Thom Tillis

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Allen Nicholas who is retiring as forest supervisor for the National Forests in North Carolina. Mr. Nicholas has served for over 30 years and has been a living embodiment of the National Forest Service's motto, ``Caring for the Land and Serving People.'' Mr. Nicholas was born in Magnolia, MS, and graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor's degree in forest resource management and then with a master's degree in business administration. He began his career as a silvicultural technician in the Daniel Boone National Forest and went on to serve in numerous natural resource and leadership positions throughout the southern and eastern United States. When he arrived to his first forest supervisor position on the Shawnee National Forest, equestrian use across the forest was rampant. Mr. Nicholas led a multiyear effort to reduce the impact of trail use on natural resources while also supporting an equestrian-based tourism economy. As forest supervisor, Mr. Nicholas oversaw North Carolina's four National Forests. The Croatan, the Nantahala, the Pisgah, and the Uwharrie National Forests contain more than 1.25 million acres of land that stretches from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Coast. All together, the forests welcome more than 7 million visitors each year. Mr. Nicholas led a team to reduce the number of accidental visitor deaths in National Forests in the southern region. Under his leadership, the team recommended a set of actions that are now being implemented to track data, improve communication to visitors, and provide more official presence through volunteers and partners. Mr. Nicholas demonstrates an impressive talent for balancing the safety of visitors with responsible stewardship of our Nation's natural resources. All who interact with Allen Nicholas--and countless more past, present, and future visitors--benefit greatly from his service. His commitment to the betterment of others is reflected in his lasting relationships with Forest Service employees and the public. His words inspire and empower, and he leads by example with his actions. Quite simply, he is a natural mentor to others and a wonderful example of a public servant. Please join me in congratulating Allen Nicholas, his wife Debra, daughters and sons-in-law, Anna Lisa and Taylor Roberts, and Kelsey and Garrett Dismukes, and his grandchildren Gracie and Charlie on his distinguished public service career and retirement. I wish him and his family the best in his future endeavors.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Reserving the right to object.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I have been in the Senate now for 5\1/2\ years, and I don't consider somebody a better friend, an advocate for his State than Senator Sullivan. I have actually spent a lot of time-- even though Senator Gillibrand and I have differences in certain situations, we find ways to work together. What I have before me, though, is something that is very important for people to understand. I agree with everything Senator Sullivan said. His measure, I suspect, has broad support, probably support on its own. But what we have here is the addition by the motion of Senator Gillibrand that affects my State, North Carolina. It has to do with reallocation of quotas. It would particularly affect the flounder industry in North Carolina. I hope that we are able to work out our differences. I hope that we can get Senator Sullivan's bill passed. But because it has been amended to include something that hurts my fisheries in North Carolina and my commercial fishermen at the worst possible time, when they are suffering like everybody else from the COVID-19 crisis and all the challenges that that produces, I do object.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Thomas L. Bowlin, Colonel, USAF, Ret., who in addition to a distinguished career in the U.S. Air Force, has served as the first Director of Government Affairs for the North Carolina National Guard. I thank him for his many years of service to the great State of North Carolina and our great Nation. Colonel Bowlin began his military career with the U.S. Air Force in 1975. He has served across the United States, as well as in Germany, Hawaii, Pakistan, and Alaska. He was the first USAF officer to attend Pakistan's War College and served in a number of key assignments with increasing levels of responsibility. Following his retirement from the U.S. Air Force in 2001, Colonel Bowlin continued his dedication to service by beginning a second career and becoming the first Director of Government Affairs for the North Carolina National Guard. He served as an essential component of North Carolina National Guard leadership for nearly two decades where he has advised the adjutant general directly and interfaced with local, State, and Federal officials. Colonel Bowlin has served roughly 11,500 citizen soldiers and airmen in the North Carolina Army and Air National Guard through many deployments overseas and harrowing natural disasters at home. Tom's contribution to advancing the overall readiness and operational capabilities of the North Carolina National Guard has been vital in maintaining an effective and resilient reserve force. Through operations including Inherent Resolve, Enduring Freedom, and Freedom's Sentinel, as well as during Hurricanes Irene, Matthew, Florence, and Dorian, Colonel Bowlin has ensured that the men and women of the Guard had the utmost preparation of every mission that they embarked upon. Colonel Bowlin has worked tirelessly on a number of both Federal, State, and local priorities and policy reforms for the North Carolina National Guard. Just to name a few, these range from appropriations for facilities, programs, and assets, family readiness, GI Bill transferability, TRICARE expansion, tuition assistance, occupational licensing, rental agreement protections, and many more, which will continue to benefit National Guard servicemembers and their families for years to come. As a U.S. Senator, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a North Carolinian, I am pleased to congratulate Colonel Bowlin on his retirement from the North Carolina National Guard and for his impressive career of military service and steadfast commitment to our country.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, today, on behalf of myself and Senator Coons, we honor the life and legacy of The Honorable Q. Todd Dickinson. Todd was a great friend to our offices, and we often relied on him for impartial counsel as we endeavored to reform patent law. Todd was incredibly generous with his time and his intimate knowledge of patent law, and we will greatly miss him. Todd had an immeasurable impact on our patent system during a career spanning more than four decades. Todd served as the first Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the Patent and Trademark Office from 1999 to 2001, where he transformed the USPTO into a more modern and independent agency. Todd also served as executive director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, where he played an essential role in the enactment of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Todd is survived by his husband, Robert Atkins, and his brother, John Dickinson. Our thoughts and prayers are with Todd's family during this difficult time.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. The majority has 5 minutes. The Senator from Louisiana.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Madam President, during the impeachment trial, this Chamber considered the evidence and heard the arguments presented by the House managers and White House Counsel. During the 12 days of the impeachment trial, the Senate heard from the House managers for nearly 22 hours, and we heard from the White House Counsel for nearly 12 hours. This was followed by 180 questions asked and answered over 2 days, concluding with closing arguments by the House managers and White House Counsel. Ultimately, there were two questions the Senate had to answer when considering the Articles of Impeachment. The first question, for the near-term, is should the President be removed from office? The second question, for the long-term health of our Nation, is whether we should allow the impeachment process to be weaponized and used by a majority in the House to settle partisan political scores? My answers to both questions are a resounding no. That is why I voted against both Articles of Impeachment. While my Democratic colleagues operated under the presumption of guilt, even if one is to assume the worst, the reality is the allegations against President Trump were neither criminal nor impeachable. They did not come close to meeting the standard of treason, bribery, or high crimes or misdemeanors set by our Founding Fathers. It is remarkable to read the Federalist Papers and appreciate their clairvoyance. Federalist 65, written by Alexander Hamilton, was frequently quoted throughout these proceedings, and for good reason. Hamilton's warnings to this body of using impeachment as a partisan device were borne out. Hamilton wrote that impeachment: [W]ill seldom fail to agitate the passions of the whole community, and to divide it into parties more or less friendly or inimical to the accused. In many cases it will connect itself with the pre-existing factions . . . and in such cases there will always be the greatest danger that the decision will be regulated more by the comparative strength of parties, than by the real demonstrations of innocence or guilt. By placing the impeachment power within the House and Senate, Hamilton acknowledged that power may wind up in the hands of ``the leaders or tools of the most cunning or the most numerous faction,'' which may ``hardly be expected to possess the requisite neutrality towards those whose conduct may be the subject of scrutiny.'' It is because of this remarkable power that Hamilton argued the Senate had been granted the power to try impeachments because the Senate is more likely to preserve ``the necessary impartiality between the INDIVIDUAL accused, and the REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE, HIS ACCUSERS?'' It is important to note that the Speaker of the House previously warned about the dangers of a politically motivated impeachment effort, stating in March 2019 that ``impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path, because it divides the country.'' History has proven that warning to be true. One only needs to compare the dramatically different outcomes between the Nixon impeachment inquiry, which resulted in resignation, and the Clinton impeachment process, which resulted in acquittal. The Speaker's warning rings as true today as it did when she said it nearly 1 year ago. Unfortunately, the House majority ignored this warning, electing to lead a distinctly partisan process from beginning to end, based on a political timeline. It began when the House majority refused to provide the President with basic due process rights for 71 of the 78 days of the formal House impeachment inquiry. The House majority also refused to provide proper rights to the minority, whose requests for an equal number of witnesses was denied. It is no wonder why House Resolution 660, which permitted an impeachment inquiry, and House Resolution 755, the Articles of Impeachment against President Trump, failed to receive a single vote from the minority. In fact, the only thing that was bipartisan was the opposition to the articles. The House majority presented a weak and completely partisan case for impeachment to the Senate. This is why the House managers attempted to convince the Senate to endorse its particular views of separation of powers, essentially asking the Senate to do the House's job where it failed: to make a compelling case for the President's removal. This is yet another area Hamilton addressed. In Federalist 66, Hamilton outlined the differing roles and responsibilities between the House and Senate on impeachment, casting the House as the accusers and the Senate as the judges: The division of them between the two branches of the legislature, assigning to one the right of accusing, to the other the right of judging, avoids the inconvenience of making the same persons both accusers and judges; and guards against the danger of persecution, from the prevalency of a factious spirit in either of those branches. As the concurrence of two thirds of the Senate will be requisite to a condemnation, the security to innocence, from this additional circumstance, will be as complete as itself can desire. By dividing the power to accuse and the power to judge, the Founding Founders further recognized the procedural nature of this process. Appropriate procedure would serve to protect the Executive from the designs of a partisan faction in the House and would ensure that removal was not just desirable, but truly necessary. In this instance, removal was absolutely unnecessary, even if it was desirable to the whims of some in the House majority since the day the President was inaugurated in 2017. This addresses the answer to the second question I posed on whether the Senate will allow the impeachment process to become the new normal. It would create a dangerous precedent in which the House actively seeks opportunities to open impeachment inquires to politically weaken and potentially remove the President of the opposing party. Impeachment is the most powerful tool the Founding Fathers gave to us to defend against Executive misconduct, but it should never be abused. It should never be used to settle political scores, and it should never be used as an effort to deny the American people the right to decide the President's fate at the ballot box. To transform impeachment into a partisan political weapon is to diminish and undermine its critical constitutional role. Despite the factions which formed during this impeachment trial, I remain optimistic about the direction of our Nation. For all the bitter partisan emotions this impeachment process has enflamed, this Congress now has the opportunity to move on and focus on forging consensus to conduct the business of the American people. Congress has recently demonstrated this ability--enacting historic criminal justice reform, agreeing on reforms to improve the delivery of healthcare to our brave veterans, and approving a fair and free trade deal with America's two largest economic partners, producing a win for American workers and consumers. I hope, when the record is written of this impeachment, that history will say that the Senate ultimately retained the high bar which must be met to remove a President, that the Senate rejected the temptation to normalize the impeachment process for partisan political gain, and that Congress turned the page following the President's acquittal to prioritize the needs of the American people and, in turn, solve the most pressing challenges facing our great Nation.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. Chief Justice, I send a question to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Cruz.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, in addition to my strong and unequivocal support for the USMCA, I note that my committee is about to undertake a yearlong review of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, with the goal of modernizing it. Back in 1998, the internet was still a fledgling industry, so much so that it is difficult to recall a time when email was a novel form of communication and you could go take a coffee break in hopes that the web page you wanted would have fully loaded on your computer by the time you returned. It was in this era that the DMCA attempted to strike a reasonable balance between content creators and the operators of online billboards. The DMCA offered immunity to new, emerging platforms in exchange for reasonable enforcement efforts, including quickly taking down copyrighted materials they learned about violations. In 1998, there were no iPhones. There was no Facebook and no YouTube. Netflix opened that year as a mail-order DVD store. For a time, the DMCA worked. President Trump has led the way to establish a new paradigm for trade agreements that protect American interests, and the USMCA provides for long overdue updates to NAFTA, but the mechanisms of the DMCA to deter copyright infringement need to be updated. Technology has changed faster than anyone could have ever imagined, and the existing DMCA simply isn't able to address these new developments. The original DMCA was simply not designed for the kind of global data and advertising platforms that we have seen develop over time. As is so often the case, the technology has outpaced the law. I intend to hold a series of hearings this year to explore whether the DMCA needs updating in order to promote the creative economy in the 21st century. This work is critical to North Carolina jobs in the creative sector. For example, the motion picture and television industry is directly responsible for more than 19,000 jobs in North Carolina, representing more than $1 billion in wages in the State. Productions like the series ``Reprisal'' and the upcoming film Uncle Frank were made in North Carolina in 2019. The good, high-wage jobs in the film and television industry, from directors, musicians, and actors, to drivers, makeup artists, painters, and set decorators, are at risk if the products they make lose money due to internet theft. Without prejudging what changes may be necessary to the DMCA, it is important that our future trade agreements can keep up with the advances of U.S. copyright law. I look forward to working together with my colleagues in the House and Senate and with the White House to ensure we improve the DMCA and create more export opportunities for U.S. businesses and workers in the process. As always, our trade agreements and our copyright law should do all they can to create good incentives and empower market forces to solve problems. Mr. President, I applaud the inclusion of national treatment language in this agreement, requiring nondiscriminatory treatment of American creators and their goods. This protects many American goods, of course, but I want to make special note that the inclusion of this provision in USMCA will help undo one particular instance of discrimination/unfair treatment against American creators. It will help ensure that American music creators are fairly compensated when their recordings are played in Canada and Mexico. Our expectation is that American performers will see an increase in royalty compensation as a result. As it stands today, Canadian artists receive all royalties due under U.S. law for the use of sound recordings here. Those royalties totaled nearly a billion dollars last year for all recordings. We afford the recordings of all foreign nationals with the same rights due for the recordings of American artists. In Canada, however, royalties collected for radio airplay and other nondigital public performances of sound recordings made by Americans currently are NOT shared with the American performers who create them. I encourage the administration to ensure inclusion of this protection for American creators in all trade agreements going forward. American music is by far the most listened to in the world, and we should do all we can to ensure our American music creators are treated fairly by our trade partners.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Lt. Col. Allen Lamb, a retired Air Force pilot from the great State of North Carolina, for his many years of service to his country as a combat pilot and the important role he played in the development of U.S. Air Force tactics. Lt. Col. Allen Lamb selflessly dedicated 20 years of his life to serving his country in the United States Air Force. During his service, he saw combat during both the Korean war and Vietnam war, while piloting a variety of aircraing from propeller-driven heavy bombers to the most advanced jet fighters of the era. Lieutenant Colonel Lamb had an uncanny ability of surviving the mid-air accidents that occurred on a few of the many combat and training missions that he participated in, and he is notable for successfully ejecting from four-engine, three- engine, and two-engine airplanes at different points during his career. From protecting his B-26 bomber as a tail gunner from Soviet MIG pilots over Korea, to being distinguished as the first American pilot to successfully destroy North Vietnamese surface to air missile--SAM-- sites in an F-100 Super Sabre fighter jet, Lieutenant Colonel Lamb's Cold War service consisted of many hazardous and diverse assignments. Although it is difficult to narrow all of the spectacular and death- defying accomplishments of Lieutenant Colonel Lamb's career down to one specific achievement, his participation in the first ``Wild Weasel'' strike against a North Vietnamese SA-2 SAM site is particularly notable for the significant influence it had on future Air Force tactics. In 1965, early in the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force was losing a considerable number of planes during the strategic bombing campaign in North Vietnam due to the effectiveness of deadly Soviet-supplied SA-2 SAMs that were strategically scattered throughout the country. As a result, the Air Force developed a daring solution to counter the SAM threat that involved using agile F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom fighter jets to detect and suppress the missile launching sites. The innovative Air Force mission'' was soon given the name ``Wild Weasel'' because the anti-SAM mission was reminiscent of the way a hunting ferret enters the den of its prey to kill it. In late 1965, Lieutenant Colonel Lamb was given command of leading the first Wild Weasel mission, Wild Weasel I. On this mission, which took place just over 50 kilometers from the North Vietnamese capital Hanoi, Lieutenant Colonel Lamb and his navigator Jack Donovan flew extremely low on multiple strafing runs and were successful in destroying a SA-2 SAM site that was not previously known to exist. Both men were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by the Air Force for their efforts. Lieutenant Colonel Lamb respectfully declined receiving the Silver Star award when he was offered it because his crewman Jack Donovan was not also included. Wild Weasel I demonstrated that the Wild Weasel project was an effective method of identifying and eliminating enemy SAM capabilities, and it was essential in saving the lives of American bomber pilots as they continued to conduct missions over North Vietnam until 1973. Lieutenant Colonel Lamb completed the first, second, and third Wild Weasel kills during the war, and the tactics he was instrumental in developing during the Wild Weasel missions are still utilized in modern Air Force operations to suppress enemy air defenses. As a U.S. Senator, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a North Carolinian, I am pleased to recognize and honor Lt. Col. Allen Lamb for his impressive career of military service, his critical role in the development of U.S. Air Force tactics, and his steadfast commitment to our country.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. Frank Frazier of Oxford, NC, for his 35 years of dedicated public service to the city of Henderson and surrounding communities. Mr. Frazier was hired as an engineering technician for the city of Henderson in 1985 and has since dedicated his career to public service. He has held a number of roles within local government including, but not limited to, director of engineering, assistant city manager and city manager. As city manager, Mr. Frazier has managed over 200 employees responsible for all city operations including the Fire and Police Departments, engineering, human resources, finance, recreation, and water resources, among many others. Mr. Frazier has led several significant projects that have benefited the city, county, and region as a whole, including upgrades to the Henderson Water Reclamation Facility and an upgrade to the Kerr Lake Regional Water Plant. Not only did Mr. Frazier successfully execute many accomplishments for the community, he did so through balanced budgets without tax increases and simultaneously providing substantial pay raises to city employees. Mr. Frazier is well respected and acknowledged for his consistent dedication to improving the quality of life for Henderson and the greater region. I would like to thank Mr. Frazier for his 35 years of honorable service, as well as acknowledge his wife Sherrie and their two sons, Mitchell and Chad, who have supported his service. I wish Mr. Frazier all the best in his future endeavors as he retires from the city of Henderson.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Tuesday, December 10; further, 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, morning business be closed, and the Senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the Bumatay nomination under the previous order; finally, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the conference meetings.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 448, submitted earlier today.

Mr. TILLIS

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

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Military Missions in Action, MMIA, an organization with locations in Fuquay- Varina and Southern Pines, NC, that is doing tremendous work throughout the State of North Carolina for Active-Duty servicemembers, veterans, and military families. Mr. Mike Dorman founded MMIA in 2008 after a 20-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard. Since then, MMIA has worked tirelessly to accomplish a wide array of support for servicemembers, veterans, and their families. MMIA conducts a number of operations each year such as: Operation Building Hope, which gathers volunteers to make modifications and repairs necessary for safe and independent living for veterans with disabilities; Homes for Healing, through which volunteers provide new and gently used furniture and household goods to formerly homeless veterans; Operation Rescue Christmas, which provides holiday assistance to low-income veteran and military families through gift cards, new toys, and monetary support; and Fill the Footlocker whereby comforts from home, health, and hygiene items are packaged and shipped to deployed servicemembers. MMIA completes the operations mentioned above in addition to many other projects in community engagement and support with the help of volunteers and other collaborators. To date, MMIA has completed 710 building projects, assisted over 30,500 homeless veterans, provided furniture and household goods to 463 families, shipped over 58,000 care packages to deployed servicemembers, and assisted 1,620 children through Operation Rescue Christmas. I would like to thank and recognize the men and women of MMIA and all of the volunteers for their continued dedication and support for the large servicemember and veteran populations of the State of North Carolina and their families.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, today I rise to honor and praise a great man, Mayo Boddie, who has lived a long and admirable life as a successful businessman and dedicated servant to the people of North Carolina and his country. Mr. Boddie was born on December 6, 1929, on a farm in Nash County, NC. The son of Nick and Lucy Boddie, Mr. Boddie learned the value of hard work and perseverance at an early age. In 1962, along with his brother Nick and his uncle, Carleton Noell, Mayo Boddie opened his first Hardee's restaurant in Fayetteville, NC. Fast food was a relatively new concept back then, but the new company, Boddie-Noell, knew the recipe for success. Today, he is chairman of Boddie-Noell Enterprise, headquartered in Rocky Mount in the great State of North Carolina. Under Mr. Boddie's leadership, Boddie-Noell Enterprises operates more than 350 Hardee's restaurants and is the popular brand's largest franchisee. Despite their rapid growth and expansion throughout the Carolinas, Virginia, and Kentucky, Boddie-Noell has maintained a close-knit family culture in which every individual is treated with dignity and respect. To Mayo Boddie, the secret of his success is ``our people.'' His devoted leadership never went unnoticed. In 1987, he received the North Carolina Jaycees Outstanding Boss of the Year Award. In 1991, he was named Master Entrepreneur of the Year for North Carolina by Inc. Magazine. In 2000, Mayo and his brother, Nick, were named NC Restaurant Association's Restaurateurs of the Year. At the age of 90 years old, celebrating a recent birthday, Mayo Boddie continues to be very active in his community of Rocky Mount and Eastern North Carolina. He still serves as an advisory board member for the NC Wesleyan College Entrepreneurial Center and continues to serve on the East Carolina Council BSA executive board. He remains an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Rocky Mount and has been active in the Boy Scouts since 1941. His support for scouting is legendary. In honor of this support, one of the Scout reservations in Beaufort County--Camp Bonner--was renamed Camp Boddie. Mr. President, it is obvious Mr. Boddie is well respected and loved among many who know him, and I am proud to honor him and his life-long and innovative service to the great State of North Carolina, along with his many accomplishments throughout his lifetime.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the postcloture time on the Bumatay nomination expire at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, December 10, and that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action. I further ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule XXII, following the cloture vote on the VanDyke nomination, the Senate proceed to legislative session and to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 290, S. 2740. I further ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes of debate, equally divided between the leaders and their designees, and that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the bill be considered read a third time and the Senate vote on the passage of the bill with no intervening action or debate and that the Senate then resume executive session. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that at 12 noon, on Wednesday, December 11, the Senate proceed to legislative session and to the immediate consideration of H.R. 2333, which was received from the House, and that the bill be considered read a third time and the Senate vote on its passage with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise along with Senator Burr to urge our colleagues to support the confirmation of Professor Richard Myers to serve as a district court judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. President Trump has nominated an eminently qualified and principled individual to serve in the Eastern District. In his career, Professor Myers has worked as a journalist, a prosecutor, and a professor. Each step Professor Myers has taken in his professional career has prepared him for this role. From the newsroom to the courtroom to the classroom, Professor Myers has shown his commitment to the principles of truth, of justice, and of wisdom. I cannot imagine a more solid foundation upon which to place the responsibility of a district court judgeship than that of Professor Myers, which he has exhibited throughout his career. Professor Myers is a first generation college graduate who has close ties to Wilmington, where he has chosen to locate his chambers. Once confirmed, Professor Myers will hold court in Wilmington, the same city where he was raised, where he went to college, and where he was a journalist. North Carolinians are lucky to have someone like Professor Myers with his caliber and his sense of duty to represent us in the Eastern District of North Carolina. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for Judge Myers', or soon-to-be Judge Myers', confirmation when it comes up later today. I yield the floor.

Mr. TILLIS

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

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I come to the Chamber today to rise with my colleagues to talk about the USMCA, or the United States-Mexico- Canada Trade Agreement. But before I talk about the vote that I hope is in this Chamber on fairly short order, I would like to go back to December of 1993. In December of 1993, President Clinton signed NAFTA. A month later, it was ratified, and, to be honest with you, it started a period of time in North Carolina where we suffered. We had a challenge to actually determine how we were going to react to a very different North Carolina, where there are textiles and a number of other industries that suffered initially under the NAFTA implementation. But today, North Carolina is one of the greatest benefactors of NAFTA. As a matter of fact, we are one of the top States in the country for job creation and commerce, and Canada and Mexico are our two most important export markets. The problem is, NAFTA was implemented in 1994. I think that was back when the Backstreet Boys were topping the charts and MC Hammer was popular. It was a long, long time ago. It is time to modernize it. It was before the internet was even invented. We have so many opportunities to modernize our trade relationship with our two most important trade partners, and the USMCA is the opportunity to do that. While it only took about a month to ratify the NAFTA agreement--knowing that there was a lot of work to be done before we completely benefited from it--we waited a year to ratify an agreement that will be immediately beneficial to the American economy. It will create more than 170,000 new jobs and $70 billion a year in additional economic activity, putting us on a level playing field. Our automotive industry, which has grown over the last 20 years, with several automotive manufacturing facilities in the South, and many businesses in my State support it. It will open up the markets for our farmers. North Carolina is the ninth largest agriculture economy in the United States, with nearly $90 billion a year in agriculture products. We want those markets open in Canada and Mexico so that we can grow our farm economy in North Carolina. We also want to recognize that the USMCA agreement is a very, very important step in getting China to come to terms with fair trade with the United States. When we settle an agreement with two of our most important trade partners, then, China will take notice and they will follow the President's lead and understand that we no longer are going to allow them to compete unfairly. There are provisions in the USMCA that I hear Speaker Pelosi talking about that, frankly, give me some concern. The House is entitled to make changes to the baseline agreement that both the Mexican Government and the Canadian Government have ratified, as proposed and as signed by the President. They give me concern, and we hope that Speaker Pelosi will keep to the baseline agreement. But now we have to get to work to get this agreement ratified so these kinds of things continue to be positive stories that come out of North Carolina and positive stories that come out of Nebraska and Iowa and across this Nation. There is no downside to this agreement. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I know there is no downside is that there are dozens of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in the House who are prepared to vote for it in the form in which the President will sign. This is a very, very important agreement. I do have to agree with my colleagues in that the only reason I can imagine we didn't have this agreement ratified last year was due to the focus on all things impeachment. This is a good deal. I have no doubt that if President Clinton had signed this agreement in 1993, it would have been ratified a month later. Yet we have waited a year for this agreement to get any airtime in the House Chamber. We need the USMCA signed today. We need the USMCA put into place so that we can realize the immediate economic advantage for hard-working farmers, for small businesses, and for the 170,000 new jobs that will be created so that we continue this economic recovery that started with tax reform and regulatory reform. This is another step in the right direction, and no reasonable Member of Congress should be holding off on what is a great decision on the President's part. It is a great decision, and it is a great policy for the American people. It is going to help my farmers in North Carolina, and it is going to help my small businesses. It is going to continue to make the U.S. economy the envy of the world. I ask Speaker Pelosi and my colleagues in the House to get to work. You can walk and chew gum. Go ahead and focus on impeachment if you want to, but from time to time, why don't you take some Chamber time and some of your resources to do right by the American people. That is what the USMCA does, and that is what we need the House to do. I guarantee you, when it comes to the Senate, we will quickly send it to the President's desk. I thank the Presiding Officer.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, first, I want to thank Senator Fischer for all of her work on the Senate Armed Services Committee and in so many other areas. I am here to talk about the same subject, the National Defense Authorization Act. It may be difficult to understand the difference between appropriating and authorizing. We have two different sorts of committees here. One focuses on the resources funding their use, but they can't be used unless they are authorized. So every year for 58 years, we have come into the committee, we have heard differing opinions on priorities, but at the end of the day, the amazing thing about the Senate Armed Services Committee when it comes to the National Defense Authorization Act is that we always reach a bipartisan agreement. It passed out of the Senate Armed Services Committee with I believe unanimous support, and then it got passed out of the Senate. Normally, this happens in the June timeframe, maybe the July timeframe. Now here we are in November. Not only have we not passed the National Defense Authorization Act, but we are at risk of not passing anything. Now what we are hearing about is a so-called skinny bill that would just be the basic authorities while we are leaving everything else on the table. I am going to talk a little bit about the Personnel Subcommittee, which I chair, but what do authorities mean? It means research on new weapons systems. It means research for men and women in a dangerous situation to make sure the best possible technology and training is available to make it as safe as it can be in an unsafe environment. There are hundreds of authorizations in the National Defense Authorization Act that are at risk of sliding another year for the first time in 58 years. Now what I want to talk about is what is at stake if we can't reach an agreement with Speaker Pelosi specifically in the Personnel Subcommittee. I actually requested the Personnel Subcommittee because I wanted to focus on the business of the Department of Defense, and I wanted to focus on military families and on the soldiers' health and safety. If we do not pass provisions that passed out of my subcommittee and that are in the National Defense Authorization Act that passed out of the Senate, here is what is at stake: There is a pay raise for every soldier, sailor, and marine--a 3.1- percent pay raise that they could lose this year as a result of not gaining agreement. We have a lot of provisions in there for military housing. I am from North Carolina, and we have two very large installations in North Carolina--Fort Bragg, the home of the Global Response Force, and Camp Lejeune, home to a bigger population of marines than any military installation in the world. They are in housing today that needs to be outfitted. They are in housing that, quite honestly, is unsafe. This National Defense Authorization Act makes progress to make sure that the families that are housed on bases are in safe, clean settings, and quite honestly, in some cases, they are not today, which is why we have bipartisan support for the provisions we put into our subcommittee mark. Another thing that we are working on--it is very difficult for one who doesn't come from a military background to understand how challenging it is for a spouse to get a job for the brief period of time that they may be in one military installation or another. This mark has provisions in it to make sure that military spouses get employment opportunities as quickly as possible and to cut through a lot of the red tape that they are dealing with today. That provision is at risk. We have also taken major steps and tried to prevent or reduce military sexual assault. Provisions in this bill, I am convinced, because they were voted out on a bipartisan basis, are at risk because we can't seem to get agreement with Speaker Pelosi's House. Another very important area is in places like North Carolina. In North Carolina, Camp Lejeune alone experienced over $3.5 billion in damages as the result of the most recent hurricane, and Fort Bragg is still trying to recover from a hurricane that happened about 2 and a half years ago. There are authorities in there to make sure that we can rebuild these facilities. Military housing, as well as offices and other training facilities at Camp Lejeune, could slip another year if we allow what I think right now is the impasse between the House and the Senate to move forward. These are all very, very important provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act. These are all provisions that got bipartisan support from this body. If you all have been watching Congress, you know that we can have our disagreements. There are certain things that we just simply aren't going to see eye to eye on, but we see eye to eye on the National Defense Authorization Act. That is why I do not understand how the House would not come to the table and pass something that we have successfully passed for every year of my life. I am 59 years old. This could be the first time in 58 years that we run the risk of not showing the respect that I think the men and women in the military, in uniform, deserve, to give them the authority to be trained properly, to not run the risk of working with old authorities that could diminish training and readiness and capabilities. This is about these folks that have sworn to defend the Constitution and our freedom, and we can't take the time to bridge the gap and eliminate the other reasons that divide us and at least come together on something for 58 years we have seen our way clear to passing and making progress, for men and women in uniform, for soldiers, sailors, and marines and for their families. So I am for the Speaker of the House and the Members of the House to come to terms and pass what we have done successfully for decades. We owe it to the men and women in uniform, and we owe it to every American to understand what is at stake if we all of a sudden slide for a year while our adversaries continue to gain ground. I hope that my colleagues will continue to come together and pass this bipartisan legislation. It is within reach and absolutely an expectation, I think, of every Member of Congress to show our men and women in uniform respect by doing our job. Thank you, Mr. President. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay MG Gregory A. Lusk, the Adjutant General of the North Carolina National Guard, for his many years of service to the great State of North Carolina. Major General Lusk has served as the 40th Adjutant General of the North Carolina National Guard with distinction for nearly a decade. Major General Lusk's adept leadership over the roughly 11,500 citizen soldiers and airmen serving in the North Carolina Army and Air National Guard has been prominently displayed during the multiple harrowing natural disasters that have struck North Carolina in recent years. In 2018, Major General Lusk oversaw a massive mobilization of N.C. Guardsmen prior to the landfall of Hurricane Florence. During the ensuing deployment, 3,400 N.C. Guardsmen assisted local, State, and Federal disaster response teams on hundreds dangerous search and rescue operations vital missions to provide lifesaving relief to evacuated families. In total, more than 1,300 North Carolinians were safely evacuated from dangerous floodwaters due to the effective command of Major General Lusk and the efforts of the North Carolina National Guard. The tireless leadership of Major General Lusk has been invaluable during the numerous overseas deployments, stateside military exercises, and natural disaster responses that the North Carolina National Guard has participated in since his appointment to adjutant general in 2010. Major General Lusk's contribution to advancing the overall readiness and operational capabilities of the North Carolina National Guard has been critical in maintaining an effective and resilient Reserve Force. Through operations including Inherent Resolve, Enduring Freedom, and Freedom's Sentinel, as well as during the Hurricanes Irene, Matthew, Florence, and Dorian, Major General Lusk has ensured that the men and women of the Guard had the utmost preparation and training for every mission that they embarked on. Major General Lusk has selflessly served the state of North Carolina and our Nation for almost 40 years. Following his commissioning through the Reserve Officer Training Program at North Carolina State University in 1982, Major General Lusk was stationed throughout the State and around the world as he rose from a second lieutenant to a major general. Major General Lusk was mobilized twice to Iraq as both an executive officer and a commander of the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, commanding 4,000 North Carolina Guardsmen in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a U.S. Senator, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a North Carolinian, I am pleased to congratulate Major General Gregory Lusk on his retirement, for his impressive career of military service and steadfast commitment to our country.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, in reserving the right to object, I come to the floor to, first, compliment Senator Durbin on his remarkable story and his family's story about legal immigration to this country. It is something I support. I think we should all consider it a compliment when people want to leave the countries of their births to come to the United States, for they know what we know--that it is a great place in which to live and thrive. I have a concern with the unanimous consent request before us, the RELIEF Act. Senator Durbin and I have worked on a couple of immigration issues on which we have bridged the gap but have not quite gotten there. First off, it could lay the groundwork for a significant increase in legal immigration, but I am also concerned with the mechanics we find ourselves in right now. As I understand it, the RELIEF Act has six cosponsors--all Democrats. Yet there is another bill that is moving through the Senate right now that was offered by Senator Lee. It has been offered in other Congresses, but it is actually making headway. It has 35 cosponsors, and 15 of them are Democrats. They include Senator Harris, of California, and Senator Duckworth, the junior Senator of Illinois. I believe this is a very narrowly focused effort to address a lot of the concerns that Senator Durbin has. I do not believe Senator Durbin has the support of the Senate to take this through regular order at this point, let alone through unanimous consent. I hope Senator Durbin and others will recognize that we do have a shortage of high-skilled workers in this country and that we do need to fix a number of problems, but I don't think they can be fixed with the RELIEF Act. I encourage Senator Durbin to work with Senator Lee and with the 34 other Senate Members on a bipartisan basis to address this so we can bring the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act to the floor and send it to the House for its consideration. Because of the lack of consensus on many of the provisions in the RELIEF Act, I object.