Quorum call mr. Coons mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from delaware is recognized. Mr. Coons i ask unanimous consent that the proceedings under the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Coons mr. President , i come to the floor this afternoon because this week, the senate has a chance to take another crucial step away from the political cliffs and manufactured crises of previous years and to get back to the regular order, to get back to the considered, measured, orderly process on this floor that for so long was characteristic of this body, in past considered the greatest deliberative body on earth, but in recent years, it has ground to a halt. It is critical that we return to regular order and that we return to the steady consideration of appropriation bills in a way that will move not just the senate, this congress, but this country forward. Id like to thank the chair and ranking members of the appropriation committee, senators mikulski and shelby, for their leadership and their steadfast determination to work in a bipartisan manner and bring us back to regular order. We are considering today a collection or what is called here a mini bus instead of an omnibus of three appropriation bills agriculture, Rural Development and food and Drug Administration. Commerce, justice and science, and transportation and housing and urban development, an unbelievable scope across these three appropriation bills that could in combination make a real and significant difference for our communities, our states and our country. This is an opportunity for this congress to carry out its duties to provide oversight and direction and to help all the different agencies i just named to move forward and address some of our most important priorities. As a member myself of the appropriation committee, i have advocated for some of what are our nations Top Priorities embedded in these three important bills, so id like to speak for a few minutes about how these bills will first help my home state of delaware, second, help our country, and then third about the important obligation we have as senators to return to regular order and to use the appropriation process for oversight and for management of this whole federal project. For delaware, these three bills invest in a number of areas. I could talk about literally dozens of things that are critical to my home state but let me focus on two Public Safety and infrastructure. When you think about it at the local level, which is where i served for a decade in county government, these really are part of the foundation of what government does and does well keep our people, our homes, our communities, our families safe and provide for the sewer, water, the drinking water, the highways and the tollways and the bridges and the ports that are critical to moving commerce and our country forward. This bill extends Childrens Advocacy Centers. Let me talk for a few minutes about what Childrens Advocacy Centers are and why its so vital to Public Safety in our country. Childrens Advocacy Centers allow communities to bring child abusers to Justice Without retraumatizing their victims. Childrens Advocacy Centers are unique because its a model that brings together under one roof in one place Law Enforcement, prosecutors, counselors and Child Service professionals, all focusing on how to best care for and move forward with a child who has been a victim of abuse. In delaware, we have three senators, one in each of our three counties. Although i wish we didnt need them, the fact is that they are indispensable. In my experience, in a decade of local government, i was exposed over and over again to the Critical Role that they play in helping Law Enforcement secure Critical Evidence and move forward to conviction against the monsters who commit abuse against our children. Since the creation of these centers, they have transformed our nations response to child abuse, giving families hope and guidance in their darkest moments and delivering justice to those who have endured the worst. So as we Work Together to continue to try our best to keep our children safe, this bill allows us to continue to fund child Advocacy Centers so that we have a more efficient, more effective, more federally sponsored and coordinated way to deliver at a very modest cost this vital resource for our children. Second, as we work to keep our children safe, this bill also allows us to protect those who protect us. Every day, more than a million Law Enforcement officers across this country accept risks to their personal safety as they leave their families at dawn and head off to their jobs, they know that what they accept as part of their mission is the risk they may not come home at night. Thats why its so important that this bill also funds the bulletproof vest partnership. In delaware, we know its value all too well. Last february, the Newcastle County courthouse in my hometown of wilmington, delaware, a gunman unleashed a hail of bullets into a courthouse lobby, tragically killing two. On what was a difficult morning in wilmington, two lives were also saved, those of Sergeant Michael manley and Corporal Steve reinhart, members of the capitol police, officers who were wearing bulletproof vests funded by the federal bulletproof vest partnership. This was a Partnership Launched by my predecessor, nowvice president bidden. Vice president biden. But without its participation, this vital Law Enforcement partnership would grind to a halt. Vests work. They save lives. They save officers lives. With this bill, we will be able to ensure even more officers all across this country have lifesaving bulletproof vests. So those are two areas where in Law Enforcement and in Public Safety, this bill continues critical investments in partnership for the federal government to state and local governments. In recent weeks in delaware, we have also been reminded of just how critical our infrastructure is, our bridges and our roads and our highways. There is a bridge on i495 that goes across the christina river, and this is a vital highway for wilmington and for the whole midatlantic region. It carries 90,000 drivers a day. Two weeks ago, it was closed indefinitely when workers nearby noticed four of its pillars were off plumb, were slanted and upon further investigation discovered there were cracks in this very foundation, holding it 50 feet in the air. Its closure is Holding Families and commuters and is one of a string of emergencies all across our country that demonstrate a need for investment in fixing americas roads and bridges. The funding were considering this week in this bill recognizes that and takes steps to address some of our most urgent needs across this country. It continues to invest in two innovative funding vehicles, one tawld tiger grants and called tiger grants and another called tifia loans. These are acronyms, but they are inventive ways to mobilize private capital, in partnership with the states and the federal government to get us moving again in repairing and upgrading the roads and bridges of america. They help state and local governments pay for new highways and bridges, Public Transit projects, railways and ports. In delaware, the port of wilmington, a critical economic engine for our state and region, secured a 10 million tiger grant last year to renovate facilities built in 1922. And on u. S. 301, a little south and west of wilmington but still in delaware, tifia grants are helping us do critical work to relieve congestion. In southernmost delaware at georgetown in the Sussex County airport, we have also seen the vital role and the value of federal investment. Since 2012, the Sussex County airport has received 4 million in airport improvements grants to improve runway and improve safety and to help grow manufacturing jobs at that georgetown airport, and with this weeks bill, we will be able to continue making these kinds of critical improvements at airports in delaware and across our country. Now, i relatively rarely get to fly, but i commute virtually every day back and forth from wilmington, delaware, to washington, and i ride on amtrak when i do so. Today, ridership levels are at a record high, and delawares region in the northeast corridor brings in 300 million in profits alone, so its good that this bill maintains amtraks National Operations and investments in its Capital Needs, but i believe we need to do more. We need to step up and do more federally to invest if we want to keep these results, not just in the northeast but across the country. We have a more than 6 billion backlog to reach a state of good repair for amtrak, and as our bridges and tunnels and rail lines get older and older, fixing them will only become more expensive. Thats why i intend to offer an amendment to this bill to further increase our investment in the Capital Needs of amtrak. This is critical, its something we need, and we need to start chipping away at this long overdue debt we have, this unaddressed infrastructure debt if were going to continue to serve our communities. Now, there are many other great things in these incredibly broad bills that are of national and international importance, and let me just briefly reference a few. At home, conserving continues to be critical to our economy and our future and biomanufacturing plays an increasingly Important Role. The manufacturing of products and materials from renewable sources, from plantbased sources rather than petrochemicals, and for the first time in this bill, well dedicate 15 million to the National Science foundations budget for new biomanufacturing initiatives that will allow us to deploy in the marketplace new invexes and innovations. Our competitors arent holding back on doing so. Countries from the United Kingdom to china are ramping up their investments in new biomanufacturing. In my view, its time for the United States to refocus our research, to reprioritize our investments and stay competitive in this vital field. Finally, im proud these appropriation bills also support in the housing area funding for Community Development block grants or cdbg programs. We used them when i was in county government in delaware to help rehabilitate homes, to help provide for Affordable Homes and to help strengthen and sustain jobs in our community. In 2013, socalled cdbg or Community Development block grants helped 225 families. Some in this body have tried to cut cdbg, but i am thrilled we have been able to successfulfully move forward and sustain its support in this bill. While we invest at home, these appropriation bills also make important investments abroad, and one id like to briefly highlight is in our International Food programs where we feed millions but can do more. This bill provides for flexibility of our food aid that will allow it to be delivered more efficiently, more quickly and to feed more to hunger around the world. As businesses also look abroad here for the United States, were doing more to open new markets for them. One of the investments that i most value thats in this bill in this regard is through an expansion of the Foreign Commercial Service at the department of commerce. In particular, its expansion in africa where seven out of ten of the Fastest Growing economies in the world are currently growing but where the United States isnt doing enough to take advantage of these burgeoning export markets for our products. As chair of the African Affairs subcommittee, i have had a chance to see up close the great opportunities for growth and partnership that africa offers. There will be four new Foreign Commercial Service offices, in angola, tanzania, ethiopia, and mozambique, as well as expansion of offices in kenya, morocco and libya, and now we can make investments in thome jointly so our growing partnerships in the subsaharan partnerships that i listed can thrive. As i close, mr. President , id also like to make one brief point about why this whole process is important, why we need to pass these appropriation bills rather than just continuing resolution which is go on from year after year that sustain funding but do not engage the minds and the skills of the members of this body in doing oversight of the federal government. As the federal government changes, as our nations needs change, we need to be able to ensure that our spending, that our focus adapts as well. A great example from this particular minibus bill thats on the floor today is the socalled crude by rail safety initiative. Within the last year, there have been a number of accidents on our Rail Networks that demand action. America is moving more and more hazardous products by rail so were putting in place a new approach to do it more same. The department of transportation and transportation secretary fox have gone delivered a great job, responding with the resources and tools they have but Congress Needs to do more. Thats why this bill adds 20 new rail and Hazardous Materials inspectors, three million to ensure oil routes are safe and sound, creates a short line safety institute, improves classifications and extends training for first responders. Without this bill and regular order, new and Timely Investments like that that are responsive to the conditions in the world wouldnt happen. Thus if i might say in closing while our economy changes we need to change and we need regular order and regular appropriations appropriation bills in order to do that. I thank the chair and the vice chair of the appropriations committee, senators mikulski and shelby for their leadership and their effort to shepherd a bipartisan process straightforward. Its critical to our economy and our future. Thank you and i yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from utah is recognized. Mr. Hatch i ask unanimous consent i be permitted to deliver my remarks in full. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Hatch i ask unanimous consent the distinguished senator brown be permitted to speak immediately following my remarks for at least ten minutes. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Hatch thank you, mr. President. I rise today out of serious concern about the release of the five senior taliban commanders detained at guantanamo and the way in which the Obama Administration accomplished it. These individuals of the taliban successfully demanded the release in exchange for Sergeant Bowe bergdahl were some of the most dangerous in our custody. Some who had close operational ties to al qaeda. Others perpetrated horrifying war crimes. All were Senior Leaders in the taliban, a group we remain at war with. These former detainees the taliban five are only subject to a oneyear International Travel ban. It seems shockingly unrealistic to expect that they will not seek to undo everything our brave men and women in uniform have fought and died for in afghanistan. Mr. President , however foolish, the prospect that we might release the most dangerous guantanamo detainees has been a matter of National Debate for some time. President obama and his subordinates have long espoused a singular devotion to closing the detention facility at guantanamo. Many of us in congress have remained decidedly less sanguine about this longtime leftwing fantasy. Were wary of the dangers, inappropriateness and oftentimes the impossibility of prosecuting them as if they were common criminals. We were frustrated by the procedural roadblocks. Before all else were alarmed by the more than one in four released detainees that have apparently rejoined the fight. And unlike the administration, we have long been disabused of the notion that our enemies and perennial critics would fall in love with america if we simply close guantanamo. With these concerns in mind, we exercised our rightful legislative authority under the constitution to prevent the transfer of any further detainees out of government shutdown. Guantanamo. Nevertheless the Obama Administration bitterly opposed any release restrictions facing incessant and intense pressure from the administration to repeal our ban, congress acted on a bipartisan basis to reach a compromise. A compromise that was extraordinarily generous to the administrations position. Under the new law in effect, section 1035 of last Years NationalDefense Authorization act, Congress Must be notified 30 days before any detainee transfer. The notification must contain a detailed statement of the basis of tra