[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1288-S1290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. SCOTT (for himself and Mr. Booker):
  S. 2465. A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize 
a sickle cell disease prevention and treatment demonstration program 
and to provide for sickle cell disease research, surveillance, 
prevention, and treatment; to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. President, as we close out Black History Month this 
week, I wanted to recognize a few people and initiatives that we are 
really excited about.
  Yesterday, I joined Congressman Mark Walker, Chairman of the 
Republican Study Committee in the House, to host our Second Annual 
Historically Black Colleges and Universities Fly In.
  We hosted Presidents and Administrators from HBCUs throughout the 
country, including four from my home State of South Carolina--South 
Carolina State University, Claflin University, Allen University and 
Benedict College.
  We were able to host some great panels on ensuring curricula are 
matched with the needs of the workforce, how to best encourage 
entrepreneurship among students, and what steps we are taking at the 
Federal level to help our HBCUs provide an invaluable education for 
students for generations to come.
  Representatives from the HBCUs heard from Google, McDonalds, 
Starbucks, Bank of America the Morehouse College Entrepreneurship 
Center, John Deere, Wal-Mart, the Center for Entrepreneurship & 
Economic Development, and the Koch Foundation. I also want to thank my 
friends Senator Lankford and Congresswoman Terri Sewell for joining us 
on our member panel.
  For decades, HBCUs provided Americans of color with educational 
opportunities they would not have otherwise had. For generations, they 
have given low-income students an education they could not otherwise 
afford.
  We have stood by them with the restoration of year-round Pell Grants, 
a top legislative priority from last year's fly-in, which benefits more 
than one million students.
  I joined a bipartisan group of members of Congress, including 
Representative Alma Adams, to ensure an increase in the Department of 
Defense's HBCU and PMI grant program, boosting funding for this 
important collaboration to $40M.
  And earlier this month, we saw the Environmental Protection Agency 
renew its partnership with Bowie State University to provide 
professional experiences and advanced resources to Bowie State 
students.
  We will continue to stand with our HBCUs, and help ensure they are 
providing the opportunities sought by so many people of color and low-
income families from across the Nation.
  I also want to talk about legislation my friend Senator Booker and I 
introduced today to help combat Sickle Cell Disease.
  Our Sickle Cell Disease Research, Surveillance, Prevention and 
Treatment Act will do exactly what the title suggests . . . aid in 
fighting sickle cell through research, surveillance, prevention and 
treatment.
  Currently, we don't really know exactly how many people have Sickle 
Cell Disease. There's no real surveillance and reporting in place at 
the Federal level, and only a handful of states have a reporting 
process.
  To best battle Sickle Cell, we have to know the universe of what 
we're fighting against. So, our bill establishes the National Sickle 
Cell Disease Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment program 
to collect data on the demographics and prevalence of Sickle Cell as 
well as identify and evaluate strategies for prevention and treatment.
  We're also reauthorizing the Sickle Cell Disease Treatment 
Demonstration Program (SDTDP) for four years, making some smart reforms 
and expanding support services for kids and young adults making the 
transition to adult care.
  If you've ever met someone with Sickle Cell Disease, you know the 
pain they go through. You see how hard it is on their families to watch 
them suffer.
  The Medical University of South Carolina has put so much effort into 
finding a cure, and over the past few years I've gotten to know some of 
the patients. Their perseverance is amazing.
  We have taken some great steps forward, but we have to keep that 
momentum going. I want to thank Senator Booker again for joining me in 
this effort, and I look forward to our colleagues supporting the Sickle 
Cell Disease Research, Surveillance, Prevention and Treatment Act.
  Mr. President, Black History Month allows us to not only study and 
learn from our past, but to see where we can go in the future. Our 
Nation has made amazing progress in the past 50 years.
  Without a doubt, there are still challenges ahead of us, and by 
remembering the strength of folks like Dr. Martin Luther King, the 
Friendship Nine, Cleveland Sellers, and so many other civil rights 
heroes, I am heartened that despite those challenges, we will continue 
to make progress.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. HATCH (for himself and Mr. Leahy):

[[Page S1289]]

  S. 2466. A bill to encourage and facilitate international 
participation in the performing arts and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Vermont has a rich history of supporting 
vibrant arts in communities throughout our State and across the world. 
Local and foreign visiting artists alike make invaluable social and 
economic contributions to our communities. Today our complex, 
overloaded, and outdated immigration system often prevents foreign 
artists from coming to the United States and engaging in international 
cultural exchange.
  That is why I am reintroducing the bipartisan Arts Require Timely 
Service, ARTS, Act with Senator Orrin Hatch. Our bill would assist 
nonprofit arts organizations in obtaining visas for foreign artists by 
ensuring enforcement of current statutory requirements. The O visa is 
available to individual foreign artists, while the P visa is available 
to groups of foreign artists. The Immigration and Nationality Act 
currently requires that O visa and P visa petitions be processed within 
14 days. However, artists and nonprofit arts organizations routinely 
confront lengthy and uncertain wait times in the adjudication process. 
Many nonprofit arts organizations are unable to afford the exorbitant 
filing fee necessary for expedited processing of petitions.
  The ARTS Act would require USCIS to provide premium processing 
services, without a fee, if an O visa or P visa is not adjudicated 
within the statutorily required 14-day timeframe and if the petition is 
filed by or on behalf of a nonprofit organization.
  The many problems plaguing our immigration system demand responsible 
reforms. This bill is just one small piece. As we look ahead to 
comprehensive immigration reform, I hope that Congress will consider 
commonsense legislation like this that will help create permanent 
solutions. Foreign visiting artists provide an important public service 
and support our international diplomacy. It is time we start working to 
create results that can best help our communities as a whole.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. FLAKE (for himself and Mrs. Feinstein):
  S. 2470. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit 
the purchase of certain firearms by individuals under 21 years of age, 
and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the 
introduction of the ``Age 21 Act'' by Senator Flake and myself.
  Two weeks ago, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, 
Florida, our Nation experienced yet another horrific mass shooting that 
has shocked the conscience of us all.
  The shooter--a 19-year old former student of the high school--used an 
AR-15 military-style assault rifle that he legally purchased at a gun 
store, to kill former classmates and educators. Along with 14 wounded, 
17 beautiful lives were lost in this horrific attack. Many of them were 
children and young adults. Their whole lives were ahead of them.
  The overwhelming agony so many victims and their loved ones are 
experiencing is all too familiar to gun violence victims and survivors 
all across America. This palpable agony and grief has emboldened 
students from Parkland and all across this Nation to speak out about 
gun violence and demand that we as lawmakers act. I am deeply inspired 
by the courage of these young people, and I hope my colleagues will 
join me in working with them.
  The bill that Senator Flake and I are introducing is straightforward 
and simple--it raises the minimum age to purchase a military-style 
assault rifle and high capacity ammunition magazines to age 21. In so 
doing, this legislation closes the loophole in current law that allows 
teenagers to legally walk into a gun store and buy an AR-15. It further 
prohibits private individuals from selling or transferring AR-15s to 
teenagers under the age of 21. In this way, it brings the minimum age 
requirements for buying handguns and military-style assault weapons 
into parity.
  It makes perfectly clear that in America, if a person is not old 
enough to buy a handgun--or, for that matter, old enough to buy a 
beer--they should not be able to purchase a military-style assault 
weapon. In my view, this bill is one small step in the right direction. 
It was developed following the attack in Parkland that had students 
asking ``why was this teenager able to legally walk into a gun store 
and buy an AR-15?'' In fact, one student named Samuel Zeif, who lost 
his best friend in the shooting, asked President Trump why a young 
person in America ``can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war?''
  So we worked in the spirit of bipartisanship to let Samuel, and these 
students, know that as lawmakers we hear them. And we will work 
together to make sure that they feel safe in their schools and in their 
neighborhoods.
  So I'm proud of this bipartisan piece of legislation and would urge 
that this body take it up and pass it immediately. However, I would be 
remiss not to mention that so much more remains to be done. Already 
this Congress, I have introduced legislation to ban bump stocks and 
assault weapons from our streets. I've also introduced legislation that 
would provide states with a legal framework for courts to issue gun 
violence restraining orders to prevent dangerous individuals from 
accessing firearms. Additionally, nearly 100 percent of Americans 
support legislation that would require universal background checks on 
all gun sales, something that ordinary Americans are shocked is not 
already the law.
  I ask my colleagues to work with us on these common-sense, broadly 
supported proposals. I strongly believe that lives are at stake. We 
can't continue to watch our children get slaughtered.
  Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that ``we are confronted with the 
fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history 
there is such a thing as being too late'' and ``we must move past 
indecision to action.''
  Today, as students and communities all across our nation cry out for 
stronger gun laws, this message continues to ring true. Now is the time 
for us to act, and to show the American people that we can come 
together when they are looking for leadership.
  I yield the floor.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. BURR (for himself, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Blunt, 
        Mr. Carper, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Cochran, Mr. Corker, Mr. Cornyn, 
        Mr. Cotton, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Enzi, Mrs. Fischer, Mr. 
        Gardner, Mr. Graham, Ms. Heitkamp, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. 
        Isakson, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Manchin, 
        Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Paul, Mr. 
        Perdue, Mr. Portman, Mr. Thune, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Wicker, Mr. 
        Daines, Mr. Scott, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Warner, Mr. Roberts, Mrs. 
        Ernst, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Heller, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Moran, Ms. 
        Collins, Mr. Hatch, and Mr. Sasse):
  S.J. Res. 53. A joint resolution honoring the life of William 
``Billy'' F. Graham, Jr; considered and passed.

                              S.J. Res. 53

       Whereas William ``Billy'' F. Graham, Jr., was born on 
     November 7, 1918, in Charlotte, North Carolina;
       Whereas, in 1939, Reverend Graham was ordained by Peniel 
     Baptist Church in Florida;
       Whereas Reverend Graham studied at Florida Bible Institute 
     and graduated from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, in 
     1943;
       Whereas Reverend Graham married his wife of nearly 64 
     years, Ruth McCue Bell, in 1943;
       Whereas Reverend Graham had 3 daughters, 2 sons, 19 
     grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren;
       Whereas, in 1950, Reverend Graham founded the Billy Graham 
     Evangelistic Association, which is based in Charlotte, North 
     Carolina;
       Whereas Reverend Graham preached to nearly 215,000,000 
     individuals in more than 185 countries and territories on 6 
     continents;
       Whereas Reverend Graham provided spiritual counsel for 
     every President since Harry Truman;
       Whereas Reverend Graham prayed with members of the Armed 
     Forces in combat zones in South Korea and Vietnam;
       Whereas Reverend Graham spoke against the communist Soviet 
     Union, saying, ``Communism has decided against God, against 
     Christ, against the Bible, and against all religion.'';
       Whereas Reverend Graham--
       (1) fought for racial integration;
       (2) invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to preach with him 
     in New York City in 1957; and

[[Page S1290]]

       (3) bailed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., out of jail when 
     Dr. King was arrested for protesting segregation;

       Whereas, following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 
     2001, Reverend Graham spoke words of hope and comfort to the 
     people of the United States at the Washington National 
     Cathedral;
       Whereas Reverend Graham authored 34 books, including the 
     bestselling autobiography, ``Just as I Am'', which began by 
     discussing his early days on a dairy farm in North Carolina 
     and continued through his career as a preacher and 
     evangelist; and
       Whereas Reverend Graham received numerous honors, 
     including--
       (1) the North Carolina Award for Public Service;
       (2) the Presidential Medal of Freedom;
       (3) the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award; and
       (4) the Congressional Gold Medal: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled, That 
     Congress--
       (1) extends its sympathies to the family of William 
     ``Billy'' F. Graham, Jr.; and
       (2) honors--
       (A) the life and ministry of Reverend Graham; and
       (B) the contributions of Reverend Graham to--
       (i) the State of North Carolina;
       (ii) the United States of America; and
       (iii) the moral and religious lives of millions of 
     individuals.

                          ____________________