[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5846-5849]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     EXECUTIVE CALENDAR--Continued

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate resume consideration of the Perdue nomination, as under the 
previous order.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                      Remembering Trish Vradenburg

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the wonderful life 
and extraordinary work of Trish Vradenburg. It is with a heavy heart 
that I note the passing of my dear friend and esteemed ally in our 
national effort to defeat Alzheimer's disease.
  Many of our colleagues in this Chamber not only counted Trish as a 
friend but also greatly respected her as a champion in the war against 
an international enemy--Alzheimer's disease. It is through our work 
shedding light on this horrific disease, creating a roadmap for a cure 
and strategies for prevention, that Trish and I developed an enduring 
friendship. She and I shared the experience of having our beloved 
mothers claimed by this cruel and merciless illness. We knew the 
ravages of Alzheimer's on our loved ones firsthand and vowed that other 
people should not have to experience such suffering.
  The impact of her mother's illness motivated Trish and her cherished 
husband George to dedicate much of the past two decades to fighting 
Alzheimer's disease. Together they raised funds, founded and led the 
innovative UsAgainstAlzheimer's organization, committing their time, 
energy, personal resources, and passion to bring Alzheimer's disease 
out of the shadows and to advocate for the policies and research needed 
to stop this disease and prevent it from occurring in the future.
  Trish was a multidimensional force of nature. Creative, caring, and 
compassionate, she was a devoted daughter and caregiver to her mother. 
She was a loving mother to her two children, Alissa and Tyler, their 
spouses, and four grandchildren. And, as so many of us here know, she 
was completely dedicated to her husband George, a man of enormous 
talent and business acumen.
  My wife Susan and I have been privileged to call Trish and George 
treasured friends for more than 20 years. To say that George and Trish 
were ideal partners does not fully capture their love story. They were 
soulmates, complementing each other perfectly and creating a powerful, 
enchanting, and dynamic duet. Many of us have tales of our interactions 
with Trish and George, witnessing firsthand Trish's indefatigable 
spirit, perseverance, and leadership. Simply put, you never wanted to 
tell Trish ``maybe'' or ``no,'' particularly when the issue was 
Alzheimer's disease.
  This was compounded by the fact that Trish was a master communicator 
and humorist. She did not mince words and knew how to convey a message, 
often delivered with memorable one-liners. A gifted writer, she 
authored novels, sitcoms, and op-eds, with many of her recent pieces 
calling attention to the great threat of Alzheimer's disease. I had the 
honor of playing the role of her mother's doctor on stage in Trish's 
award-winning play, ``Surviving Grace,'' which shines a spotlight on 
Alzheimer's impact not only on the patient but on their family members 
as well.
  It was right here in the Senate that Trish began her professional 
career as a speechwriter to Senator Harrison Williams of her home State 
of New Jersey. Therefore, it is particularly fitting that the Senate 
pause to recognize this remarkable woman and her many accomplishments 
across so many fields.
  In closing, it is difficult for me to comprehend that Trish has 
passed away and that we will no longer hear her powerful voice, her 
luminous laughter, her one-liners, experience her creativity, and 
benefit from her passionate conviction that we must keep fighting to 
defeat Alzheimer's. The indomitable memory of Trish Vradenburg--an 
amazing, creative, and pioneering woman--motivates us all to live to 
the fullest and to accelerate our work so that we can soon reach the 
day when Alzheimer's disease is found only in the history books. In 
these ways, her inspirational legacy lives on as George continues their 
important work with Trish in his heart, in her family's love, and in 
her friends' and colleagues' admiration.
  This was a great woman whom we have just lost, a champion for finding 
a cure for Alzheimer's disease, and I am so honored to be able to speak 
in the U.S. Senate to tell the Nation of the work of this great woman.
  With that, I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise to support the nomination of Gov. 
Sonny Perdue for Secretary of the Department of Agriculture.
  As the only active farmer in the U.S. Senate, I have high 
expectations of the next Ag Secretary. Over the past 2 weeks, like 
millions of other farmers across this country, I have been on my farm 
and out in the fields, planting peas and wheat and safflower. When you 
are on the tractor day in and day out, from sunrise to sunset, you have 
a lot of time to think, and over these past 2 weeks, I have been 
thinking a lot about the important role Mr. Perdue will play in 
strengthening rural America.
  A lot has changed in the 100 years since my grandparents homesteaded 
our farm. New technology and improved equipment has made us more 
efficient producers, but a consolidation in the marketplace has taken 
its toll on rural communities. The shrinking number of family farms has 
depopulated rural communities like the one I grew up in.
  Today, a combination of consolidation and low commodity prices is 
taking its toll on family farmers and

[[Page 5847]]

ranchers. Commodity prices are low across the board. In fact, in some 
cases, markets are below the cost of production. At the same time, we 
have seen rising input costs. The price of fertilizer and seed is 
increasing at the same time that we have seen prices decrease. To make 
matters worse, the big guys use tough times like this to sweep up the 
family farms and ranches and add to their bottom lines at the expense 
of hardworking folks who are trying to keep their operations in the 
family.
  The next Ag Secretary needs to work with Senators from rural States 
like Montana to identify ways to reverse this trend of consolidation 
because when a family farm goes under, the ripple is felt across the 
community as schools lose funding, and the local grocery stores and 
hardware stores lose customers.
  Yet this is not the first time rural America has stood nose to nose 
with adversity. We had adversity in the dirty thirties, and we fought 
through the high interest rates of the 1970s. I know folks in rural 
America will overcome adversity once again, but in order to do so, we 
need an Ag Secretary who will ensure that we are supporting rural 
communities, not pulling the rug out from underneath them. This means 
pushing back against the draconian budget cuts that have been put 
forward by this administration.
  The proposed budget slashes 21 percent from the USDA. That is nearly 
$5 billion. These budget cuts undermine important resources in rural 
America across this country and in Montana.
  The proposed budget also guts the Farm Service Agency--a one-stop 
shop where farmers and ranchers sign up for critical ag initiatives. If 
cuts are made to the Farm Service Agency, farmers and ranchers will 
likely be forced to travel greater distances to get the assistance they 
rely on to create jobs in communities like Havre and that they rely on 
to put food on the tables of this country.
  The proposed budget also eliminates the rural Water & Wastewater Loan 
& Grant Program. When communities cannot access the resources they need 
to update critical water and watershed infrastructure, rural families 
suffer. Quite frankly, the White House's budget will be a nail in the 
coffin for rural America.
  The USDA budget needs to reflect the needs of rural communities. That 
means increasing resources for farmers and ranchers and improving 
access to high-speed broadband for schools, businesses, and families. 
It also means boosting overhead support and loans for mom-and-pop 
businesses. The next Ag Secretary needs to fight for a USDA budget that 
works for rural families. Once Mr. Perdue is confirmed, I urge him to 
take the initiative and fight against these damaging cuts that will 
hurt rural America.
  In addition to the USDA budget, we are a year away from the 
expiration of the farm bill. Over the past 6 months, I have traveled 
across Montana and have met with folks to discuss their priorities for 
the next farm bill. With wheat prices at a decade low and with ranchers 
experiencing an incredible plunge in cattle prices, it is critical that 
we construct a farm bill that works for family farms and ranches. I do 
not believe the next farm bill will solve all of the challenges we are 
facing today, but it should give certainty to farmers and ranchers who 
could be a bad storm or a cold winter away from losing their 
livelihoods.
  Once Mr. Perdue is confirmed, I will be asking him to take an active 
role in this debate to ensure that the next farm bill meets the needs 
of family farmers and ranchers. I urge Mr. Perdue to help me educate 
folks in this body and in the White House that the safety net is more 
than a talking point.
  Preserving the safety net in the next farm bill will ensure that a 
bad year does not wipe out family farms and ranches across this 
country. Families in rural America want a fair opportunity to succeed, 
and the farm bill should be a tool that works for small-scale 
producers, not just for the big guys.
  Finally, I urge Mr. Perdue to work hand in hand with us westerners to 
make sure we are responsibly managing our forests. Breaking through the 
management gridlock in our national forests will reduce fire risks and 
will put folks back to work.
  I have been a long supporter of collaborative efforts to increase 
active forest management, improve recreation opportunities on our 
public lands, and preserve these special places for future generations. 
Republicans and Democrats have worked together to propose important 
reforms that end fire-borrowing and fund our response to forest fires 
like we fund other natural disasters. These are the kinds of solutions 
we need to increase active forest management and put folks back to work 
in the woods, and I look forward to the next Ag Secretary joining our 
efforts.
  The USDA has a lot on its plate, and rightfully so. There are major 
issues facing our farmers and ranchers in rural communities and 
national forests, and it is time to tackle these issues head-on. I 
think Governor Perdue is a standup man. I appreciate our open and 
honest conversations about the need to work together to strengthen 
rural America, and I am more than willing to give him a fair shake, but 
I will be honest. These problems are too great to ignore through the 
honeymoon period. I expect Governor Perdue to hit the ground running so 
we can invest in rural families, improve opportunities for farmers and 
ranchers, and break through the gridlock that plagues our national 
forests.
  I look forward to tackling these issues with Mr. Perdue, and I 
encourage my colleagues to give Mr. Perdue the same fair shake.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, first of all, I have a rare opportunity 
to follow Jon Tester, who is a great farmer from Montana, a great 
ranking member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and a man who knows 
agriculture well.
  I grew up picking up pecans off the ground on my grandfather's farm. 
I know a little about it. I know the salt-of-the-earth people who grow 
our food and our fiber who make our country work. I doubt if many 
people have had the opportunity to be a U.S. Senator, but I know this; 
that very few have had the opportunity to be a U.S. Senator and serve 
with the cousin of an ag commissioner, because the Presiding Officer 
who is presiding over this vote is the cousin of Sonny Perdue, the man 
we are going to confirm as Secretary of Agriculture under Donald 
Trump's administration. I am pleased to be the senior Senator from 
Georgia to brag about all of the Perdues whom I know in my State and 
all they have contributed to our State and how important Sonny Perdue 
is going to be to us as the Secretary of Agriculture.
  If one looked in Webster's Dictionary--and if it were a picture 
dictionary and every word were described not by words but by a 
picture--if one looked up ``Ag Secretary,'' you would see Sonny 
Perdue's picture.
  Think about this for a second. He grew up on a row crop farm in 
Bonaire, GA, which is an ag community in our State. He was in the 
fertilizer business and the grain business. He was a partner in a 
storage and shipping business with his cousin, the junior Senator from 
Georgia, David Perdue. He graduated with a doctorate degree in 
veterinary medicine from the University of Georgia--one of the 
preeminent veterinary medicine schools in the country. He presided as 
Governor of the State of Georgia after he was speaker pro tempore of 
the senate of the State of Georgia. He was the president pro tempore in 
the senate when he was a Democrat. He was the Governor when he was a 
Republican. He did not switch parties for any reason except that he 
wanted to do right, and when one party went in the wrong direction, he 
took the party in the next direction and took them to lead our State to 
bigger and higher heights. He presided over a State that has 42,000 
farmers and a $75 billion farm gate product. Georgia is agriculture and 
knows agriculture.
  I served in the legislature with him in the State senate. I served 
under him when he was our Governor. I served with him as the Governor 
when I was in the U.S. House, and later in the U.S. Senate. We worked 
on agriculture business and port business. We worked on

[[Page 5848]]

the Port of Savannah. We worked on everything that was in the interests 
of Georgia. Sonny Perdue knows that there is one way to do a job, and 
that is the best way he knows how: Do it right the first time, and you 
never have to apologize.
  President Trump has made a great decision for our State. He has made 
a great decision for our country. He has picked the finest person you 
could find available in the United States to be the Secretary of 
Agriculture for the United States of America.
  He graduated from the University of Georgia, was in the farm business 
himself, served as a Governor, served as the speaker pro tempore, and 
married the prettiest woman in Georgia--and I will get in trouble for 
classifying her that way, but it happens to be the truth, and I never 
lie on the floor of the Senate.
  I am going to be proud tonight when I cast my vote for Sonny Perdue 
as Secretary of Agriculture, along with the Presiding Officer and 
everybody else. I commend our President on a great selection, I 
congratulate our State on a great favorite son, and I commend the 
Senate Committee on Agriculture for the nomination of a great 
Agriculture Secretary, as well as Senator Roberts.
  I commend my brother and my friend, my fellow Georgian, Sonny Perdue, 
to the Senate today, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor 
of his nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I wish to thank my dear friend, my 
colleague from Georgia, for making such an outstanding statement in his 
own inimitable fashion--sort of a Paul Harvey of the Senate, if you 
will--and I know that he would never lie on the Senate floor. He might 
stretch the truth a little, but just a bit. I thank him so much for his 
testimony on behalf of our next Secretary of Agriculture.
  The Senate will soon vote on the confirmation of Governor Sonny 
Perdue, the President's nominee for U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.
  The Department of Agriculture is made up of 29 agencies and offices, 
and it employs nearly 100,000 men and women who work in all 50 States 
and around the globe. The Department provides leadership on food, 
agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, 
scientific research, and related issues that impact every American 
every day.
  Throughout our Nation's history, our farmers and ranchers and 
business owners in rural America have survived drought and disease and 
floods and tornadoes and whatever else Mother Nature throws at them. We 
just had a big prairie fire in Kansas. Yet, year after year, they 
produce the safest, most abundant and affordable food and fiber supply 
in the world.
  Today, however, our producers from across the country are facing 
tough economic times, with multiple years of low prices. These same 
producers now need a strong market for whatever they produce. During 
this critical time, the importance of trade for the agriculture 
industry cannot be overstated. We have to understand within the 
administration, within this Senate, and with our colleagues in the 
House, that, yes, it is important to export things that we make, but it 
is also equally important to export things that we grow.
  On top of all of this, our farmers and ranchers and rural businesses 
have been burdened by regulations from agencies across the Federal 
Government. I have heard time and again, as has my distinguished 
colleague who is the Presiding Officer, that the costly and hard-to-
understand regulations have and are endangering the ability of our 
producers to even stay in business.
  Members of the Agriculture Committee have a lot of work to do over 
the next 2 years, including regulatory reform and recommending to our 
new Secretary what he can do in that regard but also the 
reauthorization of the farm bill. We intend to do that work in the 
bipartisan fashion that has served us so well in the past. I will make 
the statement--I have the privilege of being chairman of the 
Agriculture Committee--that we are the least partisan committee in the 
Senate, and today that means a lot. It also means we work well with our 
distinguished ranking member, Senator Deborah Stabenow from Michigan.
  But, now, more than ever, agriculture needs a voice, an advocate, and 
a champion at the highest levels of government, and Governor Perdue has 
been nominated to serve in exactly that role.
  As has been said, he is from Georgia. He was raised on a farm and 
practiced as a veterinarian before returning to his home county to work 
in the grain business. He was elected to serve in local and State 
government, including two terms as the distinguished Governor of the 
State of Georgia.
  During his confirmation hearing--and I want to underscore that his 
confirmation hearing was unique in the Senate in that there were no 
attacks on the nominee--Governor Perdue knew the answers to the 
questions that he was going to be asked. He didn't have to be briefed. 
The Governor demonstrated a real understanding of the challenges that 
now face the agriculture industry and the willingness to work together 
to find solutions.
  The Agriculture Committee received many letters in support of his 
nomination, including support from six former U.S. Secretaries of 
Agriculture, representing both Republican and Democratic Presidents, 
and another from nearly 700 organizations across the agriculture and 
food value chain.
  Last month, the Agriculture Committee voted by voice vote to report 
Governor Perdue's nomination to the full Senate--a voice vote.
  Our farmers and ranchers have been long waiting for this important 
role to be filled. Once Governor Perdue becomes Secretary Perdue, I 
know he will put the needs of farmers, ranchers, and others in rural 
America first, and lead us in both the House and Senate to implement a 
productive trade policy and economic recovery in rural and smalltown 
America.
  So I urge my colleagues to join in bipartisan support for Sonny 
Perdue's confirmation as Agriculture Secretary and for being the 
champion for farmers and ranchers and growers and consumers.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, after a careful counting of the Members present on the 
floor, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Under the previous order, the question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Perdue nomination?
  Mr. ISAKSON. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. PERDUE (when his name was called). Present.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Arizona (Mr. Flake).
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 87, nays 11, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 112 Ex.]

                                YEAS--87

     Alexander
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Franken
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     Kennedy
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Merkley

[[Page 5849]]


     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Peters
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Strange
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--11

     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Markey
     Menendez
     Reed
     Sanders
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--1

       
     Perdue
       

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Flake
       
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the President will 
be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________