[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 156 (Saturday, November 8, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12082-S12087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, EDUCATION AND RELATED
AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1998--CONFERENCE REPORT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will
report the conference report to accompany H.R. 2264.
The bill clerk read as follows:
The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the
two Houses on the amendment of the Senate to the bill (H.R.
2264), have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their
respective Houses this report, signed by majority of the
conferees.
The Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.
(The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the
Record of November 7, 1997.)
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry. I ask for
confirmation from the Chair that we are now on the conference report
having begun at 1:05 with the 90-minute time limit so that we will vote
no later than 2:35.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
Mr. SPECTER. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, it is with great pleasure for me personally that I
address the Senate on the conference report on the appropriations bill
for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
It has been a long, tortuous road to come to this position where if
the Senate acts favorably on this conference report, it may then be
presented to the President with the expectation that it will be signed
into law.
There are 13 appropriations bills which run the U.S. Government, and
the appropriations bill on these three departments is the largest one
in the Federal Government, downsizing of some $277 billion, and it is
now larger even than the appropriations bill for the Department of
Defense.
This bill has had a very, very difficult process in coming through
conference with a tremendous number of obstacles and difficulties
confronting the legislative process at every step of the way.
The process that this conference report has come to the floor with
would perhaps constitute a textbook on legislative process except that
it has been so extraordinary. That has been occasioned by the fact that
there are so many so-called riders or legislative provisions on the
appropriations bill which have enormously complicated the work of the
conferees in trying to work out an enormous number of complicated
problems.
The most vexing of all of the issues--and it had a lot of
competition--was the issue on so-called testing. There has been a
generalized agreement that it would be desirable to test fourth graders
on reading and eighth graders on mathematics but a great deal of
disagreement as to how that testing ought to be carried out. There has
been widespread sentiment expressed that the Federal Government ought
not to be intrusive in the educational process. Then the problem arises
as to just how this test would be worked out.
When the bill came to the floor of the Senate, the excellent work was
done by Senator Coats of Indiana, Senator Gregg of New Hampshire, with
the assistance of former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett. In the
hands of those three individuals, with the established record in the
education field, great knowledge on testing, and all being very zealous
to keep out Federal intrusion but to limit any testing approach to
absolute necessity and to State control, it was the expectation of this
body that when Senator Coats, Senator Gregg, and former Secretary
Bennett agreed on a process, that it would satisfy even those most
diligent in objecting to Federal testing. The Senate passed that
amendment by a vote of 87 to 13, which is a very, very strong show of
support in this body.
The House of Representatives enacted a provision that there should be
no funds on testing. When we came to the issue of conference a week ago
Wednesday, a meeting occurred attended by the top leadership of the
Republican Party of the House and the Senate, attended by the Speaker;
by the House majority leader; by the No. 3 in rank in the House of
Representatives, Mr. DeLay; the chairman of the House Appropriations
Committee, Mr. Livingston; and the chairman of the House Appropriations
Subcommittee, my counterpart, Congressman John Porter. And on the
Senate side, we had our own majority leader. We had the chairman of the
Appropriations Committee. And I was present.
We agreed on a number of items. One of the foremost of those items on
which there was agreement was the issue of testing. There was one party
present who disagreed. That was the chairman of the authorizing
committee in the House, my colleague from Pennsylvania, Congressman
Goodling. But aside from Congressman Goodling's dissent, there was
agreement at that meeting.
A week ago Thursday the conferees met and hammered out quite a number
of other complicated issues and came to agreement on a conference
report. That night the agreement was repudiated, and we were back to
square one with respect to the testing issue, which held up this bill
until further negotiations were undertaken by the President and by
Congressman Goodling. The testing issue has finally been resolved. A
key part of the agreement on testing is that the matter will be
submitted to the House-Senate authorizers early next year.
This is one illustration as to what ought to be done by the
authorizing committees so that the matters are not put on
appropriations bills and bog down the appropriators.
There was plenty of time during 1997 to have this issue of testing
taken up by the authorizers. It really is a matter for the authorizers
to make the congressional determination about what testing ought to be
instead of tacking it onto an appropriations bill where it really does
not belong. It is grafted onto the appropriations bill with this
language, ``No funds shall be expended for testing.'' That is the way
many, many substantive matters were grafted onto the appropriations
bill. ``No funds shall be expended for'' purpose A, B, or C.
When it became apparent to me that this issue was going to be one in
the appropriations process after this bill was on the floor for initial
consideration by the Senate, I scheduled a hearing. At the hearing, we
heard both sides of the issue. The Secretary of Education came forward
to articulate the administration's position on why there should be
testing. We invited Congressman Goodling to present his views about why
there should be no testing. After having had the benefit of that
information, we then were in the position to proceed as best we could
on that limited record to make the judgment on testing.
We had in the conference many other complex issues that we finally
worked out. We had the amendment offered by the distinguished Senator
from Washington, Senator Murray, on the issue of not restricting
welfare benefits to women who had been victims of domestic violence.
That is a substantive matter that would be better considered by the
authorizers. But it passed in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 98 to 1. At
least, in my judgment, and the judgment of 97 other Senators, it had a
very important public policy purpose, to give special consideration on
welfare benefits and other matters for women who had been victims of
domestic violence. Senator Murray was gracious to not press her
amendment in conference, on an arrangement where the House of
Representatives authorizing subcommittee made a commitment to take up
the issue early next year. I was delighted to join Senator Murray as a
cosponsor on that matter.
That is one illustration of how we moved ahead to focus on money
matters without that kind of a substantive provision.
Privilege of the Floor
Mr. President, at this time I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Jim
Sourwine and Ellen Murray, detailees to the committee, be granted floor
privileges during the consideration of
[[Page S12083]]
the conference report accompanying H.R. 2264.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. President, the conference agreement accompanying the Labor,
Health and Human Services, and Education bill for fiscal year 1998 that
is before the Senate today totals $80.4 billion in discretionary budget
authority. Mandatory spending totals $196.4 billion, a decrease of $16
billion from the fiscal 1997 levels, for a net decrease in the bill of
$10.3 billion.
The conference agreement both keeps faith with the budget agreement
and addresses the health and education priorities of the Senate. The
protected programs in the budget deal account for nearly half of the
total increases in the bill, and $3.3 billion of the increase is for
education.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the distinguished Senator
from Iowa, Senator Harkin, for his hard work and support in bringing
this bill through the conference and to the floor. I also want to thank
Congressman John Porter, the distinguished chair of the House
Subcommittee, Congressman David Obey, ranking minority member, and
Congressman Bob Livingston, chair of the House full committee for
dedicating their time and energy in getting this bill to this stage.
This has not been an easy process. We confronted many difficult
decisions, choices, and tradeoffs, National testing was one of them,
but finally through hard work, persistence, and a great deal of give
and take, we were able to work out this agreement.
The programs funded within the subcommittee's jurisdiction provide
resources to improve the public health, strengthen medical research,
assure a quality education for America's children, and offer
opportunities for individuals seeking to improve job skills. I'd like
to mention several important accomplishments of this bill.
medical research
Few things are more important than a persons health and few things
are feared more than cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's or some other
serious physical disorder. Medical research into understanding,
preventing, and treating the disorders that afflict men and women in
our society is the best means we have for protecting our health and
combating disease. The conference agreement contains nearly $13.7
billion for the National Institutes of Health to support medical
research that is being conducted at institutions throughout the
country. This is an increase of $907 million above the fiscal year 1997
level and is consistent with the commitment I made earlier this year to
increase funding for NIH by 7.1 percent and with the overwhelming
endorsement of medical research by the Senate during consideration of
the budget resolution. These funds will be critical in catalyzing
scientific discoveries that will lead to new treatments and cures for a
whole host of diseases.
family planning
For the family planning program, the bill recommends $203.4 million
to support primary health cares services at more than 4,000 clinics
nationwide. This amount represents an increase of $5 million over the
1997 appropriation. Over 85 percent of family planning clients are
women at or below 150 percent of the poverty level and these additional
funds will help to ensure that these low-income women have access to
quality health services.
adolescent family life
The bill recommends $19.2 million, an increase of $5 million more
than appropriated in fiscal year 1997 for the only Federal program
focused directly on the issue of adolescent sexuality, pregnancy, and
parenting.
aids
This bill contains an estimated $3.380 billion for research,
education, prevention, and services to confront the AIDS epidemic,
including an $154 million increase for Ryan White CARE Act programs.
The bill also provides $285.5 million for state AIDS drug assistance
programs, an increase of $118.5 million over the President's request
and the 1997 appropriation. Finally, within this amount, and estimated
$1.596 billion is provided for AIDS research supported by the National
Institutes of Health. The bill provides that these funds will continue
to be distributed and coordinated by the director of the NIH Office of
AIDS Research [OAR].
substance abuse
Substance abuse continues to plague our society with recent
statistics showing many teenagers reporting regular use of marijuana
and alcohol. The conference agreement includes over $2.395 billion to
support the research, prevention, and treatment programs of the
Departments of Health and Human Services and Education. This is an
increase of $72.1 million over the 1997 appropriated levels for these
programs.
juvenile crime initiatives
The conference agreement includes $30 million for new programs to
assist communities in preventing juvenile crime. Funds include: $12.5
million for youth offender demonstration training grants supported by
the Department of Labor; $12 million for youth offender education
grants supported by the Department of Education; and $6 million for at-
risk youth substance abuse prevention grants supported by the
Department of Health and Human Services.
head start
To enable all children to develop and function at their highest
potential, the agreement includes $4.355 billion for the Head Start
Program, an increase of $374.4 million over last years appropriation.
This increase will provide services to an additional 36,000 children
bringing the total amount of kids served in fiscal year 1998 to
836,000. This brings us closer to the goal of enrolling 1 million
children in Head Start by the year 2002. Within the total, $279 million
is targeted for Early Head Start, which provides Head Start services to
infants and toddlers ages 0 to 3. This is an increase of $70 million
over 1997.
violence against women
The bill includes $154 million to support the programs authorized by
the Violence Against Women Act. This is an increase of $31 million for
programs to provide assistance to women who have been victims of abuse
and to initiate and expand prevention programs, to begin to reduce the
number of women who are forced to confront the horrors of abuse.
Included is: $86.8 million for battered women's shelters; $45 million
for rape prevention; $15 million for runaway youth prevention; $6
million for domestic violence community demonstrations; and $1.2
million for the domestic violence hotline.
liheap
The bill maintains the $1 billion appropriated in last year's bill
for the upcoming winter's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
[LIHEAP]. In addition, the recommendation provides an advance
appropriation of $1.1 billion for the 1998-1999 LIHEAP winter program,
an increase of $100 million over this year's level. The bill also
provides additional emergency appropriations of $300 million. LIHEAP is
a key program for low-income families in Pennsylvania and other cold
weather States in the Northeast. Funding supports grants to States to
deliver critical assistance to low-income households to help meet
higher energy costs.
aging programs
For programs serving the elderly, the bill before the Senate
recommends $1.988 billion, an increase of $65.5 million over the fiscal
year 1997 appropriation. Included is: $440.2 million for the community
service employment program which will provide more part-time employment
opportunities for the low-income elderly; $9 million more for
supportive services and senior centers; $17 million more for congregate
and home-delivered nutrition services; and $18.4 million more for the
national senior volunteer corps. Also the bill provides a 7.2 percent
increase for research into the causes and cures of diseases such as
Alzheimer's disease and other aging related disorders, funds to
continue geriatric education centers, and the Medicare insurance
counseling program.
school to work
The agreement includes $400 million for school to work programs
within the Departments of Labor and Education. These important programs
help improve the transition from school to work for those students who
do not plan to attend 4-year institutions.
education
To enhance this Nation's investment in education, the conference
report before the Senate contains $29.74 billion in discretionary
education funds, an increase of $3.25 billion over last year's funding
level. Specifically, education
[[Page S12084]]
reform programs have been funded at $1.275 billion, an increase of $279
million over the previous year's funding level, including $491 million
for Goals 2000, $541 million for the technology literacy challenge fund
and technology innovative challenge grants.
For programs to educate disadvantaged children, the bill recommends
nearly $8 billion, $201 million more than the amount appropriated in
fiscal year 1997. These funds will provide services to approximately 7
million schoolchildren. The bill also includes $124 million for the
Even Start Program, an increase of $22 million over the 1997
appropriation. Even Start provides educational services to low-income
children and their families.
For impact aid programs, the bill includes $808 million, an increase
of $78 million over the 1997 appropriation. Included in the
recommendation is: $50 million for payments for children with
disabilities, an increase of $10 million over last year's funding
level; $623.5 million for basic support payments, an increase of $8
million; and $24 million for payments for Federal property, an increase
of $6.5 million.
Consistent with the budget agreement the bill provides $354 million
to assist in the education of immigrant and limited-English proficient
students. This recommendation is an increase of $92.3 million over the
1997 appropriation and will provide instructional services to
approximately 60,000 children. Within the funds provided, $25 million
has been included for professional development to improve teacher
training programs.
One of the largest increases recommended in this bill is the
additional $746 million for special education programs to help local
education agencies meet the requirement that all children with
disabilities have access to a free, appropriate public education, and
all infants and toddlers with disabilities have access to early
intervention services. The $4.8 billion for special education programs
will serve an estimated 4.95 million children at a cost of $662 per
child.
To improve post-secondary education opportunities for low-income
first-generation college students, the committee recommendation
provides $530 million for the TRIO program, a $30 million increase over
the 1997 appropriation. These additional funds will assist in more
intensive outreach services for low income youth.
For student aid programs, the bill provides $8.97 billion, an
increase of $1.418 million over the 1997 appropriation. Pell grants,
the cornerstone of student financial aid, have been increased by $300
for a maximum grant of $3,000. The supplemental educational opportunity
grants program has also been increased by $31 million, and the work
study and Perkins loans programs have been maintained at their 1997
level.
In keeping with the budget agreement, the bill also provides $295
million for child literacy initiatives. The committee has provided $85
million of this amount to enhance literacy activities in existing
programs in fiscal year 1998. The balance, $210 million, is available
on an advanced funded basis. This will give the authorizing committee's
adequate time to work out the specifics of this new program.
job training
In this Nation, Mr. President, we know all too well that unemployment
wastes valuable human talent and potential, and ultimately weakens our
economy. The bill before us today provides $5.23 billion for job
training programs, $518 million over the 1997 level. Increases include:
$92 million more for the Job Corps; $60 million more for adult
training; and $64 million more for retraining dislocated workers. These
funds will help improve job skills and readjustment services for
disadvantaged youth and adults. The bill also reserves $250 million for
opportunity areas for out of school youth grants if this new program
proposed in the budget is authorized by July 1, 1998.
workplace safety
The bill provides $1.070 billion for worker safety programs, an
increase of $45 million above 1997. While progress has been made in
this area, there are still far too many work-related injuries and
illnesses. The funds provided will continue the programs that inspect
business and industry, assist employers in weeding out occupational
hazards and protect workers' pay and pensions.
closing
There are many other notable accomplishments in this conference
agreement, but for the sake of time, I mentioned just several of the
key highlights, so that the Nation may grasp the scope and importance
of this bill.
In closing, Mr. President, I again want to thank Senator Harkin and
his staff and the other Senators on the subcommittee for their
cooperation in a very tough year.
In summary, Mr. President, this bill is one of enormous importance
for America, for many reasons, and I shall detail only a few. My own
personal opinion is that there is no priority higher in America today
than health care and education. There are matters of tremendous
concern--the crime problem, something that I spent a good part of my
professional life on as a prosecuting attorney, the problem of
environmental protection, the issue of economic development and our
infrastructure of highways, grave difficulties of foreign policy around
the world: In the Mideast, Bosnia, NATO, China, Africa and Latin
America, and the fast track issue--but no issues rank higher than the
health of Americans or the education of Americans.
The National Institutes of Health is the crown jewel of the Federal
Government, with NIH having made miraculous advances in combating
Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer,
heart disease, mental illness, you name it, the men and women at NIH
are on the firing line doing extraordinary work. We have been able to
add to the NIH budget some $907 million this year, which is a 7.1
percent increase, bringing the total for the National Institutes of
Health to $13.647 billion, almost $13.65 billion.
Senator Harkin, my distinguished ranking member, and I have worked on
a bipartisan basis in the subcommittee. My experience in Congress has
demonstrated to me that the only way to get anything meaningful done in
Washington is to work on a bipartisan basis. With the help of our
staffs, Senator Harkin and I on this subcommittee have consolidated or
eliminated some 134 programs to save $1.5 billion, which we have
allocated to the health issues and to education issues.
I had a talk with Dr. Varmus earlier this week on the occasion of the
dedication of a building at NIH to our former colleague, the
distinguished Senator from Oregon, Mr. Hatfield, who did such
outstanding work for NIH on so many matters in his capacity as chairman
of the Appropriations Committee. On Tuesday I again asked Dr. Varmus,
as I have asked him and others at NIH, ``How much would you be able to
appropriately use on medical research?'' I asked him this question
because, in a Federal budget of $1.7 trillion, we could assess our
priorities in a way to appropriate more for the National Institutes of
Health. Yes, $13.65 billion is a lot of money, but it is not a lot of
money in the context of a Federal budget of $1.7 trillion. Dr. Varmus
told me that they would like to grant about a third of the
applications, that they now grant something in the high twenties, and
in addition to that there are other items they need in the way of
equipment. I said, ``You ought to make a list and tell us what it is
you need.'' He said, ``We have made a list, but we haven't told you
what it is because we can't.''
That is a reference to the Office of Management and Budget, which
intercepts these estimates by the NIH and does not present them to
Congress so the administration can maintain control over requests which
are made by the various departments.
In our appropriations process next year, I intend to do my best to
get that list and find out what Dr. Varmus and the National Institutes
of Health would really like to have. It might be an interesting
occasion for a subpoena. Our subcommittee never ever issues subpoenas.
I know that takes our Committee staff by surprise to think of our doing
that. But I think Congress would be prepared to make appropriation
allocations for what could be effectively used by the National
Institutes of Health.
Mr. President, in addition, we have some almost $30 billion for
programs in the Department of Education, which is an increase of $3.3
billion above 1997.
[[Page S12085]]
On this subject, I compliment President Clinton for his leadership on
education. His last State of the Union speech highlighted education,
and there was a real advocacy and leadership by the President on
education when this matter came up. From time to time the President is
subject to a critical comment or two, and I think it appropriate to
note his leadership and his important work in getting this increase in
education.
The bill also includes $1.1 billion in advance funds for LIHEAP, low-
income home energy assistance, largely for senior citizens, Americans
who, without this assistance, may have to make a choice between heating
and eating. We have $1.15 billion for the Ryan White care program on a
drugs issue, $861 million for programs for senior citizens under the
Older Americans Act, $826 million for community health centers, $145
million for the breast and cervical cancer screening program for the
Centers for Disease Control, $5.2 billion for employment and training
programs of the Department of Labor, including $871 million for summer
youth job programs, $1.24 billion for the Job Corps, and $1.35 billion
for dislocated worker assistance.
I might add a special note to the success by Governor Ridge of
Pennsylvania and Mayor Rendell of Philadelphia, along with my
distinguished colleague, Senator Santorum, and the Pennsylvania
delegation in reopening the Philadelphia Navy Yard for shipbuilding on
a very good arrangement where we will have retraining funds.
Mr. President, there is a great deal more I could say on the subject,
but I note my distinguished colleague, Senator Harkin, has some
important comments to make, so I yield to him at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagel). The Senator from Iowa is
recognized.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank the chairman and my good friend,
Senator Specter, for yielding this time.
I especially wish to thank Senator Specter, our chairman, and his
staff for the skill they have demonstrated and the cooperation which
they have given us in putting this bill together and working out the
many compromises that were necessary to come up with this very
bipartisan conference agreement. It took a lot of staff meetings, a lot
of give and take, but the result is one that merits the support of all
Senators.
This conference report, I believe, is the most important bill we will
pass this year after the balanced budget agreement. It includes a
number of very important advances.
First, the agreement significantly expands our Nation's commitment to
quality education for our children. We have provided the largest
increase for special education in our history. I repeat that. We have
provided the largest increase for special education in our history. We
have made college more affordable by increasing the maximum Pell grant
to $3,000, the highest ever. We have expanded support to make sure
schoolchildren have access to computers and other technology and for
training teachers on how to use this technology. Computers in the
classroom are of little value if the teachers do not know how to use
them.
I am especially pleased that the conference committee agreed to my
proposals to place greater emphasis on making sure that every American
child enters school ready to learn. The agreement before us increases
Head Start funding by $374 million. That is $50 million more than the
President requested, and, more significantly, I believe this bill
doubles the Early Head Start Program, that is, the birth-to-2-year-old
program, at $279 million, so we have doubled the early intervention
program for Early Head Start.
The conference agreement also provides an 11-percent increase in
funding to $350 million for the early intervention program for infants
and toddlers with disabilities under part H of IDEA, the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act. That is an 11 percent increase for
that part H.
Finally, the conference report includes an additional $50 million for
the child care and development block grant to increase the quality of
child care for infants. We all know that these are front-end
investments that will pay dividends for us in the future.
Mr. President, as most of my colleagues know, our subcommittee has
worked for many years to combat fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare
Program. A recent audit by the HHS inspector general found that
somewhere in the neighborhood of $23 billion was lost last year alone
just to this problem of fraud, waste and abuse. I am pleased to say
that the agreement before us significantly expands our efforts to stop
this Medicare waste. Coupled with mandatory increases, our bill
provides a full 25-percent increase in support for audits and other
fraud-fighting activities, from $440 million to $550 million.
In addition, we have included bill language that provides Medicare
greater resources to more aggressively target problem providers who are
bilking the system. We need to do even more, including, at long last,
to get to competitive bidding in Medicare just like they have gotten in
the Veterans Administration. But the reforms in this will save Medicare
and the taxpayers billions of dollars.
One major concern I have about this bill is our inability to
adequately address our health services and training needs and
simultaneously provide generous increases for health research. I am
pleased that we have included nearly $1 billion additional for NIH, a
total of over $13.5 billion, for medical research. But I am concerned
that most health services programs received small or no funding
increases. We just cannot continue to have this battle between the
challenge to adequately fund biomedical research, which we have to
meet, and the lack of increased funding for health services programs
and training.
Now, I will not go into it at length here--I have given many speeches
on the floor about this--but I feel strongly that the money we provide
for biomedical research must come from outside of the discretionary pot
of money we have.
Mr. President, during this session of the Congress, the Senate went
on record 99 to nothing to double the funding for NIH over the next 5
years--99 to nothing. In other words, 99 Senators stood up and voted
and said, yes, we should double funding for NIH in the next 5 years.
Now, if we did that within the constraints of the balanced budget
agreement, with the pot of money that our committee has, at the end of
this 5-year period of time there wouldn't be one penny for any other
discretionary health program. In other words, the Senate has said 99 to
nothing we want to double NIH funding. OK, if we do it through our
Appropriations Committee, through the discretionary money that we have,
there will not be anything left for any other health program. There
would be no Centers for Disease Control, no Ryan White funding, no
health training funding, nothing. That would all have to be zeroed out,
and we still would not have enough money to double NIH funding.
So if we are really serious, and I hope we are, about doubling NIH
funding over the next 5 years, then we have to find some source of
funding that is outside of the normal appropriations process.
I am also concerned that our agreement does not adequately assure
that the rerun of the Teamsters election will be supervised. I think
that is vitally important. This bill does not adequately assure that. I
am hopeful that is eventually what will happen. It is a commitment that
we cannot back away from. I am hopeful that we can take some steps,
when the Congress comes back in January and February, to make sure that
the next Teamster election is in fact supervised.
But overall, as I have said, this is a very good agreement. It is a
bipartisan agreement that deserves our support.
I again compliment Senator Specter and his staff and mine for a job
well done. I want to specifically thank Craig Higgins, Betilou Taylor,
Jim Sourwine, Dale Cabaniss, and Jack Chow of the majority staff and
Marsha Simon and Ellen Murray of my staff. In addition, I want to thank
Bev Schroeder, Laura Hessburg, and Peter Reinecke of my personal staff
for their contributions.
Mr. President, I urge all Senators give wholehearted support to this
conference agreement.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?
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Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I know the Senator from North Carolina was
wishing to speak.
Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I was hoping Senator Specter would yield time.
Mr. HARKIN. I will yield you time for Senator Specter. How much time
does the Senator want?
Mr. FAIRCLOTH. About 5 minutes.
Mr. HARKIN. The Senator has 5 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
Mr. FAIRCLOTH. I thank the Senator for his work on this bill. He has
eliminated funding for national testing as well as funds for Teamsters
elections. He has preserved my amendment that would require the
Education Secretary to certify that 90 percent of the funds from
education go to students and teachers.
(The remarks of Mr. Faircloth pertaining to the introduction of S.
1458 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who seeks recognition?
Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, will the Senator from Pennsylvania yield
me 5 or 6 minutes?
Mr. SPECTER. I will be delighted to yield to my distinguished
colleague, Senator Gorton.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I am going to vote enthusiastically for
this bill, the result of countless hundreds of hours of work on the
part of the chairman and the ranking minority member, other members,
and their staffs. It does make many, many decisions that are important
for the future of our country.
I am, however, deeply disappointed that one element in the bill that
passed the Senate of the United States is not included in this bill, an
element that was vitally important and provided a vitally necessary
reform for our schools. For decades now, Washington, DC, has assumed
increasing control over our local schools. Washington, DC has not,
however, put its money where its mouth is. With Congress appropriating
about 7 percent of the money spent on education, we have allowed our
bureaucrats to impose half or more than half of the rules and
regulations that so often frustrate innovation and success in our
schools. During the past few years, on the other hand, I have listened
to countless parents, teachers and principals who almost universally
agree that it is time for Congress and the President to restore the
authority that our teachers, parents, and local school boards once had
to make decisions for our schools.
In September, I proposed a sweeping reform to improve education for
kids in schools everywhere in America. That reform would have given
Federal education dollars directly to local school districts so that
parents, teachers and principals would have the money and authority to
make the best decisions for their children. They would have been
empowered to determine their children's needs and to use their Federal
dollars in a manner that is best for kids: For new schools, for lower
class sizes by hiring more teachers, to purchase computers, or whatever
else citizens in communities all across the United States decided that
their schools needed. And they could have done it all without
Washington, DC, having told them how to do it.
That sweeping reform is based on the simple philosophy that
Washington, DC, does not know best. I believe that all of the laws
passed by Congress and all of the regulations adopted by the Federal
Department of Education have failed to reach their goals. I believe
teachers in the classroom, principals in our buildings, and local
school boards and parents, will make better educational decisions and
do more to improve their own schools than will Congress or the Federal
Department of Education.
For most of this century, Washington, DC, has been dominated by
people who believe that centralized decisions and centralized control
exercised by Washington, DC, is the best way to solve problems,
including those in the classrooms. Unfortunately, the approach has not
worked. As Washington, DC, has taken power and authority from local
school districts, our schools have not improved. Sadly, old habits die
hard. That belief in centralized power is still very much alive. When I
proposed my amendment, every single Democrat in the Senate opposed it
and the President vociferously criticized the approach of returning
money and authority directly to our school districts. I suspect that,
had a vote been taken in the House, the result would have been almost
the same.
Recently, I attended a Senate Budget Committee education task force
hearing, at which Carlotta Joyner from the General Accounting Office
testified that in 1997, $73 billion was distributed through literally
hundreds of programs and more than 30 Federal agencies to support
education in this country. For a great number of those programs, there
is no record of whether they have succeeded or failed, and in some
cases no way of measuring that progress or lack of progress. The
Department of Education did not even account for half of that total
dollar figure. This complex web of education programs only serves to
frustrate the efforts of those who know best how to educate children in
this country--parents, teachers, principals, superintendents and school
board members.
Over the coming months, I know that many of my colleagues will give
speeches in their home States and will almost certainly be required to
cover education. I remind my colleagues that when they speak eloquently
about local control of schools, they have all had an opportunity in
this body to vote for or against that proposition. The conference
committee on this bill voted against it.
Finally, I want to let all of my colleagues know that the fight for
restoring the traditional role that parents, teachers and principals
play in education is not over. I intend to keep forcing tough votes on
my colleagues, tough votes that I believe will eventually lead to
letting our school districts do what is best for our children--without
being told by Washington, DC, how to do it.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SPECTER. The distinguished Senator from Minnesota, Senator Grams,
wishes some time.
Mr. President, how much time remains on this side?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator controls 21 minutes 30 seconds.
Mr. SPECTER. How much on the other side?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. They have 31 minutes.
Mr. SPECTER. I yield 5 minutes to Senator Grams.
Mr. GRAMS. I ask unanimous consent to be able to speak for the 5
minutes as in morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, will that be charged to the bill?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. No, it will not.
Mr. SPECTER. In that event, would the distinguished Senator from
Minnesota speak on the bill and then ask unanimous consent to include
it as in morning business? The Parliamentarian would like it charged to
the bill.
So we will vote at 2:30?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
Mr. SPECTER. We would not want to hold up so many airplanes, Mr.
President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I just had a couple of statements I wanted
to put into the Record for today, dealing with the action here on
Labor, Health and Human Services, and also on another unrelated item
dealing with the dairy decision in Minnesota earlier this week.
Later today, as noted, the Senate will complete action on the Labor
Health and Human Services appropriations bill which was passed by the
House last night. I wanted to express my appreciation to Senator
Specter, chairman of the Labor, HHS Appropriations Subcommittee for
including a 1-year correction of Minnesota's disproportionate share
allotment, otherwise known as DSH. I also want to thank the conferees
for accepting this correction as well. Without this correction,
Minnesota's hospitals stood to lose millions of dollars in DSH
payments, due to an error on the form that the State filed with the
Health Care Financing Administration. While that error was corrected
when the State
[[Page S12087]]
filed an amended form with HCFA, the Balanced Budget Act did not allow
HCFA to consider amended forms in determining each State's DSH
allotment.
Again, I would like to express my thanks to our chairman, Mr.
Specter, and also Chairman Stevens for their assistance and guidance in
finding a temporary fix to this problem.
Mr. President, the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations
bill will buy some time for Minnesota hospitals and allow Congress the
opportunity to permanently correct this unfortunate error.
Although Minnesota hospitals have received a 1-year reprieve, it is
important that we permanently correct the DSH allotment error. It is my
understanding that Minnesota was not the only State with DSH allotment
concerns, and those States will also need a permanent solution.
I look forward to next year when these problems might be addressed in
the form of a technical corrections measure.
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