Thom Tillis

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. I now ask for a second reading and, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of Calendar Nos. 742 through 765 and all nominations on the Secretary's desk; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. TILLIS

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 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 am happy to yield the floor to the Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from Ohio did mention a couple of resolutions, but I would add there was also the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act that we worked very hard on to provide much needed resources for a number of States, including Ohio. There are a number of other items, including I think hiring vets, providing programs or providing preferences and trying to do everything we can to get our veterans hired; preventing animal cruelty and torture I think is a worthwhile cause, and a number of other things. But, again, the point here is that we are trying to move things that we generally have consent on, and for one reason or another--and I don't question the motives of the Senator from West Virginia--they are being held up. We kind of have a double standard in that some of these things do not rise to the same level as the unanimous consent request made by Senator Wyden earlier. Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 5456 So I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 527, H.R. 5456; that the Wyden substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, we may have that opportunity. Unanimous Consent Request--Senate Resolution Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of a Senate resolution at the desk recognizing the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the lasting significance of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day submitted earlier today. 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 would like to direct another question through the Chair to the Senator from West Virginia. I just want to be clear that, hypothetically, if the Senator from Oregon were to come back to the Chamber and offer that motion, would the Senator from West Virginia actually object to that motion?

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I just want to be clear that my friend from West Virginia, whom I actually consider to be one of my favorites, to be honest with you, since I have been here--I have loved serving with him on committees, and I serve with him on the Senate Armed Services Committee and Veterans' Affairs. I asked the Senator from West Virginia if he would have objected to the motion set forth by the Senator from Oregon, Mr. Wyden, and the answer was no. So we have an inconsistency here. Unanimous Consent Request--Senate Resolution Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of a Senate resolution at the desk honoring the individuals who lost their lives in the tragic fire in Oakland, California, on December 2, 2016, submitted earlier today. 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 immediate consideration of a Senate resolution at the desk designating December 17, 2016, as ``Wreaths Across America Day,'' submitted earlier today. 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. In a moment, I will be making another unanimous consent request. I will give a classic example of the kinds of things I wish we could get done before we leave here. The unanimous consent request I am about to make would encourage effective, voluntary private sector investments to recruit, employ, and retain men and women who have served in the U.S. military, with annual Presidential awards to private sector employers recognizing such efforts for their purposes. This is an example of something that right now, today, without objection, we can get through. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 3286, a bill to encourage effective, voluntary private sector investments to recruit, employ, and retain men and women who have served in the U.S. military, with annual Presidential awards to private sector employers recognizing such efforts, which was received from the House. I further ask consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, earlier the distinguished Senator from Oregon said he recognizes that I am new to the Senate and there may be something different between what we would call a blanket position in the North Carolina House and a blanket position here. Mr. President, I want to ask a question of the distinguished Senator from Ohio. I might add that I appreciate the kind comments that I think you were recently reported as saying. We are working together on veterans issues, and I look forward to continuing to work for you. Mr. President, I would ask the Senator from Ohio, if he was in the Chamber at the time of the motion offered by Senator Wyden, would he have been prepared to object to that motion being consistent with the position that they are having blanket objections to all motions?

Mr. TILLIS. Thank you, Mr. President. The Senator from West Virginia, I believe, is trying to make a compelling argument. I understand that he feels very strongly about this. We feel very strongly about a number of these motions I am going to continue to make and hopefully not get objection. Mr. President, I do want to remind the Senator from West Virginia that it was the majority leader who worked to at least get the patch in the CR, and like so many things around here, we wish we were working on longer horizons, but that seems to be the challenge we have to deal with and that we will have to deal with in the waning days of this session. Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1831 Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 1831, the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the Toomey substitute amendment be 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.

Mr. TILLIS. Objection?

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 3364, a bill to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out a pilot program to accept the donation of facilities and related improvements for use by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, let me direct a question through the Chair to the Senator from Indiana. I don't believe the Senator was in at the time that the Senator from Oregon offered his motion. Would the Senator have objected to that motion--Senator Wyden's motion?

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 654, S. 2763, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016, with a committee- reported substitute amendment. I further ask that the committee- reported substitute amendment be 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.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, about a month and a half ago, I came into this Chamber to talk about the damage that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. It was actually 2 months ago to the day that Hurricane Matthew hit eastern North Carolina, and I don't think that many people, unless you have been down there--even in the State, it is hard to really conceive of the extent of damage that Matthew caused, even for people in my part of the State, the middle part of the State, Charlotte, so I know it is difficult for those who may be in other States and did not see the local news coverage. Matthew took 28 lives. It displaced tens of thousands of people in the near term, and now thousands of people are still without homes. It damaged businesses and infrastructure. Miles of Interstate 95 were underwater. Bridges have been washed out. We have a lot of damage we have to recover from. We have one community that was washed away by Hurricane Floyd and was washed away again just about 17 years later with Hurricane Matthew, neighborhoods completely underwater. I was in Fayetteville. There was a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood that had 90 homes. Six of the houses are uninhabitable now. They were in areas that were not flood plains. This was a 1,000-year rain event, a 500-year flood event. In other words, this is not likely to happen again in our lifetime, maybe not even in the pages' lifetimes. It was an incredible event that is going to take a lot of time and effort to recover from and a lot of resources to rebuild. We are still trying to tally the human and economic toll. It is going to take probably decades to fully recover from this disaster, as we are seeing with Floyd, but we will recover because that is what North Carolinians do. That is what Americans do. To begin the long rebuilding process, though, we need Federal assistance. That is why Gov. Pat McCrory formally requested a disaster assistance package and why we very quickly got a team together--my staff, who led the effort, working with Congressman Price, members of the delegation, Senator Burr--to try to figure out what we need to do to provide assistance to North Carolina so that they can begin their recovery. Over the past weeks, we have worked very closely with the Appropriations Committee. I want to particularly thank the leadership of the Appropriations Committee. They have done an extraordinary job of working with us, advising us on what we need to do to make our requests clear, to make it more likely that we would be able to get some resources for North Carolina. I specifically want to thank two of my staff who have worked very hard. They were literally working on the disaster plan after the rains fell and before the rivers started cresting. I want to thank Towers Mingledorff and Kayla Dolan from my office. They did extraordinary work. I am proud of the work they have done on our behalf and on behalf of North Carolinians. At the end of the day, we now have a continuing resolution as a result of their hard work and cooperation with the Appropriations Committee. We have a provision in the continuing resolution to allocate some $300 million to North Carolina for immediate needs to assist in recovery efforts. This is a beginning. We will continue to work with the Federal agencies which that money will be directed to and then ultimately down to the State so that we can find out what additional needs are there. I think it is extraordinary that 8 weeks to the day, we were able to work together, get the support of the Members of this body, and get the support of the Appropriations Committee to at least begin the process. We have to help these North Carolinians get back to their normal lives. We have to put people back in their homes. We have to allow businesses to recover and bring people back in and let them go back to their daily lives and working. We are going to do it. We also need to help the farmers. There are thousands of acres of land that were affected by the floods. In some cases, the flooding was so extensive that these farms--many of them were already ready for next year's crops. Some of them still have crops in the field, covered by sand and sediment. They will need to be cleared. In other cases, there are washed-out bridges, and there are ditches and drainage areas that will all have to be cleared out so that we can get the ninth largest agriculture State in the Nation ready to produce crops next year. I know we will do it. I know we will do it because we have the support of this body, and we are going to be able to start sending that money and that desperately needed support to North Carolina. But in the coming weeks and months, we will also spend time figuring out what more we can do. In the meantime, I want to let everybody in North Carolina know that if they need help, they should contact my office. They can reach me online at tillis.senate.gov. We will do everything we can to help them recover and to get back to their daily lives. Again, I thank the Members of this body who have supported our efforts to provide this much-needed aid. I yield the floor.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I actually think Senator Wyden has done some good work on this measure. I hope that we can get to a point where we can bridge the gap and address some concerns that some of the Members have in States that are concerned with unintended consequences. But at this time, and for reasons unrelated to this measure but to our inability to get other unanimous consents through, I am going to have to object.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I was wondering if I could direct a question through the Chair to the Senator from West Virginia. I was curious as to whether or not the good Senator, my friend and colleague, intends to object to this measure.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of the Senator from Oregon. I may be new to the Senate, but I am not new to North Carolina. I was speaker of the house for 4 years, and I worked with a lot of the agencies that the Senator from Oregon referenced. But the fact of the matter is that the first time I heard that these agencies supported the bill was about 90 seconds ago. This has not been fully vetted in the Senate. It sounds like it has a lot of merit, but even having said that, this is not why I am objecting to the bill. I am objecting at this time, in large part, because of a number of other objections we are receiving that are not allowing things that would otherwise move through unanimous consent. Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2912

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, on that note, I ask unanimous consent that the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2912, the Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act of 2016, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, if I may move on. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 695, S. 3084, the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act. I further ask that the committee-reported substitute amendment be withdrawn, the Gardner substitute amendment be 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.

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. Madam President, I come to the Chamber to talk about a devastating event we have experienced in North Carolina. Last month, Hurricane Matthew skirted along the Atlantic coast, and then it plowed right through North Carolina with devastating results. Matthew is the worst storm we have experienced in almost 20 years, and it is already responsible for taking some 28 lives. Millions of people in North Carolina and across the country watched as the storm made landfall, but after a few days, many of them turned their attention back to their daily lives. I don't fault them for doing this because unless you are there and see it firsthand, it is easy to think it was just a lot of rain and a storm that came and went, but it is far worse than that. Thousands of adults and children will take years to recover from the devastation that they have experienced over the last month. The first opportunity I had to survey the damage was just 2 days after the hurricane made landfall. I traveled across the State in a helicopter with the commissioner of agriculture, and what I saw was remarkable. In fact, it was after the rain had occurred but before the floods began almost a week later. The next week I spent time with many of my staff working as volunteers down in one of the areas that was hit hard by the flood. We worked with the American Red Cross, the Baptist Men, and the Salvation Army, which were trying to prepare food and provide shelter for so many people who were displaced. I was back in the area last weekend, and I had an opportunity to witness firsthand the farm damage and the damage to one of our major areas outside of Fort Bragg, an urban area that was hit very hard. Over the course of the last 3 weeks, I have literally seen long stretches of interstate highways under water. I have seen major roads completely washed out. I have seen entire communities under water and a couple of towns that have been washed away. Some of them were washed away just 20 years ago. I have seen farms that were under water for a period of time, and now their crops are rotting in the field. In other cases, farmers who had harvested their crops and prepared their land for the next planting season now have sand and debris on their fields. I have heard heartbreaking stories from victims, rescue workers, and volunteers. I will share some of those stories. I also heard heartwarming stories about the responsiveness of our local, State, and Federal agencies and the kindness of neighbors and volunteers. I wish to thank the State and local officials, FEMA, and the first responders, who are doing an excellent job under some of the most difficult circumstances. The death and destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew is really impossible to comprehend. The 28 lives we lost are a cross section of the State. They are parents and grandparents, sons and daughters, leaders of our community and young people who had their entire lives ahead of them. One of the victims was Charles Ivey. He was a resident of Lumberton, one of the areas that was hardest hit. He was a pillar of his community. Charles served as a deacon and Sunday school director at West Lumberton Baptist Church. He was an active member of the Lumberton Lions Club, Jaycees, Robeson County Fair Board, and West Lumberton Community Watch. He was the loving father of two daughters, had four grandchildren, and leaves behind his wife Wanda. Another victim who perished as a result of the storms was Isabelle Ralls of Godwin. She was a resilient woman who survived cancer, triple- bypass surgery, and kidney failure. She devoted her life to others, spending years as a caregiver for the Peace Corps. She was a Sunday school teacher and the church historian at Spring Hills Baptist Church. Her family and friends will always remember her as a phenomenal woman and role model who had an inspiring faith in God. These are just a couple of stories about the victims of Hurricane Matthew. They were all people I could probably tell stories about. They were mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and loving friends--28 precious lives lost in total. I hope the family and friends of the victims know that millions of North Carolinians and people across the Nation are praying for them and their recovery. Although the loss of life alone was devastating, it is really not the total story. In fact, it will take years to recover. Hurricane Matthew was a massive storm. To give you an idea, it is what is referred to as a 1,000-year flood event. In other words, for this area, statistically speaking, it will be another 1,000 years before they see the amount of water dumped in the same period of time. It was a 500-year flood event for a massive part of Eastern North Carolina. Thousands of people were forced out of their homes and relocated to shelters. Many are still in temporary housing and thousands of the homes are not habitable. The storm flooded areas that were well outside of the 100-year floodplain. So many of them didn't have flood insurance. Last week I visited one of those communities. It was a Habitat for Humanity community that had some 90 homes built over the last 15 to 16 years. Sixty of those homes are under water. Those 60 homes are not habitable, and as a result, 60 families are displaced. The pain is, as I said before, hard to imagine. It is immeasurable. To give you an idea, we have reports of several victims, and I have summarized a few of them. Another victim is Ann Johnson from Lenoir County, another county that was hard hit. She was one of the many people who were displaced and had to live in a shelter. As she was waiting in the shelter, she told a reporter: I just feel kind of lost right now, loss for words. You kind of feel like you don't have anything and you're just starting all over again. Another victim, Perry Harris of Johnston County, south of Raleigh, sustained more than $1 million in damage to a small business that four of his children worked at and had for some 15 years. He said: It is very emotional. I've been trying to do the best I can. I have four kids that work for me. It has been very hard on my family. We just don't know what tomorrow brings. Another victim, Charlie Mitchell, who is a farmer in Wayne County, lost the home he lived in for 49 years. He has a 2,000-acre farm that was submerged under water. He said: ``I've been in floods or around floods all my life, but I've never seen anything like this.'' Hurricane Matthew has been especially difficult for children as well. In fact, the teachers and school counselors in Cumberland County asked the students to write down their experience to kind of help them begin to cope and recover from the traumatic experience. There was one sixth grade student who wrote: I heard a loud crack followed by three loud thuds. When my family got out of bed, I saw three big trees, and one destroyed the kitchen. Not even five minutes after we left, the ceiling collapsed in all rooms except for the bathroom and my mom's room. Matthew has been a life-changing event for many North Carolinians. Relatives and friends who lost a loved one, families who lost their homes, small businesses and owners who can no longer find a place to work and employ others, farmers who have watched their once-fertile land become unproductive due to the flooding. I share these stories because North Carolina will need help, just like West Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Those States have also has been damaged in this storm season or in the flood season. Many people lost their lives, and those States need help. North Carolina needs help. My team is working with Senator Burr and my House colleagues to really try and quantify the damage. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be working to make sure we work with our colleagues in other States to make sure they get the assistance they desperately need before we leave at the end of the year. More than anything else, I want to make sure the victims of this storm know they have people working for them, and we are going to make sure this great body and this Nation comes to their aid in their time of crisis. I thank the Presiding Officer. I suggest the absence of a quorum.