Johnny Isakson

Mr. ISAKSON

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

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. All time is yielded back on both sides, and I call for the rollcall vote.

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

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, yesterday was a difficult day for me. Before I get to that day, let me recognize the Senator from Oklahoma for a motion.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Yesterday was a difficult day for me. I am 74 years old. I was born in 1944. Like many Americans, my youth was during the Vietnam era. The prime of my youth was the Vietnam era. In fact, my senior year in college, I got a graduation diploma and a draft notice on the same day. They were put in the same book. Everybody was going. Everybody was being called up for the draft. There was a lottery, but so many people were eligible that almost everybody in my age group would have been drafted if they didn't join the service. I joined. I joined the National Guard, which I am very proud of, and I am still a guardsman to this day. It also gave me the chance to serve my country in a way that would not put me at as much risk to go to Vietnam as it would if I were drafted. I consciously did that because I wanted to do everything I could to stay here and get married a few months later to my wife Dianne. I was of the age to be drafted, and I made the decision to find a way to serve that would not put me in a position of being drafted, where I lost control. I was able to do it, and a lot of people were, but a lot of people weren't. I know that. The ones who could know it, and the ones who couldn't know it. The Presiding Officer knows what I am talking about, being a guardswoman herself. I lost my best friend in Vietnam, Jackson Elliott Cox III, Waynesboro GA, Liberty County--Bird Dog Capital of the World. Jack and I graduated from college together. Jack went off for a weekend and came back and told us all he had joined the Marine Corps, was going to OCS, and was going to go to Vietnam and fight the bad guys. We all said: Jack, don't volunteer to do that. You could get killed. He said: No, I want to do it. It is a great country. I have had a great life, going to the University of Georgia, have a wonderful mom and dad, good friends like you all. I want to go to OCS and be an officer in the Marine Corps--and he did. A few years later, he was shot by a sniper in the 11th month of a 13- month stint in Vietnam. Alex Crumbley, the superior court judge in Georgia years later; Pierre Howard, the Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Georgia; and myself--we were the three best friends, the ``Four Amigos,'' if you will. We went to 589 Liberty Street in Waynesboro and spent 3 nights and 4 days with Emily and Jack, Jack's dad and mom. When the Marine Corps brought the body back, it was lying in state in their dining room, and we had a wake and a service for him. We stood guard. We cried. We talked about the good times. We talked about the bad times. We felt sorry for ourselves because the life that had meant so much to all of us was gone. Jack felt a calling for the country, and he did a great service for the country. I am proud of him, and I am proud to have been his friend. I tried to do what I could but never in the category of a John McCain or a Jack Cox. There were a lot people my age who didn't do as much as they probably could have or might have done, and probably from time to time have second thoughts about it, too, because the Vietnam war was so tough. I had friends coming back who had to dress in blue jeans and khakis when they got off the troop train from wherever they were in Atlanta because people would get accosted on the street if they were in their uniform during that era. Today, we go to the airport, and if we have troops coming through who are going to fly back for duty somewhere, they will get standing ovations, and people will give up their seats to let them sit there. It wasn't like that in the 1960s and 1970s. It wasn't like that at all. In fact, people were risking their lives--58,000 did give their lives for all of us--and in many cases, we were making fun of them as a nation. It was terrible. It messed up our politics, messed up our country, messed up our people, and messed up everybody else. But America is a great country. What I am telling you is tragic to me, and I apologize to everybody that I didn't do everything I should have done, but I think all of us owe each other a commitment to say that we are never going to let America get that way again. Americans should always be as we were on 9/11 or 9/12 of 2001, when we all put American flags on our cars, we all sang the national anthem, and we said the Pledge of Allegiance after we were attacked. For a few months, we were the most patriotic Nation in the world. We ought to be that way every single day because every single day, just like those firemen and emergency medical people of 9/11, there are those who were in the Vietnam war, who signed up, who fought, risked their lives, and in some cases died, like John McCain and like my brother-in-law Rocky Davison, my wife's brother, who flew Navy A-4 reconnaissance planes in Vietnam--one of the most decorated pilots in the Navy during that era. People like him were great. My father-in-law flew reconnaissance in World War II in the Pacific. He did everything he could to help the country during difficult times. There were so many people who did that for our country, and we owe all of them a debt of gratitude and a debt of thanks. We need to remember that we are all Americans. To those who saved us as a country, kept our freedom when we were about to lose it, fought for us, risked their lives, and died for us, we owe it to them, at times like this, to elevate them to the appropriate place in history. That is what I am trying to do with John McCain today. I want to elevate John. John was better than I am, and I know it. John was the best of my generation. John McCain was and is a great human being. I don't know what is going to be said in the next few days about John McCain by whomever is going to say it or what is going to be done, but anybody who in any way tarnishes the reputation of John McCain deserves a whipping because most of those who would do the wrong thing about John McCain didn't have the guts to do the right thing when it was their turn. We need to remember that. So I would say to the President or anybody in the world, it is time to pause and say that this was a great man who gave everything for us. We owe him nothing less than the respect that he earned, and that is what I intend to give John in return for what he gave me. John took me to Kosovo 20 years ago when President Clinton said that we were going to send some people over there to verify the crime sites, the ethnic cleansing. I went to Pristina with John. I went to Montenegro. I went to the World Security Conference in Munich a few years after that and got to sit with Vladimir Putin. I saw John McCain talk to Vladimir Putin as if they were next-door neighbors but also as if they were Dutch uncles. I was so proud to be from a country that had a guy like John McCain, who could break the ice with the toughest of our adversaries, speak up with pride for America, and calm them down when they needed to be calmed down. Yet John and I had some problems too. Mitch McConnell did me the worst favor of my lifetime when he made me the chairman of the Ethics Committee. That is a hard job, and nobody likes the person who chairs that committee because they are scared of them. But I got the Ethics Committee job at a time when John McCain was still on the special committee for the Ethics Committee to decide what to do on using airplanes during campaign events as candidates or for our PACs. John had access to a plane, which gave him an exemption from the rules that we passed. It made it tough as heck because he didn't have to worry about the cause and effects. But John took a second to understand the problems that a normal legislator, who might not have had access to a private plane, might have had. In the end, he took his circumstances and his ability to have a private plane and applied them to the changes that were made to be sure that everybody was being treated fairly. John didn't just expect things to be good for John; he expected things to be good for everybody. He always did that, and I always learned a lot from him. The other thing I learned was how to cuss. Let me tell you, John McCain could do a lot of things, but cussing was one of the best things he ever did. He was a consummate cusser, and he knew how to do it to have emphasis added. That is what the papers always say when they put the pound marks and things like that after some statements Jim Inhofe makes or I make. John and I were working on legislation. I am chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He was chairman of the Armed Services Committee. We had a huge veterans bill that we had to come together and have a meeting of the minds on in terms of healthcare. John was late for the meeting. He came into the meeting. He pulled the door behind him and slammed it. For 10 minutes he laid the best cussing on me and everybody else in the room that I had ever heard. He said: I haven't got time to put up with this anymore. Y'all just listen to what I have to say and tell me what you are going to do. That is a tough way to convene business, but John sometimes knew how to get us all to think, to get us all to talk. He would intimidate you enough so you would have to fight him for what you believe in, and you would get a better piece of legislation than if he just let it pass or if he had intimidated you to death. John knew exactly what he had the capability of doing, and he knew exactly when to apply the intimidation--and the thanks and the grace. He did it at the right time every single time. Did we agree all the time? No, but I know I am a better person, our country is a better country, and the world is a better place because of John McCain. In the next 3 or 4 days, as we go through and run into kids we know or relatives or my own children, whom I will be with this coming Sunday in the mountains, we are going to have a little meeting about John McCain just to make sure they know what I know and so I know that they know about a great American hero because I want them, when they have kids in their 40s--my kids are in their 40s today--to remember on Veterans Day, on Memorial Day, and on all other days, the John McCains of the world and those who will come after John, who will put their life and future and fortune on the line for the greatest country in the world, the United States of America. I yield the floor.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I come to the floor of the Senate today to express myself on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has been named by President Trump to the Supreme Court of the United States, subject to the confirmation of the U.S. Senate. Probably the most serious responsibility all of us have is the confirmation of those who are appointed to lifetime appointments in the judiciary and certain other high places in our government. It is a responsibility that should be treasured, respected, and never abused or never trivialized. President Trump has done what every President has done in the past: He has nominated the best available--Brett Kavanaugh, who stands before this Senate today. There is no better person for the job on the U.S. Supreme Court. Brett Kavanaugh is the real deal. He is the real deal, and he went to Yale. That doesn't make him great. I think the University of Georgia is great, myself. But the Yankees have been bragging about Yale, so we always say nice things about them. He is very smart. He graduated cum laude from Yale. He has trained so many young lawyers in his career, it is not even funny. He has had so many clerk with him. He has written so much that has been copied by other courts and adopted as a part of law; it is a great testimony to his ability and his intellect. He served several years as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, a private firm. He served as a clerk at the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. He has been a teacher and today teaches at Harvard University in the Samuel Williston lecture series and was nominated by Elena Kagan, a member of the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the real deal in a lot of ways, and I want to take a minute to share why I am going to vote for him. I want somebody on the Supreme Court who understands me--an average American, somebody who has a family, two kids, works for a living, loves their country, and would do the right thing and will not do it for any other reason than to do the right thing. My motto in life has always been Mark Twain's quote: When confronted with a difficult decision, do what is right. You will surprise a few, but you will amaze the rest. Doing the right thing is the right thing to do every time, but it is the hardest thing to at do almost any time. In fact, as my father used to say: Son, do what you want to do when nobody is looking, and when nobody is looking, do the same thing you do when they are looking because you always want to do the right thing regardless of the question and regardless of what answer you have to give. The Supreme Court is a tremendous responsibility in our government. It is one-third of our government. We have a three-legged school of government: the bureaucracy--we are in the legislative branch; the executive branch, which the President runs; but the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter. I want a level-headed person who understands me making those decisions. I think the following qualifies as a level-headed person: More than a dozen times, his opinions have been endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court. His 100 most cited opinions have been cited by more than 210 judges across the country. More than 50 circuit court opinions discuss or cite one of his concurrences or dissents. Of his 48 clerks, 39 have gone on to clerk for the Supreme Court of the United States. One of his clerks, Britt Grant from Georgia, was confirmed last week by this U.S. Senate to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. That is a pretty high testament to a man of his youth and a man of his experience. He has two beautiful children, a lovely wife, and is a committed family man. But let me tell you what makes him special: He is not pretentious. My first meeting with him was an odd meeting. It was a rare meeting. It was on the first floor outside of the elevators coming to this Chamber. I had just come in from the rain. I was standing there, trying to get myself halfway dried off, and there came a slew of police. I figured the President was coming. You know, they always run us out of there. The cops came in, and the dogs came in--and everybody else. All of a sudden, there was a guy; at first, I didn't recognize him. Then I realized, with all the press trying to get up close to him, he must be somebody really important. He wasn't us; he was Brett Kavanaugh. He saw me. He stopped, came over, and said: Johnny, how are you doing? That impressed me a lot. Of course, I know he had been back there studying, just like the pages, so you can remember who we are, so you can say our name, and it is a good thing to do. He talked to me as though I was his long-lost friend. He stopped, and we talked for 4 or 5 minutes. Two days later, when we came to my office and we talked again, we talked about family, we talked about food, we talked about fun, we talked about the United States of America, and we talked about the greatness and potential of our country and its future. We talked about everything we loved about it and what we would do to protect it, save it, and how we both felt honored to be in the positions we were in. Toward the end of the conversation, I said: Now, one thing about it, Mr. Kavanaugh, I understand you had a little issue with buying season tickets to the baseball games. In fact, the first thing Democrats came up with is that he makes too much money or he has too much money because he bought season tickets and used his credit card. I don't think that is a dumb idea. I think that is a compliment--a guy who loves baseball, loves politics, and loves America. It doesn't get any better than that. So I am going to vote for Brett Kavanaugh to confirm him to the U.S. Supreme Court because he is a regular guy, he is a brilliant man, he cares about his country deeply, he believes in this country, and he feels a responsibility that he wants to assume at this time in life. I can't think of any better reasons to vote for him. I am going to vote for him with pride, and I urge all my fellow Senators in the U.S. Senate to join me as well. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, all postcloture time be considered expired at 1:45 p.m. today.

Mr. ISAKSON

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

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to be granted enough time to complete my remarks before the vote.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I come briefly but quickly and proudly to recommend Britt Grant to this body and to the United States of America to be the next judge from the State of Georgia to be on the circuit court of appeals. Britt Grant is an outstanding jurist. She became a judge on the Georgia Supreme Court at the age of 40. She went to Stanford University Law School, and she went to Wake Forest University as an undergraduate. After she left Stanford University, she came to clerk for Brett Kavanaugh, who is now nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court. Throughout her legal career, whether it was practicing as an attorney, whether it was serving as a judge, or whatever she did, she was always at the top of her class, at the top of her case, or at the top of her ability. I don't remember ever having a judge come before this body, since I have been in Congress, from my home State of Georgia who had more people pulling for her, more people wanting her to win, more people who think she is the right person at the right time for the United States of America. So I come to the floor as the senior Senator from Georgia to tell my colleagues this: You have the chance to invoke cloture tonight with your vote and to vote tomorrow for the confirmation of the Honorable Britt Grant of the Georgia Supreme Court to be on the U.S. Circuit Court for the Eleventh Circuit of the United States of America. I urge my colleagues to vote yes for cloture and yes for Judge Grant tomorrow. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Montana, Mr. Tester, for his remarks. I thank him more so for his hard work, as ranking member, over the last 2 years with me, as chairman, and for bringing us to the point at which we are today. Jon and I are very excited because we know that Robert Wilkie is the real deal. We know the things that we have gone through with some of the previous appointees and with some of the problems at the VA now have a chance to be overridden and solved and that we will step forward in a new day for the VA. We no longer want somebody who is going to make excuses for the VA. We want somebody who is going to make a difference at the VA. Robert Wilkie understands the needs of our veterans in rural areas. He understands their needs in large urban cities. He understands the threat of suicide and the need to have mental health care accessible and available to our veterans at all times. He knows all of the things we need to do. He also knows we have given him a quiver of arrows that he can use as he hunts through the VA to root out the bad players and lift the big players. The VA MISSION Act, as Jon Tester just mentioned, is absolutely rule No. 1. The implementation of that change gives our veterans the choice, our rural veterans the access, our urban veterans the accountability, and the VA the chance to maximize the delivery of healthcare services to our veterans at a cost that, over time, will be less than if the VA had done it all by itself. The VA is a tremendous organization. It is the state of the art in many things--in ophthalmology, for example, and in treating a lot of the signature wounds that we have today from the war--PTSD and all of those. Our VA does a phenomenal job with all of those. Yet there are a lot of healthcare services that are routine for which veterans shouldn't have to wait 3, 4, and 5 months but that they ought to be able to get in a reasonably accessible period of time. They ought to be able to get services closest to home, where they are, and be able to get them from those who can deliver the services to them when they need them. The VA MISSION Act lets that happen. I am going to say a few things tonight in my remarks on the early warnings with regard to the VA MISSION Act--that it is costing a lot of money because they are going to see some requests come in for money. Yes, it is going to take us a little while to get over the bubble with the initial implementation, but when we do, we are going to minimize the cost and give greater service to the veterans and, over time, reduce the cost to our veterans. Every time we don't require the VA to build another hospital or another clinic, we are lowering the cost of our real estate and uplifting the opportunity for us to spend more money on services. Every time we have doctors in hospitals who treat veterans who want to participate in the VA MISSION Act and the Veterans Choice Program, they will not have to add all of the other costs of infrastructure, and our veterans will get better choice, better service, better medical care, and better time. This is an opportunity to make the change of a lifetime. We are going to make the VA something it has always wanted to be and give the veterans something they always thought they had--the best possible care at the most affordable price to the taxpayer. We will deliver a difference for our veterans and their families. I am proud of what the committee did 2 weeks ago when it passed the VA MISSION Act and when it brought about caregivers' legislation for those family members so that they may take care of loved ones from the Vietnam war era. We are going to have bills coming up that have to do with the Navy and other things like that in the year ahead. We have a lot of things we are going to do. I want us to stop, here and now, dragging out old stories about the VA and talking about what the VA isn't and, instead, talk about what it is. I want to give a specific example. The press needs to stop giving a 3-, 4-, 5-year IG's report and reporting it as today's news. Jon and I have spent more time in responding to reports about the IG or someone else--I am just picking on the IG--and about failures within the VA when, in fact, it turns out that they are from a study from 2006 when we finally get the report. They make a big deal out of it as if it were yesterday. Most of the issues from the Veterans Administration's major stories-- I didn't say ``all,'' and it never will be all--are being met and addressed faster than ever before. We have to report the good news as well as the tough news. I will stand there and respond to the tough news all day long, but I hate it when I have to call my own press conference to talk about what is really going on at the VA that is really good. It is absolutely essential that we be in partnership with the media-- the VA itself, the VA's employees, its service providers, and all of us in our roles in Congress as committee chairs, in leadership. It is essential that all of us join in and put our arms together and move forward in order to have a stronger, more productive, more responsible VA. I mentioned the VA MISSION Act and accountability. We have finally given the VA the ability to hold its employees accountable, which we have been meaning to do for a long, long time, and it is making a difference. We have the Whistleblower Protection Act, which gives whistleblowers the chance to make reports for things that they see, know, and do that are difficult and should be corrected. We have given them some degree of reasonable protection so that they are not run over instead. That is something that is important to do. We have talked about accountability. We have talked about all kinds of things. We will talk about one last thing, and that is rural America. Certainly, with Jon, I have gained a greater impression than I have before of the problems that rural America faces. Georgia has a large rural population, but, quite frankly, Georgia is a big State, and Atlanta is a big city. When you go outside Atlanta, you still have Savannah, Augusta, and a lot of places that are much bigger than the biggest city in Montana. We owe those veterans who are more distant from the services we provide, because of where they live, the opportunity to get the services faster and quicker. We are going to do that with the VA MISSION Act. I appreciate Jon's leadership in doing that as it has made a real difference. What I have tried to do with the hotlines on mental health for the veterans who call in--whose lives are in danger or who are in danger of taking their own lives or who need help or counseling then and now--is to make sure they are no longer getting hung up on, to make sure they are no longer getting referred to other operators, to make sure they are no longer getting called back tomorrow after leaving voice mails. It is to make sure they are getting action right here and right now-- today. We owe it to our veterans whose lives are at risk today--the same thing they do every day when they serve us in uniform and their lives are at risk every day overseas. We have a chance to do a wonderful thing, and that is to keep our promise. We have to change and deliver quality healthcare to our veterans and deliver a better response to our veterans than they have ever had before. We have the chance to fix the problems that we have had and to look to the future for new solutions to other problems that will face us. We owe our veterans no less than the best Secretary in Robert Wilkie, and we have him in Robert Wilkie. I told Robert: You have no excuses. I have heard all of the excuses I ever want to hear about this. We know what we have to do, and we know when we need to do it. It is now. We have to know how to do it, and it is with you as the Secretary of the VA. I commend him to my fellow Members of the U.S. Senate. I thank Chairman Roe, from the House of Representatives, and for the hard work that they have done in bringing this together with Jon and I and seeing to it we have a great Secretary. We are going to lock arms and be in lockstep next year to make the VA perform even better than it has before. We are here to make sure that the VA has no excuses on the results, that it gets the backing it needs from us, that those veterans who have served us get the healthcare they need, and that the veterans who join us today to defend us in the future will have it there when they retire. I urge Senators to vote for Secretary Robert Wilkie to be Secretary of the VA, our 10th most recent VA appointee, and to give him a unanimous vote today, which is the kind of support he needs to move forward in the 21st century. God bless all for being here today. I thank the Senators for their votes. I thank Senator Tester for his support as ranking member, and I thank the Senator from Kansas for his support throughout the year. I yield to the Senator from North Carolina.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I yield back all time.

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

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, I am delighted to stand today, shoulder to shoulder with all my colleagues on the Veterans' Affairs Committees in the House and the Senate, to thank the Senate for a very strong vote on cloture yesterday to take us to a point today where we will pass the VA MISSION Act, which is this legislative body fulfilling a promise to those who fought and sacrificed for each of us to be here today--our families and loved ones as well. For years, there have been problems in the VA in terms of healthcare. You read the headlines. I read them, too, and our constituents read them. In Arizona, we had veterans who died waiting to get a routine appointment. We had scheduling errors. People were getting bonuses for scheduling things they had falsified. We had a lot of things that were disappointing to all of us. We worked hard in the Veterans Affairs Committee in the House and Senate to address these tough issues head-on and fix them so that the VA would be the best functioning health delivery system it could possibly be for the people who were willing to risk their lives for each of us when they joined the military. I think it is appropriate that we are doing this the week before Memorial Day. Next Monday, we will celebrate all of those who, in all the wars that preceded the fight we have today, represented our country, volunteered unselfishly, fought, and in some cases died for America's peace, freedom, liberty, and the perpetuation of our democracy. One promise we made to them was that they would have good quality healthcare, and it would be successful. Four years ago, with the leadership of John McCain, we started the movement toward Veterans Choice. We passed a good bill with a 40-mile rule and a 30-day rule. The 40-mile rule said that if you live within 40 miles of a VA clinic or service, you can go to a closer clinic in the private sector, as long as it is approved by the VA. The 30-day rule said that if you couldn't get an appointment for a routine medical service in 30 days, you could get an appointment in the private sector, and the VA would approve it. But the labyrinth of the approval process for that 30-day appointment or that 40-mile access made it almost impossible for the veteran, in many cases, to get access that is as timely as we would like it to be. It was a good start. It was an improvement in our process. It addressed the problem--but not well enough. We learned enough as a test bed to know that veterans liked Choice, as long as it was not so cumbersome that they couldn't use it. The VA liked Choice, as long as they were a partner with a veteran who made the choices, so we lost no continuity in healthcare. With the passage of the MISSION Act, we are repealing both the 30-day rule and the 40-mile rule. Instead, we are saying the following: If you are an eligible veteran for VA healthcare services, you can choose a private sector doctor if you want to, as long as the conditions and circumstances, in concert with your VA primary care doctor, fit. In other words, the VA needs to know about it and work with you in making that decision and work with you in finding that private doctor. We are not going to have mountains of paperwork and third-party administrators breaking the rules and regulations and slowing things down. Instead, the VA will be motivated to see you, the veteran, get fast, timely service and quality healthcare, whether it is private or the VA. There have been some who have talked about this being privatization. It is not privatization; it is mobilization. We are mobilizing healthcare for the veterans to see to it that they have access in a timely fashion. The VA is an instrumental service for our veterans who come home. Many of them come home with injuries and sicknesses and illnesses and diseases that, quite frankly, nobody ever contemplated people surviving. Who heard of PTSD and TBI 20 years ago? Who saw veterans lose arms and legs--in some cases, all of their arms and legs--and survive a battlefield wound? How many of you have seen people wear an eye prosthesis, where they had an eye replaced? The VA has specialists who can do all of those things, the best in the world. They can deliver high-quality healthcare and high-quality rehabilitation to veterans with the most serious injuries in the history of warfare. We will always continue to do that, but we also have to understand that when healthcare in the private sector can be utilized for the convenience of the veteran--not as a competitor to the VA--we can use it as a force multiplier to lower the number of people we have to hire and, in addition, lower the number of hospitals we have to build and instead provide that money for services to our veterans. It is a win-win proposition for the VA and for all of us. It is no secret why every former VA Secretary who has served this country has endorsed the VA MISSION bill. All of them have endorsed it, every one of them, whether a Republican appointment or appointment by a Democratic President. They all know this is something we needed to do for a long time. It is no secret why we got a vote of 91 to 4 yesterday on the floor of the U.S. Senate to invoke cloture and go to a vote today on the VA MISSION Act. It is past time we made sure our laws for healthcare available to our veterans are as high quality as our veterans are when they go to fight wars for us. Secondly, I want to focus on another feature which is very important to me because I was in the service. I was not in Vietnam. I am a Vietnam-era veteran. I was in the Georgia Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. I lost buddies in that war. I know a lot of our soldiers sacrificed in that war and made it home with terrible injuries, but because of our healthcare delivery system in the battlefield and at other hospitals around the world, we were able to save veterans and rehabilitate them, but the need for ongoing medical healthcare for the basic essentials of life is sometimes one of the byproducts for some of the injuries and for some of those who survived those wounds. There are veterans who have difficulty feeding themselves. There are veterans who can't dress themselves. There are veterans who need assistance in the five basic essentials of life, and then from time to time, they have to call in a caregiver. There are spouses, moms, in some cases, dads, brothers, and sisters who come and deliver those services to their brother or sister or son or daughter. If they are a veteran of almost any area except Vietnam, they get caregiver benefits from the VA or a stipend benefit provided to that volunteer to help that veteran. It helps the veteran pay for their service, and it helps the VA not have to go out to find someone to do it because there is someone offering to be their caregiver. We are expanding the caregiver services in the VA to all veterans, so finally the Vietnam-era veterans and their families will be as eligible as anybody else who is entitled to VA benefits. Patty Murray of Washington, Susan Collins of Maine, and a lot of Members of this Chamber today deserve credit for that. We fought for caregivers for a long time. It is a big step forward, and it is going to be a lifesaver and a life extender for many and remove just one of the major burdens that some have to care for a spouse or a loved one injured in battle or who has fought for us. I can go on and on and on about detail after detail after detail in this bill, but I don't want to bore everyone. I want everybody to realize, when they go home this weekend, how important it is to tell them what we have finally done. We have finally dealt with the accessibility of healthcare to our veterans. There will be no more headlines of veterans dying because they can't get an appointment because they are going to be able to get an appointment. They are going to be able to make the choice with the VA at that appointment. It is not the case anymore where a veteran is going to die because they can't get a basic service to stay alive at their home, that if they don't have the money to pay for a caregiver, they therefore languish, unable to feed themselves or clothe themselves or live in a sanitary condition. That is the very least we owe to our veterans. Today, when you cast your vote for the VA MISSION Act, you will do just that. I want to address some individuals, if I can, and thank them. One, I thank John McCain, whose idea this was originally. He is a great hero to all of us, a friend to all of us, one we love and pray for today as he recovers from cancer. John is the one who started the movement toward Choice, and he deserves the credit for it. I thank all of those Secretaries who have worked with us over the past 3 or 4 years to get to the point where we are able to pass the VA MISSION Act today. I will tell you whom I really want to thank. I want to thank all those veterans who sacrificed and died for us in the wars before now. The reason we enjoy our freedom and you, Madam President, can preside freely without fear of retribution, I can say what I think without fear of retribution, I can say to our constituents who gather in the Gallery and listen to what we have to say, and protest if they wish, is we have a Constitution and 10 basic amendments, the first 10 being our Bill of Rights. It gives us everything, but the ones who protected that gift are our veterans. It is not a stretch to remember that had it been a different outcome in World War II, I might be speaking Japanese or German today, not English, but because of our veterans and because of our soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, who fought in the Pacific--my father-in-law flew reconnaissance in the Pacific. My brother-in-law was in the Air Force in Vietnam. If those vets had not risked their lives and really offered their lives in exchange for our liberty and freedom, we wouldn't be enjoying this today. So we owe no less than the MISSION Act to our veterans. I am proud to be part of it, and I am proud of my committee and my committee members who are doing so much to help us. Let me just say thank you to my colleagues for your vote yesterday. I urge you to vote today for passage of the VA MISSION Act. It is an honor to serve our country as a Member of the U.S. Senate. It is an honor to be an American. May God bless our country. I yield the floor.

Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma. I will tell him that the story of his veteran from Muskogee led us to the way we wrote a lot of the provisions in section 101. Comfort, ease, and accessibility for the veteran are equally important to every other consideration that will go in. The veteran who was sent to Seattle before would now be able to get treatment in Oklahoma City or in Muskogee or wherever else closer to home that is more convenient as long as it is in the best interest of that patient. Specifically, it says that a veteran and the veteran's referring clinician agree that the care or services in the community would be in the best medical interest of the veteran after considering criteria, including--and then all those criteria. So every personal criterion, as well as medical criterion, is considered. So that should never happen again because of the VA MISSION Act. I appreciate the Senator bringing it to our attention, and I hope it never happens again in Oklahoma or anywhere in the United States.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, the Senator is correct. The term Indian Health Service includes Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations that operate healthcare facilities in lieu of the Indian Health Service pursuant to a contract or self-governance compact with the Federal Government.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I come briefly to the floor to encourage all Members of the Senate to vote for the VA MISSION bill. It is long overdue, a lot of hard work went into it, and it had a great vote on cloture of 91 to 4. I am sure we will have an outstanding vote today because it is a vote for our veterans, for the promises we made to them for better quality healthcare and a better VA. It would not have happened if it were not for a lot of people, but one of the most key persons in making sure this bipartisan bill passes with the overwhelming margin it deserves is Jon Tester, my ranking member on the committee. We worked together hand in hand for about 3 years. We had enough pitfalls to want to quit many times but never did because we knew the ultimate goal was to meet our veterans' needs. Today, when we adopt this bill, and later on this month when it is signed, it will be because of the hard work of a lot of people but none more important than Jon Tester from Montana. I thank my ranking member for encouraging everyone to vote for the bill, and I thank the Presiding Officer at this time. I yield to the ranking member.

Mr. ISAKSON

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

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I have 7 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the Senate. They have the approval of the Majority and Minority leaders. Pursuant to rule XXVI, paragraph 5(a), of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the following committees are authorized to meet during today's session of the Senate: Committee on Armed Services The Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at 9:30 a m. to conduct a hearing. Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Ten years of Conservatorship: the Statue of the Housing Finance System.'' Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing. Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at 2:30 p.m. to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Emory A. Rounds III, of Maine, to be Director of the Office of Government Ethics, Kelly Higashi, to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and Frederick M. Nutt, of Virginia, to be Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management, Office of Management and Budget. Committee on the Judiciary The Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing on the following nominations: Britt Cagle Grant, of Georgia, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit, Allen Cothrel Winsor, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Florida, Patrick R. Wyrick, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, and Edward W. Felten, of New Jersey, and Jane Nitze, of the District of Columbia, both to be a Member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Special Committee on Aging The Special Committee on Aging of the Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at 2 p.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Preventing and Treating Opioid Misuse Among Older Americans.'' Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration The Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration of the Committee on Armed Services is authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at 2:30 p.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``TVPRA and Exploited Loopholes Affecting Unaccompanied Alien Children.''

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Shelby and Senator Leahy for their leadership on this issue and for their strong support of the VA MISSION Act. I understand their concerns regarding funding, and agree that the important reforms included in this bill require resources. I am committed to working with you to find an appropriate solution as the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill moves to the Senate floor. Our veterans deserve no less.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. I say to the Democratic leader, it is a pleasure.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, before the Senator from Montana leaves, I wish to thank him for 3 years of dedicated service and the last 2 in particular as we put together the pieces of shrapnel--which was the original attempt to make Choice work--to be a streamlined program that is going to work for all of our veterans. Jon Tester has been a magnificent ranking member and a magnificent leader. I appreciate very much the kind things he had to say about me, and I say ditto to you. I also thank Chairman Phil Roe, of Tennessee, in the House of Representatives. He has been a stalwart. The reason we are able to act today and tomorrow--as the House did last week--and pass a bill before Memorial Day is because both bodies have worked together, and the votes have been overwhelming. Our motion to invoke cloture this morning was 91 to 4. The House passed this 3 to 1 when they passed it in final passage. So obviously there was a lot of unanimity, but that should not be a disguise for the effort it took. It took a lot of effort to get to where we are and a lot of people doing that effort--a lot of Republicans, a lot of Democrats, a lot of staff. There was a tremendous amount of staff time. We went from doing the art of the impossible to making the art of the possible, with everybody working together, leaving our political weapons at the door, and putting our good heads together to make the Veterans' Administration system better for our veterans. My speech is not going to be long because Senator Moran and Senator Tester have covered the types of examples the new Choice Program brings for all our veterans--a real choice, a real opportunity to make the private sector a force multiplier for access to healthcare for our veterans but also make our healthcare system for our veterans accountable-- accountable to the most important people of all, and that is our veterans. It does a few other things too. It creates a caregiver program for the Vietnam-era veterans. That hasn't been talked about much on the floor, but Patty Murray on our committee and Susan Collins from the Republican caucus in the Senate have for years tried to get caregiver benefits for Vietnam-era veterans and veterans of other wars which were not covered previously. With the passage of this bill, they will be covered for those basic essentials of life and necessities. They will have that covered for them, and we will get it done. Those veterans who came home from a terrible war in Vietnam with many injuries we had never seen people survive before also need care we never thought we would have to pay for before, but we are doing it now with caregivers for that generation, which is my generation. I am proud to say that we are finally looking after them and are seeing to it that they are included and are working hard on doing so. We have also made Choice accountable to the veterans, working for our veterans and making our VA better at a lower cost to the taxpayers than it would have been otherwise, were we providing that service solely by the VA. You get choices, you get quality, you get better service, and you get a better VA for our veterans. There have been a lot of people who have made this happen. Senator John McCain originally introduced the idea of Choice 4 years ago. He founded it, and that is why his name is a part of the title of this bill. We could not have done this without John. He is a great American hero, a great colleague, and through our prayers and our blessings, we wish for him to recover as he is in Arizona. I want to thank Joan Carr, my chief of staff; Trey Kilpatrick, my deputy chief; Jay Sulzman; Amanda Maddox; Ryan Evans; Sal Ortega; and Kristine Nichols. My staff has been phenomenal. They have done a great job. They put up with a lot. They have worked hard, and we got here because of them. Also, I thank the other unsung heroes of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs who have helped Jon Tester and me and all our members to see to it that we covered every item, dotted every i, and crossed every t: Bob Henke, our staff director; Adam Reece, who deserves a special shout-out and who, the last couple of weeks, has done double duty and done a great job to get us to where we are today; Leslie Campbell; Maureen O'Neill; Jillian Workman; David Shearman; Camlin Moore; Thomas Coleman; John Ashley; Mitchell Sylvest; Heather Vachon; and Pauline Schmitt. We could not have done our job as elected officials were it not for those people who tirelessly worked long hours to see to it that we got it done. Here we are in the U.S. Senate. I am speaking with my First Amendment rights. You are gathered in the Gallery today and watching this at home on C-SPAN because of the First Amendment, gathering because of the amendment that allows us to freely assemble without fear of retribution by the government. Our Bill of Rights are the rights we operate under, and we wouldn't have them at all were it not for our veterans. Next Monday we will celebrate Memorial Day. We will give thanks for every veteran who sacrificed their life and gave the ultimate sacrifice for you and for me. It is not unreasonable to think back and say: You know, had our soldiers not done what they did in World War I and World War II, we might be speaking German or Japanese today rather than English. Because they fought for us in the two great World Wars, they secured and preserved our liberty and freedom, and we speak today as free Americans, and we enjoy the freedom that only democracy could give. That is what we owe our veterans. We owe them everything. Without them, we wouldn't have the protections we have today. As Memorial Day approaches, I love to tell my favorite story about the great reminder I have of what Memorial Day is all about. It is all about a veteran, Roy C. Irwin, from the State of New Jersey. I have never met Roy; I never knew him. When I was in Margraten in the Netherlands at the U.S. cemetery where over 8,000 Americans are buried from the Battle of the Bulge, my wife and I spent an afternoon paying tribute and respect at the graves of our veterans and our soldiers. We walked down the road to look at the Stars of David and the crosses, paused for a minute at each headstone, and gave a prayer of thanks for the veterans who had sacrificed everything so that we could be there. Then something happened to me that I have never forgotten, and it could happen to any one of you if you ever go to one of those cemeteries and visit. I came upon a headstone, a cross, and I stopped and read it. It said: Roy C. Irwin, New Jersey, private, died, killed in action 12/28/44. I froze in place; 12/28/44 was not just the day that Roy C. Irwin died in the Battle of the Bulge fighting for us. It was the day I was given birth by my mother in Piedmont Atlanta Hospital in GA. There I was, standing at the foot of someone who had died on the day I was born. He gave his life so that I could enjoy mine. Since that time, I have had 73\1/2\ years in which I have been able to be a free citizen of the United States of America, all because of lots of things but nothing more important than Roy C. Irwin and thousands like him who volunteered to fight for our country, to call on the forces of evil wherever they might be. They won our freedom, maintained our independence, and saw to it that you and I could be here today. I have always stopped to give thanks every Memorial Day for all of those who pledged and gave the ultimate sacrifice so that I could be here to make a sacrifice for you. I look at our pages in the room today, and I think about my children and my grandchildren. I am so happy they had the opportunity to grow up in the United States of America and so happy you have the ability to serve here today in the United States of America. Remember this: You and I are both here because of one thing. This is a country full of brave volunteers who, when the bell tolls, answer the bell and go fight for America, fight for our freedom, fight for our peace, and fight for our liberty. So strike one for liberty when we vote on the final passage of the VA MISSION Act. Vote for better healthcare for our veterans, the choices of our veterans, caregivers for our veterans who haven't had them in the past. Give thanks. And with your vote for that bill here, we will have to continue to pay our debt to those who sacrificed or offered to sacrifice the maximum sacrifice for us. This is a great country for lots of reasons. You will never find anyone trying to break out of the United States of America. You always find them trying to break in. There is one big difference over any other; that is, those who have fought and died so that we could be free and American citizens forever. May God bless our soldiers, may God bless our country, and may God bless the United States of America. I yield back my time.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today I am proud to honor in the Record a dedicated Georgian who has elevated media political coverage and served as a true ambassador of the First Amendment. It is not every day that a politician honors a journalist on the floor of the Senate, but when one who is as accomplished as Denis O'Hayer of Georgia announces his upcoming retirement, it is only right to recognize his 40 years of radio and TV work and achievements. Denis O'Hayer will retire next month from Atlanta's National Public Radio affiliate, WABE, where he has hosted of a number of programs since he joined the station 2009. Since 2015, Denis has gotten the day started for countless Atlantans who tune in for his news updates on ``Morning Edition.'' The listenership for his program has more than doubled since he took the helm as host. His podcast, ``Political Breakfast,'' is a more recent hit and shows Denis's adaptability and one of the many reasons for his success in the field of broadcast journalism. Denis began his work in the Atlanta media market in 1978 in radio with WGST and as a host with Public Broadcasting Atlanta after moving to the city from his radio career in Connecticut. During his distinguished career, Denis has also worked in television as a freelance reporter with CNN and as a political reporter at Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA-TV for 11 years. The Atlanta Press Club, which is one of the largest and most active professional journalism associations in the country, has benefitted from Denis's leadership as president. Denis, his distinguished WABE colleague Rose Scott, and their team earned an Edward R. Murrow award in 2012 for their television broadcast special focused on the fight against child sex trafficking in Atlanta called ``How to Stop the Candy Shop.'' The Georgia Association of Broadcasters named Denis Broadcaster of the Year in 2014, and in 2015, he was named to the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame. Denis is respected by colleagues across the spectrum for the quality of his work, his professionalism, and the fact that he is a consummate gentleman. My staff has always praised Denis, and we have looked for ways to work together whenever possible. Over the years, in addition to politics both local and national, Denis and I forged a friendship and respect for each other that went beyond work, regularly sharing reports about our families and discussing our shared enjoyment of travel. I wish Denis the very best of luck in his retirement, and I am thankful that he will continue to contribute to Georgia politics as a commentator in the future. Our political discourse will be better for it.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, the Senate is a great place. It is a great honor to be able to speak here, whether you are discussing your beliefs on an issue of major importance, honoring a friend, or, on rare occasions but all too often when you get to be my age, paying tribute to someone who has given so much and passed away. Such happened in my State this past Monday, on the 16th of April, when John A. Williams died. He was 74 years old. John Williams was a giant in every way in our State. He was a giant entrepreneur. He founded two great companies, one of them called Post Properties, the largest apartment REIT on the New York Stock Exchange. He started it in 1993 and built it to new heights. Most recently, a few years ago, he started PAC, Preferred Apartment Communities, a REIT also, and he did the same with it--employing thousands of people, building thousands of units for housing in America. He set the pace of housing in his career. I don't know how many people have noticed that in the suburbs of all major cities today, office parks and apartment complexes of any size are now some of the most beautifully landscaped places in the community. Thirty years ago, nobody planted a stick. Nobody planted a shrub. Nobody planted a flower. John Williams became the largest importer of Holland bulbs in the United States of America. Every spring, tulips blossomed at Post Properties apartment buildings. In fact, he changed the advertising mode for apartments. Instead of calling them apartments, he called them apartment homes because he wanted his apartments and all the rental units to be looked upon by the people who lived there as their home. He sold that concept and built that concept and replicated it over and over, and it became the standard in Georgia. I have traveled the country, and it has become the standard all over the country in terms of apartment houses and landscaping for major commercial properties. He was a great entrepreneur, building two great companies and helping thousands of other people in many other ways to build their companies. He was a great father, a great husband, and a great family man. His wife Nancy is a wonderful ``first lady'' in our community. Parker, Sarah Brook, and Jay, his children, are all great contributors to our community. They all know how lucky they are to have had such a great father. He was a great sportsman. When I say a great sportsman, I mean a great sportsman. He built Ranger, a replica of the 1937 America's Cup winner, one of the biggest yachts in the world, and sailed the world on that yacht and won races all around. Also as a sportsman, he was a minority owner of the Atlanta Falcons. He invested with Arthur Blank in the Atlanta Falcons. They almost got to the Super Bowl--they got to the Super Bowl; they just couldn't finish the drill with the Patriots. One day we are going to figure out a way to do that, and I hope, in memory of John, we will be able to do it for him. John was a community man. Who have you ever heard of in your lifetime who, in the same lifetime, was president of two different competing chambers of commerce, next door to each other? He was twice the president of the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce. While running Post Properties and PAC communities, while doing all of the things he did with his family, while racing his boat and owning the Falcons, he built two great chambers of commerce and sought others to come to the communities where he was prospering and helped build their businesses. Then he became president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. The Atlanta and DeKalb County Chambers of Commerce are the one and two largest chambers in our State. Instead of fighting each other, he brought them together. He was a builder, he was a giant, but also a broker of common interests. He found the good in every opportunity and tried to sell the good and forget about the bad. He tried to bring out the best in everybody. I never made a deal with John Williams or saw a deal that he had made--I never saw anybody leave the closing table who didn't feel good. His knack was to be sure that if you left the closing table and you had a check, you felt good about it, and if you had just written a check, you felt good about it. He wasn't a win-lose person, he was a win-win person, and that is why he was such a great businessman and such a great entrepreneur. He was a great friend and a giant of a friend to me. I met him 50 years ago next month. This may sound funny, but it is a great story. He worked for the Georgia Power Company, and I worked for a small real estate company called Northside Realty Associates. Our first two jobs--his with Georgia Power and mine with Northside--were to hold open the total electric house of the year in 1967. That meant that we drew the last straw, and every night, from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m., we held the houses open in hopes that someone would come to look at them. The electric utilities hoped someone would build a totally electric house. It was a marketing tool. It was the first time they had ever done it, and we enjoyed doing it and I got to know John. I remember the nights when John talked about what he wanted to be, how he wanted to build a company, how he wanted to be an entrepreneur, how he wanted to be a real estate developer, and how he wanted to make things better. We got to be good friends. In fact, I sold him a 4-acre piece of land where he built the house he lived in for years before he built the home he was in today. I participated with him in another real estate transaction he did and helped him with some of the properties he put together. I always found him to be a win-win guy. He was my friend, he was my supporter, and he was my confidante. He was also my greatest critic. Every politician in America should be lucky enough to have a John Williams, because John will tell you what you want to hear, but he tells you what you don't want to hear. When you are on the wrong track, he will straighten you out. Sure, he could write checks all day long. But the Presiding Officer and I know that it is not just the checks that they write. It is the advice they give, and it is the passions they have. When you find somebody who has a passion for their family, a passion for building businesses, a passion for their community, and a passion for everything that is good about America, you have found somebody you want to keep close to you. For 50 years, I stayed close to John Williams. When I got the news about John Williams before I boarded a plane on Monday to come up here, I started crying--that is how close he was to me--but so did everybody else I ran into that day or have talked to on the phone since being back home. Everybody misses John and was shocked by his going. But realizing the troubles and the difficulties that he had had in recent years--back surgeries and things of that nature--and realizing, like all of us do at that age, when you are 74, which I am, that you know time is running out. You just don't know how fast it is running out. But it is a good example of how you always want to be ready whenever that day comes and know the legacy you left was a better legacy than the one you inherited. John was a man of modest means at his birth. When he graduated from high school in the public schools of Georgia and went to the Georgia Institute of Technology--better known as Georgia Tech--he graduated with debt and a modest means but with great values and great principles. The story about the flowers was all because of his mom, who wanted to landscape everything and make it look pretty and beautiful--proof that it didn't take a lot of money to make things look good; it took a lot of heart. I am sad today, and all of Georgia is sad today, and they will be even sadder on Monday when we say good-bye to John Williams. But all of us should hope and all of us should pray that all of us have the time in our lives to know somebody as good, as decent, as honorable, and as compassionate for their community and as a lover of their country as John A. Williams of Atlanta, GA, my good friend. God bless you, John, and God bless the United States of America. I yield the floor.

Mr. ISAKSON

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