Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. I will speak briefly because I put a statement in the Record, but I just want to say, Tom, that next to the State of Illinois, I spend more time campaigning in your State of Iowa than any other State. Obviously the Presidential caucus brought me over there, and I have come to know your home State of Iowa and to appreciate that even though there is an extraordinary Iowa-Illinois democratic organization, it is a tough State and there are elections that are hotly contested.

I recall that when I was running for the Senate in 1996, you called into our headquarters and spoke to my campaign manager, who said: How is it going, Senator Harkin?

And you said: I am besieged.

It was a tough campaign, but you survived it and many others. I think it is because of two things: No. 1 is your dogged determination, and No. 2 is your commitment to values that you have never given up on.

I think there is an authenticity to Tom Harkin that has saved him in tough years. People who disagreed with you respected you because you stood up for what you believed in. Some of the ideals you and I believe in may not be as fashionable politically as they once were. There was once a time when I worked for a man named Paul Douglas who called himself in the Senate ``a good liberal.'' You don't hear that word much anymore, do you? But the fact is, those of us who believe there are moments in our Nation's history and in the lives of ordinary people where the American family, through our government, needs to step in and help--and you have done it. You have done it so many times. I won't repeat all that has been said, but whether you were fighting for working families, fighting for the poor, fighting for the disabled, fighting to make sure every family had peace of mind when it came to food safety--I am not sure that has been mentioned, but the Senator from Iowa worked on that, and I thank him for that leadership and inspiration.

Finally, let me say I have been happy to team up with you on this issue involving for-profit schools.

I will tell my colleagues that the Senator's hearings set a standard in terms of asking the right questions and hard questions of an industry that by and large exploits young people and their families, sinking these kids deep in debt at the expense of American taxpayers and doing it many times with the promise of nothing but a worthless diploma when it is all over.

I know, because I have tried, that the industry--the for-profit colleges have friends in high places in Washington, DC. I can promise you this: As long as I can do it physically, I will continue to wage this battle in your name and in your memory because of all your leadership in this area.

Thank you for being a friend. Thank you for being a neighbor. And thank you for really standing up for the right causes over the course of your public service.

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I want to express my appreciation to Chairman Levin and Ranking Member Inhofe for their work on the defense authorization bill being considered in the Senate this week. It is officially titled the Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. It couldn't be more appropriate.

This will be the 54th year in a row that Congress has passed the Defense Authorization. It has never been an easy task. Senator Levin has had a great deal to do with that annual labor of love. He has served as the highest ranking Democratic member on the committee since January 1997, and he has served as its Chairman for eleven of the last 14 years. Every year, he has kept the needs of our service members and their families front and center.

It isn't an easy job. The Committee provides congressional oversight for more than half of all domestic discretionary spending ..... it analyzes every program line by line ..... and in this case worked with Members of both parties and both chambers to craft a consensus product. But the result is that our service members who are on the front lines will have what they need to protect our national security.

In that spirit, this bill sustains in responsible ways the active duty, National Guard, and reserve forces our nation relies on every day. Even in this tough fiscal environment, the bill authorizes a 1 percent pay raise for military personnel below the general officer level. It increases access to mental health care in a number of ways, including lifting the limits on inpatient mental health services, and requiring annual person-to-person mental health assessments. Finally, it reauthorizes the family support programs our military families so richly deserve.

The agreement also deals with a topic I have cared passionately about for many years: tobacco. This is a serious subject. Smoking rates among service members are 20 percent higher than the rest of America and the use of chewing tobacco is 450 percent higher. Tobacco-related medical treatment and lost work time costs the Pentagon $1.6 billion every. Yet, military stores have been selling tobacco products at steep discounts for years. On paper the discount is 5 percent. But an independent review found discounts as high as 25 percent because of lax enforcement and ill-defined community comparisons.

So I appreciate that this defense authorization carries a provision similar to one I authored earlier this year in the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to end this harmful subsidy. This is a commonsense reform that will protect the health of our Nation's troops. It will literally save lives. I look forward to continuing to work with the Department to tackle this culture of tobacco use head on.

This bill also contains several provisions to reform the way the military prevents and responds to sexual assault in the military. The Department's most recent report outlines how pervasive and insidious this problem continues to be. The prevalence of sexual assault has decreased slightly, and we see more victims coming forward. But it remains one of the most complex and damaging threats to our armed services today. More than 6 in 10 female service members continue to report that they have been retaliated against for reporting the perpetrators of these criminal acts.

Congress has instituted many reforms, including Special Victims Counsels. This year's defense bill contains several additional policy changes. But we must continue to hold the Department's leadership accountable for significant progress on this issue.

In addition to these national priorities, the Defense authorization bill includes several provisions that will strengthen military assets in Illinois. Rock Island Arsenal on the border of Illinois and Iowa is a remarkable place. For example, at the height of the Iraq war, the Arsenal was the single largest source of Humvee armor kits to protect our troops against IED blasts. Its factory is one of the few places in the country where our military, on short notice, can quite literally turn raw metal into critical equipment for our troops.

The Armed Services Committee has worked with me each year to ensure that the Arsenal can compete for workload and partner with the private sector. This year's bill builds on this history by updating the Civil War-era Arsenal Act to ensure that the Army manages arsenals with wartime needs in mind.

The bill also extends the joint pilot program in North Chicago at the Lovell Federal Health Care Facility. This is the first national effort to integrate health care across the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is the future of health care for service members and veterans. The Lovell Health Care Facility is working to advance integration of everything from electronic medical records to pharmacy programs.

Finally, the bill also authorizes $26 million for an Army Reserve Center in Arlington Heights, IL, and $19.5 million for Family Housing at Rock Island, IL.

Chairman Levin and Senator Inhofe have brought to the floor a thoughtful and balanced bill for our men and women in uniform, and I urge members to support this compromise.

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