[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 116 (Tuesday, September 26, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9268-S9271]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE ENHANCEMENT ACT
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, this is the issue of violence in homes.
About every 13 seconds a woman is battered. A home should be a safe
place. This is about anywhere from 5 to 10 million children witnessing
this violence--not on TV, not in the movies, but in their living rooms,
and the effect it has on these children.
Today, I introduce a bill I would like to be able to have on the
floor of the Senate for a vote. If I don't get it done over the next
week or two, I am positive that there will be broad, bipartisan support
for this legislation. This is called the National Domestic Violence
Hotline Enhancement Act. I will send the bill to the desk on behalf of
myself, Senators Johnson, Bayh, and Kennedy. On the House side,
Representative Connie Morella, who has done such great work in this
area, is introducing the same piece of legislation today. I send this
bill to the desk.
Darlene Lussier, from Red Lake Band, a Chippewa Indian reservation in
Minnesota, called this bill the ``talking circle for all shelters.'' I
would like to name it the ``Talking Circle For All Shelters.''
This is modeled after the Day One project in Minnesota. This
legislation creates a web site that would allow the National Domestic
Violence Hotline operators at shelters all around the country--and
there are 2,000 shelters; this is a map of all the shelters in the
United States of America. It would enable, through this web site,
shelters one telephone call from a woman in need of help to the
hotline, or to any shelter, because we would have everybody hooked up
electronically under
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very safe and secure conditions. It would simply take one call for a
woman to be able to know where she and her children could go to get
away from this violence, where they could go to make sure that she
would not lose her life, or that things would not get more violent at
home.
This is extremely important because what happens quite often is a
woman will finally get the courage and she knows she must leave. She
knows it is a dangerous, desperate situation. But when she calls a
shelter, they may be completely filled up and not have anywhere for her
to go and then she doesn't know where to go. Then she is forced to stay
in that dangerous home. Then she is battered again and her children
witness this, and quite often the children are battered as well.
Remember, every 13 seconds a woman is battered in her home. A home
should be a safe place.
This piece of legislation is critically important. Right now,
according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, only 43
percent of the shelters in the United States have Internet access. We
have to do better. In my State of Minnesota, last year 28 women were
murdered. This was ``domestic violence.'' This year--and the year is
barely half over--already 33 women in Minnesota have been murdered
because of domestic violence. Three women were murdered within 8 days
in northern Minnesota earlier this month. A woman, again, is battered
every 13 seconds, and 3 million to 5 million to 10 million children
witness this. Over 70 percent of these children themselves are abused.
I don't want to hear one more story about a woman being murdered by
her husband or boyfriend. I don't want to hear one more story about a
woman being beaten, or her child fighting in school because he saw the
violence in his home. We have to end this. I don't want to hear one
more statistic about a quarter of homeless people on any given night
are victims of domestic violence--women and children with nowhere to
go. This ``Talking Circle For All Shelters'' would enable a woman to
get on this national hotline, or call the shelter, and everybody would
be linked up through a web site electrically, and she would be able to
know right away where she could go to be safe, so that her children
would be safe.
This is modeled after Minnesota's Day One web site. This links every
shelter in Minnesota. Day One reports that 99 percent of women and
children who call, because of this system, are assured services and
shelter that meets their unique needs. I want to take this Minnesota
model--this Day One web site model--and make sure this becomes
available for all women and all children throughout the United States
of America.
David Strand, who is chief operating officer of Allina Health System
in Minnesota, and who has led the way, along with United Way, in
providing the funding for this, talks about how important this is for
healing and how important it is to return to healthy communities.
Day One is all about healing. Day One is all about giving women who
have been battered and abused and their children a chance to heal. Day
One in Minnesota--and I want it to be Day One in the United States of
America--is about making sure when she needs to make the call, she can
do it and find out where she and her children can go. This is the
``Talking Circle For All Shelters'' in America.
Over the past 5 years, the National Domestic Violence Hotline has
received over 500,000 calls from women and children in danger from
abuse. If we can take this Day One model in Minnesota, the web site
that we have, and we can now make this a national program, we can make
sure that these women and these children will get the help they need.
We can make sure these women, when they make the call, will know where
they can go, as opposed to making a call, and the shelter they call
doesn't have any room and they don't know where to go, and then they
stay and are battered again and, for all I know, they are murdered.
We can take this new technology and link up all of these shelters
electronically. We can make this a part of the national domestic
violence hotline, and we can make a real difference.
I want to introduce this today. I am absolutely sure we can pass this
legislation. I know we can do this. I know it is the right thing to do.
I know there will be strong support from Democrats and Republicans as
well.
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By Mr. INOUYE (for himself and Mr. Akaka):
S. 3111. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide
an extension of time for the payment of estate tax to more estates with
closely held businesses; to the Committee on Finance.
to provide an extension of time for the payment of the estate tax to
more estates with closely held businesses
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, the estate tax imposes a true hardship on
family-owned businesses. When a person dies, the estate tax must be
paid within 9 months. Current law permits only a small number of
business owners to pay the estate tax in installments. The tax for most
closely held businesses, however, must be paid shortly after the
owners' death. Often, business assets and even the business itself must
be sold to raise the cash to pay the tax. Closely held businesses,
however, cannot be sold for their true value within so short a time. To
avoid such fire sales, elderly owners will often sell their businesses
while still living to get a fair price.
Congress, as a matter of policy, should encourage the formation of
family businesses and also support their continuation. The estate tax
measures that the Senate recently voted on do not fully or immediately
respond to the problems of closely held, family-owned businesses. Due
to revenue constraints, repeal of the estate tax must be slowly phased
in. During that phase-in period, whether the tax rate is 45 percent, 35
percent, 25 percent, or 15 percent, many business owners will still
need to liquidate their businesses to pay the tax.
The alternative proposal to raise the deduction for qualified family-
owned business interests to $2 million fails to answer the basic
liquidity problem. These families have all their assets tied up in
their businesses. They do not have the cash to pay the estate tax right
away. Moreover, the strict eligibility rules and caps restrict the
number of family businesses that can qualify for the QFOBI deduction.
The 10-year recapture rule, which is also part of the alternative
proposal, also hampers the businesses that do qualify.
The bill that I and Senator Akaka introduce today would make all
closely held businesses eligible for temporary deferral and installment
payment of the estate tax. My measure simply raises the number of
permissible owners for qualifying closely held businesses from 15 to
75, thereby expanding eligibility for the 4-year deferral and 10-year
installment payment of the estate tax.
In the subchapter S Act of 1958, the Senate established special
income tax rules for closely held businesses. The Senate in the same
legislation also decided to collect the estate tax on closely held
businesses over an extended payment period. By being allowed to pay the
estate tax on the family businesses over 10 annual installments after
an initial 4-year deferral, the surviving family members can continue
to operate these businesses and use future earnings to pay the estate
tax.
In 1996, Congress amended subchapter S to allow a small business
corporation to have up to 75 owners; this was intended to encourage
closely held businesses to give key workers a share in ownership. But
the eligibility rules were not changed for estate tax payment. By
sharing ownership with workers as encouraged under the 1996 amendments
to subchapter S, the owners of closely held businesses lose their
estate tax relief. Although these businesses still qualify under
subchapter S, they are often no longer eligible for temporary deferral
and extended installment payment of the estate tax.
The Treasury Department suggests that the qualification rules for
subchapter S and for estate tax relief should be made consistent once
again. During the debate on estate tax relief, Senator Roth and Senator
Moynihan acknowledged this problem and pledged to correct it.
Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in
the Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
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S. 3111
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. INCREASE IN NUMBER OF ALLOWABLE PARTNERS AND
SHAREHOLDERS IN CLOSELY HELD BUSINESSES.
(a) In General.--Paragraphs (1)(B)(ii), (1)(C)(ii), and
(9)(B)(iii)(I) of section 6166(b) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 (relating to definitions and special rules) are
each amended by striking ``15'' and inserting ``75''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall apply to estates of decedents dying after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
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By Mr. BAUCUS (for himself and Mr. Daschle)
S. 3114. A bill to provide loans for the improvement of
telecommunications services of Indian reservations; to the Committee on
Indian Affairs.
Native American Telecommunications Improvement and Value Enhancement
Act
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Native
American Telecommunications Improvement and Value Enhancement Act, the
NATIVE Act. This bill provides a low interest loan program to build
telecommunications infrastructure for federally-recognized Indian
tribes.
This legislation is timely. This week the Federal Communications
Commission is hosting an Indian Telecom Training Initiative in St. Paul
Minnesota to provide training to tribes on all phases of providing
telecommunications services to their members. Why is this so important?
At a time when 94 percent of Americans enjoy basic telephone service
and the benefits derived thereof, only 47 percent of Native Americans
on reservations have service. This is even below the rate of the rural
homes, 91 percent.
Indian and Alaska Native people live in some of the most
geographically remote areas of the country. Most Alaska Native villages
are reachable year-round by air only, have limited access by water, and
have no road connections. On the mainland, many Indian reservations are
located west of the Mississippi, where the wide-open spaces often mean
that the nearest town, city, or hospital is several hours away by car.
Those that do not have a telephone do not have access to some of the
basic services that we take for granted each and every day.
Some cannot obtain access to medical care in an emergency. Others
cannot reach prospective employers quickly and easily. Many cannot take
advantage of the commercial, educational, and medical care
opportunities the Internet offers.
Let me give you a couple of examples:
Raymond Gachupin, governor of Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico, said he
once was unable to call for emergency help for a young man who had been
shot because no phone was available.
William Kennard at an FCC Field Hearing in 1999 revealed a case on
the Navaho reservation in Arizona, where 1,500 school children have
computers, but can't hook up to the Internet because the Information
Superhighway seems to have passed them by.
And then there is just the basic inconvenience of not having a
readily available means of communication:
The community of Bylas in Arizona, which has approximately 2,000
residents, had only one payphone. People would line up at 6 o'clock in
the morning to use the phone. They would stand in line sometimes until
12 o'clock midnight to use the phone. The only other way to talk to
people was if you saw them in town and then any news may be days old.
I know these stories are from the Southwestern United States but in
my home state of Montana many of the reservations lack phone service,
over 60 percent of the homes on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, 55
percent on the Crow Reservation.
The Federal Communications Commission is stepping up to the plate to
help solve this problem by reducing the cost of basic telephone service
for individuals on reservations through the Lifeline and Linkup
programs. The lifeline program could reduce the monthly cost of phone
service to one dollar, all eligible customers would see bills below
$10. The Linkup program helps offset the cost of the initiating service
by as much as $100.
As stated earlier, this week in St. Paul Minnesota, the FCC is
conducting a training seminar for tribal telecommunications.
I commend the FCC for their efforts and want to assist where I can.
That is why I am introducing this valuable legislation.
The infrastructure costs for providing telecommunications services
can be very high especially in remote areas where customers can be more
than one mile apart. This legislation will help to keep those costs
down by lowering the cost of borrowing.
The NATIVE Act provides a $1 billion revolving loan fund with a
graduated interest rate pegged to the per capita income of the
population receiving service. The interest rates range from 2 percent
for the poorest tribes up to 5 percent.
The plans submitted for loan approval will be subject to the
requirements of current Rural Utilities Service borrowers including
service capable of transmitting data at a minimum rate of one Megabit
per second. This will ensure the system in place will connect Native
Americans to the Internet thereby opening up economic opportunities
that wouldn't otherwise exist.
The program is not intended to displace existing telecommunications
carriers who are providing service to Native Americans. In fact, the
bill is specific in that loan funds can only be used to provide service
to unserved and underserved areas, where existing service is deemed
inadequate due to either cost or quality.
Additionally the Act establishes a matching grant program for
conducting feasibility studies to determine the best alternative for
providing service.
The program will be administered by the Rural Utilities Service, an
agency with over 50 years experience in lending for rural
telecommunications infrastructure throughout the country.
The RUS telecommunications program has provided financing for 866,000
miles of line approximately one-tenth of which is fiber optic, serving
5.5 million customers, including Native Americans. The RUS distance
learning/telemedicine program has funded 306 projects for rural schools
and medical centers in 44 states since its inception in 1993 bringing
improved services for education and health care centers in rural
communities. All without incurring any loan losses.
I have the utmost confidence that the Rural Utilities Service will
successfully administer this program.
To wrap up, Mr. President, I know that we cannot reach everyone.
There are some who simply do not want service in order to preserve
their traditional way of living and others who feel owning a telephone
is not a priority within the household budget; however, we should
strive to try to ensure telecommunications service to those who want
and need to have a telephone.
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Mr. SARBANES (for himself, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Warner, and Mr.
Robb):
S. 3115. A bill to extend the term of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
National Historic Park Commission; to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources.
to reauthorize the chesapeake and ohio canal national historic park
commission
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to
reauthorize the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
Commission. The current authority for the Commission expires in January
of 2001, and this bill would extend that authority for another 10
years. Joining me in introducing this legislation are Senators
Mikulski, Warner and Robb.
Mr. President, the C&O Canal National Historical Park is one of the
most unique in this Nation and one of the most heavily visited. It
begins in this great city, the Nation's Capital and extends 184 miles
to its original terminus in Cumberland, Maryland. As you can imagine,
the development of plans for the preservation and use of this park is a
major undertaking. It is no easy task to protect and preserve a park
which averages 100 yards in width but is 184 miles long.
The work of the Commission is not finished. The Commission is
composed of representatives of the State of Maryland, the Commonwealth
of Virginia, the State of West Virginia, the District of Columbia, the
counties in Maryland through which the park runs, and members at large.
The passage of this
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bill will permit the Commission to complete the rational process begun
so many years ago to ensure that this unique part of America's natural
and historical heritage is properly preserved.
I encourage those who are interested in the C&O Canal to join in
sponsoring this legislation, and it is my hope that it can be enacted
in this Congress.
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