[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 21 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1005-S1006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AFFORDABLE EDUCATION ACT OF 1999--Continued
Amendment No. 2825
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, with respect
to the series of stacked votes that are about to begin, there be 2
minutes equally divided prior to each vote for closing remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. COVERDELL. It is my understanding the first vote we are about to
proceed to is the Abraham amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct. The yeas and nays have not
been asked for.
Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, very briefly, this amendment would
essentially expand the tax deductibility and create a tax credit for
the donation of used computer equipment to schools in this country.
It enjoys strong bipartisan support, both in the freestanding bill as
well as this amendment. What this will help us to do is address the
problem of the digital divide by providing more hardware and software
and other computer services and equipment to the public schools of this
country to help improve the ratio of computers to students in our
public school system.
We look forward to continuing to work on this digital divide
challenge, but this legislation will move us in the right direction. I
encourage my colleagues to support the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Enzi). Who seeks recognition?
Mr. REID. We yield back our time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to amendment No.
2825. The yeas and nays have been ordered. The clerk will call the
roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain),
and the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Bond) are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 96, nays 2, as follows:
Rollcall Vote No. 18 Leg.]
YEAS--96
Abraham
Akaka
Allard
Ashcroft
Baucus
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Bryan
Bunning
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee, L.
Cleland
Cochran
Collins
Coverdell
Craig
Crapo
Daschle
DeWine
Dodd
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Enzi
Feingold
Feinstein
Fitzgerald
Frist
Gorton
Graham
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Helms
Hollings
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McConnell
Mikulski
Moynihan
Murkowski
Murray
Reed
Reid
Robb
Roberts
Rockefeller
Roth
Santorum
Sarbanes
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Voinovich
Warner
Wellstone
Wyden
NAYS--2
Conrad
Nickles
NOT VOTING--2
Bond
McCain
The amendment (No. 2825) was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there are now 2
minutes equally divided prior to the vote on the Bingaman amendment.
The Chair recognizes the Senator from Georgia.
Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
remaining votes in this series be limited to 10 minutes in length.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I support Senator Bingaman's amendment
[[Page S1006]]
to ensure greater accountability by Title I schools that are low-
performing. The Coverdell bill does nothing to help improve public
schools that need assistance. Instead it diverts scarce resources to
wealthy families in private schools, when 90 percent of the nation's
students attend public schools.
Stronger accountability in the nation's education system is
essential. Effective accountability measures--what business leaders
call quality control--can make sure that investments in schools are
used wisely and produce better results for children. Accountability is
especially important in schools with high concentrations of
disadvantaged students, so that all students will have the opportunity
to meet high standards of achievement.
Despite concerted efforts by states, school districts, and schools,
accountability provisions in title I have not been adequately
implemented due to insufficient resources. In 1998, only 8 states
reported that school support teams have been able to serve the majority
of schools that need improvement. Less than half of the schools
identified as in need of improvement in 1997-98 reported that they
received additional professional development assistance or technical
assistance.
We cannot afford to let low-performing public schools slip through
the cracks. Schools and school districts need additional support and
resources to remedy weaknesses as soon as they are identified. We
should act now to make our schools more accountable for the benefit of
the nation's disadvantaged students. These students have already spent
too much time in low-performing schools, and they deserve better, much
better. The time is now to take action to fix these schools. The
nation's children deserve no less. I urge the Senate to support the
Bingaman amendment.
Amendment No. 2863
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, the amendment that is to be voted on
next is one I offered which takes the $275 million per year that is the
estimated cost of this underlying bill with the tax provisions and it
devotes that $275 million to assisting States to hold local school
districts accountable to upgrade standards.
It is an accountability amendment. Presently, most of the States in
the country have established performance standards for their schools
and their students but we have no accountability provisions that are
adequate for them to meet those standards. This amendment tries to
solve that. It gives the resources to the States so they can solve
that. I believe it is a very good amendment and it is something we all
ought to support.
I urge my colleagues to support the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
Mr. COVERDELL. Mr. President, at the heart of my opposition to the
amendment is that it strikes the education savings account, the core of
the legislation that came from the Finance Committee. It is a killer
amendment.
The amendment allocates only 70 cents of every dollar to local school
districts. We have been striving to get to 95 cents of every Federal
dollar. The amendment not only neuters education savings accounts but
it also goes to core issues about how title I funds should be
distributed to help local school districts under ESEA.
This is an issue being debated at the committee's markup today.
Senator Jeffords, chairman of the committee, opposes this amendment
because he believes it violates the jurisdiction of the committee.
I move to table the amendment and I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The question is on agreeing to the motion to table amendment No.
2863. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain)
and the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Bond) are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 58, nays 40, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 19 Leg.]
YEAS--58
Abraham
Allard
Ashcroft
Bennett
Biden
Breaux
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Cochran
Collins
Coverdell
Craig
Crapo
DeWine
Domenici
Enzi
Fitzgerald
Frist
Gorton
Graham
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Hatch
Helms
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Jeffords
Kyl
Lieberman
Lott
Lugar
Mack
McConnell
Murkowski
Nickles
Roberts
Roth
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Voinovich
Warner
NAYS--40
Akaka
Baucus
Bayh
Bingaman
Boxer
Bryan
Chafee, L.
Cleland
Conrad
Daschle
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Feingold
Feinstein
Harkin
Hollings
Inouye
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lincoln
Mikulski
Moynihan
Murray
Reed
Reid
Robb
Rockefeller
Sarbanes
Schumer
Wellstone
Wyden
NOT VOTING--2
Bond
McCain
The motion was agreed to.
Amendment No. 2864
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On the next amendment, the Graham amendment
No. 2864, there are 2 minutes equally divided.
The Senator from Florida.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator
Lincoln and Senator Feinstein be added as cosponsors. I have no further
comments to make on behalf of this amendment. I believe both sides have
agreed to accept it. I ask for a voice vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
All time has been yielded back. The question is on agreeing to
amendment No. 2864.
The amendment (No. 2864) was agreed to.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move
to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
____________________