Cory Gardner

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Thank you, Madam President. I know the Presiding Officer is a cattle farmer, as I think they are referred to in Mississippi. It is an honor to be here on the floor with you to talk about important work for Mississippi. Colorado is an incredibly diverse State. When it comes to our economy, we are the--if you look at jobs per capita, we have more aerospace jobs per capita than any other State in the country. We have the second highest number of jobs outright, second only to California. Our tourism industry is world renowned--our first-class ski resorts, our gold medal trout fishing streams. It is incredible, all that we have. We are also one of the country's biggest agricultural producers. In fact, the ag economy in Colorado remains the fundamental foundational building block of our economy. I grew up in a part of Colorado that looks more like Kansas. Most people think it is in Kansas instead of Colorado. This is my backyard. This is where I live. I live in town. This is a farm, a pivot irrigation system that I grew up with. In fact, our family sells farm equipment. I have told stories about that to everybody here--everybody who will listen--so many times that they have probably stopped listening. I grew up selling farm equipment. I can remember, when I first ran for office, going around eastern Colorado and introducing myself to farmers. I would introduce myself. I would say: Hi, I am Cory Gardner, and I am running for the State legislature. I have met most of you at the implement dealership. I have sold half of you the wrong parts. I quit using that line when everybody would shake their head--yes, you have. So I grew up knowing a lot of great people in agriculture through that business. Water is the lifeblood of our area. Agriculture is the lifeblood of our area. There is an old saying that sometimes if there is a downturn in agriculture, then our community will feel it next week. Well, that is not true anymore. If we have a downturn in agriculture, our community feels it that day. That is how connected we are to global commodity prices and what it means for us. I am fifth-generation Coloradoan. Our entire family has been all agriculture. It is the heart and soul of who we are as a country, and that is why this farm bill debate is so important. In Colorado, we have tremendous crop opportunities, livestock opportunities. We have some of the best hay operations in America. In fact, several of our counties--Yuma County, which is the county I am from, over the years has been ranked and rated one of the top corn- producing counties in the Nation. We are a leading wheat exporter. Eighty-seven percent of the wheat that is produced in the 4th Congressional District--my old 4th Congressional District in Colorado-- gets exported overseas. The research we are doing out in eastern Colorado on dryland cropping systems is pretty remarkable--the Akron research station there. The San Luis Valley is known nationally and around the world for our high-quality San Luis Valley potatoes, purple potatoes that you can get from the San Luis Valley. We have sorghum and barley. A lot of people are familiar with our Banquet beer in Colorado. We have great beef. We have pintos and potatoes. We have it all. And, of course, who could forget our world-renowned Palisade peaches? It is that time of year now when we are starting to see peaches in the farmers markets and in the stands all around. I challenge anybody from South Carolina or Georgia to compare their peaches to our peaches because we know we have the best. We are coming up on the Peach Festival, as well, in the Western Slope of Colorado. We certainly have sugar beets. We have an incredibly diverse economy. We have a diverse economy that represents a lot of export opportunities. Some of our best exports and some of our largest exports are beef. Frozen beef, fresh beef--you name it; we have a lot of beef. That is why trade is so critically important to our economy. We are going to get our ag economy growing. By the way, ag is kind of facing a tough time right now. Farm receipts are down about 35 percent from what they were in 2013. If you look at some of the golden years of agriculture not too long ago, we are probably down even further than that. When commodity prices drop, when exports drop, these communities that I grew up in--these agricultural communities in the Western Slope of Colorado and in the Eastern Plains--they feel that impact not next week, not the week after, they feel it immediately. That is why trade is so important. Let me give an example of this field right here. If you had an irrigated cornfield in Colorado--let's say that you had a good year. Let's say that you raised 225 bushels an acre of corn. Let's say that in May the price of corn was $4.05. I looked it up yesterday, and it was about $3.55. That 50-cent drop in commodity price on 160 acres--if you take 160 acres a quarter, if you look at the farmable land, the irrigated land, that is probably around 120, 140 acres, somewhere in between that. If you just raise that corn crop on 120 acres of land, 225 bushels an acre, and that price drops 50 cents per bushel, that is about a $12,000 or $13,000 impact--loss of income--per quarter. The average farm size in Colorado is--let's say a corn farmer--let's just say they have 1,000 acres of corn, irrigated corn. If that price drops 50 cents, that is a $100,000-plus loss of income. If we start seeing the impacts of a trade war that lowers the price of these commodities, we will see that impact not tomorrow but today. These low commodity prices have already affected the health of our rural communities. We don't need any more downward pressure. Beef alone accounts for $675 million worth of these exports. We should be pursuing free-trade opportunities. Colorado-grown potatoes account for over 50 percent of all U.S. potato exports to Mexico. NAFTA is incredibly important for this country, what we are doing with all of our agriculture products and how we are getting them to market. We know rural development is key, and agriculture is key and trade is key to that rural development. So the farm bill represents a great opportunity for us to focus on rural development--what we can do to help start young farmers, help them get a start and help them afford the operation, because it is incredibly expensive. A quarter of irrigated ground in Colorado at one point was approaching $1 million a quarter. A tractor could cost around $250,000 if you had to buy a new one, a big one. All of this means that we have an obligation to provide certainty in policy. That is what this debate is doing with the farm bill--providing our farmers, folks involved in agriculture, with the certainty they need to plan, to be able to go to the bank to talk about next year's operation loan, this year's operation loan, how they are going to get the receipts to allow them to continue that generational business of agriculture in Colorado and beyond. We know economic times have also resulted in significant economic stress and significant mental stress. I am very pleased to have worked with a number of my colleagues to introduce the FARMERS FIRST Act earlier this year. This is a bill that helps address some of the mental health concerns we have seen in agriculture. In agriculture, per 100,000 population--we have about 5 times the number of suicides in agriculture than the broader group of Americans-- 5 times higher suicide rate. This bill starts to address that. In Colorado, Don Brown, our agriculture commissioner--I grew up with him. He is from the same town I am from. They have restarted the suicide hotline in Colorado to address the mental health needs because of the challenges we face in agriculture today. I thank Commissioner Brown for that work. I thank my colleagues for the work we have been able to do together on the FARMERS FIRST Act to make sure we can help provide some of that relief. In this farm bill, we have also made great strides on conservation. I was able to get the EQIP amendment included in the farm bill. That addresses agricultural drought concerns to make sure that the farm bill more adequately addresses the critically important conservation title work as it relates to drought. I thank Senators Feinstein, Wyden, Udall, Moran, Bennet, and Harris for their support in allowing me to work with them on this amendment and to have it included in the substitute. If you look at the drought that is gripping the Western United States in particular, you have Arizona, 100 percent drought; California, 69 percent of the land in a drought; Colorado, 79 percent of the State in a drought; Kansas, 79 percent in a drought; Oklahoma, 80 percent; Utah, 100 percent; North Dakota, 81 percent. These are areas that this EQIP language that was included will help address as we work toward solving this ongoing drought condition. Water is the lifeblood of the West. Colorado is the only State in the country where all water flows out of it and none flows into it, so we have to make sure we get this right. As you can see, this is a picture of the Colorado River. That is an example of a bloodline of water that goes from Colorado down to California and all the States in between that rely on this river. As we see, as that water in the river decreases, it puts more pressure on the upstream States. If we ever have a problem in the river, that is going to be a significant challenge between the upper basin States and the lower basin States. That is why the tools that we have helped provide in the farm bill will help us manage this river, will help us manage the land, will help us address conservation needs to use less water so that we can keep more water in the systems, keep more water on the land, and prevent the dry- up of agriculture. We were able to streamline EQIP contracting, increase cost share for nutrient reduction practices, and increase the authority of USDA to enter into drought-related Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program agreements. This will help areas like the Republican River in Colorado and beyond. These are important inclusions in the farm bill. We have other things that should be highlighted, though, that will also address some of our water concerns. We know that forest fires are a significant challenge to Colorado. If there is a massive forest fire, all those watersheds that those forests are in result in debris flows and contamination of those water systems, those waterways, and that hurts our ability to have access to that water. In the omnibus that we passed earlier this year, we were able to include certain language addressing categorical exclusions, building upon insect and disease--efforts to combat them in certain areas of the forest. The challenge we have in Colorado is that the categorical exclusions only apply to fire regime groups 1, 2, and 3, but in Colorado, we have about 24 percent of our zones of concern in Colorado that are in a different category, not in 1, 2, or 3, which means we can't use the categorical exclusion to address insect and disease concerns under that provision. Yet we know a significant area of these forests have insects. This is where a lot of the insect infestation has occurred. Insects have devastated our forests. It results in dead trees, and then the drought doubles the pressure on that, creating historic fire conditions, and then you end up imperiling the watersheds. We have offered an amendment to try to address that, to extend the categorical exclusion so that we can have better management opportunities to prevent the next disaster from occurring and to make sure that we can help manage our forests in a more responsible way. I am also excited that we were able to include work addressing the Akron research station in Akron, CO, in eastern Colorado, a dry land facility. We have an amendment that is incorporated in the substitute that authorizes research and extension grants to study the utilization of big data for more precise management of dryland farming agriculture systems. This goes into how much water we need and how we could better manage dryland cropping alternatives. If we have a drought that continues, we are going to have to have more tools and data to help manage farming practices so that we can do a better job of creating high yields in a low-moisture environment. These are all important issues that we worked on. Crop insurance is incredibly vital to our Main Streets in rural Colorado and across this country. That is why we have to continue to strengthen the Crop Insurance Program. That is why I am glad the farm bill makes sure that it does just that. The conservation title is important to Colorado as well. There are a lot of issues this farm bills addresses. I thank Chairman Roberts for his work on this legislation. He is our neighbor in Kansas. I don't think he included a provision in the farm bill to thank Colorado for the water that we send to Kansas, but they have better lawyers than us, so I will not push that too far when it comes to some of the water conflicts that we have had. I say that jokingly, of course. What I don't say jokingly, of course, though, is what agriculture means to all of us. It is that bond that we share in our communities. It is the foundation of Colorado's economy and this country's economy. There are so few people today in agriculture, that those of us who are involved in agriculture, who are in agricultural communities, have to be strong advocates. I hope the work this Senate is doing when it comes to agriculture will be that ambassadorial effort that we need to be good stewards of our land, to continue to promote small farms, new farmers, and young farmers to make sure that we keep generations of farmers and ranchers on the land and that we don't have a buy-out and dry-out history because we mismanaged our water resources. This farm bill helps address some of our biggest challenges. Let's get our other policies like trade right, continue to work together in a bipartisan fashion, and we can make our farmers and ranchers proud of the work we do every day. Thank you. I yield the floor.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize John Barker, an exemplary citizen in my hometown of Yuma, CO. As a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW, Post 3378, Mr. Barker has selflessly volunteered his time and energy toward providing invaluable services to veterans and their families. As a result, he has been honored by the Colorado VFW with the Salute to Service Award. Mr. Barker goes above and beyond to help veterans in our community. This includes regular visits to veterans admitted to hospitals and nursing homes and ensuring that announcements of events hosted by Post 3378 are widely circulated in local media. Whether it is working to expand the local Veteran's Memorial Park or tracking down stories from veterans and their families to be published, he ensures that these veterans receive the recognition they deserve. On a more solemn note, Mr. Barker visits veterans who have entered hospice care and presents them with a plaque commemorating their service; in their last moments, these veterans know how grateful our community is to them. Furthermore, Mr. Barker attends their funerals and performs military honors as a member of Post 3378's color guard. Indeed, Mr. Barker's volunteerism is not limited to veterans. He has worked with local Boy Scouts, encouraging them to finish their Eagle Scout projects, volunteered as Santa Claus at a local event, and worked with the Colorado Department of Fish and Wildlife to make sure there were fish to catch for the kids at Yuma's ``Huck Finn'' Day. Mr. Barker's dedication to his community and his VFW post is unparalleled. His VFW commander, Adam Beauprez, had no hesitation nominating him for the Salute to Service Award and it is little wonder that the Colorado VFW followed suit by honoring him with this recognition. Mr. Barker, thank you for your service. Thank you for your friendship and your family's friendship. You make Colorado proud.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I thank my colleague Senator Bennet for his work on this and the opportunity to work with him to make sure we continue to honor our veterans and armed servicemembers. Our veterans have served and our armed servicemembers proudly serve this country in Active Duty. When they come home, though, one of the obligations we have as a society and country to thank them for this incredible service is to make sure they have the skills, education, and training to integrate back into the civilian workforce. They obviously have incredible skills which they have acquired during their military service, and we can put them to use here at home. This amendment simply says the Department of Defense and the Secretary of Energy will evaluate military installations to determine which ones are ripe for opportunities to work with community colleges, institutions of higher education, and others so they can enter into agreements to help train veterans--armed servicemembers, members of the Armed Forces, to transition them into civilian life--to help work in the cyber security fields, energy fields, artificial intelligence workforce. In Colorado alone, we have 13,000 job openings in cyber security-- 13,000 job openings in cyber security alone. This gives us a chance to continue our service in thanking our veterans for the work they have done in service to our country. I thank my colleague from Colorado, Senator Bennet. I yield the floor and urge my colleagues to vote yes.

Mr. GARDNER

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

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, last year, Colorado had a great snowpack in many areas of the State. In fact, the moisture, rain, and snowpack in many areas of Colorado led to a lot of growth, a lot of great spring grass, and a lot of undergrowth that came in. The problem is, when you have a wet year followed by a dry year, that same growth then turns into tinder during a drought. That is, unfortunately, what we have seen in parts of Colorado this year. Many parts of Colorado are experiencing some of the driest conditions they have seen in 70 or 80 years. On June 1, the 416 fire in Southwest Colorado was started. It started burning, and now about 35,000 acres of land have been gobbled up by this wildfire. There are also a number of other fires across Colorado: the Burro fire, the Buffalo Mountain fire, and there was a fire between Redvale and Montrose, CO. I come to the floor to bring attention to some of the actions we have taken, though, that have helped with fighting these fires and to talk about policies we need to put in place that can do a better job giving more tools to fight these fires and what we can do to help make firefighters do their jobs in a better, safer way. If you look at what we did these past years--a couple of months ago, we passed a bill that fixed the fire-borrowing crisis, which had consumed our wildfire fighting budget each and every year. What happened is that Congress would fund firefighting based on a 10-year rolling average, and then they would exceed that cost of the firefighting budget and consume other parts of the Forest Service budget, cannibalizing other parts that would go toward mitigation to prevent next year's forest fires just to fund the firefighting efforts of this year's fires. So we have never really caught up with the cycle. Over half of the budget of the Forest Service--at least prior to this fix--was being consumed on fighting forest fires. This Congress did a great job with a bipartisan fix that now actually allows us to treat it more like a normal, traditional disaster instead of cannibalizing other funds within the Forest Service. I asked one of the Forest Service representatives, employees, at the fire: Are you able to make better decisions knowing now that you have a budget fix in place? The answer was yes. So we are actually able to fight fires. We have a map right here. The city of Durango, CO, is basically right here. This fire is moving, and we are able to fight this fire better, knowing that we have the funding, the resources necessary, to adequately supply these firefighting efforts. At least as of a day ago, we haven't lost a home from this 35,000- acre fire, even though nearly 2,000 homes have been evacuated. I think that is a remarkable feat, an accomplishment. Great credit needs to go to the 1,300 firefighter personnel who are on this fire and the Burro fires 10 miles over the mountain. They have not lost a structure as a result of their efforts and the tools that we have helped to give them. To the personnel: Thank you for the work that you continue to do. To the people of Colorado who may have scheduled a vacation or planned a vacation in Durango and Silverton, CO: Know that these towns remain open, that you can still go to Durango, CO, that you can still go down the river, and that you can have an incredible time with your family. I encourage people across this country not to cancel their vacations, not to cancel their plans, but to go ahead and visit. This town, this State, needs you now more than ever. I encourage people to recognize that, yes, there may be a fire in the forest, but it is not in the town. It is perfectly safe to go visit, to be there, and I hope they will because both Silverton and Durango need you now more than ever. We also know that our land managers can use better policies in terms of reducing fuel loads and making sure they can get into the forest to reduce the potential for a serious conflagration--the types of which we have seen more and more of recently--to help give them better tools to cut through litigation and the analysis paralysis that has tied our decision makers' hands when it comes to fighting fires. One of the things I have heard at other fires in Colorado, outside of the 416 fire, is the concern about drones. I hope every person listening to speeches and the news reports will take to heart that when you fly a drone, when you fly a UAV over a fire because you think it would be neat to get pictures of it, understand that you are putting people's lives at risk, and you are stopping--you are putting a halt-- to significant elements of the firefighting effort. What do I mean by that? One drone will shut down the air tanker program--no more slurry efforts, no retardant flying in, no more helicopters flying in, no more airplanes flying in and dropping retardant that can stop the spread of the fire. Please, please, stop interfering with active firefighting efforts. Scott Tipton and I will be introducing legislation that will increase penalties on people who are interfering with firefighting efforts by flying a drone over a wildfire. It has to stop. It is putting people's lives at risk, and it is certainly allowing these fires to spread because they have to shut down their firefighting efforts. We can't fight these fires at night with tankers. We are working on that. We have other legislation that will allow night vision goggle research to be done to help make this effort happen, to be able to help fight these fires, but we can't do it now. So when you take out an hour or 2 or more of the day, that means those tankers can't get in, that means more acres are burned, and that means more lives are put at risk. Stop it. You are hurting people. This is something for which we have to give more tools to our decision makers and land managers to help reduce the fuel, cut through the litigation, the redtape, and reduce the number of lawsuits that are preventing these forests from being managed in a healthy manner. Let's do that. Then we have to make sure we continue with other policies to get more dollars on the ground for fuel-reduction efforts. Long-term consequences of this fire, though, will remain because long after the smoke is gone, the effects will be felt. When there is a rainstorm, we will have hydrophobic soil conditions that will create debris flows that go into the river, causing conduits to be impacted, perhaps wiped out, and the viaducts that are going to be affected, the water conduits that will be affected through debris flows, the drinking water systems that could be impacted throughout, and the flooding potential that dramatically increases. Those effects will have to be dealt with, but there are other effects too. When you are dealing with businesses here that rely on the use of the forest, particularly in the summer, those seasonal businesses are impacted right now and are going to need help, and the Small Business Administration, the Department of Commerce, and others could help provide disaster relief to these businesses. If you are relying on a forest for your business during the summer and that forest has been closed, obviously your business is greatly impacted. That is something this Congress will have to continue to work through as we address the impacts on seasonal businesses throughout Colorado--and around the West, for that matter--that have been affected by these wildfires. To this Congress: Thank you for the work you did to fix the practice of firebombing, for putting an end to it, and for allowing us to budget regularly for wildfires, making sure we have the dollars necessary to do this without impacting forest programs that would have reduced next year's fires. Let's stop dangerous activities. Stop flying drones, interfering with wildfires. Let's work on policies that we can innovate to bring new science, new expertise, new research to allow us to do a better job of fighting fires. I hope people will remember that Durango and Silverton remain open; all of Colorado remains open. Come visit, and spend your time. There are great memories you could make with your families in our forests, in our incredible and beautiful environment of Colorado and the West. Mr. President, I thank you. This is one more important thing to remind us that we are all in this together, and I thank this Congress for the work they have done. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, as the eyes of the world are fixed on Singapore, I rise today to discuss another important development in our Nation's diplomatic efforts in the Indo-Pacific. Tomorrow, we will open a new chapter in the relationship between the United States and our longstanding friend and ally Taiwan by opening the new complex of the American Institute in Taiwan, or AIT, which serves as a de facto U.S. Embassy in Taiwan. You can see the ``Strong Foundation, Bright Future''--this incredible new facility in Taiwan to replace the existing facility we have. I am pleased that Marie Royce, the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, will attend the ceremony on behalf of the United States. Along with my colleagues, Senators Rubio, Inhofe, and Cornyn, I sent a letter and called for a Cabinet-level official to attend the ceremony as well. There are a lot of things going on in Asia on June 12. The opening of this state-of-the-art complex comes at a most opportune time as a demonstration of strong U.S. support for the people of Taiwan. I join my colleagues in Congress in welcoming this new facility and thanking the men and women of our Foreign Service in Taipei and around the world for their service to our Nation. The new AIT facility will cultivate the relationship between the United States and Taiwan and further demonstrate the commitment of the United States to bolster its friendship and commercial and defensive partnership with Taiwan. Today, I also announce that I will be introducing a resolution welcoming the new AIT complex. I encourage my colleagues to cosponsor this resolution to express our support and excitement for this new facility. Taiwan is a free, democratic, and prosperous nation of 23 million people and an important contributor to peace and stability around the world. In many ways, Taiwan should serve as the model for a free and open Indo-Pacific. The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which governs our unofficial relations with Taiwan, calls ``to preserve and promote extensive, close, and friendly commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the United States and the people of Taiwan.'' The Taiwan Relations Act also unequivocally states that it is the policy of the United States ``to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.'' Since the election of President Tsai in 2016, Taiwan has been under unrelenting pressure from Beijing in a shameful and dangerous effort to deprive Taiwan of international legitimacy and to undermine the fragile status quo between Beijing and Taipei. In the last month alone, Taiwan lost two diplomatic allies--the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso. Taipei has also once again been shut out of the World Health Assembly due to pressure from Beijing. Despite this decision, despite this treatment, Taiwan has nevertheless made a very generous donation of $1 million to the World Health Organization for Ebola-related relief efforts. It is time for the United States to aggressively push back against Beijing's effort to undermine a free Taiwan. Two weeks ago, I had an opportunity to visit Taipei and meet with President Tsai and personally thank her for her friendship and Taiwan's valuable contributions to global peace and stability. I think that friendship can be seen in this new AIT facility. I have also introduced two bipartisan bills in the Senate that will enhance U.S. relations with Taiwan and send a very strong message to Beijing that the United States will never--the United States will never--abandon our friends in Taipei. The first bill is the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, or ARIA, which is a bill that presents a new, comprehensive policy framework for U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific. We introduced ARIA on April 24, 2018, with a group of bipartisan cosponsors, including Senators Markey, Cardin, Rubio, and Young. Senators Sullivan and Perdue, with whom I traveled to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last week, have also joined in this effort. ARIA recognizes that Taiwan should be front and center in our Indo- Pacific strategy. ARIA states that it is the policy of the United States to faithfully enforce all existing U.S. commitments to Taiwan, as enshrined in the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 and the six assurances offered by President Ronald Reagan in 1982. ARIA also authorizes the sale of advanced weapons, weapon parts, and upgrades to Taiwan, consistent with U.S. law, and urges the President to regularize the arms sales consultation process with Congress. Finally, it authorizes high-level military and diplomatic contacts with Taipei, consistent with the Taiwan Travel Act, which was signed into law by President Trump on March 16, 2018. Last week, the Wall Street Journal editorial board endorsed ARIA, including writing that the bill ``notably encourages regular weapons sales to Taipei.'' I ask unanimous consent that the Wall Street Journal editorial, titled ``China's Military Escalation,'' dated June 4, 2018, be printed in the Record.

Mr. GARDNER. On May 24, 2018, I also filed the Taiwan International Participation Act, or TIPA, with Senator Markey. This bipartisan effort establishes that it should be the policy of the United States to support Taiwan's participation in appropriate international organizations, to instruct U.S. representatives in international organizations to use the voice and vote of the United States to support Taiwan's inclusion in appropriate international organizations around the globe, and to direct the President and his representatives to raise Taiwan's participation in appropriate international organizations during relevant bilateral engagements with the government of the PRC. I call on my colleagues to support both of these important pieces of legislation, which are efforts to show our strong support for the people of Taiwan. There is much more we can do and we should do to enhance our relationship with Taiwan, and I call on the administration to undertake all efforts allowable under U.S. law to enhance our relationship with Taipei. The opening of this new facility tomorrow, this new AIT complex--in fact, just a few hours from now--is a great sign of friendship and commitment from the United States, and I congratulate all those who have made this possible. I know Senator Rubio is on the floor today to talk about this and the important support the United States continues to show for Taiwan, but I will finish on this before I yield the floor. In my conversation with President Tsai, I talked about how Taiwan is really a great leader from whom we should learn and recognize and value their leadership around the globe. I think the million-dollar contribution they made to combat Ebola issues is just one small signal that they have an important role to play on the world stage, and I hope our allies around the globe will continue to engage Taiwan, as appropriate, and make sure they have that strong international voice that they sometimes feel to be lacking today. I encourage my colleagues to stand up to support Taiwan. I congratulate AIT on this new facility and certainly look forward to engaging Taiwan even more as we move forward. I yield the floor.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, Ambassador Ware was a true light of poise and patriotism, strength and dignity, her presence firm and her personality embracing, warm, and loving. Her politics she did well, but the policy achievements delivered through her politics and philanthropy will be her lasting legacy. Starting at the grassroots, she began her political career in Pennsylvania serving as a county chairperson eventually rising to chair Governor Tom Ridge's two successful gubernatorial campaigns. In 2002, President George Bush asked her to serve on the National Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council, a position she held until she was named the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Finland in 2005. She was an outstanding diplomat and a great representative of the United States. I recall telling Ambassador Ware about one of my favorite duties as a Member of Congress--the opportunity to call students to tell them they had received an appointment to a service academy. She smiled fondly as I told my story, and then she told me her own. As ambassador, she was deeply impressed with an officer in the U.S. military with whom she had been working. She asked if she could call the officer's parents to express, as ambassador, her gratitude and that of the Nation, for the outstanding work the officer had been doing. Ambassador Ware reached the officer's father. During the discussion, the father asked again what the ambassador's name was and if Marilyn was the daughter of Congressman John Ware. Ambassador Ware replied yes. The father went on to explain how it was Congressman Ware who had given his son his academy nomination many years before. Her story highlighted the full circle of a family committed to public service--a cherished trait that continues in her family today. There are so many causes that Ambassador Ware championed, so many to talk about: AEI, her work with sustainable clean water, caring for children with learning disabilities at the Janus School, and the Clinic for Special Children, and of course, The Phoenix, which you can't think about without seeing that twinkle in her eye, along with countless others. She made our country a better, stronger place. Ambassador Ware will not only be remembered by her friends and family but by those whose lives she bettered along the way. I will miss her leadership and guidance and will always remember the amazing work Ambassador Ware did for our community and our country. Ambassador Ware, and to her family, we are forever grateful.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be allowed to speak for one minute.

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I rise today to recommend and urge my colleagues to vote for Jim Bridenstine as Administrator of NASA. We will be voting on his nomination momentarily. Jim Bridenstine has incredible experience, an incredible resume, and an incredible understanding of the mission before NASA. We need somebody with a vision. We need somebody who actually has an idea of where we should take our great space mission--somebody who has commercial experience, somebody who has government experience, somebody who has management experience, and, yes, somebody who has experience within the industry itself, and that person is Jim Bridenstine. Jim has bipartisan support and support from the House. My fellow colleague, Democratic Congressman Ed Perlmutter from Colorado, along with a dozen other Democratic Members from the House of Representatives, said that Jim Bridenstine will be an excellent NASA Administrator. He has the understanding, background, capability, and, more importantly, the drive and desire to do an excellent and outstanding job at NASA. I urge my colleagues to vote yes. You just heard our colleague Richard Burr talk about Director Pompeo's nomination as Secretary of State. Blind bipartisanship cannot be the only reason that drives votes in this Chamber. Whether it is for the Secretary of State or the Director of NASA, I urge my colleagues to vote yes, put partisanship aside, and start moving these nominations and doing what is right for this country. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on Jim Bridenstine. I yield back my time.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, over the past 24 hours we have learned of a high-level meeting between Director Pompeo--Mike Pompeo, the President's nominee to become Secretary of State--and Kim Jong Un, the leader--the tyrant leader--of North Korea, who has threatened to use nuclear weapons not only against our allies but against the United States and has a growing capability in his efforts to do just that. We have also seen incredible partisan obstruction threatened on his nomination. The absurd levels of partisanship in this Chamber are a stain on our institution. We see it at every level of nominations, from ambassadorships to commissions to boards. Now we see it at the level of the Secretary of State, a position that will be instrumental in denuclearizing the North Korean regime. Director Pompeo had his confirmation hearing last week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We now know that his testimony at this committee hearing took place after he had visited Kim Jong Un, and in this committee hearing, he made it very clear that our goal remains the complete and verifiable irreversible denuclearization. That is the stated goal, confirmed by Director Pompeo: the complete and verifiable irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. Yet we now have people threatening to stop this nomination at a critical time when we face a nuclear threat that is the greatest this country has seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle would decide to deny this country its top State Department diplomat. Let me describe what some of our colleagues have said who have claimed now that they are going to vote against Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State but who, just a few months back, voted to confirm Mike Pompeo. One of my colleagues who is voting against Director Pompeo for Secretary of State has admitted that Director Pompeo has been a ``solid manager'' of the CIA, saying: I voted for him to head the CIA and don't wish I had that vote back. I think he has a background in intel and has been a solid manager there. Another colleague, who tried to criticize Director Pompeo's diversity policies at the CIA, was met with this response from Director Pompeo, who explained at the hearing that those types of complaints decreased under his leadership. Mike Pompeo stated: ``The number of--we call them `no fear complaints'--the statutory requirement decreased from 2016 to 2017 by 40 percent.'' Director Pompeo further explained: ``I'm proud of the record . . . the work that my team has done on this.'' So concerns about diversity policies was refuted at the committee hearing. Another Senator seems worried that Mike Pompeo is conducting diplomacy and said: ``Pompeo is the wrong person to be engaging in diplomacy.'' The nominee to be Secretary of State is the wrong person to be conducting diplomacy? Perhaps we need somebody working at the Department of Transportation. Maybe that is the person they want to conduct diplomacy. Building interstates--maybe that is who they think should be conducting diplomacy. I would rather have somebody who has been nominated to be Secretary of State to be conducting diplomacy-- somebody who has an outstanding background in the military, somebody who stood in Europe during the height of the Cold War, standing on the iron wall. This is a time when we ought to be doing everything we can to confirm a Secretary of State--somebody who has had meetings already with Kim Jong Un, who has an understanding of what has to happen to achieve what Kim Jong Un has said--denuclearization--to achieve what is the goal of this country, the stated goal that is already enshrined in law: complete and verifiable irreversible denuclearization. To simply oppose his nomination for partisan purposes is wrong. We have seen it time and again. What we have is a simple partisan effort to derail the top diplomat, who is already engaged in top-level negotiations about denuclearization with the most significant threat this country has seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis. This country deserves better. Certainly this institution can do better. We have somebody in Mike Pompeo with a solid background, an understanding of diplomacy and, clearly, the intelligence background through his time at the CIA, and now he would be denied this opportunity simply because of his political affiliation. This country deserves better. I urge my colleagues to stop this absurd obstruction and confirm Mike Pompeo, and let's get to work achieving what could be lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. That time is now, and I urge my colleagues to take the opportunity for peace. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, over the past couple of weeks Congress and the Senate had its State work period, and during that time we go back to our State and travel, listening to our constituents. I had the incredible opportunity to go to Colorado and spend time on the Front Range, on the I-25 Corridor, where the vast majority of the population of Colorado lives, and also spent some time in Western Colorado, which most people identify as being where they travel to Colorado, with the ski resorts, mountains, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park. I also had a chance to visit some of the smaller communities in Southern Colorado, including an area known as the San Luis Valley, where some of the longest living Colorado families have farms. There are families and businesses. The focus of this visit was about how we grow the economy in the San Luis Valley, the Eastern Plains, and the Western Slope--areas that haven't seen as much economic growth as, perhaps, Denver, Fort Collins, or Colorado Springs. I also wanted to spend some time getting into the community and talking about a couple of the issues they face when it comes to the opioid crisis that this country faces. Over the past several years, a great deal of attention has been paid to prescription drug addiction and to prescription drug overdoses. My home State of Colorado actually has an average that exceeds the national average when it comes to prescription addiction and overdose. We are losing a person in Colorado to drug overdose every 36 hours--far too many people. In our rural communities, it is not just the wealthy who are immune or the poor who are immune or the poor who are affected or the wealthy who are affected. It is everyone--wealthy, poor, low- and high-income. The opioid crisis and prescription drug addiction have affected every nook and cranny of our communities. The attention that has been paid to the addiction crisis in this country has resulted in some of the greatest bipartisan achievements Congress has had over the past several years. The passage of the 21st Century Cures Act will expedite new treatment methods through the FDA and provide research treatment dollars for the opioid crisis and the prescription drug crisis and addiction. It also led to passage of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, legislation that had great bipartisan support. People on both sides of the aisle worked on this legislation together to pass a bill to address what is happening to our communities. Every single one of us has a story about somebody close to us, near to us, perhaps a friend or relative--probably both--who has fallen victim to prescription drug addiction and opioid addiction. Of course if you end up with a prescription drug addiction, that one pill might be $60 or $80, but you can go out on the streets and find heroin for $10 to $15. Now we see the rise of heroin replacing prescription drugs and you see the cycle. The drug dealers have figured out a way to lace cocaine with fentanyl so that it becomes a little bit more addictive and so people are hooked on cocaine more than they already are. You know the dangers of fentanyl, a synthetic drug so powerful that you can't have a dog sniff for it at the Post Office because it would kill the animal. During these roundtables that were held in the San Luis Valley about opioids, I learned a couple of things. In Alamosa, CO, I learned that about 90 percent of the jail population in Alamosa is addicted to drugs. At the same roundtable, we talked about the challenges that rural communities have in treatment. We know that if a police officer or law enforcement officer or paramedic finds somebody who is overdosed and they are revived with Narcan, yes, you saved their life. You brought them back, but what happens after that? They are left to their own devices. Do they return to that abuse? Do they return to that cycle of overdose? Without treatment, yes, they will. We learned in Swedish Medical Center Englewood, CO, the Front Range suburb of Denver, that 1 out of every 10 visitors to the emergency room of people who are revived by Narcan or some other treatment after an overdose will be dead within a year. So 1 out of 10 who come into an emergency room will be dead within a year. We know that there has been great success in finding alternatives to opioid medication. In fact, Colorado emergency rooms and the Colorado Hospital Association, working together with a number of hospitals, developed a program called Alternatives to Opioids, or ALTO, which is a program that we actually introduced legislation on--Senator Booker, myself, Senator Bennet, and others--to try to make sure that emergency rooms don't just turn to opioid medication but find other alternatives because there are other alternatives. You don't just have to prescribe an opioid-based medication. As a result, opioid prescriptions out of the emergency room have decreased by 36 percent over the 6-month course of this pilot program in Colorado. Those are remarkable results. We introduced legislation to mimic the same thing and to learn best practices at the Federal level so that hospitals around the country can work together, share those best practices, identify what works, and use them. We have to reform the Medicaid Program so there is no incentive for doctors to overprescribe addictive medication. In Alamosa, physicians we talked to are entering into contracts with their patients. At San Luis Valley Health Regional Medical Center, they are entering into contracts with patients about the responsibility that goes with taking these powerful, powerful drugs. We found new ways to make sure that the pill mills are being discovered and abandoned. We try to make sure that people can communicate with each other on how these treatments work. While I was in Colorado, we talked about the devastation that drugs are having on their small communities. We learned about a group of high schoolers who are talking to other high schools about the dangers of addiction and prescription and drug overdose. They are trying to work with each other to stop the cycle and to make sure that people who need help find help and hopefully will avoid it in the first place. Perhaps, one of the most frightening things that I heard during this roundtable--being a parent with three children of my own, I often worry about what happens to them when they go to school and what pressures they face. Two of them are young now. Our daughter is 14, and she will be entering high school. I worry about the pressures they will face from their peers. I worry about them, and I worry about what happens to our community and to their friends with what is around them. But I never thought that I would hear what I heard in the San Luis Valley. We were talking about prescriptions and reimbursement from Medicaid. One of the providers brought up a challenge that they had with getting reimbursement. I later learned from a pharmacist that it may simply be a coding problem, and if it were coded correctly, the reimbursement would occur. This is what this provider said. They were trying to make sure Medicaid could reimburse for the nasal spray of Narcan so that children could administer it to their parents when they overdosed, because it is easier for a young child or a little child to administer a nasal spray than to give an injection. Kids are given nasal spray so they can revive their parents. If that parent goes to the emergency room at Swedish hospital in Denver, CO, revived by that child, 1 in 10 of those parents revived will not come back again because they will be dead. We have done a lot of work in this country, and we have a lot more work to do when it comes to opiate addiction and crisis. We have a lot of work to do in this Congress to come together and find ways to stop this--to break the cycle, to make sure it is easier to prescribe the drugs that will help instead of create addictions. We have talked to people who said they have to have 8 hours of training and certification, which makes it impossible for certain drugs to be administered by a physician in the emergency room because they don't have time to comply with the paperwork. They actually would rather prescribe this drug than the opiate-based drug because the opiate-based drug, they know, would create the possibility of addiction. Yet this other drug wouldn't. There are more barriers to prescribe the drug that wouldn't cause the harm than the drug that would cause the harm. So we have a lot of work to do. These aren't Republican issues or Democratic issues. They are our families' issues. They are our friends' issues. They are our communities' issues. I will end it with this story. One of the healthcare professionals we talked to told a story of their son who was a golfer--an athlete, loved to golf. He was injured golfing, so they wanted to make sure their son was cared for so he could recover and go on to a golf career or whatever career he had in front of him. They took their son to the doctor. Their son was given Vicodin to address the pain from the injury. At this point in the story, the mother started to cry because she feels guilty and responsible for the very first treatment that led down a path of addiction and the eventual death of their son. All this mom wanted to do was help, and she now feels the blame of the powerful drug that led to the addiction and death of their son. It is not a unique story. That story has been shared far too many times around the country, and yet here we are once again talking about it. So I encourage my colleagues, let's continue the great work we have already done. Let's do more. Let's work together, and let's make sure we can find solutions this country will be proud of. We will know this when our communities recover and people stop dying. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I wish today to recognize the veterans of Honor Flight Northern Colorado who have made their 20th trip to Washington, DC, to visit memorials that stand in their honor. This group consists of veterans from various wars and generations, but all are linked by their service to our country. Founded in 2005, the Honor Flight program was originally formed to honor veterans that had served in World War II. The program has expanded and now welcomes veterans from across the country to fly to Washington, DC, free of charge, so that they can visit the national memorials dedicated to their service. These veterans have preserved our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Few words sufficiently express the gratitude and respect we all have for these brave men and women. Of the 123 veterans on the most recent Honor Flight, 9 served in World War II, 25 served in Korea, and 89 served in Vietnam. Please join me in honoring Carl Curtis, Eugene Doty, Ben Gutfelder, Fred Heinze, James Ingram, Elwood Johnsen, George Kunz, Stuart Mundt, Merwin Waterman, John Anderson, Ralph Ashton, William Bohn, Gerald Briggs, Joseph Carney, Dale Doty, Ernest Garcia, Charles Gustafson, Fred Hagen, Richard Hornung, Phillip Kaspar, Dixon King, George Lanes, John Lark, Don Moritz, August Roemer, Melvin Salter, Paul Salvador, Arlen Sarian, Walter Slocum Jr, Arthur Smith, Willard Unrein, Robert Wallen, William Webster, Reginald Willcox, Edward Aitken, Charles Ashbaugh, Harry Ashbaugh, Frank Atwood, Thomas Barker, Lanny Benninger, Eldredge Blain, William Bjorlin, Leslie Burns, Joel Champion, James Chopp, Willis Corcoran, William Damewood, Anson Derby, Clarence Dye, Clifford Echols, Roy Echols, David Fanning, Wesley Feeney Jr, Budd Finch Jr, Errol Ford, Michael Gail, Alonzo Garza, Dennis Gordon, Eldon Harrell, Larry Hartman, Allan Havens, John Hendrickson, Nicholas Herrera, Donald Hull, Raymond Johnson, John Kask, Paul Kornmueller, Charles Klutsch, Joseph Long, Michael Long, Edward Longhini, Joseph Maes, Loren Maes, Gary Malara, David Mathis, Michael McClure, Jerry McDaniel, Mark McKinley, Oscar Metzgar, Steven Moskowitz, Allan Nelson, Robert Nelson, Russell Ness, Paul Nobles, Sven Nylander, Max Oesterle, Dale Olson, David Painter, Thomas Parker, Raymond Patch, Rudolf Peralez, Robert Perlenfien, John Perrine, Wayne Peterson, Louis Price, Jerry Purdy, Ernie Pyle, Ronald Ramirez, Richard Reininger, Frank Ross, Joe Roybal, John Ryan, Genaro Salazar, Raymond Sautter, Robert Schawo, Rudy Schenk, Larry Schwindt, Robert Shaeffer, Dan Shaffer, Roger Smith, Daniel Sorensen, Andrew Stephenson, Marjorie Stephenson, Walter Stolpa Jr, Dwight Strandberg, Barton Thompson, Norman Toman, Richard Tompkins, Samuel Trujillo, Terrence Urista, Myron Wagner, James Wetzler, and Charles Winkleman.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Wyoming for his remarks on American energy and American energy independence, particularly the work we have done in Wyoming and Colorado. When you think about the opportunities we have to free up markets for Colorado and Wyoming produced oil or gas, it is truly remarkable. The Senator and I also share the great work that takes place at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. F.E. Warren Air Force Base has a significant role to play in the nuclear triad, with facilities in both Colorado and Wyoming. That is obviously something very important to our national security. One of the other things I think is important to bring to this conversation that the Senator from Wyoming talked about is the national security component that energy can play and the important role that it has. We can export our energy not just to the Midwest or to the eastern parts of this country, but we can take that gas produced in Wyoming and Colorado and export it to Asia and Europe, to countries that want American energy, that desire American energy resources, not energy resources from tyrants and dictators like Russia and other places we see around the globe. This is an opportunity for us to really show, and I commend my colleague for his leadership on energy.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, yesterday America witnessed another great tragedy in the State of Florida, and of course our souls ache with what must be unimaginable grief. As we turn to comfort those who lost so much in Florida, I come to the floor of the Senate again, for the third time in a little more than a month, to share the grief of Colorado, as well as to honor the life and legacy of a fallen Colorado sheriff's deputy. El Paso County Sheriff's Deputy Micah Flick was shot and killed last week while investigating a stolen car when he threw himself in front of his fellow officers to shield them from gunfire. Sheriff's Deputy Scott Stone, Sheriff's Sergeant Jacob Abendschan, and Colorado Springs Police Officer Marcus Yanez, along with a bystander, were also wounded in the attack. A total of 10 law enforcement officers in Colorado have been wounded or killed since December 31. On January 24, Adams County Sheriff's Deputy Gumm was fatally wounded. Another assault on law enforcement officers on New Year's Eve in Douglas County resulted in the death of Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy Parrish and wounded four other law enforcement officers. These three attacks left four children without fathers and countless loved ones with a loss they will never forget. Micah Flick was killed on his 11th anniversary with the El Paso County Sheriff's Department and leaves behind a wife and 7-year-old twins. Micah was a hero who, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette, was remembered by his brother-in-law as someone who ``never wanted to do anything else but protect this community.'' His fellow sheriff's deputies would always tease him that he was ``the poster boy of the sheriff's office.'' Micah's wife Rachel captured her husband's heroism perfectly when she explained how she would always tell him to just do his job and not be a hero but understands that was not in his DNA. ``Micah was a hero, and he couldn't help it,'' she said. Micah's fellow deputy who was wounded in the attack confirmed Micah's heroism. Deputy Stone told Sheriff Bill Elder: ``Micah saved my life, and I will be forever grateful.'' Micah was a hero that day, and no one will ever forget that. Unfortunately, I have come to this Chamber far too many times just this year to honor a fallen Colorado law enforcement officer and repeat the words for the third time of LTC Dave Grossman, who wrote that American law enforcement is the loyal and brave sheep dog, always standing watch for the wolf that lurks in the dark. We owe so much to Micah and his brothers and sisters in blue who protect our communities each and every day. I know that all of our families together sleep better at night knowing these heroes are out protecting every single one of us. Thank you, Micah, for answering the call. You protected your community. You saved your fellow officers. You are a hero. And I, along with Coloradans across the State, am forever grateful. Like your fellow officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, we will remember your heroism for eternity and honor you and your family for your sacrifice. Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call be waived.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I rise to speak about a horrible tragedy that occurred in Adams County, CO, on January 24, just last week. Adams County sheriff's deputy Heath Gumm was pursuing a suspect when he was shot and killed in the line of duty. Heath was 31 years old and is survived by his wife and other loving family members. He had served with the Adams County Sheriff's Office since 2012, which was not a surprise to those who knew him best, because of his upbringing. He grew up in a family of first responders. His father is a retired West Metro Fire Protection District engineer. So his teachers and classmates who knew Heath as a student at Mullen High School, in Denver, were not shocked to learn that he had decided to become a law enforcement officer. As reported by the Denver Post, Heath's ninth grade English teacher, Sean Keefe, said: By all accounts, he lived his life as a grown man as he did as a kid. He was a good guy. That didn't change. That only got more accentuated as he grew up. He lifted his friends. He made his friends the best version of themselves, and they did that to him as well. Heath's cousin remembers him as the ``kind of man you wanted out there protecting our streets. He was kind, fair, funny and friendly to everyone.'' Keefe went on to remember Heath as ``someone people gravitated towards, and he was someone who people could count on.'' It is these qualities that made Heath such an incredible sheriff's deputy. At a press conference last Thursday, Adams County sheriff Michael McIntosh read parts of a letter he had received from a stranded motorist whom Heath had recently helped when he was out on patrol. The resident wrote: ``Heath made the interaction enjoyable and easy to get through instead of acting like I was in trouble or a nuisance.'' Heath showed what it means to be a law enforcement officer who selflessly serves and protects a community. He went to work each and every day--ready to walk that thin blue line. When we lose an officer in Colorado, I come to this Chamber to honor his sacrifice and recite the words of LTC Dave Grossman, who wrote that American law enforcement is the loyal and brave sheepdog who is always standing watch for the wolf that lurks in the dark. Unfortunately, many in this Chamber have heard me read that quote far too often in the last weeks. Across Colorado and across the country, we owe so much to Heath and law enforcement officers for their service. Instead of fleeing to safety, they run toward danger to save lives. They provide hope and safety to our families in the worst of times. I thank Heath for answering the call. He protected his community. I, along with Coloradans across the State, are forever grateful. We will never forget his sacrifice, and we will always honor his memory. We also lost a sheriff's deputy on New Year's Eve in Colorado, just a few weeks before. In a tribute to him, I read something that former State Representative Joe Rice had written during his service in the Army. I think it is appropriate to share it now because, each and every day they wake up, I know the thoughts of many in law enforcement are reflected in the words of Representative Joe Rice: In a few hours, it will be Christmas in Afghanistan. I spent 3 Christmas Days in Iraq. Only on one of them did I have to go out on Christmas Day, itself. I found myself praying that I didn't want to die this day and ruin every future Christmas for my family. I realize that most of the other soldiers I was with were quietly or openly saying the same thing. So, for all of those around the world who are in harm's way, we pray with you: Please God, just not today. To our men and women in law enforcement, please know that I pray with you each and every day: Please God, just not this day. I yield the floor.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, I realized a long time ago something unique and unfortunate about the way Congress can work. It seems sometimes that in Washington, and only in Washington, the more people agree on something, the less likely it is to get done. In the real world, back in Colorado and in Alaska, where the Presiding Officer is from, the more people agree on something, the more likely it is to get done and the more likely you will see progress on an important issue to the people of Colorado and to the people of Alaska. But here in Washington, the more you agree, the more people seem to want to push back to fight and to divide. So here we are approaching the zero hour of a government shutdown, and I hear from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle--where is the good faith, they say. It has been 111 days, and these programs haven't been permanently reauthorized? Where is the good faith, they say. They say that we just make it worse by passing a 4-week continuing resolution. Where is the good faith? Let me just talk a little bit about where we are right now. I have been a part of a bipartisan working group--very proud of the work we are doing--trying to find a solution on a very important issue dealing with many thousands of children around our country and around our State. In Colorado, this issue of DACA, of Dreamers, is incredibly important, not just to part of the State, not just to Denver or the Front Range. Two kids of mine go to school with people who were brought here at a very young age through no fault of their own, and we all agree there needs to be a solution for those kids. We agree we should address the opiate crisis that is gripping this Nation, that is tearing families apart, and that is resulting in the deaths of far too many people. When you have a crisis that is resulting in the age and life expectancy of Americans declining, like the opiate crisis has, we should address that. We have men and women in uniform around the country defending this Nation. There are hundreds of thousands in Korea facing down a threat from North Korea. An article in the Wall Street Journal today talked about the special operators who are now in the Philippines directly intervening in the War on Terror in the Philippines, fighting radical Islamic terrorists. Of course we all know about the work that is taking place in the Middle East, the conflict in Syria, the conflict in Iraq, the conflict in Afghanistan, and the progress we have made fighting back on ISIS, fighting back on terrorists, the fact that we have shrunk the ground they have taken. It is one of the great victories people haven't really talked about yet because they would rather talk about divisive issues. And to think that we are hours away from a government shutdown, and somehow people think it is going to make it better. They are going to shut down the government, and somehow that makes it better for the military. They are willing to shut down the government because they object to a 4-week CR so they can get a 5-day CR or a 3-day continuing resolution. Only in Washington can a bad solution be fixed by a worse solution, but that is exactly what people want to do. It seems to me that this place ought to get to work, and it doesn't get to work by shutting things down, by going to your partisan corners, picking up your sticks, and going home. Yet that is what some in this body would like to do. We have a continuing resolution that represents policies that people support. There is not a thing in there that people disagree with that they would vote against--at least that is what we have been told. In fact, let's look at the CHIP reauthorization. I heard my colleague from Montana say that this is a garbage bill. A garbage bill that reauthorizes CHIP for 6 years? A garbage bill that will provide healthcare for 8.9 million women and children on SCHIP coverage? This is a garbage bill that provides the longest extension of women and children's healthcare since it was created? I hear from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: Well, they didn't talk about it. They didn't care. I have been a cosponsor of that bill for months because I believe it is important. It is important to the people of my State. The fact is, people across this country are tired of the finger- pointing, they are tired of the blame game, and they are tired of the shutdown politics that we are just hours away from seeing played out because people would take this country, this government hostage to the politics of their choice. I am old enough to remember back in 2013 when President Obama thought a government shutdown was a bad idea, when the Democratic leader believed that a government shutdown could result in governmental chaos, when you shut the government down over the politics of your choice. Yet here we are hours away from people wishing to do just that. We can find solutions to our Nation's biggest challenges. I am part of a bipartisan working group to work on these solutions, but it makes it more difficult, not less difficult, to find solutions when people shut down the government, and not only that--collateral damage occurs as a result. There is collateral damage on the men and women across this country who are hurt because of what this government cannot do to help them. We are in one of the most severe flu seasons this country has seen. The CDC has a lot of work to do. If you shut down the government, the CDC can no longer get information from the States about where that flu epidemic is heading, and that makes a difference on where they send vaccines. If you don't vote for this bill to keep the government open, 8.9 million women and children could be affected because of the risk it puts to SCHIP. Let me talk about a story from my hometown. There are five military bases in the city of Colorado Springs. Here is the headline from a local newspaper: ``Potential shutdown would hit hardest at Colorado Springs military bases.'' There are men and women at Fort Carson, CO, and across Colorado Springs, overseas, deployed on our War on Terror, protecting us at home so we can come to work each and every day so we can have debates on the Senate floor. Some 6,000 civilians are going to be furloughed if this government shutdown occurs. These are civilians who support the War on Terror, who support our men and women in uniform around the globe. Yet, somehow, shutting down the government and furloughing 6,000 civilians is deemed to be better than a 4-week CR? Only in Washington can people claim that a bad bill should be replaced by a worse bill. Only in Washington can people decide that bad policy shouldn't be preferred over something that is worse, and that is exactly what the argument seems to be. They don't like it, so make it worse. That is not fair to the American people. It is not fair that collateral damage hurts men, women, and children across this country when we can do the right thing and we can bring a solution to our immigration crisis, we can bring a solution to the challenge our military faces, and we can bring a solution to the opiate crisis. Let me tell you about a business in Fort Collins called Indivior. They have made a breakthrough in the way that treatment is delivered for people who are addicted to opiates. It is a liquid medication, and when it is injected, it solidifies. It is time-released over a month, so it doesn't rely on day-to-day injections. It doesn't rely on a person faithfully taking their medication because if they have a relapse, it can disrupt their medication and what they are doing in their treatment. This takes away that concern and gives them that treatment for a month. That was approved through an FDA emergency expedited review process, but there is legislation that this body needs to pass in order to make sure it is available in a way that will help the American people. Shut down the government, and we can't get that done. Committees can't meet and the work can't proceed. But I guess that is the solution that people want. I guess shutting down the government seems to be the cure-all for them. Take a hostage, push it off, and somehow that makes it better. The American people just want us to find an answer. They want us to have good-faith solutions to our problems, and men and women of good faith in this body and the House of Representatives are trying each and every day to do that. But don't prove to the American people their worse suspicions that Washington doesn't care. Pass the continuing resolution. Continue negotiations. We have time to talk. We have time to communicate. We have time to work. Stop the temper tantrums. The American people deserve better. Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. GARDNER

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

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, when we were kids, we learned a song that I think Herman's Hermits made very famous around 1965. It was the ``I'm Henry VIII, I Am'' song, and it went on for a while about Henry VIII, and then it had a little phrase in there that as kids we would repeat. We would say: ``Henry VIII, I am. I'm Henry VIII, I am. Second verse, same as the first,'' and then they would repeat themselves: ``Second verse, same as the first,'' and they would keep going. Well, today, we find ourselves kind of stuck in that ``Second verse, same as the first'' when it comes to the Veterans Affairs Department and how they have treated veterans in Colorado. I rise, once again, to address troubling reports coming out of the Veterans' Administration. It has now been over 3 years since the Phoenix VA catastrophe--we all remember the Phoenix VA catastrophe, where secret wait lists led to the deaths of veterans. At that time, the VA pledged this problem would be fixed, but here we are ``Second verse, same as the first.'' They said it would never happen again. Well, it saddens me today that in Denver, CO, that promise has been broken. Following the Phoenix disaster, this body passed the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act, also known as the VA Choice Act, to expand access for veterans to community medical providers. No doubt, it has been successful in different parts of the country, but the Denver VA system continues to post inexcusable wait times, experience a shortage of doctors and nurses, and use secret wait lists. This is simply unacceptable. The average wait time for a new patient at the Denver VA for a primary care appointment has topped 42 days. This leads the Nation in an unfortunate category, and it is twice the national average. Our veterans deserve better, and to many who have been affected by this travesty, they demand better. Last week, NBC Nightly News told the story of one Colorado veteran, Alison Bush. Alison served in the Army for 7 years and suffers from a nerve disorder. With such a disorder, she cannot afford delayed appointments. Yet Alison was forced to wait over 3 months for a primary care appointment and another 60 days for an MRI. There is absolutely no excuse for this, particularly given the work we have done and the promises the VA has made. Alison, like so many others, answered the call of duty, only to be let down after retiring the uniform. I recognize that Colorado was witnessing an increase in demand with more than 11,000 veterans seeking care in the last 2 years, but this is no excuse. The VA must adapt in the face of adversity. We must change this repeat after repeat of the same verse, and we must never forget that this Nation's No. 1 priority is upholding the promises we have made to our veterans. Because of stories like Alison's, I recently introduced S. 2168, the Veterans Improved Access and Care Act of 2017. My legislation would address three issues: hiring shortages, delayed wait times, and malpractice reporting. A large driver of delayed wait times for veterans is the shortage of doctors and nurses. The current system for hiring these medical professionals is too long and too burdensome. According to a McKinsey & Company study in 2015, it took 4 to 8 months to hire VA employees. The onboarding process alone can take 3 months. According to the same study, private medical facilities took less than 2 months to hire an applicant. Just think about that for a moment. Just like in the VA, a private applicant has to go through an interview process, a certification process, credentials process, background check. Yet the VA's onboarding process is longer than the private sector's entire hiring process. It makes absolutely no sense. My legislation would take steps to fix this problem. It would authorize the VA to establish a pilot program to expedite the hiring of doctors at facilities where there are shortages of available specialists, such as nurses or anesthesiologists. Furthermore, it would require the Secretary of the VA to submit a report to Congress detailing a strategy to reduce the length of the VA's hiring process by half. My bill would also look to expand access to our veterans. The VA Choice Program, while well-intentioned, still contains arbitrary rules, such as a 30-day waiting period before a veteran can seek access to community providers. Well, 29 days is also unacceptable. My legislation would work to improve the Choice Act by eliminating the 30-day/40-mile eligibility rule, giving veterans full access to medical care regardless of his or her situation. Finally, my legislation will work to ensure that secret wait lists are forever extinguished. No more ``second verse same as the first.'' Last November, a Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General report substantiated the claim that the Eastern Colorado Health Care System used unofficial wait lists for veterans, estimating that at least 3,775 veterans were affected. This is extremely disheartening. There needs to be accountability for this malpractice. My legislation would do just that. It would codify the VA's policy to expand the requirements of reporting malpractice to include all medical providers. Our veterans have served our country. They have missed holidays with their families to protect our Nation. They have suffered battlefield injuries. They have laid it all on the line for you and for me. The Presiding Officer is a veteran of this great country. The least we can do is ensure that our veterans are treated with the dignity, respect, and honor they have rightfully earned. It is my hope that the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee will soon take up my bill so that we can work to ensure accountability and greater access to care for all veterans. But whether it is my legislation or any piece of legislation, one thing is for sure: Something has to be done--not tomorrow, not next week, but now. The current system is not working, and it continues to let our veterans down. Nevertheless, we must remain optimistic and deliver on the promises we gave our men and women in uniform. I am optimistic that we can make this right on their behalf. We can't wait. Time is a luxury our veterans do not have. I ask that everyone in this body--and especially the VA--always remember the stories of veterans like Alison Bush. May we never forget those who set aside their own dreams to make sure they save the dreams of their fellow Americans. Our veterans honorably served this great Nation. Now is the time that we step up and honorably serve them. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. GARDNER

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

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, up until about 8:58 this morning, we believed in Colorado that States rights would be protected. Up until about 8:58, maybe 8:55--until Twitter told us otherwise--we believed the will of Colorado voters would be respected. Why did we believe that? Because of conversations I had with then-Senator Jeff Sessions prior to his confirmation as Attorney General about what would happen with Colorado's marijuana policy. At the time, prior to his confirmation, then-Senator Sessions told me there were no plans to reverse the Cole memorandum. Then-Senator Sessions told me marijuana simply wasn't going to be on President Trump's agenda; that it was something they weren't going to deal with; it was something President Trump simply wasn't going to focus on. That was back in the spring of 2016, and up until 8:58 this morning, that was the policy. One tweet later, one policy later--a complete reversal of what many of us on the Hill were told before the confirmation and what we had continued to believe the last year. Then, without any notification, conversation, or dialogue with Congress, completely reversed. Now, perhaps the Department of Justice didn't think this would be a big deal. I understand Attorney General Jeff Sessions' opposition to the legalization of marijuana. I opposed the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, but this is about a decision by the State of Colorado. We were told that States rights would be protected and not just by the Attorney General, then the nominee to be Attorney General, we were told that by then-Candidate Donald Trump. In Colorado, in July of 2016, then-Candidate Trump was asked if he would use Federal authority to shut down sales of recreational marijuana in States like Colorado. Then-Candidate Donald Trump said: ``I wouldn't do that.'' When then-Candidate Trump was asked if he thought Colorado should be allowed to do what it is doing, he said: ``It's up to the States. Absolutely.'' That was then-Candidate Trump's position. I would like to know from the Attorney General what has changed. What has changed President Trump's mind that the Cole memorandum would be reversed and rescinded? What has changed the President's mind? Why is Donald Trump thinking differently today about what he promised the people of Colorado in 2016 to reverse course today? What changed? I would like to know that. I think the people of Colorado deserve to have that answer. Without the Cole memorandum, legal businesses, operating in accordance with States rights and laws, are now operating under a cloud of uncertainty. Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue are at risk, and certainly the question of constitutional States rights is very much at the core of this discussion. I believe what happened today was a trampling of Colorado's rights and its voters. Sure, this was a heavily debated issue, something I have already said I opposed, but the people of Colorado spoke, and they spoke loudly, and I believe that if the same question were asked today, they would even have more support for the decision they made several years ago. I agree with President Trump that this decision should be left up to the people of Colorado and other States, and I call on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to explain to me why President Trump was wrong in 2016, what changed their minds, and that they reverse their decision to withdraw and rescind the Cole memorandum and that they reimplement and reinstate the Cole memorandum. Until that happens, I think I am obligated to the people of Colorado to take all steps necessary to protect the State of Colorado and their rights. That is why today I will be putting a hold on every single nomination from the Department of Justice until Attorney General Jeff Sessions lives up to the commitment he made to me in my preconfirmation meeting with him--the conversation we had that was specifically about this issue of States rights in Colorado. Until he lives up to that commitment, I will be holding all nominations to the Department of Justice. The people of Colorado deserve answers. The people of Colorado deserve their will to be respected. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I rise today to note this Congress's historic achievement in reforming the Nation's tax system for the first time in 30 years. I congratulate the hard-working teams, the staffers, and others from the Budget, Finance, and Energy Committees and their colleagues in the House for the work they have done. It is not easy to modernize a Tax Code that has languished for over 30 years. Many groups have worked for a long time to solidify their special benefits, and they don't want to see those perks or special benefits go away. Many others just don't know how to work things under the status quo and think that must be the only way to do things, is to find a new status quo that represents the old status quo. Reforming the Tax Code is not easy, but it is important. It is important to America's economy. It is important to America's working families. It is important to Colorado. It is important for a lot of reasons. For instance, right now, we waste 6 billion hours and $263 billion just to file our taxes every year. After this reform, 92 percent of taxpayers will take the standard deduction. That simplifies the code, cuts those hours, and eliminates wasted dollars. Perhaps most importantly, it will shake our economy out of its slow- walking recovery. While there are booming areas in our country--and undoubtedly Colorado's Front Range represents some of the best examples of booming areas in our Nation--there are many areas of the country that haven't seen the growth and have, quite frankly, been left behind. They haven't seen their wages go up for a long time. In fact, yesterday the Denver Post published two stories about wages. Those stories point out that median wages in Colorado in 2016 were still below the levels of 2007 and even 2000. While I appreciate these reports, the fact is, we knew it wasn't anything unheard of. It certainly isn't new to those Coloradans who live outside of the Front Range and who they haven't seen their wages grow. It is a reality they have been dealing with for far too long. Over the years, wages have become detached from corporate profits, and this chart is a good example of what has occurred. Prior to 1990, a 1 percent increase in corporate profits led to a greater than 1 percent increase in worker wages. But from 2008 to 2016, a 1 percent increase in corporate profits led to only a 0.3 percent increase in wages. What you can see right here is the corporate rate over time. You can see that in 1990, 1986, the U.S. rate remained at 35 percent, what is today, for at least a little bit longer, the highest statutory tax rate in the world when it comes to business rates. You can see OECD nations have dramatically dropped theirs beginning in 1990 and going down through today. That is what has happened. Over that same period, our once-competitive corporate tax system has gotten more and more out of date. Our corporate rate today, as I said, is about the same as it was 30 years ago--35 percent. Meanwhile, foreign countries, such as Germany, France, Italy, and even Socialist Greece, have lowered their tax rates. Now America has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world, and Europe has an average statutory rate of around 18.5 percent. So American businesses have shifted their work overseas. New factories were built in Poland, not Pueblo. New offices opened in Dublin, not Delta. With fewer opportunities, American wages stagnated. The empirical data on this is clear. We have another chart to talk about this. High-tax countries see anemic wage growth--well under 1 percent a year--but low-tax countries see much stronger growth--between 1 and 4 percent. You can see right here on the red line--this line represents the highest statutory corporate rates in the world, the 10 countries with the highest statutory corporate rates. They have less than 1 percent wage growth. You can see the lowest statutory corporate rates--the countries that represent the bottom 10 statutory rates in the world have wage growth at 4 percent a year. That is clear data--growth between 1 and 4 percent in low-tax countries. Make no mistake, America is on the red line because we have an out- of-date corporate Tax Code--an out-of-date Tax Code that we have begun to address. Lowering the corporate tax rate has historically had support on both sides of the aisle, including something President Obama said back in 2011 in his State of the Union Address at a joint session of Congress. But suddenly, over the last couple of months, that is not the case anymore, and sadly I suspect that opposition to tax cuts has more to do with partisan politics than the merits of the proposal. Whatever the reason, instead of reaching out and working together, we have heard a parade of horrors: It will run up deficits. It only benefits the wealthy. Instead of investing in workers to make more profits, businesses will just hoard their money. We have even heard that provision after provision will literally kill people. As we heard objections get more and more outlandish, including the Biblical end of time, we heard the critiques get even more petty. We even heard the other side use procedural rules to complain about the title of the bill. What we haven't heard is how those opposed to this bill would solve the wage problem. They don't have a theory about why wages have stagnated or a vision for how to get them moving again, but we do. We passed it last night, and this reform will start to move wages again. This reform makes our corporate tax rates competitive again. It removes the incentive to invest abroad rather than right here at home. It is no surprise that the Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business--the organization that represents small businesses across this country--the National Retail Federation, the National Association of Home Builders, and the American Farm Bureau Federation support this bill. In fact, you can see this small portion of a stack of letters I received from hundreds of farmers from across the State of Colorado who wrote to my office and said: I would like to join Colorado Farm Bureau to support tax reform that works for Colorado's farmers and ranchers. There are hundreds of people saying: Please help reform our Tax Code; cut our taxes. These letters came from real Coloradans, people from all four corners of the State who know how important real reform is to them. These groups know that this reform--these individuals know that this reform translates into more growth for the American economy, higher wages for American workers. The Tax Foundation has estimated that this reform will bring 339,000 new, full-time equivalent jobs, increase GDP, and raise workers' wages. I have heard a lot of doubt about that part. I have heard a lot of people say that no wage growth is going to occur, that no money will come from these greedy corporations. But look at the news today, because today companies across America have already started to respond to this pro-growth tax reform. Just hours ago, AT&T announced that it will invest an additional $1 billion in the United States in 2018 and that it will give more than 200,000 of its U.S. employees a bonus of $1,000--all because of the tax relief bill that we have been working on that we passed today. Similarly, today Boeing announced that it will make a $300 million investment in charitable giving, worker training and education, and infrastructure and facility enhancements. Both of these companies made it very clear that these investments--over $1 billion of investment and $1,000 to 200,000 employees in the United States--are because of the tax bill that the House passed today and that we passed early this morning. There is more on the way, but the business side isn't the only way it brings relief to American families and it is certainly not the most important. The reforms we have made on the personal side will deliver relief to Americans across the Nation. A family of four earning the median American income of $73,000 will see their tax bill go down by $2,000, and that is nearly 60 percent next year from what it was this year. A single parent with two children and an income of $52,000 will see a tax cut of nearly $1,900. In a nation where too many people can't pull together $100 in 24 hours, these tax reductions alone are an enormous benefit. These are real benefits to the American people. Although there may be some naysayers in Washington who apparently have plenty of money, to people in Colorado, people in the West, people across this country, that is a big deal. These are benefits to real people, and I am glad to be a part and honored to be a part of delivering this real relief. I am also proud to have done this in a way that creates many provisions that are especially important to Colorado. We have made it easier to take advantage of the medical expense deduction. We have expanded the child tax credit and the 529 programs. We have protected other education provisions, such as the student loan interest deduction and tax breaks for America's teachers. We have made sure our farming co-ops are treated fairly, and we have made sure our growing brewing and distilling industry is treated fairly as well. We have made a dent in the unfair death tax, and that is a big deal for the hundreds of farmers and ranchers who have contacted my office. We have ended the ObamaCare individual mandate, so no longer will the people in Colorado who earn less than $50,000 be subjected to a tax fine, a penalty by the IRS, simply because they can't afford an unaffordable ObamaCare policy. We have helped ensure America's energy security by opening up new resource opportunities in a responsible manner, making sure that we simultaneously ensure that Colorado's renewable energy industry continues to flourish by making sure that today's credits for wind, solar, and refined coal are still available. That is what we did in this legislation. Mr. President, this is historic reform. I am proud to be a part of it. I am proud to have voted for it. We can already see today that as a result of the work we have done, Americans are seeing the benefit. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GARDNER

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