Tom Udall

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. I thank the Presiding Officer for recognizing me. Mr. President, I know the Presiding Officer hasn't been here the whole time, but many Senators have been speaking about climate change. We see in the Presiding Officer's State, in Glacier National Park-- which I think kind of tells it all--a national park created around glaciers, and they are disappearing rapidly. I come to the floor, first of all, to thank Sheldon Whitehouse for his remarkable leadership on the issue of climate change. His weekly wake-up call speeches have inspired a lot of us. Articles have covered his effort on this. This one is titled, ``A Climate `Wake Up' for the 200th Time.'' He has been down here religiously taking on this issue. In this article, a major leader in the environmental movement said about Sheldon's speeches, ``[His] speeches have been critically important in drawing attention to the need for climate action.'' She also said, ``Demand for climate action is only growing, and certainly we give him credit for his leadership in that effort.'' Very true. I remember traveling with Sheldon Whitehouse to Paris, when all of us were very much enthused to see the world come together and sign the Paris climate agreement. We were all very excited. This effort had been going on for 40 years, and here the countries in the world were finally getting together. I watched Sheldon making those arguments over there. He argued his case persuasively, and he wins converts easily. So we all are here to thank him for his leadership. In particular, I would also like to talk about climate change, its impact on the Southwest, and where we are headed in my home State of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest. Climate change is here and now. I want to talk about that impact in the Southwest, which is severe. My home State of New Mexico is right in the bull's-eye. Our Nation and our Earth cannot afford for us to sit back and do nothing for the next 3 years, but this is precisely what is happening under this administration and this Congress. Our executive and legislative branches are not only sitting on their hands in the face of climate change disruption and devastation; they are aggressively halting all progress we are making. I was so discouraged when I saw the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency take down a climate change website that had gone from a Republican administration to a Democratic administration. I think it had been going on for almost 10 years. This was covered in the Washington Post. Administrator Pruitt, on taking office, took it down and said: We are going to update it. Here we are, more than a year, and if you try to look at that website, it just says: We are in the process of updating it. I don't think we are ever going to see it again, would be my guess. Let's look at some of the reasons and how the progress is being halted here. There are a number of reasons for this, but I think the biggest and most insidious is money--billions of dollars in campaign contributions. The President and congressional majority are delaying, suspending, and stopping policies and programs that combat climate change because of the dark money in politics. Oil and gas, coal, power companies, and other special interests feed their campaign and PAC coffers while the clear public interest is ignored. We must reform our campaign finance system or our climate and the American people will pay a greater and greater price. Sheldon Whitehouse has made a contribution there with his book, ``Captured,'' where he talks about this dark money indepth. That is another piece of scholarship that really adds to what is happening on this campaign finance front. While the President, his EPA Administrator, and his Interior Secretary are openly hostile to climate change science, career government scientists and professionals are still hard at work doing their jobs evaluating climate impacts. Last November, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, consisting of 13 Federal agencies, issued volume I of the ``Fourth National Climate Assessment.'' It is the most authoritative Federal Government resource on climate change. It concludes, ``This period is now the warmest in the history of modern civilization'' with ``record-breaking, climate-related weather extremes,'' and human activities--especially greenhouse gas emissions-- are the ``extremely likely'' ``dominant cause.'' A pretty strong statement from the scientists. With climate change, the Southwest is expected to get hotter and much drier, especially in the southern half of the region. In the last 18 years, New Mexico has seen one reprieve from drought, and the trend is unmistakable. We are seeing less snowpack, earlier melting, and less runoff. Even when we do get snow, new research shows we are getting less runoff from it. Our scarce water resources are even more strained. Here is a drought map of New Mexico from just last week, March 6. Virtually the entire State faces drier conditions. We can see it here, talking about the northern part of the State with extreme drought, most of the middle and northern part of the State in severe drought, and then the southern part of the State in moderate drought. Virtually, the entire State of New Mexico is in a very serious drought situation. Some experts are saying we need to stop thinking about this phenomenon as a drought but instead as a dry region becoming permanently drier. This is a direct threat to our way of life in New Mexico and the Southwest. Elephant Butte Reservoir is our biggest reservoir in New Mexico. It was built close to 100 years ago for flood control and irrigation. Its supply comes from the Rio Grande, our largest river in New Mexico and, as we know, a 1,900-mile river that flows through several States. It is a border for close to 1,000 miles or more, and it flows into the Gulf of Mexico, but for the decade ending 2010, on the Rio Grande, flows in the Rio Grande decreased 23 percent--almost one-quarter--from the 20th century average. Here are photos of Elephant Butte Reservoir from 1994 and 2013. These photos were taken from a satellite. This top photo is from 1994, and we can see a remarkable reservoir and how deep and extended that reservoir is. Now we jump forward about 20 years, and here is Elephant Butte Reservoir in 2013. The picture says a thousand words: The reservoir is rapidly, rapidly disappearing. We can see the dramatic decrease in supply over that short time. Our farmers and ranchers depend on this supply, and they are struggling. This year, the snowpack in the Upper Rio Grande is half of what it should be, and that will force the reservoir even lower. Across the Southwest, the average annual temperature has increased about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The last decade, from 2001 to 2010, was the warmest in over a century. Now, New Mexico is really feeling the heat. We are the sixth fastest warming State in the Nation. Since 1970, our average annual temperature increased about 0.6 degrees per decade-- or about 2.7 degrees over 45 years--and it is not over. Average annual temperatures are projected to rise 3.5 to 8.5 degrees by 2100. Difficult-to-control wildfires have multiplied because of dry conditions killing trees and other vegetation, threatening lives, destroying homes, and costing billions of dollars. New Mexico experienced its largest wildfire in 2012--the Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire--that burned almost 290,000 acres. The fire burned in the southwestern part of the State but caused air pollution hundreds of miles away in Las Cruces to the east and Santa Fe to the northeast. Agriculture is a mainstay for the Southwest's economy. We produce more than half of the Nation's high-value specialty crops, and crop development is threatened by warming and extreme weather events. Likewise, another key economic sector--tourism and recreation--is threatened by reduced streamflow and a shorter snow season. Ski Santa Fe used to always open Thanksgiving weekend. That hardly ever happens anymore. Reduced snow and higher temperatures have been an economic disaster for the slopes all over New Mexico. The Southwest's 182 federally recognized Tribes are particularly vulnerable to climate changes such as high temperatures, drought, and severe storms. Tribes may lose traditional foods, medicines, and water supplies. Similarly, our border communities are in greater jeopardy because they don't have the financial resources to protect against climate change impacts. They are vulnerable to health and safety risks like air pollution, erosion, and flooding. The President and his administration have taken aim at Federal programs that would address all these impacts to my State and the Southwest. The President unilaterally withdrew from the Paris Agreement. EPA put the Clean Power Plan on hold. Secretary Zinke has done all he can to halt BLM's methane waste prevention rule. Public lands are open for coal and oil and gas drilling. The President's budget slashed climate science funding. The list goes on and on. This is not what the American people want. They believe science, they understand that human activity is causing climate change, and they want robust policies in response. Climate change presents the greatest threat our Nation and world now confront. It is the moral test of our age. We will be judged by future generations by how we respond now. We owe it to our children, our grandchildren, and beyond to meet this challenge head-on. I call upon my colleagues across the aisle to listen to the science and the American people and to work with us to take action. Mr. President, I yield the floor. I believe Senator Whitehouse's colleague, the senior Senator from Rhode Island, is here to speak next.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak a little bit about the rule of law and President Trump's approach to what has happened as far as the Mueller investigation. The rule of law has protected our Nation's democracy, institutions, and citizens for over 200 years. It means that no one person is above the law--no one--not even the President. President Trump does not seem to respect the rule of law. He acts as if the law doesn't apply to him. He believes that he can steer the wheels of justice in whichever direction he wants to shield himself from lawful investigation. This President is willing to risk national security, to defy the judgment of the FBI Director and his team, and to release classified material for his own political purposes. Think about that. The President of the United States just declassified a top-secret document, and he did it with the clear intent to undermine the investigation into Russian interference in our election. His actions should end any doubt about his willingness to obstruct justice. After he declassified the Nunes memo, President Trump said: ``A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves. It's a disgrace, what's happened in our country.'' This is one of the rare times I have agreed with President Trump. It is a disgrace, what has happened in our country, but not for the reasons the President gives. Russia's cyber attacks and other potential operations during the 2016 election represented a direct strike at our democracy. I cannot think of a time when our national interest has been so threatened and the President of the United States has ignored the threat. Not only has this President turned a blind eye to Russia's interference, but he has done nothing to prevent future attacks. He ignores the threat even though the CIA Director says Russia will try to interfere in our elections again. Instead, he has done everything he can to curry favor with Vladimir Putin. He should be ashamed of himself. Unfortunately, he has demonstrated time and time again that he is incapable of shame. But he is not alone. Many members of his party should be ashamed for enabling the President to undermine the special counsel investigation, for enabling his defamation of career public servants, and for remaining silent in the face of a growing crisis. The President has made clear that he does not like Special Counsel Mueller's and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein's independence and commitment to the rule of law, and he has had an eye on getting rid of them for quite a while. We learned he considered firing them last June, and we have known for many months, from the President's own admission, that he fired FBI Director James Comey to stop the Russia investigation. These men have dedicated their lives to serving our country. Mr. Mueller served as a Federal prosecutor and a Department of Justice lawyer for much of his career, and he was appointed as FBI Director in 2001 by President Bush. Mr. Rosenstein is also a career Federal prosecutor and was appointed as a U.S. attorney by President George W. Bush. The President has said many times: ``There was no collusion.'' If that is true, why does the President go to such great lengths to undermine the investigation? The President's intentions are transparent and dangerous. He fails to accept that Mr. Mueller and Mr. Rosenstein swore an oath to the Constitution. Because they will not pledge their loyalty to him, he is bound and determined to stop the investigation into his potential wrongdoing. But the Republican leader has delayed bringing forward bipartisan legislation to protect Mr. Mueller from arbitrary dismissal. In light of recent events, Congress must act. The special counsel needs protection to do his job. He shouldn't have interference from the President and his partisan supporters. In the Senate appropriations bill for the Department of Justice, I included language directing the Department of Justice to abide by its current regulations for the special counsel, but it is clear to me that we must do a lot more. During the Watergate investigation, Eugene McCarthy said: ``This is the time for all good [people] not to go to the aid of their party, but to come to the aid of their country.'' It is time for all Members of Congress to come to the aid of our country and ensure that Mr. Mueller and his team are able to gather the facts and draw their conclusions without obstruction. It is astonishing that President Trump still calls the Russia investigation a ``witch hunt.'' Our government's 17 law enforcement and national security agencies all reached the conclusion that Russia actively interfered with our Presidential election through hacking national party computers, leaking information, and spreading disinformation over media and social media outlets. The President's continued refusal to address this threat is unconscionable, and it betrays our national interests. Mr. Mueller's investigation into Russian interference is justified by the evidence, and it is imperative. We also have abundant evidence that the President tried to interfere with the Department of Justice and FBI investigation. The President's firing of FBI Director James Comey because of ``the Russian thing'' is what landed him with a special counsel in the first place. Why did the President want a pledge of personal loyalty from Mr. Comey and Mr. Rosenstein? Why did he ask Mr. Comey to drop the investigation of Mr. Flynn? Why is the President so angry at Attorney General Sessions for recusing himself from the investigation, and why did the President need the Attorney General to not recuse to ``protect'' him? The evidence of interference with an ongoing investigation is enough reason to investigate. We all remember that President Nixon's chief transgression was the coverup. Despite a constant refrain of denials from the President that his campaign had any connection with Russia, we know there were many connections. Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his December 22, 2016, conversation with the Russian Ambassador about relieving U.S. sanctions imposed for Russia's interference. Campaign foreign adviser George Papadopoulos pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with people connected to the Russian Government. Former campaign manager Paul Manafort was charged in a Federal indictment with acting as a foreign agent for the pro- Russian Ukraine Government. The President's son, Donald Trump, Jr., and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Mr. Manafort all met with Russian operatives to gather dirt on Hillary Clinton. Then, the President personally dictated a press statement misrepresenting the nature of the meeting. These are just a few of the connections. Mr. President, I refer to a November 13, 2017, article from the Washington Post. It chronicles many of the meetings between the Trump campaign officials and the Russians during the campaign and is too long to go into here. But neither the compelling evidence justifying investigation nor Mr. Mueller's credentials have stopped the President and his friends in Congress from attacking both. Representative Nunes nominally recused himself from the Trump collusion investigation in the House Intelligence Committee, but he and his colleagues on the committee have now released a memo based on incomplete and misleading information, with the President's full backing. This is despite a warning from the FBI against its release, and the Speaker will do nothing to rein in him or his committee members. The President's attacks on the independence of our Nation's premier law enforcement agency mirror his attacks on our other foundational institutions. He has maligned the judiciary. He has maligned the press. He attacks and disrespects our foundational principles--separation of powers, freedom of speech and religion, and equality under the law. This is in addition to the President's regular assault on the truth. The Washington Post counted at least 2,000 times where this President departed from the truth in his first year in office. The White House and its allies in Congress must stop their baseless attacks on Mr. Mueller and his team. They must let them do their job and find the facts. We must ensure the independence of prosecutors so we can ensure that investigations and outcomes are fair and impartial. Why is the President going to such lengths to fight this investigation? We do not know. But we do know that a foreign power-- Russia--interfered in our last election, and we do know that the President and his team have had significant business links to Russian financial interests. The President's family business continues today, but it does so while concealing his tax returns and keeping their business partners secret. On top of that, the Trump administration has become much more accommodating of Russian interests. Are these things connected in some way? We need to know. That is why the special counsel's investigation is so important. Now is the time for every Member of Congress to put the country ahead of politics. Special Counsel Mueller must be able to do his job, to follow the facts wherever they may lead, and to draw his conclusions. Congress must pass legislation to protect the special counsel from being arbitrarily fired, not serve as the President's lieutenants in an unprecedented assault on the rule of law. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, thank you for the recognition. I rise also to talk about the tax issue and this horrible tax cut, but I can't help but mention a little bit about what I went through the last hour or so with some wonderful young people in my office. First of all, there are 7,000 Dreamers in my home State of New Mexico. Here is one of them, shown in this picture. This is Carlos. Carlos was brought to New Mexico from Mexico when he was less than 1 year old, and New Mexico is the only place that Carlos has known as his home. I had the opportunity to visit with a number of young people who are very much like Carlos. They have gotten in a bus, they have come to Washington, they call themselves the New Mexico dream team, and it is a remarkable story. They told many stories to me about their situations that sounded very much like Carlos's story. They urge us to protect them. They are fearful, they are emotional, but they are also strong and courageous. Let's remember these are some of our very best and brightest young people. We cannot lose them. We must continue to fight for a clean Dream Act--no doubt about it--and we need to remember the 11 million undocumented immigrants who are here in the United States and strive and fight for true immigration reform. Mr. President, working families in New Mexico want good jobs and good wages. They want affordable healthcare and retirement security. They want a job and educational opportunities for their children, but the Republican's latest tax plan does nothing for regular families in New Mexico or across the country. It will not create good-paying jobs, not now nor for our children. It will kick 13 million people off healthcare and raise insurance premiums. Their plan threatens Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and it does nothing to improve public education or bring down the high cost of college. The Republican tax plan overwhelmingly benefits the rich by giving huge tax breaks to their campaign donors, to the superwealthy, big corporations, multinational businesses, and hedge funds. One of the biggest problems is, the Republican plan will drive up the debt by $1.5 trillion, and that means they will have to take a hatchet to programs working families rely on. This is not a responsible or a fair tax plan. It is a hocus-pocus tax sham, and I oppose it. I have to reflect a little on this first year that we have seen under President Trump and the Republican majority--what a year of lost opportunities. If the Republicans had worked with us during this year, we could have had at least two big bipartisan achievements. We could have had a bipartisan improvement on healthcare, built on the successes of the Affordable Care Act, and we could have had a fair tax bill for all Americans. How sad partisanship and politics got the upper hand. The Senate and the House majority are pushing this tax scam as fast as they can to hide it from the American people. We have not had proper hearings. We have not heard from expert witnesses or had adequate independent analysis. Even the Republicans don't know what is in it. My office has met with many New Mexicans raising red flags on the unintended consequences of this bill. No Member of Congress--no Democrats or Republicans--has had enough time to digest and understand this plan. When it comes to legislation this important, we must follow the regular order. We must see a full analysis by the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation. We must hear from the best tax experts in the country. The American people must understand the plan, and every Member of Congress must fully understand its impacts. We are not there. Republicans and the President are not being straight about what this plan will mean for the average American. They aren't talking about how it will affect the President's own personal taxes. He touts it as a tax cut for the middle class and working Americans, but not one single objective analysis says it is designated to help the middle class, and his Treasury Department's one-page so-called analysis predicting a $300 billion surplus is built on unrealistic growth assumptions that no serious economist accepts. Even Republicans have said the bill is about helping their donors and cutting taxes for big corporations. The American people are not blind. They aren't fooled by the administration's fake numbers, and they oppose this plan. Recent polling, as recent as December 13, shows that 55 percent of Americans disapprove of the bill. Sixty-five percent say the wealthy benefit the most, and almost all pollsters come out somewhere in that range. Now, let's look at some of the hard, cold numbers. First, we know the Republicans propose adding $1.5 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. This chart shows the difference between the Federal deficit under current law and the massive increase in the deficit under the Senate Republicans' plan. Current law is in blue, as you can see here, and the Republicans' plan is in red. It is pretty dramatic--pretty dramatic. Republicans represent themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility, but incurring this amount of debt to give big tax breaks to the rich is patently irresponsible. To pay for this debt, the government will have to borrow by selling Treasury bills, notes, bonds, securities, and savings bonds. Based on estimates from the JTC and the CBO, the government's cost to borrow to pay for this debt will be over $40 billion over the next 10 years and even more after that unless we pay off the debt. The American people will be on the hook for $1.5 trillion. That is $12,742 for each and every American household today. My colleagues have come to the floor saying this tax bill will provide an average tax cut of around $2,000 for 1 year in 2019. What they aren't telling you is, they are also opening a line of credit on you and your family of $12,000. This is the new Federal debt that would be taken out in every American's name every year by the GOP. So much additional borrowing by the Federal Government can also drive up interest rates. Higher interest rates mean higher costs for the government to borrow. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if interest rates are 1 percent higher annually than projected through 2027, the debt will be $1.5 trillion higher-- that is 6 percent of gross domestic product--and the amount each American owes on their new forced Federal credit card would go up even more. Increased Federal interest rates have real consequences for the average American. A rise in rates can price out a first-time home buyer; it can determine whether a young person can afford to buy a car. The average American consumer does not want to see interest rates go up. Increased government borrowing and interest rates can take up the economy's lending capacity and discourage the very private investment Republicans say they want to encourage. Giving massive tax cuts to the wealthy also will force massive cuts in revenue coming into the Federal Government. When I first arrived in the Senate, Senator Kent Conrad from North Dakota was chair of the Budget Committee. He was a master on the Federal deficit and on the Federal budget, and he understood the danger of racking up huge deficits. In 2011, the Budget Committee was concerned that the debt threatened the national security. The committee majority developed a budget framework that Senator Conrad presented on the floor that July. He showed us many charts that day. One showed that the government had a budget surplus for only 5 of the last 50 years--that was in 1969, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. In those years, revenues were close to 20 percent of gross domestic product. Around the same time, the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles budget commission concluded that the Federal Government needed revenue equal to 21 percent, but the Republicans' current tax cut legislation would leave the Federal Government with revenue of only 17 percent of GDP. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers sounded alarm bells in an op- ed in the Washington Post on December 10, and Larry Summers isn't alone. Bruce Bartlett was an economic adviser to Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush. In a September Washington Post op-ed, he freely acknowledged that he ``had a hand in creating the Republican tax myth.'' He is referring to the myth that tax cuts lead to robust economic growth. Mr. Bartlett now says: ``Republican rhetoric around tax cutting'' is ``wishful thinking. . . . In reality, there's no evidence that a tax cut would spur growth.'' In other words, tax cuts will not spur economic growth. They will create more debt, squeeze consumers, and mean steep cuts to vital government programs. So why is the majority pushing so hard for them? Why do they want this tax cut bill so badly? There is really only one reason--for their donors. Representative Chris Collins of New York was honest about why he has to deliver tax cuts. He said, ``My donors''--and this is his quote, Congressman Collins--``My donors are basically saying, `Get it done or don't ever call me again.' '' Making the superrich even richer doesn't justify burdening our kids with huge government debt. It doesn't excuse threatening American healthcare, retirement security, and other vital programs, but cutting vital Federal programs is exactly the price the middle class and working Americans will be expected to pay under the Republicans' tax sham. Their plan calls for $500 billion worth of cuts, and Speaker Ryan is already talking about where they will cut. He said: We are going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit. Frankly, it's the healthcare entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt, so we spend more time on healthcare entitlements--because that is really where the problem lies, fiscally speaking. He wants to starve the Treasury to benefit the wealthy, and then he wants to slash critical programs that create jobs, support innovation, secure our Nation, and help people pay for housing, food, and medicine. I want to support tax cuts for middle-class families. I want to help make sure that working people can take home more of their pay. I also want to make sure we can pay for roads, bridges, schools, scientific research, and national defense. This bill doesn't do that; it does exactly the opposite. It takes money from the middle-class families and gives it to the ultrarich. Then it leaves us with little to support our communities, little for infrastructure, little to make the United States of America continue to lead the world in innovation, science, and economic might, and little to ensure that we take care of those in need. This bill also fails Indian Country. While giving billions of dollars of tax breaks to corporations, this bill does nothing to spur economic growth or attract investments in our Native communities--not even basic, low-cost provisions to ensure that Tribes receive the same tax benefits as other governments, like State governments. Once again, Tribes have been overlooked by the majority, despite early and vocal Tribal input on tax parity in Indian Country. I am prepared to roll up my sleeves and work with Republicans on tax reform that is fair, simplifies the Tax Code, and keeps American businesses competitive, but I cannot support tax cuts that lopsidedly benefit the ultrarich, hurt working families, neglect Indian Country, and balloon the Federal deficit. I yield the floor.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Thank you, Mr. President, for the recognition. Mr. President, the President of the United States terminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, otherwise known as DACA, 3 months ago. He gave Congress 6 months to act. We are no closer today to helping our Dreamers than the day the President so callously canceled the program. We have almost 800,000 young people whose lives, dreams, and futures hang in the balance. They are scared. Their families are scared. Everything they have worked for is at risk. Dreamers represent some of our very best and brightest. They are going to school, holding down jobs, volunteering in our communities. They want to be doctors, lawyers, engineers. They want to start businesses. They came here as children, and they are American through and through. They love our country as much as any of us, and they want to stay and contribute. We have almost 7,000 Dreamers in my home State of New Mexico. Carlos is one of them. Carlos was brought to New Mexico from Mexico when he was less than 1 year old. New Mexico is the only home Carlos has ever known. Because of Carlos's immigration status, his opportunities were limited. He couldn't play sports in school, and he couldn't go on field trips, even though he pledged allegiance to the United States, just like his classmates. Carlos registered with DACA 2 years ago, and in his words, he was given ``wings.'' He is now a full-time student at New Mexico State University, studying to be a mechanical engineer. He volunteers as a firefighter. He works as a server at a local restaurant, and he began a drive to help Hurricane Harvey victims. Carlos says: ``We, as Dreamers, have proven ourselves to be worthy of being here in the United States.'' Carlos's story can be told hundreds of thousands of times over. Congress must act, and we must act now. We owe it to these young people. We must give Carlos and all other Dreamers their wings. Passing the Dream Act is the morally right thing to do, but it is also the economically smart thing to do. Dreamers' contributions to the U.S. economy are astounding. Their jobs span the spectrum. They work in health, education, nonprofits, wholesale, retail, business, and hold professional jobs. Most of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies employ Dreamers, and that is why more than 400 CEOs of major U.S. companies have urged Congress to pass the Dream Act. If Congress fails to act, it will cost us 700,000 jobs--as many as 30,000 jobs a month--causing chaos for employers, and we could see a $460 billion decrease in economic output over a decade. Social Security and Medicare contributions could drop by $39.3 billion over the same period. In my State, New Mexico would lose nearly 6,000 DACA workers and take a $385 million hit. We simply cannot afford it. We have a bipartisan Dream Act before us. Senator Durbin is working with our Republican colleagues, Republican friends, to get us over the finish line. Let's do the right thing by these young people, and let's do it now so Carlos can become an engineer and so hundreds of thousands of Dreamers can stop living in fear and move forward with their lives. It is our moral obligation to do this. We also must do right by the 11 million immigrants in our Nation who are working, raising families, contributing to our economy, and helping in our communities. Congress must stop kicking the can down the road. We must do our job. We must debate and pass comprehensive immigration reform. Law-abiding immigrants who are contributing to our Nation should be given a pathway to citizenship. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, with the support of Senators Wyden, Bennet, Feinstein, and Klobuchar, that the text of my motion to commit be printed in the Record.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. I thank the Presiding Officer for the recognition. Mr. President, the Republicans' tax bill is a disaster for the American people. It would give the ultrawealthy a tax cut and make middle-class families pay for it. I can't tell you how strongly I am opposed to it. We have heard a lot from the President and the Republicans about how their tax cuts will be a rising tide to lift all boats, but this claim just doesn't hold water. Look carefully. On top of $1.5 trillion in new deficits, they are hiding where more than $5 trillion of cuts over the next 10 years will come from and just who will actually benefit. The Republican budget would force steep cuts in healthcare, education, and other programs that working and middle-class families rely on. It is a terrible plan for my home State of New Mexico, where a lot of families already have a hard time getting by. Plain and simple, the Republicans' plan is a massive redistribution of wealth. Listen to who it is taking money from and where they are giving it to. It would take money from working families, seniors, children, the sick and disabled, rural families, and the poor, and give it to the very top 1 percent. They propose it at a time when the gap between the very rich and everyone else is already growing. We now have greater income inequality in the United States than at the height of the Gilded Age over 100 years ago. I want to highlight for my colleagues across the aisle another big problem with the Republicans' bill. It has not been talked about enough, but it is important to my home State of New Mexico and to many Western States. The Republicans' deficit-creating tax cuts are going to cause automatic sequestration, and this will cut several mandatory programs under the Pay-as-You-Go Act. Some of those are the mineral royalties from oil and gas drilling and coal mining on public lands that the Federal Government shares with States. New Mexico's royalty share is projected to be $437 million next year. Other States count on these payments for millions of dollars in their budgets too. Colorado received over $80 million in 2016. All of that will be at risk. Wyoming received over $660 million last year. Its State budget cannot afford to lose that kind of money. Utah, Montana, and North Dakota received tens of millions in mineral payments last year as well. These are royalties that New Mexico and the States are entitled to. In New Mexico we mainly use this money for public schools. Other States use it for vital government programs like healthcare, roads, and police. Our State legislature has struggled the last couple of years to balance the budget. The chair and vice chair of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee wrote just this week to our entire delegation. They warn that losing so much revenue ``would have a devastating impact on the State's budget and would wipe out the reserves our State has struggled to rebuild.'' New Mexico school kids just can't afford to take a $437 million hit. I know it is possible for Congress to pass legislation sometime in the future to take mineral royalties out of sequestration, but there is no guarantee at all of that ever happening, and I am not willing to take chances with the education of New Mexico's school children. The Republicans' tax cuts will also hit Medicare hard. That is also another concern for New Mexico families. Tax cuts for the superwealthy and big corporations will mean New Mexico could lose out on about $178 million of Federal Medicare payments every year. I am opposed to trading off seniors' health just so the rich can get richer, but the Republicans seem bound and determined to take away America's healthcare, even though the American people have spoken loud and clear. They want their current healthcare rights fully protected. Republicans want to do away with the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act. But we also know that will mean millions of Americans will lose coverage, and we know that premiums will go up because the insurance companies will be covering a sicker population. I am opposed to trading off the American people's health just so the rich can get richer. The majority's bill is a bad idea for basically everyone in New Mexico and across the country, except for the very wealthy individuals, multinational corporations, private equity and hedge funds. These are the folks who are being helped--the very wealthy, multinational corporations, private equity and hedge funds. Let's instead get down to the business of governing on behalf of the American people, not just the top 1 percent Thank you. I yield the floor.

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of my motion to commit, made with the support of Senator Heinrich, be printed in the Record.

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of my motion to commit, made with the support of Senator Heitkamp, be printed in the Record.

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of my motion to commit be printed in the Record.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the following letters from Senator Hoeven and me to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and from Margaret Zientek to Senator Murkowski and Congressman Young.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Madam President, Republicans have spent months trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act. They knew that tens of millions of Americans would lose their care, they knew it would betray our Federal trust responsibility to Native Americans, and they knew it would throw one-fifth of our economy into chaos. TrumpCare failed because the American people opposed it. Americans spoke out against it in record numbers. TrumpCare failed to pass four times. We hope that now we have put that to bed and we can move on. But rather than listening to millions of Americans, President Trump has responded by sabotaging the Affordable Care Act. His reckless behavior is already causing chaos in the marketplace. His actions have hyped up the cost of premiums. He has sent out-of-pocket costs through the roof. Instead of helping Americans get better healthcare, he has put it out of reach for millions. I commend my colleagues Senator Alexander and Senator Murray. They have found a bipartisan solution to this new healthcare crisis caused by our President. I urge Leader McConnell to put it onto the floor. The Affordable Care Act isn't the only healthcare program at risk. The President and Republicans are letting funds run dry for other critical health programs. Last month, the Children's Health Insurance Program expired. CHIP insures almost 9 million children across the country, including over 11,000 kids in my home State of New Mexico. The Community Health Centers Program also expired last month. Republicans failed to extend the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Services. That is one of the most effective health programs that we have. Without it, more than 1,000 New Mexico parents could miss out on home visits. They will not get crucial information about how to nurse their newborns, recognize healthy behavior in infants, and teach basic skills to their children. The Special Diabetes Program for Indians is also set to expire in December. I urge Republicans to work with us to reauthorize these critical healthcare programs. We need to act urgently. We can get this done by Thanksgiving or earlier if we work together. Madam President, I want to talk about CHIP first. CHIP provides comprehensive health insurance for kids whose families do not quite qualify for Medicaid but who cannot afford private insurance. CHIP covers basic medical care, like immunizations, prescriptions, routine checkups and dental visits. Thanks to CHIP, the rate of uninsured kids in America has dropped from 14 percent to 4.5 percent. CHIP has been a lifesaver for some families. This is Colton. He is from the small town of Anthony, NM. Colton was 8 years old when he was diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately, the cancer was treatable, and he was insured by CHIP. So the cost of his treatment and medications were covered. Without CHIP, Colton's family would have had to have paid hundreds of dollars a month for his treatment, which is the cost of a month's rent. Families should not have to choose between lifesaving care for their children and a roof over their heads. Colton's father wrote to the Santa Fe New Mexican, and it read: Watching my son battle for his life was almost more than I could bear. I couldn't imagine dealing with the stress of scraping together everything we had to cover the medical bills if we didn't have coverage. Having [CHIP] allowed us to focus on what was truly important--Colton's future and being there for my family as we went through this life-changing experience. But, now, States are looking at contingency plans. New Mexico has reserves but only until next spring. Some States will be forced to cover all of the cost in just a few months, and others are preparing to send notices to families that their coverage will end. No parent who is already in crisis because of a sick child should have to go through that. CHIP was a bipartisan success story. I hope that we can get back to working together on this. The 50-year-old Community Health Centers Program delivers comprehensive healthcare services to some of our Nation's most vulnerable individuals--schoolchildren, people experiencing homelessness, agricultural workers, and our veterans. In New Mexico, 17 of these clinics serve 333,000 patients in 90 underserved and rural communities. The Community Health Centers are also important to the economy in rural communities. In New Mexico, they employ almost 3,000 people across the State. These clinics cannot sustain a 70-percent funding cut if Federal support is canceled. Many would be forced to shut their doors. I recently visited one of these clinics--the De Baca Family Practice Clinic in Fort Sumner, NM. It provides high-quality medical services to over 3,000 patients. Over one-fifth of its patients are children, and another one-fifth are seniors, but if funding runs out, the De Baca Family Practice Clinic will be forced to start laying off essential medical staff and to reduce its hours. Clinic director Lisa Walraven told me: ``You simply cannot reduce funding by 70 percent from a small frontier healthcare facility and expect anything other than a significant loss of access to care.'' Both CHIP and community health centers provide preventive care to underserved communities throughout New Mexico. They are supporting our healthcare system to ensure that we don't let any families fall through the cracks. Indian Country also depends on these programs and others like them to provide vital care to their communities. The Federal Government has a trust and treaty obligation to provide healthcare to Native Americans. Yet the Indian Health Service is severely underfunded. CHIP and similar programs help to supplement care that the Indian Health Service cannot provide. CHIP currently covers more than 1,400 Native American children in New Mexico. Allowing these programs to expire would betray our treaty obligations. Another program cited that is critical to Indian Country is the Special Diabetes Program for Indians. It provides grants to Native communities for diabetes treatment and prevention. Without proper treatment, diabetes can lead to limb amputation and kidney failure. The disproportionate impact on Native Americans is a public health problem that we cannot ignore. This program is making real progress. It helps to fund over 300 Native health programs in 35 States, including 29 programs in New Mexico. They help educate communities about how to prevent diabetes and provide care so that Native patients can manage their diabetes more effectively. It is one of the most effective public health initiatives ever undertaken by the Federal Government. Diabetes-related kidney failure has dropped 54 percent among Native Americans. In some States, like Alaska, leg amputations among Native people with diabetes have decreased more than 68 percent. This program literally saves life and limb. Program directors across Indian Country tell me that without this funding they will have to start laying off staff and limiting their diabetes programming. We need to provide funding to Tribal communities so that they can invest in projects that will be more effective in preventing diabetes over time. Congress must act to allow this successful program to reach its full potential. We cannot allow diabetes to become a death sentence in Indian Country once again. The failure to fund CHIP, the failure to fund the community health centers, home visiting health services, and the Special Diabetes Program will force families into another health crisis. Every day that we neglect these programs, more people will suffer. These programs have years--sometimes decades--of proven success. The American people want Congress to work together to come up with bipartisan solutions. Most of these programs were created through bipartisan cooperation. Let's get back to that spirit and work together for the American people again. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Thank you, Mr. President, for the recognition this evening. Mr. President, I rise to support the Consumer Financial Protection Board's arbitration rule that has been spoken about this evening very eloquently by my colleagues here on the Democratic side. The new rule protects consumers from predatory financial practices. These consumers are our everyday constituents. They are servicemembers and veterans, moms and dads, the elderly, students, and working people. It protects these folks by limiting binding arbitration clauses. Now, what is a binding arbitration clause? These clauses take away consumers' rights to seek relief in court when they are wronged. This rule puts money in the pockets of consumers who have been taken advantage of. The Consumer Financial Protection Board estimates that the rule will mean $342 million per year in compensation to consumers. Repealing the rule would take that money, which should go to consumers, and give it to some of the wealthiest corporations in this Nation. When millions of consumers are scammed, what is the most logical remedy? When millions of consumers are scammed, what is the logical remedy--millions of separate cases before arbiters selected by the corporation or a class action case before an impartial judge and jury? The right to go to court before a jury of your peers is enshrined in the Constitution. The Seventh Amendment states: In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be pre- served. . . . Now, let's talk about the Seventh Amendment and what one of our Founders said. James Madison wrote: Trial by jury in civil cases is as essential to secure the liberty of the people as any one of the pre-existent rights of nature. This rule guarantees access to our impartial courts. It is always good to have the spirit of the Constitution and the Founders on your side. I stand with the supporters of this rule. Who are they? There are many. For example, there is the American Legion. Just today, its legislative director wrote in no uncertain terms: A vote to overturn the CFPB arbitration rule is a vote against the military and veterans. The Military Coalition, representing 5.5 million servicemembers, also supports this rule. In July, they wrote: ``Forced arbitration is an un- American system wherein servicemembers' claims against a corporation are funneled into a rigged, secretive system in which all the rules, including the choice of the arbitrator, are picked by the corporation.'' These are incredibly strong statements of opposition from military and veterans groups. Also in July, over 300 consumer, civil rights, labor, and small business groups wrote: ``The rule . . . is a significant step forward in the ongoing fight to curb predatory practices in consumer financial products and services and to make these markets fairer and safer.'' Signers of this letter include the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, Consumers Union, the NAACP, LULAC, and dozens of other organizations. Conservatives also support this rule. One of the early tea party activists, Mr. Judson Phillips, wrote an op-ed in the Washington Times. He said: ``This time, the CFPB is right and the Republicans should stand on the side of American citizens and protect the Constitution and the Seventh Amendment.'' Where are our Republican friends? They are not here on the floor talking about this rule. Finally, the American people broadly support this rule. A recent poll showed 67 percent supported the rule; only 13 percent opposed it. So who opposes this rule and who is behind this resolution to repeal it? Corporations that want to avoid penalties in court when they abuse their customers and big financial industry trade associations and lobbyists. It would allow credit card, student loan, and payday lending firms-- which would see big benefits if this resolution passes--to keep forcing consumers to sign contracts that take away their right to go to court. Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in America, spent years creating millions of fake accounts, just to bill their own customers more fees. They eventually admitted a complete and total fraud of epic proportions. Equifax, one of the largest credit bureaus in America, allowed over half of all American consumers' personal information to be hacked. These companies should not be able to use binding arbitration to avoid the legal consequences of their actions. Today's debate is a perfect example of how policymaking in Washington is broken. A Federal agency did what is required. It undertook an exhaustive study and created a rule to protect consumers from abusive contracts. Now the affected industry is spending millions on lobbying and public relations to repeal the consumer protection rule--to protect their bottom line at all costs. This vote will decide the fate of $342 million per year. Should it go to consumers who were wronged? Of course, it should. Or should it stay with the corporations that committed those wrongs? Of course, it should not. Congress is not popular these days. Americans overwhelmingly believe special interests and lobbyists have too much power compared to the regular people. Today, we can take a step to repair our reputation. We should side with our constituents on this important vote and reject this resolution. I urge a ``no'' vote. I yield back.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, this amendment calls for legislation to fully and permanently fund the Payment in Lieu of Taxes Program. Senator Heinrich and I have long called for this solution. Rural counties in New Mexico and other States across the West and across the country have large amounts of Federal lands within their boundaries. These counties rely on funding from the PILT Program to provide better schools, maintain roads and bridges, and support thousands of local jobs. We currently fund PILT year by year. I have fought for this funding as a member of the Appropriations Committee, but we need to do more. We need to pass permanent funding to ensure that local communities can count on our resources being there every year to provide basic services. I urge support for the Udall-Heinrich amendment and yield back.

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

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Thank you, Madam President, for the recognition. Madam President, today I wish to talk a little bit about something very obscure that is buried in this budget bill, but it is something that is very, very important to me. First, before I talk about the specific policy issues, I just want to talk about a personal exploration I had. This is with regard to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and this special area up here called the 1002 area. I had the opportunity in the 1980s to take a raft trip down across this Arctic Coastal Plain and down to the sea, and part of the reason was that many of the Alaska Senators at the time used to say: If you are going to make policy in Alaska, you ought to see that part of Alaska. So I took the opportunity to see it. I took a raft trip down a river called the Hula Hula River, which flows out of the Brooks Range, a large mountain range, into the Beaufort Sea. I can say that from my personal experience, this is one of the wildest, most magnificent places on the Earth. I would like to talk a little bit about the creatures and critters we saw there. We saw the beginning of the caribou migration, which occurs over in Canada to this area in Alaska, where they calf on the 1002 area. It is one of the biggest migrations in the world of a mammal species. We saw grizzly bears. One grizzly bear actually came into our camp, and we had to retreat and watch whatever it was going to do until it moved along. We saw musk oxen. We saw polar bears. We saw what a marvelous and incredible area this was and what a rich, rich ecosystem it was. I was reminded of my Uncle Mo, Congressman Morris Udall, who was the author in 1980 of legislative protections for this area. He required congressional action to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and this 1002 area. He did that because he realized how significant and how magnificent it was. One of the things we have to realize is what we are protecting here. People travel all over the world to go to the Serengeti and see the migration of the animals on the Serengeti plains. This same caribou migration is very much like the Serengeti. In fact, it is our Serengeti, when you have animals migrate from Canada all the way into Alaska and back. This is our Serengeti. It is a special place. It is a real treasure, and I don't have any doubt in my mind that we should save it. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge represents one of the world's wildest and more biodiverse places. Its Coastal Plain or the 1002 area is the biological heart of the refuge. There is no other place like it on the planet. Congress showed remarkable restraint and forethought when it put the Refuge under Federal protection, and I am proud my Uncle Mo Udall was instrumental in passing legislation that doubled the size of the Refuge. Under that law, only Congress can open up the 1002 area for drilling. Today I rise in strong opposition to the Republican proposal to drill for oil in this remarkable place. I will fight their plan tooth and nail. The only reason they are doing this is to pay for tax cuts for big corporations and tax cuts for the richest Americans. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain is an environmental time machine. It is a rare place on this Earth, where almost everything has been preserved as it was over 10,000 years ago. Oil and gas development would change its delicate ecosystem forever. We could never get it back. This Refuge is the largest Arctic conservation area on the globe. It is part of our national heritage. It is part of the world's heritage. That is why I compare it to the Serengeti, where people travel from all over the world to see that migration. The same thing is true here. It would be wrong to plunder this magnificent area for short-term gain, especially when that gain is speculative. The 1002 area is home to 37 species of land mammals, 8 species of marine mammals, 42 fish species, and over 200 species of birds. Migratory birds fly in and out of this area from every State and every continent. The coastal plain in the Refuge is only 20 to 30 miles wide. No other equivalent slice of Alaska's North Slope is as biologically diverse. Let me share a few examples of the wildlife that depend on this area. Here is a photograph of a caribou and its young during the spring calving time. The 1002 area hosts the largest and most concentrated herd of Porcupine caribou in the world: 197,000 caribou make the longest land migration of any animal--2,700 miles--to give birth there on the coastal plain in the 1002 area. Their numbers are strong now, but even a small change in reproductive rates could threaten the herd's existence. Here is a picture of a polar bear. Nine hundred Beaufort Sea polar bears den on- and offshore in this area. The magnificent polar bear is threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and with climate change causing sea ice to melt rapidly, more bears are expected to den on shore. Here is a photo of the musk oxen. About 250 musk oxen live there year-round. This impressive mammal survived the last ice age, but forcing them from their habitat now could threaten their survival. People also depend on the Refuge. The Gwich'in have lived there for thousands of years. They call themselves people of the caribou because their culture and way of life are intertwined with the Porcupine caribou herd. Caribou represents about 80 percent of the Gwich'in people's diet. They use caribou skins for clothing, bedding, and shelter. They make fish hooks, skin scrapers, and other tools from Caribou bones. Gwich'in are spiritually tied to the caribou as well. They have a saying: ``Every caribou has a bit of the human heart in them; and every human has a bit of caribou heart.'' The Gwich'in people depend on the caribou for their material and spiritual survival. Oil development in caribou calving grounds would threaten their very future. The Republicans' budget resolution instructs the Senate Energy Committee to identify at least $1 billion in deficit savings over the next 10 years. The Republicans have their sights on the 1002 area to produce that $10 billion. As I said, this estimate is highly speculative, but, for the sake of argument, let's assume the number of $1 billion is correct. It still doesn't even scratch the surface of the $1.5 trillion deficit the Republicans recklessly propose. It is not even one one-thousandth of the money the Republicans need to raise to pay for the megadeficit they will rack up to pay for a tax break for the superwealthy. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not necessary for U.S. energy independence. We are now an oil exporter, and oil prices are low. Low prices are forcing companies to stop drilling in areas that are much more accessible and less sensitive to development. Opening the Refuge now makes even less sense as more and more people are demanding fuel-efficient and electric cars. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the last truly wild places in America. The decision to protect the Refuge from drilling was done carefully and thoughtfully. The decision to undo that protection should be given the same care and thought. We haven't held hearings. We haven't even been able to hear from and question experts. Directing the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to draft legislation to raise funds without a public process is premature. The American people will have to live with our decision. This rushed proposal shortchanges them and it shortchanges future generations. There are few places left in the world where the Arctic coastal plains, foothills and mountains and the wildlife they support are wild and free. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of those places. This unique, grand, and biologically rich place deserves full protection in perpetuity. I yield the floor.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Melanie Thornton, a congressional fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the 115th Congress.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I am joined today by my colleague from New Mexico, Senator Heinrich. We thought we would come to the floor together and talk about Senator Domenici, our former colleague who passed away recently. Pietro Vichi Domenici was born to Italian immigrants in Albuquerque, NM, in 1932. He was a grocer's son. He worked in his parents' store and attended Catholic school. He graduated from our own University of New Mexico. He pitched in college on the Albuquerque Dukes' farm team, and he taught high school mathematics. He went to law school and built a law practice. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1973 and became New Mexico's longest serving Senator. He was a husband, father, and grandfather. He married Nancy Burke right out of law school, and his beautiful wife of 59 years was key to his long and successful career. She is a good friend of ours, and we spent an hour with her in Albuquerque a little over a week ago. She is still very strong, and she is still very focused, as one would expect as a mother and grandmother of her children and grandchildren. Pete Domenici was a statesman. He worked across party lines to find pragmatic solutions for the American people. New Mexicans will always remember him as one of the strongest fighters our State will ever know. Senator Domenici and I belonged to different political parties, and we didn't always agree on things, but I always appreciated that he cared deeply about the issues, and he put the Nation and New Mexico's interests first as he saw them. I join all of New Mexico in thanking him and in mourning his passing. Senator Domenici's math skills and his beginnings in local government served him well during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate. Anyone who has served in city government knows the importance of a budget. Sitting as chair or ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee for 22 years, he held the Federal Government to the same rigorous, logical standard. He mastered the complexities of the Federal budget and served longer in a leadership position on that committee than any other Senator. He was a budget deficit hawk and a realist. He understood that supply-side economics do not work and that big tax cuts will not result in growth leading to a balanced budget. He went up against his own party, and he went up against President Ronald Reagan on the same budget issue. In the 1990s, he worked with President Clinton to produce a budget surplus for fiscal year 1998--the first surplus in our budget since 1969. His willingness to work with Democrats, his pragmatism, and his stature with his own party made it possible. On the Budget Committee, he understood how to align New Mexico and national interests. He recognized the potential of our National Labs--Los Alamos and Sandia--and the potential they had for our State. He understood their importance to the national interest. He championed their work for decades. Our Labs provide thousands of good jobs in central and northern New Mexico, and the breadth and depth of their research and scientific contributions to our Nation are nothing short of astonishing. Pete Domenici played a critical role in the Labs' developments. He also had a key appreciation of the importance to New Mexico and the Nation of our military bases. In 2005, Cannon Air Force Base in southern New Mexico was slated to close. This would have cost New Mexico lots of jobs and would have had a devastating impact on the overall economy of the State. Senator Domenici, along with the entire delegation and Governor Richardson, worked to secure a different and critical mission for Cannon Air Force Base. Today, the 27th Special Operations Wing is going strong at Cannon. Six thousand men and women are employed, and rural Roosevelt and Curry Counties benefit from the base's $500 million economic impact. Senator Domenici's fingerprints are not only all over the Budget Committee but are all over the Energy and Natural Resources Committee-- which he chaired for 4 years in the early 2000s--and the Indian Affairs Committee, which I am fortunate to sit on today. He helped position the United States to be energy independent through the Energy Policy Acts of 2005 and 2007--the last time we really had bipartisan energy acts. He was a strong advocate on behalf of Tribes, working to advance Indian healthcare and resolve longstanding water rights disputes, protecting Native art from counterfeiting, and improving reservation roads. My Uncle Mo talked a lot about the importance of being able to disagree without being disagreeable and to work together, if possible. Senator Domenici understood that while the delegation was divided by party, it was united in its love for New Mexico. He knew that New Mexico would be stronger if everyone worked together. It is partly thanks to him that our delegation continues a tradition of working together regardless of party. Senator Domenici's commitment to bipartisanship did not end in 2009 with his Senate tenure; he continued to try to find solutions that worked for everyone as a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. The Pete V. Domenici Institute for Public Policy at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces carries on his tradition through scholarship. The Senator said: It's time for us to join together and take these [partisan] issues out of politics. The problems we face are so big, people from both sides need to sit down and say, ``We can't approach this the normal way.'' Some great leadership is needed. We could really use that commitment to bipartisanship in the Senate halls today. Senator Domenici was in Washington for many years, but he never was out of touch with everyday New Mexicans. Whether it was the acequia repairs in the Espanola Valley, creating a port of entry at Santa Teresa, funding new fighter jets at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, establishing the Petroglyph National Monument, protecting Valles Caldera, forming the Hispanic Cultural Center and Museum in Albuquerque, Pete Domenici identified New Mexico's needs and came up with solutions. Pete and Nancy had a special passion for people who live with mental illness, borne from his own family's experience. This is an issue that he and I talked a lot about and that our two families shared. He worked across the aisle for many years to achieve parity in insurance coverage between mental healthcare and medical services. Any family who experiences serious mental illness understands that the two should be treated the same and that adequate mental healthcare is absolutely necessary. In 2008, Congress passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. That Federal law means that millions of persons with mental illness and substance abuse disorders have better access to the care they really need. Senator Domenici spoke passionately and personally about mental health. He also did so on immigration. His mother originally immigrated to the United States illegally. During World War II, she was taken in a raid aimed at ``Italian sympathizers.'' Those of us who were here during the immigration debates in 2006 remember his plainspoken and moving speech on the floor of the Senate, where he said: I understand this whole idea of a household with a father who is American and a mother who is not, but they are living, working, and getting ahead. I understand that they are just like every other family in America. There is nothing different. They have the same love, same hope, same will and same aspirations as those of us who were born here have. I couldn't agree more. Pete Domenici, my good friend, son of Italian immigrant grocers, a great Senator, a great American, and a great New Mexican, thank you for your remarkable contributions. You leave an exceptional legacy for New Mexico and for the Nation. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Thank you, Madam President, for the recognition.

Mr. UDALL

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

Mr. UDALL. Thank you, Mr. President, for your recognition. I rise today with my colleagues from the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Senator Heitkamp and Senator Cortez Masto, to talk about how the Republicans' latest and most heartless healthcare bill hurts American Indians and Alaska Natives. I have just heard some good news that this bill might not be brought up for a vote this week, but Republicans insist that they will continue their efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and raid the Medicaid expansion program, which will devastate Indian Country. So this latest withdrawal is great, but they are saying that it is not going away. So we have to maintain vigilance on this issue. We came together before, in July, when Republicans' Better Care Reconciliation Act threatened to roll back healthcare for Native communities. With that bill's defeat, we hoped the debate over legislation that jeopardized healthcare for Native communities was behind us, and we hoped we could begin to work in earnest in a bipartisan way to address the real healthcare problems that Americans face. Given this new threat, my Indian Affairs Committee colleagues and I must remind this Chamber, once again, that the Federal Government bears a solemn trust, treaty responsibility, and obligation to ensure that Native Americans receive quality healthcare. Each version of the Republican repeal we have seen so far violates that trust responsibility by taking healthcare away from hundreds of thousands of Native Americans and abdicating the Federal Government's Native healthcare responsibilities. If any of these proposals pass, Native Americans' health and lives will be in danger. These efforts must be stopped. Everyone familiar with Indian Country knows that the Indian Health Service is severely underfunded. ``Don't get sick after June'' was a familiar refrain on many reservations, pueblos, and villages. Limited funding meant medical services were often rationed to only emergency care or life and limb. IHS patients were not guaranteed access to comprehensive medical services, specialized services, or preventive care. The Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid expansion changed this equation and changed it dramatically. The ACA alone has increased third-party billing revenues to IHS more than 25 percent, and Medicaid funding for IHS has increased nearly 50 percent. Tribal and urban health facilities have been able to move away from healthcare rationing. Medicaid expansion has provided health insurance to an additional 290,000 Native Americans from 492 Tribes--almost 90 percent of all Tribes. This includes 45,600 Tribal members from my home State of New Mexico. Uninsured rates in Indian Country have decreased from 53 percent to 39 percent, and many Tribal communities' uninsured rates are even lower. At the Santa Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico, 22 percent of Kewa Pueblo Health Corporation's patients were uninsured in 2013. In 2016, the uninsured rate was down to 7 percent. At the IHS Sante Fe Service Unit in New Mexico, 84 percent of our patients now have some sort of insurance. On the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota, they have seen a 14-percent reduction in uninsured Tribal members. At the Portland Urban Indian Health Center, the rate of uninsured has gone from 56 percent to 8 percent, solely due to Medicaid expansion. This is impressive. Let me just say that again. It has gone from 56 percent uninsured to 8 percent. Medicaid expansion has helped to make up for this historic underfunding in IHS services. Third-party billing revenue through Medicaid is now up to 35 percent of the Kewa Pueblo Health Corporation's total budget. For the Jicarilla Apache Tribe in New Mexico, Medicaid makes up more than 75 percent of their third-party billing revenue. At the Navajo Crownpoint IHS hospital, 50 percent of their budget comes from Medicaid third-party billing revenue. For Seattle's urban Indian health clinic, operated by the Seattle Indian Health Board, Medicaid and Medicare expansion have resulted in a revenue increase of 146 percent since 2012. Medicaid expansion has allowed IHS to expand services and build new facilities. Kewa Pueblo Health Corporation has used some of its third- party billing to offer new specialty-care services, like obstetrics and podiatry, and to build new clinic space. Santa Fe IHS used its additional funds to build new examination rooms for Santa Clara Pueblo, establish a mobile health unit for San Felipe Pueblo, and update outpatient rooms at the main clinic in Santa Fe. The Seattle urban Indian clinic uses its additional revenue to expand patient services to include a pilot opioid addiction program. In the words of the National Council on Urban Indian Health, Medicaid expansion has been an ``unqualified success.'' The ACA brought new hope to Native families and communities. But this latest Republican plan will undo this success. Thank goodness it has been withdrawn. In that plan, they claim they will preserve Medicaid expansion eligibility rules for Tribes. This offers a false hope. Like most people on Medicaid, Tribal members go on and off the rolls as their income fluctuates. Proposals like Graham-Cassidy would require that they be continuously enrolled in Medicaid expansion and work to receive benefits. If not, they would be dropped permanently from the program. Section 128 of Graham-Cassidy is also being pushed as helpful to Indian Country. This section expands IHS's Federal reimbursement rate to non-Native providers, but really it is a veiled attempt to buy off State leaders concerned about massive cuts to the Medicaid Program. It will not improve Tribal healthcare facilities. It will undercut the IHS, and it will undermine the Tribal self-determination by bypassing Tribal input in the Federal Medicaid reimbursement process. There are 30,000 Native Americans who now have private individual health insurance thanks to the ACA. Every Republican plan so far strips away the ACA's cost-sharing subsidies and tax credits, which help make private insurance affordable for many of these Tribal members and for millions of working Americans. The Republican bill does nothing to help these Native Americans keep their health insurance. The sponsors can try to dress this bill up, but the glaring reality is that TrumpCare 2.0 would be terrible for Indian Country. In fact, it is worse for Tribes than any other proposed repeal plan so far. It is no surprise that prominent Native organizations--the National Indian Health Board, the National Congress of American Indians, and the National Council of Urban Indian Health--oppose Graham-Cassidy and proposals like it. They join virtually all major patient advocate organizations and medical organizations in their opposition, including the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and the American Medical Association. Eighty percent of the American people disapprove of the Republicans' attempts to undermine healthcare. Graham-Cassidy is woefully out of touch with the American people and, especially, with Indian Country. I am glad this bill will not receive a vote this week. Just like tens of millions of our fellow Americans, Tribes, Tribal organizations, and individual Native Americans all around the country are worried about what Republicans will do to their healthcare. I have received a record 15,000 calls, emails, and letters from constituents about healthcare this year. Almost all of them have been opposed to the Republicans' relentless attacks on healthcare, and not a single Tribe has reached out to my office in support of this bill. These attacks are happening behind closed doors. There was only one rushed hearing, and it was yesterday. There is no formal Congressional Budget Office analysis, and there has been no meaningful consultation with Tribes. Although many of us have called for that, there has been no consultation. It is difficult to adequately describe the recklessness, cruelty, and cynicism in the Republicans' rush to tear down the ACA. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee started a bipartisan effort to address the real healthcare needs in this country, but Republicans froze it once Graham-Cassidy was introduced. I am really hoping now that Chairman Lamar Alexander and Vice Chairman Patty Murray can get back to the bipartisan work that needs to be done. Other time-sensitive legislation with broad, bipartisan support--like reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians, which need to be enacted before the end of September--was pushed aside. Congress needs to change focus. We need to work across the aisle to meet the needs of the American people, and we need to improve Native American healthcare. We have come a long way under the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid expansion, but we are far from being able to declare victory. I echo our colleague from Arizona, Senator McCain. Given the enormous impact of healthcare on the lives of Americans and our economy, we need to find bipartisan solutions through the regular order. Partisan repeal of the ACA is not right for Indian Country or for America. Now, Mr. President, I would yield the floor to my colleague from North Dakota, Senator Heitkamp. I worked for many years as attorney general with Senator Heitkamp. She was a great champion during those years for Native Americans and, specifically, for Native American children. She has been an incredible advocate on the Affordable Care Act and the good that it has done for Native Americans.

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, let me thank my colleague Senator Heitkamp for her great advocacy today for Native Americans. I have known her for a long time. In every public service job she has had--whether it was the State tax commissioner of North Dakota or the attorney general and now U.S. Senator--she has always been a great advocate for the Tribes. We so much appreciate that. I can tell you, she is one of the hardest working members of the Senate in the Indian Affairs Committee. She really brings what you talked about--a great bipartisan approach to this. We look forward to doing more of that in the future. I also wish to say to the Presiding Officer that he has shown bipartisanship on opioids, and we have an epidemic. So we can show that there is bipartisanship. With that, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for myself and Senator Cortez Masto to engage in a colloquy and then yield to her.

Mr. UDALL. I say to Senator Cortez Masto, thank you so much. Thank you for bringing the statements forward from Chairwoman Torres. She has every right to be concerned. The short answer to her question is, yes, we don't want to go back. Chairwoman Torres is right to be concerned. Tribal leaders across the country want to know how this bill would impact their members, but, as Senator Heitkamp highlighted, Republican leadership has not engaged in any meaningful Tribal consultation. I know that is something that concerns you a lot. Working with you on our committee, you always raise that issue--Tribal consultation and how important that is. That did not occur before these proposals were put before us. Repeal of the Medicaid expansion would pull millions of dollars out of critical funding at the Indian Health Service and would return the entire system to life or limb. Medicaid funding at IHS has increased by over $240 million since the Affordable Care Act passage, and that is an increase of 43 percent. Under the ACA, Tribes and urban Indian health facilities have started offering a much wider range of healthcare services to Native Americans, such as OB-GYN, podiatry, and behavioral health. I have mentioned the old official IHS motto several times: ``Don't get sick after June.'' This was a motto because the Indian Health Service would run out of money after June. So what people would say with regard to their healthcare in Indian Country is ``Don't get sick after June''--a pretty outrageous situation. In practical terms, that motto translated to exactly the sort of healthcare rationing Chairwoman Torres described in her letter. Imagine living in that sort of healthcare system, where diabetics are told that help is only available once their kidneys start to shut down, where expectant mothers can't access prenatal care. The reality is that Graham-Cassidy--and we hope another proposal doesn't come forward like Graham-Cassidy; we know they buried that today--would turn back the clock in Indian Country, taking us from this current era of Tribal healthcare innovation back to the days of life and limb. I thank Senator Cortez Masto for her great advocacy for Native Americans. I know very well her work as State attorney general. I know she worked with Tribes and wanted to try to work through problems rather than litigate them all the time. I wanted to say to your chairwoman in Nevada that we really appreciate her hard work on behalf of her Tribal members and other Tribes around the country. I yield to the Senator from Nevada.

Mr. UDALL. Thank you very much, I say to Senator Cortez Masto. Today, you can at least tell your chairwoman that this bill has been withdrawn. There is not going to be a further vote on it. But I would urge her--and I know you know this well--we need to stay vigilant. This can be brought up at any time. It can be attached to a major piece of legislation moving forward. So urge her to continue this great advocacy. We really appreciate your advocacy. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. UDALL

Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, thank you for your recognition. I am honored to come here today and follow Senator Leahy and Senator Kaine and their speeches on DACA. I have also watched over the last couple of days, and I think almost every Democratic Senator has been down to the floor to speak with passion about this issue. I am just so proud of our caucus and our Members who have stood up and called the President on this issue. Today, I stand with millions of Americans protesting the President's heartless decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program known as DACA. This inhumane and cruel decision threatens the hopes and aspirations of our country's young Dreamers, and there is no doubt it will harm the economy. I call on all Members of Congress-- especially the Republican leadership--to act now and to act swiftly to keep families together and allow these kids to realize their huge potential by making DACA the law of the land. That is what we need to do, make DACA the law of the land. If the President will not do the right thing, then Congress must take action and Congress must do this. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents across New Mexico and throughout our country agree that Dreamers deserve to live and work in the United States. According to a Morning Consult-Politico poll released this week, 76 percent support allowing them to stay--76 percent Democrats, Republicans, Independents. What a big number. Most Americans agree that our Nation benefits from the contribution immigrants make in our communities and our economy. They believe our government should honor its promise to Dreamers. Many of these young people came here as small children and have not known any other country. Take Roxana. Roxana came to Santa Fe, NM, when she was 1 year old. She is now 22. She registered with DACA as soon as she could. She completed the paperwork, paid the fee, and she has complied with all of the requirements. She now works as a medical assistant with La Familia Medical Center in Santa Fe. La Familia is a great healthcare clinic. It provides excellent medical care to everyone in Santa Fe, including many immigrants and low-income patients. Roxana loves her work at La Familia, and she loves being able to help her fellow immigrants. Roxana had plans to go to nursing school, but the President's action to end DACA jeopardizes those plans and puts them on hold. In Roxana's words, ``Santa Fe, NM, is my home. It's where I know people. It's where I've lived. It's where I've gone to school. It's where I've grown up. It's my life. It's something that is mine but doesn't truly belong to me.'' Those are her words. We must give Roxana and the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers what should truly belong to them. Dreamers more than pull their economic weight in our country; 97 percent are employed or are in school or do both. They work in Fortune 500 companies and public schools. They labor on farms and dairies. They create businesses, volunteer in our communities, pay taxes, and pay into Social Security and Medicare. Why would we choose to kick some of our most talented and most productive workers out of the country? Why kick some of our best and brightest young people out of this country? Ending DACA would cause chaos for employers. Forcing these motivated young people out of work could cost us 700,000 jobs--as many as 30,000 a month. That adds up to $460.3 billion in economic output over the next 10 years. Medicare and Social Security contributions could drop by $24.6 billion over the same period of time. One of those young people who contributes in New Mexico is Brandon. Brandon came with his mother from Mexico to the United States when he was 2 years old. Brandon goes to college and studies every day to be an architect, and he makes straight A's. He holds down a job to help support his family with medical bills and volunteers in his community. Brandon is grateful for the DACA Program that has given him the opportunity to work and pay taxes. Yes, he is grateful to pay taxes. This President continues to divide our country like no other President we have known. Every day it is clear that his values are not in line with ours. I increasingly believe he is not fit to lead this great Nation. His campaign began with anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric. He accused Mexican immigrants of being rapists and criminals, and his bigoted words have never stopped. He called for a wall along the entire border with Mexico--a wall that would cost billions of tax dollars and which border communities don't want. He called for a ban on Muslim refugees--turning our backs on people who are fighting terrorism and who value the freedoms that we have here in the United States. He tacitly accepted the support of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and bigots in Charlottesville. He pardoned a law enforcement officer who terrorized the Latino community in Maricopa County, AZ, with unconstitutional raids and who forced detainees into inhumane living situations. Joe Arpaio is not a ``good guy'' as President Trump called him. Joe Arpaio is the criminal. This President doesn't seem to value--let alone embody--the principles that America stands for, and now he wants to kick out of the country young people who do value this country--like Carlos. Carlos was brought to New Mexico from Mexico when he was less than 1 year old. New Mexico is the only home he has known. Because of Carlos's immigration status, his opportunities were limited. He couldn't play sports in school, couldn't go on field trips, even though he pledged allegiance to the United States with his classmates. Carlos registered with DACA 2 years ago and, in his words, he was given wings. He is a full-time student at New Mexico State University, studying to be a mechanical engineer. He volunteers as a firefighter. He works as a server at a local restaurant. He began a drive to help Hurricane Harvey victims. Carlos says: We as DREAMers have proven ourselves to be worthy of being here in the United States. There are 800,000 young people like Roxana, Brandon, and Carlos hoping to do their part to make our country strong. By any measure, DACA has been a huge success. We already have the outlines of a program that works for America. We in Congress must roll up our sleeves and make this program the law of the land, and we must make sure that America truly does belong to Roxana and all of our Dreamers. I suggest the absence of a quorum.