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H.R. 2471
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, before I even start, I do want to compliment the staff--later, I will put all of the names in the Record--who worked weekends and late at night. I remember times when I would get off the phone with them at 11 o'clock at night and 12 midnight. I could go to bed, but they were still there working until 3 or 4 in the morning.
Yet, after all of those months of negotiations, the Committee on Appropriations introduced the $1.5 trillion fiscal year 2022 Omnibus appropriations bill. As I will explain, this is the consolidation of 12 annual appropriations bills to fund the Federal Government for the remainder of the fiscal year. Last night, the House passed it on a bipartisan basis. It is now before us, and we need to act on it quickly.
Our annual appropriations bills are where we reflect on our national priorities. In total, this bill includes $730 billion in nondefense funding. That is a $46 billion increase over fiscal year 2021. This 6.7-percent increase is the largest in 4 years for nondefense programs. It allows for significant investments in the American people that will expand the middle class.
The bill also provides urgent funding for the people of Ukraine as they battle Vladimir Putin's immoral, unprovoked, and brutal invasion--
an invasion which, actually, labels Vladimir Putin as a ``war criminal.''
It is unquestionably in the interest of the American people that the Senate act quickly to pass this bill and send it to President Biden. I will tell you why it is so important.
In the wake of the pandemic, children and schools across the country have been falling behind in math and reading, and children in low-
income and minority communities have been falling even further behind their peers. One study found that third graders who are attending school in low-income communities tested 17 points lower in math than they did just in 2019. We can't allow a global pandemic to set these children further back on the path to a bright future.
The bill includes $17.5 billion--the largest increase in more than a decade--for title I-A grants. These grants provide funding for more than half of our Nation's public schools to help students, particularly in low-income communities, meet college and career-ready academic standards.
And to help these children succeed before they even step foot in the classroom, the bill includes more than $11 billion for Head Start. The bill also increases the maximum Pell Grant award by $400--also the largest increase in more than a decade--so that as these students succeed they can go on to pursue a college education. Pell Grants help more than 7 million students pursue a postsecondary education every year.
Now, of course, we are investing in these children, but we are also investing in their families. Ask any young family and they will tell you that the pandemic exacerbated the childcare crisis. Parents, and particularly women, are being forced out of the labor market because they cannot afford the high cost of childcare. The bill provides more than $6 billion for childcare and development block grants. That is a 4.4-percent increase over last year. These grants will assist low-income families in gaining quality childcare that fits their needs to prepare their children to succeed in school.
Across this country--the wealthiest and most powerful Nation on Earth--more than 38 million people, including 12 million children, are what can be called food insecure. Many of us in this room cannot even imagine the heartbreak and pain a parent must feel when they cannot put enough food on the table for their child. So the bill increases support for nutrition programs. These programs are a lifeline to these American families.
It also ensures that over 4 million low-income women and children will not see their benefits reduced at the end of April by extending the WIC Cash-Value Voucher Program. It is a special $35 monthly benefit for purchasing fruits and vegetables. It fully funds $6 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children--WIC--to help support 6.2 million low-income women, infants and children younger than 5 years old every month. It also includes more than $140 billion, which is a 23-percent increase, for SNAP. SNAP provides assistance to more than 40 million people every year in this country.
It also keeps families in their homes by providing billions of dollars to build and support public housing. This includes a 75-percent increase for Choice Neighborhoods, which helps to transform communities by revitalizing public and assisted housing. It provides an 11-percent increase to build new affordable housing through the HOME program. And it includes $4.8 billion for community and economic development.
We understand that hundreds of thousands of Americans are homeless. The 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report found that on a single night more than 580,000 people experienced homelessness. People who are struggling with homelessness have been robbed of a central pillar of the American Dream--having a place that they can call their own. The bill provides $3 billion--a 6.6-percent increase--for homeless assistance grants.
We know it is a bipartisan priority in Congress to keep our communities safe so the bill provides a 15-percent increase for Department of Justice grants to State and local law enforcement and communities to prevent and respond to crime. It provides COPS Hiring grant funding to place more than 1,700 officers on the streets to keep our communities safe. But as a country, we have collectively grieved the loss of life that inspired the Black Lives Matter movement. So this bill provides new resources to fund deescalation training, implicit bias training, training that emphasizes the duty of fellow officers to intervene, and providing crisis intervention teams.
It is also a commitment to the future of scientific research, development, and innovation in this country. It provides the largest increase in 12 years for the National Science Foundation. The NSF funds a quarter of all federally supported basic research conducted by colleges and universities in this country. It provides a 6-percent increase for the Department of Energy Office of Science and a 5.3-
percent increase for the National Institutes of Health to speed the development of new therapies, diagnostics, and preventative measures.
I think it also, importantly, includes $1 billion to launch the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, the ARPA-H, as President Biden's bold and promising proposal to revolutionize how we prevent, treat, and cure devastating diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, and diabetes.
Marcelle, my wife, and I had the opportunity to listen to then-Vice President Biden speak about this at the University of Vermont's medical school a few years ago and then again to hear President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Dr. Jill Biden speak about it at the White House. I was committed to making sure that it would be in the Omnibus bill, and I am pleased that it was included and that that request was joined by numerous other Senators.
The bill closes the chapter on 4 years of denying the existence of the climate crisis by the previous administration. It provides billions of dollars to support climate research, mitigation, and adaptation. This includes $900 million in NSF funding to support climate and clean energy research, $40 million for NOAA climate-related projects, $425 million for clean air programs, and an historic investment in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, EERE.
We also provide hundreds of millions of dollars to support international climate change adaptation and mitigation programs. We included this funding because the scientific communities are in agreement that we are running out of time before the damage to our planet is irreversible. So we are taking a small but long-overdue step to confront that reality.
The bill also backs up our commitment to our veterans. It provides
$97.5 billion--an 8.7-percent increase--for VA medical care. That provides essential health services for 9.2 million veterans, those men and women who have served our country and whom we always promised to back up, as they did us. Now, we are. This includes funding for rural health programs, veterans' homelessness prevention, and mental health resources.
Consistent with long tradition, the bill includes billions of dollars for food and other humanitarian aid for victims of war and natural disasters, $700 million to support global health security programs to prevent and prepare for future pandemics, and it provides the funds to support PEPFAR's global HIV-AIDS program.
It provides the funds to support our embassies and other foreign missions around the world. And it supports organizations like the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Peace Corps, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the International Development Finance Corporation.
Anybody who is watching the news knows what is happening with the war crimes that are being imposed on Ukraine by a much larger neighbor, Russia, under the unbelievable, irresponsible leadership of Vladimir Putin.
So we have included a $13.6 billion bipartisan agreement to provide emergency assistance to Ukraine and our NATO allies--$13.6 billion. That has the necessary resources to bolster the defense capabilities of the Ukrainian military but also our regional allies and partners. It also supports the implementation of economic sanctions and export restrictions on Russia.
Importantly, it addresses the evolving humanitarian crisis--this horrible, tragic humanitarian crisis--that has resulted from President Putin's unprovoked attack on the Ukrainian people, an attack I call a war crime. The escalating crisis President Putin has inflicted on Europe poses the greatest threat to democracy and sovereignty in a generation.
The American people overwhelmingly support the people of Ukraine. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue; this is a human rights issue. This is where America stands with the people of Ukraine.
I remember a few years ago when I was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I joined with my friend Mike Crapo, another Senator, and we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act. We dramatically increased it and improved it. We added Native Americans, we added the LGBTQ community, and we added the sexual exploitation of children.
Well, the Violence Against Women Act has been stuck. It hasn't been reauthorized. This bill reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act.
VAWA continues to be one of the most consequential laws addressing the scourge of violence against women and domestic violence in our country. I remember how bad it was when I was a prosecutor, but it has become far, far worse today. We need the tool of VAWA, and the bill includes the highest funding level ever of grants to support these programs. It provides crucial support for programs and initiatives designed to support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.
Of note, this bill also reforms and reauthorizes the EB-5 Visa program, which has been abused by corrupt actors for too long. I have championed these bipartisan reforms for many years, and I am proud that we are finally going to enact them.
In total, the bill includes $730 billion in nondefense funding, a 6.7-percent increase. The bill includes, $782 billion in defense funding, a 5.6-percent increase over fiscal year 2021.
This is a product of months of negotiations--sometimes weekends, sometimes evenings, sometimes days, over and over again--negotiations between myself and dear friends Vice Chairman Shelby and House Chair DeLauro and Ranking Member Granger.
I mentioned earlier our staffs who spent countless late nights working through the details of this bill. Those are not just weekday nights; those are weekends too, giving up plans they might have had, personal plans, family plans, whatever. So I think of specifically Charles Kieffer, Chanda Betourney, Jessica Berry, and Jay Tilton on my staff and Bill Duhnke and David Adkins on Vice Chairman Shelby's staff and so many, many more who worked those nights and days--far too many names to say right now.
Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have a list of the staff printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was orderd to be printed in the Record, as follows:
Chairman Leahy List for H.R. 2471 (Consolidated Appropriations Act,
2022) Staff for the Record
Charles Kieffer, Chanda Betourney, Jessica Berry, Jay Tilton, Maddie Dunn, Megan Fariel, William Duhnke, David Adkins, Blair Taylor, Margaret Wiles, Ann Tait Hall, Robin Juliano, Matt Washington, Jason Gray, Anne Marie Chotvacs, Johnnie Kaberle, Sara Peters, Dianne Nellor, Rachel Erlebacher, Hannah Chauvin, Morgan Ulmer, Patrick Carroll, Elizabeth Dent, Jean Toal Eisen, Jennifer Eskra, Blaise Sheridan, Michael Bednarczyk, Angela-Gussi Caalim, Brian Daner, Allen Cutler, Kevin Wheeler, Erik Raven, Mike Clementi, Katy Hagan, Kate Kaufer, Brigid Kolish, Robert Leonard, John Lucio, Andy Vanlandingham, Abigail Grace, Andrew Platt, Hanz Heinrichs, John Forbes, Rachel Littleton, Todd Phillips, Doug Clapp, Jennifer Becker-Pollet, Aaron Goldner, Laura Powell, Christopher Crowley, Jen Armstrong, Nora Khalil, Anna Newton, Sirisha Rayaprolu, Ellen Murray, Diana Hamilton, Reeves Hart, Andrew Newton, Alexandra Adcock, William Tutt, Lauren Nunnally, Kamela White, Jennifer Piatt, Jim Daumit, Frank Reed, Teri Curtin, Jason Yaworske, Chris Cook, Daniel Mencher, Thompson Moore, LaShawnda Smith, Melissa Zimmerman, Ryan Hunt, Martha Roberts, Anthony Sedillo, Emy Lesofski, Lucas Agnew, Nona McCoy, Alex Keenan, Kelly Brown, Michael Gentile, Mark Laisch, Meghan Mott, Kathryn Toomajian, Fiona O-Brien, Laura Friedel, Anna Lanier Fischer, Ashley Palmer, Emily Slack, Michelle Dominguez, Joanne Hoff, Jason McMahon, Patrick Magnuson, Jennifer Bastin, Tim Rieser, Kali Farahmand, Sarita Vanka, Madeleine Granda, Paul Grove, Katherine Jackson, Adam Yezerski, Dabney Hegg, Kelsey, Daniels, Rajat Mathur, Jessica Sun, Amanda Wahlig, Alison Graab, Michael Ciamarra, Jason Woolwine, Courtney Young, Clint Trocchio, Christy Greene, Jenny Winkler, Valerie Hutton, George Castro, Hong Nguyen, Elmer Barnes, Penny Myles, Karin Thames, Lynn Cookley.
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, this is a good bill. It is a bill that reflects American priorities and invests in future prosperity and our health. It reduces everyday costs for millions of Americans, such as childcare, a college education, and heating and cooling costs. It is a bill that invests in us--us--the American people.
We know that a government shutdown on Saturday would be senseless. Look at the impression it would give the rest of the world when we are telling everybody to stand up and be strong. We know that a delay would be senseless, so I strongly urge all Members to vote aye when the bill comes to the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Remembering George Nettels, Jr.
Mr. MORAN. Madam President, I rise today on a solemn occasion. I rise in memory of George Nettels, Jr., a man who lived a life of service to his community and to our State.
Affectionately referred to as ``the face of Pittsburg''--Pittsburg, KS, that is--George was a loving husband to Josie and a devoted father to Chris, Meg, Kate, and Becky. He was born in Pittsburg, KS--the very southeast corner of our State--where his dedication, hard work, and thirst for adventure was cultivated.
As a young man, George joined the U.S. Army in the closing years of World War II. Upon his return home, he attended the University of Kansas, where he was a letterman on the swim team and graduated with a degree in civil engineering.
George spent most of his career in his beloved hometown, where he became the proud owner of Midwest Minerals, a crushed limestone aggregate and agricultural lime supplier with a strong four-State presence.
In 1966, he served as the chairman of the Kansas Republican Party and the National Limestone Institute, so civic and politics, as well as his devotion to his profession and those it employed. It was the preceding association to what we in Washington, DC, and across the country know as the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association.
His work at the National Limestone Institute led to his appointment in 1970 as president and CEO of McNally Manufacturing, which started as a small boiler shop and helped transform Pittsburg into a Southeast Kansas industrial powerhouse.
George's leadership included serving as chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers and as director of Kansas City Power and Light.
In 1986, the Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas honored him with the distinction of Kansan of the Year--a fitting tribute for his life of service to his community, State, and profession.
His deep involvement in civic business and philanthropic endeavors kept him busy in Pittsburg, where he served as president of the chamber of commerce, chairman of the Mt. Carmel Hospital board of trustees, a member of the United Way, and president of USD--Unified School District--250 Board of Education. His devotion to Pittsburg's public schools is one he inherited from his father, who spearheaded a campaign to build an elementary school that ultimately would be named for him.
George Nettels' appetite for adventure led him to 24 countries, skydiving in tandem with his grandson, Jack--he did that at age 84--and taking a 6-day bike tour through the hills of Italy. Whether around the world or at home, he never turned down a new physical challenge, which led him to being named the honorary starter of the Get Busy Livin' 5K Run and Friendship Walk in Pittsburg at 87 years old.
I heard this story from one of my staff, who saw George jogging in 100-degree heat just over 2 years ago. Worrying about his age and the heat, my staffer offered George a ride, to which he replied:
I grew up working in this heat and it doesn't bother me one bit.
George learned from his father that life is a gift and the length is not guaranteed. He took that lesson to heart, making sure that while he was on Earth, he bettered his hometown, made countless memories with his family and friends, and was always ready for an adventure.
Southeast Kansas's dynamic industrial sector, the city of Pittsburg, and our entire State have George Nettels, Jr., to thank for his advocacy, leadership, and commitment to excellence.
Robba and I extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends and all those who knew and loved him.
Remembering Roger Kemp
Madam President, I rise as the entire Kansas City community mourns the death of Roger Kemp.
Over the years, Roger and I became close friends, and I knew him to be a passionate member of the Kansas City community. Nowhere was this passion and drive more evident than his work following the death of his daughter.
In 2002, Roger and his wife Kathy's daughter Ali was murdered at the age of 19 while she was working at a local pool as a lifeguard.
Living through a parent's worst nightmare, Roger channeled his grief into bringing his daughter's murderer to account for this heinous crime. Roger demanded nothing less than absolute justice for his daughter. He worked tirelessly, including through a billboard advertisement campaign, to find Ali's killer. This campaign not only worked to bring her killer to justice but led law enforcement, both locally and nationally, to adopt a similar strategy that has been credited with helping to apprehend hundreds of other suspected killers.
His work did not stop there. Roger wanted to devote his life and his efforts to making certain that other women, other young girls, were not caught defenseless as Ali was and that no other parent had to experience the torment and loss that he and Kathy endured. So Roger founded The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation and T.A.K.E. Defense programs. An honor student, Ali was, at both Blue Valley North High School and Kansas State University; her life was just getting started. She had just finished her freshman year at K-State, where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority and a volunteer in her church.
But even though it was tragically cut short, Ali's tragic death touched thousands of people, and The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation continues to positively impact the lives of many and allows her legacy to live on.
``I don't care what it cost to do this program,'' Roger said. ``If we save one life out there, it's worth it.''
That was Roger's mantra, and he lived up to it. Over the nearly 20 years since its founding, The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation and its T.A.K.E. Defense programs have trained more than 70,000 girls and women across the country, ranging from the ages of 12 to 90, no doubt saving more than one life.
Roger was an active member and served on the board of directors of the Ad Hoc Commission Against Crime and on the committee which reviewed and awarded grants to shelters and homes for victims of abuse for three different Kansas attorneys general.
But it wasn't just those of us in Kansas that recognized just how special a person Roger was. In 2011, I had the honor of successfully nominating Roger to receive the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian award presented by a President. He was 1 of 13 recipients out of more than 6,000 nominees.
I think a quote from the foundation he created in Ali's honor perfectly captures who he was, and it reads:
Roger's faith in the American justice system; his belief that 99 percent of the world is good, his powerful love for his daughter Ali and sons Tyler and Drew and his deep dedication to his wife Kathy drove him every day, fighting the good fight, to make our world a better place.
Roger Kemp was a loving father and husband, a dedicated member of his community, and a man who created good from the devastating disaster, the murder of his daughter.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Kathy, Tyler, and Drew and all who knew and loved Roger in this time of sorrow. I am honored to have considered him a friend, and it comforts me to know that he has reunited once more with Ali.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Ukraine
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, Vladimir Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine rests on the false historic claim that Ukraine is not a real country but a part of Russia.
Both Ukraine and Russia trace their roots to ancient civilizations centered in Kyiv. Kyiv was a major city when Moscow was a backwater that no one had heard of.
The devastating and brutal Mongol invasion in the 13th century changed everything. Collaboration with the Mongols allowed Muscovy, the predecessor of modern Russia, to become a dominant regional power. Meanwhile, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania exerted control over much of what is now Western Ukraine, giving it a very Western European perspective.
Russia, since the Mongol invasion, has been ruled with an iron fist. By contrast, Ukraine has been home to the Cossacks, who embody a sense of freedom and individual autonomy. Just think of Ukrainian Cossacks as the equivalent of the American cowboys of the Wild West. They hated serfdom and oppressive government and sought to elect their own rulers, which they called a hetman.
A Cossack state using the name Ukraine in what is now Ukraine's southeast became a major power in the mid-17th century. Then, when Catherine the Great conquered that Ukrainian state, she is recorded as having said:
Every effort should be made to eradicate them and their age from memory.
Ukrainians' strong national identity threatens the claim of Russian nationalists to be the heir to the ancient Kyiv civilization. When Ukrainians revolted against the Soviet collectivization of agriculture dictated from Moscow, Stalin seized the Ukrainian wheat harvest and food stores, starving millions of Ukrainians to death. This is remembered as Holodomor, which means ``extermination by hunger'' in the Ukrainian language.
Putin rehabilitated the image of Stalin and banned the human rights organization memorial which investigated Stalin's crimes against humanity. Putin is following, then, in a long tradition of Russian nationalists and the autocrats associated with it who have tried to stamp out Ukrainian national identity.
When Putin talks about being threatened by NATO, he does not mean he thinks the Russian Federation faces a military threat. Until Russia invaded and occupied Crimea and portions of Eastern Ukraine, our NATO allies bordering Russia hosted no troops from other NATO countries. Today, there are a small number of U.S. troops in NATO's eastern flank which were reinforced only as a result of the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. But these defensive troops are still dwarfed by the number of Russian military personnel in Russia's western military district. NATO does not have enough troops deployed to repel an invasion, much less to be considered an offensive threat to Russia.
What Putin is really threatened by is that Ukraine, true to the history I just gave you, is asserting an independent path. They don't like that independent path because it separates them from Russia. Ironically--in fact, very ironically--his aggressive actions to date have only unified Ukrainians in Ukraine's determination to be free of Russian influence. Putin has pushed Ukraine toward the European Union and toward NATO.
Putin seems to believe his own twisted view of history, so he convinced himself that the current freely elected government of Ukraine is not supported by the Ukrainian people. Putin thought that he could topple President Zelenskyy and appoint a puppet government.
Putin thought Ukrainians would not fight. Boy, has he been proven to be wrong--really wrong. Putin cannot achieve his goal since the Ukrainians will never, never accept Russian domination. So Putin has taken to leveling civilian areas, cynically agreeing to humanitarian corridors to allow families to escape, only to shoot those who have gathered, bombing maternity wards, killing many women and babies. And, of course, as you see every day on television, the atrocities can only get worse.
We must provide Ukraine with everything it might need to stop the mass murders. That includes military aircraft, drones, anti-aircraft systems, anti-missile systems--almost anything they need--and we must do it now.
I wanted more arms and sanctions before the invasion happened. We saw that invasion coming. Any bureaucratic delays now are unacceptable. Our Eastern European allies acted with lightning speed. We seem to follow them. Our European allies were giving up weapons that they need for deterrence in their own defense, and then we followed. We ought to continue to follow their example; but instead of following, we should be leading. And we should agree to fill any gaps caused by past and future donations of weapons to Ukraine by frontline allies.
Ukraine's success and its defense will prevent a wider war that will cost more in lives and resources. It is in our interest to do everything we can to stop the Russian terror campaign now. We should be leading--not leading from behind. We should lead NATO--not follow NATO.
We should be the great United States of America that we are because we are dealing with a sick autocrat, probably with an ego that has to be satisfied; and it is all totally understandable, except that somebody is very sick.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. I ask unanimous consent that the following Senators be permitted to speak prior to the scheduled votes: myself for up to 15 minutes, Senator Paul for up to 15 minutes, Senator Menendez for up to 7 minutes, and Senator Risch for up to 5.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Nomination Of Maria L. Pagan
Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, the Senate will soon vote on the nomination of Maria Pagan to serve as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and our envoy to the World Trade Organization in Geneva.
This vote has been a long time coming; and in a moment, I am going to talk about Ms. Pagan's extensive qualifications and her long experience. But, first, Madam President and colleagues, there is a new urgency today for the Senate to confirm Ms. Pagan with strong bipartisan support.
The Russians' inhuman behavior means that they have forfeited the right to enjoy the fruits of the post-World War II international order.
The World Trade Organization is one of the key venues where the United States and our economic allies must hold Russia accountable for its illegal and unjustifiable war in Ukraine. It means the United States and our economic allies basically have to go to the World Trade Organization and tell Russia: Go fly a kite.
Now, here in the Congress, as the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I am working with the ranking member, Senator Mike Crapo; House Ways and Means Chairman Richie Neal; and Ranking Member Kevin Brady on legislation that would revoke Russia's permanent normal trade status with the United States. This is part of suspending Russia's benefits at the World Trade Organization and would mean Russia's exports to the United States would immediately be hit with significant tariffs.
Our country has led the effort to ratchet up sanctions against Russia to levels nobody has seen.
Russia's economy is in free fall, and there is no question that hitting Putin's tight circle of oligarchs who dominate Russia's largest industries will pay off. Taking away Russia's trade benefits is an essential next step that will help to freeze Russia out of key markets around the world.
As our Envoy to the World Trade Organization, Ms. Pagan would be our point person coordinating this effort. She will be the one coordinating with like-minded countries and intervening in support of Ukraine. That is why it is so important that she be confirmed today and why it is so important that she have strong backing from both sides of the aisle.
Now, her nomination won bipartisan support in the Senate Finance Committee. The Finance Committee approved her nomination by a vote of 27 to 1, so we are talking about near-unanimous support--certainly something of a rare sight in the Congress these days. She got that support because she is a highly experienced public servant who knows how to get the best possible deal for our workers and our farmers and our businesses.
Over three decades in government, she has served at both the Department of Commerce and at the Office of the USTR. She is an expert in a variety of fields. From trade in services to government procurement, she has litigated several disputes before the World Trade Organization. She now serves as deputy general counsel at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the person called in when issues are particularly challenging. She was recently at the center of the U.S.-
Mexico-Canada negotiations, and she was key to helping Democrats guarantee that the final deal would be enforceable. That was a must-
have for all Americans; otherwise, the agreement wasn't going to pass.
Working through the WTO to isolate Russia is just going to be one part of her job. There are critical negotiations at WTO that absolutely have to move forward. These include COVID vaccines and the unfair fisheries subsidies that do so much damage to our environment and our fishing industry.
The WTO itself has big issues that have to be addressed. Its rules are out of date, and its procedures move too slowly to keep up with a modern economy.
The Chinese Government, for example, takes advantage of the World Trade Organization's current shortcomings to game the trade system, and they do it at the expense of American jobs, growth, and innovation. A system that is intended to produce ironclad, predictable rules is now opening up loopholes that trade rip-off artists are exploiting.
Ms. Pagan understands these challenges that I described. She is equipped to confront these issues. She is a proven negotiator and a strong advocate for American workers and farmers and businesses.
She has secured significant support from Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee.
There is urgent work that awaits her in Geneva. I urge my colleagues to support this nomination. It is priority business for today, given our trade challenges with Russia.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Warnock). The Senator from Kentucky.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 43
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
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