Benjamin Cardin

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I urge the Senate to take up legislation to require universal and complete background checks for individuals seeking to purchase a gun. I am pleased that the House recently passed this legislation, and it is well past time for the Senate to act. Rarely has a month gone by without a mass shooting, and many communities are ravaged daily by gun violence that does not make the news headlines. Individuals have used firearms to take countless innocent lives in concerts, churches, and even elementary schools. By now, these incidents are etched in our memories: Santa Fe, Parkland, Las Vegas, Orlando, San Bernardino, Sandy Hook, Pittsburgh, and Thousand Oaks. In Maryland we saw tragedies that occurred in the Capital Gazette office in Annapolis. We, as a nation, must act to stem the tide of bloodshed and the hatred that drives it. We cannot allow such massacres to become routine in our society. We have the ability to end the tragic cycle of violence, but it will require us to come together in full urgency and honesty. I know we can protect innocent Americans from further senseless gun violence while still protecting the constitutional rights enjoyed for hunting and self-defense. Through commonsense gun safety reforms that would make background checks more efficient and close loopholes, I am confident we can do just that. Let me start with a little history, as provided by the Brady Campaign. The Gun Control Act of 1968 established a framework for legally prohibiting certain categories of people from possessing firearms. The list of prohibited persons has grown over the years and now includes categories such as felons, fugitives, domestic abusers, and those found by the court or other tribunal to be seriously mentally ill. Only in 1993, with the passage of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, did Congress provide the public with a presale process for checking whether a prospective firearm purchaser is legally able to purchase the firearm. Since the Brady Law took effect, it has blocked more than 3 million prohibited gun sales and processed over 278 million purchase requests. When someone goes to a federally licensed dealer to buy a gun, the retailer contacts the FBI to run a background check. The FBI checks the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to see if they are a convicted felon, fugitive, domestic abuser, or other prohibited purchaser. If the system reveals that the buyer is legally barred from owning a gun, then, the sale is denied. Simply put, the Brady Law prevents guns from getting into the hands of dangerous individuals. The Brady Law has blocked more than 3 million gun sales to prohibited buyers, helping to save countless lives, but the law doesn't apply to all gun sales. Instead, only Federal firearm licensees approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are required to conduct background checks on gun sales. The Brady Act background check requirement applies only to licensed dealers, allowing transactions conducted by private, unlicensed sellers to be completed without any check. Private, unlicensed sellers need not conduct any check under current law. However, the Brady Law was enacted before the rise of the internet. America has changed, and our Nation's gun laws need to change with it. Today, unlicensed gun sales made online and unregulated and unchecked contributed to one out of every five gun sales. That is simply wrong. Those sales can avoid the background check. Passing legislation to expand background checks to nearly every gun sale, including those conducted online at gun shows and through private transfers, should be the top priority in Congress for commonsense gun safety legislation to save lives. It is long past time to expand lifesaving Brady background checks to every gun sale. The public agrees. A 2018 study showed that 97 percent of Americans support expanding background checks--97 percent. We don't get any higher than that. The Senate should follow the lead of the House, which recently passed the legislation to expand criminal background checks. In the Senate, I cosponsored S. 42, the Background Check Expansion Act. This bill, which passed the House, would expand Federal background check requirements to include the sale or transfer of all firearms by private sellers, just as licensed dealers are required to conduct under the existing Brady Law. The bill requires background checks for sales or transfers of all firearms from one party to another, even if the party is not a federally licensed dealer. This requirement extends to all unlicensed sellers, whether they do business online, at gun shows, or out of their home. According to the Brady Campaign, in any given year in the United States, more than 120,000 Americans are shot in murders, assaults, suicides and suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, or police actions. Of these, 35,000 result in death. Over 17,000 of those injured or killed are children and teens. On average, 34 people in America are murdered on account of gun violence every single day. Mass shootings often shine the spotlight on the United States and its position as a global outlier. The number of firearms available to American civilians is estimated to be at around 310 million, according to the National Institute of Justice. According to the Small Arms Survey, the exact number of civilian-owned firearms is impossible to pinpoint because of a variety of factors, including arms that go unregistered, the illegal trade, and global conflict. However, estimates indicate that Americans own nearly half of the 650 million civilian-owned guns in the world today. Half are here in the United States. Our Nation is well armed. Americans own the most guns per person in the world, with about 4 in 10 saying they either own a gun or live in a home with guns, according to the 2017 Pew Center study, and 48 percent of Americans say they grew up in a House with guns. According to the survey, a majority, 66 percent, of U.S. gun owners own multiple firearms. The No. 2 country for the world's largest gun-owning population per capita is Yemen, a country that is in the throes of a years-long civil conflict, and they trail significantly behind us. They have 54 guns per 100; we are at 88 guns owned per 100. When it comes to gun massacres, the United States is an anomaly. There are more public mass shootings in America than in any other country in the world. The United States makes up less than 5 percent of the world's population but holds 31 percent of global mass shooters. In Australia, for example, four mass shootings occurred between 1987 and 1996. They decided to do something about that so they passed sensible gun safety legislation. Australia has not had a mass shooting since then. Gun homicide rates are about 25 times higher in the United States than other developed countries. According to the recent study of the American Journal of Medicine, the United States has one of the highest rates of death by firearm in the developed world, according to the World Health Organization data. The calculations based on the OECD data from 2010 showed that Americans are 51 times more likely to be killed by gunfire than people in the United Kingdom. We need to do something about this. We can't sit idly by. Congress should act today to close the so-called Charleston loophole. The Senate should once again follow the House's lead here. A particularly tragic example of the consequences of this loophole was the racist hate crime murder of nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, that occurred in 2015. In that tragedy, the shooter was not legally allowed to possess a firearm due to drug charges but still was able to acquire his gun from a licensed dealer who made the decision to transfer, after the current 3- business day period expired, despite not having received a definitive response from the background check system. Unfortunately, the sale to the shooter after 3 days fell into what is known as the default proceed sale, and this was not an isolated incident. Since 1994, gun sellers proceeded with between 3,000 and 4,000 such sales every year simply because the information has not gotten back on the background check. I would note that in most cases, a licensed gun dealer receives notification from the system about a prospective buyer within a few minutes. In less than 10 percent of the cases, the examination may require additional time to complete the background check if the information the transferee provided is incomplete, inaccurate, or otherwise defective. Under current law, a licensed gun dealer conducting a background check on a prospective purchaser may sell the firearm to the purchaser after 3 business days, even if they have not received a reply in regard to the background check. This is wrong, and Congress should change the rule as the House has done. I agree gun laws alone cannot solve the problem, but gun laws will make a difference. Yes, there is no single answer, but we should be united in our willingness to do what we can to save lives. I agree with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that we must devote more resources to mental health priorities to identify young people who may be about to cause harm to themselves or others. Let's attack this problem from multiple directions. We cannot raise our hands in the air and give up because there is no one law that can solve the problem. Sitting on the sidelines is not an option when our children are being killed--sometimes by other children--and surrendering to the false logic that the problem is too big to address falls well short of what the American people deserve. We were sent to our Nation's capital to make tough decisions and to do the right thing. The American public is letting their voices be heard on this issue. Thoughts and prayers might console the grieving for a moment, but action speaks louder and will have lasting impact. From my hometown of Baltimore to many towns across America that have had their names in the headlines because of gun-related tragedies or mass shootings, people are calling on Congress to act. What we are proposing are logical next steps to address the deadly problem that has been festering in this country far too long. Too many lives have been lost. Let's do the right thing in the Senate and immediately take up legislation to require universal and completed background checks for individuals seeking to purchase a gun. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today, I am introducing the Strengthening American Communities (SAC) Act of 2019. My bill seeks to expand access to debt-free public service career pathways for Americans who want to serve their communities, States, or our Nation. No one should be denied the opportunity to serve their community as a law enforcement officer, public health practitioner, social worker, or educator based on his or her ability to afford the rising cost of an undergraduate education. As Congress moves towards reauthorizing the Higher Education Act this year, I intend for my bill to be a first step towards correcting public sector workforce disparities by enabling people to serve their communities without being hobbled by massive student loan debt, and by providing current public servants with the financial freedom to continue to heed their calling to service. Every city, town, and rural community in the United States relies on individuals who choose to utilize their talents for the betterment of others while accepting the lower pay of public service careers. The very foundation of our civil society is based on these public servants making such sacrifices. Far too many individuals who feel drawn to public service do not pursue such careers--or they are forced to abandon such careers prematurely--due to the high cost of obtaining their college educations. When I had the opportunity to hear directly from a student at an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in my home State of Maryland, I was saddened to hear from an academically successful sophomore who was planning to drop out of school because she feared further indebting herself and her family. She said that while she appreciated the financial assistance she did receive, it simply wasn't sufficient to cover her cost of attendance. While this student had aspirations to serve in her own community, she could not bear to burden her family with the cost of her education. As a result, my home City of Baltimore missed out on the talents of an engaged and aspiring public servant. Our current system of indebting individuals at the onset of their careers has led to minority underrepresentation in the public sector workforce. First generation college students and students from low- income families cannot afford to take on student loan debt and enter into lower-paying public service careers. As a result, our Nation is deprived of the talents and perspectives of individuals who want to serve their communities but simply cannot afford to do so. As a result, our workforce is less representative of the people it serves. We must find new ways for people to earn the degrees they need to meet our community needs. I believe that students who make a commitment to public service should be afforded a debt-free pathway to the baccalaureate degree they need to start their public service career just as those individuals who have already made the decision to choose service over salary should not have to wait for ten years in a lower- paying public service career before seeing any reward in the form of federal student loan forgiveness. The Strengthening American Communities Act I am introducing today offers a new path for future public servants to earn their baccalaureate degree. Through a new partnership between the Federal Government, States, and public and private, non-profit institutions of higher education, students will have the ability to receive the first two years of their education at a community college, Minority Serving Institution, or Historically Black College or University tuition- and fee-free. Colleges would be required to commit to ensuring student success, and students would have to meet certain academic standards and complete their education within two years. Once students start their junior or senior years or transfer into a four-year institution, those who commit themselves to at least three years of public service and meet certain academic standards will receive a National Public Service Education Grant to pay a significant portion of their college's tuition, fees, and room and board costs. Universities must provide students with opportunities to engage in public service commitments, academic counseling and student support services, and the opportunity to earn to finish their degree in fewer than two years. Depending on a student's financial need, under the Strengthening American Communities Act, they may be able to graduate with a baccalaureate degree debt-free before embarking on their chosen path to become a public servant. For those individuals who have already answered their calling to public service, my legislation would assist more public servants continue serving their communities by accelerating the existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Under current law, these dedicated workers must work for 10 years in a public service career and make 120 monthly payments on their federal student loans before they see a dime of federal student loan forgiveness. Economic, family, and other reasons can cause individuals to leave the public sector workforce and despite their years of service, the service these workers provided are not taken into consideration. I propose to accelerate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to provide more immediate student loan relief. For every two years of employment and corresponding monthly Federal student loan payments, hard-working public sector employees will receive a percentage of their federal student loans forgiven, with 100 percent of the federal student loan balance being forgiven at the end of 10 years of service. With 99 percent of the initial round of PSLF applicants being rejected last year for loan forgiveness due to administrative barriers and misunderstanding of the rules of the program, Congress should work to accelerating Public Service Loan Forgiveness, therefore encouraging additional individuals to stay in the public sector workforce despite the lower-paying salaries, reduce their cost of borrowing for home and auto loans, and set aside additional money for their own retirement. As Congress moves forward with an overdue reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, I urge my colleagues to join in this effort to help individuals who are wholly committed to public service by supporting the Strengthening American Communities Act. No individual willing to serve his or her community in a public service career should be held back from that calling due to the high cost of obtaining a college education. No individual willing to serve his or her community should be forced to leave public service because of financial hardship.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today, I am introducing the Strengthening American Communities (SAC) Act of 2019. My bill seeks to expand access to debt-free public service career pathways for Americans who want to serve their communities, States, or our Nation. No one should be denied the opportunity to serve their community as a law enforcement officer, public health practitioner, social worker, or educator based on his or her ability to afford the rising cost of an undergraduate education. As Congress moves towards reauthorizing the Higher Education Act this year, I intend for my bill to be a first step towards correcting public sector workforce disparities by enabling people to serve their communities without being hobbled by massive student loan debt, and by providing current public servants with the financial freedom to continue to heed their calling to service. Every city, town, and rural community in the United States relies on individuals who choose to utilize their talents for the betterment of others while accepting the lower pay of public service careers. The very foundation of our civil society is based on these public servants making such sacrifices. Far too many individuals who feel drawn to public service do not pursue such careers--or they are forced to abandon such careers prematurely--due to the high cost of obtaining their college educations. When I had the opportunity to hear directly from a student at an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in my home State of Maryland, I was saddened to hear from an academically successful sophomore who was planning to drop out of school because she feared further indebting herself and her family. She said that while she appreciated the financial assistance she did receive, it simply wasn't sufficient to cover her cost of attendance. While this student had aspirations to serve in her own community, she could not bear to burden her family with the cost of her education. As a result, my home City of Baltimore missed out on the talents of an engaged and aspiring public servant. Our current system of indebting individuals at the onset of their careers has led to minority underrepresentation in the public sector workforce. First generation college students and students from low- income families cannot afford to take on student loan debt and enter into lower-paying public service careers. As a result, our Nation is deprived of the talents and perspectives of individuals who want to serve their communities but simply cannot afford to do so. As a result, our workforce is less representative of the people it serves. We must find new ways for people to earn the degrees they need to meet our community needs. I believe that students who make a commitment to public service should be afforded a debt-free pathway to the baccalaureate degree they need to start their public service career just as those individuals who have already made the decision to choose service over salary should not have to wait for ten years in a lower- paying public service career before seeing any reward in the form of federal student loan forgiveness. The Strengthening American Communities Act I am introducing today offers a new path for future public servants to earn their baccalaureate degree. Through a new partnership between the Federal Government, States, and public and private, non-profit institutions of higher education, students will have the ability to receive the first two years of their education at a community college, Minority Serving Institution, or Historically Black College or University tuition- and fee-free. Colleges would be required to commit to ensuring student success, and students would have to meet certain academic standards and complete their education within two years. Once students start their junior or senior years or transfer into a four-year institution, those who commit themselves to at least three years of public service and meet certain academic standards will receive a National Public Service Education Grant to pay a significant portion of their college's tuition, fees, and room and board costs. Universities must provide students with opportunities to engage in public service commitments, academic counseling and student support services, and the opportunity to earn to finish their degree in fewer than two years. Depending on a student's financial need, under the Strengthening American Communities Act, they may be able to graduate with a baccalaureate degree debt-free before embarking on their chosen path to become a public servant. For those individuals who have already answered their calling to public service, my legislation would assist more public servants continue serving their communities by accelerating the existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Under current law, these dedicated workers must work for 10 years in a public service career and make 120 monthly payments on their federal student loans before they see a dime of federal student loan forgiveness. Economic, family, and other reasons can cause individuals to leave the public sector workforce and despite their years of service, the service these workers provided are not taken into consideration. I propose to accelerate the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to provide more immediate student loan relief. For every two years of employment and corresponding monthly Federal student loan payments, hard-working public sector employees will receive a percentage of their federal student loans forgiven, with 100 percent of the federal student loan balance being forgiven at the end of 10 years of service. With 99 percent of the initial round of PSLF applicants being rejected last year for loan forgiveness due to administrative barriers and misunderstanding of the rules of the program, Congress should work to accelerating Public Service Loan Forgiveness, therefore encouraging additional individuals to stay in the public sector workforce despite the lower-paying salaries, reduce their cost of borrowing for home and auto loans, and set aside additional money for their own retirement. As Congress moves forward with an overdue reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, I urge my colleagues to join in this effort to help individuals who are wholly committed to public service by supporting the Strengthening American Communities Act. No individual willing to serve his or her community in a public service career should be held back from that calling due to the high cost of obtaining a college education. No individual willing to serve his or her community should be forced to leave public service because of financial hardship.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the service and achievements of Ms. Chris Correale, director of harbor development for the Maryland Port Administration, upon her retirement. Chris Correale is the ultimate example of a public servant whose expertise and efforts while unknown to the majority of Maryland's residents, have been critical to Maryland's economy and environment. An expert in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers processes, Chris has spent more than 25 years crafting and implementing innovative and collaborative Federal and State beneficial reuse projects that kept the Port of Baltimore's shipping channels open and improved the environment in the Chesapeake Bay. From dredging, construction, beach replenishment, habitat restoration, and permitting, Chris has been the visionary behind the development of projects that have significantly improved the infrastructure, environment, business climate, regional partnerships, and economic development opportunities throughout the State of Maryland. At the Maryland Port Administration, Chris ensured the Port of Baltimore's channels are in top condition for maritime traffic serving the port. She oversaw the planning and policy of what to do with the dredged material, she secured State and Federal funding for the port, and she coordinated multi-agency management of the port's aids to navigation systems. Prior to joining the Maryland Port Administration, Chris had a distinguished career as the chief of the operations division of the U.S. Army Corps' Baltimore District. By overseeing the Baltimore District's navigation program, Chris was instrumental in the operations, maintenance, protection, and restoration of Maryland's ports, military installations, levees, Federal channels, island habitats, and reservoirs. Chris's retirement is a loss for the State of Maryland. Her vision, expertise, and extraordinary social skills have enabled her to successfully navigate the Federal, State, and local forces to bring so many critical projects to fruition. She has significantly improved the infrastructure, environment, and business climate throughout the State of Maryland, and she will be missed. Therefore, it is my honor to recognize the contributions of Ms. Chris Correale to the State of Maryland and thank her for her years of valuable service.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, as we are considering the leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency, I think we should pause a moment to recognize this administration's record on the environment--or should I say the missed opportunities--and what this administration has done in moving America in the wrong direction on environmental protection. This administration's record in dealing with the greatest challenge we have--global climate change--is deplorable. I had the opportunity to lead a delegation of 10 Members of the Senate to the Paris climate talks in which U.S. leadership demonstrated our ability to get universal consensus that climate change is real, is happening, that it is primarily caused by the activities we do here on Earth, and that we can make a difference in the trajectory of climate change and the impact it will have on our lives. If we follow what science tells us, we can change the course for the better for future generations. I saw in Paris the importance of U.S. leadership. We had been trying for a long time to get a global agreement to deal with this challenge. It wasn't until America's leadership in Paris that we were able to get a global consensus. In fact, every country in the world signed on to the Paris Agreement and recognized that every nation has the responsibility to respond because what happens in the environment knows no state boundaries--we are all in this together. Then there was the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. One of his first actions was to withdraw America from the Paris climate agreement. America became the only Nation in the world not to be part of the global effort to deal with climate change. Our leadership was now going to be lost, but the Trump administration didn't stop there. They have withdrawn the powerplant rules even though it was in 2007 that the Supreme Court, in Massachusetts v. EPA, determined that carbon dioxide is a dangerous air pollutant and is required to be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the clean air rules. Yet the administration is moving in the other direction as it relates to clean air. They did the same thing with water. The Supreme Court issued certain decisions in regard to regulated waters. It required Congress to act. Congress didn't act. The administration under President Obama issued regulations that were similar to what we had before the Supreme Court decision, and now the Trump administration has withdrawn those regulations as they relate to clean water. The list goes on. The Trump administration is now backing down on CAFE standards. That is energy efficiencies in our automobiles. Maryland is one of 12 States under section 177 that follow California's tougher standards. That is now being jeopardized by the Trump administration. As we are considering the leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency, we have to recognize that the Trump administration has moved us in the wrong direction. We take pride that with every administration, Congress adds to the protections we have for clean air and clean water and dealing with our environment. Yet we find with this President, the opposite is true. That puts special responsibility on us in Congress. We have to fill that vacuum. Yet the Republican leadership in Congress has made no effort to bring forward legislation to deal with climate change. They have not acknowledged that climate change is real. They have not acknowledged that our activities here are the primary cause of climate change. They have not acknowledged that science tells us that if we do the right thing, we can affect for the better the impact of climate change in our communities. All that has been denied by this administration. What we should do is bring forward comprehensive legislation to reduce greenhouse gases. We should put a true cost on carbon. Let the market forces help solve the problems we have here. We should provide for the continued efficiency of the transportation sector. We should restore America's leadership. That is what this Congress should be considering. Yet under Republican leadership, we have had no opportunity to consider comprehensive legislation in this area. If we acted, it would be good for our environment. There is no question about that. Why should we all be concerned about that? Let me give some examples from my State of Maryland. Over the last 50 years, Maryland has experienced a 70-percent increase in rainfall. Tell the people of Ellicott City, who have experienced two 1,000-year floods in the last 20-month period. These are floods that they have never seen before in their lifetime. A large amount of rain that fell in a very short period of time caused tremendous damage to the people of Ellicott City. Tell the 13 million people who are in danger of being displaced by the end of this century because of rising sea levels. Tell the people in the Western United States whose homes were taken by wildfires. We need to act. It would be good for our environment. I am proud to be one of the Senators who represent the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. There are 18 million people who live in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. We see a rise in the sea level. This is a vulnerable body of water. The warming of the Chesapeake Bay is causing the loss of seagrasses that are important for the aquatic life. The salinity of the bay is being diminished because of more freshwater, and that is affecting the ecology of the bay. Algae growths are greater and longer because of the warm waters. All of that affects the Chesapeake Bay. If we respond to climate change, we have a much better chance of improving the quality of the Chesapeake Bay, which is critically important for the way of life for the people who live in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. It is also, by the way, an important economic issue. If we do what is right and respond to climate change, we will also be helping our economy. The Chesapeake Bay alone adds $1 trillion to our economy. A clean bay helps our economy. Green energy creates jobs--many more jobs than do traditional fossil fuels. It also is good for our national security. If we use more of the renewables and fewer fossil, we as a nation will be stronger from the point of view of not being dependent on other countries that don't agree with our way of life for supplying energy needs not only to us but to our allies around the world--to the democratic countries around the world. It makes sense. As we are considering the future leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency, let us recommit ourselves to recognizing that we have responsibilities to advance these environmental issues and implore upon the Republican leadership to bring forward comprehensive legislation that, in fact, will make a significant difference on the trajectory of climate change here in the United States and will restore America's global leadership on this critically important issue. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I would like to bring the Senate's attention to the bipartisan Preserving Teacher Loan Forgiveness for Military Spouses Act of 2018, which I am introducing today with Senators Cornyn and Jones. This legislation eliminates a barrier for teachers in military families to earn federal student loan forgiveness for their years of public service. The Department of Education's Teacher Loan Forgiveness program rightfully incentivizes teachers to commit to students in our lowest income school districts in exchange for up to $17,500 in Federal student loan forgiveness. Teachers qualify for the Federal student loan forgiveness once they have taught full-time for at least five consecutive years at a low income school or educational service agency. Teachers who are forced to move in the middle of the school year to follow their spouse's relocation or reassignment to another installation in the United States or abroad lose their accrued eligibility for the program and must restart their five years of service under current law. Last Congress, a Maryland constituent brought to my attention the barriers her daughter faced when seeking Federal student loan forgiveness despite her commitment to public service. Her daughter, a teacher married to a member of the military, was in the middle of her fifth consecutive year teaching at one of Maryland's lower income schools. As any military spouse knows, relocation or reassignment orders can come at any time, upending the lives of the service member and their family. Rather than being able to complete a fifth year of teaching in a Maryland school, this family had to relocate with three months left in the school year. Despite this family's double commitment to service for our military and our schoolchildren, this military spouse missed the opportunity to have a portion of her Federal student loans forgiven. No military spouse should be punished for following his or her spouse's relocation or reassignment. The legislation that Senators Cornyn, Jones and I have introduced is a common sense proposal to allow military spouses to earn the benefits that they have dutifully worked towards and continue to incentivize individuals to teach our hardest to educate children. Our legislation provides a waiver from the Department of Education's Teacher Loan Forgiveness program's five consecutive years of service requirement for qualified military spouses if their spouse is relocated during the school year pursuant to military orders from the Armed Forces. This waiver will allow individuals to remain eligible for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program should they resume teaching full-time at a qualifying low-income school district within one year of their relocation. In addition, this legislation requires the Department of Education to provide a report to Congress every two years on the number of military spouses who remained eligible for Teacher Loan Forgiveness due to this legislation. In addition, it would allow military spouses that follow their service member overseas to accrue periods of service towards the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program if they teach in one of the Department of Defense Education Activities operated schools. I urge my colleagues to join in this effort to help families who are wholly committed to public service by supporting the Preserving Teacher Loan Forgiveness for Military Spouses Act. No family committed to service of our country should lose out on earned benefits due to a technicality.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I would like to bring the Senate's attention to the bipartisan Preserving Teacher Loan Forgiveness for Military Spouses Act of 2018, which I am introducing today with Senators Cornyn and Jones. This legislation eliminates a barrier for teachers in military families to earn federal student loan forgiveness for their years of public service. The Department of Education's Teacher Loan Forgiveness program rightfully incentivizes teachers to commit to students in our lowest income school districts in exchange for up to $17,500 in Federal student loan forgiveness. Teachers qualify for the Federal student loan forgiveness once they have taught full-time for at least five consecutive years at a low income school or educational service agency. Teachers who are forced to move in the middle of the school year to follow their spouse's relocation or reassignment to another installation in the United States or abroad lose their accrued eligibility for the program and must restart their five years of service under current law. Last Congress, a Maryland constituent brought to my attention the barriers her daughter faced when seeking Federal student loan forgiveness despite her commitment to public service. Her daughter, a teacher married to a member of the military, was in the middle of her fifth consecutive year teaching at one of Maryland's lower income schools. As any military spouse knows, relocation or reassignment orders can come at any time, upending the lives of the service member and their family. Rather than being able to complete a fifth year of teaching in a Maryland school, this family had to relocate with three months left in the school year. Despite this family's double commitment to service for our military and our schoolchildren, this military spouse missed the opportunity to have a portion of her Federal student loans forgiven. No military spouse should be punished for following his or her spouse's relocation or reassignment. The legislation that Senators Cornyn, Jones and I have introduced is a common sense proposal to allow military spouses to earn the benefits that they have dutifully worked towards and continue to incentivize individuals to teach our hardest to educate children. Our legislation provides a waiver from the Department of Education's Teacher Loan Forgiveness program's five consecutive years of service requirement for qualified military spouses if their spouse is relocated during the school year pursuant to military orders from the Armed Forces. This waiver will allow individuals to remain eligible for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program should they resume teaching full-time at a qualifying low-income school district within one year of their relocation. In addition, this legislation requires the Department of Education to provide a report to Congress every two years on the number of military spouses who remained eligible for Teacher Loan Forgiveness due to this legislation. In addition, it would allow military spouses that follow their service member overseas to accrue periods of service towards the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program if they teach in one of the Department of Defense Education Activities operated schools. I urge my colleagues to join in this effort to help families who are wholly committed to public service by supporting the Preserving Teacher Loan Forgiveness for Military Spouses Act. No family committed to service of our country should lose out on earned benefits due to a technicality.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, while Senator Leahy is still on the floor, I want to thank him for his extraordinary work on the conference committee to try to resolve our budget impasse. I know he has been working night and day. He has shared with many of us the work he has been doing on behalf of getting a budget that reflects the will of this body and of the House, and hopefully it will be completed before midnight on Friday. So I want to personally thank the distinguished Senator, the senior Senator from Vermont, Mr. Leahy, for the work he has done to keep the government open, to provide security for our borders, and to make sure we get all of our appropriations bills done.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as in morning business.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, 54 years ago, 600 nonviolent protesters set off to march from Selma to Montgomery, AL, to protest the disenfranchisement of Black voters in the South. They got as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge when they saw police officers lined up on the other end, waiting with tear gas, clubs, and dogs. The iconic bridge stood between the police and protesters like a physical barrier between hope and violence, democracy and second-class citizenship. Although the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments--which cemented into law the freedom, citizenship, and voting rights of Black Americans--passed nearly 100 years earlier across the country, literacy tests, poll taxes, violence, and intimidation stood in the way of this constitutional promise. This was especially true in Alabama. According to the 1961 Civil Rights Commission report, at the time of the famous protests, fewer than 10 percent of the voting-age Black population was registered in Alabama's Montgomery County. This infamous march from Selma was intended to right the wrong and to shine light on the injustice of all the many laws that kept voting from being accessible to Black Americans. For months leading up to it, a community of activists--led by Martin Luther King, Jr., and of course our esteemed colleague Representative John Lewis--carried out voting registration drives and nonviolent demonstrations, all against the resistance of the local government and members of the Ku Klux Klan. These efforts laid the groundwork for the march from Selma, which ended with Alabama State troopers attacking the protesters. The images of the State-sponsored violence were shown across the country, galvanizing the American public in favor of voting rights in a day that has since become known as Bloody Sunday. Five months later, on August 6, 1965, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law. The bill is one of the crowing victories of the civil rights movement and for our American democracy. This monumental legislation outlawed the malicious barriers to the polls and held States accountable for the discriminatory obstacles imposed on citizens who sought to fulfill their constitutional right. It opened doors for Black citizens across the South to register, to cast a vote, or to run for office in higher numbers than ever before. As we celebrate this February as Black History Month, we must remember that Black history is American history. We must remember that too often in our Nation's past, the work to create a more perfect Union has fallen upon the shoulders of Americans whose full rights of citizenship were discounted simply because of the color of their skin. The right to vote is a fundamental American tenet. Yet it has historically been denied to men and women of color. We must remember that when we tell stories of those who fought and struggled to secure voting rights in our Nation's past, it is because their stories serve as a precursor to our own. Today voting rights are still under attack. Many who survived the brutal attack on Bloody Sunday and lived to see the passage of the Voting Rights Act have also lived to see the same monumental bill weakened by the 2013 Shelby County Supreme Court decision. They have watched our President and Republican legislators tout myths of voter fraud to justify strict voter ID laws, partisan gerrymandering, and limited access to voting information. These efforts undoubtedly disadvantage Black Americans more than most and put a scourge on the system that defines our democracy. It is an insult to those who were robbed of their freedom and oftentimes their lives to create a more equal future. One such example of modern voter disenfranchisement can be found in the fact that the United States denies voting rights to citizens with felony convictions. We are one of the exceedingly few Western democracies that permanently strip citizens of their right to vote as a punishment for their crimes. Let's be clear. We are not talking about voting rights for felons currently incarcerated; we are talking about voting rights for those who have served their time and have since been released, attained jobs, raised a family, paid taxes, and moved on with their lives. Under the current law in 34 States, these individuals are still denied the right to vote, and that is simply unfair and undemocratic. Black History Month demands that we bring this injustice to light because felony disenfranchisement disproportionately affects men and women of color. One out of thirteen Black Americans is currently unable to vote because of a prior conviction for which they have already served time--a rate that is more than four times greater than the non- Black Americans. Right now, in total, more than 2 million Americans are unable to vote because of prior convictions, despite having already served their time and paying their debt to society. That is why this year I will again be introducing the Democracy Restoration Act, a bill that would restore voting rights to individuals after they have been released and returned to their community. I am committed to seeing this legislation passed. My hope is that Black History Month inspires all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me. We must also combat efforts to intimidate and disenfranchise voters. That is why last year I introduced legislation that would prohibit and penalize knowingly spreading misinformation, such as incorrect polling locations, times, or the necessary forms of identification. This Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Act will prohibit and penalize intentionally and knowingly spreading misinformation to voters that is intended to suppress the vote, including the time and place of an election and restrictions on voter eligibility. Reliably, these tactics always seem to target minority neighborhoods and are blatant attempts to reduce turnout. Such tactics undermine and corrode our very democracy and threaten the integrity of our electoral system. In Stacey Abrams' response to the State of the Union last week, she said that ``the foundation of our moral leadership around the globe is free and fair elections, where voters pick their leaders--not where politicians pick their voters.'' This is precisely why I have chosen to speak out about voting rights this month--because this issue defines our moral and democratic character as a nation and because it is an area where we still have so much work left to do. Casting a vote is one of the most basic and fundamental freedoms in any democracy, and Congress has the responsibility to ensure the right is protected. Congress has the responsibility to remove barriers to voting and make it easier for people to register to vote, cast their vote, and make sure their votes are counted. No one can appreciate the need for us to meet this responsibility better than Black Americans whose collective story is one of triumph over racist laws and undemocratic norms. On Black History Month, Congress must vow to follow their example and work together across party lines to make voting easier, fairer, and more accessible to all. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I am pleased that today the Senate passed S. 47, a bipartisan package of conservation and natural resources bills that will help preserve irreplaceable historic sites and conserve unique wildlife throughout my State of Maryland. I worked with my counterpart, the junior Senator from Maryland, to secure multiple provisions in the bill recognizing the historical and cultural significance of great places, including Baltimore's President Street Station, the oldest surviving urban railroad terminal in America, as well as Public School 103, the elementary school where Justice Thurgood Marshall first learned many of the lessons that would make him a legendary lawyer and American jurist. For years, we have worked to move Justice Marshall's elementary school and President Street Station closer to improved, permanent preservation so that current and future generations can learn the facts about Baltimore's role in the American Civil War and in the Civil Rights movement. In addition, the public lands package includes permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has been a vital tool for securing public access in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed through the creation of treasured parks, refuges, community green spaces, battlefields, and habitat conservation and restoration projects. S. 47 also includes reauthorization of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, which promotes long-term conservation, education, research, monitoring, and habitat protection activities for more than 380 species of migratory birds, including Maryland's State bird, the Baltimore Oriole. The Baltimore Oriole and other migratory birds are critical indicators of the health of Maryland's ecosystems, agriculture, and outdoor recreation economy. I am also delighted the package includes the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area Act, legislation I cosponsored led by my colleagues in the Senate delegation from West Virginia. This bipartisan legislation proposes to protect forest management heritage in portions of West Virginia, as well as two counties in western Maryland, and to develop interpretive and recreational themes. This will bring visitors and small business development to this remarkable region. No compromise is perfect, but this package will advance priorities in every corner of my State that have been years in the making. I applaud Senate passage of this landmark legislation.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Protecting Employees Security Clearances Act of 2019 (PESCA). I am pleased to have Senators Leahy, Jones, Baldwin, Kaine, Feinstein, Hirono, Klobuchar, Durbin, Shaheen, Cortez Masto, Hassan, and Van Hollen as cosponsors. Our measure would protect federal employees and contractors from losing their security clearances due to financial reasons, such as poor credit scores, that are attributable to a lapse in federal appropriations. The bill directs the Security Executive Agent to ensure that a lapse in appropriations (including the one that ended last month) is considered as a mitigating factor for initial or continued security clearance eligibility during the adjudication process. More specifically, the bill states that ``No head of any agency may revoke the national security eligibility of a covered employee because of a reduction in the credit score or negative information in a consumer credit file of the covered employee that is attributable to disrupted income payments as a result of a lapse in appropriations.'' Nearly 80 percent of Americans live from one paycheck to the next. They cannot afford to miss even a single paycheck. Federal workers and contractors are no different. ``Excepted'' employees--those individuals who are compelled to work without pay during a shutdown--are guaranteed retroactive pay. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (Public Law 116-1), which I authored, now guarantees retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers. I have co-sponsored S. 162, Senator Smith's bill to provide retroactive pay for lower wage contractor employees. Currently, there is no guarantee that contractor employees will be paid after a shutdown ends. Many federal workers and contractors are subject to high security standards that include rigorous and routine financial background checks. Missing payments on debts could create delays in securing or renewing security clearances. We shouldn't punish these hard-working, patriotic Americans because they are forced to go without pay during a shutdown they bear no responsibility for causing. Providing retroactive pay is the right and fair thing to do, but forcing these individuals to miss one or more paychecks causes real financial harm. At a minimum, their security clearances shouldn't be jeopardized as a result. Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association (FBIAA) published a report entitled, ``Voices From The Field: FBI Agent Accounts of the Real Consequences of the Government Shutdown.'' The report warned of the dire national security consequences of the shutdown. It also documented the financial hardships FBIAA members were facing. Two comments from the FBIAA's Central Region summed up the situation. One Agent wrote, ``My wife and I are both FBI employees who were recently transferred to a new city and finally bought our first home. Now we can't pay the mortgage for it. We contacted our lender, and they are refusing to work with us. They don't want our `Hardship Letter', they want money, period.'' Another wrote, ``There have been several employees who have gotten zero assistance from their mortgage lenders and banks regarding home and car loans and still have to make payments on time or get penalized. They are truly struggling to make ends meet.'' Last December, when President Trump met with Leader Schumer and soon- to-be Speaker Pelosi, he boasted about shutting the government down, saying, ``I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down.'' While President Trump was proud ``to take the mantle,'' innocent victims were taking it on the chin. Here we are, less than five days away from another potential shutdown. I earnestly hope we can avoid another shutdown. But in the interim, we urgently need to mitigate the real harm federal workers and contractor employees suffer when they are forced to go without their pay. Passing PESCA is one way to do that. Just 13 days elapsed between the time I introduced the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act and President Trump signed it into law. I hope we can act with the same alacrity with respect to PESCA.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Protecting Employees Security Clearances Act of 2019 (PESCA). I am pleased to have Senators Leahy, Jones, Baldwin, Kaine, Feinstein, Hirono, Klobuchar, Durbin, Shaheen, Cortez Masto, Hassan, and Van Hollen as cosponsors. Our measure would protect federal employees and contractors from losing their security clearances due to financial reasons, such as poor credit scores, that are attributable to a lapse in federal appropriations. The bill directs the Security Executive Agent to ensure that a lapse in appropriations (including the one that ended last month) is considered as a mitigating factor for initial or continued security clearance eligibility during the adjudication process. More specifically, the bill states that ``No head of any agency may revoke the national security eligibility of a covered employee because of a reduction in the credit score or negative information in a consumer credit file of the covered employee that is attributable to disrupted income payments as a result of a lapse in appropriations.'' Nearly 80 percent of Americans live from one paycheck to the next. They cannot afford to miss even a single paycheck. Federal workers and contractors are no different. ``Excepted'' employees--those individuals who are compelled to work without pay during a shutdown--are guaranteed retroactive pay. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (Public Law 116-1), which I authored, now guarantees retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers. I have co-sponsored S. 162, Senator Smith's bill to provide retroactive pay for lower wage contractor employees. Currently, there is no guarantee that contractor employees will be paid after a shutdown ends. Many federal workers and contractors are subject to high security standards that include rigorous and routine financial background checks. Missing payments on debts could create delays in securing or renewing security clearances. We shouldn't punish these hard-working, patriotic Americans because they are forced to go without pay during a shutdown they bear no responsibility for causing. Providing retroactive pay is the right and fair thing to do, but forcing these individuals to miss one or more paychecks causes real financial harm. At a minimum, their security clearances shouldn't be jeopardized as a result. Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Agents Association (FBIAA) published a report entitled, ``Voices From The Field: FBI Agent Accounts of the Real Consequences of the Government Shutdown.'' The report warned of the dire national security consequences of the shutdown. It also documented the financial hardships FBIAA members were facing. Two comments from the FBIAA's Central Region summed up the situation. One Agent wrote, ``My wife and I are both FBI employees who were recently transferred to a new city and finally bought our first home. Now we can't pay the mortgage for it. We contacted our lender, and they are refusing to work with us. They don't want our `Hardship Letter', they want money, period.'' Another wrote, ``There have been several employees who have gotten zero assistance from their mortgage lenders and banks regarding home and car loans and still have to make payments on time or get penalized. They are truly struggling to make ends meet.'' Last December, when President Trump met with Leader Schumer and soon- to-be Speaker Pelosi, he boasted about shutting the government down, saying, ``I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down.'' While President Trump was proud ``to take the mantle,'' innocent victims were taking it on the chin. Here we are, less than five days away from another potential shutdown. I earnestly hope we can avoid another shutdown. But in the interim, we urgently need to mitigate the real harm federal workers and contractor employees suffer when they are forced to go without their pay. Passing PESCA is one way to do that. Just 13 days elapsed between the time I introduced the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act and President Trump signed it into law. I hope we can act with the same alacrity with respect to PESCA.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I would like to bring the Senate's attention to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Fairness Act of 2019, common sense legislation I am introducing with my colleague from Maryland, Senator Van Hollen today. This legislation seeks to eliminate a barrier that potential college students with difficult personal and financial circumstances face when applying for Federal financial aid that too often has left them without a path forward to earning a college education and joining the middle class. This body has worked to improve the college application process for students and their families over the last several years and successfully lobbied the Department of Education to allow students and their families to submit their FAFSA application in October and utilize prior prior-year tax data. These changes provide future college students and their families with several months to submit their financial information instead of a short time frame between January and February to meet State and institutional-based deadlines for need- and merit-based financial aid programs. These steps have made it easier for students to sit with their families and make informed financial decisions on which college or university will provide the highest quality yet least expensive college education. Despite our work, a number of our students are being left behind and cannot take advantage of these changes. Many of these students face difficult personal and financial situations. For instance, some have left home due to abusive family environments; others may have parents who are incarcerated. Still others may be unable to locate their parents. All of the students in these circumstances are unable to fill out the FAFSA application. Rather than fill out one universal Federal financial aid application form, a potential college student must contact each institution she or he is applying to and undergo a ``dependency override'' process before a college or university will put together an estimated financial aid package for the student. Under this process, a student applying to one university in my State of Maryland, for instance, must submit nine different pieces of financial information, a personal statement, and references to verify their independent status. These students, often first generation students unfamiliar with the process for applying to school, may give up on the dependency override process and fail to finish the college application process or leave significant Federal financial aid on the table. Mr. President, I think it is unfair that we place additional burdens on these students. We should not make opening the door to a brighter future harder than it is already. In Maryland, we know that access to a high-quality, yet affordable, education is the key to success and increasingly required for entry into the middle class. Regardless of a student's background or the circumstances that he or she has fought to overcome, it is my belief that this Congress should work to ensure maximum access to higher education. The FAFSA Fairness Act would seek to correct this inequity for some of our most vulnerable students. If enacted, my legislation would allow students in these difficult personal and financial circumstances to fill out a FAFSA form as a ``provisional independent'' student and receive a provisional determination of their Federal financial aid award from the Department of Education. The colleges that the student applies to would receive notification of the student's special circumstances and conduct outreach to inform the student of the process for completing a dependency override. After a student has completed the dependency override form, the school would provide the student with a final financial aid award package that includes Federal, State, and institutional need- and merit-based aid so the student could bargain shop for the best financial aid award package between multiple schools. After such students have been admitted to college, this legislation would allow them to remain focused on their classwork instead of annual recertification of their independent status by maintaining the dependency override decision for as long as they remain in school or if the university is made aware of new information about their status. My legislation would provide students with a pathway to complete the FAFSA, one of the first steps towards applying to college and obtaining a foothold in the middle class. It also provides students with an opportunity to identify the colleges and universities that match up the best with their financial situation and educational goals. I am proud to lead this Senate effort with my colleague from Maryland and appreciate the work of our delegation, especially U.S. Representatives Elijah E. Cummings, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, and John P. Sarbanes, who are introducing a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. I urge my Senate colleagues to join in this effort to help some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged students achieve their dream of higher education despite their difficult family and financial circumstances. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I would like to bring the Senate's attention to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Fairness Act of 2019, common sense legislation I am introducing with my colleague from Maryland, Senator Van Hollen today. This legislation seeks to eliminate a barrier that potential college students with difficult personal and financial circumstances face when applying for Federal financial aid that too often has left them without a path forward to earning a college education and joining the middle class. This body has worked to improve the college application process for students and their families over the last several years and successfully lobbied the Department of Education to allow students and their families to submit their FAFSA application in October and utilize prior prior-year tax data. These changes provide future college students and their families with several months to submit their financial information instead of a short time frame between January and February to meet State and institutional-based deadlines for need- and merit-based financial aid programs. These steps have made it easier for students to sit with their families and make informed financial decisions on which college or university will provide the highest quality yet least expensive college education. Despite our work, a number of our students are being left behind and cannot take advantage of these changes. Many of these students face difficult personal and financial situations. For instance, some have left home due to abusive family environments; others may have parents who are incarcerated. Still others may be unable to locate their parents. All of the students in these circumstances are unable to fill out the FAFSA application. Rather than fill out one universal Federal financial aid application form, a potential college student must contact each institution she or he is applying to and undergo a ``dependency override'' process before a college or university will put together an estimated financial aid package for the student. Under this process, a student applying to one university in my State of Maryland, for instance, must submit nine different pieces of financial information, a personal statement, and references to verify their independent status. These students, often first generation students unfamiliar with the process for applying to school, may give up on the dependency override process and fail to finish the college application process or leave significant Federal financial aid on the table. Mr. President, I think it is unfair that we place additional burdens on these students. We should not make opening the door to a brighter future harder than it is already. In Maryland, we know that access to a high-quality, yet affordable, education is the key to success and increasingly required for entry into the middle class. Regardless of a student's background or the circumstances that he or she has fought to overcome, it is my belief that this Congress should work to ensure maximum access to higher education. The FAFSA Fairness Act would seek to correct this inequity for some of our most vulnerable students. If enacted, my legislation would allow students in these difficult personal and financial circumstances to fill out a FAFSA form as a ``provisional independent'' student and receive a provisional determination of their Federal financial aid award from the Department of Education. The colleges that the student applies to would receive notification of the student's special circumstances and conduct outreach to inform the student of the process for completing a dependency override. After a student has completed the dependency override form, the school would provide the student with a final financial aid award package that includes Federal, State, and institutional need- and merit-based aid so the student could bargain shop for the best financial aid award package between multiple schools. After such students have been admitted to college, this legislation would allow them to remain focused on their classwork instead of annual recertification of their independent status by maintaining the dependency override decision for as long as they remain in school or if the university is made aware of new information about their status. My legislation would provide students with a pathway to complete the FAFSA, one of the first steps towards applying to college and obtaining a foothold in the middle class. It also provides students with an opportunity to identify the colleges and universities that match up the best with their financial situation and educational goals. I am proud to lead this Senate effort with my colleague from Maryland and appreciate the work of our delegation, especially U.S. Representatives Elijah E. Cummings, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, and John P. Sarbanes, who are introducing a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. I urge my Senate colleagues to join in this effort to help some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged students achieve their dream of higher education despite their difficult family and financial circumstances. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, first of all, I want to thank Senator Smith for her leadership on this issue. This involves 1.2 million contract workers who could very well not only lose their pay from the 35 days of the Government shutdown but not have any mechanism to receive that backpay. Senator Smith has filed legislation that is fair legislation, it works, and it is the right thing for us to do. These workers did not lose their pay because of anything they did wrong. These are the same as government workers because they are performing government work. They are maintaining our buildings, cleaning our buildings, providing security for government buildings. In some respects, these are very similar to our direct Federal workforce. We know that this 35-day, dangerous, outrageous, and unnecessary shutdown caused tremendous harm. We know the harm it caused 800,000 Federal workers. Over half were forced to work without pay, but they showed up and worked because they are patriotic Americans who believe very much in the mission they are doing on behalf of this country, the noble service of public service on behalf of their fellow citizens. Can you imagine trying to figure out how you are going to find money to put gasoline in your car so you can drive to work to do your service and not get paid for that day of work or how you are going to pay for your daycare or how you are going to pay for your daily expenses? But they are loyal, patriotic people who showed up every day for work. Close to 400,000 were furloughed and locked out without pay. As Senator Smith said, this body, with the help of the House and the signature of the President--S. 24, legislation I authored with Senator Smith's help, the Government Employees Fair Treatment Act, makes it clear that in the event of a shutdown, our Federal workforce will get their paychecks. They will not get them timely. They are still going to be inconvenienced. They are still not going to be able to pay their bills. But they will know that at the end of the day, when government reopens, they are going to get their paychecks, as they should and as every Member of this body agreed is the right thing to do, because our Federal workforce was not responsible for this shutdown. But it goes beyond just 800,000. It even goes beyond our contract workers. Our economy itself suffered. I had an opportunity to be the ranking Democrat on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. I can tell you that small businesses throughout the country were very much impacted by this 35-day shutdown. I am talking about small businesses that didn't have a direct relationship with the government or contract with the government--small businesses near our national parks. I had a meeting with Senator Van Hollen in Montgomery County, MD, with small businesses in the community. Because there were so many Federal workers who had been furloughed without pay and contract workers who didn't have paychecks, the average business that was there that day--there were many there--their business was down 20 to 60 percent. They are not going to be compensated for this. Of course, the American people were denied the services they needed, whether it was the FBI in full force to keep them safe or food inspectors doing their work. This was a disastrous shutdown. We can do something for the contract workers. As I said, these are people who are doing work on behalf of this Nation. They are working in our buildings. They are keeping our buildings safe. They are keeping our buildings clean. They are working for modest pay. These are not highly paid jobs. They were not paid during those 35 days, and unless Senator Smith's legislation is passed, they will not get compensated. I want to thank Senator Smith for S. 162, the Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act. It is well-drafted using existing mechanisms to compensate low-paid contract service workers. It is the right thing to do. We estimate that as many as 1.2 million people could be affected by this. This has had a major impact on their lives and on our economy. During the shutdown last month, I received a letter from Robert Conrad, president and CEO of LJT & Associates. LJT & Associates is a midsized firm based in Columbia, MD, that is the top contractor for NASA's Wallops Island flight facility on the Eastern Shore. Mr. Conrad wrote: ``The shutdown has had a significant negative impact on our business and, more importantly, our employees and their families . . . As a result of this lengthy government shutdown our company has not been paid by NASA and other agencies for work performed in November and December 2018 and this lack of payment continues to worsen by the day. As a result, we are faced with decisions to furlough or lay off our valuable employees. Unlike federal civil servants, our employees will not receive pay for suspended work during the shutdown, making the impacts of the layoff a permanent financial burden for them and their families.'' Well, let's respond to Mr. Conrad. Let's respond to those 1.2 million Americans who are doing work on behalf of all of us. The shutdown was not their fault. As we compensated our Federal workforce, let's also provide a safety net for those who lost their compensation as a result of this shutdown, the low-wage service workers. I hope we can find a way to quickly pass S. 162, and I again thank Senator Smith for her leadership.

Mr. CARDIN. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I want to thank Senator Smith, who called me during the holiday recess and said: We have this problem. How do we fix it? I really appreciated the phone call I received from Senator Smith. She recognized that we had to build support for the legislation but also make it work right because it is much more complicated to figure out the target group we are trying to help to make sure it is drafted in the right way. She reached out to get that type of help on drafting, as well as getting support among the stakeholders to make sure the bill was properly drafted. It took some time, and now we have a bill that we can all be proud to support. So once again, I want to thank my colleague from Minnesota for the manner in which she has gone about presenting this legislation.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague Senator Wicker to bring your attention to our proposed Dental Loan Repayment Assistance Act. This legislation will provide incentives for dental and dental hygiene graduates to remain as dental school faculty by eliminating certain loan assistance benefits from being counted as taxable income. 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 to stay where they are most needed. There are currently over 5,000 dental health professional shortage areas nationwide--areas where it is hard to find a dental provider even with insurance coverage. By 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) projects that the United States will have a national shortage of 15,000 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 this bill 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. To echo Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, ``there is no health without oral health.'' Despite being largely preventable, tooth decay 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 left 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 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 a severe brain infection that could have been prevented by an $80 extraction. After multiple surgeries and a lengthy hospital stay, sadly, Deamonte passed away--twelve years ago this month. 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 without 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 (CHIP) with an important addition: a guaranteed pediatric dental benefit. Today, CHIP provides affordable comprehensive health coverage--including dental coverage--to more than 8 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 very proud that my State of Maryland has been 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, every 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 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 dropped down to 13 percent. I urge my colleagues to join Senator 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 will not 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.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague Senator Wicker to bring your attention to our proposed Dental Loan Repayment Assistance Act. This legislation will provide incentives for dental and dental hygiene graduates to remain as dental school faculty by eliminating certain loan assistance benefits from being counted as taxable income. 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 to stay where they are most needed. There are currently over 5,000 dental health professional shortage areas nationwide--areas where it is hard to find a dental provider even with insurance coverage. By 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) projects that the United States will have a national shortage of 15,000 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 this bill 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. To echo Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, ``there is no health without oral health.'' Despite being largely preventable, tooth decay 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 left 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 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 a severe brain infection that could have been prevented by an $80 extraction. After multiple surgeries and a lengthy hospital stay, sadly, Deamonte passed away--twelve years ago this month. 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 without 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 (CHIP) with an important addition: a guaranteed pediatric dental benefit. Today, CHIP provides affordable comprehensive health coverage--including dental coverage--to more than 8 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 very proud that my State of Maryland has been 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, every 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 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 dropped down to 13 percent. I urge my colleagues to join Senator 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 will not 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.

Mr. CARDIN

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object because we had floor time immediately after my friend from Texas, could you give us an idea of how much time you will be using on the floor before we have the time--we were supposed to come immediately after you. That is my reason for raising that issue.

Mr. CARDIN. There are about 15 Senators who are waiting for the time. We were originally supposed to start at 3:30. Now we are starting later. I know Senators are going to be inconvenienced. Some have commitments. I will remove my objection. I really want it understood that we thought we would be starting our time before that.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I had previously noted on the floor the group of Senators who want to join together to send a clear message that we are committed to working together to end this shutdown and responsibly deal with border security in a truly bipartisan manner. This is a group of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans. Senator Murkowski is leading this on the Republican side of the floor today. I ask unanimous consent that for the next hour, the two of us control 30 minutes of time; that I control 30 minutes and Senator Murkowski will control the other 30 minutes of time.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, during this floor time, I think you are going to see clear messages coming from Democratic Senators and Republican Senators that this shutdown needs to end, that we need to pass a short-term, 3-week clean CR so we can have time to consider the President's request and work together on a bipartisan border security package. I want my colleagues to know we have been meeting regularly in an effort to try to see where we can find common ground. We feel pretty confident that we can find common ground if we can get government open and get to work in a responsible manner to deal with border security in the best interest of the people of this Nation. Mr. President, I will first yield to my friend from Virginia, Senator Warner, then I will yield time and give up the floor to Senator Murkowski.

Mr. CARDIN. I couldn't agree more with my friend from Alaska and the way she worded it. We are going to work together to open the government as quickly as possible. I yield to my friend from Delaware, Senator Coons.