Jon Tester

Mr. TESTER

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise today for one simple reason, and that reason is to tell this body to stop pointing fingers and start writing a budget that works for not only my State but every State in the Union. It can be done. It has been done many, many times before. Unfortunately, this year our budget ran out on September 30. We had a CR that took us from the next day, October 1, to December 8. When December 8 rolled around, we had another continuing resolution to take us from December 8 to December 22. When December 22 came around, we had another CR that took us from December 22 to January 19, and that is where we are today, because some of us said enough is enough. We need to have a budget that works for this country. Here we are on day 2 of the government shutdown, and this body can't even agree to pay our troops. That is how dysfunctional we have become. Now we are using military men and women as political pawns because of the dysfunction we have here in Washington, DC. In the past, we have always taken care of these folks because our servicemembers and their families have sacrificed much for this country, but we continue to draw it out--the leadership of this body--for political gains. The folks I talk to, the rank-and-file folks on both sides of the aisle, think it is ridiculous. They think it is ridiculous that we have gotten here in the first place. But the truth is, if we are going to give predictability and the ability for our agencies to plan and the military to plan and the VA to plan and our border security folks to plan and everybody else, we need to have a budget that goes longer than month to month or 3 weeks to 3 weeks. We need a budget that funds more than just CHIP. It is interesting that CHIP could have been reauthorized months ago. I did events in Montana and talked about how important it was months ago. I am cosponsoring a bill that has sat on the leader's desk that could have been passed months ago. But it was put in I guess as a sweetener. Unfortunately, using CHIP as a political pawn isn't exactly what I had in mind for a program that has been around for nearly 20 years and has served Montana's families so very, very well. That is not the only program we haven't funded. We haven't funded our community health centers. I heard the Senator from Alaska talking about how critically important they are for Alaska. They are critically important for Montana. I have a notion that they are critically important for every rural State in the Union and probably every urban State, too, as far as that goes. That needs to be taken care of. In Montana, where we have just over 1 million people, 100,000 people depend on community health centers for their healthcare. There is a thing called 340B. Not to get into the weeds too far, but these are payments given to hospitals that hold pharmaceutical companies accountable and keep our hospitals open. I have had hospital administrators and former hospital administrators in my office over the last month telling me that if this doesn't get fixed, we are going to lose hospitals in Montana, once again taking access away from many folks. This is not included in any of this. It could have been done months ago. There have been plenty of folks who have come to the floor to talk about opioids and to talk about pensions. Neither of those is included in this. There is no money for the borders. The southern border needs some attention. The northern border does, too, particularly the ports. There is no predictability for our military. Defense Secretary Mattis has said that many, many times. Things that are closer to home, such as rural ambulance services, need to be addressed. This isn't addressed and isn't going to be addressed unless we push the envelope and work to get things done. Teaching health centers allow us to have doctors in places around this country that can't get doctors, and this is critically important. Medicaid coverage for physical therapists and occupational therapists--we are going to lose these folks if we don't have it. The Special Diabetes Program--particularly for Indian Country, where diabetes is rampant--needs to be addressed, plus a whole lot more. When I was in high school, I debated for a couple years, and one of the things that were interesting during debate--you go through debate, and you hear the affirmative and negative lay out their cases, much in the same way that is being done by the two leaders here on this issue. When you were done debating and one team was particularly behind or ahead, they would say, well, they didn't make a case on why this is a good idea, or, they didn't make a case--the negative did not make a case on why their case should stand over the affirmative. I hear the same thing today when folks come to the floor and say: People agree with everything that is in this. Well, I don't because there ain't much in there. We have been coming here for the last 4 months since the budget ran out at the end of September and continue to kick the can down the road. That is just how dysfunctional this body has become. We can't do the basic thing we were elected to do, and that is to pass a budget for the year for the things that are included that are important to this country. Whether it be military or healthcare or whether it be issues that revolve around Medicare or pensions, we just don't do much, and I think many of us are getting very tired of saying: You know what, we don't want to put forth any excellence in this body. We don't want to put forth any vision or any leadership. We are just going to do the bare minimum every day. We need to stop. Congress needs to stop with short-term solutions, going from crisis to crisis. That is no way to run a nation, and I will state that most folks on both sides of the aisle would agree. That is why we need to start working together to get this problem fixed, because it is a problem--the problem of 3-week or 4-week CRs, the problem of not addressing the issues that are so critically important to working families and businesses in this country. It needs to stop. We need to work together. I said yesterday that we are being pulled apart by the far left and the far right, and that is the truth. In days gone past, in Mike Mansfield's day, 70 percent of the work got done in the middle. Now we don't even do the basic work today. So I would say, let's get together. The truth is, the Republicans control the White House, they control the House, they control the Senate, and they control the agenda. And they should--they won the last election. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't work together as Democrats and Republicans and most importantly as Americans to do what is right by this country. So I would just ask that particularly the leaders on both sides get together, do the tough negotiations, compromise, and come up with a budget that works for not only Montana but for every State in this great country. I yield the floor.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. I thank Senator King for the question. Last night, as we approached midnight, I got an email from one of my good friends in Montana who is in the business of agriculture. He is a rancher in North Central Montana, actually on the Rocky Mount front. He said: Why does this have to happen? My comment to him was that continuing resolutions don't work well for this country. They cost taxpayers a bunch of money, and they don't give folks the kind of predictability in their government that they elected us to give them. I am with the Senator. I voted for the continuing resolutions--the one that extended it to December 1 and then the next one, which went to I believe December 19. At that moment in time, I thought, well, Christmas is looming, and we will come to an agreement, and if not, we will just stay here throughout the Christmas break and do it because it is that important. I believe strongly in my family, and I love to be there, and I was there for Christmas, but the truth is, this job here is critically important for the whole country, and we need to do our job. The motion for yet another CR from December 19--to move it to January 19 came up, and I held my nose and I voted for it. At that time, I said: I am not going to do this again. In that month between December 19 through January 19, we were supposed to have worked out a deal. Guess what happened. There was no deal worked out. Now we are back in exactly the same place. What Senator King said is exactly correct. What are we going to know in February that we don't know now? The point is, nothing additional is going to be added to the equation. We all know what it is--deals with border security, the military, healthcare issues, pensions, opioids, and a budget that goes until the end of September, which is the end of the fiscal year for this country--but it is simply not going to happen unless we get folks working together again. Look, the Republicans have majorities in the House and the Senate. They control the Presidency and the White House. I am telling you, if the floor leader doesn't provide the kind of leadership that we need to get to a point where we address the issues that are important to this country, we will never address the issues, and we will continue to have continuing resolution after continuing resolution. So what I would ask is that folks from both sides lock themselves in a room. The two leaders, lock themselves in the room. Ultimately, that is what it is going to come down to, to come to an agreement that works for this country and gives predictability over the long haul. I happen to be on the Appropriations Committee. We are going to be starting to work on the fiscal year 2019 budget, and we are not even done with the 2018 budget because of these continuing resolutions. So I would tell Senator King that the people of Montana are frustrated. They want to see their government work better. What are the folks in Maine telling you?

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, we rise today after a long night last night--a night that I think could produce some fruits today or tomorrow or soon, I hope, because, on behalf of the just over 1 million Montanans and families across this country, and I believe a vast majority of the people in this body, we need to put this shutdown to an end. Folks, whether it be a welder in Butte or a teacher in Billings or a sugar beet farmer in Sidney or a mill worker in Columbia Falls, they have all told me, and they will continue to tell me, that this body is incredibly dysfunctional and that Congress is incredibly dysfunctional. We ought to break that. We ought to start working together. We ought to start listening to one another. We shouldn't be taking off the right side of the Earth nor the left side of the Earth. We should work in the middle for policies that work for America. The budget may be the most important of those policies that work for America. It has been 112 days now since our budget ran out--the end of September of this year. We have responded to that budget running out by passing four short-term continuing resolutions, we call them--stop-gap measures, bandaids, if you will, kicking the can down the road; it is described by a lot of different methods--to fund the budget. That has resulted in costing the taxpayers additional dollars and incredible inefficiencies, and it is caused by the Members of this body not doing their job and leadership not doing their job. Enough is enough. We need to roll up our sleeves. We need to work together. We need to talk. We need to listen to one another. We need to come to a resolution of this problem. We can talk about the Children's Health Insurance Program. It is an incredibly important program, there is no doubt about it, but it has been held hostage for the last 4 months. I can tell my colleagues that if it was put on the floor--and it could have been put on the floor at any time in the last 4 months--it would have passed, I believe, overwhelmingly by this body. Why? Because kids need it. Families need it. We are putting, in Montana's case alone, 24,000 kids at risk who do not have credible care. The same can be said for our healthcare centers. The same can be said for the opioid crisis. The same can be said for security on our northern and southern borders. The same can be said for our military. The uncertainty we have without a longer budget that goes to the end of the fiscal year is unacceptable. We all know it. We have been talking about it for months, but nothing ever comes to the floor to solve it, except for a continuing resolution, which is not a solution at all, it is a bandaid. Last night, I proposed a 72-hour--3-day--extension so the shutdown wouldn't happen until Monday night so we could work together to negotiate this deal, to put some pressure on the body to work together to come up with a deal by Monday night. It seemed reasonable enough to me. We have been talking about these issues for months, but the majority leader objected to keeping the government open and pushing ourselves--driving ourselves to the negotiating table to get something done. Look, I have worked in this body with a number of folks on my side of the aisle and on the other side of the aisle, and we have had success. I bring this up often because Johnny Isakson is an incredibly good chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I happen to be the ranking member. Johnny Isakson and I work well together. We don't always agree, but from the very beginning, we have agreed to put what we disagree on off to the side and work on what we agree on. What has transpired is a record number of votes on tough issues coming out of the Veterans Affairs' Committee. Why? Because we are working for the veterans, and that is what we need to be doing here. We should not be working for a political party. We should not be posturing ourselves for the next election. We should not be putting working families and businesses at risk. We should be working together to make a difference for this country with a long-term funding bill that addresses a number of issues which have all been laid on the table, from healthcare to opioids, to pensions, to our military, to border security--the list goes on, but it is a list we can work with. We know what needs to be done. We need to quit playing games. One of the people I have incredible respect for in this body who has what I believe uncommon common sense is the Senator from Maine. Senator King and I visit, oftentimes off the floor, and we talk about our frustrations with this body because it doesn't have to be this way. We can get things done if we work together. I am hoping Senator King can explain to me why we continue to have a budget that doesn't work for the American people, that continues to be a patchwork of month-by-month or week-by-week continuing resolutions and what we need to do to fix it.

Mr. TESTER. I think that is what the whole country wants us to do. The Senator brought up the point that if this body were all one party and they all thought the same, it might be easier. But it would be a lot worse. The truth is, diversity of thought is important. Talking with people, getting compromise, and finding the middle ground is what built this country. That is what built America. We need to look at those principles when we move forward on a bill like this. Ten days ago, I was at the White House. Senator Durbin was there. There were about two dozen folks, between the House and the Senate, from both parties. We saw the President more focused than I have ever seen him before. He said: You bring us a bill on the issue of immigration, and I will sign it. I will be the bad guy, he said. I will sign it. There is a bipartisan group here who got together and did that, and then he said no. So the Senator is exactly right. The White House--the President--has to provide the kind of leadership and assurance to know that he is not just going to say no, that he will take yes for an answer. I think it is very, very important moving forward. Look, we are at a moment in time where everybody looks at us, and I think we have single-digit approval ratings--probably lower than that now after last night. America is saying: Come on, guys. It doesn't have to be like this. You need to work together. Everybody needs to work together and come together and come up with something that works for America, that solves the problems that are there. That is what I ask of this body today. We all say basically the same thing, so let's just do it. Let's put the bill together, let's bring it to the floor, and let's vote and get it done.

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

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I had the feeling at one point in time tonight that we were very, very close to an agreement. I think, as we look around this body, we see folks on both sides of the aisle who want to come to an agreement and will work hard for an agreement. It is a fact that we need a better budget. We need a budget that works for America. We need a budget that goes to the end of the fiscal year, which isn't that long from now, by the way--only the end of September. It is a fact that we need CHIP funding and money for our community health centers, certainly for our military, and money for the northern and southern borders and for opioids and the list goes on. The majority leader has said that they have been working on a budget settlement for weeks. I think most of us, if not all of us, are willing to stay here and work until this work gets done. I am certainly willing to. This is supposed to be the most deliberative body in the world. I know that some will say there is just not enough time, but there is. I have watched this body work very quickly when necessary. I think a government shutdown would require that. We have pushed this budget off now for 112 days. That is why I am proposing a 3-day continuing resolution so we can work together to come to a conclusion to do what the American people want; that is, have a budget that works until the end of the fiscal year that funds critical programs for our military and domestic. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 36, H.R. 1301; that the amendment at the desk that would provide for a continuing resolution to fund the government through Monday, January 22, 2018, be considered and agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, before I get into my prepared remarks I want to say, we have been at war for 16 years, and the Senator from Alaska is correct, we do need to rebuild our military. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It is not something that just came about last night. It is something we should have been doing with this budget that should have been passed to go into effect the end of September. If you really want to talk about the hypocrisy of this body, and there is plenty of it, the fact that we have folks coming to the floor who haven't said a peep about CHIP--it also, by the way, ran out of money the end of September--and talk about how important it is for those kids. By the way, it is very important for those kids. It is the first time we have heard a peep out of them. That is interesting. The fact is, we do need to come together, and we do need a long-term budget deal. By the way, when I am talking about long term, I am not talking about years and years, I am talking about until the end of September of this year. That is all we have to have is a budget deal to the end of September of this year that addresses more than just CHIP, and CHIP is important. It needs to address our military. It needs to address our southern border security. The chairman knows this. We work together on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. He understands how important this is. We have to make sure our borders are secure. We have to make sure we have domestic programs that working families and businesses depend upon in this country, such as CHIP, funding for community health centers, making sure there are dollars there for rural ambulance services. The list goes on and on. We have had an incredible failure of leadership here. I think we have had three patches to this budget--three of them. This was supposed to be done 111 days ago. Over 111 days ago, we were supposed to have a budget that lasted for the fiscal year 2018. We were supposed to have a bill that kept services for the U.S. Government open and operating so Montanans and Americans could have the certainty they elected us to create, but for 111 days, the leadership on the other side of the aisle--and I mean intentionally so, I believe--have played politics and kicked the can down the road. This is not nuclear physics, folks. This is about funding our government. It is not that tough, but we have hit deadline after deadline after deadline, and what we have been told is, look, we will extend about another month or two, and then we will get an agreement. Oh, we will extend out another month, and we will get an agreement. At Christmastime I was ready to work here through Christmas to get this done because families in this country deserve the certainty of the basic job of setting up a budget. This is the basic job we are elected for in this body. I believe on December 19, once again, we kicked the can down the road, and it was said: You know what, we are going to have a deal by January 19. Well, guess what. It is January 19, and now we are going to move the goal post again. Each of those previous patches I voted for. Why? Because I believed them. I expected the leaders of this body to work in good faith and get the job done. I was wrong because, for 111 days, they have refused to provide long-term funding for community health centers. For 111 days, they have failed to pass a bill that secures our borders. For 111 days, they have neglected our children by refusing to reauthorize CHIP. For 111 days, they have failed to do the most basic and fundamental aspect of our job; that is, pass a long-term budget that works for this country and works for my home State of Montana. Now, today we are about 9 hours before the government is set to run out of money. Folks on the other side of the aisle are pointing their finger over here and saying: We have to reauthorize CHIP. If we don't, all these kids--guess what. That same argument could have been made 6 months ago and was not. We have 24,000 kids in Montana who, I am telling you, have been watching. Those families have been watching. They ask: Why? Why hasn't it already been done? Why are we 111 days after the budget has been passed, and we still have nothing? There is a CHIP bill that has been sitting on the majority leader's desk for many a month to reauthorize CHIP. I believe it has 24 cosponsors on it. There are Members of this body who are not even cosponsors of that bill who have found religion and have come to the floor to passionately talk about CHIP, and we haven't heard crickets from them until the last day or two. So the folks who have been down here on the floor and on cable television talking about what a great program CHIP is--and it has been a great program. It is one of the first major pieces of legislation I voted on when I was in the Montana Senate. Where have you been? Why haven't we had it on the floor and voted on it? It is important. It is pure hypocrisy. It is what the Senator from Alaska talked about, only on a different level. This dysfunction here is way, way, way too deep. This bill also fails to fund community health centers. I will state, I talked to the administrators of the community health centers in places like RiverStone and Flathead, up in Kalispell and Bullock and Havre. I tell you what, these folks are sweating bullets. They are afraid they are going to have to close their facilities down. They provide primary healthcare to 100,000 folks. That may not sound like a lot of people, but in Montana, a State of just over 1 million folks, it is a big deal. These are essential facilities to our communities across Montana. They provide basic healthcare, and they keep families alive. The folks who run these community health centers have told me face-to-face: If we don't get the funding, we are going to have to close the doors. It has been 111 days, and we should have had a budget to fund community health centers, and we are still standing here today saying: Guess what. When we come back here in February, things are going to be just fine, just like they said in December. I have news for you, nothing is going to change between now and February so let's get a long-term budget deal today that addresses some of these issues. This bill also fails to make our borders secure. As I said earlier, the Presiding Officer and I have worked on the Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee to draft a bill that works. It invests in a wall where a wall makes sense. It hires more Border Patrol agents. That bill was never brought up to full committee. I am sorry that never happened because it would have been great, and it is not included in the bill before us today. Time and again, over the last 4 months, good bipartisan bills have been piled up on the leadership's desk. Rather than bring these bipartisan bills to the floor, rather than pass a long-term budget, a more fiscally responsible budget, the Senate has just said: No. Guess what. We will do it next month--and we will do it the month after that and we will do it the month after that. It is time to stop putting the bandaid on our budget because in 4 weeks we will be back here again if this passes, and it will be the same problems. In fact, we can solve them today, and we need to solve them today. Enough is enough. Congress has three times passed short-term, stopgap, crisis-funding bills. These bills fail my constituents, and they waste taxpayer dollars. Enough is enough. People are tired of this, and I know they are tired on the other side of the aisle because they have told me. They told me it is time to do our job here. They are as frustrated as I am. They are as frustrated as Montanans are when I meet them face-to- face in townhalls and coffee shops. They tell me it is time for Congress to get off their duff and do their jobs. Montanans don't run their businesses like this, and our government should not run like this, especially after I hear promises to drain the swamp. This is exactly the opposite. Bringing this garbage bill to the floor is a dereliction of duty. It is incompetent, and mostly it is a failure of leadership. It is a failure of vision. In any other business in this country, if managers acted like the leadership of this body, they would lose their jobs. It is almost as if the majority had planned this all along to get us to this point for political purposes. Well, guess what, we should not be here for political purposes; we should be here as Americans doing our best to give people the certainty they need rather than playing with a hot potato, saying: You know what, we will do it next month. We were sent here to govern. We ought to govern and put politics in the closet. We have 9 hours to do a job, and we need to do it. If the majority leadership and the White House are going to continue to sit back and twiddle their thumbs, let's bypass them and let's get a deal. There are good people in this body. We need to sit down and get a deal that works for the rest of this year--that is, until the end of September, not until the 19th of February--that strengthens our borders, reauthorizes CHIP, funds our community health centers, supports rural hospitals, and fixes DACA. I know there are scores and scores of folks on the other side of the aisle who want to do this. Nobody should leave their desk in this body until this job is done. We are nearly 4 months into this fiscal year. At some point in time, the Appropriations Committee should be starting to work on the 2019 fiscal year budget, but we are not because we can't even get through 2018. We need to stop governing from crisis to crisis. Nobody wants a shutdown, and that is why we need to stay here and do our jobs. I yield the floor.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the remarks I gave at the medal presentation to Joseph William Novotny's family on January 13. 2018, in Glendive, MT.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I was necessarily absent due to a flight cancellation out of my control when the Senate voted on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 370. On this vote, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 370.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I thank Senator Isakson for his words. I thank the Presiding Officer, who is currently sitting in the chair, for his work on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I want to talk a little bit about Chairman Isakson before I talk about the Care Act. Over the last year, I have been able to work with a great man from Georgia who has done great work. When we started out, we talked about doing stuff we could agree upon and set the stuff we disagree upon apart, and it has ended up where we have agreed on a lot of stuff, and we have been able to get a lot of stuff done. I would just say, in a body that is full of impasse over this last year, Chairman Isakson has been a great guy to work with because the fact is, we have set aside the political labels, and we have worked for our veterans in that committee. It is not only Johnny and myself, but members on both sides of the aisle in that committee have worked very well together and communicated so very well to make sure we could take care of the needs of our veterans across this country, whether it was in rural America or whether it was in urban America, but our work is not done. The Care Act Chairman Isakson talked about is a very important piece of legislation. It is a bipartisan compromise. It is a bill we all negotiated on, so not everybody got everything. There are always things in it that you wish would be better, regardless of where you are in the spectrum, but this program does a lot of good things for our veterans. It, first of all, will eliminate the Veterans First Program and replace it with one that is much easier for veterans to navigate in a system that puts in place where the veterans can seek care. It puts that system in the hands of a veteran and their doctor. This is a bill that passed out of committee 14 to 1, and it has 26 veterans service organizations, representing millions of veterans who have endorsed this bill. It is a good bill. I wish the Veterans' Administration, which we worked so closely with on this bill, would come out and forcefully endorse it. I think that would help a lot. What it does is it establishes a Veterans Community Care Program. It merges seven VA community care programs into one program, with one set of rules for both providers and the veterans. It puts the decision of where to seek care in the hands of the veteran and their doctor. No more one-size-fits-all eligibility. If a local VA doesn't have the equipment for a certain test and there is not another VA locally that can provide that test, the vet can go to the community doc. If the roads to another VA facility are closed for snow, veterans could go to their local doctor rather than waiting for the roads to clear, which is a big issue in rural America. If a nearer VA clinic has a type of doc a vet needs to see, but there is a community doc closer and the vet has a bad back, that vet can see that doc in that community, as an example. It offers convenient, walk- in care so vets can get care closer to home for minor illnesses. Third-party administrators--also known as government contractors-- will have a smaller role at the local level, and the local VA will have the flexibility of when to use them for scheduling so what makes more sense for the local VA will not be decided by bureaucrats in Washington. The second thing it does is it improves accountability and transparency of VA's spending. It requires the VA to give Congress more notice when funding levels of programs that impact veterans are running low. It forces the VA to put together a businesslike plan about how it is going to spend taxpayer dollars, and it gives Congress more visibility in the VA contracts. It requires accountability at the medical center, regional, and the Federal levels. If the clinic isn't brought back up to snuff, we know who has failed to do their job. I could give you a timeline on what has been going on in the last 3 years with the Choice Program--not having enough money, having more than enough money, not having enough money. That will end when we pass this bill. Congress will be able to have the oversight over the Community Care Program that it needs. It will give long-term certainty to our veterans because a lack of long-term certainty is devastating to those veterans, and it will give those who have served the consistency and the certainty they need. No more bandaids. We need a cure. The third thing it does is it improves VA resources in healthcare. Veterans tell me, time and time again, once they get through the door, they love the care the VA gives them. I have been told by a number of veterans that VA has saved their lives. The problem has always been getting through the door, and the biggest reason for those delays to get through that door is workforce shortages. So our bill incentivizes medical staff to work in rural and underserved areas and Tribal VA facilities. It deploys more mobile teams to provide additional care. It removes the barriers for veterans to access telemedicine, including mental health care, closer to home. It brings more nurses and heart and lung specialists to work at the VA and clinical staff to work at vet centers. The answer to the VA is not privatization. It is to build the VA and use the private sector to fill in the gaps that the VA cannot provide. That is what this bill does. It also expands the VA caregiver program to veterans of all areas and their caregivers. Right now, the VA caregiver program only applies to post-9/11 veterans. We have a whole lot of veterans--especially the folks from the Vietnam war--who are getting a lot older, and this caregiver program expansion to the veterans before 9/11 is absolutely critical. So the bottom line is this: We have worked well on the committee. We have put out a good bill. We put out a bill that works for the taxpayer and, most importantly, for the veterans. This bill is a long-term solution. We don't need another bandaid fix. The Care Act is our long-term solution. It provides the VA what it needs to hire staff for top-notch care. It provides an integrated network of community providers to fill in the gaps for that care. It is a balance between those two, and the veterans win. The VSOs are on board. They were part of the discussion on this bill. We talked to the VA extensively to make sure this bill would work for the VA, and they agreed. As I said earlier, I would love to have the VA come out forcefully for this bill. I think it would help get it passed in this body. One thing in closing. We are going to pass a temporary stopgap measure for our budget, and VA Choice funding will probably be a part of it. I will tell my colleagues that this is the last bandaid that I am willing to put on the Choice Program. We need a long-term solution, and if we don't get that long-term solution, we are not doing right by our veterans in this country. With that, I would again like to thank Chairman Isakson for his leadership and for his good work on the VA Committee. When we come back here in 2018, hopefully we can get this bill passed early in the session because it is the right thing to do for our veterans. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, tonight, once again, Congress is proving to the American people that Washington is broken. This bill is not a product of deliberation of the world's most deliberative body. It is a not a product of meaningful public hearings. It is not a product of compromise or months of hard work among multiple committees. It is certainly not the product of a grand legislative idea that was desperately needed to meet the demands of the public. The bill in front of us is the product of dysfunction, partisanship, and political desperation. Thirty years ago, the Senate passed President Reagan's tax reform 97 to 3. After the conference committee had worked it over, it passed overwhelmingly with 74 votes. That could have been the case today, but there was never an attempt to have an honest debate about this bill, and there was no attempt to get bipartisan buy-in. I reached out to lend my perspective and Montana's perspective--the perspective of rural America--but my offer fell on deaf ears, and I never heard back. I asked the President to work with me. I raised my concerns early, and they have never made an attempt to address those concerns. There was no effort to reach across the aisle and build consensus for this bill. Once again, the leadership of this body chose to draw a line in the sand. They chose to empower the fringes and leave those in the middle out in the cold. As a result, the first major tax bill in Congress in a generation will likely pass with the support of only one party. That is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. As for me, I wanted a tax bill that would ensure that hard-working Montana families and businesses had a say in this process. I wanted to construct a bipartisan bill that provided folks with tax relief without adding to the debt. I wanted to simplify the Tax Code without gutting provisions that would help build our middle class. Today, we are stuck with this final bill that does none of those things, and our options are yes or no. There are some things in this bill that are good--three, to be exact. This bill keeps in place important medical deductions that benefit seniors and help them pay for care as they age. It expands the child tax credit to provide a boost to families across the country. It lowers income tax brackets to keep a few extra bucks in your pocket each year. But when we look at the bill, we have to weigh the good and the bad. Speaking of those individual tax cuts--the ones I just talked about a few seconds ago--well, they are only temporary. They are short-term promises that will disappear with the wind. Estimates show that more than 80 percent of this bill's benefits will go to the top 1 percent; 60 percent will go to the top one-tenth of 1 percent of our population. In fact, hard-working families will actually see a tax hike within 10 years. But for this country's biggest corporations, this bill makes their tax cuts permanent. So at the same time that taxes start rising for teachers and farmers and electricians and nurses and working folks, large corporations and big businesses will still be reaping the benefits from the giveaways in this piece of legislation. On top of huge benefits, this bill makes no attempt to ensure that these corporations will use the savings to create more good-paying jobs. This bill also destroys the foundation of our healthcare system. Because of this bill, 13 million Americans will become uninsured, and everyone else's premiums will go up by about 10 percent. It will be more expensive to see your doctor. It will be harder for rural hospitals and clinics to keep their doors open. More folks will end up in emergency rooms--the most expensive medical treatment. They will be sicker, their treatment will be more expensive, and the rest of us will be forced to pay for it. The bad list doesn't stop there. It forces a $25 billion cut to Medicare. This bill pushes millions of people out of itemizing their deductions--reducing incentives to buy a home or donate to a charity. It caps State and local income tax deductions, and this targets middle- class families. It changes the way we adjust tax brackets for inflation, which will force future generations to play catchup. It will force State budgets into the red and put critical healthcare, education, and law enforcement initiatives on the chopping block. It opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, but that is not the worst thing about this bill. The worst thing about this bill is it saddles our kids and grandkids with more crushing debt. In 2008 and 2009, this country was going through one of the worst economic crises since the 1930s. The debt was increased in that period of time. People often say that the government needs to be run like a business. Well, if you have a business, and income is not coming in, you have to borrow some money. That is what happened. With the economic downturn, the money wasn't coming in, so our debt went up. On the other side, if you are in business and you are making a few bucks and times are better--and they are good--you pay that debt down. Well, this country is in a lot better shape now than it was in 2008 and 2009. We should be paying that debt down at this moment in time, not adding $1.5 trillion to it. I am going to tell you, as sure as I am standing here today, within the first quarter of 2018, there will be folks standing up on the other side of the aisle saying that we need to cut Medicare, we need to cut Social Security, and we need to take away subsidies for everyone, whether they be farmers, mothers, young families, the disabled, or veterans. Money that is used to keep our public lands in public hands, dollars that are used to make education more affordable, dollars for healthcare overall--they will tell us that we simply cannot afford them because our debt is so high. But today we are going to tack on $1.5 trillion for the sake of giving the richest of the rich a tax benefit and middle-class families a temporary benefit that will go away over the next 10 years. How they have so quickly forgotten the fiscal restraint that we talked about when Democrats controlled this body. Our national debt is already above $20 trillion. This is more than $64,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country. The path we are on is truly unsustainable. It is not the first time we have been down this road. Bush tax cuts were sold to the American people, and we were told that they would pay for themselves. Guess what. Today those Bush tax cuts are directly responsible for one-third of that $20 trillion debt. We know this to be true. Yet here we are, about to swipe the credit card one more time for over $1.5 trillion--to put our kids and our grandkids on the hook to pay it back while we get temporary relief and the large corporations get permanent relief. For those of us who were ignored during this process, this is what we are stuck with. There are some good things but a whole bunch of bad things--more than I can count on my hands. We can't celebrate the good things and ignore the bad. Just because we ignore it doesn't mean that it is not going to come true. This bill will not strengthen the middle class. It will not improve our schools. It will not lower the cost of healthcare. Let's call it what it is. It is a tax giveaway to the wealthy masked as tax reform, and those who vote yes on this bill will do so at the expense of our kids and our grandkids. They will be paying this tab long after we are gone. What is ironic about this is that most of the people who serve in this body say: I am here to make sure the next generation has an opportunity. We are taking away their opportunity with this bill. It will limit their opportunity. It will cap their potential--all for what? I am not really sure because when I go back to Montana every weekend, folks aren't stopping me on the streets and telling me that the corporations and the wealthy need a tax giveaway. What they do tell me is this: We need to make sure programs like CHIP are around. We need to make sure Medicare and Social Security are there for future generations. We need to protect our public lands. We need to pass a farm bill that works. We need to invest in infrastructure. Folks, this tax bill takes away all of that potential. We have been at war for 16 or 17 years. The military needs rebuilding. It makes it much tougher. Everyone knows what is going on in North Korea. The potential to have to spend a bunch of money there is real. Infrastructure--whether it is broadband, highways, bridges, or water systems--is in dire need of help. The fact is, the tracks are greased; this bill is going to pass. Rather than working on the pressing issues around here, the next excuse is going to be entitlement reform, which means we are going to do our level best, in the name of the debt, to gut Medicare and Social Security. Who knows what else will be put on the chopping block to be ripped away from working families? This bill ties our hands and prevents us from making the kinds of investments we need to build a strong middle class, which has been the envy of the world, and it puts our most vulnerable at risk. I am going to vote no on this bill because it is a step backward. It raises the debt. It does nothing to solve the income inequality in this country, and it pushes the American dream further out of reach. I yield the floor.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I want to go back to what this motion does. This is to remand the bill back to the Finance Committee so it can come back without adding nearly $1.5 trillion to the national debt--maybe a heck of a lot more than that. I am in business too. I will tell you that if I ran my business and did the things in my business that this bill is doing, I would go out of business. Why? Because my kids wouldn't be able to afford to stay farming because I would have acquired too much debt. That is why this is so important. It is why I applaud Senator King for bringing this motion forward. I sat on this floor, and I listened to folks talk about the threat from North Korea, which is absolutely real. The money it is going to take to deal with that threat is not going to be cheap. I come to the floor, and I listen to people talk about the national security interests of this country and how there are people who want to do bad things to our country. We have to keep our country safe, but it comes with a cost. I heard Senator King talk earlier today about rebuilding our military. We have been at war for 16 years, and there is a cost it is going to take to rebuild our military. All of those things take money. They are expenses of what we have to do here to keep this country secure. It is absolutely incredible to me that we have people walk to the floor and talk about a 38-percent effective rate. Everybody on this floor that is in business knows that is not the rate that corporations pay in this country. By the time you do your deductions, your effective rate is far less than that. In fact, some people feel it is about 20 percent. But nonetheless, I will agree--I think both sides of the aisle can agree--that we need to do tax reform. We need to modernize our code. It hasn't been done in 30 years, but it can't be done in a way that adds $1.5 trillion on to our kids. Right now, we have a $20 trillion debt. There is no doubt about that. That is $63,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country. When I sat in that chair that the Presiding Officer is sitting in now, when I first got elected some 11 years ago, I heard folks from that side of the aisle talk about the debt every single day. After the 2014 election, it has been crickets on that side of the aisle when it comes to the debt. The debt is still real. When we had the biggest meltdown in this country since the Dirty Thirties, we had to make an investment into this country. I had people in the construction business in my office with tears in their eyes saying: There is no work in the private sector. You have to do something to help stimulate this economy or things are going to go to heck. Times were tough. The debt increased. We had to get the economy turned around. Now, times are good. For all the folks who are in business--or at least claim that they are in business--in good times, what do you do? You pay down your debt. You save. You make a rainy day fund because you know it is not always going to be like this. Instead, in this body, we say times are good, but we are going to add another $1.5 trillion on the debt. Just do it. Our kids can worry about it. Hell, we will be dead and gone. That is why this motion is so critically important--so we can send it back to finance; so that there can be a true bipartisan discussion in committee about what needs to happen with this bill and to have it come back so it is revenue neutral. We can do that. We can help push the economy forward, and we can help have a bright future for our kids, but we are not going to do it with this bill. We are not going to do it with a partisan bill like this is right now. So I want to commend Senator King for pushing this motion forward to remand this bill back to the Finance Committee so that they can bring it back in a revenue-neutral position. We can cut taxes. We can broaden that base without adding to the debt, and we need to do it. We need to do it for our kids--the same reason that most of us claim we are here. We are here to make sure we have a better future for our kids and our grandkids. Let's do it with this bill. Let's walk the walk, not just talk the talk. I yield the floor.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I have long supported efforts to reform the Tax Code--tax reform that gives a break to working-class Americans and small businesses so that they can create more jobs and keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets, tax reform that provides permanent, long-term certainty for job-creating businesses and middle- class families so that they can plan for the future, and tax reform that doesn't burden future generations with loads of debt. Unfortunately, the bill that we are going to vote on this week is not tax reform. The majority and the administration can call this proposal whatever they want, but from where I come from, which is north central Montana, we call it how we see it. This is a tax giveaway to the wealthy--a tax giveaway that will cut taxes for the wealthiest families while raising taxes on nearly 14 million middle-class Americans. This tax giveaway benefits wealthy out-of-staters at the expense of hard-working Montanans. In fact, folks making less than $30,000 a year will see a tax hike in 2019, and folks making less than $40,000 will see a tax hike in 2021. That pattern continues climbing until every individual will see a tax hike in 2025. Why is this important? We haven't done tax reform in 30 years, and 2025 will be here tomorrow. A tax break for the wealthiest will continue not only to add to our debt, but it will continue to take money out of the pockets of hard-working middle-class families. All the while, the large corporations will enjoy permanent tax giveaways. It doesn't have to be like this, but the majority has chosen, once again, to write a bad bill in secret--no bipartisanship, no input from working families, no regard for how this bill is going to impact folks down the road. This tax giveaway to the wealthy reeks of the swamp, and it represents everything that folks hate about Washington, DC. So why are we rushing this process? During the Reagan tax cuts in the eighties, the House and the Senate combined to hold over 20 committee hearings before bringing a bill to the floor. Why was there no public input in this process today? Why aren't we waiting for final estimates from the Joint Tax Committee to let us know what the impacts will be? Why don't we know what the long- term impacts--past the first 10 years--are going to be? Why are we voting before we have analysis on what happens to those folks 12, 14, 16 years from now? Why are we voting on a bill before we have even had time to read it? There is an appetite in this Senate for good tax reform--a tax bill that will cut taxes for middle-class families and small businesses and will not add to the debt, a bill that will actually drive our economy. I don't understand why folks in this body are rushing to pass this tax giveaway that is going to hurt the folks who need a tax cut the most. This is not the first time we have been down this road. Next year, nearly one-third of our national debt will be a direct result of the Bush tax cuts--over $5.6 trillion. Yet here we are again, a decade later, and we are about to make the same mistake. Most folks who serve in this body will say that they came here to provide more opportunities for the next generation, that they came here to work on bills and pass bills that will help our kids and our grandkids succeed. I am here to tell you that actions speak louder than words. This bill saddles our kids and our grandkids with even more crushing debt by adding, at a minimum, $1.4 trillion to the debt. Why? It is so that we can give tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations and so that some politicians can claim a political victory. If you vote for this bill, you are putting $1.4 trillion on the credit card that our kids and our grandkids are going to be forced to pay. That is a fact. Where are the deficit hawks? Where have they flown? My, how times have changed. We can do better than this. Our kids and our grandkids deserve better than this. Hard-working families in this country deserve better than this. We need to do the right thing and pull this bill from the floor and work together in a truly bipartisan way to pass real tax reform-- get public input, get support from both sides of the aisle--and get a bill that Democrats, Republicans, and, as far as that goes, Independents can support. The truth is apparent. The other side of the aisle doesn't want to be bothered by differences of opinion or public input, so we end up with a poorly written bill that doesn't do what it is advertised to do. Let's help businesses create more jobs and raise wages, and let's make sure that hard-working folks can keep more of their money in their pockets. That is the kind of tax reform that America deserves. Instead, we are stuck with a partisan gimmick that makes the rich richer while the rest of us pay the bills. I am voting no on this bill, and I am voting no for Montana's kids and grandkids. I encourage my colleagues to take a look at this bill, by the way, that we don't even have yet. Take a look at it, what is there, and vote no to avoid, at a minimum, a trillion and a half dollars being added to our national debt. When I go home, one of the things that folks ask of me is to work together--to work together and find bipartisan solutions. Don't just cast off those on the other side as being wrong. Listen to them. Try to find that middle ground. That hasn't happened here with this bill. Anything but that has happened. We have a bill that has been crafted by one party in secret and has been put in front of us, and they have said: Here. Take it or leave it. We don't even know the impacts of this bill, and they don't know the impacts of this bill. Once this passes, it will be too late. This is the most deliberative body in the world. We ought to do a little deliberating and get some public input and find bipartisan support and move forward with a bill that works for America. I yield the floor.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the prisoners of war and those missing in action and commemorate the empty chair that was placed in Emancipation Hall this Veterans Day week. I want to thank Montana veteran Ed Saunders for contributing his thoughts to today's Congressional Record: The greatest tragedy befalling an American serviceman or woman is not that they may be killed or left missing-in- action: that is the greatest sacrifice on the altar of freedom. The greatest tragedy is that America's finest in uniform may be forgotten . . . forgotten in life and in forgotten in death by the very same nation whose constitution, freedoms, and way of life, they defend. The United States of America cannot and must not leave any serviceman or woman behind in body, in spirit, or in memory. If we cannot bring home the revered mortal remains of those who died, who are missing, or who remain unaccounted for, then we have an enduring responsibility to ensure their memory remains forever etched in these hallowed halls. This chair is more than a symbol. It is a memory of their service and sacrifice for this great Nation. It is a lasting reminder that we have an obligation to fulfill our promise to our Nation's veterans and their families when they return from war--and when they tragically don't. We, as a nation, must redouble our commitment to that cause and work relentlessly every day toward fulfilling that promise. I want to thank every servicemember in attendance, your families, the families of the fallen and missing in action, and those who remember them. Thank you, and God Bless America.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I was necessarily absent due to a family funeral for the votes on confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 407 and the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 159. On vote No. 268, had I been present, I would have voted nay on the confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 407. On vote No. 269, had I been present, I would have voted yea on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 159.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I was necessarily absent due to a family funeral for the votes on confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 384 and the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 407. On vote No. 266, had I been present, I would have voted nay on the confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 384. On vote No. 267, had I been present, I would have voted nay on the motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar No. 407.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the hundreds of Montana women who honorably served our country during World War I. They braved the German u-boats to serve on the frontlines. Women cared for the wounded and connected calls to the battlefield offices of GEN John Pershing. Without them, the American forces serving in Europe could have faced catastrophe. Without them, the course of the war could have been much different. We shouldn't be surprised. Montana women have been breaking down barriers for generations. Merle Egan Anderson pressured the U.S. Government for 60 years to get the women who worked the Army's telephone switchboards the status of ``veteran.'' Montanans like Merle Egan Anderson and Lena Roy volunteered to be a part of the Army Signal Corps without promise of pay, benefits, or recognition of their service. The Signal Corps women, nicknamed the ``Hello Girls,'' proved their worth immediately. Merle, Lena, and their peers' speed and precision allowed officers to communicate across battlefields, enemy lines, and war-torn terrain. They served at the frontlines and quickly garnered the respect of the men with whom they served. They braved enemy fire and suffered casualties among their ranks. Despite their outstanding service, they returned to an indifferent government who denied them veteran status, including healthcare and burial rights. Merle Egan Anderson took on the government, and 60 years later, she won. When the government granted the ``Hello Girls'' veteran status, only 18 of the 223 women were still alive. Nearly 200 Montana nurses entered military service, 86 of whom braved enemy submarine-patrolled waters to care for troops on the frontline. They came from 56 cities, towns, and forgotten railroad stops across the Big Sky State. Nurses Elizabeth Sandelius from Cokedale and Harriett O'Day from Billings were cited for heroism under fire for their service in France. Cora Craig from Glasgow, MT, received a Silver Medal from the King of Siam for her care of soldiers from present-day Thailand. Eula Butzerin braved the carnage of post-war France to find the battlefield grave of her brother Roy, marked only with a stick and his dog tags. Thirteen Montana women enlisted in the Navy and served stateside. Gertrude Zerr from Chinook achieved the rank of chief yeoman, directing fellow yeoman in the naval headquarters. During the war, these women proved to their fellow Americans and the world that women were an asset in battle. Their service defied gender stereotypes and helped changed the tide of public opinion that culminated in the 19th Amendment of our Constitution, granting women the right to vote at long last. They helped pave the way for women to take on combat roles in World War II and beyond. After the war, Montana's World War I women veterans faded into history. Their service remains largely unknown. These women gave voice and power to a nation of women. Their service and actions helped change the course of history. These strong Montana women were followed by more strong Montana women who have carried the fighting torch of equality for generations. It is my honor to present this legacy today and my privilege to represent the past and present women of Montana. On behalf of a grateful nation, I commend Montana's women veterans of WWI.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise today to honor two titans of military and community service, who will be laid to rest forever in Arlington National Cemetery. Frederick Hollister Campbell and Amy Strohm Campbell were, together, a force to be reckoned with. Fred served the United States in the Marine Corps during World War II, the Korean war and the Vietnam war--one of only 46,000 Americans to fight in three wars. Fred was a member of the American Legion Post 27 in Missoula, MT. Amy earned a master's degree and began a teaching career during a time when few women did either. She became active in the Navy-Marine Corps Wives, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Philanthropic Educational Organization and was a life member of both the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion Auxiliaries. At the Battle of Iwo Jima, Fred dug trenches while taking heavy Japanese fire from the mountains above. His bravery saved the lives of 250 of his fellow marines and earned him the Navy Commendation Medal. He fought in the Battle of Okinawa and was a part of the reconstruction effort in Japan after the war ended. Fred picked up the language and enjoyed friendships with the locals, spurred on by a shared love of stamp collecting. During law school, Fred was selected for officer's candidate school. His transition from private to officer earned him the informal title of a mustang in military circles. Fred reenlisted for Active Duty to serve in the Korean war. It was during this period of service that he met Amy on a blind date at a square dance. They danced through life together for 61 years. The life they built brought them a treasured daughter, Susan, and many trips to Europe and one voyage through the Panama Canal. Fred continued his career as an attorney for the Marine Corps, and his service culminated with a third enlistment during which he served in Vietnam. He retired from the U.S. Marines as a lieutenant colonel after 25 years, 2 months, and 17 days. Amy and Susan were able to fill a large shadowbox of Fred's medals as a gift for his 85th birthday. Fred and Amy didn't slow down once they hit retirement. Fred earned a Ph.D. in American history at the age of 73. He taught at Colorado College and the University of Colorado for 13 years. Amy continued her involvement in service and military organizations in Colorado, Montana, and California. Fred and Amy enriched the lives of friends, family, and strangers alike. Now, they will rest forever in Arlington near the statue commemorating the battle of Iwo Jima, where Fred proved his mettle by saving 250 fellow marines' lives 72 years ago. It is my honor to present their story today. On behalf of a grateful nation, I commend Lt. Col. Frederick Hollister Campbell and Amy Strohm Campbell for their lives of service to our Nation.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria have left a path of destruction along the Texas gulf coast, Florida, and Puerto Rico. The damage caused by these storms will be felt for many years to come. This emergency supplemental is another step forward to recovery for the millions of Americans who call these places home. But I want to remind my colleagues that there is still an ongoing natural disaster in the West that is leaving families displaced, costing taxpayers billions of dollars, destroying structures, and taking human lives. As of today, 5,000 firefighters are still battling more than a quarter of a million acres of wildfires burning across the West. In my home State of Montana, despite an early snowfall, families this last weekend in Musselshell County were forced to evacuate after a fire ripped through a dry landscape and put their homes and livelihoods at risk. In California, more than 8,000 structures have been lost to wildfires this year alone, and with temperatures expected to be in the 90s all week, there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. Across the country, in total, fires have burned nearly 9 million acres--significantly more than the yearly average--and 1.2 million of those acres are in Montana. These fires have cost the taxpayers nearly $3 billion to date. Quite frankly, these wildfires have been devastating in Montana and in States across the West. It is critically important that we take quick action to mitigate the damage caused by these fires and get communities back on their feet. The funds in this emergency package will reimburse the Forest Service for the funds borrowed to fight wildfires. When the Forest Service has to borrow from its nonfire accounts to cover firefighting on the ground, we lose out on critical maintenance, mitigation, and restoration work. This funding will pay back those accounts and support the work needed to recover after a recordbreaking fire season. This funding can help restore the trails and roads that were lost in fires, as well as keep our fishing streams clean and clear from runoff this spring. It will get folks back in the woods, thinning, cutting, and removing debris. It can provide the Forest Service with the resources to quickly salvage the dead and dying trees that are still usable and get that timber into our local mills. Unfortunately, though, this bill fails to provide a long-term budget fix to pay to fight wildfires. Fire seasons are getting longer and more intense, which is quickly transforming the Forest Service from a forest management agency into a forest firefighting agency. Folks, our climate is changing. History is telling us that our fire seasons are becoming more intense and they are becoming longer. Longer fire seasons will mean more borrowing from the Forest Service to fight these wildfires. We need a long-term fix. Fires are burning a hole through the Forest Service budget, which too often leaves our forests unmanaged and at further risk for more catastrophic fires in the future. Money that should be used to curb the fire risks, maintain and improve forest health, research and develop better forest policies, and fund the work that must get done to make our forests more resilient is borrowed to fight wildfires. We must change the way we are paying for fighting wildfires. The bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act is one step toward that fix. We must keep pressing forward to get this bill signed into law. Then we need to adjust the disaster budget cap to make sure this is truly a long-term fix. As I said, this bill doesn't contain all of the answers we need to reduce wildfires, but it is no doubt a step in the right direction. It lets the Forest Service treat wildfires just like other natural disasters. This means more reliable support for forest management projects and emergency funding for catastrophic wildfire seasons. These important wildfire and forest resources, combined with providing the necessary FEMA, flood insurance, and food assistance to those displaced by hurricanes, will take us a major step forward after a series of devastating natural disasters. But I want to underscore that we aren't at the finish line yet, and I will work with Chairman Boozman on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee to ensure that all Montanans and all Americans impacted by natural disasters aren't left waiting for Congress to act. Folks from both parties are going to have to work together to ensure that every community impacted by hurricanes, floods, and fires will have the resources to recover and turn the page. Americans directly impacted by these natural disasters continue to wake up each morning displaced, hungry, without power, and surrounded by destruction. Congress must remain diligent and ensure these communities have the support that they need and that they deserve. Finally, I will just say this: We are here today talking about the disaster funding bill. We are talking about the disaster funding bill because disasters are becoming more and more common. It is not going to change. We need to address the root cause of this, which is an ever- changing climate. Until we do, we are going to continue to see taxpayer dollars go out the door for disasters year after year. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Gerald Robert Zelmer, a veteran of the Vietnam war. Gerald, I would like to thank you, on behalf of the State of Montana, and the United States of America, for your service to this Nation. Gerald, known by his friends and family as Gerry, was born in Bismarck, ND, on June 25, 1947. He married the love of his life, Dora Jean or D.J., on October 12, 1968, in Worden, MT, at the height of the Vietnam conflict. Two months later, Gerry was off to war. He attended boot camp in Fort Lewis, WA, and then moved on to advanced infantryman training in Fort Eustis, VA. He deployed soon thereafter, serving proudly with the 101st Airborne Division out of Camp Eagle. Gerry served as a helicopter crew chief, ensuring that pilots and crews were safe as they flew aerial missions. His skills on the battlefield ensured that rotary-wing aircraft were fine-tuned and ready to take off for their missions. Gerry is a fixer and a problem solver. In Vietnam, he fixed helicopters and kept our birds in the air, covering our soldiers on the ground. When he returned from war, he worked as a maintenance foreman at Montana Sulphur and Chemical. It is his skills on the battlefield, his bravery and courage, and his service to our Nation that earned him these commendations decades ago. It is my honor to finally deliver them today. As a father to Carrie and Cody and grandfather to two grandchildren Sienna and Aden, he will get that long overdue acknowledgement. I have the proud honor of presenting you, Gerry, with the Bronze Star Medal for your meritorious service in connection with ground operations against a hostile force. I am also presenting you with copies of your previous awards: Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with Silver Service Star attachment, Expert Badge with Auto Rifle Bar, and sharpshooter badge with rifle bar. Gerry, these medals are but a small token of our Nation's appreciation for your service and your sacrifice. You are an American hero, and Montana is proud to call you one of our own.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor George James Wright, a resident of Laurel, MT, and a veteran of the Second World War. George, I would like to thank you and your family on behalf of Montana and the United States of America for your service to our Nation in times of war. George was born on June 14, 1923, in Hinsdale, MT. Like many Montanans from Valley County, he made a living off the land farming and ranching. He worked hard alongside his older brother, where he remembers driving the tractor and looking up into the big blue Montana sky. Also, like many Montanans, he did not back down from answering the call to serve his Nation when we needed him most. In 1943, George enlisted in the Army, making him the first in his family to serve in the military. He spent over 2 years fighting in the jungles and on the beaches of the Philippines and New Guinea as a proud member of the 32nd Infantry Division. He braved the mud. He braved the rain. He braved the bugs, and he braved the bullets. He saw the unimaginable, as Japanese kamikaze pilots slammed their airplanes into American ships. He did the unbelievable, driving Army bulldozers into the unknown, making sure our soldiers got the supplies and food they desperately needed. He served our Nation with bravery, courage, and dignity, working his way up to the rank of T5. After America's victory, George came home, and returned to those same Montana fields and skies. After seeing the war's destruction firsthand, he knew that the world needed to be rebuilt, and he knew he was the person for the job. He took what he learned on the battlefield and spent his next years doing construction work. He married the love of his life, Vivian, who we remember today, and they had two children Roland and Sharon. At the time, he did not receive the recognition that he was due for his service to our Nation, but we are here today to make that right. Now, a proud father, grandfather of two, and great-grandfather of seven, he will get that long overdue acknowledgement. I have the proud honor of presenting him with the following: Bronze Star Medal with one Bronze Service Star, Good Conduct Medal--Army, American Campaign Medal with three Bronze Service Stars, World War II Victory Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one Bronze Service Star, and Honorable Service Lapel Pin--WWII. George, you are a Montana farmer through and through, whether feeding Americans at home or soldiers in the field. I am proud to call myself a farmer, if only because it means I have something in common with a man like George Wright. George, you have spent your life providing for Montanans at home and protecting Americans overseas. These medals serve as a small token of our Nation's appreciation for your service and your sacrifice. You are an American hero and one of Montana's best. Thank you for your service.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor a man who has done so much for Montana. Bill Johnstone, a native Montanan, graduate of Montana State University, and retiring chairman of D.A. Davidson, has dedicated his life to improving Montana. His work at D.A. Davidson has helped countless Montanans financially prepare for the future. Whether it is helping Montana families plan for retirement, small business owners strategize about the future, or municipalities meet their financial needs, Bill has been there for them, but Bill's good work expanded beyond the private sector. While running a thriving company that employs more than 1,300 employees, hundreds of them Montanans, Bill has always invested his time and resources in Montana. He serves as a member of the board of regents to the Montana University system and has spent years improving schools across Montana. Bill has also served on the International Heart Institute in Missoula and as the chairman of the Great Falls Public Schools Foundation, helping to raise funds for our public schools. His dedication to his company, his family, and his community makes Bill a model Montanan. Helping move Montana forward is a common theme in Bill's family, his father, William A. Johnstone, served the education community for nearly 30 years and retired as acting president of Montana State University. It is clear Bill has instilled hard work and public service in his children as well. His son Anthony is an associate professor of law at the University of Montana and former solicitor general of the State of Montana and his son Jesse is the founder and president of a digital marketing agency in New York. As Bill retires, his legacy at D.A. Davidson will live on and his lasting impact on Montana as a whole will continue to grow. Thanks for the 17 years at D.A. Davidson, Bill, and for your service to Montana. I wish you, your wife, Andrea, and your kids Anthony and Jesse nothing but the best in retirement.

Mr. TESTER

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, today I want to honor the service of two outstanding individuals who have dedicated their careers to serving the American people. Cathy Glenn and Dave Ahart have worked for nearly 30 years in the Senate, many of which have been behind the scenes in the Senate Recording Studio, ensuring that the public had access to their elected leaders. Every day, Cathy and Dave showed up to work early and sometimes stayed so late that they kept a cot tucked away in the corner of their studio. Together these two never missed a beat as they ran back and forth between soundboards, helping Senators from both parties connect with folks back home and communicate the latest happenings from the Nation's Capital. Cathy and Dave worked as a team. This body could certainly learn a thing or two from them. They conducted their careers with professionalism and selfless service, going above and beyond to make our jobs easier. Cathy and Dave exemplify what it means to serve. While civil service can be a thankless profession, these two worked hard with grace and always with a smile on their faces. I can't imagine what the Senate Recording Studio will be like without them, but it is only fitting that Cathy and Dave ride into the sunset together. Although many of us in the Senate are sad to see them trade in their headphones for baseball caps and spend their afternoons watching ``Veep'' instead of committee hearings, we wish them both the very best in a well-deserved retirement. Today I want the Record to show that Cathy Glenn and Dave Ahart made the Senate a better place, and I join all of the Senators and staff to thank them for their incredible service.