[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 17, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7075-S7076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             APPROPRIATIONS

  Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I rise to highlight several key parts 
of the appropriations package the Senate will be considering later on 
this week. First, I want to point out some statistics. Ninety-two 
thousand of our coal miners are counting on us to protect their 
pensions. Thirteen thousand coal miners are counting on us to protect 
their healthcare benefits. This week, we will have a chance to do just 
that.
  I am very proud to have worked with our leader, Senator McConnell, 
Senator Manchin, Senator Portman, and others to introduce and champion 
the Bipartisan American Miners Act. I appreciate that my counterpart on 
the House side, Congressman   David McKinley, has worked consistently 
and tirelessly on this bill in the House, along with our other 
Representatives from West Virginia, Alex Mooney and Carol Miller. Most 
of all, I appreciate the West Virginian miners and their families who 
have traveled to Washington to advocate for their promised benefits and 
for their communities. I

[[Page S7076]]

stood outside the Capitol with thousands of coal miners and their 
families several years ago in seriously suffocating heat, as DC can 
heat up during the summer, to rally in support of those benefits. 
Miners have come to Washington in the snow and in the rain. Their 
camouflage shirts have stood out around the Capitol as they worked 
tirelessly to educate us about the critical need for action. You have 
probably seen them in the halls. No one should be surprised by their 
dedication and commitment because our West Virginian miners have 
answered the call throughout their careers. Their hard work provided 
the electricity and the steel that has powered our American economy.
  The time has come to protect those retirement benefits these miners 
have earned. The Bipartisan American Miners Act will secure both 
pension and healthcare benefits for those hard-working men and women.
  I want to thank the United Mine Workers of America and their 
president, Cecil Roberts, for his work and their work in advocating for 
our miners. More than 25,000 miners from all of West Virginia's 55 
counties will have received payments from their pension benefits last 
year.
  More than 5,600 West Virginians miners are at risk of losing their 
healthcare benefits if we fail to act. Almost $200 million in pension 
benefits were paid from this fund to West Virginians last year. The 
loss of those funds would certainly have harmed the retirees 
themselves, no doubt, but also the local businesses they patronize 
across the State and their communities.
  As one West Virginian wrote to me just last night, ``My father is a 
retired miner from Marion County who will be turning 80 in January. 
This will give him and my mother some long overdue and well deserved 
peace of mind. They have been worrying unduly throughout the last 
several months.''
  Thousands of miners in West Virginia and elsewhere in coal country 
will have a merrier Christmas when this bill becomes law later this 
week. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this critical 
legislation.
  There are a number of other reasons to support the appropriations 
bills we will be considering in the next several days. I wanted to 
highlight one that can have a significant impact on my State of West 
Virginia.
  I was proud to ensure that in the transportation and infrastructure 
title of the appropriations bill, we fund the Appalachian Development 
Highway System at $100 million. That will help us as we work to 
continue the last remaining enormous project in our State, Corridor H.
  I have also advocated for action to address our structurally 
deficient bridges. In my State, we have a lot of hills and a lot of 
valleys, and we have a lot of bridges. Almost 20 percent of our West 
Virginia bridges are classified as structurally deficient. I think it 
is a universal statistic in the country. This bill takes the absolutely 
necessary step to provide funding for over $1.15 billion to fund 
highway bridge projects of which West Virginia is eligible for $50 
million.
  Roads and bridges have a huge economic impact on our communities and 
our quality of life, everything we do every day. I am proud we have 
included these important investments.
  As chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, I 
want to address items included in our subcommittee's funding bill as 
well. A little over a year ago, I stood here to talk about the 
increasing crisis at our southern border. When I spoke to you then, 
apprehensions at our southern border were 30 percent higher than they 
were the year before, and they were much higher than they are today, as 
I speak. The crisis was not limited to the realm of illegal immigrants 
because fentanyl seizures were up 115 percent, along with other illicit 
narcotics: heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana. Thanks to the 
leadership of the President and also this Congress the situation has 
improved.
  We should also recognize the improved coordination with Mexico and 
partnerships with other countries that have helped curb the flow of 
those entering our country illegally. Though the situation has 
improved, it is far from being solved. Frankly, we are one ruling away 
from an activist judge who could create the flows of those trending 
upward again.
  As such, I am proud to say that the homeland security title in the 
package we are considering this week provides funds and resources to 
continue the good work we have been pursuing to stem the tide of 
illegal immigration. Twice I have seen firsthand on the border--the 
southwest border--the challenges we face--and, yes, the progress we 
have made.
  This bill supports the work of the men and women of the Department at 
CBP, ICE, HSI, the Coast Guard, and many others who are daily standing 
watch on our borders, on our coasts, and on our computer networks.
  This bill invests in personnel, particularly by creating a new 
position: Border Patrol processing coordinators. This was a particular 
interest of mine after talking to numerous people at the Department and 
while visiting the border, describing the frustration they felt as 
agents and officers. This funding provided for these processing 
coordinators will return 240 of our border agents to the frontlines to 
enforce our immigration laws, which is what they are trained to do.

  In regard to physical barriers, we provide the enacted level of $1.37 
billion. The only thing similar to last year is the amount of money 
provided because the flexibility we provide the Department is a 
significant change and a significant improvement.
  The bipartisan fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill required our 
Customs and Border Protection to provide us with a comprehensive Border 
Security Improvement Plan. I was going to bring it with me today, but, 
to be honest with you, I left it in my office. The funds we provide 
this week will enable the Department to follow that plan.
  While passage of our Senate bill would have been ideal, a continuing 
resolution would have had a devastating effect on homeland security. 
The bill we are going to pass will help us take another step forward in 
securing our border.
  I am so very proud of the men and women who work at the Department of 
Homeland Security, and I was able to meet quite a few. The crisis they 
faced when I spoke here last year was a real one. Through their 
dedication and efforts, so much progress has been made, and I look 
forward to speaking to you a year from now about what we have been able 
to accomplish with the resources and tools we can provide them with 
this bill.
  There are many other vital provisions across our appropriations bill, 
including a 3.1-percent pay increase for our troops and significant 
increases in funding for our veterans for the MISSION Act, increasing 
funding for combating the opioid epidemic, expanding our rural 
broadband, and researching cures for diseases.
  One of those diseases hit many of us and has hit me quite personally; 
that is, Alzheimer's. Research for Alzheimer's is, I think, absolutely 
essential, and we are increasing that.
  I commend all my colleagues who worked to put together the bipartisan 
appropriations bills. I congratulate Senator Shelby, in particular, and 
Senator Leahy for working together, and I look forward to voting for 
these bills later in the week.
  With that, I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.

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