quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations which the clerk will report. the clerk: nominations. department of housing and urban development, julian castro of texas to be secretary. executive office of the president, darcil. vetter of nebraska to be chief agriculture negotiator, office of the united states trade representative. national foundation on the arts

and the humanities. william d. adams of maine to be chairperson. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided in the usual reform prior to the vote on the castro nomination. without objection, all time being yielded back. the question occurs on the castro nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the yeas and nays. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are is there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 71, the nays are 26. the nomination of julian castro of texas to be secretary of housing and urban development is confirmed. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate divided under the usual form. without objection, all time is yielded back. the question occurs on the vetter nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed nay.

the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate divided under the usual form. mr. reid: i would ask unanimous consent that time be yielded back. the presiding officer: without objection. all time is yielded back. the question occurs on the adams nomination. all in favor say aye. all opposed. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate will resume legislative session. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s.

2363, which the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2363, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting, and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: on behalf of senator udall of colorado, i call up amendment number 3469. the presiding officer: would the majority leader suspend his request? under the previous order, all postcloture time is considered expired and the question is on adoption of the motion to proceed. all in favor say aye. all opposed. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: mr. president -- the presiding officer: the clerk will report the bill. the clerk: calendar number 384, s. 2363, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting, and for other

purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, i apologize for jumping ahead. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i am anxious to move on. on behalf of senator udall of colorado, i call up amendment 3469. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, for mr. udall of colorado, proposes an amendment numbered 3469. on page 14, line 25 -- mr. reid: mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. i would ask the chair to order it reported. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 3490 to amendment numbered 3469. mr. reid: mr. president, i have a motion to commit s. 2363, and it has instructions.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to commit the bill to the committee on energy, natural resources, with instructions to report back forthwith the following amendment, numbered 3491. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i have an amendment to the instruction instructions. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment to the instructions to the motion to commit. mr. reid: on that, mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 3493, to amendment numbered 3492.

mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on s. 2363, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting, and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators as follows. reid, hagan, leahy, kaine, king, carper, nelson, tester, murray, mccaskill, begich, whitehouse, heinrich, stabenow, harkin, udall of new mexico and donnelly. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 438, s. 2244. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion.

the clerk: motion to proceed to the consideration of s. 2244, bill to extend the termination date of the terrorism insurance program, and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i want the record to reflect how much i appreciate the hard work of the senator from north carolina, senator hagan, working on this bipartisan bill. she did it with the ranking member of the energy and natural resources committee, senator murkowski, and they have done good work coming up with this bill. but, mr. president, the senator from alaska spoke this morning about her desire for

consideration of amendments. typical, typical, typical of the last six years here. this bill has 26 republican cosponsors. this bill was brought up two years ago. they worked hard to even improve the bill since then. and you would think with 26 republican cosponsors, this is a bill we could move forward on. but, mr. president, as usual, they come down here and they say well, a good bill but we just want to have a bunch of amendments. mr. president, i'm open to consideration of amendments on this bill. we all are. but they can't -- they, the republicans, can't agree on what amendments they want. i just met with people earlier

today, the press, and explained to them how we used to do things. there wasn't on virtually every piece of legislation a necessity to get cloture on the bill, but now to even get on the bill, we need cloture, as we find on that bill we just finished some procedural work on, that is, the sportsmen's bill. it affects millions and millions of americans. but they want amendments. they want amendments because they want to kill the bill like they have tried to kill everything the last six years. so i repeat, i'm open to consideration of amendments, but as we have repeatedly done, we need to start with a list of amendments from which to work. senators have for decades and decades started with a list of amendments and worked through those lists.

so i just ask republicans, if you want an amendment process, bring me a reasonable list that leads to passage of the bill. they can't do that because they can't agree on what they want. there are so many examples of that. energy efficiency is something similar to this, mr. president, where the senior senator from new hampshire worked on a bill with the -- i don't know if -- it doesn't matter. i don't know if the senior, junior senator, senator portman, they worked together on this legislation for months and months. in fact, about a year. and we had a bill here on the floor, and we were moving forward on it. and they -- i was told before the bill by republicans let's get this done. it's a great bill.

so i just again reflect on what happened, a little history here. well, they said before recess, we need a sense of the senate on keystone. i said we have an agreement. why do we need to do that? but i said okay. a few hours later, if you want that, let's do it because this bill is important. so we agreed to do that. the recess was a week. we came back. they said well, we want to change things a little bit. we want andowndown vote on keystone. i said you keep changing things, it's not right. i said, okay, we'll vote on keystone. they couldn't take "yes" for an answer. we agreed for an up-or-down vote on keystone. they wouldn't take it. so it's the same thing on this. a bill that republicans support, they oppose their own legislation. so, mr. president, we're going

to move forward. now we have the terrorism insurance legislation that i've just moved to proceed to. this is an important piece of legislation. let's hope we can get this done. if we can't, construction in america, whether it's in indiana, whether it's in nevada, whether it's in maryland, iowa, oregon, mississippi, it doesn't matter where it is, it won't go forward. because people won't be able to get insurance. so i would hope we could get this bill done. but we will see. there's discussions going on and we get the same -- "awe, yeah, i think we can work something out on this." when it comes right down to it, republicans can't agree on what they want. so i would hope that on that important piece of legislation that we could get a list of amendments from the republicans. i'm told that's what -- they are

willing to do that. so i hope that, in fact, is the case because it would be a shame to our country if we couldn't get this done. the economy is doing better. we added almost 300,000 jobs last reporting period. but if we can't get this done and we can't get the highway bill done, ha, it's going to be a slam to our committee. -- to our economy. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. a senator: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my intern, audrey metchling, be allowed the privileges of the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. ca car cardin: mr. presidenk unanimous consent that i be permitted to enter into a colloquy with senator wicker and senator harkin. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i have the honor of being the senate chair of the u.s. helsinki commission, the

ranking republican member is senator wicker, and we joined with our house colleagues in the work of the helsinki commission. i mention that because this past week the 23rd annual parliamentary assembly was held in baku, azerbaijan, in which over 300 parliamentarians participated. it was from june 28-july 2. and we had a very strong representation from the united states senate and the house of representatives representing the united states. i was proud to join with senator wicker and senator harkin as well as congressman smith, congressman alderhol, congressman grienke, and congressman schiff. we represented the u.s. interests. by way of background for some of my colleagues who may not be familiar, the helsinki commission is the u.s. participation in the organization for security and cooperation in europe. this was a -- this followed up

on the helsinki accords that took place in 1975 when all the countries of europe, including the soviet union, joined the united states and canada and agreed on principles. these are principles that recognize the importance of good governance, human rights, economic opportunity as well as territorial security in order to have stability within the osce participating states. and the united states has been an active participant in this process. i think we saw the value of the osce directly when russia invaded crimea and the osce mission that was there, our -- was there, were our eyes and ears on the ground and helped restore some semblance of order in ukraine, as it now is moving forward. but in our work in baku, we were representing the united states on some extremely important issues and i want to talk about some of those issues.

issues, and my colleagues that are on the floor are going to talk about issues that they championed. but i must tell you, russia sent a very strong delegation to baku to represent their country. and on behalf of the u.s. delegation, i brought forward a resolution in regards to violations. it was titled, "clear, gross and uncorrected violations of helsinki principles by the russian federation." now, this resolution became the principal debate of the 23rd parliamentary assembly. we held a plenary debate. we don't normally do that. we normally debate issues in different committees. but the entire assembly debated the issue concerning russia's activities within ukraine because of the seriousness of this matter. russia violated all 10 core principles of osce and we had

that in the resolution. we were very clear about that. we believe that the best way to bring about compliance with these universal values is to put a spotlight on those who are violating it. and if russia's invasion into ukraine, they're taking over crimea, their interference in eastern ukraine, they have violated each of the 10 core principles, including -- these are the core principles, including sovereignty, equality, refraining from the use of for force, frontiers, territorial integrity of the states, peaceful settlement of disputes, nonintervention in internal affairs, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, equal rights and self-determination of people, cooperation among states, and fulfillment and good faith of the obligations under international law. our delegation brought that forward. russia countered with justifications that we found

totally unacceptable. but it was a very spirited debate. many amendments were offered to our -- our resolution. because by the time the -- we debated the resolution, between then and the time we filed it, there have been certain changes by russia's behavior. so the resolution was actually made stronger through the amendment process, which is what we intended at the time. and russia made various pleas to try to delete various sections of our resolution. and by overwhelming votes of the parliamentarians of europe, central asia, united states and canada, we passed this resolution that the united states brought forward pointing out the clear violations of russia's commitments under the osce in its activities in ukraine. it passed by over a 3-1 vote wet. had .we had a 3-1 vote by the

parliamentarians. and we're very proud of the work we had done to bring forward that clear statement on behalf of the parliamentarians of the osce. i'm extremely proud of the role that my colleagues played. we were involved in many, many other issues. senator wicker was one of the key spokesmen on several issues relating to our involvement within the osce. he was involved in -- in bringing out our involvement in afghanistan, which is of continued interest. in addition to the 57 participating countries of the osce, we have partners for cooperation. these are countries that are not located within our geographical bounds but have interests in the osce. afghanistan is one of our partners for cooperation. we just finished a hearing of the helsinki commission on our mediterranean partners, which include tunisia, algeria, israel, jordan, egypt, and we

work with -- and morocco are all partners for cooperation. so the reach of the helsinki is far beyond just europe and central asia. in this parliamentary assembly, we took up issues that involve many of these other matters. and, mr. president, if i might, let me yield to my colleague, senator wicker, for comments he might want to make in regards to the work that we did in baku. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: thank you, mr. president. and i thank my two colleagues from the other side of the aisle for joining with us today in this colloquy. and let me say how proud i was as a -- as a republican senator from mississippi, to stand shoulder to shoulder with my colleague from maryland, ben cardin. i can tell you he has -- there are probably many places in

maryland he would rather have been at the beginning of july 2014 but he's someone who year after year has taken the time to travel to some -- sometimes some rather unknown capital cities like baku or kishinmal, moldova, and represent the united states in our partnership with the osce on the helsinki commission. as senator cardin said, the -- the 1975 final act of the helsinki commission recognized 10 principles that 57 countries in europe and eurasia said we believe we can stand by and live with and live under, issues such as territorial integrity, sovereignty, refraining from the use of force, very important

cornerstones of peace and democracy and self-determinati self-determination, rule of law in europe. and -- and it is certainly a fact that is well-known within the osce and with the delegations that come from far and wide to attend these that ben cardin is -- is respected internationally, that his word carries some weight, that he speaks on behalf of the united states of america and on behalf of the osce countries with authority, with evenhandedness and fairness. and so i think it meant a lot, madam president, for someone of senator cardin's stature to come forward and present these. and, indeed, we did have an overwhelming support for -- for the supplemental item authored by senator cardin.

the amendments to water it down by the russian delegation were rejected time and again by overwhelming votes. and in the end, the final resolution was adopted by over 90 votes in favor of the cardin resolution and only 30 votes against it. of course the delegates from the russian federation and civil of their closest -- and several of their closest allies and neighbors voted against it. but country after country, delegation after delegation, small, brave nation after small brave nation voted in favor of it, because internationally we realize that the words of the resolution were correct. the -- the action of russia in crimea, in invading this defensive peninsula and annexing it illegally, that action violated all 10 principles of the helsinki final act.

and it needed to be said and it needed to be said not only by the united nations, which has, in effect, said this in the general assembly, it needed not only to be said by a major power like the united states of america through our state department and through the congress, but it also needed to be said by the collective body that represents these 57 countries from europe and eurasia. so at this point, madam president, i -- i'm going to ask that the -- the final supplemental item, as adopted by the general -- by the parliamentary assembly be inserted in full in the "congressional record" at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wicker: thank you, madam president. now, it may be that senator harkin will want to touch on this issue also, but it is, i

think, significant that we have such great leadership in both bodies, in the senate and in the house, with the osce, people who are willing to take the time to get to know our european neighbors at the parliamentary level and have that exchange there. people like congressman robert aderholt, who is a vice president of the particle me wantry assembly -- parliamentary assembly and who has been very diligent in, again, in traveling to some of these exotic locations that nobody perhaps envies the travel to. and congressman chris smith, a senior, veteran house member who speaks out so eloquently and so firmly not only for -- for the rule of law and human rights internationally but has actually been recognized by the parliamentary assembly as a special representative on the issue of human rights and

trafficking. and i want to commend our colleague from the house of representatives, congressman smith -- chairman smith for his leadership in getting passed a resolution condemning the trafficking in minors internationally and getting the parliamentary assembly to take a strong statement on the record on this very serious problem that faces not only us here domestically but also on the international level. mr. cardin: will my colleague yield on that point? i appreciate you mentioning congressman smith's child sex trafficking resolution. that was a separate resolution approved by the parliamentary assembly. the helsinki commission has been in the forefront on the trafficking issues, the trafficking persons report prepared an shrill known globally as "the" document on

evaluating how states have proceeded on trafficking issues. the work really started in the parliamentary assembly of the osce, to the leadership of our commission and congressman smith, who has been our champion. it led to the passage of legislation in 2000 that has the trafficking and persons report. we followed it up this year at this year's assembly on child sex trafficking. i do congratulate chairman smith and our delegation. the osce now has a special representative on trafficking, so we do provide technical assistance in each of our participating states to deal with the trafficking issue. i wanted to point out that we do a lot of our work in the three committees, and in one of those committees, senator harkin was extremely valuable in pointing

out that the original document prepared by the committee did not mention the very important human rights concerns of people with disability. and there is no stronger voice in the united states senate than senator harkin on the rights of people with disabilities. and i must tell you, i heard from many of my colleagues in the parliamentary assembly how honored they were that senator harkin was in baku to bring this issue to the attention of the parliamentary assembly, to get it its proper ateption, and the matters that he brought forward were overwhelmingly adopted at the parliamentary assembly. and if i might, let me yield to senator harkin to talk a little bit about the work that he did in abou baku. mr. harkin: mr. president, first, i just want to ask unanimous consent that briggs mao be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's

session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: first i want to thank my colleagues, senator cardin and senator wicker, for their leadership in the osce. i especially want to thank senator cardin for inviting me to join him on this delegation, a eight-member delegation that we had over in baku last week. i want to express again my gratitude to senator cardin for offering the amendment that basically, as he said, was adopted by the whole parliamentary assembly, pointing out that russia -- the russian federation had no only violated the principles of the osce but their own international commitments. and again i want to congratulate senator cardin for his leadership on that and for pushing that through and the overwhelming vote of support that he got. i want to congratulate also

congressman smith, the cochair of the delegation, for his amendment dealing with child sex trafficking. i again, senator cardin, offer my thanks in allowing me to offer you and offer three amendments in the committee, three amendments dealing with the issue of the rights of people with disabilities in the osce nations. all three amendments were adop adopted by the committee and then subsequently adopted by the full parliamentary assembly. the committee resolution that we offered had three parts. it ensured equal opportunity and access for all persons with disabilities in daily activities that al in all member state. it called for the ratification of the united nations

conventions on the rights of people with disabilities by all osce members and the third amendment was the prohibition of discrimination against people with disabilities in employment and the workplace. and again, as i made the point there and i make the point aga again, any country, including our own, that does not through its laws, its policies, structures enable people with disabilities to be full participating members of society, including in the workplace, that country is not only what i would say violating human rights, but it's also denigrating its own economic activities. we know from experience, especially inur in our own coun, that people with disabilities, if given the opportunity to work, not only can work but many times outwork their nondisabled

cohorts. and so by encouraging countries to set up structures so that people with disabilities with be fully employed is, again, a mark of economic progress for those countries, as well as enabling people to have their dignity and their human rights. so i was just very honored to be able to join the delegation and to offer those amendments and to have them adopted by the assembly. and, again, i thank our leader, senator cardin, and senator wicker for inviting me to joining them and allowing me the opportunity to offer these amendments which focus on the issue of equal opportunity for people with disabilities in the member states and indeed across the globe. mr. wicker: madam president, i want to congratulate my colleague from iowa, a senior member of this body, someone who is respected around the globe for being willing to meet with

fellow parliamentarians and so successfully put forward language that was adopted by consensus. if i could mention a couple of other matters that pertain to this trip ... first of all, it's interesting i think that the capital of azerbaijan, baku, on the western shore of the caspian sea, would be the host of this parliamentary assembly. azerbaijan is an ally of the united states, an important ally. i think it is important for americans and for members to know that the neighbor to the north is russia, the neighbor to the south is iran, and that is very, very tough, tough neighborhood that our ally exists in. and yet they are oriented to the west, they are oriented to the united states, they want to be

allies of ours, they were steadfast friends of ours in afghanistan and have been during the entire time that we have been there. madam president, they're steadfast allies of the nation of israel. and, again, i think for a majority-muslim state such as azerbaijan to take that stand in a troubling neighborhood speaks well of them. there are steps that we wish they would take further toward transparency and openness and the rule of law and maybe their elections weren't all that we hoped for in the past. but they are an ally that continues to make progress. and so i salute our host naismtionation.i think also sho- and i'll yield to senator cardin on this point -- that we stopped

back b by kiss kishinev, moldova nation feels the breadth of moscow breathing down their collars and the threats by people from the russian federation that would like to exert undue influence on that brave little nation. it happened that we were there, madam president, on the day that the moll dough va moldovan parld the association. this was a wonderful day for the friends of freedom and the european-oriented citizens of moldova. it was great to see the young people walking through the city with the flags and hear bay tow van's "overjoyed" the european

anthem, as it were, and to be there for this very significant, pivotal day in the history of moldova and to say that we're going to continue to stand with the brave people of that country. i know senator cardin was thinking of those things when he scheduled that stop for our ... mr. cardin: well, senator wicker, let me first -- you were able to meet with the president of azerbaijan, and we thank you for that. you were able to adjust your calendar so you could do that. we appreciate that, because it was very important that you heard the message that you just made on the floor of the united states senate. azerbaijan is an important ally of the united states. they have issues that they need to deal with on human rights. we were clear about that. we met with the n.g.o. community we were there. but i think your leadership and the way that you balanced that presentation was very, very important. there's also the energy issue that azerbaijan is very important to us in that region as an energy source for europe.

so it's an important strategic country, and, yes, they do -- we do have issues on human rights. we did meet with the n.g.o.'s and we'll continue to voice those concerns. i'm glad you mentioned kishinev and moldova. georgia and moldova have two things in common: they're both moving towards europe with the association agreements. they recognize their economic and political future ^+s with europe, and they both have russian troops in their country. and that they are both very much concerned about what is happening in ukraine. as you know, we've got tremendous interests about what we did in baku on taking on the russians directly about their violations of the osce principles and their activities in ukraine. moldova, as you know, in the

tranmesia area which borders the ukraine, there are russian troops there. and the independence of moldova is very much impacted by russia's presence in trans-niecitrans-nesia. they still have that real threat that russia could use its force to try to dictate policy in moll dough vavment and in georgia, of course, with the territories being controlled by the russians -- we saw what happened there the bloodshed -- it is a country that is very much concerned about being able to control their own destiny and they want to be independent and they don't want to be dominated by russia's intimidations. and i think our presence in both of those countries was a clear signal that the united states stands for an independent georgia, an independent moldova, that we want them to make their own decisions, we believe their future is clearly with

integration into europe. they believe their future is with integration into europe, and we're going to continue to be very supportive of those activities. i want to add one more thing wra twith regard to our work in bak. there were a lot of issues that were taken up in the baku declaration. our delegation brought forward a resolution on the 10th anniversary of the berlin conference dealing with anti-semitism. we were involved in the original berlin issues. and, madam president, i know my colleague has already put into the record the resolution concerning russia and ukraine. i am going to ask consent that we entir include the entire baku declaration into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: i must tell you you i am so proud of our participation in this forum. i think the united states learned a lot more about osye

during the ucine crisis when they saw -- during the ukraine crisis when they saw the mission on the ground giving us independent information about what was happening in ukraine, the importance of our participation. and what senator wicker said in the beginning, this is not -- our work here knows no political boundary. this is not a partisan effort. it's been democrats and republicans working over the last 40 years to use the helsinki principles to advance good governance, economic opportunity, and human rights throughout not just the osce countries but really globally. it's been a real pleasure to work with sthor wicker on these issues, and i thank him for his dedication and leadership. there's been no stronger voice on the floor of the united states senate in regards to human rights issues. i've been on the floor listening to senator wicker as he's talked about individual cases of human rights violations in russia and

other countries. he speaks out his mind on these issues, and i'm proud to be associated with him on the helsinki commission. mr. wicker: and, madam president, i think i'll let senator cardin have the lost wonder thiword on this matter. there are others who want to speak on other issues. but let me just emphasize to everyone within the sound of our voices, diplomacy and foreign policy is carried out not only by the executive branch, through our state department, through the other good offices that we have in the executive branch. foreign policy is alive and well through the participation of members of the house and senate in the parliamentary assembly, in the osce. it's important that we keep our role there. so my hat is off to the leaders of this congress, house and senate, who have been willing

over the years to exercise leadership, to earn credibility in the osce and i am proud to have stood with them this year in this delegation, and i believe we came back with a better understanding. i would also interject that i appreciate the role for europe and radio liberty in covering our participation there and in getting that out to the rest of the world. but i'm proud to have stood with this delegation, eight members house and senate, senior members and relatively new ones standing for the principles of the rule of law and transparency and democracy among our allies in europe and eurasia. i yield to my friend. mr. cardin: i think, senator wicker, you have summarized it the way i want to be identifyd with your comments.

i thank again all the participants, the eight members who took their time to participate on behalf of the united states. and with that, madam president, i would yield the floor. mr. donnelly: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. donnelly: to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the civil rights act of 1964, i rise to pay tribute to hoosier leaders who played important roles in the passing of this landmark legislation. the story of the civil rights act can be told through the leadership and vision of a long list of extraordinary hoosiers, including many in the indiana congressional delegation who supported the bill regardless of party. yet to truly understand the indiana leadership behind the civil rights act, we need to start back home. during world war ii reverend andrew brown vowed to dedicate himself to social justice while in a hospital bed after being

told by a doctor that one of his legs would need to be amputated. brown promised god that if his leg was saved, he would spend the rest of his life fighting for justice for all people. later recalling this moment during an interview, brown said that's the miracle in my life. that's the commitment that i made. i'll keep fighting until i fall because that's what god said i should do. and brown did just that. he went on to fight for civil rights as a young pastor at st. john's missionary baptist church in indianapolis in the 1950's and 1960's. brown organized african-americans to show voting strength in 1963. he was a founder of the indiana black expo. he started operation bread basket, a radio show devoted to promoting economic and social justice. and he served as the president of the indiana chapter of the

naacp. he marched with dr. martin luther king in selma, alabama, in mient 65. he welcomed king directly into his home during trips to indianapolis. he worked closely with martin luther king on the national civil rights movement and he was at the home of dr. king's parents on the night of dr. king's tragic assassination in april 1968. another renowned homegrown indiana leader was willard ransom. and they are featured here. mr. ransom after graduating from harvard law school as the only african-american member of his class was drafted into the military during world war ii, while serving, ransom spent much of his time in alabama where he was distraught by the discriminatory manner in which fellow americans were being treated. resolving to see these practices come to an end, ransom returned to his home community of indianapolis where he quickly became a leader in the fight for

greater civil rights. he spoke against housing discrimination and school segregation. he played a role in drafting civil rights bills before the state legislature, served as the state president of the naacp five times and was the first african-american to run for congress in marion county. henry johnson richardson jr. moved to indianapolis from alabama to attend short ridge high school and he went on to attend law school at indiana university in indianapolis. richardson became a judge in marion county and then a state representative during the struggle for civil rights. he actively fought to desegregate schools and university housing and helped change the state constitution to allow african-americans to serve in the indiana national guard. these men brought together hoosiers from every corner of the state, every socioeconomic

class, race, and religion to further their efforts. they knew if we want to improve together, we have to work together. in 1959, university of ne tremendous dame president and father thee der hes -- theodore hesburg was in shreveport, indiana while conducting hearings online voting rights. noticing the commission was uncomfortable in the heat of a shreveport air force base, father hesburgh made arrangements to move their research to the president's home state of land o lakes, wisconsin. while the commissioners relaxed and enjoyed the flight to the new location, father hesburgh reportedly sat in the plane drafting resolutions that would come to make up the core of the commission's report. after an evening of fishing together in wisconsin, father

hesburgh strategically presented the commission with his 14 resolutions, 13 of which were approved unanimously. after learning how father hesburgh brought the potentially divided commission together, president eisenhower remarked we've got to put more fishermen on commissions and have more reports written at land o' lakes, wisconsin. congress would go on to enact approximately 70% of the commission's recommendations including the recommendations and legislation such as the civil rights act of 1964. father hesburgh knew if we want to improve together we have to work together. a like-minded indiana leader serving in the u.s. senate in 1964 was senator birch bayh, who also also the father of heaven. on june 19, 1964, exactly one year after president john kennedy submitted the civil rights act to congress, senator

bayh helped the senate pass the most important and sweeping civil rights legislation since reconstruction. the clerk announced the bill had passed 73-27 at 7:40 p.m. according to a copy of a draft press release amongst bayh's papers at indiana university, senator bayh stated, "reason replace a motion. respect another's view replace blind refusal to hear a differing opinion. when this bill is signed into law, we shall have established the basis for the fulfillment of thomas jefferson's hope for a nation in which all the people are treated equally under the law." inn's other u.s. senator, vans hartce also helped pass the civil rights act out of the senate on june 19, 1964.

dr. martin luther king, jr. wrote senator heartke after the vote saying the devil tease and freedom loving people all over the world are greatly indebted to you for your support in passing the civil rights act of 1964. i add to theirs my sincere and heartfelt gratitude. senators bayh and harke brought to the united states senate a belief that if we want to improve together, we have to work together. another hoosier who stepped up to help shepherd through the civil rights act of 1964 was then-minority leader of the house, u.s. congressman charles halleck from indiana. while working to move civil rights legislation forward, president kennedy and leaders in the house went to minority leader halleck to ask for his help to get the bill through the judiciary committee. congressman halleck, despite having a small percentage of african-american constituents and despite receiving some

criticism, agreed to help. when the civil rights act came to the judiciary committee, some committee members took issue with several of its provisions. after working with other committee members to take out some of the controversial provisions in the bill, congressman halleck and others went to work to convince their colleagues to support a more moderate version. in the end the bill passed the committee with bipartisan support. no one got 100% of what they wanted, but thanks to congressman halleck, the judiciary committee was able to move forward a strong bill that both republicans and democrats could be proud of. in private conversations shortly thereafter congressman halleck admit that had his vocal support for the civil rights act was endangering his position as house minority leader, and he said he would likely lose his

position after the next elections because of his support. and he was right. despite the personal cost and consequences, congressman halleck's work to bring republicans together with democrats to support the civil rights act was key to its success. he showed if we want to improve together, we have to work together. on august 28, 1963, another indiana congressman stood behind martin luther king jr. on the steps of the lincoln memorial and bore witness to a speech that would change the arc of american history. john brademas came from mis he waka, indiana and grew up hearing stories of the kkk boycotting his father's restaurant simply because he was greek orthodox. these stories coupled with john's progressive methodist faith instilled in him a deep sense of social justice that

guided him throughout his career in public service. congressman brademas became an instrumental supporter of civil rights during his 22 years in congress. after witnessing dr. king's "i have a dream" speech congressman brademas welcomed king to speak in indiana's third district. years later coretta scott king remembered his work and helped campaign for brademas' last bid for reelection. the pioneering federal education policy, congressman brademas worked hard to integrate schools and increase their funding across the entire country. minority leader halleck and congressman brademas were not alone in supporting the civil rights act of 1964, indiana u.s. congress members madden, adare, broadebush, ray, denton, harvey and bruce supported the civil

rights act to help it pass the house with bipartisan support on july 2, 1964. they knew that if we want to improve together, we have to work together. the list of hoosiers involved in fighting for civil rights is long and we should not forget the everyday hugh verse who did their part in every day lives to broaden opportunities for americans. we may never read their names in history books or know what the united states would be like if they hadn't done what they did, but what we do know is that they understood that if we truly want to improve our country to strengthen who we are as a people, we have to all work together. the civil rights act of 1964 wouldn't have passed without leaders who were willing to set aside their differences and work together. no one got everything they wanted, but america got what was

so crucially needed. our country took a monumental leap forward. this 50th anniversary is a powerful reminder that if we truly want to improve our country, we have to work together. i am honored to follow in the footsteps of these and many more great hoosiers who fought for civil rights. i am humbled to have the chance to talk about them today. thank you, madam president. mrs. hagan: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mrs. hagan: madam president, it is with great pride that i rise today to speak about the bipartisan sportsmen's act of 2014. but before proceeding, i do want

to thank senator murkowski for being a true partner in developing and building support for the sportsmen's package. working together, i am proud to say that the bipartisan sportsmen's act is cosponsored by 18 democrats, 26 republicans, and 1 independent, and is endorsed by a very diverse group of more than 40 different stakeholders. madam president, madam president, when i became cochair of the congressional caucus, i was committed to advancing bipartisan legislation that would benefit our hunters, anglers, outdoor recreational enthusiasts in north call and around north carolina and around the country. i believe that the 12 bills that are included in this bipartisan act accomplish that objective and do so in a fiscally responsible manner.

this package does not add a dime to our deficit. it actually raises $5 million over the next ten years for deficit reduction. outdoor recreation activities are part of the fabric of narnlg carolina, from the great smoky mountains national park in the west to the cape hatteras national seashore in the east, north carolinians are passionate about the outdoors, me included. hunting, fishing, hiking are a way of life, and many of these traditions have been handed down through my own family. according it a recent report, 1.4 million sportsmen and women call my state home, and that's nearly 20% of the state's entire population. in 2011, a total of 1.6 million people hunted or fished in north carolina. to put that in perspective, that's roughly the same amount of people that live in the raleigh and durham metropolitan areas.

nationwide, over 37 million people participate in these activities. that's the equivalent of the population of the state of california. and while many of these men and women live in our rural arks they are a just as -- rural areas, they're just as likely with to hail from some of our much more yo urban areas. to ensure that future generations have the opportunity to enjoy our great outdoors, this bipartisan sportsmen's act reauthorizes several conservation programs. the package includes legislation to reauthorize nawca, this voluntary initiative provides matching grants to organizations, state and local governments and to private landowners to restore wetlands that are critical too our migratory birds. these partnerships actually generate $3 in nonfederal

contributions for every dollar of federal nawca funds. it has actually preserved more than 27 million acres of habitat over the last two decades. the benefits of this program to outdoor recreation enthusiasts nationwide cannot be overstated. the abundance of migratory birds, fish, and mammals supported by these wetlands translates into multibillion-dollar activities for hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing. in north carolina, nawca has advanced numerous projects to improve waterfowl habitates and for thousands of public lands for activities of hungtsing, fishing, and other wildlife recreation. here is a photo of the -- from the cape fear region. as part of south eastern wetland

coalition, ducks unlimited, the north carolina wildlife resource commission and the nature conservancy received a $1 million nawca grant to protect wetlands and associated uplands in this cape fear arch region. the federal grant then is matched by close to $3 million in non--federal funding. the bipartisan sports men's act also includes legislation sponsored by senators heinrich and heller that reauthorizes the flapa act. that enables the bureau of land management to sell public land to private owners, counties and others for ranching, community development, and other projects u this land-for-land approach has created jobs and generated funding for the bureau of land management, the u.s. forest service, the national park

service, and the fish and wildlife service to help those entities acquire critical inholdings of land from willing sellers, and this takes in 11 western states as well as alaska. our sportsmen's package also contains senator wicker's bipartisan bill that will enable hunters in all states to purchase duck stamps electronically. currently, eight states are now participating in a private program that enables the issuance of e-duck stamps. hunters in those eight states have actually purchased 3.5 million electronic stamps. i can tern personally vouch for the benefits of enabling hunters in all states to actually purchase duck stamps online. there have been occasions when members of my own family were unable to take a visitor hunting because we couldn't find a physical stamp. let me give you an example.

our son-in-law came to visit last year. my husband had planned to take him duck hunting and, unfortunately, three different places my husband visited had all sold out of duck stamps. so now when my husband buys his duck stamps for the season, he purchases two or three extra just in case a family member or a visitor decides to go hunting with my husband. so enabling all hunters to purchase these duck stamps online will not cost taxpayers any money, and it will help preserve additional wildlife habitat across the country. because a portion of the proceeds of duck stamps goes to protecting the habitat. another bipartisan bill in this package reauthorizes the national fish and wildlife foundation, nfwf. this poster here actually shows the number of different habitats

that are included in the national fish and wildlife foundation. for example, in florida right now there are 658 different preserves and projects. the national fish and wildlife foundation is a nonprofit that preserves and restores native wildlife species and habitats. since its inception, nfwf has awarded over 11,600 grants to more than 4,000 different organizations nationwide. funding from the national fish and wildlife foundation consistently generates $3 in nonfederal funding for every $1 of federal funds. one priority that nfwf is currently working on is designed to introduce america's youth to careers in conservation. in addition to employing youth, nfwf is also exploring ways to expand conservation employment opportunities for our nation's veterans. our package also includes

regulatory reforms and enhancementses that will benefit sportsmen and women across the country. another example: bipartisan legislation was introduced by senator mark udall from colorado. this is included, and it would enable states to allocate a greater portion of the federal pittman-robertson funding to create and maintain shooting ranges on public lands. there's currently a shortage of public shooting ranges across the country. in north carolina, a principal impediment to target range development is the initial cost of acquiring the land and then constructing the facility. by reducing the nonfederal match requirement from 25% currently to 10% and then allowing the states to access funds over a greater period of time, this legislation will enable the states to move forward with new public ranges. the bipartisan spoirms ac spoars

ablght will improve access. nearly more than half of all the hunters conduct their activity on public lands and a lack of access to these public lands is cited as primary reasoning that people stop participating in these traditional activities. the bipartisan sportsmen's ability would thrair at least 1.5% or $10 million of annual land and water conservation fund money be used to improve access to our public lands. the state of north carolina is home to four national forests that comprise 1.25 million acres. our outdoor recreation enthusiasts regularly have problems with actually getting access to this gorgeous place here, which is the pisca national forest, which is the place that i have probably spent

more time backpacking in this forest than any other one. this legislation will help dedicate funding to expanding the access here and on public lands across the country. outdoor recreation activities are not only ingrained in north carolinians' way of life, they are also huge economic drivers in my state and in states across the country. the u.s. fish and wildlife service has found that hunting, fishing, and wildlife-related recreation activities contribute $3.3 billion annually just to north carolina's economy. nation wierksd thnationwide, tht found that 90 million americans participate in these wildlif wildlife-related recreation, resulting in close to $145 billion in annual spending. that is shown on this chart, the actual economic impact for wildlife-related recreation.

and in 2011 sportsmen and women spent a total of about $34 billion on hunting, which is right there, $41 billion on fishing, and $56 billion on wildlife watching. the biggest area is actually enjoying the outdoors, wildlife watching. and an strads i extra $14 billin other related activities activil these activities support -- all of these activities support over 192,000 jobs just in north carolina and a total of 6.1 million across the country. so this really does have a huge economic impact across our nation. and, you know, i often say i don't care if an idea is a democratic idea or a republican idea, only that it is a good idea. and i want to work behind that. and i believe that this bill embodies that spirit.

the sportsmen act of 2014 is a balanced bipartisan plan that is endorsed by more than 40 stake stakeholders from ducks unlimited to the theodore roosevelt conservation partnership and it is fiscally responsible. i urge my colleagues to approve this legislation for the benefit of our economy and the more than 0e 90 million sportsmen and women across the country. thank you, madam president. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. without objection. mr. mccain: i ask to be allowed to address the senate as if in morning business and engage in colloquy with the senator from arizona and the two senators from the state of texas, senators cornyn and cruz. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: i thank you, madam president. as my colleagues know, and the senator from texas and the

senator from arizona, both senators understand, we are facing a crisis on our border. it's been changed now to a situation. i understand it's no longer a crisis, but a situation, according to the white house. and the senator from texas has been to the border. i've been to our border. and we have seen this veritable flood of young people who have come to our country under the belief that they will be able to stay. and the real human tragedy here of many, as my colleague from texas and my friend from arizona knows, is that the trip from central america to the texas border, which is the closest place of arrival, is a horrible experience for these young people. young women are routinely violated. young men are mistreated.

it's a terrible experience for them. and those who are for, quote, open borders, those who think that this is somehow acceptable, ignore the fact that this is a human rights issue of these young people who are enticed to come to our country under false circumstances and suffer unspeakable indignities and even death along the way. the president of the united states, who initially said, state that had they would -- and i would quote him -- said that, that we had to stop this and initially said that we needed to reverse the legislation that has encouraged the people from -- to come here, he said -- i quote him. "kids all over the world have it tough." he said, even children in america who live in dangerous neighborhoods. he told aup