Commerce, Justice, Science, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2020
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I am delighted that the Senate is taking up four very important appropriations bills, one of them I discussed at length last week; that is, the Transportation-HUD appropriations bill, which I authored along with my ranking member, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. In forging that bill, we gathered information from 75 of our fellow Senators, who had 950 requests. We went through each of the requests very carefully, and we have built a bill that is truly bipartisan, that reflects the priorities of this body, and that I trust will be approved as part of this package later this week.
I also want to take the opportunity today, as I am managing the four bills in the unavoidable absence of the full committee chairman, Senator Shelby, to talk about some of the other appropriations bills that have been brought before us.
As the Presiding Officer is well aware, the Appropriations Committee is a committee that makes a real effort to work together to put aside petty partisanship and, instead, listen to one another and work for the common good. We make an extraordinary effort to find common ground. How I wish that could be done throughout Washington today. But the Appropriations Committee remains a bastion of common sense, of collegiality, and of working together to seek common ground. That is why we have had such success in reporting so many of the appropriations bills, and I am very proud that the T-HUD bill, as we call the transportation and housing bill, was one of those that was reported unanimously by a vote of 31 to 0.
For the next few moments, I would like to talk about another bill that had unanimous support on the committee, and that is the CJS appropriations bill--Commerce, Justice, and Science.
Let me begin by acknowledging the hard work of the chairman, Senator Moran, and the ranking member, Senator Shaheen, for their work in balancing the many priorities that are included in this bill. Once again, we saw the chairman and the ranking member working together as a team in a bipartisan--indeed, a nonpartisan--way in order to find common ground.
I would like to comment on a few of the provisions of the bill that I think are particularly important. First, I am encouraged that the bill continues to provide strong support for the National Sea Grant College Program, despite the administration's desire to eliminate this program. The committee actually provided an increase of $7 million over last year's funding level. The University of Maine Sea Grant Program is a national leader in ocean research and, as you know, is very important to the Presiding Officer from Florida as well.
(Mr. SCOTT of Florida assumed the Chair.)
Within the sea grant program, there is $2 million for critical lobster research, building on the $2 million that was included last year. The sea grant program recently announced seven research awards supported by this funding, four of which were awarded to Maine entities in recognition of their extraordinary expertise and research. These investments will help us to better understand how the lobster stock is reacting to changing environmental conditions and ensure that this iconic industry--indeed, one of the very symbols of the State of Maine--continues to thrive.
The problem is that we are seeing increasing warming of the Gulf of Maine. In fact, it is warming the second fastest of any body of water in the world. That has brought new kinds of sea life; for example, there is an invasive green crab that has never existed in Maine waters. So we are watching the impact very carefully, particularly on our lobster industry.
I am also glad that the bill prioritizes the development of technologies to better track the right whale population. The number of right whales is problematic. While it is not as low as it was a few years ago, it is still troublesome that the population continues to be under stress.
NOAA Fisheries has targeted the Maine lobster industry with potentially very onerous right whale regulations, despite the government's inability to adequately monitor the movement of these right whales.
We must better understand where the right whales are and where they are not. This, too, is important in terms of our warming waters. The major food supply for the right whales has moved to the north toward Canada, and that is why the entanglements we have seen--which we all deplore--have involved Canadian gear. I think that is very important to recognize.
There have also been some Canadian ship strikes. Our lobster men and women have been such careful stewards of the resource, and that has been true for generations. Lobstering is often a family business, passed on from generation to generation. The lobster men and women of Maine care deeply about our lobster stocks and about ensuring that lobsters are there for generations to come. They have been extraordinary conservationists. They invented the V-notching of lobsters, the sizing to make sure that lobsters that are big and breeders are tossed overboard or those that are too small are returned to the water. Unfortunately, our Canadian counterparts often do not follow those same cooperative conservation measures, and there is an area off the coast of Maine that is known as the gray zone, where it is in dispute whose waters--whether it is the United States or Canada's-- the gray zone is.
We will find American and Canadian lobstermen, both in that area or close by, with our lobster men and women following strict conservation methods, such as throwing back the lobsters that are too small or the big breeder lobsters, only to see their Canadian counterparts keep those lobsters and, in some cases, they are undoubtedly the very lobsters that have been thrown back into the sea by our lobster men and women. So those conflicting conservation measures between American and Canadian fisheries have caused Mainers to grow increasingly concerned that their Canadian counterparts are threatening the sustainability of critical fishing stocks, as well as that fragile right whale population.
The bill that has been reported by the Appropriations Committee encourages NOAA to work cooperatively with State, national, and Canadian fishery officials on these important issues.
I also want to express my thanks to the subcommittee for rejecting the President's proposed elimination of the Economic Development Administration, known as the EDA, and instead providing a reasonable increase. The investments made through the EDA provide vital financial support for rural Mainers to boost economic growth and create more jobs. It has been an essential partner with States, with local governments, and with the private sector in boosting areas of Maine's economy.
The bill also focuses attention on an issue that I know the Presiding Officer is very aware of because of his membership on the Aging Committee, which I am privileged to chair, and that is the serious problem of financial fraud directed at our seniors. The GAO, a few years ago, estimated that our seniors lose nearly $3 billion a year to financial fraud. I think that is just the tip of the iceberg because many seniors are too embarrassed to report the fraud they have suffered. It is important. It is vital that the Justice Department continue to fight financial fraud.
I am delighted that the former Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, implemented my recommendation that every U.S. attorney's office should have designated a financial fraud attorney who can bring cases and help to protect our seniors. We need to aggressively prosecute illegal robocallers and increase efforts to collect unpaid fines and penalties imposed on them by Federal agencies. It is only our national efforts that can go after a call center that is located in India, for example, as some of them have been. While to the Justice Department, the individual amounts may seem small, they are devastating to a senior who has worked hard to save money for their retirement years. In addition, when you aggregate all those losses, they result in literally billions of dollars.
The bill also provides increased investments to law enforcement at all levels--partnerships that are especially critical to preventing the heroin and opioid epidemic that plagues my State of Maine and many others. Naming just a few, the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program and the Drug and Veterans Treatment Courts are essential to the multifaceted approach it will take to stem this epidemic.
I appreciate that the subcommittee has once again rejected cuts to the COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force, a program that has helped Maine's Drug Enforcement Agency target illegal opioid sales.
I want to finally highlight the increased funding for the Byrne-JAG and COPS hiring programs, and for the Regional Information Sharing Systems known as RISS. Many of Maine sheriffs have come and talked to me about the importance of the RISS Program. It supports a cooperative effort of information sharing to fight crimes at all levels and has been particularly useful to Maine's rural counties. There are also important investments supporting the FIRST STEP Act, which we passed late last year. It will help implement the goals of the new law, particularly with respect to rehabilitative programs at the Bureau of Prisons. We need to make sure those who are being released from our jails and prisons have the skills and tools they need to pursue a lawful life and not resort to their previous habits that landed them in jail. That is why the educational and job training programs we have in Maine and elsewhere are so important and will be expanded by this bill.
Those are just a few of the terrific provisions that are in the CJS appropriations bill. Again, I commend the chairman, the ranking member, and the entire Appropriations Committee for their hard work.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I would ask unanimous consent that rather than recessing at 12:30 p.m., we recess at 12:35 p.m.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I want to associate myself with the comments that were just made by the Senator from Texas on the important issue of lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Not only the Finance Committee and the Judiciary Committee but also the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee have all reported good bills that would help provide relief from the ever-escalating costs of prescription drugs.
Like the Senator from Texas, I, too, have introduced a bipartisan bill with Senator Tim Kaine to prevent the gaming of the patent system in which a brand-name pharmaceutical company will wait until the last moment and then erect a thicket of new patents precisely to prevent a lower cost generic or biosimilar from coming to the market.
It is a shame that apparently the minority leader is blocking bills from coming to the floor in this area despite their widespread bipartisan support, according to what the Senator from Texas has just said. This is an issue we should address. Ninety percent of our seniors take at least 1 prescription drug, and 36 percent of them take 4 or more in a month's time, and they are particularly burdened by the high cost of prescription drugs.
I, too, have looked at the manufacture of HUMIRA, the best-selling drug in the world--a drug that brings some $18 billion in profit to AbbVie, the manufacturer. That is fine that AbbVie has been able to recoup the considerable R&D that went into what truly is a miraculous drug for people with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and some inflammatory bowel diseases, but when the patent period has expired, they should not be allowed to block a lower cost generic or in this case biosimilar from coming to the market. Yet that is exactly what has happened. Aviation Safety
Mr. President, let me turn to speak on another important issue that is addressed in the Transportation appropriations bill that is on the Senate floor right now, and that is aviation safety. I know the Presiding Officer has done a great deal in this area, and the CEO of Boeing is testifying on Capitol Hill today.
The importance of aviation safety in light of the crashes of the two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft cannot be overstated. Last October, Lion Airlines Flight 610 crashed shortly after takeoff in Indonesia, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. Just 5 months later, in March of this year, an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed and killed 157 passengers and crew. It is simply unacceptable that both of these crashes involved the same aircraft, the Boeing 737 MAX, and were likely caused because of the new system known as MCAS, as well as the pilots' unfamiliarity with the system and a lack of training. More egregious was the fact that the changes that were made to MCAS sectors certification for this system had already been delegated by the FAA to Boeing. It is clear that Boeing did everything it could to avoid having to provide additional training or make pilots even aware of the MCAS system.
Like the Presiding Officer, I have met with some of the families of the victims of these crashes, and their pain and grief are truly heartbreaking. I am committed to ensuring that we never experience anything like this ever again.
As chairman of the T-HUD Subcommittee, I have been working with my ranking member, Senator Jack Reed, to do our part in improving aviation safety. We need to hold accountable not only Boeing but also the FAA and any other entities that may have played a role in these crashes.
In July, our T-HUD Subcommittee held an oversight hearing of the FAA where we questioned the Acting Deputy Administrator and the Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety on the agency's review of the MAX aircraft, as well as the agency's aircraft certification processes. Since that time, numerous recommendations have been issued by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Joint Authorities Technical Review, which consisted of technical experts from leading international aviation regulators.
First and foremost, it is imperative that both Boeing and the FAA admit the mistakes made with the MAX aircraft and remedy those serious errors in order to gain the public's trust in the aircraft again. Just today, Boeing's CEO testified before Congress and admitted that Boeing ``made mistakes and got some things wrong.'' However, we have yet to hear what specific changes the FAA will require from Boeing prior to bringing the MAX back into service and what long-term changes they will make to their aviation and aircraft certification process.
Ranking Member Jack Reed and I continue to send letters and inquiries to the FAA for additional information regarding the agency's Organization Designation Authorization Program, or the ODA Program, as well as statements made by FAA officials at our July hearing, which appeared to be incomplete at best and possibly outright wrong.
We need to make sure the FAA is a check on the delegation process--a true check--and is not captured by the industry that it regulates. Safety has to be the No. 1 priority for FAA--way ahead of making sure that manufacturers can meet their deadlines for aircraft delivery. Safety has to come first.
As a result of the work we conducted on our T-HUD Subcommittee and our oversight hearing, Ranking Member Reed and I have provided increased funding for aviation safety and aircraft certification activities. The need for additional staffing has been confirmed by the Joint Authorities Technical Review report, which determined that FAA's certification office for Boeing had inadequate staff involved in the MAX certification program.
In addition, the Joint Authorities found that FAA needs to expand its staffing for human factors and human system integration work as it relates to aircraft certification. In other words, if there is a new system, we cannot allow training on that system to be bypassed and mention of that system to not be included in the manuals that accompany the aircraft. Pilots have to know, going into that cockpit, exactly what could happen, and they need training on simulators.
Clearly, a lot of work needs to be done on this issue. I believe we have taken some important first steps in the T-HUD bill that is before us.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source