Thats our job, is to take votes, to try to make legislation better and to offer improvements to it, and that means amendments. Look, i understand in the house of representatives things operate a little bit differently. Youve got 435 people over tlchlt its a lot harder to have that. This is why weve always bragged about our status as the worlds greatest deliberative legislative body. On paper we are. Historically we certainly have been. Today we are not. Were kidding ourselves, were delusional if we want and expect the American People to believe otherwise. Heres the food news the good news, we still are that entity on paper, as it is envisioned, as its created, as its established and outlined by the constitution. We still are that entity, with our own rules, our own precedence, and our own customs. But alas, the best rules, the best constitutional provisions will amount to dead letter if we ourselves refuse to exercise our own rights and our prerogatives. The muscle of legislative procedure begins to atrophy with nonuse, especially deliberate, willful, chronic nonuse. Always, ultimately, to the benefit of the firm, to the benefit of a small handful of senators, and to the exclusion, to the effective disenfranchisement of everyone else. Most importantly, those who elected us to do a job that were neglecting, that were outsourcing to third parties, sometimes third parties in the executive branch of government. Sometimes its individual senators within our own ranks, within our own body, our own Party Leaders within our respective legislative chambers. Mr. President , heres my closing plea i hope, and i humbly ask my senators, and i have great affection for the presiding officer and consider him a dear friend, even though he and i dont agree on every political issue, we have different positions on everything from the consumption of meat to whether i waited too long to shave my head. But the presiding officer and i are good friends, ntas even though we have and even though we have different ideas on things, we both agree on the fact that the senate could do a better job, and would be doing a better job, if we were voting more on his amendments, on my amendments, on the amendments of anyone else who wants to file. Sure, it thanks a little more time perhaps, sure, it requires a little bit of effort, but that way were doing our job, and not everything we want will always pass. Yeah, that way the law firm of schumer, mcconnell, johnson and jeffries wouldnt able to control us as much as it does. It wasnt intended to be that way. Were intended to make laws, not it other lawmakers, or oligarchs who stand in for others while the muscle continues to atrophy. In short, the next Senate Republican and democratic leader, regardless of who holds the majority, i hope including and especially the next majority leader of either political party, i certainly hope he or she, whoever holds that position, will plot out course that is different than the one weve been on for the last few years, and plot out a course that allows and encourages and enables each and every senator to do his or her job. Were all going to work better if everyone is allowed to do his or her job, and that means the leader needs to stop filling the tree, reflexively, consistently, instinctively every time, boxing out rankandfile members. I get it, there are times when the Majority Party may see fit to do that, and those decisions have to be made in real time. But i dont think it should be done often. I dont think it should be done for light or transient reasons. It should be the rare exception, rather than the norm. Regardless who the next majority leader is, and to which party that leader may belong, its not as though were hopeless, passive observers, subjects to be added acted upon here. No. We can be part of this process. Wherever, whenever there is an effort to lock out amendments, to fill the tree, and exclude individual rankandfile members from the amendment process, any 41 senators, republicans, democrats, or a combination of the two, can respond to that by opposing cloture and prohibiting the process from resulting in bringing debate to a close, unless or until each senator is allowed the opportunity to offer and call up and make pending their amendments. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor and float the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the clerk ms. Baldwin. Favors a hamas victory over israel. It is just that simple. The president is only in bolding hamas. Why would they release hostages when joe biden gives them exactly what they want, survival without releasing hostages. He is also emboldening iran. Here is what he has done since october 7. Sanctions for israelis in an arms embargo on israel. Relief at the end of an arms embargo on iran. Some people say joe biden is doing this for his reelection. Which would be bad enough. It would also, i have to add, be grounds for impeachment under the democrats trump ukraine standard only with joe biden, it is true. It is worse than that. Joe biden and israel heading democrats are using electoral concerns as a pretext to do what they have always wanted to do bier that own government to Nuclear Radiation, to nuclear testing, to Nuclear Waste. Why is Congress Failing to act again . Well, because the house doesnt want to vote on it. The house doesnt want to vote on the radiation bill as part of the faa. The house doesnt want to vote on the radiation bill as part of anything. The house just doesnt want to vote at all. The only problem with that, mr. President , is theres only one Month Remaining before this vital program, this commitment that this nation has made to the working people of this nation, to the veterans of this nation who have served this country, before this commitment runs out, before it goes dark, before people exposed to Nuclear Waste by their own government get nothing. We have one month to. And the house has not acted. So i am here again to remind this congress again why it is vital, why it is a moral imperative that congress, the house in particular, act without delay. So, let me once more remind the house and all those listening of just a few of the stories of the good americans who have given their health and in many cases im sad to say their lives in an effort to help this countrys nuclear program, and as a result of what this country, what this government, what the military did in pushing forward with a nuclear program, including uranium processing and mining without telling and informing the American People of what they were doing. Let me start in the state of missouri. I could start in any number of states, because this was a nationwide effort that stretches all the way back to the manhattan project, and now most of america has seen that movie about dr. Oppenheimer which won all of those awards, and thats fine, im sure dr. Oppenheimer deserves all the credit, but lets just be clear that the real people who won not just the second world war, the people who won the cold war, the people who have fought and won every conflict that this nation has been involved in, the people who are truly responsible and get the credit for the success of the Nations Nuclear program and military writ large with the working peopling of this country people of this country, no the featured that that movie, won awards or questioning getting plaud its, but dying because of the radiation their own government exposed to them. In st. Louis, the government opened a uranium processing site in the 1940s at the height of the manhattan project. St. Louis was a socalled secret city, because it wasnt known it was a site for uranium processing. That went on for years. When the government closed down the site, they did it didnt dispose of the nuclearaway. Instead, they allowed that waste to leak out of trucks to transport it, set it in barrels in the parking lot, exposed to elements for years. Eventually, this he dumped it or some of it in a public landfill. You heard that right. Our government dumped Nuclear Waste in st. Louis into a public landfill where, by the way, it still is. All these years later, it hasnt been cleaned up. As for the rest of it, the Nuclear Waste that sat in barrels exposed to the element, neg gently trans transported in truck, it ran off into creeks, the soil and pollute the air. Because of that, for 50 years and running, the people of st. Louis and st. Charles, right next next door and the entire region have been subjected to nuclear radi radiation, in their homes, in their creeks, and youth yes, in their schools, and it is still happening today. What has the federal government done . Nothing. Nothing but mislead the people of my state. In fact, mislead is really too nice. Theyve out and out lied to them. The government said for years there was no Nuclear Contamination in Cold Water Creek in the st. Louis area. They said to the people of north county st. Louis, your homes are fine, your schools are fine, youre paranoid, dont worry about it. It turns out that was all a lie. The soil was contaminated. The water is contaminated, as i stand here tonight. And now weve got the army corps of engineers testing underneath peoples basements because thats how deep the Nuclear Radiation waste and contamination has sunk, thats how deeply embedded it is. Really, in the entire region. That story, mr. President , has been repeated over and over, in places from tennessee to kentucky to alaska to new mexico, utah, nevada, wyoming and many other states, in the west, in ohio, in pennsylvania. Now, its a pattern, mr. President , because this governments refusal to take responsibility for what it did is a pattern that continues to this day, and its time to break it. Because of what the government did, people like zoe from st. Louis, she was born, this little girl, with a mass on her ovary. Born with it. Why . Well, because her parents lived right near the creek that has been con tam natived with nuclear ton tam nated for deck contaminated for decades. She had surgery to remove that mass at 3 weeks old. 3 weeks. Shes 5 years old now, and she continues to experience regular complications from this disease she was born with, because of what the federal government did. Shes not the only one, no the by a stretch. Long stretch. Zack visintine was born with a rare brain tumor, one known to be caused by radiation. He had his first surgery when he was 1 week old. He started chemotherapy when he was 3 weeks old. Zack died when he was 6. Why . Well, because his parents lived in that same region of st. Louis, right along that creek that the government poisoned, right along that waterway that the government contaminated, right along that area where the government said for decades totally fine, totally safe, people played in the water, they built their homes right along the creek, schools contaminated. Were built there, it was contaminated and now zacks family is left to mourn. And there is claire. Claires parents grew up in the st. Louis area, and they grew up near another nuclear site, wells spring, just to the west of st. Louis. Claire was diagnosed as a baby with nonhodgkins lymphoma when she was only 2 years old. This is happening not just in missouri. We can talk about the victims of the trenty tests, the trinity tests, original oppenheimer tests, she was eight days old despite the government telling people at the time there was no danger to their lives or property or persons, despite that, the nuclear fallout, the radiation generated a cloud so large nearly the entire state of new mexico was covered and bernice lived just miles from the test site. 44 members of bernices family members have been diagnosed with cancer or radiationlinked diseases. Her mother had cancer three times, three of her brothers have had cancer, her sister has had cancer, and she has a thyroid disease that is radiation induced. Her oldest son died from radiation illness, her daughter died from Thyroid Cancer and 26 additional members of her family died from cancer. What has bernice received from the United States government . An apology . Recognition . Nope. Compensation . Not a dime. Then theres leslie begay, who is a navaho member. And when the time came during the cold war to open mines to mine for uranium, guess who did more mining than any other community in the United States, it was the navajo community. These are patriots. They have served this nation at every hour of need and leslies a prime example. What did leslie get when he went to the Uranium Mines . This is after he served the country. He goes to the Uranium Mines to support this country, did the government warn him . No, did he compensate him for the diseases and cancers he has suffered . No. No. Let he give you one more example. These are young people at jena Elementary School back in the st. Louis area. This picture was taken just a year or so ago. Their school was closed in 2022, closed because testing, independent verified thirdparty testing discovered Dangerous Levels of radiation in dusts on the window sills at the schools, in the dust covering the desks at the school. Why is it . Because jena elementary sets next to the creek that the government poisoned. Not only can they no longer go to school. For months they cannot go to school in their neighborhood. Have they rebuilt the school or cleaned it up . Nope. Have they helped any of these children . No. Its the same story, and i could give you six more examples or 60,000 or 600,000 because thats the minimum number of the good americans who have been poisoned by their government, exposed their their government and the governments negligence to Nuclear Radiation. Now, i will say this, mr. President , the senate did the right thing just a couple of months ago when we finally passed legislation to right this decadeslong injustice, this body finally passed by an overwhelm bipartisan margin legislation to compensate these families, to compensate these good americans, these brave americans, to acknowledge them and their service, to elevate them to the stature that they deserve. These are american heroes, they deserve to be honored, they deserver elevated, they deserve to be compensated, our legislation would do it and this body has passed it and now it waits for action in the house. Now, speaker johnson said upon passage of the senates legislation two months ago, i have his statement in front of me. He said that he would work with to move forward and act on the reauthorization measure. Move forward and act on a reauthorization measure. That was march of 2024. This is may. What has the house done . Nothing. How has the house voted . Not at all. What action has the house taken . None. And in one month one month if the house does not act, this program goes dark. These children are not helped, these gad americans are not compensated. One month to go. So i say again today it is time for speaker johnson to keep his commitment, not to some politician somewhere, its his job to keep his commitment to the American People. Its his job to keep his commitment to the good people of this nation who are waiting for him to act and i will just say that weakness in the face of injustice is not commendable. Vacillation in the face of injustice is not to be praised. Indecision in the face of injustice is nothing to be proud of. There is the time to act and to move. This is the time for the house to keep its commitments and for the speaker to keep his commitments. We need politicians who are less concerned about how long theyll hold their office an how many votes they have and how many votes they have to support them for some election in office and more concern about delivering justice for the American People. Now, ill say this. I know there are some in the speakers party, my party who would urge him to turn back and to reject what this body did in honoring and compensating the American People who so deserve it. I see these remarks today published. Remarks made by the junior senator from utah, senator romney. Heres what senator romney said. He does not like the bill passed by the senate, compensating these americans, he says it costs too much. And he goes on and says that any compensation should be reserved for people, im quoting now, who have been determined to actually be suffering. To actually be suffering as a result of radiation exposure. I have to tell you. I dont understand this statement at all. I do not understand it. I do not understand why its not good enough for these children and their suffering to matter. I dont understand why the thousands and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of americans poisoned in my state and other states why that isnt good enough for this body to act. We have evidence. We have studies. This has been years of Research Done on the scope of the governments tests, on the scope of the downwind exposure to radiation, on the uranium prosing ton in tennessee processing done in tennessee, ken and and ohio. We know what the facts are and thats why this body finally acted and i would just say to the speaker, it is incumbent now on you to act. Do not turn back and do not listen to those who will tell you to put people last and money first. Make no mistake, the bill for this program has been paid. The bill for this radiation has been paid. Its been paid by the American People. Theyre the ones who are paying the costs. Theyre the ones who are dying. Theyre the ones who are having to forgo cancer treatments, treatments for their children because they cant afford it because their government has exposed them to this radiation neglectly and now theyre paying the cost, its time the government bore its share. This is a time for congress, and the party of which im a member, its a patime for decision. If you want to be the party for working people, stand up for working people. If you want to be the party for those who have fought and died and bled and given themselves for this country, this is the time, this is a test, mr. President , and it is time for my party it rise to it along with the rest of this congress to honor the people who have built this nation. So, yes, mr. President , i am in ennest about it and i do feel a heaviness of heart because the clock is ticking. I k