[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 139 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12043-S12044]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RETIREMENT OF SENATOR ERNEST F. HOLLINGS

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I rise to join my colleagues in tribute to 
Senator Ernest ``Fritz'' Hollings. I will miss my good friend from 
South Carolina, who in 2003, at the age of 81, finally became his 
State's senior senator--after 36 years as a junior Senator.
  In addition to being remembered as a coauthor of the Gramm-Rudman-
Hollings legislation that cut tens of billions of dollars from the 
Federal budget deficit, Fritz Hollings has left an indelible mark on 
our nation in the areas of health care, environmental protection, 
resource conservation, technology development, job creation, 
transportation security, and law enforcement, to name a few.
  Immediately after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on 
America, Senator Hollings worked to protect the safety of our traveling 
public by authoring the Aviation Security Act which created the 
Transportation Security Administration. Similarly, recognizing that 
America's ports and borders were our Nation's weak security links, 
Senator Hollings championed legislation to increase security at 
America's ports.
  As the father of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
Senator Hollings recognized the extent to which the ocean environment 
sustains us--from human uses in commerce and recreation to being the 
original cradle of life on our planet. He knew the importance of taking 
appropriate steps to be responsible stewards of this rich, yet fragile 
resource.
  His oceans legacy includes authorship of the National Coastal Zone 
Management Act of 1972, which established Federal policy for protecting 
coastal areas, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which also became 
the model for other countries, for the protection of dolphins, sea 
otters and other mammals. In a continuing effort to do what is best for 
our ocean environment, Senator Hollings created the U.S. Commission on 
Ocean Policy in 2000, to review the accomplishments of the last 30 
years, and recommend actions for the future. Upon the issuance of the 
report, Senator Hollings laid the groundwork for legislation to adopt 
the recommendations of the Ocean Commission. I am the proud cosponsor 
of two of those measures, S. 2647, the Fritz Hollings National Ocean 
Policy and Leadership Act, and S. 2648, the Ocean Research Coordination 
and Advancement Act.
  Beyond the oceans, Senator Hollings worked to make our communities 
and schools safer, through programs such as Community Oriented Policing 
Services, COPS, that put more than 100,000 police officers on the 
streets in 13,000 communities across the country. The COPS program is 
also the largest source of dedicated funding for interoperable 
communications for public safety officers.
  Senator Hollings brought competition to the telecommunications arena 
which resulted in new services to consumers at affordable rates.
  I will miss Senator Hollings' wisdom, vision, and wit, but mostly his 
friendship.
  I wish Fritz and his wife Peatsy a fond aloha.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the FY 2005 omnibus 
appropriations bill, which the Senate passed late last month and the 
President signed into law earlier today.
  When this legislation was considered by the Senate, I cast my vote in 
opposition. At that time, I stated several reasons for my vote. I rise 
today to state several additional reasons for my vote--reasons which 
have come to light only upon a more thorough examination of this 
legislation.
  First, the omnibus appropriations bill underfunds educational 
activities in the No Child Left Behind Act by approximately $8 billion 
relative to authorized funding levels. It underfunds activities under 
Title I--which assist low-income school districts--by over $7.7 
billion. The bill also underfunds activities authorized in the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by over $10 billion. By 
denying localities adequate Federal support with which to raise school 
standards, student achievement, and infrastructure standards, we are 
denying millions of children and their families across the country the 
educational resources they need to succeed in a competitive world. We 
are denying them teachers. We are denying them tutors. We are denying 
them important components of the academic curricula--components that 
include art, foreign language, physical education, and music. Without 
these resources, our children are going to continue to struggle to keep 
up with children of other nations in educational achievement and 
proficiency.
  Moreover, this legislation freezes the maximum Pell grant for low-
income students who plan to attend college to $4,050 for the third year 
in a row. It also does not include a necessary recalculation of 
eligibility requirements--an oversight that will cause up to 90,000 
low-income students across this country to lose this vital resource for 
paying tuition costs. That oversight will also reduce the amount of a 
Pell Grant by an average of $300 for about one million students. The 
Pell Grant is the cornerstone of the Federal financial aid system that 
provides affordable college access for thousands of American students 
who otherwise could not advance their education. In an era of growing 
inflation and skyrocketing tuition costs, we should be encouraging and 
not denying our students' chances of achieving the American dream 
through education and hard work.
  Second, the bill does a poor job of making the needs of disadvantaged 
children and families a priority. Head Start, for example, has received 
$6.9 billion--a slight increase over the previous year, but only enough 
to reach and meet the needs of 60 percent of eligible young children. 
Inadequate investment levels have also been provided for important 
initiatives, such as the Child Care Development Block Grant and 
Community Health Centers, both of which provide vital services that 
ensure the health and well-being of disadvantaged families and their 
children. We all know that high-quality child care and health services 
for the poor continue to be in scarce supply or simply unavailable, 
unaffordable, and of dubious quality. Instead of trying to rectify 
these growing challenges, we are only exacerbating the problems faced 
by millions of Americans in urban, suburban, and rural areas.
  Third, the omnibus bill severely cuts important housing and community 
development services--particularly those services that assist low-
income and elderly individuals. While the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development has received a meager 2 percent increase, the Section 
8 voucher initiative has received inadequate investment, the Fund for 
Elderly Housing has been cut by $30 million over last year's funding 
level, Housing for People with AIDS has been cut by $11 million over 
last year's funding level, and the Community Development Block Grant--
an important initiative that has assisted dozens of distressed 
municipalities in my State--has been slashed by $212 million over the 
fiscal year 2004 level. In addition, the HOPE VI initiative, which has 
assisted in the redevelopment of public housing complexes across the 
country, has been cut by 75 percent over the past 4 years. Many 
municipalities in my State, including Danbury, Hartford, Middletown, 
New Haven, and Stamford have benefitted from HOPE VI resources totaling 
over $142 million to demolish deficient facilities and build quality 
affordable housing. Without this vital support, many of my constituents 
would have been denied the opportunity to live in decent and safe 
housing. I find it shameful that this bill fails to provide the 
resources that help Americans fulfill one of their most basic needs: a 
decent shelter over their heads.
  Fourth, the omnibus bill, in my view, discourages positive job growth 
and business expansion. This administration and Congress have talked 
endlessly about helping people find work

[[Page S12044]]

and encouraging small businesses to grow. Unfortunately, the actions of 
this bill sadly contradicts their words. Aside from the fact that this 
bill allows up to 425,000 Federal jobs to be outsourced and up to 8 
million private workers to be denied overtime compensation--two issues 
about which I spoke in my previous statement--it also cuts funds to the 
Small Business Administration by almost 19 percent and reduces 
initiatives that encourage small business growth in rural America by 77 
percent. Instead of working towards creating new jobs and helping 
working families and individuals, the legislation creates yet another 
obstacle for millions of Americans to provide for themselves and their 
families.
  Beyond these four points, the omnibus bill provides inadequate 
investment levels for a variety of other services and initiatives that 
are vital to our country. The bill cuts the Environmental Protection 
Agency budget by 3 percent over the fiscal year 2004 level and cuts 
conservation programs run by the Department of Agriculture by 4 
percent; it provides inadequate resources to the National Institutes of 
Health and beneficial research projects undertaken by that agency; it 
provides inadequate resources to the COPS initiatives, reduces support 
available to law enforcement agencies, and virtually eliminates a 
successful grant initiative to assist those agencies in hiring more 
personnel; it cuts the National Science Foundation's budget by $105 
million over fiscal year 2004 levels and cuts $38 million from 
important arts initiatives run by the Smithsonian, the National 
Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities; 
and it freezes funding for Amtrak for the third year in a row--
essentially negating any chance for our country to invest in new modes 
of regional rail transportation. Furthermore, every initiative in the 
bill suffers a further 0.8 percent reduction in support so that the 
strict budgetary restrictions imposed by the Bush administration would 
be met.
  It is worth to note this bill is not completely without merit. There 
are increased investment in child nutrition assistance, food stamps, 
local transportation initiatives, and global HIV/AIDS prevention. There 
is also much-needed support for several important initiatives in my 
home State of Connecticut. Unfortunately, these positive provisions do 
not outshine the legislation's numerous shortcomings.
  The President and several of our Republican colleagues have said 
repeatedly that the inadequate investment levels in this bill are 
designed to reduce the soaring deficits plaguing our country today. 
They go on to say that domestic initiatives are primarily responsible 
for the increasing deficits. Unfortunately, the facts before us today 
belie these assertions. According to a Congressional Budget Office 
report from September 7, 2004, it is not domestic investments but the 
grossly imbalanced tax cuts imposed by this administration that have 
chiefly caused our current deficit predicament--a predicament that 
promises to have long-term ramifications for the economic health of our 
country. According to CBO projections, the Bush tax cuts account for 
the majority of an expected $5.5 trillion deficit increase over the 
next 7 years. They are projected to increase the deficit more than all 
domestic investment combined.
  In short, this legislation, in my view, reflects a continuing failure 
to invest in the productive potential of our children, workers, and 
small businesses. I sincerely hope that the Senate will do better in 
the 109th Congress.

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