[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 199 (Wednesday, December 21, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9756-S9759]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     
     
                               LEGISLATIVE SESSION
     
       The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will resume legislative session.
       Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, 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. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
     the quorum call be rescinded.
       The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
     
     
                             Tribute to Larry Windley
     
       Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, during this break in the action this 
     evening, I rise today to recognize not one but two members of my staff 
     who are going to be leaving us this month.
       Larry Windley is retiring from my staff as a true public servant for 
     the people of my home State of Delaware and the people of our country.
       Larry was born and raised in a place called Seaford, DE. Seaford, DE, 
     was the home of the first nylon plant in the world, built by DuPont; 
     4,000 employees. It is a great town, a town that is actually going 
     through a rebirth these days, and we are very proud of that.
       Larry Windley was one of three sons. His father Bill Windley worked 
     for DuPont and earned something like 25 patents during his tenure there 
     for that
     
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     company. One of those three sons is Larry, who was raised to work hard, 
     spending summers working on poultry farms that are common in that part 
     of our State. That hard work would later drive him in his 41-year 
     career in public service.
       Larry's career started when he was a young man in college at the 
     University of Delaware. He and I were introduced in 1982 by Jim Soles, 
     a legendary political science professor whom we both greatly admired 
     who would later run for the U.S. House of Representatives for our at-
     large seat.
       I had been Delaware State treasurer, came out of the Navy and moved 
     from California to Delaware at the end of the Vietnam war. I got an MBA 
     and went to work in economic development and got elected to State 
     treasurer at 29.
       Six years later, I was running for Congress. We have one seat in the 
     House of Representatives, and I was running for that seat. I needed a 
     right-hand man who could not just keep up the pace of a campaign but 
     could actually get behind my Plymouth Horizon and drive it all over the 
     State, to be my driver and my body man in my campaign for the U.S. 
     House of Representatives.
       A story about Jim. When Jim Soles, the professor of political science 
     who had run unsuccessfully for Congress in 1972, I think, he asked--
     when I was State treasurer and running for Congress, Professor Soles 
     said to one of his students, Larry Windley: Larry, how would you like 
     to be Tom Carper's driver?
       Larry was pretty excited about that. Finally, Larry said: To be 
     honest, I don't know who Tom Carper is.
       Jim explained that I was the State treasurer and running for 
     Delaware's at-large seat. Lo and behold, Larry said yes. He dropped out 
     of school at least for a while--he was at university as a junior--and 
     he helped me get my campaign into high gear, and we were fortunate to 
     win.
       Larry went from driving with me around the State to traveling all 
     over the world, representing the First State as he worked to attract 
     trade and business opportunities for Delaware.
       Larry had a few different roles over the course of his career. One of 
     his most impactful has to be his work on economic development. Early in 
     his career, Larry worked for the State of Delaware's Economic 
     Development Office, where he helped create the Delaware Strategic Fund 
     and the Community Redevelopment Fund, providing millions for nonprofit 
     public service organizations and economic revitalization.
       He also helped create something called the Brownfield Initiative to 
     redevelop contaminated sites and established the Green Industries 
     Initiative to help businesses reduce, recycle, or reuse waste.
       After serving 10 years in the House of Representatives, I ran for 
     Governor of Delaware, and Larry rejoined my team to help me craft my 
     economic development platform, the Carper Growth Agenda. We focused on 
     attracting smaller companies and helping existing companies to grow. 
     That was in the 1990s, so we had a strong focus on attracting 
     technology companies.
       Once I was elected, Larry helped lead the Delaware Economic 
     Development Office as its policy director and director of planning. 
     Then, in 1996--this was the beginning of my second term as Governor--he 
     was appointed assistant secretary of state and director of the Division 
     of Corporations for Delaware. It turns out that is a very big job. Half 
     of the Fortune 500 are incorporated in Delaware. Half of the Fortune 
     500, half of the New York Stock Exchange are incorporated in the State 
     of Delaware, and the Division of Corporations helps to service all of 
     those corporations from around the world.
       The person who ran that office was Larry Windley, and that office 
     provides about a third of the State's revenues. The reason why Delaware 
     doesn't have a sales tax is because of all the revenues that come 
     through the Delaware State Department that Larry ran for a number of 
     years. His jobs included running a division that raised something like 
     half a billion dollars a year for our State and today raises a whole 
     lot more.
       In 2004, he left State government to become Delaware State director 
     for Senator Joe Lieberman during Joe's Presidential campaign. Then, in 
     2006, I was lucky enough that he rejoined my team to work on special 
     projects. At this time, I had been elected to the U.S. Senate and 
     served here, as I do today.
       Over the last 17 years, Larry has been a vital part of my senior 
     leadership team. He has not only helped to be my eyes and ears in 
     Delaware, but he has also mentored the next generation of men and women 
     who want to follow in his footsteps and to work to move Delaware in the 
     right direction.
       He is going to be leaving soon. We have something called Carpertown. 
     I don't know who came up with the word ``Carpertown,'' but it is the 
     people who have worked with me in the Navy and when I was State 
     treasurer and when I was a Congressman, Governor, and now in the U.S. 
     Senate. There are actually, I think, thousands of folks who fall in 
     that category, but Larry is one and may be the charter member of 
     Carpertown.
       There is a great song by the Eagles called ``Hotel California,'' and 
     it has lyrics that say, ``You can check out . . . but you can never 
     leave.'' That is pretty much how Carpertown works. Larry is going to be 
     checking out, but he will never really leave. He is going to be joining 
     the University of Delaware and doing much needed work there. We look 
     forward to being able to continue to work with him.
       Thanks to him, Delaware is a better place to live, and it is a better 
     place to work and to do business.
       I just want to convey, his parents are deceased, but I knew them well 
     and have thanked them many times--especially his mom--for bringing him 
     into the world and his mom and dad for raising him and sharing him with 
     the people of our State.
       He now has a son of his own, Michael, and Michael's wife Lindsay, 
     along with his daughter Tara and her husband Glen and a brandnew 
     grandson, whose name is Cayden.
       I am reminded of a great line from a Detroit Tigers baseball player, 
     the outfielder Kirk Gibson. When he was ready to retire from the 
     Tigers, he called a press conference. Sometimes people are ready to 
     retire and retire at the beginning of the season. Sometimes they retire 
     at the end of the season. They just don't want to do it anymore. Kirk 
     Gibson retired in the middle of the season, and he held a press 
     conference in the dugout at Tiger Stadium. The reporters all gathered 
     around him, and he told the press--he said that he had been traded back 
     to his family--traded back to his family. In a sense, Larry is being 
     traded back to his family, but we know that he is going to still 
     continue to do a lot of good work for the people--not just for the 
     University of Delaware but for the people of our State. We are grateful 
     for that.
     
     
                           Tribute to Christophe Tulou
     
       Mr. President, I know I don't have much time remaining, but I just 
     want to also recognize the service of Christophe Tulou, who serves as 
     our senior counsel on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
       Christophe is retiring at the end of the year as well to become the 
     executive director of the Center for the Inland Bays in Delaware, a 
     wonderful nonprofit organization that is committed to preserving our 
     natural beauty and natural resources, including our inland bays and the 
     southern part of our State.
       I call him Tophe, T-O-P-H-E, and I have known him ever since we hired 
     him. He was the second person I hired to work for me in the U.S. House 
     of Representatives.
       I had gotten on the Banking Committee. As a freshman, I had gotten on 
     a committee called Merchant Marine and Fisheries, which included 
     oceanography and a bunch of issues that are of great interest to an 
     ocean State like Delaware. We needed somebody to handle that portfolio, 
     and we found a fellow who was a Sea Grant fellow and who was interested 
     in serving in Congress, and his name was Christophe Tulou. He came on 
     board.
       He was the second person I hired to help me in the U.S. House of 
     Representatives. I ended up serving there for 10 years. Christophe 
     would become not just my legislative adviser for a portfolio of 
     issues--environmental issues and others--but he also ended up for a 
     short while as my legislative director within the office. Later on, 
     when I was the subcommittee chair of the Economic Stabilization 
     Subcommittee,
     
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     he was the director of that subcommittee for me in the House of 
     Representatives and did a great job in each one of those categories.
       I don't have time tonight to go through some of the things we are 
     especially proud of that we worked on together, but there are a lot of 
     them, and I will provide those for the record. All in all, he served in 
     my House of Representatives office for a decade, and I, frankly, don't 
     know what I would have done without him.
       After serving in the House for 10 years, I had a chance to run for 
     Governor. I did and was lucky to win and became Governor of Delaware to 
     serve not one 4-year term but two 4-year terms.
       We were looking around for someone to serve on my cabinet as 
     Governor. We needed somebody to be our cabinet secretary for the 
     Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. I asked 
     Christophe Tulou if he would do the job, and he agreed to do so.
       We had a complicating factor, and that is, he and his wife lived in 
     DC. She had a good job and was not anxious to give that up. For the 
     next 4 years, Christophe Tulou--his wife continued to live in 
     Washington, and he would come home on weekends to her and to their home 
     here in the District of Columbia. But the rest of the time, he would be 
     in Delaware working as a cabinet secretary at the department, which 
     really needed the leadership he provided, his extraordinary leadership.
     
       We had a history in Delaware of the department that has jurisdiction 
     over natural resources and environmental control and the Delaware 
     development office, which is tasked with creating jobs and attracting 
     businesses to our State--those two departments had a history of bad 
     blood and not working together and not being collegial.
       At the end of the day, Christophe, who would come to Delaware every 
     Monday morning and go to work and leave on Friday afternoon, Friday 
     night, to come back to DC--he and another fellow, who was in charge of 
     the Delaware Economic Development Office, ended up finding a house 
     together and rooming in the same house in Dover.
       The fellow who was running economic development, his wife--his name 
     was Bob Corey. Great guy. Great guy. His wife Carol worked for Hershey, 
     the candy company, the food company in Hershey, PA, and they had a 
     house there. She continued to live there and work there, and he would 
     go home on Friday evenings and then come back to work in Delaware on 
     Monday.
       But, anyway, the two departments had for years a hard time getting 
     along--the department of natural resources and the Delaware division of 
     economic development. We put the two agencies in the same house as 
     roommates during the week, and amazing things happened. The two 
     departments learned how to work together, to be collaborative and 
     figure out how we strengthen and improve our environment, our water, 
     our air, and so forth, how we do that and at the same time create jobs 
     and economic opportunity.
       During the 8 years I was privileged to be Governor, I am told there 
     were more jobs created in those 8 years than in any 8-year period in 
     the history of the State of Delaware, and part of it is because of the 
     partnership that I just described between Christophe Tulou, the 
     secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental 
     Control, and Bob Corey, who was running economic development--two 
     roommates who found common ground and helped their departments find 
     common ground. We ended up better, with a better place to live. 
     Frankly, they did a lot better jobs, as it turns out.
       But I think I probably talked long enough. I just want to say of 
     Christophe, after he left me--he bailed on me, but he went to work in a 
     number of, I think, important jobs. One was as the director of the 
     District of Columbia's Department of Environment in Washington, DC. It 
     is like being a cabinet secretary in a State. He did that for 
     Washington, DC, for a number of years.
       He followed that service with a stint as a senior adviser on the 
     Chesapeake Bay to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Director Gina 
     McCarthy.
       When I became the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works 
     Committee here in the Senate after the 2016 elections, Christophe came 
     back and joined us and helped us at EPW from the very beginning. He has 
     a strong, unwavering commitment to the environmental protection of our 
     Nation and our planet.
       Tophe and his wife Debi are lovely people whom I have been privileged 
     to know for, gosh, almost four decades, and I will be fortunate to see 
     him regularly during my visits to Sussex County, one of the three 
     counties of our State, where he will be working to protect the special 
     Chesapeake Bay resources of our State.
       These are two very decent human beings. I don't think they have a 
     mean bone in their body. They are smart as whips, and they love the 
     State of Delaware. They love this planet that we work on. They love 
     helping people. And they have made our State and, I think, our country 
     a better place in which to live.
       They, as I mentioned, have been members of Carpertown for quite a 
     while, and since they can check out but they can't leave, they are 
     going to remain that for us, and we will be able to stay in close touch 
     with them.
       As they get ready to set sail, we are going to leave the light on for 
     them and provide a warm welcome whenever they come back.
       With that, Mr. President, thank you for the time.
       I suggest the absence of a quorum.
       The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
       The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
       Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
     for the quorum call be rescinded.
       The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). Without objection, it is so 
     ordered.
     
     
                              Equal Pay for Team USA
     
       Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, when you watch U.S. athletes compete 
     in the Olympics and Paralympics and the World Cup, it probably doesn't 
     cross your mind that men and women who play the same sport may not get 
     the same travel accommodations or equal medical care or may still be 
     waiting to be reimbursed for their expenses that they had out of 
     pocket. In fact, for women athletes, they may not be sure if they are 
     even going to get a fair shake at all.
       It has taken women athletes at the top of their game stepping up and 
     demanding their worth over and over for women to be taken seriously in 
     sports. I am talking about the women of the U.S. Hockey in 2017 and the 
     U.S. Women's National Soccer Team in 2019 and many other athletes.
       It has been 50 years since title IX carved out a place for women and 
     girls in sports, but still women athletes frequently get less. That is 
     why we needed the bipartisan Equal Pay for Team USA Act to build on the 
     promise of title IX for women competing at the international level.
       I am happy to say that this Senate bill, S. 233, which already 
     previously passed the Senate, just passed the House tonight, 350 to 59. 
     I am happy because we need to make sure that there is equal pay for 
     team USA and to make sure that U.S. national teams under the U.S. 
     Olympic Committee comply with this act. It ensures that athletes in the 
     same sport will receive equal pay, benefits and medical care, travel 
     and reimbursement expenses regardless of gender. It applies to the U.S. 
     Olympic and Paralympic Committee and also to the national governing 
     bodies the USOPC oversees and, basically, any athlete competing for 
     Team USA on a world stage. It will make sure that they get and receive 
     equal compensation to their fellow male athletes in the sports.
       I want to thank my colleague, Senator Capito, for cosponsoring this 
     legislation and helping to advocate for it for the last year and a half 
     and continuing to fight to make sure that we got this implemented into 
     law. This law requires detailed reports from the USOPC and national 
     governing bodies--like U.S. Soccer, U.S. Squash, and U.S. Volleyball--
     to be sent to Congress each year so we can help make sure that these 
     women athletes get equal pay. We want to get to the root of any issues 
     in the future that hold anyone back from making sure that this law is 
     implemented.
       I also want to thank heroes like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan who 
     brought that case against U.S. Soccer. U.S. Women's Soccer led the 
     charge
     
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     after winning the World Cup and making it clear to everyone that women 
     athletes deserve equal pay.
       It took a lot of hard work to make sure that this bill got into law, 
     and I also want to thank my colleagues from the committee who helped 
     pass this legislation, and Senators Klobuchar and Lummis who also 
     joined Senator Capito and me in advocating for this legislation.
       While I wish tonight there were solutions to the inequities that 
     exist in professional leagues like the WNBA and the National Women's 
     Soccer League, this is a huge important step toward the economic 
     empowerment of women athletes.
       I also want to mention the hard work of my staff and Lucy Koch from 
     the Commerce Committee and many others on Senator Klobuchar's staff and 
     on the Commerce Committee who helped get this legislation over the goal 
     line.
       This is a strong message to female athletes, not just in the State of 
     Washington but across the United States. You deserve and you now will 
     have equal pay, and this is a win for Team USA.
       I yield the floor.
       I suggest the absence of a quorum.
       The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
       The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
       Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
     for the quorum call be rescinded.
       The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
       Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, this is an exciting evening for Senator 
     Cantwell and me. She just recently spoke very movingly about something 
     that just passed overwhelmingly in the U.S. House, and that is the 
     bipartisan Equal Pay for Equal Team USA Act. We call it ``Equal Pay for 
     Equal Play.'' I want to thank her for her leadership. She has been 
     spectacular in the dedication that she has shown for this legislation.
       I really think this is such a great, not just message, but a vision 
     for the future of where we see and how we respect our women athletes as 
     we respect our male athletes.
       In addition, I would like to thank Senator Cantwell, also Senators 
     Lummis and Senators Klobuchar for their partnership during this 
     process.
       I want to thank our House colleagues, Mikie Sherrill and Nancy Mace. 
     They advocated for this bill on the House side and spoke eloquently 
     this evening.
       Just very briefly, I think what we saw with this dominating success 
     of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team really shed the light on this issue of 
     equal pay. I think a lot of us just assumed that, if you were playing 
     for Team USA, male or female, of course, you would get equal pay. But 
     that hasn't been the way it has been over the years.
       Whether it is pay, salary, accommodations, training, all these 
     things, there have been great inequities here. Our Women's National 
     Soccer Team is one of the most successful teams competing in 
     international soccer today. They have won four World Cups, four Olympic 
     gold medals, and they are currently ranked No. 1 in the world. They are 
     continuing to be trailblazers.
       U.S. Soccer signed a new collective bargaining agreement this year to 
     close the gender wage gap and achieve true equal pay. Senator Cantwell 
     and I were on the field with Team USA here in Washington as they 
     defeated the Nigerian team, and we had a ceremonial signing on the 
     field, and it was a wonderful evening. For me, it was very uplifting 
     because I had my 12-year-old granddaughter and her best friend, who are 
     both soccer players. As the stadium would erupt to ``Equal Pay for 
     Equal Play,'' I would look over, and there they were, just yelling 
     their lungs out: ``Equal Pay for Equal Play.''
       So I am really happy today that I can take a Christmas present home 
     to both of them. This is a historic moment that we must use to build 
     off of. The bill will require the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee 
     to provide all athletes who represent the United States in global 
     amateur athletic competitions, regardless of gender, equal compensation 
     and benefits.
       As a woman sports fan myself, but also--I say former athlete, but I 
     still like to do lots of sports--as a mother and a grandmother of 
     female athletes, I recognize that for far too long, women's sports have 
     been second best to men's sports. Equal pay and benefits should be the 
     standard for all national teams.
       So in closing, this is a simple bill that fixes a major problem.
       I will say it again: Equal pay for equal play. It is the combination 
     of a true bipartisan effort, and I am looking forward to seeing the 
     President sign this bill into law on behalf of my West Virginia girls 
     and girls everywhere.
       I yield the floor.
       I suggest the absence of a quorum.
       The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
       The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
       Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
     for the quorum call be rescinded.
       The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). Without objection, it is so 
     ordered.
     
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