[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 179 (Thursday, December 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8565-S8566]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SENATE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise today to highlight the positive 
change our new Republican majority has brought to the U.S. Senate in 
2015.
  As a first-year Senator--and I will remind everybody that I spent a 
lot of time on the other side of the Capitol observing the Senate--I 
came to the body looking to improve this institution that for far too 
long was not working for American families. Not only did the Senate 
fail to pass legislation that would help our seniors, students, and 
workers, it failed to even debate critical issues. Looking from the 
House side across the hall in the Capitol, we really couldn't 
understand that.
  In 2014 the Senate only voted on 15 amendments. This year, under new 
leadership, we have taken hundreds of amendment votes and committees 
are hard at work. We debated issues, clearly stated our policy 
priorities, and broke the gridlock that defined the previous Congress.
  Allowing Senators from both sides of the aisle to offer amendments, 
participate in the process, and take votes is the best way to achieve 
bipartisan legislation. It is common sense. Isn't that the way it is 
supposed to be? It is kind of how I thought it should be, and I am glad 
to know that this year, that is what we are doing. Working together is 
the only way to enact policies that will improve the lives of the 
American people.
  The new Senate work has borne tremendous fruit, particularly in the 
past week. We passed the first major overhaul of elementary and 
secondary education in more than a decade, and the President is poised 
to sign this into law. Eighty-five Senators voted for it; that is a big 
bipartisan majority.
  The Every Student Succeeds Act strikes the proper balance between 
flexibility and accountability. The bill ends education waivers and the 
Federal common core mandate that had turned Washington bureaucrats into 
basically a national school board. No one cares more about a student's 
success than a child's parents and their teachers, and those closest to 
our children should be the ones empowered to make those decisions. At 
the same time, accountability matters.
  I have three children who went through the school system, and testing 
done properly is a good thing. A parent wants to know where their child 
stands. We want to know what their weaknesses and successes are, and we 
want to know where the school stands. But under this bill, States will 
have multiple measures of student achievement, not just testing. Test 
results will just be a part of that evaluation, and States will have 
broad discretion to measure other factors. High schools will now report 
on the rate of graduates going on to higher education. Whether 
graduates are prepared to continue education is, in my view, an 
important measure of success.

  This bill also recognizes the importance of technology and education, 
not just in the classroom but also at home. It includes language that 
Senator King and I introduced to study the homework gap. Students who 
lack access to fast and reliable broadband at home need to be able to 
continue learning outside the classroom.
  If the teacher gives an assignment and students are given a device 
and they take it home, if they don't have the connectivity, they are 
behind. But if they do have the connectivity--the access--they can 
continue their education at home and be prepared the next day.
  States will now have flexibility to use Federal resources to improve 
this access to technology. This is a significant step forward, I think, 
for the education system that is outdated and out of step with the 
needs of our students. It is particularly hard-hitting in rural 
communities.
  Last week we passed and the President signed the first long-term 
highway bill in 17 years. Since 2009, Congress has lurched from one 
short-term patch to another, leaving officials across the country 
unable to plan future highway and transit projects.
  The shameful inability to make a lasting investment in our 
infrastructure came to an end last week. The FAST Act invests $2.5 
billion in West Virginia's roads and bridges over 5 years. I can say 
after going home last weekend that the biggest issue raised to me in a 
congratulatory way was this: Thank you for passing the highway bill. 
With it, the completion of Route 35 in West Virginia and Corridor H 
will bring economic potential to our State. Key projects such as the 
King Coal Highway and the Coalfields Expressway will help isolated 
communities attract businesses and provide jobs. States will also now 
have more flexibility, which is exactly what they want and need, to 
spend Federal dollars.
  New permitting reforms will help taxpayer dollars go farther and 
enable projects to be completed more quickly. Time is money, and if we 
can complete in a shorter time span and do the regulatory obligations 
at the same time--

[[Page S8566]]

concurrently--it can save States, the Federal Government, and 
localities money.
  This highway bill is truly a jobs bill not only for the workers who 
will build and repair America's roads and bridges, but these 
investments will also bring broader economic benefits to our 
communities.
  Another good thing this bill does that will help further job growth 
in West Virginia is it reauthorizes the Appalachian Regional 
Commission. This reauthorization includes bipartisan language to 
establish a high-speed broadband development initiative for underserved 
areas in Appalachia.
  Just this Sunday, the Charleston Gazette-Mail wrote about how the 
lack of broadband was hindering efforts to provide telemedicine in 
small West Virginia towns. The ARC reauthorization is a tangible step 
towards getting this region connected. Broadband access can power these 
communities.
  So passage of the education and highway bills are tremendous recent 
achievements, and they follow earlier bipartisan accomplishments this 
year.
  With our entitlement programs hurdling towards bankruptcy, it was 
important for Congress to act. In April, we permanently eliminated 
Medicare's sustainable growth rate, or SGR, putting an end to the long 
series of temporary patches that had vexed our Nation's seniors and 
doctors. These reforms will encourage competition, save taxpayer 
dollars, and provide a more reliable system for our seniors. We know 
there is more to do, but this marks a good first step to preserve 
Medicare for future generations.
  This same legislation extended funding for the Children's Health 
Insurance Program--a program I have been intimately involved with in 
West Virginia since my early days as a member of the house of 
delegates.
  We passed legislation to help veterans heal from the unseen wounds of 
war and to support victims of human trafficking.
  We renewed trade promotion authority to facilitate new trade 
agreements that can expand American jobs. And we did all of this by 
working together to find common ground on behalf of the people we 
serve.
  Even when consensus cannot be achieved or the President chooses to go 
it alone, the Senate should debate the tough issues and show the 
American people where we stand. We say where we stand when we are 
running for election. We should be saying where we stand now that we 
are elected. We shouldn't be shying away from that.
  The President's relentless environmental campaign to expand 
Washington bureaucracy at the expense of our economy is an issue I have 
been deeply concerned about. Energy-producing States have been hit the 
hardest. My State of West Virginia now has the largest and highest 
unemployment rate after enduring thousands of layoffs and WARN notices. 
Nationwide, coal mining employment has dropped by 30 percent since 
2011. When I was a Member of the House of Representatives, I took 
action to rein in the President's regulatory agenda, but often 
legislation that passed the House could not garner enough support here 
in the Senate.
  So as a newly elected Senator, I committed to change that and to lead 
the legislative response to protect affordable, reliable energy. Just 
last month, we succeeded. The Senate passed two resolutions to avoid 
the Clean Power Plan that are now headed to the President's desk, 
including the one that I led. Under new leadership, the Senate strongly 
opposed policies that are devastating our energy economy and have 
negligible environmental benefit.
  ObamaCare is another costly disaster that has placed great burdens on 
the American people. The new Republican-led Senate recently delivered 
on its promise to pass legislation that repeals the broken law. 
Basically, ObamaCare is failing. Americans are facing skyrocketing 
premiums and deductibles. Countless people have lost access to the 
doctor and health care plan of their choice. Even insurance companies 
are threatening to pull out of the system, and the Nation's largest one 
is one of those.
  President Obama and the Democrats are fighting to use taxpayers' 
dollars to bail out the big insurance companies in a misguided attempt 
to save their failed health care policy.
  The repeal legislation we passed last week would reduce taxes by more 
than $1 trillion, strengthen Medicare, and provide significant 
resources for a problem plaguing our country--substance abuse and 
mental health treatment. We know the President will veto the bill, but 
new leadership in the Senate has put a repeal bill on his desk for the 
first time. And this legislation will serve as a model for efforts to 
repeal and replace ObamaCare in the next Congress.
  This year, we have addressed the concerns of many Americans and the 
serious challenges that we face. We have solved problems and delivered 
real results. And under Leader McConnell's management, we have been 
able to debate critical issues on behalf of the Americans we serve, 
offer new reforms and ideas through the amendment process, and enact 
important bipartisan legislation.
  But this is just the beginning. While much has been accomplished, our 
work is far from done, and I look forward to building on this record of 
bipartisan achievement in the year ahead.
  I yield the floor.
  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.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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