Barbara Mikulski

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Yes.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I come to the floor to join my colleagues in calling for equal pay for equal work for women. I just left the President of the United States. He is right up the street at the Sewall-Belmont House. This is the home of the National Woman's Party in which so much organizing and strategizing took place to get women the right to vote. The President is there to declare that building a national monument to commemorate the tremendous work that was involved in getting suffrage, under the Antiquities Act, and that is his right to create that. It is not only the building we want to preserve. It is not only the records of the battle for suffrage that we want to preserve and be able to display. It is what it stands for: the fact that women are included fully in our society. We had to fight every single day in every single way to be able to advance ourselves. Even when the men were in Philadelphia writing the Constitution, thinking great thoughts and doing great deeds, Abigail Adams was back in New England running the family farm, keeping the family together, and she wrote John a letter saying: Don't forget the ladies because if you do, we will ferment our own revolution. In our country, we call revolutions social movements where ordinary people organize and mobilize to accomplish great deeds to move democracy forward. It took us over 150 years to get the right to vote in 1920. We are coming up on the anniversary of suffrage, but it is not only that we got the right to vote, it is what that right to vote means. We wanted to be able to participate fully in our society. We wanted to be able to exercise our voice in terms of choosing leaders who will choose the right policies. Along the way, we have been advocating those policies. In 1963, working with the President, who was committed to civil rights, Lyndon Johnson, the equal pay for equal work act was passed as part of a great step forward in three major civil rights bills. We thought we had settled the issue, but, no, 50 years later we have only gained 19 cents--19 cents. At that rate, it will take us until 2058 to get equal pay for equal work. That is not the way it should be. We need to make sure we eliminate the barriers and impediments that allow this to keep happening. When we women fight for equal pay, we are often sidelined, redlined, pink-slipped, harassed, or intimidated. We are often confronted with: Why are you doing this? And then we are often harassed for doing it. People may say: Senator Barb, didn't you take care of that when you passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009. The Lilly Ledbetter legislation, of which I am so proud, has kept the courthouse doors open by changing the statute of limitations, but now we need to pass legislation to end the loopholes that are often strangleholds on women getting equal pay in the first place. I have legislation pending called the Paycheck Fairness Act. That Paycheck Fairness Act does three things. First of all, it stops retaliation for even sharing pay information in the workplace. Right now, if you ask, you are forbidden to tell, or get fired. If you ask, you are forbidden to tell, or get fired, or if you are a man working side by side with a woman and you want her to know that as a nurse, as a computer software engineer, what your pay is, and there is an opportunity, she could get fired and he could get fired. This is wrong. We also want to stop employers from using any reason to pay women less, such as he has a better education. Use the same education for the same job. We are willing to compete. We are out there. More women are in college. More women are Phi Beta Kappas. More women are getting ahead. Then we heard: He has to be paid more because he is the breadwinner. What are we, crumbs? If he wins the bread, we want to be winners too. Very often it is women in the marketplace who are now either the sole breadwinner or also a significant breadwinner, and the men or the partner they love says: We want you to get equal pay for equal work as well. So we don't want to hear: He is the breadwinner. We don't want the crumbs anymore. We want to be paid equal pay for equal work. We also want punitive damages for women who are discriminated against. Backpay alone is not a strong enough deterrent. I want my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to know they have ideas. One of my colleagues spoke on the floor earlier today. I have such admiration for her. She is a fine Senator, and she agrees with the thrust of the press conference we had. We have faced this in the past, where we share the same goal, but we differ on means. My means, I must say, are the way forward. These means are the way forward because they solve the problems. Of course, we will sit down and talk, have conversations, and see what we can do, but at the end of the day, we face this issue: It costs more to be a woman. Women pay more for everything. Women pay more in medical costs than men, given the same age and the same health status. Women pay a significant amount of money for childcare. Guess what. Women get charged more for dry cleaning. We have to pay more for our blouses being cleaned than men to have their shirts washed and pressed. We are tired of being taken to the cleaners. We want equal pay for equal work. Whether we are U.S. Senators, whether we are nurses or executive assistants or others, we want equal pay for equal work. We stand with the women's soccer team. They kick the ball around, but we are tired of being kicked around. So give us equal pay for equal work. Pass the Mikulski coeffort to get equal pay for equal work. I think we can then move forward. Why should our women go to the Olympics winning the gold, when they don't get paid the gold? So it is time for a change, time for a difference, and time for something we can do. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today not only to recognize the 104th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, but also the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scout Gold Award. The Gold Award is the most prestigious award in Girl Scouting, only comparable to the Boy Scouts of America's Eagle Scout recognition. Approximately one million Girl Scouts have earned this prestigious award. Girls who pursue their Gold Award aspire to transform an idea and vision for change into an actionable plan with measurable, sustainable, and far-reaching results. Since 1916, Gil Scouts have been planning and executing significant projects in response to pressing community needs. The Gold Award has inspired girls in Maryland and across the country to find greatness inside themselves and share their ideas and passions with their communities. I love the Girl Scouts. I loved being a Girl Scout, especially when working on my badges. Those badges I earned served as symbols for success, leadership, and service to my community. It was during my time as a Girl Scout that I learned about the values and attitudes that serve as good guides throughout life, like courage, confidence, and strong character to help make the world a better place. I also loved the camaraderie of working with other girls on various challenges. It really is about friendship. I am so proud to be among the more than 59 million women in the United States who are alumnae of the Girl Scouts of America. I could not have done it without the support of Ms. Helen Nimick, my Girl Scout leader. In fact, I wanted to grow up and be just like Ms. Nimick. She seemed to know how to do 43 different things with oatmeal boxes. The Girl Scouts is an organization that has meant so much to me, and to this country. What started out as a group of eighteen girls in Georgia organized by Juliette Gordon Low has grown into an organization of more than 2 million girls and women, with over 800,000 adult volunteers. When the Girl Scouts started, women were not allowed to vote or have property in their name, and only few ever made it to college. The founding of the Girl Scouts started a revolutionary movement to train and educate girls. Now, it is working to bring gender balance to leadership roles, whether it is in business or politics. I believe in that mission, and I know we can do it. While we have a long ways to go, we certainly have made progress. When I came to the Senate almost 30 years ago, there were only two women--Senator Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas and myself. Today, there are 20 women in the Senate! Nearly 45 years ago, there was only one woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company; now there are 23. I bring the lessons I learned from Girl Scouts with me to the United States Senate, every day and in every way. I love the Girl Scout promise: ``To serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout law.'' To this day, I still carry the Girl Scout law in my wallet. I believe that if you follow the Girl Scout law, you're in pretty good shape--it has certainly worked for me. ``I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and what I do, and to respect myself and others, to respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout, and a sister to every Boy Scout.'' While I am in the Senate now, in many ways I am still working on my badges. But instead of working on my cookie badge, the badges I am working on now are called ``ending gender discrimination in health care,'' ``guaranteeing equal pay for equal work,'' and ``promoting access to quality and affordable child care.'' In today's hectic and increasingly uncertain world, Girl Scouts are more important than ever before. The Girl Scouts are an important contribution to American society--they prepare the leaders of tomorrow, and every day they inspire millions across this country to make the world a better place. Ladies, let us put on our badges, square our shoulders, suit up, and work together to make a change.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an issue that is of the utmost importance to me, Marylanders, and American families-- college affordability. I have said this often, but we in this country enjoy many freedoms: the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and the freedom of religion. But there is an implicit freedom our Constitution does not lay out in writing, but its promise has excited the passions, hopes, and dreams of people in this country since its founding. It is the freedom to take whatever talents God has given you, to fill whatever passion is in your heart, to learn so you can earn and make a contribution to society--the freedom to achieve. The freedom to achieve should never be stifled in this country because of economic reasons. Your freedom to achieve should never be determined by the zip code you live in, by the color of your skin, or by the size of your family's wallet. It should be, in a democratic country, that everyone has access to be able to do that. That means affordable education. That means access to the opportunity ladder that students and families can count on, because we know a degree is something that no one can ever take away from you. When I was a young girl at a Catholic all-girls school, my Mom and Dad made it very clear that they wanted me to go to college. But, right around graduation, my family was going through a rough time because my father's grocery store had suffered a terrible fire. I offered to put off college and work at the grocery store until the business got back on its feet. My Dad said, ``Barb, you have to go. Your mother and I will find a way, because no matter what happens to you, no one can ever take that degree away from you. The best way I can protect you is to make sure you can earn a living all of your life.'' My father gave me the freedom to achieve. When it comes to higher education, I believe in choice and opportunity. Anyone willing to work hard has a right to learn so you can get a college degree or certificate. Millions of American students are graduating colleges and universities, but as they are handed their diplomas, they are being handed a lifetime of debt. More than 58 percent of Maryland college students have taken on an average debt of $27,000 or more. Having this debt is like a first mortgage, making it hard to buy a home, start a business, or a family. I am worried about them, as should the rest of us, and what it means for their future. College is a part of the American dream; it should not be a part of the American financial nightmare. That is why, over the last several months, I embarked on a college affordability tour across the state of Maryland. I wanted to find out what were some of the challenges students faced when it came to college. I wanted to know how the Federal Government can help them be successful. The stories I heard were poignant, and were likely ones that everyone in this chamber has heard time and time again. I met a bright young woman last year. She had the financial support of her parents to attend college. Unfortunately, during her sophomore year, her mother--who was a nurse--lost her job. To make sure she could still go to college, her family made the decision to dip into their retirement savings to help pay. This goes to show that her family knew how important it was that she continue her education. Even with this additional financial support, she still had to rely on Federal financial aid to pay for books. Or the young man who is the first in his family to go to college. He hopes he is not the last. He would not be where he is today had it not been for a strong support system in high school through participation in a college bound program that gave him the opportunity to be exposed to college classes. While he came to college academically prepared, he still needed help navigating our complex Federal financial aid system. This is just a small sample of the stories I heard. But they all say the same thing: ``We need help.'' Many students and families are stressed and stretched, having to work and save to pay for college. They want to know what Congress is doing for them. They need a Federal Government that is on their side. Student loan debt is more than $1.3 trillion, exceeding total credit card and car loan debt, and eclipsed only by mortgage debt. Family incomes are not keeping pace with inflation, which means they are less able to help with the costs of higher education. Getting a college education is the core of the American dream. Let us continue to fight to make sure that every student in America, whether you are in rural Eastern Shore or in big cities like Los Angeles, has access to that dream. Let us work together to make sure that when students graduate, their first mortgage is not their student debt. Carrying the burden of student loans drags down young people's financial future, making it harder to buy a home, start a family, or save for retirement. It is my belief that this bill--the In The Red Act--will make college a reality for millions of Americans. I am pleased to see that provisions in this bill would allow eligible student borrowers the opportunity to refinance their Federal loans. I believe that if you can refinance a yacht, you should be able to refinance your student loans. This will help more than 24 million students in the United States, including more than 800,000 student borrowers in Maryland. I am also pleased to see that this bill increases Pell Grants to keep pace with rising costs. This will ensure that college students, who rely on Pell Grants, can pay for tuition, books, room and board, and other living expenses like child care. The In The Red Act is absolutely a great bill for students, and it is a great bill for America. It gives our students access to the American dream. It gives our young people access to the freedom to achieve, to be able to follow their talents, and to be able to achieve higher education in whatever field they will be able to serve this country. It is my hope that we come together to pass this bill in a swift, expeditious, and uncluttered way. While our work is not done when it comes to ensuring access to affordable higher education, this bill helps us get there. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this issue forward.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an issue that is of the utmost importance to me, Marylanders, and American families-- college affordability. I have said this often, but we in this country enjoy many freedoms: the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and the freedom of religion. But there is an implicit freedom our Constitution does not lay out in writing, but its promise has excited the passions, hopes, and dreams of people in this country since its founding. It is the freedom to take whatever talents God has given you, to fill whatever passion is in your heart, to learn so you can earn and make a contribution to society--the freedom to achieve. The freedom to achieve should never be stifled in this country because of economic reasons. Your freedom to achieve should never be determined by the zip code you live in, by the color of your skin, or by the size of your family's wallet. It should be, in a democratic country, that everyone has access to be able to do that. That means affordable education. That means access to the opportunity ladder that students and families can count on, because we know a degree is something that no one can ever take away from you. When I was a young girl at a Catholic all-girls school, my Mom and Dad made it very clear that they wanted me to go to college. But, right around graduation, my family was going through a rough time because my father's grocery store had suffered a terrible fire. I offered to put off college and work at the grocery store until the business got back on its feet. My Dad said, ``Barb, you have to go. Your mother and I will find a way, because no matter what happens to you, no one can ever take that degree away from you. The best way I can protect you is to make sure you can earn a living all of your life.'' My father gave me the freedom to achieve. When it comes to higher education, I believe in choice and opportunity. Anyone willing to work hard has a right to learn so you can get a college degree or certificate. Millions of American students are graduating colleges and universities, but as they are handed their diplomas, they are being handed a lifetime of debt. More than 58 percent of Maryland college students have taken on an average debt of $27,000 or more. Having this debt is like a first mortgage, making it hard to buy a home, start a business, or a family. I am worried about them, as should the rest of us, and what it means for their future. College is a part of the American dream; it should not be a part of the American financial nightmare. That is why, over the last several months, I embarked on a college affordability tour across the state of Maryland. I wanted to find out what were some of the challenges students faced when it came to college. I wanted to know how the Federal Government can help them be successful. The stories I heard were poignant, and were likely ones that everyone in this chamber has heard time and time again. I met a bright young woman last year. She had the financial support of her parents to attend college. Unfortunately, during her sophomore year, her mother--who was a nurse--lost her job. To make sure she could still go to college, her family made the decision to dip into their retirement savings to help pay. This goes to show that her family knew how important it was that she continue her education. Even with this additional financial support, she still had to rely on Federal financial aid to pay for books. Or the young man who is the first in his family to go to college. He hopes he is not the last. He would not be where he is today had it not been for a strong support system in high school through participation in a college bound program that gave him the opportunity to be exposed to college classes. While he came to college academically prepared, he still needed help navigating our complex Federal financial aid system. This is just a small sample of the stories I heard. But they all say the same thing: ``We need help.'' Many students and families are stressed and stretched, having to work and save to pay for college. They want to know what Congress is doing for them. They need a Federal Government that is on their side. Student loan debt is more than $1.3 trillion, exceeding total credit card and car loan debt, and eclipsed only by mortgage debt. Family incomes are not keeping pace with inflation, which means they are less able to help with the costs of higher education. Getting a college education is the core of the American dream. Let us continue to fight to make sure that every student in America, whether you are in rural Eastern Shore or in big cities like Los Angeles, has access to that dream. Let us work together to make sure that when students graduate, their first mortgage is not their student debt. Carrying the burden of student loans drags down young people's financial future, making it harder to buy a home, start a family, or save for retirement. It is my belief that this bill--the In The Red Act--will make college a reality for millions of Americans. I am pleased to see that provisions in this bill would allow eligible student borrowers the opportunity to refinance their Federal loans. I believe that if you can refinance a yacht, you should be able to refinance your student loans. This will help more than 24 million students in the United States, including more than 800,000 student borrowers in Maryland. I am also pleased to see that this bill increases Pell Grants to keep pace with rising costs. This will ensure that college students, who rely on Pell Grants, can pay for tuition, books, room and board, and other living expenses like child care. The In The Red Act is absolutely a great bill for students, and it is a great bill for America. It gives our students access to the American dream. It gives our young people access to the freedom to achieve, to be able to follow their talents, and to be able to achieve higher education in whatever field they will be able to serve this country. It is my hope that we come together to pass this bill in a swift, expeditious, and uncluttered way. While our work is not done when it comes to ensuring access to affordable higher education, this bill helps us get there. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this issue forward.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to honor the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman on Harriet Tubman Day. Harriet Tubman is a true trailblazer and one of the most inspiring people in the history of our Nation and in the history of the State of Maryland. Tubman was born into slavery around 1822 in Maryland's Dorchester County on the Eastern Shore. After 30 years of enslavement, she escaped. But instead of staying up North with her newfound freedom, she returned to the Eastern Shore 13 times to lead her family and hundreds of other slaves to freedom, becoming the most well-known ``conductor'' of the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was such a central figure in liberating slaves that many simply knew her as Moses. In addition to her work liberating slaves through the Underground Railroad, Tubman served as a Union scout and spy during the Civil War. She was the first woman to lead an armed expedition, guiding the raid at Combahee Ferry and liberating 700 slaves. After the war, she became an active leader in the women's suffrage movement and opened a home to serve the aging African-American community in her new hometown of Auburn, NY. In 2014, Congress established the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, which creates a National Park on Maryland's Eastern Shore dedicated to tracing Tubman's early life and work leading the Underground Railroad. Congress also established the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, NY, which will commemorate her later years as an active participant in the women's suffrage movement and a caregiver for aging African Americans. I am proud that Congress has recognized Harriet Tubman's lifelong dedication to our country through the establishment of these two national parks. We must continue to tell the stories of heroes like Harriet Tubman, amplify the voices of more women and people of color, and make sure they are equally represented in our national parks and monuments. I also urge Secretary Lew to include Harriet Tubman's portrait on our currency as the U.S. Department of the Treasury redesigns the $10 bill. As Harriet Tubman said, ``Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.'' It is my hope that, as we commemorate this Harriet Tubman Day, we can all follow Harriet Tubman's example and work together to change the world for the better.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, Senator Cardin of Maryland, my colleague, and I are here on the floor today to ask that two nominations for the Federal bench, the district court, be confirmed. They are the next two judges in line on the Executive Calendar for the Federal district courts. One is Mr. Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr., a highly qualified nominee from the State of Tennessee. The other is Ms. Paula Xinis from our own State of Maryland, a brilliant, talented lawyer who also is ready to be confirmed. Both have been approved by the Judiciary Committee. Mr. Crenshaw was approved in July and has been waiting for a vote. Ms. Xinis was approved by the Judiciary Committee in September. So it has been more than 6 months to allow Senators to be able to evaluate the excellent work done by the Judiciary Committee on whether these nominees should be confirmed. We think it is time that the full Senate did its job and gave these two outstanding candidates for the bench a vote. Therefore, I come to the Senate floor with Senator Cardin and I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar No. 215 and Calendar No. 307; that the Senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on these nominations in the order listed; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nominations; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, why am I here today on the floor asking for these two nominations to be confirmed? They are the next two judges in line on the Executive Calendar for our Federal district courts: Waverly Crenshaw, Jr., a highly qualified and talented nominee from the great State of Tennessee; and Paula Xinis, nominated from my State of Maryland. Both Mr. Crenshaw and Ms. Xinis have been waiting for months to have their day and get their vote. Mr. Crenshaw has been waiting since July, Ms. Xinis since September. I think 6 months is enough time to provide our advice and evaluate these nominees. It is time to do our jobs and give these candidates a vote. I urge the Republicans to allow these nominations to move forward. We are easily on pace to be the least productive Senate in recent history. Last year Republicans confirmed the fewest judges in almost 50 years: a total of 11 in 2015. Since Republicans took over the Senate the number of judicial emergencies has nearly tripled, which leaves courts overworked and understaffed. Now some Republicans say there is precedent for their obstructionism. Some Republican Senators have tried to fudge their numbers, saying the judges confirmed during our lameduck session at the end of 2014 should count toward their abysmal numbers for 2015. Well, what about those numbers? I didn't realize that's how the Senate worked: that we take credit for work that others did. Some Republican Senators specifically asked for lameduck passage of their nominees. They didn't want to wait for the next Congress--but they're stalling now, before we are even in lameduck. They are already talking about stopping nominations with 9 months left to do work. A lack of judges has real consequences for the American people. Due to our constitutional protections, criminal trials must happen with a ``speedy and public trial.'' What does this mean in our courts? Criminal trials end up prioritized, protecting those charged with crimes, but civil trials are put on hold--sometimes for years--while we wait for judges to have time for them. What does this mean for the American people? Judges spend less time on cases, judges have to encourage cases to settle instead of getting their day in court, judges have to encourage defendants to consider plea deals rather than wait out a lengthy trial process. Justice delayed is justice denied, which is what is happening around our country right now. For Marylanders to receive their day in court, we need Judge Paula Xinis to be on the bench. I was extremely proud to nominate Paula Xinis to President Obama with Senator Cardin. She is a brilliant litigator and public servant. When I consider nominees for the Federal bench, I have four criteria: absolute integrity, judicial competence and temperament, a commitment to core constitutional principles, and a history of civic engagement in Maryland. Ms. Xinis exceeds these criteria. She has dedicated her career to the rule of law. The persistence and character she has shown in advocating for her clients and in her activities in the community make her truly an outstanding nominee. She has a deep respect for the law and what it means to every American. She will ensure that everyone who comes before her truly feels that they have been heard and have received equal justice under the law. It is absolutely critical that we have judges in our courts to make sure that the judiciary is strong, independent, and that all Americans get their days in court. The President has made dozens upon dozens of judicial nominations. Now the Senate must do its job. Enough time has passed on these two nominees. It is time to have our say. I do not take this duty lightly, but I will do my job. I carefully evaluate nominees and render an independent judgement based on my commitment to core constitutional principles. These candidates deserve timely hearings and timely votes. We have had the hearings. We have had plenty of time to evaluate their merits. Now is the time to vote. Mr. President, I would like to compliment once again my very able colleague from Maryland for his statement, in which he laid out facts and he laid out the historic precedent, and I want to associate myself with those remarks. I also want to add that I am really frustrated. I am so frustrated that, No. 1, President Obama doesn't get to be President Obama. His job as President is to nominate competent people for an independent branch of government, the Federal judiciary. He did his job. Then it came to the Senate. Really, we thank the Judiciary Committee because they did hold a hearing and did their due diligence to examine the worthiness of whether these nominees should be brought to the Senate. Do they have the judicial temperament? Do they have the judicial experience? Are they of sound character to truly be independent and render impartial justice, which our Constitution mandates? The Judiciary Committee said yes. It comes to the Senate on something called the Executive Calendar. That is Senate-speak for the nominating calendar. It means they are on the calendar, waiting their turn to have a vote, but this is just a slowdown. We don't want to be in a showdown here. I didn't bring this up with Senator Cardin to disrupt consideration of the opioid bill. We have a terrible problem in Maryland with opioids and heroin. We are for this bill. We are for bipartisan action, but we are driven to taking action, asking for unanimous consent because we are not getting action. I would have yielded to a compromise if the gentleman from Texas, himself a member at one time of the Texas Supreme Court, had said: How about Mr. Crenshaw first and Ms. Xinis after the break that will be coming up? You know, we are like college kids; we get spring break. Well, we would agree to that. All we are looking for is for Mr. Crenshaw, who was on the calendar before Ms. Xinis, to go first. We are not pushing, but we are persistent. All we want is a time certain when we could get a vote on Ms. Xinis. We are now in the business of discouraging people from coming into public service. They are willing to put their career on hold and their life on examination to be able to serve on the Federal bench or other nominations. She did it. Our nominee did it. She is in a law firm. Her career is on hold. We also have Ms. Stephanie Gallagher, who is a Federal magistrate judge, waiting for a hearing. What are we doing here? People are finally going to say: I don't want the hassle. I don't want the harassment. I don't want to go through all this just to wait, wait, wait, wait. The Senate needs to move in an orderly way. When a nominee has been moved through the process, nominated by the President, gone through the due diligence of the Judiciary Committee, and is waiting, I think we ought to do it. I think we ought to take a couple of days and just vote on these nominations. I believe our courts are overwhelmed. There are backlogs in the courts. There are people waiting for their ability to have a trial. We need good judges. We need to be able to make sure that the people are willing to serve and they have the credentials, the judicial temperament, and the character to serve. We need to be able to at least give them a vote. Now, if you don't like the Obama nominees, vote them down. Vote them down, but don't slow down the process. We have a constitutionally mandated process. Let's follow it. Let's do our job. We have Mr. Crenshaw and Ms. Xinis. We are happy to have Mr. Crenshaw go first, but we sure would like a date for Ms. Xinis. We call out to our colleagues to give us a date, give us a vote. Give it to us now.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I am in strong support of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act and its supplemental funding amendment. I have to say I wish we weren't in this position today. I wish we didn't have a persistent and growing drug epidemic in this country that is ravaging our communities and tearing apart our families. The issue of opioid abuse and heroin addiction is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is an American issue. It touches every corner of our society: wealthy, middle class, and poor; rural, urban, and suburban; moms, dads, children, and grandchildren; our friends and our neighbors. It is devastating that today more Americans are dying from drug overdoses than from car accidents. In looking at the facts, there are two things we can point our finger to: prescription opioid painkillers and heroin. Prescription opioids are increasingly to blame for overdose deaths. These drugs include hydrocodone, oxycodone, and morphine, to name a few. Their numbers are hard to believe--in 2014, 6.5 million Americans over the age of 12 abused controlled substance medications. The second factor, heroin, is even worse in what it has done to our Nation. Heroin use has increased 79 percent nationwide in just 5 years. These two factors are connected. When people are injured and prescribed painkillers, what is given as help for pain can easily become an addiction. These painkillers are frequently and liberally distributed by medical practitioners for all kinds of issues--acute pain, PTSD, recovery from surgery, recovery from accidents, the list goes on. However, when those prescriptions run out but the addiction has already set in, people turn to heroin for their fix. Why heroin? Heroin provides similar effects to the drugs they are already taking, is highly addictive, and readily available on the street. It is also incredibly inexpensive--$10 or less for a hit. When you have something like that at your disposal, it is not hard to see how people can continue their addictions to the point of dying. Every day, 120 Americans are dying as a result of drug overdoses. It is time to take a hard look at what we can do to fight back and stop these drugs from taking over our communities. I look to my home State as a prime example. In my home State, we recognize that heroin and opioid abuse are serious problems that must be addressed. In recent years, deaths from heroin have risen 88 percent. In 2014 alone in Maryland, we had 578 heroin-related deaths and 1,070 drug-overdose deaths. This problem reaches to the far ends of my State. I met a woman on the Eastern Shore of Maryland who lost everything when one of her family members became addicted to opioids. He resorted to stealing from his family and their family store, and they ended up declaring for bankruptcy because of his addiction and the consequences of it. They lost everything due to one member's addiction, and I can't imagine the strength it took to try to put their family back together after all that. We have all heard stories of friends, neighbors, and family that have faced addiction. Some have lost that battle; some have made it to recovery and continue to fight every day. There are examples everywhere in our community of both those who have lost their fight and those who, with the help of family and community, have put their lives back together. When thinking of this problem in Maryland, many people's minds go directly to Baltimore. I can understand why--Baltimore was once characterized as the ``heroin capital'' of the U.S. It, too, has battled this problem for too many years, with insufficient results to show. In 2014 alone in Baltimore, 303 people died from drug and alcohol overdose. That is more than the number of people who died from homicide. Today in Baltimore, we have 60,000 people addicted to opioids. That is 1 in every 10 residents of the city. Baltimore has the highest rate of heroin addiction in the country and many more who are abusing prescription opioid medication. While people like Dr. Leana Wen, the director of the Baltimore City Department of Health, have been actively taking steps to turn the tide, there are many more out there who would see this problem continue so they can profit off of it. But this problem is not just about Baltimore, nor is it just about drug addiction. Widespread addiction leads to other problems in society. Addicts commit crime to get money in order to get drugs, like theft and fraud. Gangs are trafficking and selling these drugs to those who haven't been able to quit. The worst of our society is brought out because of these drugs and their effects, and those effects are being seen in every corner of my State and every level of society. As I have traveled around Maryland meeting with county executives, every single one talked about the problem of heroin and opioid abuse. Both Republicans and Democrats have told me time and time again, they can't solve this problem themselves. They have asked me to help. They need multiple resources to fight. They need everyone standing up saying, ``enough is enough.'' It is time to take back our communities, and we can start with this bill and its supplemental funding. This bill does five things that I think will really help us start going in a more positive direction. First, it expands prevention and educational efforts to prevent opioid abuse and promote treatment and recovery. Second, it expands the availability of lifesaving options to provide for first responders and law enforcement to save lives and reverse overdoses. Third, the bill expands the resources to treat those already in prison who are suffering from addiction and look at alternatives to incarceration for those arrested with substance abuse issues. Fourth, it strengthens programs to monitor prescription drugs to cut down their widespread misuse and expands disposal sites for unwanted medication to keep it out of the hands of our children. Last, it creates an interagency task force with experts in all fields to look at the best practices for prescribing painkillers. I would like to add that I also support the Shaheen supplemental funding amendment. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act is the authorizing bill here. It makes the promises for services to help Americans in need through education, prevention, and treatment across geographical and economic lines. The Shaheen supplemental amendment is the appropriations that cuts the check for the services. It is tailored to the bill, providing $240 million to the Department of Justice and $360 million to the Department of Health and Human Services. Both the bill and its amendment are needed to get help to Americans and to Marylanders who don't have the resources to solve these problems on their own. We can't enforce our way out of this, and this bill recognizes that. We must look at it from the standpoint of addiction and mental health services as well. The impact that addiction has had on our society has created an urgent and desperate situation. Both this bill and its funding need to be passed immediately. As chair and vice-chair of the Appropriations Committee, I have fought very hard to get funding in the Federal checkbook to help combat this epidemic. Through a bipartisan effort in the fiscal year 2016 omnibus, we were able to secure record funds to combat drug abuse and provide services to Americans. As vice chair of the Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee, cracking down was a priority in the omnibus bill. We provided $2.45 billion for the Drug Enforcement Agency, who targets and dismantles criminal narcotics activities and regulates and combats prescription drug abuse. This was a $52 million increase over fiscal year 2015. The Department of Justice received $7 million for anti-heroin task forces, $12 million for residential drug treatment grants, $13 million for prescription drug monitoring grants, and $42 million for drug courts. Additionally, we were able to allocate significant funds for treatment and recovery of substance abuse disorders, including instituting some new programs. Funds include: $70 million for the CDC Prescription Drug Overdose Prevention program, more than triple the Fiscal Year 15 level; $12 million for new Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, grants to equip first responders with overdose-prevention drugs; $5.6 million for new CDC funding for heroin surveillance; $10 million for new SAMHSA funding to promote prevention strategies; and $25 million for SAMHSA medication- assisted treatment programs. We recognize that our veterans can suffer more than most in opioid abuse, whether from injuries sustained in combat or mental health issues when they return. In further protecting our veterans, we added reforms at the Veterans Administration. These include adopting the CDC guidelines for safe opioid prescriptions for chronic pain, protections against double-prescribing, establishing a working group focused on opioid therapy, ensuring all facilities are prepared with opioid blocking drugs, and providing training to all employees that prescribe controlled substances. Lastly, we required a multiagency report on heroin from the Department of Justice and 25 other Federal agencies. This report included recommendations and best practices for combating this crisis in our country. These experts said that there is hope to mitigate the issue, but that law enforcement and public health must work together to educate and intervene with effective treatments. They gave us a road map to take action, and several of their recommendations can be found in this bill. The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act is a first step toward stemming the tide of the harm that opioids and heroin have wreaked on our country. Along with the appropriations supplemental from Senator Shaheen, it will provide immediate action and a comprehensive response. Unfortunately, my colleagues voted against this amendment, meaning we have to wait another day to put money for these expanded services in the Federal checkbook. This bill recognizes that the problem won't be solved just by the Federal Government or local governments acting alone. We must come together with a multipronged solution working on all levels of government and including our allies in the public and private sector. We all share the same goal in this instance. We must do more and do better to reduce prescription drug abuse, to help those struggling with addiction, to keep heroin and opioids out of the hands of children, to stop those who are trafficking and selling these dangerous drugs, and to better train and equip those on the front lines of this battle to save lives. I urge the adoption of this bill and I pledge to do my best to provide the Federal funding needed in the appropriations bills for fiscal year 2017. Vote Explanation

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to speak in morning business on an issue before the American people, and that is the Supreme Court vacancy. I rise today to express my very deep, deep disappointment in my Republican colleagues for vowing to block President Obama's nomination--vowing to block President Obama's nominee for filling the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Each and every Senator serving in this Chamber was elected by the American people, and we took an oath to uphold the Constitution. In this matter, the Constitution is very clear. Article II, section 2 says the President ``shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint . . . Judges of the supreme Court.'' It doesn't say the President only has an hour and a half left. It doesn't give a time limit to the President. If you are a President and you have a 4-year term, you have the authority and duty to exercise your obligations under the Constitution for a full 4 years, and the Senate has a duty to provide advice and consent. There are no waivers for election years. I urge my colleagues: Do your job. Follow the Constitution and live up to the Constitution. The Constitution doesn't say: In an election year, delay, delay, delay. The word ``delay'' doesn't even appear in the Constitution, in the hope that one day you will get your way. Republicans have said that the Senate must wait until the people have spoken by electing a new President in November. The American people have spoken. They elected President Obama in 2008, and they reelected him in 2012. Barack Obama is our President from now until noon on January 20, 2017. If the Founders wanted a 3-year term for the President, they would have written that in the Constitution, but they mandated 4 complete years. Now the other party wants to deny the President the legitimacy and authority of his office. Even George Washington had his nominee considered during a Presidential election year and had three of his candidates confirmed. What was good enough for the first Congress under George Washington should be good enough for this Congress now under President Obama. President Obama and I will both be closing our offices in January of 2017, but that doesn't mean we are done working for the American people today. There is a lot of work to be done. President Obama has the constitutional duty to submit a nomination in order to fill the vacancy left with Justice Scalia's passing. This duty is not suspended in an election year. The Constitution is clear about the President's authority. The President must fulfill his duty, and we must do our job. The issue is not about Executive orders or checking Executive powers or interpreting law books; it is about following the Constitution. I say to the Republicans on the other side of the aisle: Please do your job. Your constituents elected you to this position to follow the Constitution. If you don't like the nominee the President has selected, vote no, but at least follow the process. After the President selects his nominee, we then go through a courtesy process where the nominee calls upon each Senator. Then there is a hearing--and maybe there are several days of hearings--and then there is a vote. I am calling on the Senate to follow the process that was mandated by the Constitution and mandated by our traditions. After the President nominates someone, let's meet with the nominee. Let's hold the hearings and follow the process, and then let's bring it to a vote. Over the last 40 years, the average time it has taken for the Senate to act has been only 67 days from nomination to confirmation, so to say we don't have enough time just doesn't work. We have 10 months, or 330 days, left in this President's administration to do this job. Some of my colleagues say there is precedent for this obstructionism. Chairman Grassley, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, cited four times in our history where a President did not nominate someone to fill a vacancy during an election year. Well, those numbers are right, but guess what. The vacancy occurred after the Senate had adjourned for the year. None of those Presidents could have nominated a candidate because the Senate wasn't in session. For the past 100 years, every Supreme Court nominee has been acted upon. Even if they got a disapproval vote in the committee, they still got a vote in the Senate. In 1987, Robert Bork was voted down in the committee, but he still got a vote on the floor where he was voted down. In 1991, Clarence Thomas, one of the most contentious and controversial Supreme Court nominations that I ever participated in, was voted on by the committee without a recommendation. He got a vote on the floor and was approved 52 to 48. Each of these candidates had their day to be evaluated. Each Senator had the ability to apply their advice and consent or, in some cases, nonconsent. I didn't always vote yes on the nominee, but I certainly supported the process that we have here. We have never denied a sitting President his duty to provide a nominee. This is of utmost importance to our Nation. It really is. The Supreme Court is unique. It is the highest Court of the land with real and lasting impacts on American lives. To obstruct a Supreme Court nominee for political reasons would be absolutely unprecedented. Until this vacancy is filled, the Supreme Court is left with eight members with the potential for tie votes. If there is a tie vote in a decision, the ruling of the lower court remains as if the Supreme Court never heard the case. In some cases, that leaves disagreement among courts, leaving our laws at odds with each other. If this vacancy lasts until the next President, the Supreme Court could be left without eight members for two terms on the Court. Some of the cases with the most impact on our history have been decided in 5- to-4 votes. That brings up some cases that are of particular concern to me. What if there were a tied decision in a case and we were left stuck in a gridlock? The Senate knows that I am very involved with equal pay for equal work. There was the famous Lilly Ledbetter case--Lilly Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. It was decided by a 5- to-4 vote. She faced injustice not only at her job, but also in the courts. At the urging of Justice Ginsburg, the Senate provided a legislative remedy to correct that injustice. If we had a tie, we might not have ever been able to resolve that issue both through the Court and through the Senate. This is what democracy is supposed to be. There was another amazing case, which was Bush v. Gore. Everyone remembers the election in 2000 when we had the hanging chads in Florida and we really weren't sure who won the election--Al Gore or George Bush. This is America, so banks stayed open, there were no tanks in the street, school children were able to go about learning what America was all about and get ready for the new century. We were moving ahead because the process moved through the courts. The Bush v. Gore case was decided with a 5-to-4 vote. Can you imagine if we had a tied Court now? We would have a constitutional crisis, and we would have a crisis over who was the legitimate President of the United States. We can't have that happen again. When the voters make their decisions in November on who they want to have as the next President, I hope it is clear and decisive and we don't end up before the Supreme Court, but surely we need to have a Court that is not going to end in a tie and that we have done our job to make sure that there are nine--N-I-N-E--on the Supreme Court. First of all, follow the Constitution. It is in the best interest of our country. Do your job so we can say to the world: We are a Nation of laws. We encourage people all over the world that are emerging from authoritarian regimes or chaotic political situations to write a Constitution and live by it. Well, we wrote a Constitution, so let's live by it. We need to follow what we say we were elected to do and that we swore an oath to do. President Obama must do his job. I urge the Republicans to do their job. Let's follow and live up to the Constitution. When the President makes his nomination, let's open our doors so we can meet with that nominee. Let's hold a hearing or multiple hearings, if necessary, and then let's hold a vote on the Senate floor. Let's be accountable by the deeds of our vote and not simply avoid our responsibility. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, in honor of the rich cultural heritage of the African-American community in Maryland and in memory of all the freedom fighters across the Nation, past and present, I am celebrating Black History Month by reexamining what this country still needs to do to guarantee that African Americans are not left behind when it comes to the issues that matter. We are living right now in a world that is fighting for change on many levels, from social unrest in our cities, to expansive international crises. While the news may seem grim, there is also inspiration every day around the world as people come together to bring about the peaceful change that they are fighting for. There are peaceful protests for great social change, the next generation is volunteering and giving hope to their communities, and educational opportunities continue to grow for our youth around the world. Reflecting on where we have been and where we are going, I recognize the immeasurable impact that Maryland African Americans have made to our culture and to the fight for equal rights for all. Benjamin Banneker, born in Catonsville, made scientific strides to help us understand the mysteries of nature. Harriet Tubman and Reverend Josiah Henson each led slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad running through Maryland, defying the law and fighting for what was right. Isaac Myers became a labor leader, the first president of the Colored National Labor Union, and a cofounder of a cooperative shipyard and railway to provide African Americans with employment opportunities in Baltimore. Frederick Douglass was a dedicated and prolific civil rights activist and author. Explorer Matthew Henson co-discovered the North Pole and traversed the ends of the earth. We certainly will never forget the esteemed Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Justice on the Court, who protected and fought for our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He fought for desegregation through the law throughout his long career, in particular arguing the Brown v. Board of Education case in front of the Supreme Court, on behalf of African-American schoolchildren across the U.S. We honor those who came before us by continuing to fight for justice and equality today. That means the right laws, and it means the right education. That means fighting for economic justice, social justice, and criminal justice. We know that the best weapons against economic injustice is a good education. That is why I am fighting for public schools that families can count on because the quality of education your kids receive shouldn't depend on the zip code you live in. That is why I fought and continue to fight for early child care, which helps 1.5 million children, including 19,000 in Maryland, get ready for school. That is why I pushed to fund early education to help States implement high quality preschool programs and Head Start programs. That means college that is affordable and accessible. It is why I am fighting to simplify the application for student aid and expand Pell grants to make sure that students can pay for books next semester or rent next month. We fought for the American Opportunity Tax Credit so that parents could get a tax break for sending their kids to college-- because a college education is part of the American dream, not part of a financial nightmare. We look to our community and national leaders, like the NAACP, headquartered in Baltimore, to continue to lead the fight for equal rights. We look to our strong leaders in Maryland, like Freeman Hrabowski, the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Representative Elijah Cummings, fighting tooth and nail every day for the citizens of Maryland's Seventh Congressional District. With people like this to look up to, we are reminded of the abiding truth that each of us has the power to create a better world for ourselves and our children. So the battle is enjoined. As the great Martin Luther King, Jr., said, ``Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom.'' This is not about the past, and it is not only about the present, but it is also about the future. I thank so many people and organizations around the Nation and in Maryland for all they do every day for our future. Remember, each of us can make a difference, but together we can make change.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I see that the distinguished Senator from Alaska has come to the floor as the manager of the bill. I have a statement I wish to give, but I didn't know if she needed to say something. Mr. President, I rise today to add my heartfelt and impassioned voice to call for action to help the people who live in Flint, MI, with this emergency situation. We have to be in it to deal with the emergency today and the long haul for tomorrow. This is of catastrophic, almost Armageddon, proportion. An American city has been poisoned because of a situation that has been self- induced and self-inflicted. What is happening in Flint, MI, is appalling. It is a tragedy, it is a disgrace, and it will be for a long time. We need to fix the pipes right away, but the fixing of human beings is going to take a long, long time. Let's get real. We are now bogged down in parliamentary inertia. We are now bogged down in Washington wonky budgetary talk: Where are the offsets? What is this? What is this? Are we human beings? We take an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, but sometimes an enemy is a tragedy. It can come from--God knows--a hurricane or tornado, and we rush in to help. If this had been a terrorist attack, oh, my gosh, we would be willing to go to war to defend America. Well, we need to go to the edge of our chair to help Flint. My gosh. The Senators from Michigan are looking for $400 million. That is no small amount of money, but I bring to my colleague's attention that it is the price of four F-35s--four F-35s that are supposed to protect America. Good for that. But right now I think the people of Michigan would say they would like to have the help they need. If we are talking about a threat to the people, the threat is here. Now, where are we? We have to deal with this. I am the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee. I say to my colleagues: Guess what, gang. All this budgetary stuff, all the battles with sequester and so on--we have only $800 million for safe drinking water, less than $1 billion. Flint today is asking for $400 million. We know it is a down payment. I say to my colleagues from Michigan, this could happen to any State. It could happen to any State because our infrastructure is not only aging in place, it is becoming dysfunctional in place and it is becoming dangerous in place--$800 million. Senators Stabenow and Peters have already shared horror stories. Gosh, they have done a great job speaking up for the people. I really compliment their advocacy. But we are all Flint. We are all Flint. The facts will speak for themselves as we talk about how the Flint water is contaminated because its pipes are permanently damaged. I understand that replacing Flint's corroded water infrastructure will cost anywhere from $700 million to $1.5 billion--approximately 500 miles of old iron pipe and thousands of lead service lines. It is an untold, big cost, but I am going to speak about the children. I am going to speak about the people. My gosh, what are you going through? I don't know how you can run a family. Well, you can't run a family on bottled water. You can't run a business on bottled water. You can't run a city on bottled water. I don't know how you wash. I don't know how you take care of your children. I wouldn't go anywhere in Flint unless I personally prepared my food or washed my clothes or saw what I was doing. I would be scared to death. I bet those parents are too. And what are we afraid of? We need to get there. Now I am going to talk about the children and the human cost. I say to my colleagues, both from Michigan and here, Senator Cardin and I know a lot about lead poisoning. We have been through really difficult problems in Baltimore because of lead paint poisoning and the legacy of paint used during World War II. We know what it does. It lowers IQs. It causes significant developmental delays. There are behavioral issues, including attention deficit disorder. It is a lifetime; that little boy or girl at 6 years old, God willing that they live to their 80s, they are going to carry this in their blood unless there are incredible medical breakthroughs for the rest of their lives. Senator Stabenow and I have discussed possible medical breakthroughs, but, gosh, we have to get on it. We have to get on it. Again, the effects of poisoning could take a lifetime. What I know about lead paint in Baltimore goes back to my days in city council where the paint was poisonous. They were coming into Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland Medical Center, kids just so sick. I remember the story about a little boy who was so weak that on his way to school he lay down in the middle of the street. He was so depleted because of the consequences of lead paint. That is why I support the Stabenow amendment to provide $800 million in loans and grants and also to provide about $20 million to HHS to bring together the best thinking to have the best responses to the human infrastructure. I have worked on this issue for a long time, going back to Senator Kit Bond, my pal and partner when we had the old VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee. Senator Bond was a real champion on this. There can be a bipartisan solution. Let's make it an American solution. This isn't about ``you,'' and it is not about ``Democrats.'' It is about ``us.'' As vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, I certainly want to work with my colleagues on how we can do this. But let's get the lead out of the pipes, let's get the lead out of the water, let's get the lead out of the way the Senate has functioned and move to make a down payment on this. Mr. President, I really want us to understand we have to solve this problem. I will conclude with this. I just want to say something to the mothers of America: We need you right now. The mothers of Flint need you. The mothers of Flint need you. The fathers of Flint need you. The mothers and fathers of Flint need you. If you are a mother or father anywhere, you could be a mother or father in Flint. Let's organize ourselves in the most effective way to solve this problem, and let's begin to heal the critical infrastructure so we begin to prevent this from happening in any other American city. Mr. President, today I wish to support an amendment filed by my friend and colleague Senator Collins that would require the Department of Energy to identify a mitigation strategy to help protect our critical infrastructure in the electric sector from a catastrophic cyber attack. When it comes to our national security, there is no such thing as partisanship, and we have to work together on a bipartisan basis to ensure our Nation is safe and protected. We need to act, and we need to act in the defense of the United States of America. The Senate has a great opportunity today to pass an amendment to help protect and defend our Nation's critical infrastructure from a devastating cyber attack. What do I mean by critical infrastructure? It is our electric power grid, our financial services, our water supplies, those things that are the bread and butter of keeping America, its business, and its families going. These are entities that are vital to the safety, health, and economic well-being of the American people; so we need to do our part to help keep our critical infrastructure hardened and resilient against attack. You don't have to be a science fiction enthusiast to understand how devastating an attack that disabled our power grid would be--millions without power. I am not worried that we will have to put away our iPhones; I am worried about vulnerable populations lacking heat in the dead of winter, about emergency responders who can't get calls, and about patients who need power for lifesaving medical devices. The possibility of an attack on our power grid is not far-fetched. We know that there are already attacks going on in our energy sector. The committee report accompanying this bill notes that one-third of reported cyber attacks involve the energy sector. But not only do I worry about an attack, I equally worry about our inertia, where we do nothing. I bring to the attention of the Senate that Jim Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, testified that the No. 1 cyber concern he has is an attack on our Nation's critical infrastructure, saying the greatest threat facing our country was in the cyber domain. His testimony is backed up by several intrusions into the industrial control systems of critical infrastructure, which are the computers that control operations of industrial processes, including energy plants. Just a couple of weeks ago, Marty Edwards, who runs the Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, warned that he had seen an increase in attacks over the past year, saying systems are vulnerable because they are exposed to the Internet. Admiral Rogers, the Director of the National Security Agency, with responsibility for cyber space, testified in a hearing this summer that our country was at a ``5 or 6'' in preparedness for a cyber attack against our critical infrastructure. In November 2015, Richard Ledgett, the Deputy Director of the NSA, was asked if foreign actors already have the capability to shut down key U.S. infrastructure during a CNN interview, such as the financial sector, national gas distribution and energy sector, transportation network, and air traffic control system. His response was ``Absolutely.'' We don't want a digital Pearl Harbor. We can act now. We can act when it is within our power to protect, defend, and deter these attacks. That is what I want. I want us to have a sense of urgency. If we wait for another major cyber attack, we risk overreacting, overregulating, overspending, and over-legislating. The time to act is now. This amendment would take the commonsense approach of requiring the Federal agencies responsible for the cyber security of the electric grid to review those entities that matter most and to propose actions that can reduce the risk of a catastrophic attack that could cause thousands of deaths or a catastrophic blow to our economy and national defense. Congress has missed opportunities to improve our Nation's cyber preparedness, and we need to take action before a ``cyber 9/11'' occurs. Right now, our adversaries are watching us, and it looks like we are doing nothing--that when all is said and done, more gets said than gets done. Our adversaries don't have to spy on us. They can just look at the Senate floor and say, ``What the heck are they doing?'' You know what they are going to do? They are going to look at us and say, ``There they go again.'' Our own inability to pass legislation, our own partisan gridlock and deadlock emboldens our predatory enemies who know we have done nothing to strengthen vulnerable critical infrastructure by putting in place those hardened, resilient systems and policies to protect, defend, and deter. A cyber attack has the same intent as a traditional terrorist attack--to create chaos, to create civil instability, and to create economic catastrophe. Just think about a cyber attack in which our grid goes down. Think of a blackout in New York. Think of a blackout in Baltimore. When the Senate, at my urging, did the cyber exercise on what an attack would look like on our critical infrastructure, it showed what would happen. The stoplights go down, the lights go out in the hospitals, and the respirators go off. Business shuts down. Commerce shuts down, and 9-1-1 shuts down. America would be shut down, and we would be powerless and impotent to put it back on in any quick and expeditious manner. This happened in Ukraine in December 2015. Ukrainians lost power in what the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Ukrainian authorities assessed was a cyber attack. The attack caused a blackout for tens of thousands of people, and industry experts identified this as the first- known power outage caused by a cyber attack. This is no longer a theoretical risk; it is here, and it is real. Think of the chaos of no electricity. We will all go through blackouts. Snowzilla roared through the east coast last week leaving hundreds of thousands without power. No matter how delayed Pepco, BG&E, and Dominion were at responding, they got it back on. But what happens if they can't get it back on? What happens if they can't get it back on for weeks or longer? Remember, the attack is to humiliate, intimidate, and cripple. Humiliate? Making us look powerless. Intimidate? To show there is this power that can cripple our functioning as a society. I find it chilling. I have been immersed in cyber issues since I was elected to the Senate. Our cyber warriors at the National Security Agency are in Maryland, and I have been working with the NSA to ensure signals intelligence was a national security focus even before cyber was a method of warfare. In my role on the Intelligence Committee, I served on the Cyber Working Group, which developed findings to guide Congress on getting cyber governance right, protecting civil liberties, and improving the cyber workforce. As vice chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, I have insisted on a robust cyber budget and fought to increase our cyber security investments in the fiscal year 2016 Omnibus to keep us safe, putting funds in the Federal checkbook for critical cyber security agencies on the order of $12 billion. These include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which investigates cyber crime; the Department of Homeland Security, which safeguards critical infrastructure in cyber space; the Department of Defense, or DoD, which defends our homeland, national interests, and DoD networks against cyber attacks and includes intelligence and cyber agencies, like the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, the Central Intelligence Agency, and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, which are coming up with the new ideas to keep our country safe; the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which works with the private sector to develop standards for cyber security technology; and the National Science Foundation, which researches ways to secure our Nation. These funds are critical to building the workforce and providing the technology and resources to make our cyber security smarter, safer, and more secure. Good people in this body have been working on both sides of the aisle for some time now. So I conclude my remarks by saying to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle: Let's do what we need to do to protect and defend the United States of America and adopt this amendment now. Working together, we can make our Nation safer and stronger and show the American people we can cooperate to get an important job done. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the anniversary of the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Lilly Ledbetter is an inspiring woman and a courageous trailblazer. She fought the system in her workplace and the courtroom. She was a longstanding and loyal employee at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for 19 years. But then she found out that Goodyear thought she was worth less than her male counterparts. A jury found Goodyear owed her almost $400,000 in backpay, but the Supreme Court said that she was too late. When Justice Ginsburg read her dissent from the bench, she called for Congress to fix it, so we went to work. It has been over 7 years since we passed this historic legislation. I was so proud to lead the charge in the Senate to keep the courthouse doors open to sue for discrimination. This wasn't an easy road. When we lost the first vote on this bill, I called upon the women in the Senate and across America to put their lipstick on, square their shoulders, and suit up to fight for an American revolution. We did just that, and the Lilly Ledbetter Act became the first bill that President Obama signed into law in 2009. Passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was a big accomplishment-- but our work is far from done. We need to finish what we started by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. The Lilly Ledbetter Act kept the courthouse door open, but the Paycheck Fairness Act will make it more difficult to discriminate in the first place. Women are tired of being paid crumbs. Women still only make 79 cents for every dollar a man makes, and it is even worse for women of color-- African-American women earn 62 cents on the dollar, and Hispanic women earn 54 cents. By retirement, the average woman loses $431,000 to the pay gap. This affects Social Security, pensions, and retirement security. Everybody says, ``Oh you've come a long way,'' but women have only gained 20 cents in 50 years. We will not take no for an answer. We will continue to demand equal pay for all. We are going to change the Federal law books, so women get change in their family checkbooks.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I urge a ``no'' vote on the motion to table. This is the time to avoid a shutdown or a slow time. It is time to pass the omnibus, protect America, help the middle class, and meet our constitutional responsibilities. Vote no on the motion to table, and let's get on with the bill.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, this is a bill that protects America. It rebuilds it and invests in the future. I think it is a great bill, as a result of bipartisan effort. Let's vote for it, and may the force be with us.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise to speak on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, otherwise known as the omnibus bill. I wish to report to my colleagues in the Senate that the House has passed the bill this morning with a robust vote of 316 to 113. Three months ago it was unclear if we would be at this positive point. We were uncertain if we could get a budget deal that would lift the caps for defense and nondefense spending, it was unclear if we could cancel sequester, and it was unclear if we could avoid a government shutdown. I am happy to say today that we have completed our work, and we have done it in the traditional style of this institution and also of the Appropriations Committee and by working on a bipartisan basis. The chairman of the committee, the Senator from Mississippi, Mr. Cochran, and I worked across the aisle to get the job done. I thank him for the leadership he provided the committee, for his professionalism, and for the ability and the fact that we could work, both he and I, together. I thank both of our staffs for working with civility and candor. For the third year in a row, we left no appropriations bill behind. We negotiated and we compromised. We compromised without capitulation of our principles, which has always been a strong tradition of the Appropriations Committee. As we bring this bill to the floor, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this bill. I want to do it on the basis of content and on the basis of merit. Now, I will tell you what this bill does. First of all, it does a lot to protect the United States of America. We know that right now America feels on edge. We know our leadership needs to provide clarity, consistency, and specificity, but most of all, we need to provide the resources that our institutions need so they can protect our country. This bill provides $606 billion for the national defense of the United States of America and to support, train, and equip our troops; to deal with the new threats of biosecurity and the rising efforts of ISIL so we can follow through with our vow to defeat and destroy them. We have a must-do list to make sure our troops have the best weapons and know that the troops and families are supported. We looked out for their health care and Tricare, and we looked out for the food that they need to buy in their commissaries. We know that protecting America is not only accomplished in the Defense Department. It also lies in the important agencies that do the tough work. We have adequately capitalized the State Department and provided money for embassy security so we can protect our embassies and those who work with them abroad. We have also funded Homeland Security. We have approved close to $11 billion so that the Coast Guard can protect our ports and waterways, and we have added $50 million in new grants to counter violent extremism. We also made sure that we have given TSA, or the Transportation Security Administration, the equipment and people it needs to protect travelers with all of the airport screeners that have been requested. At the same time, we have funded the FBI, which is doing such an able job of rooting out the terrorists, including the lone wolf threats that are emerging in our own country. I want to particularly do a shout-out to the FBI in the Baltimore district for uncovering a plot in our own home State of Maryland where someone was organizing and planning a lone wolf effort. I also wish to thank my colleagues for what we did in the budget deal. This bill provides $65 billion more to meet our national security needs, support compelling human needs, and promote the middle class. We made sure we kept our promises to our veterans. We have a $1.3 billion increase for veterans health care to meet their health needs, the educational needs we promised them, and to deal with this backlog of disability benefits. We are not only looking to the past, we are looking to the future. We have made robust funds available in our innovation area, whether it was the Department of Energy or the National Institutes of Health, which is in my home State. On our committee and across the aisle--Senator Patty Murray, the ranking member, and Senator Roy Blunt, the chairman of the HHS committee--we renamed the National Institutes of Health the ``National Institutes of Hope'' because of what it does to find the cures and the breakthroughs for Alzheimer's, on which we have almost doubled the research in order to break the code on how we can find a cure or a cognitive stretch-out. We have added $2 billion because we worked together, because we know that when we want to find the cure for cancer, Alzheimer's, autism, we need to be able to do that. We looked also at working out other compelling needs, such as Head Start, child care and development grants in which we have added more money, and we make the first payment to fund the programs for elementary, middle, and high school. We also meet the physical infrastructure needs, where we have increased our funding in the T-HUD bill for Transit New Starts to $2.2 billion. We increased the funding for the HOME Program. Instead of cutting it by 90 percent, we increased it by $50 million, to $950 million. We have also looked out for our ports, creating jobs by keeping goods moving through the full funding of the harbor maintenance trust fund and the Army Corps of Engineers. This is about jobs. This isn't about money; this is about jobs. In my own home State of Maryland, the Port of Baltimore is an incubator for jobs. It keeps people going, whether it is the people who work to bring the ships in, whether it is the longshoremen, the tugboat operators, or those who benefit from the goods and services coming into our port or leaving our port. It is the ports that create our jobs, and we in Maryland are ready for the new ships coming through the newly built Panama Canal. We know this is a big deal that could help our communities all over America if we invest in our ports. I know many of our colleagues also want to know about riders. We faced hundreds of policy riders, some of which were highly controversial. We did the best we could with them. But while everybody talks about one item or this item, I want to talk about some of the ones we were able to deal with. We prevented double-trailer trucks from taking over our highways. We protected women's health against devastating riders. We also made sure those who regulate our financial institutions so that we never have another meltdown like we had 8 years ago are taken care of, and we looked out for the environment. The appropriations bills are good bills, and I could go over more items, but I see that the chairman of the committee is on the floor. I again reiterate my appreciation to Senator Cochran and his very able staff. I also want to comment about the other side of the dome. Working with Congressman Hal Rogers, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and Ranking Member Nita Lowey has indeed been a very professional relationship. I wish that now, with new leadership in the House, they could function like the Appropriations Committee. Do we disagree? Yes. The Presiding Officer is a member of that committee, and she knows we are ready to duke it out when we have to. But we put it all out on the table. We discuss it. We debate it. We had an open process with amendments in our committee. We have worked to resolve conflict by actually meeting and discussing with each other. We need the same thing with our colleagues on the other side of the dome. That is what we mean when we say we want to get back to regular order. Thanks to the budget deal we have now, I do hope that next year we can bring bills up one at a time for debate, discussion, and amendment. I hope we can do that. But I also hope the tone of the Appropriations Committee is adopted. We can make sure we advocate for our States and for our viewpoints, but we can do it in a way that it gets done. I want to conclude by thanking my entire staff, Chuck Kieffer and Jean Toal Eisen, the staff on the other side of the dome, and all of those who worked for me. I want to recognize Shannon Kula and Rachel MacKnight, as well as Brigid Houton and Mara Stark Alcala and Jean Kwon. Madam President, I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, otherwise known as the omnibus. Three months ago, it was unclear if we would get a budget deal that would lift the caps for both defense and nondefense spending. It was unclear if we could really not head to a showdown. It was not clear if were heading to a shutdown, and we were not clear if we could cancel sequester. I am proud to say, as the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, that the committee has completed its work. We have done it in a bipartisan way and in a way that there will not be a shutdown of the government. We have canceled sequester, and we have done this in a responsible way. The House is working on the bill now. We shall be voting on it tomorrow. Tomorrow I will talk about the national implications of the bill when it comes before the Senate, but today, as the Senator from Maryland and for Maryland, I wish to talk about the public investments this bill makes to support the Nation's needs, which also supports Maryland's needs, which supports Maryland's jobs. As the vice chair of the committee, my first job--and as the Constitution requires--is to be the Senator from Maryland, and I require myself to be the Senator for Maryland. I am proud to say that this bill does make the kinds of public investments that I believe will help America's and Maryland's future. This bill delivers on a promise I made many years ago that I would look after the day-to-day needs of my constituents and the long-range needs of this country. You will be interested to know that Maryland is the home to 20 major Federal facilities with more than 200,000 Federal employees and retirees. We have great military installations, such as Fort Meade, the National Security Agency, Cyber Command, the U.S. Naval Academy, Naval Bethesda, and Walter Reed. It also has great public institutions, such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Weather Bureau, the national NOAA satellites that tell us what the weather will be, and also agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration. Although we have the Federal assets in Maryland, they serve the Nation. These aren't Maryland's institutions; these are national institutions, but they employ Marylanders. In this bill, working on a bipartisan basis, we have increased the funding for the National Institutes of Health by $2 billion, increasing it to $32 billion. Working with both Senator Murray, the ranking member, and Senator Blunt, the chair of the subcommittee, we have nicknamed the National Institutes of Health the ``National Institutes of Hope.'' Why? Because it looks to find the cures and breakthroughs for America's devastating diseases, from cancer to Alzheimer's. But at the same time, while we have worked on funding the research to find cures and breakthroughs, they must be moved to clinical practice. That is why we in Maryland have fought so hard to make sure the Food and Drug Administration is capitalized in a way that it does its job. The Food and Drug Administration, which employs over 4,000 people, is responsible for our food safety, both here and as it comes in from abroad, and also for being able to move drugs, biologics, and medical devices into clinical practice and demonstrating that they are both safe and effective. It is a big job, and it is a big employer in our State. We also want to make sure that we look out for those who are the most needy. This Senate and this Congress often talk about Social Security and it also talks about Medicare. Both of those--the Social Security Administration and CMS--are located in Maryland. We are very proud of that. The Social Security Administration is in a community called Baltimore County, a neighborhood called Woodlawn. It has a building that is 57 years old, and it hasn't had any improvements since 1959. They work in terrible situations, with mold, decay, crumbling technology, and even vermin. We make sure that those who administer the Social Security Program have the right facilities and also have the right technology. We worked very hard to be able to stand up for our Federal employees. Again, working on a bipartisan basis, we allowed a 1.46 percent cost- of-living adjustment. We were absolutely appalled to find out about the OPM data breach, which had a devastating effect on over 130,000 Federal employees both here and around this country. What we did, working on this bill, we are going to make sure that the Federal employees have 10 years of credit protection since OPM fell down on its job in protecting them. We also have been very concerned about physical infrastructure. We work very hard in terms of the Metro. Metro is not a Maryland subway; it is not a Virginia subway; it is America's subway. For all who ride that subway, we have been absolutely concerned about their safety. Working with our colleagues across the Potomac, we have been concentrating on Metro safety, and we were able to put the funds in the Federal checkbook to be able to improve that. We also want to be able to get people to the jobs, and that is why we funded the Purple Line. There is a great opportunity in Maryland, and I hope it comes to other parts of our country, which is modernizing our ports. Whether you are in New Orleans, whether you are in Baltimore, whether you are in Charleston, Long Beach, CA, the ports need to be modernized. It is a great opportunity for jobs--real jobs in construction and real jobs here. I am happy to say we worked very hard over the years with my colleagues, my beloved friends--Congresswoman Helen Bentley, a wonderful Republican woman. They called us the salt and pepper of the Maryland delegation. We worked to make sure our port was dredged and ready for the future. There are many other issues that I can show, but I wanted to show that we are making public investments that not only look out for American jobs but our Federal employees working in these key agencies-- the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Weather Service. These are civil servants who, while they are located in Maryland, are working on a national mission. I am glad of the role I played to make sure they were capitalized. I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle because they, too, understood why these investments are important. Much is said about why we need to be America the exceptional, and I believe it is these kinds of programs. Our human infrastructure, our innovation, and our physical infrastructure is what we are doing. There are many things in this bill. Many will complain about how big it is. But it is not how big the bill is, but it is how effective we are in helping America be able to be what America is--a land of opportunity and a land of growth and a land that knows how to protect its people and protect the world. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Every Child Succeeds Act. Today will be a great day for the Senate because we will actually pass a bill that is a result of a bipartisan effort led by two very able and dedicated leaders, Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Patty Murray. They have done an outstanding job in guiding the committee and encouraging open debate with extensive hearings, consultation with Members, and committee markups that were long, hard, and sometimes quite feisty to say the least. That is the way the Congress ought to be, and I thank them. I think their dedication showed that in the Senate--we acknowledge the work of Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Scott in the House, but here, we were led by two educators: Senator Alexander, the former president of a university and former Secretary of Education and Senator Murray, a teacher herself, who has taught us many lessons in our caucus on how to do the right job in the right way. Today we come with the rewrite of a bill that started 50 years ago, when Lyndon Johnson wanted to have a war on poverty and passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It was the first time the Federal Government was going to be involved in education and wanted to be sure there were Federal resources to help lift children out of poverty. Many us agree with what the great former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, that education is the civil rights issue of this generation because education is what opens doors today and opens doors tomorrow. The legislation we pass today will make sure that we correct the problems of the past and do the right thing in the future. When I knew that the committee was going to be serious about the doing the bill, I crisscrossed Maryland consulting with parents, teachers, and administrators of our school system to get the best ideas. The first thing I asked was, what are we doing right, what are we doing wrong, what do you want us to do more of, and when do you want us to get the heck out of the way? They said to me: Senator Barb, the problem in Washington is that you have a one-size-fits-all mentality. Washington wants to take the same rules that apply in New York City and apply them to Ocean City, MD. You cannot have a one-size-fits-all for every school district in the United States of America. The second thing they said is, yes, you need accountability; yes, you do need metrics. But what we have come up with is overtesting that still does not result in high performance. I worked on a bipartisan basis with the leadership to do what we could to get rid of the excesses of one-size-fits-all, all decisions that are made in Washington, and the fact that we shouldn't be racing to the test, we should be racing to the top. My first rule in working on this legislation was to do no harm. I was deeply disturbed that there was an effort to change the formula--the formula that meant what Federal funds do come in the area of title I. We worked very hard to make sure the formula was fair and equitable, along with the rules of the game now and the groundwork for the rules of the game for the future. What that meant was that initially Maryland would have lost $40 million and Baltimore City and Baltimore County would have each lost $6 million. In Prince George's County, which is experiencing a new wave of immigrant children, we would have lost $7 million. We were able to make sure the formula works the way it should. We also made sure our teachers have the support they need. Our teachers have been overregulated. They have had demands placed on them to solve problems that are not theirs when a child comes to the classroom. Their job is to teach the child, but they can't solve every problem the child has. Many of our children come to school with significant and severe health problems. Some have peanut allergies. Some have asthma. Some are challenged by autism. The school system needs help with supportive services. I am so proud of the effort I led to make sure we have opportunities for school nurses to be in those schools; to make sure Federal funds can be used for the coordination of the services that will be needed to provide and oversee the health needs of our children, such as vision screening, hearing screening, and important mental health services-- this is what we need to be able to do; also, to make sure that while we maintain testing in reading and math, we make sure we get rid of the overtesting and the race to the test. The Every Student Succeeds Act is good for all of Maryland's students. There are 874,000 boys and girls in school today. Some are from at-risk populations. What we do here is get them ready for school. We make investments in preschool education, which is so important. We have afterschool programming because children don't learn only during the school day but through structured afterschool programming. Children continue to learn all day while they are in a safe and secure environment. We empower families, we empower teachers, and we empower the local level. I think this is a very good job in what has been done here. What we hope to be able to do is to make sure our children are ready for the 21st century. I believe this bill is a downpayment on our children's future and therefore on our Nation's future. When we spend money on education, the benefit not only accrues to the child, it accrues to our society. Every time a child can read, every time a child can participate in the demands and the knowledge of what the 21st century requires, we are going to be in a better place. I congratulate Senator Alexander and Senator Murray on a great job. I urge adoption of the conference report. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today I wish to talk about the Every Student Succeeds Act. I want to thank Chairmen Kline and Alexander and Ranking Members Scott and Murray for their work in putting together a bipartisan, bicameral framework to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, ESEA. I know that it was not easy, especially in this political climate, but politics were put aside; and children, teachers, and schools were put first. I am really pleased how this process played out--it was truly a bipartisan effort. I have always believed that one of the pathways to success is restoring regular order, and they did just that. While this bill is not perfect--it is not one that Democrats nor Republicans would have written--it is a step in the right direction towards overhauling and improving the failed tenets of No Child Left Behind. ESEA was passed 50 years ago to ensure that kids living in poverty would receive the extra help they needed in order to succeed. It was a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty. It was the first time that the Federal Government really got involved in education. Before then, education was considered a local responsibility, not something for the Feds to meddle in; but President Johnson's vision changed that. He wanted to lift kids out of poverty and give them their fair shot to excel. Since then, we passed the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, NCLB. While done with the best of intentions, it was deeply flawed. With NCLB, instead of us ``racing to the top,'' we ended up with ``racing to the test'' and excessive testing. NCLB is also bad because it gave us a one-size-fits-all approach out of Washington, despite whether you lived in a big city like Baltimore or in a rural county like Somerset County on the Eastern Shore. We wanted to get rid of ``race to the test,'' understanding that one size does not fit all, and implement a system that understands we must have Federal guidelines with local solutions and initiatives; then we needed to back up our guidelines with money because school districts were struggling to meet their bottom line. So I went to work on a bipartisan basis to try and deal with that. My first rule was: do no harm. That is why I beat back the Southern strategy that was going to change the title I formula for funding. Maryland would have lost $40 million--that means every single school district in Maryland would have lost money. I couldn't let that happen, so I put together a coalition of other Senators to beat that back, and we did just that. Maryland will keep its $40 million. For Baltimore City, they won't lose $6 million. For Baltimore County, they won't lose $6 million. For places like Prince George's County, they won't lose $7 million. The bill before us--the Every Student Succeeds Act--is good for all of Maryland's 874,514 students. It supports at-risk populations; empowers high quality choice for parents; and strengthens critical programs such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM, education, accelerated learning, and afterschool programming. The Every Student Succeeds Act is good for all of Maryland's 59,315 teachers. Our teachers have to deal with children who have so many problems--whether suffering from a peanut allergy or asthma--and need so much help. That is why I fought to make sure that Federal funds can be used to provide for the coordination of integrated services like vision and hearing screenings and other support services to help improve student academic achievement. The Every Student Succeeds Act helps all of 1,446 Maryland public schools. While we maintain annual statewide assessments in reading and math, we allow States to develop and implement other mechanisms that reduces overtesting and ``racing to the test.'' In addition to supporting the large-scale changes in the Every Student Succeeds Act, I am especially proud to see that this compromise includes other provisions I fought for. This bill ensures that States continue to measure how students are performing at each level of achievement. This bill will make sure that States find ways to assist school districts in addressing the needs of gifted and talented students. It will also make sure that teachers get the professional development they need and deserve in order to better identify gifted kids. I am pleased that the bill before us also recognizes the vital role that school nurses play. They truly are a valuable member of a school's education team and should be recognized as such. Because of this bill, schools nurses will now be eligible to receive ESEA professional development funds. This bill, the Every Student Succeeds Act, ensures that at-risk kids get the support they need in order to succeed. It supports teachers and principals in providing high quality instruction. It supports States and school districts in turning around low-performing schools and closing achievement gaps. This bill is a down payment on our children's future and on our Nation's future. I urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan progress that has been made here and vote to send a strong bill to the President's desk that will improve our schools and put all of our children on a path to success. Assessment Security

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I want to commend Senators Collins and Reed for their hard work on this bill. The Senators worked closely together, continuing a great tradition of the Appropriations Committee. The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Related Agencies bill has two critical missions. It is Congress' annual infrastructure bill, creating jobs in construction, and it meets compelling human needs by strengthening communities. While I support this bill, I also reaffirm my continued commitment to getting a 12-bill omnibus done by December 11--leaving no bill behind and no Christmas crisis. This bill keeps Americans on the move, delivering Federal formula funding to every State for highways, byways, and mass transit. Thanks to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which increased the discretionary caps by $50 billion, we are here today to take up the Collins and Reed amendment, adding nearly $1.6 billion to the Senate Committee bill. The Collins-Reed amendment increases funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program, and competitive TIGER grants. It recognizes the importance of the U.S. flag fleet and merchant marines to our national security by increasing funding for the Maritime Security Program. The amendment also restores funding to HUD's Community Development Block Grant and HOME programs. These are programs that every county executive and mayor talk to me about. For my home State of Maryland, this bill fully funds the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. I am beyond frustrated with Metro, but will not waver in my support for Federal funding to improve the safety and operational reliability of the system because many of my constituents rely upon Metro every day. I included bill and report language requiring strict U.S. Department of Transportation, DOT, oversight of how these taxpayer dollars are spent. And I appreciate the support of Senators Collins and Reed for my amendment to give DOT the power to appoint and oversee Metro's Federal board members, instead of the General Services Administration. The bill provides funding for an important Maryland jobs corridor-- the Purple Line, which is a new light rail system to be constructed in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties. HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control also receives strong funding, which is critically important to my hometown of Baltimore. Like many older cities in the Northeast, Baltimore has a significant lead paint problem. This is a good bill. I urge my colleagues to offer only germane amendments, so we can complete our work before Thanksgiving and keep momentum going to complete a 12-bill omnibus before December 11.

Ms. MIKULSKI

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

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today I received an announcement of a lifetime. At 4 p.m. today, the President of the United States informed me that I will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I want to thank him for this honor and to say that I am deeply, deeply touched to join this group on November 14 of 17 Americans to receive this award. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation's highest civilian honor. It is presented to individuals who have especially made contributions to the security and national interests of the United States, to people who have worked for world peace, who have found cures for incredible diseases, and who have done cultural and other significant things of public or private endeavors. To join that group I am, indeed, so honored. For the President to do this has been something that I could never have anticipated. I have been very deeply honored to serve the people of Maryland and of this Nation. To the people of Maryland, I thank you. I could never have had the opportunity to serve in the public sphere in such a way had they not honored me with their confidence and trust by voting for me. I am so thankful for the opportunity that they have given me to actually serve my State and my country. Yes, I am the longest serving woman in the Senate. But for me, it is not how long I have served but how well I have tried to serve. To me, service is about being connected to my constituents, staying close to them, making sure they don't fall between the cracks, and looking out for their day-to-day needs--whether a Social Security check, helping a veteran or working on issues such as college affordability. For me, service has been rooted in the values I learned in my home and in my community. I think today of my father and mother, who worked so hard so that my sisters and I would get an education. They owned a small neighborhood grocery store. Every day at 6 in the morning, my father would walk across the street from our row house home and open up the door of his grocery store and say: Good morning. Can I help you? That is the way I was raised, and that is what I have carried with me every single day; that is: Good morning. Can I help you? But they also saw that my sisters and I had a fantastic education. I had the opportunity to go to Catholic schools, and there the sisters taught us about leadership and service. But actually they focused on the values of our faith: Love your neighbor, care for the sick, worry about the poor, always insist that neighbors should help neighbors, and it is better to light one little candle than to curse the darkness. We were also raised to believe in the American dream. My great- grandmother came to this country from Poland. She had little money in her pocket. Women didn't even have the right to vote when she arrived. She had a big dream in her heart. If you worked hard and played by the rules, life would be better for you. She never thought, coming as she did, that her own great-granddaughter would one day be a U.S. Senator. But then that is only in America, where my story has been possible. Only in America do we have this incredible right to speak our mind. I got into politics as a protester. They wanted to put a highway through the neighborhood in which I grew up and some other neighborhoods in the city. I organized the ``Hell no, we won't go'' committee and took on city hall. Do you know what is so great about this country? In others, they put you in jail and beat you. In this country, they sent me to the city council, and I beat the political bosses. This is an amazing country. Our Constitution, the freedoms guaranteed in it--the freedom of assembly, the freedom to speak, and most of all, the freedom to serve and to be all that you can be--has been a marvelous gift. In a few days, I will be honored by the President of the United States, but the real honor has always been to be here. I never dreamed such an honor would come my way, nor did I seek it. I am so deeply honored to be touched by this, and I am honored to be among the people who will get this award. Among those who will be honored is the dearly beloved Shirley Chisholm, whom I served with in the House. She was always unbought and unbossed. Willie Mays will be honored. He always brought it home and knew where home plate was. Barbra Streisand, who always hit the high notes, and, of course, even Yogi Berra, who shared my love of language, are going to be honored. Young, distinguished Americans like Katherine Johnson, who was one of the first African Americans in space, and Lee Hamilton, who worked both in Congress and in the private sector to bring about world peace, will be honored. What a distinguished group of Americans, and I will be glad to stand with them. I wish to thank President Obama for this tremendous honor. I thank the people of Maryland for this tremendous opportunity to serve, and I thank the United States of America for enabling someone like me to follow her dream. I hope, in getting this award, that I will continue to make my pledge to be of service. I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise to speak as in morning business in terms of the bill we will be voting on at 11:20 a.m. today, the armed services authorization, as well as what we are going to be voting on this afternoon, which is veterans health care. They actually go hand in hand and what a great set of votes in a symmetry that shows our support for national security, our support for our U.S. military, our support for our U.S. military who are on Active Duty today, and then also for our veterans who in their hearts are always on Active Duty. Today we have the ability to actually show we can govern, we can pass bills on a bipartisan basis that will help our country be able to defend itself, show our support to the U.S. military, and honor our commitment to the veterans. I am looking forward to voting on the armed services authorization because it does give the tools we need to be able to defend ourselves. I commend Senators McCain and Jack Reed for their excellent work. Madam President, I wish to speak now as the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee. I am so excited that we are bringing the MILCON-VA bill to the Senate. I have been voting for veterans ever since I have come to Congress. Veterans are our Nation's heroes. They put their lives on the line to fight for our freedom. They have made tremendous sacrifices for our country. Whether it is veterans who are still alive from World War II, those who fought on Pork Chop Hill during the Korean war, the Vietnam war at Mekong Delta, and of course Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan, we owe our veterans a debt of gratitude. We want to show our gratitude not only with words and yellow ribbons but with deeds. I believe the best deed is to make sure we adequately fund the Veterans' Administration to end the backlog for disability benefits--if you fought on the frontlines, you shouldn't stand in line to get your disability benefits--and to robustly fund veterans health care, along with other benefits this Congress has so authorized. We have accomplished a lot over the years working for our veterans, and we will have a lot to do with what is in our legislation. I wish to commend the subcommittee chair, Senator Mark Kirk, and our vice chair, Senator Jon Tester, for the work they have done. As we were working on our bill this summer and through the spring, veterans told me and they told them that the Senate funding was too spartan; that we were underfunding our veterans and not just by a few dollars but by $850 million. So we held it up, not as a parliamentary ping-pong, not as a parliamentary temper tantrum but as a way of saying our veterans need more money. As a result of the budget agreement, we are able to do this. We are on the floor today where an amendment will be offered by Senators Kirk and Tester to add $2 billion for veterans health care, $2 billion to be determined by the Secretary. What do we look forward to? Well, lifesaving drugs. One of course is this issue of being able to pay for hepatitis C; the other, while we are looking at actual hands-on medical care, we want to reduce the wait times. There is too much waiting at the Veterans' Administration, whether you are waiting for your disability claim or you are waiting to see your doctor or your mental health counselor or your ophthalmologist. We need to be able to reduce the wait times, and this is what part of this $2 billion will do. Then there are those who are not only chronically ill from the wounds of war but are chronically and devastatingly injured. So we looked at those who are unable to care for themselves but are being cared for at home by loved ones. This will add more funds to be able to help those caregivers who are stepping up for their responsibility. So they are taking family responsibility, but we have to take USA responsibility. That is what we fought for in the $2 billion. I urge my colleagues to move ahead and be able to vote for this bill. I do believe this legislation, by adding the money and the kind of excellent work that has been done by our authorizers, the insistence of good provisions being put into the bill--we are going to shrink that VA backlog. Also, we are going to do something else. We are going to advance funding for mandatory veterans' benefits. So no matter what government means, if we ever get into more shutdown, slamdown, slowdown politics due to us, the veterans' benefits will go forward. I have been working on this backlog for a long time. By the time we got to March 2013, we were at a national standoff. There were over 600,000 claims pending. In Maryland we had one of the worst claims offices in my own hometown of Baltimore. I couldn't believe it. When I met with my Veterans Advisory Board and stories poured out of the kinds of calls that were coming into my Constituent Services Offices, not only were they waiting in line--this isn't like just standing in line at the supermarket, this is for disability benefits, for people who are in danger of losing their homes and other kinds of things. So we went to work on a bipartisan basis. I am proud of what we did. I am proud of our authorizers. I see Senator Isakson from Georgia is on the floor. He was a big part of the reform effort. It shows our military knows how to win wars, but we need to know how we can govern so they don't have to fight a war with the VA bureaucracy. We hope we will be able to make these reforms. We are not going to throw money at it. We are going to insist on metrics. The last point I wish to talk about is the advance appropriations. People will say: Aren't VA benefits mandatory? They are unless we get into one of our parliamentary ping-pong debates. So I worked with the Disabled Veterans of America and a coalition of several voluntary veterans service organizations--great groups: the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans and Iraq and Iran Veterans of America. They asked me to add advance appropriations to the omnibus 1 year in advance--making sure we funded things 1 year in advance-- protecting them from shutdown and slamdown politics. We were able to do that again, and I hope we can do that again this year. I know I have other colleagues on the floor who wish to speak now, but I wish to say we can really show we not only know how to fight for America and its security, but we know how to fight for those who do the fighting. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I wish to join my colleagues in support of the clean water rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers and in opposition to efforts to derail this critical rule. Clean water is the lifeblood of our society and the basic foundation of good public health. Our rivers, streams, and wetlands connect communities near and far through a common resource. For decades, the Clean Water Act has protected our waters from pollution so that Americans can rely on safe drinking water, can enjoy outdoor recreation, and can live in an environment that supports wildlife and a healthy ecosystem. However, for the last 15 years uncertainty has muddied the Clean Water Act. The lack of clarity for which bodies of water are federally regulated has led the Army Corps of Engineers to a backlog of 18,000 requests from landowners seeking help in complying with the Clean Water Act. The new clean water rule resolves this uncertainty for our local governments, our businesses, and our farmers by clarifying which waters should be protected so that all Americans can rely on clean water. The rule restores historic coverage of the Clean Water Act for streams and wetlands that provide drinking water for one-third of Americans. As one who has experienced the many benefits of the Chesapeake Bay my whole life, I know just how important it is to preserve and protect the world around us for future generations. The clean water rule would restore protections for more than half of Maryland's streams and many of its wetlands. Clean water means healthy families, healthy marine life to support Maryland watermen, and a healthy environment. The clean water rule is crucial to the health of the Chesapeake Bay and to countless other bodies of water in the United States. Let's stand up for our Nation's clean water and reject these attempts to derail the clean water rule.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I wish to recognize and commend the National Association of Social Workers, NASW, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Today NASW is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world, with 130,000 members, including 3,500 in my home State of Maryland. As a social worker myself, I am proud to be a dues-paying, card-carrying member of NASW, and I congratulate them on 60 wonderful years. In 1955, seven organizations had the vision to come together to form NASW in an effort to unify and strengthen the social work profession. The visionary leaders of those organizations understood that we can achieve more when we work together. And they have achieved so much. In the six decades since NASW's founding, members have been on the front lines, advocating and organizing for just causes such as fighting for child welfare and juvenile justice, working to end poverty, and protecting victims of domestic violence. NASW was directly involved in passing the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Violence Against Women Act and supported the creation of Medicaid and Medicare. I have seen the importance of this work firsthand, as I began my own career as a social worker in Baltimore, helping at-risk children and educating seniors about the Medicare program. NASW has been there time and again, to help social workers do what they do best--care for people at every stage and every age. Social workers reach every part of our communities, from hospitals and mental health clinics to corporations and schools. Working every day and in every way for others, social workers truly put service above themselves. They meet people where they are--in their communities, in their homes, in their everyday lives. I am so glad that NASW has been such a wonderful champion and partner, fighting to make sure social workers have what they need to make a difference for countless people nationwide. From professional development, to ethics consultation, to publications on standards and changing trends in the profession, NASW continues to make a difference in the social work profession as it reaches its 60 year mark. Social workers do so much, and they deserve someone in their corner who works as hard for them as they work for others. That is why I was proud to reintroduce the Social Work Reinvestment Act this year, which would create a National Coordination Center for supporting and sharing the good work and research that social workers are doing around the country. The bill also includes grant funding for education, training, and research; and it is going to help address the social worker shortage with better recruitment, retention, and compensation. Just this month, I was also glad to be an original cosponsor of the Improving Access to Mental Health Act of 2015, which would help seniors gain access to vital mental health services provided by social workers through the Medicare Program. Social workers constantly seek solutions that reduce economic inequality, racism, hunger, and all forms of discrimination. They also ensure access to health care and mental health care for our Nation's most vulnerable populations. For the past 60 years, NASW members have cleared paths to brighter days in America. And I am excited for what social workers and NASW will do in the next 60 years. Thank you.