[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 101 (Tuesday, July 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7189-S7194]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    The Andean Trade Preference Act

  Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I want to take a few minutes to talk 
about the failure of the Congress to enact the Andean Trade Preference 
Act, the importance of this issue in our hemisphere, and the absolute 
criticality of us acting before we go out for the August recess on the 
Andean Trade Preference Act.
  Madam President, America is facing a crisis in its relations with our 
Latin

[[Page S7190]]

neighbors. Political instability and a fierce backlash against free 
market reforms are hobbling friendly democratic governments across the 
region, with consequences that clearly endanger the democratic and free 
market tide that has swept the continent in the past decade. Yet 
partisan wrangling over other issues has prevented Congress from 
renewing the Andean Trade Preference Act, even though both Houses have 
approved it. It is time to stop the politics and send the President an 
Andean trade bill, immediately.
  Madam President, wrongly, the Andean Trade Preference Act has been 
linked to the larger issues of trade adjustment authority and other 
trade issues. I do not know why that is the case.
  Mr. REID. Parliamentary inquiry, Madam President.
  Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I have the floor.
  Mr. REID. Would my friend yield----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator declines the inquiry.
  Mr. REID. Will my friend yield for a question then?
  Mr. McCAIN. What is that?
  Mr. REID. The question I have----
  Mr. McCAIN. Do I have the floor, Madam President?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona has the floor and may 
decline to yield for an inquiry.
  Mr. McCAIN. I decline to yield.
  I remind my colleagues that only a few years ago we in Washington 
were congratulating ourselves on living in a hemisphere that, with the 
exceptions of Cuba and Haiti, had embraced freedom and free markets 
after long years of military rule and statist economic policies.
  Although there remained deep poverty, aggressive free market reforms 
were seen as the best way to improve the welfare of people across Latin 
America.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, regular order.
  Mr. McCAIN. Expanded trade policies, including the Andean Trade 
Preference Act and America's vision of a hemispheric trade area----
  Mr. REID. I ask the Chair to call for the regular order.
  Mr. McCAIN. Lent momentum to the Latin reform agenda, which produced 
real gains in people's daily lives and provided a critical base for the 
consolidation of democratic institutions and free markets.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada is calling for the 
regular order in debate. Under cloture, debate must be germane.
  Mr. McCAIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona should confine his 
remarks to the question before the body.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senator from 
Arizona be extended up to 15 minutes to speak on any subject he 
desires.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. I thank my colleague from Nevada. I intend to be brief.
  I do believe this is an important issue. The other body is going out 
at the end of this week--in just 3 days. Unless we act on the Andean 
Trade Preference Act, it will have significant consequences, both socio 
and economic, in our hemisphere.
  I thank my colleague from Nevada for allowing me this time.
  Today, as we look south, the picture is altogether more bleak, and 
deeply troubling in the eyes of both Americans and the people of Latin 
America. Free market reforms are undergoing a crisis of legitimacy as a 
result of political mismanagement, corruption and cronyism, and because 
many of the easy reforms have already been made. It is fair to place 
part of the blame on a failure of national leadership in parts of Latin 
America. But almost every government in the hemisphere has been 
democratically elected, and will be held democratically accountable. 
What is more worrisome, and within our power to change, is Washington's 
hands-off policy toward some of the very partners we touted only a few 
years ago as a symbol of Latin America's success, their policy 
accomplishments made possible with the support of the United States.
  Today, as our friends in the Andean region grapple with the problems 
of poverty, terrorism, drug trafficking, and the forces of political 
extremism, leaders in Washington squabble over unrelated issues that 
hold up speedy passage of the Andean Trade Preference Expansion Act. 
This trade measure is not controversial. Were it to face an up-or-down 
vote, it would probably garner 90 votes of support. But a political 
decision made with no consideration of the plight of our Andean 
partners--to bundle the noncontroversial ATPA into a trade package 
including trade promotion authority and trade adjustment assistance--is 
having stark consequences in Latin America at exactly the same time as 
the backlash against reformist economic Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.
  In Bolivia, the president of the country's coca-growers' association, 
an avid opponent of free market policies, won enough votes in the next 
presidential election to force a runoff against a more mainstream 
candidate, in defiance of all pollsters' predictions. In Colombia, a 
new President with a historic mandate for change needs our support 
against the narcoterrorists that threaten his government; strangely, we 
provide the aid his government needs But not the trade that is so 
important to his people, and that costs America nothing. In Ecuador, 
political instability grows as the spillover from Colombia's war and 
the depth of poverty threaten state institutions. In Peru, a 
democratically elected president who, as an opposition leader, stood 
down a dictatorship has been forced by popular pressure to fire the 
very reformers within his cabinet who hold the key to his country's 
development. America is not to blame for every setback on the road to 
free market, democratic governance in Latin America. But we are to 
blame when we abdicate our responsibility to advance our interests and 
support our friends with the trade preferences that they believe to be 
critical to their economic future.
  Madam President, on Friday the New York Times ran a front-page story 
highlighting the growing political instability that increasingly haunts 
Latin American leaders who understand that their country's development 
hinges on a reform agenda supported by the United States. The article 
traces a political rift over free-market reforms that runs straight 
down the continent, from Venezuela to Argentina, and whose consequences 
threaten to upend the extraordinary progress Latin American reformers 
have made since they ended the era of military dictatorship and statist 
economics. I ask unanimous consent the Times article be printed in the 
Record, as well as an opinion piece by John Walters, our drug czar, 
entitled ``Just Say Yes to ATPA.''
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the New York Times, July 19, 2002]

       Still Poor, Latin Americans Protest Push for Open Markets

                            (By Juan Forero)

       The protest that shook this colonial city last month was 
     very much like others in Latin America recently. There were 
     Marxists shouting 60's-era slogans, and hard-bitten 
     unionists. But there was also Fanny Puntaca, 64, a shopkeeper 
     and grandmother of six. Though she had never before 
     protested, Ms. Puntaca said, she could not bear to see a 
     Belgian company buy what she called ``our wealth''--the 
     region's two state-owned electrical generators. So armed with 
     a metal pot to bang, she joined neighbors in a demonstration 
     so unyielding that it forced President Alejandro Toledo to 
     declare a state of emergency here, suspend the $167 million 
     sale and eventually shake up his cabinet. ``I had to fight,'' 
     Ms. Puntaca said proudly. ``The government was going to sell 
     our companies and enrich another country. This was my voice, 
     my protest.''
       Across Latin America, millions of others are also letting 
     their voices be heard. A popular and political ground swell 
     is building from the Andes to Argentina against the decade-
     old experiment with free-market capitalism. The reforms that 
     have shrunk the state and opened markets to foreign 
     competition, many believe, have enriched corrupt officials 
     and faceless multinationals, and failed to better their 
     lives.
       Sometimes-violent protests in recent weeks have detailed 
     the sale of state-owned companies worth hundreds of millions 
     of dollars. The unrest has made potential investors 
     jittery,and whipsawed governments already weakened by 
     recession. The backlash

[[Page S7191]]

     has given rise to leftist politicians who have combined 
     pocketbook issues and economic nationalism to explosive 
     effect. Today the market reforms ushered in by American-
     trained economists after the global collapse of Communism are 
     facing their greatest challenge in the upheavals sweeping the 
     region. ``The most worrying reading is that perhaps we have 
     come to the end of an era,'' said Rafael de la Fuente, chief 
     Latin American economist for BNP Paribas in New York. ``That 
     we are closing the door on what was an unsuccessful attempt 
     to orthodox economic reforms at the end of the 90's.''
       For at time the policies worked, and many economists and 
     politicians say they still do. The reforms increased 
     competition and fueled growth. Stratospheric inflation rates 
     fell back to earth. Bloated bureaucracies were replaced with 
     efficient companies that created jobs. The formula helped 
     give Chile the most robust economy in Latin America. In 
     Mexico exports quintupled in a dozen years. In Bolivia, 
     poverty fell from 86 percent of the population in the 70's 
     to 58.6 percent today.
       Still, the broad prosperity that was promised remains a 
     dream for many Latin Americans. Today those same reforms are 
     equated with unemployment and layoffs from both public and 
     private companies, as well as recessions that have hamstrung 
     economies. ``We privatized and we do not have less poverty, 
     less unemployment,'' said Juan Manuel Guillen, the mayor of 
     Arequipa and a leader in the antiprivatization movement here. 
     ``On the contrary. We have more poverty and unemployment. We 
     are not debating theoretically here. We are looking at 
     reality.'' Indeed, 44 percent of Latin Americans still live 
     in poverty, and the number of unemployed workers has more 
     than doubled in a decade. Tens of millions of others--in some 
     countries up to 70 percent of all workers--toil in the 
     region's vast informal economy, as street vendors, for 
     instance, barely making ends meet. Economic growth has been 
     essentially flat for the last five years.
       Popular perceptions--revealed in street protests, opinion 
     polls and ballot boxes--are clearly shifting against the 
     economic prescriptions for open markets, less government and 
     tighter budgets that American officials and international 
     financial institutions have preferred. A regional survey 
     supported by the Inter-American Development Bank found last 
     year that 63 percent of respondents across 17 countries in 
     the region said that privatization had not been beneficial. 
     ``It's an emotional populist attitude people have,'' said 
     Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 
     a Washington-based policy analysis group. ``It may not be 
     reasoned, but it's real, and it's explosive and it's not 
     going to be easily contained by coming up with arguments that 
     free trade is the wave of the future.''
       In Brazil, South America's largest country and its economic 
     engine, revulsion with American-led market orthodoxy has 
     fueled strong support for the labor leader Luiz Inacio da 
     Silva, known as Lula, who is now the front-runner in the 
     October presidential election, to the chagrin of worried 
     financial markets. In Paraguay protests last month blocked 
     the $400 million sale of the state phone company by President 
     Luis Gonzalez Macchi, whose government has been dogged by a 
     dismal economy and corruption charges. This week deadly 
     demonstrations led the president to declare a state of 
     emergency. In Bolivia the country's political landscape was 
     redrawn this month when Evo Morales, an indigenous leader who 
     promised to nationalize industries, finished second among 11 
     candidates for president. This spring, the sale of 17 
     electricity distributors in Ecuador fell through in the face 
     of political resistance, a blow to a country that has adopted 
     the dollar as its currency and is heavily dependent on 
     foreign investment. Meanwhile, in Venezuela, President Hugo 
     Chavez's left-leaning government has been intent on scaling 
     back reforms, exacerbating the divisions that led to his 
     brief ouster in April. The backlash in many of these 
     countries gathered momentum with the economic meltdown in 
     Argentina, which forced a change of presidents after 
     widespread rioting in December.
       While the causes are multifold, many Argentines blame the 
     debacle on a combination of corrupt politicians and the 
     government's adherence to economic prescriptions from abroad 
     that have left the country with $141 billion in public debt, 
     the banking system in ruins and one in five people 
     unemployed. Argentines now look for possible salvation from 
     Elisa Carrio, a corruption fighter in Congress who has been 
     scathing in her criticism of the International Monetary Fund. 
     She is now the early favorite in the upcoming presidential 
     election. ``This has created the backlash because now there's 
     a debate all around Latin America,'' said Pedro Pablo 
     Kuczynski, Peru's former economy minister and a favorite of 
     Wall Street who resigned under pressure last week. 
     ``Everywhere you look people say, `The guys followed the 
     model and they're in the soup. So obviously the model does 
     not work.' ''
       The backlash comes as foreign direct investment in Latin 
     America has fallen steeply, dropping from $105 billion in 
     1999 to $80 billion in 2001. A big reason for the decline is 
     that many big-ticket sales of state companies to private 
     investors have already been completed. But economists like 
     Mr. Kuczynski, who say market reforms must continue for 
     capital-poor Latin economies to progress, are worried. 
     Bolivia, for instance, was an early convert along with Chile 
     in the 1990's to what is called the neoliberal model. It 
     reined in loose monetary policies and shrank the government 
     by unloading dozens of state-owned companies to private 
     international investors. The results, particularly in taming 
     inflation and reducing poverty, were impressive.
       But in one of Latin America's poorest nations, it is hard 
     for Bolivian officials to talk about progress to the wide 
     portion of the population that continues to live in grinding 
     poverty and feels that entitlements the government once 
     provided in the form of subsidized rates for water and 
     electricity have been stripped away. The better services that 
     have accompanied the sale of state enterprises have left many 
     indifferent, particularly in impoverished areas where 
     residents have invested their own money and sweat to string 
     up electrical lines or put in water pipes and drainage. 
     ``Clearly if you're poor and have no water, sewage and live 
     in a rural area, having three long distance telephone 
     companies when you have no phone lines doesn't make a bean of 
     difference,'' Bolivia's president, Jorge Quiroga, 
     acknowledged in an interview.
       In Peru the resistance to privatization and market reforms 
     is especially pronounced and, for its government, puzzling. 
     Unlike most of Latin America, the economy here has steadily 
     grown since Mr. Toledo's election in June 2001 as the 
     government has continued sales of assets begun during the 
     decade-long rule of Alberto K. Fujimori. Government officials 
     say the program has been successful. Phone installation, 
     which used to take years and cost $1,500 or more, now costs 
     $50 and takes a day or two. Electrical service, once shoddy 
     and limited, has spread across the country. The privatization 
     of mines, which is nearly complete, has improved efficiency 
     and output so much that employment in that sector and related 
     activities has increased to more than 60,000 today from 
     42,000 in 1993. But government belt-tightening also led to 
     widespread layoffs. Mr. Toledo's government has been hit hard 
     by protests and popular discontent, much of it fueled by its 
     inability to alleviate poverty. Many have blamed the 
     privatizations, seeing them as a vestige of the corruption-
     riddled presidency of Mr. Fujimiri, who is now in exile in 
     Japan.
       Here in Arequipa, where the economy was already limping, 
     when word came that the government was about to sell the two 
     state-owned electric companies, Egasa and Egesur, people 
     recalled that Mr. Toledo had campaigned on a pledge never to 
     sell the companies to private owners. It did not matter that 
     the government promised Arequipa half the sale price, and 
     that the investor, the Brussels-based Tractebel S.A., would 
     invest tens of millions of dollars more to improve services. 
     The promises were not believed. Soon the workers federation, 
     neighborhood organizations and university students organized 
     protests, suspecting that higher electricity costs and 
     layoffs were on the way. ``Thanks to our fight, our 
     perseverance, the government backed down,'' Alejandro 
     Pacheco, a leader in the protests here, told a roomful of 
     supporters this week. ``Now we need to do this in the rest of 
     Peru.''
                                  ____


                     [From the Hill, Mar. 20, 2002]

                          Just Say Yes To ATPA

                           (By John Walters)

       It is rare when an easy-to-understand, bipartisan foreign 
     policy initiative that is embraced by all the countries 
     involved and lauded by the Federal Government for its 
     effectiveness is developed and passed into law. It is rarer 
     still when such an initiative is allowed to simply slip away 
     due to legislative indifference or neglect. Yet that could be 
     the fate of one of our most effective South American policy 
     initiatives.
       On December 4, 2001 the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) 
     expired. Although the House has voted to extend ATPA, the 
     Senate has not yet acted. There is a temporary duty deferral 
     in place, but if it is allowed to expire without being 
     reauthorized, thousands of people in the Andean region will 
     suffer--and we will have needlessly lost a valuable tool in 
     our ongoing anti-drug efforts.
       ATPA simultaneously furthers two important policy goals: 
     stimulating legitimate economic growth while destabilizing 
     the drug trade. To make progress in the fight against illegal 
     drug production we must provide alternative and expanded job 
     opportunities to support economic growth and democratic 
     institutions in the Andean region. For the past ten years, 
     ATPA has been a powerful trade tool in the fight against 
     illicit drug production and trafficking by successfully 
     helping our Andean allies (Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and 
     Peru) develop legitimate commercial exports as alternatives 
     to the illegal drug industry--an industry that supplies 
     Colombia's leading terrorist group, the FARC, with an 
     estimated $300 million a year.
       ATPA's benefits to the region's development are 
     indisputable. In 1991, the last full year before ATPA was 
     implemented, the United States imported $12.7 billion in 
     total commodities from the Andean nations. In 2000, the U.S. 
     imported $28.5 billion in total commodities from these 
     nations, a 125 percent increase. One of the great successes 
     tied to ATPA is the Andean region's development of a robust 
     flower industry--an industry that is especially important 
     because of the large number of economically distressed people 
     it employs. There are often as many as ten employees per 
     hectare of flower-producing land involved in cultivating the 
     flowers for export. ATPA has also generated significant

[[Page S7192]]

     job opportunities in other industries, such as fruits and 
     vegetables, jewelry, and electronics. These new jobs draw 
     workers who otherwise might have been drawn to drug-producing 
     narco-terrorist groups for employment.
       Our economy has realized direct benefits from this program 
     as well. Under ATPA, U.S. exports to the Andean region have 
     soared, growing by nearly 65 percent to a total of $6.3 
     billion in 1999.
       Now that the House has voted, the Senate should act 
     quickly. The passage of ATPA reiterates our commitment to 
     helping the Andean region develop economic alternatives to 
     drug crop production. We know that drug production in this 
     region is tied to our country's demand for these poisonous 
     substances. But as we work to cut the demand for drugs in the 
     United States, we must support our southern neighbors in 
     their efforts to build their economies and promote democracy.
       Last week the House also passed H. Res. 358, which 
     expressed the support of Congress for the democratically 
     elected government of Colombia and its efforts to counter 
     terrorism. I applaud their actions and wholeheartedly agree 
     that we must actively support our neighbors in Colombia and 
     the Andean region. ATPA is a direct and tangible way for the 
     United States to demonstrate this support.
       Letting ATPA lapse would not just be a missed economic 
     opportunity; it would be a threat to regional stability. Our 
     goal is to help these countries create an economic and social 
     environment in which legitimate industry, rather than 
     narcotics cultivation and trafficking, is the norm. We have 
     the opportunity to help our neighbors build and expand their 
     economies and democratic institutions. Renewing ATPA is a top 
     regional priority and a top anti-drug priority. I urge the 
     Senate to act quickly.

  Mr. McCAIN. Renewing the Andean Trade bill is the most immediate 
action we could take to remind our partners in the region of our 
commitment to reform and free markets. Unfortunately, Congress' 
inaction on ATPA is rightly viewed by our friends in the region as a 
symbol of America's unfortunate disregard for their plight in this 
difficult time. It is time we paid attention. I urge immediate action 
from the conferees to the trade bill to separate out and pass ATPA. 
This issue is critical to American leadership and economic growth in 
the Andean region, as its leaders will tell anyone who listens. America 
has too much at stake to turn our back on our Andean partners, who 
confront threats from terrorists, drugs, and poverty that threaten 
their governments and their people's future. Our friends in Peru, 
Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia cannot wait much longer.
  Madam President, I do not want to hold up the progress of the Senate 
on this important prescription drug bill. But I think it is generally 
regarded as factual that we will probably not provide trade promotion 
authority or trade adjustment authority to the President of the United 
States before the other body goes out at the end of this week. That 
would be a terrible mistake.
  I will come to the floor on Wednesday or Thursday and ask consent 
that we move, take up, and pass the Andean Trade Preference Act. I 
believe that is probably the only way we will get this done before the 
Congress goes out for the August recess.
  We have a serious situation in our hemisphere from Mexico to the 
Tierra del Fuego. Argentina, once the fifth largest economy in the 
world, is facing an economic crisis of incredible proportions. 
Venezuela is in a chaotic socioeconomic situation. Peru, Bolivia, and 
Ecuador are all in various stages of extreme difficulties. Colombia is 
in the midst of a civil war which at least, if they are not losing, 
they are probably not winning either.
  This is a modest proposal. I have been visited by the leaders of 
these countries, and they say the following: We do not want aid, but we 
do want trade.
  This is a trade agreement that was made by the first Bush 
administration. It should clearly be passed. It would get 90 votes in 
this body if it were up by itself. We should address it, move it 
forward, and do these nations a small favor. We could pay a very heavy 
penalty in terms of socioeconomic difficulties in our own hemisphere if 
we do not act quickly on this issue.
  Mr. NICKLES. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. McCAIN. I am glad to yield.
  Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, I wish to be associated with my friend 
and colleague from Arizona and thank him for his tenacity in raising 
this issue. The Senate is being very irresponsible in not passing the 
Andean Trade Preference Act.
  I thank the Senator from Arizona. I will be happy to join him in 
making that unanimous consent request and ask that our colleagues join 
us in helping these four allies. I appreciate our friend from Arizona 
bringing the matter to the attention of the Senate.
  Mr. McCAIN. I thank my friend from Oklahoma. I hope we won't have to 
do it. We owe it to these very great allies of ours in a very difficult 
time to act before we go out. The other body goes out at the end of 
this week.
  I thank my colleague from Nevada for his indulgence. I thank my 
colleagues for their indulgence, and I yield the remainder of my time.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I commend our Senate leadership for 
moving so promptly to the consideration of the nomination of Dr. 
Richard Carmona to be Surgeon General of the United States.
  Today, the U.S. Senate is in the midst of an historic health care 
debate. So it is appropriate that we consider at this time a nominee to 
this position of such crucial importance to the public health.
  The Surgeon General is our Nation's doctor. He is our country's 
principal official on health care and health policy issues. He is the 
leader of the Public Health Service and the Service's Commissioned 
Corps, one of the seven uniformed services of the United States.
  In fact, almost exactly 204 years ago, the Public Health Service was 
created on July 16, 1798. President John Adams signed a law creating 
what was then called the Merchant Hospital Service for the care of sick 
or injured merchant seamen. Boston was the site of the first such 
facility, but the Service soon extended through the Great Lakes, the 
Gulf of Mexico and to the Pacific.
  As our country grew in the 19th century, so did the Service. It was 
Service physicians who inspected the immigrants who arrived at Ellis 
Island. Even then, the Surgeon General was at the head of national 
disease prevention campaigns against cholera, tuberculosis, and 
smallpox.
  When the Service was renamed the Public Health Service in 1912, it 
was the Surgeon General who was at the forefront in combating the great 
influenza epidemic of 1918. At a time when modern medicine was in its 
infancy, this epidemic took more than 600,000 lives, the worst epidemic 
in American history.
  I raise this history to make a simple point. The Surgeon General has 
been, and continues to be, one of the most important job in our 
National Government. Our Nation has faced extraordinary public health 
threats in the past, and today, the challenges are just as grave.
  Once, the threat was cholera. Today, it is AIDS. Smallpox threatened 
our cities in the 19th century. Today, it is bioterrorism. It will be 
the Surgeon General who will continue to promote and protect the health 
of all Americans.
  Over the years, our country has been blessed with courageous and 
outspoken Surgeons General. They did not allow politics to blunt their 
work to alert the public to health threats. By speaking the truth about 
public health, they enabled millions of our fellow citizens to live 
longer, fuller lives.
  We remember Dr. David Satcher's work on mental health and against the 
tobacco industry, and Dr. C. Everett Koop's historic leadership on 
AIDS. There is Dr. Julius Richmond's pioneering work on Head Start and, 
of course, Dr. Luther Terry's landmark report on smoking.
  These are big shoes to fill. But today, our country needs another 
such champion of public health. We need a strong and independent 
Surgeon General who will put public health first, and leave politics 
and ideology well behind.
  In this new century of the life sciences, the Surgeon General must 
help us take the breakthroughs at the lab bench and ensure they improve 
the lives of all Americans. He must lead our country in preventing 
tobacco use by our children and youth, expanding access to health care, 
ending disparities in health care among our nation's communities, 
improving childhood immunization rates, preparing for the threat of 
bioterrorism, and preventing the spread of the AIDS epidemic.
  These are heavy responsibilities, and they demand an individual of 
extraordinary expertise and experience, who has demonstrated a strong 
commitment to improving the public health.

[[Page S7193]]

  Dr. Carmona comes to us with an impressive background. He has taken 
on many important responsibilities. He is a trauma surgeon, a decorated 
police officer, a former health care administrator, and a former Green 
Beret. He is a father of four children. In addition to his heroic 
service in the Army and as a law enforcement officer, Dr. Carmona made 
his professional mark in the fields of trauma care and bioterrorism 
preparedness.
  The Committee carefully considered Dr. Carmona's nomination. In both 
his oral testimony and in response to written questions from the 
Committee, he satisfactorily addressed all the tough questions that 
would be expected for someone nominated to this important position.
  Dr. Carmona impressed us with his commitment to preventive health, 
and made particularly clear his intention to aggressively oppose 
tobacco use by our children and youth and to combat the HIV/AIDS 
epidemic.
  Dr. Carmona is a trauma surgeon and nurse by training. But he has 
assured us that he will also listen to, and learn from, the greater 
public health community. There is an army of health professionals and 
educators in our country eager to help him do his job. Theirs is an 
army waiting to be led in the campaign for better health.
  I would close by noting that Dr. Carmona is endorsed by the National 
Safe Kids Campaign, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the 
American Medical Association, the American Dental Association, and the 
National Hispanic Medical Association.
  For these reasons, I support Dr. Carmona to be Surgeon General of the 
United States, and encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of his 
nomination.
  Mr. KYL. Madam President, I rise in support of the nomination of Dr. 
Richard Carmona to be Surgeon General. He is clearly the person we need 
at this critical time for this position.
  Dr. Carmona is exceptionally qualified for this important position. 
The President has announced that the new Surgeon General will address a 
number of important health issues, among them, helping America prepare 
to respond to major public health emergencies, such as bioterrorism.
  Dr. Carmona's education and extensive career in public service have 
prepared him to lead ably on all health issues facing Americans today. 
He received his medical education from the University of California at 
San Francisco and a Masters of Public Health at the University of 
Arizona. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Surgery, Public 
Health, and Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona, 
as well as Chairman of the State of Arizona Southern Regional Emergency 
Medical System. Dr. Carmona has published numerous scholarly articles 
on such varied subjects as emergency care, trauma care and responses to 
terrorism.
  He is also currently a Deputy Sheriff in the Pima County Sheriff's 
Department SWAT team and the National Association of Police 
Organizations named him the Nation's Top Cop in 2000.
  Dr. Carmona has also been an administrator of a community hospital. 
Additionally, he was a Special Forces Medic and served in Vietnam, 
where he received the Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, and a Combat 
Medical Badge.
  As you can tell, Dr. Carmona not only has the medical experience to 
be Surgeon General, but also other expertise that will be necessary for 
the Surgeon General position at this crucial time. Unfortunately, one 
of the key areas Dr. Carmona will be involved in is bioterrorism. He 
will provide valuable leadership in helping to prepare the United 
States for possible future attacks. It is very important for America to 
be able to turn to trusted leaders if such a terrible event should 
occur and Dr. Carmona has the experience and skills necessary to 
respond to such events.
  I have no doubt that Dr. Carmona will be an excellent Surgeon General 
and help our nation deal not only with bioterrorism, but other pressing 
issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, and overcrowding in hospital 
emergency rooms. Dr. Carmona will also be able to bring guidance in 
these other critical areas. His experience in trauma care will help 
guide him in dealing with the multitude of problems that are affecting 
hospital emergency rooms. I urge every Senator to support his 
confirmation.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, I rise today in support of Dr. Richard 
Carmona, the President's nominee to be the Surgeon General of the 
United States.
  The job of Surgeon General is a challenging and evolving one. The 
traditional requirements of disease prevention and health promotion 
continue to be vitally important. We must have a Surgeon General who is 
qualified and prepared to address these issues.
  However, in this post-September 11 world, being the chief Public 
Health Officer also involves addressing the very real threat of 
bioterrorism. Therefore, it is imperative that our Surgeon General have 
the background and ability to deal with this new threat.
  Fortunately, the President selected a candidate for this position who 
is uniquely qualified to address all of these requirements of the job. 
I won't attempt to recite all of his numerous accomplishments and 
qualifications, but I would like to briefly touch on a few, simply to 
illustrate why I believe this is the right man at the right time for 
this job.
  Dr. Carmona's educational background, with a medical degree and a 
Masters in Public Health, provides a solid foundation. It is his 
experience, however, that solidifies his qualification for this 
position.
  Dr. Carmona has a tremendous amount of hands-on experience as a 
trauma surgeon, professor, and medical director of the Arizona 
Department of Public Safety Air Rescue Unit. His experience as a 
professor at the University of Arizona has given him the opportunity to 
teach about public health, surgery, and family and community medicine. 
As a result, he has spent a great deal of time dealing with those more 
traditional aspects of the job.
  As for the more recent responsibilities that come with being named 
Surgeon General, Dr. Carmona has been working on the issue of 
bioterrorism since the mid-1990's. He has worked to develop seminars on 
bioterrorism for medical students. Furthermore, he recognizes the 
importance of coordinating the schools of public health with other 
local agencies to prevent and respond to potential threats.
  While I could spend much more time touting the qualifications of Dr. 
Carmona, I will instead end by saying I am thankful that this 
remarkable American has answered the President's call to serve.
  As a New Mexican, I am pleased to extend a neighborly welcome to 
someone else from the great Southwest. As a U.S. Senator, I am proud to 
cast my vote to confirm him as the Surgeon General of the United 
States.
  Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I rise in strong support of the 
nomination of Dr. Richard Carmona to be Surgeon General of the United 
States.
  Dr. Carmona's inspiring story is the living embodiment of the 
American dream. A high school dropout, Richard Carmona first served our 
nation with the Special Forces in Vietnam, where he became a decorated 
Green Beret. Upon his return, he obtained his high school equivalency 
and became the first member of his family to graduate from college. He 
went on to become a nurse and later enrolled in medical school, 
specializing in trauma surgery.
  When he graduated, Dr. Carmona relocated in Tucson, Arizona, and 
established southern Arizona's first trauma center. Later he continued 
his education, obtaining a master's degree in public health from the 
University of Arizona, where he now serves as a member of the faculty. 
As a professor, Dr. Carmona shares his knowledge and experience in 
clinical surgery, public health and community medicine with our 
nation's future doctors.
  Always in pursuit of more challenges, in 1986, Dr. Carmona joined the 
Pima County Sheriff's Department as a surgeon and a part-time SWAT team 
leader. Today, Dr. Carmona is a celebrated Deputy Sheriff. In fact, he 
has received the honor of ``Top Cop'' from the National Association of 
Police Organizations, and is one of the most decorated policemen in 
Arizona.
  In addition to his service, Dr. Carmona is a motivating community 
leader. He has stressed the importance of local preparedness, and 
warned of the dangers of a biological assault long before September 11. 
After the terrorist attacks, Dr. Carmona recognized the

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psychological impact of the events on Tucson residents, and coordinated 
a team of mental health experts to assist them in dealing with the 
associated trauma. Due to his bioterrorism experience, he was also put 
in charge of implementing southern Arizona's bioterror and emergency 
preparedness plans.
  Although Arizona will surely miss this phenomenal man, and I know he 
will miss Arizona, in Richard Carmona, our nation will gain an 
invaluable leader. With his military and law enforcement background, 
coupled with his demonstrated commitment to public health and community 
preparedness, Dr. Carmona is extraordinarily, perhaps uniquely 
qualified to address the needs of our nation as Surgeon General.
  I urge all of my colleagues to favorably support this outstanding 
nominee.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the nomination? If 
not, without objection, the nomination is confirmed.
  The nomination was confirmed.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider 
the vote by which the nomination was confirmed be laid upon the table, 
and the President be immediately notified of the action.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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