like these, i know how inadequate words can be. but if there was some comfort that i could offer, it is that his death is not in vain. it's something good -- something good will come out of this. and i think that is true. this repair process isn't going to be quick or easy. it's not something we can turn to next week and take off our plate and forget about it. this has been a long march since america was founded when we made the original sin, committed the original sin of treating part of our population, our african american population, as something less than fully human. we fought a civil war over slavery, and in the 1960's we had a pretty controversial and kay to thetic times, which led to -- chaotic times which led to legislative work that protected the vote of minorities and

protected civil rights writ large. so this is going to require a long-term bipartisan commitment. but not just from us in washington but folks in the state capitals, city halls, and police departments across the country. because ultimately it's the local officials that have the responsibility to hire and fire the police chief, to make sure that bad police officers are removed from the force. and that's where the near-term responsibility needs to lie, because we don't have that capability here. but we do believe, i do believe there are concrete steps we can take right now to address the racial injustices that were exposed once again with the death of mr. floyd. so i appreciate senator scott and leader mcconnell for responding to this crisis with the urgency that it deserves, and i'm proud to be part of this effort in the senate.

mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from. the presiding officer: the senator from missouri. a senator: i move we suspend the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: this week we're considering the bipartisan american great outdoors act. i think it's fair to say this is one of the most important

packages of conservation legislation we've seen in a long time. it might be fair to say that it's the most important piece of legislation since president theodore roosevelt dramatically made additions to the national park system just a little more than 100 years ago. the bill essentially combines two important provisions, the restore our parks act and the land and water conservation full funding act. i'm a cosponsor of both of those. we have been trying to do the things that those two bills both do for a long time, and here we are. you know, during world war ii, mr. president, within just a few days of d-day, president eisenhower, at that time general eisenhower, had a view that sometimes if a problem is too big to solve or seems to be too hard to solve, you solve it by making it bigger. interestingly, what we've done here with two things that we've

been trying to do for a long time, to have more full access to the reason the land and water conservation act was created, and to do a better job maintaining our parks, that's all been combined into the great american outdoors act. the first thing this act does is make a significant investment for the deferred maintenance that we have on all kinds of federal land. it's one of our challenges as a government generally. it's been specifically one of our challenges as it relates to the national park system, to the forest service, to the fish and wildlife service, to the bureau of land management. every one of those has deferred maintenance issues that have been there for a long time. in fact, some of them have been there for decades. i mentioned earlier that the park system, as we now know it,

is a little more than 100 years old, some of these maintenance issues are decades-old, maybe 50 years old. maybe half of the life of the entire park service we've had these issues on a list of something needs to be done in yellowstone of the high bridge that thousands of cars go over every summer. that bridge needs to be repaired. of the war marines systems -- of the water maintenance systems in our parks where particularly they have overnight accommodations and other things, many of those systems are almost as old as the dark itself -- park itself. buildings we have on all of those locations where the access is no longer appropriate and hasn't been for a a long time. sometimes that meant you closed the visitor's center, close that part of the park that people previously had a way to get in,

see a display or see an exhibit, but because of the issues that should have been fixed long ago, they haven't been. i've been saying for several years now that the second century of the park system needs to be different than the first century of the park system. more private-public relationships. we saw a great example of that at the renewal of the arch and the museum and the area in st. louis that just had a significant effort made almost all by either local or private funds. very few federal dollars there. but if you're going to have a public-private partnership, the public needs to do its part but -- and we're talking today about how the public would do its part of maintaining the parks, expanding the parks, building new facility, repairing a facility, of changing access to a facility, but a lot of this deferred maintenance will not

even be all that obvious. it's just something that has to be done. and because it's not all that obvious, the bridge hasn't collapsed yet, the water system still appears to be producing water that people can use so let's worry about that at some future time. well, the future time, mr. president, is here. this act will work to help improve the visitor experience at the park service, certainly at the units in my state and, mr. president, in your state. i have been to a number of the facilities in georgia that will be impacted by this. in missouri, the westward expansion that is celebrated at the arch where we just made a significant investment in that facility, the truman home and independence would be a national park service facility. the first park in america dedicated to an african american, a national

park, the george washington carver park at diamond would be a place that would potentially benefit from this. the new park that we established in ste. genevieve, new jersey that has more of the original architecture, big porches that would have looked like a farmhouse in normandy with a caribbean porch put on it, numbers of those are going to create the best -- one of the best walking historic parks in america. that park would benefit. so the federal park system benefits, but also this legislation includes permanent annual funding for the land and water conservation fund. now, when you think of the title of the fund, why would you have to do permanent funding to be sure that the land and water conservation fund got spent on land and water? it doesn't seem to be a genius

move to do what we're doing here. but what we're doing here with this fund is taking about $900 million a year that has been going in many cases for other purposes and saying, no, we collect the fund for this purpose, let's use it for this purpose. it's not like we ran out of things to do with the money and so we decided let's put it somewhere else. but this does what the fund is supposed to do with the fund. in our state, again, in missouri over the past 50 years we spent about $150 million out of that fund. the fund is being used to protect historically significant sites like the mark taiwan national forest or the ozarks national scenic river or the big muddy national fish and wildlife refuge have all been beneficiaries of that fund to some extent. the wilson's creek national battlefield has been a

beneficiary of that fund. but the fund was created for the purpose that this legislation will ensure it largely serves. we know that we have to build important relationships between local communities, between the park service, between the american public to ensure that these sites are managed in the right way, that they are preserved for the future and they are safe to use for the millions of americans that are going to use them this summer and next summer and the summer after that and this winter and next winter and the winter after that. in addition to the preservation efforts, the conservation efforts, the bill will help, frankly, bolster missouri's outdoor recreation industry and it is significant. the outdoor recreation industry association said that we generate about 14 -- almost

$15 billion in our state in consumer spending, rather, about 133,000 jobs are created in missouri because of outdoor recreation. about five million american jobs are created and around $800 billion of economic activity created because of the ability to use these and other outdoor resources. mr. president, this is obviously not a normal year so anything we can do to encourage people to use these facilities in a better way is important. anything we can do as we look to the future to maintain them and hand them over -- and we have the chance here, mr. president, on all of these areas, whether it's bureau of public lands or the national forest or the national parks, we have a chance to hand them to the next generation in better shape than we got them.

we have a chance to look at projects that have been on the we need to do this list for 40 and 50 years and do what's needed to be done for 40 or 50 years. i'm proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill. proud of the leadership, particularly of senator gardner and senator daines on our side on this effort, and the vast bipartisan support that this bill will have. i look forward to voting for it. i urge my colleagues to vote for it, and even more importantly, i look forward to seeing this bill have the impact that it absolutely will have and has to have on the important resources that we need to make the right kind of investment in. and, with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor.

mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i ask that the quorum be ended. the presiding officer: we're not in a quorum.

mr. sanders: all right. that's good, too. mr. president, as everybody knows, our country today faces an extraordinary set of crises, unprecedented in fact in the modern history of this country. over the last several weeks, hundreds of thousands of americans from one end of this country to the other, big cities, small towns have rightly taken to the streets to demand an end to police murder and brutality and in fact to rethink the nature of policing in america. and in the midst of that, that rising up for police department rethinking and police department murder and brutality, in the midst of all that, our country

continues to suffer from the covid-19 pandemic which in a number of locations in this country is actually getting worse and which has up to this point killed over 110,000 people and infected over two million americans. and then on top of all of that, the struggle for racial justice dealing with ap pandemic in the midst -- with a pandemic in the midst of all that we have the worst economic downturn since the great depression of the 1930's. and in the last number of months, as you know, over 32 million americans have lost their jobs. mr. president, in the midst of the struggle for racial justice,

in the midst of this horrific health care crisis, in the midst of this economic meltdown, the american people are demanding to know what their government is doing in response to these crises. we were elected as senators, members of the house to respond to the needs of the american people. and all over this country the american people are looking around them. they see the struggle for racial justice. they see a pandemic. they see an economic meltdown. and many of them are asking what the republican leadership here in the senate is doing. crisis after crisis after cris crisis. and what is the leadership here in the senate doing?

and tragically, mr. president, the answer is nothing. nothing. historians have suggested that in the year 64 a.d., while rome was burning, the emperor nero played his fiddle. at least he did something. he provided entertainment to his court. but here in the u.s. senate, republican leader mcconnell and his leadership team are doing nothing. sadly, tragically, this is the worst do-nothing senate in modern american history and every member of this body should be deeply ashamed at the degree to which we are failing our

constituents. mr. president, enough is enough. the united states senate must respond to the pain and the suffering of the american people. let us quickly wrap up debate over the land and water conservation fund act which is on the floor right now. let us wrap up debate. let us vote on this bill. it's a good bill. let's pass it. and then let us begin to work on the unpres unprecedented crisest are facing our country. mr. president, if there is anything that the torture and murder of george floyd by minneapolis police has taught us is that we have to rethink the nature of policing in america

and reform our broken and racist criminal justice system. let us be clear. the murder of george floyd is not just an isolated incident. it is the latest in an endless series of police killings of african americans, including eric garner, sandra bland, mcdonald. tamir rice, freddie gray, walter scott, and many, many, many others. and if anyone thinks that these police murders have just begun to take place in recent years when people had cell phone cameras, you would obviously have been mistaken. this has gone on forever. mr. president, the american people are rightly demanding

justice and an end to police brutality and murder. the u.s. senate has got to act now. we have got to hear the cries for justice that are coming from the streets of this country, that are coming from the african american community, from the white community, from the latino community, from all of our people. we must act and we must act now. and let me just suggest some of the items that must be in the legislation that we passed. and this is a limited number. we can do more. in my view, every police officer involved in a killing must be held accountable and those found guilty must be punished with the full force of law. that includes officers who stand by while these brutal acts take

place. every single killing of a person by police or while in police custody must be investigated by the department of justice. we must create a process by which police departments look like the communities that they serve and not look like invading armies. we need to abolish qualified immunity so police officers are held sievally liable for abuses. we need to prohibit the transfer of offensive military equipment to police departments. we need to strip federal funds from departments that violate civil rights. we need to provide funding to states and municipalities to

create a i civilian corps of unarmed first responders to supplement law enforcement. for too long we have asked police departments to do things which they are not trained or proposed to do. -- or prepared to do and have criminalized societal problems like addiction and homelessness and mental illness. these are not problems solved by incarceration. we need to make records of police misconduct publicly available so that an officer with a record of misconduct cannot simply move two towns over and start again. we need to require all jurisdictions that receive federal grant funding to establish independent police conduct review boards that are broadly represented -- representative of the community and have the authority to refer deaths that occur at the hands

of police or police custody to federal authorities for investigation. we need to ban the use of rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray on protesters. we need to make certain that when people go to the street to protest, that they are not treated like criminals and that thetheir basic constitutional -- and that their basic constitutional rights are denied. mr. president, the struggle for racial justice is just one of the crises that we have got to address. today, mr. president, we are looking at a pandemic unprecedented in the last 100 years. and i would tell you that new zealand, a very small country, about five million people, did something rather interesting.

not surprising but interesting. they listened to their scienti scientists. they acted boldly at the start of the pandemic and they had political leadership trusted by their citizens. the result is that just the other day new zealand was able to announce that the covid-19 virus was virtually eliminated in their country and that they could reopen their economy safely. safely. on the other hand in the united states under president trump, we have a president who downplayed the crisis from the very beginning, who ignored or attacked scientists, and who most people recognize is a

pathological liar not to be trusted. mr. president, in new zealand, in many other countries bold and intelligent action saved lives. in our country tragically incompetent leadership cost us lives. well, we cannot bring back those who unnecessarily died or who have become ill. but what we can do is take action now to do everything possible to minimize unnecessary debts and illness in the future. first and foremost, we need a national protocol based on science to address this pandem pandemic, not have 50 states and hundreds of communities going forward in different directions. there is a way to effectively

deal with this crisis. and that leadership should be coming from the federal government. what we are talking about is the need among other things for increased testing and how we best utilize that testing as we talk about opening businesses and schools. we need through the defense production act and any other approach to make certain that all medical personnel have the necessary personnel protective equipment that they need. even today, months after the pandemic erupted, doctors and nurses still lack the equipment they need to protect themselves. i was on the phone just a couple of weeks ago with people in vermont that work in clinics. they still do not have the

protective equipment that they need. we need to produce hundreds of millions of the most effective masks that we can so as to protect all americans above and beyond medical personnel. masks are an important part of fighting this pandemic, and every american should be able to have the best quality mask possible. working with the international community, we need to make certain that a safe sack convenient is produced as quickly as possible and that it is distributed to every american for free. i've asked the trump administration on several occasions when -- and god-willing, that vaccine will be produced soon, as soon as possible -- we all want that. as you all know, the federal government is spending billions of dollars to develop that

vaccine, giving money to the drug companies. that's fine. but after that vaccine is developed, it must be distributed to every man, woman, and child in this country at no cost. i don't want to see people dying because they can't afford to pay for a vaccine. i don't want to see the drug companies profiteering from this federal investment. when we're talking about responding to the pandemic, we are talking about workers who are on the front lines, and that is whether they're medical professionals or workers in transportation, grocery stores, drugstores, meatpacking plants a, or whatever. they must receive hazard pay for the dangerous work that they do. i get a little bit tired of seeing these tv ads from big corporations thanking the heroes who are out on the front lines. well, that's great. thank them. but pay them.

pay them hazardous pay for the dangerous work that they are doing. we can no longer allow multibillion-dollar corporations like amazon, walmart, and tyson foods to treat essential workers like expendable workers, like sacrificial workers. we can no longer allow multibillion-dollar corporations to run advertising calling their workers heroes while paying them starvation wages and treating them disrespectfully. mr. president, it's not just the racial justice crisis we face, not just the pandemic we face, but we are in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis. and we must act boldly and aggressively to protect the american people in the midst of

this crisis. as we speak, tens of millions of people have lost their jobs. they are worried about being evicted from their apartments. they are worried about losing their homes. they are worried about putting food on the table. in vermont -- and i suspect in every state in this country -- there are people lining up at emergency food shelves to get the food they need to feed their kids. and anyone who thinks that this is not a moment of urgency does not understand what the word urgency means. when people in america go hungry, we have got to act. when people are being evicted from their apartments or losing their homes, we have got to act, and we have got to act now, not a month from now, not two months

from now. no, president trump, this is not a time to take a victory lap. the real unemployment rate remains over 20%, the highest it had been since the great depression. unless we get our act together boldly, over half of small business owners in america will be forced to close their doors for good within the next six months. we need to respond vigorously to the economic crisis that we face and the pain and suffering of the american people. now, what does that mean? again, just a few provisions that have got to be passed. we need to pass a paycheck security act, which does what many european countries do, and that is provide workers with

100% of the paychecks and benefits they previously received. according to a recent study from the university of california berkeley, if we had adopted a paycheck guarantee program similar to the one in germany, 24 million americans would have a job today. instead, we are seeing president trump and senator mcconnell taking a victory lap because we created some two million jobs last month. that's good, but when we have 32 million people who have lost their jobs in recent months, we have got to act, and we have got to act boldly. in my view, during this crisis, we must make sure that every american gets the health care that they need by expanding

medicare to cover the underinsured, the uninsured, and that the needs of people who have private insurance but inadequate private insurance. in my view, mr. president, in the midst of this crisis, with so much economic suffering, we need to provide every working-class person in this country with a $2,000 emergency payment each and every month until the crisis is over so that they can pay the rent, feed their families, and deal with their basic needs. furthermore, as our top priority, we have got to make sure that nobody in america goes hungry, and that means substantially expanding the

meals on wheels program, the school meals programs, and snap benefits. so, mr. president, here we are. all over this country people are demanding an end to police killings and brutality, demanding racial justice in this country. all over this country people are being infected with the virus, continue to die. and all over this country people are wondering how they're going to pay their bills because they've lost their jobs and have, in some cases, no food in the cupboard. if there was ever a time in the modern history of this country that the senate and the house are called upon to stand up for

the families, the working families of this country who are struggling, who are living in emotional anxiety, who are scared to death about what is going to happen in the future, if we are to reaffirm safe in government in this country, to know that we are seeing and hearing that pain, now is the time. so today i just call upon my colleagues. i know we have disagreements, but let us understand the urgency of the moment. let us deal with the pandemic. let's save lives. let's deal with the economic crisis. let's put people back to work. let's deal with the issue of racial justice. let's fight to end racism in this country. there is an enormous amount of work to be done. let's do it. thank you.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come up to the floor today, and having just heard the senator from vermont talking about the nation and its effort to recover from the coronavirus crisis, the economic crisis as a result, and other important issues affecting our country, and i heard him say we have not done enough and need to do more, specifically with an economic recovery, with a coronavirus recovery, and it sounded like almost a liberal wish list of a government providing for food, clothing, shelter, and income for every american. well, mr. president, i come to the floor today to tell you what we have done in an historic way, because in march we passed the largest economic rescue package in the history of this country. trillions and trillions of dollars. this senate and the house and

the white house went all-in to respond to and help us as a nation recover from the coronavirus crisis. last week the senate passed and the president signed another bipartisan bill to help our small businesses across the country. it's the paycheck protection program flexibility act. that's what people in wyoming were asking for for this very successful paycheck protection plan -- flexibility so it would be easier for our small businesses to use the relief funds. mr. president, 191,000 businesses in -- 11,000bitions in wyoming took over $1 billion in loans, and it is keeping our economy alive. life breath into the economy and allowing paychecks to be paid as our businesses reopen. mr. president, all across the country this job-saving effort is working because last month

the u.s. economy added 2.5 million jobs, it smashed all expectations. it was the largest single month of job growth in this nation in the history of our great country. americans literally ran out of door, the front door and back to work. now, unemployment was down in may. it defied all of the forecasts and defied what we just heard the senator from vermont talking about what his expectations had been. we are headed for a faster economic rebound than anyone has imagined. across the country, the state lockdowns have been ended. states have started to safely reopen. small businesses are opening. people are going back to work. i thought i heard the senator from vermont said, he was saying that half of all the small businesses in america wouldn't be able to reopen again ever.

mr. president, young people are going to be going back to school, k-12 schools, colleges are planning to reopen this fall. of course, i don't think any of us were surprised to see the university of california system say they're going to stay closed until 2021. until next year. all ten campuses because in california, one-size-fits-all. but for the rest of the our nation, the schools and the colleges are reopening. students will be heading back to campus. there is a return to normal routines it's going to boost our communities. we are going all-in to keep people safe. that's a big part of it, mr. president. that means more virus testing, more treatment, better treatment, and vaccines. innovations are rapidly expanding testing. the country has now performed more than 22 million coronavirus tests, nearly half a million

tests are done every day, including today. our researchers, our scientists, our doctors are making record progress on a vaccine. we're calling this test -- this effort operation warp speed, a public-private partnership that will then be used around the world. the private-sector finalists will soon somebody announced. the government will support their vaccine work. we'll assist with clinical trials and prioritize review of the most promising vaccines. one of the companies called moderna is in phase 2 trials, plans to start phase 3 in july. the food and drug administration approval is then the final step. another company, astro -- astrazeneca plans trials. it just announced a new partnership with biomedical advanced research and the

defense advanced research projects agency. so, mr. president, our military is joining in this public-private partnership. this project may deliver emergency vaccines as early as october. which would certainly be recordbreaking. the pharmaceutical company merck will conduct trials in july. johnson & johnson plans phase 1 and phase 2 trials for july as well. pfizer hopes to have a vaccine ready by october. the goal, mr. president, is to make a safe, effective vaccine and make it available to all americans by january of 2021. operation warp speed partners went to -- want to beat this and they want to make that their most ambitious goal, beating time lines that have never been beaten before, break the records and at the same time a number of other companies are pursuing a vaccine independently. america's researchers,

scientists, doctors have dropped everything and are working in overdrive. they have gone all in. one major drug company c.e.o. said yesterday that there will be no big price for the coronavirus vaccine. every company should make that same pledge. every company, mr. president, should make that same pledge. this is a tremendous opportunity for companies to do the right thing, to make the vaccine as accessible as any vaccine in the history of our nation. the goal as we begin to recover from this crisis is clear and it has been clear. we want to keep americans safe and get them back to work. together that's what we must all endeavor to do. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. let me apologize in advance.

my accent has not changed but my speech has. i had a little oral surgery, so i'm going to try to be as clear as i can be. i want to talk for a few minutes today, mr. president, about the communist party of china and confucius institutes. as you know, mr. president, confucius institutes are communist party of china so-called learning centers that are located on 72 university campuses across the continental united states and of course alaska and hawaii. each one of these symbols is one of these confucius institutes located at one of our

universities. and here's how a confucius institute works. the communist party of china gives our universities, these 72 universities, the money to open these confucius institutes, and supposedly the purpose of these confucius institutes is to, a, teach the chinese language, and, b, to teach culture about the country of china to american students. now at this juncture, mr. president, it's important to distinguish between the people of china and the china communist party. i have had the pleasure of visiting china a number of times. i know, as have you, mr. president, the chinese people are wonderful people. they're smart, they're hard-working, they have awe wonderful sense of humor. they're just extraordinary people.

their government, the communist party of china, not so much, not nearly so much. so when i talk today about china, i'm talking about their government, the communist party of china. these confucius institutes which are, once again, funded by the communist party of china, you will not be surprised to learn come with a lot of strings attached to that chinese communist party money. for example, most of the teachers who teach at these confucius institutes on american university campuses are trained in china. in fact, the communist party of china has to approve all the teachers, even though they're teaching at our universities. the communist party of china also has to approve all the events and the speakers at these confucius institutes. in addition, in order to get the money from the communist party of china, our

universities have to agree that the confucius institutes will be governed by both chinese law and american law. i've never seen anything like that. it's unprecedented. in order to get the money from the communist party of china, our universities also have to agree through these confucius institutes that certain topics will be off limits. for example, at the institutes, you can't talk about taiwan. you can't talk about civil liberties in hong kong. you can't talk about tiananmen square and the murders there by the communist party of china. you can't talk about tibet. you can't talk about the dalai lama. and you can't talk about the discrimination and indeed the imprisonment of the we --

uighur muslims in northwest china. once again these are institutes are object american campuses. but in order to get the money from the communist party of china, our universities have to agree that these topics are off limits. the communist party of china, in short, mr. president, requires that these institutes can only teach versions of chinese history, culture and current events that are approved by the communist party of china. about the furthest thing you can imagine, mr. president, from academic freedom. the first confucius institute -- how am i doing? is my speech okay? i promise you, i haven't been drinking. the first confucius institute was formed on an american campus

in 2004, and since that time they have evolved and not in a good way. i want to just give you a short quotation. you're familiar with the politburo of the communist party of china. back in 2011 a member of the politburo, which is the senior leadership in china and its communist party, come rang -- comrade li, here's how he described the confucius institutes in a speech he gave in 2011. comrade li said the confucius institute is an appealing brand for extending our culture abroad. it has made an important contribution toward improving our soft power. the confucius brand has a natural attractiveness. a natural attractiveness.

using the excuse of teaching chinese language, everything looks reasonable and logical, but of course it is not. many of our professors across america have condemned the behavior of our confucius institutes. the american association of university professors did a comprehensive study of confucius institutes in 2014. here, mr. president, is their report. this is what our professors concluded, and i will quote from their report. confucius institutes functioned as an arm of the chinese state and are allowed to ignore academic freedom. their academic activities are under the supervision of hon ban, a chinese state agency

which is chaired by a member of the politburo and the vice premier of the people's republic of china. most agreements establishing confucius institutes feature nondisclosure clauses and unacceptable concessions to the political aims and practices of the government of china. specifically, north american universities permit confucius institutes to advance a state agenda in the recruitment and control of academic staff in the choice of curriculum, and the restriction of debate. i don't want to beat this to death, mr. president, but i've got a number of studies. another one right here from the g.a.o. also the united states senate

itself -- i won't bore you, mr. president, with the details, but here is a 2019 report calling for either the overhaul or the closure of confucius institutes in america which was issued by the united states senate, the permanent subcommittee on investigations. now many u.s. colleges have disbanded confucius institutes. i want to be fair, not that many years ago there were over 100 of these little symbols. now there's 72. about 30 universities have said no we believe in academic freedom. universities like the university of chicago, miami-dade college, pennsylvania state university. senator doug jones, our colleague from alabama, the distinguished junior senator from alabama and i have a bill,

it deals with confucius institutes, but it wouldn't abolish them. it would not. the name of the bill is called the concerns over nations funding university campus institutes in the united states act, the confucius act by senator doug jones and myself. it would reform confucius institutes. our bill would allow them to expift, but it would require all american universities that choose to sign a contract and receive money from and with the communist party of china to enter into contracts that require the confucius institute to do the following. the confucius institute, by contract, would have to provide

that it would provide academic freedom at the university, that it would prohibit the application of any foreign law on any campus of the institution, and it rather than granting full managerial control to the miewnist party of china -- to the communist party of china, it would grant full managerial authority of the confucius institute to the college on which the, the campus object which -- on whiche confucius institute is situated and that would include full control over what is being taught, activities carried out, the research grants that are made and who is employed at the confucius institute. if the confusion institutes are going to be part of our universities, they should be part of our universities. freedom of speech, full academic freedom, anything is open for discussion, and we don't have to have them approved first by the communist party of

china. i think senator jones and i bill would restore balance, it would restore truth, it would transparency, and i know, mr. president, it would restore academic freedom to these confucius institutes that are operating in the united states of america. toward that end, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on help be discharged from further consideration of s. 939 -- that's the confucius act -- and the bill proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 939, a bill to establish limitations regarding

confucius institutes, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. kennedy: mr. president, with gratitude to my coauthor, senator doug jones, who has done an extraordinary job on this legislation, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would suspension of the quorum

call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, something is happening in america. people across our country and in my home state of michigan are coming together for the cause of racial justice in a way that we have not really experienced in a generation. from holland to marquette to detroit, people of all ages and face and backgrounds have been marching together, singing together, praying together, and kneeling together. in one voice people are demanding change. employing our nation to finally be that place where all men and women are truly created equal. unfortunately, we know that far too often throughout our history and even today, our nation has failed to live up to our highest ideals.

eight minutes and 46 seconds. that's how long a minneapolis police officer derek chauvin knelt on the neck of george floyd. an unarmed, handcuffed black man lying on the pavement. for four -- for eight minutes and 46 seconds. george floyd pleaded for his life. he said, i can't breathe. he cried out for his mother. he suffered and then he was silent. millions of americans watched the video in shock and horror. why didn't the officer just lift his knee off of mr. floyd's neck? why didn't he just lift his knee up for just a minute, just lift it up?

why didn't one, just one of the other officers push his knee off of mr. floyd's neck? what's happening in america that someone let alone police officers thought this was okay? of course, we know it was not okay. it was not okay. it was a crime. it was murder. watching those images has awakened something deep in the souls of americans across the country. we know that racial disparities in every part of our society from health care to housing to jobs to education to the air we breathe and the water we drink have existed in our country since its very beginning. we have known for a long time that experiences with the police

are different for black americans than for white americans. and yet despite all of the other times, this time, this time there the violence was right in front of us in a way that people have decided cannot and will not be ignored. there's much to do. for each of us we have a personal journey, a personal journey to take concerning our own behavior with one another and then we have a public journey to take together to change laws and policies and work together toward the day when what happened in minneapolis and across our country never happens again. that's the goal of the justice and policing act. i'm honored to cosponsor it.

and i want to thank my friends, senator booker and senator harris, for leading us in this introduction. the justice and policing act takes important steps to improve transparency by collecting better and more accurate data on police misconduct and the use of force. this will help ensure that problem officers aren't simply getting a job with a police department in another city or state to avoid being held accountable for their previous actions. the legislation improves police training and practices by ending racial and religious profiling requiring officers to receive training on racial biases, banning no-knock warrants in drug cases, limiting the transfer of military-grade equipment to police departments, and banning choke holds, like the one that ended george

floyd's life. it finally makes lynching a federal crime, something that i would have thought we would have done a generation ago. and it makes important changes within our criminal justice system to hold police officers and departments accountable for their actions. this legislation is not about defunding the police. it is not about defunding law enforcement. it is about funding the right kind of law enforcement, the kind of law enforcement that protects all of our neighborhoods and the people who live in them. the kind of law enforcement that officers i know in michigan, including in my own family, across michigan do every day.

the kind of law enforcement i know that the majority of police officers believe in. in short this legislation is about treating people as professionals with high standards and expecting them to meet those standards. in any professional setting, including law enforcement, we should expect high standards and accountability for meeting those standards. we have a right to expect the best from our police officers. firing dozens of bullets into louisville apartment under a no-knock warrant, killing a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, an aspiring nurse who grew up in michigan did not meet the high standards we have a right to expect. breonna taylor deserved the best from our police. she did not get it.

shoving a 75-year-old man at a protest in buffalo hard enough that his head cracked home hitting the ground, creating a pool of blood and then watching officer after officer walking past him without offering any help does not reflect the high standards we have a right to expect. martin gugino deserved the best from our police. and he did not get it. and kneeling on the neck of a man who is lying on the ground for 8 minutes and 46 seconds as he cries out for his mother and the life leaves his body is not meeting the high standards he had the right to expect. george floyd deserved the best from our police. he did not receive it. the united states senate needs

to pass the justice and policing act now. i would love it if there was strong bipartisan support. wouldn't that send a wonderful message across our country if we could do that. holding law enforcement to high professional standards is only the first step in becoming the nation we all want to be. racism has been with us since slaves were brought on ships to this country. it'sen immoral -- it's an immoral thread that's woven deep in the fabric of our nation's history. it's simply not enough to end racial inequalities in policing because the inequalities in our society don't end there. the pandemic has shown a brutal light on this truth. our democratic caucus released a report on april 30 that showed

that black americans are more than twice as likely as white americans to die from covid-19. and in some communities this disparity is even greater. in michigan, 14 % of our citizens are african americans and yet african americans make up 41%, 41% of the deaths from covid-19. it's not hard to see why if you look because of generations of structural racism, black americans are less likely to have health insurance, more likely to have preexisting health conditions, and higher risk for black moms during labor and and delivery, more likely to be exposed to air pollution because of where they live and less likely to live in housing where social distancing is even possible. black families also face

challenges in accessing healthy food. while around 12% of american families overall are food secure, we know that more than 22% of african american families are food insecure. more than one out of every five families. at the same time in this health crisis, black americans are more likely to be the ones working on the front lines. the frontline jobs that willin e done at home, even though their children are home from school or child care because they've had to close so they have more costs but they are on the front lines and they are the ones still working. in fact, 41% of our essential workers are people of color. the majority women. that is exposing them to both covid-19 and now layoffs.

while more than 12% of white americans are out of work, nearly 17% of black americans have lost their jobs so far. no single piece of legislation no matter how good it is going to solve these systemic issues all at once. we know that. but our continuing actions can do that if we are aware and are eyes are open and we're paying attention, and we're doing the best we can on everything that we do. that's why we need to pass the heroes act passed by the house as soon as possible. it's been weeks now since the house took action. and it's critically important that we get that done. of this bill gives premium paid to our frontline workers so we're not just applauding them. that does not pay for their child care when they are working or for food or keeping a roof over their own heads.

we need to provide hazard pay, premium pay for the people that are working so we have the luxury of working at home. the house bill extends unemployment benefits that are critical, strengthens emergency paid leave and offers food and rent and mortgage assistance to families who need it. that's why it's so important to pay attention every time legislation comes to the floor and that we evaluate it through the lens of how this affects everyone. how does this affect the poor? how does this affect communities of color? are we doing everything we can to make sure we are not adding to the racial disparities or economic disparities that have lived with us for way, way too long? senate democrats looking at every piece of legislation paid

attention on the paycheck protection act, and we were successful in amending it to ensure that minority-owned businesses in underserved communities would receive the same business help, the same access to capital as majority white businesses. but you know what? it was a real fight to get that done. it was a struggle. it should not have been. when people say racial disparities are in the past, i say it's right here right now. when we look at moving forward on legislation and who is helped, who is impacted. is it fair? does everybody have a fair shot? and now today once again we see in georgia why it's outrageous that mitch mcconnell has been blocking a vote on the voting rights advancement act that the

house passed 187 days ago. 187 days ago they passed a bill to restore the voting rights a act. no action here in the united states senate. this needs to be passed immediately. it's another piece of what's happening in terms of the racial inequality in this country. racial disparities are not in the past. racism is not in the past. we are seeing it every day right in front of our eyes. now is the time to keep our eyes open. now is the time to lift america up to the best we can be. we need to pass the justice and policing act and we need to pass the heroes act to put people ahead of profits in this pandemic, and close the gaps in

investments in our communities that have created the racial disparities we see today in every part of our society in every community. and we need to pass the voting rights advancement act right now. that would be a great thing to get done this week. not much happening on the senate floor right now. wouldn't it be great if we could all of a sudden come together and all stand behind sags basic as making -- stand behind something as basic as making sure everybody has the right to vote in this country? one of george floyd's high school friends, jonathan veal, remembered that on their last day of 11th grade, george turned to him and said this. i want to touch the world. i want to touch the world.

george floyd has touched the world. he has touched the hearts of people around the world. his horrific murder has inspired a worldwide movement against systemic racism and police brutality. i know that's cold comfort for his family and his friends who are missing him so much. its time for us, all of us, to set high standards for law enforcement and the quality of life we want for all of our families. and it's time to hold each other accountable to live up to our highest and best ideals as americans. george's last breath cannot be

the last word. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

mr. lankford: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. lankford: mr. president, the federal government currently owns about 640 million acres of land in the united states. 640 million acres is owned by the american people. that's about 28% of all the land mass of the united states. so if you round the number up, a quarter of all the property in the united states is all owned by the federal taxpayers. you can break that down. people immediately think, well, that's all the national park service. actually the national park service is a pretty small amount of that. the bureau of land management holds about 244 million acres, followed by the u.s. forest service with 192 million acres. fish and wildlifives u. service at 89 million acres and then the

national park service at 80 million. altogether, 640 million acres. and growing. but this doesn't even account for all the land that's controlled by the federal government. that's just owned by the federal government. that 28% of all the property in the united states that's owned by the federal government doesn't take into account the 27 million plus acres that are also controlled by the federal government. those are areas where they do conservation mitigation. those are areas where they have other land in trust for other aspects. so all told, around 30% of the united states is owned or controlled by the federal taxpayer, by the federal government. now, that would all be fine and good if we were managing it well. but we're not. on those properties right now, we have almost $20 billion in

deferred maintenance backlog, almost $20 billion, just in things that haven't been done, where the federal government has proved to be a bad land manager. so there's a bill that's coming this week. it's on the floor now being debated. the conversation is, how do we get better at maintaining the land that we have and how can we actually purchase additional property? well there's something that's been around for a long time called the land and water conservation fund. the land and water conservation fund has dollars that are set aside from offshore oil revenue to be able to then purchase areas of property and that's happened for decades and decades now. the problem is, we haven't maintained that. and even the property that we buy that has maintenance issues, we don't even fix the maintenance issues when we purchase the property. so here's the proposal that's on the table this week. the proposal on the table this

week is to double the amount of land acquisitions that we have and to be able to solve the maintenance issue that we've had for a long time, because this conversation about the backlog in maintenance has been an ongoing issue. there's finally a resolution to it. here's the resolution. after years and years of debating how do we reduce spending in one area's area so we can make sure we can do the maintenance we need to do, the final decision was made to be able to put a bill together that just says, forget it. let's just all add it to debt. let's just completely do debt purchasing of all of our maintenance stuff and we'll figure out some decades in the future how to be able to pay for that rather than discerning how to pay for it now. because there's not an offset on how to be able to payer to the maintenance much the maintenance needs to be done. it's not a shock to anyone. i brought proposals to this years ago to say, why don't we split the dollars that we have

in the land and water conservation fund, use half of those dollars to purchase new properties and half of it just to be ail to work on maintenance. that was denied. to say, no, that's an irrational approach. we want to just bite more land. we'll figure out later how to maintain it. now we're at that point of, we've got to figure out how to maintain it because an almost $20 billion backlog of maintenance is rising up and screaming at us all over the country. instead of actually decide how we're going to do it, it's a punt to say we're figure it out later. but here was the fiscally responsible portion of it. we're not going to do it forever. just for the next five years of additional debt, every single year about $2 billion we will spend all in debt money to be able to do this, and then we'll figure out in the sixth year how to be able to take care of the rest. that's the fiscally responsible portion of this, to say we're not doing infinite amounts of

debt, just the next five years. but the problem is, in the sixth year we'll still have a maintenance backlog. we'll still have issues, and there's still not a plan to fire the first $20 billion or for what is still coming. so my challenge is, what to be able to do with a bill that we need to fix and we need to be better managers of our land but we're managing our land by not managing our debt and not making the hard decisions that people have to make. at your home, you can't just say, everything needs to be fixed but i can't afford it, so i'll just take out more debt and i'll fix everything. we have to make decisions on that's going to have to wait. that's the thing i'd like to be sable to see with this. let me run through some ideas. all of the amendments that have already been brought, beginning with the most basic of them, take part of the money that already exists for the land and water conservation fund to

purchase new land and just split it and to say, we're going to dedicate dollars to maintenance and we're going to also have dollars to buy new properties. we just won't be able to buy as many as fast as we want. we won't be able to fix as many as we want but we're not adding additional debt spending to do it. it's the same decision that families make all the time, to say i'd love to have that nicer car and i can have the nicer car if i just save up several years get it. that's one recommendation. there's a second recommendation to this. there is a portion of this that gets into the budget scheming of everything that goes on. part of what's happening in the land and water conservation fund, brace you are set of for budget gimmicks here, moving it from ahe want proked dollars that we vote on every year to mandatory dollars that you only vote on once and then every year it just keeps going, think like social security here. social security was a vote a long time ago.

it just keeps going year after year after year. we don't vote on it each year. it just happens because it's mandatory. the idea was in this bill is to move the spending from appropriated each year like we do with the department of defense, for the department of education, or health and human services, to take it out of that area and to move it towards mandatory but then they still left the funds over in the appropriated side and said, we're already goes to spend those dollars as well. so the way -- the gimmick this sets up is it allows those funds spend last year to be spent on the mandatory side. my second idea is if we won't split the dollars that we normally do, half in the purchase, half to maintain, at least dedicate the dollars that were left that aren't spent on something else. spend those on maintenance. because then we'll only have

half a billion dollars of new deficit rather than what this does at $2.5 billion of new deficit spending. so the first challenge is, split it. the second challenge is take the dollars that were, quote-unquote, left over and unappropriated dollars and just dedicate that to only doing the maintenance funds that need to be done. the third idead is pretty simple as well. this has a five-year tail on it on the maintenance. about $2 billion a year of additional debt spending. well, i would just say this. if we're only going to do maintenance for five years, then we should only do the purchasing, the big chunk, for five years as well. so we sunset both of them. we're not going to have this big plus-up in more and more purchasing at the same time we have to plan to maintain it long term. just senate it. that seems pretty common sense as well. here's a fourth idea.

all of the purchases for new properties, when you purchase it, make sure that the dollars that have purchased it, there's also dollars set aside to fix what was broken on it. when people want to sell property to the federal government, it's because there are major problems on the land already and they can't get another private seller. so they want to sell it to the federal taxpayer knowing there are problems in infrastructure on that property. so we buy property with major maintenance needs already on it and it just backs up our backlog of maintenance even more. put a requirement in that when we buy property, part of the purchase of it is also setting aside dollars for maintenance so we have to fix it right then rather than add it to the backlog of maintenance issues. that seems pretty common sense. that also is not getting a hearing right now. i think that's a problem.

because there are commonsense things that don't drive us farther into debt, that aren't going to cause years and years of problems in our budget, that maintaining the properties that we have, maybe not as fast as we want to but start getting after our backlog of maintenance, that continue a how us to be able to purchase new properties but just making sure that we're actually managing the properties that we purchase. it's a frustration for me. that we're not having amendments in this process, that we're not having the opportunity to be able to fix some of the things that are wrong with this bill because we do need to have federal lands. we do need to maintain the lands that we have. but we do need to honor our budgets for the future as well. why would we say we really need to maintain all this and purchase this but we don't have a plan for how to do it now, so we'll just wait six years, do five years of debt spending and then we'll figure it out somehow

six years from now? you know what? five years ago we were talking about this very same issue. this very same issue five years ago. we haven't come up with ans answer in the past five years because no one has been willing to say, we have to do less. so we can take responsibility for what we have. we just want to do more and not have the accountability. so five years ago, until five years later now, until five years from now when this bill, quote -- unquote, expires and we'll still have maintenance issues. we need to start making hard decisions. some of those hard decisions deal with the budget and making choices and saying, there aren't any options and instead saying, there are options. i may not like them as well as just do everything all at once

option, but there are options how to do this. and we should have this debate to be able to figure out how to manage these dollars better. maybe we will five years from now. with that, i yield the floor.

mr. cotton: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: a free society depends on the rule of law which is the foundation for public order and peace. police are the indispensable guardians of that law. we rightfully honor them for the risks they assume every morning when they put on the badge and sometimes the bullet proof vest knowing they may not come home at night to take them off. but police have a sworn duty to wield their power with justice. they take an oath never to betray their character or the public trust. they must hold themselves to the highest standard, and overwhelmingly do so. but in the cases when they do not, the consequences cab be devastating. what happened last week to george floyd in minnesota was horrific. he was killed by police officers, dying at the hands of

men who will pledged to protect and serve their communities. i'm glad that justice appears to be moving swiftly in george floyd's case. the officers who participated have been terminated from the department and the criminal process is well underway. but this is little consolation to many americans, including many black americans, who feel they have experienced unjust, unequal interactions with law enforcement. many have protested peacefully for change in the finest tradition of our country, and in sharp contrast, the rioters and looters who have exploited this tragedy for their own purposes. we must now seek to reveal national unity from the wreckage of broken trust and broken glass on our streets. to do this, we'll need to be guided by our nation's noblest principles while rejecting the

anti-american l suggestions of radicals who want a revolution. every american deserves to be treated equally by their government as guaranteed by our constitution and our country's most fundamental principle that all men are created equal. there is no greater bulwark to tyranny and injustice than that old simple proposition. but we must real ject efforts to scapegoat and demonize all police for the actions of a few, and we must reject radical proposals to dis dismantle and defund police departments as some suggested. these are offered in the spirit of revenge that would lead only to more crime, more lives lost and more sorrow. the communities that would be hit the hardest by the disappearance of police would be the most disadvantaged. when police are understaffed and

undertrained, there is greater risk of mistakes and misconduct, not to mention higher rates of crime. by contrast, a well-staffed, well-trained and well-respected force is a blessing to its community and a scourge to criminals who threaten it. defunding the police would be deadly. it isn't a solution but an insult to good officers and a threat to law-abiding citizens. americans are not blind to injustice. we all understand the hard work that's needed to repair trust in this country, but defunding the police is not the answer. we need the rule of law and equal justice under law. we need them both. i urge my colleagues to join with us in passing this resolution which calls for justice for george floyd and other victims of excessive use of force while also honoring the

law enforcement officers who keep us safe. therefore, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of a resolution that is at the desk calling for justice for george floyd and opposing calls to defund the police. i further ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. schumer: reserving the right to object, and i will. the presiding officer: the democratic leader is recognized. mr. schumer: mr. president, there are millions of people in america marching in the streets to reform our police practices, to ask for equality, to ask for racial justice. we have seen in the savage death

of george floyd, we have seen with breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery, eric garner, and so many other instances that our police departments need real reform. there is a demand of americans that we act and act soon. the resolution my colleague offers is rhetoric, not action. and the great worry so many americans have is that so many on the other side will feel rhetoric and then try to let this go away. we demand action, and we demand it now. real action, not rhetoric. to reform our police departments in a fair and comprehensive way. that is what the justice and policing act does. we need it on the floor now, as soon as the house passes it. very few of us believe that leader mcconnell will put it

on the floor, but we want him to. we demand he does. again, the resolution by my friend will do nothing, nothing. it's rhetoric. we demand action. and so in -- i will ask unanimous consent that the pending business upon reseat of h.r. 20, the justice and policing act of 2020, the pending business here in the senate, after it passes the house be that bill so we're forced and required to debate it. at that point my friend from arkansas or anyone else can do what they want but not in an empty field of rhetoric and no action. we need justice and racial equality. i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: mr. president, if the senator from new york would enter into a colloquy.

i did not hear an objection to my resolution, to a single sentence in that resolution, which calls for justice for george floyd and other victims of excessive force and opposeses radical ideas to defund the police. if the senator from new york would like to explain to the senate what part of the resolution he opposes and why he's objecting, i would be willing to hear his answer. mr. schumer: mr. president, i have a resolution at the desk. mr. cotton: reclaiming my time. i have not yielded the floor. let's be clear what happened here. we have a resolution. it's a couple of pages long. the democrats have had for 24 hours. until moments ago we had no independent indication that they -- had no independent indication that they planned to object or had any contrary

resolution. we heard from the senator from new york and not a word of the resolution itself which calls for justice for george floyd and for all victims of excessive force as well as opposes radical efforts to defund the police. so i will only conclude that the minority leader is here to speak on behalf of the democratic and to speak about this idea to defund the police since he is unwilling to cite what part of the resolution he opposeses. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: we need action, not rhetoric. that is the objection because we believe too many on that side of the aisle will not want to act and, therefore, for them to be content with rhetoric will not serve any good purpose. we can debate all of these

issues when we have a real bill on the floor and we are moving forward to bring justice. my resolution does just that. it says very simply -- very simply that the minute the house passes the justice in policing act, the pending business in the senate is that act. so we can debate it. we can hopefully pass it. some may choose to modify it in whatever way they choose. but rhetoric is no substitution for action when the american people overwhelmingly in the streets, peacefully, proudly, strongly demand action. so i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of a resolution at the desk that would make h.r. 7120, the justice in policing act, the pending business upon reseat from the house -- repeat from the house. i ask that the motion be agreed

to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from arkansas. mr. cotton: reserving the right to object. i am mystified by what happened here. we had a resolution on the floor, a couple of pages calling for justice for george floyd and victims of excessive use of ford as well as condemning the radical idea of defunding the police. the minority leader wants to offer a resolution that would make the pending business of the senate at some time in the future a piece of legislation which, if i'm not mistaken, hasn't been written and filed yet in the house of representatives. maybe it's been written in the last day or two and i'm not aware they filed that bill, but it hasn't been dweebtd and -- debated and voted on in the house of representatives. we have a resolution right in

front of us that condemns the unjustified killing of george floyd, calls for justice for his death and all of those victims of excessive use of force, and also since the senate opposes the radical idea of defunding the police. yet the democratic leader on behalf of his party objected to that without citing a single word, a single clause or sentence that he objects. i assume they do want to defund the police. he talks about rhetoric other than action. the senate, almost every day we're in business passes multiple resolutions by unanimous consent. i think the democratic leader was on the floor last week trying to pass a resolution condemning the president once again. so the idea that we don't pass resolutions expressing the sense of the senate or for that matter there is a choice between passing the resolution and

taking action is simply foreign to the way the senate acts every single day. so i just say again that what we're seeing here is the democratic leader apparently objecting on behalf of the democratic party in defense of the radical idea that we should defund the police. so, mr. president, i object to the democratic leader. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: the gentleman from arkansas has made my point. he talks about business as usual. this is not business as usual. the typical rhetoric, the kinds of avoiding action which has been so, so endemic in this republican party is showing itself again. if they want to act, they could have supported our resolution. they are trying to avoid it. we will not let that happen. i yield the floor. mr. cotton: if the democratic leader again would like to engage in a colloquy. is the bill he wants to make the

impending business in the senate even written in the house of representatives? since he has departed, i guess the answer to my question is no. that bill is not written and filed in the house of representatives. certainly it has not been voted on in the house and sent to the senate for us to make the pending business. so the objection you just heard, again, didn't object to a single word in our resolution much less a clause or a sentence. a resolution that calls for justice for george floyd and the victims of the excessive use of force while at the same time opposing radical democratic proposals to defund the police. and i can only infer, since i didn't hear a single objection to the language of our resolution, that the rub of the matter is the democrats really do support defunding the police. mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. daines: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. daines: mr. president, it's an honor to stand here today in support of one of the most historic pieces of conservation legislation in decades. some are saying 50 years. the great american outdoors act will have a lasting impact on generations to come. that's why as montana's voice in the united states senate, i'm standing here today to make the great american outdoors act a reality. over the last few days we've

seen strong, very strong bipartisan support both here in the u.s. senate and around the nation. senators from both sides of the aisle representing states all across our great nation have been coming down to the floor to share stories and photos and to show support for the bill. it's a very personal piece of legislation because we all love the outdoors. at this point plenty of us have spoken in support of this bill. but today i want to share some quotes from montanans who are also in support of the great american outdoors act. david brooks from montana trout unlimited says, and i quote, as the senate takes up the legislation this week, we are also excited to see progress on addressing decades of maintenance backlogs on our public lands that benefit our wild and native fish and their

habitat. speaking of trout, this picture was taken, the yellowstone river, the main channel is over here. this is a side channel. that's immigrant peak in paradise valley. it's appropriately named, south of livingston between livingston and gardner. if you would visit yellowstone park, one of the entrances is in gardner. that would be on the way to yellowstone park. that's in 1979 where we had our homecoming -- high school homecoming dinner when i proudly took the daines griswold station wagon and drove right by where this picture was taken. a lot of memories when i see a picture like that. a lot of fish caught as i have fished that river many, many times. i do it several times a summer. or ben horan with mountain bike mezula. there's a good reason the land

and water conservation fund has enjoyed bipartisan support from the 1960s. it's good policy. lwcf has supported and funded the open spaces in public lands that we i in montana rely on for our way of life, work and play. or kyle from the rocky mountain elk foundation had this to say and i quote. this important conservation program allowed the rocky mountain elk foundation to complete more than 80, 80 land protection and access projects that conserved more than 152,000 acres of habitat for elk and other wildlife. the rocky mountain elk foundation strongly urges members of the senate and the house to rally alongside senator daines, pass this measure and forwarded it to president trump's desk so it can be signed into law. orlan tawny with the back country anglers.

he said this and i quote. sports men and women have been leading voices in this effort to fully fund land and water conservation fund as well as providing maintenance funding to agencies that manage places critical for public access and fish and wildlife. our public lands and our waters have traditionally been places of refuge, of solace, and of adventure. never has this been truer than right now when we need to recenter and get our minds right. now is the moment to strategically invest in these places of refuge by funding projects that sustain important habitat, increase public access, opportunities, and get people back to work. billings, bill said over the years billings has received almost $2 million to fund construction repairs on our parks. the great american outdoors act will be a great help as we plan

future projects and address a backlog of maintenance needs. parks and trails are critical to our western quality of life. they attract visitors and they support our economy. the city manager of great falls, greg doyant, and i quote, for many years the city has utilized the lwcf appropriations to complete a wide variety of projects. these projects help support and develop park land and recreational facilities for great falls residents and visitors. or alex with the mystery ranch. the mystery ranch, that sounds kind of mysterious, doesn't it? they actually make some of the best backpacks in america. in fact, when my wife and i and children get out in the wilderness areas every summer, we all are carrying mystery ranch packs. they're some of the very best. in fact, the early days of this company back in the 1970's when i was going to high school in

boseman, i had a clutter works pack. the clutter works with the precursors to mystery ranch. that book bag i took to montana state university and carried my books in throughout my college experience in boseman, i took that same pack to the top of granite peak, our highest point in montana and the summit of the grand teton south of montana there, beautiful country outside of jackson, wyoming. it was a small pack. we went very ultralight with birvey bags -- bivey bags, we wanted to get up there quickly on both peaks and made it. that was the me cursor to the mystery ranch, the packs we have today. you can carry more weight into the back country. he said this. the great american outdoors act is landmark conservation to protect our public lands. the full funding of the lwcf is a benefit to our parks and our

forests at the local and the state level. or we've got glen marks with the montana association of land trusts. to quote glen, passage of the great american outdoors act means lwcf funding and tremendous rural community national park and outdoor recreation economic benefits for montana and the nation. more legislative steps to go. let's finish the job. couldn't agree more. i want to highlight a letter, a letter signed by every former secretary of the interior from secretary babbitt who served in 1993 to montana's very own secretary ryan zinke. in fact, ryan and i were together back in 1979. ryan was a junior, soon to be a

senior from white fish high school. i was a junior soon to be a senior at boseman high in 1979. little did we know then that ryan after a distinguished military career in the u.s. navy as a navy seal would go on to be our secretary of the interior. the letter says this, quote, the great american outdoors act will help ensure a better, brighter future for nature and for all of us. and by the way, you look at those secretaries, those are secretaries that served under democrat presidents and republican presidents. needless to say montana has their fair share of support for the great american outdoors act and the list of support goes on. montana knows what it takes to know -- knows what it takes to conserve their public lands. ensuring funding for the land and water conservation fund will

make sure our lands are managed correctly and that montanans and americans around the country will have better access to their public lands. in dealing with the $12 billion maintenance backlog in our national parks will be so beneficial for the employees who are working so hard on national parks, we're seeing record visitation levels in many of our parks but our employee housing in many cases is terrible. crumbling infrastructure, water systems, waste fortunate treatment -- wastewater treatment systems that are in desperate need of repair and upgrades. that maintenance backlog needs to be addressed and that will improve the visitor experience. when we think about our national parks, i think of these parks as the office of first impression. for visitors who come to our great country from around the world and they visit our national parks, they leave with a profound impression. it's what sets america apart

from any other country, our national parks, our outdoor heritage in preserving and protecting that for generations to come. the great american outdoors act will directly impact everybody who visits, who recreates, who enjoys our public lands. this will be truly one of those defining moments for conservation. so many will remember for generations to co. it's one of these -- to come. it's one of these laws we will pass and when the president signs it, it truly is about a legacy for future generations. and it makes me smile, just knowing that so many others will be able to have our public land, to enjoy them just as my wife and i and my children all have done and continue to do so once we pass the great american outdoors act. mr. president, thank you. i yield back.

mr. carper: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware.

mr. carper: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. carper: good afternoon. i rise today to highlight some recent work we've done that could help not hundreds, not thousands, not hundreds of thousands, but millions of americans save some money while filing their federal income tax returns this year and in future years. as the ranking member of the subcommittee called permanent subcommittee on investigations in the senate, my staff and i work closely with a fellow named rob portman from ohio, chairman of the our subcommittee and with his team. if you put us all in a room together, senator portman's team, republicans, our team, democrat, and wonder who's who and who's side they're on, you wouldn't know one side from the other. sort of us working on the recycling issues with your team and mine, mr. president. but we studied a big problem and

big challenges facing america and we try to identify commonsense solutions in a truly bipartisan, almost nonpartisan approach that has characterized the work of this subcommittee for decades. for years i've heard the following question over and over again, mr. president -- you probably have, too, back home -- the people in delaware and i'm sure in your state ask this question: why can't you all just work together in washington and get something done? that's what we do on our subcommittee on -- permanent subcommittee on investigations. we work together and we get i think a lot done. it's our bread and butter and i want to talk for a few minutes today about some of the work here on the senate floor. over the past year, mr. president, our subcommittee has examined a whole bunch of issues but one of those is an issue relating to the i.r.s. free-file program. and earlier this week we release add short staff memorandum

laying out our findings. ofover the next couple of minut, i want to explain the genesis and the importance of the free-file program. the subcommittee learned about it and some of the things that consequently and the i.r.s. can do to -- that congress and the i.r.s. can do to improve it. i did a bunch of town hall meetings over the recess. hundreds of them. as governor and even now and i used to when i was a congressman, we used to every year -- we only have three counties in my state, autograph lot more in your -- you have a lot more in yours, mr. president. but once every year a month or so before the tax-filing deadline, usually in march, i would host town hall meetings in each of our counties. we would invite the i.r.s. to come and participate. we would offer to meme in delaware the opportunity to ask questions, not just of me and my staff but of the i.r.s. and the state division of revenue, about

tax returns that were being filed and it was something i loved. i loved helping people. i know our presiding officer does as well. and it was a real chance to help people in a timely way. if you take that idea and that was an idea for, i'll say you the 20th century, a 20th century idea, and a good idea. but we have a 21st century idea. and it's called a free-file program. and that's what i want to focus on now. some people might be asking, what in the heck is a free-file program anyway? and going back to 1998, i was governor then and i think our presiding officer might have been a house member -- i'm not sure -- but congress directed the i.r.s. to work with the tax preparation industry to create a way for americans to file their taxes electronically. and this is around the time that -- when the first versions of

search engines like yahoo, like google with being developed and coming forward. e-mail addresses and web portals like america online provided the availability of online services. suddenly is it was possible to do a whole lot of things on the internet for the first time, including filing our taxes electronically. free-file is a program that grew out of a mandate congress issued and taxpayers were first able to take advantage of the program in 2002. so my guess is the mandate from congress for the i.r.s. to make it program available was about two decades ago, and the first time that the taxpayers were able to take advantage of that was a couple years later in 2002. the problem is really a partnership -- the program is really a partnership between the i.r.s. on one hand and tax

preparation -- and tax preparation companies like h00. r block. it was available not to all americans but to most. the original target was -- 60% was the original goal. today it is available to about 60% of all americansment -- 70 of all americans. this year most taxpayers he were less than $69,000 can use free-file to file their taxes for free. that's why we call it free-file. i'll say that again. this year most taxpayers earning less than $69,000 can use free-file to file their taxes for free. a lot of times when you hear somebody offer you something for free, you say, well i'm not sure i i'd want to do that. about 100 million taxpayers can take real advantage of it. according to the i.r.s., over 100 million taxpayers are eligible to use this program,

free-file. over 100 million taxpayers can file their federal taxes for free. and one might ask, well, house do they do that? all they got to do is to visit this website to get started, and the website i'm looking to see where that is listed. i don't see it here. maybe it is on the back. i don't think it on the back either. but i'll just say, here it is. all they have to do is visit the website to get starts. i.r.s..gov/freefile. that's a mouthful, isn't it? and as much as i dot look at this -- there it is. i.r.s..gov/freefile. i'm blind. so there it is.

the staff that prepared this for us, thank you. from there, whoever clicks onto this address can choose to visit the individual freefile website of one of the companies, one of several companies offering this service and choose the one that works best for them. sounds pretty simple, even to me. but only a few million taxpayers out of 1900 million that are -- out of 1@million that are eligible, only a few minute use the program every year. so clearly we can do better than this. we started on our subcommittee looking into free-file about a year ago after reading news reports alleging that some of the companies participating in the program were making it harder, not easier, for taxpayers to find their free-file websites. this is important, colleagues. this is important. because very few taxpayers go directly to the irs.gov address

i mentioned right here website. instead, when most taxpayers are ready to file their taxes, they use search engines like google, and they type in phrases like free online tax filing or free tax return. for september of terms like this -- for search terms like this, google might return a thousand, maybe millions of results. those results can oftentimes be confusing. suppose you get thousands of ideas from searching on google. that can often be real confusing or just too much for a lot of us to try to wade through. on top of that, mr. president, we were able to confirm that five of the top companies that participated in the free-file program in 2018 two years ago, including h00. r block, and tax slayer took

steps to prevent their free-file websites from appearing in search results. so when someone searched on google last year for free tax help they were likely to land on the website for one of the heavily advertised commercial tax filing products. some of those commercial products have names similar to the names companies have given their free-file offering. for example, h&r block has a product called free online. intuit has one called turbo tax-free edition. these names sunday lot like the names given to the i.r.s. free-file product. but they are not the same. there is no guarantee they will actually be free, despite their names. so i want to be clear, mr. president. there's nothing wrong with free-file partner companies having their own successful

commercial products and continuing to innovate. nothing wrong that. and i'm told there are legitimate reasons someone might want to left a website fromccompanying in a -- to prevent a website from appearing in a google search. it is important we make sure not no confuse taxpayers anymore than they might already be confused when this comes to preparing thyratrons. it's also embraer -- preparing their tax returns. it's also important that the lowest-income tax payers are able to access the websites that congress wanted s it's too easy for a taxpayer to click on a search result that looks like a free filing option and wind up being charged for extra services they didn't want and frankly didn't need. in fact, mr. president, treasury inspector general for tax administration estimates that more than 14 million taxpayers who qualified for the free-file

program used commercial software offered by a free-file partner company. and may have paid a fee to file their 2018 federal tax returns when they did not need to do so. just think about that. 14 million taxpayers could have filed their tax -- federal tax returns completely free. but instead they ended up paying a fee. and while it's entirely possible that some of those 14 million people knew they were using a commercial product and chose to pay more, many simply didn't know they might have a better option. well, we have an obstacles to make sure they know -- well, we have an obligation to make sure they know about it. make certain that taxpayers who are eligible for a tax product don't end up paying for something they should not have to pay for. it is that simple. how did this happen? we have learned that part of the

blame belongs to the i.r.s., which apparently has designed -- designated, rather, apparently has designated only three full-time employees -- think about that -- for how many people do we have in this country, mr. president? 300 million plus? the i.r.s. has departmented only three full -- the i.r.s. has designated only three full-time employees to work on free-file. it lacks sufficient oversight over the program for years. for example, our subcommittee on investigations learned that the i.r.s. has not completed a customer satisfaction survey for the free-file program since 2009. that's 11 years. that's right. since 2009 even though the treasury department's inspector general for tax administration recommended greater use of customer satisfaction surveys, not last year or the year before that but as far back as 2007. and despite americans' growing

tendency to use search engines like google to navigate the internet, the i.r.s. and its free-file partner companies apparently never discussed online search practices until very recently. this allowed individual companies to make their own choices about how their free-file websites could be excelsed. there's also the fact that the i.r.s. has not had a marketing budget for the free-file program in more than six years. when we asked i.r.s. officials to explain the lack of marketing, they told us a couple things. here's one we heard. they said, well, and this is a quote, it may have been an i.r.s. budget decision as part of the broader reduction in spending the agency received over the last several years. it says as a part of the broader reduction in spending. it was the brought reduction in appropriations the agency received over the last several years. the treasury inspector general for tax administration came to

pretty much the same conclusion and here's what we got from the inspector general of treasury. the i.r.s. was trying to, quote, save money and be more efficient. well, mr. president,e should make sure that we save american taxpayers money, no doubt, especially at a time when every dollar counts for our family and, frankly, for our government. with that said, what can congress do? what is our role here in the senate, in the house, in the congress, and in the white house, the executive branch of our government, and treasury. as senior members of the finance committee, senator portman and i have listened to john koskinen and to the wonderful comptroller general. we listened to them and lament the fact that for years, for years congress has appropriated the i.r.s. with far less money

that it needs to provide adequate tax enforcement and good customer service as well as to better ensure that all federal taxpayers are paying their fair share to fund our government and meet our many obligations. despite a recent bump up in funding for the i.r.s. in the past year, since fiscal year 2010, over the last decade, funding for the i.r.s. overall has declined by $3.1 billion after accounting for inflation, while the number of individual taxpayers has increased by $13 million. that makes no sense to me. and my guess is it doesn't make much sense to most people. listen again, funding for the i.r.s. -- our job is to appropriate money, among other things. funding for the i.r.s. overall has declined by over $3 billion while accounting for inflation while the number of individual taxpayers who need to be served, who have questions to ask and tax returns to submit, that number has gone up by 13

million people. these i.r.s. budget cuts have impaired both tax enforcement and taxpayer service operations. for example, reduced funding has led to reduction in the number of employees assigned to answer telephone calls. the inevitable result is fewer taxpayer calls answered, longer wait times to get through to the i.r.s. representatives, and a lot of needless frustrations from the people that we and the i.r.s. are serving, the people that sent us here to work for them. and all of this was before the be coronavirus pandemic forced the i.r.s. to send thousands of its employees home. as i prepare to wrap up here today, mr. president, let me say to all of our colleagues, those that are gathered here and those that are not, our colleagues both here in the senate and the house of representatives, while it's important to recognize the i.r.s. did not do a good job overseeing the free file program and make clear that it must do

more, it's equally important that we in the legislative branch of government and in the administration, this administration and future administrations provide the i.r.s. with the tools and resources it needs to do the important job it does. the last time the i.r.s. had a marketing bblg for their -- budget for their program it's been between $750,000 and $1.5 million marketing the program annually to close to 200 million taxpayers. that sounds like l a lot of money but when you're talking about about over 100 million taxpayers, it doesn't go that far. i'm not sure that's a big enough budget, mr. president, given the large number of taxpayers that seem to be unaware of free file. a modest amount of funding would go a long way to ensure millions of taxpayers do not have to pay a dime to file their taxes

online. colleagues, my staff and my other colleagues often hear me say, i think they're called after -- aphorisms. one is find out what works and do more of that. mr. president, we found out on our subcommittee how we can strengthen and support this free file program. let's do it. let's not just talk about it, let's not just complain about it. let's do it. and let's begin by doing our part and provide this year and the years that follow the i.r.s. the resources it needs and where necessary the additional guidance it needs to make free file work the way it was meant to work flm two decades ago. in adversity lies opportunity. think about that. in adversity lies opportunity. i wish i could claim that as my own. that's einstein. in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic the filing deadline for taxpayers has been pushed back to july 15. not april 15, a month and a

half ago, but july 15. here's what that means. it means taxpayers have, we have more time to get the word out, the i.r.s. has more time to get the word out to eligible americans that they can file their taxes for free. more time to get the word out to eligible americans that they can file their taxes for free. get the word out to whom? to tens of millions of american taxpayers. i want to encourage all eligible taxpayers to visit irs.gov/free file right here. irs.gov/freefile to ensure they have access to the free resources available to them. i'd also ask everyone to help spread the word. talk to your friends, talk to your family. when you're cooped up at home and can't go any place, still locked down or quarantined, talk about free file. here's a way we can maybe save

some money and our friends can do instead of taking a different course. that's it. i close with this, mr. president, i like movies and i know the presiding officer likes movies. one of my all time favorite movies and my colleague from alaska, one of his favorite movies is "back to the future." this is in a way back to the future. back when i first got to the house, we used to do this, as i said, before senator sullivan and senator cruz came to the floor i used to talk about, in delaware there is only three counties, we actually would do town hall meetings and folks from the i.r.s. to actually help people prepare and file their taxes. we don't do that anymore. but actually we have something that's even better, a whole lot better, and it's this free file program that the i.r.s. has and available if people just knew about it. i'll close with these words. i wish i could claim this as well, i don't know who said this but maybe one of our smart, if we had paibltion here, i'd ask one of the pages

to figure it out. if a tree falls in the forest and there's nobody there to hear it, is there really a noise. think about that. a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody there to hear it, is it really a noise? if we got a great program through the i.r.s. to help millions of people file taxes for free and they don't know about it, is it really a benefit? arguably not. we can do something about that. let's do it. thank you so much, and i yield back the floor to my friend from alaska. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, there's no doubt that there's a lot of anger in our country right now. we've seen that anger been given voice all throughout our communities in small towns and big cities. we've seen it in our households

among our families, our children, our friends. the killing of george floyd has shocked us all. the video of a police officer so nonchalantly kneeling on george's neck as he begged to be released, and three other officers standing by as if nothing was happening, as if it weren't a human being's life being taken has shocked us. by now we all know how george floyd called out, calling out for his mother who had passed years ago, a mother who loved him, whom he must have seen coming to him in his final moments. i can't breathe, he said, the last words of a man on a street in minneapolis that has rocked the nation. three simple words, mr. president, that mean so much, have so much resonance throughout our history, words that at their very heart have helped to define the moral issue

of our country, and that is slavery and the struggle, the long struggle for civil rights. freedom to breathe in your life as your own is what was taken from men and women and their children when they were ripped from their countries and brought into slavery into this nation. that's what was taken away from native americans and alaska natives when they were forced off their lands. the freedom to take the full breath of life is what is taken away from people when they are denied a quality education or housing in safe neighborhoods, when they are denied jobs or promotions, when they get those jobs. and they are viewed because of the color of their skin as less deserving or as less able. mr. president, i applaud those who have peacefully taken to the streets throughout our communities to protest against

racism, and also applaud the brave police officers and national guardsmen all across the country who are protecting those who need protecting and reaching out to constructively engage peaceful protesters. the vast, vast majority of these law enforcement officers are honorable and risk their lives daily for their fellow citizens, and we need to remember that. we are witnessing something that i believe is an important moment, one that has potential to move our country in a direction towards a more perfect union. this moment has promise. senators are discussing with each other what kind of legislative action should be taken. for example, we had a very good discussion on these issues just yesterday led by my friend and colleague, senator tim scott of south carolina. state and community leaders are

also having these discussions. of course we're a big country, and what might seem to be a good idea in one place wouldn't be a good idea in some other place. for example, in one of the enormous challenges in the great state of alaska that i've been focused on for years is not enough law enforcement, particularly in our rural and native communities, dozens of which don't have any law enforcement officers at all. so this is a huge problem in alaska that can create horrible situations, particularly when it comes to violent crimes like sexual assault. so i'm not a proponent of defunding the police. but something else that is happening in america right now at this moment are discussions not just in the halls of government, but around dinner

tables among families and parents and their kids and their friends groups on what can or should be done at the individual level, the individual american level. and this is certainly happening, for example, in my family. mr. president, that was the main point of a powerful and wisdom-filled op-ed by my former boss and friend and mentor, secretary of state condoleezza rice, last week in "the washington post." i'd like to submit this op-ed for the record to be placed at the end of my remarks. it's entitled "this moment cries out for us to confront race in america." the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sullivan: condoleezza rice was the daughter of the segregated south, raised in birmingham, alabama, during the height of the struggle for civil rights, with sit-ins,

riots, and even bombings happening in her city. when she was eight years old, the ku klux klan bombed a local church in birmingham, calling four school-age girls. one of those girls, denise mcnair was a friend of condi's. they used to play dolls together. over five decades later, through hard work, grace, dignity, and supreme intelligence, she rose to become one of the most powerful people in the world as secretary of state of the united states, and i had the honor of a lifetime to work for her for five years. she recounts some of her journey in this op-ed which i encourage all of my colleagues and all americans to read. she reminds us, quote, that our country has a birth defect.

african and europeans came to this country together, but one group was in chains. in time, she writes, the very constitution that counted slaves as three-fifths of a man became a powerful tool of affording the descendants of slaves their basic rights. the work has been long and difficult, but it has made a difference. we are better than we were. she notes one harsh indicator of progress. in jim crow, alabama, in her youth, she says, quote, no one batted even an eye if the police killed a black man. there wouldn't have even been a footnote in the local press, unquote. and yet now we're seeing hundreds of thousands across america take to the streets peacefully to protest such injustice. in her piece from last week,

she emphasizes that fib -- finger pointing at this moment won't help the cause. quote, if we are to make progress, let us vow to check the language of recrimination at the door. very -- very wise words. we need to emphasis unity and empathy at this moment. all of us, senators, governors, the president, the media, all of us have this responsibility and it's what the vast majority of our fellow americans want. it's what they want and what they -- whan they want -- and what they want us to do and see and hear from us. and perhaps most importantly condoleezza rice in her op-ed emphasizes something seemingly so obvious but not spoken much, individual action and

responsibility. she ends her piece with this challenge that i put up here on the poster board. it's a really important challenge for every american. so i ask my fellow americans, what will each of you do? my personal passion is educational opportunity, because it is a partial shield against prejudice, she writes, it's not a perfect shield, i know, but it gives people a fighting chance. in my conversations i want to discuss why the learning gap for black kids is so stubborn and what can be done about it. what is your question about the impact of race on the lives of americans? and what will you do to find answers? mr. president, those words in her op-ed, the challenge, really

struck me, and i thought long and hard all week about them since reading those words in "the washington post." of course, as a senator, i, with many of you, my colleagues, are taking part in discussions, which i hope will lead to collective action by our federal government to address some of the challenges our nation certainly continues to have regarding race. but condoleezza rice's questions about personal challenges and action and as a question for every american po consider. i have an amazing alaska native wife who -- among the first people's in our great nation. but i've never experienced that kind of racism that many across our country have. i'm a colonel in the marines, an

institution i'm very proud to be a part of. an institution that, like the army, navy, air force, and coast guard at its very heart it isn't supposed to matter what the color of your skin is, what religion your practice or what part of the socioeconomic ladder you come from. the fundamental ethos of the military is supposed to be there, it doesn't matter what race you are, you are just a united states marine. of course the mairps and the rest of the military don't always meet this ideal, but they strive for it even in ways that might seem puzzling for those who haven't heard. there's the story of the tough marine corps sergeant shouting at his raw recruits at boot camp.

there is no racial bigotry he screams. in my eyes every one of you are equally worthless. my orders are to we'd -- weed all who cannot serve in the marine corps. do you magg ma gegots understand that. i remember how the first rifle platoon i commanded as a young second lieutenant was literally about one-third white, one-third black, one-third hispanic. my platoon sergeant was an african american marine named willis townes. he was outstanding in every way, sergeant townes. i learned so much from him about leadership. his dream in life was to be the first african american sergeant

major of the entire marine corps. he never reached that goal. a few weeks after i attended a martin luther king jr. ceremony with him in which he received an award for his leadership in the community, he was killed in a training accident. that was the worst day of my life. but just a few years later, the marine corps named another outstanding african american marine to be sergeant major of the entire marine corps, and i remember thinking on that day when the announcement came out, congratulations, willis, you did it. you did it. i believe that the military desegregated in 1948, nearly 20 years before the passage of civil rights legislation by this body is one of the most important civil rights organizations in america, and i

am passionate about that organization, our u.s. military. but can it improve in terms of race? are there questions that need to be asked about the record of our military on these important issues? mr. president, yesterday was an important day in the u.s. senate with the unanimous vote to confirm general charles q. brown jr. to be chief of staff of the united states air force. for a whole host of reasons, i was probably more involved in his confirmation than any other u.s. senator and i had the opportunity to come to the floor yesterday to strongly speak in support of his senate confirmation. i've had many discussions with general brown over the past year, but what surprised me was when i learned recently that yesterday's vote was actually an

historic vote for america. why? why was his confirmation, 98-0, by the way, so historic. because general c.q. brown was just confirmed yesterday by this body as our first african american service chief in the history of the united states of america. let me explain a little bit more about thavment the joint chiefs of staff -- that. the joint chiefs of staff are the top four-star generals of the army, navy, marines, coast guard, with the notable exception of collin powell, general c.q. brown, who we confirmed yesterday, will be the first african american service chief ever for any military service. now, of course, this is good

news in terms of racial progress for america, but it also begs an important question. why did it take so long for this to happen? especially in one of america's institutions would probably -- with probably one of the best longest records on positive civil rights in our nation. some of the answers were surely hinted at in general brown's very moving video address that he gave last week when he talks about what's on his mind in the wake of the horrible george floyd death. and i would recommend everybody take a look at that. in the air force, he says, he was often the only african american in his squadron and as a senior general officer, the only african american in the entire room, he said. what was he thinking about

during these challenging times? quote, i'm thinking about wearing the same flight suit with the same wings on my chest as my peers and then being questioned by another military member, are you a pilot? what else is he thinking? i'm thinking about my mentors and how rarely i had a mentor who looked like me, i'm thinking about the pressures i felt to perform air free, especially for supervisors i perceived had expected less of me as an african american. he continues. he was thinking about the conversations he was having with his sons, the immense responsibility that comes from his historic nomination. he was thinking about how with this confirmation how he could make things better in the air force and america. so, mr. president, here's how i'm going to take up condoleezza

rice's challenge that she put forward for each individual american. i'm going to ask questions as she prods us to do in this piece on why until yesterday no african american four star had ever been confirmed to be a service chief in the united states military in the history of our country. i will be introducing an amendment to this near's ndaa to get data on minorities and senior enlisted and officer billets in the military, african americans, alaska natives, native americans, hispanic americans and others. we know these are very patriotic segments of our population. for example, alaska natives and american indians serve at higher rates in the military than any other ethic group in the country. what i refer to as special patriotism. but is this patriotic service reflected at the highest leadership ranks of our

military? and if not, then why not? i suspect that a lot of military leaders who have risen to the general officer's rank like general brown or other outstanding african american generals who i've gotten to know or had the privilege to serve with like former cent come commander austin, ron bailey will have insightful views on these important matters. our military's something i'm very passionate about not only because it protects and defends our nation but because for decades it has provided americans of all colors and creeds with the opportunity to rise up individually and as a collective force for good in our society to enable members of the military to achieve their full potential and have a promising

future after their service is completed. if there is some kind of obstacle from minority advancement that stifles opportunities at the highest ranks of our military, and this we need to know why and we need to work on addressing it together. and, as a matter of fact, i just came from a full day of marking up the ndaa with democrat and republican senators, and we will be trying to look at this issue which we had a great discussion on in our markup today. need our military, like the rest -- like we need the rest of the country, to be a place where everyone who joins can breathe freely. so, mr. president, this is one of the ways i'm going to take up condoleezza rice's challenge to her fellow americans, this important challenge, and i hope my fellow americans will find

their own individual ways to do this as well. i yield the floor. mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i've been thinking about the last time i was in an airplane. it was in mid-march. i -- i -- one of the great things about my state, one of the many great things is i can ride back and forth in a car in six hours. the last time i was in an airplane was in mid-march. that day south korea had 90 cases of coronavirus, the 0 diagnosed cases of coronavirus. on the other side of the world the united states of america had 90 cases of coronavirus. since then, fewer than 300 south koreans have died. their unemployment rate is under 4%. more than 110,000 americans have been killed by this virus and

our unemployment rate is the worst since the great depression. this isn't because south korea has smarter scientists or better doctors or harder workers, it's because of leadership. of course, mr. president, you know, you ran against him. you know. the president's going to deny responsibility. he's going to point fingers. he's going to blame others. it's what he did as a failed businessman. it's what he did as a tv celebrity. it's what he did as a presidential candidate running against you, mr. president. and it's what he's done as president. his whole life he denied responsibility, pointed fingers, blamed others. my colleagues all know that the buck never stops in this oval office. what's disappointing is the whisper in the woods silence, defeat in concrete inaction on the part of so many of my friends on this side of the aisle. we know the president's playbook, divide and distract,

play a race, divide the country, distract from the failed leadership. so far it's largely been like president like senator. yesterday the president started attacking a private citizen, a citizen who is supposed to serve -- attacking a private citizen, a citizen he is supposed to serve spreading conspiracy theories about a 75-year-old man peacefully protesting for change. what was my colleague's reaction? the same, whisper in the woods silence, the same feet in concrete inaction, the hiding, the hiding behind -- behind a column, behind a desk, hiding behind a post, hiding from the peed ya. when the free press tried to ask them about it, when one journalist printed out a copy of the president's statements, some of my colleagues physically refused to look at t. you might be able to escape to your office in this building, mr. president, but you can't ignore the people

in cities and towns, in neighborhoods in your state, in all of our states who are demanding change. you can't ignore the people whom we serve. i implore my colleagues to listen, to listen to the calls for change. the president may ignore them when he's not dividing, he's ignoring what citizens want to do but in the senate we can do better. we can step in to fill that leadership void. we can answer those calls for change. we can tackle the problems we face as a country. we could start with the proposed solutions my colleagues and i have introduced to help people get through this pandemic. we have a rental assistance bill to help people pay the bills and stay in their home. can you imagine anything worse when the unemployment benefit runs out at the end of july, we know in my state alone, in the state of texas there are twice as many. in my state alone there are more than a million of people unemployed. they're not all going to get called back to work at the end of july. so if the until employment benefit stops as a number of people -- as senator mcconnell

seems to want it to, there will be evictions. there will be a wave of -- there will be a mass -- a wave of mass -- of evictions, people losing their apartments, people -- can you imagine anything more ludicrous than the -- in the middle of a pandemic that people are put on the streets or people are forced to go -- move in with a cousin in an already crowded second-floor apartment? you think that's not going to spread this pandemic even worse? so we have to have a rental assistance bill. we have a plan to put more money in people's pockets so they can stay afloat and keep spending in their communities. we have a plan to actually protect workers on the job so they feel safe going back to work. yesterday in committee, the secretary of labor told us there are -- there have been 5,000, 5,000 complaints, workplace complaints against employers by employees saying their workplace wasn't safe. you know how many citations the department of labor has issued?

one. a,000 -- 5,000 complaints, one citation. the department of labor is supposed to represent surprise labor, not corporate interests who have -- corporate leaders who have no interest in keeping their workplace safe. we have a plan to truly scale up testing in this country so we can begin the real test contact trace isolate plan we need to reopen safely. but leader mcconnell, the leader of this body, the republican leader elected i assume unanimously by his republican caucus says he sees no urgency. those are his words. he sees no urgency on any of this. we also have solutions, mr. president, to begin finally to tackle the systemic racism that puts black and brown americans' lives at risk. this week my democratic colleagues and i joined senator booker and senator harris to introduce legislation to make real meaningful reforms on how we do policing in this country.

americans of both parties agree we need to rethink the role of the police, how we invest our tax dollars in education and health care and housing and so much else. i'm also introducing a resolution declaring racism a public health emergency. because let's be clear. this pandemic and racism in america are not separate problems. they're intimately connected. the headline in the atlantic put it pretty quell. the coronavirus was an emergency until trump found out -- wasn't an emergency until trump found out who was dying. it is black and brown workers who have been on the job for months exposing themselves to the virus so grocery stores stay stocked and packages keep getting delivered and hospital linens keep getting changed. it's black and brown communities who are grieving the losses of their friends and neighbors. here's what i wish more of my colleagues would understand, that they're our neighbors too. breonna taylor was our neighbor. george floyd was our make. the 110,000 americans who have

died of this virus were our neighbors. some of you have said words expressing sympathy. thank you for that. some of you have issued statements saying you want to see reform, you would nts tolerate race -- you won't tolerate racism. all of you wish the president wouldn't stop tweeting about you those words aren't enough. press releases don't get us as far. they're not far enough. you need to put actions behind your words. it's time for colleagues to join us to pass real solutions. it's time to stand up to leader mcconnell and say let us do our jobs. president trump's not doing his job. that's for sure. leader mcconnell is not doing his job. that's for sure. it's time for all of us in the body, this body to do our job. it's time to stand up to the president, to use every ounce of leverage we all have to stop the racism, stop the division, stop inciting violence. there's a leadership void in this country. i'm waiting for my colleagues to join us to fill it. thank you, mr. president.

i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

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