[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 101 (Wednesday, July 10, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7620-S7624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE DEMOCRATIC AGENDA

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, we had asked for some time today to 
discuss the agenda that we have developed over recent months, to talk 
about what we think we ought to be doing and where we think this 
country ought to be heading. I am going to speak for a few minutes. My 
colleague, Senator Reid from Nevada, will address a number of the 
topics, and our colleague, Senator Boxer from California, will address 
a number of them. We will similarly have a discussion tomorrow about 
the same issues.
  The reason we wanted to do this, it is easy to be against things. It 
does not take any skill or any great intelligence to be opposed to 
things. I think it was Mark Twain who once, when asked if he would 
participate in a debate, said, ``Fine, provided that I can be on the 
opposing side.'' They said, ``Why?'' And he said, ``That will take no 
preparation.''
  It takes no skill, time, or preparation to oppose. Those who oppose 
can do it immediately and quickly without much thought.
  The question is not what are we opposed to. The question in Congress 
is, what do we stand for? Why are we here? What are we doing? What do 
we want for this country?
  I begin by saying, in the end and in the final analysis, the question 
of whether we are on the right track in this country, whether we are 
headed in the right direction, is not measured by any myriad of 
statistics put out by the Federal Reserve Board or the Treasury 
Department or the Census Bureau or any organization in this town or 
elsewhere; it is, finally, measured when people sit down at the supper 
table at home at night and ask themselves, how are we doing? Is our 
standard of living improving? Are we moving ahead? Are we able to find 
good jobs, keep good jobs? Are our children able to find good jobs? Are 
we secure? Is there crime in the street that threatens us? Do our kids 
have an opportunity to go to good schools? Are our roads in good shape?
  A whole range of questions like that relate to the determination of 
whether individual families are doing better. In shorthand, the way of 
saying it is, if at the end of the day the standard of living in this 
country is not increasing, then we are not moving in the right 
direction. The question is, what kind of choices, what menu of 
opportunities exist for us to make decisions in this country in both 
the private sector and the public sector that increase the standard of 
living, keep us moving forward?
  As a society, if you read the history of our country, you will 
discover that we have always had a circumstance where, generally 
speaking, parents believed things work better for their children and 
they were willing to do things to make life better for their children--
investing in schools, for example, so that we would have the best 
education in the world. Those are the kinds of things that created a 
circumstance where our economy has been a remarkable economy, producing 
jobs and opportunities, so that standards of living increased in our 
country routinely and regularly.

  We have now reached a period where we are more challenged in those 
areas. We now have what is called a global economy in which 2 or 3 
billion workers around the world now compete with about two-thirds of 
the American work force, and many of those other people around the 
world work for very low wages. It is not unusual to hear the stories of 
10-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 20- or 40-year-olds working for 10 cents an 
hour, 20 cents an hour or $1 an hour, for 10 hours or 15 hours a day in 
other parts of world. The product of that work shows up in Pittsburgh 
or Denver or New York or Fargo, to be sold on the shelf and purchased 
by the American consumer.
  It all relates to this question: Are we doing the things necessary in 
the public sector and the private sector to improve life in America and 
to increase the standard of living in our country?
  About a year ago, Senator Daschle, the minority leader, asked Senator 
Reid and myself to engage in an effort with other members of our 
caucus, a fairly substantial group of the Democratic caucus, to put 
together an analysis of what is it that represents our positive agenda, 
what kind of things do we want to see accomplished in Congress, what 
kind of ideas exist that we think will improve life in America. We held 
meeting after meeting and tried to get the best ideas that existed 
among those from the Democratic side of the aisle here in Congress in 
order to develop an agenda. The Senator from Nevada was very active in 
that with me, and the Senator from California, Senator Boxer was very 
active. We developed an agenda and worked with the Democratic caucus on 
that agenda.
  Following that, we took that as a starting point and then worked with 
the members of the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives 
and with President Clinton and others and synthesized this and 
developed this into a fairly common agenda that says: Here is what we 
are for, here is why we are here, here is what we want to have happen 
that we think will improve life in America.
  Let me give you some examples. The agenda talks about ``families 
first.'' This is families first. I talk about it in the context of 
jobs, kids, and values. That is what people who sit around the dinner 
table talk about. What kind of jobs do we have? What kind of 
opportunity do we have? What kind of security do we have? What about 
our kids; how are the schools? What about crime? What about values? 
What are they seeing on television? A whole series of issues 
surrounding families, American families.
  We talk about it in the context of responsibility and security. 
First, we say we believe that we ought to have a balanced Federal 
budget. We believe it is possible, we believe it is achievable, and we 
believe it ought to be done. It ought to be done the right way.
  There are some who would balance the budget with all the wrong 
priorities. Last year I spoke at length about those who would say, 
``Let us cut the Star Schools Program by 40 percent and increase the 
star wars program by 100 percent.''
  Now, that is a wrongheaded approach, but we should balance the 
Federal budget. The era of big government is over. Our agenda does not 
suggest that Government can, should, or will solve all of the problems 
of this country. But we can contribute in the right way. So we say we 
ought to balance the Federal budget. That is part of the democratic 
agenda.
  We ought to help small businesses, medium-sized businesses, and 
others in this country thrive, survive, and create jobs and compete. 
There are a series of ways to do that, and we talk about that in the 
agenda.
  We ought to also reinvest in our communities and infrastructure. We 
ought to make sure that the basic things that deal with everyday life--
roads, bridges, rail systems, and others--are up to date and are not 
decaying.
  Then we talk about individual responsibility and a welfare system 
that works. We call it work first. That is what we stand for--work 
first. We say, especially in this proposal for welfare, that we ought 
to get tough with deadbeat parents. Why on earth should other taxpayers 
be stuck paying tens of billions of dollars that is owed especially by 
fathers who have left their families and decided they are not going to 
pay a cent for the welfare of their children, so those deadbeats say to 
the rest of the taxpayers, ``You pick up the tab of something I will 
not pay for,'' which is basic care for their children. We say that has 
to stop. That is part of welfare reform as well.
  A national crusade to end this burgeoning teenage pregnancy in this 
country is part of our agenda. That, of course, starts at home, in the 
home, in the community. But we believe that is an important element of 
what we ought to be doing to try to improve life in this country.

[[Page S7621]]

  On the issue of security and crime, we think the President's proposal 
to put more cops on the street, on the beat, to have more community 
policing, makes eminent good sense. We support that and would increase 
it. We believe that there are initiatives to keep kids off the street 
and out of gangs that ought to be employed. Communities know best how 
to do that, and we can help those communities with programs and 
resources.
  We believe that we ought to make an even greater effort to clean the 
drugs out of our schools. We ought to say to everybody in this country 
who is on probation or on parole that you are going to be drug tested 
while you are on probation or parole.
  Our agenda talks about retirement security. We say those who would 
dip into employee pension funds and leave the pension funds vulnerable 
are doing a disservice to the people who work in this country. Stiffer 
penalties for the abuse of pension funds and a crackdown on companies 
who have taken the money that you have earned and that you have saved 
in that pension funds is part of our agenda.
  Making pensions portable, to move from one job to another, 
encouraging companies to make pensions available. Half of the American 
work force does not have a pension.
  The issue of health care. We have already passed a health care bill 
that we have pushed hard for, which makes health care insurance 
portable and eliminates, in many instances, the pre-existing-condition 
requirement.
  Those are the kinds of things that are in our agenda. With respect to 
the issue of jobs, we believe that it is time to say to American 
corporations, and to all companies, that we want you to create jobs in 
this country, not move jobs overseas. Our agenda says we are going to 
take the first baby step--and it is only a baby step, but we are going 
to force it to be taken--to shut down this idiotic and perverse tax 
benefit that says you can close your American plant, move your jobs 
overseas, and the taxpayers will give you a benefit. There is $2.2 
billion of reward in our Tax Code to go to companies who close American 
plants and shut off jobs here and move overseas. We say in this agenda 
that, if you cannot take that first baby step, we do not have a chance 
of solving the jobs problem in this country.

  Well, Mr. President, the families first agenda is not a big 
government solution to what ails our country. This is a wonderful, 
remarkable country filled with strength, filled with, I think, hope and 
optimism, a country that needs to be led by people with a vision and 
agenda that says here are the practical steps that we can take to make 
this a better country, to provide for opportunity and to provide for 
hope for all Americans. That is why we constructed an agenda. Is it 
perfect? No. Does it move us in the right direction? Yes.
  This is not about appealing to special interests. It is not, as so 
often happens in this town, responding to the needs of the powerful. 
But it is about putting the families first, trying to understand that 
when all the dust settles and the day is ended, the standard by which 
we measure whether America has progressed is one in which we ask 
ourselves: Have we improved life in this country for working families?
  Mr. President, let me now turn to my colleague from Nevada, Senator 
Reid, who cochaired the effort with me in the Senate caucus, and 
Senator Reid will continue to discuss part of this agenda. He will be 
followed by Senator Boxer.
  Mr. REID. Would the Chair advise the Senator how much time is left 
under the control?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota has 27 minutes 
35 seconds.
  Mr. REID. Will the Chair advise the Senator when I have used 10 
minutes?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Yes.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as Senator Dorgan indicated, we were asked 
by the minority leader to be cochairs of a Democratic task force to 
come up with an agenda for the Democrats. We were cochairs, and we had 
a number of people who worked on the task force. The Senator from 
California, Senator Boxer, was one that attended, I think, every 
meeting that we held of the task force. I also think it is important, 
Mr. President, to note that we did not do any polling to determine how 
we should stand on issues. We had people come in and talk to us. We 
came up with an agenda not based on opinion polls, but based on our 
gut, what we felt was the right thing to do for this country.
  After having made that decision, Mr. President, we presented our task 
force results to the Democratic minority, the leadership here, and they 
accepted, with some revisions, what we did. We then asked every member 
of the caucus to make some remarks, to go over what we had done, and to 
get back to us with the changes they thought should be made in our 
agenda. A significant number of Senators told us what they felt should 
be changed. Many of those we were able to incorporate in the final 
product.
  After that, Mr. President, we went to the ranking members and made a 
presentation to them of what we had come up with. They approved of what 
we did. After that, we again took it to the entire caucus. They 
accepted what we did. At that time, the minority leader, Senator 
Daschle, started a series of meetings with Representative Gephardt, the 
minority leader in the House of Representatives. After several weeks of 
consultations and meetings, there was an agreement on refining what we 
had done here in the Senate. Following that, the presentation was made 
to the President, the executive branch of Government, and they approved 
of it. Then there was a final roll-out of this product. We are very 
proud of what we have done. We believe that this agenda gives Democrats 
across the Nation a view of how we stand on issues.
  The agenda is designed to do some good for American families, instead 
of what we believe is a misguided scheme to reshape America, which has 
been offered this past year and a half.
  This new agenda features realistic, moderate, achievable ways to help 
every hard-working American family. It is the families first agenda, 
Mr. President. It is an important program because we, first of all, 
talk about security. There are all kinds of different securities that 
we must be concerned with. A healthy, safe family certainly is a start. 
Before you can discuss any of the security issues, you have to 
understand that we believe American families deserve economic and 
personal security, paycheck security, health care security, retirement 
security, and personal security.
  Let us first talk about personal security. Never in the history of 
this country have we had such difficult problems with security for 
kids. I am a father of five children, and it was a big occasion for us 
when our kids started school because the kids were getting into a new 
environment. It was a big occasion in our life when we would take the 
kids to school the first day. But basically after that the kids were 
safe. They either went on a bus or lived close enough that they walked. 
Kids did not have to worry about being beaten up or shot on the way to 
school. But now they do. I can remember a real trauma in the life of 
one of my children. They had been sprayed with a water gun on the way 
home. Not anymore. Kids are sprayed with bullets from real guns. They 
are injured, maimed, and killed. These days we have to be concerned 
about a world where we have this violence. All across America violence 
from drugs and gangs is creeping into the halls of our schools and 
streets in neighborhoods all over America.

  The Presiding Officer is from the beautiful State of Colorado. Mr. 
President, Colorado has gang problems. Colorado has drug problems. That 
would have been unheard of to talk about 10 or 15 years ago. But not 
anymore. It is that way all over America. You cannot escape random 
violence and problems.
  Parents across this Nation in cities, suburbs, and small towns alike 
are increasingly worried about their children's safety. No one will 
ever come up with a single magic solution for the crime problem. But we 
can take a strong step to fight crime by giving our police and 
community leaders the tools they need to tackle violence and combat the 
influence of this pernicious drug problem.
  We want to make sure we have enough police on our streets, and we 
will work to keep our promise of 100,000 new police officers for local 
communities. We are about 40 percent of the way there.
  I can speak being a Senator from Nevada. These police officers have 
helped. Even in Nevada, the tourist mecca of

[[Page S7622]]

the world, violent crime by adults is going down. We have problems with 
violent crime by kids as we do all over America. But we are making 
progress all over America. We are making progress because we have come 
to the realization that it is a small number of criminals--about 8 
percent of the criminals--that contribute to over 70 percent of the 
violent crime in America, and we are taking steps to make sure that we 
do something with that 8 percent.
  We have to be concerned--that we not only have to do something about 
crimes being committed, but law enforcement must be involved in 
programs to give them greater power to intervene with kids before they 
commit crimes. That is before it is too late.
  We want to help local community groups offer supervised places where 
kids can go after school to stay out of trouble. We spend these huge 
amounts of money on capital construction for schools, and after 3 or 4 
o'clock in the afternoon the fences are put up, the lights are turned 
off, and they are not used. We believe they should be used.
  The families first agenda calls for putting more cops on the beat, 
keeping kids off the streets and out of gangs, cleaning drugs out of 
schools, and testing drug offenders.
  Mr. President, security covers a lot. Safer families--we talked about 
more cops on the beat. We talked about keeping kids out of gangs and 
off the streets.
  But we also have to be concerned about paycheck security. Mr. 
President, paycheck security is something that we talk a lot about. But 
we do not do a lot about it sometimes. It used to be when people went 
to work they stayed on the job a lifetime. Now the average life of a 
job is a little over 6 years. People are continually afraid of losing 
their jobs. We are concerned about that also. We believe that if we are 
going to have paycheck security there are certain minimums we must 
have.
  First, affordable child care--if we are going to get women off 
welfare because--the vast majority of people who get aid to families 
with dependent children are women. If we are going to get women into 
the job market, we are going to have to do something about child care. 
There is no other way.
  We have to ban imports using child labor. And we have to have fair 
pay for women; that is, we do not shy away from it.
  This is a specific plank of the Democrats' families first agenda--
fair pay for women. We just passed yesterday the minimum wage bill. 
Most people think the minimum wage bill is for teenagers at McDonald's 
flipping hamburgers--not true. Sixty percent of the people who draw the 
minimum wage are women. For 40 percent of the women it is the only 
money they get for themselves, and their families. We believe we have 
to have fair pay for women, and we did it a little bit yesterday--a 
small step by making sure that we increase the minimum wage.

  Retirement security--many Americans cannot afford to worry about a 
secure retirement until it is far too late because they are preoccupied 
paying the bills, keeping their kids clothed, fed, and in school.
  Many parents do not realize the limits of their pension plans until 
they are ready to retire, and there is nothing more they can do. 
Retirement security can also be easily thrown into jeopardy.
  For elderly couples, their fixed-income pensions are dramatically cut 
because of a company bankruptcy, or one of the mergers that is taking 
place in the last 10 years. Merger mania has run rampant in American 
business.
  Middle-aged workers are forced to change jobs, and they lose years of 
equity in their pension plans, and sometimes totally lose their pension 
plans. Women learn after it is too late that their husband unwittingly 
signed away their survivor's benefits.
  We want to make people's pensions more secure and more flexible. We 
want to give more people access to pensions, including employees with 
small businesses. We want to let people take their pensions when they 
leave a job--portability.
  We want to give families flexibility to use their IRA to buy a home 
for the first time, or maybe even pay for college tuition. We want to 
protect widows from unethical insurance companies who try to mislead 
them into signing away their survivor's benefits.
  Most importantly, we want to stop companies from raiding employee 
pensions.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Snowe). The Senator has used 10 minutes.
  Mr. REID. We have 17 minutes remaining. Is that right?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. REID. I ask for 3 more minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. The families first agenda calls for pension reform, making 
pensions portable, and protecting women's pension benefits.
  Madam President, it is important, if we are going to have retirement, 
that it be dependable. And that is why we talk about protecting the 
pension savings to include Social Security and Medicare--better access 
and protection for women of the pension plans that they should be able 
to have at the right time.
  We want an opportunity for a better future, to create jobs at home, 
boost small businesses, invest in our communities.
  Education--we want educational opportunities.
  One of a parent's proudest moments--and we have all been to them--is 
when they get a diploma. It does not have to be a diploma from Harvard 
or Yale or UCLA. It can be a diploma from a trade school. A parent is 
just as proud.
  We have to make sure that a person's ability to go to college is not 
dependent on how much money their parents have.
  That is what our families first agenda talks about.
  For parents lucky enough to get children through school, the most 
common graduation present is thousands of dollars in student loan debt, 
and that applies whether the student goes to Harvard or Yale or a trade 
school. Parents have to borrow the same.
  Education is the key to opportunity. We want to offer families a 
helping hand--a way to make sure their kids get to college or to a 
trade school without busting the family budget. We want to make sure 
that all children have the opportunity to advance educationally.
  That is why we will offer some new scholarships to children who make 
good grades and stay away from drugs--a new tax deduction making 
college and vocational school tuition tax deductible to help families 
afford education and job training. Our families first agenda calls for 
a $10,000 tax deduction for college and job training--2 years of 
college for kids with good grades. And this includes trade schools.
  We need affordable education. We have to make sure that our young 
people can advance to the best of their ability. This requires 
responsibility from all of us.
  That is why we have supported a balanced budget without destroying 
Social Security and Medicare. We want to make sure that we do what we 
can to have corporations with a conscience.
  We want to make sure that corporations have a conscience, and we feel 
that must be done legislatively. They have to have environmental 
responsibility. And certainly, can we not do away with giving tax 
breaks to companies that move overseas and take jobs with them? The 
answer is yes. We need personal responsibility. That has to be part of 
the program, and that is why we have called for welfare reform that 
requires work. We want to crack down on deadbeat parents, and we want 
to do what we can to attack teenage pregnancy. It is not enough to say 
what we stand for. We have a responsibility to tell America what a 
Democratic Congress would stand for, and that is what the families 
first agenda does--tells the American public what we stand for.
  Mrs. BOXER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I would appreciate it if you would 
inform me when I have used 10 minutes.
  Madam President, I am very proud to be here today speaking on behalf 
of the Democrats' families first agenda. I thank my colleagues, Byron 
Dorgan and Harry Reid, who preceded me today. We think it is important, 
as Senator Reid has said, the American

[[Page S7623]]

people know what Democrats stand for. We have been fighting for a lot 
of things this year. Sometimes we have won those battles. We have 
turned back the deepest cuts ever offered in Medicare. We have turned 
back the deepest cuts ever offered in Medicaid. We have turned back 
some of the most outrageous attacks on our environment.
  We have not won every battle at all. If one looks at the budget that 
passed this Republican Congress, it still calls for huge cuts in 
Medicare and Medicaid and tax breaks for the wealthiest. So those 
battles are still out there. But we Democrats believe it is important 
for us to tell the American people not only that we are going to fight 
against these misplaced priorities but also that we have a positive 
agenda that addresses the needs of America's families, wherever they 
live in this great Nation of ours.
  Why was it that we also felt we needed a Democratic agenda? Quite 
clearly, the voters sent us a message in 1994 when they said, 
Democrats, you are not going to control Congress anymore. We are going 
to put the Republicans in control of the Congress.
  Frankly, many of us were very stunned by that, but when I looked back 
on it, I realized that what happened was we did not do a good job of 
letting the people know what we believed in. We assumed they knew. We 
assumed they knew we were fighting for families. We assumed they knew 
we were fighting for children. We assumed they knew we were fighting 
for the environment. We assumed they knew we were fighting for choice, 
a woman's right to choose, individual rights, and for a budget that 
moved toward balance but reflected our shared values.
  Well, we were wrong. We were wrong. People did not really know that. 
Therefore, we decided to put together an agenda that spoke to the 
American people. We have had many, many meetings, as Senator Dorgan has 
stated, and I was very glad to be at some of those meetings to put 
together this agenda that we bring to you.
  In this agenda, we make clear our priorities. Yesterday, for example, 
we tried to make sure that the minimum wage went to all of the workers 
at the bottom of the ladder. I was very appreciative that three or four 
Republicans crossed over the line, and we defeated a Republican 
leadership amendment that actually would have deprived half the people 
on the minimum wage of the increase they deserve.
  So I really do think that it makes a difference who is here, and 
although we turned back the most egregious of the amendments, we still 
have a policy where the people who are tipped employees are frozen at 
$2.13 an hour in this year, 1996, when it is hard to make it. It is 
hard to make it even on a salary that is far greater than that.
  The Democratic agenda stems from three ideas.
  One is security. There are various aspects of feeling secure in your 
life. Certainly paycheck security is a part of it. It is very 
important. We need to know that we can pay for a roof over our family's 
heads. We need to know that we can put food on the table; we can pay 
for health care bills; we can pay for college education, or at least 
afford to pay back the loans. So that is very important.

  We need to know that we are safe in our streets. That is why we 
Democrats applaud what President Clinton has done to put thousands and 
thousands of police in our communities. We applaud him for his courage 
in getting assault weapons out of the hands of gangs. We applaud him 
for signing the Brady bill, where thousands of people with criminal 
records have been denied applications for guns. This has made America 
safer.
  We have more to do. We Democrats want to put more cops on the beat. 
That is part of our security agenda.
  We also do not want to see pensions taken away from people.
  There was an extraordinary story on the front page of the Wall Street 
Journal about the employees of a company called Color Tile working day 
in and day out, putting aside for their pension. Do you know what 
happened to their pension? The boss put it in the company, and when the 
company went bankrupt they not only lost their jobs, they also lost 
their pensions.
  That is wrong, and we Democrats are going to fight for pension 
protection. That is just one example of it. There are many, many more.
  We read also in the area of pensions where people with 401(k)'s, 
again employer-controlled plans, they buy antique cars and decorate 
their offices with paintings. This should not be allowed. We need more 
protection for those pensions. People count on those pensions, and, in 
many cases, women suffer the most when a working spouse dies and they 
are not treated fairly.
  I think we can really move forward on security--paycheck security, 
pension security, security from crime. These are the things that we are 
talking about.
  We talk about providing kids, all of our kids, with health care. It 
is a travesty to see a situation where little kids cannot get health 
care, and then they wind up with serious problems, go to the emergency 
room, and it costs a fortune for society to pick up the tab when we 
should have provided, at a minimal cost, basic quality health care for 
those children.
  So we have a lot to do, and I think we can deliver.
  Opportunity is the second idea. That is security. This is 
opportunity. Educational opportunity. I am an example of someone who 
went to public schools all her life.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has used 10 minutes.
  Mrs. BOXER. And how much time do I have remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has 3 minutes and 50 seconds.
  Mrs. BOXER. I thank the Chair.
  Educational opportunity. I got a public education all the way from 
kindergarten through college. I serve in the U.S. Senate and I go toe 
to toe with some folks here who have gone to the best private colleges. 
That is America. We give our young people the educational opportunity, 
regardless of their income. That is what separates us out from so many 
other countries. It is what makes us great. It is what has built the 
great middle class. We need to make sure all of our young people have a 
chance to go to college, and we Democrats say that is what we will do. 
Everyone will have a chance to go to college under our opportunity 
agenda, which will provide tax deductions for college and job training. 
For children with good grades and no drug records we have proposed a 
$1,500 tax credit for the first 2 years of college in HOPE 
scholarships. The student has to maintain a B average and be drug free.
  Economic opportunity. We are talking about making sure if you have a 
family business, you do not get taxed to death when it is passed to the 
next generations. We are talking about a special program called State 
infrastructure banks, where States can leverage small amounts of 
taxpayer dollars to build the physical infrastructure to make sure that 
we have safe highways and transit, to make sure we have a safe water 
supply.
  We must take care of our air and water. Here in Washington, a water 
alert has just been issued. We ought to make sure around here that 
those who pollute our water are held responsible. We ought to make sure 
we invest in systems that work, that will provide that clean water. 
That is something else that we Democrats stand for.
  We also stand for responsibility, not only on the part of the 
Government, but on the part of individuals. Yes, we call for a balanced 
budget. I voted for three different ones--every one of them I was proud 
to vote for, certified by the CBO to balance and did not hurt Medicare. 
You do not have to hurt Medicare, you do not have to hurt Medicaid, you 
do not have to cut education, you do not have to cut environmental 
protection to balance the budget. But the Republican plan, because of 
huge tax cuts to those who are doing just fine, makes unconscionable 
cuts in those important programs.
  We Democrats stand in opposition to that. We want to bring everybody 
along. We do not want to give special deals to the people who earn over 
$250,000 a year. They are doing just great. They are doing just fine. 
We need to make sure that average Americans can make it. We need to 
make sure they have that opportunity and that sense of security to make 
it.
  So, I think, all in all, we have an excellent Families First agenda. 
I, for one, am very proud of it.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All the Senator's time has expired.

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  Mrs. BOXER. So I think it is time to pass this Democratic agenda. I 
hope we will get that chance.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THOMAS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. THOMAS. Madam President, I think we had some time allotted. I 
would like to take that time now, as much as I use.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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