[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.
____________________