SENATE BILLS

SENATE BILLS

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 56 (Wednesday, March 25, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 25, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S1604-S1605] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] SENATE BILLS Mr. JUSTICE. Madam President, you know, I have got to say just this: We have Medal of Honor recipients with us right now, and I fast- forwarded because I had this beautiful speech to give and all that stuff, and there have been some things happened that we will get to in just a second. But if U.S. Army MG Patrick Brady, just please stand up, just one second, sir. If you would, just stand for just a second, sir. And U.S. Army LTC William Swenson, please stand, if you would. And U.S. Navy Command Master Chief Britt Kelly Slabinski, if you would please stand. And U.S. Army SGM Thomas Payne, if you would stand, please. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will ask the Senator to suspend momentarily. Mr. JUSTICE. Madam President, if I violated the rule, it is because I am new to the game, and I don't know all the rules. But I want to thank them for their service in every way. Medal of Honor winners--it is just unfathomable to think that those folks can grab a live handgrenade and try to throw it away from their comrades, to absolutely charge into enemy fire like you can't imagine. And I think all the time, and I say to myself: You know, if I were in that situation, could I have that courage? [[Page S1605]] Could I have that grit? Could I have that love for this unbelievable country and my comrades that are right with me? I don't know. It takes something that not many have, and we should honor them beyond belief. The reason I asked these gentlemen to stand was simply just this: Today--today--something happened to me that, to be perfectly honest, I may have thought was getting to be semi-impossible. And that was just this: People from both sides of the aisle actually talked to one another. I had an amazing conversation with Ranking Member Martin Heinrich. We sat, and we built some level of trust and communication. Now, we are always going to fight with one another; we know that. But at the end of the day, these four--and for all the other 3,500 almost-- today, we did something that, in all fairness, these four an hour and a half ago would have thought wasn't going to happen. So I am going to fast-forward and read something that we all thought was semi-impossible. But to others on the other side of the aisle--you know, Senator Shaheen; you know, Senator Padilla; to absolutely our great chairman of ENR, you know, Senator Lee, who I am so thankful that we just talked-- for God's sakes of living, we just talked, and lo and behold: wham, bam, bam. This monument that we have wanted to put on our National Mall that I am going to ask for your unanimous consent in just a second, absolutely we are there. No one would have believed it. No one really thought it. These people have given so much, and we needed to stand up for them, and, lo and behold, today, maybe just a lot of lessons--lessons maybe that we all ought to listen to, and that is just this: If we talked and we trusted and we absolutely told the truth to one another, there may just be passage of lots and lots and lots of stuff that we should be doing here. That is what we should be doing. I always call the voters Toby and Edith. But Toby and Edith need us. They need us in the worst way. I would say, someway, somehow, we have got to tone down and stop a little bit of the food fight. So right now--now, get this; get this--this is what I am reading to you right now. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of the following bills en bloc; that the substitute-amendment at the desk to S. 858 be considered and agreed to; and that the bills, as amended, if amended, where applicable, be considered read a third time and passed en bloc; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all en bloc: my bill, S. 858, the Hershel `Woody' Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act, and S. 1142 the Scarper Ridge Golden Gate National Recreation Area Boundary Adjustment Act, from Senator Padilla. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources was discharged of the relevant bills, and the Senate proceeded to consider the bills en bloc, as follows: ____________________

Referenced legislation: S858, S1142