[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 106 (Tuesday, June 9, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2774-S2784]
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 senior assistant 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.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.


                           Police Departments

  Mr. THUNE. Madam President, as I begin this morning, I would like to 
just briefly comment on the outlandish idea of dismantling police 
departments that has seen substantial coverage in recent days. While 
there are exceptions, the vast majority of our Nation's police officers 
are men and women of character who care deeply about protecting 
everyone in their communities, and they provide an essential service--a 
service that we cannot do without.
  The idea that any city can exist without a police force is so absurd 
that it is difficult to believe anyone is seriously discussing it. We 
absolutely need to look at policies at the State, local, and Federal 
levels to ensure that we are holding police officers to the highest 
standards, and I hope we will be having serious bipartisan discussions 
on these issues in the coming weeks.
  I know at least one Senate Republican has already introduced 
legislation to require law enforcement agencies to report the use of 
lethal force. But bipartisan discussions will not be forwarded by 
extreme and irresponsible proposals like abolishing the police 
departments that help protect our communities. I hope that such 
proposals will not gain any traction here in the U.S. Senate.


                       Business Before the Senate

  Madam President, we are very busy--hard at work--here in the Senate. 
Our main business on the floor this week will be the Great American 
Outdoors Act, legislation crafted by Senators Daines and Gardner and 
others, that will help address the significant maintenance backlog in 
our national parks, among other things.
  Out of the limelight, Senators will also be discussing how best to 
respond at the Federal level to the tragedy of George Floyd's killing.
  Responding to the coronavirus continues to be at the top of our 
agenda. Right now, we are focused on monitoring the implementation of 
the $2.4 trillion that Congress has provided so that we can identify 
what more we need to do to fight this virus.
  Our committees play a leading role in this, and they have kept up a 
steady stream of hearings examining implementation and identifying next 
steps.
  This week, we have no fewer than eight--eight--committee hearings on 
various aspects of the COVID crisis, including unemployment insurance, 
a Senate Finance Committee hearing later today that I will be 
participating in, reopening schools, and the Federal Government's 
procurement and distribution strategies.
  The Democratic leader has spent a lot of time on the floor lately, 
complaining about what is happening in the Senate. He is, apparently, 
not happy that we are in session, and he claims we are not doing 
anything on the coronavirus.
  Well, on the first point, I would just like to say that the majority 
leader brought the Senate back into session because we have 
responsibilities that we need to fulfill. One of the issues that we 
have to respond to, as a matter of our constitutional obligation, is 
the issue of dealing with nominations, both to judicial and executive 
branches of our government. We continue to have to do that.
  There are important vacancies that we need to fill, some important 
national security vacancies, judicial vacancies. Last week, we 
confirmed the inspector general for the pandemic, somebody who was 
confirmed by a 75-to-15 vote.
  Now, it is possible that we could do those and not be here. The 
Democratic leader has said on various occasions he doesn't know why we 
are here doing these types of nominations. Well, the reason we are here 
doing these types of nominations is that they insist on it.
  Even in cases where the nominee has broad bipartisan support--in some 
cases, overwhelming support--we continue to have to stay here and go 
through the procedural roadblocks that Democrats throw up to getting 
these nominees across the finish line.
  In fact, if you look at the historical context of nominations, we are 
living in unprecedented times. The Democrats have filibustered now--
totaled--314 nominees that President Trump has put forward. For all of 
the previous Presidents combined--all of the previous Presidents 
combined in our Nation's history--only on 244 occasions did cloture 
have to be invoked to shut down a filibuster on nominees.
  Think about that. In the first 3\1/2\ years of President Trump's 
term, we now have had 314 nominees--judicial or executive--
filibustered. In the rest of the history of the U.S. Senate, even if 
you go back and say that the advent of the filibuster is only in the 
last half century or so. Think about that: 244 times, throughout all of 
the Presidencies combined--combined--in our history, but this President 
has seen his nominees filibustered 314 times.
  So if the Democratic leader wants to know why we are here doing 
nominees, that is why. We have to. It is our job. It is our 
constitutional responsibility. If the minority continues to make it as 
difficult as they have and continues to filibuster and force the leader 
to file cloture on all these nominees, we have to be here to vote. That 
is our job, and that is why we are here.
  Of course, there is also the work, as I said, of responding to the 
coronavirus. There is also work we have to do that doesn't stop just 
because there is a pandemic.
  If you look at the Paycheck Protection Program, when it ran out of 
money, it took way too long to convince Democrats to do something as 
simple as appropriate more funding for pandemic-stricken small 
businesses.
  Funding our government, protecting our Nation, making sure these 
important positions in the government, as I mentioned, are filled--we 
just can't skip those things because of the coronavirus, and they have 
made it increasingly difficult--virtually impossible--for us to do any 
of this by unanimous consent while the Senate was out of session.
  As for the Democratic leader's charge that the Senate hasn't been 
doing anything on coronavirus, as I pointed out, that is just a simply 
ridiculous charge to make. Coronavirus has been at the forefront of 
the Senate activity since we returned in May.

  Our committees have held a constant stream of hearings examining 
implementation of the coronavirus assistance that we have already 
passed and looking forward to what will be needed in the future.
  As I mentioned, last week, we confirmed the nomination of Brian D. 
Miller to be Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery at the 
Treasury Department, a key position with responsibility for ensuring 
the coronavirus funding is spent properly.
  We also passed last week legislation to update the Paycheck 
Protection Program to give additional flexibility to small businesses. 
Clearly--clearly--the Senate has been making coronavirus a priority.
  I would argue that much of what we have already done is having the 
desired result. The jobs numbers that came out last week are 
encouraging. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do. We have to keep it 
in perspective. It is no time to be spiking the football. But those job 
numbers were encouraging.
  I think one of the reasons we had those strong numbers is because we 
have a very resilient economy, No. 1, and, No. 2, because of policies 
we have put in place--tax and regulatory policies that have encouraged 
businesses to invest, consumers to spend.

[[Page S2775]]

  The PPP program, the Paycheck Protection Program, obviously, I think 
has done a lot of good out there. It has kept, literally, millions of 
businesses in business. It has kept, literally, tens of millions of 
workers employed, and that is exactly what we wanted to see happen.
  Those dollars were among the best spent dollars, I think, of all the 
several trillion dollars that we put out there. My State of South 
Dakota is a good example. We have over 21,000 businesses that have 
benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program, to the tune of about 
$1.6 billion. I bet, if you look at the numbers in every other State 
around the country, you would see the same thing. It is one of the 
reasons, I believe, that we are seeing some encouraging economic 
numbers and employment numbers. Let's hope that we can continue to 
build on that.
  I guess that when the Democratic leader complains that the Senate 
hasn't been doing anything on coronavirus, what he actually means to 
say is the Senate hasn't passed another $3 trillion bill. The House of 
Representatives, the Democrat majority there, in a very partisan way 
with zero Republican support and, in fact, some Democrats opposing it, 
passed another $3 trillion.
  Well, it is true we haven't done that here in the Senate. It is 
because we don't believe we should be playing fast and loose with the 
American people's money like that. As I pointed out, Congress has 
already provided $2.4 trillion in funding to respond to the virus, 
which is a staggering amount of money, equal to roughly half of the 
2020 Federal budget.
  It was money we needed to spend, and we were glad to do it. We will 
probably have to spend more before this crisis is over, but we have to 
make sure that we are appropriating what is really needed and not 
mindlessly throwing around trillions of dollars. The way we do that is 
by monitoring the implementation of the funding that we have already 
put out there, that has already been delivered, which is exactly what 
we have been doing.
  I have to say, for a lot of the funding that has been authorized, 
some of it hasn't even been put out there yet. The $175 billion that we 
have authorized to help healthcare providers--hospitals, nursing homes, 
those folks on the frontline--only about $75 billion of that has been 
made available already. So less than 50 percent of those dollars are 
even out there yet.
  It is pretty hard to decide whether you are going to throw more money 
at something before you have determined whether the money you have 
already spent is having the desired effect and whether there is a need 
for more. So we need to see where that money goes before we decide what 
else we need to appropriate.
  I have said it before, and I will say it again. Every dollar that we 
have provided to fight the coronavirus is borrowed money, a significant 
addition to an already massive amount of national debt.
  Democrats may like to pretend that we can continue to borrow more and 
more money forever, but the truth is we cannot. The greater our 
national debt, the greater the threat it represents to the health of 
our economy, not to mention the future of today's younger workers.
  So while we may need to borrow more money to meet our needs before 
the crisis is over, it is crucial that we keep that borrowing as low as 
possible and spend only what is absolutely necessary.
  So far, the Democrats' major proposal for the next phase of our 
coronavirus response is a $3 trillion bill produced by the House of 
Representatives that mentions the word ``cannabis'' more often than it 
mentions the word ``job,'' which I think tells you all you need to know 
about how seriously some are taking this issue.
  If Democrats really wanted to move additional relief forward, they 
would be sitting down with Republicans to develop reasonable 
legislation that actually has a chance of passing Congress and being 
signed by the President, but they are not. Instead, they are proposing 
outlandish, far-left messaging bills and engaging in the kind of 
partisanship that has become the modus operandi during this 
administration.
  While I am talking about Democrats' unhelpfulness, I just want to 
mention the Democratic leader's offensive suggestion on the floor last 
week that the judges that we are confirming in the Senate will not 
protect civil rights. This is, unfortunately, right in line with their 
general attitude that the only legitimate judges are Democrat judges, 
but it is, nevertheless, particularly irresponsible to be fanning the 
flames of division in this country right now by suggesting, 
untruthfully, that only Democrats' preferred judicial candidates will 
show a commitment to upholding civil rights.
  The continued partisanship, even during a national crisis, has been 
pretty disheartening. But I am a hopeful guy, and I like to think that 
at least some Democrats are more interested in actually helping 
Americans than in far-left messaging bills, and I would invite those 
Democrats to work with us.
  There is a lot more that we need to do before this pandemic is over, 
and Republicans are committed to getting our country through this 
crisis and to helping Americans thrive on the other side.
  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. CARPER. 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. CARPER. Madam President, the bill before us today, the Great 
American Outdoors Act, is landmark legislation. It would fulfill a 
longstanding promise to the American people to fully fund the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund.
  This measure will also make a downpayment on deferred maintenance 
plans of our Nation's beloved public lands, which includes over 400 
national parks. It also includes more than 500 national wildlife 
refuges that are under the jurisdiction of the Senate Environment and 
Public Works Committee on which I serve as ranking member.
  While I am proud to support the Great American Outdoors Act, we would 
be remiss if we did not put the Senate's consideration of this 
legislation in the context of everything else that is happening in our 
country today. As we have learned in the 15 days since the death of 
George Floyd, we also have other longstanding promises to fulfill. Let 
me mention four of them. The first is a promise of an end to racial 
violence in this country and a new beginning in the pursuit of racial 
justice. The second would be the promise of equality. The third would 
be the promise of a more perfect Union called for in our Constitution's 
preamble. The fourth, and last, would be the promise of a dream 
articulated nearly 57 years ago on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, 
not far from where we are gathered here today, by the late Martin 
Luther King.
  Our national and State parks have always been places that bring 
people from all backgrounds together. Our national historic sites and 
monuments commemorate the events that have forged and tested us as a 
nation, as well as the sacrifices that we have made in our quest to 
become that more perfect Union.
  They are also places from which people have called on their 
government, our government, for change and for equality. Yes, our 
national parks have served as places of protest, protected under the 
Constitution that Delaware was the first State to ratify on December 7, 
1787. In fact, Delaware's national park, one of the newest in the 
Nation, was created, in large part, to celebrate that history.
  The recent murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor 
in Louisville have sparked, as we know, widespread civil unrest. From 
coast to coast, millions of Americans have come together to protest the 
deaths of unarmed Black Americans and to call for change, to call for 
justice, and to call for racial equality. In Washington, DC, some of 
those demonstrations have taken place in our National Park System.
  Lafayette Square, the site of gassing and the troubling use of crowd 
dispersion devices last week in response to a peaceful demonstration, 
has seen its share of protests and turmoil. In its history, before the 
marble monuments

[[Page S2776]]

it now contains, the square served as a slave market, and it housed 
troops during the War of 1812 when the White House and the U.S. 
Capitol--this Capitol--were burned.
  Today, and nearly every day, people are gathered in Lafayette Square 
in front of the White House, calling for action, as we debate the bill 
before us. But in January and February of 1917, women staged 2 months 
of protests out of a row house located on Lafayette Square in the 
pursuit of women's suffrage--the right to vote, one of our most sacred 
privileges.
  Other national park sites in Washington have been front and center of 
the calls for racial justice in the last several days: the National 
Mall, the Lincoln Memorial, and one of our newest national historic 
sites, the memorial to Martin Luther King, who taught our country about 
the power of peaceful protests.
  These places inspire us. They allow our voices to be heard, but they 
also give us strength; they give us solace; and they give us the 
opportunity to heal. The bill before us today helps us to ensure that 
our public lands remain places where we can remember, where we can 
reflect, and we can recharge.
  Sometimes when I speak on the Senate floor, I share anecdotes from my 
morning runs. A number of them over the years have been on the National 
Mall as I run from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial and then past 
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, etched with the names of over 58,000 men 
and women with whom I served in Southeast Asia. No matter how tired I 
might be when I get up in the morning, when I begin those runs, as I 
pass and pause at each of these places, I feel inspired, I feel 
rejuvenated, and I feel more determined than ever to take up our work 
in service to the American people who sent us here.
  Interestingly, I have heard a similar sentiment from the hundreds of 
Delawareans who have asked me to support this legislation before us 
today. Many of our parks provide visitors a place to reflect, to 
reconnect, and to enjoy the beauties of nature. That is, in no small 
part, because of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
  Many of our colleagues know that Delaware has a proud history as the 
First State--the First State National Historical Park, which we worked 
for a decade to create not long ago, tells the story of the role 
Delaware played in the establishment of our country. Our national park 
is unique, with historical sites in all three of Delaware's counties 
that connect our communities, much like our State parks do
  What you may not know, though, is that the first land acquisition 
through the State side of the Land and Water Conservation Program in 
this country occurred in Delaware. Brandywine Creek State Park, located 
just north of Wilmington, DE--my hometown--was established in 1965. At 
the time of this monumental acquisition, there was not much of a State 
park system in Delaware and certainly not in New Castle County, our 
northernmost county.
  Since that time, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has enabled the 
purchase and development of many additional State parks that are crown 
jewels in all three counties of the First State. I will mention a few 
of them: White Clay Creek, Cape Henlopen, Fox Point, Bellevue, Killens 
Pond, and many more.
  For us in Delaware, these spaces are places of community. People from 
all walks of life come to these parks for many different reasons. Some 
come to fish, others to bike, others to hike, play sports, fly kites, 
swim, go birding, learn, enjoy picnics, and enjoy concerts. Those are 
just some of the reasons why people come to our national parks--not 
just from Delaware, not just from America but from all over the world.
  Some of the parks I have just mentioned might exist without the Land 
and Water Conservation Fund, but without it, they would not be the 
community cornerstones that they are today. When a park is revitalized, 
it can become the nerve center of a community and create new 
opportunities to bring us together. In many cases, we have seen just 
that happen in our State. For example, Bellevue State Park--located not 
far from our home--has been home to a community garden program for 
decades, providing a place for families like my own when our sons were 
young who may not have a lot of land on which to grow their own fruits 
and vegetables.
  In 2017, just 3 years ago, the city of Wilmington was awarded an LWCF 
grant to improve Father Tucker Park, which had been in disrepair for 
decades. The park is vital for play, for cultural gatherings, and 
sports activities. It is now a valuable hub of that community.
  Further, the Land and Water Conservation Fund enabled the first 
public pool in Kent County at the Killens Pond State Park, 10 miles 
south of Dover. It is now the Killens Pond Water Park, and it has grown 
quite popular with residents from across Kent County and well beyond 
Kent County's borders.
  This legislation also helps us to bring economic activity to our 
communities, something that people might not think of at first blush. 
In Delaware, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has enabled an 
incredible network of greenways and trails that connect community 
facilities and institutions with businesses. People come from all over 
the country to ride, to run, and to walk on them.
  Basic investment in preservation of land and investment in paths and 
trails is a tangible community building enterprise. People can get on 
their bicycle in downtown Wilmington, ride through the city and out 
into the suburbs and to the Delaware River in Fox Point State Park, 
just 3 miles from our home. I might add, there is another one, too, 
from the train station where I caught the train this morning to come 
down here. There is the Jack Markell Trail that links the riverfront in 
Wilmington, DE, to New Castle, DE, where Ben Franklin first landed and 
brought with him the deeds to Delaware and Pennsylvania. Those paths 
that I just mentioned expand horizons; they connect people to each 
other; and they create common ground in our communities.
  The Delaware State Parks Youth Conservation Corps even provides jobs 
and environmental restoration opportunities throughout our parks for 
young people from all backgrounds.
  What is more, our Delaware State parks offer free summer concerts. 
These concert series attract different generations and diverse 
audiences. While the 2020 summer concert series was, unfortunately, 
canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Delaware State parks 
have remained open, and, get this, our State has waived entrance fees.
  As it became clear that physical location was key to preventing the 
spread of the novel coronavirus, Delawareans, especially those in urban 
areas, sought solitude in our parks. For many, connecting with nature 
was critical for mental wellness, and, now, making that connection has 
grown more popular than ever. One example of that is Brandywine Creek 
State Park. Located just a few miles south of our border with 
Pennsylvania, it has seen record visitation this year.
  As I mentioned earlier in my remarks, I have heard from hundreds of 
constituents in support of the Great American Outdoors Act. Many of 
them have shared stories about their treasured moments in State and 
national parks, particularly during troubled times.
  I want to close my remarks today by sharing one of those stories from 
a friend, as it turns out, the executive director of Delaware Wild 
Lands, and her name is Kate Hackett. About a year and a half ago, Kate, 
along with her family and another family, traveled to a place called 
Big Bend National Park in the State of Texas. This park is on the U.S.-
Mexican border, as some of you know. These two families were distressed 
by what was happening along our borders and wanted to visit border 
towns to experience their humanity themselves.
  As the two families hiked along the Rio Grande River, Kate's friend 
sang her favorite lullaby, not in English but in Spanish. Her song 
echoed in the canyon. When she paused, an unknown voice from across the 
border emerged with the next verse of the same song. These two 
strangers--divided by the depths of a canyon--alternated verses, 
savoring a shared experience, regardless of borders, regardless of 
race, regardless of languages.
  I was moved at the time to hear how Kate was able to use her family's 
outdoor experience that day. I am still

[[Page S2777]]

moved today to hear about how that day taught her children a lesson in 
compassion, a lesson in humanity, and a lesson in acceptance of us all.
  As the soul of our Nation continues to be tested, I hope the 
legislation before us--the Great American Outdoors Act--might somehow 
provide similar opportunities for others. In fact, I challenge all of 
us to make sure that it does just that.
  Most importantly, I also sincerely hope we will soon fulfill at least 
two other longstanding promises--for equality and justice--that are 
critical for the future of this country and our democracy. Our public 
lands can be part of a greater, multifaceted solution that brings 
equity and opportunity to all of our committees from sea to shining 
sea.
  In the midst of all the turmoil we face in America today lies 
opportunity. It is our job to find that opportunity and to work 
together to move this country, which we love and revere, as imperfect 
as we are, forward. That is our challenge, and that is our opportunity
  I don't know a lot of Latin, but I do know two words, maybe a few 
more. My two favorites are these: Carpe diem, seize the day. This week 
we have the opportunity on this floor to seize the day. Right over your 
head where you are sitting are some other Latin words: e pluribus 
unum--from many, one. That is what this country is all about. I think 
this legislation--maybe not something we would have thought of--can 
actually help make those words not just Latin words carved in stone but 
a reality.
  With that, 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. GARDNER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Loeffler). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, thank you to my colleagues last night 
for an incredibly strong vote, 80 to 17, on the motion to proceed to 
this debate on the Great American Outdoors Act. We have a lot of work 
ahead of us this week and obviously a lot more debate to take place. 
But one thing is certain, we have taken the first step toward a 
historic bill that protects our public lands, that enhances the 
incredible work that our national parks do and the policies and goals 
and ideas they represent around this great Nation.
  The Great American Outdoors Act combines two long-held values of both 
our national parks and the Nation's crown jewel conservation program, 
the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Restore Our Parks Act, of 
course, establishes a fund to set aside dollars to catch up with our 
backlog of projects that needs to be done, the deferred maintenance 
backlog in our national parks. It sets up about a $1.9 billion a year 
fund to work on roads and visitor centers and the resources that are 
being loved to death at parks across the country.
  It is beyond just parks, of course. It also funds our Forest Service, 
the Bureau of Land Management, now headquartered in Grand Junction, CO, 
and our Fish and Wildlife Service properties, as well as the Bureau of 
Indian Education.
  This act will create jobs; it will create opportunities; but most 
importantly, it will enhance the resources that this country loves for 
generations to come.
  The second part, of course, of the Great American Outdoors Act is the 
Land and Water Conservation Fund. You can see here, the monument, the 
Great Sand Dunes National Park. This one right here shows the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund along the scenic San Juan Byway.
  This is an incredible opportunity for us to preserve the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund, make it permanently authorized, as we have 
done through the John D. Dingell Conservation Act, but also permanently 
fund it through the Great American Outdoors Act. This is a great 
opportunity for us to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
  That bill that permanently authorized the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund passed 92 to 8. Last night, the cloture on the motion to proceed 
passed 80 to 17. This is not a red or blue issue. This is not a left or 
right issue. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. This is an 
American people issue, an idea the American people instituted in this 
country centuries ago and, in the case of our Forest Service, a century 
ago--over a century ago. The opportunities to protect our public lands 
is significant this week, historic this week, one of the greatest 
conservation achievements that this Congress will have had in decades.
  I want to turn to a little bit of the work that we have done in 
Colorado with the Land and Water Conservation Fund. This is an 
incredibly important opportunity for us because not only will it help 
with our most precious places, but it also helps provide access to land 
that we already have, owned by the American people, public lands that 
are already held by the American people, but we have no way to access 
them.
  In fact, it is estimated that we have an area the size of Rocky 
Mountain National Park. Rocky Mountain National Park is the third most 
heavily visited park in the country. We have an area of land the size 
of Rocky Mountain National Park that is held by the public. It is owned 
by the public, but they can't get to it. They have no access to it.
  So the Land and Water Conservation Fund is a tool that can be used to 
provide access to those lands for hunting, for fishing, for hiking, for 
recreating. And if you look at that economy, if you look at what it 
means to our State, it is billions and billions of dollars in economic 
activity. It is hundreds of thousands of jobs in the great State of 
Colorado. Across this Nation, it is over 5 million jobs. That is the 
importance of having new access to places to hunt, to fish, to hike, to 
recreate--those opportunities.
  If you go back to the picture of the sand dunes here--I talked a 
little bit about it last night--we were able to purchase the Baca 
National Wildlife Refuge, which is a key part of the Great Sand Dunes 
National Park. It preserved an ecosystem that helps keep the sand dunes 
in place.
  It is important to recognize that this isn't just about protecting 
the sand dunes. This isn't just about saying ``All right, the sand 
dunes go from point A to point B, and we are going to protect 
everything in between'' because the entire ecosystem in the San Luis 
Valley plays a role in the formation of the Great Sand Dunes in this 
particular area, and the way the water is underground creates a charge, 
basically, that gives into the sand the particulates, and it is what 
holds the sand in place. Without that water that is underneath the sand 
dunes, the sand dunes simply blow away because they don't have the 
static charge, basically, to keep them in place.
  So we are able to use the Land and Water Conservation Fund to 
preserve areas around the sand dunes that preserve that precious 
resource for the San Luis Valley that keeps the sand from blowing away. 
As a result, hundreds of thousands of people visit this area of 
Colorado. They spend money at hotels; they spend money at restaurants; 
they spend money at the sporting goods shops; and it helps grow the 
economy.
  While it has been closed for a while, it is back open again. People 
are starting to get back out and to travel and to spend those dollars.
  Colorado has benefited from 38 LWCF projects totaling $281.2 million 
over the last 50 years at the Great Sand Dunes, the Uncompahgre, over 
at the Arapaho and Roosevelt, the Gunnison, the Rio Grande, Canyon of 
the Ancients National Monument, and beyond.
  If you look at the list of LWCF projects that have benefited our 
local communities, it is page after page of ballfields and parks and 
water projects and recreation opportunities in counties from corner to 
corner across our great State.
  If you dial in a little bit closer to Rocky Mountain National Park--
as I mentioned, the third busiest park in the country--Rocky Mountain 
National Park has about $84 million--a little over $84 million--in 
deferred maintenance backlog. This bill will help overcome that.
  We need to rehabilitate the Alpine Visitor Center developed area. The 
highest paved road in North America is

[[Page S2778]]

Trail Ridge Road, going through Rocky Mountain National Park and up to 
the Alpine Visitor Center, where you have an amazing, expansive 
opportunity to learn and to recreate. We need to resurface Beaver 
Meadows Road, to improve the visitor safety and visitor access at 
several trail heads, to rehabilitate the East Water System and Moraine 
Park Campground, to construct an emergency operations center--those are 
the kinds of things that we continue to work on at Rocky Mountain 
National Park.
  At Mesa Verde--now, not everybody has been to Mesa Verde National 
Park, but think about this: It was established in 1906, well over 100 
years ago, to preserve and interpret the archeological heritage of the 
ancestral Pueblo people, who made it their home for over 700 years--
from 600 to 1,300 current events.
  Today, the park protects nearly 5,000 known archeological sites--
5,000 archeological sites--and 600 cliff dwellings, some of the most 
notable and best preserved dwellings in the United States. We have to 
continue our work. There is $76 million in backlog at Mesa Verde Park 
alone; Black Canyon of the Gunnison, nearly $8 million in backlog; 
Great Sand Dunes National Park, over $8 million in backlog. We know we 
have additional Land and Water Conservation Fund efforts that we could 
protect, preserve, and promote with the passage of this bill.
  I am just going to--and I know we are going to have more 
conversations today--talk about the economic benefit of this. In March, 
as the first waves of coronavirus started to pose the economic impact 
that we are dealing with today, some of the very first places hit in 
terms of economic impact were the Western Slope areas of Colorado--
areas that had their ski season shut down months early, areas that had 
hotels empty and restaurants closed months earlier than they otherwise 
would have.
  Of course, now we are into the summer season, and the summer 
recreation season has expanded dramatically, thanks to the bipartisan 
work the Congress has done over the past several years. Now those 
restaurants see fewer numbers and hotels see fewer numbers because it 
is now affecting the summer recreation season.
  This bill--the Great American Outdoors Act--comes at a time to 
provide new jobs to those communities that have lost jobs. In fact, it 
is estimated that we will create over 100,000 jobs in just the parks 
part of this legislation alone; that for every $1 million we spend in 
Land and Water Conservation Fund and outdoor recreation, we are going 
to create between 16 and 30 jobs; that it supports the creation of 
between 16 and 30 jobs for every $1 million spent, at a time when 
America needs it most.
  We have a chance to pass a bill--the Great American Outdoors Act--to 
create jobs, to create economic opportunity, to create the hope we need 
in communities across this country that have spent the last 3 months 
not in the great outdoors but in the great indoors, and they are ready 
to get back to life. There is no greater life than the opportunity to 
get out and enjoy the blessings of God's labor.
  I want to thank my colleague Joe Manchin of West Virginia, my 
colleague Steve Daines from Montana for the great work they have done 
to get this bill to the floor this week.
  Obviously, Senator Portman and Senator Warner and Senators Alexander 
and King and Senators Heinrich and Cantwell have played an incredible 
role.
  We have a lot more votes this week, and I hope my colleagues will 
continue to support this opportunity to grow our economy, protect the 
outdoors, and make this beautiful part of our country last for 
generations more
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I rise today in support of the Great 
American Outdoors Act. After yesterday's vote, where we voted to move 
to debate this bill at an 80-17 margin, it felt good.
  It felt good because some of us have been fighting this fight to 
fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, in particular, for 
more than a decade.
  It is a program that Senator Udall explained yesterday that has 
worked out so very, very well since his dad introduced it back in the 
sixties.
  But the Great American Outdoors Act does more than just permanently 
fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is a huge 
accomplishment in and of itself. It also puts money into our Park 
Service and areas around our parks that are so important for this 
country. Really, the park system is one of the jewels of this Nation.
  President Teddy Roosevelt was truly a visionary. At a time when there 
were plenty of wild places in this great Nation, he had the good sense 
to preserve some of them for future generations because he knew they 
would not be around forever.
  Quite frankly, the National Park System encompasses 419 parks, more 
than 84 million acres, including two crown jewels in Montana--
Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. These are places where Americans 
come together and experience the scale of America's natural beauty.
  However, I will tell you, in recent years we--the Congress--have not 
lived up to President Roosevelt's legacy, and our parks have been left 
to fall in disrepair. Even as we have seen record numbers of visitors 
each year, the U.S. Congress has failed to make parks a priority and 
even make investments in them.
  So the Great American Outdoors Act will go a long way to correcting 
Congress's neglect. In fact, it invests $9.5 billion in deferred 
maintenance on public lands across our country. Those are not only our 
national parks, but the areas around our national parks, preserving the 
legacy of America's great outdoors for generations to come.
  While this is very, very important--this investment in our national 
park system, the first part of this legislation--we also need to know 
that we have places in this country, ecosystems in this country that 
will not be around for future generations if we don't preserve them 
today, and that is where the Land and Water Conservation Fund comes in.
  The LWCF is the most important conservation tool we have at the 
Federal level. Nothing else comes close to it. It was founded five 
decades ago, and Montanans have used about $540 million of this fund to 
increase outdoor opportunities on our public lands around our State.
  We have used it to preserve tens of thousands of acres of world class 
elk habitat in central Montana. It has been an essential driver of 
Montana's growing $7-billion-a-year outdoor recreation economy. And it 
has established city parks and open spaces in our more urban 
communities in Montana.
  The best of it all is it doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime because 
the Land and Water Conservation Fund, as it was set up, was to take 
money from offshore oil and gas revenue. Well, that hasn't worked out 
so well, so today we are just saying that it is going to be funded, and 
it is going to be funded permanently into the future.
  The LWCF is a no-brainer. It has overwhelming benefits for States in 
which investments are made for pennies on the dollar. We are receiving 
jobs, and we are receiving quality of life. We are receiving the 
ability to go out and hunt and fish and hike on our public lands.
  Unlike any other country in the world, we have these areas where you 
don't have to be a millionaire to be able to go out and enjoy the 
outdoors. But these victories did not happen magically overnight. The 
fact is, we worked long and hard with local conservation groups and 
public land enthusiasts around the country to build support where it 
never existed before, and our years of work finally broke the dam 
earlier this year when President Trump and Senator McConnell reversed 
their opposition to this legislation because of overwhelming bipartisan 
momentum that we had built on the ground. I welcome their change of 
heart, and I know it didn't come easy.
  There are so many Montanans and folks around the country I want to 
thank for putting in the work and bringing my colleagues from darkness 
to light. Your work has inspired me and inspires future generations 
that are going to benefit from your selfless efforts.
  I was at home last night, and I got a text message from one of those 
folks that said: Thank you. Thank you for

[[Page S2779]]

your hard work for the last 13 years on LWCF. I sent him back a text 
that said: I don't deserve the thank you. You do because, quite 
frankly, there have been folks that have been working on this much 
longer than I.
  But now, since the vote yesterday, the clock is ticking. Every day we 
are losing ecosystems in this country, and because of our tardiness in 
not fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund, we have lost 
plenty of those ecosystems over the last 10 years, and we will lose 
even more if we don't get this funding.
  The future of our Nation's wild places hang in the balance, and we 
have something to do about it this week. We can fix it. So I would urge 
my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote yes on the Great 
American Outdoors Act so that we can preserve our public lands for 
future generations, for our kids and our grandkids, just as that 
visionary President Teddy Roosevelt did for us
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. DAINES. Madam President, this month will forever mark a historic 
moment for conservation across this Nation when the U.S. Senate votes 
on one of the most important conservation bills in decades.
  The Great American Outdoors Act isn't just about tomorrow, next week, 
or even next year. This is a bipartisan bill about the future of our 
children and grandchildren, about legacy, about their ability to enjoy 
and access our great outdoors and our public lands.
  Standing here today, I can tell you there aren't too many issues, 
unfortunately, that bring both Republicans and Democrats together, but 
protecting our public lands for future generations is something that 
brings us all here together.
  Just yesterday, we saw a major bipartisan step forward to getting 
this bill across the finish line--an 80-to-17 vote to move forward with 
this important bill.
  Today, I am joining my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
to share how important it is that we pass the Great American Outdoors 
Act as soon as possible.
  Many may ask: Well, how is it, then, that we have finally built 
enough bipartisan momentum to get this across the finish line? Well, 
over a year and a half ago, my colleagues and I passed a historic 
bipartisan public lands package that permanently authorized the Land 
and Water Conservation Fund--a critical conservation program in Montana 
and across the country.
  In fact, as I am standing here, I am looking across the Chamber at 
the ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. This is what it is all about in 
Washington. This is what should be happening more and more. When 
Senators who sit on opposite sides of the Senate Chamber because of the 
way we sit, with Democrats on one side, Republicans on the other--here 
we are together. We are not fighting each other right now. We are 
talking about how we are going to come together and pass this.
  This is a great moment for our Nation--a time when we need to come 
together--and, once again, it is public lands that are pulling us 
together instead of dividing us.
  Back in February, just a few months ago, I sat down in the Roosevelt 
Room with Senator Gardner, Leader McConnell, and President Trump to see 
what it would take to get full, mandatory funding of the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund and how we can fix this maintenance backlog, which is 
plaguing our national parks and our public lands, across the finish 
line.
  In fact, I shared several of Montana's Land and Water Conservation 
Fund funded projects and shared how vital this funding is for Montana 
and those who visit. Seventy percent of our fishing accesses in Montana 
are funded by LWCF.
  The President listened. I remember he sat back in his chair. He 
commented how beautiful the landscapes were that he saw in these 
pictures. He said that we need to get this across the finish line, and 
he said that he would sign it into law as soon as we did so.
  Protecting and preserving our public lands play a direct role in our 
Montana way of life. In fact, this picture is of the Yellowstone River. 
It is not far from Chico. I remember as a kid, back in the sixties, 
having church potlucks at Chico.
  I remember in 1979 I took the family Griswold station wagon, 
including the brown veneer on the side of it--wood veneer--with several 
of my high school classmates. That is where we had our homecoming dance 
dinner, at Chico, just a few miles from where this picture was taken.
  I have spent countless days hiking the Beartooth Wilderness area, 
fishing the Gallatin and the Yellowstone, shown here, enjoying all of 
Montana's great outdoors in every corner of our State with my sweet 
wife Cindy, our four children, and our dogs Ruby and Reagan.
  In fact, take a look at some of these photos. These are photos I have 
taken on my phone in some of Montana's public lands. That is Ruby, and 
there is Reagan. This was up in the Beartooth Wilderness area a few 
years ago.
  In fact, I have another picture here, one of Ruby. We like to take 
our dogs along because this is wild country. This is country where 
there are a lot of grizzly bears, and having your dog along oftentimes 
can be a good deterrent, along with some bear spray.
  There is Ruby up at what is called the Mount Villard Spires. In fact, 
Granite Peak, the highest point in Montana, was one of the last 
summited high points in the lower 48 when it was climbed. Granite Peak 
is just around the corner. I summited that back during my college 
years.
  I can tell you, when I talk about public lands and protecting them 
and making sure we preserve that for generations to come, this is not 
some kind of theoretical discussion. This something that I live and 
breathe personally. During the August recess, when we get to leave this 
town, when it is hot and humid in DC, I get to be up in the wilderness 
areas of Montana--we do that every August--where the area is crisp, the 
air is clean.
  That is why, as Montana's voice in the U.S. Senate, I am standing 
here today, fighting to bring this vote to the floor and to make the 
Great American Outdoors Act a reality.
  Many folks may not understand the importance of the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund and what it means for Montana and States across our 
country. Let's go over a few important facts.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund is critical for public access to 
public lands. As an avid outdoorsman, a hunter, and a fly fisherman, I 
understand the importance of our public lands. This program helps 
connect trails. It funds over 70 percent of Montana's fishing access, 
and it does much more than that. The Land and Water Conservation Fund 
provides certainty to land managers, sportsmen, and conservation 
groups.
  The Land and Water Conservation money invests in Montana's outdoor 
economy, and it helps create jobs in our rural and gateway communities. 
Let me tell you something. They are struggling right now because our 
national parks were closed for too long, and they need this boost by 
getting this passed.
  Speaking of the outdoor recreation economy, Montana contributes over 
$7 billion and supports 71,000 jobs in Montana alone. In fact, 81 
percent of Montanans participate in outdoor recreation every year--81 
percent. In fact, every $1 million invested in the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund creates between 16 and 30 jobs.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund costs the taxpayers nothing. Let 
me say that again. It costs the taxpayers nothing, and it promotes 
energy development. Now, here is the balance we need in our Nation: to 
continue to develop energy independence and global energy dominance by 
developing American natural resources, and at the same time the 
revenues coming off of there are used for the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund. Here is the balance between the two: promoting 
natural resource development and promoting conservation. This program 
is primarily funded by oil and gas revenue, and it makes conservation 
inextricably linked to a strong energy sector, which means the Land and 
Water Conservation money is already paid for.
  Through the Forest Legacy side of the Land and Water Conservation 
Fund, we will see the promotion of working forests to get our mills 
back up and running and help support and

[[Page S2780]]

create good-paying timber jobs. It will do a much better job of 
managing our national forests because we will thin them and reduce the 
risk of wildfires. Perhaps you may have heard otherwise, but this 
program actually helps promote better land management.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund acts as an important tool for 
land managers and agencies to address checkerboard land ownership. I 
decided today to bring pictures of the beautiful landscapes in Montana. 
I could have gotten a little more technical and showed the checkerboard 
nature of land ownership in a place like Montana and why we need LWCF 
to provide better access to our public lands. Because we have 1.5 
million acres of Federal land in Montana that is landlocked, Montana 
directly benefits from the Land and Water Conservation Fund projects 
that work to consolidate land ownership. You will have a private end 
holding, you will have a State piece, and another Federal piece in this 
checkerboard nature, and by consolidating it and working with willing 
sellers, we can make the overall landscape management easier for 
agencies and private landowners and provide better access.
  The Land and Water Conservation Fund supports locally driven 
solutions from the ground up. These are collaborative projects that 
have local support. The LWCF is authorized at $900 million annually. 
However, we aren't seeing nearly that much appropriated from that fund 
every year. In fact, only twice, since it was enacted going back to 
1964, have we seen funding levels at $900 million, and that was the 
original congressional intent.
  Let's be clear. What we are doing here by passing this bill is 
bringing it back to what Congress intended when it was first originated 
back in the midsixties. Mandatory funding for the Great American 
Outdoors Act would create certainty for land managers that the full 
$900 million goes toward this program every year moving forward. It is 
so important because some of these complex checkerboard land ownership 
structures take many years to sort out. Now we have certainty.
  If there is someplace with a lot of uncertainty, it is the U.S. 
Congress. This removes one of those uncertainties from Congress going 
forward. We must not forget about the other critical aspect of the 
Great American Outdoors Act: addressing the maintenance backlog facing 
our national parks, our forests, and our public lands. We are seeing 
record levels of visitation in our public lands.
  As I think about our national parks, I call them our office of first 
impression. I believe they are what set us apart from the rest of the 
world. People come from all over the world to see our national parks. 
They are unique, and it is part of the amazing American experience.
  With this increased visitation every year, our park infrastructure 
has inevitably experienced a lot of wear and tear. We are fraying a lot 
on the edges. While this is a good indicator that folks around the 
world love to enjoy our parks in Montana, we must address the 
maintenance backlog to ensure that folks continue to come and enjoy 
what we refer to in Montana as the ``Last Best Place.'' If you look at 
some of these pictures, I think you might agree with me.
  Today, there is nearly $20 billion in maintenance backlog on our 
public lands, forests, wildlife refuges, and parks, and $12 billion of 
that is for our national parks, including $700 million in Glacier and 
Yellowstone National Parks and over $34 million in Montana's smaller 
national parks.
  Addressing this $12 billion backlog through the Great American 
Outdoors Act will play a vital role in getting our national parks back 
on track. This will create jobs, support our gateway and rural 
communities, and enhance visitor experience and safety.
  The restoration of our national parks could generate over 100,000 
additional jobs at a time when our economy needs that kind of boost. 
While this was an issue we have been working on for years with Members 
on both sides of this infamous aisle, this is needed maybe now more 
than ever.
  Montanans are raised to love and respect the outdoors. Only once in a 
great while does such a historic piece of conservation legislation come 
along--perhaps once every 50 years. It is essential to protect and 
maintain access to these lands for future generations.
  It is my highest honor to serve the people of Montana in the U.S. 
Senate. I encourage my colleagues to join us in supporting this great 
piece of legislation, one that has helped bring a divided government 
together.
  I believe it is a conservative principle to conserve, and I will 
always continue fighting for that principle. I know I and my colleagues 
here today are ready to get this done. Montanans know what it takes to 
practice conservative principles and work to conserve their public 
lands. Now it is time for Congress to come together in a bipartisan way 
and support the Great American Outdoors Act
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, I thank my colleague Senator Daines 
from Montana and all my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans. Everyone 
has been so excited about getting up and showing pictures of their 
beautiful State. All of us--it is the United States of America--every 
one of us has something to be proud of and show off, and the LWCF and 
restore our historic parks bills will protect each and every one of 
them.
  I have been in the Senate for almost 10 years. I have not seen any 
piece of legislation that has brought us together with more enthusiasm 
than this piece of legislation, the Great American Outdoors Act, 
because the entire Nation benefits from it. Whether it be in West 
Virginia, Colorado, or Montana, wherever it may be, our outdoor 
resources is something that all of my colleagues can enjoy because we 
all can visit and enjoy the great American outdoors, if you will.
  The strong support for the Great American Outdoors Act is a testament 
of the importance of this legislation and what it does. We have never 
had a financial recovery, an economic recovery without infrastructure 
investments in spending. We don't have a better piece of legislation 
that does this. It is a win-win all the way around.
  More than 150,000 jobs will be created by this bill. I think every 
county in America--I have 55 counties in West Virginia. Every county in 
West Virginia, basically, is receiving some sort of help from the LWCF. 
We have all been greatly impacted by this.
  Today, I want to talk about the impact that the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund has had on my home State of West Virginia. To date, 
54 of the 55 counties have benefited, as I said, from the Land and 
Water Conservation Fund. It is responsible for some of our most 
cherished outdoor spaces in West Virginia. In fact, since 1965, $243 
million has been spent to enhance recreation and conservation in the 
Mountain State alone.
  The LWCF has supported projects at Canaan Valley National Wildlife 
Refuge, Gauley River National Recreation Area, New River Gorge--and 
this is the New River Gorge. This is the New River. If you are in the 
eastern part of the United States and you haven't floated on the New 
River or the Gauley, you are missing a great opportunity. The scenery 
is unbelievable, and floating through the rapids is something special. 
To float through there is an experience. I welcome and recommend 
everyone to come visit at least once in your life the wild and 
wonderful West Virginia on the New River and the Gauley River. The Land 
and Water Conservation Fund has also helped towns like Marlinton, WV. 
Mayor Sam Felton was able to turn a vacant lot into the Discovery 
Junction, a multipurpose community gathering space, with the help of 
$86,000 from LWCF.
  The fund is also important for our hunting community. Hunting is a 
way of life. It is part of our culture. It is a tradition that we all 
cherish and value. The Great American Outdoors Act will increase access 
to all Federal lands for hunting and fishing all across the country. A 
lack of access to Federal inholdings is a problem, and I know this has 
frustrated sportsmen for years.
  As the Congressman from Montana has said, over 1.5 million acres is 
owned in his State by the Federal Government, but all of it doesn't 
have access. We are able to provide access now with the funding that it 
will take from this legislation.

[[Page S2781]]

  Another thing that is very important that has been mentioned, LWCF 
does not use one iota of taxpayer dollars. This is basically coming off 
of the royalties of our offshore oil and gas revenues.
  I want to mention also that we have some of our Senators whom we 
tried to accommodate in this piece of legislation. There are a few of 
the Senators whom I want to make a public commitment that I will work, 
as ranking member on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, to do 
everything I can to make sure we understand the needs of the coastal 
States and the restoration and protection of our coastal States as it 
is impacted by the changing environment. My commitment to them is I 
will work diligently with my Southern States and also my Northern 
States for all of my coastal States. The Senator from Rhode Island has 
my commitment, and the Senator from Louisiana has my commitment. We 
will work to make sure they have the needed funds it takes to protect 
their coastline and all the work that they have done and all the assets 
that they have contributed to our great country and the value, as far 
as in their coastal States. We are going to make sure that during the 
committee I will do everything I can to make sure we have the proper 
hearings and proper attention for the changes that need to be made. We 
were unable to put that in this piece of legislation, but I am 
committed to help work through that, and I will do that.
  Because Federal lands are surrounded by private lands, they can be 
essentially inaccessible, and we have to make sure we have access. 
Hunting in West Virginia is a time-honored tradition. As I have said, I 
have been a hunter my entire life, and I look forward to opening day in 
hunting season each year for all different types of game. I also enjoy 
fishing immensely. I don't think I have a better day than when I am on 
the river or I am in the river walking the streams for the trout that 
we have plentiful amounts of. It is something I have handed down to my 
children, my son, and my grandson. They all enjoy it. With this bill, 
we are going to be able to pass on this legacy.

  When you think about spending time in the U.S. Senate, most of us 
have been in public life for some time in other aspects. I have been 
honored to serve in the State legislature as a member of the house and 
member of the State senate, and secretary of state and Governor of my 
great State, and now representing them in the U.S. Senate. You want to 
leave a legacy, so you keep thinking what can I do that will really 
make an impact on future generations. I can't think that there is 
anything we can do that is going to be more impactful than what we are 
doing today, working on this piece of legislation, the Great American 
Outdoors Act, to be able to enjoy the great national parks that we have 
throughout this country, to be able to take your family and have a 
family outing, and also the history that goes with it and who we are.
  If we don't know where we come from, you don't know where you are 
going, and the history we have in America is pretty special. Our 
national parks represent that. Also, to have the access to the 
beautiful outdoors and the wonderful nature that we have with the LWCF 
funding, the $900 million a year, that is a legacy I am proud of. I am 
proud that my children and my grandchildren and future generations 
would say that, hey, part of my family was involved in this. We worked 
this hard. We worked together--and to see Democrats and Republicans in 
the most troubling time our country has faced in many decades come 
together enthusiastically, being able to speak and enjoy being with 
each other and talking about how we can get more of our colleagues 
involved and having a vote that we had last night, a vote of 80 votes.
  I see the Senator from Tennessee who has worked so hard on our 
national parks and has one of the most beautiful national parks in his 
State that I am proud of. I just can't tell you how much I think this 
piece of legislation means to all of us--100 Senators--in this most 
challenging time that we have in our country right now.
  West Virginia has approximately $62 million in deferred maintenance 
just for our little national park areas alone. This includes crumbling 
roads, bridges, outdated wastewater plants, electrical systems, and 
deteriorating monuments, which I know we are going to be able to start 
repairing. On average, 1.6 million visitors enjoy our beautiful 
national parks in West Virginia every year. From New River Gorge 
National River to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, visitors to 
our national parks generate $73 million from the surrounding 
communities. This act, the Great American Outdoors Act, will ensure our 
national parks, forests, and other Federal lands are well taken care of 
and remain accessible for everyone to enjoy.
  West Virginians take great pride in our great outdoor playgrounds. We 
invite all of you--all of you--to come to wild and wonderful West 
Virginia and enjoy everything we have to offer. We thank you so much. I 
thank my staff and the staff of the Energy and Natural Resources 
Committee, of which I am the ranking member, for working tirelessly 
through the pandemic and through the virus to make sure we are able to 
have a piece of legislation that generations of Americans will be able 
to enjoy.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, while he is on the floor, I 
congratulate the Senator from West Virginia for his leadership. 
Sometimes he says too many cooks spoil the pot or whatever the phrase 
is. There could be too many cooks but not in this case. Senator 
Manchin, because of his senior leadership on the Energy Committee and 
on this bill, has been really a bulwark in bringing it to this point. I 
thank him for that. He has been excellent about including all sorts of 
us in the bill.
  We have an unusual assortment of U.S. Senators, outside sportsmen 
groups, conservation groups, the President of the United States, and 
all of the former Secretaries of the Department of the Interior from 
Babbitt to Zinke, someone said, going alphabetically--we all support 
this bill that came up last night with 80 different votes.
  Among those who deserve a lot of credit is another Member of the U.S. 
Senate who is also on the floor right now, Mr. Warner from Virginia. He 
became interested in this bill as soon as anyone. He may have been the 
first one to put his toe in the water. He and Senator Portman from 
Ohio, they formed a very strong team to bring this bill forward.
  Since then, Senators Daines, Gardner, Heinrich, and King all have 
joined in, and then Senators Manchin and Gardner, especially, have 
added the Land and Water Conservation Fund. I thank all of them for 
their leadership.
  I will speak just briefly about what we call the Great American 
Outdoors bill, and I think it helps first to say what we are talking 
about. We are talking about the Chilhowee campground on Chilhowee 
Mountain at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 
Tennessee. It was closed for 2 or 3 years. Why? Because the sewage 
system didn't work. So 500 families who normally would use that 
campground in the summer--go up there and have this majestic view of 
the highest mountains in the Eastern United States--didn't have that 
possibility.
  The Great Smoky Mountains has about 12 million visitors a year. That 
is three or four times as many as Yellowstone does or any of the 
western parks because it is in the East. It has $224 million of 
deferred maintenance like that campground. Its annual budget is $20 
million a year. So you don't have to have gone too far in mathematics 
in the Maryville City School system to understand that it will probably 
take 15, 20, 25 years, or never to be able to get rid of the deferred 
maintenance in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, our most 
visited national park.
  Now, that is a massive disappointment to people who consider our 
national parks as our greatest treasures, to go there and find a 
campground closed, a bathroom that doesn't work, a bridge that is 
closed, a road with a pothole, a trail that is worn out, and visitor 
centers that are dilapidated, as they are in some of our centers around 
the country. This is what we are talking about.
  This is what we are talking about. We are talking about deferred 
maintenance, things that are broken and

[[Page S2782]]

don't work and interfere with the ability of the American people to go 
outdoors. Of all the times in our recent history when people would like 
to go outdoors, it would be right now, just to get out of the house and 
get away. Of all the times when we need some extra jobs, it would be 
right now, when we have 14 percent of the people in Tennessee out of 
work. Some of them could go to work on the roads and the bridges and 
the trails and the potholes and the sewage systems and the other things 
that need to be fixed, if we had the money.
  So that is the first thing this bill is about. It is about the 
deferred maintenance in the national parks--but not just in the 
national parks. With President Trump's enthusiastic support, we have 
added to the bill, as it has made its way through the Senate, other 
public lands; for example, the Fish and Wildlife Service lands, the 
U.S. Forest Service lands, the Bureau of Land Management lands, and the 
Bureau of Indian Education schools. There are lots of Indian schools 
that are rundown and need to be fixed.
  All of those are part of this bill, which is why, among the 800 
organizations--800 outside groups--who have called all of us and asked 
us to vote last night, among the most enthusiastic are the fishermen 
and the sportsmen--the Ducks Unlimited, headquartered in Memphis. They 
are really for this bill because we want to use the public lands. We 
want them preserved. Fishermen want access to their streams. Tourists 
want to be able to drive to the top of Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky 
Mountains or to see the Grand Canyon or to visit Pearl Harbor or to 
walk on the National Mall. All of these are part of our deferred 
maintenance problem.
  So there are two parts to the bill. The first is the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund. Now, this is a fund that was created in 1964. It was 
a pretty good idea, I have always thought. You take an environmental 
burden--drilling offshore for oil and gas--and you create an 
environmental benefit--take some of the money and use it to buy 
treasured lands.
  Senator Daines of Montana points out that 80 percent of the access to 
good fishing in Montana comes with funding for the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund. So for 64 years we have had some money come through 
Congress for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, but--the problem 
is--not all of the money that Congress intended, because in 1964 
Congress said, Set aside a certain amount of money, about $900 million, 
for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, put it in the Treasury, and 
then spend it for this purpose: half to the States for their land 
acquisition and half to the Federal Government. But Congress didn't 
ever appropriate all that money.
  We took that back up in 1985 and 1986 with President Reagan's 
Commission on Americans Outdoors, which I chaired and Gil Grosvenor 
from the National Geographic was the cochairman.
  The No. 1 recommendation for President Reagan's Commission on 
Americans Outdoors was to permanently fund the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund. This bill does that. We permanently authorized it 
earlier in this Congress. This year we will permanently fund it.
  The second part is to restore our parks and our public lands. In that 
case, as I just described, whether it is the national parks or the 
fishing or the access roads or the bridges or other rundown and worn-
out trails or buildings or sewage systems, at the rate we are going, it 
will take about 15 to 20 years, maybe longer--maybe never--to finish 
all that deferred maintenance, but, with this bill, we should reduce 
that substantially.
  The idea is to take about up to $14 billion over 5 years and use it 
to pay for deferred maintenance. Now, how do we pay for that? Well, we 
pay for it with real money. We pay for it with earnings from energy 
exploration on Federal lands.
  Now, this is not a new concept. As I mentioned, the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund put that into law in 1964: environmental burden, 
environmental benefit. It is also not a new concept for all the coastal 
States in our country because we take money--I think it is 27 percent 
of the money we get from drilling just off the coastal States--and we 
give it to those States.
  We also take some money from drilling in what we call an area beyond 
the 3-mile limit for southern States and give them 37 percent of that 
money. We also take some money from drilling, say, in Wyoming and give 
Wyoming 50 percent of that money--or in Alaska, 90 percent of that 
money.
  The difference is, we do all of that before we give the rest to the 
Treasury. So the idea that we are spending real money from energy 
drilling in a new and different way is stretching it a little bit 
because we already spend a lot of money that we earn from energy 
exploration on Federal lands by giving it to States before we give the 
rest of it to the Treasury. The difference here is, after we give the 
rest of it to the Treasury, we are going to take half of that for 5 
years and use it for deferred maintenance. Senator Portman, who used to 
be Director of the Office of Management and Budget, calls it using real 
money to reduce an unpaid debt.
  Now, it is absolutely true that the way the Congressional Budget 
Office looks at that, it is not offset. But there is a difference of 
opinion here. President Trump looks at it in a different way. He thinks 
it is real money for deferred maintenance. The Office of Management and 
Budget disagrees with the Congressional Budget Office. They approve 
this spending. The President's budget includes this spending.
  We are spending, as I said earlier, money that we already--the same 
kind of money we spend that we give to States before we give it to the 
Federal Government.
  So, if I am walking down Broadway in Maryville, TN, where I am from, 
and I am trying to say to them ``Where does this come from?'' we would 
say that we use real money. We use money from energy exploration on 
Federal lands. We are going to use it for 5 years--in the case of 
everything but the Land and Water Conservation Fund for 5 years. If we 
don't have the money, we don't spend it. If we do have the money, we do 
spend it.
  As a result of that, we are going to be able to fix those broken 
bridges, those sewage systems, those dilapidated visitor centers, those 
roads with potholes, those trails that are worn out. Instead of maybe 
never fixing them or doing them at a rate of 20 or 25 years, we will be 
able to cut in half that deferred maintenance backlog and reduce 
substantially the time it takes to make these public lands the kinds of 
lands that all of us expect when we go to visit.
  So I am delighted to be in full support of this. I thank Senator 
Warner, Senator Portman, and all the others who have worked so hard on 
it. I hope that the vote we had last night, with 80 Senators of both 
parties in support of moving ahead with the bill, signals that, as we 
go through the other procedural efforts this week, we will have 
significant bipartisan support, send it to the House where an identical 
bill is being introduced, and send it to the President.
  President Trump is fully in support of it. In fact, without him and 
his Office of Management and Budget, we wouldn't have a chance to do 
it.
  More than 2\1/2\ years ago, Secretary Zinke, a big fellow from 
Montana who was the Interior Secretary, came down to Tennessee and 
asked me if I would get involved in this because it was so important. 
He said that he had talked to Mick Mulvaney, who was then in the Office 
of Management and Budget, and to the President and they wanted it done.
  So I got involved. I found myself in pretty good company with Senator 
Warner and a lot of other folks, and here we are today. So I hope we 
have great success with this bill. I know the people of Tennessee are 
looking forward to it.
  I would be remiss if I didn't point out--I pointed out that, with the 
Smokies, our backlog is about $224 million, and our annual budget is 
about $20 million, so we will never get the backlog fixed if we don't 
pass a bill like this or this bill.
  The same applies to other public lands in our State. The Cherokee 
National Forest, which is the largest piece of public land in 
Tennessee, will get help with their $27 million maintenance backlog to 
make sure their access roads and trails are kept open for 3 million 
visitors each year. That is about as many visitors as many of our most 
popular western parks have.

[[Page S2783]]

  The Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge will get help with their $8.4 
million maintenance backlog to make sure the hunters and fishers can 
safely use the boat ramps and the boat docks
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cruz). The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the timing has worked out pretty well. It 
is great to be able to speak on this piece of legislation after my 
friend the Senator from Tennessee has just completed speaking.
  We were hearing some, I think, classic legislating coming from 
Senator Alexander. He was very generous in his compliments to Senator 
Manchin, to me, to Senator Portman, to Senator Daines, and to Senator 
Gardner, but we all know that we wouldn't be here on the cusp of 
passing the most significant piece of environmental outdoor lands 
legislation in a generation or, for that matter, in 50 years if it 
hadn't been for the leadership of Senator Alexander from Tennessee.
  So many of us who have had an opportunity to work with him and become 
friends with him over his years in the Senate have tried to emulate him 
at times and listen to him all the time. He is a Senator I wish we had 
more of in this Senate, who says more often than not: Let's not worry 
about who gets the credit; let's just see if we can get some things 
done.
  There were two pieces of legislation that had to come together. There 
was the challenge of getting the administration in, the challenge that 
we had, at one point, too many Democrats and maybe not enough 
Republicans, and it was Senator Alexander who kind of guided us through 
this--at least from the parks side--3-year journey.
  I just want to publicly acknowledge his enormous leadership on this 
piece of legislation, thank him for his friendship, and thank him for 
the great work that he has done garnering, as well, the over 800-plus 
environmental groups that have come to support this legislation. I know 
that my friend the Senator from Tennessee is not going to stand for 
reelection, and I know he will have many, many legacy items from his 
tenure in the Senate, but I believe this Great American Outdoors Act 
will rank in the top three or top five of his legislative 
accomplishments in that kind of quiet ``Let's not worry about whose 
name is first on the bill, but let's just get it done'' way that is 
playing out this week, as we saw last night with a remarkable, 
remarkable 84 votes.
  It may not end up with 84 votes on the final passage, but, again, the 
path to get here has been a fascinating one and one that I have learned 
from. So I do want to rise to join all of the colleagues I have 
mentioned and others in support of the Great American Outdoors Act.
  I got involved in this issue over 3 years ago. We, in Virginia, are 
blessed with a lot of great national parks. We are blessed with a 
number of historic battlefields and other historic sites. We have some 
of the parkland roads, the parkways--in Northern Virginia, the George 
Washington Memorial Parkway that I come to work here in the Capitol on 
every day, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Colonial Parkway. We have over 
$1.1 billion of that backlog, and this legislation is so critically 
important.
  The legislation, it has been mentioned, represents the most 
significant investment in our public lands in a generation, and I 
believe, at this moment in time, something critically important as 
well: a job creator in our outdoor economy.
  The Great American Outdoors Act will provide up to $9.5 billion over 
5 years to address not only the deferred maintenance and backlogs at 
the National Park Service but other Federal land agencies as well. This 
is the kind of mastery of Senator Alexander in combining the two pieces 
of legislation.
  The bill also finally provides full and mandatory funding for the 
Land and Water Conservation Fund. It has been a long road getting to 
this point, but I am thrilled that we are finally at this moment in 
time on this important, job-creating legislation that is also 
preserving the legacy that God granted this country in terms of the 
outdoors, in terms of our history. This is really a gift to our kids, 
grandkids, and future generations.
  Now, many of us have indicated how we got here, and I am going to add 
my voice as well. Years of chronic underfunding has forced the Park 
Service to defer maintenance on countless trails, buildings, and 
historic structures, as well as thousands of miles of roads and 
bridges.
  So today, the National Park Service faces a deferred maintenance 
backlog of over $12 billion. As a matter of fact, over half of all Park 
Service assets are currently in desperate need of repairs.
  As I mentioned, in Virginia alone, the deferred maintenance backlog 
sits at over $1.1 billion. That means, in Virginia, we trail only the 
District of Columbia and California in terms of jurisdictions in total 
backlog.
  To address this growing problem in Virginia and across the country, 3 
years ago Senator Alexander, Senator Portman, my good friend Senator 
Angus King, and I introduced the original legislation, the Restore Our 
Parks Act, which would provide significant funds to the Park Service to 
reduce its maintenance backlog and utilize unobligated energy 
resources.
  In March, our bill was combined with Senator Gardner and Senator 
Manchin's LWCF legislation to form the Great American Outdoors Act. 
This bill on the floor today will provide, as I indicated, up to $6.65 
billion over 5 years to restore and repair our national parks. That is 
enough to address more than half of the currently deferred maintenance 
backlog and completely fund the highest priority deferred maintenance 
projects within the agency.
  This represents one of the largest--if not the largest--investments 
in infrastructure in our national parks in the over 100-year history of 
the National Park Service.
  In addition to preserving our national treasures for future 
generations to enjoy, this legislation will also create tens of 
thousands of jobs across the country and provide a positive economic 
impact for those gateway communities.
  The Senator from Tennessee mentioned Chilhowee in Tennessee. We have 
a Chilhowee in Southwest Virginia as well. Those gateway communities 
depend on our national parks
  As a matter of fact, a recent study by the National Park Service 
indicates that the Great American Outdoors Act will actually support 
over 100,000 jobs and contribute $17.5 billion in total economic output 
through this legislation. In Virginia alone, that means over 10,000 
jobs could be created by eliminating this maintenance backlog.
  Let me give you a few examples that are a more parochial basis of 
what that will mean in Virginia. Here in the national capital region, 
the George Washington Memorial Parkway, which is managed by the 
National Park Service, has over $700 million in deferred maintenance. 
As a matter of fact, anyone who travels on that road knows that, north 
of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, we actually had a sinkhole appear in 
the parkway within the last year--an enormous safety threat as well as 
a huge inconvenience to the traveling public.
  Our legislation would help rebuild this critical transportation route 
between Virginia, Washington, and Maryland--again, reducing traffic and 
creating jobs.
  I mentioned that in Virginia we are blessed with a number of historic 
battlefields. The Richmond National Battlefield Park has over $5 
million in deferred maintenance, and the nearby Petersburg National 
Battlefield has nearly $9 million in deferred maintenance.
  Our legislation would help preserve these important pieces of our 
heritage while also supporting the local economies. At the Shenandoah 
National Park, one of the crown jewels of the National Park Service, 
the maintenance backlog sits at $90 million.
  Our legislation will put people to work on these overdue repairs, 
including Skyline Drive and stretches of the Appalachian Trail, which 
are, again, at the heart of Virginia's outdoor tourism industry.
  As you head further southwest in Virginia, the Blue Ridge Parkway has 
accumulated over $508 million in deferred maintenance needs. That is 
over $1 million per mile of the parkway. The Great American Outdoors 
Act would put Virginians to work on these repairs so that visitors can 
continue to appreciate the beauty of the Appalachian Highlands in 
support, again, of the local economy.

[[Page S2784]]

  I will just give you one final example--the Colonial National 
Historical Park, which is home to Historic Jamestowne and the Yorktown 
Battlefield. At this park, containing some of our Nation's most 
significant sites--beginning our Nation and the birth of our Nation in 
terms of the revolution--there are deferred maintenance needs totaling 
over $433 million.
  With this legislation, the wait on these repairs is over. We are 
going to create jobs and make sure this important part of our history 
is around for years to come.
  In addition to securing these funds for the Park Service and other 
public lands, the Great American Outdoors Act also provides the full 
mandatory funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
  LWCF is the most important tool the Federal Government and States 
have to conserve natural areas, water resources, and cultural heritage, 
and expand recreation opportunities to all communities.
  Over the past four decades, Virginia has received over $360 million 
in LWCF funding that has been used to preserve critical places in the 
Commonwealth, like the Rappahannock River Valley and Back Bay National 
Wildlife Refuge and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
  With full funding from the LWCF, we will be able to conserve 
additional critical lands in the Commonwealth and provide more 
recreational opportunities for Virginians from the coalfields to the 
Chesapeake Bay and everywhere in between.
  In closing, I urge my colleagues to support this historic legislation 
that will help restore our national parks and public lands, create tens 
of thousands of jobs across the country, and expand recreation 
opportunities for millions of Americans. This bipartisan piece of 
legislation, which also has the support of the administration, is 
legislation whose time has arrived. I look forward to its successful 
passage later this week.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that if my 
remarks go over the time for the recess at 12:30 that they be allowed 
to extend beyond that.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                     Nomination of Charles Q. Brown

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, this is going to be a historic day for 
the U.S. Senate, as we come to the floor after the recess, after lunch 
here, to be voting on the confirmation of Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., 
to be the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force--Gen. C.Q. Brown. I will 
be voting for General Brown because he is the right man, at the right 
time, for this very important job. Let me explain why.
  General Brown has an impressive academic record and a sterling record 
of service to our great Nation and, of course, to the U.S. Air Force. 
He is a distinguished graduate of the Armed Force Reserve Officer 
Training Corps, with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering 
from Texas Tech--the Presiding Officer might like that--as well as a 
master's degree in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical 
University.
  Currently, General Brown is the commanding officer--the four-star 
general--in charge of Pacific Air Forces, all Pacific Air Forces. Of 
course, Mr. President, you know that is really important because he is 
literally on the frontlines in implementing the national defense 
strategy, which has a focus on great power competition, particularly 
China, as the pacing threat to our Nation for the next 50 to 100 years. 
General Brown is in that battle right now, frontlines, every day, in 
his current billing. That is really important.
  Prior to being commander of the Pacific Air Forces, he was the deputy 
commander of U.S. Central Command for 2 years. He knows all about the 
national security challenges that we have from that region of the 
world, which are still very significant--particularly violent extremist 
organizations, like al-Qaida and ISIS--that continue to threaten the 
United States.
  From 2015 to 2016, he served as the U.S. Air Force's Central Command 
Combined Force Air Component Commander, where he oversaw the strategic 
bombing campaigns against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, as well as operations 
against insurgent groups in Afghanistan.
  With a record like that--pretty remarkable--he understands the 
threats we are currently facing. He understands the big challenges we 
are seeing over the horizon with regard to China. And he is ready to 
lead the Air Force to take on those threats as a member of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff.
  The Secretary of the Air Force, Barbara Barrett, said of General 
Brown:

       He has unmatched strategic vision and operational 
     expertise. His leadership will be instrumental as the service 
     continues to focus on the capabilities and talent we need to 
     implement the National Defense Strategy.

  That is the Secretary of the Air Force on Gen. C.Q. Brown.
  In my conversations with him, I certainly believe these qualities, 
these characteristics, the Secretary of the Air Force describes to 
certainly be true. I have had many good conversations with him on 
strategy, on strategic basing, including in the Asia-Pacific region, 
and I am very confident that, again, he is the right person for the 
right job at this moment.
  I also want to mention that he will be the first African-American to 
serve as a chief in our military's history. I have known General Brown 
for some time, but I was actually surprised when I realized this. Colin 
Powell was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and did an amazing job, but we 
have not had an African-American serve as chief in any other services 
in the history of the United States.
  I think that is very important right now. In many ways, this is a 
historic nomination, particularly, as our country is roiling over the 
killing of George Floyd and the protests that are taking place--
peacefully now, which is great--to demand justice for him and his 
family, and as we look at some of the challenges we have in our Nation 
with regard countering racism across America.
  In a very moving video address last week, General Brown recently 
talked about what is on his mind in terms of some of these challenges. 
He talks about many of the things that are on his mind, many aspects of 
his career. It is very powerful. I would recommend that people who care 
about these issues take a look at that very powerful speech. He said 
that he was thinking about the conversations his wife of 31 years, 
Sharene, and his two sons, Sean and Ross, have had on these times 
recently but, also, the immense responsibility that comes from his 
historic nomination. He was thinking, of course, about how he could 
make our country better for others from a national security standpoint 
and with regard to other issues.
  Think about that. That is a tremendous weight for anyone to carry, 
but I firmly believe that General Brown's shoulders are broad and 
strong enough to carry this weight.
  I am going to be voting enthusiastically yes with regard to the vote 
we are going to take at 2:15 this afternoon. I want to encourage all of 
my colleagues to vote yes, to have a 100-to-0 vote for this important, 
impressive nomination to be the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________