[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 195 (Tuesday, December 11, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7406-S7412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

         AGRICULTURE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2018--CONFERENCE REPORT

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
resume legislative session, that the Chair lay before the Senate the 
conference report to accompany H.R. 2, and that the final 10 minutes 
before the vote be equally divided between the managers.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Chair lays before the Senate the conference report to accompany 
H.R. 2, which the clerk will report by title.
  The senior assistant bill clerk read as follows:

       The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the 
     two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 
     2), to provide for the reform and continuation of 
     agricultural and other programs of the Department of 
     Agriculture through fiscal year 2023, and for other purposes, 
     having met, have agreed that the House recede from its 
     disagreement to the amendment of the Senate and agree to the 
     same with an amendment and the Senate agree to the same: 
     Signed by a majority of the conferees on the part of both 
     Houses.

  Thereupon, the Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Record of December 10, 2018.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for as 
much time as I may consume.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                         Farewell to the Senate

  Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. President, I rise today for the final time 
representing the great people of Indiana here in the U.S. Senate. My 6 
years representing Hoosiers in this body and the 6 years I spent as a 
Congressman for the Second District of Indiana before this have been 
among the great honors of my life.
  I am the grandson of immigrants--immigrants who came here with 
nothing except the dream of America--a dream that says that any 
opportunity can come true, that if you work hard, you can accomplish 
anything.
  My dad was in the CCC. For all of our young pages here who have no 
idea what the CCC is, it was the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was 
for teenagers your age, back in the Depression, who were asked to go 
and try to help raise money for their family so that the other family 
members could eat.
  My dad was shipped to Idaho to build bridges. Today we call that 
infrastructure. Back then, we said it was building bridges. He built 
bridges all throughout the Pacific Northwest, having grown up in the 
Lower East Side of New York City and having never been west of the 
Hudson River in his life until that point. It was America that gave him 
that chance.
  My brothers and sisters were the first generation to ever go to 
college. That is how America works. You work hard, and each generation 
builds on the next. We are so lucky to live in this country that is so 
blessed and that gives us this opportunity, but we have a 
responsibility here to meet the challenges that have been given to us.
  I want to take this opportunity to discuss some of the things I have 
learned in my time in Congress and to share a few thoughts on how the 
work that happens here, and how it will happen in coming years, is 
going to be absolutely essential to how our Nation moves forward and 
succeeds.
  In my 12 years here in the Capitol, I have prided myself on the 
relationships I have built and on the bipartisan nature of working 
together. I have been found to be one of the most bipartisan Members. 
My friend Heidi, who is down the aisle here, who gave a wonderful 
speech this morning, was my partner on so much of this. I would never 
have been able to achieve for Hoosiers so much of this without working 
together in a bipartisan fashion.
  My friend Todd Young is across the way. He is the other Senator from 
Indiana. Our focus has been on how to make life better, whether it 
meant assisting constituents or resolving an issue with a Federal 
agency.
  In one case, a pizza parlor owner came up to me. He was 90 years old. 
Now he is 93. He said: My streetlight is out. You are my Senator. It 
needs to be fixed before the big game this weekend.
  I called the mayor, and it was fixed. He was asked that weekend, and 
he said: Of course, I got it fixed. I called my Senator. That is what I 
did.
  We are multitasking in this job. It is to make lives better.
  I was blessed to work with my friend Ron Johnson, the Senator from 
Wisconsin. We worked on legislation called the Right to Try Act. It 
means giving people who are sick the chance to get medication they 
need.
  We were told: There is no shot. This can't get done.
  We had zero votes at the time. When it was done, we had 100--100. A 
young man from my State, Jordan McLinn, has the chance to get the 
medication he needs now. People all over the Nation do. Other kids with 
Duchenne

[[Page S7407]]

muscular dystrophy can also get help, and other people with ALS can 
also get help. That is the purpose of this job--that we work for them.
  I was able to get more than 50 provisions signed into law over the 
past 6 years. It was only possible because I worked together every day 
with every Senator. There are friends like Susan Collins and Lisa 
Murkowski who, when the government shut down, we worked to end it. It 
became like a regular group that we had. Every time it shut down, we 
would work to open it back up again.
  You learn from other Members, like Roger Wicker, who I worked 
together with to end military suicide. We have not been able to end it 
yet, but we sure worked on it every day.
  We learn from others Members in hearings about the difficulties 
people in their States are facing, and we work together to address 
common challenges. You can be from Idaho, you can be from North Dakota, 
you can be from New Hampshire, or you can be from Indiana, but we all 
have the same challenges.
  All of us worked hard to get here. Our jobs should not be worrying 
about politics but worrying about making lives better. Partisanship 
gets us nothing. Division gets us nothing.
  I was thinking: What is the best way to explain this? It is this. 
When a fire department goes to a house, they don't ask if the person 
living there is Democrat or Republican. They are just there to help 
their neighbor. No soldier has ever asked, when they are in a foxhole 
fighting their way out: Where do you come from? Which party are you? 
What is your religion? What is your ethnic background?
  You are Americans. You are in this together. You have each other's 
backs.
  As an institution, the Senate must be a place that we are all proud 
of, that promotes that ideal, and that sets the example that we want 
our children and grandchildren to follow. It means getting to know one 
another. It means listening to other perspectives and to other 
experiences.
  One of the things that amazed me the most--and when I was out 
campaigning and going to town halls, I never failed to be astounded--
was when folks came and said: You didn't do the one thing I wanted; so 
I am really mad at you, and I will never support you again.
  I said: But we did 19 other things.
  They said: But I didn't get that one.
  I said: Apparently, you are not from a family of five children, like 
I am.
  There were five children and two dogs. So when there were seven pork 
chops, I was the last to wind up with one.
  So if you are someone who wants 100 percent of what you want every 
time, this is not the place. This is a place where we can get 70 
percent to build America, to make it a better place.
  The rhetoric--the divisive rhetoric--and the political campaigns, 
increasingly funded by tens of millions of dollars of anonymous, dark 
money interests, are really doing damage to this country.
  I have always been for campaign finance reform. The reason I wasn't 
very good at raising money--which I wasn't very good at--was because 
people ought to have a right to know who is talking to them, who is 
standing up for what they have to say. I have always believed that if 
you have something to say, you should be willing to put your name on 
it.
  I am concerned by our inability here to tackle serious, long-term 
issues. My friend Heidi touched on it. Our obligation, as public 
servants, is to leave a country for our children and grandchildren that 
is in better shape than we got it. It is the most basic promise that we 
make.
  My wife Jill's dad was a Guadalcanal marine. He was wounded in the 
South Pacific. I told him: You are our hero.
  He said: No, I was born at the wrong time.
  I said: But you are still our hero.
  He said: Look, I did my job, which is to leave for the next 
generation a better country than was given to me.
  That is what we are supposed to do. My friend Michael Bennet has 
talked about this a lot, but we have a deficit right now of $21.8 
trillion. I had to look because it was, I think, $21.7 trillion 
yesterday. This deficit is going to destroy everything we are trying to 
do in this country, and we have done next to nothing to address it.
  My friend Chuck Schumer can probably relate to this the best, but 
there is an old cartoon. It was Popeye. Popeye had a friend named 
Wimpy. Wimpy loved hamburgers, but Wimpy never had any money. So 
Wimpy's saying was this: ``I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a 
hamburger today.'' That is the American government today. We do things, 
and we don't pay for any of them--but someday we will. That someday is 
now.
  My friends Jordan and Peter Hanscom just had a baby boy about 5 
months ago. You know what he was born into? $67,000 of debt. It is 
because we didn't have the responsibility to pay for our bills.
  At the end of next year, 2019, the deficit is going to $23 trillion. 
Unless we do something here, it is on an unstoppable course to be at 
$30 trillion.
  So what did we do here?
  We passed a tax cut, because what is another $1.5 trillion? It is a 
tax cut at a time when we have a full-employment economy, a strong 
economy. We passed a tax cut, and we are now running, in a great 
economy, over $1 trillion in deficits every year.
  If we can't balance our books now, when are we ever, ever going to do 
this? Right now we are on a course that, within 10 years, the interest 
payment will be almost $1 trillion a year, which is unsustainable.
  Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was asked in 2010, 
when the deficit was $14 trillion: What is the most dangerous thing to 
our national security? China? Russia? He said: The debt, because we 
can't pay for anything, and if we can't pay for anything, how am I 
going to protect the men and women who serve this Nation?
  We have serious, serious work to do.
  At my church back home, St. Anthony's Church in South Bend, IN--I 
know, an Irish kid going to St. Anthony; you have to question it 
sometimes--we were running up a debt, and we were solving it by adding 
more debt to fix the debt we had. A new pastor came in. He came to the 
pulpit one Sunday, and he said: Here is the deal. We are not spending 
anything we don't have anymore. We need to have the revenue to match 
what we want to do, and the things we want to do and can't pay for, 
well, we will continue to want to do them, but we will not do them.
  Magic occurred. We balanced our books. The parish went on. It got 
stronger, and all of a sudden, we were in the black.
  As a body here, we do not have the right to tell CJ, that little boy, 
and children being born today--we don't have the right to financially 
cripple the country they will be inheriting.
  We had ancestors who fought for this Nation. I think of my Uncle Tom, 
who fought with Patton in North Africa and who gave everything he had. 
His Purple Heart is in my office. It has been there every day while I 
have been there. They sacrificed everything. The least we can do is to 
pay our bills, not to give out crazy tax cuts that we can't pay for, 
and to make sure that we balance our budgets.
  We are better than this. Sometimes we just have to have the ability 
to say no--to say no to things that, by common sense, you would never 
do with your own checkbook, or if you did, the end would not be very, 
very pleasant on that kind of thing.
  If we continue doing these things, this amazing and wonderful place 
that I have been a part of, with the most amazing colleagues--that is 
the part that has been so great. It is every colleague, and one is 
better than the next. But this is a long-term threat to our democracy 
and to our country's success. We can do better, and every one of you 
can lead on this.
  Too often, what we watch in our politics doesn't reflect the spirit 
or the values or the diverse coalitions of Americans that have made 
this country so successful. It is not the type of example we want to be 
leaving for our kids.

  I will tell you the kind of example we want to leave. It is when we 
do great, great things when we have looked up and have seen our country 
in trouble. I had the privilege to represent Kokomo, IN, back in 2008, 
2009 when the economy collapsed, and we had a transmission plant. We 
built all of the transmissions for all of the Jeeps in the country 
there. That is why I drive a Jeep. But those wonderful people--we went 
from over 5,000 to less than 100. They counted on us. We came together, 
and we

[[Page S7408]]

said: We can do big things. We can get this done.
  President Obama--I told him: Chrysler is going to make it.
  He said: How do you know?
  I said: I lit a candle at Mass. Does that work?
  He laughed. He said: Well maybe not, but I will give it a shot.
  You have to have faith in the people of this country, that if you 
give them a fair shot, they can get it done.
  As an institution, we came together, Democrats and Republicans, 
including my friend Fred Upton from Michigan, who is right across the 
line, and together we got it done. That plant, which had over 5,000 
people working there and then less than 100 when we crashed, has over 
9,000 there today because we looked at each other and said: It is not 
about Democrats or Republicans; it is about making sure that mortgages 
can be paid, that these people will not lose their houses, that we can 
continue to make great products here in this country.
  I think of healthcare, and I often think maybe this is why I wound up 
here. A friend of mine, Al Gutierrez, who is the CEO of St. Joseph 
Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka, called me after we had so many 
problems getting it started a couple of months later, and he said: I 
just want to fill you in on something that happened. We had a big 
meeting of all of the brain trust. It is because we have had so many 
terrible heart cases come in, so many people who were sick who had come 
in, and we are trying to figure out what has gone wrong that so many 
people have had bad heart cases recently. So we had the CFO, the 
surgeons, the this, the that, and one person raised their hand 5 
minutes in and said: This is the first time they have ever had 
insurance. They could never afford it before.
  These are our working families. Moms and dads, who would be really 
sick, had this amount of money, and it either went for the tuition for 
their daughter at Ball State or to get well, and parents always take 
care of their kids first. They looked at each other and said ``Well, 
that is the end of the meeting'' because they could get healthcare for 
the first time.
  Every townhall I have gone to--and it is not unique to me; it is to 
everybody; it is to all our Members, Republican and Democrat--I have 
people come up and say: The healthcare bill saved my life. I wouldn't 
be here otherwise. I have one family, triplet girls. They were born at 
6 months, came out of the hospital at the 10th month. Their hospital 
bill, when they came out, was $5 million. The mom and dad said: We 
would have lost everything, and we don't know if our kids could have 
made it, but the healthcare bill saved us. The healthcare we had saved 
us.
  It is big stuff that we do right, and it is not perfect. That is 
where we have to come together, not to attack things but to fix things, 
to make things better. Almost nothing in this world started out 
perfect. You fix it a little bit here, you fix it a little bit there, 
and you can get there.
  So when I saw those families, I thought of all of you because you 
gave them healthcare; you gave them a chance.
  I think of my friend John McCain, who is not with us anymore, who 
stood up and said: I am not going to worry about party. It is country 
first. When he did that, he made sure those people could still get 
healthcare.
  It is every Senator's job to work toward those goals until they are 
reality. I know it sounds naive--constantly working together--but we 
can, and we must, and we know from recent experience there are a lot of 
things we can work together on, to be more functional, to be more 
productive.
  One of them is the chance I have had to work with our men and women 
in uniform. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, serving 
with Chairman Levin, Chairman McCain, a wonderful ranking member, Jack 
Reed, who is here with us today--chairman ad hoc--being able to 
advocate for those servicemembers is one of the most amazing 
responsibilities we could have, ensuring that they have everything they 
need. They are mostly in their twenties. They are defending freedom in 
every corner of the globe. They give us the ability to be safe, to live 
in our houses.
  I remember going to Coast Province in Afghanistan, right by the 
Pakistan border. The Indiana National Guard was there. I said: What 
message do you want me to take home to your families?
  They said: Tell them we got this. We know how to do this. And tell 
them we are going to make sure they are safe.
  That is what these men and women were about.
  I had the privilege of going to Iraq with Kirsten. We got the same 
message from amazing people who gave everything they had--everything.
  I think of my first 8 months in Congress. It was in 2007, and things 
were in flames, and in our district in Indiana, as in many of our other 
States, we have a lot of people who serve. Per capita, we are about 
first in National Guard people, and in 8 months, I lost eight young 
men. We were losing one every month.
  Last year was 10 years later. If you want to know the awesome 
responsibility we have, all of those young men we lost--those children 
who were 2 and 3 and 4 and 5--they were 13 and 14 and 15. I saw their 
folks; I saw their moms, and their moms would say: They want to know 
what their dad was like because he is not here anymore. I would tell 
them what a hero their dad was, what an amazing person he was.
  We have tried to work to not only keep them safe, but to stop 
military suicides.
  I worked with the dad and mom of a young man, Jake Sexton, who took 
his life on his second tour when he came home for R & R. His home is 
near Muncie, IN, and he just couldn't go back and took his own life. 
His dad called me and said: Can we do something? I want Jake's death to 
mean something.
  So all of you helped me, and we all worked together, and we made it 
so that every servicemember would get an annual mental health 
assessment, and they wouldn't be punished for doing it. What I mean by 
that is they wouldn't worry that they wouldn't get the next promotion, 
that they wouldn't get the next step up.
  I remember four-star GEN Joe Votel, who came before our committee and 
said: I want everybody to know that I have sought mental health. I am a 
four-star general, and we are in this together.
  So in every branch of every service, every member can now get an 
annual mental health assessment. You helped me give them the chance to 
do this. We have to also make sure that as we do this, we help them 
transition back to civilian life.
  One of the other things the Indiana National Guard told me in 
Afghanistan--as I was leaving, I said: What do you need? Trucks? Vests? 
Better MREs?
  They said: No, we just need a job when we go home.
  We need to make sure they have that chance, that we stand up for our 
veterans.
  We have been able to get new veterans centers in a number of places 
around our States because we promised them we would be there for them, 
and we have an obligation to keep our word. I know that Johnny Isakson 
and Jon Tester work every day to make sure they can get it done.
  The work that has been done by all of these people takes your breath 
away. They don't get paid much. They are in the most difficult places 
in the world. And when they come home, all they ask for is a decent 
job, decent healthcare, and a chance to see their family survive and do 
well.
  As I said, I think of those young men and women every day. When you 
want to know what progress you have helped us make--when Kirsten and I 
first came in together in the House, we were losing almost one every 
month. Now, it is not perfect; the world isn't perfect. But most of our 
young men and women are home. We do the best we can to keep those 
countries safe, to keep our country safe, and together we can continue 
to improve on it.
  One other thing I want to mention is--and Heidi talked about it 
today--this past year we have lost 70,000 young people to drug 
addiction--70,000. It has become more than car crashes. It has become 
more than anything else you can think of--70,000 people to opioids, 
meth, fentanyl; it is the whole batch. We can try nonstop to help them, 
to provide hope and purpose and dignity where they may not be feeling 
it--one kind word, one bit of assistance, one bit of encouragement.

[[Page S7409]]

  I went to an event in Indianapolis, and it was an event for families 
who had lost someone and families who have someone in rehab. A young 
man came up to me from one of the wealthiest families you could think 
of--doing really well, the whole family. I saw him there, and I said: 
Mike, who are you here for?
  He said: Me.
  He had gotten hurt, had received an opioid in treatment. He was in a 
spiral that was nonstop.
  His mom was there with him. She said: I don't think I have slept a 
night since.
  So we can do this together. One of the things we just did, we just 
passed a law that would allow the FDA to give early approval to 
nonaddictive painkillers so that when somebody is hurt, they don't wind 
up getting addicted.
  I am telling you that this is a five-alarm fire. In my State, well 
over 1,000 died last year from this in all parts of the State, all 
towns, all areas, Bridgeport--it doesn't matter, your religion, your 
race, anything. This is the great danger that parents need to be 
worried about, that we can stop. We can provide hope and purpose and 
dignity; that is what we have to do. These are moms and dads and 
brothers and sisters and sons and daughters, and when you lose one, 
your family is never, ever the same again.
  I have seen the faces, I have met the families, and I spend time with 
them. The Senate can be a place in which we work together as a team--
Pat has seen it in Kansas; Johnny has seen it in Georgia. When we work 
together as a team, when we leave name calling out, there is no 
division, and there is no agenda, other than making it so that every 
kid can come home safe every night.
  Before I finish, I would also like to thank so many wonderful people. 
I have met so many friends and had so many opportunities. I have 
traveled to places I could never imagine. You know, we used to have a 
saying in Indiana: The only places you could go to in a CODEL are 
places where you could get killed. I was able to go to Afghanistan, to 
Iraq, to South Korea. I say the first part as a joke. The second part 
is, it is because our young men and women were there, and they were 
there keeping us safe. All they ever wanted was a chance to represent 
this Nation that they love so much--those wonderful people.
  I want to thank the folks who work here in the Senate, who have done 
so much for all of us--the ones who, when you talk too loud, will lean 
over and tell you ``The whole country is hearing what you are saying 
right now,'' and then quickly move away to the back--for their hard 
work and dedication. I want to say thank you to the committee staffs 
who help shape policy and ensure we can have robust debate and 
oversight on the big issues of our time; to the Capitol Police, our 
friends, who have been so amazing to all of us, who protect us and keep 
us safe; to the cooks and the cleaning teams and the building 
maintenance folks. I think my office was painted every month for the 
last 6 years. To the whole gang, you make this place work. You make 
this Nation work.

  I also thank my staff, who are here on the floor with me--no, Heidi, 
you were wrong; this is the best staff in the Senate--who have done 
amazing work and who have every day made me look better and smarter 
than I am. I am incredibly grateful to them. They have resolved 
thousands of cases. In 2016, we received about 350,000 faxes, emails, 
letters, and combinations. We had an election. In 2017, we received 1.5 
million--five times more--with the same amount of people, who sent out 
every letter, who followed up on every call, who repeatedly were there 
for the people of our State so that they knew their government cared 
about them and loved them and wanted their lives to be better. I 
couldn't do this job without them.
  I also want to thank my family, who are in the Gallery--my children: 
Molly, her husband Mike, my son Joe, and my wife Jill--who have been 
through all of this.
  I remember we had a family dinner, one of those summits you have 
around the table. This was back when I decided to run for Congress.
  I told my family: What do you think? I have been asked to run for 
Congress.
  My son said: That is the worst idea I have ever heard.
  He was close. But they have been on this journey with me for 12 
years, and it has been an amazing journey.
  I want to thank everyone from my State. What an amazing privilege to 
represent them.
  I remain optimistic about the future of our country. We have to take 
these issues seriously. Our country is filled with hard-working, decent 
people who just want us to do commonsense things. I have been 
privileged to travel all 92 counties all over my State, all corners of 
the State, and I think Indiana's best days are ahead and our country's 
best days are ahead.
  May God bless all of my colleagues here in the Senate with the wisdom 
and courage you will need, because we don't just lead the Nation; we 
lead the world.
  May God bless and protect this institution, Indiana, and our country 
that we all cherish and love so much.
  This has been the privilege of a lifetime for a person whose family 
came off the boat at Ellis Island. My grandmother's passage documents 
said she had $10, and her occupation was ``maid.'' But she believed in 
America. She believed in this amazing country. We have been privileged 
to help lead it, and it has been one of the greatest privileges of my 
lifetime.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I have had the privilege of serving with 
both speakers I have heard today, Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North 
Dakota and Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana. They represent the best of 
the Senate. All of us are proud to be here. All of us are proud of the 
opportunity to serve. But they are two special people. They are special 
because they have a smile on their faces. They are special because they 
are very smart. They are special because they know how to play the game 
in a bipartisan way--not block things but help them pass.
  I have enjoyed getting to meet Joe. I have enjoyed getting to know 
Heidi. I am going to miss them a lot. America is very proud to have a 
great son like Joe and a great daughter like Heidi. I am very lucky to 
have had the chance to have them cross my way so I can become a friend 
of theirs.
  God bless both of you. Thank you for your service. Thank you very 
much.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, I, too, rise to recognize my distinguished 
colleague, Joe Donnelly, for his years of dedicated service to the 
State of Indiana. I also want to commend his family for their 
dedication. I know this is a team effort in public life to work on 
behalf of our country and our States and our constituents. They have 
been all in for the people of Indiana, and I just want to rise them up 
during this important time as they turn to a new chapter in their 
lives.
  Joe Donnelly has a heart for service, clearly, from his service on 
the school board, to serving as a Member of Congress--our terms 
overlapped--to the last 6 years he has spent in the U.S. Senate. I have 
to say it has been a real privilege to have Joe as my partner in the 
Senate over the last couple of years.
  Back home, he describes himself as the hired help. Throughout his 
time in public life, Joe has never forgotten whom he works for. That is 
because he genuinely likes people--not in the abstract; he likes 
individual Hoosiers and individual Americans and servicemembers and 
veterans and our seniors and young children. That is why he has such a 
magnetic personality. That is why he is beloved by colleagues on the 
right and the left, who represent red States and blue States. That is 
why I have enjoyed working with Joe as well. Hired help.
  Joe touched on the casework and the challenges he has been able to 
resolve on behalf of the people of Indiana, individual problems people 
have had with this vast government maze that sometimes we have to 
navigate. He does have a reputation for having done very well on that 
front. I think that is a reputation he is rightly proud of. He has also 
been able to get some important legislative initiatives done on behalf 
of the people of Indiana, and I would like to emphasize a couple on 
which we had an opportunity to work together--again, consistent with 
his bipartisan nature.

[[Page S7410]]

  Joe and I worked together to ensure that our brave law enforcement 
officers have greater access to mental health services. Actually, truth 
be told, Joe was really the champion of that effort. That is certainly 
one of his legacies during his time in the Senate. I can think of no 
more important legacy as I look at his record of achievements.
  We worked to make sure that we properly commemorated the Landmark for 
Peace Memorial in Indianapolis, where Robert F. Kennedy delivered some 
stirring words the evening of Martin Luther King's assassination. It 
was a moving moment for all present, Black and White and people of 
modest means and wealthier means. They all came together that evening 
because of that stirring speech. Joe and I worked together to make sure 
that memorial park is tastefully recognized from here into the future. 
It is a nice piece of legacy, and it wouldn't have happened but for the 
efforts of Joe Donnelly.
  Joe and I worked on a resolution to designate August 3, 2018, as 
National Ernie Pyle Day. We are proud of that in Indiana. Ernie Pyle is 
a celebrated war correspondent and Hoosier journalist who deserves 
memory in the consciousness and imagination of future generations of 
journalists. There, again, Joe and I had an opportunity to work 
together.
  We worked together on perhaps the most consequential issue of our 
time--fighting this scourge of opioid abuse. We have worked on multiple 
bills on that front.
  One of the more fun areas we worked together was actually one of the 
first things Joe and I did after I was sworn in to the Senate. We 
struck from all government publications the word ``Indianan.'' We don't 
use that back home. Because of Joe Donnelly and our work together, the 
word ``Indianan'' will never appear in government publications. 
Instead, it will forever hereinafter be the word ``Hoosier.'' The word 
``Hoosier'' is the proper word and will now be used to describe someone 
from the State of Indiana.
  I think Joe would characterize himself as a regular guy. I actually 
think he is an extraordinary guy in so many ways. He is uncommonly 
approachable for a U.S. Senator. That is very important in this 
democratic republic in which we live. We want to make sure that the 
people we hire to help us--we want to make sure our elected 
representatives are people we can talk to and people who will listen. 
He has developed a reputation that I think he should be very proud of 
as being regarded as someone who is really approachable.
  Joe is refreshingly plainspoken. There is not a lot of flowery 
language that he brings to bear. He is who he is, and he is very 
comfortable with that, and he speaks in such a way that is equally 
accessible to all Hoosiers and all Americans. That is really important, 
too, and I think it is something that others will seek to model moving 
forward.
  You have been an example on that front.
  Perhaps most important to me, he is a really good guy. He is 
authentic. We don't want our public servants to be phony-baloney, 
plastic figures. Joe is not. Joe will tell you what is on his mind and 
how he is feeling. He is just a really good guy. He is somebody you 
might want as your neighbor.
  I know Joe has an incredible future. I know he is going to stay 
engaged in making sure his community is taken care of. I know he will 
continue to care about Indiana and America and things going on around 
the world.
  Perhaps we will have an opportunity, my friend, to partner together 
moving forward and do some good together and--as I think you put it, 
plainly but very directly--to leave this world a little better than you 
found it. Thank you for your service, Joe. Thank you to your family.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I wish to lend my voice and talk for a 
moment about a very special friend, Senator Joe Donnelly.
  One of the things we know about the Midwest and Great Lakes is that 
we do care about our neighbors. Someone with a really good snowblower 
might clean off his neighbor's driveway, too, since he was out there 
anyway. That reminds me of Joe Donnelly.
  We know that Joe is the senior Senator from Indiana. It is a 
wonderful neighboring State. We may compete now and again, but I have 
been so grateful to be Senator Donnelly's neighbor and his friend.
  Over the past 6 years, I have had the good fortune to partner with 
Senator Donnelly on many issues that affect our States and the country.
  We are both passionate about fighting for workers and stopping the 
exporting of American jobs. We want to export our products, not our 
jobs. Joe has been at the front of the line fighting for American 
workers.
  Making things and growing things--that is what Michigan does, that is 
what Indiana does, that is what we are all about, and Joe has been at 
the front of the line to make sure that jobs are there making things 
and growing things.
  We have had the opportunity to work together on the Senate 
Agriculture Committee, and in just a moment, we are going to hopefully 
be passing a 5-year farm bill. Joe has been an important voice in that. 
It is something that we relish because, as a committee, we work 
together on a bipartisan basis and get things done. Senator Donnelly 
has been a very important part of that, including getting important 
wins for Indiana. It includes his legislation that targets the opioid 
crisis by expanding USDA rural development investments in community 
treatment facilities and telemedicine--no small thing.
  That will save lives. It provides peace of mind for farmers to use 
crops and participate in crop insurance. It creates a broadband grant 
program, which will connect underserved communities. As Senators from 
the Great Lakes States, we have fought together to protect our water--
our most precious resource.
  I will never forget the event Senator Donnelly and I did to celebrate 
the Regional Conservation Partnership Program when we announced nearly 
$14 million in public and private investment improving water quality 
and wildlife and fish habitat in the St. Joseph watershed--a watershed 
that we share. We held that at Pier 33 in St. Joseph, MI, just up the 
road from South Bend. If you have ever been to Pier 33, you have 
probably seen their showroom and the amazing collection of beautiful 
boats. In fact, I am not sure ``boats'' is the word for these amazing 
boats. I know Senator Donnelly was impressed, as was I. After the press 
conference, I asked him how he thought it went, and he said it was 
good, but he was disappointed that he wasn't going to get to take home 
one of the boats. I shared that as well.
  If you ask anyone in the Senate, they are likely to say the same 
thing: Senator Joe Donnelly--Joe--is one of the nicest guys you will 
ever meet.
  He is also very funny. Both of those qualities have made him a real 
joy to work with. I know I speak for everyone on both sides of the 
aisle; he will be missed.
  Senator Donnelly--Joe, thank you for your hard work, your leadership. 
Thank you for being a wonderful and great neighbor. Let me know the 
next time you are up North, and we will grab lunch and check out some 
of those boats.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Good deal. Thank you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, very quickly, I want to add to the 
remarks of my distinguished ranking member, Senator Stabenow, on the 
sometimes powerful Senate Agriculture Committee, and I associate myself 
with her remarks.
  In a moment or two, we are going to go to the Agriculture Improvement 
Act of 2018, for which he had positive contributions. We wouldn't have 
been able to pass a bill without bipartisan support, which he stressed 
in his last message to the Senate.
  Joe, thank you for being a friend, and thank you for being a great 
colleague, and thank you for being such a great member of the farmers, 
ranchers, and growers in Indiana. You have done a good job. We will 
certainly miss you.
  Mr. President, I think we have to ask unanimous consent to give an 
additional 10 minutes to the distinguished ranking member and me to 
make remarks prior to the vote on the farm bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.

[[Page S7411]]

  The Senator from Michigan.


                                 H.R. 2

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I want to first thank our majority 
leader and the Democratic leader for their support in bringing this 
bill to the Senate floor for consideration. Thanks to all of our 
Agriculture Committee members, including the Presiding Officer and 
conferees on both sides of the aisle, for working to put this 
bipartisan farm bill together. Most importantly, I want to thank our 
distinguished chairman of the committee--my partner, my friend--for 
working so hard.
  We have worked together from the very beginning. We promised each 
other we would deliver a strong, bipartisan farm bill. Despite many 
obstacles along the way, we kept that promise.
  The final farm bill reflects a hard-fought bipartisan agreement on a 
5-year bill to strengthen the diversity of American agriculture and the 
16 million jobs it supports. We know something about that in Michigan, 
where agriculture and the food industry support one out of four jobs. 
That is a lot of jobs. We also grow a wider variety of crops than any 
other State but one--a small State called California.
  Now more than ever, we need to be broadening the diversity of 
American agriculture, and that is exactly what the farm bill does. Our 
farm bill continues to support the wide variety of farms all across 
America--big farms, small farms, ranchers, urban, rural. We provide new 
permanent support to keep this progress going, which I think is really 
important.
  We invest in the bright future of agriculture by helping new and 
beginning farmers, including young people and our returning veterans, 
who are playing a greater role in agriculture in Michigan, as well as 
across the country.
  New investments in international trade promotion will help farmers 
sell their products abroad. This couldn't come at a more important 
time. Streamlined, permanent support for farmers markets, food hubs, 
and local food processing will help our farmers sell their products to 
their neighbors. We need to sell around the world, and we need to be 
able to sell in our own communities.
  By protecting and expanding crop insurance and improving support for 
our dairy farmers--in fact, strengthening the support for our dairy 
farmers, who were hit so hard with price drops and other issues--we 
maintain a strong safety net for farmers. Importantly, we maintain a 
strong safety net for our families.
  We said no to harmful changes that would take away food from 
families. Instead, we will increase program integrity and job training 
to be able to make sure that things are working as they should and that 
every dollar is used as it should be. Instead, we will connect 
participants with healthy food through strong investments in farmers 
markets and nutrition incentives.
  This bill also continues the farm bill's legacy as one of the largest 
investments in our land and our water. It is so important to Michigan. 
By focusing on successful conservation partnerships, we will actually 
grow funding by leveraging nearly $3 billion in new private investment 
over the next decade.
  This bill also supports our small towns and rural communities, such 
as Clare, where I grew up. New investments in high-speed internet will 
support communities most in need. There are new opioid treatment 
resources to help those struggling with addiction.
  The bill also helps ensure that small town water systems are 
providing clean and reliable tapwater. All of these things create 
opportunities for young people to stay in their homes and their 
hometowns and raise their families, which is what we want. That is what 
this bill is all about--growing opportunity.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this bill. I want to 
thank all of my incredibly talented staff for their hard work, as well 
as the chairman's staff. I know we will have another opportunity to 
speak more at length about the provisions of the 12 titles of the farm 
bill and be able to speak more about the hard work of our staff, but 
today we are ready for a vote, to be able to get this done so that we 
can send it to the House for their support, as well, and then on to the 
President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Flake).
  The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I thank my colleague for her remarks and 
associate myself with those remarks. I rise today as the Senate 
considers the conference report on an issue that is critically 
important to our Nation--the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, the 
farm bill.
  The goal, the responsibility, the absolute requirement is to provide 
farmers, ranchers, growers, and everyone within America's agriculture 
and food value chain certainty and predictability during these very 
difficult times. This conference agreement includes policy improvements 
from both the House-passed bill and the Senate bill, which passed this 
body with a strong bipartisan vote of 86 to 11. We have worked to 
maintain as many priorities for as many Members as possible.
  This farm bill meets the needs of producers across all regions and 
all crops. It ensures that our voluntary conservation programs are 
keeping farmland in operation while protecting our agriculture lands, 
our forests, and other natural resources.
  The bill focuses on program integrity--program integrity, and 
commonsense investments to strengthen our nutrition programs to ensure 
the long-term success of those in need of assistance. With trade and 
market uncertainty, to say the least, it provides certainty for our 
trade promotion and research programs.
  Feeding an increasing global population is not simply an agriculture 
challenge; it is a national security challenge. This means we need to 
grow more, raise more with fewer resources. That will take investments 
in research, new technology, lines of credit, and proper risk 
management. It takes the government providing tools and then getting 
out of the producer's way.
  Organizations representing thousands of agriculture, food, nutrition, 
hunger, forestry, conservation, rural, business, faith-based, research, 
and academic interests have issued statements supporting this 
conference report. This is what happens when the Congress works in a 
bipartisan, bicameral fashion. This is a good bill. It is a good bill 
that accomplishes what we set out to do--again, to provide certainty 
and predictability for farmers, families, and rural communities.
  We have made tough choices, being judicious with the scarce resources 
we have on behalf of the taxpayer. This may not be the best possible 
bill. We know that, but it is the best bill possible under these 
circumstances. Importantly, it provides our farmers, our ranchers, and 
other rural stakeholders much needed certainty and predictability.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this conference report. Every 
farmer, every rancher, every grower, everyone within our Nation's food 
supply is watching to see if we cannot meet our obligations and pass 
this bill. Let us do that. Let us tell those farmers and ranchers, who 
are going through tough times, that they are going to be good for the 
next 5 years. Their lender is paying attention to this bill. Let us 
support this bill.
  I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Boozman). The question occurs on the 
conference report to accompany H.R. 2.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  (Mr. JOHNSON assumed the chair.)
  The result was announced--yeas 87, nays 13, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 259 Leg.]

                                YEAS--87

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Harris
     Hassan
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Jones
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murphy

[[Page S7412]]


     Murray
     Nelson
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--13

     Barrasso
     Cotton
     Enzi
     Flake
     Grassley
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kyl
     Lee
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Rubio
     Toomey
  The conference report was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). The Senator from Montana.

                          ____________________