Johnny Isakson

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Senator Tester, like you, I get my best information at the Legion, the IAVA, and from folks around my State. I am a member of the American Legion post at Loganville, GA, and go every once in a while to the bar and get a drink just to find out what is going on. I find out more there in an hour socializing than I find out by reading every newspaper in the United States of America. Let me tell you what some of the organizations are saying--because these veterans service organizations are the voice of the American people who served in our military, and they are the people who communicate to us in committee. The VFW wants the Secretary to weed out misperformers and especially the criminals, regardless of whether the crime was committed on or off duty. The VFW wants a bill passed because maintaining the status quo does not work for those who have borne the battle and borne the fight. They want to make sure the VA holds their employees to the standards the veterans of America feel they have committed themselves to as veterans serving in our military. The American Legion applauds the bipartisan effort to provide Secretary Shulkin the additional tools to increase accountability and address poor performance within the Department of Veterans Affairs. I underscore this, because in the bill Jon and I ensure we motivate management to understand it is their job to seek out nonperformance and correct it before it runs amuck. So this bill incentivizes management of the Veterans' Administration to find those employees who are not performing well and turn them around and reward those employees who are turned around to be an example they set for all the rest of the employees. The Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act will give Secretary Shulkin the authority he needs to hold Department employees responsible for their actions. ``We strongly agree with the Senate to take the bill immediately and pass it,'' said Dan Caldwell of Concerned Veterans of America. So, once and for all, all around our State our VSO organizations are getting a response to the questions they have asked of all of us, and that is what this bill does. There is misinformation out there. There are rumors flying around in Montana, some flying around in Georgia. Can the Senator help clear up some of the errors?

Mr. ISAKSON. I want to talk about the culture the Senator just mentioned. He is exactly right. The main thing the American people are going to see from the Veterans' Administration now is a culture throughout that organization of excellence to serve the veterans the way they should be served. And where there might be an isolated problem, make sure it is sought out, rooted out, and corrected within the agency. Our veterans deserve the highest quality care. Secretary Shulkin has asked for more authority to hold accountable those who are not meeting standards. He wants to recognize those who have not only met but exceeded standards as well. This bill gives VA the authority to expedite the removal of a bad employee, but it doesn't motivate them to get rid of people, it gives them the parameters by which people should be dealt with if, in fact, they are behaving poorly. It shortens the process for removing an employee to 15 days. That doesn't mean you act recklessly or quickly, it means you act expeditiously to see to it that if you have a problem, it is addressed quickly for the benefit of all the agencies. It removes the Merit Systems Protection Board from the appeal process for senior executives. There is some bad talk out there about removing the Merit Systems Protection Board for all employees. It doesn't do that at all. But the most senior employees of the Veterans' Administration deserve to be held accountable without lots of hoops you have to go through before ever getting to them. So by taking the Merit Systems Protection Board away from those senior executives, you are holding them totally accountable in the bright light of day for their own actions, without some hoop to go through for the agency trying to remove them. It prohibits bonuses and relocation expenses for employees guilty of wrongdoing. I mentioned this in my earlier remarks, and I will reiterate. This deals with things like what happened in Pennsylvania, where two employees were reassigned for a discipline, yet they were given bonuses and cost-of-living adjustments in their pay upward for doing something wrong. That sends exactly the wrong signal to any employee in the Veterans' Administration. For anyone doing a good job, it pats them on the back and lets them know they can do an even better job. It expedites the hiring of VA medical center directors, which is absolutely critical. We have far too many people in the VA healthcare system today who are acting. They are acting director or acting assistant. We don't need any more ``acting'' in the Veterans' Administration; we need performance. That is what this bill ends up being about--the performance of delivery of quality healthcare to our veterans, rewarding those employees who are doing a good job, encouraging those who aren't to do a better job, and seeing all American veterans get the services they deserve to get. The need for this bill does not come out of thin air. I say to Senator Tester, can you tell me why the VA and veterans need this legislation to strengthen accountability at the VA?

Mr. ISAKSON. I thank Senator Tester. I started my remarks a few minutes ago by saying that this will be the 73rd anniversary of D-day. Nobody who charged Omaha Beach or climbed those cliffs in Normandy had second thoughts about what they were doing or asked questions about their leadership or tolerated anything but the best they could out of themselves. Because of that, they won. Today, our veterans are winning. Our committee--the Senate is going to pass in I think a unanimous or near-unanimous fashion a piece of legislation that is a byproduct of a good bipartisan effort to see to it that we correct the problems of the past, give the Secretary of the VA the ability to do it in the future, and if he or she doesn't do it, it gives us the ability to change them so they are held accountable as well. It has been a pleasure to work with you and a privilege to work for our veterans. On this special day, we honor those who served America 73 years ago by the beginning of the end of World War II, thank them for their service, and thank all veterans who provide service to the people of the United States of America. I want to end by noting that we have 32 sponsors of this legislation, which is almost exactly one-third of the Senate, Republican and Democrat alike. That sends the proper signal that this is the right bill at the right time for the right people--veterans of the United States of America. I yield back.

Mr. ISAKSON

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

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today I am honored to congratulate Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University on earning the prestigious comprehensive cancer center designation from the National Cancer Institute. This designation now places Georgia's own Winship Cancer Institute in the top 1 percent of all cancer centers in the United States. Winship Cancer Institute was established in 1937 with a gift from one of Georgia's generous philanthropists, Robert W. Woodruff, whose mission was to allow Georgians to get the best cancer treatment in their home State. He envisioned doctors and researchers working together in the same facility, so that scientists would be reminded of the urgency of their work and motivated to bring innovative treatments to patients. Winship treated 168 patients in its first year. Today Winship sees more than 15,000 patients every year. The research being performed at Winship Cancer Institute is particularly important to Georgians because Winship researchers are studying the environmental and genetic issues unique to cancer in our State. Winship's goals are very specific: reducing the risk of cancer and detecting cancer at the earliest possible stage. An estimated 50,000 Georgians will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and approximately a third of them will receive some component of their treatment at one of Winship's clinical locations in metropolitan Atlanta. In recommending Winship for this special designation, former President Jimmy Carter spoke of the research and work being performed at Winship that helped save his life after his cancer diagnosis at his advanced age. Today Winship continues to stand out because of its commitment to aligning its outstanding cancer research and education initiatives with its significant cancer prevention and cancer care efforts. I am proud to congratulate Winship Cancer Institute on this important milestone, as its researchers and clinicians continue their mission to lessen the burden of cancer for the citizens of Georgia.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, we debate a lot of heavy things in the United States Senate. We make tough decisions. Decisions of the fate of our country lie in the balance. But day in and day out, sometimes we go an entire day or week without talking about the people who make America work: the entrepreneurs, the employees, the employers, the people who run the businesses, pay the taxes, and employ the citizens who make this country go. Today, I rise to talk about two citizens from my home county, Cobb County. First is David Hankerson. David announced this week his retirement after being employed by our county for 33 years. He came to the community development department of the county 33 years ago, and 11 years later, he became the first county manager of the county and served in that position for a record 24 years. During that time, the county doubled, not just in its population, but tripled and quadrupled in its revenue. It did new and different and innovative things. As tax rates went down, productivity went up. Its popularity as a place to locate became preeminent. He is one of the shining stars in the State of Georgia today, in Cobb County. I rise for a special reason to pay tribute to David Hankerson, however, because he represents something I was a part of in 1984. At the time he was being hired, I did not know him as an employee for the county; I was in the State legislature, trying to change the government for our county from an elected CEO to an appointed county manager, a professional operator of the county. That had not been done in Georgia. In other parts of the country, it had been done successfully. You had continuity of leadership--someone whose job was to be a good leader, who wasn't an elected politician, someone who could do the job. David Hankerson was hired to do that job in Cobb County, GA. He did one of the most remarkable jobs anyone has ever done. In fact, the great testimony is that every year since he was there--24 years ago as county manager--someone has tried to hire him away from Cobb County. Every year he decided to stay because he once had said: I have made a commitment. As long as the commitment is returned by the community to me, I am going to stay and see it through. On this day, as I rise on the floor of the U.S. Senate to pay tribute to David Hankerson, I pay tribute equally to all those who make our government work, our businesses work, our communities work, and our country work, to the men and women laboring in the fields and toiling in the vineyards, working in the shops, working in the offices who make America the great country it is today, and to the great chambers of commerce that make it happen as well. I pay great tribute to David Hankerson and thank him for the contribution and sacrifice he made to the people of Cobb County, GA, and the State of Georgia. Mr. President, I would like to pay tribute to one other Georgian, the retiring chairman and CEO of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce, David Connell. This is the kind of guy you really appreciate. He worked for 40 years at the Georgia Power Company. He had 12 different titles in 40 years. He was a great employee of that company, a great member of the community of Cobb County, a great private citizen, and great personal friend of mine. After 40 years of working there and retiring, the county had a big problem. The chamber of commerce had a scandal. It couldn't find a leader and was losing its effectiveness. David volunteered to go in as a chamber board member and spent 1 year as chamber leader. He stayed there 15 years and led the chamber to new heights unprecedented in our State and in our county: an AAA bond rating in our county, new businesses coming and relocating, and even the now-famous relocation of the Atlanta Braves from downtown Atlanta to suburban Cobb County--one of the rare moves a professional team has ever made smoothly and easily. They made it because of David Connell. David will tell you that when the chamber board found out the Braves were interested in maybe talking about building a $750 million facility in the county, they asked David if he would stay until that was accomplished. He made the commitment to do so, and it took 3\1/2\ years--3\1/2\ long years. It was a lot of effort, all in a circuitous nature because of the popularity of the Braves and what would have happened had it gotten out as a rumor that they were coming. David closed that deal this year. The Braves opened this season in a new stadium. With three-quarters of a billion dollar investment having been made, the county is more prosperous. David Connell made it happen. He announced this week that he is retiring after 40 years at the power company and 15 years at the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce. I want to take a moment on the floor of the Senate to say thank you to David Connell for what he has done for our county and our community, for our citizens and our families, and how proud I am as one of his friends. I thank him for a job well done. David, thank you. We are proud of you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America. I yield back.

Mr. ISAKSON

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

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, as a realtor and the former owner of a real estate company, it is my great pleasure today to congratulate the National Association of Home Builders on its 75th anniversary. The National Association of Home Builders was established in 1942 to represent the interests of the Nation's homebuilding industry and to help create a business environment that facilitates homebuilding, enables more Americans to achieve homeownership, and provides for ample rental housing for all income levels. The National Association of Home Builders' membership includes not just builders, but professionals in a broad range of fields who are part of the homebuilding industry, including those who remodel, update, and help maintain existing homes. For many years, the goal set forth in the Housing Act of 1949 of ``a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family'' has been a guiding principle for America's homebuilders, and they have made great strides in achieving that goal. Since 1942, the total number of housing units in the United States has more than tripled, increasing from about 35 million to almost 136 million. Also the Nation's homeownership rate has increased from about 44 percent to almost 64 percent. Moreover, the Nation's standard of living has increased significantly thanks to the efforts of the National Association of Home Builders' members, who build about 80 percent of the new homes constructed in the United States each year. The members of the National Association of Home Builders have served as a driving force behind the significant advances in the quality of the nation's housing and the resulting improvement in quality of life for Americans. America's homebuilders play important roles in the fabric of their communities, and they are essential to the Nation's economic health. Homebuilding accounts for about 16 percent of the total U.S. economy. I congratulate the National Association of Home Builders and its members on the organization's 75th anniversary and encourage my colleagues in the Senate to reflect on the crucial role the homebuilding industry has played over the last 75 years in our Nation's economy and the lives of our people.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, as part of National Drug Court Month, I want to honor a program that has directly and indirectly benefited so many Americans and American families. In my hometown of Marietta, GA, we had the good fortune of having a driving under the influence, or DUI, court program, established nearly 10 years ago in 2008. Since that time, the Cobb County DUI court program has saved our Cobb County Sheriff's office more than an estimated $3 million in incarceration costs alone. However, these accountability courts have saved much more than just money. For example, there is the little girl who was living with parents in active addiction who now has a sober father who was able to gain custody of her and raise her in a stable home environment. We have seen parents, children, and entire families saved through recovery and restored through the healing work of counseling. More than 300 individuals have been saved from addiction, crime, recidivism, unemployment, and incarceration by the structure, accountability, and tough love approach of the DUI court program. These individuals have been able to move forward with their lives as productive, tax-paying citizens. Through drug and DUI court programs, the cycle of probation and addiction is broken and history rewritten. The number we can't count is the number of lives potentially saved from fatal accidents and other tragic events that were prevented through participants' recovery. It is such a special opportunity for me to write to many of the graduates of the drug and DUI court programs in our State and think of the strength of these individuals who are turning their lives around to live free of drug and alcohol addiction. I applaud their efforts, and I always remind them that, while getting off drugs or alcohol may be the hardest thing they will ever do, it is also the most important thing they will ever do for themselves and their families. On May 2, 2017, the Cobb DUI court program hosted its 30th graduation ceremony. Graduation day is such a special one not only for these graduates, but for the staff who work tirelessly in trying to save lives. That is the day where they see the long hours, the countless emails, the midnight phone calls, and the reams of paperwork pay off. They can look at where a defendant used to be and see how that man or woman's life has changed. On graduation day, lives are reformed and new ones begin. I applaud all those fighting to change lives for the betterment of all.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today I would like to remember two brothers from my hometown of Marietta, GA, James and Joe Pratt, whose lives were cut short in a tragic accident on April 24, 2017. James and Joe were upstanding students in their community and at Lassiter High School, where they were both members of the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. They were loved by their family, and they were beloved by their friends, advisers, and coworkers. James, called ``Jim'' by those who knew him, was 18 years old and just a few weeks shy of high school graduation. He was the JROTC unit's morale and wellness officer, and Jim had already enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was looking forward to beginning boot camp in a short time and later to attending Kennesaw State University. Joe was a 14-year-old freshman and, in addition to attending school, served in the JROTC unit and was known for helping keep his friends' spirits lighthearted with his knowledge of trivia and sense of humor. Their unit of the JROTC, the Lassiter-Pope-Kell Navy JROTC, armed exhibition drill team has performed annually at our Georgia congressional delegation's Military Academy Day. Out of respect for these young men, their unit did not perform at this year's event, held last Saturday, April 29, and instead, we held a moment of silence in their honor. Lassiter High School and our community is in mourning over the loss of these fine brothers. My deepest condolences go out to the entire Pratt and Lago families and to our community, and my wife, Dianne, and I hold them in our prayers.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, first of all, I have a rare opportunity to follow Jon Tester, who is a great farmer from Montana, a great ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and a man who knows agriculture well. I grew up picking up pecans off the ground on my grandfather's farm. I know a little about it. I know the salt-of-the-earth people who grow our food and our fiber who make our country work. I doubt if many people have had the opportunity to be a U.S. Senator, but I know this; that very few have had the opportunity to be a U.S. Senator and serve with the cousin of an ag commissioner, because the Presiding Officer who is presiding over this vote is the cousin of Sonny Perdue, the man we are going to confirm as Secretary of Agriculture under Donald Trump's administration. I am pleased to be the senior Senator from Georgia to brag about all of the Perdues whom I know in my State and all they have contributed to our State and how important Sonny Perdue is going to be to us as the Secretary of Agriculture. If one looked in Webster's Dictionary--and if it were a picture dictionary and every word were described not by words but by a picture--if one looked up ``Ag Secretary,'' you would see Sonny Perdue's picture. Think about this for a second. He grew up on a row crop farm in Bonaire, GA, which is an ag community in our State. He was in the fertilizer business and the grain business. He was a partner in a storage and shipping business with his cousin, the junior Senator from Georgia, David Perdue. He graduated with a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Georgia--one of the preeminent veterinary medicine schools in the country. He presided as Governor of the State of Georgia after he was speaker pro tempore of the senate of the State of Georgia. He was the president pro tempore in the senate when he was a Democrat. He was the Governor when he was a Republican. He did not switch parties for any reason except that he wanted to do right, and when one party went in the wrong direction, he took the party in the next direction and took them to lead our State to bigger and higher heights. He presided over a State that has 42,000 farmers and a $75 billion farm gate product. Georgia is agriculture and knows agriculture. I served in the legislature with him in the State senate. I served under him when he was our Governor. I served with him as the Governor when I was in the U.S. House, and later in the U.S. Senate. We worked on agriculture business and port business. We worked on the Port of Savannah. We worked on everything that was in the interests of Georgia. Sonny Perdue knows that there is one way to do a job, and that is the best way he knows how: Do it right the first time, and you never have to apologize. President Trump has made a great decision for our State. He has made a great decision for our country. He has picked the finest person you could find available in the United States to be the Secretary of Agriculture for the United States of America. He graduated from the University of Georgia, was in the farm business himself, served as a Governor, served as the speaker pro tempore, and married the prettiest woman in Georgia--and I will get in trouble for classifying her that way, but it happens to be the truth, and I never lie on the floor of the Senate. I am going to be proud tonight when I cast my vote for Sonny Perdue as Secretary of Agriculture, along with the Presiding Officer and everybody else. I commend our President on a great selection, I congratulate our State on a great favorite son, and I commend the Senate Committee on Agriculture for the nomination of a great Agriculture Secretary, as well as Senator Roberts. I commend my brother and my friend, my fellow Georgian, Sonny Perdue, to the Senate today, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of his nomination. I yield the floor.

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

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

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, today I wish to thank COL Scott Jackson for his exemplary service and outstanding leadership as the chief of the Army's Senate Liaison Division. During his tenure with the Office of the Chief Legislation Liaison, Scott was able to bring more than 24 years of experience in various leadership and staff positions to provide superior support to the work of the U.S. Senate. Additionally, I congratulate Scott on his recent selection to command the Army's first Security Force Assistance Brigade at Fort Benning, GA. In support of the global war on terror, Scott has deployed to Iraq three times, for a cumulative 41 months. In 2003, he served as the lead operational planner for the First Cavalry Division, writing the initial counterinsurgency campaign plan for Baghdad; subsequently assigned as the executive officer for 2nd Battalion 7th Cavalry Regiment and participated in its assault into Najaf, Iraq, August 2004, and Fallujah, Iraq, November 2004. In 2006-2008, he served as the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, First Cavalry Division, deputy brigade commander with duty as the deputy team leader, Diyala Provincial Reconstruction Team, where he was the governance team leader and senior coalition adviser to the governor of Diyala, providing daily coaching, mentorship, and liaison to the provincial governor. In April 2008, Scott assumed command of 1st Battalion 5th Cavalry Regiment and deployed his battalion in January 2009, assuming responsibility for coalition operations in the Baghdad districts of Adamiyah, Rusafa, and Taji. During this deployment, his battalion executed the coalition withdrawal from the cities and transition of responsibility to the Iraqi Security Forces. Following command, Scott was selected to be the assistant chief of staff, G3, Operations and Plans, for the First Cavalry Division and subsequently selected as an Army War College fellow at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. While at Lincoln Laboratory, Scott focused his research on how technology enables the application of strategy, producing an original research project entitled, ``An Operational Design Concept for Wide Area Persistent Biometric Surveillance.'' Following the War College, Scott served as the 3rd Infantry Division, Rear chief of staff, while the headquarters was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He then went on to assume command of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, SPARTANS, at Fort Stewart, GA, from 2013 to 2015. Scott's humble character rarely does justice to his accomplishments and accolades. However, he does speak very proudly of his wife, Valerie, and their sons, Benjamin and William. Military families are true testaments of both strength and pride. They are constantly challenged by deployments, changes in duty stations, and uncertainties. These hurdles create resiliency that the Jackson family patriotically embodies. Scott's family are his pride and joy and will equally be missed by everyone they have inspired during their time here. While we will miss having Scott's support and counsel here in the Senate, I know that he will be moving on to greater things. I want to again thank Scott and his family for their service to our great Nation and congratulate him for his selection to command the Army's newest brigade at Fort Benning.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I will be brief. I also want to make sure I don't take advantage of the personal privilege I have as a United States Senator, but I am going to anyway. I want Senator Coons from Delaware to pause for just a second. I want to thank every Member of the Senate, Republican and Democrat, and the staff of the Senate for the many kindnesses they have extended to me in the last 4 months during my injury and my recovery. I am on the way back home, in large measure, because of the support of the Members of the United States Senate. I am very grateful for that and the staff who have allowed that to take place. I say thank you very much. Notwithstanding what your politics are or what your partisanship is or anything else, this is a great institution and a great body because it is made up of great people. To that end, my friend Senator Coons from Delaware made an excellent speech, which I am going to adopt as my speech, since I don't have the strength to stand as long as I would like to, to talk about an issue so important. We do need to open all our minds and our hearts in the days ahead to make sure we know what direction we are going as Members of the Senate, regardless of our party and notwithstanding our partisanship. Neil Gorsuch, from everything I have seen--and I probably have seen more than anybody because I have been watching it on TV while I have been recovering. You guys have had to do it in debate. I have seen the real thing. His record, his testimony, the way he presented himself, the way Senator Grassley and Senator Feinstein allowed that hearing to go forth, I know we have a good man as a nominee to be a Supreme Court Justice of the United States, but the issues and the divide on the cloture, on a simple majority, and the rule change of 2013, and what has happened in the past, now has us in a position where we slowly but surely are moving to be a body that is another House of Representatives, not the United States Senate. The majority rule is a great philosophy. The majority winning is always a great philosophy, but I used to have a teacher who taught me. She said: If four equals the majority, three equals zero, but you always need to listen to the other three because sometimes they may be right. I think that is a good lesson for us today, and that was a grammar school teacher. If there are seven voting members, four does equal the majority, but three doesn't equal zero because the rest still count. As we move forward in the days ahead and judge other issues, whether they be partisan issues in terms of regular debate and general legislation, whether it be issues over the confirmation of judges or Secretaries or whatever it may be, let's be thoughtful, so that, not as a criticism of the House, but as a compliment to our Founding Fathers, we don't become a second House and later a unicameral body, majority rule and mob rule, and eventually waive rules, where passions overrule common sense and all of a sudden you find yourself digging your way out of a hole that you have created, rather than building the dreams you have always wanted to do. I commend the leadership of both parties for exercising their political and partisan desires. I commend each Member for being here to take part in this debate today and being a part of it. That is what America is all about. Somewhere down the line, there is going to be something that is going to happen that is going to cause a resurrection of the debate that we have had today and another road to cross on which way we go in the future. The more we move away from a Senate that is a deliberative body, that is a dignified body, to a body that makes sure it knows where it is going before it moves forward, we won't be better off. If we move toward a body that is a rubberstamp of the House or a unicameral government of legislation, we will never be the United States of America our Founding Fathers intended us to be. That is what I believe, and that is what I think the end of this will be. To all our Members, I compliment them on everything they have had to say and have done. Judge Gorsuch, I am so proud to have someone like that who will hopefully serve on the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court with distinction. To all of us, our job is not finished. I look forward to being here and being a part of it. I yield the floor.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I want to make a statement that has not been heard much around these Halls or these Chambers in a couple of years. But on February 7--this month--the Veterans' Affairs Committee reported by a vote of 17 to 0 the name of David Shulkin to be the next Secretary of Veterans' Administration. That is a unanimous vote. Nine Republicans and eight Democrats--everybody voted for this man to be Secretary of the VA. I am going to ask each Member in the Chamber today: Let's do it as an entire body and find one person, one thing we agree upon. They are not Republican veterans or Democrat veterans; they are American veterans who went to the battlefield and fought for us. It is time we fought for them. Dr. Shulkin is the right man at the right time for the Veterans' Administration. On March 15, 2015, we hired him to come in and take over and be Under Secretary of Veterans Health. The President looked around to find the best man to run the VA and found him in David Shulkin. David Shulkin is committed to the following: fixing the problems at the Veterans' Administration, making sure the Choice Program works, making sure every veteran gets the care they deserve, the care we all want them to get, and seeing to it they get it from us. I am going to ask each Member to cast their vote today for David Shulkin but also cast their vote for our veterans. This is a time for us to send a message to them: We don't want to privatize the VA. We don't want to reorganize the VA. We want to make the VA work, to give our veterans access to every bit of care they can possibly get, and follow in the line of the great leaders who have been in the Veterans' Administration before. I am very pleased to serve with Jon Tester of Montana as my ranking member. We have worked together as a team--Democrats and Republicans-- to make this happen. I yield the remainder of my time to Jon Tester of Montana on the nomination of David Shulkin to be Secretary of the VA.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Montana and urge every Member of the Senate--Republican, Independent, Democrat--to cast their vote for our veterans, cast their vote for our country, and cast their vote for David Shulkin to be the new Secretary of the Veterans' Administration. I yield back the remainder of our time.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that these answers to four questions that have been raised in the last few days in the media be printed in the Record.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I would also like the Record to reflect that I have never been to Montana. I have been to Delaware, but I respect anything either one of these Senators would say about any physician in Delaware or any physician in Montana. They have never been to Georgia. I have been to Georgia for 72 years. I have lived there for 72 years, and for 30 of those years, I served with Tom Price in the State legislature, in the same neighborhood organizations. He has been my friend. He has been my doctor. He is a great individual, and my knowledge of him is firsthand. I am not going to read to you something that somebody told me Tom Price was or is or did or was accused of. I am going to tell you about the man I know who has been nominated for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. I have known Tom, as I said, for 30 years. He is a great family man. He and his wife Betty are great members of our community. He is a great churchman. He is active in his church in his community. He started out working in neighborhood organizations, graduated to the State legislature, and became the first elected Republican majority leader in the history of the Georgia State Senate. He went from the Georgia State Senate to the Congress to replace me. He raised the intellectual component level of that seat tremendously when I got out and when he came in. He has done a tremendous job here in the seven terms in this Congress, representing the people of my State. Now, I don't know much about medicine, except that shots hurt, and I don't want to go to the doctor unless I absolutely have to. Tom knows everything about medicine because he has delivered it for 30 years. He knows about the affordability of health care. He knows about the needs of senior citizens. He knows about the innovations that are necessary to help all of us stay healthy for the rest of our lives. Tom Price is a committed public servant who has worked diligently and hard for the State of Georgia and people of Georgia. There have been a few things said about Tom that I want to address, not because I want to waste my time talking about things that are just allegations that are put together in some fashion or form to make him look bad. I want to just make the record straight. First of all, it has been said that Tom is for taking funds away from Medicare. That is ironic to me because last December, Tom and I were called on by AARP, the representative of the senior citizens of America, to go on the road and talk about how we were going to save Medicare and save Social Security--not cut and rob it. So we represented the organization AARP at their request. We wanted to save Social Security and save Medicare. We have never spent a minute of our time talking about taking it away from anybody. If there is anybody who is going to be able to make sure Medicare works for the senior citizens of the 21st century, it is Dr. Tom Price, of Georgia, and he is going to do it as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the United States of America. Secondly, there have been a lot of things impugning Tom and his investments--the investments he has made. I introduced Tom to the Senate Finance Committee. I introduced Tom to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. I went through his application. I have seen everything on it. Everything that he is being accused of doing, he disclosed in his report. They are just using a technique that trial lawyers use called desperate impact, where you take two facts, put them over here, and put them together to make them a negative, rather than a positive. It is all in how you explain it and how you describe it. It is not how the act took place. As the chairman of the Ethics Committee and the one that administers the STOCK Act for this body, I know what we have to submit and make public; I know what we don't. Every single thing he has been accused of doing is from information taken out of his own disclosures, which anybody who owns a computer can get today to make him look like he is bad and a bad guy. In fact, I told the Senate Finance Committee when I went to introduce him there--after listening to Chuck Schumer on the Sunday shows for 2 weeks talking about Tom Price--that I felt like I was going to have to be a character witness for a convicted felon at a sentencing hearing. That is not right for us to do that to people. Tom Price is a great man. He has done a great public service. He has done a great job, and he will do a great job as Secretary of Health and Human Services. I am proud to have introduced him. I am proud to know him as a friend, and I am proud that he is going to be my Secretary of Health and Human Services. America and all of her citizens will be better off because the doctor will be in the house. I urge a vote for Tom Price and yield the floor.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following my 5 minutes, the distinguished senior Senator from New Hampshire, Mrs. Shaheen, be recognized for 5 minutes; and following Mrs. Shaheen, the distinguished whip of the Republican Party, Mr. Cornyn, be recognized.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I come to the floor with a labor of love before the U.S. Senate. We are talking about confirmations of people for Secretary positions on the Cabinet of the new President. We are talking about all kinds of things. We are in a budget period of time. We are talking about this year having two budgets--one we are going to use early and one we are going to use late. The truth is, since 1980, we haven't passed all 12 appropriations bills in the year but twice. In other words, in the last 37 years, we have only twice done our job that we ought to do every year. So 2 years out of 37 we did it; 35 years we did not do it. I am joining with the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire, a great Governor of that State and now a great Member of the U.S. Senate, to propound for the third Congress in a row an idea that is so simple and so great that it works and it works for all the American people. It is called a biennial budget process. What it does is it embraces a discipline for how you budget to bring about the right solutions in terms of what you do budget. What the biennial budget process does is it says this. We would be far better off if we had more oversight of spending, more authorization projects, and more discipline in the way we spend money we are already spending before we start appropriating more. Therefore, in every even-numbered year, we ought to do oversight of our spending, we ought to do accountability in our spending processes, we ought to do accountability in our spending process, and we ought to do no appropriations. In our odd-numbered years, the nonelection years, is when you appropriate. Every other year you are spending, and then every other year you are doing accountability. What that causes is the cream to rise to the top. All of a sudden in 1 year, instead of departments coming to say we don't have time to oversight, we have to authorize more, they come to you and say: Here is how we spent our money, here are the savings we have found, and here is how we want to move forward in a more efficient way. It is a little bit like my kitchen table and my family. All the way through my 49 years of marriage, my wife and I and our kids have sat around the kitchen table, decided what our family priorities are, from our vacations to our jobs, and then we budget our money for that year so we can pay our bills, enjoy the time we had together, and end up not being broke at the of the year. What happens when you don't do that and you are a government is you end up owing $19 trillion and don't know how to pay for it. We cannot continue to spend at the escalated rate that we are spending without more accountability on the process so I think the biennial process is the right way to go. There is some documentation for that. The distinguished Senator from New Hampshire was a Governor of her State who had a biennial budget, but 19 of the 50 States have biennial budgets already. They work, and they work fine. They give them the luxury of doing what we don't do in Washington, they give them the luxury of having the time to study their appropriations, find savings in existing taxation before they start raising anybody's taxes or appropriating anymore. It is a simple, disciplined way to go about the business of spending the people's money in the same way they make their determination. I ran a pretty large company for 19 years and was in business for 35 years before I came to Congress. I know that running a business is hard, but it is not hard because it is complex; it is hard because it is tough. Prioritizing your appropriations is tough business. Somebody has to do it, and the people who are elected to the Congress of the United States are elected to do that job. I am proud to join Senator Shaheen on the floor today and urge all Members to vote for a biennial budget process in the Congress of the United States. I remind everyone in the room that we had this vote a few years ago as a test vote on an all-night vote-arama on the budget, and we got 72 votes, if I remember correctly, in favor of the biennial budget. We have had past Budget Committee chairmen vote in favor of the biennial budget. We have had people from the majority and the minority vote for it. The fact is, it is a good idea whose time has come. I am pleased to join Senator Shaheen from New Hampshire and plead to the Members of the U.S. Senate to do what we ask the American people to do. Let's prioritize the way we spend our money, find savings where we can, and run a more efficient, more honest government, and a more transparent government for all. Mr. President, I yield to the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President and chairman of the Banking Committee, I appreciate the time and the recognition. As the chairman knows, I am a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and a former chairman of the African Subcommittee, and I have traveled to both of those continents for many years. I have seen resource-rich and poverty-poor countries where they have a natural resource investment and wealth, but they never reinvest in their people. I think transparency is important in seeing to it that the resources they receive for selling those natural resources are made available to their people so that the resources go to the benefit of the people and not the government. Are you also aware that I am not a big supporter of the Dodd-Frank disclosure bill, but I also have concerns that simply vacating the rule implementing the Lugar-Cardin amendment without providing for a replacement would create a setback for U.S. leadership in anti- corruption efforts around the world? Because of what we have done in transparency and anti-corruption, countries like the United Kingdom, the EU, Norway, and Canada have followed our lead, and I do not want to lose that. Therefore, I wish to ask the chairman of the Banking Committee a couple of questions to ease my fears about this question. First, I would like to direct a couple of questions to the chairman. It is my understanding that this joint resolution does not--underscore not--repeal section 1504 of Dodd-Frank law; is that correct?

Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the chairman for that answer. I would like his commitment to work with me and other members of the caucus who are concerned and who want to be assured that the SEC will move forward with the implementation of this replacement provision as soon as possible.

Mr. ISAKSON. I thank the Chair.

Mr. ISAKSON

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