Johnny Isakson

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources' Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 28, 2016, at 2:30 p.m., in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the distinguished Senator from South Dakota. I appreciate his commitment to the committee and to the many men and women of the armed services from the Dakotas and from all the United States of America. I am pleased to recognize Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina-- the home of Camp Lejeune and the home of many military installations, such as Fort Bragg--and I am proud to have him as one of the cosponsors of the Veterans First bill.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, as the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee of the Senate, I am pleased to be joined on the floor today by Senator Tillis, Senator Rounds, Senator Cassidy, and Senator Blumenthal, who will follow later, to take about 45 minutes to discuss with the citizens of our country, Members of the U.S. Senate, and, most importantly, those people who have served in our military around the world for years and years, the Veterans First Act, accountability in the Veteran's Administration, and ensuring the proper services to our veterans who served our country so well. As chairman of the committee, first I want to say how indebted I am to Senator Blumenthal of Connecticut, my ranking member, who has done outstanding work in developing this legislation. Senator Tillis, Senator Rounds, and Senator Cassidy have done great work. We are proud to be a part of what is a great piece of legislation that will address many of the questions that have been raised about the treatment of our veterans over the years. There is a chart here, and I wish to read these headlines that every American has read over the last year and a half. ``VA abandons law aimed at firing employees.'' That was June 17 of this year in the Stars and Stripes, where Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General of the United States, and Secretary McDonald of the VA announced they were not going to enforce the Veterans Choice Act and the laws that gave them the authority to bring about accountability and discipline at the VA. Why did that come about? I will tell you why it came about. This headline is from November 11, 2015: ``Veterans Affairs pays $142 million in bonuses amidst scandals.'' That rocked the country, it rocked our committee, and it rocked the U.S. Senate. June 3, 2016: ``Half a million veterans still waiting a month or more for VA care.'' February 1, 2016: ``Judge overturns demotion of VA official accused in job scam.'' In the past 2 years, we have had people fired by the VA in Arizona and in Pennsylvania who appealed their firing and were reestablished by the courts or the Merit Systems Protection Board at full pay back in the jobs they had. There is no accountability. Secretary McDonald, as good a job as he tries to do, has no teeth behind whatever it is that he says. The 314,000 employees who are part of the veterans health system have an ability, if they are fired, to appeal. That appeal can be drug out over periods of time as long as 9 months, and they can serve with pay until the appeal is finally heard. There is no swift judgment in the VA. There is no accountability in the VA. There is no culture of accountability in the VA. I have been joined by members of the committee, and 3\1/2\ weeks ago every member of the committee, Republican and Democrat alike, voted unanimously for the Veterans First bill. There was not a single dissenting vote. Why? Because it first of all hits the heart and strikes the point we all know needs to be struck. That is No. 1. No. 2, it is bipartisan and has as many Republican proposals as it does Democratic proposals, but most importantly it has American proposals. When you are on the battlefield, when you have that M-14 rifle, when you are charging the hill, you are not a Republican, you are not a Democrat, you are an American. Our veterans, who have served us, fought for us, risked their lives for us, and in some cases died for us, deserve the respect, the treatment, and benefits they were promised when they signed up for duty. So we have introduced the veterans accountability bill; it is called the Veterans First bill. I wish to speak very quickly and briefly about why it brings accountability to the VA. First of all, there are 434 senior managers of the Veterans' Administration, the executive leadership, the senior executive leadership--434 of them. Every one of those people now can be fired unless they go before the Merit Systems Protection Board, which can reinstate them. We take away the Merit Systems Protection Board protections for senior management and give Secretary McDonald the power to hire them and the power to fire them, and if they appeal their firing, they appeal to Secretary McDonald, not to some innocuous court or some third party. So the boss is really finally the boss, and on his shoulders becomes the responsibility for performing at the VA. Secondly, in terms of the rank-and-file members of the VA, we say: Yes, if you are fired, you have a right to appeal. If you are fired, you get 10 days to respond, and when you make an appeal, you get 11 days for an answer. Once you get that answer, if you appeal it, you go home without pay until the appeal is over. In other words, justice is swift, accountability is swift, and the employee responds accordingly. Thirdly, we all know that whistleblowers are an integral part of an accountability system. Having the protection and the ability for an employee within an agency to go out and say: Look, I have seen something wrong in my agency. I want to tell you about it, but I want the protection as a whistleblower to be protected by the management--we put an office of whistleblower protection in the Veterans' Administration so those employees will know we want to hear their criticism and we want to know when they see something going wrong, and we want to give them the protection to do so. If they abuse it, they will be punished, but if they use it for the right reasons, we will have a better VA and a more responsible and a more accountable VA. Talking about accountability, what is the least accountable thing that has happened for years in the VA? The overprescription of opioids and the Tomah case in Wisconsin. This bill reforms opioid treatment in the Veterans' Administration. It moves away from handing out opioids like candy. Instead, it addresses the real problems of mental health and PTSD and TBI. We go through all of those issues that have confronted the Veterans' Administration that serves our veterans. We do everything we can to improve it, but first and foremost, we have accountability. The VA doesn't lack for money. They have averaged 9.2 percent more money every year in appropriations over the last 4 years. That is bigger than any agency of government. They are not short of employees. It is the second largest agency of the Federal Government, with 414,000 employees. They have a singular mission, and that is to take care of the veterans who have taken care of us. We need to see to it that they do it and if they don't, that they are held accountable. The VA is full of employees who do a great job. In fact, I will tell you from having run a company myself, it is always the 99 percent who do a good job; it is the 1 percent who do a bad job, and they give us a bad name. But if you have a system to hold that 1 percent accountable when they fall and don't do well, you have a system that works together and you create teamwork. We are all about creating a change in the culture of the Veterans' Administration, so we improve the Veterans' Administration for its service to our veterans. The Veterans First Act, which is now pending and will soon come to the floor, hopefully under a UC, is an act that does exactly that. So when you go home to your constituents who say, What is it is about these bonuses going to people who aren't doing their job? What is it about veterans waiting longer than 30 days for an appointment? What is it about a Veterans' Administration job scam getting overturned by a judge to get their job back? What is it about an agency that can't seem to enforce discipline and have accountability in the agency? You tell them that is no more because this Senate, this Congress, this country is going to see to it that our veterans get the service they deserve and that our Veterans' Administration has the accountability it needs and must have. With that said, I would like to take a second, if I can, and yield to the Senator from South Dakota, Mr. Rounds.

Mr. ISAKSON. I thank Senator Tillis for his dedicated work and representation for the people of North Carolina and the veterans of America. I am pleased now to yield to the Senator from Alaska, Mr. Sullivan.

Mr. ISAKSON. I yield.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Arkansas. I yield to the distinguished Senator of Connecticut, Mr. Blumenthal, the ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He has been an invaluable partner with me in the development of this legislation, the management of the committee, and he deserves tremendous credit.

Mr. ISAKSON. Happily. The lay of the land is that we asked for 45 minutes for a colloquy to discuss the Veterans First bill, which we are in the process of doing now. Senator Blumenthal, the ranking member, will join us in a minute, and we should be completed by 5:15, and that was the time we asked for.

Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the distinguished Senator from Maryland, and I am always interested in discussing the best interests of veterans in Maryland and in Georgia any time the Senator would like. I yield to Senator Sullivan.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I see the ranking member, Senator Blumenthal, has joined us on the floor. I might, with your permission, pose a question: If the Senator would not mind Senator Boozman making his remarks, and then Senator Blumenthal and I will close the debate; would that be OK?

Mr. ISAKSON. I yield to Senator Boozman.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I thank Senator Blumenthal for his kind remarks and his steadfast, hard work on developing this legislation over the last 18 months. I thank all the members of the Committee, everyone who is a cosponsor of this bill. I thank the 44 Members of the Senate who have already cosponsored it and ask the remaining 56 to consider being a part of it. We owe our veterans no less than the absolute commitment that matches the commitment they made to us. It is time they had accountability for the benefits they have earned, the health care they deserve, and a VA that means what it says when it tells them it is going to take care of the veterans of the United States. I thank the Chair for giving us the time to bring out these issues today. I urge all our Members to contact either Senator Blumenthal or the committee staff or me if they have questions as we move forward before July 4 to make the Veterans First Act a reality, and once and for all put our veterans first, as always they should be and always they will be. With that, I yield back the remainder of my time. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today I recognize Lt. Gen. James F. Jackson upon his retirement from the U.S. Air Force after 38 years of military service to our great nation. General Jackson's distinguished military career culminated as Chief of Air Force Reserve and Commander, Air Force Reserve Command. General Jackson is a 1978 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. He completed 14 years on Active Duty, including flying tours in Europe and the Pacific before joining the Air Force Reserve in 1992. General Jackson has held numerous wing leadership and command positions, as well as staff assignments at Eighth Air Force and Headquarters U.S. Strategic Command, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Headquarters U.S. Pacific Command, and Headquarters U.S. Air Force. A career instructor pilot and evaluator, the general is a command pilot with more than 3,600 hours in the F-4 Phantom II, F-16 Fighting Falcon and KC-135R Stratotanker. In his role as Chief of Air Force Reserve, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, in Washington, DC, General Jackson served as principal adviser on Reserve matters to the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force. As Commander of the Air Force Reserve Command at Robins Air Force Base, General Jackson was responsible for approximately 70,000 citizen airmen and all Air Force Reserve units worldwide, including 36 wings, 10 standalone groups, and a myriad of mission support units located at 54 joint and Active component bases and nine Reserve bases and stations. As the Air Force Reserve's chief advocate within the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, General Jackson defended an annual President's budget request amount for the Air Force Reserve of more than $5 billion, which enabled the component to remain ready to support combatant commander taskings as an integral component of the Air Force team. General Jackson's articulate guidance ensured total force solutions were integrated into corporate Air Force deliberations on key issues including Air Force core mission force mixes, readiness requirements, and personnel policies. General Jackson championed the modernization needs of the component's aging inventory of aircraft and equipment that yielded an additional $400 million in congressional support for Air Force Reserve modernization requirements via the National Guard and Reserve equipment account. This additional support ensured the mission effectiveness and survivability of citizen airmen and preserved the Air Force Reserve as an interoperable, flexible, and combat-ready force. As a result, Reservists were reliably called upon during his tenure to conduct combat and humanitarian operations abroad, in addition to supporting our homeland with unique capabilities such as aerial spray and hurricane hunting. During General Jackson's tenure, Air Force Reservists have mobilized in support of 54 named operations and exercises and have conducted total force, joint, and coalition operations at more than 100 locations worldwide. General Jackson's visionary leadership and ceaseless efforts have established the Air Force Reserve as a combat-ready force and an essential provider of operational capability, strategic depth, and surge capacity. Ultimately, General Jackson successfully postured America's citizen airmen to stand as a hedge against risk, while remaining fully ready to support ongoing operations and to respond to emerging threats with agility and innovation. Congratulations to General Jackson on the notable conclusion of an outstanding military career. On behalf of the people of the great State of Georgia and a grateful Nation, I offer my sincere thanks to General Jackson and his wife, Barbara. I wish them both the very best as they embark on this new chapter.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, on the occasion of his retirement from the U.S. Air Force, I recognize Col. Paul W. ``PK'' Kirby for his more than 41 years of dedicated service to our country. In his most recent assignment, he serves as the Vice Commander, Air Force Reserve Command Recruiting Service and Deputy Director of Recruiting, Air Force Reserve Command, Robins Air Force Base, GA. In this role, he exercises command and oversight of over 450 military and civilian personnel worldwide at over 45 main operating locations and serves as the principle adviser to the both the commander of recruiting and AFRC commander on all matters relating to recruiting. Colonel Kirby enlisted in the Air Force in May 1973 and served 13 years prior to receiving his commission through the Deserving Airman Commissioning Program. Prior to entering recruiting services, Colonel Kirby served as a key member of the personnel community and served as Commander of the 302nd Combat Support Squadron for 36 years on active duty, as a civilian and within the Air Force Reserve Command as a Traditional Reservist and Air Reserve Technician. During this time, he developed and implemented key policies and procedures for Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act, Officer Development, Innovative Readiness Training Program, and Centralized Training, thereby enhancing overall combat readiness for the command. As Vice Commander of Air Force Reserve Recruiting, Colonel Kirby has developed and executed numerous initiatives resulting in the Air Force Reserve Command, AFRC, exceeding its annual recruiting goal for 8 consecutive years. As the second largest Air Force Major Command, AFRC has been manned at greater than 99 percent for the past 8 consecutive years, reversing a decade-long trend of failing to meet congressionally mandated end-strength levels. He is directly responsible for accessing more than 58,000 airmen helping to transform the Air Force Reserve recruiters into the most productive within the Department of Defense. Paul could not have been such a tremendous leader without the love and unfailing support of his lovely wife of 39 years, Wanda, and their three children, Jeremy, Rebekah, and Christopher. I join my colleagues in expressing our sincere appreciation to Col. Paul W. Kirby for his outstanding service to both the U.S. Air Force and our great Nation. We wish him the best as he transitions into retirement. Colonel Kirby is a true professional and a credit to himself and the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to address the Senate as in morning business.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, first and foremost, I wish to send my heartfelt sympathy to those who have lost loved ones in Orlando, FL, in Orange County, yesterday in a tragic event. I want to express my great appreciation to the people of Orlando who volunteered their blood, their families, and their houses to help support those victims; to the EMTs who rushed into harm's way to save lives--and they did save lives--and to the hospital trauma team that did an amazing job of responding instantaneously to a tragedy beyond anybody's comprehension. We are very sad in America today by the terrible attack that took place and those who would perpetrate it. I, for one, am going to roll up my sleeves and work to see to it that wherever radical Islamic terrorism is, I want to root it out and I want to destroy it. You cannot accept or tolerate what happened yesterday, and we must redouble our effort to follow it wherever it leads us and to wipe it out and to eradicate it. I, as one Senator, will promise to do that. Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Bill Mr. President, I am one of those guys who usually is very supportive of going to cloture and going on motions to proceed on just about anything because I think the Senate is the most deliberative body in the world and we ought to do that. But tomorrow, shortly after 11 o'clock, I am going to vote no on the motion to proceed to the Commerce-Justice-Science bill. I want to memorialize why on the floor of the Senate tonight so everybody is clear and understands. There is report language in the Commerce-Justice-Science portion of the appropriations bill that directly interjects this Congress, this Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives into a tristate water compact misunderstanding among the States of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida that has gone on for 27 years. I know that is of no interest to the Presiding Officer from Indiana, nor to the Senator who just preceded me from Chicago, IL, nor anybody else, but what is of interest to you would be any time that Congress decided to interject its nose in your business. Tomorrow, if the motion to proceed brings it to the floor, it will be injecting 100 Senators into an issue among 6 Senators. That is not the right way to do it. In fact, the tristate water compact, which has been off and on in negotiations for 26 years, is at its closest point of being finally decided in a court of law. The judge and the special master recently notified us that they will hear the final case on the tristate water compact in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida this November. So the issue is going to be resolved. We have no place as a Senate or as a Congress to inject ourselves into a case that is pending litigation in the courts between States on issues that are purely theirs--except for the fact that over the years, for nefarious reasons and unpleasant reasons, sometimes Congress has from time to time thwarted water control manuals, thwarted the authority of the Corps of Engineers from doing its job, all over litigation of the ACF and AC basins in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. I want to bring a resolution. I want all the States to have an adequate supply of water. I want us to be cooperative and work together, and I want us to do it the right way. The right way is to not interject ourselves at the last minute in an appropriations bill with nefarious language that can't be touched that is in the report language but, instead, to pull that language out, as I will try to do with an amendment on the floor. If I am unsuccessful, I will try to do an amendment that counteracts that language, to see to it that Congress does not stick its nose in a place that it does not belong. I like to be cooperative. I like to move forward. I don't want to slow down progress. But I was sent here to represent 10.4 million people in the State of Georgia and, by golly, I am going to do it. If somebody is trying to inject themselves beyond the appropriate place, I am going to do everything I can to stop them. The way I will start that tomorrow will be to vote no on the motion to proceed to go to the Commerce-Justice-Science bill. I yield back my time. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the distinguished Senator from Alaska, Ms. Murkowski, be allowed to follow the Senator from Vermont.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, last week, the Attorney General of the United States sent a letter to Kevin McCarthy, the majority leader of the House, to inform Mr. McCarthy and all of us, that she would not defend the administration on the constitutional challenge to the firing of Sharon Helman, the director of the Arizona hospital of the Veterans' Administration. The firing took place because Ms. Helman had manipulated the books and overseen the manipulation of appointments to the point where as many as 40 veterans waiting in line to get their first appointment died before they were ever seen by the VA. She was convicted by a court of law for taking illegal gratuities in her position as director of the hospital. Ms. Helman filed a constitutional challenge as to whether we had the ability in the administration to fire her constitutionally, and Loretta Lynch has said she is not going to defend the United States or the law we passed, called the Veterans Accountability and Choice Act, which calls for the firing of employees by the Secretary of the Veterans' Administration for cause. Today, in Phoenix, AZ, it was announced that the Veterans' Administration is firing three more employees of the Veterans' Administration hospital. Yet, in the shadow of that, Loretta Lynch is telling America she will not defend the country on the carrying out of the laws we pass in this country, in this body, and that the President of the United States has signed. There is a solution to this problem, Mr. President. It is called the Veterans First Act, which was written originally by 19 members of the Senate--all members of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. It has been signed and cosponsored by 43 other Members of the Senate and once and for all ends the hide-and-go-seek that takes place at the Veterans' Administration. It takes the Veterans' Administration out from under the Merit Systems Protection Board for all senior executive leadership. In other words, the 434 senior executives in the Veterans' Administration now protected by the Merit Systems Protection Board no longer would be protected by that Board but instead would be subject to the Secretary's firing or the Secretary's hiring. Any appeal for actions taken on behalf of the Secretary will be to the Secretary, not to the Merit Systems Protection Board. The American people and the brave veterans who have fought and sacrificed for this country deserve the right to know that if they are injured by the Veterans' Administration or if the Veterans' Administration is not carrying out what it is supposed to do for them, we will take action, and we will be effective. I resent the fact that the Attorney General of the United States has chosen not to defend a constitutional challenge to our authority, which this Congress passed and our President signed to give that authority to Secretary Bob McDonald and whoever would follow him as Secretary of the VA. But that is not the only thing in the Veterans First Act. For the first time ever, we are going to give caregiver benefits to Vietnam-era veterans--22,500 handicapped veterans--who today can't get the same benefits that post-9/11 vets can get. That is wrong, and we are taking care of that. We are dealing with the opioid problem that started at the Tomah hospital in Wisconsin. We are correcting that and putting in good standards for the use of opioids and the prescription of opioids and therapies to get people off opioids. We are cleaning up the mental health access situation to improve mental health access for all our veterans. We are giving the type of discipline to the leaders of the Veterans' Administration to see to it that our hospitals are run like they should be, our veterans get the services they deserve, and we give to our veterans who return home after fighting for us the best quality health care and the most responsive health care system we can possibly provide. I urge the Presiding Officer and the other Members of the Senate to join with me when our bill comes to the floor and to pass the Veterans First Act. It brings about real accountability in the Veterans' Administration, real choice for our veterans, and real care for our Vietnam veterans. It addresses the opioid problem and once and for all provides for a comprehensive reform for the Veterans' Administration, which hasn't taken place in decades and decades. I commend the members of the Veterans' Affairs Committee for their leadership. I thank the Presiding Officer for the time, and I yield to the distinguished Senator from Vermont.

Mr. ISAKSON. I yield.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I rise for a few minutes to compliment Chairman Alexander and Senator Johnson for their resolution of disapproval on the overtime rule. When I came into the Chamber, Lamar Alexander was making his speech, followed by Senator Johnson. I listened closely, because I got a phone call last week from Bryant Wright, the pastor at the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, GA. They are one of the largest Baptist churches in my State. They provide daycare. They provide early childhood development. They provide sports activities. They provide vacation Bible school--a 24/7 program for underprivileged kids. The unintended consequence of what I am sure is a well-intended regulation is that a 24-hour-a-day camp counselor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church for their vacation Bible school will be paid regular pay for 8 hours and then have to be paid time and a half for the other 16 hours of the day they are with the child under the application of the rule. You are going to price the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church out of the business of providing for underprivileged children. And what is going to happen? Those people are going to come to the government for the government to provide that service. So what this will do is take a church out of the business of helping human beings and put the government in the position of having more demand for taxpayers to fund services that would have been provided anyway. I commend Chairman Alexander. I commend Senator Johnson and others. I urge all my colleagues to join them in the resolution of disapproval in the overtime rule. It is wrong for America. Its consequences are unintended, but they are devastating. I urge everybody to vote in favor of it, and I appreciate Senator Alexander for his leadership in introducing that joint resolution. I yield the floor.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I rise for a few minutes to compliment Chairman Alexander and Senator Johnson for their resolution of disapproval on the overtime rule. When I came into the Chamber, Lamar Alexander was making his speech, followed by Senator Johnson. I listened closely, because I got a phone call last week from Bryant Wright, the pastor at the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, GA. They are one of the largest Baptist churches in my State. They provide daycare. They provide early childhood development. They provide sports activities. They provide vacation Bible school--a 24/7 program for underprivileged kids. The unintended consequence of what I am sure is a well-intended regulation is that a 24-hour-a-day camp counselor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church for their vacation Bible school will be paid regular pay for 8 hours and then have to be paid time and a half for the other 16 hours of the day they are with the child under the application of the rule. You are going to price the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church out of the business of providing for underprivileged children. And what is going to happen? Those people are going to come to the government for the government to provide that service. So what this will do is take a church out of the business of helping human beings and put the government in the position of having more demand for taxpayers to fund services that would have been provided anyway. I commend Chairman Alexander. I commend Senator Johnson and others. I urge all my colleagues to join them in the resolution of disapproval in the overtime rule. It is wrong for America. Its consequences are unintended, but they are devastating. I urge everybody to vote in favor of it, and I appreciate Senator Alexander for his leadership in introducing that joint resolution. I yield the floor.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, as chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, I proudly wish to recognize the 1 percent of Americans who serve today in the Armed Forces of the United States. This past weekend, on Armed Forces Day, I had the honor of participating in the grand opening of the Military Family Support Center presented by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. It remains humbling to me every time I see Georgia communities come together to support our servicemen and servicewomen and their families. Anyone who opens a newspaper today or turns on the TV knows that we live in a world of unknown and dangerous threats. Despite this, nearly 2.1 million Americans have voluntarily raised their right hands and sworn to defend our Nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. What makes these men and women unique is that, despite these global threats, they choose to rise to the challenge. They come from all walks of life. From coast to coast, every Main Street, farm, or even next door, our selfless warriors voluntarily walk away from the comforts of home to join the most elite force on this planet. They endure long hours in the field, countless months away from their families while downrange, and some even come face to face with those who wish to do us harm. These courageous Americans are deployed in more than 150 countries around the world. From humanitarian missions to coalition force partnerships to counterterrorism operations, there is no mission, no challenge they cannot rise to meet. Our world is becoming increasingly unstable. With threats rising from old foes to new ones in familiar places, there is simply no shortage of challenges our country faces in terms of national security. While the unknown threatens global peace, one constant known is the courage and dedication of America's Armed Forces. I am constantly reminded that we are the land of the free because of the brave. Now, this coming Monday gives us all a moment to stop and pay respect to the approximately 1.3 million Americans who have given their lives in the defense of our great Nation. From the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, from World War I to World War II, from Korea to Vietnam, and from Iraq to Afghanistan, brave men and women have answered the call to defend our homeland and protect the helpless around the world in the name of peace. Those of us who are fortunate to work in this grand Capitol Building need not look any farther than across the river, on the other side of the National Mall, where the ``gardens of stone'' at Arlington National Cemetery offer a sobering reminder of the price of freedom. While Americans enjoy the long weekend with family and barbecues, I would encourage everyone to take a moment to remember the true meaning of the holiday: to honor the servicemembers who have paid the ultimate price. I also want to take a moment to honor and thank those families who President Lincoln once said ``have laid such a costly sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.'' The strength of these families to persevere is like no other, and their support to our goals of peace and freedom is simply humbling. Memorial Day--and every day--I am again honored and reminded that we are the land of the free because of the brave.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Madam President, as chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, I thank Senator Casey of Pennsylvania for giving me a couple of minutes to come to the floor of the Senate to pay tribute, preceding Memorial Day, to those men and women--less than 1 percent of our population--who have sacrificed, fought, and died on behalf of the people of the United States of America. We would not be where we are today had it not been for veterans who died on the battlefield so we could have free speech, democracy in government, and so our people could peacefully decide whom their leaders were and leave it up to us to lead the country. I want to put a personal face on Memorial Day for just a moment. First, I wish to talk about a guy named Tommy Nguyen. Tommy Nguyen is my legislative staffer on military affairs information. He volunteered for the U.S. Army Guard. He went to Fort Benning, GA, and graduated No. 1 in his class. You know what that means at Fort Benning. Right now he is deployed in Afghanistan and has been deployed for the past 5 months. While we sit here in peace and relative security in our country, people like Tommy are protecting us all over. I am grateful for Tommy. He is in my prayers every night. He is exemplary of all the other people who have gone before us and sacrificed. I wish to mention three people who are gone and aren't here any more, but they are the faces of Memorial Day, as far as I am concerned. I honor them at this time. The first is Jackson Elliott Cox III. Jackson Elliott Cox III is from Waynesboro, GA, Burke County, the bird dog capital of south Georgia. He was my best friend at the University of Georgia in the 1960s. One night he came into the fraternity house--in his junior year, my senior year-- and sat down beside me and a few other guys at the dinner table and said: Guys, I just did something this afternoon. I volunteered to go to OCS in the U.S. Marine Corps, go to Parris Island, and fight in Vietnam for the United States of America. We all did the first thing all of you would do. We said: Well, Jack, have you thought this through? Is this really what you think you ought to do? He said: You know, I have had everything as a young man to age 22. It is time that I fought to help defend the United States of America. I am going to become a marine officer, I am going to Vietnam, and I am going to help the United States win. Jack did become an officer, and he did go to Vietnam. In the 12th month of his 13-month tour, he was killed by a sniper. Alex Crumbley, Pierre Howard, who was later the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Georgia, and I spent a week with his family as we waited for his body to come back from Southeast Asia. The most meaningful afternoon of my life was the afternoon we sat up with Jack and his mother and father reminiscing about all the good times but deep down in our hearts knowing all the good times that would never be for Jack Cox because he had sacrificed the ultimate sacrifice for me, for you, and for all America. Second, I wish to talk about LT Noah Harris, the Beanie Baby soldier in Iraq. Noah Harris was a cheerleader his junior year at the University of Georgia. He cheered on the Saturday before 9/11/2001. As everybody did, he watched the horror of the attack that day and all the people who were killed. He went down to the ROTC building at the University of Georgia and he said: I want to volunteer to go after whoever those people were who attacked America in New York City. The head officer said: Well, son, it is at least a 2-year commitment in ROTC, and you only have a year and a half to go. We cannot take you. He said: I will make up the difference if you let me volunteer. I want to become an officer. I want to go after them, and I want to find them wherever they are. The Army relented. Noah Harris volunteered. He went to OCS, and he went to Iraq in the surge on behalf of the United States of America. He became known as the Beanie Baby because he took Beanie Babies in his pockets and he won over the children of Iraq by handing out the Beanie Babies as he dodged bullets and put himself in harm's way. About 6 months into his tour, he was hit by an IED while in a humvee. Noah Harris was killed that day in Iraq, and we have missed him ever since. To his father Rick and his mother Lucy--God bless them. Noah was an only child, and his memory is burned deep in their hearts and deep in my mind. They are so proud of what he did for you, for me, and for all of America. Lastly, I wish to talk about Roy C. Irwin. These three people are the faces of why we have Memorial Day. I get emotional because I went to the Margraten Cemetery in the Netherlands a few years ago as a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee to pay tribute to those soldiers who died in the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Normandy. Margraten in the Netherlands is where most of the soldiers who were not brought home from the Battle of the Bulge are buried. On that Memorial Day in Margraten, my wife and I walked between the graves, stopping at each one, looking at the name, and saying a brief prayer for the soldier and a family. Then all of a sudden, in row 17, at grave No. 861, I stopped dead in my tracks and I looked down and saw on the white cross: Roy C. Irwin, New Jersey, Private, U.S. Army, 12/ 28/44. Roy C. Irwin died on December 28, 1944, in the Battle of the Bulge. That was the day I was born. So there I was, a U.S. Senator looking at the grave of someone who died on the day I was born so I could be a U.S. Senator 64 years later. That is what the ultimate sacrifice is all about. Selflessly, these people went into harm's way, fought for Americans, fought for liberty, fought for peace, and fought for prosperity. So everything we do today we owe in large measure to them--a small percentage of our population but a population that loves America and America's people. So this Monday when you are at the lake or at the beach or with your grandchildren, wherever you might be, stop a minute, grab the hand of one of your grandchildren, and just bow and say a brief prayer, because going before all of us were men and women who volunteered and lost their lives so you and I can do what we are doing today. We live in the greatest country on the face of this Earth. You don't ever find anybody trying to break out of the United States of America; they are all trying to break in. If there is a single reason that differentiates us from everybody else--when duty calls, we go and we fight. As Colin Powell said in the U.N., before the request for the surge was approved, America has gone to every continent on Earth, sent her sons and daughters to fight for democracy, liberty, and peace, and when we have left, all we have asked for is a couple of acres to bury our dead. I had the chance to walk a couple of those acres in Margraten, the Netherlands, and stand at the grave of Roy C. Irwin, who died the same day I was born. That memory is burned indelibly in my heart and indelibly in my mind, and I will always remember Roy C. Irwin. I never knew him, I never met him, and I never saw him, but I know his spirit. His spirit is the spirit of the United States of America. This Monday, I hope God will bless each of you. Have a wonderful vacation and a wonderful holiday. But I hope you will pause and say thanks for the men and women who made it possible for you to do what you do today. I yield the floor.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I move to proceed to H.J. Res. 88.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, H.J. Res. 88 is exactly the same as the resolution of disapproval I introduced in the Senate, but it has already passed the House. So today if we could take a vote and pass it, we could send it to the President, hopefully, for his signature or at least for him to express himself one way or another. There are nine letters in the word ``fiduciary.'' There are 672 pages of definitions describing that one 9-letter word. This is a solution in search of a problem. It is bad for America, bad for our savers, and makes ``too big to fail'' even bigger in America today. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from 461 people of the United States of America who are opposed to this bill.

Mr. ISAKSON. I want to read one paragraph from the letter because it says better than anything I could say what is wrong with the fiduciary rule that is proposed by the Department of Labor. First, the final rule makes it harder to provide retirement plans to small businesses or any business that has less than $50 million in assets. . . . The broadened definition of investment advice includes routine communications where no intention to provide individualized fiduciary advice has been expected. It exempts anybody with over $50 million in assets from being applied to the rule and includes everybody with under $50 million. The President of the United States has said, as have so many of us on the floor of the Senate, that it is time for us to end too big to fail. Since what happened in 2008 to our people and our economy, we know that businesses get so large, they get unwieldy, and that they get so strong, sometimes the little guy can get crushed. But here is a rule that is proposed to help the little guy, and what does it do? Under the law, it exempts the big guys if they have $50 million or more in assets, but if they have $50 million or less in assets, it imposes 672 pages of new definitions of fiduciary rules. Again, it is a solution in search of a problem that does not exist. It also has a broad number of restrictions on IRA investment advice that investment adviser can give to an IRA saver. We know there are a lot of people around this town, in Washington, who want to end the IRAs and put government savings accounts in charge of everybody. This may be a part of that motivation to drive a fiduciary rule that creates more government savings accounts, more government savings programs, and fewer decisions the individual can make. The rule singles out the IRA for these new regulations that did not previously apply to them, and that is another reason this is a problem. In fact, to tell you the honest truth, what this bill does is it promotes less advice or no advice at all to a small saver and free exemption under the law to a big company managing their savings. We need to get the American people saving money. We need to get them planning for their future. Let's think about this for a second. We have a safety net today in America. We have a safety net of housing. We have a safety net of food stamps. We have rent subsidies. We have SSI disability. We have all kinds of welfare and benefits for people who have fallen through the cracks. Every person who falls through the cracks deserves the help of this country, but every person who can save for their future and avoid becoming dependent on the government is money in the bank for us, and it is money in the bank and freedom for them. To put more restrictions on a small saver, more restrictions on those who provide business to small savers--all we are doing is causing more people to go on the safety net of American Government benefits and less people to provide for themselves. If ever there were one reason and one reason alone that we should disapprove this resolution, it is this: Secretary Perez proposed this in 2010 and dropped it because there was so much opposition. They came back with this new proposal in 2016, and they propounded the rule, and the rule is now before us in this 672 pages. But the Senate can take the initiative today to join the House in rescinding this rule and recalling this rule and not letting it go into effect. A vote to recall this rule and rescind this rule is a vote for small business, a vote for freedom, a vote for equity, and a vote for the American people. A vote to reinstate or keep this rule instated is a vote against the small guy and for the big corporate financial interests in Washington and New York City. I don't think we want to do that. I think we want Americans saving for themselves--free Americans giving good advice to citizens who invest and seeing to it that every American citizen is planning for their future. Today I join the 461 folks who signed this letter to the Senate. I join my 41 colleagues in the Senate who joined me in sponsoring the Senate resolution. I join the majority in the House of Representatives who say this rule goes too far. And I plea with each and every Member of the Senate, when they vote today, to vote to rescind the fiduciary rule propounded by the Department of Labor. Let's send it to the President, and let's send him a message. If he wants to end too big to fail, then let's start passing laws that cause too big to fail not to get bigger and instead empower small business, the American people, and the small saver. I urge my colleagues to vote yes in favor of the resolution of disapproval. I suggest the absence of a quorum.