[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.

                          ____________________