sooner. it's also increased the funding for opioid programs. we have a 47% increase in the funding this year, the fiscal year we're in right now. we're coming to the end of that fiscal year. cara has another $181 million until authorized funding per year for opioid, fentanyl. we should make a down payment for that in this continuing resolution. it is a short term continuing resolution we're talking about on the floor here today in order to keep the funding going. but even there we need to make a down payment to make sure cara is fully funded. if you're one of the 92 senators who supported the he comprehensive addiction recovery act i hope you look at the stopgap. it is complementary to cara. it will help to deal with a real problem, limiting the supply of these drugs right now. it is a bipartisan bill. last year it was introduced in the house, so we have a companion bill in the house that is bipartisan.

they have a real passion for this issue and i appreciate them. everything that we're doing in this area is important right now and every senator should be involved. if you're tough on crime you should care about the increase in crime being created by this. if you're concerned about the innocent victims of an addiction epidemic, you should support this legislation to help protect these children who are being born with addictions. if you want to be tough on china or want better border security you should vote for this legislation to try to shut off this poison coming in to our states from other countries. the presiding officer: the senator has used his time. mr. portman: mr. president, again, this is an issue that has brought us all together in the past. let's continue to work together on this in a bipartisan basis to begin to turn the tide on this epidemic before it's too late, before we lose more of our young people, before we have more communities devastated by this crisis. i thank you for the time. i yield back.

mr. peters: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to speak about the incredible future of mobility in this country. earlier this week the department of transportation, or d.o.t., made history by releasing its official federal policy for automated vehicles. this marks a major milestone in the effort to bring driverless cars to america's roads and to ensure that our country remains the world leader in the next generation of transportation. d.o. it's federal policy contains four key components. the first outlines a 15-point safety assessment for the safe design, development, testing and deployment of automated vehicles. and this is a meaningful first step. the first federal guidance for automotive manufacturers seeking to develop and deploy these new technologies. the second component outlines the distinct federal and state

roles for regulation of automated vehicles, moving us toward a uniform national framework for the regulation in this space. third, the policy makes a federal commitment to expedite the safe destruction of automatf automated vehicles into the marketplace. the drept transportation will streamline procedures to be more responsive to consumers and innovative manufacturers alike. finally, the policy presents a number of novel considerations that congress should closely examine. this includes new tools and authorities that the d.o.t. might need in the future as automated vehicle technology advances and we see deployment on a much wider scale. last year over 35,000 lives were lost in motor vehicle crashes. we saw the largest annual percentage rise in deaths in our roads for the past 50 years. 50.

and this is simply unacceptable. connected and automated vehicle technologies have the potential to drastically reduce this troubling statistic and help ensure that at the end of the day our children, our parents and all of our family and friends are able to travel on our roads and make it home safe and sound. we need to roll up our sleeves and do our part to ensure successful implementation of this policy. many of our existing laws and regulations were enacted long before modern vehicles. now is the time to consider updating policies from a time when the most advanced on-board electronics in our cars and trucks were a.m. radios. we need to do this the right way and ensure these cars and trucks are introduced safely as we work through the challenges facing wide scale deployment and the adoption of these absolutely revolutionary technologies. this means we need to take a hard look at issues such as

automotive liability, consumer education, data and cybersecurity and the future of the american workforce. as a member of the senate commerce committee and as the cofounder of the smart transportation caucus, i'm committed to leading these important discussions on capitol hill. as a start, i'd like to take a moment to highlight some of what i believe the key aspects of d.o. it's four-part federal policy. safety of course is paramount and the new safety assessment emphasizes consumer education and awareness. just as prior generations had to adapt to the innovation of stoplights and construction of interstate highways, americans in the coming months and years will learn how to operate and share the road with automated vehicles. to save lives, consumers must trust that the technology underpinning this revolution in transportation is c completely safe. it will require public-private

cooperation to improve consumer understanding and adoption of these technologies. we also cannot ignore the new threats facing modern vehicles as they are increasingly connected to each other and to the infrastructure. it is critical that the 15-point assessment promotes built-in cybersecurity from the very start of vehicle development lifestyle. i'm encouraged that d.o.t. is addressing data recording, data sharing and data privacy. we need to know how these automated systems work and what happens when they don't. we also need to ensure that this data is shared and protected. finally, i support d.o. it's emphasis on continuing collaborative work between industry, government, academy and r&d communities to advance automated vehicles. in michigan we've seen the benefits of such work at the m city testing facility in ann arbor.

soon joint advanced research will take place on a much larger scale at the american center for mobility in ypsilanti where we'll be testing, validated and certify the vehicles that will be driving america in the coming years. i look forward to the continued partnership with d.o.t. to help advance the innovation that is driving the future of mobility, and i want to thank secretary foxx and administrator rosekind for their focus and hard work that made this week's historic announcement possible. this guidance demonstrates that america will be the global leader in the development and deployment of advanced vehicle technologies. you know, just eight years ago people were predicting the financial ruin of the auto industry here in america, but today not only do we have the auto industry come roaring back with record sales, but we are now working to produce some of the greatest and most important

innovations in american manufacturing history. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the remainder of my remarks appear elsewhere in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. peters: mr. president, few american innovations have changed the modern world like the automobile. cars and trucks are now woven into the very fabric of american life and culture. and as a senator from the state of michigan as well as a car and motorcycle enthusiast i'm especially proud of our state's leading role in the american auto industry. the history of the automobile is really a history of american workers, innovators and entrepreneurs and it must be preserved. right before me are two pictures of two really iconic vehicles, vehicles like the 1964 shelby cobra at the top and a 1967

chevrolet camaro. these cars helped spark a life long love of cars for millions of americans. 50 years later these vehicles still inspire today's innovators and engineers as they work to develop cars and trucks of the future to be smarter, safer, more reliable and more efficient than ever before. however, there is currently no dedicated federal register to document historically significant automobiles, motorycycles and trucks for future generations of americans to appreciate and to enjoy. earlier today i introduced the national historic vehicle register act which will establish a federal register of historic vehicles and document and be preserve records of these vehicles for our nation's history. this legislation will ensure the engineering drawings, photos, and stories of historically important vehicles will be available to inspire americans and celebrate the

accomplishments of the american auto industry. the national historic vehicle register act would build on efforts of the historic vehicle association to help document and preserve the legacy of some of our most historic vehicles. i recently had the opportunity to see two of the autos that have already been documented by the historic vehicle association. i saw this vehicle right here at the bottom. this is president taft's 1909 white steam car. it was the very first presidential limousine. it's a beautiful and fascinating example of steam car technology from the early days of the automobile and could reach astonishing speeds up to 60 miles an hour. in addition to being a pleasant way to get around, president taft's use of automobiles helped encourage other americans to adopt the new technology as their favorite mode of transportation. i i also had the honor to see the jeep up on the top photo,

which is president reagan's 1962 willie's jeep cj-6. it was a christmas gift from his wife nancy and standing next to the jeep i could not help but to have a vivid picture of president reagan driving it on his ranch in california often accompanied by his dogs, lucky, freebo and victory. the register would work to preserve these memories with members of the historic vehicles community, selecting automobiles and motorycycles to include on the register and establishing collaborative partnerships to carry out the register's activities. our nation's rich automotive history belongs to the american people, and it is worthy of its own dedicated register. i look forward to working with my senate colleagues, the historic vehicle community, and car enthusiasts across the country to preserve our motor heritage.

mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. coats: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be absolutely extinct -- ex-continuing -- extuingished.

i put this up called waste of the week to address waste, fraud or abuse of taxpayers' hard-earned dollars, and this is week 51. today i'm here to draw attention to the $2.3 billion owed to the united states from uncollected and anti-dumping and countervailing duties. these are nations that have violated our trade laws, signed up through treaties, trade laws or trade agreements and then violated those, or companies from those countries violated those. and there are laws that prohibit that and enforce that. and this is what it ought to be. let me say at the outset here that i do support international trade. it bolsters our economy. the statistics show that. it creates new opportunities for american businesses overseas. and it enhances america's

security and global role. trade raises economic prosperity. it has been a proven fact. just take my state of indiana. in recent years inn inn -- indiana exported over $34 billion in goods and services. hoosier manufacturers export automobiles, auto parts, industrial machinery, medical devices and much more. indiana is a national leader in pharmaceutical and agricultural exports. in 2014, our state had the highest share of manufacturing employment per capita and highest manufacturing income share relative to total income of any state in our country. nearly more than one in four -- actually one in four and a half according to the statistics, jobs in indiana is due to our ability to export overseas. that is a significant -- has a

significant impact on our economy here in indiana. and so it's vital for our state to have strong trade laws that prevent other countries from engaging in unfair trade, so hoosier companies can compete with them on a level playing field. having said that i support international trade, for all the benefits that it is to my state and to our country, i also strongly support the use of our trade laws to protect american companies against dumped or subsidized imports from foreign countries, china in particular. under federal law, antidumping duties are special fees that are placed on products shipped to the united states at unfairly, unfairly low prices. sometimes this occurs when a foreign manufacturer sells a product in the u.s. for less than it costs to even make that

product. they are not even trying to regain their costs. they want a market share. and so they dump, they dump products into the united states that undercuts our american-made goods. i will not stand for that. i will not support that. some who support trade laws say we shouldn't be enforcing these, that it will ultimately work itself out. i don't believe that. the law is the law. the agreements are the agreements. they need to be enforced. countervailing duties are fees placed on products imported to the united states that are made in countries with a foreign government -- where a foreign government unfairly subsidizes the product to lower their sale price. we're a free enterprise system here in america. yes, there has been some subsidies, and we should not be a violator of that in terms of unfairly breaking the laws, and we generally are not in that situation, but many countries we

have found and proven through a process that -- a judicial process that they have unfairly subsidized their products, and we need to impose the fees and the penalties against these countries and these companies. so both dumping and countervailing duties are how we fight the predatory practices of foreign nations that unfairly hurt american manufacturers by making american-made products more expensive than a foreign competitor's product. in order to level the playing field for american companies and their workers, the u.s. department of commerce calculates the duties that should be placed on the imported product to make up for these predatory trade practices, and once commerce calculates the money owed to the united states, the u.s. customs and border protection agency, c.b.p., which

oversees all imports to the united states, is responsible for collecting these fees that are imposed. and even though c.b.p. is legally directed to collect all of these fees, recently the general accounting office or g.a.o. discovered that from 2001-2014, the c.b.p. has failed to collect about $2.3 billion in antidumping and countervailing duties. now, there are a number of reasons for why c.b.p. has trouble collecting these fees, but one key reason the general accounting office highlighted is that c.b.p. assesses -- has simply not assessed the fees once the item is initially imported or once congress determines how much is owed. basically, they are just behind the curve here. so the agency that is responsible for collecting these

fees simply is not doing its job successfully enough. c.b.p. is supposed to collect the fees within the first six months of entry of the product, but the g.a.o. in its accountability process found out that of the 41,000 uncollected bills, 41,000 uncollected bills, the median age of the bills was 4.5 years, and they were supposed to do it in the first six months. clearly, we have got some dysfunction here, clearly, we have some waste that needs to be corrected so that we can enforce these trade laws. otherwise, we're sending a signal go ahead and do it. chances are we'll get away with it. their assessments system is not functional. we have a good chance of avoiding the fee altogether. that's the signal that's being sent out to countries around the world and manufacturers that are

dumping or that are unfairly subsidizing their product and making our products, our competition less competitive. g.a.o. has found that out of the 41,000 uncollectible bills, the median age as i said 4.5 years. we need to get them back to the six-month standard. and additionally, we have learned that nearly 1,000 of these uncollected bills were between 10 and 13 years old. this is simply not acceptable. it is a dysfunction of government, a dysfunction of the bureaucratic processes that we have to deal with here in washington. if it was somebody else's money, maybe, maybe we could make an excuse for this dysfunction, but this is taxpayer money. this is money that has been through working, hard-earned

money, each family has to take home at the end of the week to pay their bills, to pay their mortgage, to save money for college, and it's -- it is just unacceptable to have this happening here in washington, d.c., where this waste, fraud and abuse just continues to ramp up on our calculator here. american manufacturers worked tirelessly to compete on a global market and sometimes against those that don't even play by the rules. those that don't play by the rules have to have the rules enforced. so enforcement of our trade laws through the assessment of antidumping and countervailing duties is essential to ensure that a level playing field for american workers and to show that predatory practices will not be tolerated. that is one reason why i supported bipartisan legislation that was enacted earlier this year that would give the customs border patrol people the tools necessary to better enforce our

trade laws, such as requiring c.b.p. to better track which foreign companies may be less likely to pay fees owed to the united states. fortunately, c.b.p. has agreed with the g.a.o.'s recommendations, and now that congress has also provided customs border people with the tools to implement and enforce these recommendations, i am hopeful but also watchful that c.b.p. will improve its track record in the near future. we have a responsibility not only to sort out a waste of taxpayers' dollars or misuse of taxpayers' dollars, we have the responsibility to try to correct the errors, to give the tools to the agencies to do their job as we've ordered them to do, and then to oversee and make sure. it's one thing that the job has done. it's one thing to come down here and identify a problem. it's another thing to come down

here with my colleagues and offer a solution. it's another thing to follow up and oversee that solution and see what we can do to make sure that this doesn't happen again. we're far too short on oversight, far too long on rhetoric. so with that, i'm adding $2.3 billion for uncollected antidumping and countervailing duties, bringing our taxpayer price tag to over $328 billion-plus of waste, fraud and abuse. mr. president, think what we could do with that $328 billion. help our defense, help national institutes of health, produce life-saving new medical

techniques or therapies, pave some roads, essential functions of the federal government or even better not have to take this money from taxpayers and simply throw it away. mr. president, with that, i yield the floor.

mr. casey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. i would ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: the senate is in morning business. mr. casey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise this afternoon to talk for just a few moments about a -- a special hospital in pennsylvania, will zay hospital. this is a hospital that is not only critically important to our state but to the nation as well. it serves people from across our state and across the country. will zay hospital is a public trust that was gifted to the city of philadelphia and it was founded in 1832. it is the first dedicated eye hospital in the country, providing care to the blind and the indigent, something they

still do today, they still have that same mission. unfortunately, if the centers for medicare and medicaid services, what we know as c.m.s., if that agency has its way, wills eye hospital will no longer be able to provide this kind of care. this is world-class care that so many pen veinsian and -- pennsylvanians and so many americans can speak to. i had a personal experience when my daughter julia had an eye problem years ago and wills eye did great work for her. in this case, c.m.s. is using an arbitrary ratio of the number of in-patient and -- of inpatients and outpatients to say that wills eye hospital is not a hospital and should be what's known as an ambulatory surgery center, which could have drastic

implications and ultimately force wills eye to close. and again, this was an institution founded almost 200 years ago. last week, i went up to wills eye in philadelphia to talk about this problem and had the opportunity as well to meet joey povio who is pictured here in this enlarged photograph. joey is 6 years old and he has retinal blastoma, which is a type of ocular cancer that if left untreated will lead to his death. according to the american cancer society, there are 200 to 300 cases of retinal blastoma diagnosed each year. in the last fiscal year, wills eye hospital treated 110 unique individuals with a diagnosis of retinal blastoma or almost 37%

to 55% of the diagnosed cases in the country. so you can see the impact of just one hospital on a substantial problem that joey has and that children across the country have. fortunately for joey, he's getting first-rate treatment, but we have to ask ourselves what about the others who have retinal blastoma, what about the children who have retinal blastoma in the future? what will happen to them without wills eye hospital? and you can tell from this picture how -- not just how dynamic joey is, and i can attest to that personally after having met him, but how focused he is on getting better and how confident he and his family are that he can, in fact, get better because of the great work done at wills eye hospital. now, there are many that might think that this is just a unique

situation or simply an unfortunate situation, and certainly it is for joey and his family and for others who have retinal blastoma or a number of other ailments or problems that center on their eyes. thank god we have wills eye to treat those problems. but there are other hospitals in the nation that are dealing with some of these same issues and especially dealing with issues that relate to their interaction with c.m.s., and these are obviously some great hospitals that i'll mention in a moment. but in this case, for whatever reason, i think c.m.s. is treating wills eye hospital unfairly. i think that's an understatement. in this case, we have a number of institutions that have a bed ratio -- that's the interplay between inpatient and outpatient

that c.m.s. is focused on in this circumstance. there are some hospitals that have a bed ratio that's lower than the one at wills eye, and because those numbers are lower, that would mean that those hospitals should be the subject of the same kind of action that c.m.s. is taking when it comes to wills eye. when wills eye was first denied hospital status, their bed raich know was 17%. but according to data provided by the moron hospital association, the cleveland clinic, one of our great institutions, has a ratio of 6.14%, obviously lower than 17%. stanford health care, another great institution, has a ratio of 10.5%. again, lower than the 17% at wills eye hospital. these are the bed are issue shows, as i -- these are the bed

ratios, as i mentioned. so it doesn't make much sense that c.m.s. is focused on wills eye and is not taking the same action, or similar action, as it relates to those other two institutions. now, no one would doubt that these two premier institutions -- cleveland clinic and stanford -- are hospitals. there's no question that they're hospitals. yet, c.m.s. is focused on wills eye in a determination that they've made that it is not a hospital. it doesn't make any sense. c.m.s. does not even have a definite ratio a facility needs to meet in order to have inpatient beds. they simply need to be -- quote -- "primarily engaged" -- unquote -- in providing inpatient services. so there's no -- no definite ratio, and yet they're taking action that is to the detriment

of wills eye hospital, and i believe -- i think the evidence and the record is clear the actions to the detriment of a lot of people in southeastern pennsylvania, a lot of people throughout our commonwealth, and indeed throughout our nation. so in this case, i believe obviously that c.m.s. has made the wrong decision. now, you would think that in order to help determine what a hospital is doing, that a representative from c.m.s. would visit and would do a thorough review of the hospital that you can only do in person; you can't do that just based upon charts or phone calls. that you would think that someone from c.m.s. would come and see wills eye hospital firsthand. they really haven't done that yet in a manner that's connected to the actions that they've been

taking. so i've encouraged them to do that. it is not a very -- not a very burdensome task to get in the train, go to philadelphia, spend some time at wills eye hospital and use that as part of the basis upon which you make a determination. -- as an agency of government. in this case, unfortunately, c.m.s. has made an ash administer decision -- ar temporary decision -- an arbitrary decision. this decision threatens this world-class hospital, and that's an understatement. in essence, this decision makes no sense. wills eye is a hospital. it provides great care for people that can't get this care almost anywhere else in the country, and especially when it comes to children and especially when it comes to that diagnosis that families get of retinoblastoma, without the intervention of the great work at wills eye, those children

will die. so i'll continue to urge c.m.s. to work with me and to work with wills eye to work on a solution to resolve this bureaucratic problem. this is basically what it is, a bureaucratic approach that doesn't make sense in the real world, the real world of quality medical care, the real world of the services that wills eye proirks in the real world of joey's circumstance and children like him across our region in pennsylvania but also across the country. mr. president, i would yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. president, i

would ask suspension of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. i would like unanimous consent to speak for ten minutes, and if you could let me know when i've spoken for eight minutes, please. the presiding officer: will do. the chair will do so. ms. stabenow: okay. thank you very much. mr. president, this has been a roller coaster time for those of us who care deeply about what happened over two and a half years ago in the city of flint, with a system that was not treated properly and exposed 100,000 people in flint to lead poisoning. we had a great vote last week -- and i'm very grateful for senator inhofe and senator boxer coming together, working with us, senator peters and myself,

to put together a larger water bill that included a final vote of 95-3 with an effort to help flint families as well as other communities that have exposure to lead in water. this was a very positive moment. today, just a little while ago, it was just the opposite. we have an opportunity to complete the job we started last week and include this fully offset package in the budget bill in front of us, the continuing resolution, and yet the republican leader did not do that. and what adds insult to injury is that there's help there for louisiana but not for the families of flint. and i might add, ours is fully offset. there is no offset in spending. there are no other programs cut to pay for the help for

louisiana, but i offered a program that i sponsored in 2007 -- that hasn't happened a lot around here -- to phase it out, to pay for this emergency in flint and help other communities with lead in water across the country. and so we have something fully paid for. that there should be absolutely no objection to. i would love to know the objection to helping a group of people, 100,000 people in flint and other people across the country, jackson, mississippi, and in texas and across the country, with something fully paid for. what is the objection to putting that into this continuing resolution? if the other side of the aisle is ready to put something that doesn't have an offset in it to help the people in louisiana ... now, i support helping the people in louisiana.

i believe we're in this together as a country. i think as americans, no matter the emergency, that we should be willing to help each other. and we've had a variety of things over the years -- a fertilizer company had an explosion in west texas a few years ago -- not a flood, not a hurricane, not a drought. a fertilizer explosion. people were exposings and the federal government stepped in -- people were exposed, and the federal government stepped in to help. and that wasn't fully paid for either, mr. president. here we have a situation with 100,000 people, 9,000 children under the age of six who are seriously exposed to lead exposure that will affect their development, physically and mentally, for the rest of their lives. they've waited now -- they've waited -- it's been over a year since they knew what was happening.

we finally get to a point, we have strong bipartisan support in the senate. this is easy to put this in this bill. easy. now we're in a situation where the people of flint, well, wait three more months, wait until the end of the year. i guess now the question is, why don't the people in louisiana wait until the end of the year? i think we should help both of them now. but in flint, yo -- you literaly have people, do i pick up the bottled water before i take them to school or after? i don't have a car, but can i get somebody to take me over before i go to work, pick up the bottled water now or later? and we're going to have to spend some time because it is not easy to do bottled water and do a shower for yourself and for the kids, let alone cooking and all the other things that we talk for granted -- that we take for

granted every day. that people for almost two years in flint now have been having to deal with every single day. now, if it was happening to you we would do it as an emergency. a decade ago, i don't know, ten years ago, 12 years ago when washington, d.c., had lead in the water, somehow, you know, that -- everybody came together to get that fixed. the can a unanimou -- the cannoe building, there is a concern about lead in water. that gets fixed. i have a feeling if something happened in wisconsin, the speaker would decide to fix that. but we have a group of people in flint, michigan, who trusted their elected officials, who have been waiting -- actually incredibly patiently -- for action so they can turn on their faucet and have clean wawrkts and they had -- clean water, and they had such hopes last week, mr. president. this was a great moment of people coming together, 95-3, on

a bill that not only would help families in flint but across the country. that's how we're supposed to govern. we did that. concerning lead in water in flint, we went the extra mile to make sure that that was fully offset by phasing out another program to be able to pay for it. literally, this package could go anywhere, could go by itself by voice vote tared. it could go -- voice vote today. it could go any number of places, but it needs to happen now. so to see the continuing resolution come to the floor with help for louisiana and not for the families of flint is -- it's outrageous. it's just outrageous. and i will do everything in my power to make sure that this does not happen. we are not -- we are not -- i am

not going to support an effort that says to the people of flint, you don't count. your child doesn't count. we care about people in louisiana. oh, they count. but people in flint, michigan, don't counts. but we don't see them, we don't care. we do see them. we do care about them. we've spent eight months putting together a bipartisan coalition in the senate. and i am grateful for that. and as i said before, senator inhofe has been terrific to work with. and we were so pleased last week that we were on a track to get this done, and then to find out that when we have this huge vote, bipartisan, fully offset, paid-for package, and we have the opportunity now to move it

forward, suddenly flint doesn't count, flint families don't count, flint children don't count, but louisiana -- we haven't voted on the wrda bill separately -- we need to help louisiana. the and, by the way, and let me say again, i am happy to support louisiana. but the help for louisiana and the help for flint need to be done the same. let me finally say, thank you -- the presiding officer: the senator from michigan used eight minutes. ms. stabenow: thank you very much. i want to actually turn and give two minutes to my colleague from -- who's been my great partner in this. but i want to just close by saying this. there's one other provision in this bill that's outrageous. that continues dark money in campaigns from having to be reported. so this continuing resolution is

saying, "yes" to dark money and "no" to children with lead poisoning in flint and that is not acceptable. now to my partner, senator peters. mr. peters: i would like to thank senator stabenow for yielding the remaining time. i couldn't concur more with what you had to say. this is another day, it seems like we're down here on the floor all of the time talking about the crisis in flint, asking for help, demanding that our -- that folks step up to help the people of flint, and we're so close to doing it. as you mentioned, we came with incredible bipartisan support -- 95 votes, fully paid for, a program that you authored, a program that i fought for as a member of the u.s. house, and now we're saying this is so important that we are willing to take this program, use these funds to help the people of flint. but the people can't wait any longer. the senate should not be about

picking and choosing specific states to help, specific cities to hem, specific neighborhoods. it should be about all of america no matter who you are, no matter when you live. when you are hurting we will step up as the american people and help those folks in need. that's all we're asking, a program that's fully paid for, has strong bipartisan support. this seems like an easy thing to do which i'm at a loss to understand why it can't be put in a c.r. when it's had broad support and it's clear people have been waiting for months. we had families here in washington last week, a woman, a mom talking about her daughter whose teeth are crumbling when she bites into sandwiches because of the damage related to lead poisoning. she's got blood levels, lead that's going up and down that's still not under control. she was in tears. she was at a lot. she felt some hope when the wrda bill passed but if we don't take action when we leave to go back to our states for the month of october, who knows when we're

going to bring this up. this is wrong. the people of flint have waited long enough. the people of flint have suffered enough. this is our opportunity as the senate to rise up and to say every american, every american's life is important, every american's life is one in which we celebrate. every child should have opportunities. we can put this in the c.r. we can pass it and send a strong signal to the people of flint that their lives matter. i yield back. ms. stabenow: mr. president, if there is a moment -- the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: if there's a moment left, i want to swrundz score, we are not -- underscore we are not pitting communities against each other. we are not asking colleagues to say no to louisiana. we are asking colleagues to say yes to flint and louisiana and understand that it doesn't matter your zip code. we have an obligation to step up when there is an emergency and

help american families, and that's all we're asking for for the people of flint. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. a senator: mr. president, i rise today to celebrate an event that both represents and helps preserve what is beth about -- best about this great country. i ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to finish these remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: 25 years ago next month, the senate confirmed president george h. w. bush, appointed clarence thomas to be associate justice of the united states supreme court. to paraphrase president john f. kennedy, i would like to note both of what this country has done for justice thomas and what justice thomas is doing for his country. president bush made the announcement of then judge thomas' supreme court nomination on july 1, 1991, at the bush home in maine. in his brief remarks, judge thomas said that -- quote --

only in america could this have been possible -- unquote . he was right. it would be difficult to find a more powerful story about how far someone can go in this country. clarence thomas was born on june 23, 1948, in a small wood-framed house in the rural town of pi pinpoint, georgia. six people lived in that house which had no indoor plumbing. life in the world of clarence's youth was fully segregated. in 1955 the year after the supreme court ruled segregated education unconstitutional, he and his brother moved in with his maternal grandparents, myers and christine anderson. myers anderson lacked the outward material signs of success that many prize so highly today. he grew up poor without a father and had only a third grade

education. yet it was what he had rather than what he'd lacked that would make him the most profound influence on his grandson clarence thomas. mr. anderson's strength of character, his principles and values and his example shaped the man whose memoir would later be titled "my grandfather's so son." clarence's grandparents were honest, hard-working, and deeply religious people. they taught decency and respect for others insisting that clarence never refuse to do an errand for a neighbor. mr. anderson wanted his grandson to be self-sufficient, able to stand on his own two feet, even in a hostile world where the odds seemed heavily stacked defense him. the -- against him. the other powerful influence for young clarence were the nuns who taught him at st. benedict's grammar school. there at st. benedict's catholic

church, clarence learned that all people are inherently equal no neart what the -- no matter what the law or society might say at a particular time. clarence graduated from high school in 1967, the only black student in his class and was th first person in his family to attend college. after graduating from yale law school, clarence went to work for missouri attorney general john danfort arguing his first case before the missouri supreme court just three days after having been sworn in as a member of the missouri bar. he came to washington in 1979 to join then senator da danfort ase legislative assistance. clarence thomas was confirmed by the senate for the first of five finals as assistant secretary of education for civil rights. i was i think the chairman at that time.

he would become the longest serving chairman of the equal employment opportunity commission in 1982. a judge on the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit in 1990, and a supreme court justice in 1991 at the age of 43. america gave him opportunities that do not exist anywhere else in the world. since this anniversary is about justice thomas' service on the supreme court, let me turn from what america has done for him to what he is doing for america. i have known clarence for 35 years and chaired or served on the committees that oversaw each of his appointments. his impact on our nation comes from his own strength of character fueling his deep conviction about the principles of liberty and other great principles as well. i already touched on some of the building blocks of clarence's

character, including his grandfather's example of standing firm on his beliefs. in one interview clarence said that his professional career is a vindication of the way he was raised. he described that upbringing in a way -- this way in a 1986 article. quote, "but my training by the nuns and my grandparents paid off. i decided then that it was better to be respected than liked." at the time of clarence's supreme court nomination, reporters noted that he defied categorization and refused to critically -- uncritically accept orthodoxy of any stripe. even liberal columnists acknowledged that the nominee's intellectual independence was great. this strength of character has

not changed and makes it possible for justice thomas to advance his deep conviction about the principles of liberty. the first principle is the inherent quality -- equality of every human being. as the declaration of independence states, government exists to secure the inalienable rights of individuals. justice thomas has called the constitution a logical extension of the declaration's principles. the second principle of liberty that defines justice thomas' service is the necessity of limits on government, including judges. in 1988 wheelchairman of the eeoc, he made an important presentation at the federalist society's annual symposium. the related principles of equality and god-given unalienable rights he said are -- quote -- the best defense of limited government of the separation of powers, and of the judicial restraijts that flows

-- restraint that flows from the commitment of government -- unquote . he said many times he resists a single label or a category for his screw dicial philosophy or his understanding of the power and role of judges in our system of government. in that 1988 speech, however, he said that liberty and limited government are the foundation for what he called -- quote -- a judiciary active in defending the constitution but judicious in its restraint and mod ration -- moderation -- unquote . they explained is the only alternative to the willfulness of both run amok majorities and run amok judges -- unquote . to put it simply justice thomas draws a direct connection between equality and god-given unalienable right, limited government, and liberty itself. this means that each branch of government including the judiciary should be active but only within its proper bounds.

the judiciary consistent with liberty will be active in properly interpreting and applying the constitution and will be restrained in declining to exercise power to manipulate or change the law. in 1990 after being appointed to the u.s. court of appeals, clarence had lunch with a friend and reflected on his now or his new judicial role. every time they put on the robe, he said, i have to remember that i am only a judge. that sounds unusual today but then we live in an age of run amok judges engaging in what the late justice anthony scalia called power judging. justice thomas' statement would not, however, have sounded strange to america's founders. alexander hamilton after all wrote that because the screw dish-year may exercise judgment but may not exercise will, it is the weakest and least dangerous

branch. in 2008, two legal scholars wrote about justice thomas in "the wall street journal." they quoted him describing his basic yet profound judicial philosophy this way. it's not my constitution to play around with, he said. -- quote -- i just think we should interpret the constitution as it's drafted, not as we would have drafted it -- unquote . properly active judiciary will interpret the constitution as it is already drafted and a properly -- judiciary will refuse to interpret the constitution the way judges would have drafted it. that is what judges are supposed to do in our system of government. they're supposed to interpret the constitution as it was drafted. judges must take the law as they find it and applied impartially to decide cases. that is their job. they're part of the system of

government that supports liberty and freedom. this is the kind of judge that we few and know -- that we knew clarence thomas would be, a judge who knows both the purpose and the limits of the power the constitution gives him. this is also the reason that many fought so hard against his appointment and continued to criticize his service. the debate over justice thomas' supreme court nomination was a debate over what kind of judge should be appointed in america. his opponents and critics want judges who will interpret the constitution as the judges would have drafted it as those particular judges would have drafted it. in other words, they wanted a judiciary that is inconsistent with liberty, a judiciary that will control the law rather than be controlled by the law. they're concerned more about power than about liberty. thankfully justice thomas is the kind of judge that our liberty

requires in defending liberty is what he is doing for america, for each one of us. we've all passed by the national archives building which sits on constitution avenue just a few blocks from here. one of the statues in front bears the inscription "owe eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." justice thomas is paying that price of vigilance. mr. president, a judge's clerks in a unique and special way become a family. justice thomas' clerks have become partners at america's best law firms and professors at her finest law schools carrying within the principles and lessons he taught about how to protect liberty. as i did five years ago when celebrating justice thomas' 20th anniversary, i asked some of his former clerks to send letters about the justice.

and i ask consent they be included in the record following my remarks here today. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: thank you, mr. president. the principles of liberty established by america's founders are the same principles to which clarence thomas' deeply committed. but it is -- but it is when those principles are fueled by personal character, integrity and brilliance that they become a powerful force that defines a nation and helps chart its future. on july 1, 1991, when president bush announced he was nominating clarence thomas to the supreme court, clarence said his grandparents, his mother and the nuns who taught him -- quote -- "were adamant that i grow up and make something of myself." my friend clarence, i have to say not only did you exceed all of those expectations, but your

service, character, and example are helping to make something good out of the rest of us. also on a more personal note, the unexpected death of justice scalia has been a profound loss in many ways, including for his friend and colleague, clarence thomas. on several different levels, personally, philosophically, even spiritually, they were close, fellow travelers, if you will. justice scalia's death is a great personal loss but also created a void that i am confident justice thomas is already filling in continuing to stand for the principles they mutually shared. a few years ago -- a few months ago, rather, justice thomas was the commencement speaker at hills dale college in michigan. he cautioned that today there is more emphasis on our rights and what we are owed than on our obligations and what we can give. and he asked this question, if

we are not making deposits to replenish our liberties, then who is? unquote. by his character and convictions, clarence thomas continues to make those deposits and maintain the vigilance necessary to replenish and protect our liberty. america gave him much and he is returning even more. finally, i'd just like to say as a personal friend, birthday with almost awesome -- all of the justice but especially in this instance, clarence thomas, he has far exceeded what many of us thought he would be able to do on the court. i thought that he would be great, that he would do a great job as a justice on the supreme court. but he's gone even beyond my expectations. he is a great justice. he's a person of great quality,

of great character, and of great spirit. you cannot be around him very long without laughing and enjoying life. you can't be around him very long without knowing that this is one heck of a unique individual, somebody who really deserves to be on the supreme court, who really has made a process and bringing it great justice. i'm proud of him. i'm proud of what he's been able to do. i'm proud of what he has become. i'm proud of the growth that he continually makes in life. i've always been proud of clarence thomas, justice of the united states supreme court. mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mrs. mccaskill: mr. president, i rise --

mr. cassidy: mr. president, i rise again today to bring attention to the devastating floods to my state of louisiana, being called the great flood of 2016. in a few days 7.1 million gallons of rain fell in louisiana, more than fell from katrina. the flooding caused $8.7 billion worth of damage to homes and businesses. a flood event of this magnitude is such a low probability it's called a thousand-year flood. to put this in perspective, statistically, the last time a flood of this magnitude would have occurred in this area would have been 500 years before christopher columbus discovered the americas. it is hard to comprehend, but this chart may help. we all know the devastation caused by hurricane sandy and of katrina, rita and wilma in

2005. here is the -- and this is from the 19 -- excuse me -- 1871 chicago flood. this is the fourth-largest disaster -- i'm sorry, the fifth after the 1906 san francisco earthquake. in the last 100 years, this is the third-largest disaster in american history. , the 2016 louisiana flood. i'll note the national hurricane center was unable to warn for this. they said rain's going to start. it started to rain, and the next day there was flooding. most folks flooded had never been flooded before, living in areas that they were told were not at risk for flooding. the first parishes did not have time to evacuate or to prepare. here you can see a family being helped out by volunteers. in the back you see what is called a high-water vehicle. it doesn't flood out. but it is a single vehicle.

and there were as many as 30,000 folks evacuated from their homes from what was called the cajun navy. americans helping americans get out. now, by the way, this is a residential street. this is a neighborhood in which you can see the street itself flooded. and this family now, their belongings are now piled up on the side of a road. they escaped with what they now have, which are the bags that they hold. this is one family, but so far 144,000 people -- 144,000 people have applied for individual assistance through fema. i would suggest these people need to know that their fellow americans care about them. just as important for our community small businesses were hit too. according to the local newspaper, 12,000 small businesses in the area flooded,

have been, if you will, out of commission because of the flood. this is from denim springs. it is a town right across the river from east baton rouge parish and here you see everything they are selling piled up on the side of the road. of course this is tragic for the business, but think about the community. the national flood insurance program estimates that 40% of small businesses flood, never recover and never go back into business. this is tragic not just for the business owner, but also for the people who she employs. because you've just destroyed and the job and the opportunity for everyone who she does. now, it's one thing to look at statistics and to look at just the scope, the huge scope of this disaster, but i return to the fact that it is a disaster affecting individuals and acting families, people who have lost

everything. when i say everything, they still have their life, but the flood waters have now receded and you would say, wait, how could flood waters have receded? we still have a home under which there is obviously a lot of water. this flood was so devastating that there's a community called cypress point in french settlement. the homes are built in the 2000's, far above the base flood elevation and they were told they were not at risk of flooding. the flood waters rose, though, to 46 feet above flood level and it ripped out the ground beneath the homes. what you are looking at used to be ground beneath the home. and now the river has taken away the bank, and these homes are sitting in a river. ten of these homes are being condemned, and there's a

certain kind of bitterness these folks must feel. first, they didn't think they were going to flood. if they wanted to come back and put supports under their home, they'll have to get an army corps of engineers permit to do that. if their home falls into the river, which looks like that could happen, they have to pay to remove their home from that river. they are going to be caught coming and going. and again, these homes are built above the base flood elevation. this is dorothy brooks. dorothy is 78. she's obviously being rescued. she's wheelchair bound. so here's someone from the sheriff's office, sergeant thomas wheeler, carried her

out. dorothy did not have time to get out on her own. you can still see rain falling even though water is up to about three or four feet. many seniors like dorothy were able to return to their home, but due to their age they could not rip it out. so you have carpet and sheet rock that if your home's flooded to four feet you have to go around and physically take the sheet rock out and the insulation that is behind it, the carpet and wood floors -- if not mold comes in. here's a tragic example. roy and vera rodney are both in their 80's. they had four inches of water enter their home. a fema inspector told them it was habitable so they were denied repairs and rent assistance but they didn't have family nearby. they couldn't gut their house. they couldn't repair it. so the water, damage, cars and furniture stayed and predictably mold appeared. they could no longer live, they

were evacuated elsewhere. now they have mold throughout their home and it is unhabitable. because they couldn't get the aid they needed cost of recovery grew with time. if there is a metaphor here, it is this, it is they. if you are not able to get the aid when needed the cost of recovery grows with time. roy and vera were not required to purchase flood insurance. they live in zone x and zone x is thought to be at such low risk for flooding flood insurance is not required. about 80% of the homes that were flooded did not have flood insurance not because they didn't purchase it, on purpose when they were told to, but because they were told they lived in low-risk areas, such low risk for flooding that flood insurance was not required. i will say that is why federal aid is so critical. we've got thousands of families, thousands of families

completely caught off guard, unprepared, no fault of their own, caught by a freak of nature, a 1,000-year flood, now struggling to pick up the pieces. they're trying to make the decision do i stay and rebuild or do i just move on? family businesses, louisiana needs help. i ask that we pass this funding bill quickly. people are hurting, people need help. some look at this picture and just see dpee bree. this may be -- just see debris. this could be any community. i would say that's not debris. that's a wedding dress that was saved for 20 years. it is picture albums, children's toys, clothes to go to work, textbooks, memorabilia, it is their life piled up on the road. i'm thankful that senate leadership has put what they are calling a down payment in the continuing resolution. this reassures families that their fellow americans care and that they can rebuild and

prosper. but we are not through yet. helping each other is a fundamental american value. i urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to support this legislation, to help families faced with losing their homes and losing everything. tell folks pick up the pieces and put their lives back together. to americans across the country call your senator. ask them to support dorothy rayenvera. thank you, and i yield back. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, in recognition of prescription opioid and heroin epidemic awareness week, i am here to convey the urgency of responding to this crisis. ladies and gentlemen, we are coming to the point of no return in this national discussion of opioid addiction. between 2013 and 2015, the

united states saw an increase of more than 8,000% in the amount of synthetic opioids like fentanyl seized by the united states customs and border protection. but wait, it gets worse. the massachusetts state police crime laboratory tells my office that from 2013 to 2015, the number of items seized by law enforcement that tested positive for fentanyl increased by 10,000%. we are watching as this class 5 hurricane is making landfall. and unless we do something to stop it, we will watch fentanyl lay waste to community after community all across the united

states of america. fentanyl is the godzilla of opioids. it's stronger. it is deadlier, and it is coming to every family in our country unless we do something now. between 2013 and 2014, more than 700 deaths in the united states were attributed to fentanyl and its components. that's for the whole country. but according to the massachusetts department of public health, as of last month, unintentional opioid overdose deaths in my state since january has skyrocketed from january to

the end of june. there were 488 confirmed cases of fentanyl over -- overdose opioid deaths in my own state alone. there were only 700 deaths in the whole country from fentanyl between 2013 and 2014. fentanyl was now been confirmed in two-thirds of all of the overdose deaths in massachusetts so far this year. it was 57% of the deaths last year in 2015. now it's up to 66% of the deaths. many drug users overdose on fentanyl because they have no

idea that it is mixed into whatever substance they are injecting or whatever pills they are swallowing. they do not realize just how deadly it is. it also poses a serious threat to the men and women who are first to respond to the scene of an overdose. if the powder is absorbed into the skin or accidentally inhaled, it can be deadly, making our first responders especially vulnerable to the drug's harmful effects. just last week, 11 members of a swat team fell ill after a bust in connecticut where they encountered deadly fentanyl. we know that mexico and china are the primary foreign sources of illicit fentanyl, and for the chemical building blocks from

which it is made and then trafficked into the united states. the business model for those who manufacture and sell fentanyl is simple. fentanyl is cheaper. fentanyl is more potent, and fentanyl is more addictive than heroin. we must make stopping the trafficking of fentanyl into the united states from mexico and china one of our highest foreign policy priorities. we must elevate it up to what we are trying to put together as a plan to fight isis. we must put it up there with a plan to ensure that we protect our jobs from copyright or trade infringement. we must elevate this importation of fentanyl to the very highest level of foreign policy concern in our country.

i was pleased to see reports of recent cooperation between the united states and china in combating fentanyl trafficking, including a commitment by china to target u.s.-bound exports of substances controlled in the united states and in agreement -- an agreement to increase the exchange of law enforcement and scientific information that can lead to coordinated actions to controlled substances and chemicals of concern. and we are improving information sharing on heroin and fentanyl between our government and mexico. next month, mexico, canada and the united states will meet for anorth american drug dialogue and a commitment to developing an approach to combating opioids including fentanyl and its precursor chemicals and analogues. but there is so much more that we must do.

fentanyl is an overseas invader of a different kind, but it is equally deadly. we must continue to elevate the fight against fentanyl and make it one of our highest national and international priorities. i have introduced a senate resolution calling for cooperation to stop the trafficking of illicit fentanyl from overseas. it is a bipartisan resolution with the support of senator rubio, and i thank my friend, senator shaheen, for cosponsoring as well. our resolution expresses the sense of the senate that the united states government and the governments of mexico and china have a shared interest in and responsibility for stopping the trafficking of fentanyl into the united states and all of those three countries should develop joint actions to attain that goal. i urge my colleagues to cosponsor this resolution and to

recognize the grave seriousness of the challenge illicit fentanyl poses to our country and to make shopping the trafficking of that drug into the united states a national priority. and let's be clear. stopping the overprescription of opioid pain medication that is fueling addiction to heroin and fentanyl and countless overdoses starts with the prescribers. we need to require anyone who prescribes opioid pain medication and other controlled substances to undergo mandatory training on safe prescribing practices and the identification of possible substance use disorders. we need to make sure that people who entered the judicial system don't arbitrarily have their medicaid coverage terminated, making it more difficult to access treatment once they are

released and as a result fueling the vicious cycle of reincarceration. we need to make sure that all opioids approved by the food and drug administration are first reviewed by independent experts to ensure that those drugs are not only safe and effective but also won't continue to fuel the epidemic of addiction in this country. we need to make sure that prescription drug monitoring programs are fully utilized and nationally interoperable in order to prevent doctor shopping where one doctor doesn't know that another doctor has already prescribed, where one person moves from a state to another state with multiple doctors who are prescribing the same prescription drug. that must end. we must let big phrma know that their army of lobbyists will be matched by an army of advocates that work every day to raise awareness and to save lives. in boston, there is an area of

our city called the methadone mile. it is approximately a one-square mile. it is the proximity of shelters that is also home to those struggling with addiction, those receiving treatment for addiction and the litany of saints and angels who are providing the desperately needed services for those suffering from mental health and substance abuse disorders. it is a one-mile, one-stop shop for hope and ground zero in the battle against addiction in boston. here in washington, we are at the epicenter of the money mile. it's both an area where big pharm a's lobbyists toil with the task of ensuring that even during this storm of prescription drug, heroin and fentanyl overdose deaths, the deluge of prescriptions for

opiate-based pain killers goes unabated. according to a story out this week from the associated press and center for public integrity, the pharmaceutical industry spent more than $880 million nationwide on lobbying and campaign contributions from 2006-2015. that's more than eight times what even the n.r.a. and the gun lobby recorded for activities during that time period. when pitted against the money mile, the methadone mile doesn't stand a chance. money mile and its army of big pharmalobbyists are the reason that mandatory prescriber education is not the law. it is the reason that the food and drug administration has been in manial instances complicit -- in many instances complicit in the worsening of this epidemic. without real funding for opioid addiction treatment, the

methadone mile and all the other areas in cities across the country will continue to drown in overdoses and deaths. our cities are fighting a war, and we need to help them. throughout massachusetts, people are growing angrier and angrier by the day. they are frustrated by the lack of response to this epidemic by congress, and frankly so am i. the deaths caused by this epidemic are growing exponentially every single year, but the only thing that outpaces those deaths are the empty promises of funding made by this congress. i believe history will judge this congress by how we responded to the prescription drug, heroin and fentanyl epidemic that is devastating this country. we have little more than 100 days left in this congress to do the right thing, 100 days to show the american people that partisan politics will not

impede our responsibility to respond to what may ultimately become the greatest public health crisis of the 21st century in the united states. the united states congress has an opportunity to let all those who are struggling with addiction know that help is on the way, to know that we have heard their stories and that we will not forget them. we must let them know that no matter how dark life seems right now, that there is hope and that sunlight will grace them once again. treatment works. recovery is possible. but this congress must provide the funding for that treatment, for that recovery. we must fund the $1.1 billion the president is asking for the opioid crisis in our country. we can no longer turn a blind eye, a deaf ear to that request. families all across our country

desperately need this help. there is a terrorist that is across the streets of every city and town in our country. it is this opioid epidemic. it is a terrorist that is more deadly for those families than anything that could ever affect an american that is going on in aleppa. it kills 30,000 people a year, and the numbers are growing on the streets of our country. we know what the cause of it is. we know that more treatment is needed for those who are already affected. it is the responsibility of this congress to provide that funding. as we now talk about a continuing resolution, the republicans still refuse to talk about funding for this opioid crisis. if we do not deal with this issue, we do not deal with the public health crisis on the streets of our country right

now. i urge every member, regardless of party, to listen to the families of this country, to listen to those who are suffering, who need help and are looking to us to give them the assistance which they need. these family members are heroes, but heroes need help. they're turning to us, and so far we have not given them the help or the treatment and the recovery programs which they need. mr. president, i at this point yield back the balance of my time. the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: mr. president, i ask to be recognized to speak as if in morning business. mr. president, first of all, i want to -- the news has already been out there today that there is a broader issue about funding of government that remains in play with some issues and we will debate back and forth about

that and that will continue, but i want to talk in specific about one of the provisions that's involved in this, and that's the funding for zika, which as my colleagues know i have been discussing here for quite some time over the last few months as it spread. let me begin by reminding everyone of the state in play in florida, my home state and across the country as well, there -- let's start with the united states. across the u.s. territories, there are now close to 20,000 cases of zika. there are over 3,300 infections in the mainland of the united states, 867 of them in florida. 90 of them were transmitted locally, meaning it happened in the state. there are 89 infections in florida involving pregnant women. there are 85 infections now among u.s. service members, two of them pregnant. there was an infection -- there is 21 dependents of u.s. service members with zika, one of them is pregnant. so this is an issue that continues to grow in urgency, and it's taken far too long for congress to act. both parties, as i said

repeatedly, are to blame, but we're here at this point. what i'm more optimistic about is the fact that we have reached a bipartisan agreement to fund the federal government's response to this virus. it's a $1.1 billion package and in this there's $15 million for states that have local transmissions. th 15 million. it also includes $60 million specifically for territories like the island of puerto rico, which has had the highest number of infected citizens, and that's by far. so next week inteerkted to vote on -- so next week we're expected to vote on these anti-zika virus package. i knee some of those other issues are yet to be worked out. there's going to be some extensive debate about some of the other issues remaining. but this provision is an important part of this and has to be part of the final package as we send it over to the house.

i begin by laying this out today in the hopes that not just my colleagues will support the funding mechanism for zika but also begin to speak a little bit to some of our house colleagues on the other side about how important it is that we get the anti-zika fundin funding fundint this money can begin to flow and we can help those being hurt by the virus. also so medical researchers can begin to develop a vaccine without worrying about their resources drying owvment i think this package that's been put together in a bipartisan way rightfully prioritizes funding for americans in puerto rico and in florida and i'm encouraged that our repeated calls for action on their behalf are beginning to be answered. i think if we go through some of the details of it here, as some of it becomes public, i know some are issues that people will care about. it provides the $1 .1 billion -- by the way, the senate has already passed the provision back in may. so the as soo senate has alreadd on this once.

it is important because we're going to have to lead the way in how this is structured. among it, there's almost about $400 million for mosquito control and surveillance. that's money that'll go to the centers for disease control and prevention. it's going to do things like support is recognize they are control, technical assistance for states, and also international response activities. of this arntle by the way, $44 million is to reimburse states for public health emergency preparedness funding that was transferred for zika response activities. there is about $400 million for a vaccine in diagnostic development through the national institutes of health and the biomedical advanced research and development authority. and this is strictly related to research to zika. vaccine development. the commercialization of diagnostic tests. it is hard to get a test for zika now. i had someone who i know well a couple weeks ago could not find a place that would do the test because there is not a commercially available one widely available. it provides about $75 million to reimburse health care providers in the states and u.s. territories that have active

zika transmissions. for those without private health insurance, that includes 40*dz million for community health centers in puerto rico and u.s. territories, $6 million for the national health services corps in puerto rico, $20 million for maternal child health projects of regio regional and national significance in puerto rico and the u.s. territories. it requires a spending plan not later than 30 days after this act is passed. so it has oversight, and it provides about $1 million for oversight activities. just to make sure the money is being appropriately targeted. if you continue to move forward, it also has about $175 million to support response efforts related to the zika virus. for example, a diplomatic and consular program, $14 million to support -- to address the zika virus abroad. that includes by the way our own personnel. emergencies in the diplomatic consular service, about $4 million to support potential costs of evacuating u.s. citizens from zika-affected

countries. there is a million to enable financing of a $1.9 million in repatriation loans to u.s. citizens seeking to leave a zika-affected area outside of the united states or who have been exposed to or contracted zika. as part of the global health programs, there is another $145 million to support the ability of affected countries to implement vector management and control programs to reduce the transmission of the virus. a and thiand this is important a the love cases that are coming, this is how it's coming. you have u.s. visitorser visitoe countries. some people are trying to come into the united states even if they come in on a tourist visa, or what have you. part of this effort is to control it abroad so if doesn't spread and reach here. so there is a lot, as i said. this is complex, there's lot of funds available. the good news is it is being targeted in the right direction. the good news for florida is, as

the only state so far that's had a local transmission of zika, we equal foy for the $15 million which will behelpful for florida. this took some people to come together. there is a lot of political rhetoric surrounding this. but i think we've reached the point now where we at least when it comes to zika can rally around the proposal that's before us. it is as good as we're going to get, given the time constraints that we face. and my colleagues, we've waited far too long. we cannot leave here on the 30th of september, next week, without getting this done. i urge my colleagues to support it. i would urge my house members to goin look at this. we have to take action on this once and for all. this gives us the best chance of success. i am cautiously optimistic that we are going to be able to get this done over here. i say "cautiously" because i want people at home to understand that this provision of zika is part of a bigger,

much bigger product that involves funding the federal government. and there are all sorts of overr issues that are still be debated. the minority leader and others have spoken today, i have read in the press, and they are not big fans of the proposal on the table. so there is a broader issue at play that could derail zika having nothing to do with zika funding t there are other issues that could derail zika that have nothing to do with zika. other issues that have to do with funding the government. i don't think anyone wants to see a government shutdown, of course. but yoindz $ed beyond it, we have to get moving on this funding. this has taken far too long. if this money doesn't start flowing -- i have been really hard on the administration about spending the money that's already available to them. but now i can tell you that that money is slowly dwindling. if we don't get something done here in the next few weeks, the next few days, the research on the vaccines will stop. that means it will take longer

to develop a vaccine. you want to save money on zika and this issue, develop a vaccine. develop a vaccine. that's what needs to happen. that can't happen if the fund something being threatened or if the funding is not something they can count on to move forward on. and also these local governments and municipalities in the state of floridaful have already spent significant amounts of money to deal with this issue, including mosquito control efforts. that's important. these cases are going to happen whether we fund it or not. that's why i wanted us to do this in april and in may and in june and in july. it took too long. but here's where we are. better late than nemplet let's get this done as soon as possible so we can give asniewrnses to the people back home that the federal government has stepped up and their representatives have done their jobs to deal with this issue once and for all. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: and the clerk should call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, i ask the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: today i rise to discuss an issue vital to our country and planet, climate change. when president kennedy told the nation we would land a man on the moon by the end. 160's, he said "we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win." it was an ambitious goal, one that many believe was beyond reach. the technology was not all in place. but on july 20, 1969, america

and the entire world watched neal armstrong take one giant leap for mankind and become the first human to walk on the moon. it was a powerful moment. we achieved president kennedy's vision. we accomplished the improbable. we accomplished what many people thought was impossible. because america and the american people are known for overcoming great challenges and achieving the impossible and because we set an ambitious goal that inspired us to push past the limits of what we had previously thought achievable, and now we have to do it again. but rather than looking out to the moon or out to the stars, we have to focus here on spaceship

earth and save our planet from catastrophic climate change. and we have to move quickly because to save our planet, our beautiful blue-green planet, we have to keep it from warming more than two degrees celsius, which is 3.6 degrees fahrenheit. and the planet has already warmed nearly one degree celsius since we started burning fossil fuels, and we are running out of time. moreover, despite growing attention, growing concern around the world, humankind's production of global warming gas is still increasing rather than decreasing. we are in a race against time. and at this moment we are losing that race.

so we need immediate bold action, and that is why in the upcoming months i will introduce a plan that challenges our nation to transition to 100% clean and renewable energy by the year 2050, a plan referred to as "100 by 50." the plan will set a goal of having no more than 50% of our country's energy come from fossil fuels by 2050 and a complete phase-out of energy from fossil fuels by the year 2050. there will be those who, as with president kennedy's challenge, will say this is i don't -- this beyond reach. but we already have in hand the vast majority of the technology needed to meet this challenge. we need market incentives that will dramatically accelerate the introduction and deployment of these technologies. we need a continued effort to

improve the affordable care act and efficiency of these technologies. like going to the moon, this has to be a challenge that our generation is willing to accept. i'm willing to postpone -- unwilling to postpone and that we intend to win. because climate change is here and it's already having devastating impacts on our world. we can observe climate change in many different ways, through temperature readings of the planet, through the measurement of carbon dioxide which drives temperature increases and we can see it through the changing, damaging facts on the ground from glaciers to fire seasons to droughts to rising sea levels. consider this. since may of 2015, each and every month has set a new temperature record. the hottest may of 2015, hotter

than any maybe before it, june 2015, hotter than any june ever recorded. july 2015, hotter than any july ever recorded. and so forth 16 months in a row. and as nassau has recently -- nasa has recently announced, august of this year, 2016, has tied july of this year 2016 as the hottest month ever recorded, not just the hottest july, not just the hottest august, not just the hottest months of the year but the two hottest months ever recorded on our planet. to put that into context, global temperatures in august were almost a full degree celsius above the 20th century average, well on the way to reaching that 2-degree threshold that scientists refer to as the

threshold for catastrophic consequences. but it isn't that catastrophic consequences start just when we reach 2 degrees. we can already see the effects on the ground and we can already see the carbon dioxide that is driving temperature is continuing to rise steadily. we know that the carbon dioxide spewing into the air from the burning of fossil fuels is driving those temperatures. that's because as we burn more fossil fuels and emit more car been dioxide, the carbon dioxide traps the planet heat on our surfaces and global temperatures rise higher and higher. you can see that pattern going back hundreds and to us of years but you can also see it just looking at the time from 1959 till now. we've increased substantially the amount of carbon dioxide from 300 parts per million to now we've broken 400 parts per

million. and during that time the temperatures have risen steady just copying that carbon dioxide level just as it has over hundreds of thousands of years before. what we also see is that in this black line which is the carbon dioxide level, we see that the slope is going upwards, meaning that the rate of humankind's pollution is increasing, not decreasing. not so long ago scientists said, we must curtail the pollution of the planet at 350 parts per million. that's down here, 350 parts. we are no longer there. we passed that level quite a while ago in the late 1980's and here we are at 400, steadily going up. so we see it in the temperature,

the hottest months ever on record, 16 months in a row. we see it in the carbon dioxide, but we can see it wherever we travel in this country through the facts on the ground. take my home state of oregon. our fire season is now 60 days longer than it was 40 years ago with ever greater acreage being burned. just this summer we saw two wildfires, the cherry road and rail fires burn more than 100 square miles of land. another example, warmer winter months failing to kill the pine beetles magnifying their intructive in-- intructive in-- destructive infestations and the pacific ocean, the level is higher than it was before we started burning coal and gas and oil 150 years ago. that was before the industrial

revolution. it's making it much harder for the oysters to be able to reproduce, to form shells in those first few days of life. now, you may wonder, what does ocean acidity have to do with global warming. here's the situation. the carbon dioxide we're putting into the area, much is being absorbed by the ocean. the amount that is left is the amount you saw on that chart a moment ago. but the amount the ocean absorbs becomes carbonic acid and the ocean is so vast. it's almost unimaginable that there could be enough carbon dioxide that we're putting into the air to be absorbed by the ocean to create enough carbonic acid to change the acidity level but that is exactly in fact what has happened. and if the shells of our oysters are being affected, what else is being facilitied in the food -- is being affected in the food chain? what about the impact on coral reefs, for example?

but obviously it's not just oregon that's feeling the impact. every state you go to you can find the impact, the facts on the ground. you see communities all along the east coast from key west to miami to wilmington, north carolina, annapolis, new york, experiencing sunny day flooding because of rising sea levels. we have watched the glaciers of glacier national park dwindle from is 50 in 1910 to just 25 today. and as with the pine beetle, warmer winters are great for ticks and out of control tick populations are killing the moose in minnesota and new hampshire. and the lobsters of maine are moving north. and that's not all. it's like the ten plagues in ancient egypt. more devastating droughts, more powerful floods, fiercer storms. it's a direct assault on rural

america, a direct assault on our fishing, on our forestry and on our forming. and -- and on our farming. and that matters. that matters for rural america. it matters for urban america. our earth is changing at lightning speed right before our eyes. we can evaluate this change through temperature records. we can evaluate it through the recording of carbon dioxide levels. we can evaluate through the facts on the ground. and it's all going to get much worse year by year. so there is no time to wait. to save our planet we must move quickly. we must move boldly to end the burning of fossil fuels and to do so in a short period of time. we must completely transform our energy system.

in the first half of 2016, roughly 60% of our nation's total energy output came from burning fossil fuels. the good news there if we've already made a significant reduction, if you will, of the total energy picture, there is a lot of clean and renewable energy we are producing. but we have so much further to go. on these bar charts, what we're seeing in red is the amount of energy in different sectors, residential, commercial, industrial, transportation, and a generation of electricity. the red represents what's being produced by fossil fuels. and the green represents what's being produced by clean renewable energy. these red bars have got to go. we need to transform completely and do so to the green bars, to

renewable and clean energy by 2050. this goal is achievable but it's going to take enormous political courage. those vested deeply in the fossil fuel economy will for their personal profit, their company's profit try to hold on to the fossil fuel energy economy. it will not matter to them that they're destroying the planet, but it should certainly matter to every single senator who serves in the u.s. senate and every member of the house. we are responsible. we are responsible to take on this challenge. the first thing we should do because it is fabulously effective tool is to put a fee on carbon. a fee on carbon drives our

economy to eliminate carbon in the most cost effective ways unleashing a torrent of technology, development -- technology development and technology deployment, the best possible cost effective way to churn these red bars -- turn these red bars into green bars. we've seen this work before. we applied this strategy to sulfurdoxide and the result was less expense in less time than anyone imagined we were able to tackle that problem. the impact of a price on carbon will be immediate. and it will be substantial. and one of the reasons it will be immediate is we already have significant, powerful technologies that will be mobilized by such a carbon fee. let's examine some of the major energy sectors starting with

electricity. the potential electricity we could generate in the u.s. from just wind and solar is over 120 times the amount of electricity currently generated from fossil fuels. this is the amount of energy currently generated in electricity from fossil fuels. this large green sphere is the potential energy, the theoretical potential energy from solar and wind. so we have a lot to work with. and here's more good news. the solar and wind energy has grown increasingly affordable in recent years. a photo solar panels for instance produce electricity at 39 cents per kilowatt hour in 2009. that's up here. 39 cents per kilowatt hour.

in 2014, 8 cents. almost a five-fold reduction. so we see in communities and cities all across the country, businesses and homes with solar panels on their rooftops. we start to see businesses putting up a raise, not just a rooftop but sometimes in their yards. those declining costs really matter and you put a carbon fee on top of it, and you drive fast deployment. over the same period the cost of wind was cut by more than half from 14 cents per kilowatt hour to about 6 cents per kilowatt hour. in the two years since these 2014 numbers, the story has continued to be one of declining costs. those declining costs with federal tax credits have resulted in a rapid growth in wind and solar energy deployme deployment. let's take a look at solar side.

we have in the red line the declining costs per kilowatt hour of solar energy, and in the blue bars the increasing deployment of solar energy. that's pretty today dra -- pretty dramatic. rapid drops in cost. rapid increases in deployment. and we see the same thing in wind. on wind power, we see the declining costs curve here and we see the increased deployment really since the year 2000. in the early 200's i was -- 2000's i was talking to folks, interested in running for the oregon state legislature. the first trip i took, i was traveling in an area and i saw the first big wind turbines being deployed on the plateau east of the cascades.

then six months later, a year later, two years later huge increase in deployment of wind mimicking what we see on this chart right here. here is a fascinating number. in the first quarter, that is, the first three months of this year, 96% of the new electricity generation capacity has come from wind and solar. that's a stunning number. most people think the new generation capacity is coming from natural gas because it's dropped so much in cost. 96% in the first three months of this year came from wind and solar. if we make a national commitment to these and other clean renewable energy source, such as geo thermal and wave energy, we can absolutely achieve a hundred

percent green electrons, clean, renewable electrons by the year 2050 eliminating fossil fuels in the generation of electricity. now, this vision is not without challenges, just as the journey to the moon was not without challenges. most significantly, we have to match the supply of the variable solar and wind energy to the demand for electricity. as we know, for solar and wind to generate electricity, the sun has to shine and the wind has to blow. but there are a number of ways we can tackle this challenge. one answer is to shift demand through peak load pricing, encouraging consumers, for example, to ship flexible consumption like drying your clothes to amount of supply.