Martin Heinrich

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, there is a stunning 13-mile-wide crater that was created by a collapsed supervolcano. What is now known as the Valles Caldera National Preserve is home to a deep grassy valley, volcanic cinder cones, crystal-clear trout streams, and some of the best elk habitat in North America. The Valles Caldera National Preserve is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, but for many, many decades most New Mexicans could only peer into its edge from the side of a road. The entire Caldera was privately owned. That has since changed. In 2000, we used the Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase the Valles Caldera, but it took nearly a decade and a half after that to see truly meaningful public access. One New Mexican deserves an enormous amount of credit for unlocking the Valles Caldera and its scenic hiking trails, elk hunting, and its trout fishing. That New Mexican is Kent Salazar. As a member of the New Mexico Game Commission, Kent sought to undo a system that allowed wealthy and out-of-state hunters to purchase greater access to elk hunting than everyday New Mexicans or Americans. In the face of big money opposition, Kent pushed to establish a fair and equal lottery system that honored the principle of ``one person, one chance,'' and he succeeded. I have personally harvested two elk in the Caldera thanks in part to the changes that Kent made. Then, after President Obama appointed Kent to lead the Valles Caldera Board of Trustees, he quickly became a champion for transitioning the Valles Caldera to a National Park Service managed preserve. This change has expanded public access and made it possible for many more New Mexicans--and for visitors from around the world--to experience this incredible landscape. It also protected the public's fair access to both hunting and fishing, and none of this would have been possible without the determination, leadership, and vision of my friend, Kent Salazar. A lifelong New Mexican, Kent has dedicated himself to the idea that the outdoors are for everyone, not just for those with wealth or family connections. And from an early age, Kent found that time spent outdoors brought him a sense of renewal. And ever since, he has worked to make sure that all New Mexicans and all Americans can build a connection with nature. For 20 years as a public administrator, Kent worked to make our land and air and water safer and healthier at the city of Albuquerque's Environmental Health Department. An avid hunter, angler, and outdoorsman, Kent also breathed new life into the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. The legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold founded the organization that became the New Mexico Wildlife Federation more than a century ago. But when Kent took the reins, the organization had no staff and no real driving mission. Even so, Kent saw the incredible potential if he could reinvigorate the organization; and, that, he did. Under Kent's leadership, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation grew its membership dramatically and hired professional staff. Today, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation is one of the most influential grassroots organizations in our State. The organization has become much more active and much more effective in protecting iconic New Mexico landscapes, including the Valle Vidal, the Sabinoso Wilderness, and the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. The impact of Kent's leadership has also grown nationally. Three years ago, Kent was elected unanimously to serve as the chairman of the National Wildlife Federation's Board of Directors. With the National Wildlife Federation, Kent helped to lead the charge to secure permanent and dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and pass historic investments in landscape restoration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. And he is still helping us today as we work to pass the bipartisan Recovering America's Wildlife Act. Kent also helped to found the Green Leadership Trust and Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors, or HECHO. Through all of this, I have especially appreciated Kent's kindness and passion, his pragmatism and knowledge, his devoted focus on making the conservation movement more inclusive and mentoring the next generation of conservation leaders, the way he keeps an open mind, listens to others, and always seems to drive the whole room in a more productive direction. Kent's name might not make it to the newspaper that often, but it should. He is one of the most effective conservation leaders of our time. Kent once said: [I]f we get the right people involved, we can accomplish a lot, and help our communities and our future, our children. He is absolutely right. We are all better off because Kent is involved, serving our communities, our future, and our children. I am extraordinarily grateful to have worked with and learned from Kent for all these years, and I am honored to call him a friend. Kent, we cannot thank you enough for everything that you have done to inspire New Mexicans and to care for our Land of Enchantment.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the confirmation of the Syed nomination be at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Republican leader on Thursday, June 8.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Madam President, I ask that the Senate resume consideration of the Silfen nomination.

Mr. HEINRICH

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

Mr. HEINRICH

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

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote begin immediately.

Mr. HEINRICH

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

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, on April 17, 2023, I was unavoidably absent for rollcall vote No. 83. My absence was due to a family commitment that could not be moved. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on vote No. 83.

Mr. HEINRICH

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

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, on February 13, 2023, I was unavoidably absent for rollcall vote No. 9. My absence was due to official duties in New Mexico that presented an unavoidable conflict. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on vote No. 9. On February 13, 2023, I was unavoidably absent for rollcall vote No. 10. My absence was due to official duties in New Mexico that presented an unavoidable conflict. Had I been present, I would have voted yea on vote No. 10.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, we must never forget the ``first to fire'' troops from the United States and the Philippines who bravely defended Bataan, Corregidor, and other critical locations throughout the Pacific theater in the early months of World War II before enduring some of the most harrowing prisoners of war experiences in history. Their combat experiences began hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on December 7, 1941. Imperial Japanese forces launched coordinated attacks throughout Asia, striking Malaya, Thailand, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and the American Territories of Guam, Midway, Wake Island, Howland Island, and the Commonwealth of the Philippines. By December 22, 1941, the American Territories of Guam and Wake Island were surrendered to Imperial Japan. The Commonwealth of the Philippines was under a full-scale invasion. By March 10, 1942, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet was destroyed, and U.S. Army Forces on Java in the Dutch East Indies were surrendered, and General Douglas MacArthur was evacuated from Corregidor to Australia. By June 9, 1942, all of the Philippines was surrendered. The Japanese occupied the Alaskan islands of Kiska and Attu. Japanese forces threw three captured American aviators from the Battle of Midway into the sea. Only in the Philippine Islands did U.S. Armed Forces under the command of the United States Army Forces Far East--USAFFE--wage a prolonged, 6-month resistance to Imperial Japan's invasion in contrast to other Allied encounters with Japan throughout Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, the ``first to fire'' at the Japanese invaders on December 8, 1941, were the New Mexico National Guardsmen from the 200th and 515th Coast Artillery (AA) regiments, who were stationed at Fort Stotsenburg north of Manila with the mission of protecting Clark Field. With the activation of War Plan Orange (WPO-3) on December 24, 1941, USAFFE forces on the island of Luzon in the Philippines withdrew into the Bataan Peninsula to defend Manila Bay and await for reinforcements, which were never to come. The withdrawal was covered by 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts) and the Provisional Tank Group commanded by Brigadier General James R. N. Weaver that was composed of the 192nd GHQ Light Tank Battalion made up of Company A from Janesville, WI, Company B from Maywood, IL, Company C from Port Clinton, OH, and Company D from Harrodsburg, KY, and the GHQ 194th Light Tank Battalion made up of Company A from Brainerd, MN, Company B from Saint Joseph, MO, and Company C from Salinas, CA, and the 17th Ordnance Company (Armored). On January 16, 1942, when Troop G of the 26th Cavalry encountered Japanese forces at an escape route to Bataan, Lieutenant Edwin P. Ramsey ordered the last cavalry charge in American history. For the next 4 months, an estimated 12,000 American troops, 76,000 Filipino troops, and 20,000 Filipino civilians endured siege conditions marked by hunger, disease, and confusion with dwindling and antiquated war materiel. The Japan's successful command of the air and sea in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific combined with Washington and London's ``Europe First'' strategy foreclosed sending reinforcements and supplies to the besieged islands in the Pacific. Despite the combat prowess, dedication, and pure heroism of the American and Filipino troops on Bataan, Commanding General Edward B. King understood his seriously degraded force could not continue. He surrendered the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942. With surrender, thousands of troops and civilians were assembled at the Port of Mariveles at the tip of Bataan for a 65-mile merciless march in the tropical sun up the peninsula to a train station at San Fernando where they were packed standing into small unventilated boxcars for the 24 miles to Capas. From there, the survivors were forced to march 6 miles to Camp O'Donnell, a makeshift POW camp with only one source of water. This forced trek came to be known as the Bataan Death March as it was marked by the Japanese capturers' conscious cruelty of withholding food, water, and medicine, for looting and murder, and for inflicting capricious abuse and torture upon defenseless prisoners. For the next month, the Japanese under the command of General Masaharu Homma unleashed a continual air and artillery assault on the fortress islands of Corregidor (Ft. Mills), Ft. Frank, Ft. Hughes, and Ft. Drum in Manila Bay. After Japanese forces breached beach defenses on Corregidor, Commanding General Jonathan Wainwright surrendered Corregidor and its associated islands on May 6, 1942. General Homma refused to accept the surrender and kept the men and women held on the islands in Manila Bay as hostages until he received assurance on June 9, 1942, that all the USAFFE troops throughout the Philippines had surrendered. On June 7, 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army occupied the Aleutian Island of Attu, capturing the population of 42 Unangax (Aleut) and two American citizens, one of whom was executed and the other taken to Japan with the Alaska Natives as prisoners of war. Included in the surrenders in the Philippines were female nurses of U.S. Army, Navy, Philippine Army, and civilian volunteers who became the first large group of American women in combat and, alongside the five Navy nurses surrendered on Guam in December 1941, comprised the first group of American military women taken captive and imprisoned by an enemy. Between January of 1942 and December of 1944, thousands of prisoners of war from the United States who had survived the surrenders throughout the Pacific were shipped in unmarked transports, known as ``hellships'' for forced labor, often with private companies, throughout the Japanese Empire. By the war's end, more than 12,000 Americans had died in squalid POW camps, in the fetid holds of the ``hellships,'' or in forced labor camps owned by Japanese companies where they were denied food, water, sanitation, clothing, and medical care. As a result, the death rate for American POWs of Japan was 40 percent. Less than half of the men of New Mexico Coast Artillery and the members of the 192nd and 194th Provisional Tank Battalions returned home after the war. Surviving as a POW of Japan and returning home was the beginning of new battles: finding acceptance in society and living with serious mental and physical ailments that the Veterans Administration was unprepared to address, resulting in death rates that were more than twice those of the comparably aged White male population of the time. The veterans of the early defensive battles in the Pacific represented all States, Tribes, and Territories of the United States, a diversity of ethnicities and religions embodying the American spirit of perseverance, faith, and optimism. President Ronald Reagan first proclaimed National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day in 1988, which was established to coincide with April 9, the anniversary of the surrender of Bataan and the start of the Bataan Death March. The U.S. Navy has honored the service and heroism of the veterans of early battles in the Pacific by naming several ships after the 1942 fighting in the Philippines and other places in the Pacific, including one still in service, the USS Bataan (LHD-5), homeported in Norfolk, VA; as well as the now decommissioned USS Corregidor (CVE-58); USS Antrim (FFG-20); USS Bangust (DE-739), USS Baron (DE-739), USS Elrod (FFG-55), and USS Rooks (DD-804). It is time to recognize the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor: ordinary men and women who found uncommon courage in extraordinary circumstances to fight the impossible and endure the unimaginable for freedom from tyranny and oppression.

Mr. HEINRICH

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

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 5961 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. HEINRICH. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3949 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. HEINRICH. I ask unanimous consent that the Grassley substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 4120 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. HEINRICH. I ask unanimous consent that the Reed substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the be table.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 5329, introduced earlier today by Senator Blumenthal.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of S. 3519 and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. HEINRICH. I ask unanimous consent that the Boozman substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations en bloc: Calendar Nos. 701, 1253, 1254, 1256, 1265, 1280, 1283, and 1284; that the Senate vote on the nominations en bloc without intervening action or debate; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and that the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. HEINRICH

Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 3946 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. HEINRICH. I ask unanimous consent that the Cornyn substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.