[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 25 (Thursday, March 2, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1648-S1651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KENNEDY:
  S. 2357. A bill to provide for economic security and prosperity; to 
the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, these have not been easy times for vast 
numbers of Americans. In many ways, the American dream is in peril for 
millions of our fellow citizens as global forces have caused the 
economy to shift against them.
  Complacency is not the answer. Few things more affect the way we live 
than our shrinking and rapidly changing world. Unless we begin to 
address this immense challenge more effectively, the Nation will pay a 
high price for years and years to come. Now is the right time to 
reinvest in America's future, which is why I am today introducing the 
Right TRACK Act.
  American families across the Nation know the problem. It is measured 
in jobs moving overseas, stagnant or even falling wages and benefits, 
our schools losing ground compared to other nations, and fewer 
opportunities to attain the American dream. Indeed, the course we are 
on today is a course that will make the American dream the impossible 
dream.
  America cannot move forward if we cut back on investments in 
education, invention, and innovation, as the administration has 
proposed. We cannot compete in the world if our companies and our 
workers are saddled with soaring costs for health care. We cannot 
advance if we fail to invest in our own employees by paying them a 
decent wage, by taking steps to enable companies to keep jobs here at 
home, and by investing wisely in our own economic growth.
  The 20th century was widely hailed as the American century, but the 
21st century is up for grabs. No nation is guaranteed a future of 
lasting prosperity. We have to work for it. We have to sacrifice for 
it.
  We have a choice. We can continue to be buffeted by the harsh winds 
of the global economy or we can think anew and guide the currents of 
globalization with a new progressive vision that strengthens America 
and equips our citizens to move confidently to the future.
  Competing better in a race to the bottom is not the answer. Equality 
of opportunity--a bedrock principle of our democracy--is suffering 
already. Today, children born of parents in the bottom 20 percent of 
income have only a 1 in 15 chance of reaching the top 20 percent in 
their lifetimes. Also disturbing is the fact that those born in the 
middle are more likely to sink to the bottom than to rise to the top. 
And those born at the top are likely to stay at the top.
  We cannot and should not compete by lowering wages. Instead, we must 
open new doors and new avenues for all Americans to make the most of 
their God-given talents and rekindle the fires of innovation in our 
society. By doing so, we can turn this era of globalization into a new 
era of opportunity for America.
  As Thomas Jefferson said, ``Every generation needs a new 
revolution.'' And I believe the revolution for this generation is to 
master our own destiny in the new global economy.
  What is most required is a new vision for America's future in the 
global community. Our goal is to rekindle the American Dream, so that 
if people work hard and play by the rules, they can succeed in life, be 
better off than their parents, live in good neighborhoods, raise strong 
families in safe surroundings, work in decent jobs with decent pay and 
decent benefits and a decent retirement.
  To do all that, we must make a commitment to lifelong education, to 
prepare every man, woman, and child for the new world of intensifying 
competition and increasingly sophisticated technologies.
  We must create high-quality jobs for the years ahead by investing in 
research and development, encouraging innovation, and modernizing all 
aspects of our infrastructure.
  We must level the playing field for American businesses and 
employees, to ensure fair worldwide competition and preserve good jobs 
in the United States.
  And we must make a fair commitment to assist and care for workers and 
communities harmed by the forces of globalization.
  We can do all that, but only if we make the right choices, and the 
time to start is now.
  I strongly believe that our highest priority must be a world class 
education for every American. We must seek a future where America 
competes with other nations, not by reducing our employees' pay and 
outsourcing their jobs but by raising their skills.
  As a Nation, we must invest in Americans by ensuring access to the 
highest quality educational opportunities. We must make the American 
worker and manager the best educated, best trained, and most capable in 
the world. We need to nourish the capacities of every person in the 
nation.
  To do that, we must begin in the earliest years. Research proves 
conclusively that what we do for children's early education and 
development does more to ensure their later success in school than any 
other investment we can make. It is far less costly to society to spend 
millions to put young children on the right track from the start, 
instead of spending billions to rescue them from the wrong track later. 
In fact, one study concludes that in the long run, we save $13 for 
every dollar invested in the early education of our youngest citizens. 
Prevention works in health care, and it can work in education too.
  For generations, we have treated education as a three-legged stool--
elementary and middle school, high school, and college. To create a 
solid foundation for the future, we have to add a fourth leg--early 
childhood education.
  In elementary and secondary education, the No Child Left Behind Act 
was a pioneering reform that held great promise when it was signed into 
law by President Bush 4 years ago.

[[Page S1649]]

  No Child Left Behind was not just an abstract goal. It was a moral 
commitment to every parent and every child and every school in America, 
and I was proud to stand with President Bush when he signed it. It soon 
became clear, however, that to the administration, it was more a slogan 
than a promise. Too many parents, too many children, too many schools 
are still waiting for the help we pledged.
  We can't reform education without the resources needed to pay for the 
reforms. Promises alone won't provide the qualified teachers, high 
standards in every classroom, good afterschool activities, and the 
range of supplemental services that every good school needs if it is to 
provide the right help for students who need it.
  No Child Left Behind was also a promise that every child counts--
Black or White or Brown, rich or poor. It was a promise that disabled 
children too will have the qualified teachers and individual support 
they need to succeed in school and in life.
  We must also do more to help students prepare for college, afford 
college, be admitted to college and complete college. In 1950, when I 
graduated from school, only 15 percent of jobs required some 
postsecondary training. Today, the number is over 60 percent and rising 
rapidly.
  However, we are witnessing a growing gulf in college attendance 
between the rich and poor. The gap is shameful. Each year, 400,000 
college-ready students don't attend a 4-year college because they can't 
afford it. Never before has the financial challenge of attending 
college been greater for young students.
  It is time for America to agree that cost must never be a barrier to 
college education. Every child in America should be offered a contract, 
when they reach eighth grade, making clear that if they work hard, 
finish high school, and are accepted for college, we will guarantee 
them the cost of earning a degree. The Right TRACK Act authorizes 
Federal grants to States to support the creation of ``Contract for 
Educational Opportunity'' grants to cover students' unmet need up to 
the cost of attendance at 2-year and 4-year public colleges in that 
State.
  Perhaps nowhere is it more obvious that we are falling behind than in 
math and science. For a nation that prides itself on innovation and 
discovery, the downward slide is shocking. In recent years, we have 
dropped to 28th in the industrial world in math education. Each year, 
China graduates three times as many engineers as we do. Other nations 
are gaining on us because they give higher priority to education.
  The last time America was shocked into realizing we were unacceptably 
behind in math and science was in 1958, when the Soviet Union launched 
Sputnik. Republican President Eisenhower and a Democratic Congress 
responded by passing the National Defense Education Act, and almost 
overnight we doubled the Federal investment in education.
  In fact, throughout our history, we have remade American education to 
conquer the challenges of each time. In the mid-1800s, with the 
Industrial Revolution in full swing, we created free and mandatory 
public schools before most other nations did. And to stay ahead, we 
rapidly established public high schools at the start of the last 
century to keep pace with a growing economy.
  Once again, we did something comparable at the end of World War II. 
We passed the GI Bill of Rights and gave every returning veteran the 
chance for a college education. The Nation reaped a $7 return for every 
dollar it invested in their education. The result was the ``greatest 
generation,'' and it would never have happened without the GI bill.
  That is the kind of initiative we need today, because the need is 
just as great. We need a new Education Bill of Rights, a new National 
Defense Education Act, for our own day and generation in science and 
math.
  Let's make college free for students training to become math or 
science teachers.
  Let's make college and graduate school free for low- and middle-
income math and science students.
  Let's see that our standards are internationally competitive, so that 
our high school graduates can succeed in this new economy. Let's offer 
incentives and other support for schools to develop and implement 
rigorous standards and courses in math and science.
  The Right TRACK Act responds to each of these challenges. The 
legislation provides grants to low- and middle-income students studying 
in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, as well as 
critical-need foreign languages. The bill provides larger grants to 
students studying to become teachers in these fields who agree to work 
in a high poverty school for at least 4 years. It also provides 
teachers with tax credits, increased loan forgiveness as additional 
incentives to continue to teach where they are needed the most and 
invests in teacher training programs supporting their continuing 
education.

  The Right TRACK Act also provides resources to states to create P-16 
Preparedness Councils to help States with their efforts to improve 
State standards and ensure that they are aligned with the expectations 
of colleges, employers, and the armed services. The bill also provides 
funding to States working in collaboration to establish common 
standards and assessments.
  The bill also directs resources to high need schools so they can 
invest in math, science, engineering, and technology textbooks and 
laboratories to ensure their students have equal access to a curriculum 
that will provide them with the skills they need to be successful in 
the 21st century global economy.
  It is becoming increasingly important for students to become exposed 
to and immersed in other languages and cultures. In recent years, 
foreign language needs have significantly increased throughout the 
public and private sector due to the presence of a wider range of 
security threats, the emergence of new nation states, and the 
globalization of the U.S. economy. American businesses increasingly 
need employees experienced in foreign languages and international 
cultures to manage a culturally diverse workforce. Foreign language 
proficiency is a consideration in 44 percent of hiring decisions and 66 
percent of retention decisions. Currently, the U.S. Government requires 
34,000 employees with foreign language skills in 100 languages across 
more than 80 Federal agencies.
  The Right TRACK Act responds to these needs by providing grants for 
elementary and secondary critical-need language programs, summer 
institutes to improve teachers' knowledge and instruction of foreign 
languages and international content, and study abroad and foreign 
language study opportunities for high school students, undergraduate, 
and graduate students.
  We must also continue to invest in our current workforce. The Right 
TRACK Act builds on existing formula funds for job training with 
competitive grants to support innovative strategies to meet emerging 
labor market needs.
  From our earliest days as a nation, education has been the engine of 
the American dream. Our country is home to the greatest universities in 
the world, and our education system has produced the world's leading 
scientists, writers, musicians, and inventors. We cannot let these 
achievements stall now. Slogans aren't strong enough. We have to put 
first things first and give children, parents, schools, communities and 
States the support they need to refuel the amazing engine of education 
and keep our country great in the years ahead.
  Beyond education, we must recognize that the foundation of our 
prosperity in this global world is to remain on the cutting edge of 
technology and medical and scientific breakthroughs in the years ahead 
and translate those advances into reliable products and services. A 
strong and fully developed infrastructure will provide the backbone for 
that success.
  America has always been a world leader in research and development, 
but we can no longer take our success for granted. Even in highly 
skilled industries, where our technology and infrastructure have 
preserved our competitive advantage we are increasingly at risk today. 
Rapidly growing economies in Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America 
are now formidable competitors, developing their economies into engines 
of growth based not just on low wages but on well-educated citizens, 
advanced infrastructure, and well-run businesses.
  In Bangalore, India, a G.E. center employs more than 2,200 Ph.D.s. 
These workers are not sewing buttons on

[[Page S1650]]

shirts; they are carrying out advanced research on jet engines and 
developing mathematical models for investment. An Intel research and 
development center in the same city employs 3,000 engineers designing 
the next generation of computer chips.
  However, despite increasing international competition, the Federal 
commitment to research outside the defense arena has declined under the 
Bush administration. Of particular concern is the drop in funding for 
basic research. Much of the research conducted by private companies is 
focused on getting a product quickly to market. That is not the basic 
research that lays new foundations for new discoveries. Funding for 
basic research has declined in the past few years at the National 
Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department 
of Energy, and other key scientific agencies. And overall the Federal 
investment in research which once exceeded one percent of our GDP is 
now less than half a percent.
  We cannot allow this trend to continue. The Right TRACK Act will help 
America maintain its position as the leader in innovation. The Right 
TRACK Act will not only make the R&D credit permanent but expand it to 
encourage small businesses, universities, and Federal laboratories to 
collaborate on research. And it will increase R&D funding for major 
Federal research agencies by 10 percent that we double it in 7 years.
  Innovation is important for its own sake, but it is also what creates 
jobs. We are currently seeing our investment in R&D paying dividends in 
high growth, high technology industries such as nanotechnology. We need 
to help usher these new technologies out of the laboratory and into the 
marketplace. The Right TRACK Act would encourage investment in 
nanotechnology businesses and increase support for critical programs at 
the Department of Commerce that help manufacturers adopt and 
commercialize new technologies.
  We also must invest in innovation and infrastructure--highways, mass 
transit, new sources of clean energy, health I.T., and more. The Right 
TRACK Act will authorize funds for capital improvements to Amtrak and 
expands and increases tax credits for school renovation and 
construction that will equip schools with 21st century technology.
  These investments not only improve the quality of our lives, but they 
also create the quality jobs that drive our economy forward.
  Broadband infrastructure is a perfect example. Two years ago, 
President Bush declared that every American should have access to 
affordable broadband technology by the year 2007. But the 
administration still has no plan to get us there. In the meantime, we 
have fallen to 16th in the world in broadband access behind countries 
such as Japan and the Netherlands that have broadband speeds four and 
five times faster than ours.
  Widespread use of basic broadband would add $500 billion to our 
economy and create 1.2 million jobs. Clearly, this is the kind of 
infrastructure we should invest in to produce good jobs and economic 
growth in the future. The Right TRACK Act also puts us on the ``right 
track'' to take full advantage of that economic opportunity.
  We also live in an age exploding with medical miracles. A generation 
ago, few could possibly have imagined the advances in science and 
biology that have revolutionized the practice of medicine. No one today 
can predict how new discoveries in the life sciences will improve our 
lives and change the world, but we can be certain the effects will be 
profound.
  Thanks to the genius and dedication of scientists, doctors, and 
business leaders, the potential of medical research is virtually 
limitless. Diagnosing a faulty heart valve or blocked artery once meant 
risky and traumatic exploratory surgery. Today, doctors make the 
diagnosis with a miniature camera and fiber optic cable, and the 
patient can walk out of the office moments later.
  A few years ago, it seemed inconceivable that anyone could decipher 
the entire genetic code--the very blueprint of life. But today, doctors 
across the globe can read that sequence on their computer screens and 
use the information to search for new ways to treat cancer, diabetes, 
Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other major illnesses.
  Continuing at the forefront of the life sciences may well be the most 
important way for America to retain its leadership in the world economy 
in the coming years.
  Another of the fundamental challenges of the global economy is that 
our companies are losing business and our people are losing jobs 
because they are not competing on a level playing field.
  Foreign governments manipulate their currencies to give their 
products an unfair advantage. They refuse to enforce basic labor 
protections like a minimum wage. They use abhorrent practices like 
child labor and forced labor. As a result, these countries can produce 
goods much more cheaply and dominate the global marketplace.
  Our own trade deficit is skyrocketing because we are producing less 
at home and buying more from other nations. Last year, we imported a 
record $726 billion more than we exported--an alltime high.
  We can't continue down this reckless path. It is too damaging to our 
economy. Over $2.2 trillion of our national debt today is owed to 
foreign investors and foreign governments. America has always 
controlled its own destiny but when foreigners are bankrolling our 
Government, our destiny is no longer in our hands.
  It is not just our companies that suffer--our workers are also 
struggling because the playing field is so uneven. More and more of our 
companies are shipping U.S. jobs overseas. Fifty-four percent of 
America's top companies have already done so. Even governments are part 
of the offshoring bandwagon. In my home State of Massachusetts, the 
State government has hired contractors that used workers from India to 
process Medicaid data and answer questions about food stamps.
  The Nation as a whole has lost nearly 3 million manufacturing jobs 
since 2001. The pain is widespread--48 States have lost manufacturing 
jobs under President Bush. These are not just blue-collar jobs. 
Millions of high-paying, white-collar jobs are also at risk of being 
shipped overseas, especially in the fields of medicine and computers.
  The disappearance of these good jobs is reducing our standard of 
living and threatening the very existence of the American middle class. 
President Bush's so-called economic recovery has the worst job creation 
record of any recovery since World War II.
  Those fortunate enough to have jobs are finding that their wages are 
stagnant even though other costs are soaring. College tuition is up 46 
percent since 2001. Housing costs are up 49 percent. Health insurance 
is up 58 percent. Gasoline is $2.33 a gallon--40 percent higher than it 
was 5 years ago.
  The foundation of the America dream is weakening. That is because 
more of what our economy produces in this recovery now goes to business 
profits and executive suite salaries, and less to employees, than at 
any time since such records began in 1929. Wages are down, but profits 
are up by more than 60 percent.
  There is a better way. We need policies that reject the Walmart-
ization of the American workforce.
  We must level the playing field in the competition for good jobs and 
demonstrate leadership in promoting fair wages for workers around 
the world. This is not just an economic issue--it is a moral issue. The 
Right TRACK Act will help raise living standards worldwide by 
prioritizing the elimination of forced labor and child labor in U.S. 
trade agreements and providing incentives for multinational 
corporations to treat their foreign workers with respect. It will also 
level the playing field for American businesses by ensuring that 
countries cannot manipulate their currencies to give their goods an 
unfair advantage in the global market.

  Rejecting the race to the bottom also means reaffirming our 
commitment to workers here at home. We must stop rewarding companies by 
giving them favorable tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas. The Right 
TRACK Act corrects this nonsensical policy by eliminating the tax 
loophole that allows companies to avoid paying taxes on money they have 
earned overseas. The act also addresses the offshoring epidemic by 
requiring companies to give workers better notice when their jobs could 
be offshored to other countries

[[Page S1651]]

and ensuring that the Government does not use hard-earned tax dollars 
to ship jobs overseas.
  Our commitment to workers at home also demands that we give them 
their fair share of the economic growth that globalization brings. In 
this century, just as in the last, we must ensure that workers can 
organize and have a voice at work. The Right TRACK Act preserves the 
basic rights of American workers by protecting employees who try to 
organize from employer intimidation, supporting the democratic right of 
a majority of workers to choose a representative through fair and 
neutral card-check procedures, and requiring employers to come to the 
table and negotiate a first contract.
  We owe a particular duty to those Americans who lose their jobs due 
to the effects of trade or economic downturns. When workers lose their 
jobs in the global economy, we should help in the difficult and painful 
transition to new employment with top-notch job training and income 
assistance for their families until they get another paycheck. The 
Right TRACK Act gives workers and communities harmed by trade the 
support they deserve. It expands the Trade Adjustment Assistance 
Program to include service workers and workers who lose their jobs due 
to increased trade with countries like China and India. It also 
improves funding levels for training programs, provides wage insurance 
for older workers who lose their jobs, and helps workers to retain 
their health care coverage during times of transition.
  And it is a scandal that the minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an 
hour for the past 9 years, below the poverty line for a family of 
three. It is the lowest the minimum wage has been in real value in more 
than 50 years. How can so many Republicans in Congress keep voting 
against any increase? Why can't we all at least agree that no one who 
works for a living in America should have to live in poverty? The Right 
TRACK Act gives these hardworking Americans a long overdue raise by 
increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in three steps.
  America has to rise to each and every dimension of this challenge. We 
can do it by creating a new culture of innovation and creativity that 
keeps our Nation in the lead in the global market place--by equipping 
every American to compete and win in the new global economy. Only then 
will our economy continue to grow and prosper. Only then will the good 
jobs of the future be made in the U.S.A.
  The same can-do spirit of innovation, invention, and progress that 
brought us the automobile, the airplane, and the computer can do it 
again. Those advances brought the American dream closer for all, and we 
can't afford to let it slip away now.
  The essence of the American dream is the ability to provide a better 
life for yourself and your family. At its very heart are a good job, 
first-class education, good health care, and a secure retirement. Some 
say the dream is out of reach in today's global economy. But I am here 
today to tell you it doesn't have to be that way. We can revitalize the 
American dream.
  I have full confidence in our ability to meet these challenges and 
reach new heights of discovery prosperity, and progress. Passing the 
Right TRACK Act that I've introduced today is an important step towards 
ensuring that the American dream remains attainable for generations to 
come, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
                                 ______