[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1542-S1544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               WHAT REAL PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT CHILDREN

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, when I left here in early February for 
the Senate's recess, I was exasperated. Nothing productive seemed to be 
happening here in Washington, DC. Budget stalemates had become an 
accepted way of life, rather than words to bring Members of Congress to 
work together to reach agreements. The battles of last year all seemed 
to end in stalemates. And worse, even the air in the District of 
Columbia seemed charged with negativity and mean-spirited rhetoric.

  Today, however, I feel invigorated. My trip home to Washington State 
in early February was hardly relaxing, but it was extremely productive. 
Today, I want to take a moment to share with my colleagues why I feel a 
renewed sense of optimism and why I am ready to take on new challenges.
  Mr. President, like many who work with our young people today, I have 
become increasingly concerned about what is or, more importantly, what 
is not happening for our youth today. I have spent my life working with 
young people as a mother, as a preschool teacher, as a school board 
member, as a Girl Scout leader, as a PTA member, as a State senator, 
and today as a U.S. Senator.
  There is no doubt in my mind that young people today are becoming 
increasingly disillusioned with their

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world. They feel that they have no chance--more and more of them know 
college is out of reach; many people feel unconnected to what is taught 
in our elementary and secondary schools; far too many have no support 
from family at home. Increasingly, I hear our young people from all 
walks of life, from 4.0 students to gang members, say, ``I don't think 
adults care about me today.''
  Indeed, the statistics about our young people are very disturbing. 
Almost half of Washington State children fail to read at a basic level 
of competence. The number of young people in my State who are 
incarcerated is increasing. One in sixteen girls in Washington become 
teen parents. That, by the way, is a higher rate than many other 
developed nations.
  It is important to note there are some encouraging signs. The health 
of Washington State children, whether measured by infant mortality 
rates or child mortality rates or access to prenatal care, is an area 
of improvement.
  But as I have participated in and listened to the debates and 
direction of this Congress from welfare reform to Medicaid to 
education, I have become increasingly concerned that our young people 
are right. Adults do not care about them. Children seem to have been 
relegated to the bottom of the priority pile at the exact time they are 
feeling so left out and alone. It is time to change direction for our 
young people.
  Over this last recess, I set out to find what adults need to do to 
make this Nation a better place for our children to grow up in. I was 
determined to stay away from partisan battles and inflammatory debates. 
I wanted to engage people in a conversation about children. I wanted to 
find goals that we could all agree on.
  On that basis, I traveled back and forth across my State for 2 weeks 
and invited people of all ages and backgrounds to join me in a 
conversation about Washington children. In four cities around the 
State, people came out in cold and heavy rain to a community center, to 
a church, a school, or a college auditorium and they talked, not just 
for a few minutes, but for 3\1/2\ hours. They talked about their own 
kids or the kid next door or their older or younger brothers or 
sisters.
  We began each of these meetings with a short presentation of some 
objective local data about how kids are doing, followed by a panel 
discussion between local people who work with kids, followed by 
breakout discussions to come up with things we could agree to do.
  We covered three aspects in a child's life: Health, education, and 
membership in community. People talked about how children have to be 
healthy so they can learn. They spoke of how children needed a relevant 
education to face a complex economy. They discussed how we must let 
young people know we care about them and how only then will young 
people feel the sense of civic responsibility and pride we all need 
them to feel.
  As I said, this was a conversation, and I had one rule: Nobody leaves 
the room without participating. So we heard answers to one central 
question: What can we all agree to do for our children?
  People brought many different voices and perspectives to these 
conversations. The groups heard from mothers and fathers. We heard from 
students, as well as kids who dropped out of school. We heard the 
voices of business leaders and child care workers. We heard from 
veterans, youth mentors, teachers, and police officers. We heard from 
Republicans and Democrats and Independents. We heard thoughts from our 
senior citizens and our seniors in high school. We heard about 
individual people or government services or business or charitable 
programs which make a real difference for our kids. We heard about kids 
who did not get help, who fell through the cracks or who had such a 
hard time there was hardly a way to start helping them.

  We did not just hear about children and young people, we heard from 
them. Young people on our panels told us how they do not see evidence 
that adults care about them or their future. They talked about 
succeeding in school and not realizing any benefit from it. They talked 
about failing in school because it did not seem relevant or 
challenging. They spoke of adults designing programs for them but not 
with them. They spoke from their hearts about the lack of trust and 
fear that exists between them and the adults that they meet in stores 
and on the streets.
  Overwhelmingly, they wanted to break down the walls of mistrust. The 
one word I heard over and over was ``respect.'' They want real respect, 
not just the kind kids get from joining a gang. And they want an adult 
world that cares about them so they can build up their respect for 
adults.
  At every one of our meetings, we heard the voices of young people as 
panelists, as group facilitators, or as group participants. Too many 
discussions about children from the school board meeting to the State 
house to the floor of the U.S. Senate happen without real participation 
by young people. Who better to include on matters concerning laws and 
policies affecting our children?
  And what did all these different people with their divergent, 
independent, unique American voices, and opinions agree to do? Well, we 
are still writing down all the specifics, but I want to give you a few 
of the common themes that we heard.
  On the topic of children's health, we heard from people committed to 
immunizing more children or to creating more child care slots in their 
local community. They agreed to meet with other citizens to build local 
awareness and to tap local resources for these needs. There was a 
strong consensus everywhere that as adults, we have a responsibility to 
care for our children and to ensure that they have adequate quality 
health care.
  On education, we heard from children who wanted to participate in 
activities and learning experiences after school but who did not have 
the $35 sign-up fee for the program. They wanted to work off the fee or 
to earn good grades so that they could participate.
  Over and over, I heard that we must make our education system 
relevant for tomorrow. Young people want curricula in classes that will 
give them the skills for the job market and focus them for the world 
they are entering.

  On involving young people in the community, we heard from business 
leaders who want to increase their investment in the citizenship of 
young people. They agreed to donate time for their workers to help 
children do job shadowing or give kids a place to fit in.
  There was a strong feeling from both young people and adults that 
every one of us must begin to take more time to be involved with each 
other in our neighborhoods and in our communities.
  In addition to what people wanted to do, there were some trends I 
noticed that I want to share with you.
  First, people agreed to have a polite discourse. One reason young 
people say today that they have a hard time getting along is that they 
say they have no role models. We disagree all the time in the Senate. 
We have genuine differences of opinion, and we express them freely. 
Well, I will tell you right now, we do it too freely. We need to find 
where we agree. All we talk about are the differences. We have to talk 
about the shared beliefs as well. We need to set a better example for 
American children and young people and be better role models ourselves.
  Second, people seemed to leave their cynicism at home and brought 
with them a sense of hope. This happened even though we heard some 
bleak news about children's health, about how they are doing in school, 
and how they are doing in home and on the streets.
  People heard that too many children still suffer from preventable 
health problems. Too many students cannot read or end up dropping out 
of school. Too many young people see no alternative to violence. Too 
many have no hope of ever being employed. But despite the bad news, and 
some good, the people at these meetings never got cynical or depressed; 
it just made them want to work harder.
  Third, I noticed that people felt the children were too important not 
to talk about and to learn about and to work for. People said children 
are too important to scrimp on. They want us to find somewhere else to 
save our money. They agreed that communities are the best place to 
solve most problems for kids, but said you have to involve kids to get 
good solutions. They agreed the Federal Government should guarantee the 
minimums for all kids and should encourage local action.

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 Above all, the young people and all participants agreed we should work 
more on children's issues and less on other things.

  During these meetings, I promised to put people's ideas up on the 
walls of my office so every lobbyist who comes in can see what the 
people of Washington really care about. As people got ready to leave at 
the end of the evening, I asked them each to take one idea back to 
their local neighborhood or their community and make it happen.
  The posters from these meetings are in the mail to my office in the 
Russell Building, and they contain very specific ideas. I encourage all 
of you to come by my office next week and read what people have to say.
  I think you will find, as I have, that it is time to put our young 
people at the top of our priority list. It is time to find a way at 
every level to focus our schools on preparing all of our children, not 
just a few, for tomorrow. You will see, as I have, that people from all 
walks of life understand as adults we have a responsibility to give our 
children a strong start in life. There is much we can and much we must 
do to make this happen in our country today.
  Not too long ago, at a hearing in Washington, DC, I heard a 
businessman talk about what he saw in our country today. So often we 
hear that Government should act more like a business. He said that any 
business that wants to be here in the future invests in their most 
important resources. He said America is acting like a business that 
does not plan to have a future.
  I agree. It is like we are having a fire sale in our country. 
Children are our growth capital. They are our new physical plant. They 
are our inventory.
  We cannot stop investing in kids now and hope to have any future in 
this country. This is the strong and loud message I heard from people 
all over my State, from all political stripes, from all ages, and all 
walks of life.
  I was listening, and I will be working over the next months and years 
to put children back at the top of our Nation's agenda. I hope we can 
work together as adults to make that happen. Our children are worth it, 
our communities are worth it, and our country is worth it.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. THOMAS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.

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