quorum call:

mr. hatch: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: madam president i just want to mention what speaker boehner said about this bill we're about to look into, ans that'sand that's the chip bill and the s.g.r. the if physician payment bill. what speaker boehner said is quote unless the senate passes the house-passed doc fix bill, significant cuts to physicians'

payments will begin tomorrow." the house legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and we do not plan to act again so we urge the senate to approve the house-passed bill without delay." he summed it up pretty well. the fact of the matter is, this has been a long or a long ordeal that a lot of us have worked on for a long time, a lot of people on capitol hill. if we can pass this bill tonight, it will be a major major accomplishment. and we can go back to the child health insurance bill -- i remember standing here on the floor with ted kennedy on the other side, passing a bill that brought a lot of angt to angt to a angst to a lot of people. this is a very good bill and i hope we don't foul it up here. i don't think we will. i stand here today in support of h.r. 2 the medicare access and

chip reauthorization act of 20 15. if enacted this legislation would repeal ans replace the medicare sustainable growth rate or s.g.r. that's a formula called the sustainable growth rate. it will extend the chip program for an additional two years a program at that has worked very well and will put in place much-needed reforms to the medicare program, something that hasn't happened in a long time. this bill represents more than two years of hard work on both sides of the capitol. it passed overwhelmingly in the house of representatives with 392 votes. i expect it will also get broad bipartisan support here in the senate. it certainly has to. we've all grown tired of the seemingly endless cycle of passing temporary s.g.r. patches year after year after year.

it's not a new problem. it's one we've been dealing with tabor adealing withfor a long, long time. a little over two years ago a group of leaders from both the house and the senate set out to fix this problem once and for all. as i mentioned yesterday, i was part of this group as was former finance committee chairman max baucus. together senator baucus and i worked with the leaders on the relevant house committees to craft legislation that would repeal and replace the s.g.r. with an improved payment system that rewards quality efficiency and innovation. that legislation which we reported out of the finance committee by voice vote in late-2013, formed the basis of the legislation before us today. and i want to compliment the house for the great work they've done on it bill. i have to give a lot of credit to them. it is my hope that we'll act quickly to pass this bipartisan, bicameral legislation and send it to the president's desk as

soon as possible. this legislation demonstrates what congress is truly capable of when members work together. we all talk about the need for more bipartisanship in washington. this bill can be a template for how things should work around here. it also represents a step forward in the effort to reform our nation's entitlement programs. as i mentioned, to go along with the permanent s.g.r. fix the bill includes a meaningful down payment on medicare reform. these reforms include a limitation on so-called medigap first-order coverage, more re-bust means testing for medicare parts b and d and program integrity provisions that will strengthen medicare's ability to fight fraud. clearly, these reforms by themselves won't fix all of medicare's fiscal problems. indeed much more work needs to be done. but like many of my colleagues,

i've been pushing for entitlement reform for years and during all that time i've seen politics and fear get in the way of progress. with this bill, we have a chance to, at the very least take a meaningful step forward a bipartisan step no less, in the effort to secure the safety net for future generations. any senator who like me, supports entitlement reform should welcome the changes we have made in this bill. i am not here to say the bill is perfect. it is certainly not. but as the saying goes, we should not make the perfect the enemy of the good. this is a good bill. once again it passed in the house with a huge, bipartisan majority and it is supported by groups across the health care spectrum. i ask unanimous consent that a list of groups supporting this legislation be printed in the record following my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: as it stands right

now, in less than 12 hours doctors all over the country will face a 21% cut in medicare reimbursements. in other words we're out of time. we need to pass this legislation, and we need do it now. in in fact, it is encouraging to see that even members on the other side of the aisle support this good policy now and i'm proud of them for doing so. let's get this done, madam president. i hope all of my colleagues will join me in supporting h.r. 2. and with that, i'll just repeat what speaker boehner said today. unless the senate passes the house-passed doc fix bill, significant cuts to physicians' payments will begin tomorrow. the house legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, and we do not plan to act again. so we urge the senate to approve the house-passed bill without

delay. madam president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president may i ask, first of all, that the pending quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: may i ask

unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you very much mr. president. mr. president, the distinguished majority leader, the senior senator from kentucky, is resolutely opposed to any serious conversation about climate change. under his leadership, the republican party and the senate has exactly zero legislation for addressing carbon pollution in any serious way. and the majority leader has even written to governors around the country urging defiance of the climate change regulations of the united states government, namely the environmental protection agency's forthcoming clean power plan to cut presently unregulated carbon

pollution from our power plants. so i thought i should take a look at what kentucky is doing about climate change. well it turns out that kentucky is already crafting a plan for complying with president obama's clean power plan. why are they doing that? well, in a statement the kentucky energy and environment cabinet said it was because and i quote the overwhelming majority of our stakeholders are telling us to make prepgz to submit a plan -- to make preparations to submit a plan, end quote. so the overwhelming majority of kentucky stakeholders are

telling the state of kentucky submit a plan. kentucky has an energy and environment secretary. his name is dr. lenn peters. dr. peters does not mock or disparage the e.p.a. indeed he praised the e.p.a. at a recent national climate change conference for the flexibility and openness of its rule making process. dr. peters began his talk by saying i'm from kentucky and i'm not a climate science denier. setting aside compliance with the administration's clean power plan kentucky actually had its own climate action plan written all the way back in 2011. the kentucky climate action plan

sets forth more than 40 actions to address climate change, and it would reduce kentucky's greenhouse gas emissions by 1.3 billion metric tons between 2011 and 2030. the kentucky department of fish and wildlife within that climate action plan has its wildlife action plan, and the wildlife action plan opens its chapter on climate change by quoting the intergovernmental panel on climate change. now, around here, a lot of fun is sometimes made of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, at least on the other side of the aisle but kentucky's department of fish and wildlife quotes them as follows -- quote -- "warming of the climate system is unequivocal." that's the commonwealth of

kentucky quoting the intergovernmental panel on climate change. the kentucky wildlife action plan goes on to report that, and i'll quote it again -- "climate change has the potential to exacerbate existing conservation threats in kentucky by altering both terrestial and aquatic systems." end quote. well mr. president as you know i'm from the ocean state so i'm very concerned about what climate change is doing to our oceans and what it's doing to our coasts. kentucky is landlocked so imagine my surprise to read the kentucky wildlife action plan's discussion of sea level rise. sure enough, it's in there. here's what the kentucky

wildlife action plan says about sea level rise. quote -- wtion with the predicted increases in severity of tropical storms coupled with potential shoreline losses in florida and throughout the eastern seaboard, people may begin migrations inland it says. it continues -- if and when these events occur kentucky may experience human population growth unprecedented to a commonwealth. that's kentucky's statement on this. so i hope that the majority leader will appreciate why i am so insistent that we tackle this climate change problem when his own home state projects that people in our coastal states

will be so grievously affected by climate change that we may have to flee to landlocked kentucky and the state government of kentucky is not alone. kentucky cities, lexington louisville frank fort, bowling green and villa hills, have signed the u.s. mayors climate protection agreement. quoting the city of lexington -- quote -- "to act locally to reduce the impacts of climate change by lowering manmade greenhouse gas emissions" -- end quote. lexington kentucky, actually proudly notes that the sierra club has designated lexington a cool city for signing the u.s. mayors agreement. maybe in time the sierra club

will designate kentucky's senior senator a cool senator. here's hoping. even fossil fuel companies in kentucky get it. columbusia gas of kentucky have a climate change link on its web site meeting the climate challenge. columbia gas of kentucky pledges to and i'll quote them -- "address climate change issues through business activities which promote stained economic growth in a manner consistent with our environmental obligations." columbia gas of kentucky also pledges to and i'll quote them here -- "promote adoption of reasonable policies addressing climate change." promote adoption of reasonable policies of addressing climate change. including and i'll quote them even, again, here -- "appropriately crafted legislation on climate change."

regrettably, there are kentucky senators -- their kentucky senators have responded with exactly no legislation on climate change, appropriate or otherwise. local kentucky news station wfpl brought on a climate scientist from nasa not too long ago who said that scientists have exhaustively studied the numerous signs of climate change the warming oceans, the melting glaciers, the changing temperatures, and narrowed it down, and the only culprit to explain what's happening is increases in mankind's carbon emissions. the nasa scientist on the kentucky radio station compared it to the tv show "c.s.i." quote -- "we've looked at all the different suspects and

there's only one suspect that's still in the picture and that's human carbon emissions." kentucky woodlands magazine reports that -- and i'll quote them here -- "the world is changing right before our eyes. our natural systems are changing as a result of a warming climate. indeed the author says, we are experiencing some of the predicted -- in quotes -- predicted effects today," -- end quote including an observed shift in kentucky wildflower seasons. the article warns and i'll quote it here -- "climate change is happening as you read this article. climate change is happening as you read this article." and it describes the result as -- i'll quote -- "global

climate weirdness" -- end quote. now, one thing we know about kentucky is it's renowned for its horses. so i turned to "horse and rider magazine and i found an article on climate change and horses' health. the article noted climate change's effects including -- and i'll quote -- -- "more intense extreme weather events and altered timing and distribution of precipitation" -- end quote. "horse and rider" magazine asked the question how climate change might affect our horses' health. for the answer to that, horse and rider magazine turned to dr. craig carter of -- guess what -- the university of

kentucky. who said -- quote -- "it's a scary thing to watch" -- end quote. because -- quote -- "climate change affects all forms of life he said, mosquitoes, tics, flies and others are moving northward" -- end quote in describing how that move affects crops and trees and disease vectors like west nile virus. this university of kentucky equine expert cited specific concerns for equine health but he also offered this reminder and i'll quote him again -- "it's not just horses and people at risk, he said. crops are being affected as are trees due to beetle infestations, climate change affects all forms of life." end quote.

since so many of my senate colleagues say that they're not scientists i concluded my kentucky review where scientists gather at kentucky's universities. paul vinchelly says this, i quote -- "in the scientific community it is widely accepted that the global climate is changing and the human activities which produce greenhouse gases are a principal cause. greenhouse gases have a strong capacity to trap heat in the lower atmosphere, he says, even though they are present at trace concentrations" -- end quote. dr. vincelli concludes -- quote -- "this trapped heat is driving many of the recent changes in the earth's climate including

rising temperatures in the oceans on earth's surface and in the lower atmosphere." dr. vincelli university of kentucky. another university of kentucky summary produced by him and his colleagues says this -- quote -- "scientific evidence that our climate is warming are abundant. practicing scientists consider the evidence of human-induced global warming to be extremely strong" -- end quote. in fact, the university of kentucky climate summary said 97% to 98% of the most knowledgeable experts scientists who actively polish research papers in climate science, are convinced that global is -- global warming is occurring and it's causeed primarily by human activities"

-- end quote. they go on to note a consensus of 97% to 98% is remarkable. and that summary adds the following warning and i'll quote the warning. "regardless of what you may read on blogs or in the media, there is almost no meaningful scientific controversy on these points period," -- end quote. just the controversy here in congress. moving on to kentucky state university, kentucky state university is pleased to have won a climate change fellowship to -- quote -- "engage college students in climate change education and action and provide in-depth he depth training on climate change, how to best teach the basics of climate change" -- close quote.

maybe a little bit of that around here might be in order. over at western kentucky university they host the kentucky climate center, which is the state climate office for kentucky on their campus in -- campus in bowling green. eastern kentucky university offers concentrations in environmental sustainability and stewardship including courses on global climate change. and it has an environmental research institute whose web site on climate change links you right to the ipcc work on climate change that is so often derided here in congress. obviously eastern kentucky university doesn't think the u.n. intergovernmental panel on climate change is unreliable -- unreliable. northern kentucky university does even better. former northern kentucky university president james vatruba signed the american

college and university presidents climate commitment pledging northern kentucky university to -- quote -- "an initiative in pursuit of climate neutrality" -- close quote having no net greenhouse gas emissions if necessary by -- quote --"using carbon offsets or other measures to mitigate the remaining emissions" -- close quote. in 2010 northern kentucky university adopted an action plan calling on every department and all members of the northern kentucky university community to do their part to help the university achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. my tour of kentucky's great centers of higher learning leads me to one last kentucky university one that is unique in that its web page display of

alumni includes none other than our distinguished majority leader, senator mcconnell. this is the university of louisville. the university of louisville goes out of its way to expose its students to the reality of climate change. professor keith mountain is chair of the university of louisville department of geography and geosciences. he has lectured on stewardship in a time of global climate change a talk about -- quote -- "how climate change is a measurable reality and how people have contributed to the trends." that's the chair of the university of louisville department of geography and geosciences. the university of louisville has brought in lawny dupreux an a climate change act i think ivies to describe for university of

louisville students -- quote -- "his personal witness of the detrimental effects of climate change over 25 years of polar exploring" -- end quote. and they brought in prize-winning ecologist dinah wall for a lecture series to talk about fragile soil systems and their role in climate change. university of louisville students have been involved, too, in climate change teach-ins where students, faculty and staff join together and i'll quote it here -- "to inform, inspire, and educate others about the climate change crisis" -- end quote. one student concluded -- quote -- "the university needs more events similar to the teach-in to raise awareness about climate change. i hope they'll consider raising awareness among their alumni as well. let me close this discussion

with two slides that were prepared for kentucky's governor's conference on energy and the environment for a presentation on kentucky and the president's climate action plan. this is a depiction of our country's energy mix broken out by renewables, natural gas coal petroleum hydroelectric, and nuclear. you can see there are a lot of layers in the cake. this layer is coal. coal in the u.s. energy mix as of 2012. this is kentucky's energy mix. as you can see, it is a black wall of coal. even wyoming even wyoming which produces more than four times as much coal as kentucky,

has a more diverse energy mix than this. could they do better? i think so. there's a song called warm kentucky sunshine. kentucky has a town named sunshine. there's even a cocktail called a kentucky sunshine. but you'd never know it from their energy mix. that's one of the reasons that kentucky's efforts to prepare for the clean power plan are so promising. so before our distinguished majority leader, the senior senator from kentucky asks all of the other states to throw in the towel on conforming to the u.s. government's plan for dealing with carbon pollution i would ask that he acknowledge that his own state recognizes climate change as a problem

and as an opportunity and that kentucky is trying to do something about it. as for the possibilities ask senator grassley whose state has 28% wind energy. look at kentucky's mix. iowa has 28% wind energy. so the possibilities the distinguished majority leader could ask his deputy majority leader senator cornyn of texas whose home state has more than 10% wind energy. and a solar energy industry providing more than 330 mega watts, more than 7,000 jobs and rapid growth. i hope kentucky doesn't decide to change its present course and to throw in the towel without

even trying. we can do this. i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i would ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: thank you mr. president. i'm hopeful dirnl ale hopeful -- i'm sure most of us all -- that sortly we'll be able to consider comir legislation that has passed the house of representatives. it is known as the s.g.r. medicare fix a payment system that affects physicians under the medicare system. it's badly broken. on 17 previous occasions we've extended the current policy in order to make sure that physicians don't get an automatic cut that would deny many medicare beneficiaries access to their physicians, that

these are pretty extreme measures. we all understand that it's time to permanently fix this, not just to eliminate the problem but to substitute a payment system that encourages physicians to provide high-quality care and to deal with incentives that reduce the volume of care. and that is what the legislation that passed the house of representatives does. it does it -- it fixes the problem on a permanent basis and i'm certainly hopeful that we can get that enacted shortly because we've already passed the deadline in regards to when the current patch expired. the bill also provides for an extension of the children's health insurance program. i do hope that we can provide a longer extension than the two years that's provided in the house bill, and i know there will be amendments offered to

deal with that. mr. president, i want to talk about an amendment that i will be offering, and i'm not sure how much time will be available when a consent arrangement is entered into, which i hope it will be soon, to consider this. it's an amendment that i'm offering with senator vitter. it is a bipartisan amendment. in previous congresses we've had many of my republican colleagues that have joined me. we have many of my democratic colleagues. this should be, i hope, a noncontroversial amendment that we can adopt. and what it does, it provides a permanent fix as we do for physicians for the physical that itherapy cap. now, mr. president, i was in the house of representatives in 1997 when we passed the balanced budget act of 1997. i was in the -- i was on the ways and means committee and i remember a chairman's mark coming to us, and for the first time there was a cap placed on physical therapy services. and i asked the chairman of the committee, why was this being done?

and there was absolutely no policy reason whatsoever for imposing an arbitrary cap on the amount of physical therapy services. when you think about it, what it does is discriminate against those who have the greatest needs, those who have severe needs, those who have a stroke or traumatic brain injury or a spinal cord injury or managing parkinson's disease multiple sclerosis, arthritis. these are individuals that run up against the cap and therefore could be denied the ability to deal with their needs causing them in many cases to incur much greater costs. it makes no sense whatsoever. -- it makes no sense whatsoever, the therapy cap. for that reason, we have extended the current -- a revised policy -- 12 times we have done it -- to prevent the

implementation of the therapy caps. we've acknowledged the negative consequences that would result from the imposing of such limits. so in 2009 a report issued by the medicare payment advisory committee, medpac, it was estimated that the therapy cap if enforced, without exception process, could harm 931,000 medicare beneficiaries. so we have an eye did not identical situation on the therapy cap as we do with the s.g.r. physician reimbursement issue and that's why historically these two measures have always been moved together in tandem. and what my amendment will do, cosponsored by senator vitter, is permanently fix the therapy cap issue. by replacing the arbitrary limits on outpatient rehab therapy services and replacing them with a more rational system which would require prior

authorization in senior circumstances. so we fix it permanently as we do the physician reimbursement issue. mr. president, i don't understand to tell you that -- i don't need to tell you that we don't always have an opportunity to get legislation done here. and i really do think we have a chance an excellent chance, with this bill that we'll be taking up, is going to be signed by the president in the next few days. this is our opportunity to get several matters taken care of. and the therapy cap cries out for that type of attention. so i will just urge my colleagues when this amendment comes up -- it is cosponsored by a large number of my colleagues, as i already mentioned senator vitter who is my cosponsor on the democratic side we have both senator reid, senator whitehouse senator hirono, senator shaheen senator mikulski senator brown senator

stabenow senator leahy senator bennet senator booker, and i could mention many of my clean colleagues who have joined me in the past in the repeal of the therapy cap that have -- are expressing interest to help in this regard. i hope i'll have their support on this amendment. let's get it done. i think it's important for medicare beneficiaries to know that they're not at risk of losing the opportunity for their physician to treat them under the medicare system. if we don't take care of the s.g.r. problem that's a real, real concern of medicare beneficiaries as to whether their physicians will be available for them. the same thing is true with the therapy caps. let's remove this uncertainty. let's get it fixed. we have the opportunity do that. so i would urge my colleagues to support my effort that's supported by aarp and many of the other outside groups. let's vote for the s.g.r. bill but also vote for the amendment

that i will offer with senator vitter that will permanently fix the therapy cap and we'll have a chance to do that i hope, either later tonight or tomorrow. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

carp. mr. carper: mr. president we're not in a quorum call, are we? the presiding officer: tbher a twoarm call. mr. carper: skilled that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. carper: for the last several months this year i've been taking time, one day a month, to talk a bit about an employee in the department of homeland security. of all the departments in the federal government, large departments, they have the lowest morale, and we've been working hard with them to do something about that. and one of the things that we're -- a small thing but nonetheless, is to remind folks that folks in the department of homeland security risk their lives and make sure that we have a good life and a safe life and they're worthy of our praise. unless i get run off the floor here because of other business, i want to talk about one of

them. as you know, the department was recently the center of a budget battle here on capitol hill. for weeks it was unclear if the department was going to face a shutdown another short-term continuing resolution, or receive the full-year funding that they needed. fortunately, congress did its job sent a clean l funding bill to the president's desk. employees are grateful for that and i am as well. while the department did employees can focus on keeping america safe from the threats our country faces we shouldn't ignore the harm that the latest debate inflicted on the already low morale of employees at the department. more than 200,000 men and women work at the department of homeland security ready to fulfill one mission. one mission. that is to create a safe, secure and resilient place where the american way of life can thrive. many of those employees as i said earlier put their lives on

the line every single day. one of these employees are securing our borders and securing our skies are responding to natural disasters or bolstering our defenses in the cyber world. a few other federal agencies and employees touch the lives of so many americans on a daily basis more than do the employees of the department of homeland security. there is no question that they deserve to be treated better than the way congress has been treating them lately. that's one of the reasons why over the past few months i've been coming to the floor to recognize the work of at least a few of the many exemplary department of homeland security employees. in february i spoke about miro garza jr. a brother patrol -- a border der patrol agent. i had the opportunity to meet him in mcallen texas while on visit with senators johnson and ben sasse. this past summer mr. garza played an instrumental role in setting up an emergency operations and processing center which he now runs to help

customs and border protection better manage unaccompanied minors and families apprehended along the southern border. today i rise to speak about another dedicated and outstanding employee at the department of homeland security. his name is matthew o'neill. matthew is an employee, special agent within the u.s. secret service agency. over the past several months there have been incidents including some as recently as this month that again raised serious questions about the agency and its ability to fulfill its responsibilities. the agency's leadership is still addressing these troubling incidents and taking steps to implement reforms and improve the agency. while it is important to usher in a new chapter for the secret service it is important that we shine light on the brave men and women at the agency who continue to serve our country carry out their missions with distinction. special agent matthew o'neill is one of the many hardworking public servants whose day to day

work deserves special recognition. we live in a world that is becoming increasingly digitized. nearly all americans including members of this chamber and me, are spending more and more of our time online, whether it is to do our banking do our shopping communicating with our loved ones or simply getting our work done on a day-to-day basis. americans' ability to go on line in a safe and secure environment is at the core of agent o'neill's, would. agents in the secret service are not only responsible for protecting the president first family other dignitaries as well; some agents like special agent o'neill do their work in cyber space. not outer space. cyber space. and there in that cyber space criminals are elusive and the threats they pose for us are sophisticated, and many. put simply, agent o'neill's job is to target cyber criminals taking aim at the american consumer and businesses international security online.

financial crime has evolved dramatically in the nearly 20 years since special agent o'neill began his career with the secret service. not that long ago criminals would go to a bank, perhaps a jewelry store or convenience store and steal money or maybe other value liewbles. today they don't even need to go outside to steal items of great value from businesses, the federal government or from us consumers, regular citizens. criminals just need access to the internet. these data breaches are disruptive to our economy. they cause worry and confusion for millions of american consumers and for businesses. thanks to his dedication and expertise, special agent o'neill has helped the federal government try and stay ahead of curb and keep our most sensitive information and our property secure. special agent o'neill is originally from dumfries virginia graduated from james madison university in

harrisonburg university. before joining his career with the secret service in 1998 in the new haven connecticut office. from 2003 to 2007 he be served in the advise -- vice presidential and special services division in washington d.c. special agent o'neill has become one of the top cyber warriors defending our security online. in this position he's helped lead a number of complex transnational cyber crime investigations and these investigations focused on crimes ranging from hacks into checkout lanes at brick and mortar stores to the online sales of stolen information like social security numbers. in one investigation agent o'neill identified web site portals that sold information of approximately 30 million americans to other cyber criminals putting americans potentially at risk for credit

card fraud or worse. to uncover criminals participating in this scheme, special agent o'neill sought and executed over a dozen federal search warrants, made numerous undercover purchases and painstakingly examined nearly 40,000 e-mails. as a result of an extensive investigation, special agent o'neill was able to trace the source of the stolen data to an individual in south vietnam. in 2013 the culprit was arrested for his crimes. since the investigation special agent o'neill has been aiding to identify and arrest over 20 other criminals who worked in conjunction with the culprit by illicitly purchasing the stolen data. in addition to breaking up that complex network special agent o'neill's work also thwarted attacks involving everyday transactions saving businesses, saving consumers from financial harm. for example he played a critical role in identifying and tracking and indicting three remaining national nationals

planning to hack into the computer system of a major fast food franchise with more than 25,000 restaurants here in the united states. time and again special agent o'neill's supervisors and colleagues noted his commitment and dedication to duty including his willingness to work at all hours of the day and night to track criminals who use the internet with malicious intent. in 2012 he was recognized as the vested theater of the year by the international association of crimes investigators and in 2013 he was honored by the secret service by special agent of the year. in 2014 he received the department of homeland security secretary emeritus service award. but special agent o'neill's service doesn't end with his work at the department of homeland security. when he's not combatting cyber crime he's serving his names and community by volunteering for local charity and provides financial assistance to families dealing with cancer. the charity provides scholarship money for the continuing education of oncology nurses.

i'd like to thank special agent o'neill's family for sharing with him his community and nation. we are a safer country because of it. in closing mr. president the actions taken by special agent matthew o'neill attest to this critically important work done by thousands of individuals across the department of homeland security every single day. these men and women are courageous. they're dedicated and exemplary federal employees who selflessly serve our country year in and year out. like special agent matthew o'neill these unsung heroes and heroines walk among every day protecting us from the unknown or unexpected and more often than not the good work that they do goes unnoticed. but not today. not today. special agent o'neill, thank you. thank you for your dedication to this country. thank you for your tireless service to all of us. with that, mr. president i note the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: