[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9637-9640]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. Brown, Mr. Tester, Mr. Blumenthal, 
        Mr. Kaine, Ms.

[[Page 9638]]

        Duckworth, Ms. Warren, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Franken, Ms. Klobuchar, 
        Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Hirono, and 
        Mr. Durbin):
  S. 1389. A bill to allow the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection 
to provide greater protection to servicemembers; to the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, today, along with Senators Brown, Tester, 
Blumenthal, Kaine, Duckworth, Warren, Baldwin, Franken, Klobuchar, 
Cortez Masto, Van Hollen, and Menendez, I am reintroducing the Military 
Consumer Enforcement Act to further strengthen consumer protections for 
service members.
  Our Nation has a strong tradition of working to protect our service 
members while they sacrifice to keep our Nation, safe. Building on 
these efforts, Congress passed the Soldiers' and Sailor's Civil Relief 
Act in 1940 to provide essential financial protections for service 
members to ``enable such persons to devote their entire energy to the 
defense needs of the Nation.'' Now called the Servicemembers Civil 
Relief Act (SCRA), this law provides such protections as prohibiting 
the eviction of service members and their dependents from rental or 
mortgaged properties and capping the interest at 6% on debts incurred 
prior to an individual entering active duty military service.
  Despite the importance of the SCRA's protections to our service 
members, enforcement of this critical law has been inconsistent and 
subject to the discretion of our financial regulators. For example, 
according to a July 2012 report from the Government Accountability 
Office, the estimated percentage of depository institutions that 
serviced mortgages that were examined for SCRA compliance varied by 
year between 2007 through 2011 at a rate of 4% in 2007, 17% in 2008, 
18% in 2009, 26% in 2010, and 15% in 2011. Without a change in the law, 
SCRA enforcement will continue to be subject to the changing priorities 
of the financial regulators, which can also change with each newly 
elected President. Simply put, prioritizing the consumer protection of 
our service members should not be discretionary; it should be 
mandatory. Our legislation ensures that SCRA enforcement will be a 
permanent priority for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, CFPB, 
which Congress created to enforce Federal consumer financial protection 
laws.
  In 2010, as we debated the authorizing legislation for the CFPB, I 
led the bipartisan effort to ensure the CFPB would play a key role in 
protecting service members through the establishment of an Office of 
Servicemember Affairs, OSA. Since that time, the CFPB, through its 
enforcement actions, has helped service members recover approximately 
$130 million in relief from unscrupulous actors in the financial 
marketplace and through the OSA's monitoring of complaints, the CFPB 
has helped other regulators provide more than $60 million in relief for 
more than 78,000 service members harmed by SCRA violations. Imagine how 
much more the CFPB could do for our service members if it could do more 
than just refer potential SCRA violations to other regulators and 
educate service members about their SCRA rights. With this demonstrated 
record of success in protecting our service members, the CFPB should be 
empowered, as it would be under this legislation, to enforce certain 
key SCRA provisions, such as the protections against default judgments 
and being charged no more than the maximum rate of interest on debts 
incurred before military service.
  We should do all we can to make sure there is a strong watchdog on 
the beat that can enforce the protections we have put in place. When it 
comes to the SCRA, that strong watchdog should be the CFPB. Our 
legislation is supported by more than thirty groups, including the 
National Military Family Association, the Military Officers Association 
of America, Veterans Education Success, Student Veterans of America, 
Consumer Federation of America, Americans for Financial Reform, Public 
Citizen, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, U.S. PIRG, 
Consumers Union, National Association of Consumer Advocates, National 
Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low income clients), National 
Community Reinvestment Coalition, Center for Popular Democracy, 
Alliance for Justice, American Association for Justice, and the Center 
for Responsible Lending. I urge our colleagues to help honor our 
commitment to our Nation's service members by joining us in this effort 
to improve the supervision and enforcement of the SCRA.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Ms. Warren, and Mr. Tillis):
  S. 1393. A bill to streamline the process by which active duty 
military, reservists, and veterans receive commercial driver's 
licenses; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1393

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Jobs for Our Heroes Act''.

     SEC. 2. MEDICAL CERTIFICATE FOR VETERANS OPERATING COMMERCIAL 
                   MOTOR VEHICLES.

       (a) Qualified Examiners.--Section 5403(d)(2) of the FAST 
     Act (49 U.S.C. 31149 note; 129 Stat. 1548) is amended to read 
     as follows:
       ``(2) Qualified examiner.--The term `qualified examiner' 
     means an individual who--
       ``(A) is employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs as 
     an advanced practice nurse, doctor of chiropractic, doctor of 
     medicine, doctor of osteopathy, physician assistant, or other 
     medical professional;
       ``(B) is licensed, certified, or registered in a State to 
     perform physical examinations;
       ``(C) is familiar with the standards for, and physical 
     requirements of, an operator required to be medically 
     certified under section 31149 of title 49, United States 
     Code; and
       ``(D) has never, with respect to such section, been found 
     to have acted fraudulently, including by fraudulently 
     awarding a medical certificate.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 5403 of the FAST Act 
     (49 U.S.C. 31149 note; 129 Stat. 1548) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``physician-approved 
     veteran operator, the qualified physician'' and inserting 
     ``veteran operator approved by a qualified examiner, the 
     qualified examiner'';
       (2) in subsection (b)(1)--
       (A) by striking ``the physician'' and inserting ``the 
     examiner''; and
       (B) by striking ``qualified physician'' and inserting 
     ``qualified examiner'';
       (3) in subsection (c)--
       (A) by striking ``qualified physicians'' and inserting 
     ``qualified examiners''; and
       (B) by striking ``such physicians'' and inserting ``such 
     examiners''; and
       (4) in subsection (d)--
       (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as 
     paragraphs (3), (1), and (2), respectively, and by moving the 
     text of paragraph (3), as redesignated, to appear after 
     paragraph (2), as redesignated; and
       (B) in paragraph (3), as redesignated--
       (i) in the paragraph heading, by striking ``Physician-
     approved veteran operator'' and inserting ``Veteran operator 
     approved by a qualified examiner''; and
       (ii) by striking ``physician-approved veteran operator'' 
     and inserting ``veteran operator approved by a qualified 
     examiner''.
       (c) Rulemaking.--The amendments made by this section shall 
     be incorporated into any rulemaking proceeding related to 
     section 5403 of the FAST Act (49 U.S.C. 31149 note; 129 Stat. 
     1548) that is being conducted as of the date of the enactment 
     of this Act.

     SEC. 3. COMMERCIAL DRIVER'S LICENSE STANDARDS FOR CURRENT AND 
                   FORMER MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

       Section 31305(d) of title 49, United States Code, is 
     amended--
       (1) in the subsection heading, by striking ``Veteran 
     Operators'' and inserting ``Operators Who Are Members of the 
     Armed Forces, Reservists, or Veterans'';
       (2) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``subparagraph (A) 
     during, at least,'' and inserting ``subparagraph (A)--
       ``(i) while serving in the armed forces or reserve 
     components; and
       ``(ii) during''; and
       (3) in paragraph (2)(B)--
       (A) by inserting ``current or'' before ``former'' each 
     place the term appears; and
       (B) by inserting ``1 of'' before ``the reserve 
     components''.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. CARPER (for himself and Mr. Coons):
  S. 1395. A bill to revise the boundaries of certain John H. Chafee 
Coastal Barrier Resources System units in

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Delaware; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to 
adjust the boundary of the Coastal Barrier Resources Act, CBRA, map 
unit for North Bethany Beach, Delaware. I am pleased to be working in 
this effort with the junior Senator from Delaware, Mr. Coons, who joins 
me as an original cosponsor.
  This map change implements a recommendation made by the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service. The Service discovered during its recent digital 
mapping pilot project that a portion of the North Bethany Beach unit 
encompassing the South Shore Marina development was included by mistake 
when the map was created in 1990. The Fish and Wildlife released a 
report to Congress in November of 2016 on the results of the mapping 
pilot project required by the 2006 Coastal Barrier Resources 
Reauthorization Act (PL 109-226). Delaware was part of the pilot 
project, and the report contains the recommendation for this map 
change.
  This map change can occur only through an act of Congress.
  CBRA is a map-based law enacted in 1982 recognizing that certain 
actions and programs of the Federal Government subsidize and encourage 
development on coastal barriers. This coastal building contributes to 
the loss of natural resources and threatens human life, health and 
property. The CBRA system currently contains 859 geographic units in 23 
States and territories along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, 
U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico coasts. The CBRA units are 
depicted on a set of maps that is maintained by the Secretary of the 
Interior through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  While CBRA does not prohibit or regulate development, it removes the 
Federal incentives to build on these undeveloped, unstable and 
environmentally sensitive areas. CBRA seeks to save taxpayers' money, 
keep people out of harm's way, and conserve natural resources by 
restricting most new Federal expenditures and financial assistance 
(e.g., beach nourishment, disaster assistance, and flood insurance) in 
areas designated within the CBRA system. That is why Mr. President, it 
is important to make sure these maps are accurate and that they do not 
include previously developed property. This bill will achieve that 
objective for the North Bethany Beach area.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1395

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. REPLACEMENT OF JOHN H. CHAFEE COASTAL BARRIER 
                   RESOURCES SYSTEM MAP.

       (a) In General.--The map subtitled ``Delaware Seashore Unit 
     DE-07P, North Bethany Beach Unit H01'' and dated December 6, 
     2013, that is included in the set of maps entitled ``Coastal 
     Barrier Resources System'' referred to in section 4(a) of the 
     Coastal Barrier Resources Act (16 U.S.C. 3503(a)) and 
     relating to certain John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources 
     System units in the State of Delaware, is replaced by the map 
     entitled ``Delaware Seashore Unit DE-07/DE-07P, North Bethany 
     Beach Unit H01'' and dated March 16, 2016.
       (b) Availability.--The Secretary of the Interior shall keep 
     the replacement map referred to in subsection (a) on file and 
     available for inspection in accordance with section 4(b) of 
     the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (16 U.S.C. 3503(b)).
                                 ______
                                 
      By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. Heitkamp):
  S. 1402. A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make loan guarantees and 
grants to finance certain improvements to school lunch facilities, to 
train school food service personnel, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague from 
North Dakota, Senator Heitkamp, in sponsoring the School Food 
Modernization Act to assist schools in providing healthier meals to 
students throughout the country.
  School meals play a vital role in the lives of our young people. More 
than 30 million children participate in the National School Lunch 
Program every school day and more than 14 million eat school 
breakfasts, with participation rising steadily in Maine and nationwide. 
In Maine, 48 percent of children qualify for free or reduced-price 
meals based on household income.
  Moreover, the food served at schools affects children's health and 
well-being. Many children consume up to half their daily caloric intake 
at school and some get their most nutritious meal of the day at school 
instead of at home. At the same time, too many of our children are at 
risk of serious disease, which may have a lifelong effect on their 
health as they grow to adulthood.
  In response to these health concerns, our schools have stepped up. 
For example, in the New Sweden Consolidated School in Aroostook County, 
Maine, food service manager Melanie Lagasse prepares meals from scratch 
instead of opening cans or pushing a defrost button. The school's 64 
students, aged preschool to 8th grade, have grown to relish the chicken 
stew, baked fish, and meatloaf that she makes fresh.
  Many schools, however, lack the right tools for preparing meals rich 
in fresh ingredients. Schools built decades ago often lack the 
equipment and infrastructure necessary to do more than reheat and serve 
one or two meal options each day.
  To serve healthier meals, 99 percent of Maine school districts need 
to acquire at least one piece of equipment and almost 50 percent of 
districts need kitchen infrastructure upgrades. The median equipment 
need per school alone is $45,000. Making the required changes to 
infrastructure is even more costly, with 41 percent of schools needing 
more physical space, 22 percent more electrical capacity, 21 percent 
more plumbing capacity, and 19 percent more ventilation.
  It is estimated that $58.8 million would be necessary just in Maine 
for the equipment and infrastructure upgrades needed to serve healthy 
meals to all of our students. That far exceeds the $89,000 in grants 
that the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Maine last fiscal year. 
Maine is not alone. In a recent survey of school nutrition directors, 
the most frequently cited financial concern was equipment costs, 
ranking higher than even labor and food costs.
  The School Food Modernization Act seeks to help food service 
personnel offer a wide variety of nutritious and appealing meals and 
snacks to all students. First, the bill would establish a loan 
guarantee assistance program within USDA to help schools acquire new 
equipment to prepare and serve healthier meals. Second, it would 
provide targeted grant assistance to provide the seed funding needed to 
upgrade kitchen infrastructure or to purchase high-quality equipment 
such as commercial ovens, steamers, and stoves. Finally, to aid school 
food service personnel in running successful, healthy programs, the 
legislation would authorize USDA to provide support on a competitive 
basis to highly qualified third-party trainers to develop and 
administer training and technical assistance, including online 
programs.
  Senator Heitkamp and I appreciate that provisions of this legislation 
were incorporated into the Child Nutrition Reauthorization legislation 
that was passed out of the Agriculture Committee last Congress. We 
encourage our colleagues to continue to support school kitchen 
equipment needs as the reauthorization process continues.
  Mr. President, if our school children are going to be able to learn 
and compete, they need to be healthy and their minds and bodies fully 
nourished. This bill would help us achieve that goal.

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