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Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, we are back in session today after a week or so of being out of session. We have a habit of calling that a recess although it doesn't necessarily feel like a recess. Some people like to call it a home State work period, which seems a little awkward. Nevertheless, it was good to be back home, but it is also good to be back here in the Nation's Capital to do the work our constituents sent us here to do.

The term ``recess'' implies a restful and relaxing break from work, but for me and most of my colleagues, those recess weeks are some of the busiest ones of the year. Since the Senate gaveled out about 2 weeks ago, I have traveled across Texas to meet with my constituents, including time in Austin, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Pasadena, and Dallas. When you have the privilege of representing 30 million Texans, it takes a little bit of effort just to get around the State, but we do it on a regular basis, and I am always invigorated by the interaction with the folks I work for.

Yesterday, of course, we celebrated Memorial Day. We did so in San Antonio yesterday with an incredible group of students who have been selected to attend America's military service academies. These young people are among the best and brightest in our State, and they have chosen to pursue a challenging and honorable career in our Nation's military.

Each Memorial Day, my office hosts a sendoff for these students, and it is far and away my favorite event of the year.

Now, these aren't just students I have recommended to the service academies; they are the ones--they include those recommended by any member of the Texas delegation.

We had about 500 people there in San Antonio yesterday, including about 100 students, and it was a great event. It is always inspiring to see these students answer the same call to serve that generations before them have answered. They are the next generation of military leaders. But, as we know, it is not just military leaders because, eventually, many of those folks will get into the private sector, as my parents and others did after World War II, and they become leaders in their own right in other capacities other than military. But it was a pleasure to spend the day celebrating the incredible journey that they are about to embark on.

I had a lot of fun kidding the parents because I said: Well, your son or daughter is getting a full ride to a service academy that is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And that always brings a big smile. Of course, that is not the main reason they go. The main reason they go is because they are young patriots and they work hard and demonstrated a lot of ability and self-discipline to get to where they are. But it was a delightful event.

Last week, I also had the chance to hear about how legislation that we passed last year called the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act actually was being implemented. As you will recall, this legislation was introduced in the wake of the shootings in Uvalde, TX, about a year ago, which claimed the lives of 19 students and 2 adults--2 teachers. There was, obviously, a need for more mental health and school safety resources, and that is in large part what that legislation provided.

So I visited three school districts that received school hardening grants that were authorized by the bill. Part of me, Mr. President, is very sad to go into a school and realize that these students have to be protected from these sorts of threats, because no child should have to go to school afraid for their safety. No parents should have to send their child to school afraid for their safety. Such are the times we are living in.

I was glad to see these protective measures in place. For example, in Agnes Cotton Academy in San Antonio, they recently installed a new digital portable radio system that connects to ear pieces and the school intercom system. I saw similar technology at the R. L. Paschal High School in Ft. Worth, which purchased specialized smart radios as well as a system that can send emergency alerts to school phones and digital clocks inside classrooms. At Pasadena Memorial High School, I was shown their ID badge school access system and new technology for anonymous threat reporting.

Each of these schools has been able to review their own readiness using the best practices that have been recommended for schools across the Nation and then invest in the technologies and capabilities that fit their needs. And it was great to hear about the way these and other schools across the State of Texas are using these grant funds.

This legislation also made the single largest investment the Federal Government has ever made in community-based mental healthcare. But experts say there should be about one school psychologist for every 500 students. But we are a long, long way from that goal. Texas currently has one school psychologist for every 2,500 students.

But grants from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act are working to close that gap. First, we have to train the people in these professions so they can provide the services. Colleges and universities in Texas are already using some of these grant funds to help increase the number of mental health professionals in schools and in the State. They partnered with nearby school districts to provide real-world training opportunities. I am optimistic that the investment that we made and the hard work that they are doing will have a positive impact on student mental health on the workforce shortage in coming years--of course, with the goal to provide help for anybody who needs it in or around school.

So it is always good to go home and see the impact of the laws we pass here in Washington, DC.

Over the last few days, I also had the opportunity to talk about a new bill that I am working on called the FANS First Act. For years, musicians, sports teams, performers of all types, and their fans have been frustrated by the predatory ticket sales practices in the so- called secondary market.

What I mean by that is that a performer, an athlete, an entertainer, a museum, can sell tickets for a stated price; but, unfortunately, because of bots, these automated computer programs can go on and purchase large numbers of these tickets. It then provides an opportunity for professional scalpers to buy a huge portion of those tickets, then sell them at dramatically inflated prices on the secondary market. As a result, fans see sky-high prices.

Performers and sports teams have a frustrated fan base, and venues are left with empty seats. The only people benefiting from this current system are the scalpers--not the artists, not the teams, not the theaters, not the concert halls, or anyone else who adds value to the live performance experience.

This has been a problem for a long time, but it came into focus last year when tickets went on sale for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. Countless fans waited in a virtual waiting room for hours but were unable to buy tickets because the bots or computer programs were buying up all the tickets from the primary ticket vendor.

In Austin, I heard from one of those disappointed fans, a young woman named Kate Testone. Kate has been a dedicated Taylor Swift fan for years--she said since she was 5--and was eager to buy tickets to see one of her all-time favorite performers. When she couldn't get a ticket from the original point of sale, she turned to the resale market but was shocked by what she found. A seat with an obstructed view cost $450. An upper bowl seat was $900. Many tickets were selling for thousands and thousands of dollars. Kate is a college student who said she eats ramen for almost every meal. I am not sure that is strictly true, but that is what she said. But for her and other countless fans, spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a ticket is simply not an option.

I also heard from my friend, music legend Robert Earl Keen, who is equally frustrated by the current system. Robert planned to sell tickets for the final leg of his farewell tour for about 100 bucks. But once tickets hit the resale market, many were priced at 1,000 bucks. I asked him about that, and I said: Well, does that money come to you, the person providing the intellectual property, the creativity that people wanted to enjoy?

He said: Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, my fans get mad at me if they think they are being gouged for these thousand-dollar tickets when, in fact, I have no control over that.

That extra $900 from his fans' wallets did not go to him; it didn't go to the venue; it didn't go to the ticket takers or the concession workers; it went straight into the pocket of a scalper. Robert noted that fans often think that it is the artist's fault, but it isn't. Once tickets are listed, artists have virtually no control over what happens, even though it is their name and their reputation at stake.

I heard a similar feedback from venues in San Antonio and Austin, including the Moody Center, the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and the Longhorn Ballroom. The same frustrations were felt by sports teams, everyone from University of Texas Athletics to the Dallas Cowboys.

There is an overwhelming sense that the current system isn't working, and it jeopardizes the relationships between fans and their favorite artists, teams, and venues, even though they aren't to blame.

I have been working on a bill called the FANS First Act to address some of the core issues we are seeing. The bill will focus on improving transparency so fans are aware that the thousand-dollar ticket they are about to buy is coming from a reseller who originally bought it for 100 bucks. It will also include reforms that improve consumer protection. That is really what we are talking about here: protecting consumers from the price gouging. It will restore market integrity, and it will punish the bad actors who engage in predatory ticket sales practices, particularly those who use these automated computer programs known as bots to purchase all the tickets once they go on sale just to sell them in the secondary market for a much higher price.

Senator Klobuchar has been one of the leaders in this effort, and I am eager to hear feedback from stakeholders as we try to finalize the text on this bill. I certainly would invite any of my colleagues-- particularly on the Judiciary Committee--on a bipartisan basis to work with us to try to come up with a bill that makes sense.

The frustration among fans, artists, teams, and venues is palpable, but I am optimistic we can come up with a bill that will punish the bad actors from ruining the live entertainment experience and restore the power to the artists that produce the wonderful entertainment that we all enjoy and help them protect their reputation against these predatory secondary market scalpers.

It was a busy week back home, and I am grateful that many people shared their ideas and feedback with me. It is an honor to represent 30 million people from Texas in the U.S. Senate, and I have come back feeling energized and ready to dive back into the work we have here.

It is apparently going to be all about the debt limit here for the next few days. We know that this, unfortunately, has been delayed for many months. We shouldn't have to back up against a potential default, but that seems to be the most common way we work around here. We don't get a sense of urgency until we get ready to fall off the cliff.

I am optimistic that we will be able to address the debt ceiling; and, at the same time, we can help restore some measure of fiscal responsibility and integrity. It is simply unsustainable to have a $31 trillion debt and say: Well, we want to raise our credit card limit, but we don't want to have an adult conversation about how we are going to pay the money back. That simply is not the way things work in the real world, and it shouldn't be the way things work here in Congress.

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