[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 15960-15993]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017--CONFERENCE 
                                 REPORT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the conference report.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Conference report to accompany S. 2943, a bill to authorize 
     appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military activities 
     of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and 
     for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to 
     prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, 
     and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Toomey). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following 
Senators who wish to speak in honor of the Presiding Officer be 
recognized in the following order for up to 4 minutes each: me, the 
majority leader Senator McConnell, the minority leader Senator Reid, 
Senator Schumer, Senator Hatch, Senator Leahy, Senator McCain, Senator 
Durbin, Senator Isakson, Senator Murray, Senator Feinstein, Senator 
Collins, Senator Mikulski, and Senator Carper.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Democratic leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator 
from Delaware amend his request so that Senator McConnell and I will 
use our leader time. That will not count against his hour.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Delaware.


                  Tributes to Vice President Joe Biden

  Mr. COONS. Mr. President--and it does bring me some joy to call you 
Mr. President. I am honored to be here today with so many of our 
colleagues, and I am grateful to Majority Leader McConnell and Leader 
Reid for their enthusiasm in pulling together this bipartisan tribute. 
I am honored to be joined by my senior Senator from Delaware, Tom 
Carper, who will make closing remarks this afternoon.
  Before I begin, I would like to remind my colleagues that there will 
be a reception for the Vice President in the Mansfield Room, after we 
conclude here, beginning sometime after 4. We have many Senators who 
wish to speak so we will move quickly through the order. I encourage my 
colleagues to submit their remarks for the Record, those who are not 
able to speak in the next hour. Their remarks will be combined with all 
the other remarks given on the floor, and the resulting speeches 
printed, bound, and presented to the Presiding Officer.
  Mr. President, in a place known these days for some disagreements, my 
colleagues--our colleagues, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents--
are all here today because we agree on one powerful and simple thing: 
our deep gratitude for the difference you have made in your decades in 
public service.
  The greatest honor of my life is to serve in the seat that you held 
for 36 years--and not just literally this seat in the Senate but also a 
seat on the 7:15 Amtrak train down from Wilmington every morning. You 
logged over 2 million miles on Amtrak and millions more traveling 
around the world fighting for our country, and as long as I have the 
privilege of representing our

[[Page 15961]]

State in the Senate, I will be humbled by the challenge of living up to 
your legacy of fighting for and making a real difference for the people 
of our shared home.
  Like so many Americans, I have long been inspired by your loyalty to 
your family, and I am so glad to see so many familiar faces in the 
Gallery today. This job requires a strong partner and teammate, and to 
Dr. Biden, Jill, your unwavering support for your family, for Delaware, 
and your country is something for which we are all deeply grateful.
  As a son of Delaware, and of Catherine Eugenia and Joe Senior, you 
have never forgotten from where you came or for whom you are fighting. 
Even as Vice President, our fellow Delawareans have the blessing of a 
surprise visit week in and week out, to see you at the Columbus Day 
breakfast or Return Day or St. Anthony's Procession.
  Whether meeting personally with world leaders you have known for 
decades, whether chairing the Judiciary or Foreign Relations Committees 
or just stopping by a Claymont diner, there is universal agreement 
about what you have brought to this work--your passion, your heart, 
your character, and your integrity. That is because you genuinely 
listen to people, you ask them questions, and then you lift them up. We 
know that when you give us your word as a Biden, you mean it, and you 
will keep it.
  Your service as a Senator stands as a model for all of our colleagues 
and for me. Through challenging times, you always worked across the 
aisle, through eight Presidents. You were willing to reach across to 
anyone willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work for the 
American people.
  So many families across Delaware and this country and I, myself, as 
we have struggled with loss--maybe the loss of a job or loss of hope or 
the impending loss of a loved one--have experienced the incredible 
personal comfort and power of a call from you. When it comes to 
providing advice and inspiration that touches our hearts and makes a 
real difference, no one--no one--is better than you. We know you will 
share our challenges, you will give us meaningful comfort and encourage 
us, and you will fight for us.
  As we look ahead to next year and beyond, I know you and Jill have so 
much more great and good work to do, starting with the fight to cure 
cancer through the Cancer Moonshot. This next chapter will be every bit 
as exciting and meaningful as the life of service you have led for 44 
years. What an honor to see you in that chair earlier this week as the 
majority leader led the Senate in a unanimous vote to rename a title of 
the 21st Century Cures cancer initiative after Beau. That bill, which 
we passed finally just an hour ago, would not have happened without 
your leadership.
  Now, let me close with a line you know all too well, a line you 
shared countless times in this Chamber, sometimes from this very desk. 
As the Irish poet Seamus Heaney once wrote, ``History says, don't hope 
on this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime, the longed-for 
tidal wave of justice can rise up, and hope and history rhyme.''
  No one, sir, no one has done more to make hope and history rhyme than 
you. Thank you, Mr. President, for your service, your counsel, your 
advice, your friendship, and your leadership.
  It is now my pleasure to yield to the majority leader, Senator 
McConnell of Kentucky, who has been so generous with floor time and 
support this afternoon.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The majority leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is great to see the Presiding 
Officer back in the Senate. It is good news for everyone he is in the 
chair. Good news for him because, as Senator Coons said, the rest of us 
have to call him ``Mr. President.'' Good news for the rest of us 
because he has to let everyone else talk.
  The amazing thing is, the man we honor today wasn't always a talker. 
He suffered from a debilitating stutter for most of his childhood. He 
was teased for it, but he was determined to overcome it, and so he 
did--with hard work, with determination, with the support of his 
family. It is classic Joe Biden. He has never stopped talking since.
  He cites overcoming that stutter as one of the most important lessons 
in his life. It led him down a path few might have foreseen: winning 
election to the county council, securing an improbable victory for the 
U.S. Senate, becoming our Nation's 47th Vice President.
  Now, the Presiding Officer would be the first to tell you that he has 
been blessed in many ways. He has also been tested, knocked down, 
pushed to the edge of what anyone could be expected to bear, but from 
the grip of unknowable despair came a new man--a better man: stronger 
and more compassionate, grateful for every moment, appreciative of what 
really matters.
  Here in the Senate he heeded the advice of Mike Mansfield. Here is 
what Senator Mansfield had to say:

       Your job here is to find the good things in your 
     colleagues. And, Joe, never attack another man's motive, 
     because you don't know his motive.

  Look for the good. Don't attack motives. It is the basis of a simple 
philosophy and a very powerful one.
  Vice President Biden says he views his competitors as competitors, 
not enemies, and he has been able to cultivate many unlikely 
friendships across the aisle--with Jesse Helms, with Strom Thurmond, 
with me.
  Over the years, we have worked together on issues of mutual interest, 
like Burma--and regarding the vote we just took a few moments ago--21st 
Century Cures, and the Cancer Moonshot.
  We have also negotiated in good faith when the country needed 
bipartisan leadership. We got results that would not have been possible 
without a negotiating partner like Joe Biden. Obviously, I don't always 
agree with him, but I do trust him implicitly. He doesn't break his 
word. He doesn't waste time telling me why I am wrong. He gets down to 
brass tacks, and he keeps in sight the stakes. There is a reason ``Get 
Joe on the phone'' is shorthand for ``time to get serious'' in my 
office.
  The Vice President is a likeable guy too. He has a well-developed 
sense of humor. He doesn't take himself too seriously either. When The 
Onion ran a mock photo of him washing a Trans-Am in the White House 
driveway, shirtless, Americans embraced it, and so did he. ``I think 
it's hilarious,'' he said, but ``by the way, I have a Corvette--'67 
Corvette--not a Trans-Am.'' So you see what I mean.
  Joe Biden may exist in the popular imagination aboard an Amtrak, but 
this son of a used car salesman will always be a muscle guy at heart.
  And what a road he has traveled, from New Castle to the Naval 
Observatory, from Scranton to the Senate. His journey in this body 
began by the side of those who loved him; hand on the Bible, heart in a 
knot, swearing the same oath he now administers to others. It is a 
journey that ends now by the side of those who care about him still--
those like his wife Jill, who understands the full life he has lived.
  Here is a man who has known great joy, who has been read his last 
rites, and who has never lost himself along the way.
  ``Champ,'' his father used to say, ``the measure of a man is not how 
often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.'' That is Joe 
Biden right there--unbowed, unbroken, and unable to stop talking.
  It is my privilege to convey the Senate's warm wishes to the Vice 
President on this Delaware Day as the next steps of his long journey 
come into view. There are many here who feel this way in both parties.
  I am reminded of something the Presiding Officer said when he 
addressed the University of Louisville several years ago. It was one of 
the McConnell Center's most popular lectures ever. And as I sat beside 
him, he offered his theory as to why that might be: I think you're all 
here today--remember, these are young people, students. He said: I 
think you are all here today because ``you want to see whether or not a 
Republican and Democrat really like each other,'' he said. ``Well,'' he 
continued, flashing a smile, ``I'm here to tell you we do.'' It was 
true then, and it is true today.

[[Page 15962]]

  I hope the Presiding Officer won't mind if I conclude with some words 
directed to the Chair.
  Mr. President, you have been a real friend, you have been a trusted 
partner, and it has been an honor to serve with you. We are all going 
to miss you. Godspeed.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The minority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, to everyone listening, Joe Biden's life has 
been the material of which movies are made.
  Joe was born in Scranton, PA, to Joe and Jean Biden, the first of 
four children. As a young man, as we have heard about today--once in a 
while, though not very often, Senator Biden talks about his stammering. 
He didn't get any professional help, no therapy. He did it on his own, 
long hours of reading, mostly poetry. He would stand in front of a 
mirror and recite poetry time after time after time, watching himself 
to make sure he didn't contort his face when he stammered or stuttered. 
This wasn't easy for a young man. People made fun of him, but he knew 
he could do it on his own. He felt that, and he did it. He worked hard. 
He developed a rhythm and a cadence of speaking that helped him 
overcome his stammer to become one of the United States Senate's all-
time great orators, without any qualification.
  Joe was an outstanding high school running back and wide receiver. 
His coach said he had never seen anyone with such hands. His coach saw 
in Joe what we all see, a hard worker who refuses to fail. His coach 
said:

       Joe was a skinny kid. But he was one of the best pass 
     receivers I had in 16 years as a coach.

  In college, Joe continued to display his athletic prowess, playing 
football for the University of Delaware.
  This is quite a story. During spring break, his junior year--Joe and 
I were traveling from Indianapolis to Reno, NV, and he talked to me 
about this, just the two of us. I will never forget that conversation. 
He and one of his college buddies had gotten a tax return, and they 
were going to take a little vacation away from the cold of Delaware. 
They went to Florida. Frankly, they didn't like it. They had a few 
dollars left over from their tax returns, and I believe they went to 
the Bahamas. They got an inexpensive hotel. I was going to say 
``cheap,'' but I will say ``inexpensive'' hotel.
  Right next to them was an exclusive hotel, and they noticed when the 
people came out of the fancy hotel off that private beach, many times 
they would lay their towels on the fence. Joe and his pal said: Well, 
those towels aren't even wet. They went down to that private beach, and 
it was there that he met a young woman by the name of Neilia, Neilia 
Hunter. I am sure that, just like Jill, she must have been a knockout 
to look at. She went to the University of Syracuse. She was on the 
dean's list. She had been homecoming queen.
  That was the beginning of the relationship that they had. Joe had 
been smitten. After graduating from the University of Delaware, he 
enrolled in law school in Syracuse to be closer to her.
  The story of his and Neilia's relationship is stunning. I repeat, it 
was something that movies are made of. Without being too personal, I 
will say it the way it is because it is a wonderful story, and I can 
identify with it so well because of Landra and me. There came a time 
when her father came to her and said: You know, he is not that much. He 
comes from a family that is not like ours. And she said: Dad, stop. If 
you make me choose between you and Joe, I am going to choose Joe.
  So that was that relationship. I repeat, Landra and I understand that 
story quite well. They were married a short time later. They had three 
children, Beau, Hunter, and Naomi.
  After starting his law practice and serving as city councilman in New 
Castle, DE, Joe stunned and embarrassed a few of his friends and 
relatives by saying he was going to run for the Senate.
  You will run for the Senate against a two-term incumbent, Caleb 
Boggs?
  I think I can do it.
  I am sure he said to himself: A lot of people said I couldn't 
overcome certain things, and I did, and I am going to do my best to 
overcome this race I am in. I am starting way behind.
  Joe and his family went at this as hard as they could. They canvassed 
the entire State. They pulled off an incredible upset. Joe Biden was 
elected to the U.S. Senate. In every respect, Joe's life has been 
unique. It has been special. His election to the Senate was no 
different.
  The great Constitution that leads this Nation stipulates that the 
person must be 30 years old to be elected to the Senate. Joe was 29 on 
election day. He turned 30 2 weeks after the election. Just a few weeks 
later, tragedy struck and struck really hard. Neilia and their three 
children were in a terrible car accident just days before Christmas. He 
had not been sworn in as a Senator yet.
  His wife was killed, their baby girl was killed, and Beau and Hunter 
were grievously injured--hospitalized, of course. To say Joe was grief-
stricken is an understatement. How can you describe how he felt? I am 
sure, as I have heard, he didn't know what to do. He had two boys to 
raise. He wasn't a man of great means. He strongly considered: I 
shouldn't be sworn in to the Senate; I can't do this.
  He had friends, people who didn't know him who were Senators, who 
treated him as fathers. Without the help of Valerie, his sister, Joe 
Biden's life may have been completely different because with the 
support he got from her, the encouragement he got from Democratic and 
Republican Senators, and the fact that she moved in, took care of Beau 
and Hunter to replace their mom--she was there for 4 years helping with 
those boys.
  Joe is a remarkable man. When I was in the House of Representatives, 
he agreed to come to the house in Nevada for me. It was a big deal to 
get this senior Senator to come to Nevada. He came. Every place he 
traveled, he had one of his boys with him.
  With the support of his sister and other members of his family, Joe 
embarked on a long, storied, 36-year career that was productive and 
unsurpassed in the history of the Senate.
  That was not the end of Joe's difficulties. Joe is, as you can see 
now, a very well-conditioned man. He always has been. As a Senator, he 
suffered a massive bleed on the brain, and he was hospitalized for a 
long time. He didn't come to the Senate for a long time. When I got 
hurt, one of the first people to call me was Joe. He said: Look, the 
fact you are going to be missing a little time in the Senate doesn't 
mean you can't be a good Senator. That was the example that Joe Biden 
set.
  He recovered, and he became chairman of the Senate Judiciary 
Committee, the Foreign Relations chair, author of many pieces of 
legislation--Violence Against Women--too numerous to mention.
  In a love story unsurpassed, he also met a woman who has been by his 
side for 40 years, Jill Biden. It is an incredible love story. Joe says 
it was love at first sight. It was the same for his boys. Joe remembers 
the day that Beau and Hunter came to him with the recommendation: 
``Daddy, we were talking and we think we should marry Jill,'' not he 
should marry Jill. ``We should marry Jill,'' a direct quote.
  Joe and Jill were married, and before long, Beau and Hunter had a new 
sister, Ashley, and a new mom. There is not a family that I know of who 
is any closer, more tight-knit than the Bidens. Joe Biden loves his 
family above all else. He is a good Senator, a terrific Vice President, 
but he is a family man.
  For the last 8 years as Vice President, he has traveled the world, 
meeting with dignitaries in trouble spots on behalf of this country, 
oftentimes at the direction of President Obama. He has done it with 
dignity--more than a million miles.
  As we have heard from the junior Senator from Delaware, that pales in 
comparison to the miles he has traveled on Amtrak. He has traveled more 
than 2 million miles on Amtrak. He took the train home every night to 
Delaware. If we worked late, he would go to a hotel here. If it had 
been necessary, he would have gone more than 2 million miles to take 
care of his boys and to be with Jill.

[[Page 15963]]

  Vice President Biden's time serving at President Obama's side has 
been historic. He has been the President's rock, his confidant, and his 
friend. I have been told that not by Joe Biden but by the President. 
Joe has had a stellar career as Vice President of our great country. He 
has used his skills and his experience to help shape American 
diplomacy.
  Vice President Biden is helping lead the quest for a cure for cancer. 
His Moonshot initiative is the most ambitious plan ever to accelerate 
cancer research. I say, through the Chair, to my friend Lamar 
Alexander, that this would not have happened but for the good man from 
Tennessee.
  We know that Joe and Jill know firsthand the pain and heartache 
caused by cancer and the toll it takes on families. Tragically, just 
last year, Beau was diagnosed with terminal cancer, which took his 
life. He was somebody I knew well. He was an Iraq veteran. He didn't 
have to go to Iraq, but he did. He was attorney general of the State of 
Delaware.
  Beau was a light to everyone who knew him but especially to his 
family. Beau's passing broke Joe's, Hunter's, and Jill's hearts and, of 
course, their sister's. As with all the other heartbreaking challenges 
and setbacks, Joe Biden continues his life's work. He is still the same 
kid that his coach praised. His No. 1 asset is that he works hard; he 
does the best he can.
  Joe Biden continues to serve his country, and he will continue after 
January 20. He continues to do what is right. And above all, he 
continues to love and take care of his family.
  I have been gratified to call Senator Biden a man of the Senate, 
Senator Biden, Vice President Biden, Joe. He is an awe-inspiring man, 
so Steven Spielberg, Hollywood, you should be listening. Joe Biden's 
life is that which movies are made of.
  I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, it is such a pleasure and honor to rise 
to recognize a great son of Scranton--sitting next to me, another son 
of Scranton--a grandson of Ireland--sitting in this Chamber are many 
grandchildren of Ireland--and a Syracuse University graduate. How many 
others in the room can say that? More importantly than any of those, he 
is one of the most dedicated public servants, one of the most 
successful public servants I have ever had the pleasure to serve with 
during my time in Washington.
  Everyone knows Joe is proud of his ancestry. His ancestors came from 
Ireland, as many millions have. He is deeply proud of being an Irish-
American. Like so many others from the Emerald Isle, our Vice President 
inherited the gift of gab, and thank God for that because he has used 
his booming voice to speak out on so many issues.
  We have only a little time today. I know my colleagues are eager to 
speak, so I will just focus on one of the issues that Senator Biden led 
the charge on and changed America. I worked with him on the Assault 
Weapons Ban and the Brady law when he was a Senator and I was 
Congressman and we were each head of the crime committees. But maybe 
the thing he was proudest of was the Violence Against Women Act. It 
sounds like a different world, but a few years ago, a few decades ago, 
rape and domestic violence and abuse were considered in many ways 
lesser crimes--crimes in which the victim was as much at fault as the 
perpetrator. It was disgraceful. If you were beaten, abused, sexually 
assaulted, you faced a hostile, skeptical criminal justice system. That 
got at Joe Biden and his sense of justice, so he exploded the myths 
behind domestic violence.
  I remember hearing the speeches against sexual abuse and put together 
the strongest ever violence against women law on the books. Not only 
did the law make women safer; it made men better. It moved our society 
forward.
  Our work on these issues is not nearly over, but I am certain there 
are literally millions of women who have avoided pain and suffering--
both physical and mental--because of the courage, the steadfastness, 
and the legislative brilliance of the then-senior Senator from the 
great State of Delaware.
  I could go on and on and almost write a book on accomplishments like 
that where Joe almost singlehandedly changed the world. He was also a 
great friend and leader to so many of us.
  I will conclude with one little story. I was elected to the Senate 
after 18 years in the House, and an issue I wanted to get going on was 
college affordability. I had run for the Senate on the promise of 
making college tuition tax deductible. So I get to the Senate, 
introduce my bill, make my speech, and get ready to lead the way on 
what I thought was my issue. We have all experienced this. A call comes 
into my office from Joe's chief of staff. Of course I spoke to him. 
``Mr. Biden has been working on this issue for 10 years. Go work on 
something else.'' That was the nice version. Naturally, me and my 
brandnew office were in a panic. I was chastened. I didn't know what to 
do. I am sitting on the floor and feeling really forlorn. Why did I 
even come here? I was a senior Member of the House. I feel an arm on my 
shoulder, and I look up. There is the revered and exalted Senator Joe 
Biden. He says to me: I understand you have your college tuition tax 
deduction bill. Go ahead, take the issue. I know what it is like for 
new Senators to carve their own path.
  How many times can any freshman say any senior Senator has said that 
to them? They can't because he is unique. Not only is he a towering 
figure and superb man, but he has a good heart and looks out for the 
Members of this body. He always has, does to this day, and always will 
because I know in Joe's heart, with all of his accomplishments, he is 
still a Senator--our Senator.
  Mr. President, I say to Mr. Vice President, thank you. Thank you for 
your heart and passion, thank you for bringing every ounce of yourself 
to public service, and thank you for that lesson of humility and 
leadership you taught me when I first came to this Chamber.
  I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, it is an honor for me to rise and talk 
about our friendship and what you have done for this country.
  I rise today to pay tribute to a dedicated public servant, 
distinguished leader, and dear friend, Vice President Joe Biden.
  For more than three decades, I had the distinct privilege of serving 
alongside Joe in the U.S. Senate. As anyone who worked closely with Joe 
can tell you, he was no ordinary Senator. He had boundless energy and 
undeniable charm. He paired an unmatched work ethic with a disarming 
smile that dared you not to smile back. Joe's innate ability to 
befriend anyone--and I mean anyone, including his fiercest political 
opponents--was critical to his success as a legislator. His genuine 
sincerity endeared him to all, and his gregariousness transcended 
partisan boundaries.
  Even in the most polarizing debates, Joe never let politics stand in 
the way of friendship. One minute Joe could be scolding you from the 
Senate floor, and the next minute he could be hugging you in the 
hallway, cracking jokes and asking about your grandkids. I am, of 
course, speaking from plenty of personal experience. It is no secret 
that Joe and I often found ourselves on opposite sides of almost every 
major issue--that is not quite true. We agreed on a lot of things. In 
countless legislative battles, Joe proved himself to be a worthy 
political opponent and an able sparring partner. Whether on the Senate 
floor or in the Judiciary Committee hearing room, Joe and I locked 
horns on a number of occasions, sometimes on a daily basis. Indeed, we 
were at odds about as often as we were on C-SPAN.
  At the end of the day, I couldn't help but admire the man. You see, 
Joe Biden was beloved by everyone in this Chamber, even those he drove 
crazy from time to time, and I count myself among that group. Through 
his ability to forge friendship even amid conflict, he embodies the 
ethos of a noble generation of legislators--a generation that embraced 
the virtues of comity and compromise above all else. I believe this 
body--indeed, this Nation--

[[Page 15964]]

could learn from Joe's example of kindness, courtesy, and compassion.
  For 17 years, then-Senator Biden served as chairman and ranking 
member of the Judiciary Committee, overseeing some of the most 
significant court appointments of our time. Chairing the Senate 
Judiciary Committee is no easy task. I know because I have been there. 
The committee boasts some of the biggest egos on this side of the 
Potomac--or this side of the Milky Way, for that matter. It takes a 
certain kind of political genius to navigate the assertive personalties 
and lofty ambitions of its members, but Joe was more than up to the 
task. As both chairman and ranking member, he was tough and tenacious 
but also decent and fair. Through his trademark work ethic, he won the 
respect of every member of that committee.
  Joe also served admirably as the chairman and ranking member of the 
Foreign Relations Committee. In this capacity, he played an 
indispensable role in shaping American foreign policy. When President 
Obama tapped Joe to be his Vice President, the Senate lost a seasoned 
statesman, but our Nation gained a wise and capable leader with 
unparalleled experience in public affairs.
  Joe was the administration's bridge to Congress, often serving as an 
intermediary between the President and legislators. On more than one 
occasion, his close relationship with lawmakers and his deft 
negotiating skills helped our Nation to overcome some of its greatest 
obstacles. He was the President's trusted emissary and an invaluable 
asset in helping Congress resolve the fiscal cliff dilemma in late 
2012--something I wasn't sure we could resolve. He was also a brilliant 
ambassador for our country, leveraging his foreign policy expertise in 
meetings with leaders across the world.
  I am deeply grateful for my friend Joe Biden. I have long admired his 
devotion to his family, as well as his grace amid suffering, and he did 
suffer, and I know it. I was here. Having experienced tremendous loss 
in his family life, he draws from a rich reservoir of empathy to 
connect with everyday Americans. Ask anyone Vice President Biden has 
served: When you speak, Joe listens. He loves, and he cares. He is 
perhaps the most personable public figure in American politics today.
  In the nearly 8 years he has served as Vice President, Joe Biden has 
become a fixture of American public life. Today, I wish to join my 
colleagues in thanking Vice President Joe Biden for his dedication to 
the American people. Although his tenure as Vice President is drawing 
to a close, I am confident that his service to our Nation will only 
continue. This is said by a Republican who loves Joe Biden and believes 
he is one of the truly great people who served here in this body.
  I just want Joe Biden to know that we all respect him, and I think 
most all of us love him. Those of us who have worked with him really 
appreciated how he would from time to time put his arm around us, put 
politics aside, and speak the truth.
  Joe Biden is a wonderful man. I wish him the absolute best as we go 
into the future, and I will be there to help if he needs it.
  God bless Joe Biden.
  I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I enjoy calling you by that title. I hope 
you do, too--because you know that you could easily hold that title as 
President of this body or President of the United States--you have 
shown your qualifications for either one.
  But let me speak about your role as President of the Senate. It makes 
you a Member of this body, a body that can be, and on some occasions 
has been, the conscience of the Nation. You have served longer in this 
body than any other member here. The fact is you came here 2 years 
before I did, so as the other longest serving member, I look at you as 
my senior Senator, and I am delighted to be your junior.
  I think back to some of the things we did together, Mr. President. I 
remember when I was running for the Senate in Vermont in 1974, and 
people told me I was far too young to get elected to the Senate at 34 
years old. My predecessor was somebody who had been elected here when I 
was born and served there until I arrived. You put your arm around me 
and you said, it would be nice to have an older person that I could 
look up to. I believe you were 32, and I was 34. But that helped.
  Of course, little did I know until I came here how closely we would 
work together. We served on the Judiciary Committee throughout that 
time. We worked on such duties as Supreme Court nominations, civil 
rights, and the criminal justice system. Then, when you were chairman 
of the Foreign Relations Committee, and bringing the rest of the world 
American values--which happened to be Joe Biden values--how I enjoyed 
traveling with you.
  I think of the time, Mr. President, when you and I, and our wives, 
Jill and Marcelle traveled together. We had been good friends 
throughout all of that time. I will take the liberty of telling one 
story. When the four of us were in Paris, we had gone out to dinner. It 
was a cold, winter night. We were coming back. I think Marcelle 
mentioned that the Eiffel Tower lights up on the hour. You and Jill 
stood on a bench and were hugging each other, the Eiffel Tower behind 
you. I snapped a picture. Now, we had a close friendship. We never lied 
to each other, but that was one time I lied to you because you asked 
me, ``Where is the picture?'' I said, I think I lost it. I apologize. 
We were conspiring to print out that picture, and I know your wonderful 
wife gave it to you for a wedding anniversary present with words to the 
effect that you ``light up her life.''
  Well, you lit up many, many lives. I think of our Irish bond of 
friendship, stories I can't tell. Some of those closed-door sessions 
with other Irish-Americans, such as Pat Moynihan, Chris Dodd, and Ted 
Kennedy, when we would have some holy water together. Somehow it came 
from Ireland. It was usually at least 12 years old. And we would tell 
Irish stories. And after 42 years here, I know the rules well enough, I 
can't repeat any of those stories here. But they were good ones because 
it was a friendship and we worked together. We learned how to bring in 
others from both parties.
  And, Mr. President, I remember you and others showing all of us how 
to find common ground, and we did things together. And I respect you so 
much for that. I must admit, I learned something else on the Judiciary 
Committee. I learned the Amtrak schedule because, if we had a meeting 
that was going on a little bit long, we were reminded what time the 
train was going to Delaware. I know you kept in good shape because you 
could run to the station in 3 minutes and get on the train, where you 
would go home to Beau and Hunter and, later, Jill and Ashley--because 
even though you were a leader in the United States Senate, and later 
Vice President, you were, first and foremost, a father and a husband.
  You and I and Marcelle talked about that this summer, when you came 
to Vermont for the Cancer Moonshot. I told you what an important part 
of our lives you have been. You have gone through tragedy and glory, 
but you have remained yourself throughout all of it.
  And the memories of those evenings when you let this Irish-Italian 
boy come in and sit as a member of the Irish--we would speak of our 
values, we would speak of America, we would speak of friendship. That 
is why I admire you, Mr. President, and I am glad to be here on the 
floor with you.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I join my colleagues today in addressing a 
few thoughts directly to the occupant of the chair, to commend his long 
and honorable service to the United States and to thank him for his 
friendship. Mr. President--I know how much you enjoy my calling you Mr. 
President--you and I have served together in this body for three 
decades. We have been friends for almost 40 years, since I was the Navy 
Senate liaison and used to carry your bags on overseas trips.
  I joked recently that I resented it ever since. But that was part of 
my job

[[Page 15965]]

description--escorting and handling logistics for Senate codels, 
including making certain everyone's luggage arrived at our 
destinations. Back then, some Senators, unlike the 100 egalitarians who 
occupy the Senate today, could be a little haughty and high-handed. A 
few held an exalted opinion of themselves that exceeded the esteem with 
which their colleagues and constituents held them in. If they paid any 
attention to staff, it was only because we had annoyed them somehow.
  But not my friend Joe Biden--he was fair and courteous to everyone, 
even people who did not always deserve it. He is always an example of 
how a powerful person with character and class treats anyone in a 
subordinate position. He treats them with humility, as God's children, 
with dignity equal to his own.
  In the book ``The Nightingale's Song,'' the late journalist Bob 
Timberg wrote about one military liaison officer, escorting a codel to 
Athens, who joined some of the Members in a tavern for a little after-
hours merriment and was later observed dancing on a tabletop with 
Senator Biden's lovely wife, Jill.
  I don't recall witnessing such an event myself, and I can't testify 
to it having actually happened. Neither can I imagine the temerity of 
that rascal, whoever he was. He was lucky the Senator whose spouse he 
made endure awkward moves he euphemistically called ``dancing'' was Joe 
Biden. Few other Senators would have seen the humor in it.
  Many years have passed since we shared those adventures, and many 
events have transpired, personal and public, that enriched our lives 
with the rewards and disappointments, blessings and challenges. We were 
still young when we came to the Senate. We are old men now. Although 
you can't tell from looking at us, the Vice President is actually a 
little younger than me, though we both passed the Biblical threescore 
and ten.
  This place, the Senate, has been central to both of our lives. Here 
we work together on our country's challenges. Here we fought and argued 
over the country's direction. Here we compromised and joined forces to 
serve the public interest. Here we watched history made and made our 
small contributions to it. Neither of us is the shy and retiring type. 
We both have been known to hold a strong opinion or two. When 
circumstances warrant, we would rather make our points emphatically 
then elliptically. I know that Joe appreciates the adage that I have 
tried to follow in my public life: a fight not joined is a fight not 
enjoyed.
  When we have had differences of opinions over the years, we have 
managed to make our positions crystal clear to each other, perhaps in 
the persistent triumph of hope over experience. We both still cling to 
the expectation that we can persuade the other that he is mistaken. I 
think deep down we probably know better.
  In addition to being regularly mistaken, here is what I have also 
known about my friend and occasionally sparring partner. He is a good 
and decent man, God-fearing and kind, a devoted father and husband, a 
genuine patriot who puts our country before himself. I know, too, that 
it has been a great privilege to call him my friend.
  Mr. President, if I haven't made clear to you over these many years 
how much I appreciated your friendship and have admired you, I beg your 
forgiveness. We both have been privileged to know Members of this body 
who were legends in their own time and are remembered as important 
historical figures. But I haven't known one who was a better man than 
you. You are an exemplary public servant, a credit to your family, to 
the Senate, and to the country.
  On behalf of the country and the Senate, thank you for your lifetime 
service to America. Thank you for your example of how to represent your 
constituents with honor and humility and how to remain the same good 
guy that you were when you first got here. Thank you, most of all, for 
your friendship. My life and the lives of many have been enriched by 
it.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, there is a story about an Irishman walking 
down the street. He passes two guys who are fighting. He asks them: Is 
this a private fight or can anybody get into it?
  Well, you know a little bit about that; don't you, Mr. Vice 
President? For 40 years or more, you have always been ready to fight 
for those who needed a champion and never walked away from a good fight 
for a good cause. Your public career has been marked by so many amazing 
victories but also by unbearable losses and sorrows. You have had joys 
and passions, determinations and immense accomplishments.
  The list of your legislative achievements has been recounted on the 
floor today. One of them I am sure you are most proud of is the 
Violence Against Women Act. You made a big difference in the lives of 
so many people whom you will never meet, in protecting them and giving 
them hope in a hopeless circumstance.
  Between 1993, when your bill was passed, and 2010, the rate of 
violence against intimate partners--almost all women--declined by 67 
percent in the United States. We often wonder here, when bills we take 
to law are passed and signed by the President, whether they can make a 
difference. We know that your unsparing effort when it came to violence 
against women made a significant difference.
  I had that in mind 9 years ago when I was riding around Florida in a 
recreational vehicle. It was with my fellow Senator from Illinois by 
the name of Barack Obama. He was running for President, and we were in 
the back of this RV as he was cruising through Florida. We were talking 
about potential running mates, someone who could be his Vice President.
  We went through a short list. We came to your name, and I said to the 
soon-to-be President, then Senator and my colleague: You couldn't pick 
a better choice than Joe Biden. I know him as a person. I know him as a 
fellow Senator. I know his heart. You would be blessed to have him on 
your team.
  He made that choice, even though at the beginning, I am sure both of 
you wondered: Is this going to work? It did. It did for your purpose 
and for his and for America's. I am reminded of that famous poet Seamus 
Heaney. He wrote:

     History says, Don't hope
     On this side of the grave,
     But then, once in a lifetime
     The longed-for tidal wave
     Justice can rise up,
     And hope and history rhyme.

  Obama-Biden--hope and history certainly did rhyme. The things that 
you have been able to achieve with this President have made a 
difference in America to millions of lives. Whether we are talking 
about coming out of a recession where we were losing 800,000 jobs a 
month, making sure that Wall Street didn't make the same mistakes again 
at the expense of businesses and families across America, or making 
sure that some father did not face the heartbreak of a sick child with 
no health insurance. You made a difference in their lives.
  Just this week, there is the Cancer Moonshot. Who knows, Mr. Vice 
President, what will happen as a result of that investment in your 
son's name. But I sense that something good is going to happen for a 
lot of people around this country. I am glad that the Biden name is 
closely associated with it.
  Mr. President, there is an old story--a joke--about the Pope. The 
story goes that the day came when he said to his driver: You know, I 
haven't had a chance to drive the car in a long time. Why don't you sit 
in the back and I'll drive.
  The story goes that the Pope started driving the car and started 
speeding and got pulled over. This policeman looked inside the car, 
then looked out again, and looked back and said: Excuse me. He got on 
his cell phone and he called the police station. He said: I have an 
extraordinary circumstance here. I have just pulled over a car with 
someone very important in it.
  They said: Well, who is it?
  He said: I don't know who he is, but he has the Pope for a driver.
  The reason I remember that story is that one time I was on Air Force 
Two

[[Page 15966]]

with Vice President Joe Biden. We flew you home to Delaware. I was 
going to catch an Amtrak train at Wilmington, and I asked you to drop 
me off.
  You said: No, I'm going to take you up to the train.
  So we get up to the train, and the train is pulling in the station. 
You look at what I have for a ticket and you said: That ticket is not 
good. You need a real ticket. I will get it for you.
  You grabbed it and took off running, with the Secret Service trailing 
behind you as the train pulled into the station. I am thinking: Am I 
going to make this train? Is he going to make it back? You came running 
up the steps with the Secret Service trailing behind you while the 
train was stopped. All of these passengers were looking as the Vice 
President of the United States ran up to me, handed me a ticket, and 
said: Go ahead and get on the train.
  Now, the people on the train had no idea who I was, but they knew if 
the Vice President was carrying my ticket, I must be somebody 
important.
  Let me say one personal word. You and your wife Jill really embody 
what I consider to be the best of public life--not only your commitment 
to people who are less fortunate around the world but your genuine 
sense of caring and your good heart, both of you. I recall when my 
colleague Marty Russo of Illinois had a son who was sick with cancer. 
There was one person who called every day to make sure that he was 
doing well.
  Well, that is the way you not only build a friendship but you build a 
reputation as not just a glad-handing politician but someone who 
really, really cares. I have been honored to count you as a friend. I 
am honored that the President whom I love chose you as his Vice 
President. I am honored that we have served in the Senate together and 
that I can tell my kids and grandkids. I wish you the best whatever 
life brings you next.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a person who has 
had a tremendous impact on my life and my career in the Senate and also 
a tremendous impact on my country, the United States of America. I 
still remember to this day the date and time Mitch McConnell called me 
in 2007 and said: Hey, we have an opening for a Republican on Foreign 
Relations and nobody will take it. Will you take it?
  I did not know if that was a benefit--a perk or whoever--but I said: 
Anytime you are offered a gift, don't look a gift horse in the face. So 
I did it.
  Two days later, Joe Biden saw me at the committee and said: I am glad 
you joined our committee. I am glad to have you. I have an opening on 
the Africa Subcommittee. I can't get a Republican to take it. Will you 
do it?
  I said: Mr. Biden, I have never been to Africa.
  He said: Well, you will soon. How about taking it?
  I did. I have been to Africa 12 times since. It has become a passion 
in my career, and I give Vice President Biden a lot of credit for the 
influence he had on that. I also remember the day when the mock 
swearing-in took place down on the second floor, and I had my nine 
grandchildren here to watch me being sworn into the Senate.
  At the mock signing ceremony, Joe stood there, and we all raised our 
hand, and we repeated the ceremony that we had done on the floor. Then 
Joe greeted each one of my grandchildren one by one as they walked by. 
When little Jack, who was then 7 years old, stopped, Joe Biden said: 
Jack, what do you like about the Capitol?
  Jack said: Well, Mr. Vice President, there is no Lego store.
  Joe Biden said: The next time you come here, there will be one.
  I want to tell the Vice President that he is coming on January 2 to 
see me sworn in again. I have already bought the Lego box. It is on the 
desk in my hideaway, and I am going to tell him that Vice President Joe 
made sure he had Legos when he came back to the Capitol. You know the 
real character of a man and the real credit to a man is what influence 
he has on children. I can tell you from that story, it is just one of 
many that Joe Biden has had.
  On me, personally, I will never forget the day Joe Biden called me as 
Vice President of the United States and said: Johnny, I have got the 
mayor of Baltimore and the mayor of Philadelphia going with me to 
Panama City next week to look at the deepening of the Panama Canal. I 
know Savannah's port is important to you. I know you have been fighting 
with us to get the authorization you need to deepen the Port of 
Savannah. How about flying with me down there and let's take a look at 
it and let's do a press conference together. And I did and he did and 
we did, and today the Port of Savannah is being deepened to 47 feet. 
Panamax ships will be sailing through it in 4 more years. I am 
convinced it would not have happened at the level of the administration 
had it not been for Joe Biden, the Vice President of the United States 
but more importantly my friend.
  Joe, I don't have the words to adequately tell you how much I 
appreciate you as a person and as a leader, but there is a little poem 
I know that says more about what you really are than anything I could 
say.

     I'd rather see a good person
     Than hear one any day;
     I'd rather one should walk with me
     Than merely show the way.
     For my eye's a better pupil
     And more willing than my ear,
     Fine counsel is confusing
     But example's always clear;
     And the best of all preachers
     Are the ones who live their creeds,
     For to see good put in action
     Is what everybody needs.
     I soon can learn to do it
     If you'll let me see it done;
     I can watch your hands in action,
     But your tongue too fast may run.
     And the lecture you deliver
     May be very wise and true,
     But I'd rather get my lessons
     By observing what you do;
     For I might misunderstand you
     And the high advice you give,
     But there's no misunderstanding
     How you act and how you live.

  Joe, you have lived the life of a patriot and you act like a 
gentleman. You are my friend, and may God bless you and your family and 
thank you for your service to the country and your friendship to me.
  I yield back.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President--and it is a pleasure to say that. Some 
may know him as ``the guy in the aviators'' deboarding Air Force Two or 
the man in the 1967 Corvette in the viral Internet video, gleeful, as 
he had the rare opportunity to drive himself around in his favorite 
car.
  Mr. President, it is so clear that the American public has embraced 
this grinning, approachable, unstoppable life force known as Vice 
President Joe Biden, but little do many Americans know of the heart of 
our Vice President. They have caught glimpses of it in 1972, when his 
wife and daughter were killed in a terrible car accident and his two 
sons severely injured. It is hard to imagine that kind of devastation, 
and Joe picked himself up and was sworn in to his first term in the 
U.S. Senate from his son's hospital room.
  Maybe they saw it last year when Joe's son Beau, following in his 
father's footsteps to be an extraordinary public servant and, more 
importantly, a wonderful father, lost a long and hard-fought battle 
with cancer. I know as a mother and grandmother myself that I will 
never understand what Joe went through.
  Mr. President, again, Joe picked himself up and continued to serve 
our country as a strong, dedicated Vice President in the midst of a 
raucous election season when Americans needed him the most. Joe Biden's 
commitment to his family, his struggles, and his service encompass what 
it means to be not just Vice President and a brilliant husband and 
father but an American.
  Joe grew up in a middle-class family who worked hard for everything 
they had. He was just 29 years old when he ran for a seat in the United 
States Senate.
  Mr. President, you might have been young, but you already saw what 
divided people in Delaware.
  He also knew that people across the State also held the same hopes 
for

[[Page 15967]]

themselves and their families, and he believed he could work through 
those disparities. In an upset victory, he won a seat in the Senate in 
November of 1972.
  Since his swearing in, Joe has worked every day on behalf of families 
in Delaware and for the entire country, especially the last 8 years.
  When Joe lost his son to cancer, he launched a Moonshot for this 
generation to end cancer as we know it today. He is now working on 
behalf of every family whoever lost a loved one to cancer to push 
forward on medical innovations and discoveries. I am so proud Joe's 
Moonshot is included in the final Cures bill we just voted on this 
afternoon and even more so that the Senate renamed the provisions to 
support cancer research in that bill to honor Beau in calling it the 
Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot. We will now use those investments to fight 
to cure cancer so we can look forward to a world where no family has to 
go through what the Bidens did and the devastation that millions of 
other Americans have experienced after being touched by cancer.
  Mr. President, back when I was serving with the Presiding Officer, 
Joe, my friend, in the Senate in 1994, I had the pleasure of working 
with him to pass the Violence Against Women Act, VAWA, as we know it. 
It was a landmark piece of legislation that changed the way our country 
responded to domestic violence and sexual assault. Joe has come out as 
a strong advocate for ending violence against women through his 
campaign, ``1is2Many,'' spreading awareness and working to help reduce 
dating violence and sexual assaults among students, teens, and young 
adults. And his ``It's On Us'' campaign has been a wake-up call to the 
epidemic of campus sexual assaults across the country. Women are safer 
today in America than they were 20 years ago due in part to Joe's 
fearless leadership on these issues that affect too many in our Nation.
  Despite everything he has been through or maybe because of everything 
he has been through, he gets back up and he fights on and he fights on 
behalf of every family in our country, and that is heart. That is 
heart, the way he always wants to make people happy, no matter what the 
circumstance.
  Last time he was in Seattle, he brought a little stuffed animal--a 
little dog--to give to my granddaughter. Now, she is very shy, but the 
second he smiled and handed her that little dog, she became his best 
friend ever, and she keeps it by her side, Joe. That is why he is going 
to be missed, by his colleagues and by the entire country, because of 
his humanity. That is the Joe Biden I know and I want everyone else to 
know that too.
  It has been an honor to call Joe a fellow Senator, Mr. Vice 
President, but mostly a great friend.
  I want to thank Joe for what he has taught me and all of our 
colleagues through his service and thank him for his extraordinary and 
inspiring leadership throughout his life in the best of times and in 
the worst. Joe--and his aviators--will be sorely missed.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. COLLINS. Thank you, Mr. President.
  In 1974, a freshman Senator from Delaware named Joe Biden was 
identified as one of Time magazine's ``200 Faces for the Future.'' That 
prescient prediction anticipated the more than four decades of 
contributions and accomplishments that followed. Joe Biden served six 
terms in the U.S. Senate and became Vice President of the United 
States, but he is exactly the same person today as he was when more 
than 40 years ago he took that first train trip from Wilmington to 
Washington to be sworn in as a United States Senator. He is everybody's 
friend--but nobody's fool. And while Joe Biden changed Washington, 
Washington never changed him.
  It is an article of faith among those of us who know and love Joe 
Biden that nothing is more important to him than family. It is, 
therefore, a cruel irony that this good and decent man has faced so 
many family tragedies during his long and fruitful career in public 
service.
  Although he has been sorely tested by several wrenching losses, Vice 
President Biden's irrepressible spirit has never been broken. He is as 
optimistic about his country today as he was in 1972, when as a county 
councilman he defeated a long-serving Senate incumbent and began the 
journey that ultimately led him to the second highest office in the 
land. With his Cancer Moonshot Initiative, Joe Biden once again has 
turned personal tragedy into a public cause that undoubtedly will save 
lives.
  To know Joe Biden is to admire him, his warmth, his devotion to 
friends and family, his commitment to all things Delaware, and his 
fierce loyalty to his party that somehow never alienated those of us on 
the other side of the aisle. Perhaps that is due to the many thoughtful 
gestures the Vice President demonstrates every day.
  How well I remember bringing my younger brother to the White House 
holiday party one year and running into the Vice President just as he 
was leaving after a long day of work. He instantly stopped and asked if 
we would like for him to give us a personal tour of the West Wing of 
the White House. For the next 45 minutes, instead of being driven home, 
the Vice President of the United States took my brother and me on the 
best tour of the White House that anyone could ever have. I still 
remember the shocked look on the face of the marine at the situation 
room when we arrived there.
  Another wonderful memory that I have was of the time Joe Biden and I 
were named Irish Americans of the Year by the American Ireland Fund. I 
thought it was so telling that both of us brought our family members to 
the celebratory dinner, and both of us talked about our Irish mothers. 
Now, I do remember that Joe's speech was considerably better than mine, 
but mine was much, much shorter.
  In a time of almost suffocating partisanship, Joe Biden is a breath 
of bipartisan fresh air. People may disagree with Joe on 1 or 2 or even 
10 issues, but nobody finds him disagreeable. It is often said that if 
you don't love Joe Biden, it is time for some serious introspection. 
You may have a serious problem.
  No one can say with certainty what lies ahead for Vice President Joe 
Biden, but this much is certain: He will face the future with unbridled 
enthusiasm, extraordinary energy, and an unwavering commitment to his 
family, his friends, and his country.
  I thank the Vice President for his outstanding service to our 
country, but most of all I thank him for his extraordinary friendship 
to me. I wish the Vice President and his wonderful family all the best.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Thank you very much, Mr. President and Vice President.
  Well, Mr. President, we all take pleasure in calling you that. Mr. 
Vice President, Senator, foreign policy guru, the Senator who was tough 
on crime but a soft touch when it came to compelling human need, a 
longtime colleague, but most of all, I know you as my friend Joe. My 
friend Joe. It is not only that I know you as my friend Joe, the people 
of Delaware know you as ``my friend Joe.'' The fact is, your 
colleagues, both present and past, here feel the same way about you and 
so do the American people.
  You have a unique ability to make a visceral connection to people. 
You actually connect to them, not only on the abstraction of big ideas, 
of which you were more than capable, but I think your connection was 
hand to hand, heart to heart. I think when you talk with people, that 
is why you have this visceral connection.
  Sure, you can debate the great ideas, whether it is national security 
or economic growth, but it is that heart connection you are able to 
make that I think has been one of your great, great signatures.
  We in Maryland know you as a neighbor, the Delmarva gang from 
Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. We also know you as ``Amtrak Joe.'' I 
think that is so fitting because not only have you

[[Page 15968]]

been a champion of Amtrak and ridden the train so faithfully--which has 
now become the stories of fact and fiction--but also Amtrak Joe is 
right because, really, in the way you have lived your life, conducted 
yourself in public service, you have kept America on track and going in 
the right direction because you knew what your destinations were. I 
salute you for that. You have done a great job in everything you have 
undertaken.
  I know you because while others just go for the pomp and they love 
the policy--if I hear one more ``I'm going to dive deep in policy,'' I 
am going to shake my head.
  I am like you. I believe that we do need policies that help people, 
keep our Nation strong and safe, help our people be able to help 
themselves, and make sure there is an opportunity structure here. But 
we are here to be champions of the people. That is what you have been, 
a champion of the people, and you have been a steady friend.
  When I arrived in the Senate, I was the only Democratic woman. I have 
often said that, though I was all by myself, I was never alone. I was 
surrounded by the good men in the Senate, and particularly the 
Democrats reached out their hands and helped me.
  Of course, my very good friend Paul Sarbanes, who is here today, was 
my senior Senator when I came and was my colleague and my champion, but 
you were right up at the top of the list too. I call the men who were 
so incredibly helpful to me, Galahads. You help me in every way you 
can.
  In my time in the Senate, when I reached out to you, you were always 
there. When I reached out to fight for women to be included in the NIH 
protocols, you were there to help me. When I reached out to fight 
against the skimpy and spartan money for breast cancer research, you 
were there to help me. When we organized the women of the Senate, the 
Democratic women, to fight then-Bush on the privatizing of Social 
Security, when we said we shouldn't rely on the bull of political 
promises while we fear the bear market, you joined right there with us, 
side by side, shoulder to shoulder. Whether it was equal pay for equal 
work or so many issues, you were always there when we called upon you. 
You were always such tremendous help.
  I was also there to try to help you. I remember a day in the mid-
1990s when I got a call from you. Maybe you remember that, but I 
remember it. You said you really wanted to stop violence against women. 
You knew of my social work background, my advocacy for what was then 
called battered women. You said: Can you help me kind of go over this 
legislation to make sure that the money goes to people who will help 
those women and not to people who just want to get grants?
  So we worked together. We talked about the need for shelters. We 
talked about the reform of police, courts, and so on. Then you came up 
with that fabulous, fabulous idea to have a hotline. So it didn't 
matter whether you lived in Delaware or in Des Moines or in San Diego, 
there was always help on the other side of that line.
  I was so happy to work with you and to support you as you led that 
battle through--as only a good man could--to stand for women who were 
being battered in their own homes and facing danger.
  Lately I checked on the statistics on that hotline. Joe Biden, since 
that hotline legislation passed, over 1.5 million have called that 
hotline. Many of them were in lethal danger--lethal danger. Because of 
you, Joe Biden, there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of women 
and children alive today because you had the foresight and the 
fortitude to create this legislation. That in and of itself would have 
been enough for a career. But, oh, you did so many other things.
  Now we know you are advocating the national Cancer Moonshot, but you 
have been a champion on finding the cure for cancer for a long time, 
whether it was for women with breast cancer or others. I am so pleased 
that in that cloture vote we are going to include $352 million for 
that. So on issue after issue, we were there.
  I know you have been a great leader, but I also know that behind 
great men there are also very terrific women. I think we owe a salute 
to Jill. She is a wonderful woman, a leader in her own right, with a 
belief in higher education, a belief in working at the community 
college level so people who had big dreams in their hearts but not a 
lot of money in their pockets could be able to go on to college. What a 
champion she has been there and also what a champion for our veterans 
and for our wounded warriors. Wow, she is just terrific. I know she has 
been at your side.
  There are so many stories I could tell, but I want to wrap up with 
one. I met your mother. She was spunky. She was feisty. She was a 
delight. If there is anything spunkier, feistier, or more delightful 
than an Irish mother, it is a Polish mother. I wish you could have met 
mine. Those two would have been kindred spirits.
  Do you remember when the Pope came to Baltimore? The Pope was coming 
to Baltimore, and I told my mother I wanted to greet the Pope in 
Polish. My mother's response was: Oh, my God.
  I grew up in a family that before World War II was bilingual. I was 
bilingual as a child, but during World War II we stopped speaking all 
foreign language, so my pronunciation is really awkward. My mother made 
me practice Polish words, how to say hello to the Pope and how to say 
goodbye to the Pope.
  You and I were at the Baltimore-Washington airport. There goes the 
Pope in his popemobile. He is heading up, he is getting on ``Shepherd 
Two,'' and you are saying goodbye: Goodbye Your Holiness.
  I say: No, say it in Polish. You have a large Polish community.
  I taught you how to say one simple phrase, ``sto lat.'' In the tongue 
of my ethnic heritage, when you say ``sto lat'' to someone, you say may 
they live 100 years.
  So, Joe, sto lat.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I wish to recognize the presence in the 
Chamber of five former Senators--Senators Bayh, Harkin, Kaufman, 
Salazar, and Sarbanes--and to thank many Senators who have asked that 
their comments be placed in the Record.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record, 
given the lateness of the hour, the lengthy and moving remarks that 
former Senator and now Secretary of State Kerry has provided.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:


                     Secretary of State John Kerry

                         Statement on Joe Biden

                            December 7, 2016

       Mr. President: Almost four years ago this winter, after 
     almost 29 years serving in the Senate from Massachusetts, and 
     after five times the people of Massachusetts voted to send me 
     to Washington--my Senate colleagues were kind enough to vote 
     to send me away, but not far away, just up the street to the 
     State Department.
       So, as a prodigal United States Senator, I am especially 
     grateful to Senator Coons for the privilege to share some 
     thoughts about my colleague of a quarter century in the 
     Senate, and my colleague of the last four years in the Obama 
     Administration--the Vice President of the United States, Joe 
     Biden. That Senator Coons--who sits in the Senate seat which 
     Joe held for almost thirty seven years--organized this 
     remarkable tribute says something about Delaware--a small 
     state where politics is personal, where courtesy is still the 
     currency--but it says much more about the kind of friend and 
     mentor Joe has been to Chris, and to so many of us who have 
     known the Vice President. It is, simply, the right thing to 
     do--but the kind of thing that doesn't happen enough these 
     days in Washington, in politics, or in the institution which 
     Joe reveres, the U.S. Senate.
       I first heard the name ``Joe Biden'' about 38 years ago. 
     1972--The first year Joe and I ran for national office. We 
     shared a set of friends and political teammates in 
     progressive politics, friends Joe and I have shared to this 
     day--and they shuttled between Wilmington, Delaware and 
     Lowell, Massachusetts, trying to help both us to victory. In 
     that improbable year, I lost and Joe won--and weeks later 
     tragedy intervened and changed the trajectory of Joe's life 
     not as a Senator, but as a father and a person. I won't 
     forget reading his words back then: ``Delaware can find 
     another Senator, but my boys can't find another father.'' We 
     are all grateful that Joe was persuaded not to give up on

[[Page 15969]]

     public service, but to be sworn in, and to rely--as the 
     Bidens do in their remarkable way--on the closeness of 
     family--of Val and Jimmy in particular--to help him be both a 
     remarkable father and a remarkable public servant.
       Twelve years as Joe was elected, I finally arrived in 
     Washington--a junior Senator, second to last in seniority--
     and one of the first people to pull me aside and offer 
     himself up not as a generational rival, but as a slightly 
     older big brother ready to show me the ropes was the then, 
     senior Senator from Delaware--two years older than me, 
     Senator Joe Biden.
       I loved serving with Joe--and I don't just mean we served 
     contemporaneously; we were friends and partners in so many 
     efforts--environment, civil rights, the empowerment of women, 
     foreign policy--and always--always with Joe Biden, whether 
     you agreed or disagreed with him, no matter where you were 
     from in the country or where you stood ideologically, you 
     knew exactly what you could expect: a person of conviction, a 
     person of character, a person who studied the issues and 
     never cut corners--and a Senator in the best tradition whose 
     word was his bond.
       For Joe, that's a quality that's deeply personal. The Vice 
     President lives by a very old-fashioned code of loyalty: You 
     always tell the truth, you never forget where you came from, 
     and your word is your bond. And I can't tell you how many 
     times in the Senate when I was listening to Joe negotiate or 
     we were working on something he would say, ``I give you my 
     word as a Biden.''And you knew you had a very special 
     commitment that would not be broken. That never changed when 
     he became Vice President.
       That code also guided his approach as a legislator--not 
     just in how he worked with his colleagues, but to how he 
     approached the issues. I'd been a prosecutor back in the days 
     when some people still argued that violence against women 
     wasn't crime--but it was Joe Biden who was far, far ahead of 
     the curve in the Senate--throughout the 1980's and 1990's--
     beating the drum on the Judiciary Committee to pass a 
     Violence Against Women Act because there was no crime 
     comparable, as he saw it, in robbing a human being of two 
     things to which everyone is entitled, two words Joe talks 
     about often: dignity and respect.
       That is why he was so outspoken about the horrors happening 
     in Bosnia and Kosovo--thousands of miles from our shores--and 
     why as one of those most powerful voices on the Senate 
     Foreign Relations Committee he stood up to Slobodan 
     Milosevic, looked him in the eye, and called him a war 
     criminal. That's Joe Biden--on issues of moral clarity, you 
     know exactly where he stands. It is no surprise to me then 
     that long before he served in Iraq, his beloved son Beau 
     volunteered to go to Kosovo and do legal work helping victims 
     find justice, helping victims reclaim dignity through the 
     judicial system. For the Bidens, this was an article of 
     faith.
       Over the years, I had the privilege of traveling with Joe 
     overseas--often with Chuck Hagel and Lindsey Graham. I saw 
     firsthand that when Senator Biden traveled overseas, it 
     wasn't government tourism, whether the Administration was 
     Democratic or Republican, Joe always traveled with a 
     constructive purpose in mind: To learn first-hand about 
     foreign leaders and other perspectives--to forge 
     relationships--and to advance America's cause. In long 
     flights and long meetings headed into places like Afghanistan 
     and Pakistan, again and again I saw someone who leads by 
     listening, who leads by learning, and who speaks with 
     conviction--wherever the place, whatever the language.
       Joe's leadership as Vice President has been a terrific 
     asset on domestic issues, and his fluency in the ways of the 
     Senate a special tool called upon at many key moments by 
     Leaders McConnell and Reid. But as Secretary of State I've 
     been particularly grateful for the role he has played on 
     foreign policy. Joe believes to his core that American 
     diplomacy isn't about admiring problems--it's about solving 
     them. When thousands of unaccompanied children showed up on 
     our southwestern border, Joe Biden worked with Congress to 
     provide funding to help Central America's leaders make the 
     difficult reforms and investments required to address the 
     region's multifaceted challenges--because he knew the 
     security and prosperity of Central America are inextricably 
     linked with our own. As the conflict in Ukraine has pressed 
     on, Joe has worked hard--not only to keep the Minsk deal in 
     place, but to encourage and help the government of Ukraine 
     take on corruption and make necessary economic reforms that 
     will help Ukraine flourish and thrive in the years to come. 
     And again and again, in our breakfasts at the Naval 
     Observatory and in phone calls from far flung places, he 
     always encouraged me to keep pressing--to speak up and speak 
     out, and to fight--even inside the Administration--for the 
     policies I believed in, even when he didn't agree. That's Joe 
     Biden.
       We still joke about a trip that we took with Chuck Hagel to 
     Afghanistan back in 2008. We went up to a forward operating 
     base up in Kunar province. And our helicopter, on the way 
     back, got caught in a snow squall in the mountains. And our 
     pilot found himself effectively snow blind, and suddenly we 
     were banking and heading down and braced for an emergency 
     landing on this snow-covered road high in the mountains near 
     Bagram Airbase. And Joe Biden turned to Hagel and me and he 
     offered an alternative. He said, ``Maybe we could keep the 
     helicopter aloft if the three of us just started to give a 
     speech.'' But laughter aside, on that frozen mountaintop, as 
     we waited to be rescued, you learn the measure of a person. 
     And throughout that time, what Joe kept coming back to was 
     the gift of family, and the privilege of public service.
       America has known Vice President Biden in moments of great 
     triumph and also on occasions of immeasurable pain. We revere 
     the dignity with which he carries himself through all of it. 
     We admire him. We love him. And above all, we thank him--a 
     great Vice President, a ``Senate man'' still to the core, and 
     someone I know I can call on and count on as a friend long 
     after we both leave office on January 20th. Thank you, 
     Senator--Mr. Vice President--``Joe''--and I know you will 
     carry on in contribution to the cause of country.

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I wish to honor Joe Biden, the 
47th Vice President of the United States.
  After I came to the Senate in 1992--known as ``the Year of the 
Woman''--then-Senator Joe Biden invited me to lunch at his office in 
the Russell Senate Office Building. We sat at small table in his 
elegant office and discussed the importance of having a woman on the 
Judiciary Committee, of which he was chairman at the time.
  This was in the wake of the Anita Hill hearings, and there were no 
women on the committee. It was a real honor when Joe Biden asked me to 
join. He then asked Senator Carol Moseley Braun to join, giving the 
committee two women for the first time.
  Serving on the committee with him, I noticed immediately that he had 
a commanding presence. As I watched him chair the committee, I was 
impressed by the passion he displayed while working to slow the drug 
trade, protect women from domestic violence, and help advocate for a 
ban on assault weapons. These were issues that I, along with millions 
of other Americans, felt strongly about, and we had a champion in Joe 
Biden.
  During discussions about a proposed crime bill in 1993, I told Joe I 
was working on an assault weapons ban. This was in the wake of a mass 
shooting in San Francisco that shocked me. I told Joe we had at least 
48 votes and I wanted to introduce it as an amendment to the crime 
bill. He laughed--a big raucous laugh--and said, ``Well, you're just a 
freshman. Wait till the gunners get to you.''
  He may have had his doubts, but he was a staunch supporter of the 
amendment, and with the help of President Clinton and Chuck Schumer in 
the House, we were able to secure bipartisan support and pass the 
amendment. It was a proud day for me when it was signed into law.
  Joe was right about the gunners, though. The gun lobby did come after 
us, and they continue to oppose commonsense gun laws today.
  During that debate and in every fight since then, Joe Biden has been 
staunch, impassioned, and a committed partner.
  That crime bill was a monumental piece of legislation. In addition to 
our assault weapons ban, it put 100,000 more cops on the street, 
protected children from dangerous predators and included a very 
important piece of legislation: the Violence Against Women Act.
  It has been two decades since Joe introduced the Violence Against 
Women Act. In that time, domestic violence rates have decreased by 64 
percent, conviction rates for abusers increased, and 3.4 million women 
and men have been helped by the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
  Beyond the numbers, Joe changed the debate around domestic violence 
with enactment of this bill. States and localities changed outdated 
laws. Victims were given courage to speak out and seek help, and 
millions of women felt empowered knowing that in America, they had the 
right to be free from violence and free from fear.
  Joe's legacy as chair of the Judiciary is matched by his time leading 
the Foreign Relations Committee. From atop the committee, he was a 
forceful advocate for peace and stability around the world. He called 
for strategic arms limitations with the Soviet Union, helped

[[Page 15970]]

secure peace in the Balkans, helped bring former Soviet bloc states 
into NATO, called for U.S. action to end the genocide in Darfur, and 
spoke out against failed policies in Iraq.
  He was also a critic of the CIA's detention and interrogation program 
and backed our efforts to release the torture report. During heated 
debate, Joe made the argument simple and easy to understand: America 
will be stronger by saying the following: ``This was a mistake, we 
should not have done what we've done and we will not do it again.''
  He was right, and our Nation is stronger for having the courage to 
admit that.
  Joe Biden's willingness to speak the truth is one of the many reasons 
President Obama tapped him to be his running mate. The President knew 
Joe would discuss every issue with the same frank honesty--whether he 
was offering counsel in the Oval Office or chatting with someone on the 
train ride back home.
  President Obama relied on his Vice President to oversee the recovery 
after the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. He was 
tasked with implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 
the Ready to Work Initiative and to chair the Middle Class Task Force.
  Joe Biden was the perfect choice for the job. He is the product of 
his Catholic faith and the values instilled in him growing up in 
Scranton. Those same values that he carried throughout his career in 
Delaware and into the Vice Presidency.
  He is a tough individual who has faced adversity that would knock a 
lesser man down; yet through it all, Joe never wavered from his 
commitment to serving others.
  To those of us who have had the pleasure of working with him and to 
millions of Americans, Joe Biden is a good and honest man who simply 
wants to make the world a better place.
  After 44 years in this Chamber, the last 8 as the President of the 
Senate, Joe can leave knowing he has accomplished just that. The world 
is a better place thanks to you, and it is grateful for your service, 
Joe Biden.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, for more than 30 years, Vice President Joe 
Biden has held a big place in my heart. Through thick and thin, he 
trusted me to be his partner in so many fights, and I will be forever 
grateful to him.
  Joe first impressed me after he took a stand against the Reagan 
administration's support of South Africa when it was still in the 
depths of apartheid. So when he asked me to help organize women for his 
1988 Presidential campaign, I was all in.
  While that race wasn't meant to be, I fell in love with Joe's vision 
of ``reclaiming the idea of America as a community'' and his beautiful, 
persistent optimism and hope--qualities we all still love him for 
today.
  I cherished our time serving in Congress together, and I was so 
honored that he asked me to carry the Violence against Women Act in the 
House. Joe was determined to put the spotlight on this quiet epidemic--
and he has been doing just that ever since.
  I took 5 years, but President Bill Clinton finally signed VAWA into 
law in 1994. It was one of Joe's many monumental achievements.
  By then, I had won election to the U.S. Senate where Joe played a 
major role in one of my own biggest personal accomplishments: the 
Dolphin-Safe tuna label law. Well, if I am being honest, it was his 
then 8-year-old daughter, Ashley, who got him involved.
  Schoolchildren across the country were boycotting their tuna fish 
sandwiches after learning that dolphins could be killed as tuna was 
caught, and Ashley was begging her father to take action.
  I was so proud that Joe chose to partner with me on a bill that 
required companies that sell dolphin-safe tuna to prove that dolphins 
were not hurt in the fishing process. Like any good father, Joe wanted 
to show Ashley that he would come through for her--and he did.
  Our bill became law in 1992, and it is estimated that it saves tens 
of thousands of dolphins every year.
  Joe also served as an extraordinary chairman on the Foreign Relations 
Committee, where I am a member. He was gracious and respectful, 
listening to every viewpoint, but he also wasn't afraid to speak up and 
take charge. I thought he was very courageous to point out a better way 
to solve the civil war in Iraq, and I was so proud to stand with him.
  For all of these reasons, and so many more, it is no surprise that 
President Barack Obama chose Joe Biden to serve as his Vice President.
  And it is no surprise that Joe will go down as one of the most 
effective Vice Presidents in history because of his warm, open 
relationship with President Obama. They have spent a great deal of time 
together, exchanging thoughts and ideas, and Joe was one of the key 
advisors who influenced President Obama as he successfully confronted 
horrific challenges, such as: two wars; the worst recession since the 
Great Depression; and rising violence in our communities.
  Who could ever forget Joe Biden's immense respect and gratitude for 
our men and women in uniform and their families and his determined 
fight to bring them home safely?
  Who could ever forget how he shepherded the Recovery Act through 
Congress--a near impossible feat in this polarized political climate?
  Who could ever forget his long history of fighting for community 
policing and to strengthen the bonds between police officers and their 
communities?
  No one has fought harder for the things he believes in than Joe 
Biden--no one--and there is nothing that he will not do for the country 
he so deeply loves.
  Love of country is second only to the love Joe has for his beautiful 
family. When he talks about his incredible wife, children, and 
grandchildren, you know they are his guiding star.
  It is because of this love that we have all come to know and adore 
Joe, and for that same reason, it is why our hearts broke for him over 
the profound, unspeakable loss of his son, Beau. All of America mourned 
with Joe.
  He had every right to stay down, but Joe is as resilient as they 
come. He likes to tell the advice that his father gave him as a child: 
``Champ, when you get knocked down get up. Get up.''
  Well, Joe always gets up. He gets up again and again and again.
  And we are all so fortunate that he does because, from the U.S. 
Senate to the Office of the Vice President, Joe has never stopped 
fighting for the things he believes in--for civil rights, women's 
rights, worker's rights, economic fairness, a world-class education for 
our kids, health care for all, and a safe and peaceful world.
  Joe has taught me so much, and I am so proud to call him my forever 
friend.
  Many of you know that I love to rewrite song lyrics.
  This is what I wrote for Joe:

     Joe is a many splendored thing.
     He is tough and smart and strong and wise.
     Winter, fall and spring.
     He's for kids and health and child care.
     Our Joe will always be there.
     A smile, a glow,
     It's not for show, it's true.
     Joe worked with us for years and years,
     And there is no sleep for our busy Veep.
     He has hope not fears.
     Whether guy or gal,
     Joe is our pal.
     And this we know is true,
     Joe Biden, colleagues,
     All love you.

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I join my colleagues today in honoring 
you and thanking you for the incredible devotion you have shown to the 
United States Senate and to express my deep respect for you--respect 
that I know the people of Michigan share.
  You have been a longtime friend to me and to the people of my home 
State. One thing we have always had in common: our parents were both in 
the automobile industry. As of course you know, your dad was a car 
salesman, and my father owned an Oldsmobile dealership.
  So we have both known, from the very beginning, how critically 
important American manufacturing is for so many people in Michigan and 
across the country.
  We worked together, both when you were the Senator from Delaware and

[[Page 15971]]

then as the Vice President of the United States, to save the auto 
industry back in 2008.
  You know that the only way we succeed is if we do everything we can 
to support and grow America's middle class, which you have done your 
entire career.
  There are countless instances over your 40 years of service when you 
were on the right side of history: when you led the passage of the 
Violence Against Women Act; in your work as the chair of the Judiciary 
and Foreign Relations Committee; through your wise counsel as Vice 
President and your ability to work with us to get so much done over the 
last 8 years; with Dr. Biden, who is here today, for your work 
supporting Michigan's military families and community colleges; and now 
in your effort to cure cancer through the Cancer Moonshot.
  Early on in your career, you said that the work that we do here 
allows us to ``literally have the chance to shape the future--to put 
our own stamp on the face and character of America, to bend history 
just a little bit.'' I would believe, as every one of my colleagues 
does, that you have done more than bend the future of America ``just a 
little bit.''
  You have changed this Nation and you have changed this Senate for the 
better.
  There is a great quote from a poet I know that you admire very much, 
William Butler Yeats.
  It is a piece of advice that he gave out frequently to young writers. 
It goes: ``Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the 
people.''
  Yeats--like you Mr. President--understood that the best way to reach 
people is by appealing to their heart, meeting them where they are.
  And I think, moving forward, we have to remember that we all have to 
reach people's hearts and strive to serve as well as you have.
  Thank you for your service to this Senate and to the American people.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, it is fitting that Joe Biden ascended 
from Senator to Vice President--or as the office is known around here, 
President of the Senate.
  Joe was elected to the Senate as a very young man. We have heard Joe 
talk about how hard it was after losing his wife, Neilia, and baby 
daughter, Naomi, in an automobile accident, just weeks before he was to 
be sworn in, to come to Washington and assume his duties. He credits 
his older colleagues like Mike Mansfield, Ted Kennedy, Danny Inouye, 
Hubert Humphrey, Fritz Hollings, and Rhode Island's Claiborne Pell, who 
opened his Washington home to the young Senator, with convincing him to 
stick it out, just for a few months.
  Well, he did more than stick it out. He dove in. The Senate saved his 
life, he has said, in that time of grief. And in return, he gave his 
life to the Senate, serving the people of Delaware for more than three 
decades.
  Joe Biden presided over Supreme Court nomination hearings as chairman 
of the Judiciary Committee. He shepherded the assault weapons ban and 
the Violence Against Women Act. He served also as the chairman of the 
Foreign Relations Committee, facing down dictators and championing 
nuclear nonproliferation.
  He is, of course, recognized in Senate lore as a particularly strong 
speaker and debater. From his familiar perch in the back row of the 
Chamber, Joe would hold forth on the merits of legislative proposals 
and the positions of his colleagues. If the Chamber was empty of 
Senators, he would even turn and deliver his speeches to the captive 
audience in the staff gallery behind him.
  But Joe can always be counted on for telling it like it is. Not long 
ago, he was in my home State of Rhode Island to tout needed 
infrastructure projects. Now, Rhode Island has one of the highest rates 
of structurally deficient bridges in the Nation, and my senior Senator, 
Jack Reed, and I have worked hard to bring Federal resources to bear in 
addressing that need. But Joe put it no uncertain terms. Standing under 
the East Shore Expressway Bridge on Warren Avenue in East Providence, 
the Vice President cried, ``For 10 years you've had Lincoln logs 
holding the damn thing up! No, I mean go look at it. The press went and 
looked at it. If everybody in Rhode Island watched the news tonight and 
saw that, they'd try to go around the damn bridge!''
  Whatever his style or accomplishments, Joe will always pin his 
success in the Senate on the personal relationships he forged so deeply 
and so sincerely, with ideological allies and strange bedfellows alike. 
``Every good thing I have seen happen here, every bold step taken in 
the 36-plus years I have been here, came not from the application of 
pressure by interest groups, but through the maturation of personal 
relationships,'' he said in his 2009 farewell speech. ``Pressure groups 
can and are strong and important advocates. But they're not often 
vehicles for compromise. A personal relationship is what allows you to 
go after someone hammer and tong on one issue and still find common 
ground on the next.''
  That is why Joe Biden was uniquely well suited for the one job in 
this country with one constitutional foot in the executive branch and 
the other in the legislative. He was at the center of a number of high-
stakes compromises between the White House, Congress, and the two 
parties. And every once in a while, he still got to vote.
  ``Except for the title `father,''' he said, ``there is no title, 
including `vice president,' that I am more proud to wear than that of 
United States senator.'' Joe Biden is a great father to Hunter and 
Ashley, and to Beau, whose passing last year was felt by the entire 
Senate family. He served honorably as Vice President. But he will 
always be the pride of the Senate.
  I thank him for his faithful service and for his enduring example. 
And I wish him and Jill great happiness in the adventures to come.
  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to Vice President Joe 
Biden, a man who has dedicated his life to serving our country, working 
across the aisle whenever he can, and always doing his best to get 
things done for the American people.
  I am proud to have known and admired Joe a long time. I first met Joe 
toward the end of his first campaign for the Senate, in the fall of 
1972. My father, Stewart Udall, had been called to Delaware to help the 
young Democratic candidate with environmental issues. I tagged along 
with my dad and spent a day on the campaign trail with a man who would 
come to spend 36 distinguished years in the Senate and become our 47th 
Vice President.
  The following summer, I worked as a staffer in his Senate office--
writing constituent letters, researching policy issues, preparing press 
materials. That was my first job in the Senate.
  In so many ways, Joe Biden is the same person now as then--caring, 
passionate, energetic, tenacious, and ready and able to get things 
done.
  Joe gave me my first Senate job, and this January--44 years later--he 
swore me in for the 114th Congress.
  I note that Senators from across our country--from both parties--have 
lined up to speak to Joe's character and accomplishments. We respect 
him as a colleague, and we love him for his passion and commitment to 
public service.
  Joe has never forgotten his blue collar roots. He has never forgotten 
our country's working class. Joe has fought all his life to make sure 
the working class gets a fair shake. He sounded the clarion call in the 
last months and weeks of the Presidential campaign--that we not forget 
working families and, more broadly, America's middle class.
  In his words, ``The middle class is not a number; it's a value set. 
It's being able to own your house and not have to rent it; it's being 
able to send your kid to the local park and know they'll come home 
safely. It's about being able to send your kid to the local high school 
and if they do well they can get to college, and if they get to 
college, you can figure out how to [pay to] get them there, and when 
your mom or dad passes away, you can take care of the other who is in 
need and hope your kids never have to take care of you. That's Joe 
Biden's definition of the middle class, and the middle class has been 
clobbered.''

[[Page 15972]]

  Joe championing the working and middle class helps my State of New 
Mexico, helps all of our States.
  His policy expertise is broad and deep but maybe in no area as much 
as foreign policy. He has spent decades working on international 
matters--as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as the 
committee's chair or ranking member, as President Obama's foreign 
relations troubleshooter.
  From my service on the Foreign Relations Committee, I have a keen 
appreciation for the complexity of foreign policy matters in today's 
world.
  Joe's foreign policy is at once pragmatic and sophisticated. He has 
stalwartly promoted peace and nonproliferation. But he understands the 
need for military force when national interests are at stake, diplomacy 
is not an option, and such action will bear intended results.
  Joe recently summed up what can be called the Biden Doctrine in 
Foreign Affairs. He identifies the broad themes of Obama foreign policy 
strategy and advises the next administration. The essay should be 
required reading for anyone serious about foreign policy, and I hope 
the new administration takes his advice to heart.
  While Joe's legislative accomplishments are too many to list, I would 
like to underscore one achievement that has made a difference in my 
home State of New Mexico--The Violence Against Women Act.
  As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Joe drafted VAWA and led 
the charge for enactment. Passed in 1994, VAWA reordered how the 
Federal criminal justice system handled rape, sexual assault, and 
domestic violence cases. VAWA gave victims needed protections and 
strengthened prosecutors' tools.
  I was attorney general of New Mexico in 1994. In the wake of VAWA's 
passage, I formed the Violence Against Women Task Force. We got 
strengthened antistalking laws passed in the New Mexico Legislature in 
1997.
  While VAWA was easily reauthorized and strengthened during the 2000s, 
reauthorization became difficult in 2012. As Vice President, Joe was 
instrumental in breaking impasses.
  VAWA represented a sea change for how our society addresses violent 
crime against women.
  The law was reauthorized and strengthened in 2013, and now extends 
protections to gay and transgender persons, immigrant women, and on-
reservation Native Americans.
  Like Joe, I am a husband and father of a daughter. I am proud to have 
voted in favor of reauthorization.
  We all know that Joe has faced deep, personal tragedies. But he has 
confronted tragedy with courage and love for his family and with an 
unimaginable determination to keep working for the American people--
turning his own losses into ways to help others.
  Joe and his equally capable, determined, and indefatigable wife Jill 
have brought new energy and urgency to the fight to cure cancer. The 
Cancer Moonshot has already had many successes. Joe turned the 
premature death of his son into actions to help others with cancer.
  This week, the Senate that Joe gave so much to gave something back, 
sending the 21st Century Cures Act to President Obama for signature. 
The $1.8 billion cancer initiatives in that bill are the direct result 
of Vice President Biden's Cancer Moonshot initiative.
  It is fitting that we named the cancer initiatives in the Cures Act 
after Beau Biden.
  Joe Biden leaves the Vice Presidency, but he will never leave the 
fight for all Americans--Black, Brown, White, poor, working class, 
middle class, gay, straight, Muslim, Christian--everyone--fighting for 
what is right, fighting to make sure we all have a fair shot.
  Joe's heart is as big as they come. I honor his decades of work, 
commitment, and accomplishments, and I look forward to Joe continuing 
being Joe--the same guy I met in 1972--working hard every day to make a 
difference in the lives of all Americans.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, today I wish to honor the contributions 
and the long and colorful career of Vice President Joe Biden--the pride 
of Scranton, PA--and of Wilmington, DE--and the pride of the entire 
United States.
  Joe Biden lived, learned, and grew up among hard-working Americans in 
the 1950s and 1960s, when everything in America seemed possible--and it 
was. Remarkably, this gifted orator grew up with a crippling stutter--a 
challenge which he overcame through determination and perseverance. He 
displayed that same uncommon strength after he lost his wife and 
daughter in a horrific car accident just weeks after being first 
elected to the United States Senate.
  Vice President Biden considered giving up his seat to tend to his 
injured children. It is one of this country's great fortunes that Joe 
Biden decided against that. Scarred by the tragedy and by a close brush 
with death himself and more recently by the loss of his son Beau, the 
Vice President has shown us the power of and the comfort derived from a 
deep personal faith.
  When he was first elected to the United States Senate in 1972, he was 
only 29 years old. And in a Senate career spanning 36 years, Senator 
Biden left behind a legacy as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee. Perhaps his greatest achievement was his tireless advocacy 
for civil rights, especially the protection of women and children from 
domestic violence. The passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 
1994 is an enduring Biden legacy which we will continue to build upon 
for years to come.
  And now, even as he is about to retire from political life, Vice 
President Biden has taken on a new cause: to find a cure for the 
disease which has claimed too many millions of Americans, including his 
beloved son, Beau. The Cancer Moonshot has refocused and reinvigorated 
our Nation's efforts to eradicate this devastating disease, and I was 
proud to support renaming the legislation to honor Beau Biden.
  Vice President Biden is as honest and authentic a person as you will 
find, providing a welcome dose of humanity and authenticity to the 
business of governing. And he has served with great honor and humility.
  I recall a dinner the Vice President attended at my home where, 
before he greeted a single guest, he made sure to spend time with my 
children--greeting them and engaging them in a real conversation. They 
have never forgotten that.
  And, as the meal was ending, the Vice President said he wanted to 
hear from each of our guests. Now, this may come as no surprise to 
those of you who know Joe Biden, but he actually spoke at some 
considerable length about how important he thought it was to hear from 
everybody who was there. Two and a half hours into a dinner scheduled 
to last just 90 minutes, I think one guest got to ask the Vice 
President a question.
  I know Vice President Biden and his exceptional partner, Jill, will 
continue to be engaged in the life of our Nation, so I will simply 
thank him today for four decades of public service--and pledge my 
continued respect for his many contributions to this great Nation which 
he loves so completely.
  Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I want to join in honoring Vice President 
Biden's lifetime of service and sacrifice to our country.
  Throughout his career, Vice President Biden has carried out his work 
with a sense of humility, integrity, and authenticity that often seems 
missing in today's politics.
  He served as either chairman or ranking member of the Senate 
Judiciary Committee for 17 years. In this capacity, he crafted the 
Violence Against Women Act, which provided critical new protections to 
victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The landmark bill also 
supported local law enforcement to help increase prosecutions and 
convictions of abusers. He has continued this legacy by serving as the 
White House Adviser on Violence Against Women.
  Most recently, he led the White House's efforts on the Cancer 
Moonshot initiative, which seeks to hasten our

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advances in cancer research, prevention, and treatment. Earlier today, 
the Senate passed a bill to help make the Cancer Moonshot initiative a 
reality, which is a further testament to the Vice President's 
leadership and character.
  The Vice President's involvement in the Cancer Moonshot initiative 
was born out of the death of his son, Beau, who lost his battle with 
brain cancer last year. The Vice President also grappled with tragedy 
at a young age when his first wife and his 13-month-old daughter were 
killed in a car accident. The poise, dignity, and humility that the 
Vice President has been able to maintain in the face of these tragedies 
speaks to his strength and his character. Through all this, he has 
continued to serve the American people with the utmost integrity and 
authenticity, which have undoubtedly contributed to his successful 
career in public service.
  The Vice President has also consistently advocated for the leadership 
role the United States plays in the world. Over the years, Vice 
President Biden has lent his diplomatic hand to U.S. engagement in 
development and security in places like Eastern Europe and the Northern 
Triangle countries of Central America. He has worked tirelessly to 
strengthen our partnerships across the globe, in places like Asia, 
Europe, and the Middle East, in an effort to further U.S. interests and 
the values upon which our Nation has thrived.
  When he was in Denver this past September to speak at the Korbel 
School, the Vice President warned against ``turning inward.'' Joe has 
no capacity to turn inward in any walk of life. His career is 
characterized by reaching outward to the American people and to the 
world, working to listen, collaborate, heal, and serve. We can all 
learn a lot from that open and inclusive approach.
  We are grateful for the Vice President's leadership and example. I 
thank him and his incredible family for their service to our Nation.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I would like to pay tribute to an 
incredible leader, public servant, mentor, and friend.
  It seems impossible to place a period on the public service career of 
Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.
  So perhaps this is just an ellipsis.
  For 36 years, Joe Biden was a towering presence in this body. As a 
member, ranking member, and chairman of the Foreign Relations 
Committee, he dove headfirst into the most challenging issues in a 
volatile world, shaping a generation of U.S. foreign policy. He tackled 
arms control issues, stood up directly to Slobodan Milosevic, fought 
against apartheid in South Africa, and strongly advocated for NATO 
bombing of Serbia in the 1990s. He once called his contribution to 
ending the Yugoslav wars one of the ``proudest moments'' of his 
political career. For years, he worked to shape our policy in Iraq and 
the Middle East. He did so not just from his Washington office, but 
through regular visits to warzones, where he met face to face with 
military leaders and enlisted men and women, alike. This is Joe Biden's 
legacy.
  As a member and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Biden 
spearheaded the Federal assault weapons ban, presided over Supreme 
Court confirmations, and--in perhaps his most significant legislative 
triumph--authored the Violence Against Women Act.
  For generations, violence against women was a private matter--a 
tragedy suffered over and over by women with no recourse against 
abusive partners. VAWA brought this scourge out of the shadows and into 
the open, affirming that domestic violence survivors would NOT also be 
victimized by the system that was supposed to protect them. Because of 
VAWA, which Senator Biden helped reauthorize three times, 3.4 million 
women and men have called the National Domestic Violence Hotline and 
gotten the support they need. From 1994, when VAWA became law, until 
2010, the rate of domestic violence in the United States has fallen by 
64 percent. These are real accomplishments and real people--not just 
statistics. This is Joe Biden's legacy.
  And, as everyone knows, he did it all commuting daily from and to his 
beloved Delaware.
  Then he got a job that included accommodation in Washington, DC.
  Joe Biden has transformed the job of Vice President. A key liaison to 
Congress because of his years of relationships on the Hill, Joe Biden 
stood shoulder to shoulder with President Obama and brought our economy 
back from the brink. Vice President Biden was tasked with implementing 
and overseeing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which laid 
the foundation for a sustainable economic future we are experiencing 
today.
  He also tackled longer term economic challenges, traveling the 
country in support of American manufacturing jobs and working 
tirelessly to rein in the exorbitant cost of college and spiraling 
student loan debt. Joe Biden believes in his bones that all Americans 
deserve a fair shot.
  That is why he was an early advocate for marriage equality. He 
accelerated change, forcing a conversation that, at its heart, was 
about love and the simple premise of all men and women being equal.
  His belief in a fair shot for all is why Vice President Biden devoted 
incredible energy after the Sandy Hook shooting to sparing other 
families the heartbreak felt by too many in Newtown. Some of the most 
challenging days of the Obama administration were days of mass 
shootings.
  Aurora, San Bernardino, Orlando, Fort Hood, Charleston, Tucson, and 
of course Newtown--to anyone who has been active in the push for 
commonsense gun safety measures--as I have--the Vice President's steady 
hand, commitment, and leadership in this space have been obvious. Along 
with the President, he has comforted families, devoted countless hours 
to healing, and contributed energy and ideas to a years-long push that 
will eventually affect real change and keep the most lethal weapons out 
of the hands of the most dangerous people.
  And that will be Joe Biden's legacy.
  Vice President Joe Biden was taught early on by his parents that hard 
work mattered, that how you treat others matters, and above all else 
that family matters most. Throughout his career, he had a rule in his 
office: if one of his children, his wife Jill, or a sibling called, 
staff was to pull him out of a meeting so he could take the call. The 
same rule extended to staff. He never wanted to hear that someone had 
stayed at work instead of making it to a graduation, Little League 
game, or school play.
  That, laid bare, is Joe Biden. He came to Washington on the shoulders 
of his family, which fanned out across Delaware and knocked on doors 
until there were no more doors to knock. When tragedy struck--between 
his improbable election victory and his swearing in--and he suffered 
the unimaginable loss of his wife and infant daughter, his family 
pulled him closer. He stayed by the hospital beds of his two sons, Beau 
and Hunter, and nursed them back to health, questioning all along 
whether he would ever serve in the Senate.
  But this body--this Senate--pulled him closer, too. Senators Inouye, 
Mansfield, Humphrey, Hollings, and Kennedy all pleaded with him to give 
the Senate a chance: ``Just six months, Joe. Just stay six months.''
  He stayed 36 years. And he learned lessons about character and 
motives--lessons we are all still learning today. He learned from Mike 
Mansfield never to question another man's motive--question his judgment 
but never his motive. It was a lesson that bridged divides that too 
often keep us apart. The lesson made for lasting friendships with Jesse 
Helms and Strom Thurmond--whose eulogy he delivered.
  Joe Biden arrived in the Senate after a 1972 campaign heavy on civil 
rights. Years later, the centerpiece in his Senate office was a large 
table that had belonged to Senator John Stennis, around which Senator 
Richard Russell and Southern segregationists had planned the demise of 
the civil rights movement. In 2009, Joe Biden became Vice President to 
our first African-American President.
  The arc of the moral universe is long, but it does indeed bend toward 
justice.

[[Page 15974]]

  We have not seen the end of Joe Biden. Just this week, he presided 
over this body as we took an important step toward realizing the dream 
of the Cancer Moonshot--an ambitious project to end cancer as we know 
it.
  It is another effort that has profound personal meaning to the Vice 
President, who lost his son Beau to this horrible disease. It is also a 
place where Joe Biden's work will have lasting, indelible effect on 
Americans--indeed all of humanity--if he is successful.
  And that is Joe Biden's legacy.
  He brought people together. He tackled the impossible. He overcame 
obstacles. He bridged divides. Tireless and fierce, Joe Biden put 
family and country first. We cannot ask for more than that.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise to join my colleagues to pay 
tribute to Vice President Joe Biden.
  Joe has made countless contributions to our country throughout his 
more than 40 years in public service and six terms in the U.S. Senate.
  Whether it was passing the Violence Against Women Act, leading the 
congressional opposition to apartheid South Africa, or advocating for 
Amtrak, Joe honored the Senate with his service.
  This year, after the loss of his beloved son Beau, Joe harnessed his 
grief to spearhead a new Cancer Moonshot initiative to accelerate 
finding cures for cancer.
  This past Monday night, with Joe presiding, we named this initiative 
in memory of Beau.
  After Monday's vote, Joe said that it made him realize all of the 
support he has had since Beau's passing.
  In the face of his own loss, Joe has supported countless other 
families in similar situations.
  I will remember Joe for this incredible empathy.
  This year we lost our colleague and friend Congressman Mark Takai of 
Hawaii.
  I affectionately called Mark my younger brother, and his passing was 
a shock to many of us.
  Joe joined us to honor Mark at a memorial service here in the 
Capitol.
  Reflecting on his own life, Joe spoke directly to Mark's wife, Sami, 
and his children, Matthew and Kaila:

       I promise you that the day will come when Mark's memory 
     brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your 
     eye.
       My prayer for you and your family is that they come sooner 
     rather than later. But I promise you. I promise you it will 
     come.

  Like so many times in his life, Joe's words spoke to our hearts.
  From his own experience, he comforted the Takais and so many of us 
who knew Mark.
  That is who Joe is--a man of empathy and soul, who always had a kind 
word, and who will leave a legacy of commitment to doing the right 
thing, and a legacy of hope.
  Joe, you will be missed.
  Mahalo for your service.
  Mr. KING. Mr. President, today I would like to join with my 
colleagues to honor Vice President Joseph R. Biden.
  Though I did not have the privilege to serve with Vice President 
Biden while he was a Member of the Senate, I have long admired Joe and 
his sincere commitment to the people of this country and especially to 
those in his beloved home State of Delaware.
  The details of Joe's early years are well known to this body and to 
the Nation, but because they are so central to his character, they bear 
repeating. After an upset win of a U.S. Senate seat at just 29 years 
old, Joe experienced a tragedy that most of us cannot even begin to 
fathom--the death of his wife, Neilia, and his young daughter, Naomi, 
in a car accident just weeks before he was set to take office. A now-
iconic photograph shows a young Joe being sworn into office at his 
sons' hospital bedside.
  A tragedy of that magnitude, so early in Joe's career, would have 
been reason for most to put on hold--or even end--a promising future in 
public service. Indeed, no one would have faulted Joe had he decided 
that the demands of the work he was set to undertake were not worth 
pursuing after the unimaginable loss he had just experienced. But, from 
the depths of his sorrow, Joe summoned the courage to press forward, 
committing himself to his two sons and to his work fighting for 
Delaware in the U.S. Senate. Committed to caring for his young family 
in the wake of such loss, Joe would take the train from Wilmington to 
Washington each day the Senate was in session.
  During his 36 years as a member of this body, Joe distinguished 
himself as a thoughtful, principled leader on a number of critical 
issues. Joe's leadership on the Senate Judiciary Committee put him at 
the center of some of the most consequential debates in recent years, 
from passage of the 1994 Crime Law to the enactment of the Violence 
Against Women Act. In his role on the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, Joe garnered the respect of lawmakers on both sides of the 
aisle as he helped to shape U.S. foreign policy. His leadership in both 
of these areas, as well as the respect of his colleagues in Congress, 
made Joe a natural pick to join then-Senator Obama as his running mate 
in 2008.
  As Vice President, Joe has been a trusted adviser to President Obama 
and has been tasked with overseeing significant initiatives within the 
administration. From his work on the economic stimulus package in 2009 
to his continued leadership in the fight against sexual assault and 
domestic violence, Joe has brought to the White House his 
characteristic dedication and charisma. It has been a pleasure to 
observe the real friendship that the Vice President has forged with 
President Obama, one grounded in mutual respect and admiration for one 
another.
  We saw again last year Joe's strength in the face of adversity when 
cancer claimed the life of his son, Beau. Like his father, Beau Biden 
was a gifted communicator, and the Nation mourned alongside Joe at the 
news of his passing. In the aftermath of Beau's death, Joe accepted the 
President's charge to lead the Cancer Moonshot initiative to accelerate 
cancer research--yet another shining example of Joe channeling his 
experience with loss into advancement for the public good. It is a 
fitting testament to Joe's leadership that the cancer provisions in the 
bill currently under consideration in the Senate, the 21st Century 
Cures Act, were renamed in honor of Beau. I know of few people who have 
endured the magnitude of loss that Joe has over the course of his life, 
and the fact that he carries on every day with a full heart and renewed 
dedication to fighting for the American people is an inspiration.
  Beyond his accomplishments--which are many--Joe is perhaps best known 
for his good humor and genuine ability to connect with people. In a 
city associated more with political rancor than authenticity, Joe has 
long been a breath of fresh air, an homage to a more amicable past. His 
ability to get things done while making steadfast friends on both sides 
of the aisle is a model for all of us and an inspiration to me.
  I wish Joe and his wife, Jill, nothing but the best as they move onto 
their next adventure. I know in times of trial, I will look to Joe's 
leadership and example for the wisdom to make the right decision.
  Mr. Vice President, on behalf of the people of Maine, I thank you for 
your service to our country.
  Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, today I join my colleagues in celebrating 
the many contributions of Vice President Joe Biden, a man who has spent 
his career fighting for working families.
  For more than four decades, Vice President Biden has tirelessly 
served the people of Delaware and the United States. As many of my 
colleagues have already noted, he has been on the frontlines of some of 
our Nation's toughest battles--from steering the Foreign Relations and 
Judiciary Committees, to introducing the Violence Against Women Act and 
championing efforts to reduce gun violence in our communities. He takes 
on every fight with restless energy and relentless optimism.
  I first met then-Senator Biden back in the 1990s when I was a law 
professor with no experience in the ways of Washington. We tangled over 
an issue, each of us laying into the fight with determination. Senator 
Biden won, and I lost. Years later, when I next saw

[[Page 15975]]

him, he held out his arms and shouted from halfway across the room, 
``Professor! Come here and give me a hug!''
  He had not forgotten our earlier battle, but he made it clear that he 
continued to think and rethink issues about working families and that, 
even when we disagreed, we could respect--and even like--each other. 
And when I was later sworn into the United States Senate, I thought 
about the example he set to fight hard, but to treat each other with 
respect.
  The Vice President has faced down hardship with exceptional grace and 
courage, and he continues to wake up every day with a steadfast 
commitment to ensuring that the voices of ordinary Americans are heard 
here in Washington. And for me personally, he has provided 
encouragement, wisdom, and good counsel, time and again--and for that, 
I am truly grateful.
  So, Vice President Biden: those of us here in the Senate are 
fortunate to have had the opportunity to work alongside you. And I know 
I speak for millions of Americans when I say that we all are enormously 
grateful for your many years of service to this country. Thank you, and 
I wish you the very best as you begin the next chapter of your life and 
career.
  Mr. COONS. We have five Senators remaining who have asked to speak 
briefly: Senator Alexander, Senator Cardin, Senator Casey, and Senator 
Kaine. My senior Senator, Tom Carper of Delaware, will conclude this 
session today.
  I yield the floor to the Senator from Tennessee.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, knowing there is a reception coming, I 
will try to set a good example. After hearing a speech, my late friend 
Alex Haley, the author of ``Roots,'' said: May I make a suggestion?
  I said: Well, yes.
  He said: If, when you make a speech, you would say ``Instead of 
making a speech, let me tell you a story,'' someone might actually 
listen to what you have to say.
  I have always remembered that, so let me tell one short story about a 
Vice President who knows how to get things done.
  Nearly 2 years ago, you and President Obama invited Senator Corker 
and me to go with you to Knoxville when the President announced his 
community college program. Before that, we had lunch privately, and we 
talked about many things, but the President talked about his interest 
in precision medicine.
  I said: Mr. President, we are working on something we call 21st 
Century Cures. Why don't we fold that into your precision medicine 
interest, and we will do it together.
  At the State of the Union address a year later, the President talked 
about the Cancer Moonshot and announced Vice President Joe Biden would 
be in charge of that. So I talked to you and said: Well, we will just 
fold that in as well.
  It wasn't moving along as fast as I would like because, as you know 
and as most people here know, it is full of difficult issues--FDA, 
safety, moving things though, drug companies' incentives, and then the 
funding issue on both sides of the aisle.
  So I called you and I said: Joe, we are not moving as we should.
  You said: Well, let me see what I can do.
  And you held a meeting of the Democrats and Republicans in the 
House--Senator Murray and me--and you moved us along pretty well and 
off we would go. You didn't take credit for that; nobody knew much 
about it. You were the key to that.
  Then it got stuck again. So I called you again. I said: Joe, I have 
the precision medicine, I have the Cancer Moonshot, we have the BRAIN 
Initiative, we have the opioids money, but I can't get a response. I 
feel like the butler standing with a silver platter outside the Oval 
Office, and no one will take the order.
  You said: If you want to feel like a butler, try being Vice 
President.
  Well, the fact was, you went to work again. The President called; he 
went to work. Speaker Ryan went to work, Senator McConnell went to 
work, and today that legislation on which you worked so hard passed the 
Senate with 94 votes. That is an example of a man who understands the 
issues, who knows how to get things done, and who has the respect of 
everyone in this body.
  This is Pearl Harbor Day. Pearl Harbor Day reminds us of the greatest 
generation of men and women who cared about the country, didn't care 
about the credit, resolved their differences, and realized that 
diversity is important but turning that diversity into one America is 
even more important. You are not of that generation, but you show the 
same spirit as that generation did. Your work on 21st Century Cures and 
the fact that the Cancer Moonshot section is not only something that is 
your initiative--is named for your son--is important not just to you 
but to all of us.
  You are a friend of every single one of us. We honor you today. We 
are delighted you came down to let us tell a few stories about your 
effectiveness as Vice President of the United States.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I also wish to join in thanking you for 
your incredible service. Senator Mikulski talked about a lot of things 
you have done. The two of us represent the State of Maryland. Other 
than the two of us, there is no other Senator who has spent more time 
in Maryland than the Vice President.
  Admittedly, most of that time was spent on an Amtrak train, but we 
consider you to be a resident of Maryland. We have tried to find a way 
to tax you, but we will let you get by. We very much appreciate your 
interest in our entire region and in our entire country.
  When I was elected to the Senate in 2007, I talked to Senator 
Sarbanes--the person whom I was replacing in the Senate--about 
committee assignments, and we talked about the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee. He said: Get on the committee. Joe Biden is an incredible 
leader. Any time you can spend with him is going to be time well spent.
  I talked to Senator Mikulski, and she told me the same thing. I was 
honored to be able to serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 
and saw firsthand your extraordinary leadership on behalf of our 
country. But bringing us together in that committee, you didn't know 
who the Democrats and who the Republicans were. We worked together in a 
unit in the best interests of our country. That really was a model for 
all of us in the service of the Senate and service on behalf of our 
people.
  A little over 8 years later, I became a ranking member of the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee, and we had some extremely challenging 
issues that could have divided us. You helped me through that period. I 
really wish to thank you for that. Your extraordinary leadership in 
helping us resolve some very difficult issues, your openness, your 
willingness to listen, and your ability to find a way to go forward 
were incredibly helpful. I think it allowed the Senate to do the right 
thing on that issue--as well as the oversight. I thank you very much.
  That wasn't your only opportunity to help us resolve issues. You have 
heard Members talk about the Violence Against Women Act and how 
important that was. The Cancer Moonshot is going to be incredibly 
valuable. Each one of our families has been affected by cancer. Through 
your efforts, we know we are going to find the answer to this dread 
disease. You have done this in so many different areas, law 
enforcement--the list goes on and on.
  Last year I was in Central America. I think there you could easily 
run for office and have no problems at all. They know what you have 
done to give them a hope, to give them a future. You take an interest 
in an area and find a way to be helpful that I think has made our 
country stronger. You have given hope to people all over the world.
  You have a love for people. You hear that. You hear that often. It 
was Will Rogers who famously said he never met a man he didn't like. 
That is true of Joe Biden. It is incredible.
  I remember when I was being sworn in, in the ceremony in the Old 
Senate Chamber, you not only talked to Members of the Senate, you 
talked to every

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member of our families. I don't know if you had the best staff work or 
not, but you knew every Member's family. To this day my grandchildren 
talk about the conversation they had with you during that swearing-in 
ceremony. You really care about people, and that really shows. This is 
a family here, and you have truly shown that to us. Myrna and I look at 
you and Jill as people who are part of our family.
  I think you are, perhaps, the most ebullient politician in America. 
Horrific family tragedies and life-threatening cranial aneurysms 
severely tested, but ultimately didn't diminish, your faith in God or 
your love for the ``retail'' aspect of politics--meeting and greeting 
people, making those human connections.
  Mr. President, for those who may not know your story, I would like to 
tell them part of it. Joe Biden was born in Scranton and raised there 
before his parents moved the family to Delaware. He was the first 
member of his family to attend college. He earned his B.A. from the 
University of Delaware and then went to law school at Syracuse 
University, during which time he married his college sweetheart, Neilia 
Hunter. They had three children--two sons and a daughter.
  In 1972, just four years after Joe graduated from law school and when 
he was just 29 years old--he ran a bare bones, longshot campaign for 
the U.S. Senate against the incumbent, Caleb ``Cale'' Boggs, who had 
previously been Delaware's Governor and had served three terms in the 
U.S. House of Representatives. Joe's sister Valerie ran the campaign; 
most of the other ``staff'' were other family members. He demonstrated 
his extraordinary ability to connect with voters and won the election 
by 3,162 votes and became the sixth-youngest Senator in U.S. history.
  Just a few weeks after the election, Joe's wife and their infant 
daughter Naomi were killed in a traffic accident; their two young sons, 
Hunter and Beau, were seriously injured. Joe was sworn in to the U.S. 
Senate next to his sons' hospital beds and steadfastly began commuting 
to Washington from Wilmington every day by train, a practice he 
maintained throughout his career in the Senate.
  In 1977, Vice President Biden married Jill Jacobs. Jill has a Ph.D. 
in education and is a lifelong educator. Together, Joe and Jill had 
daughter, Ashley, who is a social worker.
  Joe's affinity for the people of Delaware was reciprocal: he was re-
elected to the Senate six times, including in 2008 when he was also 
elected Vice President.
  In February of 1988, Joe was admitted to Walter Reed Army Medical 
Center. He had an intracranial aneurysm that had begun leaking. The 
situation was dire, a priest had actually administered last rites at 
the hospital. The surgery was successful but he suffered a pulmonary 
embolism and had to undergo another operation, which was successful, in 
May 1988. Two brain operations might slow down most people, but not 
Joe. Two years after he nearly died, he won re-election to a fourth 
Senate term.
  Joe's Senate career wasn't just long; it was distinguished. He became 
the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee in 1981. Three years 
later, he helped to steer the Comprehensive Crime Control Act to 
passage. It was the first of many major legislative accomplishments 
which included the Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act of 1994. 
That bill contained the assault weapon ban and the Violence Against 
Women Act, and it established the Community Oriented Policing Services 
(COPS) program.
  Joe's accomplishments on the domestic policy side are impressive, but 
he also became a foreign policy expert. When Congress refused to ratify 
the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) II Treaty Soviet leader 
Leonid Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter signed in 1979, Joe met with 
Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko. He was able to secure changes 
to the Treaty to overcome the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's 
objections. He has played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy 
ever since. I was honored to serve on the Foreign Relations Committee 
for the last 2 years Joe served as Chairman. I have been honored to 
work with him in his current capacity as Vice President to expand the 
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO, to include the former Warsaw 
Pact countries of Eastern and Central Europe and support a sovereign, 
democratic Ukraine. He is a champion of Israel and has been one of the 
principal architects of administration's rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. 
He has developed deep relationships with the world leaders by excelling 
at face-to-face diplomacy.
  Mr. President, we were all devastated when your beloved son Beau lost 
his battle with brain cancer last year. Beau was just 46. It was a 
poignant moment on Monday when you were in the Chair, presiding over 
the Senate as we voted to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the 
House message to accompany H.R. 34, the 21st Century Cures Act. The 
bill contains provisions to implement the administration's ``Cancer 
Moonshot''--yet another one of your sparking accomplishments. I want to 
commend Senator McConnell and the majority for renaming that title of 
the bill the ``Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot and National Institutes of 
Health (NIH) Innovation Projects''. I know it means a lot to you and 
your family.
  I have made my lifetime serving in public life. You have made that 
profession an honorable profession through the manner in which you have 
conducted yourself, your integrity, who you are, and the way that you 
bring people together. I am proud to have served with you in this body.
  Mr. President, you have been an extraordinary public servant for 
nearly half a century. You have also been a dedicated family man and a 
good friend. I said at the beginning of my remarks that you never met a 
man you didn't like. I don't think anyone who has ever met you didn't 
like you, too.
  Congratulations.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, it is an honor to be here today. I was 
thinking about what I would say today and making it as brief and as 
personal as I could. I have to say that on a day like today it is 
difficult. We all have the privilege of being able to go to this floor 
on a regular basis to talk about issues, to talk about our country, and 
to talk about the world, but we also have one of the great privileges 
to talk about those with whom we have served and for whom we have great 
respect.
  This is one of those moments. It is of great significance for me that 
I am able to stand on the floor of the Senate as a native of and as a 
resident of the city of Scranton in Lackawanna County to talk about a 
son of Scranton.
  I know this is a pretty big day for Delaware--Delaware's No. 1 
citizen and on this historic day for Delaware. But I have to say I am 
so grateful to be able to say on behalf of the people of Scranton and 
Lackawanna County in Northeastern Pennsylvania how proud we are today 
to be able to pay tribute to Vice President Joe Biden.
  There is so much to say about that history, so much to say about what 
it means to be able to stand on the floor and talk about his record, 
his life, his achievements, but mostly to talk about who he is.
  When I consider what he has contributed to our country, to his State, 
and to the world, it is difficult to encapsulate it. I tried to jot 
down a few notes to remind myself of how best to encapsulate that life.
  I guess I would start with the word ``integrity.'' It may be a word 
that we take for granted, but it is a word that has to be part of the 
life of a public official. I would say in the case of Joe Biden, he has 
the kind of integrity that is uncommon--uncommon not because it is a 
rare trait but uncommon because it is so much a part of his whole life. 
He was a public official with integrity, and we hope he is again when 
he might consider public office again. But he is also a person of great 
integrity when it comes to the fights he has had to wage on behalf of 
people without power, the work he has had to do as a public official 
infused with that kind of integrity and, at the same time, the same 
kind of integrity we expect from

[[Page 15977]]

a family member and a friend. So I would start with that word.
  Certainly the word ``compassion'' comes to mind. Every one of us can 
tell a story. I was hearing stories just yesterday from a colleague 
about a phone call the Vice President made over the last couple of 
years to someone who was grieving, who was in the depths of the 
darkness of grief, and the phone call he made to that person.
  I have heard stories over the years about not just phone calls but 
visits with people, stopping into a funeral home for a long lost friend 
who had lost a loved one, letters he has written. I know a personal 
friend who lost his wife and his sons had lost their mom and what the 
Vice President wrote to them just this summer. Over and over again, he 
has demonstrated that kind of compassion.
  I can remember my own case in a very personal way. It was only an 
election loss. I ran for Governor of Pennsylvania in a primary. As many 
of my colleagues know, primaries are particularly difficult. I lost 
badly. No one called on Wednesday after Tuesday. One reporter showed up 
at my door, and I opened the door and I really couldn't say much to 
this reporter, but I was grateful she was there. But I got one phone 
call on Wednesday--maybe a couple of family members; I come from a 
family of eight. I think my wife was talking to me, but other than 
that, the only person who called me was Joe Biden. He made some kind of 
grand prediction--I thought he was just being nice--that I would 
somehow come back. But he was right. And he made me feel much better 
that day. He may not remember it, but I will remember that for the rest 
of my life.
  I think certainly when we think about the Vice President, we could 
center on another one word: ``justice''--an abiding and enduring 
commitment to justice. His whole public life could be summarized in 
that word and the commitment he has had to justice. We could quote from 
the Bible: ``Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice, for 
they shall be satisfied.'' I am not sure Joe Biden has ever been 
satisfied yet with justice. He is always pursuing it, always trying to 
bring justice to a problem or to a situation or to the life of a fellow 
citizen.
  We think of what Saint Augustine said about justice a long time ago, 
but it still bears repeating: ``Without justice, what are kingdoms but 
great bands of robbers?'' That is what Saint Augustine said hundreds of 
years ago. Joe Biden has lived his life as a public official and as a 
man, as a citizen, with that same burning desire to bring justice into 
the dark corners of our world. And he knows that without that justice, 
someone is, in fact, robbed of so much--robbed of their dignity, robbed 
of their safety, robbed of a full life.
  But I think I would say that maybe the best line, with all due 
respect to the Scriptures and to Saint Augustine, was one my father 
said. He wrote it down years ago, but he probably gave maybe the best 
description of what a public official should be about. I am not sure I 
have ever attributed this to anyone else but him. He said the most 
important qualities a public official can bring to their work are two 
things: No. 1, a passion for justice--which, of course, Joe Biden has 
in abundance--and a sense of outrage in the face of injustice; that if 
you have both of those, on most days, you are going to get it right. 
And his life as a U.S. Senator for 36 years, as Vice President for 8 
years, and as a citizen for all of those years and more, has been about 
that passion for justice and a sense of outrage in the face of 
injustice.
  We all know his record; we don't have to recite all of it. From the 
Violence Against Women Act, which we know is an acronym--VAWA--but it 
doesn't do justice to the name of what that meant. So many today have 
talked about how he saved the lives of women and families because of 
that legislation. So from VAWA to ARRA, as we call it--the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the act that helped dig this economy out 
of the ditch it was in and rescued this country and improved the lives 
of so many people--he not only worked to get it passed, but then he 
made sure it was implemented. It might be the most popular piece of 
legislation 25 years from now when people really appreciate what 
happened with the Recovery Act.
  From diplomacy, to law enforcement, to not just supporting our 
troops, not just working on legislation and supporting them not only 
when his son was a member of our Armed Forces but long before that, to 
what he did very specifically to protect our troops--we know the 
scourge of IEDs, which was the No. 1 killer of our troops in Iraq and 
in Afghanistan. A lot of those troops' lives were saved because of Joe 
Biden up-armoring vehicles and doing all the work he did to protect our 
troops.
  So whether it was national security or security on our streets, 
whether it was protecting women who would be the subject of abuse or 
helping children or improving our economy--on and on--we could talk 
about that record. But just as you can't just list achievements in a 
record and encapsulate what it means, so the same is true of a 36-year 
career in the U.S. Senate and then 8 years as Vice President.
  Lincoln probably said it best. Lincoln said, ``It is not the years in 
your life that matters, in the end, it is the life in those years.'' 
And that is, I think, true of Joe Biden as well.
  Two more points. One of the best qualities of the Vice President as a 
man especially but also as a public official is his sense of gratitude. 
If you knew him for half an hour or for your whole life, you know that 
almost always he is speaking about people in his life who made him who 
he is today, whether it is his mother and father or whether it is his 
whole family, including brothers and sisters and his sons and daughters 
and, of course, Jill. It is a reminder of how grateful we should be. In 
so many ways, when you hear Joe Biden speak, his speeches tend to be, 
on many occasions, a hymn to gratitude, and that comes through all the 
time.
  We know how much he suffered with all of the losses he has sustained. 
I was talking to him recently at an event in Scranton about his son 
Beau and his life and what a patriot Beau Biden was. I think today we 
can say the following about the Vice President: This is a man who was a 
great, great Vice President. This is a man who was a committed and very 
effective U.S. Senator, but maybe most important, he has been a 
faithful son, a loving and proud husband and father, and a patriot.
  Thank you, sir, and God bless you.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, these speeches were just supposed to go on 
for 1 hour, and we are already at the 2-hour mark, but perhaps, since 
we are honoring you, this is most appropriate.
  I would say to our colleagues and our guests, you say the name among 
us of Joe Biden, and a smile automatically comes to our lips, and that 
is because the Vice President is a lover of people. That is true. We 
know it is true. And that is why today we have this genuine affection 
being expressed.
  Since the hour is late, my remarks are going to be very short, but I 
just want to highlight that it is very true and it is very 
characteristic. I can even tell all of the stories of the Biden family 
because I have heard them so much.
  It is also very true that if you are talking to Joe and suddenly your 
wife comes up or your daughter comes up, all of a sudden, Joe is not 
focusing on you, he is giving his total attention to the ladies 
present, and that is most appreciated. That, of course, is why he is 
such a big fan of the Nelson household, not only of Grace and Nan Ellen 
but also of Bill Junior. He always treats our children with respect and 
goes out of his way.
  In Florida, fortunately we had the good fortune of seeing him a lot 
in his two campaigns as Vice President and then the campaign for the 
ticket in this last campaign. I can remember those days. It was so cold 
in a horse pasture west of Ocala. And I can remember recently just 
absolutely cooking in North Palm Beach on the stage in the hot sun, and 
Joe was always there making the case for whoever it was he was standing 
up for.
  Of course, he always made you feel that you were welcome. I remember 
one time we got off an airplane, and he

[[Page 15978]]

was going to his limousine and I am going back to the guest van in the 
back. He motions, I am to come with him. I said, ``Mr. Vice President, 
I never presumed that I should come here.'' He says, ``I always want 
you here with me when we are traveling together.'' That is what makes 
him so special.
  Finally, I want to comment about Moonshot. Why is the effort at 
cancer research called the Moonshot? It is because we achieved what was 
almost the impossible when the President said we are going to the moon 
and return safely within the decade, and America marshaled the will and 
in fact did that incredible accomplishment. That is why we are going to 
have the Moonshot for cancer.
  We have already made so much progress; but now, with the former Vice 
President of the United States heading up all the efforts where we can 
keep the attention on NIH, so it doesn't go from a level rocking along 
about $24 billion, $25 billion a year, and the stimulus shoots it in 
the first 2 years of the Vice President's office up to $30 billion a 
year, then it drops down to $24 billion, $25 billion, and Dr. Francis 
Collins has to cancel 700 of the medical research grants that he has 
already issued. Because we have the Moonshot headed by Joe Biden, we 
are going to find the cure for all those kinds of cancer. That is the 
great legacy that the Vice President of the United States will have.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise in honor of your service.
  I just want to tell my favorite Joe Biden story. This is a story the 
Vice President has heard me tell, but I want it on the Record because 
everyone should know this story. It is the story of an interaction 
between our Vice President on one of the most important days of his 
life and a young man from Richmond, VA, my hometown, on one of the most 
important days of his life.
  It was election day 2008, and I was Governor of Virginia. I was 
responsible for the running of the elections in my State that day when 
Senator Joe Biden was running for Vice President with our President, 
Barack Obama.
  I received a call in the middle of the morning: There was going to be 
a surprise visit to a polling place in Richmond. After having voted in 
Wilmington, Senator Biden was going to make a stop in Richmond and 
wanted to meet some voters before he headed to Chicago to await the 
election results. We gave him the address of an elementary school 
polling place that was very near the Richmond Airport, and I raced 
there with my security detail to get there a few minutes before he 
arrived for a surprise visit with voters who were going to love having 
the chance to meet the soon-to-be Vice President. I got there a few 
minutes before Senator Biden arrived, and I saw a friend who had come 
to vote. I asked how he was doing. He said: I am doing great. I am 
really excited about voting today. And it is also a special day because 
I have a nephew with sickle cell anemia and he is casting his first 
vote, but he is so sick, he can't even get out of the vehicle.
  I watched the election officials at the polling place take a voting 
machine from inside the school into the car so that his 18-year-old 
nephew could cast the first vote of his life. I saw this young man, the 
nephew of my friend, and he was very ill.
  I said to my friend and his nephew: Can you wait here for 5 minutes? 
Because I think we can do something really exciting.
  What?
  Well, just wait.
  And they said they would.
  Within 5 minutes, Senator Biden came up to meet voters and shook the 
hands of those in line. I said: Senator, there is a young man here, and 
just as this day is very important to you, because I think you are 
about to be elected Vice President of the United States, for this young 
African-American male, who is very ill but extremely excited even in 
his illness to get out of his house to come here and cast his vote to 
elect the first African-American President--he is sitting there in that 
vehicle. Will you go and visit with him?
  I didn't even have to finish the sentence and put the question mark 
at the end before Senator Biden shot across the parking lot and went up 
to the vehicle. The press corps was following him. The young man was 
sitting in the back seat. Joe just jumped in the front seat, closed the 
door, rolled up the window so nobody could hear the conversation, and 
the press corps gathered around all four sides of the vehicle with 
their cameras taking pictures of Senator Biden in an extremely animated 
and somewhat lengthy conversation with the 18-year-old who had just 
cast his vote. To me, that will always be the quintessential Joe Biden 
story.
  Joe Biden is the Irish poet of American politicians. He and I share a 
passion for the Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Yeats, like our Vice 
President, was not just a poet. He was a man of the public. He was a 
public official. People asked him to weigh in on political matters all 
the time.
  Once, in the middle of the First World War, somebody asked Yeats to 
write a war poem. He wrote a war poem, and the poem was titled ``On 
Being Asked for a War Poem.'' The poem says this:

     I [often] think it better that in times like these
     A poet's mouth be silent, for in truth . . .
     He has had enough of meddling who can please
     A young girl in the indolence of her youth,
     Or an old man upon a winter's night.

  The meaning of the poem is this: I may be a public figure. I may have 
a public job to do. I may be asked to do a public job and to claim upon 
matters of public importance. But sometimes even more than the matter 
of public importance is the ability to please a young girl or an old 
man--or an ill young man casting a first vote, an important vote.
  The fact that you took your time on that day of importance to you to 
shed some light and offer some joy to someone who was struggling--that 
is the Joe Biden who has us here for 2 hours offering these tributes.
  I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I never had the privilege of serving 
with you in this Chamber, but, like many of my colleagues, I have come 
to know you as a friend and public servant and a model and a mentor. I 
have barely enough time to say a few words of tribute here, but I will 
add more to my remarks on the Record.
  What I want to say very simply is that you have inspired so many of 
us, beyond this Chamber, beyond the people whom you have known 
directly, and beyond the people with whom you have worked. Countless 
young people are involved in this noble profession because of your 
example.
  At a time when public officials and politics are often held in little 
repute and often challenged in their integrity, you have given us a 
good name, you have given politics a good name, and you have enabled so 
many of us to serve with pride in a profession that is so vital to the 
continuance of our democracy. Beyond pieces of legislation, whether it 
is the Violence Against Women Act or the assault weapon ban or criminal 
justice--the list goes on--is that model of public service.
  I want to close by saying that as long as I have known Joe Biden, I 
really came to know him through the eyes of his son. I had the honor of 
working and serving with Beau Biden when he was attorney general of the 
State of Delaware and I was attorney general of my State of 
Connecticut. My ambition in life is to have my four children talk about 
me with the sense of admiration and love and pride that Beau Biden 
talked about his dad.
  I am very proud and grateful that we had the opportunity to vote 
today on a law that bears his name. As proud as his dad is of him, his 
pride in his dad is an example that all of us as parents hope our 
children have for us.
  I am proud to be in this Chamber and to have been sworn in to this 
Chamber by you, Mr. Vice President. I hope our paths will continue to 
cross, as I know they will, with so many of us in this Chamber and in 
this country. Thank you for your service.

[[Page 15979]]

  I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Missouri.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, me too.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, in 1972 I was a young man in my last year 
at Boston College Law School, and I decided to run for State 
representative. I had a cousin who worked at NASA, an older cousin, the 
smart one, the physicist. He said: Well, there is a young man in 
Delaware who is running for the Senate.
  So what is his name?
  Joe Biden.
  From that moment on, I was following the career of this Irishman, 
this latter-day descendent of Hubert Humphrey, a happy warrior, the man 
who stands up for the common man and woman in our country.
  In 1972 you had this great campaign team led by John Marttila--the 
great John--who captured your spirit, your soul, what you represented 
now in this half century of American politics.
  In 1976, when I ran for Congress, just 4 years later--the same as 
you, age 29--saying ``I think I can run,'' I walked into the office of 
this man, John Marttila, in Boston, and it looked like a museum to Joe 
Biden with all the Joe Biden literature and messages on his wall. So 
from that moment on, from John Marttila, through Larry Rasky, through 
Ron Klain--through all of these people who worked for me and worked for 
you, I have been privileged to be able to chronicle your journey of 
work and inspiration for our country.
  I think it is just perfect that you are the commander in chief of 
this rocket ship to the Moon to find the cure for cancer because that 
is a mission that has the right man who is going to be leading it. I 
think that each and every one of us out here knows that one of the 
reasons this bill is receiving such an overwhelming vote today is 
because of you, Mr. President. It is because of the respect we have for 
you. It is the knowledge that when you were negotiating this bill, at 
the end of the day, you were going to put the American people first, 
you were going to make sure that bill reflected the highest aspiration 
of every American.
  So I want to speak briefly because there is a reception after this, 
and many people are still waiting to say hello to you. I think every 
Member wanted to come out here, and you inspired them to speak a lot 
longer than they may have intended on speaking, but it is because of 
the incredible respect and admiration they have for you. My best to 
you. My wife Susan's best to you. There has never been a better public 
servant in American history. All my best.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. President, on behalf of all the people in our great 
State--and our dear colleague Senator Bayh is here because of his love 
as well--we want to tell you how grateful we are for your services, for 
the extraordinary job you have done as Vice President for President 
Obama.
  Everybody is telling stories. As you know, I had the privilege of 
having you put your arm around me, and when everybody said there was no 
chance I could ever win, you said: You and I are a lot alike and you 
can do this and you can win.
  I came back, and they said: What advice did Vice President Biden give 
you?
  I said: He told me that I could win.
  They said: Well, he is right a lot; I don't know about that one.
  You turned out to be right.
  Then we were blessed that your sons, Hunter and Beau, often came to 
Indiana during the summers. You would then come out as well. I will 
never forget going to the coffee shop one Sunday morning. The lady at 
the coffee shop said to me: This has been an unbelievable day because 
the Vice President came in with all his grandchildren; and, by the way, 
Joe, he bought ice cream for everybody in the store, and you have never 
done that.
  I said how sorry I was that I never did that.
  She also said: This is one of the greatest days of my life, to meet 
somebody who has always looked out for working families, who has always 
looked out for us.
  That is how we see you back home. You have always looked out for us. 
You have always cared about us. As a second-generation Irish immigrant, 
you have always been an example to all of us that we can accomplish 
anything we dream of.
  God bless you and Jill and your whole family. We are so lucky to have 
been touched by you.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Vice President Biden, earlier Hubert Humphrey's name 
was mentioned. You know the great love the people of Minnesota have for 
you. Vice President Humphrey was your mentor when you first got to the 
Senate, where you didn't even know if you were going to last a few 
months here, and he was there for you. You have extended that kindness 
to so many since then.
  Vice President Mondale, another Minnesotan, has great affection and 
love for you, and I will report back to him tonight that I was here 
with you today.
  When I first got elected to the Senate and made one of my first 
speeches about police funding to a completely empty Chamber--and I 
thought even my mom wasn't watching on C-SPAN--I walked out of this 
place and I got a phone call on my cell phone and it was Joe Biden, 
then a Senator, saying ``that was a really great speech.''
  When you came to my State and one of my best friends suddenly lost 
her husband and you heard about it, you did not know who she was, you 
just heard the story, and in 2 weeks, on her first day back at work, 
she was driving home and she got a call from you. You talked to her for 
20 minutes. When you were done and had given her all this wonderful 
advice, you said: We are not done; I want you to write down my phone 
number.
  She said: I am driving, Mr. Vice President; I can't do that.
  You said: Pull over.
  She wrote your phone number on her hand. You did that for her, Mr. 
Vice President, and you have done that for so many Americans. On behalf 
of our entire State of Minnesota that has loved you forever, thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, a few minutes ago, I sent up a note to you 
that I handwrote that said: ``Flattery won't hurt you if you don't 
inhale, so don't breathe too deeply up there.''
  I also recall walking into a hearing with EPA Administrator Gina 
McCarthy not too long ago in the House of Representatives, a joint 
House-Senate hearing. A lot of people had been there asking questions, 
and she was in the seat for 4 hours. It finally became my turn to ask a 
question, and I said to her: Is there any question, Administrator 
McCarthy, that you have not been asked today? She said: I wish somebody 
had asked me if I needed a bathroom break.
  There are 30 more Senators in the cloakroom who want to come out and 
speak. If you need one, let us know and one of the pages or somebody 
will take your spot up there.
  It has been a joy to sit here and listen to all these stories. John 
Carney, our Congressman, Governor-elect, has been here and come and 
gone. He has gone back to the House to go into session. He used to work 
for you, and you are one of his great mentors. He wants you to know he 
was here, in case you didn't.
  I want to say to Chris Coons, who put this all together, making 
possible a wonderful tribute, this is the Senate at its best. It is 
wonderful to see some of our still young colleagues who have come back 
to visit us and to be with us on this special, special day.
  Over the years, people have asked me why I have had some success in 
my life, and I say that my sister and I picked the right parents. My 
sister and I picked the right parents. Joe Biden and his brother and 
sister picked the right parents. I have had the privilege of knowing 
them both. When your dad was sick and in the hospital, I visited and 
spent time with him, just the two of us.

[[Page 15980]]

  Joe, I want to say for those who maybe didn't know your parents, they 
valued education and made sure you got a good one, along with his 
brother and sister. Val is up there somewhere. I want to say hi to Val. 
They valued education and people of faith. I am Protestant, and Joe and 
his family are Catholic, but he doesn't wear it on his sleeve. I will 
tell you this, nobody believes in the Golden Rule of treating other 
people the way you want to be treated any more than Joe Biden.
  Nobody adheres to Matthew 25, the ``Least of These,'' any more than 
Joe Biden. Nobody does a better reading of James 2: ``Show me your 
faith by your words, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.'' He 
doesn't just talk a good game. He doesn't talk a whole lot about his 
faith, but he sure lives it.
  From his family--from his mom and dad--he learned the importance of 
family and the importance of loyalty to his family and, frankly, to his 
friends--his multitude of friends. He learned there is a difference 
between right and wrong and figure out what it is and do right. Do it 
all the time.
  He learned a little bit about common sense. My dad used to say to my 
sister and me when we did some boneheaded stuff, just use some common 
sense. I think your dad said that to you once or twice as well. One of 
the things your mom used to say to you was, if you are knocked down, 
get up--the idea you just never give up. You know you are right, never 
give up. That is Joe Biden.
  People say to us in this Chamber I am sure every day that they 
wouldn't want our job. I wouldn't want your job. I know you heard that 
a lot of times. I think we are fortunate to have these jobs and 
responsibilities to serve. An even tougher job is to be married to one 
of us. Several people talked about Jill and your bride--for how many 
years? Almost 40 years. Is that possible? I first saw Jill Biden when I 
was a graduate student when I was just out of the Navy. I was a 
graduate student at the University of Delaware. I happened to see her 
on campus. I thought then, and I would say now, one of the two 
loveliest people I think I have ever seen. The other being Martha 
Carper. Not only is she lovely--as Joe knows--on the outside, really 
lovely on the inside. She is a person with deep caring, a person with 
incredible warmth and compassion. She is a terrific educator. She 
taught in our State in public schools. She taught in a hospital for 
folks with special needs. She taught at Delaware Technical Community 
College when it was selected as the best technical community college in 
the Nation during the time that she was on the faculty there.
  She continued as Second Lady to continue to critique, but she started 
off in a place called Willow Grove, PA. There is a naval air station 
there where I used to fly P-3 aircraft--mission commander--out of 
there. I retired as a Navy captain in 1991. She was just down the road, 
growing up with her four sisters, Jill Jacobs and the Jacobs girls. I 
am sure they broke a lot of hearts.
  In the case of Jill Biden, she helped to mend one. As much as 
anybody, Val and your family are hugely supportive and helped you get 
through a terribly tough time, but I think Jill perhaps made you whole. 
She got her undergrad, I believe, from the University of Delaware. She 
has two master's degrees--a Ph.D. focused on how to increase retention 
in community colleges around the country. She got those advanced 
degrees while working and raising a family, three kids that any of us 
would be proud to claim as our own.
  Last week, I happened to be in a classroom in a school where the Vice 
President probably has been before, Mount Pleasant Elementary School, 
right down the road from the high school. I was in a classroom of a 
woman by the name of Wendy Turner, who is the Delaware Teacher of the 
Year. I had a chance to be with her and her grade school kids. We all 
gathered around together, and I sat on a stool. They gathered around 
me. There were about 20, 25 kids. I said: Why is she such a great 
teacher? Talking about Wendy Turner, Teacher of the Year.
  They said: She loves kids. She loves us. They said: She knows her 
stuff. She really knows what she is talking to us about. She knows how 
to make clear why it is important, like when we leave school, and why 
it is important we learn these things. She believes everybody can 
learn--everybody can learn.
  I thought about her, and I think about Jill Biden today. She is that 
kind of educator as well, continues to be that kind of educator as 
well.
  A lot has been said today of the Cancer Moonshot that Joe has been 
leading with great skill and success here, especially today. Before 
there was Cancer Moonshot, there was Joe Biden's breast health 
initiative, which helped thousands of young women to learn about the 
importance of early detection for breast cancer.
  Beau went into the military, Delaware National Guard, deployed to 
Iraq. Some people would send cookies and packages to their kids and 
maybe write emails or Skype with them. Jill decided she was going to 
take that experience and create something with Delaware Boots on the 
Ground to look out for families. Later on, as Second Lady, working with 
Michelle Obama, she created something they called Joining Forces, which 
focuses on education for military families--education, employment 
opportunities, access to wellness services.
  She even managed to write a book. She wrote a book from a child's 
point of view of having a loved one in their family deployed overseas 
in the military. As I said earlier, she helped raise three terrific 
kids.
  Sometimes I like to quote Maya Angelou, who sang at the second 
inauguration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and she passed away not 
long ago. Maya Angelou said something that I think is appropriate for 
all of us today when she said: People may not remember what you said, 
people may not remember what you do, but they will remember how you 
made them feel. One of the threads through everything that has been 
said here today really reminds me of what Maya Angelou said because 
people may not remember what we said. They may not remember what we do, 
but there are not just thousands, not just tens of thousands, not just 
hundreds of thousands, but there are millions of people in this country 
who will remember how you and Jill made them feel--cared for, 
important, loved.
  I know our Vice President likes music, and as a Boomer he later on 
liked a British group. I forget what their Fab Four was called. I think 
it might have been the Beatles, and maybe the best rock 'n' roll album 
ever, ``Abbey Road,'' ends with these lyrics--the last part of Abbey 
Road, side two, was largely written by Paul McCartney. The last words 
on ``Abbey Road'' were these words: ``The love you take is equal to the 
love you make.''
  You are going to take a lot of love with you, and Jill as well, far 
from here and for the rest of your lives. God bless you.
  Mr. President--I have always wanted to call you Mr. President. With 
that, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I would like to invite all of my colleagues 
to join us in a reception in honor of the Vice President. I remind any 
colleagues who wish to speak who did not have the opportunity to submit 
their comments for the Record, and I very much look forward to our 
jointly presenting a bound copy to the Vice President.
  Thank you for your service, and we look forward to hearing from you 
at the reception.
  With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page 15981]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lee). Without objection, it is so ordered.


                     Tribute to Departing Senators

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, this is one of those weeks where, every 6 
years or 4 years or 2 years, we pause and pay tribute to those who have 
been elected to the Senate and have served with us and will be retiring 
or were possibly defeated in the last election.


                              Kelly Ayotte

  The first Senator I wish to talk about is Kelly Ayotte, from the 
great State of New Hampshire. Kelly's departure from the Senate is a 
great loss for all of us. I remember the day Kelly Ayotte became a 
rising star, not only on the horizon of Republican politics but more 
importantly on the horizon of the Senate.
  During her campaign 6 years ago, we would get phone calls asking: 
Have you heard about Kelly? Everybody knew who Kelly was. She was the 
attorney general of the State of New Hampshire, running for the U.S. 
Senate, and she was catching fire. She did catch fire and won in 
convincing fashion. She is a great lady with a great family and has 
done a phenomenal job.
  Our U.S. Armed Forces are better today because of her efforts and 
hard work. We passed the agreement to go to the final passage on the 
authorization of the military appropriations today, and in large 
measure, Kelly Ayotte was behind that. When we were debating our policy 
on interrogation and torture, Kelly Ayotte was on top of that. Every 
significant decision we have made in the last 6 months, whether it was 
our military, policies, or process, she has been at the forefront of 
those decisions and has done a phenomenal job.
  I wish her the very best in her career and future, and I thank her 
for the service she has given to our country.
  As a son of the South, in Georgia we love New Hampshirites anytime we 
can get one, and Kelly is the best. They have the best lobsters, the 
best clams, and the best attorney general and Senator in Kelly Ayotte.
  God bless you, Kelly, and best of luck to you.


                             Barbara Boxer

  At this point, I wish to pause and pay attention to Barbara Boxer 
from California. A lot of my colleagues will say: Wait a minute. Why 
are you talking about Barbara Boxer? You are a Republican. She is an 
icon in the Democratic Party. She is a liberal, and you are a 
conservative.
  She is a great Senator, and I will tell you why. Barbara and I served 
on the Ethics Committee for the last 9 years. When I was asked to go on 
the committee, she was the chairman. Later on, I succeeded her as the 
chairman. I am the chairman today, and she is still a member until she 
retires.
  The Ethics Committee is the one assignment nobody wants to get. But 
when you get it, you want to have somebody who will do what is right. 
Regardless of their party, you need somebody who will do what is right 
for the Member, the institution, and will carry out their 
responsibilities under the Constitution, which all of us are obligated 
to do in the Senate.
  In the last 9 years, I worked with Barbara Boxer on any number of 
complaints, allegations, and cases against Members of the Senate for 
unethical conduct or conduct unbecoming of a Senator. We have 
admonished some, cleared some, and recommended the expulsion of some, 
and some have resigned because of our investigation. I take no pride in 
anyone leaving the Senate because of the actions of the committee, but 
I take great pride in the fact that no one in 9 years has questioned 
the integrity of the Senate Ethics Committee, the job it has done, or 
the final decision it has made, and I give most of the credit for that 
to Barbara Boxer. She is a liberal Democrat, and I am a conservative 
Republican, but when it comes to calling balls and strikes in terms of 
ethics, we call them down the middle. That is a credit to the 
institution, a credit to her, and a credit to the Ethics Committee.
  At this moment, I want to pause and say to my retiring friend Barbara 
Boxer: Thank you for your service to the country, thank you for what 
you have meant to the State of California, and thank you for what you 
have meant to the institution of the Senate and the commitment to 
ethical behavior by our Members. Thank you for making it a standard 
that you and I stood for. It was a pleasure for me to serve with you 
and be called one of the members of the odd couple. Isakson and Boxer, 
the two Senate chairs that love our country, are committed to ethics 
and will always try to do what is exactly right.
  God bless you, Barbara. Best of luck to you.
  I yield the floor.


                       Hurricane Matthew Recovery

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, about a month and a half ago, I came into 
this Chamber to talk about the damage that occurred in the aftermath of 
Hurricane Matthew. It was actually 2 months ago to the day that 
Hurricane Matthew hit eastern North Carolina, and I don't think that 
many people, unless you have been down there--even in the State, it is 
hard to really conceive of the extent of damage that Matthew caused, 
even for people in my part of the State, the middle part of the State, 
Charlotte, so I know it is difficult for those who may be in other 
States and did not see the local news coverage. Matthew took 28 lives. 
It displaced tens of thousands of people in the near term, and now 
thousands of people are still without homes. It damaged businesses and 
infrastructure. Miles of Interstate 95 were underwater. Bridges have 
been washed out. We have a lot of damage we have to recover from.
  We have one community that was washed away by Hurricane Floyd and was 
washed away again just about 17 years later with Hurricane Matthew, 
neighborhoods completely underwater. I was in Fayetteville. There was a 
Habitat for Humanity neighborhood that had 90 homes. Six of the houses 
are uninhabitable now. They were in areas that were not flood plains.
  This was a 1,000-year rain event, a 500-year flood event. In other 
words, this is not likely to happen again in our lifetime, maybe not 
even in the pages' lifetimes.
  It was an incredible event that is going to take a lot of time and 
effort to recover from and a lot of resources to rebuild. We are still 
trying to tally the human and economic toll. It is going to take 
probably decades to fully recover from this disaster, as we are seeing 
with Floyd, but we will recover because that is what North Carolinians 
do. That is what Americans do.
  To begin the long rebuilding process, though, we need Federal 
assistance. That is why Gov. Pat McCrory formally requested a disaster 
assistance package and why we very quickly got a team together--my 
staff, who led the effort, working with Congressman Price, members of 
the delegation, Senator Burr--to try to figure out what we need to do 
to provide assistance to North Carolina so that they can begin their 
recovery. Over the past weeks, we have worked very closely with the 
Appropriations Committee.
  I want to particularly thank the leadership of the Appropriations 
Committee. They have done an extraordinary job of working with us, 
advising us on what we need to do to make our requests clear, to make 
it more likely that we would be able to get some resources for North 
Carolina.
  I specifically want to thank two of my staff who have worked very 
hard. They were literally working on the disaster plan after the rains 
fell and before the rivers started cresting. I want to thank Towers 
Mingledorff and Kayla Dolan from my office. They did extraordinary 
work. I am proud of the work they have done on our behalf and on behalf 
of North Carolinians. At the end of the day, we now have a continuing 
resolution as a result of their hard work and cooperation with the 
Appropriations Committee. We have a provision in the continuing 
resolution to allocate some $300 million to North Carolina for 
immediate needs to assist in recovery efforts. This is a beginning. We 
will continue to work with the Federal agencies which that money will 
be directed to and then ultimately down to the State so that we can 
find out what additional needs are there.
  I think it is extraordinary that 8 weeks to the day, we were able to 
work

[[Page 15982]]

together, get the support of the Members of this body, and get the 
support of the Appropriations Committee to at least begin the process. 
We have to help these North Carolinians get back to their normal lives. 
We have to put people back in their homes. We have to allow businesses 
to recover and bring people back in and let them go back to their daily 
lives and working. We are going to do it.
  We also need to help the farmers. There are thousands of acres of 
land that were affected by the floods. In some cases, the flooding was 
so extensive that these farms--many of them were already ready for next 
year's crops. Some of them still have crops in the field, covered by 
sand and sediment. They will need to be cleared.
  In other cases, there are washed-out bridges, and there are ditches 
and drainage areas that will all have to be cleared out so that we can 
get the ninth largest agriculture State in the Nation ready to produce 
crops next year.
  I know we will do it. I know we will do it because we have the 
support of this body, and we are going to be able to start sending that 
money and that desperately needed support to North Carolina. But in the 
coming weeks and months, we will also spend time figuring out what more 
we can do. In the meantime, I want to let everybody in North Carolina 
know that if they need help, they should contact my office. They can 
reach me online at tillis.senate.gov. We will do everything we can to 
help them recover and to get back to their daily lives.
  Again, I thank the Members of this body who have supported our 
efforts to provide this much-needed aid.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.


                                  DACA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want to introduce the Senate to a young 
man I met last Friday. His name is Luke Hwang. Luke was born in Korea. 
His parents brought him to the United States when he was in the fifth 
grade. They took him to New Jersey. Luckily he had taken some classes 
in Korea and was able to speak English. He grew up in Palisades Park.
  He said:

       It didn't take me long to adjust and assimilate because my 
     elementary school offered bilingual classes. . . . This is 
     the kind of America I have known and experienced--not just 
     mundanely accepting diversity but going above and beyond to 
     serve the unique needs of a diverse community.

  This is an amazing young man. He started off with a passion for 
science. He was accepted into the math and science magnet school called 
Bergen County Academies, ranked by Newsweek as one of the top five 
public high schools in the United States. At Bergen County Academies, 
Luke won several awards at regional science fairs. He volunteered as an 
emergency medical technician in the local ambulance corps as a high 
school kid.
  Because of his academic achievements, Luke was accepted as a 
university scholar in the Macaulay Honors College at the City College 
of New York. In 2013 Luke graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's 
of science in chemistry. He received an award for the highest grade 
point average of any chemistry major in the school.
  This brilliant young man is currently a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry 
at the University of Chicago. He works as a researcher at the 
university. In his spare time, he volunteers for the Chicago Korean 
American Resource and Cultural Center, an organization that tries to 
help poor people in that community.
  Here is the kicker: Luke is undocumented. He was brought to the 
United States in the fifth grade and turned out to be one of the 
smartest chemistry students in his high school, in his college, and now 
in his graduate program.
  When I met him last Friday--he is a very quiet fellow--I said: What 
do you want to do, Luke?
  He said: I want to teach. That is what I would like to do, research 
and teaching.
  Well, here is the problem: He is undocumented. He is not legally in 
the United States of America. His family brought him here. They did not 
file the papers, or if they could have, they did not file the papers. 
Whatever the case, this young man grew up here in the United States, 
took advantage of the best schools in New Jersey, and now is going to 
one of the best universities in the United States and is destined to do 
great things in his life. Maybe he will teach. Maybe he will start a 
company. Maybe he will just come up with some breakthrough achievement 
in chemistry that will change the lives of many people.
  What are we going to do with Luke Hwang? Well, there are 744,000 
people just like him. These are young people who are undocumented, whom 
President Obama gave a chance to stay here in the United States after 
they went through a criminal background check, after they paid their 
filing fee.
  He said: You can stay and study in the United States of America. We 
won't deport you. You can travel to another country and come back 
without being arrested. You can work in this country if you wish. You 
have a work permit.
  There are 744,000 of them under what is called the DACA Program. 
Well, the new President says he is going to eliminate that program and 
eliminate the only thing that is keeping Luke Hwang in the United 
States; that is, the DACA Program protection against deportation. We 
can't let that happen. Why would we do that to this young man who was 
brought here as a fifth grader? Why would we walk away from his 
talents? Why would we say: Despite all that you have achieved with the 
highest grade point average in chemistry, America does not need you, 
Luke. Of course we need him and many more just like him.
  I am trying to find a way to give people like him a chance to stay in 
the United States without being deported, to continue their education 
in medical school, in law school, in graduate programs, and in so many 
other different fields. Well, there was a breath of hope today. The 
President-elect was interviewed for Time magazine. Here is what he said 
about DREAMers and people like Luke:

       We're going to work something out that's going to make 
     people happy and proud. They got brought here at a very young 
     age, they've worked here, they've gone to school here. Some 
     were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they're in 
     never-never land because they don't know what's going to 
     happen.

  That statement by the President-elect gives me some hope that I can 
give Luke some hope and others just like him.
  We can straighten out this immigration system in this country, but 
let's not do it at the expense of these young people. Let's do our job, 
but in the meantime, let's us protect them. Let's let them continue 
their education. Let's let them achieve what they want to achieve for 
themselves and for America. We will be a better nation for it.
  Senator Lindsey Graham and I are working on a bill. Whether you are 
for immigration reform or against immigration reform, join us in the 
basic proposition that we need to protect young people like this while 
we debate this important issue. I think that is the right to do. It is 
certainly the right thing to do for this young man. Some day, he is 
going to do something very important in this world. I would like to 
have it happen in the United States.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ROUNDS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tillis). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                           Regulatory Reform

  Mr. ROUNDS. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on the need for 
regulatory reform and also on the work that we have been doing and are 
doing in the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund, 
Waste Management, and Regulatory Oversight, of which I have had the 
great privilege to chair in the 114th Congress.

[[Page 15983]]

I would be remiss if I did not also recognize our ranking member from 
Massachusetts, Senator Markey, for his contributions to our oversight 
efforts.
  As chairman, one of our main goals has been to conduct a thorough and 
systemic review of the regulatory process, focusing on the impacts of 
these regulations on citizens, businesses, and--most importantly--
solutions to these problems. We have sought to make certain that 
Federal regulations are promulgated in a transparent, open process with 
adequate public participation. Our subcommittee has held hearings 
conducting oversight on various aspects of the rulemaking process. This 
includes the adequacy of the science the agencies rely on when 
promulgating regulations, the increasing number of unfunded mandates 
agencies impose on State and local governments, the impact of lawsuits 
on the rulemaking process, and the impact these regulations have on 
small businesses, State and local governments, and landowners.
  Since I began working in the Senate nearly 2 years ago, it has become 
increasingly clear that economic growth, American innovation, and job 
creation are being smothered by heavy-handed Federal regulations 
imposed by Washington bureaucrats who think they know what is best for 
American families, States, local governments, and businesses.
  According to the American Action Forum, since 2009 this 
administration has finalized 2,973 regulations at a cost of $862.7 
billion dollars as of today, December 7.
  Of these, 179 regulations have come from the Environmental Protection 
Agency, costing American taxpayers $342.5 billion.
  Since writing this speech--or beginning to write it, about 1 week 
ago--10 more regulations have been finalized, with 5 of those coming 
from the EPA. EPA regulations alone make up nearly half of the cost of 
all the regulations finalized in the last 7 years.
  As chairman of the EPW Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management, 
and Regulatory Oversight, it has become clear to me that EPA is one of 
the most egregious government agencies in imposing burdensome Federal 
regulations on citizens, States, and businesses. We have found a 
failure to review the most current and important science the Agency 
supposedly bases its regulations on.
  We have found that the sue-and-settle process utilized by special 
interest groups leads to a rushed and reckless rulemaking process that 
does not follow the proper regulatory process or allow for adequate 
public participation from those these rules will impact the most.
  Further, the EPA regularly fails to take into account how their 
regulations will impact States and shows little regard for how the 
States will use their limited resources to comply with these 
regulations, thereby issuing rules that impose Federal unfunded 
mandates on States and local and tribal governments.
  From 2009 to 2015, the EPA issued a total of 19 rules that contained 
costly, unfunded mandates on State governments.
  The Office of Management and Budget's 2015 report to Congress 
estimated that Federal regulations and unfunded mandates cost States, 
cities, and the general public between $57 billion and $85 billion 
every single year. State and local governments are then required to 
enforce these misguided regulations that have been promulgated by 
Washington bureaucrats who lack any understanding of the real-world 
consequences of their regulations or the unique characteristics of the 
various States.
  Alarmingly, we have also found that the EPA regularly fails to 
conduct a thorough and accurate economic analysis, which should provide 
an accurate representation of the cost their regulations will impose on 
taxpayers and businesses.
  This leads to grossly inaccurate economic analysis of regulations 
that affect huge swathes of the U.S. economy and thousands of U.S. 
businesses and American jobs.
  A 2014 report from the Government Accountability Office found that on 
multiple occasions and with major costly regulations, the EPA did not 
provide the public with an explanation of the economic information 
behind its decisionmaking, despite its obligations to do so.
  The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued the Michigan v. EPA decision, 
finding that the EPA unreasonably failed to consider costs when 
deciding to regulate mercury emissions from powerplants. This impacts 
the ability of our businesses to conduct business on a daily basis, to 
compete in a competitive global marketplace, and to employ Americans in 
steady, well-paying jobs. Notably, small businesses make up 99.7 
percent of U.S. employer firms.
  Federal agencies are required by law to examine the impact of their 
regulations and what it will have on small businesses. Throughout our 
oversight process, we found that the U.S. Small Business Administration 
Office of Advocacy submitted comments to the EPA expressing concerns 
over a number of recent rulemakings, such as the waters of the United 
States rule and the EPA's greenhouse gas regulations.
  However, the EPA moved forward with these regulations with little to 
no regard for their impact on U.S. small businesses. They are the 
backbone of the U.S. economy.
  As a result, rather than creating jobs and focusing on growing their 
business, U.S. small businesses are forced to use limited resources to 
comply with a myriad of costly and burdensome regulations.
  This year alone, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals imposed a 
nationwide injunction on the waters of the United States rule, and the 
Supreme Court imposed a nationwide stay on the Clean Power Plan. While 
I applaud these decisions, we should not be forced to rely on the 
courts to prevent such regulations from taking effect.
  I am also deeply troubled by the reports that the EPA and the Army 
Corps are illegally continuing to implement the Waters of the United 
States rule despite the court's nationwide stay.
  During our subcommittee field hearings in Rapid City, SD, earlier 
this year, we heard from several witnesses about the difficulty and 
confusion landowners are facing with regard to the waters of the United 
States. I am concerned that, if this continues, it may get to the point 
where the property that is the subject of these burdensome regulations 
loses its value.
  Make no mistake. I understand that rules and regulations have a place 
in society. We all want clean air, clean water, and safe chemicals, but 
there is a better way to achieve this without imposing burdensome 
regulations. These flaws in the EPA's rulemaking process have prevented 
agencies from making well-informed decisions. Even more troubling, the 
public, State and local governments, and American businesses are 
prevented from understanding the need, basis for, and the real impact 
of regulations.
  This regulatory quagmire did not happen overnight. It comes from 
decades of increased Federal bureaucracy, out-of-control spending, and 
Federal agencies not being held accountable for their actions. 
Similarly, we will not come to a solution overnight. It will take a 
serious bipartisan effort to move the ball forward to address this 
problem. Throughout this Congress, the goal of our subcommittee has 
been to unify and lead an effort to advance meaningful regulatory 
reform in Congress.
  We must make certain the regulatory process reflects transparency and 
sound science and is based on a realistic economic foundation and 
meaningful public participation that considers the multitude of facets 
of the U.S. economy.
  With an ally in the White House next year who has committed to 
reducing burdensome regulations, I plan to continue this effort 
throughout the next Congress and beyond. The success of the U.S. 
economy and the creation of American jobs depends on Congress making a 
concerted effort to take back their authority and rein in the 
rulemaking process.
  I thank you, and I yield the floor.

[[Page 15984]]


  Mr. INHOFE. Will the Senator yield?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, if the Senator from South Dakota would 
rescind his request to yield the floor, I would like to share one 
thought.
  First of all, I am honored to chair the committee of which you are a 
subcommittee chairman, and what a Godsend the Senator from South Dakota 
has been, I have to say to my friend. I was concerned, with this last 
election coming along, with what might be happening. I think people are 
aware of what has happened to our military. They are aware of what is 
happening with the debt going all the way up from $10.6 trillion to $20 
trillion, the largest increase of all the Presidents, from George 
Washington, Bush 1, and Bush 2.
  My concern was that people wouldn't realize what an impairment the 
overregulation has been to our businesses in how we are no longer 
competitive. I think the Senator really struck the note here that it 
had a lot to do with the awareness of the public.
  The Senator knows how many hearings we had on the Clean Power Plan in 
our committee, and the Senator's subcommittee. We actually had 10 
hearings and we had three oversight reports.
  I have to say the liberals really like overregulation. Does the 
Senator know why? This is the question I want to ask the Senator 
because, generally, if you are of a liberal philosophy, you want to 
have as much control centered here in Washington, DC. However, when you 
get home and they get complaints about overregulation, what this is 
costing them, they then say: Well, that is not the case now because I 
had nothing to do with it. That was the regulation.
  That is what we are in the midst of right now.
  I have a friend who is the head of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau who came 
to me and he said: Have you seen this document that we have? This is 
true in South Dakota as well as Oklahoma, that the major problem with 
the farmers in America today is not anything that is found in the 
agriculture bill, it is overregulation, primarily by the EPA. The 
Senator from South Dakota struck a nerve when he spoke about the waters 
bill, the Waters of the United States. My State is an arid State, but 
they know full well if the Federal Government can take away from States 
that jurisdiction of regulating water, what will happen in my State of 
Oklahoma?
  So I would ask my friend--I think a lot of what happened on November 
8 has to do with overregulation, and I think we have devoted a lot of 
time to that. I would suspect the same thing is true in South Dakota.
  Mr. ROUNDS. I thank the Senator for the question. The answer is, yes, 
we have spent a lot of time not only because it is critically a very 
important item to address--because in the United States today we spend 
over $1.9 trillion a year responding to the Federal regulatory morass 
that we have. That is one-half of a trillion dollars more than what we 
pay in personal income taxes on April 15.
  For people who are producers and have to respond not only in terms of 
the cost of the regulations but in terms of requesting from a Federal 
agency the ability simply to mow the ditches, seems to me to be 
overreach that most people with common sense and the rest of America 
simply don't think is necessary.
  Mr. INHOFE. And, too, I would say the wisdom of the statements 
brought out that if we stop and think about it, over half of the States 
had a lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan. That is 29 States. Of 
course, I am sure that had a lot to do with the U.S. Supreme Court 
putting a stay on this, and now of course we will have a different 
administration, but I guess maybe we missed the boat on that one.
  Overregulation has been the problem. People have not been as aware of 
that as they are of other problems. I think that had a lot to do with 
what happened on November 8 and what is going to happen in the future, 
particularly in your subcommittee and my committee.
  Mr. ROUNDS. Mr. President, I appreciate those comments, and I 
appreciate the facts that the Senator is bringing out here. This is 
something that cannot be done overnight; it has to be done in a 
businesslike manner.
  The real challenge is to listen to the individuals who are impacted 
and to make reasonable regulations because we all want to make sure we 
have a clean America but also an America that can get back to business 
again employing people, putting them back to work. Then we can begin 
building the economy so we can afford to actually provide for the next 
generation so they don't have the problems we see right now with family 
income down over 6 percent in just the last 9 years.
  So this is a part of it. It is a significant part not just in the 
cost but in the impact on our economy as well.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business, and I ask unanimous consent that our distinguished 
colleague from Colorado, Senator Bennet, follow my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.


                        Family First Legislation

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, right now, this evening, hundreds of 
thousands of vulnerable youngsters across America are living in foster 
care, separated from family and growing up in a constant struggle 
instead of in a loving home. For years, this body has worked on a 
bipartisan basis to come up with an alternative--we call it the Family 
First legislation--in order to give new hope to our youngsters.
  I am particularly grateful to Senator Bennet because he and I have 
teamed up on this with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, 
including Chairman Hatch, Kevin Brady--the chairman of the Ways and 
Means Committee--and Congressman Buchanan. We have had a bipartisan 
team working for this. Now, in the waning moments of this Congress, 
after the legislation passed the House unanimously, after there were a 
number of hearings in the Finance Committee, and after objections were 
raised when we used the process in the Senate called the hotline to see 
if Senators had problems with this legislation and three indicated they 
had concerns, and we resolved all of them--yet it looks like this 
Senate is going to go home and end up continuing a policy that causes 
so much pain to vulnerable children and their families.
  What our bipartisan bill would do is to say that for the first time, 
foster care dollars could be used to keep families together instead of 
ripping them apart. For example, if in a family a parent has bumped up 
against substance abuse challenges or mental health services and a 
grandparent or an uncle would like to help out, that is exactly what 
could be done under our proposal.
  Now, over Thanksgiving--and I truncated the description of what 
happened into just a couple of sentences--over Thanksgiving, the Family 
First Act was included in the 21st Century Cures package. The 
legislation passed earlier today. And all of us--Senator Bennet, 
Chairman Brady--all of us said together that it sure looks like we are 
on our way.
  After having months to come forward to work out concerns--and I will 
say to the distinguished Presiding Officer who has been kind enough to 
talk to me about this, we basically said that if a State is having 
problems meeting these kinds of opportunities--perhaps there aren't 
enough families--well, we just give them more time. In effect, we would 
say: OK. You have made a good-faith effort, we will give you a bit more 
time. But still, at the last moment, there was opposition that swooped 
in--opposition that really hadn't registered any specific concerns 
during those years and months in which we worked on this legislation. 
At the eleventh hour, the Family First Act was stripped out of the 
Cures package. That is why I voted no.
  By dropping Families First, the Senate basically is sending a message 
today to the most vulnerable, neglected children in America that it is

[[Page 15985]]

just fine with us if they just wait a little bit longer. They probably 
are saying: Well, where else do we look for help? By the way, there 
aren't a lot of places because Chairman Brady, Chairman Buchanan, 
Congressman Levin, the other part of the Capitol, did a terrific job 
coming together. So when those families who have been neglected go 
looking for somebody else to help, when the House has done its job and 
the administration is with you, there is only the U.S. Senate. I am 
curious whether anybody is going to come here tonight and say they are 
not on the side of the neglected youngsters and families whom Senator 
Bennet and I want to stand up for.
  So I am going to just make a couple of additional comments and then 
turn this over to Senator Bennet.
  The Family First Act reaches out to the families who are struggling 
with addiction to opioids or other substances, it helps with programs 
that fight child abuse and neglect, and it also makes it a special 
priority to set basic standards for foster care facilities and group 
homes. I want to emphasize that point just for a moment. Some troubled 
or abused youngsters have been through such severe trauma that they 
need the kind of help you can only get in a temporary, high-quality 
treatment facility. They are kids who are struggling with mental 
illnesses and behavioral problems, young people suffering from 
addiction, victims of sex trafficking. The support they need is unique 
and they need access to reliable care in a safe place.
  But these kinds of placements shouldn't be a destination; they should 
really be an intervention. And whenever we can, we need to make it 
possible for the kids to have the opportunity to reunite with kin or 
join a foster or adoptive family.
  For the first time, our bill laid down a roadmap so youngsters don't 
have to face the prospect of growing up in the kinds of struggling 
circumstances I have described. There would be standards guided by the 
States and laid out to protect the kids. They would raise the bar for 
group homes and make sure the kids aren't sent away and forgotten. In 
effect, the bill turns the system on its head. I think I shared that 
thought with the distinguished Presiding Officer. Instead of paying a 
dollar for families to be split up, the bill says let's find a way to 
use that dollar to help the families stay together. Let's see if the 
dollar can keep a youngster safe at home or with kin, where he or she 
is most likely to be healthy and happy and succeed in school.
  The bill has 28 bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate.
  I also want to thank Chairman Grassley because he has been in our 
corner, along with Senator Bennet and Chairman Hatch, month after month 
after month. I hope we can work this out overnight so Families First 
can pass; if not tonight, in the morning. It is the right policy for 
vulnerable kids. It is the right policy for families, the right policy 
for taxpayers. What we are doing today isn't helping vulnerable kids 
and families the way it ought to.
  Five hundred organizations, led by the pediatricians, nurse 
practitioners, the Catholic bishops, and the Children's Defense Fund, 
all agree with our basic premise: try to find ways to keep families 
together and only look for something else where you have those 
extraordinary circumstances where you need another kind of care. The 
status quo is not working, and it seems to me we have a choice. We have 
a choice tonight and in the morning, with the 114th Congress wrapping 
up, closing the books, packing up, heading home for the holiday 
season--let's make sure before that wrap-up is finished that we haven't 
forgotten vulnerable children and families.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I note by virtue of unanimous consent that Senator Bennet has 
recognition. He has been an invaluable colleague, a terrific member of 
the Finance Committee, and I appreciate his leadership.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I will be brief.
  I want to thank Mr. Wyden, the Senator from Oregon and the ranking 
member of the Finance Committee, for his leadership on this bill. I 
thank, as he did, Senator Hatch for his leadership on this bill and 
Senator Grassley for his leadership on this bill.
  As the Senator from Oregon indicated, this bill passed unanimously in 
the House of Representatives. This bill passed with 500 groups 
supporting the bill from every geographic area in the United States. 
There are groups from Oregon. There are groups from Colorado. There are 
groups from the Presiding Officer's State that have weighed in on this 
and said we should have this legislation passed. We have had testimony 
in the Finance Committee from people who were foster children who came 
to the Congress to testify about what had gone wrong in their lives as 
a result of the system we have in place today, who still made the time 
to come here to advocate on behalf of children all over the country who 
are situated in the same way they once were.
  Now, because of a disagreement in the Senate, this bipartisan bill 
that passed the House unanimously, that has almost 30 cosponsors in the 
U.S. Senate, a bill that was supported universally by the testimony we 
had in the Finance Committee, somehow can't get done before we leave 
for the holidays. That would be a terrible shame, a terrible stain on 
this Senate.
  Tonight there are 5,000 children in Colorado who are in foster care. 
There are over 650,000 children in the United States of America. What 
we have heard from them, what we have heard from their advocates, what 
we have heard from people who serve them--Republicans and Democrats 
alike--is that the institutional settings that too many of them are 
consigned to because of the way the law is written today is not the 
best thing for foster children; that families who can support them and 
who can nurture them, when they get the benefit of some help, are a far 
better place for foster children to be than these institutions. When it 
comes to drug addiction, when it comes to graduation rates from high 
school, when it comes to attending college--all of these things are 
affected by the way the current law exists.
  The Presiding Officer may know that half of the cases of foster 
children in the United States are related, one way or another, to the 
scourge of opium addiction that is happening in the United States. This 
bill allows us to recognize that. It allows the people who serve the 
children and the families best to be able to intervene in a way that 
can keep the families together longer. What we know from the testimony 
in the hearings is that is the best thing for foster kids, it is the 
best thing for our States, and it is the best thing for the country.
  So I join my colleague from Oregon in saying we should not go home 
with this unresolved. We should not go home, with the kind of momentum 
that exists for this bill inside the Congress and, much more important 
than that, outside the Congress, without having addressed this 
vulnerable population of people who live in the United States.
  It is my fervent hope that we in the Senate will find a way to come 
to our senses and do our job, just as the people who came here to 
testify did their job, expecting that the U.S. Congress would respond 
to their description of their life experience, and what went wrong in a 
foster care setting has been established by the U.S. Congress. It is up 
to us to fix it, and that is what we can do tonight or tomorrow 
morning, I hope, at the very latest.
  With that, Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Oregon for his 
leadership on this bill. I thank, once again, the thoughtful chairman 
of the Finance Committee, Orrin Hatch from Utah, for his leadership on 
this bill, and I hope over the next 12 or 24 hours we find a way to get 
this through the Senate.
  Mr. 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.

[[Page 15986]]


  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                  Pearl Harbor Day and Foreign Policy

  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, on this Pearl Harbor Day, we should learn 
the lessons of the past and seize new opportunities for America and 
Asia and beyond. The great lesson of Pearl Harbor--and more broadly 
World War II--was America's commitment to utterly defeat our enemies by 
whatever means necessary and then, when victory was secure, to bring 
them back into the community of civilized nations.
  It was an extraordinary achievement. To think that if, on December 7, 
1941, I were to tell you that Japan would be, on December 7, 2016, a 
staunchly democratic ally, a vital security and economic partner to the 
United States, you would have said that I was barking mad.
  Here we are, three-quarters of a century later, and the day of infamy 
has become a day of remembrance, reflection, and above all gratitude--
gratitude for that greatest of generations who answered the call to 
service after Pearl Harbor, who stood staunchly with our allies, looked 
the evil of the axis squarely in the eyes, and saved the free world. 
They are leaving us now, making it all the more important that we 
assure each and every one of them of our boundless thanks while we 
still can. Indeed, I would encourage each and every one of us to thank 
every veteran we know, every veteran we encounter, every man and woman 
serving this country who risks their lives to keep us safe.
  We can also find much to be thankful for today as what had seemed 
unthinkable has come to pass. A nation that brutally attacked us 75 
years ago today can now be a great and good friend. It is a tribute to 
both the Japanese and the American people that we have been able to not 
ignore or whitewash the past but to learn from it and come to the 
understanding that we are so much stronger as allies than as 
adversaries.
  As a Texan, I am personally appreciative of the fruits of this 
alliance. We host a range of Japanese companies who have invested in 
our State, with Toyota, for example, building its new North American 
headquarters in Plano this year and creating some 4,000 new jobs, all 
in Texas. Also this year, the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth has 
started to produce the F-35s that Japan is purchasing to bolster its 
defenses against increasing regional aggression from China and North 
Korea.
  So against all odds, the attack on Pearl Harbor has been transformed, 
and as we face great challenges around the world, and particularly in 
Asia, we can be grateful today to have our Japanese friends standing by 
our side, which is yet another lesson from the post-World War II era to 
be on the lookout not just for challenges and dangers but for 
unexpected opportunities. We might be forgiven as we contend with 
hostile nations with nuclear capability or intent--nations such as 
North Korea or Iran--to see a glass half empty and become consumed with 
fears of another Pearl Harbor-like attack potentially so much more 
catastrophic and deadly than the one in 1941.
  That would be a mistake. As with some of the fortitude our parents 
and grandparents showed, we can now count new allies as our partners, 
not just Japan but also--and equally stunningly--Germany. The list does 
not end there. We have Israel, which had yet to be born in 1941, not to 
mention the eastern and central European countries that languished so 
long under Soviet domination but now are helping build enduring 
democracies, many of which have joined NATO.
  That is simply amazing. If I had told you even 30 years ago that 
there would be a Czech Republic or a Republic of Poland that would be 
key NATO allies, I would have again been met with well-founded 
skepticism. But they are, and as we look forward to a new American 
administration, it is my hope that we can get off on a much better foot 
than the last one did in the region when they canceled the missile 
defense installations intended for those countries, squandering an 
opportunity to link them more closely to us.
  I have to say I am encouraged in this department by the activities of 
the President-elect, particularly in terms of the congratulatory phone 
call he received last week from the President of the Republic of China, 
Tsai Ing-wen. The liberal foreign policy elites were, of course, 
shocked and appalled. How, they wonder, could the President-elect have 
committed such an appalling gaff? Wasn't he aware we had degraded our 
relationship with Taiwan for more than 35 years and no longer 
recognized this friendly, prosperous, and democratic country as a 
nation state? Compounding their consternation was the concern that the 
People's Republic of China might not like it. Quelle horreur. The 
Chinese might not like it.
  Now, to be fair, given the flaming train wreck that is the Obama 
foreign policy writ large, our relationship with the PRC is, by 
comparison, a bright spot. All they have done is throw Mr. Obama's 
successor as Nobel Peace laureate, Liu Xiaobo, into prison, constructed 
3,000 acres of weaponized artificial islands in the middle of one of 
the world's busiest shipping lanes, and utterly failed to contain North 
Korea, while dismantling the last vestiges of freedom in Hong Kong. 
Even so, I don't think our President-elect needs to clear his phone 
calls with Beijing. The phone call between President Tsai and the new 
American President was, in fact, an acknowledgement of a simple truth: 
that Taiwan has become an important friend to the United States, even 
after Jimmy Carter downgraded them in 1979 in acknowledgement of the 
``One China'' policy the elites are so eager to perpetuate.
  That is another thing. Just because a policy is old doesn't make it 
sacrosanct. I don't think anyone here can honestly say our relations 
with the PRC is so fantastic that we shouldn't do anything to rock the 
boat. I don't think the Carter-era foreign policy was such a success 
that we should unquestionably continue it.
  I hope the President-elect continues to make clear that while he 
understands the importance of China and looks forward to a positive 
relationship with Beijing, he is not going to ignore our friends in the 
region.
  The call between President Tsai and the President-elect reminded me 
of another phone call which took place in September of 2013. At the end 
of that year's United Nations General Assembly in New York, while 
driving to the airport, the new President of the Islamic Republic of 
Iran, Hasan Ruhani, took out his cell phone and called President Obama. 
The Obama administration was in a tizzy of excitement over Mr. Ruhani's 
election, as they believed him to be a ``moderate'' who would be a 
good-faith partner in their planned and hoped-for negotiations over 
Iran's nuclear program. Even at this early day, the signs were not 
promising. Despite Mr. Obama's offers, President Ruhani had refused to 
have a face-to-face meeting at the United Nations, opting for a call 
instead. There were no preconditions placed on this first direct 
exchange between an Iranian and American leader since 1979, such as, 
say, demanding that the Iranians release their American hostages and 
acknowledging Israel's right to exist--steps that would have indicated 
a fundamental shift in Iran's virulent hostility to the United States 
and our allies and suggested we were truly on a new path.
  We all know what has happened over the last 3 years as the Obama 
administration made concession after concession to get a deal--any 
deal--with Tehran. Even as Iranian belligerence and hostility had 
grown, as they have tested ballistic missiles, violated the Joint 
Comprehensive Plan of Action, detained our citizens, and repeatedly 
threatened to wipe Israel off the map, Mr. Obama has over and over 
again proffered his hand in friendship, even sending them $1.7 billion 
in cash as a sweetener, all of which may well result, as I said 
earlier, in a terrible threat to the United States that could dwarf 
Pearl Harbor.
  In closing, I want to leave you with a message of hope. Our 
friendship with Japan, as well as Germany, Israel, the Czech Republic, 
and Poland, makes me hopeful. There is a discrete reason

[[Page 15987]]

these nations are now aligned allies: the persistence and resolve of 
American leadership--leadership to discern moral from immoral, freedom 
from tyranny, right from wrong, life from death, and then to fight for 
the right. Such leadership has been sorely lacking in the past 8 years. 
Yet the past month affords ample reason for hope.
  Quite frankly, I think talking to President Tsai and not to President 
Ruhani was a material improvement for the national security interests 
of the United States, and it demonstrates renewed resolve to once more 
assume the mantle of leadership. That is enough to make all of us 
hopeful.
  With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sullivan). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant 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.


                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 5456

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, in a moment, I am going to ask unanimous 
consent to pass the bipartisan Family First Act, to help the hundreds 
of thousands of vulnerable children and their parents stay together and 
make the biggest improvement in child welfare policy in decades and 
decades in America.
  Right now, Federal policy says taxpayer money can be used to split 
families apart and uproot the family home. With Families First, our 
bipartisan bill, terrific work has been done by so many Members on both 
sides of the aisle. Senator Bennet was here and gave an eloquent 
address about how important this is. With Chairman Hatch, Chairman 
Grassley, and Chairman Brady, this has been a bipartisan effort for 
months for a number of Members for close to 3 years.
  With our reform, the Family First bill, families will finally see 
that they will get some assistance to stay together and stay together 
when it is safe to do so. If a parent can get a leg up with some help 
if they face a drug addiction or a mental health problem, everybody 
wins because the family stays together.
  A grandparent can step in. One of the things I am proudest of is that 
I wrote the kinship care law as part of welfare reform when I was a new 
Member of this body. So we know that there are hundreds of thousands of 
grandparents out there who could step in in those situations, or an 
uncle, and they could get a little bit of help raising a youngster, 
again, keeping the family together.
  Sometimes foster care is lifesaving. I think all of us have said that 
from the beginning. But it should not be the only option. That is what 
kids who have been in the foster care system came to the Senate this 
week to tell us. It is our job as policymakers to protect the most 
vulnerable. Those kids don't have a powerful lobby. They don't have 
deep pockets.
  It just seems to me, as we wrap up this session and everyone here 
goes back to their families and their holidays, that it is not in good 
conscience to turn our backs on the foster kids and allow this 
important bipartisan legislation to wither and to die in the last days 
of the 114th Congress.
  So in a moment I will make this unanimous consent request. I ask that 
our colleagues end this standing in the way of providing a new measure 
of hope for vulnerable kids and their families and that we help lift 
the weight of this broken status quo--this broken status quo that falls 
heaviest on the hundreds of thousands of foster kids living in a quiet 
struggle every single day.
  So at this time, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to 
the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 527, H.R. 5456; that the 
Wyden substitute amendment at the desk be agreed to; that the bill, as 
amended, be read a third time and passed; and that the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no 
interviewing action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I was 
wondering if I could direct a question through the Chair to the Senator 
from West Virginia. I was curious as to whether or not the good 
Senator, my friend and colleague, intends to object to this measure.
  Mr. MANCHIN. To this measure? No, sir.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I actually think Senator Wyden has done 
some good work on this measure. I hope that we can get to a point where 
we can bridge the gap and address some concerns that some of the 
Members have in States that are concerned with unintended consequences. 
But at this time, and for reasons unrelated to this measure but to our 
inability to get other unanimous consents through, I am going to have 
to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I will be very brief. As I have indicated 
to our colleague from North Carolina--and he is new to the Senate--he 
really brings a refreshing openness to these debates. I know this was a 
new topic for him. He has not had a chance to hear a lot about it over 
the last few years. He was concerned about what this would mean to 
group facilities and group homes in his State.
  I said: Look, if there is a problem in North Carolina in terms of 
trying to meet these measures, we said we will give States more time. 
We will give them more flexibility. I would just like to point out that 
there seems to be enormous support across North Carolina with respect 
to this bill because in North Carolina they seem to be saying that they 
understand that what this legislation is all about--what Family First 
is all about--is just getting high-quality care for these youngsters.
  All of the providers would be eligible. It does not speak to the type 
of provider. It is all the providers. So I am just going to wrap up by 
a few quotes that came into the Finance Committee over the course of 
this legislation. From the North Carolina Association of County 
Directors of Social Services, which, as I understand, is the 
association of entities that administer child welfare programs in the 
State of North Carolina supports the legislation, we have a letter that 
reads: ``We go on record as supporting the act and respectfully request 
your support in passing this important legislation.''
  The North Carolina Association of Social Workers supports the bill. 
They wrote: ``The legislation would strengthen families so that more 
children could remain safely with their parents and family caregivers 
and avoid the need for foster care.'' For the overwhelming majority of 
children, this North Carolina group says: This legislation could be a 
lifesaver.
  The North Carolina Pediatric Society writes:

       The bill is a pivotal opportunity for a major Federal 
     policy shift away from placing children in out-of-home care 
     and toward keeping families together. Congregate care remains 
     one of the options on the continuum, and the bill doesn't 
     impose time limits or restrictions on the use of these 
     settings for children who need them. But the focus is on 
     keeping families together. The only changes this bill makes 
     for congregate care providers is raising the standards for 
     quality so that all children-needs settings benefit from the 
     therapeutic value of the best providers, of which we have 
     several in North Carolina.

  So the Children's Home Society of North Carolina, Children's Hope 
Alliance, the Exchange Family Center, Family Preservation Community 
Services, and FIRST North Carolina--a number of groups, all based there 
and serving in North Carolina citizens--have come out for this.
  So I recognize that there has been an objection. It is my intention 
to keep working through the night, through the early part of tomorrow. 
I appreciate that this Senator from North Carolina has kept an open 
mind on this. He has indicated in our conversations that he understands 
that there is a lot of good in this bill, and for the reasons he has 
stated, he cannot support it tonight and I gather reasons unrelated to 
the bill.
  I look forward to working with him. He has come to the Senate fairly 
recently, but I have found him open and

[[Page 15988]]

accessible. That is all you can ask of a colleague.
  With that I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of the Senator 
from Oregon. I may be new to the Senate, but I am not new to North 
Carolina. I was speaker of the house for 4 years, and I worked with a 
lot of the agencies that the Senator from Oregon referenced. But the 
fact of the matter is that the first time I heard that these agencies 
supported the bill was about 90 seconds ago.
  This has not been fully vetted in the Senate. It sounds like it has a 
lot of merit, but even having said that, this is not why I am objecting 
to the bill. I am objecting at this time, in large part, because of a 
number of other objections we are receiving that are not allowing 
things that would otherwise move through unanimous consent.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2912

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, on that note, I ask unanimous consent that 
the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 2912, the Trickett Wendler Right to Try Act 
of 2016, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I ask 
unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed and the 
motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I will 
continue to object to any unanimous consent on legislation until the CR 
includes a permanent long-term solution for our miners' health care, as 
included in the Miners Protection Act, S. 3470.
  So this is something that we have been talking about and working on 
for 2 years. That is all we have asked: Fulfill our promises as those 
representative of people who have given everything. So I will have to 
object for these reasons.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I appreciate that, but the reason I 
directed the question about the objection to the motion of the Senator 
from Oregon is that there seems to be maybe selective application of a 
strategy that the Senator from West Virginia is trying to do to get a 
measure passed.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3084

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, if I may move on. I ask unanimous consent 
that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 
695, S. 3084, the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act. I 
further ask that the committee-reported substitute amendment be 
withdrawn, the Gardner substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill, as 
amended, be considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, we have 
heard a lot of talk during the election, since the election about 
communities like my hometown of Mansfield, OH, not far from where the 
Presiding Officer grew up--communities that have been ignored by their 
representatives in Washington.
  A lot of politicians responded during the election, since the 
election. They pledged to do better. This is our chance to actually 
show that we mean it--with the work that Senator Manchin has done, and 
Senator Casey, Senator Warner, Senator Portman in my State, a 
Republican, and Senator Donnelly of Indiana--simply to take care of 
these mine workers.
  Senator Manchin has been on this floor, as I have--but he has been on 
this floor even more times--talking about taking care of those mine 
workers, living up to the promise that Harry Truman made, extending 
their health insurance.
  Instead, the only offer we have had from the majority leader, the one 
person--Senator Tillis is not standing in the way. Senator Sullivan is 
not standing in the way. It is one Senator--the majority leader. For 
whatever reason he does not like the United Mine Workers union. I don't 
really care about what he thinks about the union. I support the union.
  But I care about these workers. What they proposed is a 4-month 
extension, which means these workers, these widows, these retired 
workers got a notice back in the last couple of weeks saying they were 
going to lose their health care. We do 4 months, and they will get 
another notice--Senator Manchin, right?--in January.
  We are going to make these retired mine workers, these widows who saw 
their husbands die from an accident in a mine or died from black lung 
disease or died from heart diseases every 3 months get another notice 
and then say: Well, we will extend it for 4 months. No, we have to make 
sure that we provide them--this is not giving them--the health 
insurance they have earned.
  It is the right thing to do. It is the moral thing to do. For one 
Senator, who happens to be from Kentucky, of all places, who happens to 
also be the majority leader, to stand in the way--Senator Wyden is on 
my committee and Senator Hatch, Senator Portman, Senator Toomey.
  We passed 18-to-8 a bipartisan bill to move forward on this and do 
this right. Senator McConnell asked to go through regular order. We 
have to do this right. Yet we are going to go home for Christmas. We 
are going to go home for the holidays. Whether you celebrate Christmas 
or not, we are going home for the holidays.
  We are going to have fun with our families. These widows, these 
retired miners, well, it is not so much fun with their families because 
they don't know when their health insurance is going to run out.
  Mr. President, we need to do this. We need to do it right. We need to 
do it today or tomorrow. We have no business going home before that. 
For these reasons, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of the Senator 
from Ohio. I believe, if I have the facts correct, that it was the 
majority leader who pushed for the patch into the CR.
  I am not quite sure I agree with some of the specifics that were put 
forth by the distinguished Senator from Ohio, but I would like to move 
on.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2763

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 654, S. 2763, 
the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016, with a committee-
reported substitute amendment. I further ask that the committee-
reported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be 
considered read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Indiana.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, I rise 
today to discuss a crisis facing 16,000 retired coal miners and widows 
across the country. We made promises. Roughly 1,000 of these people are 
in my State. These retirees will lose their health insurance at the end 
of this year unless Congress acts.
  My colleagues, Senators Manchin, Brown, Casey, and Warner have spoken 
on this topic, and together, along with a larger bipartisan group, we 
pushed for months for the passage of the Miners Protection Act to 
guarantee pension and health benefits to hundreds of thousands of 
retirees.
  We have a responsibility to enact this legislation to ensure that the 
Federal Government makes good on its promise--its promise to the 
miners. It wasn't a suggestion. It was a promise to these people who 
risked their lives to help our country meet our energy needs. In fact, 
many of us stood here together in June calling for action before it was 
too late.
  Well, now it is almost too late. While Congress is in a rush to get 
out of

[[Page 15989]]

town, those 16,000 retirees are desperate for help. Their health needs 
are not dependent on our schedule. Their desire to be able to stay 
alive shouldn't be subject to our desire to leave town. They are 
praying this legislation is enacted so the health insurance is still 
there next month when they still need it.
  It is inexcusable. It is beyond disappointing to learn that the bill 
we are set to consider to keep the Federal Government running includes 
only a scaled-down provision for our miners. Rather than guarantee the 
promised benefits, leadership chose only to include the bear minimum of 
a 4-month extension of health coverage through April without addressing 
the pension concerns.
  I have seen leadership. That is not it. I will repeat once again: 
16,000 mining retirees, 1,000 from Indiana, will lose their health 
coverage in 3 weeks unless Congress acts. For the health and the 
financial security of thousands of families, immediate attention is 
required. Kicking the can down the road for 4 months has never been a 
solution. Enrollment periods for other health plans end this week and 
next. These retirees are watching us closely and are already in the 
process of making painful and costly decisions.
  This is about life and death for thousands of retirees across the 
country right now. They are praying that we will stand up and keep our 
word. We made a promise. The United States made a promise to our 
citizens, to our coal miners. The provision in the spending bill does 
not come close to meeting that promise that was made.
  I urge the Senate to act immediately to consider a stronger measure 
that addresses this crisis facing thousands of retirees in my State and 
in so many other States across the country. These are not just numbers. 
These are our citizens. These are the people we represent. These are 
the people who dug the coal to keep the lights on in this building. 
Their ancestors dug the coal that helped win the war in World War II. 
We made a promise, and here we stand making a decision whether it will 
be kept or whether it will not.
  This is about who we are as a country and who we are as Senators. Do 
we honor the word of the people before us?
  Do we honor the coal miners with black lung, with broken kneecaps, 
with broken shoulders, with widows who are wondering if they are going 
to be able to make it alone?
  I will continue to object to any unanimous consent request or 
legislation until the CR includes a permanent long-term solution for 
our miners' health care as included in the Miners Protection Act, S. 
3470. Therefore, Mr. President, for these reasons, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, let me direct a question through the Chair 
to the Senator from Indiana.
  I don't believe the Senator was in at the time that the Senator from 
Oregon offered his motion. Would the Senator have objected to that 
motion--Senator Wyden's motion?
  Mr. DONNELLY. I was not here to listen to what he said. I was 
elsewhere. So I cannot answer the question because I didn't hear what 
the Senator had to say.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3364

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee 
on Veterans' Affairs be discharged from further consideration of S. 
3364, a bill to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry 
out a pilot program to accept the donation of facilities and related 
improvements for use by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the 
Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; further, that the bill 
be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would 
like to explain why we are here and what is really happening, so people 
have a good grasp of things.
  First of all, the Miners Protection Act--this protection act 
basically goes back to a commitment, a promise, and a transaction that 
we have done in Congress in 1946, under President Harry Truman. It is 
the Krug act. Basically, it was said that from that day forward, we are 
basically taking certain amounts of money from all the coal that is 
mined. This is not public funds. We are not asking for public funds. If 
we had done what we were supposed to do, we would have taken that money 
and put that money in the funds for the miners' protection of their 
health and their pension. They had nothing before that. They are the 
ones who basically gave us the energy that we had to win two world wars 
and become the super power of the West. All they asked for was that. It 
wasn't guaranteed by taxpayers going to pay it. It was going to come 
from the coal that was mined.
  Now this same Congress comes back 20, 30 years later, and we changed 
the bankruptcy laws to allow companies now to declare bankruptcy and to 
shed their legacy costs. They don't have to pay it no more. So we are 
caught. Every promise we made now is this: Oh, I am sorry; we can't pay 
you.
  So we did step in. We stepped in a couple of times--in 1993, in 2006. 
Congress has basically a history with this piece of legislation. So we 
are working now to shore it up.
  AML means abandoned mine lands. That is money that goes from every 
kind of coal into a reclamation fund that takes care of any reclamation 
that is needed from the mining process. As you are putting the mines 
back or putting the environment back and taking the environment and 
putting the land back, that money would be used for that. If there was 
not much reclamation or if that money accumulated, then we have a 
surplus. We have only asked for the surplus.
  So we were all on the same page, and we have been negotiating back 
and forth. This is 2 years ago and up until present. We have been 
negotiating back and forth, up to 2 weeks ago. Two weeks ago we were 
told, and I have had good, honest, upfront negotiations with the 
majority leader. He said: I just don't think the pension is going to 
fly this year. I said: I understand it. I am still going to work my 
tail off for this thing.
  I had to tell all the widows and all the people whom we represent--
16,300 who were notified in October. They have to give a 90-day 
notification that you are going to lose your health care benefits. They 
gave that notification in October for December 31. That happened. I had 
to tell them now that we are not going to get the pension this year. We 
are doing everything we can, but I am almost positive we are going to 
get the health care because I was told we were going to get the health 
care. Not until 2 days ago did I have any inkling that now, all of a 
sudden--I am not blaming my colleagues here--the House said: Oh, I am 
sorry. We are only going to do an extension for the CR--the same 
extension for the health care.
  I know that my colleagues would agree with this. Let's say it was 
your aunt or your grandmother or a retired person basically being paid 
those benefits. They were told in October. Now we are supposed to 
accept this CR coming over with this language that says: Ok, now let's 
tell Mrs. Smith again. We are basically going to say: OK, we gave you a 
4-month extension, but we are going to notify you again in January that 
you are going to lose it again in April. They don't even have time to 
work with the deductibles to get any insurance--nothing.
  Let me tell you how they were going to pay for it. This is what came 
from the House--not my colleagues here but from the House. The House 
says: OK, we are going to take $47 million from the VEVA transfers. 
VEVA was money that was set aside for other bankruptcies. These were 
bankruptcies that were basically going to give people who were retired 
under those bankruptcies at least health care coverage until June. 
Those same people are going to lose theirs because it is going to take 
their money and they are going to lose theirs also. It is almost 
incomprehensible that they would give us something like this and think 
it is something we could do.

[[Page 15990]]

  We got a bipartisan agreement here on this side, and we can't get 
just a consideration from our colleagues over in the House. So I just 
can't explain it. I can't go home and explain this. We are walking out 
of here, trying to get out this weekend because everybody wants to go 
home. That is wonderful. The only thing we have this time certain is 
December 31. They know they are going to lose everything--their health 
care benefits. It is in doubt that they will have their pensions taken 
care of, and we won't stay here because it is too much of an 
inconvenience. That is why we are prepared. We are going to stay. If 
they want to stay through Christmas, fine--through the New Year, fine. 
I think that they think: I know everybody wants to go home; so I am 
sure everybody will fold their hands and leave.
  I want to thank all of you and all of my colleagues for jumping up 
here because you all have been helping us. They just have to get the 
message that we are sincere about helping these people.
  Everybody is standing for the working person. Every campaign ad I saw 
this year said: We are all for the working man and the working woman. 
Well, you got a chance to prove it right now. You got a chance to show 
that I am for you, that I respect what you did, what your husband did, 
what your family has done for the country, and I am trying to help you.
  What we are asking for is to give us a permanent long-term solution 
for the miners, included in the Miners Protection Act that we have been 
working on for so long, S. 3470. Reluctantly, therefore, for these 
reasons, I have to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. TILLIS. Objection?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. TILLIS. Thank you, Mr. President.
  The Senator from West Virginia, I believe, is trying to make a 
compelling argument. I understand that he feels very strongly about 
this. We feel very strongly about a number of these motions I am going 
to continue to make and hopefully not get objection.
  Mr. President, I do want to remind the Senator from West Virginia 
that it was the majority leader who worked to at least get the patch in 
the CR, and like so many things around here, we wish we were working on 
longer horizons, but that seems to be the challenge we have to deal 
with and that we will have to deal with in the waning days of this 
session.


                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1831

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the 
Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of S. 1831, the 
Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, and the Senate proceed to 
its immediate consideration; further, that the Toomey substitute 
amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be considered read a 
third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gardner). Is there objection?
  The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I am a bit 
incredulous. I like the Senator from North Carolina. We sit across from 
each other in the Veterans' Affairs Committee. We have done at least 2 
or 3 bills that reached the President's desk and were signed into law 
together.
  But I think my Republican friends are kind of missing the point 
here--to give the majority leader credit for fixing this when, No. 1, 
he wouldn't do it, he wouldn't do it, he wouldn't do it, he wouldn't do 
it. Senator Manchin has asked him for weeks and months and months to 
take care of the pension and the health insurance, and the majority 
leader refused month after month after month.
  The majority leader said: I need you to do several things. We need 
you to follow regular order. We did. We went through the Finance 
Committee, 18 to 8. Senator Hatch, the chairman, helped us. Senator 
Wyden, the ranking member, was one of the strongest supporters, joined 
by Senators Casey and Warner, Finance Committee members who represent a 
lot of mine workers.
  The Senate majority leader then said: You have to find a way to pay 
for it. We did it. We found a way to pay for it. It comes from the 
abandoned mine fund. There are no tax dollars involved in this. The 
majority leader still wouldn't do anything.
  So finally, Senator Manchin comes to the floor, I come to the floor, 
Senator Casey comes to the floor, and Senator Warner comes to the floor 
over and over, and we say we are not going to agree to anything until 
you take care of these pensioners, until you take care of these miners' 
widows. Then, out of the goodness of the majority leader's heart, he 
gives these miners--these retired miners and widows--4 months. What 
does 4 months mean?
  It means that these widows and miners--these retired miners and 
widows got a notice in the last couple of weeks saying their insurance 
will expire December 31. If we agree to the majority leader's bountiful 
offer, then they will get another notice in January or February saying: 
Oh, it is going to run out again in 4 months.
  What is really interesting around here is, I hear Republican Senators 
day after day after day--whether it is the Affordable Care Act, whether 
it is Dodd-Frank--say: All we want is predictability. We want to be 
able to plan. Businesses can't produce jobs, can't create jobs, unless 
we have a path forward, unless we can predict what will happen, unless 
we can have some certainty.
  That is all right for corporate America. They want certainty. 
Corporate America wants to be able to plan. But it is not all right for 
mine workers' widows? It is OK to jack them around--pardon my 
language--it is OK for them to stumble around every 4 months and we 
renew their pensions, we renew their health care? Really.
  This is so easy. Give us a year, and then we will be back next year 
and we will work on this. But, as Senator Manchin said, for us to go 
home for Christmas--whether or not you celebrate Christmas--and be with 
our families, which I really want to do--I have five grandchildren. I 
can't wait to get to spend time with them in the next 3 weeks. But we 
have to do our job. If we don't do it tonight, then we are going to be 
here tomorrow. If we don't do it tomorrow, we are going to be here the 
next day. If we don't do it at the end of this week, we are going to be 
here next week because we are not leaving. We are going to stay here as 
long as we need to, even if it means a session on Christmas Day, in 
order to get these retirees and their widows the pensions and the 
health care that they earned, not a little 4-month bump.
  Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from North Carolina.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, earlier the distinguished Senator from 
Oregon said he recognizes that I am new to the Senate and there may be 
something different between what we would call a blanket position in 
the North Carolina House and a blanket position here.
  Mr. President, I want to ask a question of the distinguished Senator 
from Ohio. I might add that I appreciate the kind comments that I think 
you were recently reported as saying. We are working together on 
veterans issues, and I look forward to continuing to work for you.
  Mr. President, I would ask the Senator from Ohio, if he was in the 
Chamber at the time of the motion offered by Senator Wyden, would he 
have been prepared to object to that motion being consistent with the 
position that they are having blanket objections to all motions?
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President--Senator Tillis, I heard the tail end of it. 
I was in the cloakroom trying to find out exactly what the 
parliamentary procedure was going be on this. I would be willing to say 
yes to a lot of these once we take care of the mine workers. This is a 
wide-open forum. Let's take care of the mine workers, and then we can 
consider each of these other bills. But none of these bills has the 
immediacy of thousands of mine workers, retirees, and their widows in 
West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. None of them 
have the immediacy

[[Page 15991]]

of these mine workers' health care being cut off December 31.
  These are important public initiatives. I can't think of anything 
that we are considering--I mean, I really want to get ``Buy American'' 
in the WRDA bill. We had it in the Senate bill. It was bipartisan.
  Speaker Ryan--even though we tweeted the President-elect of the 
United States asking him to weigh in on ``Buy American,'' saving 
thousands of dollars in Coshocton, OH, in Wheeling, and in other places 
all over this country, we couldn't get any response to that. I want to 
see us do that. I would like to stay and do that, but the immediate 
question is, How do we protect these miners and retirees and how do we 
protect these widows and widowers, for that matter, make sure their 
health care is protected? That is the fundamental question. I am 
willing to do a whole lot of other things. Do this first, and then the 
floor is open to do other things.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.


                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 3286

  Mr. TILLIS. In a moment, I will be making another unanimous consent 
request. I will give a classic example of the kinds of things I wish we 
could get done before we leave here.
  The unanimous consent request I am about to make would encourage 
effective, voluntary private sector investments to recruit, employ, and 
retain men and women who have served in the U.S. military, with annual 
Presidential awards to private sector employers recognizing such 
efforts for their purposes.
  This is an example of something that right now, today, without 
objection, we can get through.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
immediate consideration of H.R. 3286, a bill to encourage effective, 
voluntary private sector investments to recruit, employ, and retain men 
and women who have served in the U.S. military, with annual 
Presidential awards to private sector employers recognizing such 
efforts, which was received from the House. I further ask consent that 
the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to 
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, first, I 
say to my good friend from North Carolina, Mr. Tillis, I have been in 
the Senate for 6 years, so I have never used this procedure--never 
believed it, never thought I would have to, never thought anything 
would be so direly needed that I would even have to stand here and 
object to all the good things we both have worked on. I have so many 
good things on my side that I am not moving right now, and you have so 
many great things on your side that I would love to help you with.
  But, sir, if you were in my position--let me go a little bit further 
because I don't think maybe I made it. If you want to add insult to 
injury to what has happened to our retired miners and all the people 
dependent on their health care benefits, the $47 million that I told 
you they transferred--that is what they are going the pay for from the 
House, the VEBA--basically takes it from other bankrupt funds that were 
set aside. They are going to do that, and when all is said and done--
and it has even been scored that Medicaid and Medicare would save so 
much because now they are paying for it out of the miners health care 
fund, and they are not going to have to. But on top of that, from the 
$47 million they took, they are going to make $2 million profit 
returned back to the Treasury. They are going to take $2 million from 
money set aside to pay--that the bankruptcy courts put aside to pay 
miners because they will lose their health care by June. Now they are 
going to lose it by April, by this provision that has been passed by 
the House. And on top of that, they will have $2 million in surplus.
  I had a lady call me today. She said: You know, Senator Manchin, 
where I come from, they call that theft. They call that theft. And why 
would you all let them do that? If they don't do anything, some of our 
miners are, till June--16,000 of us lose. We don't want to punish them, 
but now you are punishing them. You are punishing them an extra 3 
months. Why would you all do that?
  I am not sure they really realize it on the other side.
  Like I said, I am not at our colleagues here, my friends and 
Republican colleagues I have here, but why would the House send that to 
you, and why would you all accept it?
  That is all we are asking for. We can all gather forces here and send 
a large message to them that we are not going to do this until they 
come to their senses and take care of the miners' health care benefits.
  You know what. We can come back. We can let all of this--all of our 
UCs that have been worked on and that I think are so needed can go 
right through, we can all go home, and hopefully our miners know they 
have health care, we know we have done a lot of good for a lot of 
people, and hopefully everyone will have a better Christmas. So all I 
am asking for--until the CR includes that permanent, long term, I am 
going to have to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from North Carolina.


              Unanimous Consent Request--Senate Resolution

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of a Senate resolution at the 
desk designating December 17, 2016, as ``Wreaths Across America Day,'' 
submitted earlier today. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be 
agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or 
debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I reserve the right to object. We can keep 
doing this. I think it is very clear what Senator Manchin and I are 
asking for. We are not asking for anything unusual; we are asking for 
the Senate to honor the pledge made by President Truman more or less 
seven decades ago to take care of the health care that mine workers 
earned.
  Don't ever forget, we all work around here. We wear coats and ties, 
and our work might be stressful, sort of, but we are not likely risking 
our lives, we are not likely picking up occupational diseases from the 
work we do. But we are saying to these widows and mine workers and 
retired mine workers that I guess you don't matter very much because we 
are going to have our Christmas vacation and you are going to have to 
worry about your health care.
  Their health care runs out December 31. Senator McConnell, finally, 
after great pressure from constituents and mine workers and us, finally 
said he would give us 4 months. You can't run your life not knowing 
your health insurance is going to run out in 4 months or 8 months or 3 
months.
  So we shouldn't keep repeating ourselves, but Senator Tillis keeps 
bringing up one issue after another. We are going to keep saying no 
until we get in this bill much more time for this health care for these 
retired mine workers and their families and their widows.
  Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I just want to be clear that my friend 
from West Virginia, whom I actually consider to be one of my favorites, 
to be honest with you, since I have been here--I have loved serving 
with him on committees, and I serve with him on the Senate Armed 
Services Committee and Veterans' Affairs. I asked the Senator from West 
Virginia if he would have objected to the motion set forth by the 
Senator from Oregon, Mr. Wyden, and the answer was no. So we have an 
inconsistency here.


              Unanimous Consent Request--Senate Resolution

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the

[[Page 15992]]

consideration of a Senate resolution at the desk honoring the 
individuals who lost their lives in the tragic fire in Oakland, 
California, on December 2, 2016, submitted earlier today. I ask 
unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be 
agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid 
upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I would 
like to explain to my good friend, the Senator from North Carolina, 
that I have been deferring to you the pleasure of objecting, and that 
is the reason I didn't object to the Senator from Oregon. As you said, 
we can stay here. I think we all have a lot of appreciation for the 
situation.
  With that being said, we have come to an impasse that if we cannot 
get the House, with the help of our Senate colleagues on both sides, to 
agree to a permanent, long-term fix and a solution for the miners' 
health care--and I would say to the Senator, we took off the pension; 
you heard me say that. We took the pensions off of that. We thought 
that might provide us a way to move forward. We thought we had a way to 
move forward.
  With that being said, we stand here today objecting to things that we 
would all like to move forward on. It pains all of us to be in this 
position. Hopefully, you all can help us, talking to the House and 
basically asking them to come to their senses and, hopefully, take care 
of this.
  So for that reason, until we have a long-term solution for our 
miners' health care as included in the Miners Protection Act, S. 3470, 
I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I would like to direct another question 
through the Chair to the Senator from West Virginia. I just want to be 
clear that, hypothetically, if the Senator from Oregon were to come 
back to the Chamber and offer that motion, would the Senator from West 
Virginia actually object to that motion?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the Senator posing a 
question?
  Mr. BROWN. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, we may have that opportunity.


              Unanimous Consent Request--Senate Resolution

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the 
consideration of a Senate resolution at the desk recognizing the 75th 
anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the lasting significance 
of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day submitted earlier today. I ask 
unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be 
agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid 
upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I was 
incredulous at the beginning of the night, not quite believing that 
Senator McConnell--I don't know what he is doing now--was sending his 
people to the floor and finding ways to push back against the mine 
workers in West Virginia and Ohio and Pennsylvania and Indiana and 
Virginia, not willing to help those pensioners and widows. Now we have 
this incredible coincidence that the last two resolutions--we are 
talking about mine workers--retired mine workers' health care; we are 
talking about widows of mine workers who have either died on the job or 
died perhaps from an illness that mine workers so often have--brown 
lung or some kind of heart disease. Instead, my friend from North 
Carolina has offered two resolutions, one to honor people who died in a 
fire--a tragedy--and one to mark the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, 
both reasonable things. But they are not resolutions to provide college 
to the children of the people who died in the fire, and they are not to 
increase benefits for the grandchildren of people who died in Pearl 
Harbor; they are resolutions that don't mean anything except they are 
nice. I am for these resolutions. I love to support anything we do to 
say something nice and pat somebody on the back. But we have these two 
resolutions saying aren't they nice, aren't we nice, compared to taking 
care of widows who are going to see their health care expire on 
December 31. I don't understand the equivalency.
  I suppose we could go all night if Senator McConnell were perhaps in 
his office or perhaps out to dinner or perhaps he went home. But it is 
ordering or asking or however we do things around here--Senators come 
to the floor and delay and delay and delay and try to change the 
subject so that people forget about these mine workers. Well, we are 
not going to let the Presiding Officer or Senator Tillis or Senator 
McConnell or Senator Cornyn or anybody else--we are not going to let 
you forget the mine workers. We are going to keep talking about this.
  I don't mind working late tonight. I don't mind working late 
tomorrow. I would rather not work until December 24, but Senator 
Manchin said he will, and I will. My wife is not thrilled about it, and 
my children and my grandkids aren't thrilled about it. But these are 
thousands of people who are going to lose their health insurance on 
December 31, and all that Senator McConnell can do, after huge pressure 
from mine workers around the country and his constituents in Kentucky 
and from us--all Senator McConnell can do is say, well, we can give you 
maybe 4 months, and that is supposed to satisfy us. It doesn't matter 
if it satisfies us; it matters that we take care of these retired mine 
workers and their widows.
  For all of those reasons, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from Ohio did 
mention a couple of resolutions, but I would add there was also the 
American Innovation and Competitiveness Act that we worked very hard on 
to provide much needed resources for a number of States, including 
Ohio. There are a number of other items, including I think hiring vets, 
providing programs or providing preferences and trying to do everything 
we can to get our veterans hired; preventing animal cruelty and torture 
I think is a worthwhile cause, and a number of other things.
  But, again, the point here is that we are trying to move things that 
we generally have consent on, and for one reason or another--and I 
don't question the motives of the Senator from West Virginia--they are 
being held up. We kind of have a double standard in that some of these 
things do not rise to the same level as the unanimous consent request 
made by Senator Wyden earlier.


                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 5456

  So I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of Calendar No. 527, H.R. 5456; that the Wyden substitute 
amendment at the desk be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a 
third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be made and laid 
upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. BROWN. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object--
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection has been heard.
  The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I am happy to yield the floor to the 
Senator from West Virginia.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina yields the 
floor to the Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. MANCHIN. I just want to clarify. I think there is some confusion. 
It seems like everybody is in a hustle right now. I think they think we 
are being selective. I want to make it very clear. I have been very 
clear to everybody. I have had to object on everything. I have had to 
object on my own

[[Page 15993]]

pieces of legislation to stop everything. With that being said, I think 
I was asked about Senator Wyden's request, and I said, no, I wouldn't 
at that time, and then I think at that time Senator Tillis objected. 
For that you were asked did I object, and I said no.
  With that being said, I would have objected to everything, and I 
think everybody knew where I stood in this body that I will and have to 
reluctantly--I don't want to be in this position. I am so committed to 
fulfilling the promise and commitment we have made. That is all.
  I am sorry if there has been confusion. I have to, for the position 
we have taken. I think the good fight that we have here--and, 
basically, what the House has done to us is not humane to the people we 
represent. That is all I said. I am sorry for that.
  So if there is a motion on the table, I object to that too.

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