Chuck Schumer

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SCHUMER. I yield the floor.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment No. 4 to H.R. 2617, with an amendment.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

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

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I have good news. With days left before Christmas, Democrats and Republicans have reached an omnibus agreement, completed at 1:15 a.m. early this morning. In the very early hours of the morning, Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Shelby released a long-sought, bipartisan, bicameral Omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2023. The omnibus is the last thing we have to do to close out a very successful 117th Congress, and we have taken another step--a major step--towards reaching the goal line. After a lot of hard work, this package represents an aggressive investment in American families, American workers, and America's national defense. It will give our troops a raise, make healthcare more affordable for millions, and it fulfills the promise Democrats made to defend democracy at home and abroad through the ECA. It was no easy feat to piece this bill together, and if our amazing appropriator staff needs a quick power nap at their desks this morning, no one is going to blame them. I want to thank Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Shelby for working on this omnibus for months without cease. I can't think of a more fitting sendoff for our two esteemed appropriators than this. If this omnibus goes down as Senators Leahy and Shelby's final legislative contribution as Senators, then I say bravo, thank you, and well done. I also want to thank my colleagues in the House--above all, Speaker Pelosi and Chair DeLauro for their relentless work. The clock is now ticking until government funding runs out this Friday. Between now and the end of the week, the watchwords for the Senate will be ``speed'' and ``cooperation.'' For the information of Senators, we are going to get going on this process today. Members should be ready to vote to lay the omnibus before the Senate as soon as this afternoon. We must finish passing this omnibus before the deadline on Friday, when government funding runs out, but we hope to do it much sooner than that because we are mindful that a nor'easter is barreling down the east coast on Thursday and Friday. Let me say this again. The sooner we pass the omnibus, the better. We have until Friday before funding runs out, but we ought to get it done well before then. I hope no Senator will stand in the way of our finishing our work. We cannot afford a shutdown. More importantly, the American people need us to act quickly. As I said, the American people need us to act quickly to avert the looming danger of a government shutdown. Nobody wants a shutdown. Nobody benefits from a shutdown. So I hope nobody here will stand in the way of funding the government ASAP. Now let's turn to the omnibus itself. This funding bill is overflowing with very good news for our troops, for the Ukrainian brave fighters, for American jobs, for our families, and for American democracy. After a lot of hard work, Democrats will fulfill our promise to pass reforms to the Electoral Count Act into law. Two years after January 6, the attack on our Capitol remains an indelible stain on our democracy, and updating the Electoral Count Act is one of the ways we can prevent another January 6 in the future. It is so important to do. I want to thank Senators Manchin and Collins and the group they put together to put the ECA together and Senators Klobuchar and Blunt on the Rules Committee for their help in making this happen. I said months ago we would do everything possible to pass ECA reform, and now we are following through. Many thanks, of course, go to all my colleagues who made this possible. The omnibus is also going to fulfill our promise to stand with our friends in Ukraine with billions more in emergency economic and military aid. The bitterness of winter has descended on Eastern Europe, and if our friends in Ukraine hope to triumph over Russia, America must stand firmly on the side of our democratic friends abroad. They are not asking for, nor do they want American troops, but they do need the weaponry to defend themselves against a brutal Putin. On the homefront, the omnibus will make healthcare more affordable and more expansive for millions upon millions of Americans. For the first time ever, every child in America who qualifies for Medicaid or CHIP will now be guaranteed at least one year of continuous health coverage. This is a major change that will make a big difference in improving healthcare for millions of kids. We will permanently extend a policy from the American Rescue Plan that let States give a full year of postpartum coverage for mothers on Medicaid and CHIP. This is something huge, something I have so strongly believed in and fought for. It is a major step to address America's crisis in maternal health and mortality. Many elements of the Momnibus are in this bill, good elements of the Momnibus, particularly for women of color, who have long been discriminated against when it comes to birth and postpartum coverage. The omnibus also represents a new offensive in the battle against America's mental health crisis. We all know that crisis is at record levels. We all know we have to do something about it. This omnibus does. Overdoses and substance abuse are at record levels. I fought hard to make sure this package will allow seniors to get Medicare coverage for counseling, funding to train new psychiatrists, create new mental health mobile crisis units, and instruct Medicare to cover intensive outpatient mental health care. We are also going to attack the opioid crisis head-on by expanding options for medication-assisted treatment while also making never- before-seen investments in suicide prevention, maternal mental health, pediatric mental health, and so much more. We will also keep making healthcare more accessible than it was in years past. We will ensure Medicare beneficiaries can keep using telehealth through 2024. That is huge, particularly in rural areas. We will invest new resources to hire and train more doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers, who have been in high demand over the past couple of years. We are also increasing support for rural and low-income hospitals that very often have to get by with precious little help. So on the healthcare front, the omnibus is an aggressive, generous, and far-reaching package, and I salute all those, including Chairman Murray and Chairman Leahy, for their work on this. On the manufacturing and science front, the omnibus secures the first major downpayment in building the tech hubs across the country that we have authorized through the CHIPS and Science Act. This means real dollars to create the silicon valleys, the silicon forests, the silicon heartlands and prairies of tomorrow. Again, I want to thank Chair Cantwell for her steadfast leadership on this issue, as well as my colleague on the other side of the aisle, Todd Young. Under the omnibus, we will also secure the largest increase for the National Science Foundation of all time, including a surge in funds for the new Technology Directorate and for STEM workforce training that will spur chip growth across the country and give training to millions who have been left out of the increase in jobs in tech. Also included are billions to support universities, national labs, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and workers with the support necessary for the United States to beat back China and remain technologically competitive on the world stage. That is not all. There is much more to celebrate in this package. We will keep our promise to our veterans by fully funding provisions of the PACT Act so veterans suffering from burn pit exposure can get the care they deserve. We will help veterans with their mental health needs, reform VA long-term care services, and support veterans who struggle with homelessness. We say to our veterans: You have been there when we needed you; this omnibus is there when you need us. For students, we have secured the largest increase in Pell grants in over a decade--an increase of $500; the maximum Pell Grant will now be $7,395, providing ladders-up for millions of kids who come from poor and working families. That is a great thing. For the first time in history, we will also bring Indian Health Services into parity with all other healthcare providers. This historic provision helps fulfill the Federal Government's trust responsibility to our tribes. We will provide more resources, healthcare coverage, and the dignity they deserve. We have secured billions for more childcare access, billions for homeless assistance grants, billions for Rural Housing Services, over a billion for HOME Investment Partnership Programs, and over a billion for the Housing for the Elderly and Housing for Persons with Disabilities Program. So from start to finish and from top to bottom, this omnibus is bold, generous, far-reaching, and ambitious. It is not everything we would have wanted, of course. When you are dealing in a bipartisan, bicameral way, you have to sit down and get it done and that means each side has to concede some things; but it is something that we can be very proud of--all of us. Now we must get this done before Friday--well before that, if possible. I want to thank every single colleague and staff Member who worked relentlessly to put this piece together; not only Senators Leahy and Shelby but their subcommittee chairs and ranking members. It was a herculean feat for our dedicated appropriators. The process may have been difficult, but I am confident we are now in a position to pass this bill quickly. And I am even more confident that once we finish our work on this package, America will be a healthier, more prosperous, and more secure country thanks to the work we have done here and now. Thanks to my colleagues. Let's finish the bill very soon. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Well, it is never easy to bid farewell to a retiring colleague, but, boy, this one is hard. It is even harder to bid farewell to a friend; and everyone is Pat's friend. But today, we say thank you not to just a colleague and not just a dear friend, but to an institution all his own. Pat, we are here to say we honor you. We are here to say we will miss you. Most of all, we are here to say we are happy for you on your well- earned retirement. We all just heard Pat speaking so eloquently, so beautifully from the heart, from his good soul. And it took a lot of strength for all of us to keep this together. I saw lots of misty eyes in different parts of his speech--lots of misty eyes. It is the conclusion of an era here in the Senate. We will call this the Leahy era for all you have done. It is an era that began in the aftermath of Watergate and now concludes nearly 50 years and 8 terms later, a legacy that includes so much--Appropriations chair, Judiciary chair, President pro tempore. And to be sure, he is finishing his tenure precisely the way we all expect him to, by being up at 1:30 a.m. this morning--it kept getting later--to file the omnibus. If you looked up the word ``Senator'' in the dictionary, you wouldn't be crazy to expect a picture of Pat included alongside that word. His name is synonymous with everything good, dignified, and admirable in the upper Chamber. Pat learned so much in the years he has been here, and Pat was everything. One accomplishment that he mentioned that just shows the mettle of the man was the work he did on land mines, anti-personnel land minds. He did an amazing job. There are thousands and thousands of people across the world--children, old people, and everyone in between--who are not maimed, who are alive because of his persistence, his dedication. It took all of his skills, his knowledge of policy, his bipartisan chops, eloquence on the floor, his stubborn relentlessness, and most of all, his sense of duty to the people of world. He so aptly concluded with the picture we have all seen in his office over his desk. Of course, Pat will be the first to shun these accomplishments as his alone. After all, he is just one half of the equation. The other half, of course, is Marcelle, an amazing, amazing person. And we love you, Marcelle. We love you. (Applause.) So, folks, it is the end of an era. Pat has done an amazing job in so many different ways. He could have sat here all day and all night if he were to delineate everything he has done for us and the American people. Folks, in closing, let me return to a serious thought on duty from a source I suspect is near and dear to Pat's heart, the great poet Robert Frost. For those unfamiliar, the title of Pat's new memoir, ``The Road Taken,'' which everyone should read, is a play on Frost's famous poem ``The Road Not Taken.'' Like Pat, Frost lived in Vermont, at least for much of his life. He was a great lover of nature, a bold voice for a generation confounded by war, depression, and disruptions of modernity. But there is another Frost poem I want to cite today, ``Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.'' It is about a man torn between his sense of duty to get home to his family and stopping to bask in the beauty of the countryside: Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. Pat, you have walked the miles; you kept your promises; and when you get home to your beautiful tree farm up in northern Vermont, you have earned more than a few extra hours of sleep. But I have no doubt when you get up each morning, you will be going, striving, keeping on finding new ways to make Vermont a better place, just as you made the Senate a better place for all of us. Thank you, dear friend. We love you. We love you. We are going to miss you and Marcelle so very, very much. (Applause.)

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it is my understanding the Senate has received a message from the House of Representatives to accompany H.R. 2617.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate the message to accompany H.R. 2617, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider: Calendar No. 780, Agnes Schaefer, of Pennsylvania, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army; that there be 10 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form on the nomination; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that, if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider: Calendar No. 781, Franklin R. Parker, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of the Navy; that there be 10 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form on the nomination; that upon use or yielding back of time, the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that, if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 1235, Gene Rodrigues, of California, to be Assistant Secretary of Energy; that the Senate vote on the nomination without intervening action or debate; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 21; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; that upon the conclusion of morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 1271, Lynne Tracy, to be Ambassador to the Russian Federation; further, that at 11:30 a.m., the Senate vote on confirmation of the Tracy nomination.

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, let me start by wishing Jewish Americans everywhere a happy start to Hanukkah. I celebrated the first night with my family up in New York, and I hope my colleagues who observe Hanukkah were able to do the same. The story of Hanukkah is, among many things, a story of perseverance in the face of unspeakable hatred. It is also a lesson that hits home this year for many Jewish Americans targeted recently by anti-Semitism. After decades of hard work, it is terrifying to see today that anti- Semitism is on the rise in America. We must do everything we can to stomp it down. No matter what our faiths may be, of course, I urge all Americans of goodwill to take a stand against the forces of bigotry and intolerance. There are many out there who are trying to use their platforms to make anti-Semitism more acceptable in our country, and we must oppose them at every turn. I have faith that the forces of intolerance will lose in the end, just as they did in the days of Hanukkah when Judah Maccabee led the Jewish people against an oppressive majority. But the fight is long, and all of us must do our part. So as we continue observing the Festival of Lights, I say to colleagues and to Jewish Americans across the country: Chag Sameach, happy holiday. And thank God that, in this country, freedom of religion and tolerance is part of our watch word, unlike it was in the old days of Judah Maccabee.

Mr. SCHUMER

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

Mr. SCHUMER

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask unanimous consent that further reading be dispensed with.

Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to concur with an amendment.