Patrick Leahy

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate the incredible institutions of higher education in my home State. Like many Vermonters, I was the first in my family to attend college--I chose a small, liberal arts, Catholic college--Saint Michael's College in Colchester, VT. St. Mike's, as it is affectionately called, was a home away home for me during some of my most formative years. It was there that I met my wife Marcelle, received my B.A. in government, and from where I left to receive my JD from Georgetown University Law Center. Higher education is a path out of poverty and towards personal and professional growth for so many Americans. When those who choose to seek higher education, are able to do so--everyone succeeds. Throughout my 48 years in the Senate, I have worked to increase access to higher education through programs such as TRIO, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, Pell grants, and Federal Work-Study. I know how important these programs are because I am a product of a quality Vermont education. Each year, thousands of students attend Vermont colleges and universities. My alma mater, St. Mike's, is not the only quality school--but one of many. The University of Vermont, founded in 1791, is a public land-grant research university that has championed agricultural, opioid-misuse, rural development, and medical research, among many other fields of study. I have been honored to be one of UVM's biggest fans and supporters in Congress. Throughout his tenure, President Garimella has been an incredible partner of mine and Marcelle, and I look forward to spending more time with him and his wife in Burlington. Another legendary institution is the Vermont State College system. Today, it is comprised of several outstanding institutions: Castleton, Northern Vermont University, VT Tech, and Community Colleges of Vermont. Each of them in their own right have made a name for themselves through great strides in nursing and teaching workforce development, creating high-technology manufacturing jobs, rethinking remote learning, and expanding opportunity for mid-career learners. I recognize that the future of higher education is often disputed. What does it offer young people in the face of uncertainty and economic insecurity? The cost of higher education has ballooned and has become out of reach for too many families. Higher education's intent has become lost. Higher education--college or university--should never be a prerequisite to a job that supports one's family. However, higher education--such as the extension program at UVM or the language programs at Middlebury College--provide the tools to better understand our complex and constantly changing universe. They provide a challenge to get to know ourselves better and a community to sustain us. I rise today to honor one of the places, one of the communities that first raised me, gave me a home, and a purpose. From my time travelling throughout the State, I have met Vermonters who are cybersecurity experts, doctors, researchers, mechanics, arborists, and teachers. Many of them, like me, were the first in their family to seek continuing education and many have told me that they never could have imagined this bright of a future. I am confident that long after my tenure in the Senate, Vermont colleges and universities will continue to provide a home, challenge, and pathway to the future for Vermonters and students from around the world.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I spoke on this matter earlier this week, and I still agree with the Senator from Florida that we have a responsibility to help Americans in the wake of disasters. It does not matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, or if you are from a blue State or a red State. As Americans, we have to stand together to help our communities recover and rebuild. I have done that on this floor for 48 years--voting for disaster bills for all States. But I believe in reality, not rhetoric. We don't have time to play politics or for sound bites. We have to enact the omnibus bill now, and that will get the aid to people in Florida and other communities that need it most. So I would urge all Senators to vote for the omnibus, and let us get these things done. It is time to go forward. We don't have time for further delay.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I brought a lot of bills to the floor here. This will be the last one I bring to the floor of the Senate. But it is one that we have to act on quickly or we risk a government shutdown. This omnibus appropriations bill provides $1.7 trillion for fiscal year 2023, $42 billion in aid to Ukraine, and $27 billion for victims of natural disaster. It is a strong, bicameral, and bipartisan bill; and it adheres to the framework announced by Vice Chairman Shelby, Chair DeLauro, and myself last week. From funding for nutrition programs and housing assistance, to reducing home energy costs and increasing college affordability, this bill is a direct investment into the American people and our national security, which we cannot delay further. The pain of inflation is real, and it is being felt by families across the country and in every corner of the Federal Government. Not only does this bill provide real relief from inflation, it is this bill where we fund the promises of the landmark, bipartisan legislation that we passed in the 117th Congress. The bill provides $1.8 billion in new funding to implement the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. This will help drive our innovative and competitive edge on the global stage. We included $9.9 billion--an historic level of funding--for the National Science Foundation, which will support 2,300 more research and education grants and 35,000 more scientists, technicians, teachers, and students. In the bipartisan PACT Act, we made a commitment to countless veterans across the country to ensure that they receive healthcare and benefits related to exposure to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. This appropriations bill makes good on that promise by providing $5 billion to implement the PACT Act. It provides $118.7 billion--a 22-percent increase--for VA Medical Care. These benefits are deserved. They were earned, and they are owed. In the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, we finally made a significant investment in addressing our Nation's crumbling bridges, roads, and infrastructure. This appropriations bill puts tens of billions of real dollars behind those investments to bring our infrastructure into the 21st century. Last week, we passed the National Defense Authorization Act--NDAA-- with overwhelming bipartisan support, but that legislation did not contain a single penny in funding. The bill we consider today does, and it fully funds the NDAA. But the investments in this bill will go far beyond the bipartisan priorities of this year. It makes real investments that will directly improve the lives of the American people. It includes a $500 increase to the maximum Pell grant award, which helps more than 7 million students across the country pursue a postsecondary education and further their careers every year. It invests billions of dollars in our Nation's public schools by providing a 5-percent increase for title I-A grants. It helps to address the crisis of childcare access and affordability by providing $8 billion for Child Care and Development Block Grants and nearly $12 billion for Head Start. These programs directly help parents access quality childcare and promote children's healthy development, learning, and well-being. It continues our efforts to confront the opioid crisis. I am sure every Member of this Chamber knows someone who struggles with substance misuse or someone who advocates on their behalf. I know Marcelle and I do. Communities across the country host grieving families and people struggling with addiction from all walks of life who need new resources now, and this bill provides them. This includes a more than $345 million increase to address this crisis. Across this country there are more than 34 million people who are food insecure, including 9 million children. This should not happen in the wealthiest country in the world, and with the cost of groceries up more than 10 percent, this crisis could only get worse. Our bill provides a $13.4 billion increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Program and funds Child Nutrition Programs, WIC, and other programs to improve nutrition. This is just scratching the surface of what this appropriations bill will mean for the American people, our national security, and how we project our influence abroad. Our bill invests billions of dollars to help to make housing more affordable and help those in this country who are experiencing homelessness. We provide $5 billion for LIHEAP, and we provide funding to support local law enforcement and place more than 1,800 additional police officers on the streets of our communities. The bill includes over $42 billion in aid to Ukraine and over $27 billion for the victims of natural disasters. The real good this bill does is too long to list now. But if you voted for the bipartisan PACT Act, CHIPS Act, Infrastructure Law, or the NDAA, you should vote for this bill to actually fund them; if you want to help families deal with the cost of heating, childcare, college, food, and housing, you should vote for this bill; if you want to support law enforcement, you should vote for this bill. The choice is clear: We can either do our jobs and fund the Federal Government--which is undoubtedly in the interest of the American people--or we can abandon our responsibilities without a real path forward. The alternative, a continuing resolution into the New Year, is short-sighted and wholly unnecessary. It imperils our national security, and it ignores the real pain and consequences of inflation. Without a clear path forward based on a bipartisan framework, punting on our responsibility to fund the Federal Government risks a full-year continuing resolution. Under a continuing resolution, America gets left behind. I strongly urge the support of this omnibus appropriations bill. I want to thank my dear friend Vice Chairman Shelby for his partnership in this process, and I want to thank Chair DeLauro for her diligent work. Without their work and cooperation, we would not be where we are today. I also want to thank our staffs who spent countless, sleepless nights working through the details of this bill. Specifically, I want to thank Charles Kieffer, Chanda Betourney, Jay Tilton, and Maria Calderon on my staff. There are so many, many more who worked tireless days and nights--far too many names to say now--so I would like to submit a list of these staff into the Record: Charles Kieffer; Chanda Betourney; Jay Tilton; Maria Calderon; Tim Rieser; Clint Trocchio; Jenny Winkler; Ben Hammond; Joshua Kravitz; Hong Nguyen; George Castro; Dianne Nellor; Rachel Erlebacher; Hannah Chauvin; Jess Berry; Blaise Sheridan; Michael Bednarczyk; Angela Caalim; Lindsay Erickson; Kate Kaufer; Mike Clementi; Abigail Grace; Katy Hagan; Brigid Kolish; Rob Leonard; John Lucio; Andy Vanlandingham; Laura Mancini; Drew Platt; Doug Clapp; Aaron Goldner; Jen Becker Pollett; Laura Powell; Ellen Murray; Diana Hamilton; Maddie Dunn; Kamela White; Jenn Piatt; Jim Daumit; Frank Reed; Melissa Zimmerman; Ryan Hunt; Martha Roberts; Anthony Sedillo; Alex Keenan; Kelly Brown; Mike Gentile; Mark Laisch; Meghan Mott; Kathryn Toomajian; Fiona O'Brien; Richard Braddock; Michelle Dominguez; Joanne Hoff; Jason McMahon; Alex Carnes; Kali Farahmand; Sarita Vanka; Madeleine Granda; Dabney Hegg; Kelsey Daniels; Rajat Mathur; Jessica Sun; Valerie Hutton; Elmer Barnes; Penny Myles; Karin Thames; Lynn Cookley; Alley Adcock; David Adkins; Lucas Agnew; Jennifer Bastin; Katherine Bowles; Patrick Carroll; Michael Ciamarra; Chris Cook; Allen Cutler; Brian Daner; Elizabeth Dent; Bill Duhnke; Anna Fischer Lanier; John Forbes; Laura Friedel; Paul Grove; Ann Tait Hall; Hanz Heinrichs; Nora Khalil; Emy Lesofski; Rachel Littleton; Patrick Magnunson; Nona McCoy; Daniel Mencher; Thompson Moore; Anna Newton; Lauren Nunnally; Cameron O'Brien; Ashley Palmer; Todd Phillips; Emily Slack; Lashawnda Smith; Blair Taylor; William Tutt; Morgan Ulmer; Kevin Wheeler; Kathleen Williams; Jason Woolwine; Jason Yaworske; and Adam Yezerski. This is a bill that invests in us--the American people.

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the Johnson amendment asks us to cede the power of the purse to public servants in the executive branch who are unaccountable to the voters. These public servants, dedicated though they may be, cannot possibly share the depth of knowledge we hold about our constituents and the communities in our States. I strongly urge the Members of this Chamber to reject abdicating the power of the purse-- given to the legislative branch under the Constitution--as the Senator from Wisconsin's amendment asks us to do. As a Senator from Vermont, I speak with community leaders, dairy farmers, small business owners, and Vermonters across my State every day. I have done this for 48 years. I have a deep understanding of Vermont and Vermonters. Through congressionally directed spending, we can use this knowledge to invest tax dollars directly back into taxpayer communities. We can make these investments in everything from infrastructure, to community health centers and workforce development, to afterschool programs. In fact, under rule X-L-I-V--rule 44--and additional rules that I established last year, we have unprecedented transparency and accountability for the congressionally directed spending contained in this bill--far more transparency than we have had at any time in my 48 years in the Senate. Congressionally directed spending is not a new concept. In fact, it dates back more than 230 years when funding for the Cape Henry lighthouse, which still stands today, was included in a 1790 spending bill. After the misguided ban on congressionally directed spending in 2011, I was proud to restore the power of the purse to the Senate with new guardrails to improve transparency and accountability. These guardrails include rule XLIV--44--of the Standing Rules of the Senate, which requires each earmark to be clearly identified in the committee and conference reports and certification that neither we nor any member of our immediate family would financially benefit from the requests we made. In fiscal year 2022, I implemented even more rigorous standards to this process. We required Senators to make their requests public on their websites and make public any items that were funded in the appropriations bills. We also required the GAO to audit a sample of enacted congressionally directed spending items in order to increase accountability for the projects that are funded and to restore the trust of the American people in this process. And we put a 1-percent cap on all congressionally directed spending items, and we banned congressionally directed spending items to for-profit entities. I am proud to say that we met each of these requirements in fiscal year 2022, and they remain in place in the bill we are considering today. I am also proud of all the projects I was able to fund for Vermont in this bill and across my career here in the Senate. The question before us is simple: Who do we want to control the purse strings of the Federal Government--the unaccountable bureaucrats in the executive branch or the representatives of the people? I think the answer is clear, and I strongly urge every Member of this Chamber to reject the Johnson amendment. Vote on Amendment No. 6555

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the most important technology connections are ones between people. Vermont is a place where people connecting is not only important to life, but is the very fabric of it. It was natural, I think, for me to see cyberspace as a continuation of connections like in Vermont. It is why I created one of the first websites in the Senate. It is why I have done hundreds of video chats with Vermont schoolchildren. And it is why I have ensured that among the billions of dollars of the Federal budget appropriated for cyberspace programs the executive agencies pay attention to the special perspective we have in Vermont. For all the machines connected to each other that make up cyberspace, the real connectivity is between the people using them, coding their software, and fabricating their hardware. Any cyber specialist will tell you the weakest link in security is the humans who use or create the programs and hardware. But they will also tell you that humans have the potential to be the most powerful part of the network. Much of my work has been about improving the way the human connections strengthen the technological ones. I created the Trusted Foundry Program and have supported its evolution, so people in the U.S. Government and critical industries know that the chips they put in their equipment come from a fab that has the highest level of security against meddling by bad actors. The men and women in Essex Junction, VT, at GlobalFoundries work at such a fab, and the IBMers there administer the program nation-wide. At Champlain College, I established the Leahy Center for Digital Investigation, so there would be a place where protecting and serving people in the physical world benefits from the online one. Their recent work to educate on collection of data from crime scenes that meets evidentiary standards for the Internet of Things--all the connected devices that now exist in our lives--has set a standard for the Nation, and their work with the U.S. Secret Service has improved the work at their premier cyber school for law enforcement in Alabama. This summer, I am proud that Norwich University announced at Vermont's first annual Cyber Symposium that their School of Cybersecurity and Advanced Computing would bear my name. I am proud because, for years, their students and faculty have been a national treasure. Among many, many achievements, Norwich created and I secured funds for the wildly successful DECIDE program for command and control cyber exercises with the Department of Homeland Security, now in its fourth expansion in this year's omnibus. Norwich's expertise in helping local governments prepare for and respond to cyber events, their education opportunities for undergrads, secondary degrees, guardsmen and reservists, and their upcoming expansion of their cybersecurity discipline to fully embrace the roles of information operations, machine learning, and AI-assisted decision-making in security, are all ways they are showing national leadership. The important connections between people go back to the earliest days of Vermont. We have always had to rely on each other. That has made us strong and resilient. Everyone here shows that we have continued that tradition into the digital age, using technology to reinforce and create new bonds between us. It has been an honor to support and strengthen that during my Senate career, and I look forward to seeing how Vermonters continue to grow in connection with each other and the world.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, in 2023 the Center for Civilians in Conflict will celebrate its 20th anniversary. This is a significant milestone, as I vividly recall when CIVIC, originally named the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, was created by Marla Ruzicka. When I first met Marla she was a 26-year-old dynamo from Lakeport, CA, who had gone to Afghanistan on her own to raise awareness about civilian casualties of U.S. military operations. Like many of us, she had read reports of repeated incidents of U.S. bombs missing their targets and wiping out whole neighborhoods, of innocent people being shot at checkpoints, and other deaths and injuries of civilians. Marla not only read about those tragic incidents; she became a one-woman campaign with a laptop who, within a few months of arriving in Kabul, was quoted in the New York Times and other publications, calling on the U.S. to do more to protect civilians and assist those who were harmed. As a result of her efforts, Congress created funds for both Afghanistan and Iraq, administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development, to provide such assistance, the latter fund named for Marla after she was killed, herself an innocent victim of war, in a car bombing in Baghdad on April 16, 2005. While no one could replace Marla's vivaciousness and passion for the cause of protecting civilians in war, CIVIC survived that terrible loss and has since evolved into a global advocacy organization devoted to protecting civilians who increasingly bear the brunt of armed conflicts. Ukraine is a horrifying example that is on the front pages every day, but there are many others--in South Sudan, Yemen, Syria, and Burma to name a few. In August, a year after the disastrous U.S. missile strike that killed a whole family in Kabul after multiple egregious intelligence failures, Secretary of Defense Austin released the Pentagon's own Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan. If fully implemented, it could significantly improve the way the Pentagon addresses civilian harm. CIVIC and other advocacy organizations have been calling for such reforms, as have I since as far back as when Marla was still alive. Congress even enacted legislation that specified procedures for evaluating claims and making ex gratia payments to eligible civilian victims, but the Pentagon ignored them. They also failed to utilize millions of dollars appropriated by Congress for this purpose, despite the obvious needs in Syria and elsewhere. So I welcome this long overdue step, but as currently envisioned, the action plan is prospective and does not contemplate investigations of past incidents of civilian casualties or assistance for those victims. That is wrong. It should provide for victims of past incidents, at least those for which credible information has already been collected, and I urge the Secretary of Defense to revisit this question. The importance of minimizing harm to civilians in conflict cannot be overstated. For far too long, senior officials of United States and other countries' armed forces spoke little about civilian casualties, treating them as regrettable collateral damage that is inevitable in warfare. In fact, if the laws of war are to be taken seriously, they require effective procedures and rigorous enforcement. CIVIC's mission, 20 years after Marla Ruzicka compelled us to pay attention, is as relevant today as it was then, to ensure that everything is done that can and should be done to protect civilians in conflict, and to assist those who are harmed. By doing so we reaffirm our respect for human life and human dignity that people around the world expect of us, we mitigate anger and resentment within local populations whose support we need, and we enhance the reputation and mission of our own Armed Forces.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, throughout my 48 years in the Senate, I worked to uphold the American tradition of a humane immigration policy and fought to advance comprehensive immigration reform. As an advocate for refugees and asylum seekers fleeing violence and persecution around the world, I have been committed to allocating resources to help welcome these vulnerable individuals and families to my home State. And I did my best to directly support the Vermont communities that do so much to help resettle and embrace them. My office also has directly assisted thousands of Vermonters with visas, refugee resettlement, asylum, and other immigration casework. Over the past 48 years, this work has helped children and adults receive lifesaving medical treatment by enabling nurses, doctors, and dentists to join our short-staffed hospitals and clinics. It has also helped H-2A farmworkers to arrive in Vermont in time for harvest, work that is critical to our food supply and the success of our farms. My office has assisted students, scholars, engineers, musicians, athletes, and so many others to participate in and help grow our educational institutions and workforce, in the process often reuniting families separated for years. My staff and I have had the honor of witnessing Vermonters of all ages and from all walks of life realize their dreams to become citizens of the United States of America. Working with Vermonters with diverse backgrounds from all across the globe, I have come to know their struggles and hardships as well as their successes and achievements. Some were fleeing war and persecution, others pursuing their own dreams and seeking a better life for their children. With great courage and determination and the assistance of so many caring and generous Vermonters, these New Americans have not only improved their own lives, they have also brought a great and lasting benefit to our State. Vermont, like the rest of this great Nation, is built on the contributions of immigrants. The stories I hear from Vermonters who call my office has helped to inform my work in Washington. After countless concerned Vermonters contacted my office as tens of thousands of Afghans fled persecution, I used my position as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure adequate resources were available for resettlement in Vermont and elsewhere in the U.S. And when Ukrainians fled Russian attacks on their country to find safety in Vermont and elsewhere in the U.S., we appropriated funds to help them. As former chair and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I played a central role in shaping Federal immigration policy. At the forefront of my immigration priorities was passing legislation that incorporated the needs of Vermont agriculture and industry because I have long recognized the value immigration reform can have on state and local economies. I also sponsored the H-2A Improvement Act, a bill to include dairy workers in the agricultural work visa program. And I have been a lead sponsor of the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act to legalize the existing undocumented agricultural workforce in order to help America's farmers stay a productive and a vital part of the American economy. While the reforms I believe are needed across our entire immigration system have not yet been completed, I am proud that during the 113th Congress, the Senate made significant progress toward this goal by passing S.744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, with an overwhelming bipartisan vote. This legislation sought to enhance border security, create a workable and accurate electronic workplace verification system, reform some of the legal immigration system, and provide a tough but achievable pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. It contained important long-standing initiatives that would directly benefit Vermont agriculture and industry, including important improvements to the agricultural temporary worker visa program, and reforms that both streamlined and strengthened oversight of the job-creating immigrant investor EB-5 Regional Center Program. Nearly a decade ago, I re-introduced the Refugee Protection Act. This bill would improve protections for refugees and asylum seekers and fulfill the U.S. obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. And I was a leading voice to demand an end to the expanded use of family detention for mothers and children fleeing violence in Central America. Beginning in 2003, I fought to end discrimination based on sexual orientation in our immigration laws through the Uniting American Families Act, legislation that would allow U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to petition for their foreign same-sex partners to come to the United States through the family immigration system. In June 2013, the Supreme Court decided United States v. Windsor, which held that the Federal Government cannot discriminate against married same-sex couples for the purpose of Federal benefits and responsibilities. The result was the fulfillment of my goal to ensure that married same-sex couples have full immigration rights. Thirty years ago, I visited a refugee camp. I brought my camera, as I do everywhere, so that I could show people back in Washington the human toll of an issue. A man there encouraged me to take his picture. I looked at his worn and weary face through the range finder. We sat and talked afterward, and he said simply: ``Don't forget people like me.'' The black and white photo hung above my desk for 30 years; every day I came to work, he looked at me, saying, ``You don't know my name, you don't speak my language, there's nothing I can do to help you--but what are you doing for people like me?'' That photo and the question it provokes helped guide my approach to immigration legislation and other policy areas over the years. So much more needs to be done, but we must also remember our accomplishments and always honor the immigrants who have made this country a great nation.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have been a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee for 48 years, since I was elected in 1974. I have helped to write nine farm bills, and I have overseen the creation of programs that have helped farmers, food systems, and consumers alike. Throughout the years, I have been proud to bring born-in-Vermont ideas back to DC. I was warned when I first came to the Senate not to get on the Agriculture Committee because I would never be able to get off. And they were right. But that has been just fine with me because the work we have done on this committee and in the farm bills has always been so important, and the work has been bipartisan, in the best tradition of the Senate. I have always worked to make healthy food accessible to everyone. In 1988, I authored the Hunger Prevention Act, which improved child nutrition and SNAP programs and provided other hunger relief. In 1994, I worked to provide funding for WIC, provide milk to low-income students, fund school breakfast programs, encourage organic foods at school lunches, and expand WIC at farmers markets, and promote healthy eating habits for children through the better Nutrition and Health for Children Act. And in 2010, I authored the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, which created the Farm to School Program, which brings locally grown food into schools. I have been proud to advocate for small- and mid-sized dairy farms, which are integral to the history and fabric of Vermont. Family dairies have struggled and I have been honored to lead the work in the Senate to find the right model to help family dairy farms manage risk. After several innovative models, our current one, the Dairy Margin Coverage Program, seems to be working, and I hope that it will be renewed and improved in the next farm bill. In 2018, I advocated to bring one of the Regional Dairy Business Innovation Centers to Vermont, which now serves the entire Northeast, supporting the development, production, marketing, and distribution of dairy products. This committee has also been home to some of the most significant Federal forest conservation laws. In 1990, I oversaw the creation of the Forest Legacy Program, which protects private forests through conservation easements or land purchases. Since 1990, the Forest Legacy Program has conserved more than 2.8 million acres of forest land across all 50 States and U.S. Territories. And in 2008, using the historic Vermont town forest system as a model, I led the creation of the Community Forest and Open Space Conservation Program, which allows communities to acquire and conserve forests that provide public access, recreation, protect water supplies and wildlife habitat, serve as demonstration sites for forest landowners, and provide economic benefits from these products. One of my proudest achievements was as chairman of the Agriculture Committee in 1990, when I authored the Organic Food Production Act, which established the USDA Organic program. What was predicted to be a ``crunchy granola sideshow'' has become a nearly $58 billion industry. I have so valued that this is, perhaps, the least partisan of all Senate committees. Please be reminded of this if you glance up at my portrait in 2023 and beyond. Keep in mind that while we will have our differences, farm bills have always been bipartisan, and we have always come together to support our farmers and rural communities.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the 11th of December marked the 6-month anniversary of the violent death of widely respected Palestinian- American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. On May 19, I echoed Secretary of State Blinken's call for an ``independent, credible investigation'' of her killing. At that time, several Members of Congress called for the FBI to be involved, as did I. That would be appropriate after a tragedy like this involving an American citizen killed overseas under questionable circumstances. Secretary Blinken later said, and I agree, that ``[w]hen that investigation happens, we will follow the facts, wherever they lead. It's as straightforward as that.'' Unfortunately, there has been no independent, credible investigation, at least not yet. Three months ago, the Israeli Government, after first blaming the Palestinians for Ms. Abu Akleh's death, stated that she was likely shot, by mistake, by an unnamed Israeli soldier. The U.S. Security Coordinator--USSC--also stated, at the time, that gunfire from Israeli Defense Force--IDF--positions was likely responsible, but that there was ``no evidence to indicate her killing was intentional.'' The State Department acknowledges that conclusion was not the result of an investigation, but rather a review of information they were provided by the IDF and the Palestinian Authority. We were told that ``the Administration continues to believe that cooperation among Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the USSC is the best path to support a thorough, transparent, and impartial investigation.'' Neither the Palestinian Authority nor the IDF can be relied on to objectively determine and make public all the facts of what happened in this case--nor have they. For the State Department to assert, prematurely, that fatally shooting an unarmed person, and in this case one with ``PRESS'' written in bold letters on her clothing, was not intentional, without providing any facts to support that conclusion, calls into question the Department's commitment to an independent, credible investigation and to ``follow the facts, wherever they lead.'' Before I was elected to the Senate, I was a prosecutor. I know a thing or two about homicide investigations, having participated in many. There are intentional, reckless, negligent, and justifiable or excusable homicides. Six months after Ms. Abu Akleh's death, key questions remain unanswered, including: What specific evidence was the basis for the conclusion that ``there is no reason to believe that this was intentional but rather the result of tragic circumstances?'' Has everyone--the IDF personnel, Al Jazeera employees, and any others--who were in the proximity at the time of her death been questioned, and if so by whom? What, specifically, were the ``tragic circumstances'' the State Department referred to? Was the soldier who likely fired the fatal shot a trained marksman? Was he looking through a scope? Was there anything obstructing his vision? If he did not intend to kill Ms. Abu Akleh, what did he intend? Did he have reason to believe that the shot would injure or kill her? Were the rifle and ammunition he used, or the armored personnel vehicle he was reportedly inside or shielded behind when he fired the fatal shot, supplied by the United States? What IDF unit was he a member of? Is he still a member of the IDF? If so, is he on active duty? If, as the Israeli authorities may be implying, the IDF soldier missed, who or what he was aiming at and killed Ms. Abu Akleh by mistake, who or what was he aiming at? There are reports of earlier exchanges of gunfire, although not in the immediate vicinity where Ms. Abu Akleh was standing and not at the time she was shot. Is there any evidence that the shots that killed her and injured Ali Sammoudi, another unarmed Al Jazeera journalist, were fired as a legitimate act of self-defense? How many shots were fired, and were they all fired by the same soldier? Have any other bullets been recovered, including the one that injured Mr. Sammoudi? On July 5, the State Department spokesperson said, ``We would want to see accountability in any case of a wrongful death. That would especially--and is especially the case in the wrongful death of an American citizen, as was Shireen Abu Akleh.'' Has anyone been held accountable, and if so, in what manner? What steps does the Department plan to take to ensure such accountability? What steps has the Department taken to determine whether the Leahy Law applies in this case? Imagine if Shireen Abu Akleh were your sister--or your aunt--or your daughter. Wouldn't you be asking these questions and expect answers? Six months after her death, shouldn't we already know the answers? Recently, it was reported that the FBI has opened an investigation in this case. I welcome that decision. The Israeli authorities immediately announced they would not cooperate with the FBI. I hope they reconsider, especially given that this involves the untimely death of an American citizen by the actions of a soldier of a country that receives by far the largest amount of U.S. military training and equipment. I have voted for that aid because I believe we should help Israel defend itself, especially with Iran financing anti-Israel terrorist groups and regularly calling for Israel's annihilation. But that does not prevent me from asking relevant questions and calling for a thorough, independent investigation of the violent death of an American journalist, likely by an IDF soldier. In fact, it compels me to do so. There is an increasing foreboding that, as in so many other cases and like the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, there will never be the independent, thorough investigation and accountability that Ms. Abu Akleh's family, the Secretary of State, I, and others have called for. That would further jeopardize the safety of journalists everywhere who courageously risk their lives to gather facts and inform the public. This year alone, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 38 journalists have been killed, 294 have been imprisoned, and 64 are missing. Whether Shireen Abu Akleh's killing was a tragic mistake or the result of a reckless or intentional act, there must be a full accounting. And if it was intentional and if those responsible are not brought to justice, then the Leahy Law must be applied.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, reserving the right to object, and I will object. I agree with the Senator from Florida that we have a responsibility to help Americans in the wake of disasters. It does not matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat or if you are from a Blue state or a Red state. I still remember the devastation in Vermont when Tropical Storm Irene hit. I remember the people who were hurt, the property that was destroyed, and the roads, bridges, and homes that needed to be rebuilt. When we needed help, the Congress came to our aid. The Senate and the House enacted supplemental disaster assistance to help us recover and rebuild. That is why I included $27.1 billion in disaster assistance in the omnibus bill I filed last night. This money will go to States that have been hit hard this year by natural disasters, including Hurricane Ian. The disaster supplemental included in the omnibus is nearly identical to the bill the Senator from Florida is proposing now. The difference is that the omnibus and the disaster supplemental in it has a clear path to becoming law now. It is part of a bipartisan, bicameral bill that we will pass, this week. We do not have time to play politics. We need to enact this bill and get aid to the people in Florida and communities across the country who need it most. I urge the Senator to vote for it. I object to the Senator's unanimous consent request.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to announce that late last night, I introduced the bipartisan, bicameral, fiscal year 2023 omnibus appropriations bill. This bill invests $772.5 billion in nondefense discretionary programs, including $118.7 billion--a 22-percent increase--for VA medical care, and $858 billion in defense funding. It provides $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and our NATO allies and $40.6 billion in emergency funding to assist communities across the country recovering from drought, hurricanes, flooding, wildfire, natural disasters, and other matters. The pain of inflation is real, and it is being felt across the Federal Government and by American families right now. Our bill offers relief, certainty for the operations of the Federal Government through the fiscal year, and the resources necessary to secure the national defense. From funding for nutrition programs and housing assistance, to home energy costs and college affordability, this is a strong bill that directly invests in the American people. It is the product of bipartisan negotiations in line with the framework announced by Vice Chairman Shelby, Chair DeLauro, and myself last week, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support it. It fulfills the promise of bipartisan, landmark legislation that we passed this year, and it fulfills our promise to the American people. If you voted for the PACT Act to care for our veterans, you should vote for this bill. If you voted for the CHIPS Act, you should vote for this bill. If you voted for the infrastructure law, you should vote for this bill. If you want to help families deal with the cost of heating, childcare, college, and housing, you should vote for this bill. If you actually want to fund the troops and their families at the levels of the NDAA, you should vote for this bill. If you want to help the victims of domestic violence, you should vote for this bill. If you want to support law enforcement, you should vote for this bill. I will have more to say about our bill tomorrow, but our choice is clear. The alternative, a continuing resolution into the New Year, is short-sighted and wholly unnecessary. It imperils our national security, and it ignores the real pain and consequences of inflation. Without a clear path forward based on a bipartisan framework, punting on our responsibility to fund the Federal Government risks a full-year continuing resolution. Under a continuing resolution, America gets left behind. This is unacceptable. We have a bipartisan bill. We have a path forward now. I look forward to continuing to work with my friend, Vice Chairman Shelby, to pass this bill out of the Senate as soon as possible. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the joint explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 be printed in the Congressional Record.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I thank the Presiding Officer for the recognition, and I thank all who are here. There are some things we experience in life that we can never prepare for no matter how hard we try. Embarking on a life with the person you love is one. Having, raising, and loving a child is another. And then there is this one today. I have been here 48 years. Perhaps to the dismay of hundreds of distinguished Presiding Officers, I have delivered many floor statements--some more eloquent than others, some less--but I have never delivered a speech like this, and I so appreciate all of you indulging me. My friends and colleagues, Marcelle and I have such warm and lasting memories of so many who have served in this Chamber, now and through many years, including mentors from the first day I arrived here, like Republican Senator Bob Stafford. He was our State's senior Senator when I arrived here, and I watched him in awe. But he was a person who looked me in the eye and said to this 34-year-old freshman: Patrick, you are not my junior Senator; from here on, you are my Senate partner. And what a difference that made. In the last 48 years, the Senate has become a family to both Marcelle and me. Here, we have found friends--some of our best friends--and relationships that will last throughout our lifetime. It is also the place where I had the privilege of fighting for Vermont--the place where I was born, where I met Marcelle; the place where we started our family; and the place to which, early in the new year, we will return together, the State of our birth. But I have a reverence for this place and its history, its constitutional role that, as people, I know we all share. I have had this sense of awe about the Senate from an early age. I used to walk to the Capitol in my time here as a law student at Georgetown University Law Center. I would sit in the Gallery. I would watch, transfixed, as the Senate debated the most pressing issues of the day. Back then, I could have never imagined that I would one day etch my name into one of these desks, let alone that I would have the opportunity to cast well over 17,000 votes, that I would serve with 400 Senators during my time here. Eight times the voters of Vermont--my neighbors, my friends, my family--gave me the great gift of their faith in sending me here to be their voice in the United States Senate, but what propelled me to run was the belief that I understood the needs and values of Vermont and thought it was time for a new generation to address them. Dublin-born Parliamentarian Edmund Burke's speech to the Electors of Bristol serves as my North Star. He said: Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment. Burke also said that a representative ought not to sacrifice to you his conscience. After what many described at that time as an improbable win in a State that had never elected a Democrat, never elected anybody as young as I was, I began my time in the Senate in the aftermath of a constitutional crisis. We faced a nation broken by the Watergate scandal, the resignation of President Nixon, and an endless war in Vietnam. As I leave in a few days, the Nation is coping with strains and challenges of other kinds, including very real threats to the whole concept of a working democracy, the sanctity of our Constitution, our elections, and the strength of the rule of law. Another thing I could never have imagined as that young law student sitting up there in the Gallery was that one day this Chamber itself and the Capitol would be stormed by a lawless and violent mob. Now, the Senate can be the conscience of the Nation. Being elected three times as President pro tempore, I felt I was entrusted as one of many stewards of the time-honored norms and traditions which were passed down over the years, which helped build trust, which helped the Senate, when possible, to work through problems to get difficult things done and to allow the Senate, at its best, to rise to the occasion and serve as the collective conscience of the Nation. I have seen the importance of acts of grace and political self-restraint that make the Senate work. When I arrived here, bipartisan cooperation was the norm, not the exception. It was engrained in the fabric of what it means to be a U.S. Senator. Now, make no mistake, the Senate of yesterday was far from perfect. I came here in 1975, and I realize several of you were not old enough to vote at that time. In that body, there were still Senators who signed the Southern Manifesto, who filibustered landmark civil rights laws. It was a Senate of 99 people because there had been a tied race in New Hampshire. So I was sworn in to serve alongside 98 other men--all men, not a single woman out of 100--and I thought, boy, progress was a long way away. But the Senate I entered had one remarkable, redeeming quality: The overwhelming majority of Senators of both parties believed they were here to do a job, not just score political points or reduce debate oratory to bumper sticker slogans. Issues like budgets and farm bills and transportation bills had nothing to do with whether a Senator was a Republican or a Democrat; it was all about the nature of our home States. Now, no one would accuse Bob Dole or Ted Kennedy or George McGovern or Howard Baker or Paul Laxalt or so many others of being closet Democrats or closet Republicans, but each one of them understood that, to do our jobs the right way, we had to work together. And we did. Republican leader Senator McConnell and I have worked together on the Appropriations Committee. We passed our gavel back and forth on the Foreign Ops Subcommittee depending upon who was in the majority, and we worked together passing complex bills, but we worked with a sense of common purpose and respect and incredible productivity because we had that common purpose. Now, of course, that did not mean there weren't times when both sides fought like cats and dogs on the Senate floor, in an election campaign. That was understood. But there were unwritten rules that applied, quite different than they are today. Senators didn't engage in scorched-earth politics because they knew they would return the day after the election to a Senate that only worked if you found and stood on common ground. The person you battled today might be someone you need to work with on a different issue tomorrow. Now, I will share something easily forgotten but something I learned on the Agriculture Committee. I once overheard someone say in the cloakroom that they had been out driving in the middle of nowhere. Well, I thought to myself, if you are one of the people who live there, you know it is always the middle of somewhere. And that was a bit of a brainstorm. For years, I had been traveling, when Senate recesses allowed, to try to understand the world a little better, traveled to build some relationships with other leaders in other countries, allies and adversaries alike. From that very first codel onward, I found that almost without fail, when Senators of both parties travel together, their partisan differences dull and their shared perspective grows. You see a country, and you see the country through each other's eyes, not just your own. So Dick Lugar and I came up with a new idea: Let's have a codel here at home in the United States to help Senators understand that rural States--whether they are north, south, east, or west--had a lot in common, to make it clear that everywhere was somewhere and ``nowhere'' was just a place on a map you hadn't experienced yet. So we explored those States together, having codels in each of the States--Republican States and Democratic States--and would hear from the people there, but more importantly, we got to know each other. We all became invested in each other's success, legislative and personal. I fear those days may be gone, but I pray just temporarily because if we don't start working together more, if we don't know and respect each other, the world's greatest deliberative body will sink slowly into irrelevance and, Heaven forbid, become our own version of the House of Lords. I am especially proud of the work I have been able to do for Vermont and for Americans across the Nation. Our distinguished leader here, Senator Schumer, has heard more about Vermont than anybody from New York ever has, and I thank him--I thank him, as a lifelong Vermonter, for listening. Among them are things that came from Vermont--the organic standards and labeling act. It was first blocked because it would be crunchy granola. Well, it is a $60 billion industry in this country now. Some crunch. Some granola. We also enacted in this body the world's first ban on the export of anti-personnel landmines. I started off having three votes backing me, three or four votes. When it came to a vote--every desk carrying a publication I helped write--the vote was 100 to 0 across the political spectrum. I am very, very proud of that. There were decades of work here to protect our beloved Lake Champlain; supporting our farmers and forging new markets; revitalizing historic town centers across our State; greatly expanding the Green Mountain National Forest by more than 140,000 acres, protecting one of Vermont's and actually one of America's greatest treasures; and bringing resources to rebuild after disasters, from the devastation of Tropical Storm Irene to the ravage of the COVID pandemic. I can never thank enough the Senators of both parties who joined with me on that. The Leahy War Victims Fund is helping innocent victims of war across the globe. The Innocence Protection Act and the Kirk Bloodsworth Program facilitate use of DNA evidence to convict the guilty and exonerate the innocent. And there are the human rights protections of the Leahy Law. I will be forever grateful that I had an opportunity to be here to put those laws in place. We strengthened and extended the Violence Against Women Act. I was joined on that by colleagues on both sides of the aisle so we could do it, making it the act it is today. Then there is the work on the Voting Rights Act and the Freedom of Information Act, where I joined with a prominent Republican, and I as a Democrat said: Americans have a right to know what their government is doing no matter which party is in control of the government; a longtime effort to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba; and a landmark program to remediate toxic sites in Vietnam left over from the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam war and to care for those who were exposed. I thank the Presidents of both parties who backed me on doing that and brought relief to a country that so desperately needed it. We made our copyright laws more effective--the bill we were able to write updated the copyright laws for the first time in 50 years--and protected Americans' privacy from government overreach. I mentioned the strengthening of the Freedom of Information Act several times and in several ways. No matter what party we belong to, we ought to know what our government is doing. I have often been asked for the formula that I have used to get laws like these across the finish line. I must admit, I allowed a little bit of humor this morning at 1 or 1:30 when we filed the omnibus bill. I should probably release what I told Chairman Schumer. I do it very fairly. I treat every State the same, alphabetically starting with the letter V--no. Let me be serious for a moment in case anybody thinks that is what we do. We do it because Democrats and Republicans learn to work together, and each side knows that they don't get every single thing they want, but they can get most of the things the American people need. It is far more important that the American people are helped than any one of us individually. It feels like yesterday that I walked into my first meeting with the person who would become my first majority leader, ``Iron Mike'' Mansfield. The majority leader put a fundamental question to every new Senator: Why do you want to be here--for the title or to make a difference, to make lives better? Although he was a soft-spoken man who listened more than he spoke and rarely gave speeches on the Senate floor, Leader Mansfield dispensed one piece of advice that made as enduring an impression as the question he left to each Senator to answer for themselves. He said: ``Senators should always keep their word.'' And I think of that every single time I look at his portrait in the Mansfield Room. It struck me that across all those weighty debates, navigating the complicated and contradictory politics of a Senate and a caucus that included everything from--remember when I came in--social conservatives and segregationists to civil rights icons and prairie populists, Mansfield succeeded because he understood that the currency of the institution was actually trust, not ideology. ``Senators should always keep their word.'' It was a simple formula, but it worked. If you knew what commitments colleagues had made to each other, you could count the votes. If you could count the votes, you could set the agenda. If you knew the agenda, you could set the schedule. If you could set the schedule, you could pass legislation and still send the Senators home to be present in their States when it counted. And if 100 Senators were invested in keeping their word to one another, then together we could keep our word to this institution and to the Constitution. So, Mr. President, I am going to leave here with the satisfaction of knowing that I answered Leader Mansfield's question the best way I could, in keeping with my conscience, and that I did what I could to make a difference. And I leave here knowing above all that, right or wrong, difficult or easy, I kept my word to Vermont and to each of you. I want to thank my current staff and my staff throughout those 48 years. They have steadfastly stood by me and our shared goals to deliver for Vermonters, for Vermont, and for all of our country. I want to thank my family--our children, their spouses, our grandchildren, my parents, who were here with me to start this journey in my first Senate election, who I know watch over the entire Leahy family today, as do Marcelle's parents, who were also there. What a gift. What a gift to have had a mother and father who passed down to their children and grandchildren not privilege but a powerful example. One of the problems of being half Irish and half Italian is that sometimes your emotions get under you. And, of course, Marcelle. I was 19 and she was 17 when we met. I took one look at Marcelle, and I knew I wanted to go on every journey together. Sixty-three years later, we are still on that journey. She is still my closest friend, my partner, and my anchor. I have been uniquely blessed to have served with fellow Vermonters who share my deep love and commitment to Vermont: Senator Bob Stafford, Senator Jim Jeffords, Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Peter Smith, and, of course, Representative and now Senator-elect Peter Welch. I couldn't be more grateful that Congressman and Senator-elect Peter Welch will be carrying on after me with his own agenda. I might mention, you are going to like and respect your new fellow Senator. I think people will on both sides of the aisle. Our collective efforts are why in so many ways Vermont continues to set an example for the Nation to follow. Marcelle and I will leave with the same conviction that brought us to Washington in the first place: that the brighter horizons of tomorrow hold the hope of the future. I leave still carrying that same sense of reverence about the place I felt as a law student. I have had and still have so many ``pinch-me'' moments, and one of the last ones will be etching my name inside my desk. I will forever carry with me the enduring bond of my fellow Vermonters, whose common sense and goodness are what I have tried to match as their representative. ``What a place this is.'' I wrote those words in the margin of my legal pad as I rode back to our house late one evening after a very full Senate session last year when we were working out COVID relief for people who were still hurting. But what a place this is still. I wondered what this 82-year-old President pro tempore of the United States Senate would love to say to the 33-year-old version of myself nervously walking for the first time onto the Senate floor. The 82- year-old President pro tempore would say to that 33-year-old brand new Senator from Vermont: Don't lose that sense of awe, kid. Hold on to it. Treasure it. Don't even for a minute forget what a privilege and a responsibility it is to serve here. I have never forgotten. Sometimes when I drive past the Jefferson Memorial and I look at Jefferson in his marble rotunda, I am reminded of the tension that was and is America: imperfect people struggling to make reality out of ideals that they fail themselves to meet but always, always keep on trying. I think of my father, the self-taught historian. He loved to share with me the twists and turns of times gone by, not to lift up heroes as idols or point out their feet of clay but to find meaning and purpose in the journey. Only first-generation immigrants like my mother, whose parents had left homes where such journeys of change and redemption were not possible, could have such a gleeful appreciation for the fact that America wasn't a place but an idea--an idea of unmatched possibilities ever in search of its own perfection, for new and next generations to write. I have so loved the privilege of being even a small part of this story, America's story, and I have loved the privilege of working with giants and heroes here in this Chamber. I think of John Glenn and the Senate he represented. We came in together. I wonder what he would think of how we carried the baton that he passed on to the next generation. And then my mind flashes back to John's internment at Arlington National Cemetery. In the chapel where we gathered, at the end, the marine bugler played ``Taps.'' Imagine a somber feeling. He paused and then, completing a request that Senator Glenn had made himself but kept as a surprise, burst into ``Reveille.'' The mood in that chapel. That was John Glenn. There was a time to mourn and remember what was lost, but there was always another mission, another call to serve, another day. And that is how it has to be for every one of us--every one of us--in this Chamber. Yes, the Senate is broken in too many places. No, our institutions are not what Mike Mansfield, Hugh Scott, Gerry Ford, Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy, John Stennis, and Barry Goldwater knew them to be. But some of that change is good. A lot of it is tragic. It all is simply what it is. I tell my colleagues: You can point fingers, or you can point the way forward to something better. And that is America, isn't it? So I don't leave here today with a requiem for the Senate. I leave here with a recipe and request for its renewal--not taps, but reveille--always reaching, always repairing, never retreating, never retiring from the journey. America doesn't stop. The Senate just keeps turning. If we are lucky--if we are lucky--all of us get a chance to help tilt the trajectory forward. Just remember what Mike Mansfield said: Keep your word. Thirty years ago, I visited a refugee camp after a war in that country. I brought my cameras, as I do everywhere, so I can show people back in Washington the human toll of this issue. Always on visits like this, I would ask if it is OK to take someone's picture. To be a displaced person is to have endured enough without somebody invading your privacy. On this trip, a man encouraged me to take his picture. I looked at his worn, weary face with a rangefinder. We sat and talked afterward, and he said simply: Don't forget people like me. That black and white picture has hung above my desk for 30 years since. Every day I come to work, he is looking at me. He is saying: You don't know my name; you don't speak my language; there is nothing I can do to help you, but what are you doing to help people like me? Conscience--that is what people are hungry for governments to stand for. So now I am taking my ``conscience photo'' home with me, but I know that man's eyes will keep watching all of us and all of you. What a journey. What an abiding hope that someday after I am gone, the Senate and both parties will come back together and be the conscience of the Nation. You can build a Senate defined not by sound bites, but one strength in the women and men with a sense of history who insist our Republic move forward. For the sake of all those children and their children and all children and all Americans, it not only can be done, it has to be done. Serving with 400 different Senators has been an honor, but representing Vermonters has been the greatest honor. I am humbled and always will be by their support. I am confident what the future holds, but that is going to be up to all of you. I will submit a list of the staff that made it possible over the years for me to do this, people who deserve the credit for my accomplishment. I end with, to every one of my colleagues: Thank you. (Applause, Senators rising.) Mr. President, the Senate in a real sense is a family. I have come to know and work with so many staff members and their families, reporters and photographers, the Capitol Police--including the detail assigned to me in my current role--the Senate pages, and the many others whose work helps run and maintain this hallowed building. I have been blessed with talented aides who were drawn to public service for the right reasons--superb assistants like my current chief of staff, J.P. Dowd; legislative director Erica Chabot, who now assists Chairwoman Stabenow as the new staff director for the Agriculture Committee; my current legislative director, Sherman Patrick; my deputy chief of staff, Annette Gillis; my senior adviser, Kevin McDonald; my State director, John Tracy, and Chuck Ross, before him; my longtime chief foreign policy adviser, Tim Rieser; my longtime communications director, David Carle; my two top aides leading the Appropriations Committee staff, Charles Kieffer and Chanda Betourney; my press secretary on the Appropriations Committee, Jay Tilton; my chief counsel and staff director on the Judiciary Committee, Raj Venkataramanan; and Bruce Cohen and Kristine Lucius, my former chief counsels and staff directors on the Judiciary Committee; also former chiefs of staff Luke Albee, Ed Pagano, Ellen Lovell and Paul Bruhn; former deputy chief of staff Ann Berry, who now so ably serves as Secretary of the Senate; Clara Kircher was deputy chief of staff before her; and so many others. I will submit for the Record a full roster of those who have served on my staff over the years. Marcelle and I thank them all, and we will miss seeing them in the hallways and hearing rooms. I ask unanimous consent that the names of all those who served on my personal office and committee staff be printed in the Record.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, veterans make a valuable addition to any workplace. Vermont companies know this, which is why most employers in the State do their best to recruit former servicemembers. But some go far beyond others in their commitment to employing veterans. Darn Tough Vermont is one such company. Since the Darn Tough brand was created in 2004, consumer interest in the company's famous socks has steadily grown. This is because of the dependability and durability their products are known for. But the nearly 500 employees at Darn Tough, a disproportionately high amount of which are veterans, are what ensures this reputation. Darn Tough has always been committed to hiring veterans whenever possible. As a trusted supplier of the military, the company understands why it is former servicemembers stand apart from others when it comes to reliability, team orientation, and performing under stress. They know that hiring a veteran is not only a good thing to do; it is an excellent investment for an employer to make. This is why more than 7 percent of employees hired by Darn Tough over the last calendar year were veterans. In November, the U.S. Department of Labor recognized Darn Tough for its commitment to hiring veterans by awarding them a 2022 HIRE Vets Medallion ``gold tier'' Award. The award is given to a company who can show that 7 percent of the people it hired in a calendar year are veterans. It can also be awarded to companies who retain more than 75 percent of their annual veteran hires for 12 months or more. Darn Tough exceeded the Labor Department's award criteria in both of these areas. Meeting these benchmarks is doubly impressive, considering veterans make up only 4.7 percent of Vermont's civilian labor pool. I am always heartened when I learn of a Vermont business who receives honors for so clearly integrating Vermont's values into their operations, which is why I would like to recognize Darn Tough Vermont for leading the State in veteran's hiring and receiving the U.S. Department of Labor's 2022 HIRE Vets Medallion Award. Their commitment to producing the finest products and their demonstrated dedication to veterans make this company one truly worthy of our praise. I ask unanimous consent that an article from VT Digger on this achievement be printed into the Record.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Marcelle and I have been involved with a wonderful charity for more than 20 years, with Marcelle on its board for over a decade. Tracy's Kids helps children with cancer or blood disorders cope with the emotional toll imposed by their disease and its treatment. Tracy Councill, the heart and soul of that program and a woman who has made a difference in the lives of tens of thousands of patients, siblings, and parents, is retiring after 31 years. The following announcement by Matt Gerson, founder and president of Tracy's Kids, underscores the positive impact that she has made over the course of her career: ``Big News--Tracy is retiring from Georgetown after 31 years. Her service has been indispensable for the patients, siblings, and parents she helped guide through their darkest times. Her announcement is eliciting expressions of gratitude from the medical professionals with whom she served, and throughout the Art Therapy community she influenced. ``I recognized a long time ago that Tracy was put on this earth to do what she does. Because of the model that she developed at Georgetown, Tracy's Kids has fundamentally changed the standard of care for pediatric oncology in the region--and beyond. Her patience, compassion, commitment, and professionalism--along with that accent--have been invaluable to thousands of children and families. ``Tracy is as heroic to her admirers as better-known GOATs. Our Giant Of Art Therapy has trained and inspired generations of students who aspire to be as impactful. Grateful parents know that they could not have confronted the exhausting chapter of their lives without her. Part of her legacy will be paid forward by former patients who are now Art Therapists themselves--as well as the ones pursuing careers in art disciplines from jewelry making to film. ``She will still serve as the Tracy's Kids Program Director, and continue to teach, lecture, and publish on how to help kids and families develop strategies for coping with scary procedures, communicate with doctors and nurses, and express the fears that might lead to nightmares and social isolation. ``I knew nothing of Art Therapy when we met 25 years ago. If anything, I was a bit skeptical. But because of her, when you walk into a clinic served by Tracy's Kids you will likely see children with infusions in their arms, crayons in their hands and smiles on their faces. She has created environments where kids can just be kids--not `sick kids.' And because they feel so comfortable, patients and their siblings actually look forward to going to the clinic--a sentiment we hear over and over and find hard to believe each and every time. ``Please join me in wishing Tracy and Don the very best in their retirement and much success and enjoyment in the endeavors that lie ahead.'' Marcelle and I appreciate all she has done and also send Tracy and Don our best wishes.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, a continuing resolution to March 10 is short-sighted and wholly unnecessary. It imperils our national security, and it ignores the real pain and consequences of inflation. Without funding from a full-year omnibus appropriations bill, the NDAA we passed this evening is a broken promise, the bipartisan PACT Act goes underfunded, and VA medical care falls at least $7.5 billion short. While some of my colleagues are quick to raise the alarm about our southern border, a CR into March does nothing to address the influx of migrants at our border now. It does nothing to help communities ravaged by drought, hurricanes, flooding and fire. While families feel the pain of inflation, a CR into March does nothing to provide them with relief. We have a bipartisan, bicameral framework in place that should allow us to complete an omnibus appropriations bill early next week. A CR into March asks us to abandon our work without offering a different or viable alternative. I urge my colleagues to reject that proposal and allow us time to complete our work. Vote on Motion to Concur

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I am going to take the prerogative as President Pro Tempore to speak because I know the distinguished Republican leader has already spoken, and I, of course, would have yielded to him had he not. It is always hard to say goodbye to friends, especially one as good as Senator Shelby, and one with whom I will walk out of here arm in arm. But I would say that we have to think about the time when this body and Nation are as divided as ever, Senator Richard Shelby's tenure exemplifies a commitment to cooperation and fairness. I have seen that not only in his public life, and what we see on the floor, but I see it in meetings we have in his office or my office, quiet meetings between the two of us, knowing we will always keep our word. And so I would say at the conclusion of the 117th Congress, the Senate will lose a skilled leader and a true Senator of his word. That has been the way with our decades of service together. Senator Shelby's legacy, one marked by his intellect, his integrity, will undoubtedly persist in this body and throughout the country. My great mentor when I came here as the junior-most Member of the Senate was Robert Stafford of Vermont. Senator Stafford was Mr. Republican from Vermont, and he took me under his wing, and he said to me: Patrick, always keep your word, but you find you will be the best Senator if you learn to work across the aisle. You can work with people of integrity, both Republicans and Democrats, and you will find, among both parties, you will develop close friendships. But more than a fellow Senator, I am proud to consider Senator Shelby one of those great friends. The reference we have seen before to distinguished Republicans and Democrats--of course, we are all called distinguished Senators, but we consider in my family, in my house, some more distinguished than others but for different reasons. And a devotion to public service is ingrained in Senator Shelby's character. After he obtained his juris doctorate, Senator Shelby served as the Birmingham city prosecutor--I always like Senators who have been prosecutors--and an Alabama State senator. I never got elected--or the opportunity to be elected as State senator. But he began in 1978 his congressional career by serving Alabama's Seventh District in the House of Representatives, and for the last 36 years, Senator Shelby tirelessly served Alabamians in the Senate--a person when they think of whom they look to, they look to him. And he has been fortunate to serve with some very good Senators from his State that have been friends of mine, a couple on the floor today. He built an impressive resume. He served on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Intelligence Committee and the Banking Committee and the Rules Committee. And on the Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby fought to allocate Federal dollars to key institutions and infrastructure across Alabama, but he did it openly and honestly. He should take great pride in his reputation as a leader who has truly improved the lives of his constituents--something Senators should do. And as two of the most senior Members of the Senate, I worked alongside Senator Shelby for decades. We spent countless hours working to pass the annual appropriations bills. Together, we negotiated the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. And I remember, Senator Shelby, you and I sitting there and deciding: OK. We have an agreement ending the longest shutdown, and we told our leaders--a Republican leader and a Democratic leader--that we had worked out an agreement and here are the details. And they said, if you two have worked it out, that is good enough. And within hours, the longest shutdown ended--Senator Shelby coming on the floor announcing and me having the honor of joining him. We also share memories from traveling the world together on a variety of key diplomatic missions. Now, during that time, we had long discussions, candid discussions, open discussions. Thank God, discussions did not have a record, as we discussed what could be done better and should be done better in the Senate. We formed a great friendship. Our wives--his wife, Dr. Annette Shelby, my wife, Marcelle--also had that friendship. And Dr. Shelby was able to quietly give history lessons on every single place we went to and would have--you remember this, Senator Shelby. The Senators and spouses were with us of both parties and would just sit there and quietly listen to Dr. Shelby--Professor Shelby. This came in very handy once in a visit to Cuba, where the leader in Cuba, President Raul Castro, was looking at us with suspicion, concern. Dr. Shelby talked about the Cuban students she taught at Georgetown, and, you remember, the whole atmosphere changed, and we all got along well after that. I could say so much more, and I will later, but I wish both you, my dear friend, and Annette the best in the next role of life. I will miss you. This will not be the same place without you, and it makes my leaving here that much easier. I yield the floor.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I rise today to celebrate the 90th anniversary of World Learning, a nonprofit organization based in Brattleboro, VT, that is dedicated to building stronger human connections through people-to-people exchanges, international education, and global development programs. World Learning is more than Vermont's window to the world; it is its door. Its history is deeply rooted in the Green Mountains of southern Vermont. The organization is guided by our State's values of tolerance and interest in the world, living a purposeful life through serving others, and building communities by welcoming newcomers with empathy and dignity. I am proud that World Learning's impact extends well beyond Vermont. World Learning through its School for International Training--SIT-- administers more than 90 development programs in over 30 countries, teaching English to refugees, expanding STEM training opportunities, and increasing job opportunities for young adults from all backgrounds. World Learning's youth, academic, and professional exchanges bring over 2,000 emerging leaders annually to the U.S. from nearly 160 countries for degree and nondegree programs and professional development and networking opportunities. These programs build enduring ties between future leaders and their U.S. host communities and place American culture and values front and center. In 1932, World Learning--at that time known as the Experiment in International Living--established the first program in the country to enable young Americans to study abroad and engage in intercultural communication. Through the Experiment, students first lived in the homes of families from the countries where they studied. The then- radical idea, of the ``home stay,'' as the Experiment's founder Dr. Donald Watt put it, is how people would ``learn to live together by living together.'' In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the Experiment sent young Americans across the Atlantic to Western Europe as peacemakers to assist in rebuilding war-ravaged communities across the continent. These young Americans became our Nation's first generation engaged in international community service and international volunteerism. At the height of the Cold War, President John F. Kennedy asked young Americans to serve their country in the Peace Corps and build human connections and a greater understanding between nations and people. The Experiment was the inspiration behind the vision of international service by Kennedy and Sargent Shriver, the first Peace Corps Director. Shriver was a participant in the Experiment, traveling to Germany and Austria in 1934, and then leading other youth groups for the organization in 1936 and 1939. In 1964, another prominent innovator, Dr. John A. Wallace, founded SIT, an extension of the Experiment, and directed SIT until 1978. Jack was a good friend whose leadership at SIT built on the Experiment platform with programs that sent thousands of young learners around the world. Over time, World Learning has helped design and launch nearly 70 Peace Corps projects and train volunteers for service in more than 30 countries. The Experiment also rose to the challenge of supporting the U.S. State Department in the largest refugee training and resettlement program in history, assisting more than 250,000 South East Asian refugees at processing centers in Thailand and Indonesia. They led skills assessments, English language instruction, and cultural orientation training. They demonstrated once again the organization's steadfast commitment to building human connections, healthy communities, and peace. That commitment continues today, at World Learning's headquarters in the town of Brattleboro, where they welcome refugees and support their integration into communities around southern Vermont. As the first stop in Vermont for newcomers from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, World Learning brings together staff, faculty, alumni, and neighbors to offer language, cultural orientation, and friendship in a program that is a national model for effective refugee integration. I have covered a lot of history in these remarks. That is to be expected when one speaks about World Learning and its many contributions over the past 90 years. This is a time when the world needs what World Learning offers and does best. Many of the challenges we face in my State of Vermont are the same challenges seen in towns and provinces in countries around the world, such as climate change, resettling refugees, combatting infectious diseases, protecting democracy, and the list goes on. I am just one of many Vermonters who takes immense pride in World Learning's history of bringing people together to develop innovative solutions to shared challenges and to recognize our common humanity. I thank World Learning--its staff and faculty, alumni, and participants-- for their achievements and important ongoing efforts.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I will, but let me explain why. The bill offered by my colleague on the other side of the aisle is shortsighted and premature. We have been working on this omnibus for months. I would have been happy to, among the 50 or 60 Senators of both parties, if they had sat down and talked to me about what might be in it. I would have been happy to have heard from him, too, but I know he had other pressing duties and didn't have time to. But I am afraid it would unnecessarily punt our basic responsibilities even further down the road. Vice Chairman Shelby, Chair DeLauro, and I continue to trade offers and negotiate an omnibus spending bill with the Democrats and Republicans who have worked with us, and we believe we are close to a bipartisan, bicameral agreement. Reaching this agreement now is important for Americans in every State across the country. I know in my State of Vermont, in my hometown--my farmhouse in Middlesex, VT--it was 20 degrees. Next week, it is going to get colder. With the cost of natural gas and heating oil up more than 25 percent, families across my State are sitting down at their kitchen tables trying to figure out how they are going to afford to heat their homes and feed their families. Groceries are up more than 10 percent. They are making these decisions right now because they do not have the luxury of simply kicking the can down the road. They need assistance now, not months from now, if at all. They are not the ones who got the benefit from the huge Trump tax cut which increased the deficit but gave money to the highest level of income in our country. Reaching this agreement now is important because in my home State, opioid deaths are on pace to surpass last year's grim toll. I don't think there is a Senator on this floor who hasn't seen opioid deaths go up in their State. We have seen it throughout the country. And I am not going to stand in the way of blocking money that might help bring those opioid deaths down because Vermont is not alone in this fight against this scourge. You cannot name a State in this country, if they are honest, that is not facing this scourge. Communities across the country host grieving families and people struggling with addiction who need new resources now, not months from now, if at all. That is Republicans, Democrats, Independents, everybody. These communities are also pleading for resources to support State and local law enforcement. Having spent 8 years in law enforcement, I know what is needed. In fact, most of my friends on the other side of the aisle claim to support law enforcement. Well, if they really mean it, they should pass an omnibus agreement now, which would mean we could get more than 1,500 more police officers on the streets and provide law enforcement new and needed resources now, not months from now, if at all. Our Nation's veterans need us to act now. Everybody claims they are in support of them--as I am, as our Presiding Officer is, as most Senators are. If we do not do our jobs, the bipartisan PACT Act will go underfunded and VA medical care will fall at least $7.5 billion short. Our Nation's veterans deserve to have the promises we made them fulfilled now, not months from now, if at all. Victims of natural disasters like Hurricanes Ian and Fiona need us to act now. A continuing resolution would delay aid to these communities by at least 6 weeks. Now, this week, the Senate will pass the NDAA. It will receive bipartisan praise because of what it says for our armed services. Well, I would remind my colleagues that the NDAA makes many promises, but without an omnibus appropriations bill, it is a broken promise; $76 billion for national defense will be left on the Republican cutting room floor--$76 billion for national defense will be left on the Republican cutting room floor. I could take up the entire day talking about why this short-term CR is a dereliction of our sworn duty, a failure for the American people, a temporary solution that promises to run headlong into even more difficult problems. But I will end by saying that Vice Chairman Shelby, Chair DeLauro, and I are close to an agreement. The American people sent us here to do our jobs, not kick the can down the road, not make statements on the floor, but to do our work. So for these reasons, I object.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, in 1986, when much of Central America was embroiled in armed conflicts in which hundreds of thousands of people, overwhelmingly civilians, were killed, a group of parishioners from the Franconia, NH, Congregational Church established Americans Caring Teaching Sharing--ACTS. They traveled to Honduras to support peace and justice through community development, beginning in the small subsistence farming village of El Rosario in the highlands of northwestern Honduras. Since then, ACTS has become a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization involving hundreds of volunteers who have contributed thousands of hours to ACTS' mission of improving the lives of people in rural Honduras through community projects focused on basic healthcare, nutrition, sanitation, education, agriculture, and economic diversification. ACTS is governed and sustained by volunteers. Teams travel to Honduras several times a year, for a week or 2, to help move the projects forward. Over the years, the program has expanded to include about a dozen communities surrounding El Rosario. ACTS has developed a close working relationship with the villagers, who are the visionaries for progress. The villagers set the priorities and perform much of the labor. ACTS volunteers provide the technical skills, guidance, material resources, and hands-on help. The result has been a successful example of sustainable, community development in one of the most neglected, impoverished parts of the country. In addition to the Honduran communities in which ACTS supports projects, it has developed partnerships and associations with many U.S. and Honduran organizations, institutions of higher education, and foundations. I mention this to provide context and to highlight the extraordinary dedication and leadership of Dean Seibert, long-time resident of Norwich, VT, and professor emeritus at the Geisel School of Medicine, who has been affiliated with ACTS for over 20 years and led the organization for most of that time. He has visited El Rosario as team leader over 30 times. This year alone Dean traveled there three times. Some might find that remarkable, since Dean celebrated his 90th birthday in August. To those who know Dean, it wasn't remarkable at all. His enthusiasm and dedication are indefatigable. Dean has long had an interest in community development and the challenges of providing healthcare to people of different cultures and traditions. He has worked with the Tohano O'odum, Navajo, Hopi, and Pueblo tribes in the American southwest, and he provided care to flood victims in the Mosquito Coast area of Honduras after Hurricane Mitch, to war refugees in Albania, Kosovo, and Liberia, to earthquake survivors in Pakistan and Haiti, and to flood victims following the Indonesian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. He received the Albany Medical College Alumni Humanitarian Award and the Geisel School of Medicine John H. Lyons award for humanism in medicine. If that weren't enough, in the past year, Dean has played a central role in creating a new nonprofit, Honduran Tolupan Education Program-- Honduran TEP--devoted to building libraries and providing other basic services in half a dozen marginalized Tolupan indigenous communities in the mountainous province of Yoro. Honduran TEP is based on the recognition that literacy and access to educational resources are fundamental to enabling the Tolucan to develop their communities and defend against corrupt entities that threaten their cultural survival. In the Congress, we talk a lot about leadership, about what it means, about its importance. We talk about how the Senate can and should be the conscience of the Nation. When I think of Dean Seibert and what he has done in his life, how he has used his medical training and experience, combined with his commitment to social justice, for the betterment of others born into extreme poverty or victims of tragic losses, I can't think of a better example of leadership and conscience. For much of Honduras' modern history, the U.S. has propped up corrupt, abusive governments and provided their security forces with training and equipment to support poorly conceived strategies to combat drug trafficking and stop migration. The consequences for the Honduran people and Honduras' democratic institutions have been devastating. For the most part, it is not a history to be proud of. But all Vermonters should be proud of Dean Seibert and ACTS' and Honduran TEP's volunteers for showing a different face of America to the people of Honduras--a face of generosity, compassion, opportunity, and hope.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, in 1988, after speaking with Bobby Muller, a Vietnam veteran who was wounded and later founded the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation--VVAF--to help alleviate the suffering of Vietnamese and Cambodians who were badly injured in the war, I met with President George H. W. Bush and Secretary of State James Baker at the White House. At the time, the United States and Vietnam did not have diplomatic relations. Vietnam's economy had been devastated by the war, but the U.S. had a trade embargo against the country which remained in effect for another 15 years. There were many hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who had been severely disabled due to war injuries, with no access to rehabilitation services. President Bush and Secretary Baker and I agreed that it was in the interest of the United States to begin reconciling with Vietnam by addressing some of the worst legacies of the war and that the way to begin was to use what later became known as the ``Leahy War Victims Fund,'' administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development, to provide artificial limbs and wheelchairs to victims of landmines and other unexploded ordnance--UXO. That initiative, beginning in Vietnam, was expanded over the years to many other countries whose people have been harmed by armed conflict, and it continues to this day. One of the implementers of the Leahy War Victims Fund in Vietnam, starting in the early 1990s, has been Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped--VNAH--whose founder and president, Ca Van Tran, left Vietnam as a refugee in 1975 with hardly a penny to his name. Over many years, through hard work and perseverance, Ca became a successful businessman in the United States. After returning to Vietnam and seeing the ongoing suffering of people who had no access to prostheses or wheelchairs, he founded VNAH. Since then, VNAH has carried out successful projects in multiple provinces and was instrumental in working with the Vietnamese authorities to write Vietnam's disabilities law, the first of its kind in the country. Ca became a good friend to me and my wife Marcelle and to my staff. We have visited VNAH's projects in Vietnam, which now assist victims of Agent Orange as well as injured survivors of UXO accidents. The difference that Ca and VNAH's superb Vietnamese staff have made in the lives of the severely disabled and their families cannot be adequately described in words. People who lost one or both legs, who were crawling on the ground for years, finally received an artificial limb or wheelchair and their dignity restored. Parents, children, and siblings with cognitive and physical disabilities so severe they cannot speak, walk, sit up, feed, or clean themselves now have better care. In recent years, Ca has had to cope with his own health challenges due to separate motor vehicle accidents both of which were due entirely to the negligence of other drivers. At one point, his own mobility was limited to a wheelchair. Yet as soon as he was physically able and Vietnam relaxed its COVID restrictions, Ca went back there to explore ways to expand VNAH's activities. Ca has been an inspiration to me and to countless others in this country and in Vietnam. He overcame immense challenges as a refugee, and when he was financially able, he devoted his life to helping others far less fortunate. Although originally from the south, through sheer perseverance and dedication to helping others, he overcame the suspicions of the authorities in Hanoi. It is in no small measure thanks to Ca Van Tran and VNAH that the Leahy War Victims Fund became what it is today. As I prepare to retire after 48 years in the Senate, I want other Members of Congress to know about Ca Van Tran. He is an exceptional example of the life-changing difference that one compassionate, dedicated person has made to overcome some of the painful legacies of the war in Vietnam.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I have spent more than 30 years working to build closer relations with Vietnam, a country where 58,220 Americans and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese died in a war that never should have been fought. In 1975, as the newest member of the Armed Services Committee, I voted to end funding for the war, a vote that caused the largest newspaper in Vermont to predict that I would never be reelected. The citizens of Vermont reelected me seven times, and that vote is among the ones I am proudest of. The war was a disaster for both countries, and for 20 years after the war ended, the U.S. maintained a trade embargo against Vietnam which only formally ended in 1994, shortly before diplomatic relations were restored in 1995. That historic step toward reconciliation was due in large part to the advocacy of two American veterans, Senators John Kerry and John McCain, and the involvement of key Vietnamese diplomats such as Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Co Thach, and Nguyen Manh Cam. Since the late 1980s, the Congress has approved funding for a number of humanitarian programs in Vietnam to address the harmful legacies of the war. We have provided many hundreds of millions of dollars to locate and destroy landmines and other unexploded ordnance, to assist people with severe physical and cognitive disabilities resulting from UXO accidents and exposure to Agent Orange, to clean up former U.S. air bases contaminated with dioxin, and to help Vietnam locate and identify some of its hundreds of thousands of missing soldiers and civilians. Each of these initiatives has been carried out in close cooperation with the Government of Vietnam, including its Ministry of Defense. Next year, we will embark on a unique project to create new exhibits at Vietnam's War Remnants Museum, to tell the story of this postwar cooperation. These efforts have succeeded due to the vision and support of many people, including Bobby Muller who founded Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation--VVAF--and led the first group of American veterans back to Vietnam in 1981, President George H. W. Bush, and Sr. Lt. General Nguyen Chi Vinh. And they have opened the door to U.S.-Vietnam cooperation in many other areas, including higher education, public health, climate change, and regional security. I mention this for context and to highlight the key role played by one person who has remained out of the limelight. Thao Griffiths, a Vietnamese woman originally from the small rural community of Ha Giang in the isolated, ethnic minority region of Vietnam bordering China, deserves special recognition. Thao, a gifted student, was sent to school in Hanoi, graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, became a Fulbright Scholar and received her master's degree at American University in Washington, was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship, and for 9 years served as the first Vietnamese citizen and the first woman to direct VVAF's programs in Vietnam. I was introduced to Thao by Bobby Muller 17 years ago, and since then, she has become a trusted source of invaluable advice for me and my staff. Even more than that, she is a friend to me and to my wife Marcelle, who once had the exhilarating experience of riding around the city of Hanoi on the back of Thao's motor scooter. Anyone familiar with Hanoi traffic knows what that means. It would not be an exaggeration to say that none of the war legacy initiatives that have played such a central role in building a comprehensive partnership between the U.S. and Vietnam would have progressed as they have without Thao's constant encouragement and thoughtful advice. Fluent in English and a networker extraordinaire with unlimited positive energy, on a first name basis with many of Vietnam's top civilian and military leaders, academics and artists, and U.S. and foreign diplomats, Thao has helped build bridges between key players in both governments in ways that I doubt anyone else could have. For the past decade and a half, Thao has, more than anyone else, helped to smooth the way for the leaders of both governments to keep striving to deepen and expand our relations by overcoming distrust, bureaucratic obstacles, and cultural differences. Her efforts have had a profound and lasting impact on our relations, our mutual understanding, and on the lives of the Vietnamese and American people. This work has been among the things I am proudest of having had a role in during my 48 years in the Senate. On behalf of myself and my wife Marcelle, I want to express my deepest appreciation to Thao Griffiths for her invaluable help in making it possible.

Mr. LEAHY

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am worried that we are heading toward another unnecessary, manufactured crisis because our current government funding is set to expire in 8 days. So I want to take a moment and talk about how we got here, and the path forward. In fiscal year 2022, Leader McConnell required parity between defense and nondefense funding. This was a requirement that we met--Democrats and Republicans--and it provided the commonsense framework that allowed us to finish our work. Now, the Republicans have abandoned this framework, demanding steep cuts to programs that the American people rely on. The cuts will be more painful as inflation continues to squeeze pocketbooks. Heating, cooling, food, and housing--these costs are becoming more expensive. They have justified this change of tactics by claiming that Democrats spent $700 billion in reconciliation bills and that this should negate the need to provide parity to nondefense programs. Well, of course, there is an obvious flaw in that kind of reasoning. The spending that they are talking about was to meet an unprecedented crisis that killed more than 1 million Americans and threatened to collapse the global economy. Did people expect us not to defend Americans at that time? The bills were meant to get us out of the pandemic, get the Nation healthy, and get our economy back on track, and I believe they are accomplishing that goal. Would anybody say they wish we had not spent that money? They weren't meant to fund the basic functions of the American Government in fiscal year 2023; they were meant to take care of the dangers of the pandemic that killed 1 million Americans and threatened the collapse of the global economy. Now, we Democrats do agree with our Republican colleagues that inflation threatens the national security. We all agree on that. But nondefense programs face an equal threat and demand an equal response because of inflation, and if we have inaction on the Republican side, that threatens bipartisan priorities and programs--priorities and programs that both Republicans and Democrats support. Without an omnibus, the bipartisan CHIPS law--remember the CHIPS law? That passed this summer. It will help our country compete with China. Well, it won't be funded, and that competition languishes. And our promise to our veterans will be broken as the bipartisan PACT Act would go underfunded. VA medical care would fall at least $7.5 billion short. Without an omnibus, those who are opposing the omnibus or those who, by inaction, won't support getting an omnibus before us will defund the police by slashing assistance to local law enforcement and keep 1,500 police officers off the streets and out of our communities. In the face of a surge in domestic violence, it will be the inaction of those who are not helping us get an omnibus bill through that will leave the bipartisan reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act without the new funding it needs. Remember when I and others rewrote the Violence Against Women Act? We added the LGBTQ community, we added the Native American community, and we added money to go after those who are predators of children. Now, Republicans may want to blame Democrats for stifling the economy, but it is their position that will shortchange funding at our ports of entry and strangle the flow of commerce and the economy's ability to grow. You can have rhetoric, but then reality catches up. And you need the money to fund our ports of entry, or we all know the effect it will have on the economy. And if they do not join in this, it will be Republicans who turn their backs on small businesses by not providing the SBA with the resources it needs to help small businesses thrive. And sending men and women to the Moon, that funding is going to be delayed. For months, the Democrats have asked our Republican colleagues to join us at the negotiating table, and for months we were met with dead silence. At this very moment, my door and the doors of my staff are open. They can join us in this work at any time. Time is running out. We have to move forward. I have stayed here the past several weekends to be available for any kind of negotiations people want. So, to move this forward, I would hope we would have had a bipartisan bill on the floor by now. On Monday, Chair DeLauro of the House and I will introduce an omnibus bill that we believe is fair and bipartisan. It will fully fund defense at the NDAA level, and it will provide the needed increase to nondefense programs to both stave off inflation but especially to help the American people. And to show our good faith, we eliminated the so-called poison pill riders that Republicans have objected to, and we firmly believe this bill can and should earn the votes of at least 10 Republican Senators. So I think it is a reasonable path forward. The money runs out on December 16. I think it would help if my Republican friends accept yes for an answer. There is plenty in here for both Republicans and Democrats to declare a victory. But most importantly, the American people can declare victory. Each side will get a large part of what they want, but the most important part, the American people will get what they need. We should call this an American bill. It is not a Republican or a Democratic bill; it is a bill for America because if we don't do it, we are going to have a continuing resolution at last year's level, with no adjustments for inflation, with real-life consequences that would entail. I would hope no Republican wants that because if they do, we end up with a continuing resolution that lowers funds of everything from defense to nondefense programs. It damages our economy; it damages our defense; and they will have only themselves to blame. I would hope it won't be a case of who passes blame of a disaster but rather a case where we come together and say to America: You can declare victory. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. LEAHY

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