Tom Udall

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I pay tribute today to Joe Vandever, Sr., who was one of the last surviving Navajo Code Talkers. Joe was born February 5, 1923, into the Red Running Into the Water People clan, born for Two Who Came to the Water clan. He passed away 5 days shy of his 97th birthday, on January 31, 2020, in Haystack, NM. Joe enlisted in the Marines when he was 19. He went through boot camp at Camp Pendleton and spent 6 months of intensive training learning the code and how to operate communications equipment to become a Navajo Code Talker. Navajo Code Talkers transmitted key military information through a code based on the Navajo language that the Japanese never broke. They participated in every major Marine operation in the Pacific theater and gave the Marines a critical advantage throughout the war. However, when they returned, they couldn't talk about their work, which remained classified until 1968. In 2001, Navajo Code Talkers, including Joe, received the Congressional Silver Medal. Joe epitomized the bravery and skill of the Navajo Code Talkers. Joe's Navajo name means ``going places,'' and he certainly did during the war. Serving in the 6th Marine Division from 1943 to 1946, Joe was stationed on 16 battleships--serving from Samoa to Guadalcanal to Guam to Japan to China. Joe translated messages from Navajo to English and set up communications posts on the frontlines. Joe was a spiritual man, and he provided spiritual support for others in his Marine division. He liked to tell a story about how he knew he would come home from the war. Before he left, he had been blessed in a ceremony. When he was in Guam, a bird he called a sheep-face bird-- which was a Cassin's kingbird--came to him. There were no sheep-face birds in Guam, and that bird gave Joe a sign he would return home safely. And he did. After he returned, Joe honored his Navajo traditions as a medicine man. He held many different jobs over the years--working at an oil refinery, in construction, and as a miner, prospector, farmer, and chauffeur. For 14 years, he was employed at the Gallup Indian Medical Center as a custodian. Joe was fiercely proud of the Navajo language. According to Joe, ``Our language is powerful,'' and ``we [won]the war with our tongue.'' He wanted younger generations to learn the language and counseled them: ``Don't ever leave your language.'' Joe was a loving family man. After the war, he came home and married Bessie, to whom he was married for 73 years, until she passed away on September 24, 2019. He and Bessie had 9 children, 36 grandchildren, 55 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great-grandchild. He inspired them and encouraged them to pursue higher education, and he was beloved by them all. Joe lived a long life, and a good life--with kindness, optimism, good humor, integrity, and commitment and love for family and community. His light will continue to shine bright in his children and his future generations. I am honored to pay tribute to Joe Vandever who faithfully served our Nation and his family and Tribe.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, today I rise to acknowledge the service of Mr. Darrell R. Willson, who is retiring as the Administrator of the National Gallery of Art in July after a 50-year career serving the public. Mr. Willson has spent the three past decades with the gallery overseeing the backbone of its operations--protecting and preserving its historic buildings, working to expand its footprint, and ensuring that it maintains a world-class staff. As an executive officer of the institution, he has worked closely with gallery leadership, executive branch officials and Congress--including with the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations--to ensure that the gallery has had the people and resources it needs to fulfill its mission. During his tenure, the gallery has completed more than $400 million worth of renovations to the East and West Buildings and welcomed visitors to new public spaces such as the Sculpture Gallery and the Andrew W. Mellon Memorial Fountain. In short, his work has provided the gallery with a stunning backdrop to showcase its collection of more than 150,000 sculptures, paintings, drawings, and photographs to the American public. His work with the National Gallery of Art is not the only contribution on Mr. Willson's resume that deserves recognition. Prior to joining the gallery, Mr. Willson worked for a decade at the Art Institute of Chicago, rising through the ranks to becom executive director of protective services. He also served the public as a local law enforcement official with the Waukegan, IL, police department. And of course, these positions are all in addition to his most important role--his service as a husband, a father, and a grandfather. Mr. Willson deserves to take great pride in all of these important accomplishments--especially his tireless work in support of our Nation's great arts and cultural institutions--as he retires from the gallery. On behalf of the Senate, I send him our thanks and warmest congratulations for a job well done.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Madam President, I thank you for the recognition, and I thank Senator Gardner for his hard work on this excellent piece of legislation. Today, our Nation is in pain. It is the pain of centuries of deeply embedded racial injustice. This Nation has watched in horror as the last 8 minutes and 46 seconds of George Floyd's life were cruelly and needlessly taken from him by a police officer. Our Nation grieves for the families of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many other innocent Black men and women violently taken from their families and loved ones. This is a pain all too familiar for too many Black Americans. This is a moment of reckoning for our Nation. Black Americans have borne the brunt of this systemic racism, as have Hispanic and Native American communities in New Mexico and across the Nation. So many of our officers protect and serve with honor and integrity, but we cannot continue to sweep police brutality and racial inequality under the rug, ignoring these painful legacies until the next tragedy. There are thousands of Americans of every political stripe across the Nation who have come out in peaceful protest demanding change. Now, we know there are a few--a very small few--who are exploiting our Nation's pain and using violence to disrupt. We unequivocally condemn all acts of violence and call for nonviolent but urgent action. By calling for the U.S. military to quell protests, as the President and some in this body have done, that crosses a line between civilian and military rule that is antithetical to American traditions. Instead of calling for American soldiers to repress their fellow citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, I am calling for action from this body. Today, Senators Booker and Harris introduced the Justice in Policing Act, a bill I am proud to cosponsor. This landmark bill holds police misconduct accountable in courts of law. It shines a light on police practices, requiring transparency, and ends racial profiling and mandates racial bias training. It bans choke holds and requires body cams and makes lynching a Federal crime. This is a moment of reckoning for our Nation. I call upon the Senate majority to join with us to pass this long overdue legislation as soon as possible.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I wanted to start by stating that I know a lot of people look at us speaking on the floor and think, you know, well, why aren't they wearing masks? I saw Senator Schumer. He put on his mask after he finished his talk and left. I have my mask here. I just took it off. I am going to put it on after I finish speaking. You know the way this works. I wear this mask to protect you, and you wear a mask to protect me, and that is the way we protect each other in this pandemic. I don't think there is any doubt that wearing a mask saves lives, and that is how we are going to overcome in this pandemic. I see people around New Mexico all the time when I am back home wearing masks and really taking this pandemic seriously and taking our Governor's orders seriously.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, in February, a bipartisan majority of the Senate voted to affirm our constitutional authority to declare war and to prohibit the President from starting a war with Iran. In March, the House of Representatives also cast a bipartisan vote to affirm that Congress, and Congress alone, has the authority to declare war. The President has vetoed that Iran War Powers resolution, rebuking the will of Congress, the will of the American people, and the directive of the U.S. Constitution. It is now up to Congress to reassert our authority, to override this veto, and to make good on the words of article 2, section 8 of the Constitution that gives Congress the sole power to ``declare War''-- because the last thing we need right now, at this time of grave crisis for our Nation, is a crisis of our own making in the Middle East--a protracted, unconstitutional conflict with Iran. Some would like to think that there is no chance that this President would begin a war with Iran in the middle of a global pandemic, a war that would kill Americans and Iranians alike. Think again. On March 11, a barrage of rockets hit an airbase north of Baghdad housing U.S. troops, and killing two. That day marked the birthday of Iran's General Suleimani, who was killed in January in an unprovoked attack ordered by the President. The attack was launched by a Shiite military group, whose leader also had been killed during the January attack on Suleimani. However, the Pentagon did not have solid evidence that the attack had been ordered by the Iranian Government. But the President's advisers, who have supported a maximum pressure campaign that has risked military conflict with Iran, did not wait for clear-cut evidence of Iran's involvement to try to push us closer to war. Senior advisers to the President, including Secretary of State Pompeo, strongly argued that the U.S. should launch a direct attack upon Iran in retaliation. Pentagon and military leaders pushed back against Secretary Pompeo's call for military action inside Iran, warning that a large-scale response within Iran's borders could draw us into a wider war with that country. Thankfully, these cooler heads prevailed, and the President ended up ordering night airstrikes against the militia's outposts inside Iraq to limit the possible death toll. But, not satisfied with that response, Pentagon officials have ordered the military to draw up a plan to destroy the responsible militia group inside Iran. However, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, LTG Robert P. White, has reacted strongly to that directive, warning that any such campaign could be bloody and counterproductive and risk war with Iran. He warned any such escalation would require thousands more American troops be sent to Iraq. So, since March, at least twice, high level Pentagon and military officials have warned that Trump administration officials' plans risk war with Iran. And, most recently, President Trump tweeted out an order to rewrite the rules of engagement at sea to attack harassing Iranian ships. While we condemn such harassing conduct, this is conduct the U.S. and other nations have determined is not worth a widespread war. With the advisers that the President surrounds himself with, like Secretary Pompeo and Special Advisor Brian Hook, the chilling fact is we are never far from war with Iran. The threat is ever-present, even as coronavirus ravages our country and spreads within the military and even when all resources of the Federal Government should be singularly focused on fighting this pandemic, keeping Americans safe, and keeping our economy going. So since we are still at risk of war with Iran in the middle of this public health and economic crisis, it is more imperative than ever that we override the President's veto and pass the Iran War Powers resolution once and for all. At this point in time, it would exponentially worsen the current disaster if we were to bungle our way into another Middle Eastern war with Iran. The American people don't want war with Iran. They didn't want it before this terrible virus hit, and they certainly don't want it now while we are in the throes of this pandemic. But Secretary Pompeo and his hawkish allies in the administration cannot be counted on to represent the will of the American people. That is why we are here. And that is why the Framers of the Constitution vested the authority to go to war with the legislative branch and not the executive branch. They placed the authority to go to war squarely with the people's representatives. At this point in time, all national resources must be directed toward the public health and economic crisis facing our Nation. Now is the time to send a message to this President and those in his administration who seem to be always itching to escalate the conflict, that initiating war against Iran is not this President's or any President's choice to make.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Madam President, today New Mexico and the Nation face a pandemic, the likes of which we have not seen in over 100 years, and today the Senate must act to pass the largest relief package for the American people in our history. First, I would like to extend my thoughts and prayers to everyone who is personally affected by this coronavirus pandemic. I thank the healthcare workers for working long hours and risking their own health to save lives. They are performing a national service. The numbers of infected individuals and the rapidly rising death toll are staggering. If we do not follow public health experts' advice, the tolls could be truly horrifying. In New Mexico, we have over 100 diagnosed cases, and today the first death in our State was reported. A senior citizen from Eddy County in the southeastern part of our State passed away on Sunday. All New Mexicans are facing new challenges--a threat to our health, a threat to our economy. My top priority is easing this hardship and making sure New Mexicans have what they need to stay healthy and to stay economically afloat. With that in mind, I rise today to tell New Mexicans: Relief is on the way: relief to American workers who have been put out of work and to small businesses that are making impossible decisions because of the coronavirus pandemic; relief to our hospitals and frontline healthcare workers facing an overwhelmed healthcare system in the coming weeks and months; and relief to State and local governments that are doing their best to take care of their residents and maintain essential services-- State and local governments are desperately in need of assistance only the Federal Government can provide; and Tribal governments to whom we owe trust and treaty obligations to provide healthcare, education, and community assistance, particularly in times of need. After days of furious negotiations, I am pleased and relieved that Democrats and Republicans were able to reach agreement on what will be the largest Federal relief effort in our history. The times demand a response of this magnitude. The stay-at-home orders--which, make no mistake, are necessary to stop the virus--threaten the livelihoods of millions of working families who live paycheck to paycheck. Millions of small businesses are in dire need of help. They power our economy but simply can't survive during the kind of economic downturn we now face. The Federal Government has the power to make sure that people can take the public health measures that are necessary, while also staying afloat financially. We here in the Senate need to make absolutely sure that everyone--not just those at the top--that everyone is taken care of and can weather this crisis. I am strongly supportive of the small business relief in this bill, which includes loans of up to $10 million that can be forgiven and turned into grants if employees are kept on the payroll. This relief will go through the Small Business Administration and be available to any business or nonprofit under 500 employees. With Democrats at the negotiating table, we worked toward that goal. As a result, American workers will receive 4 months more of unemployment insurance instead of just 3. Because so many Americans are now out of work, we need an expanded unemployment insurance plan. This plan extends unemployment to the self-employed for the first time. It increases the maximum benefit by $600 per week. Many workers will receive their full pay under this expansion. Just to give an idea of the magnitude of this problem in my home State of New Mexico, during the week of March 9, we had fewer than 800 claims for unemployment. This last week we had 11,000, and now we are receiving 7,000 every day. Also, because Democrats stood firm, our healthcare system will see an infusion of $55 billion more into the Marshall Plan for healthcare. The total public healthcare investment in this bill is now $150 billion dollars. We will establish a $150 billion relief fund for State, local, and Tribal governments to help cover costs of fighting this virus. New Mexico is eligible for up to $1.25 billion from this fund. And we will bring accountability and transparency to the relief for industry and large corporations. This relief bill puts in transparency and independent oversight and also makes sure that elected politicians, including the President, are not the beneficiaries of this fund. We face a national crisis of monumental proportions, and I am heartened that Republicans and Democrats in this body joined together over the last several days to face this crisis together as a nation. This is what we do as Americans, and I have hoped that as we continue to face down this crisis in the coming weeks and months, we will continue to do so in a united fashion. As vice chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, I have been particularly focused on making sure that Indian Country is not left out and ensuring that Tribes, which are on the frontlines of this public health and economic crisis, have the resources they need and deserve. Together, with my Democratic colleagues, I fought for and secured an $8 billion set-aside for Tribal governments and their enterprises. This Tribal Relief Fund will provide the 574 federally recognized Indian Tribes with flexible resources--resources they need during the COVID-19 response, and I am glad we found bipartisan agreement on this. We also secured over $2 billion in emergency funding for Tribal needs, and this includes over $1 billion for the Indian Health Service that will be used for everything from expanding medical services to purchasing equipment, to promoting public health education, to expanding telehealth services, and increasing disease surveillance, over $700 million that will go to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the HUD Office of Native American Programs. These funds will assist Tribal governments as they make their way through this crisis and support their members--support BIE schools and Tribal colleges and universities so that students continue with their education and provide housing for those most in need who are impacted by this terrible virus. These are key victories, but we are not done. We must uphold our trust and treaty responsibilities to all American Indians and Alaska Natives. So Congress must do more to respond to the unique COVID-19-related public health and economic crises in Indian Country. Tribes are some of the most vulnerable populations with the least robust healthcare systems. We have a very scary outbreak on the Navajo Nation, and I am sure that we need to weigh in and help there. For our next response package--and, believe me, we are going to have to monitor this closely and in all likelihood will be back here again-- we must make sure Indian Country has equal access to Federal coronavirus resources. Senator Heinrich and I fought hard for New Mexico priorities. We are working hard on issues that have to do with our National Labs, one of our very, very top employers--in fact, probably the biggest. New Mexico's creative economy can't be left behind. Sitting as the lead Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the national endowments, I pushed for an additional $75 million for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. These funds will support local artists and art programs through this tough economic time. When arts and cultural venues are shuttered and artists and all others are out of work, there is no doubt that these are exceedingly difficult times, but together we can get through this. I would like to remind everyone to follow the public health measures recommended by the experts. Staying at home is the best thing we can do to slow the spread of this virus and ensure our healthcare systems are not overrun. These measures are a firebreak that cuts off the fuel for this virus and prevents a catastrophe that overruns our hospitals. Social distance, washing your hands for 20 seconds--we all have an important part to play in containing COVID-19, keeping ourselves and our neighbors and our communities safe. The State of New Mexico is under a stay-at-home order. I commend Governor Lujan Grisham for the quick and decisive action that she has taken. She is focusing on this like a laser beam. I know these measures are difficult and a hardship for many, but we will only be able to revive our economy once this public health crisis is abated. If we just let the virus run its course, we could lose over 1 million people. Some estimates are 2 million--1 to 2 million people. That would be totally unacceptable and devastating. Because of the frontline healthcare workers--the doctors, nurses, and technicians and all those who support that work, hospital janitors, cafeteria workers, and so many others--this public health crisis will see an end. Thank you to everyone who is risking their own safety to help others. Thanks to all the Senate staff who are here on the floor and the people who work here. In the days, weeks, and months ahead, we must continue to closely monitor all aspects of the impact of coronavirus on our Nation's health and economy and continue to decisively and aggressively respond to the needs of the American people. I am confident that, in working together as one Nation and one people, we will meet and beat this crisis and come out on the other end stronger. To conclude, we must pass this bill without delay. This is a good compromise, and we must act now. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Madam President, it has been 1 year since the House of Representatives passed the most comprehensive package of anti- corruption reforms since Watergate--1 year. H.R. 1 shines a light on secret campaign contributions, makes it easier to vote, and cleans up corruption in Washington. It is the solution to the gridlock that the American people are tired of in our Nation's Capital. But for 1 year, H.R. 1 has gathered dust on Majority Leader McConnell's desk. Every single Senator in the Democratic Congress and in our caucus here in the Senate is cosponsoring the For the People Act, which is Senator Merkley's and my companion bill to H.R. 1, For the People Act, but it is buried deep in the leader's legislative graveyard. Over the course of the last year, as the For the People Act has languished, tens of millions of dollars were spent--much of it in secret--to influence the policymaking process. Almost half a dozen States passed new laws restricting voter rights. The U.S. Supreme Court gave the green light to political gerrymandering. And President Trump, visiting his own properties dozens of times, funneled millions of taxpayer dollars into his own pocket. Yet, the Republican Senate is silent--silent as our democracy faces a crisis like none we have ever seen in our lifetimes. We can draw a straight line from the crisis in our democracy to more than 300 bipartisan bills buried in the majority leader's graveyard. The bills waiting for Senate action are broadly supported by the American people, but they are opposed by the ultrawealthy, the special interests, the powerful corporations in that they try to buy our elections. Like Senator McConnell, these Big Money interests are proud of killing these bills. Here is what happened over the year that the For the People Act has been in the majority leader's graveyard: The number of Americans without health insurance increased by hundreds of thousands. California wildfires, worsened by climate change, cost $25 billion. Flooding in the Midwest, also a casualty of climate change, cost $12.5 billion. And 22 people were gunned down at an El Paso Walmart by a White nationalist armed with an assault rifle. Sadly, that was just a fraction of the thousands of gun-related deaths in our country last year. This is not the America that the American people want. The American people want us to act. The gap between what the American people are clamoring for and what the Republican majority in the Senate is giving them is as wide as the Grand Canyon and is growing by the day. Just look at the polls. Staggering numbers--closing in on 90 percent of Americans--support universal, affordable healthcare. With these numbers, you would think Republicans would be making sure that every American has healthcare, but, instead, Republicans have tried to dismantle the Affordable Care Act every chance they get. As we speak, President Trump and 18 Republican Governors and attorneys general are urging the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act. The American people want exorbitant prescription drug prices reeled in. Eighty percent of Americans think the cost of prescription drugs is far too high, and we all know that Big Pharma is the reason why. Yet legislation to reduce drug costs is also stuck--stuck among the hundreds of other bills on the majority leader's desk. Over the last two-plus decades, Big Pharma has spent $3.7 billion--yes, that is billion--on lobbying. So today the same vial of insulin, which cost $175 15 years ago, costs more than $1,400 today. As a result, some diabetics ration their insulin, and some, as a result, have died. It is not just our healthcare. The ability of our planet to support human life as we know it is at stake. Time and again, polling tells us the American people want us to tackle climate change. The American people accept the science. They understand the existential threat. Yet dozens of climate change bills lie dead in the Senate, including my Renewable Electricity Standard Act, to move us to 100 percent clean energy by midcentury. Nearly 70 percent of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, believe we need to take aggressive action to fight climate change, and almost 80 percent believe the government should invest more in renewable energy resources. With these kinds of numbers, you would think Congress would be passing climate change legislation on a regular basis, except you would be wrong. Why? Well, an expert analysis found that from 2000 to 2016, $2 billion was spent on lobbying regarding climate policy, and the fossil fuel interests outspent environmental public interest groups by a factor of 10 to 1. This is not democracy at work. This is a complete perversion of our democratic ideals. But the good news is we can change all of this. We can reinvigorate our democracy. We can end the reign of Big Money, empower small donors, make it easier to vote, stop political gerrymandering, and bring ethical conduct to Washington. The majority leader just needs to stop doing the bidding of the wealthy special interests and bring the For the People Act to the Senate floor. I know my colleague Senator Merkley is here and Senator Bennet, Senator Whitehouse, and Senator Cardin. I yield to Senator Cardin. Thank you all for being here today.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to a great New Mexican, William Fulginiti, who for 43 years led the New Mexico Municipal League. Sadly, Bill passed away February 25, 2020, at the age of 78, surrounded by family and those he loved. Bill held the position of executive director of the State municipal league for over four decades because, for all those years, he led the organization with skill, energy, commitment, and vision. The New Mexico Municipal League is 106 incorporated municipalities and 14 other organizations strong because of Bill's work over the years growing the organization. The league functions as one of the most effective voices for New Mexico communities in our State. Over two-thirds of New Mexico's population resides in incorporated municipalities. While Bill's responsibility for promoting those communities was great, he gladly took on the challenge and achieved enormous success over the years. Bill was a staple in New Mexico politics, a staple at the State legislature. His work was, in large part, responsible for giving the municipal league the strong voice it now has. Bill knew the facts. He knew the programs. He knew the laws. He knew the people. He understood the complexities of how cities work and brought his deft negotiating skills to the table to further the interests of communities around the State. He was, according to Roundhouse veterans, ``a force to be reckoned with.'' Bill helped launch the New Mexico Self Insurers Fund and the National League of Cities Mutual Insurance Fund, and he initiated the first bond pool for New Mexico cities so they could access national bond markets and save money on interest rates. Bill's reach was wide. At various times, he served on the board of directors of the National League of Cities. He testified before Congress on the infrastructure needs of cities. At the time of his passing, he served as vice chair of the New Mexico Finance Authority, a legislatively created agency that helps finance important infrastructure projects for cities, counties, and State agencies. And he was serving as a member on the State water trust board, a board that funds water projects critical to our arid State. Over the years, Bill's work earned him the Governor's Distinguished Public Service Award and the New Mexico Distinguished Public Administration Award, among other awards. Bill's many decades of public service also included serving our Nation for 8 years in the U.S. Air Force. Bill earned his master's degree in public administration from Pennsylvania State University. Bill served our State with integrity, honesty, and a sense of humor, and he helped mentor the next generation of public servants. Bill's influence in our State was far and wide. His work will continue to have a positive impact in the years to come. We will miss you, Bill, but we will not forget you.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, thank you for the recognition. Let me begin today by commending the efforts of Senators Murkowski and Manchin for working across the aisle to bring an energy bill to the floor. This bill has positive initiatives--promoting energy efficiency, modernizing the electric grid, and research funding for clean energy-- but the full Senate deserves a chance to be heard on the important issues at stake with this bill; namely, energy. Most importantly, we must take real action on climate change and address a problematic provision in this bill to limit environmental reviews of massive and potentially toxic mining projects. Everywhere we look, we are experiencing the devastating effects of climate change--whether they are hurricanes along the southeastern coasts, flooding in the Midwest, drought in the Southwest, or out-of- control wildfires in California--and we are careening too close to climate change tipping points that scientists warn will doom the planet. The bill before us does not set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the levels required to meet global targets or transition us to a clean energy economy, which is where we need to head, and we need to be heading there fast. A few things would dramatically improve this bill's climate impact. First, we need to add clean energy tax incentives. Clean energy tax incentives are one of the most effective tools we have in our toolbox to increase renewable power sources like wind and solar and the energy storage technology that enables them to work as a baseload power. Second, we should put commonsense limits on one of the worst greenhouse gases--methane. The U.S. oil and gas boom means that we are emitting 13 million metric tons of methane every year. That is 60 percent more than EPA estimates. Methane is 84 times more powerful than CO2 as a greenhouse gas in the short term. Industry says they want to control methane pollution. They were prepared to live with limits on public lands in a 2016 rule from the Bureau of Land Management. In 2017, the Senate rejected an attempt to repeal that rule on a bipartisan basis. But the Trump administration eliminated the rule due to lobbying by the worst polluters in the industry. We should restore that rule, and I have filed an amendment to do so immediately. We should also act to phase out HFCs and include a strong energy efficiency program for buildings. Then this bill could make a small but meaningful contribution to the climate change fight. Within the confines of this bill, there is a problematic and anti- environmental section that deserves serious scrutiny. I am talking about the controversial American Mineral Security Act--a bill that saw significant opposition in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Including this bill in this package is problematic because it would ``streamline'' the Federal permitting process for hard rock mining. Streamlining the approval process means arbitrary deadlines and reducing public input on massive mining projects that could cause further environmental destruction on public lands. Mining is a messy business. Surface mining ravages the earth. Heap leach mining produces what is called acid mine drainage that spews a mix of acidic water and heavy metals into streams and contaminates groundwater. An astounding 40 percent of western headwaters are contaminated by mine runoff. Those headwaters are where we get our drinking water. There are two controversial mine proposals in New Mexico right now-- the Terrero Mine in the Pecos and the Copper Flat Mine near Hillsboro, NM. Both of these mines are of significant concern to local farmers, ranchers, Tribes, and residents who are worried about water pollution. Under this provision, almost anything could be labeled a ``critical mineral.'' Mining permits will get pushed through, while limiting local community input. I am strongly supporting an amendment from Senator Stabenow to strike this provision. The proponents of this critical minerals bill have some valid points. Of course we need certain metals for our economy, including a clean energy economy, but we cannot forget that the mining industry has gotten one of the biggest free rides on the back of the taxpayer in American history, all the while leaving the taxpayer holding the bag for their toxic legacy. Hard rock mining on Federal lands is governed by the General Mining Act of 1872--that is right, 1872--a 148-year-old law. President Ulysses S. Grant signed it to help settle the West and to spur economic development. Still in effect today, the act allows mining companies to mine gold, silver, copper, uranium, and other precious metals on Federal lands without paying one dime in royalties--not one dime. That is in sharp contrast to coal and oil and gas companies that pay billions in royalties every year for the right to extract resources-- resources owned by the public and which are coming off public lands. The current rate paid by coal, oil, and gas is 12.5 percent. These same mining companies often pay royalties of similar payments when they operate overseas but not here in the United States. Since 1872, mining companies have taken $300 billion--that is billion with a ``b''--from public lands. The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated that in 2010 alone hardrock mining earned $6.4 billion from public lands. That would have yielded $800 million per year for the American taxpayer if mining were treated the same as coal, oil, and gas. The shocking fact is, foreign-owned companies are often the beneficiaries. For example, 83 percent of the companies that mine or explore for uranium in the United States are foreign owned; 64 percent of the companies that produce gold are foreign owned. The out-of-date mining law not only shortchanges taxpayers; it shortchanges the environment. The same industry that seeks permitting relief from Congress today does nothing to pay for cleanup at the tens of thousands of abandoned mines scarring our public lands. The GAO estimates that there are 33,000 abandoned mines across the West that are degrading the environment. One study found that 20,000 gallons per day of toxic water from 43 abandoned mine sites are polluting streams, ponds, and groundwater. What is wrong with these numbers? The American taxpayer is stuck with the bill, and the local and regional communities are stuck with the devastating environmental and public health impacts. Now, witness this: the Gold King Mine that gushed 3 million gallons-- 3 million gallons--of this toxic yellow stew into the Animas and San Juan Rivers and across my home State of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation. It has been 4 years since this spill, and the States, Tribes, and local communities have still not been fully reimbursed. This was a normal river in the West that looked clean and pristine. Here it is, this toxic stew--this yellowish, toxic stew--that ran for a number of days. The right to mine on Federal lands royalty-free maybe made sense 150 years ago. A free ride makes no sense now. It is a sweetheart deal for the mining companies that can't be justified by today's fiscal or environmental realities. The old joke in the West is that the mining company gets the gold, and the American people get the shaft--and that is literally true. My amendment to reform the 1872 mining law that Senators Heinrich and Bennet are cosponsoring ends this free ride by doing two simple things: It sets a royalty rate between 5 and 8 percent on mining on Federal lands, the public lands, and provides for cleanup of abandoned mines paid for by royalties and an abandoned mine reclamation fee of 1 to 3 percent. The House Committee on Natural Resources approved broad mining reform legislation last year. This bill could be coming to the House floor soon and is probably headed in our direction over here at the Senate. Mining reform is decades and decades overdue. It is only fair to address this injustice before we give mining companies new perks, even if they can be justified, and enacting a royalty and reclamation fee is a healthy start on that process. I thank, again, Senators Murkowski and Manchin for their work. I hope we can return to the regular order, to the idea that we are going to have a bill on the floor and that we can have amendments and have the process work as it normally does and improve the bill on these important points. If we cannot, I think the path for this bill becomes much harder. Now, on another subject before I conclude, I want to voice my support for the remarks Senator Grassley gave earlier today on the oil and gas royalties. We filed an amendment together, based on our bill, to update those royalties and other leasing items for the first time in 100 years. It is a long overdue topic, and I hope to see increasing bipartisan support in the near future. We have a historic oil boom in this country, much of which is using public lands, and the public has a right to see a fair value for those resources. We also have a large and growing budget deficit and a major climate change problem. Bringing oil and gas royalties into the 21st century would be a bipartisan win on all of those fronts. I yield the floor. I see my good friend, the Senator from Tennessee, is here.

Mr. UDALL

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

Mr. UDALL. The Senator from New Mexico will yield.

Mr. UDALL. Madam President, thank you for the recognition, and I very much appreciate Senator Carper talking about the wonderful, young employees whom we have around us and the young people who come here who are dedicated and work, and we have some great ones on the committees. I see Mary Frances back here behind you, and I have Matthew Padilla over here on my right. There are so many great young people that just come to Washington or live in Washington, and they are really dedicated to see that we do a good job. It is wonderful to hear you talk about that young man. I rise to affirm the Congress's constitutional authority to declare war and to support the War Powers Resolution before us. The chilling events of last month bring into stark relief why this resolution is absolutely needed. The President brought us to the very edge of war with Iran by his attack on its top general. We must pass this resolution because, even if the President does not respect the plain words of the Constitution, the Members of this body should. Look at this chart here. Here they are, clear as day: The ``Congress shall have power . . . to declare War.'' The Congress alone has the power to declare war. The President does not. I did not come to this view recently. I held the same view under President Obama's administration. I spoke up against his plans for airstrikes in Syria, and I voted against an authorization for those airstrikes in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. So, whether you support war with Iran or not, I urge every single Member here to stand up for our Constitution and to vote for this resolution. Last month, as we were on the brink of war with Iran, the whole Nation and the whole world watched on edge, braced for conflict, bloodshed, and terror. Yet, to this day, this administration has not provided a serious justification for the strike on General Soleimani. The administration claimed the 2002 authorization for use of military force against Iraq justified the strike, but the AUMF, which I voted against, authorizes force ``against the continuing threat posed by Iraq,'' not any threat posed by Iran. That authorization was passed in 2002, and here we are, 18 years later, and it is being specifically used to get us into another conflict. The administration claims Soleimani posed an imminent threat to U.S. troops, diplomats, and citizens, but the administration gave no convincing evidence to the Congress or the American people that an attack from Iran on U.S. interests was imminent or that the killing would have stopped such an imminent attack. During the Senate briefing, when we asked questions trying to get real answers about the evidence and why they didn't seek congressional approval, the administration wouldn't answer our questions. One Republican Senator, at the briefing that we had from administration officials, called that briefing the ``worst'' briefing he had ever had. He said it was ``insulting and demeaning.'' While the President claimed on Twitter, without evidence, that Iran had targeted four U.S. Embassies, his own Secretary of Defense disavowed that claim. We come to find out that the operation was planned months in advance and was even broader than General Soleimani. That is not a response to an imminent threat. That is an unauthorized and thus unconstitutional act of war. In the end, the President all but admitted the attack was retaliatory, not defensive, when he tweeted that any justification for the strike ``doesn't really matter . . . because of [Soleimani's] horrible past.'' This President has misled the public on many things, big and small. It is clear that he will mislead us on the most consequential matters we face--war and peace. He cannot be entrusted with the sole power to risk lives of American troops in war, and he does not have that power under our Constitution. The President's strike took us to the edge of an unauthorized war, but we didn't get here overnight. The President's unilateral decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement in May of 2018, combined with his disastrous maximum pressure campaign, destabilized the region. Since we pulled out of the nuclear agreement, the President dramatically increased the number of troops in the Middle East, despite his campaign promise to do the opposite. Between May and December of last year, the President deployed an additional 15,000 troops to the Middle East. Days before the strike on Soleimani, he sent in 1,000 more Army and Marine troops. Post-strike, he sent 3,500 more troops. In response to our strike, Iran withdrew from the nuclear agreement's limits on the production of centrifuges, uranium enrichment, and research, decreasing the time for Iran to acquire enough fissile material for one bomb. The Iraqi Parliament voted to oust U.S. troops from Iraq, which could lead to an increased ISIS presence. We have refused to leave the country, setting up a conflict with our ally Iraq. Our strike pushed the Iraqi Government and the people of Iraq closer to Iran and unified the Iranian people against us just as protests against the Iranian Government were sprouting up. The region is still a powder keg, and we just don't know when and where Iranian proxy forces will attack our troops. Finally, worst of all, Iran launched a missile attack against U.S. troops in Iraq, risking American lives. While I am grateful no one was killed, I am anguished that more than 100 of our soldiers suffered from traumatic brain injury from the attack. While the President said he doesn't consider their injuries serious, I agreed with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who asked the President to apologize for that callous remark. The President's insults to injured servicemembers is appalling, and his injury to the Constitution is deeply troubling. We have a President who claims he doesn't need congressional approval to go to war with Iran. He has actually said that, under article II of the Constitution, he has ``the right to do whatever I want as President.'' That sounds like a claim of total unlimited power. That isn't what our Constitution was about. The Founders of our Constitution would be shocked to hear that and even more shocked to learn that Congress refuses to act to assert its power. The Founders rejected the notion that the President alone should have the power to send the country into war. They believed it unwise to vest the President--one person--with that power. So they vested that decision with the people's representatives, to make sure that any war would have broad-based support. That decision makes as much sense today as it did 230 years ago. It is our job, as the representatives of the people, to decide whether to go to war. The American people do not want war with Iran. Yet, even if you disagree with the overwhelming will of the American people, the issue before us is not whether you would support war with Iran or not. The issue is whether we are going to uphold our oath to support and defend the Constitution. The War Powers Resolution before us exercises that constitutional prerogative, ending hostilities unless Congress authorizes it. This President is fully capable of starting a war without getting congressional approval or even without consulting with us. He has already proved that. The stakes are too high. We cannot wait until the next time he orders a strike he can't justify with consequences no one can predict. We cannot wait until the next time he gambles with American soldiers' lives. Now is the time to set straight the boundaries, not only for this President but for future ones as well. Now is the time to vote for this resolution and to send the President a message that there is no support in Congress for an unconstitutional war of his own making. I yield the floor.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I come before this body ith a deep sadness that this institution has failed the Constitution and failed the American people. We have reached a low point in our history. We have failed to hold a fair and honest impeachment trial, and we are nearing a vote wherein we will fail to hold the President accountable for his abuse of power and a coverup. Thanks to the Senate's Republican majority, this body is complicit in that coverup in its refusing to call witnesses and obtain documents to get the full truth. How can we turn a blind eye to the truth as we cast one of the most important votes we will ever take? Yes, we are approaching a sad day for this body and for this country, but to those across the country who feel profoundly angry and saddened by this miscarriage of justice, my message is this: Do not give up. Do not stop fighting to save our democracy because America is worth the fight. America is worth the fight. Make no mistake--try as they might to cover it up, the full truth will come out. And the facts that have already been revealed are damning. The President's handpicked Ambassador, Gordon Sondland, testified, ``Everyone was in the loop.'' The more we find out, the more revealing his testimony becomes. Not only is the President implicated, so is the Vice President and the Secretary of State and the Attorney General and the President's acting Chief of Staff and his former Energy Secretary and even the White House Counsel, the lead lawyer in this very proceeding. This is a pandora's box the Republican Party is fighting to keep shut, but it will not stay shut. The President's misdeeds and his wide circle of accomplices will go down as one of the ugliest episodes in American history. Even now, the evidence gathered by the House--that the President abused his office and taxpayer funds for personal gain--is staggering. Ambassador Sondland didn't sugarcoat the truth. ``Was there a quid pro quo? The answer is yes.'' That was his quote. Using official power for personal gain--that is the very essence of abuse of power, and that is precisely what this President did. That is hardly even in dispute. The evidence is overwhelming. The President first withheld a coveted meeting until the Ukrainian President would announce investigations into the Bidens and the debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in our 2016 election. The President next withheld congressionally appropriated military aid illegally to try to force the Ukrainian President into making the announcement of the investigations. The independent Government Accountability Office confirmed that the President acted illegally. The President threatened our national security, the security of an ally, and the integrity of our next Presidential election. How much more could be at stake? Ukrainian officials began asking about the aid only hours after the President's now-infamous July 25 call with President Zelensky. That is according to Laura Cooper, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. A former Deputy Foreign Minister in Ukraine reports Ukraine knew of the freeze in July, and the whole world knew once the story broke the news on August 28. Fortunately, the President got caught and was forced to release the aid. He got caught red-handed and immediately commenced a scorched- earth blockade in Congress and the courts to cover up his grave misdeeds. Again, the facts are not in dispute. So knowing that these are some of the most serious and solemn words I will ever say or utter on this floor, I will vote to convict the President on both Articles of Impeachment. He is guilty by any standard. If he is allowed to act with impunity, he will be a continuing threat to the sanctity of our democracy. He is patently unfit to hold the highest office in our land. While the Senate may vote to acquit him, he will not be exonerated-- not by this sham trial. While the Senate may vote to acquit the President, history will not. Now, Senators on the other side of the aisle are publicly and not so publicly admitting that they believe the President is guilty, that the House managers proved their case. But these same Senators did not vote to hear witnesses and get documents. They will fail to hold the President accountable for the wrongdoing they now say he is guilty of. This is one of the worst abuses of Presidential power in our Nation's history. This is as bad as or worse than President Nixon's. Nixon tried to corrupt the 1972 election and cover it up, but he didn't try to extort an ally or invite foreign interference into our election. At that time, members of his party with courage refused to turn a blind eye. The Republican Party of today bears no resemblance to the party of Howard Baker, who insisted on getting to the truth. Howard asked: What did the President know and when did he know it? It bears no resemblance to the party of Barry Goldwater, John Rhodes, and Hugh Scott, who went to Nixon to tell him the Republican Party could no longer protect him from impeachment and removal. I am grateful to the honorable officials who had the courage to act this time around, who defied the President's order not to come forward--Ambassador Yovanovitch, Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, Ambassador Taylor, Mr. Kent, and the others. They risked their careers and even their personal safety. We should at least--at least--show the same courage because the consequences of failing to hold this President to account could not be graver. The guardrails have been taken off. The President invited Russian interference in the 2016 election and invited Chinese interference in the upcoming 2020 election. He said on national television he would probably take foreign interference again. He is unapologetic and unrepentant. What is he going to do next once the Senate Republicans let him get away with this abuse, once we show that we are no longer a coequal branch? We have never ceded so much power to the Executive. You can rest assured that this President of all Presidents will use that power and abuse it. Take his word for it. He said, ``Article II allows me to do whatever I want.'' Pulitzer Prize-winning Presidential historian Jon Meacham said the President is now, and this is his quote, ``functionally a monarch.'' That is stunning. Again, these are sad days for our Nation, but as I said at the outset, we cannot and will not concede our democracy. We cannot and will not concede the values and principles that make this Nation strong. We must restore the balance of power in our government. We must restore accountability. Most importantly, we must start doing the work the American people sent us here to do. Our institutions are not representing what the American people want. Senate Republicans' refusal to hold a fair impeachment trial, which is what 75 percent of the American people wanted, is just the latest example. While the Senate and the Constitution took a terrible battering the last 2 weeks, I am even more committed to breathing life into our shared principles of representative government. I am going to continue the fight to take obscene amounts of secret money out of our elections, to make it easier to vote, and to bring power back to the American people and not hand it over to an imperial Presidency. The Senate will have future opportunities to restore our constitutional system. The only question is whether Senators will rise to the occasion. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. Chief Justice.

Mr. UDALL. Thank you for the recognition, Mr. Chief Justice. I send a question to the desk.

Mr. UDALL. Thank you for the recognition, Mr. Chief Justice. Mr. Chief Justice, I have sent a question to the desk. I am joined in this question by Senators Blumenthal, Leahy, and Whitehouse.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I begin by saying that my prayers are with our Armed Forces and their families. They stand watch despite the threat of danger, and they rely on their leaders to make wise decisions. I am grateful that there were no casualties during last night's missile attack. For well over a year, I have been sounding the alarm that this President could bring us to war with Iran through mistake, misjudgment, or miscalculation. I have urged this body to assert our constitutional authority and pass our bipartisan bill to prevent a war with Iran. In 2018 and 2019, I introduced the Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act. In June of last year, my amendment to prevent unauthorized war earned bipartisan majority support in the Senate, and it passed in the House of Representatives. It may not have become law, but the Constitution has not changed. Now, on the brink of war with Iran, it is long past time for Congress to step up to its constitutional responsibilities and stop the march to an unauthorized war. Americans oppose another war in the Middle East. Despite the President's claim to the contrary, war with Iran would certainly not ``go very quickly.'' That is what the President has said--``go very quickly.'' Any war with Iran would be prolonged, bloody, and costly. Yet, even if you support a war with Iran, we all swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and Congress--and Congress alone--has the authority, under article I of the Constitution, to declare war. Any country would consider the President's strike on one of Iran's highest ranking military commanders--someone whom many consider to be the second most powerful person in Iran's Government--to be an act of war. Now, predictably, Iran has responded. So Congress must no longer hide from its constitutional responsibility. If Congress does not stop the military conflict with Iran, this President will continue to take a wrecking ball through the Middle East, making one impulsive decision after another while having no long- term plan or strategic goal in sight. The President's speech made it clear he has no strategy to defuse the situation or to achieve a diplomatic result. He will continue the provocative warpath we are on. While we may now be in a period of relative calm, the position we are in is untenable, and it is because the President abandoned diplomacy and created this crisis. The administration did not consult Congress before carrying out the strike, which is something that, typically, an administration would do before carrying out a strike like this; it would have a true consultation with the top leaders in the Congress. The administration did not consult our allies or try to form a coalition around what is clearly a highly provocative action that has ramifications for international security. This is kind of a reminder of the run-up to Iraq. What did that look like, the run-up to the Iraq war? Sketchy evidence, bad intelligence, outright misrepresentations, and a call for vengeance against Saddam Hussein are what got us into the war in Iraq. This is where we are today in our conflict with Iran. The administration's vague assertions of an imminent threat, without its having concrete evidence, and its ever-changing story are too reminiscent of the origins of the war in Iraq. The echoes of Iraq are chilling. Congress, step up. Do your constitutional duty. Rein in this reckless course we are on. Let me say this, not just to those of us in this body who are speaking up but also to the thousands across the country who are marching against a rush to war: To speak out against a war with Iran is a patriotic activity, a patriotic duty. It is the right action to take, and it is the right thing to do. We are speaking up to stop this Nation from repeating the grave mistakes of the Iraq war. We are speaking up because we love this country, because we do not want to see another military family mourn a loved one who loses his life in a war that does not need to be fought and that we have the power to stop and to avoid. President Trump set this disastrous course in motion in May of 2018 when he unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement. This was a deal the international community stood firmly behind. It reminded everyone--European countries, Russia, and China--that we were all a part of this deal. That agreement took the single greatest threat to the U.S. and international security--that being Iran--off the table. It prevented Iran from developing nuclear weapons. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency and President Trump's military and national security experts, Iran was complying with the agreement when the President withdrew. The nuclear agreement did not solve all of the problems with Iran, but it is clear that the diplomatic effort reduced tensions with a longstanding adversary and reduced the threat of hostilities. Yet, instead of working to build on this progress, the President precipitously withdrew from the agreement and began his maximum pressure campaign to force Iran to capitulate to a long list of impossible demands. The President promised he would get us a ``better deal.'' That is what he said--get us a ``better deal.'' He has not. There is no better deal in sight. I call on the President and his administration to use all of their diplomatic tools to deescalate this threatening situation--a situation that risks American lives. I call on them to work with our allies to find a path back to the nuclear limits the international community agreed to, to develop channels for productive communication and diplomacy, and to work toward stabilizing an unstable Middle East. Leader McConnell and the Republican leadership must bring this debate to the Senate floor. Senator Kaine's recently filed War Powers Resolution is one step in that direction. Senator Paul and I have called upon all Senators to support our Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act. We must keep up this fight and block funds for any war with Iran in the absence of congressional authorization, and we must repeal the outdated authorizations of force that are being abused--the one from 2001 and the one from 2002. I strongly support our oath to defend our Nation and the Constitution from any enemies, foreign and domestic, including against a President who would take us to war without his having constitutional authority. If we do not act now to preserve our constitutional structure and to assert our constitutional authority, we fail the men and women in uniform whose lives we put at risk; we fail our oath to defend and protect the Constitution; and we fail the American people, who sent us here to represent them on the most consequential decision our country can make. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to grant floor privileges to a new Department of Defense fellow in my office, Keith Griefer, for the remainder of the Congress.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to Senator Johnny Isakson from the great State of Georgia. I, like all of my colleagues in the Senate, am saddened by his retirement. His departure leaves a big hole in this Chamber that may never be truly filled. Johnny is a Senator's Senator. He embodies the best qualities of a public servant. He is smart, hard-working, determined, effective. He is humble, not at all self-important, and never seeks attention for himself. He has integrity. He is a man of his word. He is known throughout the Senate as ready to reach across the aisle to seek bipartisan solutions--one of the main reasons he is so effective. As he put it during his farewell speech on the Senate floor, ``I tell you, I am big on bipartisanship.'' Johnny encourages us to take his lead and listen to and work with the other side. We all can learn from his example. Johnny is kind. His heart is big. He always has a smile or greeting for the Senate custodians, Capitol police, cafeteria workers, Senate pages. He always has the time to be kind to others. Johnny is Georgian through and through and loves his State and its people. He has served them for 45 years--in both State houses and both Congressional Chambers--and is now Georgia's most senior elected official. Johnny is as beloved by the people of his State as he is in the Senate--and for good reason. He has worked to build Georgia's economy, its rural communities, its international trade, its harbors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and on and on. But Johnny is not only a champion for his State, he is a champion for the Nation, and he gets things done for our country. Johnny's legislative fingerprints are everywhere. From protecting workers' pensions, to fighting childhood hunger, to increasing affordable housing so families have a roof over their heads, to helping people with disabilities, to making sure children with rare diseases get their medications, to getting treatment for victims of the opioid crisis-- Johnny has been working for the American people because he cares deeply and genuinely about humanity. It is not show for Johnny. You see what you get. He is the real deal. It is important to thank Johnny for his extraordinary work on behalf of veterans. He is a veteran himself, having served 6 years in the Georgia Air National Guard after college, and veterans have no stronger champion than Johnny. As chair of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, he shepherded an amazing 57 bills through the Senate. He helped extend the GI bill so that veterans aren't met with an arbitrary cutoff to take advantage of their educational benefits. He made sure veterans have access to community- and home-based health services. And his signature VA Mission legislation ensures that healthcare for veterans is more responsive and more effective. As I said, Johnny's heart is big, and he welcomes all people. Atlanta hosted the 1996 summer Olympics. Cobb County is a suburban county of Atlanta and was set to host some preliminary Olympic events. But the Cobb County Commission had passed an anti-gay, discriminatory resolution. At that time, Johnny was a Cobb County Republican, serving in the State senate. It might not have been the most popular position in his county, but he urged the County Commission to rescind the resolution. One of Johnny's best friends is civil rights icon John Lewis. On February 25, 1996, Representative Lewis introduced Johnny as the newest member of Georgia's congressional delegation, and on November 19, 2019, he gave Johnny a warm farewell, explaining to the House that ``when Johnny served in the House of Representatives, we always found a way to come together, and we continued that tradition when he was elected to the Senate. . . . We always found a way to get along and to do the good work the people deserved. Time and time again, he stood with us, he worked with us to uplift African Americans in the State of Georgia, to recognize individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jackie Robinson, natives of Georgia.'' At the end of the tribute, Representative Lewis called Johnny his ``brother,'' and they gave each other a long embrace. During his farewell speech, Johnny said: We still have some people in the United States of America who will play the hate card. We have some politicians who will dance around the issue of hate. They will not use the buzz words, but they will get awful close to it. They did it in Charlottesville. . . . We have to stand up to the evils of society today. If we don't do it, nobody will. Johnny has stood up for over four decades for what he believes in. We will miss his honesty, his integrity, and his fine character. Jill and I wish Johnny and Dianne, their three children, and eight grandchildren the very best. Enjoy life. And we will do our best to follow your example in the Senate.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise to recognize Mr. Gary Hartz, who is retiring from his position at the Indian Health Service with 48 years of distinguished Federal service to the Nation. Mr. Hartz is especially deserving of this Chamber's recognition because he has spent his entire career on a single and absolutely critical goal-improving access to quality health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives. In his current position, Mr. Hartz serves as the Director of the Office of Environmental Health and Engineering, overseeing the construction, maintenance, and operations of Tribal health facilities, sanitation, and environmental health programs, a position that he has performed for more than two decades after working his way up through ranks of the office. An engineer by trade, Mr. Hartz also served as a member of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps--retiring with the rank of rear admiral--and served briefly as the agency's Deputy Director. He began his career in the field, working as an engineer on projects in New Mexico and Alaska. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Mr. Hartz in my roles as vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the ranking member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. He has worked closely with me and my staff and testified before my committees, and I can say from firsthand experience that he is one of the most knowledgeable, dedicated, and pragmatic public servants at the Indian Health Service, and his wisdom and experience will be deeply missed. Finally, I want to thank him for all that he has done for my home State of New Mexico. Mr. Hartz has been instrumental in working to improve and replace Tribal health facilities, including working most recently on plans to replace the Service's Albuquerque, Alamo, Pueblo Pintado, and Gallup facilities. While we have more to do, I am tremendously grateful for the work that he has done to improve access to quality health care in Native communities across the State. On behalf of the Nation, thank you for a job well done, Mr. Hartz. I wish you all the best as you begin your next chapter.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise to recognize Ms. Delia Scott, who is retiring next month with more than 40 years of distinguished Federal service in the executive and legislative branches of government. I have been lucky enough to work with Delia twice, both when I served in the House of Representatives and in my current role as ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. Most recently, Delia has served as the Congressional Liaison Officer at the National Gallery of Art, shaping the Gallery's relationship with members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. I know firsthand that Delia has been an effective advocate for the Gallery, playing an essential role in shepherding its annual appropriations through Congress and securing critical funding increases for operating and infrastructure needs. Beyond her role with the budget, Delia has made it her goal to connect Members of the House and Senate with the world-class collection at the Gallery so they are invested in its success. My wife, Jill, and I are both grateful to have visited countless times to enjoy and learn about significant paintings, sculpture, photographs, and other works because of Delia's thoughtful invitations. The Gallery won't be the same without her. For all her impressive work at the Gallery, I also want to recognize her enduring legacy of public service in other positions. Prior to her current position, Delia served as the staff director for the House Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, managing a $30-plus billion funding bill and working to secure funding for natural resources, environmental protection, and Tribal and cultural programs. She also worked as a professional staff member for the committee and worked for more than two decades at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Delia has devoted her entire career to making sure that Federal agencies and programs-from the arts to environmental protection to foreign assistance-have operated smoothly and received ample funding to benefit the people of this Nation. For that service we should all be grateful. I congratulate her on a job well done and an outstanding Federal career, and I wish her and her husband, John, the very best as they move on to the next chapter of their lives.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the work of Mr. Faisal Amin, who has been serving for the past 4 months as a detailee on the staff of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. Faisal is a senior attorney for the Budget and Appropriations Law Group at the U.S. Government Accountability Office and joined the staff in September of this year to fill in for a longtime staff member on maternity leave. Faisal has been heavily involved in the drafting, consideration, and passage of the fiscal year 2020 Interior appropriations bill starting from the first day of his assignment with the subcommittee. In just 4 months, he participated in almost all of the milestones of the appropriations process: a committee markup, floor consideration, and conference negotiations. He ably represented Vice Chairman Leahy and me throughout the process, handling the day-to-day responsibilities of overseeing the budgets of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and related agencies and working with other congressional offices, Agency staff, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders to ensure that the priorities of Members of this Chamber on both sides of the aisle were well represented. Faisal did tremendous work, stepping in to handle complicated policy and budgetary issues in an unusually expedited process. He is smart, pragmatic, thoughtful, and strategic--creating an excellent rapport with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and serving as an optimistic and positive presence on the subcommittee. I am grateful for his time with us, and I know his colleagues on the subcommittee staff-- Rachael Taylor, Ryan Hunt and Melissa Zimmerman--feel the same way. On behalf of Vice Chairman Leahy and the committee, I also extend our gratitude to the Comptroller General, Mr. Gene Dodaro, and the staff of the U.S. Government Accountability Office for sharing Faisal with us during this critical time. Congratulations, Faisal, for a job well done, and thank you for your service to the United States Senate.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, Werner Gellert survived the Holocaust and never forgot that terrible injustice. Werner went on to found a museum in Albuquerque dedicated not only to educating people about the Holocaust but dedicated to stopping intolerance wherever it is found. Werner Gellert was born on June 14, 1926 in Breslau, Germany. During November 9 and 10, 1938, Nazi paramilitary forces carried out a pogrom throughout Germany demolishing and ransacking Jewish homes, businesses, synagogues, schools, and hospitals. At that time, 267 synagogues in Germany and surrounding areas and 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed and over 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps. That pogrom was called Night of the Broken Glass, or Kristallnacht, meaning ``Crystal Night,'' because of all the broken glass scattered throughout the streets from the shattered windows of Jewish buildings. After the Night of the Broken Glass, Werner and his adopted parents fled Germany for Shanghai, one of the only places in the world at that time that accepted Jews unconditionally. However, the Japanese who were occupying Shanghai became allied with the Germans, and, on February 18, 1943, they issued a proclamation establishing a restricted area where ``stateless refugees'' must live and work. Werner and his family were relocated to this restricted area, Hongkew, which became plagued with disease and starvation. On one of his birthdays, Werner asked only for a loaf of bread and jar of jam for himself, but he didn't get his wish. During this period, he suffered through starvation, typhus, yellow fever, and hepatitis, and he was brutalized by a bully and permanently lost most of the sight in one of his eyes. After the end of World War II, Werner remained in Shanghai, working as a typewriter repairman for the U.S. Army. The Army recognized his intelligence and linguistic skills--he spoke seven languages--and recruited him into Army intelligence as a civilian consultant. He worked undercover for the United States in China, Tibet, and the Philippines. The Chinese Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s drove out Werner and his family, and they fortunately were able to escape on the last boat out of Shanghai to the United States. They relocated to Denver, where Werner attended Denver University and met his future wife, Frances Silverman--known as ``Frankie''--to whom he was married for 54 years, until her passing in 2007. After a successful career in the savings and loan business in California, Werner and Frankie retired to Albuquerque. Werner fervently believed that education was the most effective weapon against hate and intolerance. With that guiding principal in mind, in 2001, he and Frankie founded the Albuquerque Holocaust and Intolerance Museum. The museum is dedicated to educating the public through its exhibitions on the horrors and injustices of hate--from the Holocaust, to the African-American experience here in the United States to genocide of minority peoples around the world. Its goal is to promote ``upstanders,'' not bystanders: people who speak out and act to support individuals, groups, or causes attacked or bullied. The museum is home to the Library of Remembrance, a compilation of more than 4,500 books, documents, and videos about the injustice of genocide, bullying, and intolerance. As long as he was able, well into his eighties, Werner spoke to school groups at the museum and around the State teaching them about his experience during the Holocaust and as a refugee in Shanghai. Werner took his own terrible experience and set about to make a better, more understanding, more tolerant world for others. While we lost Werner on November 9, 2019, at age 93, his commitment to ending genocide, intolerance, and bullying will live on through the Albuquerque Holocaust and Intolerance Museum.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise to discuss Congress's ongoing failure to assert our constitutional war powers. This failure is the root cause of two pressing concerns that we currently face: first, the seemingly endless U.S. involvement in Middle East wars; and, second, the very real possibility that the Trump administration will involve us in more of them. The Founders were clear in their intent. The Constitution squarely places the authority to ``declare war''--that is the phrase in the Constitution--and places it clearly with Congress and Congress alone. The Founders did this for good reason. For centuries, European monarchs had drained royal coffers, levied heavy taxes, and lost countless lives in wars that benefited themselves and not the people. As Elbridge Gerry from Massachusetts said during the Constitutional Convention, after another delegate suggested giving this war power to the President: ``[I] never expected to hear in a republic a motion to empower the Executive alone to declare war.'' The Founders vested this most consequential power in the legislative branch so that any decision to go to war would have broad public support. Since the Republic's beginning, there has been a tension between the Congress and the executive branch regarding the use of this power. In the modern era, the balance has been upended. Our ability and willingness to effectively check the Executive on war powers is dangerously diminished. Congress has not declared war for any of our major conflicts since World War II. But after the bloody, prolonged, and politically divisive Vietnam War, Congress passed a War Powers Resolution of 1973, overriding the veto of President Nixon. That resolution requires Congress to issue an authorization for use of military force, or an AUMF. Immediately after 9/11, a nearly unanimous Congress--myself included--authorized force against the perpetrators, al-Qaida and those who harbored them, by which we meant the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The 2001 AUMF authorized the United States' entering conflict in Afghanistan to root out al-Qaida. The Taliban was then expelled from power. Al-Qaida in Afghanistan has been defeated. Osama Bin Laden is dead. And the now 18-year-old AUMF has outlived its purpose, as a stunning Washington Post expose on the Afghan war has now made clear. The war in Afghanistan is the longest in U.S. history, but it no longer has a clear purpose. The Washington Post successfully sued for access to previously undisclosed government documents, dubbed the ``Afghanistan Papers.'' These 2,000 pages of interviews and memos from senior military, diplomatic, and White House officials tell a shocking and tragic story. Three separate administrations have had no well- formed mission for the war but fought on anyway and repeatedly misled the American people. According to the head of the NATO command in Afghanistan in 2006, ``there was no coherent long-term strategy there.'' The next NATO commander, Army LTG Dan McNeill said: I tried to get someone to define for me what winning meant, even before I went over, and nobody could. Nobody would give me a good definition of what it meant. . . . There was no NATO campaign plan--a lot of verbiage and talk, but no plan. A senior diplomat under President Obama said: If I were to write a book, its [cover] would be: ``America goes to war without knowing why it does.'' Over and over, senior officials describe the lack of strategic goals. All the while, the government lied to the American people, claiming success when there was none. This war has cost 157,000 lives, more than 775,000 American troops have been deployed, 2,300 American military personnel have been killed, and more than 20,000 have been wounded. It has cost the American people over $2 trillion--$2 trillion. These costs are tragic, inexcusable, and it is time for this war to end. The executive branch isn't the only branch at fault. Congress has sat back and let the Executives stretch the AUMF to the point of breaking. We have ducked the debates. We have ducked the hard votes. We need to change that, and we can start with Afghanistan. In March, Senator Paul and I introduced the American Forces Going Home After Noble Service Act. This act would responsibly pull our troops out of Afghanistan. The act declares victory in Afghanistan, acknowledging that the original objectives have largely been met. It sets guidelines for the safe and orderly withdrawal of troops, and it repeals the 2001 AUMF once and for all. We should have a vote on this. Afghanistan is just the largest of our ongoing Middle Eastern wars. The 9/11 AUMF has been used to justify military ventures all around the world--41 times to justify military action in 14 countries. I voted for this authorization, and I know full well that Congress did not intend that. More unauthorized conflicts are looming on the horizon. I was encouraged earlier this year when the House passed--and a majority of the Senate supported--my amendment to prohibit war with Iran absent congressional authorization. Tensions with Iran have grown since the President withdrew from the international agreement preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. It has been a year and a half since the President dropped out of the agreement, claiming he could get a ``better deal'' and mounting his ``maximum pressure'' strategy. Since then, we haven't gotten anywhere close to a better deal, but we have gotten much closer to war. This June we were 10 minutes away from the President's calling a strike on Iran, 10 minutes away from military escalation in the Gulf. While the President's maximum pressure campaign has not succeeded in forcing Iran into a better deal, it has succeeded in pushing Iran to breach the nuclear agreement, and it has led to a cycle of violence in the region and from Iran, attacking commercial ships in the Gulf of Oman, moving short-range ballistic missiles into Iraq, and threatening U.S. troops in Israel. Since May, the President has increased troop presence by 14,000 in the Middle East, and after initially denying it, the Pentagon is considering sending an additional 14,000 troops. The risk of war with Iran is very real, whether intentionally or by mistake, miscalculation, or misjudgment. And the President claims he can go to war against Iran without congressional approval. In September, this body held a historic vote, voting 50 to 40 to include the Udall-Kaine-Paul amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit funding for war with Iran without congressional authorization. We took a giant step forward to assert our constitutional authority. This amendment was germane and by rule it should have been included in the final Senate NDAA, but the majority leader forced a 60-vote threshold that should not have been applied. Nevertheless, the House version did include the prohibition, and with Senate majority support, it should have been included in the conference. This week, the Senate and the House conference committee just released their NDAA conference report. I am deeply disappointed that they did not include our amendment. This is a major missed opportunity to take back our authority and a missed opportunity to stop expansion of war and U.S. interventionism in the Middle East. Another terribly missed opportunity is the NDAA's failure to include a provision to eliminate U.S. support for Saudi Arabia's disastrous war in Yemen. Under the authority of the 2001 AUMF, our troops are supporting Saudi Arabia in its war against the insurgent Houthi, but the Houthi are also fighting al-Qaida, the actual target of the AUMF. We are fighting a group fighting against al-Qaida. This is a prime example of the misuse of this authorization. The human cost is horrific. Since 2015, more than 100,000 people have been killed in Yemen, including more than 12,000 Yemeni citizens. More than 20 million Yemenis need humanitarian aid. There is no compelling U.S. national security interest in aiding the Saudis in this war. We should not be lending support to a war that the international community recognizes as a humanitarian disaster. In April, both Houses voted on a bipartisan basis to remove our troops from this conflict unless Congress authorized force. The President vetoed that bipartisan bill. The NDAA conference committee missed an opportunity to step up and direct the President to take us out of the Saudi-Yemen conflict. Again, Congress is ducking its duties. For too long, Congress has hidden from making the hard decisions, from taking the tough votes. We have deferred to the Executive under Republican and Democratic administrations alike. The Founders placed this power in our hands for a good reason. Those reasons are as sound today as they were two centuries ago. This is not a political issue. It is not a red or blue issue. It is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It is a constitutional issue. It goes to the core of our Constitution and our war powers in the legislative branch in Congress. Everyone here has sworn to uphold the Constitution. We can do so by upholding, not running from, our constitutional responsibilities. I yield the floor.