Thomas Carper

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I just want to say again my thanks to--I think I am pretty rabid on recycling, but this fellow from Arkansas is right there with me. I appreciate very much both your leadership and Senator Capito's. I think we are going to shift gears here. We just passed two very significant recycling bills for our country. This is something that I am thrilled about, and I know Senator Capito is as well. And we are going to shift gears and take some time to consider other important legislation: the Water Resources Development Act. Senator Cardin, who chairs the subcommittee, has jurisdiction on the water resources bill. I think he is prepared to speak. I think I need to make a unanimous consent request before we do that.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and consider H.R. 7776, as provided for under the previous order.

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Cramer not just for his words but--I will take my mask off--not just for his words but for his great participation, he and his staff, in this effort. I don't think it has been said in our short time we have been on the floor here this morning: In the subcommittee, we don't just make up this legislation. We have a tradition of reaching out to other Senate offices. We reached out to all 100 Senate offices. We ask everybody-- Democrat, Republican, a couple of Independents--and say: What are your priorities? What would you like to see prioritized, included in this legislation? We received feedback and input from, I think, every single office. And we have tried to reflect that input in this legislation. So this is very much a community effort. And for everyone who has participated, thank you for doing so and putting us in a position today to vote and, hopefully, in an affirmative way. Before we do vote, I just want to express one more time my very, very strong support for the Water Resources Development Act of 2022. As we have heard before this bill: Affectionately known as WRDA, it is an ambitious, bipartisan water resources package that ensures the timely reauthorization of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer studies and projects. The bill also equips the Corps with critical authorities to restore ecosystems and protect communities from climate-change- exacerbated events like flooding and drought. This legislation is a product of tireless commitment to bipartisanship and doing the right thing. Senator Capito, Senator Cardin, Senator Cramer, and myself and our staffs look past the party differences and find, once more, a path forward on critical infrastructure needs, just as we did last year on the bipartisan infrastructure bill that the President signed into law late last year. This is not the first time we have done this, and it won't be the last. This Congress, the Environmental Public Works Committee, has consistently advanced bipartisan legislation on drinking water; legislation on wastewater; legislation on transportation--roads, highways, bridges--and on recycling just today, just today. All of those bills passed EPW unanimously, just like this Army Corps of Engineers bill passed unanimously. As EPW chairman, I am quite proud of the committee's work. I just wish that everybody in the country who thinks that all we do is fight around here and agree on nothing--I wish they had a chance to kind of tune in and maybe be a fly on the wall and hear how when you work together, you can get some amazing stuff done and really important, really important things, as well, for all of our States, for every corner of this country. A word, if I could, about the Army Corps of Engineers. I am a Navy guy. I spent something like 23 years Active Reserve Duty. I am the last Vietnam veteran serving here. But I have huge respect--huge respect-- for the Army Corps of Engineers. I like to say: Different uniforms, same team. And in my State and, frankly, all 50 States, they do extraordinary work--sometimes without a lot of recognition, without a lot of thanks. And I just want to say, we recognize you in Delaware; we recognize you even in the Navy; and we are deeply grateful for the work that you do, the great work you do. We couldn't do a lot of what we do without your help. And this legislation is needed for the Army Corps to meet their responsibilities and obligations. But all the bills that I mentioned earlier passed committee unanimously, as did this bill. And, again, we are so proud of the committee's work. What a joy it is to work with Senator Capito. And I wish I could say the same thing about her staff. No. I am just joking. Adam, you know we love working with you and your team, and we are really privileged. We were privileged to be led on our side of the staff by Mary Frances Repko, who is new at this. She has not worked long for many weeks or months on the Hill. Actually, she has probably for a quarter of a century or so, and I think she started at the age of 12. She has done a lot, and she still has a lot of gas in the tank. But going back to the Corps--the Corps is the principal steward of our Nation's water infrastructure, and it serves both as a facilitator and protector of our diverse economy. This bill--WRDA 2022--recognizes that the Corps is an essential part of our lives. This bill takes critical steps to better support the Agency as it serves all parts of our country. From navigation to ecosystem restoration and flood control, the Corps is the backbone-- really, the foundation, if you will, on which our country was built. I would like to reiterate that every provision in this bill is the result of bipartisan work. I can confidently say that WRDA 2022 will benefit all corners of our nation--from Alaska to California to Kentucky to New York, from Maryland to rural towns and every place in between. Again, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to staff on the Democratic side, the majority staff, and to Senator Capito's staff on the minority side, the Republican side. Actually, you can walk into a meeting, some of the meetings we have with Senator Capito and myself and our staffs, and if you didn't know who worked for whom, you wouldn't know. You wouldn't know, which I think is an amazing thing, a wonderful thing. With that in mind, again, I want to thank again my staff and Senate Capito's staff who worked so hard. I want to recognize, again, Mary Frances Repko and Adam Tomlinson for their dedicated leadership on the Democratic side and the Republican side of our committee. I also want to thank Murphie Barrett, Max Hyman, Kim Townsend, Katherine Scarlett, Jacob Mitchell, Haden Miller, Mayely Boyce, Tyler Hofmann Reardon, Jordan Baugh, Milo Goodell, Janine Barr, and John Kane--especially John Kane--for their tireless efforts. John, you are a force of nature. And thank you very, very much for your great leadership. I would like to say, again--I just said that, so I am not going to say that again. I also want to thank Amy Klein and David Wethington of the Corps--Amy Klein and David Wethington of the Corps--for their countless hours of technical assistance and support as the bill was developed. In closing, I want to encourage all of our colleagues to join us in supporting this excellent bill, because every State stands to benefit from the legislation before us today. Mr. President, the Senate is now considering the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, affectionately known as WRDA. Not only is this biennial legislation an ambitious water resources bill, it is also the product of a tireless commitment to bipartisanship. Earlier this year, we reached out to all 100 Senators to solicit their input for this legislation. We developed this legislation using that feedback, and in May, we advanced this legislation out of the Environment and Public Works Committee by a vote of 20 to 0, something I am quite proud of as EPW chairman. In these times of partisan divide, it is not often we see legislation receive unanimous support. But, as we all know, bipartisan solutions are lasting solutions. That is how I think we should approach much of our work in the Senate--by reaching across the aisle to find lasting solutions, where possible, to the problems we face as a nation. The bill before us today is a result of that partnership. Before I delve into all we accomplish in this bill, let me thank everyone who played a role in its development--especially our EPW committee ranking member, Senator Capito, our Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee chair, Senator Cardin, our subcommittee ranking member, Senator Cramer, every member of our committee, and the members of our staffs. I also want to thank the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for supporting us throughout the drafting process. This legislation continues the 2-year cycle for WRDA. By passing it, we will ensure timely authorization of the Army Corps' studies and projects. This work is critical in supporting our economy, restoring critical ecosystems, and protecting communities from climate change and extreme weather events like flooding and drought. When we talk about WRDA, I cannot overstate just how important the Army Corps' work is in the lives of Americans across the country. The Corps is the principal steward of our Nation's water infrastructure. That includes our beaches, our waterways, and our flood control systems. Without the enactment of WRDA, our economy could well grind to a halt. The Corps operates and maintains America's water highway, a 12,000- mile-long system of inland waterways with 209 locks that are vital to domestic and international commerce. Each year, more than 500 million tons of commodities move through this system, including 60 percent of our Nation's agricultural exports. Operating and maintaining this extensive network results in an economic benefit of nearly $14 billion each year for our country. In addition to managing the waterways that connect our ports to world commerce, the Army Corps of Engineers is also responsible for ensuring safe, reliable, and efficient navigation at our coastal ports. As we have seen over the past 2 years, navigable shipping channels are essential to keeping global supply chains moving. More than 99 percent of U.S. overseas trade volume moves through the 13,000 miles of coastal channels maintained by the Corps, supporting over 30 million jobs across the country. Cargo activity at our Nation's ports supports more than a quarter of the U.S. economy. And, over the next decade, an estimated $66 billion in future investment will be needed to ensure continued domestic job creation and economic growth. Recognizing the economic importance of our Nation's inland shipping channels, WRDA 2022 adjusts the Inland Waterways Trust Fund cost share to expedite much needed project improvements. The legislation also addresses the harbor deepening and maintenance needs of commercially significant ports, as well as underserved community harbors. While commercially significant ports are vital to our Nation's economy, community harbors are similarly important to local and regional economies. WRDA 2022 ensures that these community harbors, which provide essential fishing, recreation, and navigation services, will continue to receive maintenance that will allow for their continued use. As a recovering Governor, I often like to say that it is our responsibility as elected officials to create a nurturing environment for job creation and job preservation. Maintaining our ports and coastal waterways is a cornerstone of that nurturing environment. The Corps is also a leader in flood and storm damage mitigation and ecosystem restoration. In addition to managing over 700 dams and more than 13,000 miles of levees and floodwalls, it restores and nourishes the Nation's dunes and beaches, constructs and maintains wetlands and floodplains, and protects shorelines and riverbanks. In total, the Corps' flood and coastal storm risk management activities, and infrastructure portfolio, provide the nation an economic benefit of nearly $260 billion in damage prevention and reduction. This is critical to understand because more than 40 percent of our Nation's population lives in coastal counties. If coastal counties were their own nation, they would rank third in the world in gross domestic product--beaten out only by China and the United States as a whole. This work is especially important for the communities I represent in Delaware. Earlier this year, on the Saturday before Mother's Day, a nor'easter pummeled beaches up and down the Delmarva Peninsula. When I toured the damage, it was staggering to think that in 2 weeks, these communities needed to be ready for the first real beach season since the start of the COVID pandemic. While many beaches had experienced severe erosion and destruction, the dune system that the Corps had built worked as designed and protected Delmarva communities from the storm. Homes and buildings remained intact. Businesses could still operate. States were prepared to handle the storm because of the work that the Army Corps had done. Now, we are working with the Corps to rebuild these beaches, which are the lifeblood of our States' economies. Water, as we all know, is essential for life and a critical input into virtually all economic activity. It is hard--in fact, it is impossible--to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, without the use of water and water-related infrastructure. Unfortunately, climate change is fueling extreme weather in the form of longer and stronger noreasters, hurricanes, and droughts. This threatens the Corps' ability to be a good steward of our water infrastructure, as well as that infrastructure's ability to protect and support our economy. And this is not just a problem for coastal communities. For inland communities like those along the Missouri River, climate change means heavier and more frequent precipitation events, inland flooding, riverbank erosion, and the inundation of water treatment systems with sediments and contaminants in some areas. For other communities out west, climate change means historic droughts, water shortages, and deeply destructive wildfires. The Water Resources Development Act of 2022 recognizes these challenges posed by climate change. It accounts for the new realities that the Corps faces in carrying out its primary missions and takes critical steps to address these looming concerns. How? First, WRDA 2022 overhauls the Corps' project development authorities, allowing the agency to better address the impacts of climate change. This will make a big difference in States like Arizona, where we are witnessing the worst drought conditions along the Colorado River in 12,000 years. Under our legislation, the Corps and local project sponsors will, for the first time, be able to partner and develop cost-shared plans to address drought risk management and water supply conservation during the planning, constructing, and operating of water resources development projects. Communities in coastal States will also be able to develop projects that address their specific climate-related impacts. This means that we will see projects better formulated to combat sea level rise, as well as back bay flooding or even sunny day tidal changes instead of just storm surge protection. In addition to overhauling the Corps' project development authorities, WRDA 2022 makes clear that the protection and restoration of shorelines and riverbanks from erosion and other damaging forces is a primary responsibility. It also improves the Corps' ability to make shorelines and riverbanks more resilient. In crafting this legislation, we also made equity a top priority. I am pleased to report that WRDA 2022 builds on the significant inroads made in WRDA 2020 to rectify historical inequities for Tribal and disadvantaged communities. WRDA 2022 establishes a new Tribal and Disadvantaged Communities Advisory Committee to help the Corps more effectively deliver projects, programs, and other assistance to these communities. It also makes permanent the 2020 pilot programs that cover cost shares for economically disadvantaged communities. In addition, this legislation reauthorizes the Corps' Tribal Partnership Program and makes a series of targeted improvements to increase opportunities for Tribal communities to partner with the Corps on essential projects in a more cost-effective way. Finally, WRDA 2022 establishes a new workforce development and STEM outreach program at the Corps with a priority to recruit new engineers from historically disadvantaged communities. As we move to the consideration of the Water Resources Development Act of 2022, I am reminded of an old African proverb that goes something like this: ``If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, travel together.'' On this bill, we can proudly say that we have chosen to travel together. With that in mind, I would like to take a moment to thank my staff and Ranking Member Capito's staff who together spent tireless hours drafting and negotiating each provision in this bill. I would like to recognize our staff directors, Mary Frances Repko and Adam Tomlinson, for their dedicated leadership. I would also like to thank Murphie Barrett, Max Hyman, Kim Townsend, Katherine Scarlett, Jacob Mitchell, Haden Miller, Mayely Boyce, Tyler Hofmann-Reardon, Jordan Baugh, Milo Goodell, Janine Barr, and John Kane for their tireless efforts. I like to say that if you walked in a room and saw our staff in discussions, you would be impressed at how well they work together-- even when discussing difficult issues. I would also like to thank Amy Klein and David Wethington of the Corps for the countless hours of technical assistance and support as this bill was developed. In closing, I urge all of my colleagues to join Senator Capito and me in supporting this excellent bill because every State stands to benefit from the legislation before us today. I yield the floor. With that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all time be yielded back.

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

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I rise today to discuss the CHIPS and Science Act, a bill approved by the Senate yesterday and, I am told, just approved literally in the last several minutes by the House of Representatives, a bill that I am proud to be able to support, along with many of my colleagues. This bipartisan legislation will invest in our Nation's semiconductor industry, strengthen America's manufacturing competitive edge over foreign competitors, and reduce supply chain burdens that exist with respect to our country and our people. Yesterday's vote marked an important step in providing America the authority to set the rules of the road for a 21st-century economy. I was pleased to join so many of our colleagues in support of this bill so that States like Delaware and like Nevada can continue to punch above our weight in the global economy for years to come. We probably all heard the saying before: ``Today, they don't make cars like they used to.'' Well, some of my colleagues know and many folks in Delaware know I can attest to that personally. For two decades, I drove a 2001 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, a silver one, affectionately called by many the Silver Bullet. It had 600,000 miles on it. When I went to the DMV and took with me the young man who wanted to buy it, they asked me how much I was going to sell it for. I said: $1. The lady there at the desk at the DMV said: Well, what you have to do, you have to turn it over and sign on the back of title ``$1.'' So I wrote ``$1,'' and I signed the document, as did the purchaser. Then the lady at the DMV said: There is a transfer fee you have to pay for the vehicle. I said: What is it? She said: 3 percent. I said: 3 percent of $1? She said: Yes. I pulled a nickel out of my pocket and gave it to her and said: Keep the change. But my old minivan is more popular and famous in my little State in a lot of places than I was. But anyway, that vehicle had seen every corner of the First State, with some 600,000 miles to her name. She carried ``Carpertown'' staffers, constituents, family members, and even a future President-- even a future President. When it came time to retire her early last summer, through anguish and heartache, I opted for a slight upgrade: a red Tesla Y that maybe someday will have 600,000 miles on it. We will see. Let me tell you, though, they don't make cars like they used to. They make them a lot better, a whole lot better and a whole lot cleaner as well. On top of being fully electric--and let me just say that 2, 3, 4 years ago, our selection of electric vehicles, low-emission, no- emission vehicles, was limited, very limited, and folks from Tesla were largely outside of the gate. First, the people from GM had come up with a very good hybrid vehicle for a number of years, but it took a long time for us to actually get into the business--both domestic manufacturers and foreign manufacturers--of building and selling fully electric vehicles. But on top of being fully electric, right when you step into these new cars, including the one I own, you see a world of technology in front of us--a state-of-the-art touchscreen GPS system, backup cameras, digital heating and air-conditioning controls. It is a far cry from my own minivan that drove so many miles. The odometer actually died on me at 500,000 miles. I don't know exactly how many miles it did have, but it had a lot. But at 500,000 miles, we went to Dover Downs, the Miracle Mile, the Monster Mile, where they do auto racing and NASCAR racing. They let me drive my minivan around the track as fast as it would go. Holding the starter flag out the window, I thought it was going to rip my arm off, but it didn't. But it didn't. One ride in a car like my new one, and it is clear, automotive technology and the American economy have drastically advanced in the last 20 years. That is thanks, in part, to the advances of semiconductor technology or, as we sometimes say, chips. Now, folks at home might have read about chips or may have heard about some connection with semiconductors and our supply chain woes on the nightly news, but they still wonder what that has to do with their everyday lives. So here it is, a little bit of chips 101, a little bit of chips 101 before I get in my new vehicle and head for the Delaware State Fair as fast as I can go--legally, legally. Chips 101: a semiconductor, oftentimes referred to as a chip, is commonly used material in tech manufacturing made of elements like silicon that are valued for their ability to manage the flow of electricity. In our technology, a chip as small as a puzzle piece or even smaller than a fingernail is vital to creating the phones that we carry in our pockets or in our purses, the washing machine in our basements, the television in our family rooms, and, yes, all that technology in our new vehicles. But more than that, the semiconductors have a vital role to play in some of the medical equipment that monitors our health and in the weapons systems that protect our country. But after 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shock, unpredictable shutdowns, along with labor shortages and logistic failures, have led to severe supply chain constraints. These supply chain issues have caused the same inflation that Americans have seen play out in empty shelves at your local grocery stores or in new technology that they have saved up for years to buy but are having a hard time finding on the market as of late. Just last month, Senator John Cornyn and I chaired a Finance Trade Subcommittee hearing, and it was a hearing on supply chain resiliency. We did it in order to take a look at what is causing supply chain backlogs and hurting American consumers. We heard that day from the experts about the need for greater investments in semiconductor manufacturing here at home and about the vulnerabilities we face when companies thousands and thousands of miles away--maybe on the other side of the world--can determine the economic success of entire American industries. Because our manufacturing sector relies on this technology, we are beholden to the companies that produce semiconductors and we are hamstrung--hamstrung--by the delays that slow these companies down. That is increasingly a problem when America's share of global chips production drops from 37 percent--37 percent--in 1990 to just 12 percent today or when more than 75 percent of chips are manufactured in Asia on the other side of the world. This reliance on foreign manufacturers makes our economic and our national security vulnerable to geopolitical shocks from halfway around the planet. And that is a problem for companies in my State of Delaware and your State of Nevada, Madam President. But one of the companies that I would mention from our State is Hologic, and they are located in Newark, DE, near the University of Delaware, the northern part of our State. They rely on a reliable stream of chips to produce mammography machines. For Hologic, a shortage of chips means not just slower production of new mammography machines but a struggle to replace and repair old machines that women across our country rely on for vital preventive care to detect breast cancer. After more than 2 years of this pandemic and cancer screenings all too often delayed for months, that means more clinics and doctors' offices with outdated equipment will offer limited screenings, and that means more women in States like mine and like yours across America will have to put screenings that could save their lives on the back burner. That is just one very serious, real-world example of why these investments are critical to families and they are critical to businesses up and down the ``First State'' and across the United States. So, Madam President, we can and we should take action to address some of the weaknesses in our economy and to compete with countries like China in the process. That is why I am proud to support the CHIPS and Science Act. It is a much needed investment for the manufacturing of semiconductors and the development of other critical technologies in our country, and it will provide tax incentives to make our tech sector the envy of the world once again. By investing in American-made chips, we can reduce costs of technology for Americans, improve supply chain reliability, and we can create new opportunities and jobs for a lot of American workers. And by investing in the National Science Foundation and the American innovation hubs, we have an opportunity to jump-start American innovation and growth once again. This legislation will make life a bit easier for businesses and consumers across America, from car dealerships in Delaware, on the east coast, and in your State of Nevada, out there in the middle of the great West--from car dealerships in Delaware that don't have enough inventory to meet customer demands to manufacturers struggling to access critical parts and inputs. As Secretary of Commerce Raimondo and the Defense Secretary have made clear over the last couple of weeks, including in a briefing that they held with us, this bill will bolster both our economic and our national security--but not only that. To not act, to not invest in American jobs and manufacturing, as Secretary Raimondo described it, would cause--her words--``irreparable harm to the United States economy and the United States military operations''--because when America isn't in the driver's seat, someone else is taking the wheel, and Americans may well fall behind as a result. So we have not just an opportunity, I think we have an obligation to American consumers and to our Nation's workforce to invest right here at home. The action we are taking should be the beginning rather than the end of our efforts to strengthen, once again, American economic competitiveness. There were many bipartisan ideas on the table through the debate over this legislation, some ideas that didn't make it into the final bill. Many of them are worthy of our future consideration. And as the chairman of the Finance Subcommittee on International Trade that I lead with Senator Cornyn, I will continue advocating for greater economic engagement with our allies across the globe and especially-- especially--in the Asia-Pacific. There is more we can do. I will say that again. There is more we can do--and must do--to strengthen supply chain resiliency, combat unfair trade practices, and support the American worker and innovation. I was proud to vote in favor of the CHIPS and Science Act because, first and foremost, I serve the people of the ``First State.'' And yesterday's vote will mean investments that create jobs for Delaware workers and States around us. We have a lot of people in other States who work in Delaware even though they live in Pennsylvania or New Jersey or in Maryland. Yesterday's vote will mean support for the technology that keeps our loved ones healthy and safe, and it will also mean more affordable goods, delivered faster, to families in the ``First State'' and every other State. I want to commend the House of Representatives for the action that they took today in passing this legislation. And when I leave here today, I am going to go out and get in that red sports car that I drive these days. And it has incredible music, just incredible music, as you probably know. Most cars have that these days. And I think that, first, I am going to head for the Delaware State Fair, which I love. The first time I ran for office, that was sort of like where I announced it a million years ago. I will probably pick out some music to listen to, and the first song, I think, is a Willie Nelson song. It is a Willie Nelson song: ``On the Road Again.'' And I am going to get on the road again and head for the ``First State,'' for the Delaware State Fair, and look forward to meeting a lot of people. I wish you a great weekend. To my colleague Dan Sullivan from Alaska, the marine colonel who is about to take the floor, have at it. Danny, it is all yours. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I have eight 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 armed services The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 28, 2022, 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 Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing. committee on finance The Committee on Finance is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 10 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 Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 10 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 Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 2 p.m., to conduct a hearing on nominations. committee on the judiciary The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 9 a.m., to conduct a business meeting. special committee on aging The Special Committee on Aging is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, July 28, 2022, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of Delaware's congressional delegation in honor of the 100th anniversary of Delaware's first radio station, WDEL. The station was born on July 22, 1922, when amateur radio operator and shop owner Willard Wilson aired the first news reports and music out of his home in Wilmington, DE, on what was then WHAV. Over the years, the station changed its call letters to WDEL and moved out of Wilson's home to various spaces in downtown Wilmington, where listeners could tune in to hear many famous ``big bands'' live from the Gold Ballroom of the Hotel Du Pont. Today, the station has a home on Shipley Road and has grown to provide local news, talk and traffic reports, with thousands of listeners from Delaware and our surrounding States tuning in daily to hear from WDEL's recognizable voices on the airwaves. Just like our home State's motto, WDEL has been ``first'' many times when it comes to broadcasting. In 1933, WDEL became one of the first radio affiliates for Major League Baseball, airing the Philadelphia A's games. Today, you can still catch the crack of the bat on its signals 101.7 FM or 1150 AM during the Philadelphia Phillies season. WDEL was also the first in Delaware to provide real-time, locally produced traffic reports, filling a need when other stations weren't covering the busy roads in the Delaware region. The station also was one of the first stations to hire women for on-air positions when it wasn't popular to do so. Over the years, WDEL has covered many historic moments in Delaware, including Presidential visits from Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and, of course, Delaware's own Joe Biden. WDEL has also covered the moments that capture the cultural fabric of Delaware, including broadcasts from the Greek, Italian, and Polish festivals, as well as the Wilmington Flower Market, and has a long history of giving back to the community by supporting Nemours Children's Hospital, Ronald McDonald House, Sunday Breakfast Mission, and many other children's charities, shelters, and soup kitchens. WDEL's dedication to its listeners was awarded numerous times over the years. WDEL was named Medium Market Station of the Year by the National Association of Broadcasters--NAB--named News Operation of the Year by the Chesapeake AP Broadcasters Association several times, and was honored with the Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence twice, and the NAB's prestigious Crystal Award for public service. On behalf of both U.S. Senator Chris Coons and U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, I rise today to honor WDEL radio on a century of hard work and dedication to serving the community. The station that started as just one among 100 in the country has withstood a century of change and innovation and has been recognized as among the best in the Nation. We wish its employees and listeners many more years of this incredible news service on the airwaves.

Mr. CARPER

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

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, today I have the honor to rise in support of Greg Williams to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, one of the busiest and, we believe, most important district courts in our Nation. Before delving into what makes Delaware's district court such an essential part of the American economy and what makes Greg Williams an exceptional nominee to serve, in the words of the American Bar Association, they deem him ``well qualified'' to be a Federal judge. I want to share some background and the process that we use in Delaware for making recommendations to the Federal bench to the President. A few years ago my friend--and I call him my wingman--Senator Chris Coons and I had the opportunity to make recommendations to the White House for two vacancies on this same court. There was, at the time, a President of a different party, and the majority here was on the other side, not on this side at that time. Our process was simple then and was straightforward and borrowed heavily from the process that I used while serving as Governor of Delaware for 8 years. Throughout those 8 years when I was privileged to serve as Governor, we relied on a judicial nominating commission and charged them with a simple task. Basically, this was it: find the most qualified individuals, regardless of political party, make recommendations to the Governor for appointments to Delaware's many important State courts, including our State supreme court and the court of chancery. We used a similar process for Federal district court vacancies. The process served Delaware well during those 8 years, and I believe that the process Senator Coons and I have used now serves our Nation well, too, regardless of which political party controls the White House or the Senate. It has yielded yet another extraordinary nominee. That nominee is Greg Williams, a partner at Fox Rothschild. Former president of the Delaware State Bar Association and President Biden's nominee to serve as the next judge on the U.S. District Court for Delaware. But Greg is more than a lawyer, much more. He is a father, a husband, a son, and a brother. In fact, he is the youngest brother in his family of five, with four older sisters, and I know they help to keep him on the straight and narrow much like my older sister did with me. Greg has been married to his high school sweetheart, Terina, for 27 years. Together, they have raised two children in Delaware that any one of us would be proud to call our own. A Villanova Law School graduate, Greg has worked at one of top law firms in the Nation, Fox Rothschild, for the past 28 years. Through hard work and commitment to excellence, in 2003, Greg became the first African-American attorney to have been hired as an associate and then be named as a partner at Fox Rothschild. Greg learned those values--hard work and commitment to excellence--in part as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, where he served from 1986 to 1994--part of those years when I was his commander in chief as Governor of the State of Delaware. After law school, Greg embarked on a successful legal career that has earned him the respect and admiration of Delaware's highly regarded legal community. Greg has particular expertise in intellectual property and business litigation, which make him particularly well-suited for the Delaware District Court. More than his professional qualifications, though, Greg is the personification of the Golden Rule, which calls on us to treat one another the way we want to be treated. And, as a result, he is also the personification of judicial temperament in that courtroom--and any courtroom, for that matter. Like Senator Coons and me and many of our colleagues, Greg is a person of deep faith. He understands personally the words ``Golden Rule'' and what they mean. And if confirmed, I believe he will use that rule to guide him on the bench. Let me close by saying this: We have all probably heard a saying that is oftentimes used in relationship to an undersized boxer--someone who punches above their weight. The Delaware District Court is one of the busiest courts in our country. It handles an array of cases related to intellectual property law, patent law, bankruptcy law, and other specialized business cases that are critical to the functioning of our national economy. Like our small State, this court punches above its weight, and our nominee Greg Williams not only has the credentials and the temperament, but the strong work ethic that are necessary for this court to continue to function as one of the most important district courts in our land. I consider it a privilege to give him my strongest possible endorsement, and I encourage my colleagues to join Senator Coons and me today in supporting his nomination on the Senate floor. And with that, I don't see if--I don't know that our colleague--here comes Senator Coons, here to speak on behalf of this nominee as well. I will just say this: You know, we have judicial nominees come before us, not every day but often in this body. In some cases, the folks who are from the State where that nominee hails, they know them, have at least a passing knowledge of them, and have maybe met them. We have known Greg Williams for almost a quarter of a century. He is not just one of the finest lawyers in our State; he is one of the finest human beings in our State. It is an honor for me to join Senator Coons in suggesting his name to the President of this country. We are grateful the President actually submitted that name now to the U.S. Senate for our consideration. And with that, I am going to yield the floor. I see we have Senator Cassidy here. I don't know if he has the opportunity to--no, he is going to wait for a while. I am going to just stop right here. Senator Coons stopped just briefly. I think he is going to be right back on the floor; and, hopefully, he will be able to pick up right where I--I will do the handoff to my colleague from Delaware.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader following consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 399, H.R. 7776; that the Carper-Capito-Cardin-Cramer substitute No. 5140 be considered and agreed to; that there be up to 1 hour of debate, equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of time, if a budget point of order is made, the Senate vote on the motion to waive; and that if the point of order is waived, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and the Senate vote on passage of the bill with 60 affirmative votes required for passage; and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I might just add: What is all this about? It is about the Water Resources Development Act. We are trying to move it along and expedite it. I want to thank everybody. Senator Capito I notice is on the floor, but Senator Cardin is here and Senator Cramer as well. Many thanks to all of them and to the leadership on both sides of the aisle. It is important legislation. We are happy to get it moving. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I have had the privilege of serving with Senator Barrasso. For any number of years, we were the coleads on the Environment and Public Works Committee. We actually found common ground on a whole lot of issues and disagreed on a number of them as well. But on a personal level, we have, I think, a very good friendship and have had for a number of years good collaboration on Environment and Public Works. I disagree with almost everything he said--almost everything he said--and I am not a disagreeable person, but I always look for common ground, and I am sorry to say I didn't hear a whole lot from him today to do that. The suggestion that somehow we shouldn't be concerned about climate change, the climate crisis that has visited our planet--a couple of points I just want to share. This is off the news yesterday, the day before, Monday, Tuesday of this week. The United Kingdom broke its record for the highest recorded temperature multiple times on Monday, reaching 104.4 degrees Fahrenheit. In Great Britain, for the most part, they don't have air- conditioning. Record temperature--104.4 degrees just on Monday alone. There are airport runways in Great Britain that are melting--that is right, melting--because it is so hot. The railways in the United States are buckling from the heat, with riders warned to stay home--to stay home. Over 1,100 people have died in Spain and Portugal just in the last week from heat-related causes. Wildfires in France have forced 30,000 people--that is about as many people as we have in Dover, DE, our State capital--30,000 people to evacuate. Organizers plan to pour tens of thousands of liters of water onto the Tour de France route--it is a huge, international bicycle competition--to prevent the road from melting in the heat. More than 40 million people in the United States are under extreme heat warnings across the Great Plains and California. Around 60 million Americans will likely see temperatures at or above 100 degrees--not this year, not this month, this week. Nearly 60 percent of California is dealing with excessive drought, while 20 percent of Texas--it is 5 percent worse than last week--experiences exceptional drought, the most extreme level on the drought scale. Firefighters this week are currently battling 89--that is right, 89--large fires in 12 States in the United States. That is just off the news pages of 2 days ago. Amid calls to lower the price of gasoline, I rise to speak on the news this week regarding climate change. There is no doubt that we are living in unprecedented times as a nation and as a planet. After an unprecedented pandemic ground our global economy to a halt, Americans have been struggling to return to ``normal.'' As we saw in the news earlier this year, unprecedented supply chain issues from the pandemic, along with Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, have caused gas prices to rise until this month-- until this month. We know that this in turn has fueled inflation and put economic strain on families and small businesses across our country. President Biden has responded to this challenge with unprecedented action, rallying our global partners and releasing record amounts of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The result has garnered less attention from the media. Over the past 34 days, gasoline prices have declined by more than half a dollar per gallon. I will say that again. Over the past 34 days, gasoline prices have declined by more than 50 cents per gallon--the fastest decline in over a decade. More than 20,000 gas stations across our country are now offering gas for under $4 per gallon. Leading economists expect this decline in gas prices to continue, maybe even to accelerate. In addition, our Nation is on track to surpass our historic, prepandemic levels of oil production by 2023. I want to say that again. In addition, our Nation is on track to surpass our historic, prepandemic levels of oil production by 2023--next year. Still, these are short-term solutions that leave Americans susceptible to higher gas prices. Why? It is the global market that largely determines gasoline prices. That means that as long as our economy runs mostly on fossil fuels, energy prices will continue to be volatile to the forces outside our Nation. We cannot drill our way out of this problem. In the long run, the best way to ensure that American families have access to lower prices at the pump is by reducing our dependence on foreign oil and on fossil fuels. I want to say that again. In the long run, the best way we can ensure that American families have access to lower prices at the pump is by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Doing so isn't just critical for protecting Americans from high energy costs; it is necessary for addressing the existential threat of climate change. Make no mistake, the climate crisis is here. It is here. It is in Europe. It is in Asia. It is in South America. It is in Africa. It is all over the world. We see it in the form of unprecedented heat waves currently impacting millions of people across Europe, as I suggested, and our country too. We see climate change in the form of unprecedented drought, driving wildfires across the Western United States that are bigger than my State. Currently, firefighters are battling, as I said, 89 large fires in 12 States, and it is only expected to get worse. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration--we call them NOAA--the decades-long megadrought in the American West is not just persisting, it is intensifying and expanding east, worsening the threat of additional wildfires. We see climate change in the form of rising sea levels that produce waves able to wipe out weddings in Hawaii just last weekend. This event is a real-life consequence of what experts have already told us: Sea levels are rising faster than they have in more than 3,000 years and are expected to rise by an additional foot by 2050. We know this firsthand in Delaware. Delaware is the first State. The lowest lying State in America is Delaware. Our State is sinking. The seas around us are rising. Down in Louisiana, a big State in another part of the country, they are experiencing sea level rise as well. In the State of Louisiana, you know what, every 100 minutes--every 100 minutes--they lose a piece of land to the sea the size of a football field in Louisiana. I will say that again. Every 100 minutes in Louisiana, they lose a piece of land the size of a football field--every 100 minutes. We see climate change in the form of sea levels rising all up and down the east coast, down to Florida, gulf coast, east coast, west coast, everywhere. The extreme weather is costing us. According to an analysis of data from NOAA and the global reinsurance company Munich Re, severe weather caused more than $121 billion--billion with a ``b''--in property damage in the United States between 2017 and 2021--$121 billion. That is an average of about $940 per household and business and didn't take into account the property losses from the historic wildfires I have just been talking about. We continue to see the destruction that accompanies climate change happen on a global scale as well, threatening the critical infrastructure we rely on for international trade. This week, I mentioned the recordbreaking temperatures they are seeing in England and in Europe and in Germany and other places. Most tragic of all, these climate-induced events are putting people's lives at risk. Extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in our country. According to NOAA, the 12 most costly extreme weather events in 2021 alone resulted in the deaths of nearly 700 people. Addressing this crisis is the challenge of our time. It is directly tied to the prices we pay at the pump and in nearly every facet of our lives. Instead of doubling down on policies that continue to fail American consumers and the planet, as some of our colleagues have been advocating for today, we should focus our attention on passing legislation that accelerates our transition to a clean energy future and leaves no community behind in the process. It is our ticket to a brighter future and one without recordbreaking heat waves, high gas prices, and unprecedented devastation. Let me close with apologies to Stephen Stills. Stephen Stills is a great songwriter and singer with Buffalo Springfield, an iconic group. Long ago, he wrote a song that has these words. We have heard them a million times. It starts something like this: There is something happening here, [just] what it is ain't exactly clear. Those are his words, the opening line from one of the great songs of all time. Well, with apologies to Stephen Stills, there is something happening here, and it is exactly clear what is causing it. It is a climate crisis. We have way too much carbon in the air. We are producing more. That is the bad news. Here is the good news: We can do something about it. We can do something about it. Part of it is--I will just close with this--30 percent of our carbon emissions in this Nation come from our cars, trucks, and vans--30 percent. More and more, we are seeing automakers build cars, trucks, and vans that run not on gas and diesel but on electric. We are beginning to install literally thousands of charging stations all over the country to help provide an opportunity for people to charge their batteries and also to buy hydrogen, when we switch to hydrogen, for fuel cell vehicles. Those expansions and those investments will put literally hundreds of thousands of Americans-- probably more than that--to work across the country, in every corner of the country, to enable us to reduce carbon emissions from our mobile fleet. Instead of just burning coal and to some extent natural gas, we have the opportunity to create clean energy from advanced nuclear. I am a Navy guy, 27 years in the Navy all in. We have been doing nuclear energy in the Navy for 50 years. Do you know how many people have died in the Navy from exposure to radioactive materials? Zero. Fifty years-- perfect record. We are now in the beginning of a new development and a new exploration in pursuit of nuclear energy using small modular nuclear reactors--a lot safer than the ones we have been building for years. We are in a position now to have, literally, from Maine all the way down to Maryland, offshore wind that creates enormous amounts of carbon-free electricity that we can use to charge our cars, trucks, and vans and actually put a lot of people to work building those windmills and doing good things for our planet. The climate crisis is here. The question is, What do we do about it? And there is an opportunity to meet it head-on. And it is not like you got to eat your broccoli. No, no, no. This is something we can do, and we could actually not just do good things for our planet, help us avert greater disasters in the days going forward, we could actually create a lot of economic opportunity, a lot of jobs and we can do that and we can do both. We need to do that. We need to do that. I yield the floor to my friend from Texas. I think I will sit here and hear what he has to say.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, today, I rise in support of the nomination of Rita Landgraf for the position of Assistant Secretary for Aging and Administrator of the Administration for Community Living at the Department of Health and Human Services. I have been privileged to know Rita Landgraf for over two decades and to have worked with her when I was Governor of Delaware and in the years since then. She is a longtime Delaware community leader who previously served as cabinet secretary of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, which may be the most challenging job of any cabinet secretary in the State government of Delaware. There, she oversaw State implementation of the Older Americans Act, Medicaid, home- and community-based services, and disability services as well. She also had leadership roles with the State offices of AARP, the ARC, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which are key national partners for initiatives within the Administration for Community Living. Rita's career has been inspired by her relationships with the elderly and those with disabilities, including her stepson. In addition to her extensive expertise, she will bring a personal passion to her work as Assistant Secretary. Rita's experience in leading organizations focused on advocating for people with disabilities and seniors, along with her time in State government, makes her an excellent--an excellent--choice to serve as Assistant Secretary of Aging. I applaud President Biden for nominating her to serve in this role. The Administration for Community Living does critically important work ensuring older Americans of all ages with disabilities are able to live where they choose, with the people they choose, and with the ability to participate fully in their communities. The Administration for Community Living works through community-based organizations and invests in research, education, and innovation that help make this priority a reality for millions of older Americans and people with disabilities. Rita Landgraf is the right person for this job. As secretary of Delaware's Department of Health and Social Services, Rita Landgraf successfully led one of the State's largest cabinet agencies and expanded community-based services aimed at helping older Americans age in place and people with disabilities live, work, and participate in their communities--exactly the type of work the Administration for Community Living supports. Rita is a powerful advocate and a convener of stakeholders and partners. She will bring partners together to further the mission of the Administration for Community Living and bring new and innovative insight to address priorities on aging that we can all agree upon. Rita wants older Americans to age in place. She believes in the strength and value of home- and community-based services for both the elderly and the disabled, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. For Americans with mental health and special needs, Rita Landgraf has prioritized keeping folks in their homes and expanding employment opportunities for them--steps we can take to ensure that these vulnerable populations can be full participants in their communities. I want to thank our chair, Chair Murray, and Ranking Member Burr for supporting Rita Landgraf's nomination out of the Senate HELP Committee with strong bipartisan support. I urge my colleagues today to join me in confirming Rita Landgraf to serve as Assistant Secretary of Aging and Administrator of the Administration for Community Living. With that, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 966, Rita M. Landgraf, to be Assistant Secretary for Aging, Department of Health and Human Services; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; and that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the Record.

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, if I could speak momentarily, I had an opportunity to speak briefly with our colleague from Tennessee with respect to his concerns and the reasons that led him to object to what I think--and he may agree--is actually quite an excellent nomination. And my hope is to better understand those objections that he has voiced and to see if they can be objected to in a way that would allow us to go forward with the nomination of Rita Landgraf to serve as Assistant Secretary for Aging for the Department of Health and Human Services. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARPER

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

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H. Con. Res. 88, which was received from the House.

Mr. CARPER. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. CARPER. I now ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I have five 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:

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 222, S. 3309.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I rise today in support of a piece of legislation with a very long name: the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, also known as the PACT Act--P-A-C-T, PACT Act. This historic legislation will improve and expand access to VA healthcare to our Nation's veterans, including upwards of 3\1/2\ million post-9/11 veterans. It is going to save lives. Let me say that again. It is going to save lives and, hopefully, a lot of them. It is going to better ensure that our Nation lives up to the promise from President Lincoln's second inaugural address. You recall, he said ``to care for those who have borne the battle''--to care for those who have borne the battle. During his first State of the Union earlier this year, President Biden called on Congress to prioritize taking care of our veterans who were exposed to burn pits and other toxic materials while serving overseas in a number of theaters, Iraq and Afghanistan among them. Today, I am proud to say that Congress has answered that call, as well as the call of our Nation's veterans service organizations, affectionately known as our VSOs. Those VSOs, veterans' advocates, and military families, many of whom have lost their loved ones, have organized and fought for this bill for years. President Biden likes to say ``all politics is personal.'' He also says that all diplomacy is personal. I think he is right on both accounts. This issue is personal for our President, and it is personal for me as well as it is for hundreds of thousands of other American families. MAJ Beau Biden, Delaware's former attorney general, served in the Delaware National Guard for more than a decade, including a yearlong deployment to Iraq on Active Duty. I was privileged to have served as the commander-in-chief of the Delaware National Guard for 8 years during my time as Governor, and I have enormous respect for the men and women who serve today and have served in the Delaware National Guard. Over the past two decades, I have attended countless deployment ceremonies in New Castle County, and Dover as well, for our soldiers, airmen, and their families and also assemblies when we welcomed them home, safe and sound. Like many military parents at these sendoffs and welcome-home ceremonies, the Bidens did not know when their son would return. They didn't know for sure if he was going to make it back when our Nation sent him off to Iraq. I believe it was in late 2008. And they did not know, even if their son did make it back, whether he would carry with him the physical and emotional wounds of war that we sometimes can sustain. As it turned out, Beau Biden, a young man I had known ever since he was a little kid, appeared to make it home back to Delaware healthy and whole at the completion of his tour in 2009. I didn't know it at the time, but Beau and his unit spent several months at a place called Camp Victory and Joint Base Balad in the shadows of toxic burn pits that operated for 24 hours a day. Several years later, in 2015, at the age of 46, Beau Biden would pass away after battling aggressive brain cancer. We couldn't prove it then, and to be totally honest, we can't prove it absolutely today; but the sudden onset of terminal cancer may well have been the result of toxic exposure while he was serving overseas. This story is all too common amongst veterans of the post-9/11 generation, including SFC Heath Robinson, for whom this bill is named. A member of the Ohio Army National Guard, Sergeant First Class Robinson was deployed to Kosovo, where he experienced prolonged exposure to burn pits. Before I go any further, let me just take a moment to describe what a burn pit is. Burn pits are large areas of land--oftentimes bigger than a football field--that are used to burn a number of things including trash and other waste products at military installations overseas. The waste is oftentimes soaked in jet fuel and then set ablaze in open-air burn pits, releasing toxins into the air in the surrounding area. Waste burned in these pits includes chemicals, includes paint, includes medical and human waste, includes metal and aluminum cans, plastic, rubber, ammunition, just to name a few of the things. Exposure to the smoke that resulted from these burn pits often caused servicemembers to experience burning of their eyes or throat, as well as difficulty in breathing, and rashes, too. The toxic smoke could be contaminated with lead; it could be contaminated with mercury and irritant gases that could negatively impact an individual's lungs, liver, and stomach. As many as 3\1/2\ million servicemembers, including Sergeant First Class Robinson, were exposed to toxic burn pits while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan or some other country. After his service, Sergeant First Class Robinson was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder and stage IV--stage IV--lung cancer. His oncologist said that the rare stage IV cancer that he had been diagnosed with could only have been caused by prolonged toxic exposure. And yet, for years, healthy, young veterans like Sergeant First Class Robinson have continued to contract rare cancers and diseases. They then come home, only to fight a new battle: a battle that involves endless paperwork and claims, all to prove a service connection that almost certainly did exist or does exist. Sergeant First Class Robinson died last year. He left behind a wife, Danielle, and a daughter who at the time was 6 years old. Her name is Brielle. Brielle actually wrote a note to me, not in cursive but printed, and it looks like it was printed with a crayon. Here is what the note essentially says: ``Vote yes to my Dad's bill''--or vote yes for my Dad's bill. Well, Brielle, if you are at home and watching this today, I want you to know that I am going to take your advice, and I have taken your advice. And I hope one day to meet you and your mom. And thank you for being involved in a very good cause and for sharing your Dad with all of us. Please know that your dad's service was a gift to our country and that the bill--the piece of legislation that bears your father's name-- is going to make a positive difference not for a few people, not for a few military families, but literally for millions of military families. My own generation of Vietnam veterans had a similar experience to toxic exposures as the post 9/11-generation of veterans. I have been privileged to serve our country in my State in many different roles, but there is no greater privilege than serving in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve for a total of 23 years after the Reserve duty. After graduating from Ohio State right at the height of the Vietnam war in 1968 on a Navy ROTC scholarship, I would later serve three tours on Active Duty in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war as a Naval flight officer. My squadron, a unit of the Seventh Fleet, flew a wide variety of missions, including low-level surveillance operations off the coast of Vietnam and Cambodia, searching for, among other things, infiltrator trawlers disguised as fishing boats attempting to resupply the Viet Cong in their efforts to overthrow our ally, the government of South Vietnam. Following my time on Active Duty, I spent another 18 years as a Navy P-3 Aircraft mission commander in the Naval Reserves. Barely a month after flying my last P-3 mission in the summer of 1991 and retiring as a Navy captain, I led, at the behest of then-President George Herbert Walker Bush, I led--I was privileged to lead--a bipartisan, six-Member congressional delegation of Vietnam veterans back to Southeast Asia. Among our six Members was Congressman Pete Peterson, a former Air Force pilot who was shot down over North Vietnam and spent years as a POW in the ``Hanoi Hilton.'' He later would become the U.S. Ambassador to a united Vietnam. The six of us went to Vietnam because veterans service organizations were convinced--because they were convinced that hundreds, maybe thousands, of MIAs, missing in action, from the Vietnam war were being held in captivity in that part of the world. We believed that their families deserved to know for sure, with certainty, to have closure in finding out what happened to their loved ones whose bodies were never recovered. Like many of my colleagues, I come from a military family. My family knows what it is like to lose a loved one to war. My mother's youngest brother, my Uncle Bob, Robert Kidd Patton, died in 1944 at the age of 19 during a kamikaze attack on his aircraft carrier in the western Pacific. My grandmother is a Gold Star mother. My Uncle Bob's body was never recovered or returned home to the country he served. My family never knew what it meant to have, really, a sense of closure or finality. They never gave up. My grandma never gave up on him coming home someday. He never did. So it means something to families like mine for our government to heed that moral obligation and stand up for military families still waiting to see their son or daughter brought home and brought home safely. It is that moral obligation to our MIAs and their families who led us to travel back to Vietnam in 1991, when we brought with us--and actually presented to the new leader of united Vietnam--we brought with us a road map from President George Herbert Walker Bush to normalize relations with Vietnam. Among other things, the road map first called on the Vietnamese, who were meticulous recordkeepers--meticulous recordkeepers--to provide access to Vietnam's war museum records as well as to its archives so that our investigators might be able to search for clues to help resolve the mysteries of our MIAs' disappearance. With the strong encouragement of our six-Member delegation and the tireless efforts of two Members of this body, Senator John McCain and Senator John Kerry, the Vietnamese decided to take this step, and telecommunications were restored between our two countries--and, later, a full diplomatic relations. That same moral obligation that led us to make progress in Vietnam leads us here today. Our moral obligation extends beyond providing closure to families of the fallen. It extends to the veterans and families who need healthcare, who are still dealing with the wounds of war--both visible and invisible--long after they leave the battlefield. The same year we traveled to Vietnam, Congress came together and passed the Agent Orange Act to care for the hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans who were exposed to that toxic herbicide in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war. I believe that many of us would agree it took too long--far too long--for that bill to be enacted. Finally, after too many heart and nervous system complications, deadly cancer diagnoses, and even birth defects in the children of Vietnam veterans, Congress did the right thing. The bill before us today also took too long to be enacted. Today, Congress has once again done the right thing. As I mentioned earlier, over the last two decades, throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, too many of our veterans lived and worked alongside these massive toxic burn pits that I talked about earlier. Hundreds of thousands of square feet of open-air disposal sites where plastics and jet fuel, chemicals and human waste, were burned daily producing toxic black plumes and bringing harmful chemicals into the lungs of unsuspecting servicemembers. The time has come to take care of these veterans--those who have borne the battle. This legislation, the PACT Act, will enhance and expand VA healthcare and benefits for toxic-exposed veterans. Specifically, this bill will provide VA healthcare to the estimated 3\1/2\ million post-9/11 veterans who have experienced toxic exposures. This bill establishes a presumption of service connection for 23 conditions that are related to toxic exposures and improves the process by which the VA may add presumptions in the future. Additionally, the bill will expand VA research on toxic exposure. It will provide toxic exposure screenings at appointments, and it will provide additional training to VA healthcare workers and benefits personnel. I have spent a considerable amount of time discussing the importance of this bill. Others have been here today before me and earlier this week. I am proud to have supported it. I know my colleagues feel the same way. Having said that, I also believe that we may have missed an opportunity to consider some amendments that would have improved the bill and, importantly, would have paid for its considerable pricetag. In addition to being a recovering Governor--my colleagues have different names to describe me; a lot of them call me a recovering Governor, and I am a recovering Governor--I am also a recovering State treasurer of Florida. I have long believed that, if something is worth doing, then it is worth paying for. I will say that again. If things are worth doing, they are worth paying for. I understand that taking care of our veterans is a cost of war, but these costs should be paid for. That is why I filed an amendment to have the Department of Defense identify savings to pay for the cost of this bill. I also filed amendments that address Albert Einstein's definition of ``insanity.'' Einstein is famous for saying many things, but one of those is with regard to insanity. He describes insanity as ``doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.'' What does that mean? In this instance, it means that, if servicemembers are repeatedly being exposed to toxic chemicals across new generations, we have to do something on the front end to reduce toxic exposures instead of always playing catchup decades later as we are doing now. That is why we should be giving the Department of Defense the tools it needs to track toxic exposures more closely. Our servicemembers deserve the ability to report toxic exposures in realtime and to be protected from them. I believe these commonsense ideas may actually provide long-term savings for the taxpayer and will lead to healthier outcomes for our veterans. Finally, while we are not offsetting the cost of this legislation today, it does not mean that we shouldn't provide vigorous oversight of this new funding. That is why I filed another amendment to enhance the requirement that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs provide annual spending plans to Congress as well as to require both the VA inspector general and the Government Accountability Office to report to Congress on implementation--an important step. My hope is that one or maybe all of these ideas could be included in future legislation later this year, and I look forward to working with our colleagues on improving this important bill as we move forward. In having said that, let me close by just reiterating what I said at the beginning. This is a historic bill for our Nation's veterans. It does right by an entire generation of veterans who have defended our Nation over the past two decades. It is going to bring millions of new veterans into the VA for their healthcare, including mental health care. These new benefits, which our veterans earned through their service to our Nation, are going to make a real difference for our veterans and their families. As the last serving Vietnam veteran now serving in the U.S. Senate, I am proud to have supported this bill. I want to thank and commend our colleagues who lead the Senate's Veterans' Affairs Committee--Senator Tester and Senator Moran--and their staffs and others for working together to shepherd this bipartisan bill through the legislative process. I want to thank our veterans service organizations--those VSOs I mentioned earlier--and the countless advocates who helped to make this legislation possible. I want to thank the young lady who wrote this note. She was kind enough to send it to me and to encourage me to support this legislation named after her father. With that, I look forward to the President of the United States signing the PACT Act into law very soon. I yield the floor.

Mr. CARPER

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 973, 974, and 997; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and that the Senate resume legislative session.