[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 105 (Monday, June 8, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2748-S2761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

         TAXPAYER FIRST ACT OF 2019--MOTION TO PROCEED--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 1957, which the 
clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 75, H.R. 1957, a bill to 
     amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modernize and 
     improve the Internal Revenue Service, and for other purposes.

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The 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for the quorum call be rescinded.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 Democratic Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.


                                Protests

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, now, ``Equal Justice Under Law''--those 
words are etched in stone above the doors of the Supreme Court, a 
bedrock principle of the American system. These past few weeks have 
been a searing reminder of how that principle does not reflect the 
lived experience for many Americans.
  For Black Americans, confrontations with the police are not the same 
as for White Americans. You can be standing on a street corner like 
Eric Garner or asleep in your bed like Breonna Taylor and have your 
life ended by police. George Floyd's brutal death at the hands of a 
White police officer in Minneapolis sparked peaceful protests across 
this country because as singular and tragic as the death of George 
Floyd was, his experience was one that resonated with far too many 
Black Americans.
  That is why hundreds of thousands of Americans have engaged in 
peaceful demonstrations against police violence and systemic racism. 
From Los Angeles to Washington, DC, and from Seattle to New York City, 
where I joined shoulder to shoulder with my fellow New Yorkers on 
Saturday, Americans from all walks of life have marched, sang, prayed, 
cried, and spoken out that Black lives matter; that our country 
promises justice for all but too often only delivers it for some.

[[Page S2749]]

  The protests weren't confined to big cities. Thousands turned out in 
Allentown and Fayetteville, PA; in Fairmont, WV; and in Havre, MT. 
There were Black Lives Matter protests in Vidor, TX, a city with a 
troubled history as a haven for the KKK, and Harvard, NE, a city with 
only 1,000 residents.
  Remarkably, though these protests concerned events within our 
borders, they sparked outrage far outside of them. The name ``George 
Floyd'' was chanted in Rome, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and 
Mexico City. This is a rare moment for our Nation's history. Injustice 
stares us so plainly in the face that the great mass of our people are 
demanding change. The institutions of our government and our democracy 
have an obligation to answer.
  Today, we are taking the first of many necessary steps to respond to 
our national pain with bold action. This morning, I joined with Speaker 
Pelosi and several of our House colleagues, Representatives Bass, 
Clyburn, Nadler, and Jeffries, as well as my colleagues, Senators 
Booker and Harris, to introduce the Justice in Policing Act--a response 
to the recent protests and the years of failure to reform our police 
departments.
  The Justice in Policing Act proposes crucial reforms to combat racial 
bias and excessive force by law enforcement. It would ban the use of 
choke holds and other tactics that have left Black Americans dead. It 
would limit the transfer of military weaponry and equipment to police 
departments. It would change the legal standard to make it easier to 
hold police accountable for misconduct when they use deadly force on 
American citizens.
  Through increased data and transparency, as well as important 
modifications to training and practices, it would help prevent police 
misconduct in the first place. This has never been done before at the 
Federal level, and it would encourage the same changes at the State and 
local level in order for those police departments to receive Federal 
funds.
  In the Senate, Democrats are going to fight like hell to make this 
proposal a reality. Americans who took to the streets have demanded 
change. With this legislation, Democrats are heeding their call. Now is 
the time for Leader McConnell to commit to putting police reform on the 
floor of the Senate before July 4 to be debated and voted on. Several 
Republicans have acknowledged the egregious wrongs, but too few have 
expressed a need for floor action. Too many have remained silent. Maybe 
our Republican friends are hoping the issue goes away. I promise them 
it will not. Democrats will not let this go away, and we will not rest 
until we achieve real reforms.
  Leader McConnell, let's have the debate not just on TV and Twitter 
but on the floor of the U.S. Senate. We need legislation and debate. A 
divided nation cannot wait for healing and for solutions. The 
Republican majority must not continue to squander the Senate's time on 
rightwing judges and conspiracy hearings. History will judge whether 
this Chamber responds to the Nation's pain with action or lets an old 
and terrible wound in our society continue to fester.
  The poison of racism affects more than our criminal justice system. 
It runs much deeper than that. There are racial disparities in housing 
and healthcare, education and the economy, income and wealth, and COVID 
has only placed a magnifying glass on all these forms of inequality.
  There are now 118,000 confirmed deaths from COVID in the United 
States. Black Americans have died at a disproportionate rate. As 
hospitals and healthcare workers have scrambled to secure enough 
supplies and create enough space, those institutions that serve 
communities of color have been the most strained. As our medical crisis 
led to an economic crisis, it is largely African Americans and Latinos 
who have seen their jobs disappear faster and more permanently.

  The President is evidently prepared to declare the fight against 
COVID-19 over because 15 percent of our country's citizens are 
unemployed, not 20 percent, even though that figure--15 percent--is 
higher than at any point during the Great Recession. The reason 
unemployment isn't as shockingly awful as it might have been was that 
Congress leapt into action at the outset of the pandemic and passed a 
major bill, the CARES Act, to keep the country afloat. The bill that 
eventually passed was bipartisan, but Democrats had to push Republicans 
almost every step of the way to get many of the improvements in the 
bill. Much of the aid the bill gave to unemployment, to our healthcare 
systems, and to truly small businesses was because Democrats insisted.
  If the President and Senate Republicans declare victory too early, if 
they lull into complacency now, and if they wait too long to pass 
another round of emergency relief, the economic conditions in our 
country will deteriorate. If we do nothing, more Americans will lose 
their jobs, more Americans will lose their healthcare, more Americans 
will struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over their head, 
and more Americans will see small businesses they sweated so hard to 
create fail.
  We fear that the recent bump in the employment number, caused in 
large part because of the stimulus money we pumped into the economy, 
will create, in Republicans, a sense of complacency, and the economy 
will get even worse.
  The fact that we are confronted by so many challenges--so many 
challenges--can seem overwhelming. The fact and the consequences of 
Republican inaction, the fact that they fall so heavily on Black and 
Brown Americans is so confounding, but there is no reason that we 
cannot respond to this moment of national crisis with vigorous and 
sustained action, with purposeful action and bipartisan effort on the 
COVID pandemic and long, simmering issues of police violence and racial 
justice. We must do both.
  That is what the Senate, supposedly the world's greatest deliberative 
body, was designed to do. There are four remaining weeks before July 4. 
The time for waiting is gone. Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans 
must commit to putting a police reform bill on the Senate floor for 
debate and a vote. They must commit to working with us on another 
emergency relief package. We have waited too long already. Let me 
repeat. Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans, we must accomplish two 
things before July 4: police reform and COVID relief. We can and must 
do both. Do not stand in the way of a nation yearning for solutions--
not for empty rhetoric, not for name-calling, and not for partisanship.
  Before I yield the floor, I want to mention one other issue. Last 
week, President Trump was responsible for ordering Federal officers to 
force peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square--just across the street 
from the White House--in clear violation of their First Amendment 
rights of freedom of speech and assembly. It was deeply offensive and 
wrong. Even more appalling was the purpose of the order: to clear a 
path for the President to stage a political stunt at nearby St. John's 
Church.
  Today, Lafayette Square, a place which has long been a venue where 
Americans gather to freely exercise their constitutional rights, 
remains blocked off by heavy fencing. The President has converted this 
unique public park in the heart of the Nation's Capital into something 
resembling a militarized zone. Lafayette Square should be a symbol of 
freedom and openness to the world, not a place behind which the 
President cowers in fear of peaceful protesters crying out for justice.
  So, moments ago, Speaker Pelosi and I sent a letter to President 
Trump urging him to reopen Lafayette Square. President Trump, tear down 
these walls and allow the public to gather in front of the White House 
for you and for all the world to hear their voices
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.


                               H.R. 1957

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the Great American 
Outdoors Act that we may be debating this week. I am hoping that we can 
find a responsible way to pay for the maintenance backlog of our 
national parks.
  Our national parks are an important source of pride for our country. 
They are known internationally. We had the first national park in the 
world with Yellowstone Park. Unfortunately, our parks are in the midst 
of a rising crisis

[[Page S2750]]

that has been building over many years. They are in desperate need of 
repair and maintenance and fixing them will require billions of 
dollars.
  This week, the Senate is working on legislation to address this 
backlog, and I believe it is vital that we address this issue both 
responsibly and permanently. This will help generations to fix problems 
in our parks without having to put the cost on the Nation's credit 
card. We can pay now or we can make our kids pay through reduced 
Federal help and services that we are used to, or we can figure out a 
way to have a small fee now. It should be a pretty easy choice.
  Unfortunately, the Great American Outdoors Act, as written, 
represents only a one-time fix and is neither responsible nor 
permanent. Instead, the bill adds over $17 billion to our national 
debt. Moreover, the measure includes a permanent reauthorization of the 
Land and Water Conservation Fund Program, which will add even more 
future maintenance to our already backlogged systems without being paid 
for.
  After all of the spending we have just undertaken, we must be more 
vigilant in finding proper ways to ensure our government spending is 
paid for, and fixing this bill can be an important place to start. 
Without some changes, this legislation will force our country to borrow 
more money, burying us deeper in debt, and only provide funding for 5 
years.
  I am also concerned that the bill tries to spend the same money 
twice, which is using a budget gimmick. We should always strive to be 
fiscally responsible, and that is even more important now after 
Congress has spent more than $2 trillion to respond to the coronavirus 
pandemic. To address the current park's backlog, it would cost nearly 
$12 billion, according to the National Park Service. In comparison, 
last year, the entire national budget for the national parks was $4.1 
billion. Let me repeat that. The cost would be $12 billion to take care 
of the backlog. Their whole budget last year was just $4.1 billion.
  Congress is already struggling to find funding for other worthwhile 
Federal needs. That is why, for the past several years, I have worked 
on a fix. I filed an amendment to this bill that addresses the 
maintenance issues responsibly and permanently without adding to our 
debt. Let me repeat that. My amendment is completely offset and 
provides a permanent solution. It has been ignored, so far, through 
this process.
  The way my amendment works is by asking our foreign visitors, who 
numbers show are increasingly enjoying our parks, to pay $16 or $25 
more when they enter the country as part of their visa fee--a part of 
it--not a big increase compared to that.
  According to a study by the U.S. Travel Association, nearly 40 
percent of the people who come to the United States from abroad are 
visiting one or more of our national parks. That is over 14 million 
people who come from abroad and visit our national parks.
  It is great that people from all over the world recognize the value 
of these national treasures, but this increased visitation is adding to 
the maintenance backlog, and it is only fair that we ask them to help 
maintain these national treasures.
  There is nothing novel about this concept. Anyone who has visited an 
attraction outside of the United States has probably encountered such 
fees in one way or another. For example, foreign visitors to the Taj 
Mahal in India will pay an $18 fee, compared to a fee of only 56 cents 
for local visitors. At Kruger National Park in South Africa, visitors 
from outside the country will pay $25 per day compared to $6.25 for 
local visitors.
  Many European countries--like Spain, France, and Italy--charge a 
tourist tax on hotel rooms that is used to pay for tourism 
infrastructure.
  We also ask park visitors to assist with addressing the backlog. No 
one likes to pay more for things, especially during times like these, 
but to maintain these national treasures for future generations, we 
either borrow money and put it on the national credit card or we take 
some modest steps to address the issue responsibly--kind of a pay-as-
you-go.
  My amendment only raises entrance fees by $5 and annual passes by 
$20, so bringing a vehicle into the park would still be cheaper than 
taking a family of four to a movie or visiting an amusement park for a 
day. In fact, it is a real bargain from that.
  We, as a nation, have seen the joy our national parks bring to those 
who venture and visit them. In Wyoming and all across the country, 
America's national parks are something to be proud of and protect. We 
owe it to the parks and to the citizens and foreign visitors who 
partake of their wonders to keep them in good working order. We should 
not allow the maintenance and repairs to fester, which erodes visitor 
experiences and costs billions to fix.
  Are people going to the parks? Yes, they are. Yellowstone National 
Park has opened up now and I think is at about 75 percent of capacity 
already. I read in the papers about this family from Georgia who was 
planning on taking their family to Florida to Disney World, but Disney 
World is closed, so they drove across the country to Wyoming and went 
to Yellowstone National Park. One of the adventures they got was to get 
to see a real wolf up close and personal. They got some good pictures 
of it too.
  People will travel a long way to see these parks. They don't expect 
them to be an international bargain, and neither do foreign visitors 
who are used to seeing us, when we go to their country, pay a higher 
fee for national parks.
  We need to fix our national parks. The question is, Will we pay as it 
is used or will we force our kids and grandkids to pay for something 
they maybe never got to enjoy? We can put a small addition on foreign 
visa fees or we can pass it on to our kids.
  Let's do one amendment that will pay for parks in perpetuity, not 
just gimmick spending for 5 years. Fixing this bill will help ensure we 
no longer have to put our parks' current obligations on the backs of 
future generations.
  I know the item at stake here will not end our fiscal crisis, but if 
we can't do something modest to start to address our spending 
addiction, then we are in greater trouble than I ever thought.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Ernst). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                                 Reform

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, over the last few months, America has 
experienced a trifecta of crises, which are reminiscent of some of the 
most difficult periods in our Nation's history. In many ways, it feels 
like we are learning what it was like to live through the Spanish flu 
pandemic, the Great Depression, and the civil rights movement--all at 
once.
  This period has challenged all of us physically, economically, and 
emotionally, and while we still have a long way to go, we are seeing 
incremental signs of progress. Last week, New York City--once the 
epicenter of COVID-19 cases--reported no confirmed coronavirus deaths. 
That was the first time that had happened since March 11.
  Our economy is experiencing positive improvement as well. Friday's 
jobs report showed that employment rose by 2.5 million people in May--
an absolutely astonishing and recordbreaking figure. I think that is 
the first time that happened since 1934. Unemployment dropped to 13.3 
percent. That is still way too high but a sharp contrast from the 
expectations and projections of economists.
  While we are seeing the needle move in the right direction in our 
fight to defeat the coronavirus and restore our economy, the third in 
this trio of crises is much more complex. The murder of George Floyd 
has sparked passion and anger throughout our country and galvanized 
people of all skin colors, backgrounds, and ages to demand action. In 
big cities and small towns alike, we have seen peaceful marches and 
powerful demonstrations calling for an end to racial injustice that has 
existed sadly since our country's inception.
  One of the largest protests in the country happened last week in Mr. 
Floyd's hometown in Houston, TX, where I was born and where he will be

[[Page S2751]]

buried tomorrow. An estimated 60,000 people gathered to march in his 
honor and demand justice
  The first step in justice for George Floyd, and now that all four 
officers involved in his death have been arrested and charged, is for 
the criminal justice system to work. But these four arrests do not 
erase the larger problems that exist in our society--the lack of trust, 
the sense that justice is not equal. In fact, they have only shined a 
brighter light on the systemic problems that we need to do our best to 
try to address. Making lasting changes will not be quick or easy.
  At the rally in Houston, several of Mr. Floyd's family members spoke, 
and one said: ``This is going to be more like a marathon.'' I think 
that is pretty realistic. It is going to take some time, and it will be 
the result of difficult discussions but necessary discussions that are 
happening in homes, workplaces, and buildings like this all across the 
country.
  No one has all the answers, but there is a lot we can learn--first, 
by simply listening to one another. Earlier today, I was able to speak 
to George Floyd's family and do just that--listen. They have gone 
through unimaginable pain over these last 2 weeks.
  I told them I am committed to making sure that George Floyd receives 
justice. I said: In my experience during times like this, the best 
comfort you can offer to someone who has lost a loved one is that their 
death will not be in vain; that something good will come out of it.
  We know some of the most important reforms that need to be made are 
in our criminal justice system. The tragic events of Minneapolis, 
Louisville, and a number of other cities across the country have 
renewed calls to transform policing practices and repair the divide 
that exists between some communities and the police. Of course, much of 
that will take place at the local and State level. It is, in fact, the 
city council and mayors who hire the police chief and make sure they 
are running their programs and their departments with integrity and 
professionalism. That is where most of the important decisions about 
day-to-day policing and procedures are made.
  One example in my State is the Sandra Bland Act, which Governor 
Abbott signed into law in 2017. The namesake of that bill was a Black 
woman who was found dead in a county jail days after being arrested 
during a routine traffic stop. The law passed in her honor made a 
number of changes, including requiring deescalation training for law 
enforcement officials, much like we have done in the mental health 
space.
  The individual police departments are the ones that make decisions 
about specific practices, responsible, of course, to their city 
leadership, such as banning knee holds or choke holds. There are 
important conversations taking place across Texas and the country about 
how we can effectively promote and improve police practices and begin 
to repair the damaged relationship between our minority communities and 
our police.
  To strengthen that work, there are steps we can take in Washington, 
DC. I know many of us are engaged in active discussions about what is 
the best way to create real change. I know it is a priority for Members 
on both sides of the aisle.
  One proposal I have mentioned is a bipartisan bill that I introduced 
with Senator Gary Peters of Michigan and Chairman Lindsey Graham last 
year. This bill actually had 20 bipartisan cosponsors. It was endorsed 
not only by the Urban League and the NAACP but the major police 
organizations in this country as well. It passed unanimously in the 
Senate. Unfortunately, we ran out of time in the House so it did not 
actually become law--not yet.
  This legislation creates a National Criminal Justice Commission, much 
like the 9/11 Commission, that would review our criminal justice system 
writ large from top to bottom--something that has not happened since 
1965. In 18 months, the Commission would report back to us and make 
recommendations for changes that could be considered and passed by the 
Congress.
  This would allow us to systemically look at what is working and what 
isn't and what needs to be done to modernize our criminal justice 
system, including repairing the broken relationship between law 
enforcement and some of our minority communities.
  The review that took place in 1965 produced 1,200 specific 
recommendations, and it is past time to once again take stock of the 
successes and failures of our criminal justice system.
  As I mentioned, the bill that passed the Senate unanimously had 20 
bipartisan cosponsors and was supported by the National Association of 
Police Organizations, Major City Chiefs Association, the National Urban 
League.
  I believe this type of legislation would give us the basic framework 
for the lasting changes that we are all after. It would be an umbrella 
commission under which a lot of very specific and granular issues could 
be debated and voted on and, if meritorious, passed and become part of 
the law.
  I hope it will become a part of our conversation that we are having 
in the coming days and weeks. Rooting out racial injustice that has 
existed for generations will require a long-term, bipartisan commitment 
in Congress and in homes and institutions across the country.
  I do believe it is simply wrong to paint all police and all law 
enforcement as somehow racially biased. I think that is not deserved, 
and I think it is just flat wrong and irresponsible. Clearly, when 
there are cases of abuse, where even a police officer crosses the line, 
they need to be held accountable, and we need to be focused on 
identifying those individuals not only in prosecuting them but in 
sending a message that that sort of action will not be tolerated in a 
civilized society. And next, we need to regain the confidence for all 
of our people or all colors; that the police are our friend and a 
necessary part of our ordered liberty.
  Without order, you have anarchy. Only with order, fair laws justly 
administered on an equal basis can we enjoy the liberty that is part of 
our birthright in America. I am committed to being part of the 
solution, and I am eager to roll up my sleeves with all of our 
colleagues and get to work
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                               H.R. 1957

  Mr. PORTMAN. Madam President, I am on the floor to talk about the 
historic opportunity that is before this body this evening and 
throughout the week to be able to help us get our national parks back 
on track. These are our treasured national parks that are such a great 
asset to our country, and right now they are in trouble.
  One of the bills before us this week, in what is called the Great 
American Outdoors Act, is the bipartisan Restore Our Parks Act. It 
directs Federal funding from royalties on oil and gas leases and other 
energy leases to Federal lands. It directs that funding to our national 
parks to take care of deferred maintenance.
  Why is this investment needed? Thanks to the wisdom of Teddy 
Roosevelt, who had the foresight to set aside and preserve some of our 
most spectacular land for public use, and thanks to so many friends of 
the parks who have followed, America's national parks are without 
equal. The National Park Service and its system now comprise 84 million 
acres of land and historical sites that now attracts 330 million 
visitors every year. In fact, from 2006 to 2017, annual visitation in 
our parks increased by about 58 million people. They are popular.
  During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear there is a lot of demand to 
be in the out-of-doors. And so I believe as we start to reopen our 
parks this summer, which we will do soon, Americans will be all the 
more eager to go out to our parks and explore our country's natural 
beauty and explore its history.
  The problem is that when people head to the parks, they may be 
surprised that things are a little rundown. This isn't new. It has been 
happening to our parks for decades, actually. Some of the trails will 
be closed. Some of the bathrooms aren't going to be working. In places, 
roads and bridges will be crumbling, and visitor centers that have 
leaks in their roofs will be

[[Page S2752]]

closed. It is a widespread problem of deferred maintenance that has 
gradually grown to become a huge backlog of around $12 billion at our 
national park sites. That is $12 billion in deferred maintenance that 
has not been taken care of.
  The good news is, with my colleagues Senator Warner, Senator 
Alexander, and Senator King, we introduced this commonsense solution a 
few years ago called Restore our Parks Act. It will address this 
backlog.
  To me, this is a debt unpaid. It would have been a lot smarter to pay 
it all along, by the way, but our annual appropriations here in 
Congress were never big enough, so what funds we had available went for 
things like park rangers, for programming, and, frankly, for applying 
bandaids to some of these maintenance problems.
  Other funds also, of course, went to expanding our parks. Let me make 
one thing clear: This bill before us today--the Restore Our Parks Act--
is all about stewardship. It is about taking better care of what we 
have. Not a penny of it can be used for expansion.
  Of course, one of our challenges right now, as a country coming out 
of the coronavirus pandemic, is to figure out how to get people back to 
work, and it is a real challenge because, although the jobs report on 
Friday was encouraging in terms of some jobs being added in May, we 
still have one of the highest unemployment rates we have ever had in 
this country.
  One place we have an opportunity to get people back to work is, of 
course, rebuilding our infrastructure. There are lots of discussions 
about that. Well, this legislation does that. These are shovel-ready 
projects--infrastructure projects that are ready to go.
  Last week, the National Parks Service released a new study that found 
that the Restore Our Parks Act will support 100,000 new jobs as we 
rebuild our national parks infrastructure over the next 5 years--40,000 
direct jobs, about 60,000 indirect jobs--over 100,000 total new jobs.
  By the way, these are good jobs. These are jobs with good pay and 
good benefits.
  I first became involved in this issue of our national parks because I 
have grown to love the parks, as do so many Americans. Even those who 
don't have a chance to visit them very much are proud of the fact that 
we have this incredible system, this true treasure for our country.
  When I was about 12 years old, my mom and dad took us to Yellowstone 
Park, and we went camping, and we saw the geysers, and we got to see 
things that I had never seen before--just this spectacular park in the 
West. This amazing park system that we have in this country continues 
to be something I am proud of. So ever since I was 12 years old, I have 
been a parks fan.
  We have eight national parks in my home State of Ohio. One of those 
is called the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is our largest 
single park. It is actually the thirteenth most visited park in the 
country. You may not have heard of it, but it is an awesome park. It is 
kind of situated right in between Cleveland and Akron. It is a place 
where you can go biking; you can go hiking; you can go fishing; you can 
go kayaking; you can take a scenic railway through the park. It is a 
spectacular place, and it is accessed by a lot of people, being so 
close to the suburbs and even so close to the cities. It is not a 
typical park out in the rural area; it is a park that is really right 
up against the suburbs and close to the cities. I am proud to be one of 
the 2.7 million visitors a year that goes to Cuyahoga Valley National 
Park to take advantage of all those things I talked about.
  In addition to these larger parks, our park system also includes a 
lot of other sites. As an Ohio example, in my hometown of Cincinnati is 
the boyhood home of President William Howard Taft, who was both 
President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
  Like everywhere else in our park system, all of these sites are 
getting rundown. Why has this happened? Well, again, because every year 
we appropriate funding for the operations of the park--for nature 
programs, for rangers, for day-to-day operations and activities--but we 
haven't provided enough money to provide for these maintenance needs.
  Think about it in terms of your own family or your own home or your 
own business. Taking that big step and making those capital 
improvements is a big, big cost, and we don't budget for that here very 
well. So we have allowed these maintenance projects to build up, 
meaning a lot of buildings, a lot of infrastructure--roads, bridges, 
water systems--are deteriorating to the point that a lot of them are 
really completely unusable.
  I have seen this firsthand as I have visited our Ohio parks. Here are 
a couple photos of some of the visits we have made.
  I go to Cuyahoga Valley National Park frequently, as I said, and 
there are always a lot of school field trips, a lot of hikers, a lot of 
other visitors. It is a great park, but it needs about $50 million in 
repair--just that one park, Cuyahoga National Park.
  The railroad track is in such bad repair--and it is behind me here--
that it is dangerous or will be soon to go on that scenic railroad. So 
we have to fix the railroad tracks. Some of the trails seem to be 
falling apart because of erosion. An $11 million budget is the annual 
budget for that park, Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Again, it is the 
thirteenth most visited park in the country, yet they have a $50 
million backlog--a $50 million backlog. So it is just not sustainable.
  I also visited the Perry monument a couple of times in the last 
couple of years, including last summer. Perry's Victory and 
International Peace Memorial is on the shores of Lake Erie. It honors 
those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812, which 
was such a critically important battle for our victory. It also 
celebrates the long-lasting peace between the U.K., Canada, and the 
United States. So it is an important historical marker.
  There I saw some of the $48 million in long-delayed maintenance needs 
at that site, which includes millions in needed repairs to a concrete 
seawall--and here is the seawall. You can see some of the damage to it. 
There are also sinkholes behind me here.
  We have to repair that seawall, but, boy, it is a big cost. But if 
you don't repair it, you continue to have other damage, including the 
road behind me, and, obviously, people are not permitted to go near the 
lake there.
  So $48 million is a lot for that small memorial, small national park. 
The visitors' center there also needs upgrades. It needs to be made ADA 
accessible, an example--Americans with Disabilities Act. Again, the 
budget for that park is miniscule, but the maintenance needs are huge.
  It is not just our outdoor spaces that need work. The past 2 years I 
have visited the Taft home in Cincinnati where President William Howard 
Taft was born and raised. The house is still in pretty good condition, 
but there are infrastructure upgrades that have to be made--repairing 
the roof, repairing some of the woodwork. You can see the roof here and 
some of the mold. When you don't repair the roof, what happens? The 
roof leaks, and the walls get moldy, and the floor begins to couple.
  So whether it is your house or whether it is our national parks, that 
is what is happening.
  We have to do this in order to ensure that the costs don't expand 
even further, which is what happens, again, in your own home. If you 
don't fix that roof, you have all kinds of other problems, and they 
compound.
  The compounding problem in our national parks is not just $12 
billion. If we don't address it, it will grow to be much greater than 
that. The longer we wait, the more expensive it gets. The same story is 
true with all of our parks all around our country, and it is time for 
us to fix it.
  By the way, people ask me: Well, how do you know what the most urgent 
needs are? Because we require the parks to keep it. We require them to 
tell the U.S. Congress every year their highest priority needs, spell 
them out, in specific terms, what is needed--what the cost is, how long 
the repairs would take, and so on. This is why I said that they are 
shovel ready, because we know what these projects are.
  Here is the deferred maintenance cost in Ohio, as an example, just 
for Ohio--again, totaling $114 million. Here is the Perry's Victory 
Memorial, $48 million; here is the Cuyahoga Valley National Park at 
almost $52 million.

  Again, at some of our bigger parks around the country, the costs are 
even

[[Page S2753]]

higher. So this is an opportunity for us to do the right thing by these 
treasures that we have, to make sure they don't continue to 
deteriorate. This is where our Restore Our Parks Act is so important to 
pass.
  As I said earlier, this legislation is going to support more than 
100,000 jobs and cut into that maintenance backlog. What is even better 
about this legislation is that taxpayers aren't the ones footing the 
bill. Instead, this bill creates what is called the Legacy Restoration 
Fund, which will provide $1.9 billion per year for 5 years from 50 
percent of the unobligated on- and offshore energy revenue. Again, this 
comes from on- and offshore oil, gas, and other energy projects.
  This means we will have $9.5 billion to be divided across the 
National Park Service and other Federal Land Management agencies. It 
will not fund every needed repair, but the $6.5 billion our parks are 
going to get will address all of the high priority items, so 6.5 out of 
12, roughly half--a little more than half--of those projects, but it 
does comprise all of the high-priority items for our national parks.
  It is a win-win, especially right now. This enables us to restore our 
parks and our public lands--these great national treasures. It supports 
jobs at a time when people are anxious to get back to work, and it does 
all this by taking this funding that comes from the leases--oil, 
natural gas, and other energy projects. It is good for our economy. We 
need to get people back to work again, and it is an example of how 
Congress can pass laws that both create jobs and serve the public's 
interests.
  It is particularly good news that we are voting on it this week, 
because the quicker we act, the better.
  I want to thank Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for allowing us to 
bring this to the floor. I want to thank my colleagues on both sides of 
the aisle who have worked so hard on this legislation. Specifically, I 
want to thank Senator Warner, who came up with this great idea of 
shifting the funding from the oil, gas, and other energy projects--some 
of these royalty moneys--into this particular project.
  I have worked for years on parks. I am the author of the Centennial 
Act, which was back in 2016 for our national parks, which helps to get 
public-private partnerships involved, which I strongly support. That 
has helped a little bit on the maintenance, but it is not nearly enough 
money. So we need to do more, and that is what this legislation does.
  I also want to thank Senator Alexander and Senator King for their 
work on this national parks legislation.
  I also want to thank my other colleagues who have been so involved in 
this broader package. That would be Senator Gardner, Senator Manchin, 
Senator Daines. That is the Great American Outdoors Act. They helped me 
to put that together.
  This is the right thing to do for our country at the right time.
  I want to also say that the Trump administration strongly supports 
this legislation, and that has been really important, too, to get it in 
the budget, to be sure that the Office of Management and Budget, where 
I used to serve, is on board, because the funding here is not our 
typical appropriations funding, and I thank them for that. I thank 
President Trump for helping us to ensure that this can come to the 
floor today and can actually get passed by the U.S. Congress and then 
signed into law.
  Let's do it. On a bipartisan basis, let's do something positive this 
week to move our country forward, to create more jobs, and to ensure 
that our wonderful national parks are there for future generations.
  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. MANCHIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered
  Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, today the Senate will take the first 
steps toward passing the great American Outdoors Act, with the vote to 
invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the House bill, which will 
be used as the underlying legislative vehicle.
  The majority of my Senate colleagues have cosponsored this bill, and 
we have an incredible opportunity to enact this important bipartisan 
legislation.
  I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that our Nation is in 
turmoil and hurting. We are still very much in the midst of both a 
health and economic crisis, and this weekend we saw millions of people 
join peaceful demonstrations in communities across the country.
  It is so important that we in Congress take action, and I am so 
pleased that we have returned to legislating. There is no shortage of 
important business for us to address as a body.
  The Great American Outdoors Act will create jobs while protecting and 
expanding access to the great outdoors across our country for everyone, 
whether that be hunting, fishing, or hiking in the Monongahela National 
Forest in my great State of West Virginia or rafting down the Gauley 
River or learning about Civil War history--just to give a few examples 
of what my home State of West Virginia has to offer.
  This is a legacy that we can all pass down to our grandchildren and 
generations to come, and it has been a long time coming.
  I want to thank my good friend Senator Lisa Murkowski for working 
with us through the committee process. I would also like to thank my 
colleagues, Senators Gardner, Warner, Daines, Cantwell, Portman, King, 
Alexander, and Heinrich, for their work over many years on the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund--or as we call it, LWCF--and deferred 
maintenance bills that are now joined together in the Great American 
Outdoors Act.
  This bill would realize a goal that so many of us in this body have 
fought hard to attain for so long, to provide permanent, mandatory 
funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund at its fully 
authorized level of $900 million annually.
  Last year, the Senate passed a public lands package by an 
overwhelming vote of 92 to 8 that permanently authorized the LWCF--the 
most successful land conservation program in our Nation's history. A 
vote that bipartisan is, unfortunately, unheard of today and speaks to 
the overwhelming popularity of conservation programs in every State in 
the country.
  The day after we secured permanent authorization of the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund, we made it clear that our next hurdle was 
achieving mandatory full funding. The Great American Outdoors Act 
includes the mandatory LWCF funding bill that I introduced, along with 
a lot of help from all my friends on both the Democratic and Republican 
sides.
  We had strong bipartisan support for mandatory LWCF funding, with the 
majority of the Senate cosponsoring the bill, and a strong bipartisan 
vote coming out of committee.
  We need to secure this funding because since the LWCF was established 
55 years ago, over $22 billion--think about that--over $22 billion has 
been deposited in the LWCF fund but was never appropriated and instead 
went into the Treasury.
  Although every State and territory and almost every county has 
benefited from LWCF, it has been fully funded only twice in the 55-year 
history--only twice have we gotten full funding. Think what we could 
have done with that $22 billion.
  Despite that, LWCF has been able to do wonderful things with the 
funds that have been appropriated, which in recent years have been at 
half of the authorized funding level and, in previous years, less than 
that. Just imagine what we can achieve for our country with this full 
funding.
  The LWCF is the primary conservation funding tool that helps provide 
public access for hunting and fishing and recreational use of public 
lands. It also helps fund State and local parks. It helps maintain 
working forests through the Forest Legacy Program. It protects historic 
battlefields through the American Battlefield Protection Program, and 
it helps landowners voluntarily protect habitats for endangered 
species.
  Permanent LWCF funding will improve access to public lands, improving

[[Page S2754]]

access to hunting and fishing opportunities, and will ensure the 
program remains an important contributor to a strong and growing 
outdoor recreation economy that will benefit State and local economies 
throughout our Nation.
  A recent analysis from Boston University shows that at full funding 
of $900 million a year, the LWCF could support approximately 15,000 to 
28,000 jobs at a time when our country needs them most.
  Passing permanent LWCF authorization last year was an important step, 
and we are so close to realizing the ultimate goal of fully fulfilling 
the original intent of the LWCF Program and securing a permanent, 
dedicated funding source for the multiple conservation programs funded 
by the LWCF.
  The Great American Outdoors Act also includes $9.5 billion for 
deferred maintenance projects on Federal lands, with 70 percent of that 
amount dedicated to our national parks. Senators Portman, Warner, 
Alexander, King, and many others worked so hard on that original 
legislation, and I was proud to cosponsor and support as it went 
through the Senate's Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The 
legislation will be the most significant reduction ever in eliminating 
a major portion of the deferred maintenance backlog of our national 
parks and public lands.
  The impact of failing to fund our national parks and maintenance for 
so long is clear to see. Last year, I visited Pearl Harbor with my 
family, and I was incredibly disappointed to see the state of disrepair 
it was in. There were faded and torn signs and audio displays and 
lights that were not working. It was an embarrassment.
  The infrastructure projects that will be funded through this bill are 
critical to protecting many of our national treasures. The LWCF funding 
will provide a significant benefit to the national outdoor recreation 
economy. Investing in deferred maintenance projects will create over 
40,000 direct jobs and over 100,000 total jobs, and that is just for 
deferred maintenance projects in our national parks. This bill also 
includes funding for deferred maintenance projects at other land 
management agencies and Bureau of Indian Education schools.
  The Great American Outdoors Act will help us to be good stewards of 
our public lands while, at the same time, creating thousands of new 
jobs--a bipartisan win-win, which we should have more of. We have 
broad, bipartisan support, with 60 Senators signing on, which is 
representative of how important these bills are to every State and 
every county in every State. We have support from the administration 
and unwavering support from over 900 conservation and sportsmen groups 
throughout the Nation. It is a shining example of Democrats and 
Republicans coming together to put politics aside to do what is best 
for conserving the natural resources of this great Nation.
  The passage of this bill will be an historic achievement, and I 
believe this will be one of the most significant conservation bills 
ever enacted into law. What a legacy all of us can walk away with and 
look at our children and grandchildren, knowing that we have helped 
protect our wonderful national parks and outdoor recreation 
opportunities. I ask all of my colleagues to join me in voting yes to 
invoke cloture this evening and begin consideration of the Great 
American Outdoors Act.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.


                       Business Before the Senate

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, this weekend, I was thinking about 
the toll that the recent loss of fellowship has really taken on the 
American people.
  I think everyone would agree that, over the past few months, we have 
really felt levels of loneliness, anger, and frustration that we have 
never experienced in our lives. For most of us, it has been a long time 
since we have been able to gather with friends and family or to go to a 
church service. This isolation has brought to the surface conflict that 
has been brewing for a very long time. For many years, powerful forces 
in politics and popular culture have insisted that there is nothing we 
can't learn from interacting with one another online. Technology has 
brought the world together under the premise of this false intimacy and 
convinced millions of people that what they see on their screens is all 
they need to know about the world.
  There are many things that Americans can rightfully disagree about, 
especially during an election year, but contrary to what our social 
media timelines would lead us to believe, most Americans have held onto 
the lessons we all should have learned when we were mere children. When 
we were little, we learned that, as Americans, we have a duty to fight 
hatred wherever we find it, to be kind to one another, to practice the 
Golden Rule. Instead of giving in to stereotypes and assumptions, we 
should reject our own biases and, instead, meet people where they are, 
with open arms and listening ears and loving hearts, and truly listen 
to what they have to say.
  There are destructive forces at work in this country that want the 
American people to forget these lessons and, instead, make a false 
choice between putting their beliefs into practice and protecting the 
institutions and symbols that define our Republic. They want to 
convince you that this Nation is broken beyond repair. That is their 
goal: to undermine what you believe and to convince you that the path 
forward must be forged at the expense of faith, hope, and free speech, 
free expression. This is a lie. Worse, it is an obvious lie to anyone 
who has studied our Nation's precious history. For hundreds of years, 
the American people have persevered in spite of conflict and more--
civil unrest, economic downturns, and neighborly disagreements.

  That is what we are going to do now here in Washington, back at home 
in Tennessee, and in our communities. Instead of allowing Congress to 
come to a standstill, we will make and encourage strong policies that 
protect the American people. Even though the mainstream media has 
temporarily forgotten that we are in the midst of a global pandemic, 
the Senate has not forgotten that. We will continue to monitor the 
progress of businessowners as they slowly repair the damage done to our 
economy by extended lockdowns and do everything we can to make sure our 
scientists have the resources they need to develop a vaccine for COVID-
19.
  Our relationship with China has changed forever, and we must pass 
legislation to reflect that. Our supply chains that provide 
pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and critical national resources are 
all vulnerable to manipulation by Beijing. We should pass legislation 
to incentivize domestic manufacturing, starting with the SAM-C bill 
that Senator Menendez and I have offered in this Chamber. This would 
support stateside pharmaceutical production.
  We must also continue working with Big Tech to create responsible 
privacy guidelines and protect consumer data from Chinese hackers. Last 
week in Judiciary, we heard testimony that confirmed a history of 
corruption at the highest levels of the Obama-led Justice Department. 
There are many, even in this Chamber, who would rather not talk about 
that, but we must press forward with this investigation. We have to get 
to the bottom of what happened at the Department of Justice and with 
the FBI during Operation Crossfire Hurricane, and we will do all of 
this. We will do the job that we were elected to do while we maintain 
law and order and insist that those enforcing the law are accountable 
to the citizens whom they are sworn to serve and protect.
  To those who insist that we as a nation are irreparably broken, I 
want you to know that I and the American people have taken note of your 
words, and now I hope that you will take note of mine. This country is 
strong. Our people are resilient. Over the course of just a few months, 
many of them have lost everything. They have lost the lives of family 
members. They have lost their livelihoods. Their lives and their 
futures--every waking moment of every day--are filled with uncertainty, 
but they still hold tight to those lessons they learned when they were 
children. They know that they were endowed by their Creator with the 
liberties that make America special and that no force on Earth has the 
power to separate them from their faith in God and their country and in 
one another.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.


                               H.R. 1957

  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I rise to speak about the historic 
vote to happen shortly that will advance conservation and public lands 
projects,

[[Page S2755]]

called the Great American Outdoors Act. I urge all of my colleagues to 
support this important legislation.
  First, I thank everyone who has been involved in this legislation--
Senator Gardner, who just joined us on the floor; Senator Manchin, who 
spoke earlier; Senator Daines; Senator Warner; Senator Portman, who 
also spoke earlier; Senator Alexander; Senator King; Senator Burr; and 
then several other Senators who will, I know, participate tomorrow as a 
group and speak--Senators Tester, Bennet, Heinrich, and so many more.
  This coalition has said we should spend the money in the fund for 
LWCF and combine it with taking care of parks' backlog. This has been a 
priority of two different groups of Senators who have worked together 
to try to pass this legislation.
  I also thank Senators Portman, Alexander, King, and Warner and my 
House colleague, Representative Kilmer, for working so diligently on 
the parks' backlog. I thank Senator Alexander specifically, who has 
been one of the champions of the parks' backlog.
  Just a few years ago, I remember I asked him: Lamar, do you think we 
are really going to get $6.5 billion spent on the backlog?
  He said: We are going to try our darned best.
  Apparently, Lamar Alexander's darned best today has been a success in 
helping us to move this forward.
  Again, I thank the prime sponsors of the bill, Senator Gardner and 
Senator Manchin, for their steadfast work on the LWCF and the parks' 
backlog. I also thank Senator Burr, who is a steadfast champion of the 
Land and Water Conservation Fund, and who, with me, helped to sponsor 
the permanent reauthorization of the Fund and tried to get the funds 
spent. This effort has continued over many decades by many colleagues, 
including by two former Senators, Bingaman and Baucus, who were both 
giants in all of this.
  I thank everybody for their important efforts over the years that 
have gotten us to this point today.
  Why are we here? A lot of people would ask: In the middle of a 
pandemic, an economic crisis, and a big struggle to energize the need 
for civil rights and equality, why are we talking about a public lands 
bill?

  As I said, we are here because there is a lot of history behind the 
outdoors economy and the economy itself of the activities that generate 
an economic return from having public lands. This has been a juggernaut 
for us. There is $887 billion in consumer spending every year, and that 
helps to support about 7.6 million jobs.
  While some are probably asking, ``How did we get so lucky to have 
this coalition of bipartisan Senators come together with regard public 
lands and public land investment, and why can't we take that same magic 
and make it happen in other places?'' I encourage my colleagues not 
only to get this legislation done and think about how we did get it 
done together but also to think about how special public lands are for 
the United States of America.
  Public lands are part of our history. They are part of what we have 
invested in on behalf of the citizens of the United States so you have 
a place to recreate, to hunt, to fish, to find solace, to find 
recovery, to find enjoyment, to find amazement when you see the 
wonderful places, particularly in the State of Washington.
  Because the LWCF is paid for by royalties from oil companies that 
drill off our shores, these investments don't cost the taxpayers a dime 
or add to our deficit. This bill will be injecting money into our 
economy, creating more jobs, and fixing the repairs that we need to our 
lands and lands infrastructure.
  Over the last half a century, the Land and Water Conservation Fund 
has supported over 42,000 State and local projects, and it has included 
an investment of $725 million in the State of Washington. It has helped 
us to expand access to clean rivers, hunting lands, forestlands, and to 
improve our national parks. It has been a critical protection tool for 
heritage areas and for augmenting wildlife refuges across our State. In 
fact, the LWCF fund has supported 98 percent of the parks in counties 
across the United States of America. At one point in time, 98 percent 
of the counties across this country have used the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund.
  In the State of Washington, it has helped us to establish iconic 
places like Gas Works Park; Bidwell Park, which is near Spokane; the 
Burnt Bridge Creek Trail, which winds through Vancouver; and the Warren 
G. Magnuson Park at Sand Point, which has been used for valuable 
conservation easements and to help popular forest legacy programs that 
partner with timber owners to promote sustainable forestry.
  The Great American Outdoors Act has helped us to make a decision that 
has been long debated and long disputed. David Brooks, from the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, could tell you how many 
times we have had to debate both the backlog and the LWCF issues and 
how people have wanted to spend those dollars. It has been a very, very 
challenging issue for years.
  Besides saying that we are going to take money and put it forward to 
permanently fund the LWCF, the bill also says that we are going to 
tackle the backlog and maintenance. I mentioned the $6.5 billion 
infusion for that maintenance. For us in the State of Washington, with 
our many national parks, there is $262 million for deferred maintenance 
costs to include repairs to the water treatment system at Olympic 
National Park. It could help us with $186 million in deferred 
maintenance at Mount Rainier. It could help us with miles of trails and 
access to campgrounds. It could also help us in the very important area 
of expanding access.
  There are other projects in the State of Washington, and sometimes, 
when we don't take care of our backlog and maintenance, we don't get 
the dollars because they go to the larger parks. So this will help us 
to make sure we don't ignore that crumbling infrastructure or the 
deteriorating hiking trails or the aging visitors centers. It will help 
us with projects like the $28 million needed for the Lake Roosevelt 
National Recreation Area, the $2.6 million for the Whitman Mission 
National Historic Site, the $43 million that is needed for the Fort 
Vancouver National Historic Site in southwest Washington, the $18 
million for the North Cascades National Park in Washington, and the $5 
million for the San Juan Island National Historic Park in the northern 
part of our State.
  As you can see, the State of Washington is definitely in the outdoor 
industry business. We have been very blessed with a beautiful 
environment, and we have been very blessed with an economy that has 
been based on those beautiful outdoors. So we are very happy today that 
our colleagues have joined in this bipartisan effort to say that public 
lands really do mean a lot to our Nation and that they deserve an 
upgrade--a facelift--an investment, and a commitment to keep funding 
the things that will allow us to expand public access to them.
  It is the legislation that we need to pass even in this unbelievable 
time of so many other critical issues. I believe now, more than ever, 
our local parks and our urban green space can give solace to Americans 
who need refuge from all of the issues we are dealing with. Now, more 
than ever, we need to promote access to the shared public lands so that 
every American can get access, and the American people have had an 
incredibly difficult several few months. Let's give them something to 
think about for their futures--access to the great outdoors, which will 
help all of us in the future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Washington for 
her leadership on our great public lands and the bill, the Great 
American Outdoors Act, that we will be voting on this week and debating 
into next week. What an historic occasion for the U.S. Senate. We don't 
often have the chance to make history. This week, we do. So thank you 
to the Senator from Washington.
  June is, of course, the Great Outdoors Month. Since 1998, when 
President Clinton started with 1 week of the Great Outdoors Week, it 
has since expanded and has been observed every year, beginning with 
those Great American Outdoors Weeks in 1998 to the entire month of June 
celebrating that we do today.

[[Page S2756]]

  This week, we are debating landmark legislation, the Great American 
Outdoors Act, that brings two ideas together that have been worked on 
by so many of my colleagues in this Chamber for so long.
  I introduced this legislation with Senator Manchin, along with so 
many other bipartisan champions for the outdoors and our great public 
lands and spaces. The Great American Outdoors Act combines $1.9 billion 
a year for 5 years for deferred maintenance at the National Park 
Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the 
Bureau of Land Management, which is now headquartered in Grand 
Junction, CO, and the Bureau of Indian Education schools, and permanent 
annual funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the crown jewel 
of our conservation programs, at $900 million per year.
  Let's revisit how we arrived at this historic moment. Last year, the 
Senate came together, in bipartisan fashion, and passed the most 
significant conservation measure in over a decade. The John D. Dingell, 
Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, among other things, 
included the permanent authorization of the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund.
  Congress had established the LWCF in 1965, with the idea of using 
revenue generated from offshore energy development to fund improvements 
on public lands at no cost to the taxpayer. I repeat that again--at no 
cost to the taxpayer. The LWCF has increased access for Americans 
everywhere to hunt, fish, camp, and enjoy recreation activities on 
their public lands, the lands we own and hold as a country.
  It has protected and expanded access for conservation in all 50 
States, the territories, and in nearly every county. LWCF is the crown 
jewel, as I said, of our Nation's conservation programs, and it has 
broad bipartisan support. Yet, for decades, short-term authorizations 
and uncertain funding levels hampered the ability of the conservation 
community to come up with the long-term plans that we need to protect 
our most cherished landscapes.
  The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act 
took care of one of those problems. We actually managed to solve a 
problem, but it was just half of the picture. The permanent 
reauthorization of the program guaranteed the full $900 million 
authorization would be set aside every year going forward. We won that 
fight. Together, we passed that legislation.
  However, the fight for fully funding the program continued. While I 
am appreciative of the ever-increasing levels of funding we have 
successfully fought to secure--in fact, we have seen some of the 
highest funding over the last year or 2 years than we have seen in over 
15 years that we have successfully fought to secure in the Senate--it 
is still not what was agreed to. It is still not what was agreed to 
when this program was created in 1965.
  The Great American Outdoors Act fixes this issue. It guarantees that 
the full $900 million that is sent in to the LWCF trust fund are spent 
every year and not diverted for other purposes. I would like to share 
some of the landscapes in my home State that LWCF has preserved for the 
public and for generations to come.
  You can see this picture, this incredible, awesome, majestic 
landscape of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. It is 
located in the approximately 122-mile-long San Luis Valley in Southeast 
Colorado. The dunes in the park are the tallest found anywhere in North 
America, and right now people are visiting to experience the seasonal 
flow of Medano Creek, which forms in front of the dunes as snow melts 
in the spring and early summer. It is the closest thing that we see to 
beachfront property every spring at the sand dunes.
  As you can imagine, the ecosystem in this area is incredibly 
delicate. You see, the sand dunes are here because of basically the 
hydrostatic charge that is created from the groundwater when it comes 
to the sand particles. It is that water that forms around the sand that 
holds the sand dunes in place. Without the water underneath it, the 
sand dunes just blow away, and they are not there.
  The sand dunes sit next to what are some of the most important 
wetlands in the State of Colorado. LWCF funds were used to protect 
those wetlands and to facilitate a transfer to an existing refuge, 
while also helping to protect the dunes. LWCF was able to protect the 
land that protected the water that keeps the dunes in place.
  In northwestern Colorado--we go to the next picture--a ranch sits 
along the banks of the Yampa River, which flows into Cross Mountain 
Canyon, then downstream to Dinosaur National Monument. If you have ever 
been to Dinosaur National Monument, you know what an incredible 
treasure that is. It straddles the States of Colorado and Utah. The 
Cross Mountain Canyon run is one of the best white-water rafting trips 
in the State, and if it is one of the best white-water rafting trips in 
the State, you can guarantee that it makes it one of the best in the 
country because of what we have to offer in Colorado. There is also a 
very healthy elk population that facilitates seasonal hunting, and 
obviously the fishing is great as well.
  Throughout this area of public land--through both the monument and 
lands under the Bureau of Land Management--and private land, access to 
our public lands is difficult for those who travel to this area of 
Colorado from all over the world to hunt, to fish, to raft, and more.
  With a small amount of LWCF funding through the Forest Legacy 
Program, which we also fund through LWCF, the ranch on the banks of the 
Yampa River was able to enter a conservation easement. This 
protected and enhanced access to tens of thousands of surrounding acres 
of Federal lands. You see, we not only have the opportunity to continue 
protecting our public lands, but there are public lands that we don't 
have access to because you can't get to it. So utilizing a program like 
the Land and Water Conservation Fund helps the American people have 
access to what they already hold.

  In southwest Colorado, we go to another successful Forest Legacy 
Program project that protects vital wildlife habitat and a watershed 
that provides water to thousands of people. The Sawtooth Ranch is 
visible from the San Juan Skyway, one of the most spectacular places on 
God's Earth--one of 31 designated scenic All-American roads. It is also 
visible from Mount Sneffels, one of Colorado's famous fourteeners.
  Outdoor recreation of every kind takes place in the area next to the 
ranch to support the local economy, and the protection of the ranch has 
helped facilitate even greater opportunities.
  Federal lands like the ones I have shown you are incredibly popular 
destinations for tourists from all over the world, as well as 
recreational enthusiasts. In 2018, Rocky Mountain National Park was the 
third most visited national park in the country.
  There were 4.9 million people that visited the park last year, 
setting a new record. Just decades prior to 2009--think about this--
that was 4.9 million people in just the last year. In 2009, that 
visitation number was only 2.8 million a year.
  The explosion of visitation numbers is not contained just to the 
lands maintained by the National Park Service. The entire Federal land 
system is supporting a recreation economy that has become a major 
economic powerhouse because as more people go to places like Sawtooth 
Ranch and as more people go to places like Rocky National Park, they 
are pushed out to other areas of Arapaho and Roosevelt National 
Forests. They are pushed out to the north sand dune, the BLM land, and 
more use and more use and more opportunity.
  But the Federal investment and infrastructure that supports these 
great landscapes and the recreation economies they facilitate has not 
kept pace, and we know that it has not kept pace with the use of the 
lands. In Colorado, that translates to the third most visited national 
park in the country, which saw 4.9 million visitors last year, having 
an $84 million maintenance backlog. In total, Colorado's units managed 
by the National Park System have a $247 million backlog of deferred 
maintenance needs.
  The Forest Service in Colorado has an astonishing $325 million 
maintenance backlog. When you think about that pattern repeated on 
Federal lands and in our parks across 49 other States,

[[Page S2757]]

you begin to understand how we arrived at a systemwide $20 billion 
backlog.
  The Great American Outdoors Act will provide an annual funding level 
of $1.9 billion over the next 5 years to a restoration fund, for which 
money can be used solely for those deferred maintenance projects, and 
this is all paid for. It is all paid for by revenues associated with 
onshore and offshore energy development. This will allow the land 
management agencies to address the highest priority projects to bring 
our outdoor recreation economy into the 21st century for the enjoyment 
of the 22nd, the 23rd, and the 24th centuries of this great Nation.
  And the 21st century, of course, is where it needs to be and where we 
start. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, hunting, fishing, 
camping, hiking, paddling, and other outdoor recreation activities 
contribute to a total of $778 billion annually to the economy and 
support 5.2 million American jobs.
  This sector accounts for 2.2 percent of the U.S. gross domestic 
product. Each year our Federal public lands contribute nearly $60 
billion to the American economy and support more than 400,000 jobs. Now 
is the time to invest in our recreation infrastructure. Now is the time 
to invest in this job opportunity.
  You know, prior to the pandemic, we were living in the midst of one 
of the greatest economies the world has ever seen. Unemployment was at 
record lows, wages were growing, and people were spending their hard-
earned dollars in our communities supporting local economies, fishing, 
hiking, enjoying the great outdoors after spending 3 months in the 
great indoors. Our mountain towns and gateway communities were hit hard 
by COVID-19. That first wave decimated economies in our Western Slope 
of Colorado. The ski season ended early. Restaurants closed and hotels 
emptied. The jobs that are created and sustained by this bill, as we 
recover from the pandemic, will be a vital component of our overall 
economic recovery as Americans get back to work and back to playing 
after they have worked so hard--working hard and playing hard--two 
great American values.
  As we have this vote tonight on cloture, I hope my colleagues will 
support this motion to support our public lands and the communities 
that sustain them by supporting the Great American Outdoors Act.
  I will leave it with this. Enos Mills, one of the fathers of Rocky 
Mountain National Park, once said this about our public lands:
  The trail compels you to know yourself and to be yourself, and puts 
you in harmony with the universe. It makes you glad to be living. It 
gives health, hope, and courage, and it extends that touch of nature 
which tends to make you kind.
  I can think of no better piece of legislation on our public lands 
than to work our way to find a little bit more kindness, a little bit 
more hope, a little bit more strength, and a great deal of opportunity
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.


                                Protests

  Mr. UDALL. Madam President, I thank you for the recognition, and I 
thank Senator Gardner for his hard work on this excellent piece of 
legislation.
  Today, our Nation is in pain. It is the pain of centuries of deeply 
embedded racial injustice. This Nation has watched in horror as the 
last 8 minutes and 46 seconds of George Floyd's life were cruelly and 
needlessly taken from him by a police officer.
  Our Nation grieves for the families of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, 
and so many other innocent Black men and women violently taken from 
their families and loved ones. This is a pain all too familiar for too 
many Black Americans. This is a moment of reckoning for our Nation.
  Black Americans have borne the brunt of this systemic racism, as have 
Hispanic and Native American communities in New Mexico and across the 
Nation.
  So many of our officers protect and serve with honor and integrity, 
but we cannot continue to sweep police brutality and racial inequality 
under the rug, ignoring these painful legacies until the next tragedy. 
There are thousands of Americans of every political stripe across the 
Nation who have come out in peaceful protest demanding change.
  Now, we know there are a few--a very small few--who are exploiting 
our Nation's pain and using violence to disrupt. We unequivocally 
condemn all acts of violence and call for nonviolent but urgent action. 
By calling for the U.S. military to quell protests, as the President 
and some in this body have done, that crosses a line between civilian 
and military rule that is antithetical to American traditions. Instead 
of calling for American soldiers to repress their fellow citizens 
exercising their First Amendment rights, I am calling for action from 
this body.
  Today, Senators Booker and Harris introduced the Justice in Policing 
Act, a bill I am proud to cosponsor. This landmark bill holds police 
misconduct accountable in courts of law. It shines a light on police 
practices, requiring transparency, and ends racial profiling and 
mandates racial bias training. It bans choke holds and requires body 
cams and makes lynching a Federal crime.
  This is a moment of reckoning for our Nation. I call upon the Senate 
majority to join with us to pass this long overdue legislation as soon 
as possible.


                               H.R. 1957

  Madam President, I now turn to the bill before us, the Great American 
Outdoors Act. Our country's public lands are at the very core of our 
national identity. They protect our national heritage, our lands, 
waters, and our wildlife for future generations. Our national parks, 
monuments, and wildlife refuges are irreplaceable treasures--sources of 
beauty, of solitude, recreation, and of renewal.
  From the Grand Canyon to Stonewall National Monument to the city park 
in our neighborhood, our public lands sustain our people, and we owe it 
to these special places and to ourselves and to our children to sustain 
them for the future.
  Today, I stand here in strong support of the Great American Outdoors 
Act, legislation that at long last fully and permanently funds the Land 
and Water Conservation Fund and invests in our public lands for the 
future.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund was passed in 1964. My father, 
Stewart Udall, was Secretary of the Department of the Interior at the 
time, and I am proud he helped establish the LWCF. As Secretary, he was 
troubled by how difficult it was to expand public lands. At that time, 
the Federal Government would redesignate existing Federal lands to 
create a new national park or a new wildlife refuge or rely on private 
donations to expand, but the Congress itself resisted appropriating 
funds to create new public lands.
  At a wilderness conference in 1963, my father bluntly said: ``[T]he 
path of land conservation that our government has used for more than 
half a century is running into a dead end.''
  But he had conceived of a new path forward, ``an entirely new 
watershed in the history of the conservation movement in the United 
States,'' he told them. Just 3 weeks before the conference, President 
Kennedy had sent Congress a new piece of legislation called the Land 
and Water Conservation Fund Act. My father and others conceived of a 
Federal fund that would both generate money to acquire new Federal 
lands and provide States with funding to expand recreational 
opportunities. The bill passed Congress the next year.
  The LWCF has been called our Nation's most successful conservation 
program. It is wildly popular with the American people, and it has 
touched every corner of our Nation--in rural and urban areas with 
parks, forests, wildlife refuges, trails, wild and scenic river 
corridors, historic monuments, and cultural sites. LWCF has funded 
42,000 stateside projects. In my home State alone, it has helped over 
1,200 such projects found in every 1 of our 33 counties.
  After the LWCF was enacted, it became clear that the initial funding 
sources were too limited. My father persuaded President Johnson to 
support using Federal revenues from oil and gas leases in the Outer 
Continental Shelf to fund the program. His plan converted revenue from 
a nonrenewable source into a permanent protection for our renewable 
natural world.

  While Congress amended the act to include this funding source and 
later

[[Page S2758]]

authorized the fund to actually annually accrue $900 million, the full 
promise of LWCF was not yet fulfilled.
  Throughout my career, I have championed increases to the LWCF, but it 
deserves the dedicated funding my father and many others envisioned. 
Last year, Congress finally permanently authorized the fund, a historic 
victory for conservation.
  It is long past time we take the next step and permanently direct the 
full $900 million to the fund every year. Not only has the LWCF met its 
conservation mission 100 times over; it has helped fuel the outdoor 
recreation economy and support local economies, especially in rural 
areas throughout the Nation.
  Since the creation of the fund, the outdoor industry has grown 
tremendously. It is now an $887 billion industry that powers 7.6 
million jobs. That includes nearly 100,000 direct jobs in New Mexico, 
driving $2.8 billion in wages and nearly $10 billion in consumer 
spending.
  Fully and permanently funding LWCF will translate directly into 
economic growth. We need to energize our economy now more than ever as 
we work our way out of the financial crisis created by COVID-19.
  Throughout our history, we have seen investing in public lands 
energizes both our economy and our national spirit. Conservation must 
be a centerpiece of our recovery at this challenging time for our 
Nation.
  Indeed, the economic benefits of the LWCF are great, but the human 
benefits to ourselves, our families, and our communities may be 
greater.
  One of the most recent LWCF projects in New Mexico is the Valle de 
Oro National Wildlife Refuge, the first urban wildlife refuge in the 
Southwest. Here is a photograph of our State's newest refuge: Valle de 
Oro. The Rio Grande runs along this refuge, which boasts an amazing 
array of wild birds, including sandhill cranes--which you see here--the 
greater roadrunner, and the American kestrel. The $6 million 
contribution from the Land and Water Conservation Fund helped make the 
vision of this urban oasis a reality.
  Valle de Oro is special to me because it introduces young people--
often Hispanic young people with limited means and limited access to 
nature--to their first outdoor experience. It introduces kids to a 
world of wonder and a lifetime of connection to nature. And it is just 
down the street.
  As Richard Louv discussed so eloquently in his seminal book ``Last 
Child in the Woods'' and backed up with peer-reviewed study after 
study, our children need nature, and we suffer spiritually and 
physically when that bond is lost.
  So as we take this historic action to add to our national heritage, I 
am glad we are also addressing the $19 billion worth of deferred 
maintenance on our existing public lands. Like the other days of the 
Civilian Conservation Corps, this work is especially timely and will 
help our economic recovery at a time of historic unemployment.
  It is good news that use of our public lands has increased so 
dramatically over time. More than 1 billion visitors enjoy our Federal 
public lands each year. The infrastructure on these public lands--our 
roads, bridges, and trails; our campgrounds, marinas; and our drinking 
water and sewer systems--are wearing out. Historic buildings are 
falling apart. Trails are washed out. Roads and bridges can't be used. 
Water lines and sewer systems don't function. The list is long--$19 
billion long.
  In New Mexico alone, we have $121 million worth of deferred 
maintenance needed at iconic places like Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands 
National Park, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, the Gila Cliff 
Dwellings, and Bandelier National Monument.
  The Great American Outdoors Act represents a substantial downpayment 
toward maintaining, repairing, and renovating the infrastructure on our 
public lands--allocating up to $1.9 billion annually for 5 years. This 
represents Congress's most significant commitment to date to the long-
term future of our public lands.
  The American people own these precious resources. We need to maintain 
the American people's public spaces so that all of us can continue to 
safely and enjoyably visit these special places. How we take care of 
these public places says a lot about our Nation.
  Our Nation's conservation heritage is uniquely American. The bill 
before us strengthens our Nation's commitment to conservation, to 
protecting our wild places, to preserving our history and cultures, and 
to nurturing our bonds with nature and the great outdoors.
  I urge every Member here to wholeheartedly support our heritage and 
vote in favor of this bill.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Boozman). The Senator from Montana
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 
to finish my remarks prior to the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, today we have the opportunity to make 
history in the U.S. Senate. Together, we can move forward with passing 
one of the most important conservation bills in decades.
  In fact, standing here today, I can tell you something. There are not 
many issues that bring Republicans and Democrats together, but 
something actually does that, and that is protecting our public lands.
  If you remember, about a year and a half ago, we passed a major 
bipartisan lands package where we permanently authorized a conservation 
program--something we are here to talk about today--and that is the 
Land and Water Conservation Fund.
  Today we have the opportunity to move forward on this bipartisan 
Great American Outdoors Act, a conservation bill that will provide full 
and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and 
finally tackle this massive maintenance backlog that is plaguing our 
public lands, including our national parks.
  How we got here today isn't by chance. In fact, on February 27, I sat 
down with my colleague Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, Leader 
McConnell, and President Trump in the White House--we were in the 
Roosevelt room, in fact--to pitch a simple idea: Let's set aside 
political gridlock, and let's pass the most important conservation law 
in decades.
  In fact, I showed the President of the United States, President 
Trump, pictures of land and water conservation projects in Montana--the 
Tenderfoot Creek and the Falls Creek projects--and we talked about the 
importance of this program in places like Montana.
  As a fifth-generation Montanan, I know just how important our public 
lands are to protecting and preserving our Montana way of life, from 
fishing on the Yellowstone River to summiting Granite Peak, which I did 
back in college--in fact, the week after that, I summited the Grand 
Teton down in Wyoming--or backpacking in The Barracks, which we do 
virtually every summer. I have enjoyed our great outdoors, and this is 
an appreciation and something that Cindy and I have passed on to our 
four children. In fact, I proposed to my sweet wife Cindy on top of 
Hyalite Peak, a peak over 10,000 feet just south of Bozeman, in July of 
1986.
  Montana is a place where you can still go down to Walmart and buy an 
elk tag or deer tag over the counter and, literally, within minutes 
have access to our public lands to hunt and fish.
  As Montana's voice in the U.S. Senate, I have made it one of my 
highest priorities to protect and expand access to our public lands, 
and the Land and Water Conservation Fund is a critical tool for 
accomplishing that.
  Think about this for a moment: Over 70 percent of the fishing 
accesses across Montana are funded through this conservation program. 
Sportsmen, conservationists, and outdoor enthusiasts will agree that 
this program is critical for conservation and important for protecting 
our great outdoor heritage and our Montana way of life.
  This conservation program is important for creating and protecting 
jobs for our outdoor economy. This program is also an important tool 
for land managers and agencies to address the checkerboard land 
ownership. We see that in Montana. Addressing that checkerboard 
ownership makes a lot of sense.
  You see, over 1\1/2\ million acres of Federal land in our State sit 
entirely landlocked. In many cases, specific land and water 
conservation projects in Montana will help consolidate land

[[Page S2759]]

ownership that can make overall landscape management less complicated 
and easier for agencies.
  In fact, the Land and Water Conservation Fund was passed with the 
intent to be funded at $900 million per year, and, every single year, 
$900 million plus goes into that trust account, but nowhere close to 
that level of funding is actually appropriated
  In reality, if Congress wanted to, they don't have to fund the 
program at all. In fact, only twice--going back to 1965--has it been 
funded at the $900 million mark. What we see each year is the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund gets raided by Congress, and millions of 
dollars are spent on other programs.
  Mandatory funding would create certainty for land managers that the 
full $900 million goes toward that program every year moving forward.
  Now, we must also support and preserve our country's beloved national 
parks. Our national parks are what set us apart from the rest of the 
world. I like to think of them as our office of first impressions, and 
we need to do a better job taking care of them, be better stewards.
  With record visitations and increased visitation each year, park 
infrastructure has inevitably experienced wear and tear, and this has 
led to a significant maintenance backlog. Today, there is nearly $12 
billion in maintenance backlog facing our national parks across the 
Nation, including $700 million in Glacier and Yellowstone National 
Parks and an additional $34 million throughout the State in places like 
Little Bighorn Battlefield and the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Park.
  The bill also addresses the backlog in our Forest Service, BLM, and 
Fish and Wildlife Service lands. In Montana, our forests are critical 
for outdoor recreation as well as our wood products industry. It makes 
sense that we protect and maintain access to these lands for future 
generations because the wonders of our public lands are unique to any 
other country in the world.
  Montanans were brought up with a love of the outdoors and a sense of 
responsibility to conserve as well as maintain them. To us, protecting 
our public lands is about preserving the way of life unique to our 
western frontier heritage.
  It is an honor to serve the people of Montana in the U.S. Senate and 
to bring this vote--a vote decades in the making--before the U.S. 
Senate today. I urge my Senate colleagues to stand with me to pass this 
bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act.
  I am ready to get this done for Montana. Future generations are 
counting on our vote today, and I believe, truly, it is a conservative 
principle to conserve. The Founders' vision for America was a frontier 
nation, a wild nation.
  What made America distinct from industrial Europe and all the other 
countries in the world was our outdoors, for, of course, what is 
America without Lewis and Clark?
  I will leave you with this last thought from Teddy Roosevelt. This 
was in the context of thinking about our national parks and our public 
lands: ``We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people 
ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that 
the nation is worthy of its good fortune.''
  I yield the floor.


                             Cloture Motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before 
the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
  The legislative clerk read as follows

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to Calendar No. 75, H.R. 1957, a bill to amend the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modernize and improve the 
     Internal Revenue Service, and for other purposes.
         Mitch McConnell, Thom Tillis, Pat Roberts, Shelley Moore 
           Capito, Mike Crapo, Lindsey Graham, David Perdue, 
           Martha McSally, Richard Burr, Cory Gardner, Steve 
           Daines, Lamar Alexander, Tom Cotton, Kevin Cramer, John 
           Boozman, Rob Portman, Susan M. Collins.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
motion to proceed to H.R. 1957, an act to amend the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 to modernize and improve the Internal Revenue Service, and 
for other purposes, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. 
Klobuchar) and the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) are 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote or change their vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 80, nays 17, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 114 Leg.]

                                YEAS--80

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blackburn
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Braun
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Daines
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Harris
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Jones
     King
     Leahy
     Loeffler
     Manchin
     McConnell
     McSally
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Roberts
     Rosen
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                                NAYS--17

     Barrasso
     Cassidy
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Enzi
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Moran
     Risch
     Romney
     Rounds
     Sasse
     Shelby

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Klobuchar
     Markey
     Toomey
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote the yeas are 80, the nays are 17.
  Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in 
the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.


                                Protests

  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, a week ago, I did a television interview 
on race relations in America. They asked me to talk a little bit about 
what happened in Tulsa in 1921.
  The worst race massacre in American history occurred in Tulsa in 
1921. It was May 31, overnight, into June 1. I was on television a week 
ago, describing the event of how a group of White rioters had marched 
into Greenwood--what was called Black Wall Street--and had killed up to 
300 people there. They had set Greenwood on fire, destroying homes and 
businesses.
  Many people at home don't know this, but everyone in this Chamber 
does. As I was talking, I was just talking to a camera lens and 
couldn't tell what was on TV at the time. There were pictures of a town 
in the United States that was currently on fire while I was describing 
a race massacre that had happened 99 years ago that weekend.
  We have come a long way with the issue of race in America, but we 
clearly have a very long way to go. We have four centuries of racial 
inequality stacked on top of each other. While we break through those 
things step by step, we have things that we can do. I have been on the 
phone for days with friends and with people whom I know from all over 
Oklahoma--from all backgrounds--and have been talking about race 
relationships and where we go as a nation. Some people throw up their 
hands and say: I don't know what to do. Many people have an idea, but 
everyone wants the situation to get better.
  What is interesting is the dialogue about protesters and rioters and 
police officers. I share openly with them that I don't judge protesters 
and rioters the same. Some people do. They throw them all into one big 
group. I do not. There are people out standing on the streets who just 
want to be heard, who finally just want things in America to change, 
for America to fulfill her promise of equal justice under the law in 
every area, in every community. They are peaceful. They are sometimes

[[Page S2760]]

loud and brash, but they are frustrated, and they want to be heard. 
There is another group that breaks through the middle of those 
protesters. These in this group smash windows, steal shoes and 
electronics from stores, and spray paint and destroy public property 
just from their own anger.
  I don't treat protesters and rioters the same, and I encourage people 
not to treat all police officers the same. Are there some rioters mixed 
in with the protesters? Yes. Are there some police officers who need to 
be confronted for their racial views? Yes. Is that all of them? By far, 
no. Every person should be judged by his own character--every person. 
When we as Americans lump groups together and say they are like that, 
we have divided us even more.
  It was 20 years ago when my State made it illegal for a police 
officer to stop someone simply because of one's race. Most police 
departments in Oklahoma don't allow a choke hold. In fact, I spoke with 
officers in the Oklahoma City Police Department who have been there for 
a very long time who said they were never even trained to do that. They 
were told not to do that. What has happened in other areas and other 
places has not happened in my State in the same way, but I still have 
friends of mine who are African American who still catch me and tell me 
the numbers of times they have been pulled over for driving while Black 
in places and neighborhoods in which I have never been pulled over but 
in which they have been multiple times.
  We still have a long way to go. This legislative body can talk about 
it--we can share empathy, and we can listen--but we are also called to 
act.
  So I bring to this body just a few ideas, some things we can do to 
engage, things like greater transparency. How can we oppose just 
getting information out?
  There are simple things that we are not currently doing, like 
gathering a Federal database on the use of lethal force by law 
enforcement. All of that data of whatever police department in whatever 
place that uses lethal force should be collected and sent to a Federal 
database so there can be a national tracking of where lethal force is 
used. What race is the police officer? What is the race of the person 
on whom lethal force was used? What was the situation? How was the 
investigation handled? What was the result of that investigation? These 
are basic details.

  City councils, city leaders, and city managers should not be afraid 
to look at the data and ask hard questions. We should not be afraid to 
look at the data and ask hard questions.
  Most every community has oversight boards that are citizen boards. 
Good. Are they empowered to actually engage? Are they involved in the 
hiring process? Are they involved in the oversight? Do they get a 
chance to look over their shoulders to evaluate what happens? Do they 
know when there are reports on the same law enforcement officer over 
and over again? Are those advisory panels empowered?
  Are there body cameras? It is not just if there are body cameras, but 
are they on? This has been our second challenge. Getting body cameras 
is just transparency. It is just the availability of information so 
that law enforcement can see and so that citizens can see what is 
happening. Law enforcement is in very, very difficult situations every 
single day. When law enforcement officers leave their homes each 
morning, their families give them hugs and hope they come home that 
night because, every day, they face challenges. I have great compassion 
for those folks. Body cameras help everybody, for they provide clarity 
as to what is going on, but they are not effective if they are not on, 
and we have had several situations lately in which it seems, 
conveniently, body cameras have not been on. That is a problem, and it 
is an area we should address.
  Mental health training is an area that has come up over and over 
again and not just recently. This has come up for a long time. This 
body--the Senate--and the House have passed and the President has 
signed additional legislation dealing with mental health issues, but 
States and local areas have to engage in this as well. Even in my own 
State, law enforcement is responsible for transporting an individual 
across the State to a treatment facility for mental health or for 
treatment for substance abuse. My State really does need to determine a 
better, more compassionate way to transport someone with mental illness 
or substance abuse rather than in the back seat of a police car.
  We have to have a better, more compassionate way to do that. Every 
time this occurs, law enforcement officers are taken off the streets 
for an entire day because they are transporting someone when someone 
else could have done that in a more compassionate, less obvious way 
than in the back of a police car. We have to find a better way to do 
that. Every time our law enforcement folks transition across the State, 
they lose the time they could have used for training, for getting out 
of their cars to meet neighbors and hear stories, for earning trust, 
and for healing relationships.
  Every city of any size across America has boards and commissions, but 
those boards and commissions often have the same people who just 
shuffle around from the same boards and commissions. They get off one 
board and move to another board. I find, just by asking around, that 
many of those on boards and commissions do not match the diversity of 
their communities. They are groups of wealthy leaders or of activists 
who are there, but they don't match the diversity, and the leadership 
of those boards and commissions certainly don't rotate enough to allow 
the leaders of the boards and commissions that the cities use to have 
diversity.
  Every year from this House and Senate, we put out community 
development block grants. Why don't we just add to the community 
development block grants that cities and communities can get access to 
these community development block grants and help improve their 
situations if they also improve access and opportunity to individuals 
within the communities so they may also lead in those communities. If 
your boards and commissions don't reflect the diversity of your 
community, there is a problem with that city in the way it is actually 
designing the leadership structure of how decisions are made with 
Federal dollars. This is not a hard way to be able to raise up new 
leaders who will get their voices heard at city hall and get their 
voices heard on how funds are actually used.
  Oftentimes, big city police departments don't share the same racial 
diversity of the city itself. Why don't we allow some of the grant 
money that we have that we already dedicate to law enforcement to be 
given to recruiters so they can recruit from the same diversity of 
their communities and actually help to pay the salaries of people who 
are stepping in during the earliest days in the police academy and as 
they are starting into the force? That way, the diversity in our big 
city police departments will also match the diversity of the 
communities themselves, and if they have a difficult time 
recruiting, we will allow them to use those funds for recruiters.

  You see, I really do believe there are things that we can do that 
will make a practical difference, but I also firmly believe that racism 
is not a legislative issue--it is a heart issue, and it is a family 
issue. One of the biggest things we have is the bully pulpit to be able 
to challenge individuals and push back on individuals. Do, quite 
frankly, whatever you can to push this. When I started 5 years ago, I 
was asking people a simple question: Has your family ever invited 
another family of another race into your home for dinner? It was just a 
simple question.
  I have been amazed at the number of people I have talked to in my 
State--people of all races--when I have asked them: Has your family 
ever invited another family of another race into your home for dinner, 
they have responded back to me: I have friends of another race, to 
which I have always smiled at them and said: That is not what I asked. 
It is not: Do you have friends of another race? Has your family ever 
invited a family of another race to your home for a meal just for your 
kids to sit together and talk, just for your two families to sit and 
visit like neighbors would do? I have been astounded at the number of 
people whose thresholds of race are the thresholds of their own homes. 
Why would that barrier be there, and how do we break that barrier?
  A friend of mine raised an interesting question to me this past 
weekend. A

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couple of years ago, as a law enforcement officer, he slipped into the 
Museum of African American History and found out that the Metro Police, 
which is here in the DC metro area, goes over to the Museum of African 
American History and gets a guided tour through that facility to help 
new police officers get an understanding of African-American history 
from a law enforcement perspective and see what has happened to the 
relationship between law enforcement and African Americans over the 
centuries.
  He joined that tour, and his statement to me was, I wish every police 
department could get that kind of training; that they could go to that 
museum and could get that kind of context.
  My statement back to him was that we do that with the Holocaust 
Museum.
  The Holocaust Museum does tours and is currently designing a 
curriculum by which to train trainers and work on anti-Semitism across 
the entire country. This body helped to get that done. Why don't we do 
that with the Museum of African American History and law enforcement? 
Challenge them to take the program they already have and turn it into a 
curriculum. Train the trainers and then get that out across the entire 
country. Multiply that out. Why couldn't we do that?
  Every year when Police Week occurs, why couldn't we have a large 
contingency of law enforcement go through the Museum of African 
American History, get that training there, and then take that training 
back home? Why couldn't that happen? It could if this body were willing 
to step up and do some pragmatic things--engage in actually finding 
practical ways to continue the work that our Nation is doing.
  You see, we are not at the beginning with regard to race. We are four 
centuries into this conversation. Yet what I will remind everyone is 
that we are actually trying. There are many places in the world that 
are not working on race relations at all in their countries. If you are 
not the dominant race, you are still excluded from the courts, from 
education, from access. As a country, we are trying, but for those who 
think we are done, they are wrong. We are not done with the journey.
  I love pointing out to people: Watch the beginning of the Olympics 
when all of the countries march in. Almost every delegation under every 
flag looks alike until the United States marches in, and you see this 
great diversity of our athletes. It again reminds us that we are 
trying, but the past 10 days should also remind us that we are not 
done. Let's continue doing the hard work that needs to be done with our 
own families. Let's continue to do the legislative work that needs to 
be done to make progress, but let's keep going until it is done.
  My friend said to me last weekend that our founding documents are 
great founding documents. We have just never actually fully lived them 
out for everybody. I can't wait for us to continue the work in this 
body toward becoming a more perfect Union.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sullivan). The majority leader.

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