Shelley Capito

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I would like to begin my statement first of all by congratulating Carla Hayden, who was just confirmed as the 14th Librarian of Congress. I know she will do a good job. I am very proud of her and I look forward to working with her and the Library. Mr. President, earlier today I was proud to support cloture for the CARA bill. It puts us on track to reverse this epidemic and promises to provide help to so many who are impacted by addiction. We will be hearing also from my friend and colleague Senator Baldwin because we both believe strongly that our veterans are one of those many groups this bill seeks to assist. A little over a year ago, under the leadership of Senator Baldwin-- and I thank her for that--the two of us introduced the Jason Simcakoski Memorial Opioid Safety Act, which provides safer and more effective pain management for our Nation's veterans. This legislation, named after U.S. Marine veteran Jason Simcakoski of Wisconsin, who died at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center as a result of a mixed drug toxicity, is included in the CARA bill. In fact, title IX of the bill is titled the Jason Simcakoski Memorial and Promise Act. Tragically, stories like Jason's exist all around the country, including my own State of West Virginia. Andrew White, another marine, returned home to West Virginia only to be placed on a cocktail of drugs, including anti-psychotics, over twice the recommended dosage. Andrew died in his sleep at the age of 23. Far too many of our veterans have returned home from overseas to fight another battle here at home. This legislation will update and strengthen the guidelines for opioid prescriptions and require-- require--the VA to expand the scope of research, education, delivery, and integration of alternative pain management. Chronic pain should not be something our veterans are forced to live with, and the VA must be on the cutting edge of developing effective pain management. Our hope is, this will provide the VA with the tools it needs to help prevent these types of tragedies from occurring. Again, I thank Senator Baldwin for her very great work in this area. So many across the Nation, and particularly in rural States like West Virginia, which has the unfortunate distinction of having the largest amount of drug-related overdose deaths--more than twice the national average--are impacted by addiction. CARA is a comprehensive step forward in the national response to this drug epidemic. We have heard throughout the day how it expands prevention, education, promotes resources for treatment and recovery. It includes reforms to help our law enforcement create alternatives to incarceration, such as successful drug court programs. We have also heard of the many organizations that are in support of this--over 200. It may be approaching 300 now. These organizations deal with addiction and the results of addiction on a daily basis. I believe one of the reasons so many organizations support this bill--and I know that part of the reason I am so proud to support the bill--is it addresses how addiction affects not only the addict or their family but the well-being of an entire community. Following a drug prevention seminar I held last year, one of my constituents said: There is a need for the community to be involved in resolving the drug addiction issue. It is my hope and prayer that we can find community based solutions that will improve the lives of all the citizens in our community, county and state. CARA contains many ideas and opens the door for communities to take actions to help neighborhoods and schools. It authorizes much needed programs for prevention and education. Another one of my constituents wrote: Our young people are dying off by the dozens and a generation of children think of this as normal. Some of the saddest letters I have received have been about those who have already lost their battle to the scourge against addiction. A grandmother from Martinsburg wrote the following: Our granddaughter--that tall, exuberant redhead who laughed her way into our hearts, is now a statistic. As a grandmother myself, I love the way she phrased that--laughed her way into our hearts. Several days ago our son called to tell us that she had died the night before from a heroin overdose. . . . It was that quick. Our granddaughter started her drug journey with prescription drug opiates. When those pills weren't enough, heroin stepped in, and the downward spiral began. It isn't just the problem kids . . . who get hooked. Our granddaughter came from a stable, affectionate home. Even though her parents tried their best to save her with countless sleepless nights, multiple trips to re-habs, tough love and loving persuasion, that drug won the battle. Now, we are not even allowed to grieve. We must also contend with the many forms of our anger; impatience with our granddaughter for not being stronger, rage at those who sold her the drugs, frustration with the authorities for not doing more to stop the trafficking or establishing more treatment centers, and self-recrimination for maybe not doing enough. We are also trying to cope with the guilt of feeling relief that her hell is finally over. There is nothing more we can do for her now, no more treatments that we can try. She's gone. Just . . . gone. Will the passage of CARA stop all overdoses or ensure that no other grandmother or family feels this anguish? No. But it does begin to address the frustrations and pain this grandmother and so many others feel. CARA attempts to break the cycle of repeated overdoses by encouraging the use of followup services for those who have received the drug naloxone to reverse the opioid overdose. Too many stories of addiction start like this one, with prescription pain killers. By allowing the partial fill of certain opioid prescriptions, reviewing best practices for acute pain management, and expanding prescription take-back days and locations, CARA will reduce the number of unused painkillers and hopefully prevent future cases of drug abuse and addiction. We cannot continue to lose 129 granddaughters, sisters, fathers, neighbors, and friends every single day to drug overdoses. As I have said before and will say again, we will lose a generation if we don't address this crisis now. This cannot be the new normal for our young people or for our communities. I commend all who have worked on this bill to get us to this point. It is time to pass CARA and send it to the President's desk. Our communities in West Virginia and across the country cannot afford to wait any longer.

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, the only remaining postcloture time be the following: Capito-Baldwin, 15 minutes; Carper, 10 minutes; Markey, 10 minutes; further, that following the use or yielding back of that time, that all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate vote on the adoption of the conference report to accompany S. 524.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Thank you, Mr. President, for recognizing me, and I want to thank the chairman of the HELP Committee, the Senator from Tennessee, who has in the Senate made a very passionate argument on why we should be passing the bill that contains the Zika funding but also for the opioid and heroin abuse overdose issue that we have in this country. He did mention the Hatfields and McCoys more than a few times in reference to Tennessee and Kentucky, and I will throw West Virginia in there because we have a good history of Hatfields and McCoys. We understand a feud, and I don't like to see a feud over these issues either. This is about health care, women and babies, and these are families who are torn apart by this scourge of opioid and heroin abuse. I would like to talk about the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, known as CARA, and strongly urge my colleagues to lay down the feud and have common sense. I am going to talk about why this is so very important. This is a comprehensive step forward. It has been worked on for years. This is not a fly-by-night bill. This is a very comprehensive bill, a national response to the drug epidemic that we see like a fire rushing across America. It expands prevention and education efforts and promotes resources for treatment and recovery. I say often there is no one solution to this problem. There is a spectrum of solutions, and CARA addresses a spectrum of solutions. It helps law enforcement respond, provides resources for treatment, alternatives to incarceration. I know many Senators have been to see and visit drug court programs that have had successful graduations. They have gotten people back on their feet. They operate in West Virginia and many other States. I was very pleased to see many elements of the Senate-passed bill included in the final conference report. Members on both sides of the aisle and the Senator from Tennessee talked about many of those Members who have worked hard to create the realities of those living with and impacted by addiction. The bill is just a commonsense response so let's have a commonsense vote in response to the commonsense bill. For me, my personal passion has been the ability to craft several provisions that are included in this conference bill, one that would provide for safer, more effective pain management services to our veterans. Too many of our veterans are having opioid abuse and opioid overdoses in conjunction with care at the VA. Another provision from Senator Kaine from Virginia would coprescribe naloxone, a drug that would reverse the effects of opioid overdose with prescription opioids. Another provision would increase access to important followup services. Again, it is another bipartisan amendment to prevent overprescribing. There is also a provision that would improve acute pain-prescribing practices. You have acute pain which is different than having constant pain. What are the prescribing protocols for that? We have too many stories of addiction that started with patients taking painkillers after suffering a minor injury or a minor surgery. Also, there are provisions that would allow doctors to partially fill certain opioid prescriptions. Senator Warren from Massachusetts and I worked together on this. This helps to limit the availability of unused painkillers. Lastly, a provision I worked on with my colleague from West Virginia on the House side, Congressman Jenkins, would protect babies who are born exposed to opioids during pregnancy and get them the specialized care they need. We see it in Lily's Place in Huntington, and we need to have this across the country. In March, we stood together and passed this bill 94 to 1, with broad bipartisan support. CARA has had broad bipartisan support in the House as well, but not one single Democrat signed the conference report. What changed? What happened? I don't know. Out of the blue, after they had already voted for this, they demanded a new mandatory funding--which means a different type of funding out of the Appropriations Committee was not added to this bill in conference. Some apparently believe that without this funding, CARA is not worth passing. I strongly disagree for the reasons I am going to line out. This is not the view of the over 200 treatment organizations that are in favor of this conference report--groups such as the Addiction Policy Forum, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Counties, the National Association of Addiction and Treatment Providers. These groups are calling for quick action on this conference report. They wrote a letter stating ``the report is truly a comprehensive response to the opioid epidemic which includes critical policy changes and new resources.'' The letter continues, ``As you know, 129 Americans die each day as a result of a drug overdose and this epidemic affects the public health and safety in every community across the country,'' not to mention the devastation, and I have seen it in my own communities, to families all across this Nation. ``This bill is the critical response we need.'' As a member of the Appropriations Committee, we all worked hard to ensure our States have the resources they need to win this fight, and I will not stop in this fight. The appropriations bills we have passed in committee provide substantial new resources. Under these bills, total funding to address heroin and opioid abuse will more than double the 2015 levels. You can see on this chart that in 2015 it was $220 million. In 2016, we had a 46-percent increase to $321 million. In the bill that came out of the Senate Appropriations Committee that had bipartisan support, there was a 46-percent increase to $470 million. Those are significant resources that can help and will help in the treatment and gets money to our providers and to States for block grants. Let's look at HHS discretionary appropriations that we passed in the appropriations bill that passed bipartisan. In 2015, we appropriated $41 million. In 2016, we increased that funding to $136 million, a 237- percent increase. This problem has been escalating across our country, and you can see it reflected in the dollars we are spending; in 2017, $262 million, which is a 93-percent increase. These are significant. It goes to problems that help with research, treatment, and community health centers. This is a very significant rise. Our last chart shows what is in the conference report we are now considering. It goes out of the Senate at 78 million more dollars. The conference report comes back with $181 million, a 132-percent increase. Again, the urgency of what we are seeing is reflected in the real dollars we are willing to spend, so don't listen to the argument that no money is being spent. It couldn't be further from the truth. This is what has been decided and agreed upon in the Appropriations Committee in a bipartisan way to deal with this very difficult problem. I think that 94 Members of this body already voted for this $78 million. Why in the world would we continue this feud that has been created and is bubbling up in a political fashion and turn our backs on a 132-percent increase in this conference report? As I have shared on the floor several times before, this problem is particularly hard-hitting in the State of West Virginia, the State I represent. Unfortunately, West Virginia leads the Nation in drug- related overdose deaths--more than twice the national average. I mentioned that 129 Americans die every day. That means there are people dying in West Virginia in larger numbers per capita than in any other State in the Union. It also means we shouldn't be taking the time for partisan politics and delay the passage of a much needed piece of legislation. I say this all the time because I believe it to be true. I hope it is not. I believe we are in danger of losing an entire generation to this scourge if we don't act with force, together, and make sure that we not only fund our programs but that we do the comprehensive approach to it that we see in this CARA bill. I was on the floor yesterday talking about how we had witnessed Senate Democrats playing politics with critical funding for Zika, and now we are seeing a repeat. I hope we do not go through the same scenario. Let's not play political games with a veteran depending on the VA's ability to help them treat their opioid addiction or the newborn born dependent on opioids or the addict who is willing to seek treatment and needs the help CARA will provide. They do not deserve to be held hostage to a political situation. I will proudly support the passage of the CARA conference report, and I encourage all of my colleagues to do the same. I yield the floor.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise today to emphasize the importance of the MILCON-VA and Zika conference bill. As a member of the conference committee that crafted this report and a member of the subcommittee that drafted the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill, I cannot overstate the significance of this legislation. Sadly, we have watched the Senate Democrats play politics with critical funding for our military, our veterans, and funding to combat Zika. In my view, this stunt--and I call it a stunt because that is what it is--is both dangerous and disheartening. It is an insult to the men and women who sacrifice so much to keep us safe. It is a reckless game to play with our veterans and public health across this country. The conference report includes record-level funding for America's veterans. It fully funds the VA's request for veterans' medical services and provides an overall increase of nearly 9 percent for our veterans programs. It includes measures for the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve access and efficiency for military services. We certainly know we have a long way to go before we get satisfaction there. We have a long way to go to reduce the backlogs in claims processing, strengthen our whistleblower protections, and improve information technology in medical research. The drug epidemic plaguing our Nation has unfortunately hit our veterans community particularly hard, especially in my home State of West Virginia. The overdose rate in my State is more than twice the national average. With almost 40 percent of our State's veterans using the VA health care system, it is vital that we strengthen the VA's ability to help treat opioid addiction. Whether our veterans are recovering from injuries obtained during their service or tending to their daily health needs, this bill provides funding to give veterans a new lease on life. This includes supporting the VA's Opioid Safety Initiative--something I have been very involved with--which improves pain care for those who have a higher risk of opioid-related overdoses. It also encourages the VA to continually expand treatment services and better monitor our at-risk veterans. Another thing we can do for our veterans is ensure they have ample employment opportunities as they transition into civilian life--another problem we have identified. In West Virginia, where the majority of our veterans live in rural areas--and as many of you know, almost the whole State is rural--the unemployment rate is almost 2 percent higher than the overall national average. I recently witnessed something that was great to see: an innovative agritherapy program that helps our veterans cope with PTSD. It has also helped to arm our veterans with skills they can use to start a business. I met several veterans who were suffering from PTSD who have embarked on an agritherapy program using bees and beekeeping. At Geezer Ridge Farm in Hedgesville--yes, it is Geezer Ridge--I saw veterans use beekeeping to overcome PTSD. To date, the program has helped create 150 new veteran-owned farms. The benefits of agritherapy have been acknowledged by publications such as Psychology Today and Newsweek. However, we need research to further explore the benefits of this type of treatment. That is why I offered a provision in this bill calling for a pilot program at the VA to better understand agritherapy, and I am excited about what we learned. While I was out there, I met a veteran who was suffering from PTSD and who was seeing a therapist once a week because he was having such difficulty coping at the VA, and he got interested in beekeeping. He began to grow a business, to learn about bees, pollen and honey, the queen bee, and all those kinds of things. He said that now he only sees a therapist every other month. He has such relief, and it gives him such a positive outlook for his future, just by having this type of therapy available to him. This bill also prioritizes a full range of programs to ensure that we honor our commitment to our men and women in uniform and that we deliver the services our veterans have dutifully earned. Let's talk for a moment about a growing public health threat facing us, and that is the Zika virus. We have all heard about it, and we have seen pictures of children who were born from mothers who were infected by Zika. It is very disheartening, sad, and difficult to see and to think about those young families starting out. This conference report includes $1.1 billion to tackle Zika. With every conversation I have and every statistic and article I have read, I grow more concerned. I think everybody does. I spoke to a group of young students just the other day. Young students are tuning in to this difficult problem. After hearing testimony before the Appropriations Committee and meeting with the CDC Director, I understand the immediate need to provide funds for research, prevention, and treatment. We are all vulnerable to what the CDC Director told me is an unprecedented threat. We must act to protect ourselves and prevent the spread of this deadly virus. We must do it smartly, efficiently, and without wasting our taxpayers' dollars. This conference report that is stalled, that is stuck in this stunt, does just that. It takes the necessary and responsible actions to protect Americans from an outbreak. The $1.1 billion allocated in this conference report is the same amount the Democrats supported just last month when an amendment addressing Zika funding passed out of the Senate. It doesn't make sense. Their reasoning for opposing this funding lacks merit. The conference report does not prohibit access to any health service. In fact, it provides the same access to health services that was in the President's request. The conference report even expands access to services by boosting funding for our community health centers, public health departments, and hospitals in areas most directly affected by Zika. The safety and health of Americans should be our No. 1 priority. Sadly, the other side has chosen to prioritize politics over the American people. We will have another opportunity to vote on this conference report, and I am hopeful that my Democratic colleagues will do the right thing. Rather than blocking critical funding for veterans and the Zika response, we need to join together to send this conference report to the President's desk as soon as possible. Thank you.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, on June 29, 2016, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up S. 3117, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriation Act, 2017. During the mark-up, the Senator from Oregon offered an amendment to strike language that would have prohibited the Department of State from expending funds appropriated by the bill to make a Federal Government contribution to the Green Climate Fund. The Appropriations Committee adopted Senator Merkley's amendment by voice vote. The committee's voice vote did not afford me the opportunity to record my opposition to Senator Merkley's amendment in the committee record. I oppose the Merkley amendment and any transfer of funding to the Green Climate Fund. As Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March, Congress did not authorize the Green Climate Fund. Congress also failed to appropriate any funding for the Green Climate Fund in fiscal year 2016. In March 2016, the Department of State transferred $500 million from the Economic Support Fund to the Green Climate Fund, despite the lack of any authorization or appropriation from Congress. This $500 million transfer represents 26 percent of all appropriations to the Economic Support Fund--intended to promote economic and political stability around the globe--at a time when combating the Zika virus, addressing the threat of international terrorism, and dealing with the risks posed by Russian aggression in Eastern Europe all would have been better uses of State Department funds. For these reasons, I oppose Senator Merkley's amendment to S. 3117.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, wow, I come to the floor of the Senate to talk about a real emergency that just occurred in my State of West Virginia. I know many of you across the country have witnessed and seen the terrible destruction from the sudden flash flood that ravaged West Virginia on Thursday in the late afternoon and evening. I come with such a heavy heart. When I hear the debate going on again about who is more cynical and who has poison pills, all I can think about is the little boy I saw at the Volunteer Fire Department in Clendenin on Friday. His dad is a fire chief, and he had been going to the fire department all the time since the time he was born. He is about 10 years old. We were standing in 6 inches of mud, with destruction everywhere in his town. I introduced myself to him, and I said: I am Shelley. I am your Senator. How are you doing? He just melted into tears because he was so distraught at what he saw, a place he loved, the fire station just ripped apart. People he knows were kicked out of their homes, trying to figure out how to rebuild. To me, that is a real emergency. That is a real something we in the Senate and those in the State and those local responders are responding to now. I think about our State, I think about all the nicknames of the State of West Virginia. The one I think I like the most is ``Almost Heaven.'' Well, ``Almost Heaven'' wasn't almost Heaven last Thursday. ``Wild and Wonderful.'' It was wild, all right but not so wonderful. I think the one that really has come to epitomize our West Virginians, our people, is ``West Virginia Strong''. I saw the National Guard, the West Virginia Department of Transportation, public elected officials, emergency services personnel, and EMTs who were up all night doing very dangerous boat rescues to get people from the roofs of their homes and the roofs of their cars. It came so fast. I visited the shelter at Capital High School yesterday. A man told me he, the woman he lives with, and their dog just ran out with nothing. It started at his ankles, and 5 minutes later it was at his waist. That is how fast it was. Yet he still had that West Virginia strong attitude of: We are going to be OK. We are going to find a way. He had lost his car, his four-wheeler. All of his belongings are gone. He has nothing. Now he has a place to sleep in a high school gym. You know what. He has the American Red Cross right there, with 400 volunteers from across the country so he has a warm place to sleep or a cool place to sleep away from the hot Sun, meals, the availability of cleaning supplies, and a very generous community that has come together to try to help him. That is West Virginia strong, and that is what fortifies me today. When I think of the stories of bravery and rescue, when you look at the 23 West Virginians who lost their lives so suddenly--a little 4- year-old boy, Edward McMillion from Ravenswood, WV, was swept away in the rushing water. We just have story after story of people who didn't know what was going to happen to them, who didn't know how to get out, who found a way to brave through this awful thing. Then there were the stories of the communities coming together. When we were traveling through Kanawha County, I ran into some people from Parkersburg and some people from Martinsburg, which probably doesn't mean much to the folks in the Gallery or to the Presiding Officer because they don't know where that is, but it is 5 hours away. They just packed up their trucks, put water and food in them, and came to the aid of their fellow West Virginians. A lot of faith communities, a lot of churches, the Mountain Mission, all kinds of volunteers have come to help to be West Virginia strong, to be West Virginians helping West Virginians. The private sector has really stepped up. AT&T, Sprint, Frontier--our telecommunications people have really gone the extra mile to make sure that people have service and are able to charge their phones. When they had to leave their homes, they might have had their phone in their pocket, but they sure didn't have their phone charger. While that might sound like a little thing, it is a big thing. That is your lifeline to your family--to calling for help and for resources. Walmart, Proctor & Gamble, CSX, and Dow Chemical--I am leaving people out--also helped out. Anheuser-Busch brought a bunch of water in to help. I have more stories of companies that have given their corporate supplies to help West Virginia get back on its feet. I am basically here to say thank you. Some of the communities, such as Clendenin, White Sulfur Springs, Rupert, and Rainelle--I actually thought Rainelle's name is Rainelle, and, boy, did they get rained on. They are probably regretting the name. They lost a lot of people in Rainelle. That small community has been crushed. FEMA has been phenomenal. The declaration from the President, for which we are very grateful, came immediately for the three counties. We are hoping to get other counties, such as Webster County, Roane County, Clay County, Pocahontas County, and Fayette County included in these declarations. Fifty-five homes in Webster Springs were totally wiped out. It has a population of 750. We all know and love the beautiful West Virginia mountains, but when the valleys fill, they fill rapidly and disastrously. FEMA is on the ground. They have opened up their disaster recovery centers in White Sulfur Springs, Greenbrier, and other places. They will be all over the place. I will tell people that what I have learned from this is that you have to get registered for individual assistance immediately. Call the phone number, go to the Web site, or go to the disaster recovery center because that starts the process, and help is there. The Small Business Administration is there, as well, to try and help. The various health departments are providing tetanus shots free of charge because, as we know, sitting water and 90-degree temperatures are scenarios for disease. What I was astounded by was the mud. We know that you can get water in your home and business, but the mud is just so destructively horrifying to look at and so difficult to clean. West Virginians need help for all types of different things. People from all around the Nation have been offering to help. We have been inundated with people wanting to help. People want to come and lift up another American and lift up another family. I say thank you for that, but this is going to be a long-term project. When you have the kind of destruction we suffered, it goes on for a long time. During the first week you get a lot of help, but the weeks after that, when people are trying to rebuild and trying to get temporary transitional housing-- these are the kind of things that families need. Just to give a little perspective on the situation, the National Weather Service said that the rainfall was historic. There was 10 to 12 inches of rainfall in 8 hours. It was a 1,000-year event in terms of the rising waters. I live a half mile from the Elk River, which crested at 33.37 feet on Friday morning. The water rose more than 27 feet between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning and hit its highest crest in 125 years. This was a record-breaking event and very tragic for many of us. I wish to thank FEMA for all of the representation they brought forward. I thank all of the faith community, which has been phenomenal. I also thank the nonprofits, the United Way, and the Red Cross. I have such admiration and gratitude in my heart for what I saw firsthand and will see as the days move on. I will close the way I started. West Virginia people are just phenomenal. They are able to pick themselves up and still have a glimmer of hope in their eyes. Knowing that they will be OK and will be able to rebuild after having lost everything is just phenomenal. I was in a meeting yesterday, and the guy leading the charge from the United Way said: Everybody close your eyes and think about the last time you lost everything. I don't think a person in that room had ever lost everything. I thank you for all the thoughts and prayers that you kept in your heart for us. We feel them, we need them, and we appreciate them. It is a long road to recovery, but we are on our way. With your help and God's help, we will get there. I yield the floor.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Manchin, certainly for putting this colloquy together. I want to thank Senator Portman of Ohio, Senator Donnelly of Indiana, and Senator Brown of Ohio. We are deeply affected by this, and the facts bear out that we can't wait. We talk about emergencies, and what we have on the floor is the emerging bankruptcy of Puerto Rico. I think all of us have expressed deep empathy and sympathy for Puerto Rico and the situation that they are in, and we appreciate the bipartisan effort to find a solution. But at the same time, we need our voices to be heard louder and clearer. My voice is that I cannot vote for cloture on Puerto Rico when we have stranded and are stranding our hardworking coal miners and the retirees who are upcoming. You have to look at what is at stake here. We heard the numbers-- 21,000 Americans stand to lose their health care at the end of the year. By July 15, some are going to lose their health care in 90 days. That is way before the end of the year. You often hear the trite slogan ``promises made, promises kept.'' This was a promise that was made. This is the hard work of American coal miners who knew going in when they started to work in the mines that they were difficult and dangerous jobs. The question by the spouse was, Will my husband make it back today from the mines? They had a promise, and that is why a lot of them pursued and went forth in dangerous conditions to provide for their families and power the country. My colleague from Ohio remarked that 70 percent of Ohio's energy is produced by coal. In our State of West Virginia 95 percent is coal- produced energy. We are blessed to have a lot of coal in West Virginia. That has been a good thing for a long time. Unfortunately, we have had a lot of issues in the coal industry, which is under assault from multiple directions--whether it is regulation, increased competition, the effects of a broader economy. All kinds of things are flying into this, but the reality is where we are today. We mentioned the numbers. Of 12,000 Americans who could lose their health care, 5,000 of those are our fellow West Virginians. I can guarantee you that between the two of us, we know quite a few them. We live in a small State. We live in a community where everybody knows everybody. I tell you one thing, to divert from this to what has happened to our State with the floods. I am sure other States do this just as well, but I don't think there is a State that does better than West Virginians helping West Virginians. What we have seen over the last few days with neighbors helping neighbors and people pulling up each other and pulling together is phenomenal. A lot of those folks are not coal mining families. They know coal mining families. They go to church with their families. Their kids go to school together. Their grandchildren play together. We are all connected together. You look at the health care and pensions of 27,000 West Virginians. As was mentioned, these are not large amounts. I think the Senator from Ohio mentioned $560 a month. Unfortunately, for some retirees that is the difference between paying their electricity bill and having food on the table. That is a substantial amount. It could mean getting gas for the car, buying their medicines, or helping their children when they might need help to purchase a new pair of shoes. All of these kinds of things are extremely important in the everyday life of our retirees. I think the best voices are the voices of the miners. I have received letters, and I am sure you all have received letters and talked to folks yourself, from people like Rita from Ieager, WV, who wrote that her husband started work as a coal miner 40 years ago right out of high school. Without the act, she and her husband will lose their entire health care coverage. Walter is a third generation coal miner. We find these a lot. A lot of these people are third and fourth generation coal miners. He is from Danville and began working in the mines when he was still in high school. He wrote to express concern not just for himself. As a typical West Virginian and hardworking American, he is worried about his friends and former colleagues in Boone County. There are people like Teresa, also from Boone County, whose husband worked in the mines for 36 years and planned for retirement knowing that they would receive the health care and pension benefits they were promised. She asks us to ``please help these retirees to ensure that people like my husband keep the benefits he was promised and that he earned and worked hard for.'' There is Ralph from Morgantown, who reminds us--and I think this is especially important for us to reemphasize today--that ``Congress has the power to keep that promise because it is the right thing to do to protect those hardworking Americans.'' Ralph is right. So I am going to make a stand with my colleagues. I am asking in a loud and joint voice to have this vote to keep the promise that was made. While Puerto Rico is facing a financial crisis and I have great empathy for what is going on there, I cannot vote for cloture on the Puerto Rico bill until I get some certainty that we are going to move in a positive direction. I appreciate the passion and the willingness of Senator Manchin to join us together in this colloquy today. We have bipartisanship. We have a regional coalition that I think we can build on every day. I hope we will be successful so that we can make sure that our miners and their families have the assurances, the security, and the faith in us who could make that decision, and the faith in this country that made that promise. I yield back to the Senator.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise today to express the urgent need to take up and pass a piece of legislation which has great meaning for me and my fellow West Virginians and which is important to our Nation's coal-mining community, and that is the Miners Protection Act. Seventy years ago, in 1946, President Harry Truman secured an agreement committing the Federal Government to protect lifetime health and pension benefits for our Nation's miners. These men and women earned this care through their tireless and often very dangerous work to produce the coal that has powered our Nation and spurred economic growth for years. Over the course of seven decades, Congress has kept their promise. In 1992, a bipartisan effort in Congress led by my predecessor, Senator Rockefeller, resulted in the passage of the Coal Act to address the health care needs of orphaned coal miners. Those are miners whose companies are no longer in existence. In 2006, I voted for legislation that built upon the Coal Act and continued the bipartisan congressional tradition, fulfilling our promise to coal miners and their families and retirees and protecting their promised health care benefits. In 2012, the bankruptcy of Patriot Coal placed the health care of more than 12,000 retirees and dependents at risk. A temporary solution, which has been going on for a couple of years, has preserved health care for these individuals, but that short-term solution is nearing an end. Additional coal industry bankruptcies--and I feel like we hear about one a week, and they are major--have threatened health care benefits for more families. If we don't act now, health care for more than 21,000 miners and families will be lost by the end of this year--just 6 months from now. West Virginians really know what mining has meant to our State and to our Nation, and our miners have depended on these benefits. Every day I am reminded of this. Char from Bob White, WV--and Bob White is the name of the little town he lives in--recently wrote to me: We are desperate. Our benefits are about to lapse unless we get this legislation passed. It cannot be ignored again. Many retired miners cannot afford to pay for their medications if we lose our health care. Kenneth, who lives in Mullens, WV, said: It seems more and more that the attack on coal is no longer an industry attack but one that is personal on individuals. He went on to ask this question: ``What about folks like me that worked hard their entire life?'' Recognizing the significance of this problem, I joined with Congressman David McKinley to introduce legislation in 2013 that addressed both the retiree health care and the looming insolvency of the mine workers' multiemployer pension bill. Last year, Senator Manchin and I introduced the Miners Protection Act, a very similar bill. This bill demands immediate action. We need to follow through with our commitment to all the hard-working West Virginians and other coal miners across this country. In addition to addressing the health care needs of retirees through the same mechanisms supported by Congress in 1993 and 2006, the Miners Protection Act will ensure the solvency of the multiemployer pension plan that provides benefits to almost 90,000 retirees and surviving spouses. More than 27,000 of those--nearly one-third--live in my home State of West Virginia. The Miners Protection Act uses unobligated funds authorized by the 2006 AML reauthorization bill to support existing mine-working health and pension programs. Let's be clear. Mining retirees do not receive lavish benefits. The average pension payment is only $560 per month. But these funds are vital to our retirees who live on very small fixed incomes. They are a key part of a local economy in West Virginia and other States where these retirees live. If we fail to act, the pension plan will become insolvent, imposing projected liabilities of over $4 billion on the PBGC, known as the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. If we pass the Miners Protection Act, the pension plan will remain in good standing, benefiting taxpayers, beneficiaries, and coal communities. In May, the trustees of the UMWA Health and Retirement Funds announced that contributions to the pension fund have dropped by nearly two-thirds from last year's level. This just shows you how devastated our coal communities are. The continued regulatory assault on the coal industry has hastened this decline and threatened the retirement security of our miners. In 2001, the EPA finalized the mercury and air toxins rule for coal plants. Since that time, our Nation has lost more than 40,000 coal jobs, and 1,000 of those workers are West Virginians. Our State's unemployment is among the highest in the country for this very reason. The impact of other EPA proposals, like the Clean Power Plan, which has been stayed by the Supreme Court, and the stream protection rule that is currently being finalized, would make the situation even worse in our coal communities. As I have said many times before, the negative regulatory impact on coal extends far beyond the tens of thousands of families who are most directly affected. A loss of coal severance tax revenue has triggered drastic budget problems for our State, which we just got a 1-year solution for, and a lot of our local governments are having to lay off county workers and school workers and schoolteachers. The severe impact on the health care pensions of our miners is another consequence of the administration's War on Coal. Given that Federal policies have played a major role in causing this problem, it is appropriate for the Federal Government to fulfill its commitment to retiring miners who will lose their promised benefits unless we act. The Miners Protection Act is critically important to so many people in my State and across this country. We need to keep the promise of lifetime health care for those retired coal miners whose companies have gone through bankruptcy, and we need to make sure our retirees receive the pension benefits they have worked so hard for. The Miners Protection Act is a truly bipartisan effort. It is supported by Democrats and Republicans and Independents in the Senate. There are 72 cosponsors on the House bill, including 39 Republicans and 33 Democrats. West Virginians understand that this need not be a political football. As Thomas from Shady Spring, WV, put it, ``This issue is not partisan; this is an easy fix to funding promised pensions.'' It is important this bill be enacted this year before the temporary solution expires and ends the health care benefits for so many retirees and before the continued downturn takes an even greater toll on the pension fund. I will continue to work with my colleagues in the West Virginia delegation, including Senator Manchin, Congressman McKinley, Congressman Mooney, and Congressman Jenkins, and all of the other cosponsors of this legislation, to see it become law before it is too late. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize and commend the outstanding career of Dr. Beverly ``Jo'' Harris, one of the State of West Virginia's most respected educators, on the occasion of her retirement. During her tenure as the first president of BridgeValley Community and Technical College, Dr. Harris has shown tremendous passion and dedication to her students, colleagues, and her community. Her commitment to education has been an inspiration to many citizens of our State. Dr. Harris obtained her undergraduate degree from Concord College and a master's degree from Marshall University. She then received a doctoral degree in educational administration from West Virginia University. Dr. Harris began her career in education at a proprietary school in Morgantown before being hired by West Virginia Institute of Technology in 1975 as an instructor in the school's newly created associate degree business program. She has continued to work in the same building in Montgomery throughout many changes to both the school and her role. Under Dr. Harris's leadership, the school, formerly known as Bridgemont Community and Technical College, was nationally recognized as the fourth fastest growing small public 2-year college of 2010, was a finalist for the 2011 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, and selected as one of 2013's Top 50 Community Colleges in America according to ``Washington Monthly.'' Her efforts were later recognized when she received the WVCCA Leadership Award, the WVBEA Business Teacher of the Year award, and she was jointly named Upper Kanawha Valley Citizen of the Year, along with her husband, Carl. In addition to her official role as president, Dr. Harris has also served on the boards of the SMART 529 College Savings Program, WV Workforce Development Council, New River Gorge Regional Development Authority, the Upper Kanawha Valley Economic Development Corporation, Region 4 Planning and Development Council, South Charleston Rotary, and the Fayette County and South Charleston chambers of commerce. I have had the pleasure of working with Jo throughout my time representing the state of West Virginia in Congress. I am proud to call her my friend and trusted colleague whose counsel will be missed. I am thankful for Dr. Harris's dedication to West Virginia's higher education system and the many students she taught and mentored. Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Dr. Beverly ``Jo'' Harris for her service.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Pastor Bennie Moran of Faith Baptist Church in Morgantown, WV, upon his retirement after 49 years of faith-based service to the community. Pastor Moran held the church's first service in 1967 from his home with only 10 people in attendance. Word of the newly formed church spread throughout the county, so the growing congregation had to meet at the Westover Community Building for the next 7 years. In 1973, the church moved into its first permanent location. Faith Baptist Church remained there until 1995, which is when they moved into their current location. Pastor Moran was there helping the church every step of the way. Born in Fairmont, WV, Bennie grew up a son of a coal miner. He attended Fairmont State University for his undergraduate degree and received his doctorate from Bob Jones University. Bennie also proudly served his country in the U.S. Army. I am honored to represent this individual who has faithfully served both this country and his community. Today I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Pastor Moran's service to Faith Baptist Church and the State of West Virginia.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I am extremely pleased to rise to express my support for the open debate we are going to have on the fiscal year 2017 Energy and Water appropriations bill. I would certainly like to thank the Senator from California and my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, and I would like to thank Senator Alexander for his leadership and work on their collaboration. As a person who has only been in the Senate for a year and a half and on the Appropriations Committee for about that amount of time, it has been fun for me to watch seasoned pros as they weave their way through the appropriations process. So I thank them for that. But this is what our constituents sent us here to do: to legislate, to express an opinion, to amend and debate. And I appreciate my colleagues' willingness to do that with this piece of legislation. This is a fiscally responsible, bipartisan bill which unanimously passed out of the Committee on Appropriations last week. It is also worth noting--and I have heard it noted already today and will probably hear it many more times--that we are considering appropriations bills on the Senate floor at the earliest point since 1974. I look forward to the bill passing with many priorities that are important to my home State of West Virginia, and I also look forward to passing the other 11 appropriations bills as we move through this process. We can all agree that governing by continuing resolution is not ideal. The leadership in the Senate, and through the work of the Appropriations Committee, of which I am a proud member, has put us on a path to passing bills that will fund our government in a reasoned manner, in a transparent manner, and in a manner which is an open, deliberative, fair, and responsible process. Today marks an important step forward--one of many to come, I hope. The bill before us has enormous importance to every State and particularly my State of West Virginia. It includes resources that ensure safe and stable infrastructure, promotes and stimulates research in the fossil fuel industry, and provides resources for rural areas most negatively impacted by the economic downturn and continued assault against coal-producing areas in Appalachia, where I live. A few weeks ago, I visited the Bluestone Dam in Hinton, WV. It is an engineering marvel. It was built in the late 1940s and completed in the 1950s. But we must maintain and modernize to make sure we have the safest and the most technologically superior dams for the prevention of flooding. The importance of the Bluestone Dam to its surrounding area-- and really all of West Virginia--cannot be overstated. It is protecting the neighboring capital city of Charleston, where I live, from massive and catastrophic flooding. This bill provides construction funds for the Army Corps of Engineers for projects such as Bluestone, as well as operation and maintenance funds for hundreds of locks and dams across the country, including many in my State besides Bluestone--from Elkins, to Beech Fork Lake, to Tygart Lake. Disappointingly, the President's budget cut funding for the Corps of Engineers. I don't know how you can do that. That irresponsible action is eliminated in this bill. We restore the cut and fund the Army Corps of Engineers by more than $1 billion above the President's request. A smaller but equally important investment in West Virginia is the Appalachian Regional Commission, known as the ARC. I am pleased the Senate is again proposing to boost funding for the ARC following the increase in last year's omnibus bill. While it might not be familiar to a lot of people, the ARC really spearheads many worthwhile efforts in the Appalachian region, including actions to help communities impacted by the downturn of the coal industry through worker training, economic diversification, and job services. One way to provide our citizens with greater opportunities is to provide them with broadband access. West Virginia is not wired for broadband like a lot of our other States. We need to meet the acceptable standards set by the FCC. We understand we have mountains and it is difficult, but if we don't do this, if we don't make this change, West Virginia will be left further behind. This is an economic, educational, and health care tool. The ARC is one of the entities that are helping West Virginia connect to the Internet, and by doing so, it connects the possibilities for commerce, education, health care, and other things that all of us-- particularly these young people in front of me--have come to think of as essential to life as bread and water. This bill maintains the funding level for fossil fuel energy research and development at $632 million. Sixty-seven percent of the electricity generated in the United States is from fossil fuels--coal, natural gas, and petroleum--and this will not change anytime soon. The Department of Energy's own Energy Information Administration predicts that coal will still make up about one-third of U.S. electricity generation for decades to come. If the administration itself acknowledges that fossil fuels will be critical to electricity generation, we must ensure that we are using these in the cleanest way possible. Therefore, we must continue to make that investment in research and development for clean coal technologies, which is a large component of this funding. This funding is $272 million above the President's request. The President's proposed cut and those proposed by some of my colleagues--and as we move through the markup we anticipate proposed cuts to fossil fuel research--in my view, are shortsighted because they fail to realize the value of the research being done in places like the National Energy Technology Lab in Morgantown, WV, known as NETL. NETL has reorganized and restructured its budget to be more transparent, so we can understand what is actually going on, where the dollars are being appropriated, and better focus on research and maximize those funds. I applaud these efforts. Frankly, I think we should all applaud them. Their work is very important to each and every one of us. There are many other provisions in this bill that are very noteworthy, but I wish to close with this: For West Virginia, this legislation provides funding and support that will help us in many ways. I am proud to have supported it in committee and now on the floor. I will be very excited to see my first appropriations bill actually come to the Senate floor. Well, we maybe did do one last year, but this will be the first time Energy and Water has been on the floor. I look forward to this debate by my colleagues.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, as we are all sadly aware, the United States is experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose deaths. The statistics are just startling. Since 2000, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses has increased 137 percent, including a 200-percent increase in overdose deaths attributed to the use of opioids. West Virginia has the unfortunate distinction of leading the Nation in drug-related overdose deaths--more than twice the national average. As I travel across the State, I hear constantly about the devastation caused by this epidemic. West Virginia communities are grappling with the seriousness and pain of addiction. No family or community--mine included--is immune from this pain. As one of my constituents put it, ``We must give our young people a reason not to start using something that robs them of everything they have.'' Other West Virginians have bravely shared their family's stories of addiction's pain with me. In the powerful words of one of my constituents, ``It only takes a few seconds to use drugs--but a lifetime to fight.'' Drug addiction is a diseases that knows no boundaries, and West Virginia is certainly not alone in this fight. My colleagues in the Senate--including, I am sure, the Acting President pro tempore--return each week with similar stories. No matter our political party, we should all agree on one thing, we must act to change these horrifying statistics and to save lives. Some steps have already been taken to address this drug epidemic. The appropriations bill we passed last December included funding to expand prevention efforts. It included improved data collection and new treatment services, training for our servicemembers who are battling addiction, and training for the first responders who are responding to these drug overdoses. Today we hope to begin debate on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. I thank my colleagues Senator Portman, Senator Ayotte, and Senator Whitehouse for their leadership on this important legislation. This bipartisan bill, known as CARA, addresses the opioid epidemic by expanding prevention and education. It also promotes the resources needed for treatment and recovery. It includes reforms to help law enforcement respond to the drug epidemic, and it supports long-term recovery efforts--which, as we see in my State of West Virginia, we don't have enough treatment options, particularly in the long-term recovery area. The legislation also expands the availability of naloxone, a lifesaving drug that helps to reverse the effects of an overdose, and we are also creating disposal sites for unwanted prescriptions. CARA provides resources for treatment alternatives to incarceration, such as the successful and expanding drug court programs that operate in West Virginia and many other States. We just had a graduation the other day with some great success stories included in that from the drug court. According to the Beckley Register Herald, counties with drug courts have already seen cost savings and deep declines of recidivism rates among graduates. CARA also provides a provision to improve treatment programs for pregnant women and mothers who have substance abuse disorder. Another startling statistic is the number of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome that has increased fivefold from the years 2000 to the year 2012. Last fall, I introduced the Improving Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women Act, with Senators Ayotte, Whitehouse, and Klobuchar. The CARA act provides a provision that could play a critical role in preventing neonatal abstinence syndrome and getting treatment to pregnant women and new mothers. Also, last fall I worked with Senator Markey and others to help restore drug take-back days and keep medications out of the wrong hands. We all probably have some medication in our own medicine chests that are no longer necessary and that we don't need to have. It might have been for a family member. It is time to clean out those medicine chests. I participated in last year's program in Charleston, WV, and was pleased to see the overwhelming response. CARA focuses on the programs that work and will streamline efforts across multiple Federal agencies. In order to further address the needs of our communities, I am working on several bipartisan amendments on this bill. These amendments include solutions to improve prescribing practices and prevent overprescribing. Too many stories of addiction start with patients taking painkillers after a minor surgery or a minor injury. That is why I am pleased to be working with Senator Gillibrand on an effort that would require clear CDC guidelines for prescribing opioids for acute pain--a tooth extraction, maybe a broken arm, something that doesn't last forever, but the pain is acute in the beginning but fades rather quickly. I also am pleased to be working with Senator Warren on an amendment that allows doctors to partially fill certain opioid prescriptions. These will reduce the number of unused painkillers sitting in our medicine cabinets and help to prevent future cases of drug abuse and addiction. In order to reduce the number of overdose deaths, I am working with Senator Kaine to allow doctors to coprescribe the lifesaving drug naloxone when they prescribe an opioid. This would make naloxone more widely available in Federal health care settings, such as community health centers, VA clinics, and DOD facilities. I am also focused on tackling one of the saddest realities of this epidemic. In my State of West Virginia, babies born exposed to opioids during pregnancy are approximately three times the national average. Every 25 minutes in this country a baby is born with addiction. Nationwide, this condition has increased fivefold from the years 2000 to 2012. This amendment will provide clear guidelines to encourage the creation of residential pediatric recovery centers, like the wonderful Lily's Place in Huntington, WV. I am pleased to be working with Senator King from Maine and Congressman Evan Jenkins from West Virginia on this effort. CARA represents a positive step forward in addressing the opioid crisis. The four amendments that I have outlined, I believe, will strengthen the bill. They would prevent addiction, promote recovery, and curb the scourge of drug addiction in my State and in others across this country. There is much work ahead for all of us in this area. The actions we are hopefully taking here this week in Washington are simply first steps. This bill builds on the tireless work being done at the State and local levels by communities, law enforcement, and health professionals all across this country. They are working together. By working together, we can change these statistics and stop more tragedies from occurring--stop the human tragedy of losing a loved one, of losing a mother or father. I urge my colleagues to begin debate on CARA this evening and to support this important legislation. I am concerned we are in jeopardy of losing the next generation. So we have much work to do.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Thank you, Madam President. I rise today in strong support of the North Korean Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act. I commend Senators Corker, Gardner, Menendez, and Cardin for their hard work on this bill, and I am proud to be a cosponsor. North Korea poses a serious threat to the United States. Last month, the North Koreans tested a nuclear device as they continue to advance their weapons technology. Just this weekend the North Koreans launched a satellite as they work to build a ballistic missile program. Cyber attacks launched by North Korea have crippled businesses such as Sony Pictures and targeted our allies in South Korea and Japan. The threats posed by North Korea will only continue to grow, and our current policy toward North Korea has failed to protect the safety and security of the American people. This legislation takes significant steps to deny North Korea's capabilities and to limit the nuclear and ballistic missile programs, to stop cyber security attacks, and to end North Korea's horrendous human rights violations. Mandatory investigations and mandatory sanctions are the hallmark of this legislation. Under this bill, the administration is required to investigate the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, human rights abuses, and cyber crimes. When investigations reveal misconduct related to these activities, sanctions are required. Importantly, this bill will target minerals and other items that the North Korean regime uses to finance its weapons programs at the expense of its own people. Sanctions under this bill would also apply to businesses or individuals around the world that help North Korea expand its nuclear weapons and cyber crime capabilities. Similar legislation imposing sanctions targeted towards North Korea passed in the House last month with a nearly unanimous vote. That is quite an achievement. Today I hope this bill will pass by a similar margin and show that the Senate is united in our resolve against the security threats posed by North Korea. Clean Power Plan Madam President, on another important note, last night the U.S. Supreme Court put the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan on hold. This landmark decision will prevent the Obama administration from enforcing this rule until all legal challenges are complete. West Virginia, my State, has lost nearly 10,000 coal mining jobs since 2009. Nearly every week, hundreds of layoffs and more notices devastate West Virginia's coalfields, West Virginia families, and communities. The impact on State and local budgets has been stark. School boards have announced significant cuts to education due to the loss of coal severance tax revenue. This is all across the State. As bad as the current economic situation is, the Clean Power Plan would make things worse for families and communities in my State. We know the EPA's playbook. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court struck down EPA's mercury rule targeting powerplants since the Agency failed to follow the legal requirements, but because the mercury rule went into effect years before legal challenges were complete, billions of dollars had already been invested and many jobs had already been lost. My ARENA Act has recognized that the 29 States and hundreds of other organizations challenging the President's power grab deserve meaningful judicial review. My legislation said this rule could not go into effect until the litigation is complete--such common sense. I am very pleased the Supreme Court has agreed with this commonsense position and recognized the immediate impact of this rule. I also want to extend my appreciation to West Virginia's attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, for his leading role in this case. On behalf of our State, he has headed the legal challenge against this administration, and last night's decision is just the latest legal setback for an out-of-control EPA. Congress has passed legislation disapproving of the Clean Power Plan. We sent it to the President and he vetoed it. A majority of our States are still challenging this rule, and the judicial branch now seems poised to play its role in protecting both the separation of powers and the principles of federalism from the administration's power grab. Increasingly, this lameduck President stands alone as he attempts to further his climate agenda. The American people are not behind him. A majority of Congress has come out against his efforts, and now the Supreme Court has raised concerns. This is an important step toward having the American people--not an unchecked bureaucracy--set our energy agenda, and we must continue to fight to permanently block this rule. I yield the floor.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, today I wish to celebrate the life of Ranson Mayor A. David Hamill, who recently passed away at the age of 71. I first met Dave following my election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, and I came to know him as a passionate advocate for the city of Ranson. We began working together very early in my House tenure, revitalizing Ranson through Federal Brownfields initiatives. With his height, his booming voice, and his mischievous sense of humor, he certainly cut an impressive figure. And while he was in many ways a larger-than-life persona, his greatest strength was his willingness to listen. He tried to genuinely understand the needs of his constituents and the people with whom he worked. Indeed, his humility was evident in an excerpt from the open letter he wrote to the city last month, sharing his worsening prognosis. He wrote, ``I have tried to do what is best for the City of Ranson--sometimes my result may not have been successful as I planned, but it was not for my lack of passion or desire to do the right thing.'' Born in Kitchener, Ontario, Dave met his wife, Helen, while working in Macon, GA. Although they married in Canada, Dave would always submit job applications to local employers when he and Helen would return to her hometown of Ranson, WV. They would return to Ranson for good in 1979 when Dave was hired at Abex, in nearby Winchester, VA. Dave rose to become a certified purchasing manager and negotiated purchasing contracts for the company's eight factories in its North American division. When Dave became a U.S. citizen, he almost immediately began his public service career. Beginning with the planning commission, Dave soon became a member of Ranson's city council. In 1987, he was appointed mayor and was subsequently reelected seven consecutive times, most recently in 2013. Dave will be celebrated for his many accomplishments as mayor, including his work with the Brownfields initiative, the redevelopment surrounding the American Public University System campus, Ranson's annexations for future growth, the city's streetscape projects, Ranson's youth football field, and the Fairfax Boulevard extension project. The list could certainly go on, but to highlight only the accomplishments of the man would be to overshadow Dave's spirit and his dedication to the city he served. In addition to his wife, Helen, Dave is survived by his three children: Cindy, Melissa, and James; and nine grandchildren. In addition to his public service, Dave was also very active in the United Methodist Church, where he was a lay speaker and lay member to the Methodist Annual Conference. I will miss Mayor Dave Hamill, as will all who knew him. I am honored to have worked with this talented individual and am proud to have called Dave my friend for more than 15 years. Today I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the memory of ``Ranson's Champion.''

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I wish to recognize the exceptionally meritorious career of one of this Nation's finest, MSG Raymond E. Kelley, on his retirement after 26 years of sacrifice and selfless service to the United States of America and the State of West Virginia. Master Sergeant Kelley's career began on February 12, 1983, and ended upon his retirement on December 28, 2015. He first enlisted in Parkersburg, WV, as a heavy equipment operator with Company C, 463rd Engineer Battalion in the U.S. Army Reserve. In 1985, Master Sergeant Kelley transferred to the Navy, serving as a Seabee, completing deployments to Somalia and Bahrain through October 1993. After a break in service, Master Sergeant Kelley returned to the Navy Reserves in 1996 and later joined the West Virginia Army National Guard in February 2000 as a staff sergeant and was assigned as a combat engineer section leader. In 2003, Master Sergeant Kelley deployed to Iraq with the Headquarters and Support Company 1092nd Engineer Battalion as a construction foreman. Following the deployment, Master Sergeant Kelley was promoted and served as a platoon sergeant for the 119th Engineer Support Company, Clarksburg, WV, and the 1st Detachment of the 1092nd, Headquarters and Support Company, Point Pleasant, WV. In 2006, Master Sergeant Kelley was assigned to the 193rd Equipment Support Platoon in Moundsville, WV, where he served as the senior noncommissioned officer for the unit and the unit full-time readiness noncommissioned officer. In 2011, Master Sergeant Kelley was transferred to the 1092nd Engineer Battalion, Headquarters and Support Company as the assistant operations sergeant and was promoted in September 2012 as the battalion operations sergeant. His awards and decorations include a Meritorious Service Medal, second award; Army Commendation Medal, third award; Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, third award; Army Achievement Medal, third award; National Defense Service Medal, second award; Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Iraq Campaign Medal with Campaign Star; Armed Forces Reserve Medal with Mobilization Device; Army Service Ribbon; Non-Commissioned Officer Ribbon, third award; Overseas Service Ribbon; Combat Action Badge; Joint Meritorious Unit Award; Army Good Conduct Medal, second award; Army Meritorious Unit Commendation; United States Navy Presidential Unit Commendation; Navy Presidential Unit Citation; Navy Achievement Medal, third award; United States Navy Overseas Service Ribbon; Navy Good Conduct Award, second award; West Virginia Emergency Service Medal, third award; WV State Service Ribbon, third award; West Virginia Achievement Ribbon; and West Virginia National Guard Minuteman Ribbon, third award. Master Sergeant Kelley made significant contributions to all of the units to which he has been assigned throughout his 26 years of service. As the platoon sergeant for the 193rd Equipment Support Platoon, his unit consistently maintained strength in excess of 100 percent and had the highest morale of any unit in the 1092nd Engineer Battalion. As the battalion operations sergeant, Master Sergeant Kelley managed all training events and training requirements, ensuring subordinate units were prepared for all potential missions. Master Sergeant Kelley resides with his wife, Rhonda, in Parkersburg, WV. They have three children: Seth, Hanna, and Chance. Master Sergeant Kelley is a fellow runner, as well as an avid outdoorsman. I wish him a fond farewell and the best of luck in the next phase of his life. He has shown leadership and wisdom throughout his numerous assignments. He has made a difference in the readiness of the West Virginia National Guard, in the morale of his units, and most importantly, in the lives of thousands of servicemembers. He has been an asset and a treasure; his presence will be missed by many and by the West Virginia National Guard as a whole. Master Sergeant Kelley, I am honored to call you a fellow West Virginian; but most of all, thankful for your endless dedication that has meant so much, to so many.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I wish to talk about the bill we have on the floor and how important I think it is not only to my State but to our United States in terms of our energy security and energy policy modernization. I rise to support the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016. I think this legislation recognizes the critical need to improve our Nation's energy infrastructure and how we can use our natural resources. I commend Chairman Murkowski and Ranking Member Cantwell for their hard work to get this bill on the floor. I am honored to be a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The open process they led in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as the Presiding Officer knows, resulted in a strong bipartisan vote of 18 to 4 in support of this bill. I think it goes without saying, but this country needs an updated, comprehensive policy that brings an ``all of the above'' approach to the way we utilize energy. This is the first major energy legislation to be considered by the Senate since 2007. This bill will help make our homes, our cars, our public buildings--think about how old and inefficient a lot of our public buildings are, including our schools-- more energy efficient. It will help improve our parks and lands through the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This bill will enhance our ability to fully utilize our vast natural resources so that we remain and become even more energy secure in the years to come. There are few people who know energy potential better than the people of West Virginia. West Virginia's Marcellus region has the largest shale gas reserves in the United States. It is really a magnificent thing to watch as it is developing. It is a job creator, an excitement creator, and a revenue generator. It is a reason to have a revitalized part of our State come alive as we participate in the energy economy. Coupled with the nearby Utica region, these two shale formations have accounted for major increases in natural gas production since 2012. West Virginia's natural gas production has nearly quadrupled between the years 2008 and 2014. As I said earlier, it has happened fast and quick, and it has really exploded throughout the region in terms of job creation. Unfortunately, despite this unprecedented increase in natural gas recovery, our producers have been underserved by a lack of pipeline capacity. Nobody knew this existed until just in the last 10, 12 years. Our current permitting process for pipelines can take years. It is slow and uncertain, which means delayed construction, if we get to construction, and, in turn, delayed manufacturing projects and access to affordable energy. Many manufacturers across this country rely on cheap, affordable natural gas, not just as an energy producer but in our chemical industries as feedstock to create. Last spring, the Charleston Daily Mail editorialized that ``the big gas boom that has increased employment and tax revenue in West Virginia has slowed considerably less due to slowing markets than a lack of pipeline infrastructure to carry the burgeoning supplies.'' Earlier this month, the Clarksburg Exponent Telegram, another fine newspaper in West Virginia, editorialized that ``the promise of more than 18,000 jobs tied to the construction of six interstate gas pipelines is the last hope for prosperity for a generation of Mountain State residents.'' The paper continued that regulatory delays are slowing these important projects. West Virginia has been hard hit by job loss in the energy sector. Just this week, more than 850 West Virginia coal miners received notices that their jobs may be at risk. They join more than 500 other West Virginia miners who were informed after the start of this year that they would be losing their jobs, not to mention that the whole total job loss in the coal economy in my State has been 10,000 direct jobs, as miners as well as some other indirect jobs that contribute to the mining industry, most recently CSX and Norfolk Southern, are announcing cutbacks. Moving forward with improvements to our energy infrastructure will create construction jobs and economic opportunity in my State, where both are desperately needed. That is why I am pleased that this bill includes language that I introduced, along with Senators Heitkamp and Cassidy, that would address the fragmented and prolonged permitting process for pipelines. This provision will streamline the application process so pipelines can be constructed in a more timely and efficient manner and will meet our energy transportation needs, along with meeting the environmental requirements that we feel are proper in order to site the pipelines. The provision establishes FERC as the lead agency for the permitting process. This helps to address any interagency squabbles or disputes that can lead to project delay. We must make use of our natural resources to grow our domestic manufacturing. We should also use our abundant gas reserves to export liquefied natural gas to our allies. A strong export policy will bring jobs and revenue to producing States such as my State of West Virginia and to many others across the country. It will also help with energy security for our allies in Europe and Japan at a time of growing instability around the globe. This bill includes Senator Barrasso's bill to expedite LNG export permitting so that natural gas produced here in America can be sold to our allies around the world. Going forward, innovation will be a key component in powering West Virginia's energy economy. In addition to our rich natural gas reserves, West Virginia has been one of the major producers of coal for energy generation in this country for decades--centuries. My State and our Nation have faced an uphill battle in the administration's war on coal, despite the fact that coal still remains America's baseload energy source. We need a commonsense approach to coal-fired energy generation, one that doesn't simply try to eliminate it but instead incorporates it into a modern, innovative energy policy. That is why I cosponsored language included in this bill, with Senators Manchin and Portman, that will revitalize the fossil energy program at the Department of Energy. This program is critical to the research and development of new technologies that make fossil energy more efficient and more reliable, while at the same time reducing emissions. One of the most promising advances in fossil energy technology is carbon capture utilization and storage. Not only will this technology ensure that our significant coal reserves are part of an overall strategy, but it could also be used for enhanced oil recovery that will further strengthen our energy security. A modern energy policy must recognize that coal and natural gas will remain a key part of our Nation's energy portfolio for decades to come. I think everybody agrees that the baseload needs to be there. By acting now to support infrastructure and innovation, we can support jobs and grow our economy for future generations. I started out my speech talking about the way this bill moved through the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and how bipartisan it was and how we worked out the wrinkles. I, again, wish to thank Chairwoman Murkowski and Ranking Member Cantwell for the way they wove through a very complicated procedure. This bipartisan legislation is critical to all Americans and their families. It means more efficient, affordable, and reliable energy for millions of people. It makes us energy secure and more competitive with other countries in innovative energy and efficiency technologies. These are the reasons why I support this important piece of legislation, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. I yield the floor.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I wish to recognize one of West Virginia's prized public servants, Mark Felton, on the occasion of his retirement. Through his various roles in the Region III Planning and Development Council, Mark has been an indispensable resource to the four counties he has served for over 30 years. After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in geography from Marshall University, Mark began his career in the transportation department of the regional planning council in 1983. Mark authored and supervised innumerable transportation-related studies that benefited residents of the region through improved roads, bridges, travel times, and safety. The regional councils serve as integral partners in the planning and execution of infrastructure improvements, including water and sewer projects. During my time representing the 2nd Congressional District and continuing through to my time in the Senate, my staff and I worked with Mark and the council to complete numerous infrastructure projects; as a result, we provided potable water to thousands of West Virginians. I have always appreciated the technical assistance and knowledge that Mark and his staff bring to any undertaking. These projects are not always the most glamorous, but they are necessary for the health of the people we serve. In 2006, Mark was promoted to executive director of the regional planning council. In this role, Mark successfully worked alongside local, county, and State leaders to achieve many goals throughout the region. Mark was consistent in his determination to utilize region III's resources in the most efficient manner possible. One highlight of Mark's career includes working with the West Virginia Division of Highways and the U.S. Department of Transportation to build the Saint Albans--Nitro Bridge. This was a major achievement that required patience and diligent planning to complete. Through a clever design variation, millions of taxpayer dollars were saved, and the project was completed ahead of schedule. I commend Mark and his team for working skillfully with Federal and State partners to accomplish this huge undertaking under budget and on time. Time and again, Mark exhibited great leadership and wisdom in his roles with the regional planning council and has made a lasting difference in the health and safety of residents of Kanawha, Clay, Boone, and Putnam Counties. In his spare time, Mark actively participates in local theater activities in the Kanawha Valley, acting in roles for the Charleston Light Opera Guild and Kanawha Players. In addition, he previously served as president of the Children's Theater of Charleston. Hopefully he will continue with his passion, as I have always enjoyed seeing him on stage. Mark is also a member of Kanawha United Presbyterian Church where he actively participates in the church and bell choirs. Additionally, he is a property trustee of the church and plans to be more involved in both internal operations and outreach ministries after his retirement. Mark and his wife, Kerry, a kindergarten teacher for Kanawha County Schools, have two children, Erin and Patrick. I wish Mark a fond farewell and the best of luck to him and his family in the next phase of their lives. Our State owes Mark a debt of gratitude for his hard work and dedication to his community. It has been a privilege working with him, and I urge my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mark on a wonderful career.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business for up to 15 minutes.

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

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise today to highlight the positive change our new Republican majority has brought to the U.S. Senate in 2015. As a first-year Senator--and I will remind everybody that I spent a lot of time on the other side of the Capitol observing the Senate--I came to the body looking to improve this institution that for far too long was not working for American families. Not only did the Senate fail to pass legislation that would help our seniors, students, and workers, it failed to even debate critical issues. Looking from the House side across the hall in the Capitol, we really couldn't understand that. In 2014 the Senate only voted on 15 amendments. This year, under new leadership, we have taken hundreds of amendment votes and committees are hard at work. We debated issues, clearly stated our policy priorities, and broke the gridlock that defined the previous Congress. Allowing Senators from both sides of the aisle to offer amendments, participate in the process, and take votes is the best way to achieve bipartisan legislation. It is common sense. Isn't that the way it is supposed to be? It is kind of how I thought it should be, and I am glad to know that this year, that is what we are doing. Working together is the only way to enact policies that will improve the lives of the American people. The new Senate work has borne tremendous fruit, particularly in the past week. We passed the first major overhaul of elementary and secondary education in more than a decade, and the President is poised to sign this into law. Eighty-five Senators voted for it; that is a big bipartisan majority. The Every Student Succeeds Act strikes the proper balance between flexibility and accountability. The bill ends education waivers and the Federal common core mandate that had turned Washington bureaucrats into basically a national school board. No one cares more about a student's success than a child's parents and their teachers, and those closest to our children should be the ones empowered to make those decisions. At the same time, accountability matters. I have three children who went through the school system, and testing done properly is a good thing. A parent wants to know where their child stands. We want to know what their weaknesses and successes are, and we want to know where the school stands. But under this bill, States will have multiple measures of student achievement, not just testing. Test results will just be a part of that evaluation, and States will have broad discretion to measure other factors. High schools will now report on the rate of graduates going on to higher education. Whether graduates are prepared to continue education is, in my view, an important measure of success. This bill also recognizes the importance of technology and education, not just in the classroom but also at home. It includes language that Senator King and I introduced to study the homework gap. Students who lack access to fast and reliable broadband at home need to be able to continue learning outside the classroom. If the teacher gives an assignment and students are given a device and they take it home, if they don't have the connectivity, they are behind. But if they do have the connectivity--the access--they can continue their education at home and be prepared the next day. States will now have flexibility to use Federal resources to improve this access to technology. This is a significant step forward, I think, for the education system that is outdated and out of step with the needs of our students. It is particularly hard-hitting in rural communities. Last week we passed and the President signed the first long-term highway bill in 17 years. Since 2009, Congress has lurched from one short-term patch to another, leaving officials across the country unable to plan future highway and transit projects. The shameful inability to make a lasting investment in our infrastructure came to an end last week. The FAST Act invests $2.5 billion in West Virginia's roads and bridges over 5 years. I can say after going home last weekend that the biggest issue raised to me in a congratulatory way was this: Thank you for passing the highway bill. With it, the completion of Route 35 in West Virginia and Corridor H will bring economic potential to our State. Key projects such as the King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway will help isolated communities attract businesses and provide jobs. States will also now have more flexibility, which is exactly what they want and need, to spend Federal dollars. New permitting reforms will help taxpayer dollars go farther and enable projects to be completed more quickly. Time is money, and if we can complete in a shorter time span and do the regulatory obligations at the same time-- concurrently--it can save States, the Federal Government, and localities money. This highway bill is truly a jobs bill not only for the workers who will build and repair America's roads and bridges, but these investments will also bring broader economic benefits to our communities. Another good thing this bill does that will help further job growth in West Virginia is it reauthorizes the Appalachian Regional Commission. This reauthorization includes bipartisan language to establish a high-speed broadband development initiative for underserved areas in Appalachia. Just this Sunday, the Charleston Gazette-Mail wrote about how the lack of broadband was hindering efforts to provide telemedicine in small West Virginia towns. The ARC reauthorization is a tangible step towards getting this region connected. Broadband access can power these communities. So passage of the education and highway bills are tremendous recent achievements, and they follow earlier bipartisan accomplishments this year. With our entitlement programs hurdling towards bankruptcy, it was important for Congress to act. In April, we permanently eliminated Medicare's sustainable growth rate, or SGR, putting an end to the long series of temporary patches that had vexed our Nation's seniors and doctors. These reforms will encourage competition, save taxpayer dollars, and provide a more reliable system for our seniors. We know there is more to do, but this marks a good first step to preserve Medicare for future generations. This same legislation extended funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program--a program I have been intimately involved with in West Virginia since my early days as a member of the house of delegates. We passed legislation to help veterans heal from the unseen wounds of war and to support victims of human trafficking. We renewed trade promotion authority to facilitate new trade agreements that can expand American jobs. And we did all of this by working together to find common ground on behalf of the people we serve. Even when consensus cannot be achieved or the President chooses to go it alone, the Senate should debate the tough issues and show the American people where we stand. We say where we stand when we are running for election. We should be saying where we stand now that we are elected. We shouldn't be shying away from that. The President's relentless environmental campaign to expand Washington bureaucracy at the expense of our economy is an issue I have been deeply concerned about. Energy-producing States have been hit the hardest. My State of West Virginia now has the largest and highest unemployment rate after enduring thousands of layoffs and WARN notices. Nationwide, coal mining employment has dropped by 30 percent since 2011. When I was a Member of the House of Representatives, I took action to rein in the President's regulatory agenda, but often legislation that passed the House could not garner enough support here in the Senate. So as a newly elected Senator, I committed to change that and to lead the legislative response to protect affordable, reliable energy. Just last month, we succeeded. The Senate passed two resolutions to avoid the Clean Power Plan that are now headed to the President's desk, including the one that I led. Under new leadership, the Senate strongly opposed policies that are devastating our energy economy and have negligible environmental benefit. ObamaCare is another costly disaster that has placed great burdens on the American people. The new Republican-led Senate recently delivered on its promise to pass legislation that repeals the broken law. Basically, ObamaCare is failing. Americans are facing skyrocketing premiums and deductibles. Countless people have lost access to the doctor and health care plan of their choice. Even insurance companies are threatening to pull out of the system, and the Nation's largest one is one of those. President Obama and the Democrats are fighting to use taxpayers' dollars to bail out the big insurance companies in a misguided attempt to save their failed health care policy. The repeal legislation we passed last week would reduce taxes by more than $1 trillion, strengthen Medicare, and provide significant resources for a problem plaguing our country--substance abuse and mental health treatment. We know the President will veto the bill, but new leadership in the Senate has put a repeal bill on his desk for the first time. And this legislation will serve as a model for efforts to repeal and replace ObamaCare in the next Congress. This year, we have addressed the concerns of many Americans and the serious challenges that we face. We have solved problems and delivered real results. And under Leader McConnell's management, we have been able to debate critical issues on behalf of the Americans we serve, offer new reforms and ideas through the amendment process, and enact important bipartisan legislation. But this is just the beginning. While much has been accomplished, our work is far from done, and I look forward to building on this record of bipartisan achievement in the year ahead. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I wish to address ObamaCare repeal. As I was thinking about what I was going to say today, I went back and looked at a speech I made on the House of Representatives floor on March 21, 2010. The previous speaker talked about the partisanship that she perceives now. I thought it interesting. I am going to read just a couple quotes from my speech then: ``[We are thinking about] this bill as a blanket, a blanket of health care legislation that may be draped across America and its population in the coming years,'' which it has for the last 4 years. I talk about how ``its cloth has been cut behind closed doors and its color is tinged by partisan hands.'' That is the ObamaCare legislation and the ObamaCare plan we have today. ``The huge holes will not protect the cold winds of job loss, new taxes, government bureaucracy, and increased health care costs. . . . All of America will feel the weight of this uncomfortable burden.'' Those were my words on March 21, 2010, in the House of Representatives. Today and later this week, the Senate will consider a bill to repeal that bill, ObamaCare, a costly disaster that 4 years--5 years later we see has cost countless people access to their doctors, access to the health care plan of their choice, and thousands of West Virginians from my State have lost or had to change their coverage. We ought to ask the individuals and families whose premiums and deductibles have skyrocketed and the small businesses that have been forced to cut hours and employees. Let's consider the exchanges that are folding and the hospitals that are facing unmanageable costs. Even the Nation's largest health insurance provider has threatened to pull out of ObamaCare, citing high costs and growing risks. Just today, the CEO of that company said that joining ObamaCare was ``a bad decision.'' There has to be a better way, and we need to find it. In the bill we are considering this week, the Senate will do two major things: It will repeal significant portions of the health care law that are not working. It will also provide a bridge to replace this law with an improved health care system. This ObamaCare repeal bill will eliminate enforcement of the individual and employer mandates. It will repeal $1 trillion--$1 trillion--in onerous taxes. It will save and strengthen Medicare. It will also dedicate resources to fight the growing drug epidemic that is sweeping across this country. Certainly in our State of West Virginia we have had many difficulties, as many of our fellow Americans have. ObamaCare has upended our health care system and has broken many of the President's own promises. Headline after headline in recent weeks has called attention to the increasing premiums Americans will face next year. Across the Nation, rates for one out of every three ObamaCare plans will double in the year 2016. For plans that are not seeing huge premium increases, rising deductibles are placing an excessive burden on patients--but not just on patients; let's think about our health care providers, our hospitals, for example. When a patient has a high deductible and comes in for an expensive surgery, that patient has to pay a $4,000 or $5,000 deductible. That is unaffordable for a lot of people, and that hospital is stuck with that bill. The situation in my State is even worse. West Virginia is the only State in the country with only one insurer participating on the exchange. Remember, the President promised us choice and the ability to make decisions for ourselves. We have one choice in West Virginia. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield has been the only company in the West Virginia exchange through the first 2 years of ObamaCare, and we recently learned that it almost pulled out of the exchange for 2016. That would have been disastrous for our constituents. And why are they pulling out? Because they are losing millions of dollars on a health care plan that was promised to be a blanket, to blanket all of us, as I said in the speech I gave in 2010. It has turned out to be a blanket with huge holes. With only one provider, choices and accesses are already limited, but for many Americans, the exchanges set up under ObamaCare have become their only option. Because of increasing costs, many are now unable to afford the health insurance without subsidies. While Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield--the exchange insurance in West Virginia--did remain in West Virginia, premiums are set to increase this year or next year by 24 percent. These increases are well beyond the financial reach of most West Virginians. Our unemployment in West Virginia has skyrocketed because of the President's energy policies, and now we are looking at hard-working West Virginians and telling them their health care that was supposed to be affordable and accessible is going up 24 percent. That is unconscionable. As one of my constituents pointed out, ``This represents a significant challenge to our family budget as my husband's pay has not increased at the rate that our health care costs continue to rise.'' What about ObamaCare's promise to lower the cost of health care? The reality is really quite different. As another West Virginian put it, ``The law remains a failure by the administration's own metrics, and its harmful impact continues to make life more difficult for millions across the country.'' By repealing ObamaCare, we can revisit the problems caused by the health care law and the problems that existed before, replace them with reforms that work, and protect those whose coverage has been disrupted. In order to ensure individuals do not lose access to current coverage, this ObamaCare repeal bill will provide a 2-year transition period. This period will give us time to enact alternative reforms that will provide access to quality, affordable care without disrupting coverage. Health care reform should give States and individuals choice--remember, in my State we don't have a choice; we have one provider, no choice--while reducing health care costs over the long term. Premiums are going up 24 percent, and deductibles are skyrocketing. That is not containing costs over the long term. Americans deserve a health care system that works for them, and we know ObamaCare is not it. There is a better way. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of my resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act against EPA's greenhouse gas regulation targeting existing power sources. I am so proud to be here with my colleague from North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp. We have 47 cosponsors on this bipartisan effort to stop the existing coal plant rule. We have had a lot of discussion about this. It affects all of our States differently, but I think it is important to talk not just about what this does to our individual States but what this is going to do to us as a country. If the administration's proposed Clean Power Plan moves forward, hardship will be felt all across the country. Fewer job opportunities, higher power bills, and less reliable electricity will result. West Virginia and other coal-producing States, such as Kentucky and Wyoming, are feeling the pain of prior EPA regulations. Nearly 7,000 WARN notices, or notifications to employees--let me ask, does everybody know what a WARN notice is? If you have gotten one, you will never forget it because basically what a WARN notice says to that employee is that you could be laid off within the next 60 days. In West Virginia, 7,000 of those notices have gone out to West Virginia families, West Virginia coal miners, in the year 2015, and more than 2,600 of those were just issued last month alone. Our neighboring State of Kentucky--the State of the majority leader--lost more than 10 percent of its coal jobs during the first quarter of this year. Kentucky's coal employment now stands at the lowest level since the 1920s. The Energy Information Administration's most recent annual coal report for 2013 showed that the average number of coal mine employees dropped by roughly 10 percent in other coal-producing States, such as Alabama, Utah, and Virginia. According to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, coal mining employment nationally has dropped by a massive 31 percent in just the last 4 years. If you travel to the State of West Virginia--particularly our coal area--it does not take you long to see that. The impact of this war on coal extends far beyond the coal industry. These regulations are affecting all aspects of Americans' lives. Last month, West Virginia's Governor announced that most State agencies would have to endure 4 percent cuts, largely because of shrinking energy tax revenues. For the first time in many years, the Governor cut our education budget in the State of West Virginia because of this war on coal. That means less money for roads, for schools, and for health care services, but the terrible impact that prior regulations have had on West Virginia and the Nation would get far worse if the EPA's Clean Power Plan goes into effect. The Clean Power Plan is the most expensive environmental regulation the EPA has ever proposed on our Nation's power sector. Compliance spending is estimated to total between $29 billion and $39 billion per year. Household spending power--the money American families have in their pockets--will be reduced by $64 billion to $79 billion by this rule. A new study by NERA, a respected economic analysis firm, of the final rule found that electricity prices in West Virginia would increase between 13 and 22 percent, but certainly West Virginia will not be alone, as we are going to hear through this debate, in enduring higher energy prices and job loss. NERA projects that all of the lower 48 States will see their electricity prices go up under the Clean Power Plan. As many as 41 States could see electricity prices increase by at least 10 percent. That is just from this regulation. I am sure my colleague from North Dakota represents one of those affected states. Twenty-eight States would see electricity prices that would increase by at least 20 percent. What does that mean for our economy? The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association found that a 10-percent increase in electricity prices could mean a loss of 1.2 million jobs across the country. Half a million of those jobs would be in rural communities in rural States such as West Virginia and North Dakota. The National Black Chamber of Commerce found that the Clean Power Plan would increase poverty among blacks by 23 percent and poverty among Hispanics by 26 percent. Affordable energy matters, especially to those living on fixed incomes. Households earning less than $30,000 a year spend an average of 23 percent of their income on energy costs. These families, these children, these workers, these elderly are the ones who will suffer most under this administration's policy. Energy reliability also matters. Coal is the source of our baseload generation, and the administration wants to replace coal with intermittent sources. What does that mean? That means that on a hot day, when the air-conditioner is running and factories are operating, we could be confident that a coal-fired powerplant will be supplying the energy needed to cool our homes and keep our businesses running. In the cold winter of 2014, when the demand for electricity surged, coal was the energy source utilities relied on to keep people warm. Renewable sources--and we want more. We want more variable ones and more frequent ones. Renewable sources are an important part of our country's energy mix, but there are always going to be days when the wind isn't blowing and the Sun isn't shining, and it is critical we preserve more reliable energy resources to meet the demand of powering our economy. Where I would like to see us go is innovation. Innovation, not across-the-board regulations, should be our focus, but these regulations will not spur innovation. The Clean Power Plan sets a standard for new plants that cannot be met by the most commercially available technology we have today. That not only flies in the face of the Clean Air Act but also makes gradual improvements in technology that would improve our environment impossible implement. The effect will be to instead choke off our most reliable and affordable source of energy and devastate the livelihoods of many folks around this country. Prior to this administration, our country did a laudable job of protecting and improving our environment while promoting economic growth. Last week marked the 25th anniversary of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, which were signed into law by President George H.W. Bush and supported by Senators across the political spectrum. Our air is now the cleanest it has been in decades. We continue, and we must continue, to reduce harmful pollutants such as sulfur dioxide as our energy consumption increases and our population grows. Since 2005, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have fallen by 13 percent. According to the EIA, West Virginia has emitted 19 percent less carbon dioxide since the year 2000. We should continue on this track. We should continue to protect our environment but not at the expense of our families, our communities, and our economy. I am serious when I say, if you come to West Virginia, you will easily see this. With this rulemaking, the EPA is attempting to impose the same type of cap-and-trade system that Congress rejected 5 years ago. Having failed at its attempt at cap and trade, the administration has taken a second bite at the apple by claiming authority under the Clean Air Act to impose a regulatory cap-and-trade program. That is not the way it should be. This raises an obvious question. If EPA had cap-and-trade authority, as the administration is asserting now, why did the administration go to such lengths to try to pass cap-and-trade legislation? The answer is clear. The Clean Air Act does not authorize a mandatory cap-and-trade program. With its Clean Power Plan, EPA ignores 40 years of history and prior regulations that consistent with the law, always based standards on controls installed at an existing plant. Let me be clear. In the 40-year history of the Clean Air Act, EPA has never issued an existing plant program quite like this. As one EPA official summed it up to the New York Times, ``The legal interpretation is challenging. This effectively hasn't been done.'' Rather than regulating existing plants using the best technology, EPA is instead attempting to regulate the entire energy grid. This has not been done before because the Clean Power Act does not authorize EPA to do this. Both States and the private sector are doing what they can to fight back over this overreach. West Virginia is 1 of 27 States that has filed lawsuits to block this rule. Additionally, 24 national trade associations, 37 rural electric cooperatives, 10 major companies, and 3 labor unions representing over 800,000 employees are challenging the EPA's final Clean Power Plan. In less than 2 weeks, international climate negotiations will begin. The world is watching to see whether the United States will foolishly move forward with costly regulations that will do virtually nothing to protect our environment. Under the Congressional Review Act, the Senate now has the chance to take a real up-or-down vote on whether the EPA's Clean Power Plan can and should move forward. This is a legal binding resolution that if successful will prevent the Clean Power Plan or a similar rule from taking effect. Passing this resolution will send a clear message to the world that a majority of the Congress does not stand behind the President's efforts to address climate change with economically catastrophic regulations. Passing this resolution will also demonstrate to the American people that the Senate understands the need for affordable and reliable energy. Congress should pass this resolution and place this critical issue squarely on the President's desk. America's economic future is at stake, and it is time to send a clear signal that enough is enough. I am very privileged to be offering this resolution with Senator Heitkamp from North Dakota. She has been a champion on this issue. She has a different energy mix in her State and different energy concerns, but I think it goes to the heart of North Dakotans and West Virginians about the economic impact of such a very far-reaching and untried regulation in an area that is so far-reaching. I thank the Senator for her steadfast support. It has been my pleasure to be working with Senator Heitkamp.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of the CRA, Congressional Review Act amendment on the waters of the United States, of my colleague from Iowa. West Virginia is no stranger to the crushing consequences of harmful regulations. Our unemployment rate is the largest in the Nation. Layoff notices keep coming and declining revenues from coal severance taxes are eroding our State's budget. I read an article earlier today saying that this far into the fiscal year in the State of West Virginia we have a deficit of $91 million. The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers waters of the United States rule, known as the WOTUS rule, is just the latest example of a regulatory environment that threatens to put West Virginians and other Americans out of business. Everyone can agree--and the Senator from Texas just talked about this and I know the Senator from Iowa has talked about it frequently--that we must protect our drinking water resources, and we also must protect our precious natural resources, but a rule that subjects puddles and ditches to regulations just goes too far. The EPA's unprecedented expansion of Federal authority has very serious consequences, both in the State I represent, West Virginia, and throughout the rest of the country. In my State of West Virginia, the steep mountainous terrain means that the EPA would have oversight over any land located in the valley or low-lying area. If you have been to West Virginia, you know you are either on a mountain or in a valley in a low-lying area. There is very little flat land. The West Virginia Coal Association pointed out that the WOTUS rule would trigger ``an alphabet soup of statutes, regulatory programs and federal regulatory agencies'' involved in traditionally nonregulated activities. Something as simple as digging a ditch on a farm or building a home on privately owned property could be under the purview of the EPA and a failure to comply with that rule could result in fines as high as $37,500 a day. A county commissioner from Monongalia County recently wrote to my office expressing concerns that this WOTUS rule would impede the county's attempt to create developable tracks of land needed to attract large employers in West Virginia. I will remind everyone that developable land in a State like mine is very difficult to create because it is not natural and it would create a lot of those low-lying areas, ditches, and puddles that this regulation goes way beyond to regulate. A small business owner in Scott Depot, WV, shared her concern that small businesses were not adequately considered in the WOTUS rule. She said: Government regulations, like the proposed rule, are complicated, expensive to navigate, and a real obstacle to my growing business. This change, and its ridiculous overreach and restrictions could decrease land value and hinder my ability to expand, develop and use my own private land. We talk a lot about creating jobs in this country. This is a quote from a small business owner who is concerned about her ability to control her own destiny with her own small business on her own privately owned land. I think this is the reason that 31 States, including West Virginia, are suing to overturn this misguided rule, and two courts have already found it likely illegal. Rather than incorporating thoughts from Congress and concerned Americans, this misguided rule doubles down on overreach and threatens to impede small businesses, agriculture, manufacturing, coal, natural gas production, and many other vital sectors of the economy as the Senator from Texas just talked about. The decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to block the implementation of the WOTUS rule nationwide confirms that WOTUS was the wrong approach to protecting our water resources and reinforces the need to rein in this administration's unprecedented and overreaching regulations. Along with colleagues on both sides of the aisle--just this afternoon at 2:30 p.m.--I proudly supported Senator Barrasso's Federal Water Quality Protection Act, which would have directed the EPA and the Corps of Engineers to withdraw this rule, go back to the drawing board, and issue an alternative approach that is crafted in consultation with State and local governments and small businesses. The bill we voted on earlier today received bipartisan support from 57 Senators but only partisan opposition. Both Republicans and Democrats supported moving forward on the Federal Water Quality Protection Act because we wanted to offer a real solution that would bring clarity and common sense to the protection of our Nation's waters. This legislation would have provided certainty to farmers, manufacturers, energy producers, State and local governments, and anyone seeking to do virtually anything on private land. Unfortunately, 41 Democrats stopped a bipartisan majority from considering this bill. We must now consider other options to block the misguided WOTUS regulation issued by the EPA and Corps of Engineers. I am glad we will have the opportunity to vote on a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval offered by the Senator from Iowa. This resolution would protect hard-working West Virginia families, small businesses, energy producers, and others across the country who would be unfairly burdened by this onerous and deeply flawed WOTUS rule. The WOTUS rule would lead to a massive expansion, again, of costly permitting requirements and hinder our already struggling economy, an outcome West Virginia and the Nation simply cannot afford. I urge my colleagues to join with me and the Senator from Iowa, who is leading the charge in such an admiral way in supporting this important effort to block the harmful WOTUS rule. With that, I yield the floor.

Mrs. CAPITO

Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I would like to thank my colleagues for joining me in a colloquy, particularly the Senator from North Dakota, who is cosponsoring the Congressional Review Act legislation with me on existing coal-fired powerplants, and certainly my colleague from West Virginia Senator Manchin. We have worked very well together in a bipartisan way on these issues--Leader McConnell, Chairman Inhofe, and Senator Daines from Montana. I think we have presented a clear picture of the impact of these rules. So I ask unanimous consent that any time spent in a quorum call before the 4 p.m. vote series be charged equally against both sides.

Mrs. CAPITO. I yield the floor.