[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 169 (Friday, December 7, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12582-S12583]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S12582]]
    DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2001--CONFERENCE REPORT

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will now proceed to the consideration of the conference report 
accompanying H.R. 2944, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative 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. 
     2944) making appropriations for the government of the 
     District of Columbia and other activities chargeable in whole 
     or in part against the revenues of said District for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 2002, and for other 
     purposes, having met, after full and free conference, have 
     agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective 
     Houses this report, signed by a majority of the conferees.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate will proceed to the 
consideration of the conference report.
  (The conference report is printed in the House proceedings of the 
Record of December 5, 2001, at page H8914.)
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, there 
will now be 10 minutes debate on the conference report with the time to 
be equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of 
the subcommittee.
  The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, I am pleased to present this conference committee 
report on behalf of myself and my most able ranking member, the Senator 
from Ohio. We have worked closely together over the last several 
months. We are proud to present a conference report that truly is a 
bipartisan, bicameral compromise on the District of Columbia, which is 
a very important center, a very important capital, a very important 
symbol for our Nation, home to almost 500,000 people who live here, but 
a center where millions of people work and where even more millions 
visit and, in some ways, call home because it is the Capital of our 
Nation.
  I am pleased to present this conference committee report. I will 
briefly highlight a couple of the most significant provisions of this 
conference agreement.
  The first is that this bill reflects for the first time in 5 years a 
budget that is no longer under the control of the control board. That 
control board did an excellent job under tremendous leadership, and I 
commend them for their great work over these 5 years, working with us 
in Congress and with the Mayor and the city council to reshape and 
reform the District's finances, which for the time are in pretty good 
shape. There are no deficits at this present moment. But as my 
colleagues know, there are some challenges ahead and the trends would 
cause us to be very alert on that score.
  This is the first budget we are presenting with the control board 
behind us. I urge the authorizing committees of both Houses to quickly 
reconvene next year to pass legislation that will create a more sound 
transitional framework for the postcontrol period. I pledge this 
morning my full and complete support towards that effort, and this 
conference committee report somewhat lays a foundation for that effort. 
I look forward to working to that good conclusion.

  In addition, I am very proud that this bill has as one of its 
hallmarks a reform of the child welfare system. Senator DeWine will 
probably give more detail about this matter because he has been one of 
the leading sponsors of this legislation and this effort. I know he 
will go into greater detail.
  Suffice it to say, the District's foster care system and child 
welfare system was broken. It was in shambles. It was a disgrace; it 
was a national tragedy. We all have challenges in our respective States 
in this regard, and no State is perfect. Many States have a long way to 
go. But the District's system had unraveled.
  This bill gives the courts the reorganizational mandate that is 
necessary and the financial support and resources, as well as some new 
tough guidelines and standards that, hopefully, will protect children, 
save their lives, restore dignity to families, and promote adoption 
when necessary to give children the families they need to grow up to be 
whole, complete, and full adults.
  In addition, this bill works with the Mayor to ensure public safety 
of the District and to respond to whatever emergencies might occur. 
September 11 has given us all the push we needed to make sure we are 
investing correctly in public safety. This bill is a beginning--not an 
end but a beginning--towards that end.
  It is the intention of the ranking member and myself to make sure the 
emergency response plan that is ultimately crafted for the District not 
only works for Washington, DC, but it works for the residents of 
Maryland and Virginia. We have to work together as a unified region 
when it comes to protecting the lives and property of the millions of 
people who live here in the event we are attacked again. And this 
region, unfortunately, is going to be a target because of this 
magnificent building in which we stand.
  Finally, this bill improves public education, and that is going to be 
one of the focal points of my tenure as chair of this committee. I 
believe it is all about economic development, hope, and jobs.
  The mayor has indicated this is going to be a strong thrust of his. 
This bill lays down some foundations for public education, for charter 
schools, for early childhood and early reading programs. So I submit 
this report. I thank our colleagues on the House side. I thank 
Congresswoman Norton for her tremendous effort.
  I thank the staff: Chuck Kieffer, Kate Eltrich Kathleen Strottman, 
Kevin Avery; and Mary Dietrich and Stan Skocki of Senator DeWine's 
staff. Again, I am pleased to present this conference for a vote this 
morning.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, first, I thank Senator Landrieu for the 
great work she has done. I say to her and Members of the Senate, it has 
been a real pleasure to work with her on this bill. I think the bill we 
have in front of us is a good bill.
  Let me call my colleagues' attention to an article that was in this 
morning's Washington Post, ``Deficiencies Found in D.C. Child 
Services.'' The story starts off:

       Nearly 80 percent of the District's child abuse complaints 
     were not investigated within 30 days and close to two-thirds 
     of foster homes housing city children were unlicensed this 
     year, a recent study shows.

  The article goes on:

       Among the reports' findings, 30 percent of the children 
     under District care were not visited by social workers during 
     their first 8 weeks in foster care. Thirty-seven percent of 
     child neglect complaints were not investigated within 30 days 
     after they came into the city's hotline. Abuse and neglect 
     cases are required to be investigated within a 30-day period.

  The story goes on. This is nothing new. These stories have been 
running for years in the District of Columbia and the Washington Post.
  This Congress has looked at this mess. It is a national tragedy. As 
Senator Landrieu has pointed out, no child welfare system is perfect. 
Each one of us representing our respective States has seen problems in 
our home States, but what we see in the District of Columbia is an 
absolute scandal.
  Why do I bring this up this morning? I bring it up for my colleagues 
who will be coming to the Chamber in a moment to vote. This may not be 
a perfect bill, there may be parts of this bill some of my colleagues 
do not like, but it is a bill that fundamentally changes the child 
welfare system in the District of Columbia. To me, that is the most 
important aspect by far of this bill. We will have, I hope, within the 
next week to 10 days, the authorizing bill that will fundamentally 
reform the child welfare system in the District of Columbia by creating 
a brand new family court structure.

  The bill we have in front of us today funds that. It funds the 
reforms. We cannot have these reforms unless we have the money. So what 
Members will be voting on today, in a moment, is whether or not they 
want to make fundamental reforms in a system in the District of 
Columbia that everyone in this room and everyone in the District of 
Columbia knows is an outright scandal. That really is what the vote is 
all about.
  So to my colleagues who have had a little problem with this bill and 
some of the controversial provisions of it, let me say this: A ``yes'' 
vote on this bill will fundamentally change the direction of what we 
are doing in the District. It will not be the end of our

[[Page S12583]]

work, but it certainly is a major step forward.
  Let me also point out several other items that are in this bill that 
I think are very significant. The bill also includes funds for the D.C. 
Safe Kids Coalition; the District's Green Door Program, which provides 
opportunities for people with severe and persistent mental illnesses; a 
program that has been called to my attention by Senator Domenici, Teach 
for America, D.C.; as well as the District's Failure Free Reading 
Program. There is also significant money in this bill for the 
Children's Hospital in the District of Columbia.
  So it is a forward looking bill. It is a bill for children of the 
District of Columbia. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, less than a month ago, I stood before my 
colleagues to address an extremely important public health concern, one 
that is essentially a life or death issue here in the District of 
Columbia.
  AIDS rates in our Nation's capital are the highest in the country. 
Nationwide, more than one third of AIDS cases are related to drug use, 
and substance use by a parent has led to over half of the AIDS cases 
among children. Statistics are more dramatic among women, where 3 out 
of 4 women diagnosed with AIDS became infected through their own use or 
a partner's use of contaminated needles.
  Exhaustive scientific review has found needle exchange programs to be 
an effective way to slow the spread of HIV and AIDS. The American 
Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American 
Association of Pediatrics, and the American Public Health Association 
endorse these programs. Yet in spite of the overwhelming support from 
public health experts, we here in Congress have prevented the District 
of Columbia from using its own local funds to finance these lifesaving 
programs since 1999. These programs currently operate in many of our 
home States and communities, often with the help of State and local tax 
receipts. Almost 95 percent of these programs refer clients to 
substance abuse treatment programs.
  I was pleased that the District of Columbia appropriations bill 
passed by the Senate on November 7 eliminated this unnecessary 
prohibition and acknowledged the strong support these programs enjoy 
among both law enforcement officials and the public health community.
  The conference report we are considering today does not include this 
crucial step forward. Instead, it maintains the irresponsible status 
quo, which prevents the District from using its own locally generated 
revenue to finance needle exchange programs. This conference report 
ignores Surgeon General David Satcher, who stated that ``there is 
conclusive scientific evidence that syringe exchange programs, as part 
of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy, are an effective public 
health intervention that reduces transmission of HIV and does not 
encourage the illegal use of drugs.'' This conference report disregards 
the Institute of Medicine, which identified access to sterile syringes 
as one of four unrealized opportunities in HIV prevention.
  I have chosen to vote against this conference report because I am not 
willing to disregard countless medical experts who have acknowledged 
time and time again that needle exchange programs are an effective tool 
to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS, including the American Medical 
Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Association 
of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association. I am not willing 
to ignore the tragic effect that this restriction has on children who 
contract HIV because one of their parents used contaminated needles. It 
is my sincere hope that next year we can stop politicizing this issue 
and recognize that the District of Columbia, just like all of our home 
States and districts, deserves to have all possible resources at its 
disposal to combat this devastating public health crisis.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. All time has expired. The question 
is on agreeing to the conference report.
  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 North Carolina (Mr. 
Helms) is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Stabenow). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 79, nays 20, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 356 Leg.]

                                YEAS--79

     Akaka
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carnahan
     Carper
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Clinton
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Corzine
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     Dayton
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Edwards
     Feinstein
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Torricelli
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                                NAYS--20

     Allard
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Fitzgerald
     Gramm
     Gregg
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Kyl
     Lott
     Nickles
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith (NH)

                             NOT VOTING--1

       
     Helms
       
  The conference report was agreed to.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam 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.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.

                          ____________________