Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2014-Motion to Proceed
Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. Tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, a day known across the world as D-day.
On this fateful day, which proved to be such a decisive turning point for the allied victory in Europe, thousands of allied forces were killed or wounded in the invasion. While we are sadly losing more and more members of the ``greatest generation'' with each passing year--including the last of the original Navajo code talkers whom we lost just yesterday--the heroism of these brave Americans can never be forgotten.
I have one constituent, Bob Williams from Boone County, KY, who jumped on D-day, jumped again 50 years later, and was on the front cover of Time magazine. I saw him earlier this year, and he says he is not going to jump again because his wife will not let him, but Bob Williams is still in good shape 70 years after the day he jumped into the night of D-day.
Tomorrow I will be honored to commemorate the most important anniversary by meeting with a number of Kentucky heroes--veterans from World War II and the Korean war--who will be visiting the national monuments built here in the Nation's Capital to honor their service and sacrifice. They will be making a trip with the help of the Bluegrass Chapter of the Honor Flight Program, which has already brought more than 1,000 veterans--mostly from Kentucky--to Washington for this very purpose. The program provides transportation, lodging, and food for the veterans.
Without Honor Flight, many would not be able to visit the World War II Memorial--a memorial erected to honor the sacrifice of the men and women who served on D-day and throughout that era.
I have met with groups of Honor Flight veterans before, and it is always a moving experience. It is gratifying to see these heroes receive the recognition they deserve. Many of them never thought they would be able to make the trip, and for every veteran who does, I am sure they hold cherished memories of their fellow soldiers in arms who did not.
I look forward to greeting them tomorrow and thanking them for their extraordinary service to our country. I am proud and honored that Kentucky is home to so many of these brave heroes.
BURWELL NOMINATION
Today the Senate will vote on President Obama's newest choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services--in other words, the person he will be sticking with the impossible task of trying to make ObamaCare work.
By most accounts Sylvia Burwell is a smart and skilled public servant, but her embrace of ObamaCare calls her policy judgment into question. When it comes to the task of implementing this ill-conceived and disastrous law, the President may as well have nominated Sisyphus because, as I indicated, Ms. Burwell is being asked to do the impossible.
ObamaCare has already inflicted tremendous pain on the lives of countless middle-class Americans, including many thousands in my own State. It is increasing costs for families all across the country--despite endless promises to the contrary. It has reduced access to the doctors and hospitals my constituents relied on--despite endless promises to the contrary. It has caused Kentuckians to lose the plans they liked and wanted to keep--despite endless promises to the contrary.
A constituent of mine from Pulaksi County wrote to tell me that as a result of ObamaCare he lost his insurance and that he was ``floored'' when he saw the cost of the ObamaCare-approved plan to replace it. With a spike in his premium and a $6,300 deductible, he wrote to ask me how ``[he] or any working man [could] afford the Affordable ..... Care Act.'' He makes an important point.
Nearly every major ObamaCare promise from several years ago is a broken ObamaCare promise today. Even more recent promises from the administration can't be relied on either. In January the Secretary certified to Congress that she would verify that people were actually eligible for ObamaCare subsidies before they were sent out. In recent weeks we learned from media accounts and testimony that many of the systems needed to protect taxpayers against inaccurate or fraudulent payments still have not been built, tested, or used. Yesterday we learned that nearly one in four applications may have an inconsistency that could affect the accuracy of these payments from American taxpayers. Any wasted tax dollar is a problem, but when you consider that many of these are dollars raised from tax increases or raided from Medicare to make payouts by mistake or through fraud, it is enough to make your head spin.
This is just the kind of thing everyone warned about as Washington Democrats tried to ram this law through, and it will only get worse if we give up now and just accept the giant mess they have made of our health care. I mean, if they can't even get a Web site fixed after spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, how can they possibly regulate such a huge sector of our economy in any effective way?
How can any administration official possibly repair all the broken ObamaCare promises? The question answers itself: They can't. The nominee before us can't. No one can. The problem is the law itself. ObamaCare is what prevents the successful implementation of ObamaCare. And Americans don't want it. They want real health reforms--reforms that can actually lower costs, increase choice, and help the middle class. So, in my view, the Senate shouldn't be focusing on a new captain for the Titanic; it should focus on steering away from the iceberg.
As HHS Secretary, the nominee would oversee many important programs aimed at protecting public health, promoting medical research, and providing a safety net for seniors and working families, but she would also be the chief operating officer of ObamaCare implementation--a law that is doing incredible damage to middle-class families in our country. Her embrace of this disastrous law is reason enough to oppose her confirmation.
I will be voting against this nominee because I think we need to focus on repealing and replacing this law, not trying to do the impossible by pretending we can make it work.
HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES
STAFF SERGEANT CHRISTOPHER T. STOUT
Mr. President, I rise to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of one brave soldier from Kentucky who died while serving this country. SSG Christopher T. Stout of Worthville, a chaplain's assistant, was killed on July 13, 2010, in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when the enemy attacked his unit with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and small-arms fire. He was 34 years old.
For his service in uniform, Sergeant Stout received several medals, awards, and decorations, including the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, two Army Commendation Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, three Army Good Conduct Medals, the National Defense Service Medal, two Afghanistan Campaign Medals with Bronze Service Stars, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the NATO Medal, and the Combat Action Badge.
Staff Sergeant Stout's commanding officer, chaplain CPT Ludovic O. Foyou, said this of his fallen comrade:
Staff Sergeant Christopher Stout was not just a chaplain assistant; he was my friend, brother and shield of armor. His immensely pure love for his fellow paratroopers epitomizes the spirit of the Army Chaplain Corps. His love for his wife Misty and three princesses, Jacqueline, Audreanna, and Kristen, always kept a radiant smile on his face.
Christopher's hometown pastor, the Reverend Raymond Sharon of Worthville United Pentecostal Church, added:
[Chris] was just a fantastic good boy all the way around. Faithful to church, faithful to his family, his wife.
Chris was born on New Year's Day in 1976 in Louisville and graduated from Carroll County High School.
His mother, Sharon Neuner, remembers Chris's childhood fondly:
We had some hard times because I was a single parent ..... but those things just brought us closer together. Our song name was ``You and Me Against the World.'' I remember you used to want name-brand things that we couldn't afford, so you went to work in an elderly woman's flower garden. You weeded, painted, and mowed lawns to get money for those name-brand things. In doing so, you learned that it isn't the clothes or the shoes that make the man, but who you are as a person that makes you a great man.
Chris was an accomplished singer and often preached the gospel at Worthville United Pentecostal Church. He joined the Army in 1997 and originally served as a parachute rigger with the 782nd Main Support Battalion at Fort Bragg, NC. In September of 2006, at his request, he was reclassified as a chaplain's assistant. From 2007 to 2008, he deployed with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 82nd Airborne Division, until in 2009 he was reassigned to 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, based out of Fort Bragg. It was with this unit that Chris deployed to Afghanistan for what would be his final deployment.
In late July 2010, shortly after he was killed, his family, friends, and those who wished to pay their respects gathered at the veterans memorial in General Butler State Park in Carrollton, KY, to remember Christopher Stout.
Daughter Jacqueline Stout sang ``Amazing Grace'' in his honor to a crowd of nearly 500.
Chaplain LTC David Graetz told the crowd that Chris lived by the chaplain's motto ``Pro Deo et Patria''--Latin for the phrase ``For God and Country.''
The Reverend Raymond Sharon of Chris's hometown church also spoke. ``He is a hero,'' Reverend Sharon said of Chris. ``He has set an example for all the young people here today. Nothing can stop you from accomplishing in life a great place in society, as Chris has done. Chris stood for the truth. He lived it. He talked it.''
With that, the crowd stood at respectful attention for the firing of a three-volley salute by the American Legion Post No. 41, followed by a bugler playing ``Taps.'' Then the Carroll County judge-executive unveiled for Chris's family a brick to be placed in the veterans memorial to honor his sacrifice.
His mother said:
Thank you, Chris. You gave your all. I hope my mind stays healthy so that I always have my memories of your smiling blue eyes, your warm smile, those dimples and freckles, and our time of you and me against the world. Those will have to do me until we meet again at Heaven's gates.
We are thinking of Chris's family today as I share his story with my colleagues, including his wife Misty, his daughters Jacqueline, Audreanna, and Kristen, his parents Sharon and Billy Neuner, and many other beloved family members and friends. I wish for them to know that this Senate is privileged to pay tribute to SSG Christopher T. Stout for his life of service in honor of the ideals of ``Pro Deo et Patria''--``For God and Country.'' We recognize his service, and we honor his ultimate sacrifice. He truly was a man of God who died defending our country. Kentucky is proud to call this good and faithful servant one of our own, and we mourn his loss.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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