[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 182 (Tuesday, December 15, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8660-S8661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SENATE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, from voting to repeal ObamaCare to passing 
the first long-term Transportation bill in a decade and the first joint 
balanced budget in 14 years, Senate Republicans have worked hard this 
year to fulfill our promise to get Washington working again for 
American families.
  While some of our efforts have been blocked by Senate Democrats or by 
the President, we have still managed to get a lot done. I am 
particularly proud of some of the legislation we passed this year that 
will benefit South Dakota families and businesses as well as families 
and businesses across the country. One bill that I have been working on 
for a long time--a bill that will mean a lot to South Dakota's farmers 
and ranchers--is the legislation the House passed last week, the 
Surface Transportation Board reauthorization bill.
  The Surface Transportation Board is responsible for helping to ensure 
the efficiency of our rail system by addressing problems and 
adjudicating disputes between railroads and shippers. Unfortunately, it 
has been clear for several years now that the Surface Transportation 
Board needs to work better. This became particularly apparent in 2013 
and 2014 when a sharp increase in shipping demand and harsh winter 
weather conditions combined to create massive backlogs in the 
availability of railcars for grain shipping which, in turn, caused 
storage issues for farmers across the Midwest.
  The U.S. Department of Agriculture found that the rail backlog 
lowered the price of corn, wheat, and soybeans in the upper Midwest. It 
forced shippers to pay record-high railroad-car premiums--in the 
neighborhood of 28 percent to 150 percent above the previous average 
levels--for roughly 65 consecutive weeks.
  The Surface Transportation Board legislation that Congress sent to 
the President last week will help prevent another situation such as 
this in the future. The bill, which I spearheaded, makes a number of 
significant reforms to the Board. For starters, it establishes the 
number of Board members and establishes a more collaborative process 
that will allow members to work together to identify and solve problems 
as they emerge. The bill also provides the Board with the investigative 
authority to address rail service issues even if an official complaint 
has not been made. This will allow and encourage the Board to be more 
proactive when it comes to addressing problems in our Nation's rail 
system.
  The bill also increases transparency by requiring the Surface 
Transportation Board to establish a data base of complaints and to 
provide quarterly reports with key information to facilitate the 
effective monitoring of service issues. Finally, the bill improves the 
current process for resolving disputes between railroads and shippers.
  Right now, disputes can take multiple years and literally millions of 
dollars to resolve, putting a tremendous burden on shippers and on 
railroads as well. The legislation we developed improves this process 
by setting timelines for rate reviews, expanding voluntary arbitrary 
procedures, and requiring the Surface Transportation Board to study 
alternative rate review methodologies to streamline and to expedite 
cases. It requires the Surface Transportation Board to maintain at 
least one simplified, expedited rate review methodology. These changes 
will increase efficiency throughout the rate review process.
  South Dakota farmers and ranchers depend on our Nation's railroads to 
bring their goods to market. They also depend on our Nation's highways. 
This year I was proud to work with my colleagues in the Senate on the 
first long-term Transportation bill in a decade.
  Over the past several years, Congress made a habit of passing 
numerous short-term funding extensions for Federal transportation 
programs. Over the past several years of short-term extensions, the 
latest, I think, was No. 38. That was an incredibly inefficient way to 
manage our Nation's infrastructure needs, and it wasted an incredible 
amount of money. It also put a lot of transportation jobs in jeopardy.
  When Congress fails to make clear how transportation funding will be 
allocated, States and local governments are left without the certainty 
they need to authorize projects or to make long-term plans for 
addressing various transportation infrastructure needs. That means 
essential projects, construction projects, get deferred. Necessary 
repairs may not get made, and the jobs that depend on these projects 
and repairs are put at risk.
  The Transportation bill we passed this month changes all that. It 
reauthorizes transportation programs for the long term, and it provides 
5 years of guaranteed funding. It means States and local governments 
will have the certainty they need to invest in big transportation 
projects and the jobs that they create. That, in turn, means a stronger 
economy and a more reliable, safer, and effective transportation 
system.

  As chairman of the commerce committee, I spend a lot of time working 
with committee members on both sides of the aisle to develop the 
Transportation bill's safety provisions. Our portion of the bill 
includes a host of important safety improvements, including 
enhancements to the notification process to ensure that consumers are 
informed of auto-related recalls, and also important reforms at the 
government agency responsible for overseeing safety in our Nation's 
cars and trucks.
  Another important success for South Dakota this year was the final 
approval of the expansion of the Powder River Training Complex--the 
military training airspace over South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, 
and Wyoming. The expanded airspace approved by the Air Force and the 
Federal Aviation Administration will allow our air men and women to 
carry out critical training in conditions that more closely resemble 
combat missions. After working with the Air Force on this project for 
nearly 9 years, I was proud to see this expansion finally completed and 
even more delighted to see the first large-force training exercise take 
place at the expanded Powder River Training Complex just this month. 
Forty-one aircraft took part in the exercise, including the B-1 bombers 
from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

[[Page S8661]]

The expanded training complex will save Ellsworth $23 million per year 
in training costs by reducing the need for the B-1 bombers to commute 
to other places, such as Nevada and Utah, for training.
  Supporting our men and women in uniform--like our airmen at 
Ellsworth--is one of the most important jobs we have as Members of 
Congress.
  This year I am proud to report that the Senate passed a national 
defense authorization bill that incorporates a number of critical 
reforms that will expand the resources available to our servicemembers 
and strengthen our national security. The National Defense 
Authorization Act for 2016 tackles waste and inefficiency at the 
Department of Defense and focuses funding on our warfighters rather 
than on the Pentagon bureaucracy.
  The bill also overhauls our military retirement system. Before this 
bill, the system limited retirement benefits to servicemembers who had 
served for 20 years or more, which means huge numbers of military 
personnel, including many veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 
retired after years of service without having accrued any retirement 
benefits. The National Defense Authorization Act replaces this system 
with a new retirement system that will ensure that the majority of our 
Nation's servicemembers receive retirement benefits for their years of 
service to our country even if they have not reached the 20-year mark.
  The bills I have discussed today are just a few of the 
accomplishments of the Republican-led Senate. Over the course of this 
year, we have passed a number of significant pieces of legislation that 
will benefit Americans for years to come.

  We have worked hard to help our Nation's veterans by expanding access 
to mental health resources, reducing wait times for medical care, and 
increasing the number of providers who can serve veterans. We voted to 
repeal ObamaCare and start the process of moving toward the real health 
care reform Americans are looking for: an affordable, accountable, 
patient-focused system that puts individuals in control of their health 
care decisions. We passed legislation to contain the out-of-control 
bureaucracy at the EPA and legislation to begin the process of 
safeguarding Medicare and Social Security by putting them on a more 
sustainable financial footing going forward. We passed cyber security 
legislation to protect Americans' privacy and a major education reform 
bill that puts States, parents, teachers, and local school boards--not 
Washington bureaucrats--in charge of our children's education.
  While we may have accomplished a lot this year, we know there is 
still a lot more that needs to be done. Americans are still suffering 
in the Obama economy, and our Nation continues to face terrorist 
threats at home and abroad.
  Whether it is enacting pro-economic growth policies at home or 
ensuring that our military has the resources it needs to protect us 
from threats abroad, Republicans will redouble our efforts to make sure 
Washington is meeting the needs of American families and addressing the 
American people's priorities. We plan to spend the second year of the 
114th Congress next year the way we have spent the first: fighting to 
make our economy stronger, our government more efficient and more 
accountable, and our Nation and our world safer and more secure.
  Mr. President, 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.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. 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. WHITEHOUSE. I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 20 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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