[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 100 (Thursday, June 8, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2019-S2025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             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 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 nomination 
     of Executive Calendar No. 166, Molly R. Silfen, of the 
     District of Columbia, to be a Judge of the United States 
     Court of Federal Claims for a term of fifteen years.
         Charles E. Schumer, Debbie Stabenow, Sheldon Whitehouse, 
           Catherine Cortez Masto, Brian Schatz, Richard J. 
           Durbin, Alex Padilla, Raphael G. Warnock, Tammy 
           Duckworth, Tina Smith, Martin Heinrich, Peter Welch, 
           Robert P. Casey, Jr., Christopher A. Coons, Elizabeth 
           Warren, Benjamin L. Cardin, 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 Molly R. Silfen, of the District of Columbia, to be a 
Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims for a term of 
fifteen years, shall be brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) 
is necessarily absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), and 
the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Tillis).
  Further, if present and voting: the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. 
Tillis) would have voted ``yea.''
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 55, nays 41, as follows:

[[Page S2020]]

  


                      [Rollcall Vote No. 151 Ex.]

                                YEAS--55

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Fetterman
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--41

     Blackburn
     Boozman
     Braun
     Britt
     Budd
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Lankford
     Lee
     Marshall
     Moran
     Mullin
     Paul
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Schmitt
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tuberville
     Vance
     Wicker
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Barrasso
     Lummis
     Murray
     Tillis
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Peters). The yeas are 55, the nays are 41.
  The motion is agreed to.
  THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.


                              Space Force

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, there is no better place in the entire 
United States than Ohio for the Space Command Headquarters and their 
additional units. Our State is ready to lead our military into the next 
frontier.
  And I rise because I don't know that my colleagues think--I 
understand we all care about our own States, but I don't know that they 
think enough about how my State has been for decades--literally 
decades--in many ways, the premier aerospace State in this country. The 
Wright Brothers are from Ohio, American heroes like John Glenn, and 
Neil Armstrong. The story of modern aviation was written in Ohio.
  Our State continues to lead the country in aerospace innovation and 
in military service. We have nearly a million veterans in Ohio, and I 
would like to call out--it is not really the purpose of the speech--but 
call out one veteran in particular. My mother is from Mansfield, GA; my 
dad is from Mansfield, OH. And my dad went off to war, and my mother 
came to Washington to help in the war effort.
  My dad, when he came back from overseas, went to a soldiers' dance at 
the Mayflower Hotel, and my dad met my mom at that soldiers' dance--one 
from Georgia, one from Ohio.
  And my daughter, who runs the YWCA in Columbus, was in town last 
night, and we decided to have dinner at the Mayflower Hotel. I am sure 
it looks very different. It wasn't a soldiers' dance, but it was fun to 
celebrate my parents and her grandparents.
  Back to the subject directly on aerospace, on Space Command, think 
about the military installations we have across my State. We have 
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, of course, but the Air Force Research 
Lab and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center and the Space 
Force's National Space Intelligence Center.
  We are home to the 88th Air Base Wing of the Air Force Life Cycle 
Management Center, where they support our military aircraft, engines, 
munitions, electronics, and cyber weapon systems. We have the Air Force 
Materiel Command that keeps Air Force weapons systems ready for war.
  Wright-Patterson has been a leader in military aviation development 
since the time of airplane inventors like the Wright brothers. It is 
positioned to lead us into the future.
  Just 150 miles away is NASA Glenn Research Center--one of only 10 in 
the country--at Lewis Field in Cleveland, and a few miles west in 
Sandusky, near Lake Eerie, is the NASA Armstrong Test Facility. These 
are facilities researching and developing and testing innovative 
technologies, taking us to the next frontier.
  We have the 178th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance 
Group at the Springfield Air National Guard Base. We have our Air Guard 
and Reserve bases--Toledo, Springfield, my hometown of Mansfield.
  It makes sense to base our country's space military leadership near 
these important assets that make Ohio the right location for both the 
U.S. Space Command headquarters and additional Space Force units.
  Think about the opportunity for collaboration here. Having Space 
Command located alongside the Air Force Research Lab will assist in the 
creation of new space technologies and capabilities. The NASIC at 
Wright-Patt is already the Space Force's intelligence center.
  Close proximity to NASA Glenn and Armstrong Testing Facility in 
northern Ohio will allow Space Command and Space Force to benefit from 
their unmatched experience and expertise in space missions. The 
Armstrong Testing Facility performs specialized research and testing 
that can't be done--that can't be done anywhere else in the world.
  Locating Space Command and additional Space Force assets in Ohio also 
means that the world's leading trade schools, research universities, 
Federal laboratories in Ohio, to our east Pennsylvania, to our north 
Michigan, to our west Indiana, to our south Kentucky and Tennessee, and 
Illinois are nearby, ready to work together to provide a pipeline of 
workers to be on the frontline of the next frontier of modern warfare. 
This proximity is, pure and simple, Mr. President, unmatched.
  Ohio alone has a network of world-class research universities and 
community colleges--14 4-year public universities and their 24 branch 
campuses, 23 2-year community and technical colleges, nearly 60 4-year 
private universities.
  Moving Space Command and Space Force units here would be good for the 
military, good for Ohio, good for our national economy.
  Ohioans know how important aerospace sector jobs are to our State. 
There is a direct line that runs from GE Aviation in Cincinnati through 
the base and aerospace companies in Dayton and around Columbus and up 
to NASA in Cleveland, touching thousands of Ohioans, reaching every 
region of our great State.
  With the CHIPS Act, we are bringing 10,000 good-paying, high-tech 
jobs to central Ohio making semiconductors. If you don't think this 
plays a role in our national security, ask the Chinese Communist Party 
if they would rather the chips for our cars, phones, missiles, planes, 
and satellites be made overseas. We are finally correcting that. We 
finally understood as a nation that we can't continue to outsource 
manual labor. We finally understand that chips should be made here--
they were invented here and should be made here; that light bulbs 
invented here should be made here; that steel, where we led the world, 
is coming back and building our bridges and all that we should be 
doing.
  We are already the center of the country for aerospace jobs. We are 
going to be a major hub for semiconductors and manufacturing. Locating 
our space military leadership near the domestic hub of both 
semiconductors and aerospace innovation is good for Ohio's economy, and 
it makes sense for our military. The military challenges of the future 
demand that our servicemembers have the most innovative, cutting-edge 
technology. Ohio and the entire Midwest make that technology.
  It is not a partisan issue, Mr. President. It is not ideological 
either. We have always worked together to support and grow these jobs 
and to invest in Ohio's military installations. This is no different.
  Ohio representatives from both sides of the aisle support this 
effort. This letter is led on the Senate side by me and on the House 
side by Republican   David Joyce from northern Ohio. Together we call 
on the President to bring new space missions to Ohio.
  It is simple: Ohio stands ready to meet the space-related national 
security challenges the United States faces now and in the future. It 
is how you bury the term ``Rust Belt.'' We bury it with the Air Force 
Research Laboratory. We bury it with the National Air and Space 
Intelligence Center. We bury it with the National Space Intelligence 
Center. We are burying it with NASA. We are going to bury it with U.S. 
Space Command and U.S. Space Force coming to Ohio.

[[Page S2021]]

  



                     Nomination of Molly R. Silfen

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this week, the Senate will vote to confirm 
Molly Silfen to the Court of Federal Claims. Ms. Silfen is an 
experienced litigator and public servant who is highly qualified to 
serve as a judge on the Court of Federal Claims. She earned her B.S. 
from Yale College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. After beginning 
her legal career in 2006 as an associate attorney at Finnegan, 
Henderson, Farabow, Garrett, and Dunner, she clerked for Judge Alan D. 
Lourie on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from 2008 
to 2010.
  During her time in private practice, Ms. Silfen handled patent and 
trademark issues for both individual patent owners and major companies. 
She performed a significant amount of pro bono work as well, including 
representing a veteran seeking benefits from the Department of Veterans 
Affairs.
  Ms. Silfen joined the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as an 
associate solicitor in 2013 and remains there today. In her work with 
the USPTO, she regularly briefs and argues appeals before the Federal 
Circuit and other Federal courts of appeals. She has argued 23 appeals 
before Federal courts of appeals and has served as counsel of record in 
five merits cases before the Supreme Court.
  While with the USPTO, Ms. Silfen has also been detailed to the Civil 
Division of the Department of Justice and to the Senate Judiciary 
Committee as part of former Senator Leahy's staff on the Subcommittee 
on Intellectual Property.
  Ms. Silfen's extensive experience at all levels of the Federal 
judicial system, along with her commitment to public service, will make 
her an exceptional addition to the Court of Federal Claims. I urge my 
colleagues to join me in voting for her confirmation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I ask that the rollcall vote begin now, 
immediately.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                       Vote on Silfen Nomination

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Silfen nomination?
  Mrs. CAPITO. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) 
and the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Whitehouse) are necessarily 
absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso), the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. 
Blackburn), the Senator from Wyoming (Ms. Lummis), and the Senator from 
Florida (Mr. Scott).
  Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Florida (Mr. Scott) 
would have voted ``nay.''
  The result was announced--yeas 55, nays 39, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 152 Ex.]

                                YEAS--55

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Collins
     Coons
     Cortez Masto
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Fetterman
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lujan
     Manchin
     Markey
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Reed
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warnock
     Warren
     Welch
     Wyden

                                NAYS--39

     Boozman
     Braun
     Britt
     Budd
     Capito
     Cassidy
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Grassley
     Hagerty
     Hawley
     Hoeven
     Hyde-Smith
     Johnson
     Lankford
     Lee
     Marshall
     Moran
     Mullin
     Paul
     Ricketts
     Risch
     Romney
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Schmitt
     Scott (SC)
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tuberville
     Vance
     Wicker
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--6

     Barrasso
     Blackburn
     Lummis
     Murray
     Scott (FL)
     Whitehouse
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schatz). The Senator from Virginia.


                              Gun Violence

  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about a tragedy that 
happened in Richmond a couple of days ago at the Altria center, in the 
heart of our city, when gun violence erupted right at the end of the 
graduation ceremony for the 2023 graduating class of Huguenot High 
School.
  Two people were killed: a Huguenot High School graduate, Shawn 
Jackson, and his stepfather, Renzo Smith. It is a tragedy that is 
really having a deep, deep impact in my community.
  I wanted to rise to speak about those who were killed and those who 
were injured, trampled in the pandemonium, the Huguenot High School 
community, the Richmond Public Schools community. The Altria center is 
a beautiful entertainment and event venue on Monroe Park in downtown 
Richmond. It was built in the 1920s and was built in the Moorish 
architectural style and was given the name of the ``Mosque,'' and it 
was called the Mosque for a very long time.
  I was elected to the Richmond City Council in 1994, and members of 
our Muslim community came to the Richmond City Council and said: We 
understand that this building has a particular architectural style. And 
we understand it may even be sort of a tribute to us to call this 
building a mosque, but it is not a mosque; it is an entertainment 
venue. There is alcohol served. There is dancing and other things that 
wouldn't be appropriate. And our Muslim community asked, in a very 
respectful way: Can you come up with a different name for this 
facility? It was in my city council district, and we acted to change 
the name of this facility to the Landmark. And then a number of years 
later, Altria, a company headquartered in Richmond, agreed to help 
renovate the facility, after nearly 100 years, and bring it to more 
21st century use, and the name is now the Altria Theater.
  I spend some time talking about this place because, Mr. President, I 
imagine you have places like this in Hawaii. These are places where 
everybody has gone for their entire lives for events like high school 
graduation. Virtually every public high school in Richmond and many of 
the private high schools in Richmond and the surrounding community, you 
go to a graduation, and it is at the Altria Theater.
  Of my three children, two of them graduated and walked across that 
stage at the Altria Theater. As a mayor and then-Governor and now 
Senator, I have spoken at many graduations right there on that stage at 
the Altria Theater. My wife, a graduate of Richmond Public Schools, who 
was the Secretary of Education in Virginia and First Lady of Virginia, 
has also delivered graduation speeches right there. We have been to 
concerts there and theatrical performances there. We know this building 
in every last square centimeter, and we know what it is like when the 
Altria Theater is filled with a crowd of people.
  High school graduation. I mean, think about it. I am 65 years old. 
Think about, over the course of a life, the happiest days of your life: 
high school graduation, college graduation, your wedding day, births of 
your children. I mean, over the course of a life, there are maybe 5 to 
10 days that are universal experiences for American people where it 
will be in the top 5 to 10 happiest days of your life. High school 
graduation is that.
  For Richmonders and people in the surrounding communities, you think 
high school graduation, the odds are, you are walking across the stage 
at that theater. These Huguenot High School graduates had walked across 
the stage. The young man, Mr. Jackson, had shaken the hand of Jason 
Kamras, the Richmond Public Schools principal, had received his 
congratulations. He was a young man who had done well in the classroom 
and had a lot of challenges--a lot of challenges--to get to that day.
  Often a graduation is that. It is an opportunity to thank everybody 
who helped you, but it is also an opportunity to reflect upon the 
challenges that people have to get to that day.

[[Page S2022]]

Back in the day, the grandparents would tell us how they used to have 
to walk 5 miles through the snow to get to school. That may not be the 
case anymore, but an awful lot of our kids have to do the equivalent--
the kind of psychic equivalent--of a 5-mile walk through the snow 
because they have to go through challenges. Whether they were homeless, 
whether they got a cancer diagnosis through school, they faced 
adversity and challenges.
  Then they get to this day, and they are entitled--they are entitled--
to celebrate. That is what they were doing. Then, as they are exiting 
the Altria Theater, which is right near the campus of Virginia 
Commonwealth University, and crossing the street to a beautiful park, 
Monroe Park, directly across, these gunshots break out, 20 shots in 
succession: families scrambling, knocking over people; vendors who were 
there, knocking over citizens; people scrambling in every direction. A 
young kid got pushed out onto the street and got hit by a vehicle. 
Thank goodness, she is going to be OK. Others sustained all kinds of 
minor injuries. Even those who were not injured, they will remember 
this and be scarred by it for the rest of their life because one of 
these four or five or six pivotal days in your life--the happiest days 
of your life--for them, will always be connected to seeing a classmate 
killed and seeing this happy day turned into an unspeakable tragedy.

  I know how I think about my high school graduation. It was one of the 
happiest days of my life. Having been in that building, I know how the 
Huguenot community for the class of 2023 will remember their high 
school graduation day, and it is a tragedy that the memory is so 
polluted by this epidemic of gun violence.
  Mr. President, I had the opportunity earlier this year--and I have 
spoken about it on the floor--to attend another school in Virginia, 
Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. On January 6, a 6-year-old 
brought a gun to school in a backpack. It was a student who had all 
kinds of difficult, difficult challenges. As his compassionate and 
brave teacher, Abby Zwerner, tried to deal with the situation, the 
student shot her. Thank God, she is recovering. Thank God, no one was 
killed that day.
  But I had the opportunity to go down about 2 weeks after that to have 
an off-the-record, no press, no administrators discussion with parents 
and teachers at the school. The degree of trauma--the degree of 
trauma--of this happening and the degree of fear: ``Every day I go to 
work now, every day I go to work now, I am afraid this might happen.'' 
``Every day I drop my child off in the morning, I drive away wondering 
whether I am going to get a call'' or ``I am going to get an emergency 
alert on my phone or if I pull up at the end of the day, am I going to 
be able to pick up my child and will my child be safe?''
  My kids all went to the Richmond Public schools, the same schools 
that include Huguenot High School, and my youngest only graduated 10 
years ago. But I will say, my wife and I, from pre-K to 12, in that 13 
years for each of my three kids, never one day--never one day--never 
one day did we drop our kid off at school and worry about whether they 
would be safe at the end of the day.
  The shooting at Sandy Hook happened right after my youngest child 
graduated from high school. There had been shootings at Columbine High 
School years and years ago. But the reality of my own children's public 
education in an urban school setting was we weren't worried about them.
  But just 10 years later, what parent in this country who takes a 
child to school does not have a voice in their head with some worry 
about what might happen to them when they are there? Even if you live 
in a community where there has never been a school shooting, that fear 
is not absent from your mind because you have seen it happen in every 
region of the country. You have seen it happen in public schools. You 
have seen it happen in the Covenant Christian School in Nashville, in 
elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges.
  Maybe I am naive, but gun violence has been a reality of American 
life for a very long time. To me, it seemed, as a 65-year-old, that 
there have been some safe spaces. There have been some safe havens. 
There have been some refugees. There are none anymore. A church is not 
a refuge. A synagogue is not a refuge. A mosque is not a refuge. A 
school is not a refuge. An event space that is beloved by the entire 
community because everybody graduated from high school there for the 
last 100 years is not a refuge. A public park where you can gather to 
recreate with your family and friends is not a refuge. There is no 
refuge from this epidemic.
  We talk about American exceptionalism. Often, when we do, we are 
talking about the things where we are exceptional in a positive way. It 
is important to acknowledge those things and be proud of them.
  But there is an American exceptionalism to this, the degree of these 
mass shootings and the absence of any place--any place--that is a 
refuge is something that is exceptional about us in a way that is very, 
very painful.
  As you know, because of my time in Central America, I have a 
particular connection with a lot of folks from the Americas who work 
here in the Capitol, and they often come up to me and we shoot the 
breeze and we talk in my somewhat limited Spanish about what is going 
on. And I had somebody, earlier in the year, after the shooting at the 
Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, come up to me and say: You 
know what--in Spanish--you know, El Salvador is one of the most 
dangerous countries in the world, but there aren't shootings in the 
schools.
  The homicide rate may be higher than here, but there is a refuge. 
There is an understanding that you do not strip young people of their 
innocence and subject students and their families to the threat of gun 
violence every day.
  We live in a country of no refuge, and I just wanted to take the 
floor to say to the family of Shawn Jackson and Lorenzo Smith, his 
stepfather--Shawn's mother has had to deal with both her husband and 
her son not just being taken away but taken away on the same day, on 
what was supposed to be the happiest day of their life. And she has 
been interviewed and talked about how hard it was for her son to get to 
this graduation and what a meaningful milestone in his life it was to 
be there on that day.
  But the last thing that I would like to say is, it is easy to give up 
and be hopeless. I mean, I find, having been a mayor in Richmond when 
the homicide rate was the second highest in the United States and 
having been the Governor when the worst shooting in the United States 
happened at Virginia Tech, and how sad it is that I wish that would 
always be the worst shooting--it is a weird thing to say about your own 
State. But I hope there never would have been a tragedy that would have 
eclipsed 32 people being killed at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, and 
yet there have now been many tragedies that have claimed more victims 
than that, what had seemed like an unprecedented one.
  It can seem hopeless. It can seem hopeless. I just want to say to 
students and families, especially to young people who are kind of 
trying to grapple with the reality of life in America circa 2023, and 
they are seeing skies that look apocalyptic outside because of climate 
issues, and they are reading stories about gun violence, and they are 
worried about a whole variety of things that maybe I didn't have to 
worry about when I was their age: We can't be hopeless because we can 
make progress.
  Last year, for the first time in 20 years, here in the Senate, we 
passed a bipartisan gun safety bill. It didn't do everything that needs 
to be done, but we showed--not easily, but we showed--that we could 
act.
  During my time as a public official in Virginia, we have finally 
worked our way into the ranks of one of the 10 safest States in terms 
of major and violent crime. We were never in the 10 safest for a very 
long time, but, sort of toward the end of my time as Governor, we got 
there, and we maintained that position. The Virginia General Assembly, 
which had long, frankly, been enthralled to the National Rifle 
Association, whose headquarters is in Virginia, in 2019 and 2020 
finally embraced a set of gun safety measures that haven't eliminated 
gun violence, just like seatbelts don't eliminate all traffic accident 
death, but have helped make us safer. And if we can do it in Virginia, 
though we have so much

[[Page S2023]]

more to do, we can do it here in the U.S. Congress.
  Thank you for indulging me and letting me just share the personal 
nature of this reflection in my hometown, in this place where we have 
spent so much time and that Richmonders know in such an intimate way.
  And this beautiful building, now 100 years old, where we have gone 
for generations to celebrate, it has a bloodstain on it now. And I am 
sure that stain is cleaned away, but we all will see it, and we all 
will feel it forever--forever.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Booker). The Senator from Utah.


            100th Anniversary of Bryce Canyon National Park

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, today we commemorate the 100th anniversary of 
the attraction now known as Bryce Canyon National Park. This occasion 
allows us to reflect on the importance of Bryce Canyon and pay tribute 
to the pioneers who have helped make it such a great place and have 
shaped its history over the years and those pioneers who are still 
shaping its contribution to the world today.
  Bryce Canyon holds a special place in the hearts of Utahans and of 
visitors from across the United States and really throughout the world. 
Its towering rock formations, which are known as hoodoos, are a 
testament to the unparalleled beauty found in nature. The vibrant 
colors that paint the canyon's walls at sunrise and sunset create a 
truly mesmerizing spectacle. And if you haven't been there, you need to 
visit Bryce Canyon.
  In 1874, Scottish immigrant Ebenezer Bryce settled with his wife Mary 
on the land just below these stunning reddish-hued cliffs. The settlers 
in the area began calling it Bryce's Canyon after Ebenezer Bryce, who 
humorously remarked that it was ``a helluva place to lose a cow.''
  The charm and allure of the canyon were evident even in those early 
days, long before millions of visitors from around the world had come 
to see it.
  Fast-forward to 1915, when J.W. Humphrey, a U.S. Forest Service 
supervisor, first set foot on the rim above the location we refer to 
today as the Bryce amphitheater. Overwhelmed by the indescribable 
beauty, Mr. Humphrey shared his enchantment with the world, sending 
photographs and films to newspapers, magazines, and TV stations far and 
wide. He built roads, constructed trails, and established a campground, 
charging campers a $1 fee.
  And this fee had a guarantee attached to it. He made the $1 fee fully 
refundable if any visitor didn't find the view completely worth it.
  Well, Mr. Humphrey proudly boasted that he never once had to return a 
single dollar, not from a single visitor who received that guarantee.
  Year after year, the allure of Bryce Canyon has continued to grow. In 
fact, it has grown exponentially. What started with around 20,000 
annual visits in its early years had escalated to over 500,000 by 1975, 
over 1 million by 2002, and over 2 million in 2016. Last year alone, 
the park welcomed an astonishing 2.4 million visitors.
  What is it then about Bryce Canyon that draws people in like this? I 
think it is the ``Bryce moment,'' that magical instant when the park's 
magnificent panorama suddenly comes into focus. It is especially 
magical if you see it either at sunrise or sunset. Either way, you are 
going to be amazed by what you see. It is that breathtaking experience 
that is sort of akin to looking up at the Empire State Building or at 
the Taj Mahal, where you can't quite believe what you are seeing.
  A few years ago, I was thinking about my many visits to Bryce Canyon 
over the years, and I have visited Bryce Canyon as a child and as an 
adult. I visited Bryce Canyon first with family members, and I have 
also visited with friends, with work colleagues, and in all kinds of 
different situations.
  I still remember the first time I brought my three children to Bryce 
Canyon, when they were young, and how proud I was to show them this 
beautiful feature within our State, and how much I enjoyed it.
  I remember another time, when I was right out of law school, clerking 
for a Federal district judge, the honorable Dee Benson of the U.S. 
District Court for the District of Utah. We had been working hard, and 
one day Judge Benson decided he was going to schedule a brief weekend 
visit for us, just voluntarily, just for fun, to go down and visit 
Bryce Canyon. The law clerks and the other court personnel who worked 
in his chambers went down and visited Bryce Canyon. It was so much fun.
  During one of my more recent visits to Bryce Canyon, a few years 
ago--not my last one but one of the more recent visits--I went down 
there and met with one of our county associations of governments, where 
State, local, and Federal elected officials came together to talk about 
lands issues. And I happened to have brought my daughter Eliza with me 
on that trip. It had been a few years since I had brought Eliza to 
Bryce Canyon, but we got there. We looked over the hoodoos and looked 
through those canyons right at sunset. It was yet another magical 
moment.
  So these things become a tradition and certainly become a tradition 
with me and my family and my friends. It is a cherished tradition that 
brings people together. In rural communities and in this particular 
rural community, it brings tourist visitors to an otherwise sparsely 
visited region of our State, and it exemplifies the spirit of adventure 
and of camaraderie.
  On that particular trip, when I brought my daughter Eliza to meet 
with these State, local, and Federal Government officials, we went on 
an ATV ride around some of the areas surrounding the park, and it took 
us just outside of the park to the north.
  The night before, we had had the opportunity to meet with these 
incredible individuals who call the region home, and at Ruby's Inn, we 
had gotten together for dinner and shared stories and laughter at the 
deep appreciation for this unique landscape and for the people who 
lived there. The sense of community and shared experiences was 
palpable.
  We ventured into Bryce Canyon National Park for an evening hike, and, 
as the sun began to set, casting a warm glow upon those structures 
known as hoodoos, we were enveloped in a world of natural wonder. The 
majesty of Bryce Canyon revealed itself in all its glory. It was a 
transformative experience, just one of many that reminded me yet again 
of the enduring power of nature to uplift and to inspire.
  So, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Bryce Canyon, let us 
honor the pioneers who recognized the unique beauty of the land and its 
potential to inspire and to attract people from all across the United 
States and throughout the world. Let us embrace the spirit of adventure 
and exploration that defines Bryce Canyon and all of our national 
parks, but especially that one. And may we continue to cherish the 
memories and experiences these natural wonders provide, ensuring that 
future generations can forge connections with the breathtaking 
landscapes of Bryce Canyon.
  Thank you, Mr. President, and may Bryce Canyon forever hold a special 
place in our hearts.
  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. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                   Prescription Medication Shortages

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, our country is facing a medication shortage 
crisis. Americans can no longer count on their medicines being 
available at the pharmacy counter when they need them.
  Unfortunately, it is actually worse than a simple shortage. It is, in 
particular, that America doesn't have access to an adequate supply of 
generic drugs that can be stocked by our pharmacies.
  I have heard from parents throughout my State whose kids are sick 
with a strep throat, and they are out there scrambling from pharmacy to 
pharmacy trying to track down a basic antibiotic. These concerns are 
especially serious in rural parts of my State--I think this is true in 
a lot of parts of this country--because of the long distances families 
have to drive if their community pharmacy in a rural area can't meet 
their needs. This, in my view, is an enormous and urgent national 
challenge.
  There are, for example, cancer patients who can't get treatment 
because

[[Page S2024]]

the medication they need is in low supply. With cancer, we know every 
single second counts. In many cases, people die if they are not 
treated. This makes the crisis not abstract, but it is a real life-or-
death crisis. There are Americans suffering from ADHD who can't get 
their hands on the medications they rely on that their doctor 
prescribed to them to help so they can function at school, at work, and 
at home.
  A pharmacist in southern Oregon told me that one of their patients 
went without their medication for almost 2 months, and it undercuts 
their ability to complete daily tasks. Derailing these lives--young and 
old--due to a generic drug shortage just has got to be unacceptable--
unacceptable--to the richest country in the world.
  Now, the crisis is hurting Americans in many places; but as I have 
indicated, it is especially stark in rural America. Independent 
pharmacies have been essential in rural communities in my State. These 
pharmacies can't always afford to keep brand-name drugs stocked, 
especially during a shortage. They rely, as do so many of these 
pharmacies across the land, on available generic medicines so they can 
serve their customers and stay in business.
  And the travel I mentioned from pharmacy to pharmacy to get needed 
medications is no simple challenge. I'm having a whole group of town 
halls in eastern Oregon at the end of this month. I made a commitment 
to have an open-to-all town meeting in every county that I have the 
honor to represent. I've had 1,050 of them, and I can tell you the 
distance between small towns in eastern Oregon is often measured in 
hours, not miles or minutes. So if you live in rural Oregon and your 
local pharmacy lacks your medication, you have got to find the time and 
the gas money to travel anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes to the next 
closest pharmacy and hope and pray that the medication hasn't just been 
sold before you got there. These commute times are even longer in the 
winter months when the weather conditions are especially serious.
  I heard recently about an Oregonian who went to the pharmacy every 
day for 2 weeks--2 weeks--to get that day's shipment of the 
prescription they needed. Every single day, they went to the pharmacy. 
That is a lot of time spent on top of working, taking care of a family, 
and trying to get your basic needs met. This is going to get worse in 
pharmacies across Oregon and the Nation without this Congress and our 
country acting.
  Shortages of these generics has generated a domino effect. It's 
caused shortages of alternative medications to treat ADHD. And so many 
Americans--millions and millions--have looked for this drug, and they 
are looking for alternatives. And some of these other medicines may be 
less effective. We ought to be clear, in some cases there is no domino 
effect because some generics don't have any alternatives at all.

  I asked a pharmacist in eastern Oregon to share with me how this has 
affected the people she and her family serve. She told me that many 
customers who took medication that were working very well are now 
bumping up against this shortage. So now a patient's doctor, according 
to this pharmacist, will write a prescription for another medication 
and then change the patient back to the original preferred medication--
the one that has been working for them--if and when it is available. In 
essence, the doctors are forced to lurch as their patients go back and 
forth from one medicine to another--medicines that can have a different 
effect--if they can get them.
  Another patient in rural Oregon was receiving the generic for 
Adderall at a 30-milligram dose, which suddenly became unavailable. 
Their insurance wouldn't pay for the brand-name drug, so the patient 
was forced to take a lower dose version of the generic. This patient 
has to change the medication every month, not based on their medical 
needs, but trying to figure out what their rural pharmacy is going to 
be able to provide.
  Then, because ADHD medicines are Schedule II drugs, the prescriptions 
can't be transferred between pharmacies. If a person's medication isn't 
available at their local pharmacy but is available at a pharmacy 90 
minutes away, patients in this situation have to double back to their 
doctor to get a new prescription before they can even start the trek to 
the distant pharmacy. So sometimes this means the patient has to 
physically drive to the doctor's office and pick up a hard copy of the 
prescription if the doctor isn't registered with the Drug Enforcement 
Agency, the DEA.
  Just picture this kind of bureaucratic nightmare for people who are 
just hoping--hoping--in small towns that somebody is thinking about 
their needs. But the idea of physically driving to a doctor's office, 
getting a hard copy of the prescription when the doctor, as I said, 
isn't registered with the DEA to prescribe the drugs electronically is 
just a microcosm of what these patients in rural Oregon and rural 
America are telling us.
  A rural pharmacist told me that what I just described happened this 
week with a patient who was forced to drive from Heppner to Pendleton, 
an hour and a half away, to pick up their physical, paper prescription, 
and then off they went to their pharmacy.
  Now, there are a variety of reasons of why we have these shortages; 
but when it comes to the ADHD medication, specifically, part of the 
problem may be that the generic drug manufacturers are not 
communicating with the government Agencies who regulate the 
manufacturing of these drugs. And neither the generic manufacturers nor 
these Agencies are communicating effectively with the public, which is 
why so many Members of Congress are getting these calls asking them to 
step in and help.
  Now, the DEA is in charge of how much of this ADHD medication can be 
produced and dispersed. Okay? This is the Agency that tells you how 
much of this medication is going to be available. They are telling me 
drug companies can make more medication any time they want to. The 
companies say, not so. They are saying what the DEA says isn't true. 
The companies claim that the DEA is denying their applications to make 
more medicine during the shortage. Now, add to this the Food and Drug 
Administration, the FDA, saying they don't know of any denials to make 
more drugs handed down by the Drug Enforcement Agency to the drug 
manufacturers and that the DEA has approved applications that the FDA 
has weighed in on.
  So if your head is now spinning as you try to sort through the word 
salad, as I call it, of American healthcare, it is understandable, 
because at every level, there are new requirements that you try to 
reconcile with what I have already described.
  The Secretary of Health and Human Services is required by law to post 
justifications when the DEA denies these kinds of applications on the 
FDA's website, but none have been posted. So if you are a patient who 
is hurting or a family who is trying to treat a sick child or an elder, 
you deserve something better--something better--than the chaos I have 
just described. Again, companies are saying their applications to make 
more medicine have been denied.
  So I have just given you the conflict between these Agencies that, 
heaven forbid--quaint idea--would actually talk to each other. 
Something doesn't add up, so the Senate is going to have to step in and 
sort this out so that the citizens of this country get straight 
answers. And this bureaucratic doublespeak is particularly hard on 
Oregonians who come to me and ask why they are suffering from a crisis 
that is not of their making.
  Now, I recently spoke to the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement 
Agency. She was aware I had an interest in this as I serve as chairman 
of the Senate Finance Committee, and she agreed that greater 
transparency in the process is going to help the ongoing work of the 
Agency to reform the system.
  Well, we are sure going to hold them to that. Certainly some clear, 
at least coherent language is desperately needed and better 
communication for the patients. That is what I am insisting on from the 
Drug Enforcement Agency and the FDA because they have a responsibility 
to reach out to these companies of these essential medicines to sort 
these out and make these medicines accessible to the American people, 
and the Agencies ought to give the manufacturers clear guidance on how 
to navigate the bureaucratic fiefdoms that exist here in Washington.

[[Page S2025]]

  I will also say that I am concerned that despite this heightened 
attention to medication shortages, these Agencies appear to be solely 
focused on production at the national level, and there is no real 
connection to the local pharmacy window. We know that when we finally 
took away the grail--the Holy Grail--from the pharmaceutical companies 
and that Medicare could negotiate to hold down, you know, prices, one 
of the reasons we did is that we knew this issue really mattered at the 
pharmacy window. That is when people in New Jersey and Oregon and 
everywhere else want to have available drugs and have them made 
affordable. It has to become local.
  Further, it is important not just to focus on the production and 
availability of these drugs like Adderall but to ensure that the 
generic equivalents are broadly available and recognized as a part of 
access for patients. For instance, a copay for the generic medicine 
could be $10. If it is not available, and after the pharmacy spends 45 
minutes on the phone with the patient's insurance company and the 
patient, the name brand Adderall could be approved, but even with 
insurance, the patient could face a copay of anywhere from $75 to $200.
  For all of those families in America who are walking an economic 
tightrope in balancing their food bill against their fuel bill and 
their fuel bill against their rent bill, they are not going to be in a 
position to pay these constantly escalating prices, and, you know, when 
you are trying to feed your family, you might make your own health your 
lowest priority.
  So the Federal Agencies need to help manufacturers get better at 
reporting spikes in consumer demand for important medicines that they 
are going to have a hard time meeting, and Congress has to work on 
making it a requirement--a requirement--for the manufacturers to report 
this information.
  I am going to close by offering a really radical idea: that the Food 
and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration get 
together and work this out, because it is not about Democrats and 
Republicans. I am a Democrat, and the Republicans sit over there. This 
has nothing to do with that--nothing--but it has everything to do with 
the proposition that Americans deserve better. These Agencies that I 
have cited ought to give a full explanation to the American people 
about what they are doing now, what they are doing a month from now, 
and what they are going to be doing until they get this fixed.
  In my call to these two Agencies, I believe--and I know the Presiding 
Officer does--that Americans ought to be able to get the healthcare 
they need when they need it, and right now, too many Americans are 
suffering because they can't, particularly with respect to those who 
need medicines to deal with ADHD.
  We are hurting people's lives. In the worst case, I believe Americans 
may be using drugs not prescribed by their doctors as a result of all 
of this bedlam I have described.
  I will tell the Presiding Officer, in wrapping up, you know--and he 
and I have talked about this--that I was the co-director for the Oregon 
Gray Panthers for many years, and this has been the area of healthcare 
I have really tried to specialize in because I have always felt that if 
you and your loved ones don't have your healthcare, everything else 
goes by the board. I don't recall very many examples of this kind of 
dysfunction. I don't know any other way to sum it up. This kind of 
dysfunction is unacceptable to the millions of Americans who need this 
medicine.
  So I am going to stay at it. I know the Presiding Officer well enough 
to know that he feels strongly about helping exactly these kinds of 
people. It is a problem that is hammering families from one end of the 
country to another. It is particularly hard right now as we speak on 
the folks I represent in rural Oregon, the folks I am going to see at 
the townhall meetings here in a few days. We are going to stay at it 
until we get it fixed.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________