[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 151 (Thursday, December 11, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6649-S6657]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   PROTECTING VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS AND EMERGENCY RESPONDERS ACT OF 
                            2014--Continued


                       Tributes to Mary Landrieu

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I will just say a couple words before I 
turn it over to the Chair and to my colleague from West Virginia.
  When I think of Mary Landrieu, I think of the most tenacious person 
in the Senate standing here, holding court, fighting for her cause, 
fighting for her values, fighting for her State. I think particularly 
of the hard work she did on flood insurance, on this issue that was so 
critical to the State of Louisiana and very important to my State of 
Oregon and to our other States but particularly Louisiana. She was 
determined. Every time I was on the floor, she would say: Jeff, have 
you done this and Jeff, have you done that. She would grab someone 
else, and she would say: And now we have to do this. That is how 
legislation gets done.
  Senator Landrieu really drives things through the Senate. It is one 
thing to be here and express your ideas in kind of a social manner--
well, wouldn't this be nice or wouldn't that be nice; it is another to 
stand here and say: I am going to make this happen because it is 
important to my constituents and important to our Nation. I have seen 
Mary Landrieu do that on issue after issue, and certainly for all who 
came in with my class 6 years ago, it has been a wonderful education on 
how to make maximum use and effectiveness from this privilege of 
serving in the Senate.
  Thank you for everything you have done, Mary Landrieu. It is an honor 
to serve with you, and we are going to miss you greatly.NOTICE

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CHARLES E. SCHUMER, Chairman.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. All of us came here at one time or another, and the 
first impression you have is how they kind of ingratiate you and bring 
you into the

[[Page S6650]]

fold. I am often asked--I am sure most of our colleagues are asked the 
same question--whom do you consider your best and closest friend and 
whom do you associate with and whom do you feel comfortable with? In 
any category, without a doubt, it is always Mary Landrieu. We come from 
a similar background--rural States. We come from the same culture--
hard-working people who basically don't ask for an awful lot and give a 
lot more back. Both of us come from large Catholic families, and we 
have an awful lot in common. We and our spouses have bonded, and we 
have done things together. That was the way I heard the place used to 
work, that you build relationships and there is camaraderie and you 
share dinners at people's homes. It is such a different atmosphere when 
that happens because you really do forge a bond that is so much missing 
in this body.
  Let me say one other thing. The great losers in this whole election 
process we just had were the great people of Louisiana. They lost a 
champion. They lost a fighter. That is what Senator Merkley said. There 
is nobody who said: I think you ought to be careful about that because 
I think Mary is interested. We knew there could be problems.
  With that being said, the best thing to do is to go talk to Mary on 
this subject or issue, and we would work through it. How do we 
compromise and bring everybody together? And Mary would say: We will 
work through it.
  Coming from an energy State and Mary having an energy State and the 
two of us being Democrats, on our side sometimes our individual caucus 
is not as large as we would like for it to be--let's put it that way--
but we talk an awful lot about how we are moving an energy policy. As 
Mary said, we need it all in this country. We should be totally energy 
independent. We shouldn't be looking to other countries and buying 
their products and giving them the resources to be used against us, and 
we don't have to do that. We can do it in a sensible and balanced way 
with the economy and the environment. Mary has always had the economy 
and environment first and foremost. That type of balance is hard to 
find, and it is definitely hard to find in Washington.
  So I just want her to know that there is nobody who is going to miss 
Mary Landrieu more than I, being in this body, going shoulder to 
shoulder with her and trying to bring an even keel to this whole 
process.
  Mary, I feel for the people of Louisiana. I truly do. I am hoping 
somebody can come along and have the same spirit and fight that you 
have, but no one is going to be able to replace you and what you have 
been able to do and what you have been able to make us aware of.
  My little State was involved in helping Katrina, helping the State of 
Louisiana. The State of West Virginia came immediately. When that 
happened, we were so proud to be part of that, and we now have a lot of 
people from Louisiana living in West Virginia today because of that 
effort.
  There has been a wonderful relationship and a wonderful friendship, 
but more importantly, there has been a wonderful person who has graced 
the Halls in this tremendous body for 18 years who will not be replaced 
in this Senate and this body. Again, the people of Louisiana should be 
extremely proud to have someone who is a fighter, who gave every drop 
she had of public service for her State and never forgot where she come 
from. So with that, that is a tremendous tribute in itself.
  I say to my dear friend, thank you for your service on behalf of the 
great State of Louisiana. Thank you for all the important work you have 
done for our country. God bless you, and I love you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, you can see that Mary Landrieu has a 
lot of friends on both sides of the aisle, and that is because Mary has 
stood up and been a mentor to so many of us. She taught us how to fight 
for our own States because that is what she has done every day for 
Louisiana.
  I was thinking about our States earlier. Mary mentioned in her talk 
about how Minnesota is at the top of the Mississippi and Louisiana is 
at the bottom and how hard we fought for river issues and barges and 
locks and dams. We will actually have success at the end of the year 
with the ABLE Act, which is really important for other reasons, but we 
are going to finally start the funding for lock and dam improvements, 
and that kind of work would not have happened without Mary and the work 
and support she has provided with the RIVER Act. So a river doesn't 
divide us, it unites us, and Mary is a uniter and brings people 
together on so many issues.
  She said before that she was going to put some things on the Record 
about adoption, but I thought I would take the opportunity to fill 
people in.
  First of all, Mary established the Congressional Coalition on 
Adoption Institute. If you have not gone to some of the events where 
she literally brings the angels--people who have adopted children in 
the most dire circumstances--to Washington to celebrate these adoptions 
and talk about the policy changes that need to be made.
  Anyone who has adopted one of the foster kids or brought them into an 
office and adopted them--the reason you can do that is because Mary 
Landrieu started that program so that foster children, who otherwise 
would not have the connections and wherewithal to be able to get a job 
for the summer, spring, or fall in Washington, DC, would be able to 
work, and then she has all of these kids to her house every single 
year.
  Mary doesn't just fight for adopted kids at home, she fights for them 
all over the world. I would hate to be the bureaucrat in Guatemala when 
Mary Landrieu shows up to fight them off. I see her staff, and some of 
them were probably with her on that trip. I think she knew the name of 
every child who was waiting to be adopted in Guatemala.
  How can we forget the meeting with the Russians when they started to 
use these poor little children as pawns in a political game? Mary stood 
up to them. As a result, as many of us know, she has now been banned 
from the country of Russia. I don't think everybody knows that the 
reason she was banned was because she was fighting for these kids who 
were waiting to be adopted. Many of the parents are in my State, and 
they actually have siblings and they are trying to adopt the other 
sibling. That is a very sad story and Mary stood up for them. In the 
words of her dad, Putin didn't like it, and so Mary was banned. I guess 
that is not where she is going on vacation after we are done here.
  The other thing about Mary I will never forget--how kind and sweet 
and fun she is for her friends in the Senate--is the time when we had a 
bet on the Saints-Vikings game in the playoffs. We bet some food from 
our States. If anybody remembers that amazing playoff game, the Vikings 
lost, and I had to wear a Drew Brees jersey and walk over to Mary's 
office with a pot of gumbo, which is really hard to make. When I got to 
her office, all of her New Orleans press was there, and when she tried 
that gumbo, she said, this is Minnesota gumbo. This gumbo just needs 
something special. She got out an enormous bottle of hot sauce from her 
desk drawer--as only a Louisiana Senator would have--and dumped it in 
my Minnesota gumbo. That is the spice that Mary has added to all of our 
lives.
  What we have learned from her we will never forget. As I said, she is 
a role model for so many of us on how to fight for our States.
  We see it in the eyes of those little adopted children and the great 
success we are starting to see on the coast because of all the recovery 
you brought to your State. We know you will never be forgotten and we 
want you to keep fighting.
  Thank you, Mary.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I can't leave the floor without speaking 
to Mary. Mary has been such an incredible inspiration to me. I have 
been in the Senate now for 13 months, and I have had a number of 
conversations with her, but the best way to teach somebody is to show 
somebody.
  Senator Landrieu is prodigiously persuasive, tirelessly tenacious, 
doggedly determined. Just to watch Senator Landrieu is to watch what 
every American should hope for in a Senator--someone who is unyielding 
in their work and service to them.

[[Page S6651]]

  If you look at the myriad of interests in the State of Louisiana, I 
was amazed by what I saw firsthand. Mary stood up and fought for the 
people who were loud and ornery but still had a good cause as well as 
the people who were voiceless and humble. Mary stood up for them. Mary 
stood up for people in her community who were from every different 
background and from every different race. Mary stood up to them in a 
way that is a model to my State.
  I heard my senior Senator mention you by name about how essential you 
were when my State had its back against the wall and crushed by a 
superstorm. When there were battles to get my State's funding, and Mary 
had no skin in that game, my senior Senator mentioned you as a champion 
for New Jersey and that is what blows me away about you.
  I yearn for a government that has moral courage, more than we have 
now, people who will risk popularity for purpose and will risk 
substance for some kind of celebrity. Senator Landrieu has done things 
against her political interests, but that were for the people. That is 
why I have a great deal of reverence for you and why I travel down to 
your State.
  Now the Senator knows this because I must have said it hundreds of 
times when I was down in Louisiana, that that is my ancestral State. I 
will end by saying this: My grandaddy was born in Monroe. He was born 
poor. As my family likes to say, he was so poor he couldn't afford to 
be poor, he was po, P-O. He was born to a single mama. He was born 
Black at a time of immense segregation, when people who walked the 
hallways of power couldn't give a damn about him. He taught me love for 
your State, and more importantly, the urgency to stand up and fight for 
those people that most folks won't fight for.
  I am telling you right now, my grandaddy died during my first big 
election, but if he knew you, he would be so proud of your service.
  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. BEGICH. I wish to echo all the comments people said today, but I 
have to be honest. When I was elected, I was scared of Mary. People 
said very politely that you should check with Mary to see if she has an 
issue with something. I was terrified of what people told me she would 
do if I was not on her side.
  If you remember, when I came in, we doubled the oil and gas caucus in 
the Democratic caucus by me just joining, and so we had an immediate 
connection, which was unique in itself. Our connection was not just 
that, but also, as Mary mentioned, her mentor, Lindy Boggs, and our 
family knows the Boggses very well.
  I can still remember a call I got when I won my mayor's race in 2003 
from this woman in Louisiana. My staff came in and said some woman from 
Louisiana is calling, and we don't know who she is, but she wants to 
talk to you, and so I said, OK. I took the phone call, and it was Lindy 
Boggs. You know how she would start a conversation with ``Hi, darlin', 
I just want to check in with you and see how you are doing, and 
congratulations.'' Then she said, ``One moment, someone is at my 
door.'' She came back and said, ``The exterminator is here,'' and that 
is classic Lindy Boggs.
  What was so real about her--and I can see it in Mary's style--and 
that is she is real. The work Mary has done--and I didn't know it until 
I came to the Senate--for foster kids and adoption is remarkable. Amy 
Klobuchar went into great detail about that, and it shows that it is 
not always about the policy and fights on the floor here, but there is 
so much that individuals do outside this Chamber. What Mary has done 
outside of the Chamber is to use this position to make a difference for 
young people, and that is powerful. As Mary has said, we fight over 
policies and issues, but every one of those young people has been 
touched in some way. I guarantee--and I am sure you have seen it over 
the years where someone might come up to you and say, I don't know if 
you remember me, and then they tell you the story of how you met them 
when they were a foster kid and just getting adopted or when you were 
at one of the ceremonies or one of the events they were at. Those are 
the things I will remember about you.
  The tenacity that people talked about--there is no question about it. 
I was glad when I got on the Appropriations Committee because I 
thought, finally, I will be on there with someone who will chew it up 
with me, and I just had to hang on to your coattails when you were 
fighting on issues.
  When we sat in on those leadership meetings on Tuesday morning, I was 
always thankful when you came in. You were right across from me. I 
don't know if they all figured it out--maybe, again, as I said, it is a 
little bit of confession--we had our signals, or maybe eye contact, and 
then we went to work. You were really incredible.
  When you were in caucus--and many people don't see those, except as 
Members--you were always passionate about what was important to 
Louisiana. You never forgot what was important to Louisiana.
  People made the comment that you are tenacious. I would say that any 
time something did move in the Congress, you were a part of it in some 
way. When we were trying to figure out how to fix the health care bill, 
you were right there. You didn't hesitate. You knew it was a hot 
potato, but it was also something that we knew we had to make better, 
not just for people but for decades to come. You were not afraid of 
that even though you said you knew it could cost you your election 
because you knew generationally it would have an impact.
  It wasn't about the moment, it was about 10, 15, 20 years, you could 
look back and say you helped make that happen, and you did, every time 
you tried to move in and push an item or idea. Even though we will not 
be serving here, you will have an impact.
  I could tell, as we were shaking hands here, it was amazing to watch 
you, you never stop. You were already talking to each person about the 
work they need to be doing. When I shook your hand, you were talking 
about fisheries. I am like, Mary, just relax. But you are already 
working it, and that is what is so unique about you. You will not be in 
this body, but you will be in this body because of the way you do your 
work. It is not about being in this office, it is about caring about 
Louisiana, and as I said, I saw it just in this last moment here. It is 
unbelievable. You will never give up on the people of Louisiana because 
you care so deeply.
  It has been an honor to know you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. COATS. I wish to make some remarks about the Senator from 
Louisiana. I had the pleasure of serving as ranking member of the 
Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, and Mary Landrieu was the 
chairman. I wasn't sure about what to expect when I joined that 
committee. I knew of Mary's passion and her persuasion, which is given 
in a gentle but effective way. She reaches out. I thought, she is going 
to convince me out of just about everything. I will not be able to hold 
my own with her, but she was so gracious in terms of working together 
with me as we worked through some very tough issues.
  She was a knowledgeable and effective leader. She couldn't ask enough 
questions, couldn't gain enough information, making wise decisions, 
given the limitations that we had relative to appropriations and given 
the process that, unfortunately, was not the way the Appropriations 
Committee should go forward. Nevertheless, working together on that and 
on a whole number of issues turned out to be a very pleasant experience 
because of the nature of the leader of the committee and their 
willingness to work together.
  You get to learn something about someone when you spend 3 days 
trekking along the southern border on the immigration issue. We climbed 
into tunnels, driving along fences, talking to Border Patrol agents, 
looking at the enormous channels that exist relative to that border and 
our Border Patrol people and immigration control people. Both of us 
were right there in blue jeans and tennis shoes in hot weather, and 
learning firsthand the challenges this country faces relative to 
dealing with immigration.
  Her passion for children and her State has been talked about. I think 
the word that best describes Mary is passion. She has passion for the 
engagement in anything that she engages

[[Page S6652]]

in and doing it in a way that is relentless and reaches results. I 
think it is a great tribute to her character and to the kind of person 
she is.
  One thing we will not be able to do is meet together somewhere in 
Russia. I have been banned from Russia and Mary has been banned from 
Russia. I was banned because I took significant exception to the 
Russian takeover of Crimea and its activities in Ukraine. I was 
surprised by that. Mary was banned for an unnecessary reason, and that 
was trying to help Russian children who were trying to find adoptive 
parents. Obviously she was successful, and obviously she was as 
relentless there as she was on all the other issues because Russia saw 
that as a threat. Here is someone reaching out for all the right 
reasons and doing something for all the right reasons--passion for 
children and finding them a home.
  I wish Mary the very best going forward in her next chapter of life. 
I can testify to you from personal experience that there is life after 
Congress, and it can be a pleasant life. Knowing you, you will be 
engaged in something very significant--whether for your State or your 
country. Your life of service, and your family's life of service, is 
well recognized. So I wish the Senator from Louisiana the very best as 
she goes forward. It has been a pleasure working with her.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish to follow the comments of my 
friend, the Senator from Indiana, although I do think the Record should 
be corrected. I would say to my colleague I have also dealt with the 
Senator from Louisiana a number of times on a number of issues, and I 
have thought of lots of words to describe her style, but ``gentle'' 
would not be one to come to mind.
  I know this is a day to pay tribute, so I wish to echo some of the 
comments of the Senator from Indiana.
  I first met part of the Landrieu family when I had a chance to meet 
Mary's dad when he was serving as the Secretary of HUD and I was a 
young staff person. Mary talks a lot about her family. Her family was 
kind enough to host me a variety of times when I was in Louisiana. She 
has a great family, a great tradition.
  So many folks have spoken about specific issues regarding Mary's 
service in the Senate. I am not going to talk about her focus on issues 
and the relentlessness she brings, but I wish to acknowledge her 
generosity and heart and spirit. She and Frank would always open their 
home for whatever cause. Again, I heard the comments about her enormous 
heart and commitment for adoption. I think about so many events that we 
go to, but those Angels of Adoption events at her house touched all of 
us in a way that is not often the case. I also can acknowledge now that 
she has a great love for the Commonwealth of Virginia and has spent 
some time there due to her love of horses and her daughter's riding and 
her own riding. As has been mentioned by so many--and I know from our 
own conversations--this is not somebody who wants to look backward but 
is clearly already looking forward. I know life holds for you and Frank 
a number of extraordinarily exciting additional chapters. I hope I have 
the opportunity to be a part of those chapters and to be subject to 
that gentle persuasion on whatever issue comes to mind as you go 
forward.
  I know I speak for so many of our colleagues when I say we all have a 
lot of unique characteristics, but with Mary Landrieu they broke the 
mold.
  I yield the floor to my good friend the Senator from Maryland.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, one of the truly nice things about serving 
in the Senate is the people we meet. Myrna and I consider Frank and 
Mary to be our friends. She is an incredible person and has given 
incredible service. I am sorry the people of Louisiana could not see 
Mary in our caucuses as she fought on different issues for the people 
of Louisiana and what she did as an advocate on behalf of people who 
otherwise would not have had their voices heard. She did it in a very 
effective way.
  I heard some of the conversations about what happened with Katrina 
and the people of New Orleans. Mary Landrieu brought us down to 
Louisiana for us to see firsthand. It was incredible for me, not to 
just see the physical devastation, but thanks to Mary Landrieu, we saw 
the people. We saw the spirit in the people, but we saw people who 
needed help. It is that type of emotional involvement that Mary gives 
to every cause she believes in.
  So I want the Senator from Louisiana to know how much I deeply 
respect your model of public service and the people you stood up for.
  Senator Landrieu spoke about the adoption issue. She got into it 
because she has such a big family. I think I got into it because of 
her. She is pretty persuasive. We all feel better because of that. 
Senator Landrieu is the one who really led us in those efforts. What an 
incredible legacy.
  I want to speak a minute about small business issues. Senator 
Landrieu chaired that committee during a particularly important time. I 
want to relate a couple of stories to my colleagues. There are many 
times I was in the Democratic caucus and we would be talking about an 
issue and Senator Landrieu would stand and say, Well, how about small 
businesses? Under her leadership we brought some major initiatives to 
the floor to help small businesses because of Mary Landrieu and her 
ability to put together a commonsense package. She understood small 
businesses are the growth engine of America. That is how jobs are 
created and that is where innovation takes place. I can tell my 
colleagues--I worked with her. I know what we got done. I know how we 
took on our own governmental agencies to make sure they did right for 
small businesses and how we fought the bundling. Contract officers love 
to take small contracts and make them into big ones because it is less 
headache for them but less opportunity for small businesses. Mary 
Landrieu stopped that practice and put a spotlight on it. It was an 
incredible experience for me because it showed me that each of us can 
make a difference.
  I knew what I was trying to do. One of the issues I got involved with 
was to raise the surety bond issues and I didn't see much chance of 
getting it done and Mary gave me the opportunity to get it done. She 
coached me on how to get it done, and that is now a permanent law of 
the land.
  She made us all relevant on the committee, individually and 
collectively. We have a great legacy to help small businesses in this 
country, thanks to the leadership of Senator Landrieu.
  To the people of Louisiana, they could not have had a stronger 
advocate, a stronger friend, a person who accomplished more for that 
State during some extremely challenging times. To the people of this 
country and the work Mary Landrieu did on the Appropriations Committee 
for our national security and standing up for and protecting and 
defending our own country, the record of Senator Landrieu is 
incredible. To those who are voiceless but had Mary Landrieu to speak 
for them, the disadvantaged; to small businesses--and the list goes on 
and on and on--this is one incredible legislator. She is a model to 
many of us. I thank her so much for her service and her commitment to 
public life. It will always be an inspiration to me, the fact that I 
was given the honor to serve with you in the Senate of the United 
States.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Walsh). The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise to add my words of admiration for 
this great person, for this great legislator. Just to tell a brief 
story, it was back in 2006, in a lameduck session just like this. The 
Democrats had won and were about to take over the Senate. The Democrats 
had just won and were about to take over the House--a different passage 
in time. But throughout all of 2006, even in the minority, Mary 
Landrieu was moving a bill to open up a vast new area in the Gulf of 
Mexico for drilling for oil and natural gas.
  I was over in the House. I was from Massachusetts. I did not want 
this bill to pass. I wanted to actually save it for 2007 when the 
Democrats were in control. We could pass it in an energy bill by the 
end of 2007, which would have included this provision. Mary passed it 
through the Senate--bipartisan, as usual. If we look up bipartisan, if 
we Google it, Mary's picture actually comes up.

[[Page S6653]]

  Over in the House, because of all of her momentum, I lost and that 
bill passed. Again, tens of thousands of new jobs fell to Louisiana 
through Mary Landrieu.
  It was about a week later when I was out shopping and here comes Mary 
right toward me with her daughter in her riding outfit.
  Mary said: I want to introduce you to Congressman Markey.
  I said to her daughter: Well, you have to add a few additional words 
because your mother just defeated me quite badly just last week and 
passed a big bill for Louisiana, for whom your mother always calls her 
people, the people of Louisiana.
  There isn't anybody who understands better the spirit of legislating, 
about protecting your home State and respecting those who are maybe not 
in agreement with you but are not your enemy but somebody whom you try 
to work with.
  After the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico I was the lead Democrat in 
the House on the Natural Resources Committee with jurisdiction over 
that, and Mary again was outraged that such damage could be done to her 
fishermen, to her tourism industry, to her people in Louisiana. She 
worked hard to make sure billions of dollars would ultimately go back 
into the gulf to ensure that her fishermen, her tourism industry, and 
her people were protected.
  Then, after having served in the House for 37 years, I arrived in the 
Senate with a great concern that a bill I had been working on in 
Massachusetts, which was the dramatic rise in the insurance rates for 
homeowners and businesses right along the coastline of Massachusetts, 
and I had to introduce legislation not only to work on the issue, but 
when I arrived in the Senate, Mary Landrieu was already here, already 
working on that bill, all ready to protect her homeowners, her small 
business people from outrageous increases in insurance rates that would 
have basically made their homes unaffordable.
  Throughout my career, all I can tell my colleagues is one constant is 
this great, legendary legislator, somebody who embodies all the best of 
what this institution stands for. I just want to let her know how proud 
I have been to be able to serve with her here and how proud I am to be 
able to tell a story of the time when she just beat me flat-out because 
that is just how she plays. She plays it for her State every time, and 
no waiting if it is Louisiana. I know all the people of Louisiana know 
that about her.
  So congratulations on your great career.
  I yield the floor.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, as I start my comments on the land title 
legislation before us, I would be remiss if I did not mention the 
incredible work our chair Mary Landrieu has done on this legislation. 
As we just heard from the tribute to her service over the last few 
minutes, as the Presiding Officer said in his comments, if you Google 
``bipartisan,'' there will be a picture of Mary Landrieu. I think this 
title sort of embodies that. We owe great gratitude to Chairman 
Landrieu and to Ranking Member Murkowski for the incredible negotiation 
and work they have put into this package.
  We stand on the cusp of passing one of the most significant pieces of 
public land legislation since the omnibus bill of 2009. I stand here to 
speak on behalf of this well-balanced package which is absolutely 
critical for jobs across the Western United States and particularly 
from the perspective of my home State of New Mexico.
  I want to say that absolutely none of this would be possible were it 
not for the years of effort and support from the local communities that 
helped to craft this legislation. Thanks to their work, New Mexico's 
critical public land-based economic engine will continue to grow and 
the energy, tourism, and sporting and recreation sectors. New 
wilderness and National Park Service units will continue to make New 
Mexico an unmatched destination for world travelers as well as to the 
local families who have known for centuries that New Mexico truly is 
the land of enchantment.
  I wish to start by talking a little bit about a place that is located 
in the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico.
  This is a picture of Lobo Peak, which is part of this area called 
Columbine Hondo. Lobo Peak is 12,000 feet and change. It is quite a 
spectacular view--the kind of view most people associate with Montana 
or Colorado or Wyoming. The Sangre de Cristo mountains in northern New 
Mexico are unmatched or could match any of those mountain ranges in 
States found farther north in the Rockies.
  Columbine Hondo has been managed as a wilderness study area since 
1980. It is an area that is cherished by all who know it and is a key 
attraction for the local tourism and outdoor recreation economy.
  When I was a young outfitter guide and the executive director of the 
Cottonwood Gulch Foundation, Columbine Hondo was one of the spectacular 
destinations where our students backpacked and slept under the stars 
and learned to navigate in the backcountry. This area has some of the 
best elk, mule deer, and bighorn sheep habitat in New Mexico. People 
come from across the Nation to experience a true wilderness elk hunt in 
its aspen and fir forests.
  Fishermen will tell you that it is home to some of the last, best 
habitat for our native Rio Grande cutthroat trout, which is, 
coincidentally, New Mexico's State fish as well.
  Columbine Hondo is home to the headwaters of the Red River and the 
Rio Hondo. There is nothing more precious in a State such as New Mexico 
than our water. Those are major tributaries of the Rio Grande. The 
snowmelt from Lobo Peak, seen here, and from Gold Hill provide critical 
irrigation water to local acequia associations that carry on centuries-
old agricultural traditions.
  For millennia now, these mountains, rivers, and wildlife have 
supported New Mexico's traditional communities. The first evidence of 
human habitation here stretches back 11,000 years. Nearby Taos Pueblo 
has been continuously inhabited for more than 1,000 years. Spanish 
settlers first came to the area in the 16th century. Hispanic families 
have relied on these mountains and their bounty for their way of life 
ever since.
  Today Columbine Hondo is a central attraction to visitors to Taos 
County, where outdoor recreation and tourism drive the local economy 
and contribute to a 68,000-job-strong public land recreation industry 
in our State.
  In addition to finally designating Columbine Hondo as a full-fledged 
wilderness area, this package would also expand the Wheeler Peak 
Wilderness by approximately 650 additional acres while modifying a 
boundary in order to create a loop trail accessible by mountain bikes 
along the Lost Lake Trail from Taos Ski Valley, to the East Fork Trail, 
to Red River.
  This proposal has broad community support, including Taos Pueblo, 
many local government leaders, hunters, fishermen, business owners, 
land grant heirs, ranchers, acequia parcientes, conservationists, 
mountain bikers, veterans, and literally the list could go on and on.
  In October, on my birthday--I could not have asked for a better 
birthday gift--I was able to join the Columbine Hondo Wilderness 
Coalition as well as regional stakeholders and local elected officials 
for a hike into the area to highlight the conservation and water 
initiatives they support. Local residents discussed why they support 
permanently protecting Columbine Hondo and what the area means to them 
and their livelihoods and their lives.
  Esther Garcia, an acequia commissioner and the former mayor of 
Questa, expressed her support well when she said:

       Columbine Hondo is very important to all of us. To preserve 
     this beautiful wilderness area, we preserve our hunting, our 
     pinon picking, our herb gathering.

  I thank all of the residents of Taos County who have worked hard for 
decades--literally decades--to make this wilderness area a reality.
  Also included in this public land package is a provision to 
transition the 

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Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico to new management to 
increase public access. This proposal was developed after extensive 
input from local residents, sportsmen, business owners, elected 
officials, and is supported by a number of local chambers of commerce. 
Together they decided that a national preserve, managed by the Park 
Service, with a mandate for hunting and fishing to remain central to 
the management of the area, was the best way to ensure expanded public 
access while preserving the incredible landscape for future 
generations.

  As you can see from this photo, Valles Caldera is often called New 
Mexico's Yellowstone for a reason. It is literally an area that was 
created as a collapsed supervolcano, where cinder cones rise up out of 
the high-elevation grassland and where the cinder cones and the 
mountains that encircle this collapsed crater are covered in Douglas-
fir and fir and aspen forests. It is a spectacular landscape. The 
Caldera is home to crystal-clear trout streams and some of the best elk 
habitat in the country.
  Since this area was transitioned to public ownership, the preserve 
has been managed by a board of trustees charged with generating enough 
revenue from user fees and other sources to make the preserve 
financially self-sustaining--literally the same model used for the 
Presidio in San Francisco, but, as you can see, this is not San 
Francisco. This management regime has led to drastically limited public 
access, with relatively high entrance and permit fees, blocking many 
New Mexicans and other Americans out of this public land. By shifting 
to Park Service management, we can open the Valles Caldera to the 
public while conserving the incredible, really one-of-a-kind unique 
resources that are found here.
  As someone who has been lucky enough to draw an elk tag in the 
Caldera, expanding hunting opportunities for the public is one of the 
primary reasons I am supporting this proposal. The preserve model 
ensures that hunting and fishing remain a central activity for the 
public to enjoy. National Park Service management will help balance 
expanded public access with conserving both the natural and the 
incredible cultural resources that are found in this area.
  Park Service management will also help bring more visitors and will 
raise the national profile of the preserve for visitors from outside 
New Mexico. The increase in visitors at the preserve is expected to 
bring more than 200 jobs and $8 million in wages to the local 
communities in the region. That is great news for places such as Los 
Alamos, Espanola, and Jemez Springs.
  We have seen elsewhere how protecting public lands spurs economic 
development. According to Headwaters Economics, rural counties with 
protected Federal lands such as national parks and preserves saw a 345-
percent increase in jobs over the last four decades, whereas rural 
counties without commensurate protected public lands saw job increases 
of only 83 percent in the same period.
  I thank the local communities and all the elected officials who have 
worked so hard for decades to make this proposal possible. I thank 
Senator Tom Udall and former Senator Jeff Bingaman for their leadership 
on this issue.
  We all literally stand on the shoulders of giants in this community 
effort, as it was Senator Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico who helped 
pass the Wilderness Act and who first proposed National Park Service 
management of the Valles Caldera in the early 1960s.
  Additionally, as the son of a Navy sailor who literally saw the last 
of the aboveground atom bomb explosions and the first of the hydrogen 
bomb explosions firsthand, I am especially pleased to see that the 
Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act, which was introduced by 
Senator Maria Cantwell, is also included in this title. It will 
establish three different educational sites--one in Los Alamos, NM, one 
at Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and one at Hanford in Washington. Los 
Alamos, NM, has made incredible contributions to our Nation's nuclear 
history. These parks will conserve historic sites and artifacts that 
played a key role in the dawn of the nuclear era, while telling the 
story of the creation of the world's first atomic bomb and exploring 
its consequences for our society and our world.
  Finally, I would like to mention the provision in this package that 
will benefit New Mexico's energy economy. It is one that I know Senator 
Landrieu was very supportive and excited about. It is a bill that I 
cosponsored, but it was authored by my colleague Senator Tom Udall, who 
championed this effort to ensure that the Bureau of Land Management has 
the staff it needs to streamline the oil and gas drilling permit 
process, while at the same time strengthening the review system that 
helps them meet important environmental and safety standards.
  Thousands of jobs and a sizable portion of our State's economy are 
supported in New Mexico by the oil and gas industry. Increasing 
cooperation among Federal agencies and business is an important way to 
boost job creation, while at the same time expanding domestic energy 
production.
  Like other Americans who value our shared lands as assets to be 
utilized, to be enjoyed, and to be passed along to future generations, 
these are all things worth fighting for. I am committed to carry on my 
State's rich conservation history, and this legislation makes an 
enormous contribution to that ever-evolving story.

  I yield the floor to my colleague the Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. I thank the Senator from New Mexico for his comments on 
the land portion of the national defense authorization. I very much 
appreciate the work he has done and his hard work fighting for the 
people of New Mexico since his time in the Senate.
  We thank you very much for your leadership, Senator Heinrich.
  Mr. President, 1 million people live in the great State of Montana. 
We are home to farmers, ranchers, working families, small business 
owners, and to bold sports men and women who explore until they are too 
exhausted to take another step.
  Our lands are famous worldwide, from Glacier National Park and 
Yellowstone National Park to wild and scenic rivers such as the North 
Fork of the Flathead River. We attract the best explorers, the best 
hunters and anglers, and all those who simply want to get away from it 
all.
  But our outdoors just aren't for out-of-staters. Montanans deeply 
value our land. Many Montanans remember their first hunting trip. Many 
recall where they landed their first trout. I remember riding horses 
with my father in the Bear Paw Mountains.
  Montanans come with a lot of opinions, but one issue that unites us 
is taking care of our public lands and keeping our public lands in 
public hands. We want to make sure our kids and grandkids can hike in 
the Bob Marshall Wilderness, that they can catch their first fish in 
the clean waters of the Madison River, and that our outdoor traditions 
remain strong for generations to come.
  As a Senator from Montana, it is my responsibility to make sure we 
preserve these treasured places, that we responsibly use our lands to 
advance the interests of our State and of our country. That is why I am 
proud to support the Montana lands bills that will probably be voted on 
tomorrow.
  These bills are a product of years of negotiations. Ranchers and 
conservationists started working on the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage 
Act before I became Senator. These bills are a product of compromise 
led by folks on the ground--the folks who live and breathe Montana's 
outdoors every day--and these bills are a product of Montana's 
congressional delegation working together to move Montana forward.
  We all know Congress fails to agree on much these days. Gridlock and 
roadblocks are common. Few people are willing to compromise, but when 
you give a little, you get a lot. That is how Montana's lands bills 
became a part of this legislation.
  These bills have been vetted on the ground by Montana ranchers such 
as Dusty Crary, Karl Rappold, and many others. They have been approved 
by committees and negotiated for many years. They not only deliver on 
our promises to Montana's ranchers but also to the outdoors men and 
women, business owners, and Native American tribes. They are Montana-
made bills.
  Take the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act for example. This bill 
protects public access along the Rocky Mountain Front for hunters, 
anglers,

[[Page S6655]]

outdoors men and women. The Front is a special place in Montana lore. 
It is where the Rocky Mountains shoot straight out from the plains into 
the sky. It is a breathtaking, magnificent sight.
  It is an ecosystem like none other in the lower 48 States. The 
heritage act designates 208,000 Front acres as a conservation 
management area, adds another 67,000 acres to the Bob Marshall 
Wilderness, and supports a noxious weed management plan.
  At the same time, it allows for continued grazing access for Montana 
ranchers, follows BLM recommendations on approximately 14,000 acres of 
wilderness study areas, and requires new assessments of oil and gas 
potential in two others.
  Some will question the details of this bill and others in the 
package, but Montanans know how to responsibly manage our lands. We 
know what irresponsible development looks like.
  More than 100 years ago mining corporations pillaged our lands in 
their search for copper, silver, and other minerals. Not only did they 
turn our mountains inside out and pollute our waters, they ignored 
workers' rights and bought influence over Montana's elected leaders.
  In response, Montana passed legislation to limit corporate influence 
in elections in 1912. We followed that in the 1970s with one of the 
most progressive State constitutions to date, enshrining protections 
for a clean and healthy environment into law.
  A fellow by the name of Max Baucus got his first taste of politics 
during that Constitutional Convention, the same Max Baucus who worked 
on and introduced the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act in 2011. 
Passing this land bill helps fulfill Max's legacy in Montana and honors 
the hard work of his staff and the bill's many supporters.
  Before Max introduced this bill, he received a letter from a rancher 
along the Front. Ben Pierce was his name. Ben told Max he wanted to see 
the Front remain a place with both well-managed working ranches and 
vibrant wildlife values.
  Ben supported the bill because he knew that preserving the ranching 
culture was critical to Montana's economy and our way of life, but he 
also supported the bill because he knows we must preserve Montana's 
most special places.
  That is because Montana's outdoor treasures are not only symbols of 
our heritage, they are also incredible economic drivers. Montana's 
outdoor economy, thanks to places such as Glacier and Yellowstone, 
creates or sustains some 64,000 jobs and contributes nearly $6 billion 
to the State's economy every year. That is impressive in a State of 
just 1 million people.
  From outdoor stores to park cafes, Montana's economy thrives when 
Montana's outdoors are preserved and accessible. Preservation and 
access are also the cornerstones of the North Fork Protection Act, 
another legacy of Senator Baucus. The bill permanently protects the 
American side of the North Fork of the Flathead River watershed by 
barring future mining or drilling.

  The land is adjacent to Glacier National Park. It is bound by snow-
capped mountains, ringed by awe-inspiring valleys, and bisected by 
beautiful blue-green waters that are home to some of the Nation's best 
whitewater rafting.
  Its Canadian cousin across the border is already protected. Thanks to 
this bill, the American side of the watershed will be protected from 
oil and gas development forever.
  Preserving the North Fork is not only good for the wildlife or the 
hiker who enjoys it, it is also good for our economy and our nearby 
communities.
  That is why this bipartisan bill is supported by the local chamber of 
commerce and by the mayor of nearby Whitefish, who said this bill's 
passage ``means permanent protection of our community's water supply,'' 
and we all know how important water is.
  These two measures are not the only bills that will benefit Montana 
in this lands package.
  My Cabin Fee Act provides economic certainty for folks who have seen 
their fees skyrocket on Forest Service cabins. Many of these cabins 
pass from generation to generation, and this bill makes sure family 
cabins can be enjoyed by those who cherish them.
  This package also does right by our Native American friends. The 
Northern Cheyenne Lands Act restores the tribe's mineral rights to 
5,000 acres within its boundaries, strengthening the tribe's control 
over its lands, resources, and trust funds.
  It corrects an error that was made by the Federal Government more 
than 100 years ago. That, in and of itself, makes it a worthy endeavor.
  But there are other areas where we can work together. Just as these 
bills are Montana-made solutions, we can--and I believe we will--come 
together over Montana-made solutions to better manage our forests.
  For decades folks in Montana have argued over our lands, battled over 
access, and we have fought over resource development. We have sued and 
countersued over logging, but in Montana we haven't had a new 
wilderness designation in 31 years. Why? Because we haven't been able 
to compromise, but now we have. It means progress for Montana.
  This agreement is bipartisan, and I was proud to work with Senator 
Walsh and Senator-elect Daines to bring it to reality. I hope we can 
find more ways to compromise over lands issues and other legislation 
moving forward because, after all, it is the future that matters most. 
Whether this body is debating immigration reform or an education 
system, how to rebuild infrastructure, we must always look to the 
future.
  We want the best for ourselves and for our communities. We want to 
leave this world in better shape than we inherited it, and we want to 
pass down our treasured lands and outdoor traditions to our kids and 
our grandkids wherever they may live. Places such as the Rocky Mountain 
Front and the North Fork are living legacies to Montana's greatness.
  There are many reasons to preserve these places, but the best I have 
heard comes from Gene Sentz, who hails from Choteau, MT. Gene wrote a 
book about the Rocky Mountain Front. In it he quoted another Montanan 
who said: ``Some places on Earth should be left alone, even if solid 
gold lies beneath it them.''
  I couldn't agree more. Montana is home to sky-touching mountains and 
beautiful plains that roll on as far as the eye can see. It is home to 
many hard-working men and women and to Native Americans with deep 
connections to the land.
  But it is the last best place because we are all of these things and 
because we are willing to work together to preserve and strengthen 
them.
  I am very proud of this historic agreement, and today I am 
particularly proud to be a Montanan.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. HEITKAMP. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                            Vietnam Veterans

  Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I was struck by the last two great 
speakers, Senator Heinrich and Senator Tester, showing us amazing 
pictures of the beauty of the Western part of our wonderful country. I 
thought, well, those are really beautiful pictures--not quite as 
beautiful as North Dakota, but we will acknowledge that these are areas 
that will open your soul, open your eyes, and make it possible for you 
to see the beauty that is this great country and the resilience of the 
people who settled in the areas of the West.
  It made me think--and I think, more importantly, understand--that all 
of what we are in this country is only possible because men and women, 
for centuries, have stepped up to serve our country and to serve our 
country in the Armed Forces.
  I rise to talk about an issue that hasn't gotten a lot of attention 
in this country, this quiet thing that is going on in the VFW halls, 
the AMVETS, the DAVs, and the American Legion halls in my State.
  I am talking about not only that kind of sacrifice but recognizing 
and moving to a special recognition this year. So I want to talk about 
North Dakotans because we are all extraordinarily proud of our States, 
but we

[[Page S6656]]

know in North Dakota that North Dakotans have always answered the call 
to serve, in particular, my friends within the Native American 
community, who have answered that call to service in record numbers.
  I have made it a priority during my time in the Senate to meet as 
many of my State veterans as I can. I want to hear their stories and I 
want to learn about the challenges of their everyday lives and what we 
need to do to fulfill our obligation and our sacred trust to live up to 
the commitments we made, as they lived up to the commitments they made 
to serve our country and to protect our freedoms on the battlefields 
around the world.
  Through these trips I have met a lot of wonderful veterans--World War 
II veterans and their proud stories of their service in the Pacific and 
Europe. I have met Korean war veterans with memories of what is often 
referred to as the forgotten war. It may be forgotten by others, but it 
is not forgotten by me or the people in my great State of North Dakota.
  Then there are our newest veterans, with new challenges, from the 
conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the overall war against terror. 
These young veterans, men and women, face difficult challenges, and I 
think many different challenges than perhaps their counterparts from 
previous service relationships. But I think they are helping change the 
way our Nation sees our veterans.
  All of these veterans, without a doubt, deserve a place of honor in 
our society. All of them served and deserve our thanks for their 
service and their sacrifice. Together, they have protected our freedoms 
and allowed our Nation to flourish. But today--today--I want to talk 
and focus on America's Vietnam veterans--North Dakota's Vietnam 
veterans.
  We are in the midst--and I am not sure a lot of people know this--of 
a remembrance of the 50-year anniversary of the Vietnam war. On May 25, 
2012, President Obama issued a proclamation. I have the proclamation 
here. This proclamation was issued to honor our Vietnam vets--those 
brave servicemen who gave their lives--and their families. It is to 
honor all the veterans' service, but particularly to recognize those 
who lost their lives. I want to quote from this proclamation:

       As a grateful Nation, we honor more than 58,000 patriots--
     their names etched in black granite--

  That monument is not too far from this symbol of American democracy, 
our Nation's Capitol.

     --who sacrificed all they had and all they would ever know. 
     We draw inspiration from the heroes who suffered unspeakably 
     as prisoners of war, yet who returned home with their heads 
     held high. We pledge to keep faith with those who were 
     wounded and still carry the scars of war, seen and unseen.

  This special period of honoring our Vietnam veterans runs through 
2025, since our involvement in the war stretched through 1975. That is 
the period which we are going to recognize as the 50-year commemoration 
and anniversary as this period continues.
  It remains important to talk about the Vietnam war and its veterans 
as much as possible. The Vietnam war represents a difficult time in our 
Nation's history. By taking time to thank our Vietnam vets and honor 
their service, our Nation makes another great attempt to bind up the 
unhealed wounds left behind.
  In North Dakota, there have already been a number of veterans events 
related to the 50th anniversary of Vietnam. I am sure such events are 
happening in many other States. In fact, there is a Web site--if you 
want to check it out--where you can look at what is happening in every 
State across the Union honoring Vietnam veterans in ceremonies being 
prepared and mainly driven by veterans groups. Hopefully--and one of 
the purposes in coming here is to urge my colleagues to participate in 
those events--to participate as they do every day in saying thank you 
to our Iraqi war vets and our Afghanistan war vets--participate in any 
event that you can to say thank you to our Vietnam veterans and to the 
families of those people in your State who lost their loved ones in 
service to their country.
  For myself, I plan to host an event to honor all Vietnam veterans 
throughout North Dakota next year. Through this effort I hope to help 
make our Nation remember and never forget the needs of our Vietnam 
veterans. The Congress needs to make policy decisions so the VA can 
meet the needs of the next generation of veterans, but we can't forget 
the unique needs of our Vietnam era veterans.
  I have spent hours talking to Vietnam veterans who tell me 
repeatedly: When I got out of the service, the last thing I wanted to 
do was go to the VA. And there are a lot of reasons for that. In the 
1970s, the VA wasn't a place where people thought they could go for 
quality health care, where they thought they could go for help. They 
wanted to forget that part of their service. So a lot of those unseen 
wounds of servicemen from the Vietnam war went unhealed, and it 
manifests itself in a high rate of homelessness, a high rate of 
poverty, a high rate of substance abuse, and a high rate of despair.
  We are seeing now that our Vietnam veterans--in both those who have 
lived incredibly fruitful lives and are now aging into the system--
coming back to our VAs across the country, coming back to our 
community-based outreach clinics, coming back to our VA hospitals, and 
for the first time asking for access to service. They are finding they 
do not always see the level of service they are entitled to.
  I recently worked to restore and provide the appropriate paperwork so 
a Vietnam veteran who had clearly earned a Purple Heart actually 
received the benefits of a recipient of the Purple Heart in the VA. All 
of these issues will now begin to work their way through the VA. They 
will continue to work their way through our veterans service 
organizations.

  It is time, I think, to take a pause, as the President did in this 
proclamation. And to understand the basis of this, it was required by a 
bill similar to the one we are debating today--NDAA--to begin this 
commemoration. It was a mandate from this Congress--not this particular 
Congress, but from the U.S. Congress--to begin to have this ceremony.
  I was struck by the fact that when our veterans have lost their lives 
in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of us have pictures in our offices. We 
have a poster or some kind of commemoration in our office of that 
sacrifice. Yet we have never seen that kind of commemoration or that 
kind of depiction for our Vietnam veterans. So along with the AMVETS in 
the great city of Bismarck, which has done tons of research in 
collecting pictures and collecting images of the 198 veterans, the 198 
servicemen from North Dakota who lost their lives in Vietnam, I thought 
it an appropriate commemoration for my office to have something that we 
walk by every day and, therefore, say to the families of all these 
young men who are on this poster that every day we honor their 
sacrifice, we honor your loss, and we honor the fact that we will never 
know what these 198 young men could have been had they survived this 
war. We don't know if they could have been standing here giving a 
speech instead of me. We don't know if they would have been mayors of 
our small towns or the industrial leaders who invented a product as 
lucrative and as innovative as the Bobcat, which originated in North 
Dakota. It was invented in North Dakota and it is manufactured in North 
Dakota. We will never know.
  But one thing we do know--the one thing we do know--about all of 
these men is they lost their lives and sacrificed to the greatest 
extent that one can sacrifice in honor and service of this country, and 
they deserve to have this period of remembrance. They deserve to have a 
recognition, and their families deserve to have the United States of 
America pause--pause for a period of time to say thank you--thank you 
from a grateful nation.
  So posters like this will be in every one of my offices across North 
Dakota and certainly here in the Nation's Capitol. I know for States 
such as that of the Presiding Officer's State of Massachusetts, just 
looking at the numbers, it is probably not possible to have a 
photographic image of every Vietnam veteran or every person who served 
in Vietnam and who, unfortunately, lost their life, but it is possible 
to have their name. It is possible to have a place of remembrance where 
they can be honored during this time period mandated by this body and 
approved

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and proclaimed by the President of the United States. It is possible to 
have a place of honor and remembrance.
  So I intend, over the next year, to come and talk a little bit about 
the lives of each one of these young men, to talk about the challenges 
of Vietnam veterans, to talk about what it is we need to do today to 
make up for past sins of this country in not recognizing this service. 
I challenge the other Members of this body to do the same thing during 
this period of remembrance and recognition and honor, and to think 
about not just the past but to think about the future; think about the 
amazing sacrifice of 198 North Dakotans who gave their lives in service 
to our State and in service to our country and for the betterment of 
all humankind.
  With that, Mr. President, the challenge is issued.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Heitkamp). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________