[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 21, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S127-S130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SENATE DEMOCRATS' AGENDA

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, as we begin the first session of the 
105th Congress, American families are asking some difficult questions, 
most of which seek answers affecting their lives directly. How am I 
going to put my kids through college? How do we pay the doctor bills if 
the kids get sick? Will I have enough money when I choose to retire?
  Our challenges this year ought to be to provide the answers to those 
questions. As we do, we all recognize the limits of Government, and we 
should all recognize the unlimited potential of achievement through 
bipartisanship. Everything important which we accomplished in the last 
Congress--health care reform, the minimum wage increase, mental health 
equity--was accomplished only when we realized that only by reaching 
across the aisle in an effective way, passing legislation with 
overwhelming bipartisan support, could we ultimately send the right 
message to the American people--that we hear them and we want to 
respond to the problems affecting their daily lives. If we remember 
that lesson and pick up in this Congress where we left off in the last 
one, then we can make this not only a productive Congress, but a 
historic one.
  We can, in this Congress, pass a budget for the remainder of this 
century, a plan that eliminates the deficit and invests in our people 
and their potential, so that the 21st century will be another American 
century. If we work together, we can answer those questions that worry 
Americans most, but we must find a way to do what the President said 
yesterday and what I heard the leader talk about just now--work 
together.

  Cooperation is in the best interest of the American people, and, 
frankly, it is in our own self-interest. Good Government is still good 
politics. Since the election, there has been a good deal of rhetoric 
from both sides of the aisle, from both Houses of Congress, from the 
White House, expressing an interest in dealing with the 105th Congress 
in ways that are dissimilar to those dealt with in the 104th. We have 
heard the rhetoric. Now we have to demonstrate with our deeds whether 
or not that rhetoric will be true, whether or not the sincerity of our 
rhetoric will actually match the sincerity of our work.
  We can use the issues that we will lay out and describe today as 
wedge issues, issues that divide us; or we can use those same issues as 
issues that unite us. That will be our choice. Again, today, there will 
be rhetoric. Again, today, we will hear from both sides about the 
importance of trying to find common ground. The question is, will we 
find it? And if we do, how will we?
  Today, I offer the Senate Democrats' priority legislation for the 
105th Congress. This is our agenda. The Families First agenda is 
neither radical nor revolutionary. Instead, it is moderate. In our 
view, it is achievable. Our agenda starts with the fundamental premise 
that our political system can't work if people believe the system is 
rigged against them. Yet, more and more Americans believe that. More 
and more Americans have chosen not to go to the polls. At the very time 
we need more involvement, their response to what they see is to stay 
away--and not without reason. So we are proposing as our first bill 
comprehensive campaign finance reform.
  The problem with the current system isn't limited to soft money or 
hard money, corporate money or PAC money, your money or my money; the 
problem is that there is too much money, period. And it is getting 
worse with every election. The truth is, there are no limits anymore, 
given the Supreme Court decisions.
  I have enormous respect for Senators Feingold and McCain. There is 
much in their proposal that I admire and I think we should adopt. In my 
opinion, their bill should provide a way with which we come together to 
find common ground. But it does not go as far as I would like it to. We 
need to limit spending, special interest influence, and level the 
playing field for all candidates.
  S. 11 establishes voluntary spending limits, and it gives candidates 
incentives to live within those limits. It reduces television and 
postal rates. It also restrains soft money and PAC contributions. It 
toughens restrictions on foreign contributions and extends election 
laws to cover so-called independent expenditures.
  I know that any talk of spending limits raises constitutional 
questions. So, in addition, Senator Hollings and I will offer a 
constitutional amendment that will allow Congress to set reasonable 
limits on how much people can give and spend in Federal elections. I 
hope, Mr. President, that we will even consider proposing the issue to 
the Supreme Court again.
  There was an article recently in the op-ed pages of the Washington 
Post, stating that a case could be made that what we need to do is 
revisit this in this Supreme Court, to test the constitutional limits 
they have proposed in Buckley versus Valeo. Whether we accept the 
decisions made in Buckley versus Valeo, and other subsequent decisions, 
however we decide to do this, the question is this: Can we get campaign 
spending under control? I believe the answer is yes. I believe we must 
do that in this, the 105th Congress.
  In the last 10 years of debate on campaign finance reform, Congress 
has produced 6,742 pages of hearings; 3,361 floor speeches, not 
including this one; 2,748 pages of CRS reports; 1,063 pages of 
committee reports; 113 Senate votes dealing with campaign finance 
reform, and 1 bipartisan Federal commission. We have had 522 witnesses; 
49 days of testimony; 29 sets of hearings by 8 different congressional 
committees; 17 filibusters; 8 cloture votes on 1 bill; 1 Senator 
carried to the floor by the Sergeant at Arms and forced to vote on 
campaign finance reform, and 15 reports by 6 different congressional 
committees. That is just in the last decade.
  There is only one thing left to do: Enact campaign finance reform 
now. Now. We should do it in the first 100 days of this Congress so 
that the new rules are in place by the next election.
  Mr. President, that is S. 11, our very first bill, and it is first 
because I speak with virtual unanimity within our caucus about the need 
to address this issue. I know there are concerns expressed and felt 
deeply by Members of the other side. This ought not be the wedge issue 
I described a moment ago. This ought to be a bridge issue.
  Let us build that bridge to allow us success in dealing with it soon.
  Our second bill is aimed at increasing the income of American 
families and the competitiveness of American business by investing in 
education. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 60 percent of 
all jobs created between now and the year 2005 will require education 
beyond high school. Yet, every year fewer families can afford the 
tuition. In the last 10 years, the cost of public college education has 
increased 23 percent. It is even worse in private colleges: 36 percent.
  For the average family, the cost of sending one child to college is 
now 14 percent of total family income. The average debt load for a 
South Dakota college student is up by one-third just since 1991. 
Eighty-five percent of South Dakota's college students today are on 
financial aid. That is right; 85 percent rely on college aid in order 
to go to school in my home State of South Dakota.
  Our bill, the Education for the 21st Century Act, includes the 
President's proposal to create a $1,500 Hope scholarship for the first 
2 years of college. The Hope scholarship is a refundable

[[Page S128]]

tax credit. It will pay for more than the full college cost of tuition 
at most community colleges, or it can be used as a substantial 
downpayment at a more expensive 4-year school.
  Our bill also includes the President's proposed $10,000 per year 
higher education tax deduction for families with incomes up to 
$100,000. In addition, we propose a new partnership to help communities 
repair and replace schools that are overcrowded, obsolete, and even 
dangerous. According to the General Accounting Office, one-third of all 
schools today in this country need extensive repair or replacement. 
Over 30 percent of the schools in this country are unsafe today for 
children to inhabit and obtain the education they deserve. Sixty 
percent of schools have at least one major problem, like a leaky roof 
or crumbling walls.
  Schools have always been and should remain a local and State 
responsibility--and I emphasize that. But the enormity of the problem, 
an estimated $112 billion nationwide, demands a partnership that 
includes a role by the people of the United States at the Federal 
level. Our bill reduces the interest rates for new school construction 
and repair by up to 50 percent. The interest rate reduction is equal to 
subsidizing $1 out of every $4 in construction and renovation spending.
  We support the President's proposal to make sure that every child can 
read--and read well--once those schools are built and repaired, by the 
time he or she finishes third grade. One of the best predictors of 
whether a child will eventually graduate from high school is whether he 
or she can read by the end of the third grade. Yet 40 percent of fourth 
graders--40 percent--fail to attain even the basic level of reading on 
the National Assessment of Educational Progress test. Isn't that 
amazing? Four out of every 10 children today when they reach fourth 
grade cannot read at the level that will largely determine their 
ability to learn for the rest of the years they are in elementary 
school.
  Let us resolve in this Congress to increase those numbers 
dramatically. Let us accept the President's America Reads challenge. 
Let us also make sure that our young people master the new literacy by 
connecting every school in America to the information superhighway by 
the year 2002.
  This is our education bill. We applaud our Republican colleagues for 
joining us in the last weeks of the last Congress to support education, 
and we look forward to working with them to pass these proposals as 
well.
  Our third bill builds on an important, bipartisan victory from the 
last Congress, the Kennedy-Kassebaum health bill. Kennedy-Kassebaum was 
a huge step in the right direction. Yet, a record number of Americans, 
over 40 million, are still without health insurance, and that includes 
10 million American children. In my State of South Dakota alone, more 
than 17,000 children have no public or private health insurance. In 
fact, children are one of the fastest growing groups of uninsured. Each 
year more and more children lose private health coverage. And this 
trend is almost certain to continue as employers continue to reduce 
their health insurance costs by dropping dependent coverage for their 
workers.

  These are not children of America's poorest families. Fortunately, 
they have Medicaid. A majority of uninsured children are from two-
parent families where one or both parents work full time. It is 
unconscionable that a parent could work 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year 
and still not be able to buy basic health coverage for his or her 
children.
  So today we are introducing a bill to make private coverage for 
children available to working families. The Children's Health Coverage 
Act of 1997 will provide tax credits to help working families purchase 
private coverage for their uninsured children. Our bill includes 
coverage for pregnant women because we know that the quality of 
prenatal care can have lifelong effects. The tax credit would cover 
most of a private health insurance premium for the lowest-income 
families and decrease on a sliding scale for families with higher 
incomes.
  To stimulate competition for children's health insurance, we require 
that insurance companies that do business with the Federal Government--
through Medicare or Medicaid or the Federal Employees Health Benefits 
Plan--to develop children's-only policies. We seek to build upon, not 
replace, the current employer-based health insurance system. Our bill, 
therefore, includes provisions to deter employers from dropping 
coverage for children of workers who qualify for this new credit.
  Insuring children is good social policy, but it is also good economic 
policy. It costs about $20 for a doctor's visit to treat a child with 
strep throat but thousands of dollars to hospitalize a child whose 
untreated strep throat eventually develops into rheumatic fever. 
Studies show that having a regular source of care cuts child health 
care costs significantly. So the modest cost of this program will pay 
for itself many times over and reduce health care costs down the line.
  Some of my colleagues favor a slightly different approach. Senators 
Kennedy and Kerry favor providing families with vouchers rather than 
tax credits to pay for their children's health care. These are 
differences in strategy only, Mr. President. I could support that 
approach, as I could the approach I just described. Democrats are 
united in their determination to take this next modest step in health 
care reform.
  The United States is the only major industrialized country in the 
world that does not guarantee health coverage for children. Let us work 
together in this Congress to erase that ignoble distinction.
  Our fourth bill seeks to increase Americans' retirement security. 
More than 51 million Americans today--half the private work force--do 
not have a pension. Only one-fifth of South Dakota's small business 
employees currently have pension plans. Last year, in the bill that 
contained the minimum wage increase, we passed laws that help expand 
pension coverage to an additional 10 million workers.
  But so much more remains to be done. Because of a loophole, more than 
32,000 large pension plans covering 23 million Americans--and 
containing more than $1 trillion in assets--are still not effectively 
audited. The Retirement Security Act we are introducing today 
strengthens the accounting requirements for those funds.
  Our bill also requires employers to diversify the savings of employee 
investments in 401(k) plans just as they must for more traditional 
kinds of plans so the bankruptcy of one company cannot devastate a 
pension plan. For multiemployer plans, which typically cover union 
members, our bill increases the Federal guarantee available should a 
plan become insolvent. The benefit level has remained flat since the 
creation of the program in 1980. Five million workers with pensions 
change jobs every year. Our bill provides those workers with new 
protections so they don't lose the money they have invested in a 
pension when they change jobs or leave behind an investment whose value 
will erode over time. It will do that by reducing by 2 years the time 
it takes for a worker to become vested.
  In addition, we will build on some of the pension reforms we passed 
last year. Last year, by eliminating a lot of the red tape, we made it 
easier for small businesses to offer pension plans. This year, let's 
make it easier still by providing them with start-up costs.

  Last year, Congress removed the restriction that kept spouses who 
don't work outside the home from taking full advantage of IRA savings 
opportunities if the other spouse was covered by an employer's pension 
plan. This year, we want to remove that restriction for spouses who do 
work outside the home.
  Last year, we made it easier for women to collect pension benefits 
they are legally owed through a spouse or former spouse. Yet, 60 
percent of women working in the private sector still lack pension 
plans. And, women's pensions benefits, on average, are only about half 
of men's benefits. Let's get rid of those inequities.
  We are committed to keeping Social Security and Medicare solvent--and 
we will. But Social Security and Medicare were never intended to serve 
as retirement plans, only supplements to such plans. Let's agree in 
this Congress to give Americans the tools they need to retire with 
dignity. We can do it, if we work together.
  Our fifth bill is aimed at two of the deadliest epidemics affecting 
young people. Those are the twin epidemics of drug abuse and violence.

[[Page S129]]

  Crime and drug use among adults are down. But juvenile crime and drug 
abuse is accelerating. Over the last decade, drug-related juvenile 
crime in this country more than doubled. And youth violence--
particularly homicide committed with guns--skyrocketed.
  We must reverse these deadly trends. Income security and retirement 
security don't really matter if we don't have personal security--if 
we're constantly afraid for ourselves and our families.
  Our Youth Violence, Crime and Drug Abuse Prevention bill includes 
three main parts. First, we will build on the successes of the 1994 
Crime Act by continuing the COPS program for two additional years and 
putting 25,000 more cops on the beat.
  Second, our bill invests in crime and drug abuse prevention. It 
extends the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program. It expands existing 
drug courts, and creates new juvenile drug courts for first-time, non-
violent drug offenders. Anyone convicted in drug court has a choice: 
mandatory treatment, or mandatory jail.
  Our bill also offers incentives for private industry to invest in 
research and development in medicines to treat heroin and cocaine 
addiction. And, it reauthorizes the Office of National Drug Control 
Policy; if we're going to fight a war, we need a ``war room.''
  Prevention and treatment are essential. But for youthful offenders 
who are repeat, hardened criminals--for those who commit the most 
heinous acts--it's time to make the punishment fit the crime. That's 
the third part of our bill.
  Our bill changes federal law so that violent juvenile offenders no 
longer are automatically released when they turn 21.
  We require all juvenile offenders to pay restitution to the victims 
of their crimes, and ensure victims' rights to speak at sentencing.
  We give States the resources to hire more prosecutors for juvenile 
courts. And create special juvenile gun courts where juvenile gun 
offenders can be tried and sentenced on an expedited basis.
  Our bill toughens penalties for possession of a firearm in connection 
with a violent or drug-trafficking crime. It extends to 10 years the 
statute of limitations for all crimes of violence and drug trafficking. 
And it eliminates the statute of limitations for all murders.
  Finally, we propose tougher penalties for gang-related crimes.
  The sixth bill we are introducing today is the Cattle Industry 
Improvement Act.
  Cattle prices are lower than they've been in years. If prices don't 
rebound in the immediate future, farm foreclosures, job layoffs by 
agriculture-related businesses and bank failures could occur across 
rural America.

  A special committee appointed last year by the Department of 
Agriculture to look into the causes of the low cattle prices confirmed 
what many ranchers had long suspected: Low cattle prices appear to be 
tied in some cases to unfair competition posed by the largest beef 
processors.
  Our bill enables USDA to make changes in the cattle market to give 
all producers--large and small--a chance to make an honest living and 
compete fairly in the marketplace.
  It requires the Secretary to define and prohibit noncompetitive 
practices. It mandates price reporting for all sales transactions to 
ensure a fair and honest price discovery system.
  Our bill also calls for a review of Federal lending practices to 
determine if the Government is contributing to meatpacker 
concentration.
  In addition, it directs the President and the Secretaries of 
Agriculture and Health and Human Services to formulate a plan for 
consolidating and streamlining the entire food inspection system.
  And it requires the USDA to develop a system for labeling United 
States meat and meat products. Companies will be encouraged to 
voluntarily label their products as originating from United States 
livestock producers.
  The ultimate result of stifled competition in any market is always 
higher prices for consumers. Let's act together to make sure 
competition in the cattle industry remains fair and open.
  These are the top six priorities for Senate Democrats as we begin 
this new session of Congress: Campaign finance reform, education, 
children's health care, pension security, juvenile crime and drug 
abuse, and a strong rural America. We are also introducing a number of 
other bills today.
  Our Working Americans Opportunity Act streamlines and improves 
Federal worker training programs to keep pace with our changing 
economy. We consolidate more than 150 Federal job training programs 
over 14 agencies. And we put training dollars directly into workers' 
hands through a voucher system to give people more choices, and more 
control over their own futures.
  We're also proposing a Targeted Investment Incentive and Economic 
Growth Act. This country does not need and cannot afford another 
across-the-board tax cut that provides a windfall for the wealthy. 
Instead, we propose targeted tax changes to both raise the rate of 
economic growth and spread its benefits to increasing numbers of 
Americans.
  We will encourage investment in small businesses and innovation by 
allowing gains on the sale of small business stock to be deferred if 
they are fully reinvested in other qualifying small business equities. 
And by expanding the 50 percent exclusion on gains from the sale of 
small business stock held for at least five years that we enacted in 
1993.
  In addition, our bill will stimulate investment in other activities 
that propel job creation and family incomes, such as worker training by 
companies, employee ownership, and infrastructure. It will also free up 
capital for investment and promote retirement security by giving people 
more flexibility in the way they manage the gains on their homes and 
family farms and businesses.
  Our Brownfields and Environmental Clean-Up Act will help clean up and 
develop thousands of abandoned and contaminated industrial sites, or 
``brownfields,'' across America.
  Our bill helps States and communities evaluate these sites. It limits 
potential liability for buyers who buy these brownfields in good faith, 
so they don't end up paying for someone else's mistakes. And it 
provides grants to State and local governments to create low-interest 
loans for current owners and prospective developers. It is not a 
substitute for Superfund reform, but a companion to it.

  There are an estimated 100,000 brownfields in the U.S. Most already 
have well-developed infrastructure of utilities and transportation. By 
restoring these lands, we can conserve precious farmland and open 
space, and create new jobs and opportunities where they're needed most.
  Our Working Families Child Care Act increases the availability of 
good, affordable child care. For too many families today, child care is 
simply not available in their community. Or, the child care that is 
available is not what they need--be that infant care or before and 
after school care. For other families, child care may be available but 
completely unaffordable. The cost of child care is often the most 
expensive--or second most expensive--monthly bill a family incurs, 
following rent or mortgage payments. And for those families who are 
lucky enough to find affordable child care, the type of care that is 
available may be of extremely poor quality.
  I hope we can work together in a bipartisan manner to address the 
child care needs of today's working families.
  Also in our package is a bill to make America's agricultural safety 
net whole again by correcting some of the problems with the Farm Act we 
passed last year. Our bill expands crop revenue insurance. It removes 
caps on commodity marketing loans, and establishes loan rates as a 
percentage of the average market price. And it encourages farmer-owned, 
value-added processing facilities.
  Finally, we are offering the Paycheck Fairness Act to address the 
continuing wage disparities between men and women. With more and more 
families relying partly or entirely on women's earnings, America simply 
can no longer afford this often glaring inequity.
  If there was a mandate in the last elections, it was a mandate for 
bipartisan cooperation. The American people want us to work together, 
as we did in the closing days of the last Congress, to find answers to 
their questions.

[[Page S130]]

  We can break the grip of special-interest money on the political 
process.
  Family incomes have been stagnant too long. We can get them moving in 
the right direction again.
  We make 2 years of college the new standard for education in this 
country.
  We can guarantee that every child in America is able to see a 
doctor--and save on health care costs in the long run.
  We can significantly increase the number of Americans who are able to 
retire with dignity and security.
  We can make our communities safer and preserve rural America. We can 
help small businesses to create the jobs of the 21st century and help 
workers acquire the skills that will be demanded by those jobs.
  We can do all of this, and more, if we work together. Democrats are 
ready to start today. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kempthorne). Under the previous order, the 
next 60 minutes will be under the control of the majority leader or his 
designee.
  Who yields time?
  Mr. HELMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.

                          ____________________