, where they figure out a better way to deal with the food service because they can't have in-restaurant service, in how they have dealt with the service industries generally, in how they have dealt with retail sales, safety with COVID-19 and delivery and internet. They have come up with better ways to do things, and that is why our economy is performing at the level it is--not the level we want it to be--because small businesses have figured out ways to do things better. But there is another characteristic of small business I think we all understand. They don't have the same degree of resiliency. They don't have the deep pockets. They don't have the outside financiers. So they don't have the big reserves. So when we hit a bump in our economy, small businesses really suffer. In every economic downturn, we know that small businesses are going to do worse than larger companies, and during this pandemic, it was particularly important for us to respond to help our small businesses so that when we get out of this pandemic, when our economy returns, the small business community is healthy and our economy can continue to grow. This has been made even more challenging because we have imposed restrictions, as government, on the operations of small businesses during COVID-19. We have told restaurants they couldn't serve in- restaurant. We limited the number of people who can gather. All that has affected the economic strength of small businesses in America. So Congress has responded. We have responded. We need to do more. Our first major response was in the CARES Act. Let me remind the Presiding Officer and the Senate and all that that bill was passed in mid-March. It was a bipartisan bill, and it was bold. It was a major effort to deal with the pandemic as we understood it in March of last year. So we recognized that the first thing we had to do if we were going to help rebuild our economy, if we were going to help small businesses, the very first thing we had to do was get the virus under control. That is why the CARES Act in March had what we called the Marshall Plan for healthcare, to put money into the development of a vaccine, to put money into protective equipment, to put money into testing, to put money into public health--because we recognized that, yes, we have a responsibility as the Federal Government to control this pandemic, and by the way, it will also help our economic recovery because we knew that consumers could not go out until the virus--in right numbers-- until the virus was under control. But we also knew we had to do things for small businesses directly, and we acted in a bold manner. We passed the Paycheck Protection Program, the PPP program, a new program. We did this in a bipartisan manner. We did it to keep employees on the payroll. We recognized at that time that, yes, you can lay off workers and they can collect unemployment, but wouldn't it be better if we could keep them on the payroll? And the Paycheck Protection Program was an immediate influx of help for small businesses to keep their payrolls strong--and it worked--by these forgivable loans that, when used for that purpose, the entire loan could be forgiven. In mid-March when we passed this, we didn't know the demand. We didn't know how much would be needed, and we certainly thought that by sometime, we hoped, during the summer of last year, the pandemic would have been behind us. Well, we were wrong on both accounts. There wasn't enough money in the program, and we needed to recognize that more help was needed than what we just did in the CARES Act. So we replenished money, put more money into the PPP program. We made it more flexible for small businesses, recognizing that it was going to be a longer period of time during the pandemic. If you look at the numbers on how the Paycheck Protection Program has been used, through January of this year, 6 million loans--forgivable loans--6 million to the small business community, representing $595 billion of Federal help. That is a significant amount of funds. But we recognized last March and we have continued to realize that one size does not fit all for all small businesses, and where forgivable loans work for some small businesses, they don't work for others. That is why we enhanced the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, the EIDL Program. The EIDL Program consists primarily of disaster loans that are given out during natural disasters. The very first bill we passed after COVID-19, for the pandemic, was to make those who were suffering as a result of COVID-19--those businesses--eligible for EIDL loans. Normally it is natural disasters, but we included this pandemic. Now, why is that important? Well, yes, forgivable loans equal to 2 months of your payroll, plus some additional expenses, help keep your payroll, but small businesses need additional capital beyond just covering their payroll and some rent expenses. S the EIDL Program provides much more flexible funds, a larger amount of money, so that small businesses can get through this economic downturn. It is low-interest, 30-year loans with very favorable repayment schedules. The good news about what we did in March is that we made the Paycheck Protection Program and the EIDL Program--you could do both. So you could get the influx to help you with payroll, and you could get the longer term financing. And the numbers are impressive here. There were 3.7 million loans under the EIDL loan program; $200 billion in loans was given out under EIDL. But let me point out--as I said, one size does not fit all. Loans work for some businesses but not all. So we wanted to do a grant program for those small businesses that are intimidated by taking out a loan because they said they can't even pay their existing loans; how could they take out more loans. So we started a new program, an EIDL Advance Program, that provided grants up to $10,000 for our most vulnerable small businesses. This was a lifesaver for so many small businesses. This Advance helped businesses get the resources, the immediate cash, without having to worry about an additional loan on their books. Quite frankly, this program, along with strengthening the existing tools that were very important for small businesses, helped save a lot of small businesses. We also created a debt forgiveness program. For a certain number of months, we would forgive your current 7a loan with the Small Business Administration, or 504 loan. Not just the interest payments but the principal payments were forgiven. And we strengthened the Microloan Program, and we reinforced the Community Advantage 7a Programs. We did all that. We did this starting in mid-March with the hope that this pandemic would be over by last summer. We learned a lot from that bill after it passed. The lessons learned we need now deploy in order to finish the job, to make sure small businesses are protected through this pandemic. So what were the lessons learned? Well, we first learned that the underserved and underbanked community had special needs. This is the minority community. These are businesses located in low-income communities, businesses that don't have traditional banking relations with a commercial bank. They all, in the beginning part of the PPP program, were left behind. Why? Because in order to get the help under the PPP program, you had to find a commercial lender who would make you the loan--100 percent guaranteed by the government, forgivable, so no real risk to the financial institution, but the financial institution wanted to protect their existing customers, and they wanted to make the larger loans because it was more lucrative for them. So the smaller of the small businesses and those that did not have a preferred relationship with bankers had a harder time getting that loan, and that showed up in the numbers we saw when the PPP program started last year. Now, it is interesting--Senator Shaheen and I recognized this as we were crafting the bill, so we put a provision in the CARES Act that said that the SBA needed to prioritize loans for underserved small businesses. We knew that this was a likely thing to happen, so we asked the SBA to make a special effort to deal with the underserved community. They didn't do it. The SBA IG, in its report, said that the SBA did not fully align to congressional intent the way they implemented the PPP as it relates to the underserved community. It is interesting--a group of stakeholders, of advocates on behalf of minority businesses, started what is known as the Page 30 Coalition. The provision I talked about was on page 30 of the CARES Act. They have been advocating for change ever since. So starting with the replenishment of the PPP program and continuing in the omnibus bill we just passed in December, we have tried to build up the capacity for the underserved communities. We have done that by putting money aside for mission lenders. In the omnibus bill, there is $10 billion that was put aside to build up the capacity of CDFIs and minority repository institutions. I want to thank my colleague Senator Mark Warner of Virginia for his efforts in putting that together. That provided greater capacity for mission lenders, who are more likely to help in the underserved communities, to be there with the capital necessary to participate in the SBA programs. We also decided that we had to do more than just that. We got set- asides for mission lenders in the act, and we had set-asides for the smaller of the small businesses because the smaller of the small businesses are the ones that had the greatest need. Lessons learned from what we did, and that was that the EIDL Program was not set up as Congress intended. When you look at the demographics as to what type of a company uses the EIDL Program as compared to the PPP, the smaller of small businesses, the more vulnerable small businesses, were more likely to use the EIDL Program. So we anticipated, as I said, the EIDL Advance, which was so important to small businesses that really don't believe they can take out a loan--we anticipated they would get $10,000. Guess what. The average grant size, as implemented by the Trump administration, was between $4,000 and $5,000. The average size of the business that applied for an EIDL Advance was between four and five workers, the real ``ma and pa'' businesses. But they needed more than $4,500; they needed $10,000. The EIDL loan program by statute could give you a loan up to $2 million, but the SBA, under the Trump administration, put a cap of $150,000 on those loans. Again, it compromised the effectiveness of those programs. We need to learn from what we did. As I said earlier, more help is needed. The proposal that we are looking at in this budget resolution will provide that additional help, and that is why it is so important to pass this budget resolution. Let me just give you a few of the details of why it is important to move this budget resolution. First, as I said in the onset of my remarks, we have to get this virus under control. The budget that is before us will provide substantial help for the vaccine distributions. I don't know about what is happening in Minnesota, but I can tell you in Maryland, people are frustrated that we don't have a more efficient system on the distribution of vaccines. We have to answer that. For the supply chain, use the Defense Production Act, use that in order to get the vaccine distribution done in a way that is fair to the American people. The budget before us will help us achieve that. It will provide the money for testing and protective equipment, which is desperately needed to get the virus under control. The budget before us will allow us to open schools safely. We need that for American families. We need it for our children, and we need it for small businesses because when schools are closed and children have to stay home, our small businesses suffer. They suffer from their workers not being able to show up to work, and they suffer from the customers not being able to shop. But we also need direct help for small businesses. In this legislation, there is $50 billion allocated to the Small Business Administration to deal with the hardest hit small businesses. Let me just mention where we need to put our attention: in the hospitality industry. We did that in the previous legislation. In the CARES Act, we made special provisions in regard to the affiliation rules for restaurants. That was the right thing to do. In the omnibus bill, we provided some additional help over and above other businesses under the Paycheck Protection Program's second round, and that was right, but we need to do more. The National Restaurant Association has informed us that 110,000 restaurants have either closed temporarily or permanently as a result of COVID-19. There are 2.5 million less jobs in restaurants today than at the pre-COVID level. And at the worst point, we were down 8 million jobs in that industry through layoffs and furloughs. So we need to take a look at a special way to help preserve our restaurants because they depend upon groups attending. They depend upon catering. They depend upon the restaurants being fully filled, and they can't do that under COVID-19. So we need to provide some help, and this budget resolution will allow us to do that. In the omnibus bill, we provided money for shuttered venues. These are our entertainment venues, our museums which have been ordered to be closed. They can't operate because of COVID-19 and government orders. I will give you one example: Merriweather Post Pavilion located in Howard County, not very far from here. One thousand jobs are impacted. Merriweather Post has not been able to have live entertainment since COVID-19 last March. We passed legislation to provide help. We need to improve that legislation, and the budget resolution before us will allow us to get that done. Let's talk about nonprofits for one moment. Johns Hopkins University has told us we lost a million jobs in the nonprofit sector as a result of COVID-19. We have nonprofits that have not been eligible that should be eligible to get help under these packages, and this budget resolution gives us an opportunity to take care of that need. Then, lastly, let me talk about one of the priorities that President Biden has talked about, and that is getting the information out so small businesses can take advantage of these programs because so many have not taken advantage. They are the most vulnerable. He has what he calls the community navigators. We know from the Affordable Care Act how helpful they can be in getting information out, particularly in hard-served communities, so they understand the tools that are available. They can apply for the tools and get the help that they need. We build on the community navigators with our resource partners--our women business centers, our minority business centers. Let's build on those centers--our veterans. Let's build on our resource partners in order to make sure that the help really is targeted to the small businesses of greater need. This budget resolution is a bold approach because the problem is so great. I urge my colleagues to support the budget resolution for so many reasons, but as the incoming chairman of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, on behalf of America's small businesses, I urge my colleagues to support this budget resolution. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, today I rise to pay tribute to Barbara A. O'Malley, a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, dedicated public servant, and a veritable institution here in the U.S. Senate. She passed away last month at the age of 93. Barbara Ann Suelzer, the daughter of Joseph and Martha Dix Suelzer, was born in 1928 and raised in Fort Wayne, IN. As a young woman, she was determined to learn how to fly. She obtained her pilot's license when she was 18, using $100 she received for graduating from high school to pay for the lessons, and later joined the Civil Air Patrol. She was also passionate about politics and especially about being a proud Democrat. She went to Washington to work for her local Congressman and met her future husband, Thomas Martin O'Malley, at the Young Democrats headquarters; they were married in 1954. Over the next 30 years, Barbara O'Malley raised six children--one of whom, Martin J. O'Malley, became Governor of Maryland. She was a devoted mother, grandmother to 15 grandchildren, and great-grandmother to 8 great-grandchildren. In 1986, with her children grown, Barbara O'Malley returned to Capitol Hill to work as a receptionist for another Barbara--Barbara Mikulski--who was elected to the Senate that year. She was ecstatic to work for a female Senator. At the time, there were just two female Senators: Senator Mikulski and Senator Nancy Kassebaum from Kansas. Barbara O'Malley stayed in the Senate for as long as Senator Mikulski did--30 years. During that time, she made the Mikulski staff, constituents, other Senators and their staff, and everyone else who visited the Mikulski office an extension of the O'Malley family. Everyone who knew her felt that bond. Mrs. O, as everyone affectionately called her, had an unwavering cheerfulness, a graciousness, and an uplifting spirit that made her one of the most admired figures on Capitol Hill and around Maryland. I always looked forward to seeing her when I would visit Senator Mikulski's office, which was located just around the corner from my own office. Everyone who knew her treasured her political acumen and institutional knowledge, not just of history and politics and Congress but of the very buildings themselves here on Capitol Hill. Her genuine devotion to public service reflected her strong values and character, which her own children have carried on in their own careers and in service to our State of Maryland and to all Americans. Her legacy will live on in the hearts of those she loved, befriended, inspired, counseled, and mentored. Mrs. O set so many fine examples for her family and everyone fortunate enough to know her. I work on retirement issues, and one thing experts recommend is for people to keep working if they enjoy their work and are able to continue meeting whatever challenges it presents. After Mrs. O spent 30 years raising her family, she returned to the workforce at an age when many people are retiring or close to retiring, and then she worked for 30 years, until she was 88. Mrs. O was a remarkable woman who gave enormously of herself. Myrna and I join the O'Malley family, Senator Mikulski and her staff, and so many other here in the Senate and across our State, in mourning the death of this wonderful woman, but more importantly, we celebrate and give thanks for her extraordinary life. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ``To laugh often and much; to win the respect of the intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the beauty in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that one life has breathed easier because you lived here. This is to have succeeded.'' At home with her family, in her community, and here in the U.S. Senate, Mrs. O certainly succeeded. Mr. President, I am not the only person who would like to pay tribute to Mrs. O. Senator Mikulski, who served in the Halls of Congress for 40 years--30 years in this body and 10 years in the House of Representatives--has provided a tribute. She is not only the longest serving woman in all of Congress but also the first Democratic woman elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right, the first woman to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee, an inductee into the National Women's Hall of Fame, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom award from President Barack Obama. As we remember Mrs. Barbara O'Malley, this great public servant and longtime staffer to Senator Mikulski, I thought it would be appropriate to share Senator Mikulski's heartfelt tribute. I also have tributes from former Majority Leader Harry Reid; Senator Mikulski's chief of staff, Dr. Shannon Kula; the Acting Administrator of the National Aeronautics & Space Administration, Steve Jurczyk; and a statement from the Civil Air Patrol. I ask unanimous consent that these statements be printed in the Record following my remarks.

Mr. CARDIN

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

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, today the world comes together to remember the horrors of the Holocaust. We honor the 6 million Jews and 5 million others--Roma, Afro-Germans, gay men and women, people with disabilities and more--whom the Nazis brutally murdered. And we stand in awe and celebration of those brave souls who managed to survive. It is difficult to comprehend the terror that took place in Europe between 1939 and 1945, but we carry on an obligation to those who perished and those who survived to prevent further genocide and mass atrocities. It is critical that we understand what happened to them so we can prevent it from ever happening again. One of the most important things to understand about the Holocaust is that while a limited group of particularly evil monsters orchestrated it, they could not have succeeded without the active or tacit support of millions of average people. Men and women agreed to turn over their neighbors, patrol the ghettos, drive the cattle cars, guard the death camps, and line people up to shoot them down. Men and women decided to avert their gaze and do nothing to stop the atrocities. I don't believe that all those people were born villains. I think they were taught by their communities to adopt a level of anti-Semitism and prejudice that likely would have been recognizable to many of us today and that the Nazi propaganda masters exploited those feelings. That terrifies me because it means that the Holocaust was not an anomaly. It means that under the right conditions, a similar atrocity could happen again. The hatred that gave rise to the Holocaust is still very much alive. The Anti-Defamation League's 2014 Global Index of Anti-Semitism found that more than 1 billion people--nearly one in eight--around the world harbor anti-Semitic attitudes. Over 30 percent of those surveyed said that it was ``probably true'' that Jews had too much control over financial markets, that Jews think they are better than other people, that Jews are disloyal to their country, and that people hate Jews because of the way that Jews behave. Such sentiments often translate into violence, leading 40 percent of European Jews to report in 2018 that they lived in daily fear of being physically attacked. Sadly, these trends bear out closer to home too. Jews make up fewer than 3 percent of the American population, but the majority of reported religion-based hate crimes targeted Jewish people or institutions. In 2019, the ADL reported that anti-Semitism in America had hit a four- decade high. According to the 2020 survey by the American Jewish Committee, more than one-third of American Jews say they have been verbally or physically assaulted during the past 5 years simply because they are Jewish. I believe that the world looks to the United States for moral leadership. When we allow anti-Semitism or racism or other kinds of intolerance to flourish here, other countries take that as a license to do the same. Moreover, we need to recognize the nexus between and networking among those who traffic in hate and conspiracies in the United States and other like-minded individuals and groups around the globe. Combating the most dangerous forms of this bigotry will require understanding the ways in which such groups are reinforcing and learning from each other. Unfortunately, the last 4 years--beginning with White nationalists chanting ``Jews will not replace us'' in Charlottesville and ending with an insurrectionist wearing a ``Camp Auschwitz'' sweatshirt while storming the Capitol--are a dark stain on this country's record. By allowing such vicious hatred to take root and to grow, we fail ourselves, and we fail the rest of the world. Now we have the opportunity to redeem ourselves--to become leaders once more in the fight to eliminate anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred around the globe. It will not be easy, but it is something we have to do, and it starts with education. In the ADL's 2014 global survey, 35 percent of the respondents had never heard of the Holocaust, and 28 percent of those who did know of it believed that the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust had been greatly exaggerated. Meanwhile, the AJC's 2020 Survey of the General Public found that nearly one-quarter of Americans know nothing or not much about the Holocaust, and nearly one-half are not even sure what the term ``anti-Semitism'' means. How can we hope to learn as a society from the horrors of the Holocaust if so many people do not know or do not believe that it happened? How can we root out anti-Semitism if almost half of us don't understand what it is? We must educate the next generation on the horrors of the Holocaust and the dangers of intolerance. I am proud to have led efforts to provide the full funding of a bill, which our Presiding Officer was very much involved with, the Never Again Education Act, and I thank our Presiding Officer for her leadership on this issue. That bill expanded the reach of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's world-renowned education program. This will allow educators across the country from K- 12 through college to access age-appropriate curriculum on the Holocaust. It will also bolster the Holocaust Memorial Museum's continued collection and use of survivor testimony so that tomorrow's leaders will see and hear for themselves why we must never again allow hatred to thrive. At the same time, we must fight against Holocaust denial in any form in any part of the world. As the Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe's Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative on Anti-Semitism, Racism and Intolerance, I am committed to countering attempts to erase or revise the events of the Holocaust, such as Poland's efforts to punish those who speak the truth about the 3 million Jews killed there. I am deeply disturbed, for instance, by the news of a slander lawsuit against two Polish scholars for their writings on Jews forced into hiding during the Nazi occupation. I am also appalled that Hungary's Viktor Orban has erected a monument that tries to whitewash Hungary's wartime role in the murder of more than a half-million Hungarian Jews. On a day we remember the liberation of Auschwitz, I remember, too, that one out of every three Jews who died there were Hungarian. The Holocaust happened, and it can happen again. It can. We made a promise to our grandparents and to our grandchildren that it would never happen again. I believe that we are all each responsible for keeping that promise. So let us heed the lessons of the past in order to build a more peaceful, just, and compassionate future for all. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I have 5 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. Committee on Foreign Relations The Committee on Foreign Relations is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. Committee on Veterans' Affairs The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 3 p.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. Select Committee on Intelligence The Select Committee on Intelligence is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 2 p.m., to conduct a closed briefing.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, not liking whom the voters choose to vote for in an election does not mean it is a fraudulent election. Enabling such talk and actively working to disseminate false information that cripples our government is in itself a fraud committed against the American people and our Constitution. This past November, the American people voted in the highest numbers we have seen in our Nation's history. More than 155 million Americans cast a ballot in what was a free and fair election. A clear majority voted for former Vice President Joe Biden over President Donald Trump. This was not the closest election in our Nation's history by a long shot. President-Elect Joe Biden won by more than 7 million votes. He and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris won 306 electoral votes. Donald Trump and Mike Pence received 232 electoral votes. Given the tremendous impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on our country, everyone should be overwhelmed that Americans turned out in such strong numbers for this election. People should not have to choose between casting their ballot and protecting their own health and their family's health. The pandemic wreaked havoc in so many of our lives for much of last year, which is why our election officials in most States responded by taking special measures and precautions to protect the right to vote while safeguarding the health and well-being of voters and election judges alike. Election security officials, Federal and those in all 50 States and the District of Columbia--Democrats, Republicans, and Independents-- have all certified that we held a free and fair election despite these extraordinary circumstances. The Department of Homeland Security, DHS, stated that the November 3 election was ``the most secure in American history'' and that ``there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.'' President Trump responded how we would expect a would-be autocrat to respond, by firing the head of the DHS agency overseeing election security, pursuing baseless and groundless lawsuits, and promoting wild conspiracy theories about a rigged election. These lawsuits repeatedly have been dismissed as frivolous by both State and Federal judges appointed by both Republican and Democratic Chief Executives. There is simply no evidence of widespread voter fraud claims in this election that can credibly affect the outcome of the election, which even former U.S. Attorney General William Barr--speaking on behalf of the Department of Justice--acknowledged. In December, the electoral college met to certify the results, and all of the States and the District of Columbia have now regularly reported their results to Congress, pursuant to the 12th Amendment to the Constitution. In Pennsylvania, a panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected President Trump's lawsuit making claims that a State court had already dismissed. Stephanos Bibas--a judge whom President Trump appointed--wrote, ``Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.'' On Monday, January 4, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, James Boasberg--whom George W. Bush originally appointed to the bench--dismissed yet another frivolous lawsuit seeking to stop Congress from certifying President President-Elect Joe Biden's victory when it meets in joint session to tally the electoral college votes on Wednesday. In a 7-page opinion, Judge Boasberg noted that the plaintiffs had filed in the wrong court; did not have standing to sue; and had made no effort to serve defendants with the suit, a legal requirement. He indicated that he was contemplating referring the case to the Court's Committee on Grievances ``for potential discipline of Plaintiffs' counsel.'' More importantly, he wrote, ``the suit rests on a fundamental and obvious misreading of the Constitution.'' He concluded, ``It would be risible were its target not so grave: the undermining of a democratic election for President of the United States.'' After being shut down again and again by the courts and State election officials--the people who run the elections--President Trump has continued his sordid campaign to undermine the rule of law in our Nation. He continues to fan the flames of division in our Nation, including encouraging fringe elements seeking to declare martial law or have the military intervene to overturn the election results. This demagoguery led all 10 former Secretaries of Defense who are still living--Republicans and Democrats alike--to warn against any attempt to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud, arguing that it would take the United States into ``dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.'' President Trump and his enablers' ceaseless provocations call into question whether we can have a peaceful and orderly transition of power in the United States. This concern is not theoretical, as we saw today, as a lawless mob encouraged by the President temporarily took control of our sacred Capitol. President Trump's recent phone call to pressure the Georgia secretary of state to ``find'' the votes he needs to win the State is his latest failure to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Historically, American Presidents have understood that America is a democracy and not an autocracy or a cult of personality. I find it unfathomable that we even need to say that out loud. Elected legislators cannot, in good conscience, allow President Trump to continue to act like a dictator by trying to undermine valid election results and trash and burn our Republic on his way out of office. If a foreign leader acted in such a blatant way to overturn legitimate election results, the full U.S. Congress would forcefully condemn such autocratic and undemocratic moves. My congressional colleagues who are objecting to the electoral college results without any evidence or legal basis must stop coddling President Trump's insatiable ego. They must remember their oath is to the Constitution and not the President. Sixty years ago, John F. Kennedy warned that people who foolishly seek power by riding the back of the tiger ultimately end up inside its belly. People should heed that advice. It is time to put country before personal ambition.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, the end of a Congress is a bittersweet time. We reflect with pride on our accomplishments but have a sense of wistfulness with respect to the things we have been unable to do. We look forward to the holidays, spending more time with our families, and having a bit of a respite. But we have to say good-bye to several colleagues. I would like to take a few moments to pay tribute to Senators who will not be returning when the 117th Congress convenes. They are my friends as well as my colleagues and I will miss them and the unique attributes, skill, and devotion to public service they have brought to the Senate. Senator Cory Gardner is a fifth generation Coloradan firmly rooted in the State's Eastern Plains whose family has been in the farm implement business for over one century. He received his undergraduate degree from Colorado State University, where he graduated summa cum laude, and his Juris Doctor from the University of Colorado at Boulder. While Senator Gardner has only been in the Senate since 2015, the expression ``got it in one'' certainly applies to him. Perhaps that is because he previously worked in the Senate for then-Senator Wayne Allard, quickly rising to become Senator Allard's legislative director. He served for 6 years in the Colorado House of Representatives and another 4 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 2014. Here in the Senate, Senator Gardner has been a serious legislator but with a cheerful and affable and civil manner. He has worked to bridge partisan divides, particularly on energy policy, where he has been one of the Republicans' leading advocates of renewable energy. This year, the esteemed Lugar Center ranked Senator Gardner as the third most bipartisan Senator. I have had the opportunity to work with Senator Gardner on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as he led the effort to impose sanctions against North Korea in his role as chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy. Through the committee, we also worked together to introduce legislation to enhance American maritime capacity and leadership and increase support to our allies in the Asia-Pacific region, the Asia- Pacific Maritime Security Initiative Act of 2016. I was also pleased to work with Senator Gardner in 2019 to introduce the Wildlife Refuge System Protection Act, bipartisan legislation to provide legal authority for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service--USFWS--to seek damages for injury or harm on National Wildlife Refuges, National Fish Hatcheries, and other USFWS lands and waters. My wife Myrna and I have traveled with Senator Gardner and his wife Jaime to promote human rights abroad. His commitment to global human rights was crystal clear to Myrna and me. I will miss Senator Gardner and his pleasant demeanor, but he is still a young man so I am confident he will find new ways to continue serving all Americans, but especially the Coloradans he has represented with distinction for the past 16 years. I wish him, Jaime, and their children Alyson, Thatcher, and Caitlyn all the best. Senator Martha McSally has only been in the Senate for 2 years, but it is impossible not to be in awe of her true grit and determination, perhaps stemming from being the youngest of five children. Her father died when she was just 12, leaving her mother to raise and support her family. Perhaps it was the example her mother set--Senator McSally was determined to let nothing stand in her way. She was the valedictorian of her high school and earned an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy, where she received a bachelor's of science in biology. I am privileged to represent the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. I have served on the board of visitors, and my staff and I interview the hundreds of young applicants across Maryland who aspire to enroll in one of our service academies each year. I am not sure most Americans are aware of how intensely competitive these positions are and what a tremendous honor earning an appointment is. Meeting these applicants, reviewing their extraordinary accomplishments at such a young age, and seeing their commitment to service--willing to put their lives on the line, if necessary--restores one's faith in the boundless future of our Nation. Senator McSally certainly put her life on the line for us and shattered gender barriers along the way. She became the first woman in American history to fly a fighter jet in combat and the first woman to command a fighter squadron in combat. She deployed six times to the Middle East. She helped lead and execute the initial air campaign in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and she supervised combat search and rescue operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In total, she flew 325 combat hours and earned a Bronze Star and six air medals. She served in the U.S. Air Force for 26 years, retiring as a full colonel. Senator McSally has never been one to rest on her laurels. She earned masters' degrees from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and the U.S. Air War College, graduating first in her class of 261 senior military officers. She ran for the House of Representatives, first unsuccessfully by a narrow margin in 2012 but then successfully--again by a narrow margin--in 2014, becoming the first Republican woman to represent Arizona in Congress. She was reelected in 2016. She lost a tough race to Senator Sinema in 2018, but Arizona Governor Doug Ducey appointed her to finish the unexpired term of another war hero, our late friend Senator John McCain. Unfortunately, I had little opportunity to work with Senator McSally during her 2 years here in the Senate, although I did travel with her to Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and I saw firsthand her commitment to America's service men and women--especially military sexual assault survivors--to veterans, and to military families. Senator McSally is an inspiration to all of us, but especially to women and girls, for her devotion to duty and the incredible odds she has overcome and the barriers she has broken in her life. Senator McSally has said, ``There's always more that unites us than divides us.'' I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment. She is a fighter who will continue to fight for our county, and I am grateful for that. Senator Doug Jones is a native Alabaman, a steelworker's son, who grew up during the great struggle for civil rights and desegregation in the South. He has been involved in that struggle all of his life, active in campus affairs at the University of Alabama, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1976, and in trying to modernize Alabama's court system. Senator Jones has the distinction of working, being confirmed by, and being elected to serve in the U.S. Senate. After he graduated from Cumberland Law School at Samford University in 1979, he worked as a staff counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee for then-Senator Howell Heflin. Senator Jones served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1980 to 1984. After he worked in private practice for several years, President Clinton nominated him to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and the Senate confirmed his nomination in 1997. While Senator Jones was the U.S. Attorney, he successfully prosecuted two of the four men who were responsible for the heinous bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, an attack that killed four young Black girls between the ages of 11 and 14 and shocked the conscience of our Nation. He prosecuted other domestic terrorists, including the Ku Klux Klan and Eric Rudolph. He won a hard-fought special election to the Senate in December 2017 and has served with honor, distinction, and a commitment to finding bipartisan solutions to our Nation's most- pressing problems. Senator Jones has fought to protect healthcare and to create equal opportunities for all Americans. He led the passage of the bipartisan FUTURE Act into law last year, legislation that I strongly supported to provide permanent funding for historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions. He has also championed minority-serving financial institutions and minority-owned banks, supporting the efforts to add additional funds for these institutions through the Paycheck Protection Program. I was proud to work with Senator Jones on the successful passage of our legislation to extend the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act this year, which extends until 2030 duty-free access for certain textile goods from 23 Caribbean countries that are made with U.S. yarns, fabrics, and threads until 2030. Senator Jones is equally committed to civility and civil rights. As the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so famously said, ``The arc or the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.'' Thanks to Senator Jones' abiding faith and ceaseless efforts, that arc is bending faster. I wish him, his wife Louise, their children Carson, Christopher, and Courtney, and their two grandchildren all the best moving forward. I know he will continue to serve our country, and I am hopeful it will be as a member of the incoming administration of President-Elect Joe Biden. Senator Tom Udall comes from an illustrious extended family with a long history of distinguished public service, including his father Stewart, who served as Secretary of the Interior under President John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson from 1961 to 1969. His uncle Morris ``Mo'' K. Udall was one of the most accomplished and beloved Congressmen in U.S. history, representing Arizona's Second District for 30 years. While Senator Udall was born in Tucson, he has deep roots in New Mexico, starting with his grandmother Luna, who was born in New Mexico Territory. Senator Udall earned his undergraduate degree from Prescott College, a bachelor of laws degree from Cambridge, and J.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1977. And then joining the family tradition, he began his public service by clerking for the Honorable Oliver Seth, chief justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Later, he became a Federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's criminal division and chief counsel to the New Mexico Department of Health and Environment. Senator Udall was elected New Mexico Attorney General in 1990 and reelected in 1994. He made his mark in several areas, but especially in government transparency and ethics, a quest he would continue in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served five highly productive terms, even though he was in the minority for four of them, passing legislation to establish a national renewable energy standard. Here in the Senate, Senator Udall has continued his distinguished service for two terms in his low-key, quiet, understated, and effective manner. Just this year, he led the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act to fund our national parks and Federal land agencies. He has championed environmental justice and has devoted himself to rectifying the injustices our Nation has perpetrated against Indian Nations and Tribes. Senator Udall has remained steadfast in his commitment to good and transparent government as the lead Senate sponsor of the For the People Act. I have been privileged to work closely with Senator Udall on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, and on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We have focused on strengthening our relationships with our allies, which President Trump has put to the test, promoting American values around the world, and fostering human rights and international development and conservation efforts. I will greatly miss Senator Udall here in the Senate but feel fortunate to have served with him these last 12 years in the Senate and for 8 years together in the House of Representatives before that. New Mexicans and all Americans have benefited greatly from his 30 years in elected office and lifetime of public service. He has honorably and effectively continued his family's noble tradition of stewardship in all regards. My wife Myrna and Senator Udall's wife Jill, a tireless advocate on behalf of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, have become good friends, and Myrna and I will miss both of them. I wish them and their daughter Amanda all the best. Senator Mike Enzi was born in Bremerton, WA, where his father was working in the naval shipyard during World War II. He grew up in Thermopolis, WY. He came to Washington, DC, for college, earning his bachelor's degree in accounting from George Washington University in 1966. He began his public service in the Wyoming Air National Guard from 1967 to 1973. Later, he worked in the U.S. Department of the Interior, earned a master's degree from the University of Denver, ran his father's show business, and became mayor of Gillette, WY, when he was just 30. Senator Enzi served in the Wyoming House of Representatives for 4 years and in the Wyoming Senate for 6 years before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 with 54 percent of the vote. That was the closest election he has had; he garnered over 70 percent of the vote each time he sought reelection. Senator Enzi is one of the most conservative members of the Senate but that has not prevented him from reaching across the aisle. He is quiet but his accomplishments speak volumes. While he chaired the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, it reported 37 bills, 23 of which the Senate passed. As he likes to say, ``People can agree on 80 percent of the issues 80 percent of the time, and if they leave the other 20 percent out they can get a lot done.'' He has authored more than 100 bills that Presidents of both parties have signed into law. Senator Enzi and I have served on the Senate Finance Committee together since the 112th Congress, and on the Subcommittee on Health Care, where we have worked together to find bipartisan solutions to expand access to affordable, quality healthcare. We have also worked together to ensure the stability and health of pension funds, including recent efforts related to the multiemployer union pension crisis, and to bolster financial literacy. I have also been pleased to work with Senator Enzi on legislation to ensure prompt payments to small businesses working as Federal contractors across the Department of Defense, and on our Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act, to help student groups with collegiate housing costs. Senator Enzi's grandfatherly mien and calm disposition have helped steer the Senate through rocky times, and I will miss his steady hand on our rudder. My wife Myrna will miss his wife of 51 years, Diana, an active member of the Senate Spouses Club, who also works to provide specially trained dogs and handlers to countries infested with landmines. Senator Enzi is an avid hunter and fly fisherman, and I know he will enjoy the opportunity to spend more time with Diana; their children Amy, Emily, and Brad; and their four grandchildren. Senator Pat Roberts is a native Kansan from Topeka and a quintessential plainspoken Midwesterner and ex-marine. He is a fourth generation Kansan, whose great-grandfather, J.W. Roberts, founded the ``Oskaloosa Independent,'' the State's second oldest newspaper. Senator Roberts has journalism and public service coursing though his blood. He earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Kansas State University and then served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 4 years before working as a reporter and then editor of several newspapers in Arizona. In 1967, Senator Roberts worked for then-U.S. Senator Frank Carlson. In 1969, he became administrative assistant to then-U.S. Representative Keith Sibelius, who represented the First District. Senator Roberts went on to represent the First District himself for 16 years before being elected to the Senate in 1996, where he has continued to serve with distinction for four terms. Senator Roberts has a well-earned reputation as a national leader on agriculture, defense, and healthcare issues. He has the distinction of being the first person in history to have chaired both the House and Senate Committees on Agriculture and to author and pass bipartisan farm bills in both Chambers. He led the passage of the overwhelmingly bipartisan 2018 farm bill, which benefited farmers in my home State of Maryland and around the Nation. As cochairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, Senator Roberts has sought to address the challenges that rural communities face in terms of access to high-quality healthcare. While Senator Roberts chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he conducted one of the most thorough reviews of U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis in the wake of the faulty intelligence leading to the war in Iraq. The committee unanimously issued the bipartisan report, which frankly and forthrightly revealed systemic failures and provided numerous recommendations included in the 9/11 Intelligence Reform Act of 2004. Senator Roberts has played a pivotal role in the creation of two wonderful monuments, one here in Washington, DC, and the other in his beloved Kansas. He served as Chairman of the Dwight David Eisenhower Memorial Commission--and that fine memorial on Independence Avenue to Kansas's favorite son was dedicated earlier this year--a fitting capstone to Senator Roberts' 40 years as an elected official. Back in Kansas, he helped to establish the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, one of the most beautiful and majestic places in America. Tallgrass prairie once stretched from Canada to Mexico, covering more than 170 million acres. Today, less than 4 percent of it remains intact, mostly in the Kansas Flint Hills, largely thanks to the efforts of Senator Roberts. I have had the opportunity to work with Senator Roberts on agricultural and healthcare issues, and legislation to encourage retirement savings by fostering the growth of S corporations owned by Employee Stock Ownership Plans--``S-ESOPS''. I will miss working with him and his Semper Fi, ``can-do'' approach to problem-solving, but I know he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife Franki; their three children, David, Ashleigh, and Anne-Wesley; and their seven grandchildren. Senator Lamar Alexander has had a career in public service as long, varied, and distinguished as just about any other American, working or serving in all three branches of the Federal Government. He is a seventh generation east Tennessean whose father was an elementary school principal and mother was a pre-school teacher--thus began Senator Alexander's lifelong interest in education. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in 1962 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his J.D. from New York University in 1965, was editor of the law review, and a Root-Tilden Scholar. Senator Alexander began his public service as a clerk for the Honorable John Minor Wisdom on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He worked on the staff of then-U.S. Senator Howard Baker and as staff assistant to then-President Richard Nixon. In 1978, he walked 1,022 miles across Tennessee, spent the night with 73 different families, and won election as Governor. As Governor, he helped to bring the auto industry to the State. He was reelected in 1982 and served as chair of the National Governors' Association from 1985 to 1986. He was president of the University of Tennessee from 1988 to 1991, then- President George H.W. Bush's Secretary of Education from 1991 to 1993, and a Professor of Practice in Public Service at Harvard the Kennedy School of Government from 2001 to 2003. Somehow, he has also found the time to cofound a law firm and two successful businesses, be a classical and country pianist who has performed on the Grand Old Opry and with symphony orchestras, and author seven books. While Senator Alexander chaired the HELP Committee, it reported 45 bills that became law, most of which he authored. He sponsored the America Competes Act of 2007; the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, greatly benefitting students in my home State of Maryland and nationwide; the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016; and the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018. He also authored legislation to modernize how songwriters are compensated for their works. The list goes on and on. Senator Alexander has been a champion of higher education reform, seeking to simplify the process of applying for financial aid and to increase access for all students. I have been proud to work with him to support and strengthen historically Black colleges and universities and minority serving institutions. On the environmental front, I had the opportunity to work with Senator Alexander on legislation to end the dumping of mining waste into streams, the Appalachia Restoration Act of 2009. Senator Alexander is always courteous, an ``eloquent listener,'' and always eager to forge bipartisan solutions to our Nation's problems. Just a few days ago, I know Senators and staff were delighted to listen to him play Christmas carols and hymns on the piano in the Hart atrium. We will greatly miss his calm and dignified presence in the Senate, but he has certainly earned the opportunity to spend more time with his beloved wife of 51 years, Honey; their children Leslee, Kathryn, Andrew, and William; and their nine grandchildren. Senators Enzi, Roberts, and Alexander have served in this institution for 66 years combined. Senator Udall has served 12 years, and Senator Gardner has served 6 years. Senators Jones and McSally did not have an opportunity to serve a full term, but all told, we are losing close to 90 years of dedicated service to the institution, our colleagues, their constituents, and all Americans. There is a tradition for departing Senators to give a farewell address, and most use the opportunity to bemoan the fact that the Senate has become less collegial and more partisan. I share that discontent and sadness. I think the best way we can pay appropriate tribute to the fine Members who are leaving at the end of this Congress is by rededicating ourselves to preserving and expanding on their legacy of bipartisanship. I want to express my deep admiration of and appreciation to Senators Alexander, Enzi, Gardner, Jones, McSally, Roberts, and Udall. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve with and learn from them, and I cherish our friendships

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, will the Senator from Washington and the Distinguished Ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee yield for a colloquy on some issues related to the committee's substitute for S. 2800?