[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 29, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6984-S6987]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





          TSA OFFICE OF INSPECTION ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2015

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the House message to accompany H.R. 719, which 
the clerk will report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       House message to accompany H.R. 719, an act to require the 
     Transportation Security Administration to conform to existing 
     Federal law and regulations regarding criminal investigator 
     positions, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       McConnell motion to concur in the amendment of the House to 
     the amendment of the Senate to the bill, with McConnell (for 
     Cochran) amendment No. 2689, making continuing appropriations 
     for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016.
       McConnell amendment No. 2690 (to amendment No. 2689), to 
     change the enactment date.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, I am reminded of that famous line from 
``Cool Hand Luke'': ``What we have here is a failure to communicate.''
  What we have here in Congress is a failure to legislate, a failure to 
exert congressional authority. What we have here is a failure to use 
our leverage. What we have here is a failure to use the power of the 
purse.
  Conservatives across America are unhappy, and rightly so. We were 
told that when we took over Congress, when Republicans were elected to 
Congress, that things would be different: that if voters put us in 
charge, we would right the ship, we would stop the deficits. And here 
we are with another continuing resolution.
  What is a continuing resolution? It is a continuation of the deficit 
spending of the past. It is a continuation of the waste. It is a 
continuation of the duplication. What is a continuing resolution? It is 
a steaming pile of the same old, same old.
  Let me be clear: A continuing resolution is not a good thing. It is 
more of the status quo. It is a warmed-over version of yesterday's 
failures. It is an abdication of congressional authority. It is an 
abdication of congressional power.
  Let's at least be honest. With a continuing resolution, no waste will 
be cut, no spending will be cut, no regulations will be stopped, and 
the debt will continue to mount.
  We are told that we cannot win, that we need 60 votes to defund 
anything, but perhaps there is an alternate future where courage steps 
up and saves the day.
  All spending is set to expire automatically. This is the perfect time 
to turn the tables, to tell the other side that they will need 60 votes 
to affirmatively spend any money. See, it doesn't have to be 60 votes 
to stop things. All spending will expire, and only those programs for 
which we can get 60 votes should go forward.
  What would that mean? That would mean an elimination of waste, an 
elimination of duplication, an elimination of bad things that we spend 
money on.
  If we had the courage, we could use the Senate's supermajority rules 
to stop wasteful spending. If we had the courage, we could force the 
other side to come up with 60 votes to fund things like Planned 
Parenthood. The budget is loaded with nonsense and waste.
  Some will say our job is to govern, to preside. But to preside over 
what? To preside over a mountain of new debt? To be the same as the 
other side--to continue to add debt after debt? Our debt will consume 
us if we continue to preside over the status quo. It is as if we are on 
the Titanic and just simply reshuffling the chairs. A continuing 
resolution continues the wasteful spending of money.
  I can go on and on about what we are wasting money on. I will tell of 
a few.
  We spent $300,000 last year studying whether Japanese quail are more 
sexually promiscuous on cocaine. I think we could poll the audience and 
save money. These things should never have had money spent on them, but 
if we do a continuing resolution, it will continue.
  We spent several hundred thousand dollars studying whether we can 
relieve stress in Vietnamese villagers by having them watch American 
television reruns. I don't know about you, but I don't want one penny 
of taxpayer dollars going to this ridiculous stuff. If we continue, if 
we pass a continuing resolution, no reform will occur.
  We spent $800,000 in the last couple of years developing a televised 
cricket league for Afghanistan--$800,000. Do you know how many people 
have a television in Afghanistan? One in 10,000 people. And I don't 
care if they all have TVs, it is ridiculous that our money, which we 
don't even have--we have to borrow it from China to send it to 
Afghanistan. If we pass a continuing resolution, we are agreeing to 
continue this nonsense.
  We spent $150,000 last year on yoga classes for Federal employees. So 
not only do we pay them nearly 1.5 times as much as private-sector 
employees, we give them yoga classes. If we pass a continuing 
resolution, this goes on and on. Nothing will change. The status quo 
will continue, and we will continue to spend ourselves into oblivion.
  We spent $250,000 last year inviting 24 kids from Pakistan to go to 
space camp in Alabama. We borrow money from China to send it to 
Pakistan.
  It is crazy, it is ridiculous, and it should stop. We have the power 
to stop it. Congress has the power to spend money or not spend money, 
and yet we roll over and we say: It must continue; we don't have the 
votes to stop it. Nonsense. The other side doesn't have the votes to 
continue the spending if we would stand up and challenge them.
  We spent $500,000 last year or the year before developing a menu for 
when we colonize Mars. We sent a bunch of college students to Hawaii to 
study this. We paid $5,000 apiece. They got 2 weeks all expenses paid 
in Hawaii. And do you know what a bunch of college kids came up with? 
Pizza. This is where your money is going.
  I could go on, hundreds and hundreds of programs. If we do not exert 
the power of the purse, this continues.
  We should attach to all 12 individual spending bills--not glommed 
together--we should attach hundreds of instructions, thousands of 
instructions. Now, some of the media have said: Well, those would be 
riders on appropriations bills. Exactly. That is the power of the 
purse. If you object to the President writing regulations without our 
authority, Congress should defund the regulations. Congress should 
instruct him on ObamaCare, on what we object to. Congress should 
instruct him that we don't want money spent on Planned Parenthood. 
Hundreds and hundreds of instructions should be written into every bill 
and passed and sent to him.
  Would we win all of these battles? Do we have the power to win every 
battle and defund everything we want? No. But do you know what we start 
out with? Our negotiating position right now is, we start out with 
defunding nothing. Why don't we start out with a negotiating position 
that we defund everything that is objectionable? All the wasteful 
spending, all the duplicative spending, let's defund it all. If there 
has to be a negotiation, let's start from defunding it all and see 
where we get, but it would take courage because we would have to let 
spending expire. If we are not willing to let the spending expire and 
start anew, we have no leverage. The power of the purse is there only 
if you have courage. We must have the courage of convictions to say 
enough is enough, that the debt is a greater threat to us than letting 
spending expire.
  Now, several will report on this speech and say: Oh, he wants to shut 
down government. No, I don't. I just want to exert the power of the 
purse, and that means spending must expire. I am all for renewing the 
spending, but let's renew only the spending that makes sense. We have 
the power of the purse if we choose to exert it. Look at the mountain 
of debt. Look at the debt that continues to be added up. We have not 
been doing our job.
  The way we are supposed to spend money in Congress is 12 individual 
appropriations bills. They have passed out of committee. Why aren't 
they presented on the floor? The Democrats have filibustered the only 
one presented. Let's present every one of

[[Page S6985]]

them, and let the public know--let everyone in America know--that it is 
Democrats filibustering the spending bills. It is Democrats who desire 
to shut down government. It is Democrats who desire not to have any 
restrictions on where the money is spent. It is Democrats who are 
saying: We don't want to end wasteful spending. We don't want to end 
any spending. We don't want any controls over spending. We want to 
continue the status quo. But we should not be complicit with them.
  We have allowed this to go on for too long. It threatens the very 
heart of the Republic. It threatens our very foundation to continue to 
borrow $1 million a minute. It is time that we stood up. It is time 
that we took a stand and said enough is enough.
  When is the last time we did it in the appropriate fashion? When is 
the last time Congress passed each of the individual appropriations 
bills with instructions on how to spend the money? It was 2005, a 
decade ago. It has been a decade. In the last decade we have added 
nearly $10 trillion in new debt. It is time to take a stand.
  I, for one, have had enough. I have had enough. I am not going to 
vote for a continuing resolution. A continuing resolution is simply a 
continuation of the mounting debt. I, for one, will not do it. A 
continuing resolution is retreat. It is announcing your defeat in 
advance.
  What we should do is take a stand. We should say to the other side: 
In the Senate, it requires a supermajority. What does that mean? It 
means 60 votes to pass spending. What would happen? Spending that is 
controversial, like Planned Parenthood, would fall away. They can ask 
for private donations. Good luck on that. You wouldn't find things 
being funded that are controversial. What would happen is there would 
no longer be funding for wasteful and duplicative projects.
  We listed these a couple years ago. I think we had $7 billion worth 
of just duplication. Did we fix it? No. Every year the President--even 
this President--puts forward $10, $15, $20 billion worth of programs 
that could be eliminated. Do they ever get eliminated? No, because 
Congress is dysfunctional and we continue to pass a continuing 
resolution, which means we do nothing to exert the power of the purse.
  Congress is a shadow of what it once was. Madison said that we would 
have coequal branches and we would pit ambition against ambition. We no 
longer do that. Congress is a withering shadow. It is a shadow of what 
it once was. Congress has no power, exerts no power, and we walk and we 
live in the shadow of a Presidency that is growing larger and larger 
and larger.
  The President is not afraid. He says he has his pen and his phone. So 
he is writing and creating law. One of our philosophers we look to is 
Montesquieu, and Montesquieu said when the Executive begins to 
legislate, a form of tyranny will ensue. That is what we have now; we 
have Executive tyranny. It is not just this President, though. It has 
been going on for a while, probably for 100 years. We have been 
allowing more and more power to accumulate in the hands of the 
Presidency.
  What we need is a bipartisan taking back of that power. We need 
Congress to stand up on its own two feet and say: Enough is enough. We 
are reclaiming the power of the purse, and we are going to do whatever 
is necessary to get rid of the wasteful spending, the duplicative 
spending, the offensive spending, and we are going to do what the 
American people want and that is to spend only what comes in.
  But I will tell you, I, for one, will oppose this continuing 
resolution. I recommend that everybody in America call their 
Congressmen and say: We are tired of the mounting debt. We want you to 
stand up. We want you to stand up and say enough is enough. Let the 
funding expire, and make the other side come up with 60 votes to spend 
the money.
  It is time we took a stand. I hope we will.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Flake). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for up to 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Remembering Frances Oldham Kelsey

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, in August this country lost a hero, a woman 
most have not heard of, but her story is legendary. Frances Oldham 
Kelsey passed away in August at the age of 101. She was a woman of 
tremendous courage and conviction. She was a trailblazing scientist. 
She earned her Ph.D. and then her medical degree from the University of 
Chicago while raising daughters. She did things that women of her 
generation were usually not allowed to do or certainly rarely 
encouraged to do.
  As she began her professional life, it was the early 1960s and a 
horrific scourge was afflicting Europe and other countries around the 
world. Thousands of babies were dying in the womb, thousands more were 
born with severe birth defects--including deformed arms and legs that, 
as history will tell us, resembled flippers--missing organs, missing 
limbs.
  The United States was largely spared from these terrible effects 
because of Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey. As a medical officer at the FDA, 
Dr. Kelsey was charged with investigating and approving the drug called 
Kevadon, better known in history by its generic name, thalidomide. The 
pharmaceutical company Merrell was expecting a speedy approval. After 
all, the drug was used around the world as a sedative and as a 
treatment for morning sickness. The drug had made a windfall for its 
German manufacturer, and Merrell was hoping for the same in our 
country. But Dr. Kelsey, who at that time was a woman in very much a 
man's world at the FDA, a woman who was not all that experienced, was 
willing to show her courage and demand further investigation before she 
would approve this drug.
  With few studies providing the safety of Kevadon--thalidomide--she 
rejected the application. Merrell protested, drug companies were 
outraged, and a number of other employees at the FDA disagreed. She 
asked for, though, and reviewed more data, and again she rejected the 
application. Again, Merrell protested. Again, other people were 
outraged by this woman's decision. Merrell's executives called her a 
petty and nitpicking bureaucrat.
  It is always easy to pick on a bureaucrat--a nameless, faceless 
bureaucrat, or a named bureaucrat with a face. It is easy to pick on 
bureaucrats. People here do it all the time.
  They called her office, and they peppered her with letters. They went 
over her head to her FDA bosses. Dr. Kelsey again--imagine a young 
woman without sort of the support that a more experienced, older, and, 
particularly in those days, male researcher might have had. She held 
her ground. She continued to reject the application. Meanwhile, the 
horrible toll was mounting in places around the world where thalidomide 
was sold.
  In late 1961, the German manufacturer pulled the drug, and health 
departments around the world began to issue warnings. In March 1962, 
Merrell, the drug company, seeing the handwriting on the wall, finally 
withdrew its thalidomide application.
  That might have been the end of the story, but staffers for Senator 
Estes Kefauver, a Democrat from Tennessee who had long been battling 
pharmaceutical companies to strengthen our country's drug oversight, 
gave the Washington Post a tip. The Senator's staff wanted the country 
to know about this woman, Dr. Kelsey, wanted people to know about the 
heroine who had spared our children from the terrible consequences of 
this drug. They wanted them to know that Big Pharma--Senator Kefauver 
wanted them to know that Big Pharma, the big drug companies, had fought 
her every step of the way, putting pressure on the FDA, going over her 
head, sending her letters, perhaps indirectly threatening her. 
Fortunately, she stood her ground against a very powerful combatant, 
for want of a better term.
  In no small part because of Dr. Kelsey and her persistence, we have 
the Kefauver Harris Amendment of 1962, which strengthened drug approval

[[Page S6986]]

standards. We have a branch of the FDA dedicated to testing and 
investigating new drugs. Who became the head of it? Dr. Kelsey. Over a 
45-year career, she helped to rewrite our drug and medical testing 
regulations, she strengthened patient protections, and she cracked down 
on medical conflicts of interest. Her rigorous standards were not only 
instrumental in improving drug safety in the United States, they also 
set the world standard for drug safety. The United States is known all 
over the world as having the gold standard to protect the public by 
rigorous testing and rigorous examination to protect the public against 
drugs that can do damage.
  Everybody thought thalidomide was harmless except Dr. Kelsey. Because 
she had the authority at the FDA to do it right and then was able to 
expand that authority working with Congress, uncounted lives, 
innumerable lives--we don't know how many lives were saved and how many 
people have been protected against harmful drugs. She had a 45-year 
career. She made a huge difference. Her accomplishments are heroic. She 
has received many honors.
  But we should remember that for all of Dr. Kelsey's recognition, 
there are thousands more Federal employees working with little 
appreciation and sometimes not very high pay. I am sure Dr. Kelsey 
could have been making more money practicing medicine, but look at the 
lives she saved and look at the difference she made. Expand that to so 
many government workers, so many people who do their jobs.
  Members of Congress--well-paid, well-dressed, getting good taxpayer 
benefits--love to attack the bureaucracy, love to call bureaucrats 
names, love to nitpick agencies, when, in fact, so many of them are 
making a huge difference in keeping the air we breathe, the water we 
drink, the drugs we take, the consumer products we use--keeping them 
safe. That is something those Federal employees should be proud of. 
They protect Americans from pollution and predatory lenders and faulty 
products and infectious diseases and dangerous drugs.
  We have made so much progress over the past century because of 
Americans like Frances Kelsey, but unfortunately too many people in 
this town seem to have amnesia and are trying to turn back the clock.
  I sit on the banking committee. We had a hearing today. I sit in the 
banking committee at least once a week for a couple of hours. I listen 
to my Republican colleagues who seem to have forgotten that the economy 
sort of imploded--almost imploded in 2008 and 2009. They seem to want 
to go back to those days of deregulation, not holding Wall Street 
accountable--the same kinds of things--the deregulation, the weakening 
of the FDA, the weakening of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 
the weakening of the Department of Agriculture standards, and all of 
the things that we do, where this country works better because we have 
government--call them bureaucrats--we have government bureaucrats who 
are working to protect the public interest.
  So we should honor Dr. Kelsey not with awards but with action to 
protect her legacy. Yet people right now in this Congress--I heard a 
long speech last night from the junior Senator from Texas, not ever to 
be confused with the senior Senator from Texas--I heard him again 
threaten government shutdowns. When government shuts down, food is less 
protected and water is likely going to be less clean, and all of the 
things that happen when government is not doing its job.
  I hope my colleagues join me in honoring Dr. Kelsey's legacy and 
remembering the work that heroic public servants in our Federal 
workforce do for this country.


                          Affordable Care Act

  Mr. President, I want to read a brief letter. I was at my 45th high 
school class reunion. Some of us in this body might have reached an age 
close to that; most of you have not. At my 45th reunion, I met a woman 
who was there visiting someone else. She was much younger. She handed 
me this letter.
  She said: Senator Brown, I want to thank you for a couple of things. 
Thanks for the Affordable Care Act.
  She has a photography business.
  She said: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, I was able to pursue my 
dream and open my business. I am diabetic. I was unable to self-insure 
due to my preexisting condition. I was forced to work low-wage jobs 
just so I could get insurance. Now, because of the Affordable Care 
Act--ObamaCare--I can thrive as an entrepreneur. Thank you.
  I hear those stories. I meet people. Now 600,000 Ohioans have health 
insurance who did not have it prior to the Affordable Care Act, and 
100,000 additional Ohioans who are not much older than these pages 
sitting here, who are 19, 20, maybe 25, have insurance on their 
parents' health plan. One million--that is in Ohio alone--1 million 
seniors in Ohio have no copay, no deductible, and get free preventive 
care tests for osteoporosis, tests for diabetes, and physical exams.
  More than 100,000 seniors have saved an average of $700 on their 
prescription drugs because of the Affordable Care Act. A family like 
this--the parents of a child who has juvenile arthritis or diabetes or 
whatever a child might be afflicted with can get insurance in spite of 
the child's preexisting condition.
  When I hear in the Republican debates they all saying ``Repeal 
ObamaCare,'' it would be nice if one sort of gutsy reporter would say, 
``Well, what about all those millions of seniors who now get free 
preventive care? What about those millions of people who have consumer 
protections so they cannot be denied coverage because they have a sick 
child? What about those people who got so sick that their medical care 
was very expensive and the insurance company cancelled their care? They 
cannot do that anymore. What about those people?'' I just wish we would 
hear that question one time.
  We honor Dr. Kelsey today, and we think about when government does 
things right in partnership with the private sector to make this 
country a better place to live.
  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.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as 
in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


     World Trade Center Health Program and Victim Compensation Fund

  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, we just passed the 14th anniversary 
of the September 11 attacks. Americans all across the country honored 
the memory of 2,977 lives lost. There were moments of silence. There 
were testimonials from friends and family of the victims. There were 
statements, speeches, and posts online by my colleagues in Congress 
vowing to ``never forget.'' But the victims of September 11 are not 
just the men and women who were killed on that horrible day; the terror 
attacks on that day in 2001 are still claiming American lives. This 
includes the heroes who ran into the towers to save whom they could, 
who worked on the piles so that Americans might rebuild, and who would 
not abandon their community in a time of terrifying confusion and 
intense grief. Many of them are now sick because of their work at 
Ground Zero, and many are dying.
  In 2010, after years of delay, we finally established the James 
Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation programs to provide our first 
responders, the survivors, and their families with the health care and 
benefits they very desperately needed. Tomorrow, at midnight, the bill 
authorizing this funding will expire.
  More than 33,000 first responders and survivors have an illness or 
injury caused by the attacks or their aftermath. More than 1,700 have 
passed away from 9/11-related illnesses. More police officers have died 
since 9/11 from 9/11-related diseases than died on 9/11 itself. Since 
the 14th anniversary of the attacks earlier this month, another six 9/
11 first responders have died. Think about that. In just a few short 
weeks, 6 more of our 9/11 heroes have died: John P. McKee, Roy 
McLaughlin, Reginald Umpthery, Kevin Kelly, Thomas Zayas, and Paul 
McCabe. They were married, and they had kids. Their average age was 
just a few years older than mine--53. They will all miss birthday 
parties

[[Page S6987]]

and graduations. They will miss evening dinners and holidays. They 
leave behind mortgages, car payments, and college-tuition payments. 
These 9/11 illnesses not only rob families of their loved ones, but 
they leave them to face expenses without, in many cases, the family's 
primary breadwinner.
  Two weeks ago, hundreds of first responders from all over the country 
traveled to Washington to lobby Congress not to let their health care 
program expire. If Congress doesn't act now, how many more first 
responders and their families are going to suffer medically and 
financially because we didn't do our job and reauthorize this program?
  Let me tell you about just one responder, Ken George from Long 
Island. Ken was 37 on September 11, 2001. He was working for the New 
York City Highway Department, and after the attacks he went to do 
search and rescue work. He was there for a couple of weeks. Almost 
right away, Ken developed a cough, then asthma, and then the asthma led 
to restricted airway disease. Doctors found crushed glass from Ground 
Zero in his lungs. He was forced to retire in 2006 because his medical 
ailments became too burdensome, and now, as he put it, he is 
``financially hurting like you wouldn't believe.''
  We are not talking about statistics. We are not talking about data 
points on a chart. We are talking about a 51-year-old man with a wife 
and three kids, with crushed glass in his lungs because he chose to do 
the right thing. He chose to answer the call of duty, and he chose to 
search for survivors after 9/11. On top of everything else he is 
dealing with, Ken now has to worry if he will get the health treatments 
he needs and if his family will have the basic financial support they 
need.
  The health program officially expires tomorrow at midnight, but these 
illnesses--Ken's and thousands of others'--never expire, and neither 
should their health care.
  We must reauthorize and make permanent the World Trade Center Health 
Program and Victim Compensation Fund. The participants in the health 
program live in every single State. They live in 429 of the 435 
congressional districts. Every Senator in this Chamber has constituents 
who are sick and dying and are in this program.
  A majority of this body has already signed on as cosponsors of this 
legislation, including many after our day of action a couple weeks ago. 
So let's finish this job. Let's give our 9/11 heroes the care and 
compensation they deserve and so desperately need. Let's truly never 
forget. The clock is ticking. Let's do our job.
  I yield the floor.
  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. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________