[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 175 (Monday, November 14, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6642-S6645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RESPECT FOR MARRIAGE ACT--Motion to Proceed

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 449, 
H.R. 8404.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 449, H.R. 8404, a bill to 
     repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for 
     State regulation of marriage, and for other purposes.

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, let me say a few words about the 
cloture motion we will file.
  In a few moments, I am going to set up the first procedural vote on 
legislation that will codify marriage equality into law. Members should 
expect the first vote on Wednesday.
  The Respect for Marriage Act, which my colleagues Senators Baldwin, 
Sinema, Collins, and others have done a great job working on, is an 
extremely important and much needed bill. No American should ever, ever 
be discriminated against because of whom they love, and passing this 
bill would secure these much needed safeguards into Federal law.
  I want to make clear that passing this bill is not a theoretical 
exercise, but it is as real as it gets. When the Supreme Court 
overturned Roe, Justice Thomas argued that other rights, like the right 
to marriage equality enshrined in Obergefell, could come next.
  Now, the Senate had a chance to bring marriage protection to the 
floor for a vote back in September, but at the urging of colleagues 
from both sides of the aisle, I agreed to wait because we were given an 
assurance that enough votes would materialize after the election. 
Because my top priority is to get things done in a bipartisan way 
whenever we can, we determined that this legislation was too important 
to risk failure, so we waited to give bipartisanship a chance.
  I hope, for the sake of tens of millions of Americans, that at least 
10 Republicans will vote with us to protect marriage equality into law 
soon. The rights and dignity of millions of Americans depend on it.


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the motion.
  The senior assistant 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. 449, H.R. 8404, a bill to repeal the 
     Defense of Marriage Act and ensure respect for State 
     regulation of marriage, and for other purposes.
         Charles E. Schumer, Tammy Baldwin, Brian Schatz, Margaret 
           Wood Hassan, Patty Murray, Tammy Duckworth, Jeff 
           Merkley, Jacky Rosen, Richard J. Durbin, Debbie 
           Stabenow, Elizabeth Warren, Mazie K. Hirono, Alex 
           Padilla, Gary C. Peters, Jeanne Shaheen, Catherine 
           Cortez Masto, Benjamin L. Cardin, Robert P. Casey, Jr.

  Mr. SCHUMER. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory 
quorum call for the cloture motion filed today, November 14, be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, 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. YOUNG. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Indiana.


                              Veterans Day

  Mr. YOUNG. Madam President, panel 2E, row 71. Not long ago, a young 
lady visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during a visit to 
Washington, DC. She walked along the wall searching the black granite 
panels, and she saw the name right there in front of her. She stopped 
and pressed her hand against it. It was panel 2E, row 71, Alvin C. 
Forney.
  Across our country, not just on our National Mall but on the 
boulevards of our State capitals and in the squares of our small towns, 
there are names of brave Americans etched in memorials, the names of 
those who never came home. And there are those who did come home, whose 
names may not be on monuments but whose example of service and 
sacrifice for their country is no less inspiring.
  For two and a half centuries, they have answered the calls. They have 
protected our freedoms. They placed their lives in the line of fire 
oceans away so that their countrymen can live lives in peace here at 
home. They are the citizen soldiers who defeated the King's army, who 
ended the scourge of slavery, who saved Western civilization and 
liberated concentration camps, who stood down communism and stand vigil 
against terrorism. They are more than just names, though. They are the 
spirit of this country: strong but merciful, forever guarding our 
freedoms, and devoted to our fellow citizen.
  Cpl Alvin Forney lived this example out in his all-too-brief life. He 
seemed destined, no matter his path, to make a difference. And he did. 
Tall, handsome, with a bright smile and infectious optimism, he was an 
ace athlete, a football, track, and basketball star at Shortridge and 
Washington High Schools in Indianapolis.
  A member of a military family, Corporal Forney enlisted in the U.S. 
Marine Corps in 1961, and he went west. He graduated from Marine Corps 
Recruit Depot, San Diego, and then trained in the mountains near Camp 
Pendleton. He endured the forced marches and step hikes in the 
tarantula- and rattlesnake-filled scrub.
  San Diego-trained marines are sometimes derisively called Hollywood 
marines by their Paris Island peers. You see, Tinseltown is just up the 
Pacific Coast Highway. But if Hollywood did ever try to create the 
ideal marine, Corporal Forney could be its muse.
  You can see it in the old photos, the focus, the confident air, the 
spotless uniform. He looked like a gentleman marine, a hero. And he 
wasn't just courageous or strong. He was patient and decent. Slow to 
anger, he seldom swore--a rarity, of course, for a U.S.

[[Page S6643]]

marine. He loved his family, and he loved his country.
  When he arrived in Vietnam in the summer of 1965 as part of the Third 
Marine Expeditionary Force, his chief concern was not for himself. It 
was for his brother. You see, Army SGT William Forney, the corporal's 
brother, was departing for Vietnam. Corporal Forney wrote their mother, 
Minnie:

       I don't mind being over here, but I worry about Bill coming 
     over.

  You see, his brother William had married shortly before deploying, 
and Corporal Forney was concerned about his brother's separation from 
his new bride.
  Shortly after that letter arrived, a military car pulled into the 
driveway. It was a telegraph from the Department of Defense that came. 
Cpl Alvin Forney had been struck by fragments of a mine during a 
patrol, and he was killed in action near Da Nang. It was September 1, 
1965. He was 22 years old.
  Corporal Forney was awarded the Purple Heart, and he was laid to rest 
in Indianapolis's Crown Hill Cemetery among a President and Vice 
Presidents, poets, businessmen, inventors, and all the rest. And he 
wasn't at all out of place.
  Corporal Forney's mother visited his grave every September until the 
day she died. Beneath the words on his headstone ``Beloved Son and 
Brother'' and after the mention of Vietnam, his headstone read: ``The 
first casualty from Indianapolis''--which he was. But a mere statistic 
he was not.
  It was a half century later that that young lady came to the wall in 
search of Corporal Forney's name. She came because her grandfather 
asked her to, because 50 years earlier, he had served with Corporal 
Forney at Naval Air Engineering Station at Lakehurst, in New Jersey, 
and he never forgot him. He could still see that squared-away marine. 
He could still hear his soft-spoken voice. And he could still remember 
the day in September 1965 when he walked into headquarters at Lakehurst 
and saw the secretaries sobbing and heard the tragic news: Corporal 
Forney had been killed in action in Vietnam.
  The corporal's family, too, they never forgot him. He is still in 
their hearts. His younger siblings and cousins, they still remember the 
days before he left for Vietnam, how kind, loving, and protective he 
was; the memories of the dinners he treated them to; of popping his 
fingers and whistling; his enthusiasm and joy.
  Just weeks ago, I met Mary Allen, Corporal Forney's younger sister, 
on a flight back to Indiana. She shared her brother's story and asked 
that I remember him. I will.
  Of course, on Veterans Day, which just passed, we remember all of 
those who wore the uniform, who pledged their lives to freedom's 
cause--yes, because they are owed our grateful devotion, our eternal 
gratitude every day, not just one day in November.
  Beyond that, though, to forget them is to take them for granted in an 
act of national self-destruction. Decades pass, generations come and 
go, and values change. In many ways, that is the natural course of a 
society in search of a more perfect Union. But those who have defended 
that Union carry with them unbending values--values that are essential 
to a democracy. Our veterans set an example. They are a monument to the 
values at the heart of this experiment in liberty: service and 
sacrifice, humility and honor, loyalty to country and love of 
countryman, dedication to others and to causes greater than oneself.
  Panel 2E, row 71. When that young woman went to the wall in search of 
panel 2E, row 71, it was not just because her grandfather had served 
with Alvin Forney. It was because, as her grandfather said, he set an 
example that all Americans should be proud to follow.
  Without citizens like Corporal Forney, there is no America. He is not 
forgotten. None of our veterans or the example they set are, nor will 
they ever be.


                             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 nomination 
     of Executive Calendar No. 1130, Maria del R. Antongiorgi-
     Jordan, of Puerto Rico, to be United States District Judge 
     for the District of Puerto Rico.
         Charles E. Schumer, Raphael G. Warnock, Tim Kaine, 
           Sherrod Brown, Robert P. Casey, Jr., Tina Smith, Angus 
           S. King, Jr., John W. Hickenlooper, Cory A. Booker, 
           Christopher Murphy, Amy Klobuchar, Benjamin L. Cardin, 
           Edward J. Markey, Jeanne Shaheen, Richard Blumenthal, 
           Jeff Merkley, Alex Padilla, Catherine Cortez Masto, 
           Gary C. Peters.

  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 
nomination of Maria del R. Antongiorgi-Jordan, of Puerto Rico, to be 
United States District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico, 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. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Cardin), 
the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Carper), the Senator from Colorado (Mr. 
Hickenlooper) and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski) and the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Sasse).
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 51, nays 43, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 353 Leg.]

                                YEAS--51

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Lujan
     Manchin
     Markey
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Romney
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--43

     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Braun
     Burr
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lankford
     Lee
     Lummis
     Marshall
     McConnell
     Moran
     Paul
     Portman
     Risch
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Toomey
     Tuberville
     Wicker
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--6

     Cardin
     Carper
     Hickenlooper
     Murkowski
     Sasse
     Warnock
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Heinrich). On this vote, the yeas are 51, 
the nays are 43.
  The motion is agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.


                              Veterans Day

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I asked my colleagues to join me in 
honoring and thanking the heroic individuals who have served our 
country.
  Every year on Veterans Day--just a couple of days ago--we come 
together as Ohioans or Oregonians and New Mexicans and Americans 
generally to remember with deep respect and gratitude all that our 
veterans have done for our country.
  Veterans and their families have sacrificed so much to keep us safe. 
They put their lives on the line to protect us.
  So often veterans don't speak about their service. My dad was a World 
War II veteran. He rarely talked about it. It was pretty typical of 
that generation; not so different from Vietnam vets, many of whom 
suffered from Agent Orange, or from Iraqi or Afghan war vets. They 
don't brag, they don't ask for recognition, but they have earned it.
  As we pay tribute to all who serve and all who have served, we must 
remember that we owe veterans and their families more than just a thank 
you on Labor Day--or on Veterans Day. We owe them what they have 
earned: healthcare benefits, education opportunities. Taking care of 
our veterans is a cost of going to war.
  Now, I have heard--I am going to talk about the PACT Act in a moment. 
Senator Merkley and I were just talking about it, the long overdue step 
we took to pass the PACT Act. A number

[[Page S6644]]

of our more conservative colleagues said it cost too much. They never 
say it costs too much to send people to war. It only costs too much to 
take care of the men and women who have served us in providing 
healthcare at the CBOC in Mansfield or the VA in Dayton or the VA in 
Cleveland.
  We took this year a long overdue step to pass the PACT Act. We 
secured the most comprehensive--the single-most comprehensive benefit 
expansion for veterans in our Nation's history.
  Some of you in this body remember, with Agent Orange, at the 
beginning, to get Agent Orange benefits you had to prove that you got 
sick because of the exposure to Agent Orange, and some veterans had to 
hire lawyers, and it just didn't make sense.
  Well, we learned the lessons from Agent Orange in the PACT Act. When 
President Biden signed this bill he delineated--we delineated--23 
illnesses, mostly bronchial and cancers--bronchial illnesses and 
cancers. And if you as a veteran who served in Iraq or Afghanistan or, 
you know, in some other theaters, if you had one of those illnesses, 
you could get treatment at the Zanesville CBOC or the Chillicothe VA or 
the Cincinnati VA.
  It means now that post-9/11 combat veterans are now eligible for this 
VA care. It means we also expanded coverage for veterans exposed to 
Agent Orange and for those exposed to burn pits and other toxins.
  It means if you are exposed to toxins while serving your country, you 
get the benefits you have earned--period, no exceptions.
  We couldn't have done it without the lessons of Agent Orange and the 
activism of our servicemembers and families.
  I have spent much of the last 6 weeks doing roundtables of 6, 8, 10, 
a dozen veterans, in rural communities and cities alike in my State, 
and most of them weren't yet aware of what this bill meant. It does 
mean that if they have any one of these illnesses and they were exposed 
to these burn pits--these football field-size burn pits that burn 
everything from industrial waste to tires to computers to human waste 
to who knows what--if they were exposed, then they got the help that 
they have earned.
  I encourage all veterans to go to va.gov/pact--p-a-c-t--to find out 
more about the law and see what benefits you may be eligible for.
  This is just the start of veterans finally, finally, finally getting 
the help of a grateful nation.
  This bill came to my attention about 5 years ago. This problem came 
to my attention. A woman from Sandusky, OH, told me about her son-in-
law, who was healthy, a distance runner, until about a year earlier, 
and he was diagnosed with a bronchial illness and then a cancer--a rare 
cancer, but a cancer that was recognizable to VA doctors.
  He has since passed away. His name is Heath Robinson. We named this 
bill that Senator Tester worked so hard on and Senator Moran, a 
Republican and a Democrat--they worked so hard on it to make sure it 
was enacted into law.
  Again, I urge veterans to go to va.gov/pact to find out more about 
the law.
  Earlier this month, the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development announced an 11-percent drop in veterans' homelessness over 
the last 2 years, in part because of the work of this new President and 
this new Senate and the work we are doing with the VA.
  It is progress. We have more work to do. I will continue to travel 
across Ohio and to hold roundtables with veterans to talk about the 
PACT Act. I am going to keep talking to veterans around the State.
  With my colleagues in the Senate and with members of the Veterans 
Affairs Committee, we will continue fighting so every veteran has the 
benefits they deserve.
  We will never forget the debt we owe. We are humbled by their 
commitment to service. And you can't talk about veterans without 
thanking the military families--the families of Heath Robinson--the 
family of Heath Robinson, who fought to make sure he got those 
benefits. And his legacy--in spite of his tragic death, his legacy of 
helping veterans will move on.
  It was the county veterans service officers. Ohio is lucky. Most 
States don't have this. We have a veterans service organization, a 
commission in every one of the 88 counties, so that there are at least 
2 employees--and in some cases 50, in the largest counties--who take 
care of veterans who have all kinds of issues and problems. So for our 
veterans service officers and then all the veteran service 
organizations, like the VFW and the DAV and the American Legion and the 
Polish-American Veterans, and so many others who work every day to 
support veterans and their families, we honor their sacrifice.
  This bill happened because of the activism of veterans' families, 
because of the veteran service organizations, and this body recommits--
as Senator Merkley does, I know, and the Presiding Officer recommit--to 
fighting for veterans, fighting for military families.
  On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your service.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I couldn't agree more with the words of 
my colleague from Ohio, Senator Sherrod Brown.
  It is unbelievable how long it took to do basic justice for our 
veterans serving us in some of the most difficult conditions in Iraq 
and Afghanistan to get their illnesses treated without them having to 
basically solicit legal help to connect that illness to their work.
  The fact that these 23 illnesses are now automatically covered for a 
veteran who served near a toxin is just a terrific step forward.
  And I am so pleased that we are making encouraging progress on 
veterans' housing. For our veterans to come back and be in the 
situation of facing the stress of return, the stress of reentering the 
workforce, and not have basic housing is unacceptable, and it is one of 
the ways we show that we are, in fact, a grateful nation for their 
service.


                Tribute to Jennifer ``J.P.'' Piorkowski

  Mr. President, I am pleased to be on the floor tonight to say thank 
you to one of my team members who has been part of my Senate team for 
14 years and is now headed over to work with the Peace Corps, and I 
want to say a little bit about the critical role that she played in my 
office and on my team.
  When I first came here for orientation in 2009, I heard wise words, 
and that was that perhaps the most important person on your team is not 
your chief of staff, it is not your legislative director, it is not the 
head of your communications. It is your scheduler, the person who 
monitors and controls your time, because time is what you can't make 
any more of, and everyone will want a piece of it. The key person on 
your team--the hub of your team--is your scheduler.
  The scheduler has to figure out how to fit in meetings with 
organizations, both from your home State and from national 
organizations, into already busy days, and has to figure out which 
policy conversations need to take place and how many are urgent today 
and how many can wait until tomorrow or next week, and which networking 
meetings with other legislators are essential to get onto the calendar.
  The scheduler is also essential to our family lives. We have to have 
a scheduler who understands that our spouses are a key partner in 
serving in a legislative body, who have to understand that our time 
spent with our children is a critical part of our responsibilities as a 
parent. The scheduler has to ensure that the family has its appropriate 
presence in a Senator's life.
  So you need someone who can take all of these competing demands and 
make sure that attention is paid to them and there is a balanced 
strategy to address them. Otherwise, serving in the Senate can become 
an absolutely miserable experience for all involved.
  Well, 14 years later, I can say that this piece of advice that I 
received at orientation was the best piece of advice I heard, the best 
piece of advice that can be there for an incoming Member.
  Over time, the person who schedules your hours, your meetings, makes 
all those judgments in consultation with you becomes not just a member 
of the team but a friend, a confidant, a member of your extended 
family.
  And my wife Mary and I, along with our two children, have been 
blessed to have Jennifer Piorkowski as a member of the Merkley family, 
and I am so pleased she is able to be with us here tonight.

[[Page S6645]]

  In fact, Jennifer, who goes by J.P., was part of Team Merkley before 
there was a Team Merkley.
  In 1998, J.P., who had a passing interest in international affairs, 
called me out of the blue to ask for an informational interview when I 
was head of World Oregon. So we got together, and I was immediately 
impressed by that conversation. So I immediately recruited her for a 
project that we had funded to archive 50 years' worth of World Oregon's 
records.
  It takes somebody with a real organizational mind and energy to 
accomplish that kind of task, and once we saw her at work on our team, 
I knew I would have to do everything I could to keep her with us, and 
she ended up staying with us in many different roles--from bookkeeper 
to office manager to programming speakers on international issues.
  But we couldn't keep her forever because the international world 
called to her. The Peace Corps called to her, and she started a new 
chapter in her life of service when she joined the Peace Corps and 
headed to Albania as part of the first group of volunteers to reenter 
the country after civil unrest broke out in 1997.
  During her 2 years in Albania, she worked with civil society 
organizations and with children living on the streets and survivors of 
human trafficking. She worked on enrichment programs to help at-risk 
Roma girls, a minority population in the country. She secured $65,000 
to increase participation of disabled citizens in municipal decision 
making.
  Her time in-country was so transformative that after her Peace Corps 
stint ended, she remained in Albania for another year, working as 
deputy head of mission for a transnational project to combat child 
trafficking in Kosovo, Greece, and Albania. In that role, among a whole 
host of great accomplishments, J.P. struck a memorandum of 
understanding, or MOU, with the Albanian Ministry of Labor and Social 
Affairs and the Ministry of Education, which led to the opening of 
child protection units--child protection units that are still in place 
and operating to this day.
  I can only imagine how many young children have led better lives 
because J.P. helped open those centers.
  So Mary and I arrived here in 2009 and started on this adventure of 
serving in the Senate, and we pondered: Who can fill this key role, 
this essential role of scheduling? Who would be the bridge between our 
office life and our family life? Who would be the extraordinary 
individual who would serve as a hub for the entire team?
  And then we suddenly realized that J.P. was back from Albania and 
that she was right here in Washington, DC, continuing her terrific work 
on human trafficking at the Labor Department. It is pretty important 
work, and we were not sure we could pry her away, steal her away, from 
that to be on our Senate team, but, fortunately, we held our breath and 
she said yes, and we are so lucky to have had her with us this last 14 
years.
  It was J.P. who initiated my ``Good Morning, Oregon'' meetings. Every 
Thursday while we are in session, we open the doors of our conference 
room to welcome Oregonians who happen to be here in DC for a discussion 
and a good cup of Stumptown Coffee.
  It was J.P. who initiated our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 
Committee to address unconscious bias, to work to ensure greater 
inclusivity, to better integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion into 
all aspects of our team's work, internally and externally.
  It was J.P. who organized our annual staff retreats, both in Oregon 
and in DC, with unique exercises, including this last year's 
Scrollathon that made us all ponder our key mission and shared 
commitment to public service.
  And when COVID upended life as we knew it, she stepped in, took 
charge, and innovated new human resource strategies and helped our team 
pretty seamlessly transition to the scary world of Zoom and Skype and 
Teams and other countless tools to ensure we could continue to function 
on behalf of the people of Oregon.
  It was J.P. who strived, year after year, to set the atmosphere of 
competence and graciousness and supportive connectedness as team 
members navigated the challenges of both our work life and our home 
life. She loved nurturing team members as they sought to grow and 
thrive in their careers.
  And I think you would be very hard-pressed to find a member of my 
team over the past 14 years who did not, at some point, go to J.P. for 
insight or sage advice.
  Over time, J.P. grew in her career, taking on ever-newer and expanded 
parts of our team work. She was no longer doing the day-to-day 
scheduling, but was our deputy chief of staff, keeping our whole 
operation running smoothly.
  Now, life often travels in circles. J.P. was an integral part of my 
team at World Oregon; and after serving in the Peace Corps and 
returning from Albania, she again became an integral part of my team 
here in Washington, DC.
  And now, J.P.'s life is completing a circle. Seventeen years after 
her Peace Corps work in Albania, she is returning to help the Peace 
Corps thrive in the position of Executive Secretariat in the Office of 
the Director. And I could not think of a better person to help organize 
that team leading the Peace Corps. Their mission is to help build a 
better world for all, and my dear friend, my family member, J.P., is 
just the right person to undertake that mission.
  J.P., I cannot begin to thank you enough for all you have done in 
each chapter of service throughout your life: your service at World 
Oregon, your service in the Peace Corps, your service following up in 
that extra year in Albania, your work at the U.S. Labor Department 
combating human trafficking and, of course, here in the Senate as a 
founding member of our team. Thank you for all of that terrific work. 
And we know that the work you are going to continue to do to contribute 
to making the Peace Corps an incredibly effective organization will be 
a significant way to help build a better world. Thank you.

                          ____________________