Mark Warner

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. On behalf of the children of the Commonwealth of Virginia I vote no.

Mr. WARNER. Madam Clerk, how am I recorded?

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, first of all, let me echo everything that Senator Casey and Senator Brown have said. But the reason we are here, beyond the justness of our cause, is the fact that the Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Manchin, has been absolutely relentless. He has not let this issue die. For 18 months, he has gone through every hoop that has been put in front of him. It is getting through. The fact is, Senator Manchin today reintroduced the Miners Protection Act. In 1 day--in 1 day--he picked up 49 cosponsors of this legislation. We are going to have a vote later tonight. Let me be clear. I am going to join in that protest. But as somebody who has one heck of a lot of Federal employees, we are not going to shut down the government on this issue. We should not even be thinking about choices where we have to trade off Federal workers and miners. That is not what we are sent here to do. But we are going to make sure that this fight does not end tonight. The 49 who signed up today will be in the 50s and in the 60s when we come back. Let me just close. I know we have other colleagues, and others have commented. I went through these talking points at other times, but you have to hear the voices of people who are being affected. I got a letter recently from Sharon. Sharon is from a coal miner's family in Dickenson County, not too far from West Virginia and Kentucky. Sharon wrote: My father is a retired coal miner. For many years he worked at Clinchfield Coal Company's Moss #2 mine. He gave them his time, sweat, hard work, and even his health. In return, he expected nothing more than a paycheck and a little pension, and health care when he retired. He was promised that. He deserves that. She went on to talk about the fact that her dad grew up in the Depression: He grew up in a time when you took care of your things--and he believed that you paid for what you got. He's paid dearly for his pension and his health care. Please don't let that get taken from him. He's also a man who takes care of his money. She said he was always tight with his money: He planned for years for his retirement. He saved and budgeted so that he would have enough with his pension to be able to support himself through the rest of his years and not be a burden on anyone. Sharon, her coal miner family, and countless thousands of other Americans are waiting for us to honor our commitments. We are taking a step forward tonight. But echoing what other Senators have said before, this issue will not go away until these miners get their justice.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, today I wish to pay tribute to a dear friend and colleague, Senator Barbara Mikulski, as she retires after three decades in the U.S. Senate. Senator Mikulski has been serving the people of Maryland in one form or another for more than 50 years. From her time as a social worker helping at-risk children and seniors, to the Baltimore City Council, to her four decades of service in the United States Congress, Senator Mikulski has always been a strong champion for women, for working families, and for Maryland. On the rare occasion I have found myself on the other side of an issue from Senator Mikulski, as we in Virginia occasionally have been, I actually find myself wishing Maryland had a little bit less of a tenacious advocate in the Senate than Barbara Mikulski. But luckily for me, I have much more often had the good fortune to be standing side-by-side with Senator Mikulski. I have been proud to work with her and learn from her on a great many issues which will remain her legacies even after she leaves the Senate. In her position on the Senate Appropriations Committee, for instance, Senator Mikulski has been instrumental in making sure the Federal Government abides by its commitments to Metro, and we have worked together to improve oversight of the system's safety. In an environment where they are more often treated as political punching bags than like the dedicated public servants they are, Federal employees have always known that they can count on Senator Mikulski to have their backs. Senator Mikulski might occasionally have trouble reaching the microphones--but when it comes to the issues affecting women, children, working families, and Maryland, Senator Mikulski's voice is nearly always the loudest voice in the room. Today there are more students in school, more women in the workforce, and fewer seniors living in poverty as a result of her determination and her leadership. It is well known in this body that Senator Mikulski is a force of nature, with a wit to match. Her signature one-liners aren't just funny--though they usually are-- but she also has a way of cutting to the heart of the issue and speaking directly to people that I know will be greatly missed by both her colleagues and her constituents. It is no surprise that the people of Maryland have chosen, over and over again, to send this extraordinary leader back to the Senate on their behalf. Today there are 20 women Senators, but when Barbara Mikulski first decided to ``suit up'' and run for the Senate, women in public office at any level were a rarity indeed--rarer still in this body. Thirty years after President Reagan, campaigning for her opponent in that first Senate race, predicted that Barbara Mikulski would go the way of other short-lived fads like the ``Edsel, the hula hoop, and the all-asparagus diet,'' Senator Mikulski retires from the Senate as the longest serving woman in Congressional history. So while she may be leaving us here in the Senate, one of Senator Barb's greatest legacies may be inspiring generations of American women to follow in her footsteps. Senator Mikulski, thank you for your service and your friendship.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the contributions and the long and colorful career of Vice President Joe Biden--the pride of Scranton, PA--and of Wilmington, DE--and the pride of the entire United States. Joe Biden lived, learned, and grew up among hard-working Americans in the 1950s and 1960s, when everything in America seemed possible--and it was. Remarkably, this gifted orator grew up with a crippling stutter--a challenge which he overcame through determination and perseverance. He displayed that same uncommon strength after he lost his wife and daughter in a horrific car accident just weeks after being first elected to the United States Senate. Vice President Biden considered giving up his seat to tend to his injured children. It is one of this country's great fortunes that Joe Biden decided against that. Scarred by the tragedy and by a close brush with death himself and more recently by the loss of his son Beau, the Vice President has shown us the power of and the comfort derived from a deep personal faith. When he was first elected to the United States Senate in 1972, he was only 29 years old. And in a Senate career spanning 36 years, Senator Biden left behind a legacy as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Perhaps his greatest achievement was his tireless advocacy for civil rights, especially the protection of women and children from domestic violence. The passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 is an enduring Biden legacy which we will continue to build upon for years to come. And now, even as he is about to retire from political life, Vice President Biden has taken on a new cause: to find a cure for the disease which has claimed too many millions of Americans, including his beloved son, Beau. The Cancer Moonshot has refocused and reinvigorated our Nation's efforts to eradicate this devastating disease, and I was proud to support renaming the legislation to honor Beau Biden. Vice President Biden is as honest and authentic a person as you will find, providing a welcome dose of humanity and authenticity to the business of governing. And he has served with great honor and humility. I recall a dinner the Vice President attended at my home where, before he greeted a single guest, he made sure to spend time with my children--greeting them and engaging them in a real conversation. They have never forgotten that. And, as the meal was ending, the Vice President said he wanted to hear from each of our guests. Now, this may come as no surprise to those of you who know Joe Biden, but he actually spoke at some considerable length about how important he thought it was to hear from everybody who was there. Two and a half hours into a dinner scheduled to last just 90 minutes, I think one guest got to ask the Vice President a question. I know Vice President Biden and his exceptional partner, Jill, will continue to be engaged in the life of our Nation, so I will simply thank him today for four decades of public service--and pledge my continued respect for his many contributions to this great Nation which he loves so completely. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I rise to join my colleague who spoke earlier today, the Senator from Ohio, and here shortly, the Senator from Pennsylvania. I wish to also thank my friend, the Senator from West Virginia. Without his tireless efforts, this cause we are fighting for might not still have a chance, and I want to commend him for the countless hours and the amazing amount of work he has done on an issue we have been here time and again on; that is, begging this body to take meaningful action on the Miners Protection Act before the end of this year. For over a year and a half, we have been coming to the floor to tell our colleagues that if we do nothing, retired coal miners and their families--for the most part we are talking about widows because most of the miners have passed away--will lose their health care at the end of this year. Well, the end of the year is upon us. It is literally days away, and we have taken every procedural step to ensure a vote on the Miners Protection Act. Under the leadership of the Senator from West Virginia, we were asked to go through regular order. We were asked to have a hearing. Those of us on the Finance Committee--the Senator from Pennsylvania and I--were asked to have a committee markup. We had the committee markup. We reported the bill out with strong bipartisan support. Yet here we are, days away from the supposed end of the session, and we still have not had that vote. We have a long-term bipartisan solution, but instead we are being told the CR that might simply fund the government for a few months may have some kind of stop-gap effort--a stop-gap effort that would barely provide enough time, for those who were already threatened with losing their health care at the end of the year--barely have enough time to even reschedule a doctor's appointment. These miners--many of them have faced devastating illnesses as a result of their time in the mines--will be given absolutely no certainty that they will receive the medical care they need if we simply were to extend this bill to the time of the CR. And what would happen after May 1? And that has nothing to say to the more than 100,000 miners across the country--thousands of them in my State of Virginia--who lose not only health care but also future pension benefits that are threatened by the approaching insolvency of the United Mine Workers 1974 pension fund. Madam President, you may not know this--as a matter of fact, even my colleague from West Virginia didn't realize this--but today, December 6, is actually National Miners Day. Each year on December 6, we set aside a day to honor the mine workers of today and yesterday and reflect on their contributions to our Nation and rededicate ourselves to doing everything we can to protect their lives and health. Think about that. Today is actually National Miners Day. What better day to take the long awaited action to make sure that for those miners--and particularly, more often than not, for their widows--we honor the commitment that was made back in 1947 to make sure that their health care and pension benefits--at least their health care benefits--are guaranteed. The reality is that even with stronger safety standards, coal mining remains a dangerous and difficult profession. The truth is that nobody can really understand what it is like to be in a mine unless you have been underground. I have had that opportunity a number of times in my career. So many of the miners I worked with and supported when I was Governor and now as I am a Senator have seen all the changes that have come about by the changing nature of the industry, by globalization and by technology. Now many of those communities are on hard times. If we produce one more hit to these communities--a hit whereby the Federal Government doesn't honor the commitment they made to those miners in terms of protecting the health care of the miners and their families--then, quite honestly, we are not doing our job. We have come together and worked in a bipartisan fashion. We have a solution. We have a solution that wouldn't add to the debt or the deficit. I hope that those who are holding up this long-term solution-- and it is not simply one side. We have complete support on this side of the aisle and from a number of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Again, we ask: Let's make sure these miners, their widows, and their families don't lose their health care come the end of this year. We can ensure that happens, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make sure that promise becomes a reality. With that, I yield the floor to my colleague from Pennsylvania.

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

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, yesterday I voted to override the President's veto of S. 2040, the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA. I chose to support the motion to override after hearing from supporters of this bill, including the families of the 9/11 victims, and considering the concerns that have been raised by the administration about the bill's potential unintended consequences on our national security and foreign policy. Ultimately, I believe that the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 should have their day in court. Although I supported passage of the bill, I have grave concerns about the dangerous precedent of opening foreign sovereign immunity. I believe our national security and foreign policy could be put in jeopardy if reciprocal laws are enacted in other countries, with the potential to open U.S. citizens, officials, and servicemembers to foreign lawsuits in which they could be required to disclose classified or sensitive information as part of court proceedings in other countries. I have joined 27 of my colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to the bill's authors, Senators Schumer and Cornyn, laying out our concerns about the legislation and seeking their commitment to work with us to mitigate any potential consequences of enacting this legislation.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, due to a prior commitment, I regret I was not present to vote on H.R. 5985, the VA Expiring Authorities Act of 2016. Had I been present, I would have voted in support of the legislation.

Mr. WARNER

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

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I want to start by echoing what Senator Brown and Senator Capito and others have said and thank my friend from West Virginia for continuing to wage this fight. It feels a little bit like deja vu all over again. We have been down here time and time and time again to simply reinforce the case that the Senator from West Virginia just went through in terms of history. I think it is sometimes interesting that--I'm sure that the Senator from West Virginia did it earlier than I, but it was the early 1990s, the first time I went underground to see the working conditions of miners across this country. Even though the advances in technology in the 20th century and 21st century still endure, it is hard work. It is gritty work. Many of the miners who have spent years working underground come out with black lung and other illnesses. Their life expectancy is much shorter than so many other jobs. The Senator from West Virginia has already gone through at some length the historic commitment to these miners. It started with President Truman. It was renewed a number of times, Democrats and Republicans alike. Through this past year--again because of the Senator from West Virginia and those of us who tried to help--his State has the most, probably Kentucky has the second most, and Virginia has about 10,000 folks who are affected. We did finally force--and I want to thank the chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee, Senator Hatch and Senator Wyden. We did have a hearing. Families came in. All they said to us was: Keep your promise. The United States of America said: We are going to honor this commitment to make sure that your pension benefits and your health care benefits are honored. The remarkable thing here--and many folks, including myself, are greatly concerned about our debt and deficit. So how are we going to pay for this? We have even identified a source of funding that is industry generated. So any of the typical ``well, maybe not now'' or ``what if'' or ``how did this happen''--all of those issues have been addressed. The Finance Committee held a hearing on the Miners Protection Act. Miners from Southwest Virginia came in, a couple of folks from Grundy, a couple of folks from Wise, which is very close to the State of West Virginia, close to Ohio--folks whose lives were going to be dramatically affected if these health care benefits and pension benefits are taken away. Disproportionately, as the Senator from West Virginia has repeatedly said, the vast majority of those individuals, candidly, are not former miners, but they are the widows. So many folks have passed that the widows now depend upon these benefits in many ways. They are still the lifeblood of the communities that have been hard hit by the changing nature of power generation, by government regulation, by a host of other things. Last week, on that incredibly warm day, my good friend the Senator from Ohio and I were there, speaking to miners from all across the region and others who were supportive of the cause. The question I got as I walked through the crowd was: Are you guys going to keep your word? It was not Democrat, Republican--not particulars of the bill. Are you going to keep your word that this country made to the coal miners and their beneficiaries that their pension and health care benefits are going to be honored? So we are going to be tested on this, at least in terms of the next step. As a member of the Finance Committee, my hope and expectations have been--and my friend, the Senator from Ohio, a member of the Finance Committee, and in this case we have the support of the chairman and the ranking member--that we would mark up this legislation, that we would not add all kinds of extraneous other things that would take us off course or take us down into some other briar patch but that we would honor this commitment on the UMWA health and pension benefits. Well, as things often happen here, it got delayed. But I for one don't believe, even if we get our CR done and get Zika done, that the Finance Committee should leave town without having this markup. That commitment was made earlier in the year. I went through a whole group of folks, not just from Virginia, but from West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky and said: Yes, I believe we are going to at least get the next step done and get this bill marked up out of the Finance Committee. And then it should be not just reported out of the Finance Committee but actually acted on here on the floor of the Senate. We have all come and gone through the facts and the details on the variety of times that we have spoken about this issue on the floor. My appeal to my friends the chair and ranking member of the Finance Committee is that this date of September 21 does not slip again. I know in that committee markup we will have the votes. We need to get that bill reported out. We need to get it acted on before the end of the year because, as the Senator from West Virginia has so relentlessly continued to make the point, this is not something that we can kick the can on anymore. People start losing these benefits that their lives depend on at the end of calendar year 2016. So I say to my friend from West Virginia and my friend the Senator from Ohio that we are in this together. It is bipartisan. There are not enough bipartisan things that are done here. I thank my friend from West Virginia for being relentless on this issue. I thank my friend the Senator from Ohio--sometimes it is an issue that looks as if it is stacking up more on one side than the other--for his leadership on this as well. I tell you, I think we owe it to those miners and families who depend upon these benefits to keep our word, keep the word we told them we were going to keep back when we held the hearing, keep the word that all of us said to the miners and others who rallied last week in the middle of that heat. If we do our job next Wednesday, we will be able to keep our word, bring this bill to the floor, and get it passed. So with that, I thank the Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, after one of the longest recesses in modern history, Congress returned last week to Washington. Unfortunately, it seems that some of our colleagues have been more interested in continuing to play politics with the health and welfare of the American people than in getting the job done. Nearly 19,000 Americans have been infected by the Zika virus, including hundreds of pregnant women. Yet Congress has failed to pass an emergency funding bill to address the Zika crisis, and as I discussed on the floor earlier this afternoon, thousands of retired mineworkers, many of them suffering from serious illnesses, are still waiting for us to work on the bipartisan Miners Protection Act. This afternoon, I would like to focus on another area where unfortunately the Senate has failed to do its job--an important job that is part of our constitutional requirements--which is to make sure we end this unprecedented obstruction regarding the vacancy on the Supreme Court. It has now been a recordbreaking 182 days since President Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland, and yet 182 days later, the Supreme Court is still forced to function one Justice short. It is an example of Washington dysfunction at its absolute worst. The Senate confirmed Supreme Court Justices during Presidential election years at least 17 times, so there is no reason this should be a partisan issue. Until recently, both parties have recognized the Senate's constitutional responsibility to advise and consent on the President's nominations to the Supreme Court. President Reagan himself said: ``Every day that passes with a Supreme Court below full strength impairs the people's business in that crucially important body.'' The truth is, Judge Garland's qualifications and dedication to public service are beyond reproach. Again, today, as I did earlier this year, I am strongly urging my colleagues to do the job we were elected to do. Let's go ahead and vote on Judge Garland. If you don't want to support him, that is your right, but let's give him that hearing and take on that vote. Let's make sure we take on the very important health care crisis around Zika. Let's make sure we don't leave the American people hanging in terms of a continuing resolution. Let's pass that and make sure the government stays funded. Again, it is time for us to get to work. It is time for the Senate to do its job so we can make sure that when we go back to our constituents--as we continue with the final weeks before the election-- we can look them in the eye and say: We have done our duty. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I appreciate my colleague, the Senator from Connecticut, yielding for a question. I am proud to join so many Members of the Senate. I want to echo the comments of the Senator from Missouri, her comments about getting the same kind of calls, notes, and questions. I want to acknowledge as well that there have been Members of the House from Virginia and Louisiana who have come to show solidarity in the effort being led so eloquently from mostly the Senator from Connecticut and the Senator from New Jersey. I think we are all trying to wrap our heads around the fact that a single lone gunman was able to extinguish the lives of 49 Americans in a gay nightclub in Orlando. Before we get to this legislation, I think we also have to acknowledge that this was a crime of hate--a crime of hate that unfortunately targeted the Latino community and in particular the LGBT community. And as the LGBT community grieves nationwide, we need to make clear that the long fight for equality includes not only marriage equality but equal protection in terms of public safety and living in safety. The Senator from Connecticut has made some comments about the number of deaths that take place in our country each year from gun violence-- 30,000 a year. I think about, just as the Senator from Connecticut acknowledged in the aftermath of Newtown how I rethought some of my positions on some of these issues. We all have to take a fresh look at the challenges our country faces in providing a reasonable framework of gun legislation that protects the rights as well of law- abiding gun owners. One of the things that troubles me is I think virtually every Member of this body has probably stated or tweeted out their thoughts and prayers for the victims in Orlando. What I think I am hearing from the media, from those victims, and from Virginians across the board, is they want to see more than thoughts and prayers; they actually want to see us act. There are a whole host of different proposals we could look at to try to deal with gun violence. I believe the Senator from Connecticut has picked two that are frankly the most reasonable, with the most common ground that we should take on. Like the Senator from Connecticut, I know the scourge of having a mass murder take place in your State. Until this terrible tragedy in Orlando, the deadliest mass shooting was at Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where 32 lives were taken. I know how that community grieves, how Newtown grieves, how Aurora grieves, how Charleston grieves, and now how Orlando is grieving. Quite honestly, day in and day out, how many other communities are affected by this scourge of gun violence? As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know the challenges we face every day in dealing with the threat of violent terrorists determined to do our Nation harm. But if we are going to talk about taking on terrorism--which we need to have a united effort on--shouldn't we take this reasonable step of abiding by the judgment of law enforcement and saying: If you end up on a terrorist watch list, you should not be able to purchase a firearm. We have seen in recent days statistics that show that more than 90 percent of known or suspected terrorists who attempted to buy weapons since 2004 have passed a background check and then have been able to purchase a firearm. To me, that is an internal contradiction that, by taking action this week, we can turn around. If you are too dangerous to get on an airplane, aren't you too dangerous to be allowed to purchase a firearm? The second solution my friend the Senator from Connecticut has put forward is to take up and pass the bipartisan proposal, which has the overwhelming support of the general public, to increase background checks. Ninety percent of the public supports this effort. Over 70 percent of gun owners support this effort. Why? Because we know background checks work. Since 1994, 2.6 million people, by either evidence of criminal backgrounds or mental illnesses, have been prevented from purchasing firearms. There are a host of other proposals that I know the Senator from Connecticut has put on his agenda, but what I want to do is thank the Senator from Connecticut for putting forward two of the most basic proposals, two of the proposals that have bipartisan broad appeal. I would ask the Senator from Connecticut, with the overwhelming public support that Americans express for this type of commonsense legislation and with, unfortunately, the sometimes low regard this body is held, does the Senator believe that if we took these actions and passed them, not only could we send a strong signal of making America safer, but we could once again show we will uphold our constitutional duties?

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I regret I was not present for the June 8, 2016, vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the compound motion to go to conference on H.R. 2577, the Departments of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill, and the Zika supplemental appropriations bill. Had I been present, I would have voted yes on cloture. This bipartisan bill supports our Veterans, invests in our national infrastructure, and provides funding to address the Zika virus. Additionally, I would have supported the Nelson motion to instruct conferees and opposed the Sullivan motion to instruct conferees.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, due to a prior commitment, I regret I was not present to vote on Senate amendment No. 4204, offered by Senator Inhofe. I am a cosponsor of this amendment, and had I been present, I would have voted in support of the amendment. It would be imprudent for Congress to authorize this privatization, possibly jeopardizing an important benefit for our military men and women, their families, as well as retired servicemembers, before receiving the thorough study on the potential impacts as requested in last year's National Defense Authorization Act.

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, due to a prior commitment, I regret I was not present to vote on Senate amendment No. 4369, offered by Senator Durbin. I am a cosponsor of this amendment, and had I been present, I would have voted in support of the amendment. The CDMRP has produced breakthroughs in treatment for a variety of diseases and medical conditions, and it deserves our continued support. Amendment No. 4204

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am proud to stand here with my colleagues and friends--Senator Manchin from West Virginia, Senator Casey from Pennsylvania, Senator Brown from Ohio, and, shortly after me, Senator Wyden from Oregon--to echo what has already been said. Senator Brown said it best. He wears that canary pin. If we don't act now, if we don't hear that call and respond to it, then the basic promise and premise that so much of our country is founded on will really be crushed. I join my colleagues in standing up and urging the Senate to pass the Miners Protection Act. We have mines--just as in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia--in southwest Virginia. Quite honestly, I think, as do my colleagues, that no one fully understands what it is like to mine coal until you have been underground, until you see the enormous challenges and conditions that men and women--mostly men--worked under for decades to power our Nation. Senator Manchin often recites the history of this proud industry. But that industry has gone through dramatic changes. Some of those changes are due to activities of certain companies that may or may not have been responsible. Some of these changes are because of a desire of many of us, frankly, on this side of the aisle, to make sure that we find cleaner ways to use energy. In a way, that is good. But it has meant that many of these coal companies and many of these operators that continue to mine what powered America are under enormous fiscal stress. The result is not enough miners, coal companies that went bankrupt, and, unfortunately, the pension funds that would protect these miners are now in jeopardy. So now, through no fault of their own, these workers who have sacrificed their bodies, their health, and their livelihoods--when it comes to the U.S. Government to uphold our end of the deal to make sure that these workers or, more specifically, as my colleagues have pointed out, more often it is their widows, as so many of these miners have passed on due to things like black lung disease--are going to get the health care and pensions that were promised and whether we are going to be able to honor that commitment. The UMWA 1974 Pension Fund affects about 100,000 miners and close to 10,000 in the Commonwealth of Virginia. They are looking to us and whether we are going to honor our commitment. As Senator Brown mentioned, I met a number of these miners, who are direct beneficiaries, when we had our most recent hearing. Many of these miners I had worked with and supported when I was Governor of Virginia, and I saw the challenges their communities had gone through. If we don't do our job, these communities that have been hard hit all throughout Appalachia--if these widows don't get the health care and their pensions, communities that have already been devastated will be further devastated. If we allow this pension fund to go bankrupt and go insolvent, it will put additional strains on the PBGC, which is already under enormous strain. The truth is, as Senator Manchin has pointed out, there is a solution, and there is funding available for this miner pension act. It is critically important that we act. It is critically important, morally and economically. I would ask any of my colleagues to speak to any of these widows and explain why we wouldn't keep our end of the bargain when, come the end of this year, if we don't act, these health care benefits will disappear. I hope we will act on this bipartisan legislation. The Senator from Ohio has indicated it would pass this body overwhelmingly. I appreciate all of my colleagues' work. I see and turn the floor over to the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. He doesn't have a lot of coal in Oregon, but he understands that, when a commitment is made--particularly a commitment that was initially made by the President of the United States, President Truman, back in 1946-- those commitments need to be honored. I look forward to continuing to work with his leadership to get this legislation out of the Finance Committee, get it to the floor of the Senate, get it passed, and make sure these miners' and their widows' health care pensions are honored. I yield the floor.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Arizona for working with us on this very important issue of making sure that veterans in a number of our States are able to get quality care in a location that is convenient to them, and I appreciate his partnering with me and Senator Schumer and others on this issue. Mr. President, I was going to rise earlier when the Senator from Missouri spoke to talk about the question around infrastructure investment. This is infrastructure investment week, and stakeholders from across the country are here to continue to raise the question that we need to do more to rebuild our Nation's crumbling infrastructure. We all know that recently we passed a 5-year highway bill, and I supported it. The FAST Act--as it was called--was a good bill, but it included only modest increases in funding. Whether we look at our region's Metro or the Memorial Bridge that many of us travel on a regular basis or airports or water systems all over the country, it is clear that we need to look at additional ways to invest in our Nation's infrastructure. Senator Blunt and I have filed an amendment to the current Transportation appropriations bill that we had before us that would establish a National Infrastructure Financing Authority. The BRIDGE Act that is cosponsored by six Republicans and six Democrats is bringing about a new tool to make innovative ways to finance projects. I believe my friend, the Senator from Connecticut, is a supporter of this type of approach. Our bipartisan BRIDGE Act creates a $10 billion government loan fund--a loan fund that will repay. It doesn't add a single dime to the Federal deficit. All experts say this modest initial investment ultimately could unlock up to $300 billion in private sector capital to invest in our Nation's infrastructure. Let's be honest. We all know why we are here. The funding mechanisms that our transportation system relies on are simply unsustainable. We spend more money each year just in maintaining our highway trust fund and highway system than our highway trust fund brings in, yet our needs continue to grow. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave the United States a D-plus grade on infrastructure. I don't know about my friend, the Senator from New York, but I am sure that he often preferred grades better than D-plus when he was a student. If we look over recent times, this is not a Democrat or Republican issue; this is a problem that has been gnawing at this country for some time. There has been a 50-percent decrease in infrastructure investment as a percentage of our GDP since the 1970s. The United States spends less than 2 percent of our gross domestic product on infrastructure. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, underinvestment in our national infrastructure will cost each American family $3,400 a year. That is wasted time. That is a city in gridlock. That is not being able to get to work and not being able to be with one's family. The most significant gap, of course, is not only in water but, obviously, in transportation, where it has been estimated that an additional $1 trillion is needed across the network--including roads, bridges, rail--during the next decade. Again, I point to many of the Members in this body and so many of the folks who work for us simply traveling across the Memorial Bridge, one of our Nation's icons, which is basically in a crumbling state. Meanwhile, if we look at nations around the world in terms of what they are doing--remember the United States is under 2 percent of GDP investment and infrastructure--Europe and India spend about 5 percent of their GDP on an annual basis in infrastructure. China spends nearly 9 percent. Australia already has a national infrastructure financing authority. China also has a national infrastructure funding authority that is building out national high-speed rail networks. Think about it. For most of the 20th century, it was American infrastructure that led to America's economic dominance in the 20th century. Today, whether that is flying into our airports, looking at our rail system, or looking at our crumbling roads and systems, in many ways, America's infrastructure is a disgrace and actually retards economic growth. As we tighten our belts at the State level--and I say that as a former Governor--and at the Federal level, we need to do everything we can to invest in infrastructure as a means of not only providing jobs but helping the flow of goods and people and services to stay competitive in the global economy. Despite the recent passage of the so-called FAST Act, only 6 percent of infrastructure funding in the United States is from the private sector. With over $2.2 trillion sitting on private ledgers looking for a place to invest, that meager 6-percent figure, in terms of private sector investment in infrastructure, could be dramatically increased. The BRIDGE Act, the bill I am working on with Senator Blunt, establishes such an authority. It complements existing Federal programs scattered across several ages. It allows us to consolidate the expertise it takes to go against Wall Street in putting together infrastructure financing programs. This new authority could provide an important new tool for State and local governments to partner with the private sector to invest in our Nation's infrastructure. Let me be clear. Infrastructure financing alone isn't a silver bullet. If you finance, you have to pay those dollars back. But when we are looking at interest rates at record lows, failure to take advantage of accessing these private markets with interest rates at these low levels is the equivalent of political malfeasance. In terms of the BRIDGE Act, this program would complement existing programs such as TIFIA and WIFIA, which already provide good work. My hope is that joining with Senator Blunt and 12 of our colleagues-- equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans--if not on this bill, we will act on the BRIDGE Act and provide this critically important needed infrastructure tool to our tool kit to make sure that our roads, bridges, airports, water and sewer systems are functioning and allow America to compete in the 21st century economy. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I was unable to vote today on three amendments to the Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill, H.R. 2028. Had I been present, I would have voted yes on Senator Merkley's amendment No. 3812, to provide additional funding for wind energy projects, and yes on Senator Reid's amendment No. 3805, to fund water conservation programs in the Colorado River Basin. Lastly, I would have voted no on Senator Flake's amendment No. 3820, as it decreases funding for Army Corps of Engineers construction projects, which include flood and storm damage reduction, shore protection, and ecosystem restoration projects that are vital to numerous areas in Virginia.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I wish to thank my friend for his comments about addiction. I agree with the Senator from Ohio, talking about the victims from Ohio. I can assure him we have victims in Virginia and all across the country, and we need to get this legislation to the President's desk so people who are hurt by the scourge of drugs can get the treatment they need. Again, I thank him for his leadership. Nomination of Merrick Garland Madam President, I rise to again express my disappointment that many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have continued to obstruct consideration of an eminently qualified candidate to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. It has now been 36 days since President Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland; that is, 36 days that our highest Court has been relegated to falling short of its full constitutional obligations. Make no mistake. The Senate's inaction is already having a tangible impact on the Court's ability to function effectively. During the current session, we have seen our eight current Justices end up in a 4-to-4 deadlock in three separate cases since Justice Scalia's passing--effectively muting the Court's voice in consequential judicial proceedings. President Reagan himself said: ``Every day that passes with a Supreme Court below full strength impairs the people's business in that crucially important body.'' More recently, retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor put it quite simply, as she always does. She said: ``I think we need somebody there now to do the job, and let's get on with it.'' Indeed, the Supreme Court has granted only three cases since Justice Scalia died--a number experts say is extraordinarily low and an indication that the eight sitting Justices are acutely aware of the precarious position the Court is in with a vacancy. Many Senators apparently believe that President Obama shouldn't be able to make appointments under article II because he is in the last year of his term. The record shows there is nothing in the Constitution that says the President is only President for 3 of the 4 years of his or her term. I don't understand that reasoning. Under that reasoning, any of those same Senators who have made that argument shouldn't be voting on any bill that comes before this body in the last year of their Senate term. If we continue with that rationale, the President's office and the Senate would lead to further dysfunction. Quite honestly, that logic is beyond the pale. It is clear as well that the American people expect us to do our job. Recent polls show that by a 2-to-1 margin Americans want the Senate to hold hearings and vote on Judge Garland's nomination. That is why I remain so perplexed by the logical contortions that many of my colleagues are undertaking to justify their obstruction and quite honestly their failure to do their job. I had the chance to meet with Judge Garland last week. His qualifications and dedication to public service are beyond reproach. He has received strong bipartisan support in the past, but what also stood out to me are his measured view of the role of the judiciary, his strong record on national security, and commitment to keeping our country safe. This past Tuesday marked the 21st anniversary of the bombing of a Federal building in Oklahoma City. On that tragic day in 1995, 168 people, including 19 children, lost their lives. To this day, the Oklahoma City bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in our Nation's history. Judge Garland at that time was Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General. He was the guy who led the criminal investigation and supervised the prosecution of the bombers. Merrick Garland fought for justice for the victims and the families in Oklahoma City. Through his tireless efforts, deep understanding of the law, and attention to detail, he ensured that the prosecution had an airtight case. Ultimately, both bombers were successfully convicted. This is the highest profile instance in which Judge Garland exhibited his commitment to making and keeping our country safe, but it is far from the only one. In my meeting with him, it was clear that the safety and security of our citizens is an issue that quite honestly keeps him up at night. What also stands out about my conversation with Judge Garland is his sense of humility. Our conversation and his judicial record demonstrate to me that he is a moderate, thoughtful, consensus candidate. As Judge Garland said in the Rose Garden on the day he was nominated: People must be confident that a judge's decisions are determined by the law and only the law. For a judge to be worthy of such trust, he or she must be faithful to the Constitution, and to the statutes passed by Congress. He or she must put aside his personal views or preferences and follow the law; not make it. Fidelity to the Constitution and the law has been the cornerstone of my professional life, and is the hallmark of the kind of judge I have tried to be for the past 18 years. These are not the words nor the track record of a judicial activist. In my opinion, this is the kind of judge that Merrick Garland has been: not a judicial activist but someone who recognizes the important role and the important balance between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. I am encouraged that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have at least begun to give Judge Garland the courtesy of a meeting, but meetings alone are not sufficient. The American people deserve the opportunity to hear Judge Garland's qualifications debated in a public hearing in the Judiciary Committee, and they deserve an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. That is all we ask. I again urge my colleagues to give Judge Garland the consideration other nominees have received. At the end of the day, if they choose to vote against him, that is their right, but the idea that somehow they are interpreting the Constitution to say that in the last year of a Presidency a qualified judge should not even receive consideration of a hearing and a vote is quite honestly beyond the pale. Too often these debates end up going on and become extraordinarily complicated. In many ways, what I hear from Virginians--regardless of whether they want me to support Judge Garland--is a very simple message: Do your job. In the coming days and weeks, I hope the Senate will do its job and give Judge Garland the consideration of a hearing before the Judiciary Committee and then take up this eminently qualified jurist's nomination on the floor and give him the vote he deserves. I yield the floor. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am pleased to recognize that Saturday, April 16, 2016, was National Healthcare Decisions Day. National Healthcare Decisions Day exists to inspire, educate, and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning. Started by a Richmond attorney as a local grassroots initiative in Virginia, NHDD became an annual event in 2008, and today it is recognized across all 50 States. Faith-based groups, doctors and nurses, hospitals, patients, and caregivers alike are engaged in these efforts. NHDD is an opportunity for all Americans to discuss their preferences and goals with family and friends--and this starts with filling out an advance directive. In the last year, we have made real progress in giving Americans access to the clear, consistent, and concise information they need to make critical health care decisions, and there is a growing awareness of the need to transform advanced care, both among providers and families. In my own State of Virginia, the general assembly recently designated April as Advance Care Planning Month. Around the Commonwealth, Virginians are innovating and creating new models of care to provide patients with the tools and support to make their own advanced care decisions. For example, the Richmond Academy of Medicine's Honoring Choices Initiative is a partnership with three major health care systems working to adopt nationally recognized best practices and adapting them to the needs of patients, families, doctors, and hospitals in central Virginia. On the ground, Virginians are holding dozens of events this month to encourage individuals to fill out an advance directive. This year has been a significant one at the national level as well. For the first time, Medicare providers are being compensated for spending time with their patients to discuss their health care decisions. And I am pleased that the bipartisan Care Planning Act, which I introduced again this last year with Senator Isakson, has gained more support than ever, including from nearly 90 health and senior advocacy groups. The purpose of the Care Planning Act is to align the care people want with the level of care they get. It doesn't limit choices; it works to make sure people are made fully aware of the broad range of choices they have. The growing support for this legislation demonstrates just how far the conversation around advance care planning has come. While physician reimbursement is an important first step, the Care Planning Act provides a strong, bipartisan foundation for Congress as we consider how to further empower patients to make informed choices about their own care. I am working to advance this conversation wherever I can. For example, Senator Isakson and I are cochairs of the Finance Committee's bipartisan chronic care working group, and we are looking at a broad range of policies so that chronically ill patients receive the highest quality care at all stages of illness, especially towards the end of life. We are not going to pass the Care Planning Act in full as a part of that process, but I see this process as a real way to move the ball forward. While this process remains a work in progress, I am hopeful that we will be able to get some of these bipartisan provisions done. I know how important this is not just from my time serving as a Governor and as a Senator but through the eyes of a loved one who struggled with these issues. My own mother suffered from Alzheimer's disease for 10 years, and for 9 of those years, she couldn't speak. My father, sister, and I found grappling with the challenges of caring for her difficult. The difficulty was greater because, when she was first diagnosed, my family didn't take the opportunity to talk in an honest and fully informed way with her and her health care providers about the full array of health care options available or about what her priorities would be during the final years of her life. Care planning is a subject that most people do their best to avoid, but on National Healthcare Decisions Day, I urge all Americans to fill out an advance directive and to have these conversations. I also urge my fellow policymakers to continue engaging in this dialogue to improve advanced care planning at all levels--Federal, State, local--so that at the end of the day, we are empowering Americans and their loved ones.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to call attention to the significant contributions public servants make to our Nation every day. Since 2010, I have tried to come to the Senate floor on a fairly regular basis to recognize exemplary Federal employees. This is a tradition started by my friend Senator Ted Kaufman from Delaware when he was here for a few years--somebody who, as much as anybody in this body, having served as a staff member for so long, recognized the enormous value that people who work for our Federal Government provide to our national purpose and to making sure we get things done. Earlier this week, I met with some of these outstanding public servants. Convened under the umbrella of the Performance Improvement Council, I had a discussion with individuals participating in the Leaders Delivery Network and the White House Leadership Development Program fellowships. These senior administration officials, who are working--oftentimes in obscurity--to improve government performance, come together on a regular basis to collaborate and share best practices. Oftentimes on this floor, we talk about costs and budget issues. One challenge I think we don't spend enough time on is oversight. The fact is, there are many folks within the Federal Government who are focusing on improving government performance and making sure that we at the end of that also save resources. In the spirit of the work of the PIC, with which I met earlier this week, I am pleased to honor one exceptional Federal employee today who happens to be a Virginian--John Wagner. As Deputy Assistant Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mr. Wagner conceived, developed, and implemented two groundbreaking programs that overhauled the way American citizens and a growing number of foreign travelers enter the United States. At the time, CBP was facing the need for heightened security-- obviously, something that continues--while contending with an increase in the number of international travelers, which resulted in long wait times for arriving passengers, a surge in missed flight connections, and strained personnel capacity. Mr. Wagner's innovative solutions to making our century-old process work more effectively and efficiently are now familiar to millions of travelers worldwide: the Global Entry Trusted Traveler Program and the kiosk-based Automated Passport Control Program. As somebody who participates in the Global Entry Trusted Traveler Program, it has obviously sped my transit through many international airports. Global Entry saves travelers time and ensures a high level of security by employing a screening process that includes background checks, personal interviews, and fingerprinting. Approved travelers then bypass the regular immigration control lanes and proceed to the automated, biometrics-based, self-service kiosks that validate passports, verify fingerprints, and perform database queries. This back-end security allows approved travelers to quickly clear through Customs without the need for an interview with a Customs officer. Global Entry is now offered at 48 U.S. airports, including Dulles International Airport in my State of Virginia. In addition to streamlining the international arrivals process, the program has resulted in saving over 287,000 working hours and reducing the average wait time for members 84 percent when compared to travelers not enrolled in the program. Mr. Wagner's other brainchild has shown similar results. The kiosk- based Automated Passport Control Program automates the entry processes for those with U.S. passports and travelers from a number of foreign countries. This automation allows CBP officers to focus solely on questioning the individual and observing his or her behavioral responses, rather than getting bogged down with administrative procedures. The automated kiosks have resulted in decreases in average wait times for travelers and efficiencies in allocating human resources. Mr. Wagner described his work best, saying that ``it has contributed to the national security of the country, helped promote travel and tourism that benefits the economy, and delivered a public service that has been well received.'' I hope my colleagues will join me in thanking Mr. Wagner and government employees at all levels for their willingness to shake up the status quo and their commitment to providing exceptional service to Americans across the country. Today the Presiding Officer and I were at a budget hearing where, as former business members, we sometimes feel like our heads will explode in terms of our ability to get an appropriate audit of Federal spending and Federal programs. We talked about different processes, like the DATA Act, where we try to get more transparency. We have to do all this, but we also have to recognize and celebrate Federal employees who, at the work level, are coming up with great innovative programs, such as Mr. Wagner has done. So while we may disagree on many items in terms of how we get to ultimate policy issues--the Presiding Officer has had a very successful career in business--we know, as former businesspersons, that oftentimes some of the best ideas come from the workforce, and we need to do more to celebrate individuals like Mr. Wagner who come forth with good ideas that have been implemented on a cost-effective basis and that save time, save money, and increase national security. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, due to a prior commitment, I regret I was not present to vote on the nomination of Dr. John B. King to be Secretary of the Department of Education. Had I been present, I would have voted in support of his confirmation. I look forward to working closely with him as the Department of Education continues implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. WARNER

Mr. WARNER. Madam President, let me first of all thank my colleague from the State of Connecticut for his comments. I, too, will be joining him and others in supporting the resolution to be brought forward in some moments by Senator Paul. I, too, agree that this is a rather blunt instrument. A more strategic use of bringing some leverage to this kind of action would be a more appropriate path, and I hope that in future times, when we have a chance to review foreign arms sales, we will take that more nuanced approach. Madam President, while I approve of much of what the Senator from Connecticut has said, I want to speak to this issue from a slightly different perspective, and that is the message that at least inadvertently we will be sending with approval of the sale of these jets. And let me again commend Senator Corker and Senator Cardin for appropriately looking at the issue of public financing of these sales. If we move forward with these sales without putting some markers down, I think we potentially not only do damage to holding Pakistan's feet to the fire in terms of the threat of terrorists in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the region but also potentially do damage to one of the most important relationships our country has, and that is the strategic relationship between the United States and India. This relationship has been one of enormous, growing importance. India has been a valuable and strategic partner of the United States and is a tremendous ally in promoting global peace and security. That has not always been the case. Relations between our two nations have been steadily improving over the past decade, ranging from approval on the Civilian Nuclear Agreement, to frequent coordination between our militaries, and at this point over $100 billion in bilateral trade. Prime Minister Modi in India has made a personal commitment to improving the ties between the United States and India. The Prime Minister will come back to the United States at the end of this month. Nowhere is the potential for our strategic relationship greater than in our bilateral defense relationship, which again has seen great progress over the past decade. Last year our two nations signed the framework that will advance military-to-military exchanges. We are also proceeding with joint development of defense technology, which seeks to increase defense sales and to create a cooperative technology and industrial relationship that can promote both capabilities in the United States and in India. I viewed with some concern last month when the administration announced the sale of these eight F-16s to Pakistan. And again I want to commend the leadership of the Foreign Relations Committee for making very clear that even if this sale should go forward, the financing of this sale is still subject to further American review. What brings me to wanting to support Senator Paul's resolution is the fact that as recently as January of this year, Pakistani-based terrorists claimed responsibility for an attack against an Indian military base at Pathankot. The attack on this air force base, which resulted in the killing of Indian military forces, was a great tragedy. So far, Pakistan has refused to share intelligence or to turn over those suspects to the Indian Government. With those kinds of actions, I cannot go ahead and continue this policy where we continue, in effect, to give Pakistan a pass, whether it is actions in the region vis-a-vis Afghanistan or within their own country but also in terms of their unwillingness to meet India even halfway in terms of trying to bring a greater stability to one of the regions that could potentially become a tinderbox in terms of the border regions between India and Pakistan. So I will be supporting Senator Paul's resolution. I hope the Government of Pakistan hears the concern of this Senator and other Senators. I hope they will act aggressively in terms of bringing justice to those terrorists who invaded Indian space and attacked the Indian Air Force base. Showing that kind of responsible behavior might lead to at least this Senator taking a different view in terms of future military sales. With that, I yield the floor, and I recognize my colleague, who I believe will bring this resolution to the floor.