Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20240712 : vi

Chief of staff. Now, live coverage of the u. S. Senate. Vice president under the previous order, the senate will consider the following nomination. The clerk nomination, general charles q. Brown, jr. , to be chief of staff and general of the United States air force. The Vice President under the previous order, the question occurs on the nomination. Is there a sufficient second . It appears there is a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the Vice President are there any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote . If not, on this vote, the yeas are 98, the nays are zero. And the historic nomination of general charles q. Brown, jr. As the United States air force chief of staff is confirmed. Under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the president will be immediately notified of the senates action. Mr. Alexander madam president . The presiding officer the senator from tennessee. Mr. Alexander thank you, mr. President. I have is it requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer duly noted. Mr. Alexander madam president , United States senator tim scott, who is an African American republican from South Carolina, once told our bible study that police in his hometown stopped him several times for being a, quote, black man in the wrong place, even though at the time he was serving as chairman of the charleston city council. During these last few days, ive been thinking a lot about what tim scott told us. And i wondered, how many white americans know that things like that happen, white americans like me. And i wondered how i would feel if i were stopped for being a white man in the wrong place in my hometown, especially if most of the people in the town were black. Would i feel hurt, scared, disillusioned, angry, wary, disappointed, intimidated . Probably all of those things. One result of George Floyds killing is that black americans are telling more stories like tim scotts. A professor of religious studies in nashville wrote in the tennessean, that he carries a licensed firearm with him when he goes for a run. A columnist remembers that as a 6yearold a white woman outside a dallas gas station restroom said to him, now, you dont belong here. Welleducated black businessmen count the times theyve been profiled because of their race. One of my friends in memphis, who is now Vice President of memphis largest hospital, holte told me that when he went to memberties state in the 1960s, it was clear to him that almost everyone thought that he didnt belong they. During my lifetime, ive seen profound changes in racial attitudes. In 1958 when i enrolled at Vanderbilt University, i had no black classmates. African americans couldnt sit at lunch counters in nashville. Blacks striving across tennessee couldnt stay in most hotels, they couldnt teet at most restaurants, they couldnt ride at the front of most public buses. Then in 1962 in the spring, the Vanderbilt University board of trust changed its policy and admitted black undergraduate students. In august of 1963 i remember standing in the back of a huge crowd late that month i was an intern in the United States department of justice, and i heard a booming voice, which was dr. Martin luther king jr. s voice, say i have a dream. In 1986 i was a senate aide here and i remember being in the room which is today the Republican Leaders office, where senators were around a big table and senator Everett Dirksen and thenpresident Lyndon Johnson were writing a civil rights bill. During the 198 1990s, i saw tennessee adopt a Martin Luther king holiday, swear in its first black Supreme Court justice. In the 1980s, the university of tennessee hired its first two block black Vice President s and it hired its first black High School Basketball coach. I saw the Voting Rights act, helped to elect thousands of African American public officials, including president barack obama and senator tim scott. Last week, i asked senator scott if i can tell the story that he told us privately in the bible study. He said sure. It happened again just last month. So despite a half century of profound change, an African American United States senator is stopped again by police for being a black a black man in the wrong place in his hometown. So what do we do now . Bringing those who killed george floyd to justice will help. Dealing firmly with looters who hijack peaceful protests will help. Some new laws and government actions will help, such as criminal Justice Reform and permanent funding for historically black colleges that became law in this congress. It would also help to open schools and colleges in august and to open them safely because of good education because a good education is the surest ticket to a Better Future for minority students, and those students will suffer more from schools being closed than minority students. Benjamin hooks, the former knapp knapp president from memphis the former naacp president from member. He was the former president. He lived in memphis. America, dr. Hook said, america is a work in progress. Weve come a long way, but we have a long way to go. That long way to go, i would say, will not be as easy as passing laws. It will take changing behavior. One way to do that could be last weeks peaceful protests organized by nashville teenagers which was a textbook example of First Amendment citizenship. And it hopefully will encourage more victims of racism to tell their stories and more white americans to adjust our attitudes. Madam president , im grateful that tim scott gave me permission to tell his story. And perhaps a good first step to changing attitudes toward Racial Discrimination would be for each of us who are white to ask ourselves this question. How would i feel if police in my hometown repeatedly stopped me from being a white man or a white woman in the wrong place, especially if most of the other people in the town were black . I thank the president and i yield the floor. A senator madam president. The presiding officer the senator from new mexico. Mr. Heinrich madam president , during these past months, in the midst of a pandemic that has kept most of us inside our homes, americans have grown to appreciate in new ways how critical each moment of fresh air can be to maintaining both our physical health and our mental wellbeing. More people are getting outside than ever before, whether for a quick walk in their local Neighborhood Park or by seeking solitude on the many public lands held in trust for each and every american citizen. Coming from a state that is blessed with expansive skies and remote open spaces, im convinced that investing in the future of our parks and our public lands will be a key path for our nation to recover from the challenges that we currently face. Thats why im so proud that we are coming together this week to bring the Great American outdoors act to the senate floor for a vote. Our Bipartisan Legislation will permanently and fully fund the land and Water Conservation fund and finally dedicate real resources to begin tackling the multibilliondollar infrastructure backlog in our National Parks, our National Forests, and our wildlife refuges. So if you have spent time enjoying your local parks, your trail systems, ball fields or open space in the last 50 years, you have almost certainly experienced the impact of the land and Water Conservation fund. In new mexico, lwcf has been instrumental in protecting some of our most treasured public lands, places like the valla calderas national preserve, with its trout streams, meadows, and elk herds. This is me actually not catching a trout here in this preserve, but its okay because any day in the preserve is a good day. It also helped us establish the valla del oro in south valley, a place where young people will be introduced to nature, many for the first time in a real meaningful way and a place that is at the heart of the local community now. It purchased and protected the entirety, the entirety of ute mountain, which is now a centerpiece of the Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument. It almost boggles the mind to think about the scale of that, but this entire mountain used to be private, and there was no Public Access, and today it is one of the most treasured places in taos county, a rural county that relies on recreation and fishing and boating and camping to to drive its economy. Land and Water Conservation fund is also our most effective tool for opening up Public Access to our public lands. Just recently, the land and Water Conservation fund helped the bureau of Land Management acquire land parcels that finally opened up Public Access to the rugged save nosa wilderness in northeastern mexico. This is save nosa with its narrow mesas and spectacular canyon walls which had previously been completely offlimits to the public, despite being part of the National Wilderness system. It had become entirely surrounded by public lands, so there wasnt a legal trail, a legal road to be able to enjoy this place, and today that landscape is something that the local community and visitors from afar share on a daily basis. Lwcf also funds recreation areas and Neighborhood Parks, sports fields in communities all across our state and all across our nation. Last year, i was proud to be part of a successful bipartisan effort here in the senate to permanently reauthorize lwcf. However, without guaranteed permanent funding, Congress Still needs to approve lwcf expenditures each year, year after year after year. And this has resulted in us falling far, far short of the 900 million per year commitment that was originally intended when lwcf was established over five decades ago. Permanently and fully funding lwcf will be a monumental victory for conservation and the places where we all get outside. It might well be the greatest investment that we can make that will pay off for many generations to come because every one dollar spent on lwcf creates an additional 4 in economic value just in Natural Resources, goods, and services. That doesnt account for the longterm growth in the Outdoor Recreation sector and the tourism industry. Teddy roosevelt once said conservation Means Development as much as it does protection, and i believe that this type of investment in conservation is exactly what president roosevelt meant. Now, to the second leg of our landmark Great American outdoors act. We all know how important it is to rebuild the infrastructure in all of our National Parks. You cant enjoy visiting these iconic american places if the bathrooms dont work, if the trails and the campgrounds arent open, if the roads are in disrepair. These places that we are so proud of, that we cherish from our Oldest National parks like yellowstone and yosemite to our nations Newest National park, one im particularly close to, White Sands National park in new mexico, they all deserve better. I am proud that the Great American outdoors act also includes dedicated funding to address similar infrastructure needs in our National Forests, in our wildlife refuges, on our bureau of Land Management lands. We have also included dedicated funding to address the unacceptable maintenance backlog at schools managed by the bureau of indian education. There are many b. I. E. Schools that serve students across Indian Country that are in truly dangerous states of disrepair. Through this legislation, we are finally going to make major progress on providing these students the kind of safe schools and educational facilities that they truly deserve. In the wake of our current economic crisis, rebuilding all this Critical Infrastructure will provide tens of thousands of new jobs across the nation. Its estimated that just investing and fixing the National Park Service Infrastructure alone would generate nearly 110,000 new jobs. These investments will also create a lasting heritage that will grow the Outdoor Recreation economy and provide us all with more opportunities to get outside. And we know this can work. The last time we as a nation faced an economic downturn on the scale of what we are experiencing today, americans turned to our public lands. At the height of the great depression, Franklin Delano roosevelt understood well that outofwork americans were not without worth but rather that they could leave an indelible mark on our country. Now, over the years, i have been lucky to have met many of the men who served in the new deal civilian conservation corps or c. C. C. Boys, as they often referred to themselves as. While most of these men have now passed away, sadly, the trails, the Visitor Centers, the other important infrastructure on our public lands that they had so much pride in building almost a century ago continue to serve this nation. Throughout our long recovery, we will be a stronger nation if we can provide a new generation of americans with meaningful opportunities to serve their country and leave their mark. There is so much work we need to do to rebuild our country. In the midst of a Real National reckoning on race over these recent weeks, and as we continue to face the most severe economic and Public Health crises in generations, we should all be thinking about how we can rebuild our country in a way that includes all of us. I firmly believe that this urgent goal is intertwined with our efforts this week in the senate to grow opportunities in our Great American outdoors. And that is because our public lands and outdoor spaces are fundamental to who we are as americans. They are the places where we can each find a real sense of belonging in this great country of ours. I think we must, frankly, acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that the outdoors have not always seemed like such a welcoming and accessible place for all americans. Many of our National Parks have a fraught history with the tribal nations whose Ancestral Lands they are on. In new mexico, many of our National Forests were established on the very same lands that were deeded as land grants to families by the spanish crown. Our public land agencies have not always recognized that history, and there remains much more hard work ahead to provide meaningful seats at the table in the management of these landscapes to the communities whose heritage and living, cultural ties date back hundreds and in some cases even thousands of years on these lands. We must also recognize that outdoor excursions that many of us, frankly, just take for granted are not always within reach for all of us. I grew up exploring the outdoors on my familys ranch and on surrounding lands, and i strongly believe that just one opportunity to get outside can change a childs whole world. It can inspire a lifetime commitment to conservation and encourage the Health Benefits that come with an active lifestyle. But far too many kids dont have access to parks or open spaces. According to the trust for public land more than 100 million americans, and that includes 28 million children, do not have access to a park within a ten minute walk of their home. That number, mawp, should mawp that number should be zero, especially during the pandemic, that number should have been zero. On top of just physical accessibility, many children grow up in households where their parents cannot afford a vacation or feel unsafe, such as Christian Cooper in central park recently. We are not solving all of these challenges with what were voting on here this week, but the increased investment in the Great American outdoors act will create more outdoor opportunities that i hope will truly benefit all of our nations children. Because our public lands are places we should all be able to access r