[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?

[[Page S12086]]

  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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