[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 168 (Wednesday, October 10, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6736-S6738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the time until 11:30 
a.m. will be equally divided between the two leaders or their 
designees.
  Mr. McCONNELL. 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. 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the quorum call be rescinded.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.


                                S. 3021

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as you know this week we are voting and 
considering an important bipartisan piece of legislation known as 
America's Water Infrastructure Act, the most sweeping infrastructure 
package to be considered by Congress this year. It will literally 
reauthorize billions of dollars of spending for our Nation's ports, 
harbors, and waterways, and it will end wasteful spending on water 
projects that are no longer necessary.
  I thank Chairman Barrasso and Ranking Member Carper for spearheading 
this legislation through the Committee on Environment and Public Works. 
They deserve a tremendous amount of credit for bringing us to where we 
are today.
  Drinking water, wastewater systems, dams, levees, ports, and 
reservoirs matter to every single community in America. They are 
usually not front and center on our priority list, though, so people 
naturally take them for granted. We take it as a given that water will 
be available, that it will be treated and filtered, that wastewater 
will somehow be transported wherever it needs to go, and that dams and 
levees will hold up when they are put to the test by rising floods.
  Actually, though, that is not the case in many parts of the world, 
and we in America do take that for granted because usually none of 
these present a problem to most Americans. None of these problems 
happen in the United States if public and Federal resources are 
allocated in the right ways, and that is why we can't afford to let our 
guard down and be lax when it comes to maintaining these important 
national treasures.
  That is what makes this bill we are voting on so crucial. It is not 
just a drop in the bucket, so to speak. It is one of the main reasons 
the bucket--

[[Page S6737]]

our Nation's entire public water capacity--functions at all.
  As Chairman Barrasso has said, many pieces of our water 
infrastructure systems are aging and in need of serious attention. They 
need to be repaired, replaced, and other long-awaited projects need to 
begin.
  I know that because some of those projects happen to be in my State 
of Texas. Following last year's devastating Hurricane Harvey, a 
catastrophic rain event, the likes of which the Houston region had 
never seen before, the gaps in our infrastructure became acutely 
apparent. As we began the recovery process, one thing became clear to 
us: There isn't much sense in rebuilding without ensuring the region 
can withstand major weather events in the future. So it is not just 
about fixing what was damaged; it is about making sure future 
infrastructure will not be damaged because it has been brought up to 
standard.
  So one piece of the bill we will be voting on this week will be to 
allow the Army Corps of Engineers to expedite a study on the so-called 
coastal spine that will run up and down portions of the gulf coast. 
This is a new multilayered system of storm surge and flood mitigation 
improvements to address our most acute vulnerabilities. The crucial 
first step is fully funding the proper engineering study, and that is 
what we are going to do in this bill.
  I want to emphasize, this is not just some parochial matter. It is 
not just something that matters to the city of Houston and the gulf 
coast region. This is an important national resource. It is important 
to our national security, and it is vital to our national economy.
  A second thing this bill does for Texas is authorize a project from 
an area known as the Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay. Across more than 
4,000 square miles of South Texas, this bill will update the levee 
systems and, in some cases, construct new ones in order to better 
protect the area from storms and hurricanes.
  In places that were dramatically affected by Hurricane Harvey, like 
Clear Creek and Brays Bayou, funds will be used to widen channels, 
construct detention basins, replace bridges, and renovate dams. 
Importantly, these projects include cost-share requirements, a 
reflection of the partnership between the State and local officials and 
the Federal Government when it comes to flood mitigation.
  As Texas communities continue to rebuild from Hurricane Harvey and 
prepare for future storms, it is critical that we take these steps to 
ensure the coastal region can better withstand major weather events. I 
am grateful that once we vote on this bill, we will be one step closer 
toward completing these important projects, as well as many others.
  Finally, it is important to note that in many ways, the provisions of 
this bill represent a continuation of efforts we began last fall. As my 
colleagues will recall, in the weeks and months following Hurricane 
Harvey, Congress passed three separate aid bills totaling $147 billion 
for Harvey and other natural disasters.
  Then, in February, my colleagues and I secured nearly $4 billion in 
the Omnibus appropriations bill to advantage the Sabine Pass to 
Galveston project I just mentioned.
  So as we move toward passage of this important piece of legislation, 
it is important to remember, this is sort of the bricks-and-mortar work 
Congress needs to do. It doesn't gather a lot of attention. There is 
not a lot of controversy. Unlike a Supreme Court appointment, we don't 
see thousands of people gathering in the Mall or in the halls or in 
front of the Capitol, but it is simply the fundamental, basic building 
blocks we need to construct in order to keep our country safe and 
prosperous.
  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. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.


                               Healthcare

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, Democrats have long believed that good 
healthcare for every American is a right, not a privilege. It is a 
tradition that was etched into our party by Presidents Roosevelt, 
Johnson, Clinton, and Obama. We believe it is wrong to allow insurers 
to discriminate against women, older Americans, and folks with 
preexisting conditions. We believe it is wrong to allow insurers to put 
a cap on your insurance or to offer insurance so threadbare that it 
hardly counts as insurance at all. People end up paying a lot of money 
for insurance, and then they find it doesn't cover anything or it has 
such a huge deductible that it does no good. That is why the Affordable 
Care Act prohibited these abuses by insurance companies.
  Our Republican friends seem to want to say: The best way to get 
healthcare is to put yourself in the hands of your insurance company. 
We don't believe that. For the past 2 years, President Trump and 
Republicans in Congress have tried to wrench our country back to a time 
when all of these abuses and loopholes were commonplace, a time when 
insurance companies could do whatever they want. They have tried to 
repeal our healthcare law, gut Medicaid, and cause 20 million fewer 
Americans to have insurance. President Trump ended a program that 
helped low-income Americans to afford insurance. Congressional 
Republicans repealed the coverage requirement, causing an unnecessary 
and completely avoidable increase in premiums this year, and Republican 
attorneys general across the country--many now running for a seat in 
this Chamber--filed a lawsuit that would repeal protections for 
Americans with preexisting conditions.
  Today on the floor, the Senate has the opportunity to put a stop to 
the relentless sabotage of our healthcare system. My friend and one of 
the great leaders in healthcare in this Chamber, Senator Baldwin, has 
put forward a motion to repeal the Trump administration's rule to 
expand short-term insurance plans. Short-term insurance plans lure 
consumers in with low rates but fail to provide adequate coverage. Many 
don't cover maternity care, mental health treatment, prescription drug 
costs, and more. These plans are junk insurance, period--no ands, ifs, 
or buts--junk.
  We prohibited them in the past. This administration wants to let 
these junk insurance plans run rampant and let people be duped into 
thinking they have insurance when it covers almost nothing. There are 
massive risks to any family who purchases them, and, worse, they cause 
rates to go up for everyone else, even those who don't elect to buy 
one. That is why traditionally nonpartisan organizations, like the 
American Cancer Society, the AARP, and the American Lung Association, 
have come out in staunch opposition. The AARP, for instance, says that 
junk insurance ``would force millions of older Americans to choose 
either inadequate coverage or comprehensive coverage that is 
unaffordable.''
  Now, my Republican friends say they support these plans because they 
give Americans another choice, but if you ask Americans: Would you like 
the option to purchase a faulty product, I don't think many would say 
yes. Do we want a choice of buying a car where the engine doesn't go? 
Of course not, that is the 1890s. We have changed for the better, and 
people are protected.
  So this vote is not about giving Americans a choice. It is about 
whether or not we would allow insurance companies to scam Americans 
with cut-rate health insurance. I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side 
of that vote. An abundance of public opinion shows that healthcare is 
the No. 1 issue to voters. My Republican friends have desperately tried 
to make it more unaffordable, harder to access. Meanwhile, the one 
significant legislative item passed by the Republican Congress this 
year, the tax bill, is under water in the polls. It is hard to make a 
tax cut unpopular, but this one is because so much of it goes to the 
wealthy.
  Republican leaders just rammed through one of the least popular 
Supreme Court Justices in history.
  In a few short weeks, the American people will head to the polls, 
where they can vote for another 2 years of Republican attempts to gut 
our healthcare system or they can vote for Democratic candidates who 
can safeguard the protections now in place and

[[Page S6738]]

work to make healthcare more affordable.
  I see my friend from Wisconsin. I want to thank her for her 
outstanding leadership on this issue.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.

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