[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 79 (Friday, June 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5999-S6000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HISTORICAL CHANGES

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this has been a historic week in 
Washington, DC. For the first time in the history of the Senate there 
has been a change in the leadership of the Senate because of the 
decision of one Senator to become an Independent and to join the other 
side of the aisle in forming a new majority. As a result of the 
decision of Senator Jeffords of Vermont, Senator Tom Daschle of South 
Dakota is now the majority leader. The President pro tempore of the 
Senate is one of the most venerable Members in the history of the 
Senate, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. We have also created a 
position of President pro tempore emeritus for Senator Strom Thurmond 
of South Carolina.
  Most are aware of the fact that Senator Strom Thurmond breaks a 
Senate record every day of service. He is 98 years old. This week he 
went to Bedford, VA, where they noted the anniversary of the D-day 
invasion on June 6, 1944. Senator Strom Thurmond, at the age of 41, 
volunteered to fly a glider behind enemy lines in the D-day invasion. 
It is a great tribute to him that the President asked him to join in 
the opening of the new memorial to D-day in Bedford, VA. We are very 
proud of Senator Thurmond and his service to our country. It is an 
extraordinary story. A man who was 41 years of age on that day still 
serves his Nation in the State of South Carolina in the Senate.
  If this were just a matter of changing titles and the nameplates on 
offices, one might say what happened this week in the Senate has little 
bearing on the families across America and their immediate concerns. 
However, I believe on this side of the aisle there will be changes of 
great significance to families across the United States.
  We are in the midst of debating an education bill. This could easily 
be one of the most significant pieces of legislation this year. It is a 
bipartisan bill, supported by President Bush, as well as the Democratic 
and Republican congressional leaders.
  The object of this bill is to modernize the schools of America to 
prepare them for the 21st century, to make certain that kids going to 
school in my home State of Illinois or New Jersey or any State across 
the Nation have a chance for the very best education.
  I was really encouraged this week when the Senate agreed to an 
amendment I offered to increase the money for math and science 
education. Sadly, in comparison to many countries around the world, the 
United States does not do its best when it comes to teaching our kids 
math and science. When you look at the fields of endeavor where the 
United States is succeeding, particularly in the areas of science and 
medical research and high technology, math and science are absolutely 
essential. So this bill will focus not just on reading skills, which 
are the bedrock of any good education, but also on improving math and 
science skills for our kids, making certain the teachers standing in 
the front of the classroom are really qualified to teach the subject so 
they can energize and excite young students in the fields of math and 
science.
  This bill also calls for accountability, testing of students to make 
sure they are making progress, investing back in the schools so they 
can improve their performance.
  This week, in Chicago, IL, Mayor Daley announced that Paul Vallas, 
who has been the leader of the Chicago public school system and its CEO 
for more than 5 years, is going to move on. Paul Vallas leaves an 
extraordinary record in the city of Chicago. He took what was dubbed 
the Nation's worst school system and has turned it into arguably one of 
the best of any major city. They stopped social promotion. They started 
investing in schools--smaller class sizes, better teachers, a new sense 
of excitement, testing--and if the kids cannot pass the test, they are 
offered 6 weeks in summer school to catch up. If they still can't pass 
it, they repeat the grade so they are not pushed along to the next 
grade, really creating a fiction, when they are handed the diploma, 
where many of them in years gone by could not even read.
  We want every school district to move forward, not just for the 
wealthiest but for all of our Nation. That is really the hallmark of 
American democracy, the commitment to public education, the notion that 
whether you are rich or poor, black, white, brown, a young boy, a young 
girl, whether you are native born or immigrant, that you have a chance 
to get an education and a chance to succeed. It says more about America 
than anything. That is in the pending bill.
  When this bill is finished, we are going to move to the Patients' 
Bill of Rights. What is that all about? The question of who will make 
medical decisions, your doctor or your insurance company. If the doctor 
says the best thing for you or someone in your family is a certain 
medical procedure, we want that doctor's decision to be the last word, 
not that of a clerk in an insurance company somewhere who is reading 
from a manual and looking at the bottom line of the quarterly report 
for the insurance company. We want somebody who is making that decision 
in your best interest and your family's best interest.
  The Patients' Bill of Rights has been an issue that should have been 
resolved years ago in the Senate, but it was not. With the new 
Democratic leadership of Senator Tom Daschle and a bipartisan effort 
involving Senator John McCain, a Republican of Arizona, Senator John 
Edwards, a Democrat of North Carolina, and, of course, Senator Ted 
Kennedy of Massachusetts, we have a chance to pass this bill. I think 
that is a step forward.
  We also want to increase the minimum wage. This used to be an item 
that was not even debated on Capitol Hill. Regularly we would take a 
look at the minimum wage and recognize we have to say to the people who 
are working at the lowest end of the economic spectrum that they have a 
chance to keep up with inflation. But our minimum wage has been stuck 
at $5.15 for years.
  In my home State of Illinois, 400,000 people got up this morning and 
went to work for $5.15 an hour, many of them working two and three jobs 
just to keep their families together. We can improve and increase the 
minimum wage, and we should.

[[Page S6000]]

  These issues, whether it is prescription drug benefits under 
Medicare, Patients' Bill of Rights so doctors make decisions for our 
health care, an increase in the minimum wage, improvement in 
education--that will be part of our agenda as we return here next week 
with the new majority leader, Tom Daschle. It is an exciting 
opportunity.
  Having said that, we are still a body of 100 Members where, on a good 
day, the Democrats can muster a majority of 51 votes. So it is obvious 
we need bipartisanship; we need cooperation. But I hope this change in 
the leadership in the Senate will open up our eyes to an array of 
opportunities that have been missed over the last several years, 
opportunities to provide better schools, more health care, to give a 
voice to consumers and families in securing appropriate medical 
treatment, to give those who are struggling to go to work every day and 
make a living a chance to succeed in America.
  It is a pretty heady agenda; it is pretty challenging; but I think we 
can rise to that occasion. I look forward to being part of it.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Durbin). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak out 
of order for not to exceed 30 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair.

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