    [Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 10, 2018)]
    [Senate]
    [Pages S115-S116]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                            Issues Before the Senate

      Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, here we are at the start of a new year.
    Last year, the Republican majority decided to dedicate the year to
    government by and for the powerful and the privileged, but how about
    this year, 2018? We pay attention to our Constitution, which starts
    with that vision of government, not for the powerful, not for the rich,
    not for the privileged, not for the well connected, not for the wealthy
    but for the people of the United States. It is a vision where power is
    distributed, and power comes up from each individual citizen to create
    policies for their general welfare.
      Last year, we saw this complete dedication to trying to wipe out
    healthcare for 20 million to 30 million Americans in order to provide
    tax benefits for the richest. How big were those tax benefits? Well, if
    you add up the provisions that are dedicated to the powerful
    corporations and those benefits for the wealthiest 10 percent, and most
    of that goes to the wealthiest 1 percent, those provisions stack up to
    over $2 trillion--$2 trillion.
      It is very hard to get your hands around $2 trillion. Those are not
    numbers we use in ordinary conversation. Let's take that down to the
    amount of money per man, woman, and child--per citizen in America.
    Well, that is about $6,000--$6,000 taken from the community funds for
    every man, woman, and child in America to deliver to the wealthiest
    Americans. That was government by the Republican majority in 2017. It
    was not ``We the People'' but we the powerful and we the privileged.
      How about we have a new year's resolution that pays attention to the
    vision of our Constitution, to that vision of government of, by, and
    for the people?
      Ben Franklin once wrote in his ``Poor Richard's Almanac'':

           Be at war with your vices,
           At peace with your neighbors,
           And let every New Year find you a better man.

      Every new year is a chance to recreate and reenvision where we are
    headed. Certainly, it is a big vice to use this Chamber, in
    contravention of our Constitution, to pursue policies for the powerful
    and privileged rather than for the people. So let's set that vice aside
    and have a bipartisan year, dedicated to making a foundation for
    families to thrive and jobs and education and healthcare and a
    healthier planet.
      Right now, we should have an immediate new year's checklist of things
    to get done, and that checklist starts with the budget. We have just 9
    days until funding runs out for the Federal Government, and we all know
    from experience what that means--parks shut down, medical research
    stops, passports don't get processed, and businesses can't check in on
    their I-9 applications for employees. That is the type of conduct that
    happens in banana republics--basically, in countries that don't have a
    competent system of government. It should not happen in the United
    States of America.
      We are deep into the financial year, which started on October 1.
    October passed. November passed. December passed. We are well into
    January and still the majority leadership of this body is unable to put
    together a process that addresses just key, fundamental issues. Why is
    that? Because they were so distracted by delivering trillions of
    dollars to the richest of Americans and trying to destroy healthcare
    for millions of Americans that they didn't tend to the fundamentals
    that need to be tended to. Let's take care of those things now.
      The Children's Health Insurance Program. Here we are. It expired on
    September 30 of last year. Nine million children across America depend
    on this insurance. This insurance was crafted in a bipartisan manner.
    It was forged in an agreement between Senator Hatch, a Republican, and
    Senator Kennedy, a Democrat, who had very different visions of America
    but who could agree that families who didn't qualify for Medicaid and
    weren't affluent enough to buy insurance for their children could still
    have insurance for their children. These are the working poor of
    America, the struggling workers of America.
      It was forged in a bipartisan manner, but this year my Republican
    colleagues decided to make these children a bargaining chip for their
    effort to get more for the privileged and the powerful. That has to
    end.
      When children do not have insurance, they don't get that dental
    benefit to take care of those cavities. They don't get that medical
    exam. They don't get those inoculations, those vaccinations. They don't
    get treatment when they are injured because their parents can't afford
    to take them to the doctor. They don't get treatment when they are sick
    for the same reason. Let's take care of children's healthcare.
      This is not a partisan issue. It was forged in a bipartisan manner,
    and it should be so today.
      What also expired on September 30 of last year was the legislation
    authorizing support for our community health clinics. Community health
    clinics are the front door to healthcare for millions of Americans. It
    is that friendly place in your rural community, in your urban
    neighborhood, where you can go through the front door and get
    assistance.
      Talking about millions of Americans who go through those front doors,
    there are more than 1,400 clinics across the country. These are popular
    in rural areas. They are popular in urban areas. They are popular in
    red States. They are popular in blue States. There is nothing partisan
    about it, but the leadership of this body has no interest, has seen no
    urgency in reauthorizing the ability for those health centers to stay
    open.
      In Oregon we saw, as a result of the Affordable Care Act, 30 more
    health clinics established. We saw a lot more resources go into both
    mental illness and into drug abuse during a period in which the opioid
    crisis joined the meth crisis and afflicted both rural and urban areas.
    Lots of folks come to this floor and say: We have to take on opioids.
    It is not just on the left-hand side of the aisle, but it is also on
    the right-hand side of the aisle. People base virtually their entire
    campaigns on taking on opioids. Yet the Republican leadership says this
    isn't important. Let me tell you, this is important, and we need to get
    it done.
      Then let's turn to the Dream Act. Dreamers are those children raised
    in our communities, now 16 through their midtwenties. They are
    productive members of our communities. They have gone through our high
    schools or are in high school now. They are in college. They are
    working. They are contributing. They know no other country than ours.
      Across both sides of the aisle we hear folks say: We want to take
    care of them and establish a structure for this, a legal structure for
    the Dreamers.
      The President yesterday hosted a bipartisan conversation at the White
    House to say: Let's get this done. He expressed his support. In fact,
    everyone in the room expressed support for getting this done.
      Each one of these--the budget, the children's healthcare, the health
    centers, the Dream Act--are bipartisan efforts. These are things that
    should have been addressed long ago if my Republican colleagues instead
    weren't so

    [[Page S116]]

    obsessed with decimating healthcare for millions of Americans and
    ripping off the National Treasury to deliver benefits to the wealthiest
    Americans.
      Let's get this done for our Dreamers. More than 100 a day are losing
    their status, which means they can no longer legally work in our
    country. It matters. It is urgent. It is productive for our
    communities. It is bipartisan. Let's get it done.
      How about disaster relief? We certainly saw a powerful punch against
    our States from the raging forest fires in the West to the hurricanes
    in the South and Southeast. Hurricanes have hit Texas and Florida and
    Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands--massive destruction. Fires have
    scourged States from Montana to Idaho, to Washington, to Oregon, to
    California. Those fires burned well into the winter months of November
    and December.
      These afflictions hit Democrats and Republicans, red States and blue
    States. Why don't we get this done? These are basic, bipartisan, let's-
    get-it-done agendas. Let's get it done now.
      Let's make sure, when we are addressing the impact of those storms in
    the South and those hurricanes--Harvey, Irma, and Maria--we
    simultaneously recognize the destructive impact forest fires have had
    that have been scourging the West. They have destroyed a lot of the
    infrastructure in the forest that needs to be replaced. They have
    affected a lot of communities that need economic help recovering.
      Certainly, it made us recognize that we have millions of acres of
    forests that can become much more fire resilient if they are thinned,
    if we get rid of the fuel buildup on the floor of the forests. When
    they become more resilient, they stop the forest fires.
      Thinning is a win-win. It produces a steady supply of sawlogs for the
    mill and stops forest fires when they are raging. There was a forest
    fire headed right for Sisters, OR, and it hit an area that had been
    thinned. Guess what. It stopped. The trees were farther apart. The
    fuels were removed from the floor of the forest.
      Now we have created a real fire hazard with our clear-cut strategy of
    years past--the forestry grows very close together, often replanted.
    Trees are all the same height. It is very easy for the fire to get into
    the canopy, and once in the canopy, every tree is touching the next
    tree. It rages on, and there is no break.
      But a natural forest is very different. We can more effectively
    replicate the fire-resistant nature of a natural forest by thinning
    these overgrown, second-growth forests. We can then create that supply
    of saw logs, keep our mills open, keep our people working, and
    strengthen our economies in rural America. We can do it by funding this
    reduction, these thinning programs in acreage that has already gone
    through the environmental process. In Oregon, we have 1.6 million acres
    already approved for thinning, if we can pass the funds to get it done.
      So let's take this on in 2018. Let's dedicate 2018 to that vision in
    our Constitution of ``we the people.'' Let's stop passing legislation
    targeted specifically to help out the richest at the expense of
    everyone else in America. Let's turn over a new leaf from campaigns and
    policies and legislation by and for the privileged and the powerful to
    honor the vision of our Constitution, the vision of our Nation, a
    Nation of laws which distributes power that produces policies by and
    for the people of the United States of America, for making families
    stronger, for building those foundations of jobs and healthcare and
    education and a healthy planet.
      Thank you, Mr. President.
      The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.