[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 28, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6592-S6599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHECKLIST FOR CHANGE
Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, last week, the Democratic women of the
Senate, led by our dean, Senator Barbara Mikulski, held an event at the
Sewall Belmont House, which I am very proud to say put forth what we
are calling the checklist for change. We came together around the
importance of an agenda in Congress that meets the needs of all of the
American people.
We have been given an hour this morning to discuss these issues. Our
first speaker, our leader, is the Senator from Maryland, who has paved
the way for women not only in the Senate but in our country on so many
issues. I am, with great pride, yielding to the Senator from Maryland.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland is
recognized.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New York, as
well as all of my colleagues, the nine Democratic women from the U.S.
Senate.
We are united today. We, the Democratic women of the Senate, rise in
a united way to launch something we are calling the Democratic Women
for Change. We want to change the agenda that is going through the
Senate. We want to change the tone in the Senate for one of more
civility, and we want to change the schedule to get things done.
The Senate has only been in session about 75 days, less time than
most State legislatures. And what have we debated? Divisive
constitutional amendments and tax breaks for zillionaires.
I regret that the Republican leadership has squandered time,
squandered opportunity, and squandered taxpayers' money. We spent time
with bills focused on reelecting Republicans instead of helping
American families. It is time we bring real issues to the floor. We
have only 50 days left before this Senate adjourns. This is why we have
done our checklist.
We have a must-do list for change. It is specific, it is immediate,
it is realizable, and it is also affordable.
We women know about checklists. We remember all the important things
that we need to get done by having a checklist. It is what we use to
keep our families on track, and now we bring a checklist to the Senate
to get America on track.
These are the challenges that we can meet right now by the time
Congress adjourns for the fall elections. Each and every one of us has
a specific issue we want to see done, and we want to check that off.
I am advocating for reliable pensions. I want to talk about
retirement security and giving help to those people who practice self-
help all of their lives. In the United States of America, everyone
should retire with financial security.
Honoring your father and your mother is not only a good commandment
to live by, it is a very good policy by which to govern. That is why we
the Democratic women of the Senate fought to stop the privatization of
Social Security, and we were successful. Now we stand sentry on the
Senate floor to make sure Social Security is never ever privatized.
We believe that Social Security should be a guaranteed benefit, not a
guaranteed gamble. We want to make sure Social Security is reliable,
undeniable, and inflation proof.
But as we stand sentry, we are alarmed to see that a budget bill will
come soon to the Senate floor that
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could be a backdoor way of privatizing Social Security. The so-called
budget reform bill will create a commission on entitlements, fast-track
authority, but it is really a backdoor way to privatize Social
Security.
Under the guise of empowering an unelected commission, they would
have the authority to cut benefits, to turn it over to Wall Street
where seniors would have to rely on the bull of political promises or
the bear of a market. We, your Democratic women, are standing sentry,
and we will not let this happen.
But we also want to support the private sector, the good guys in
America's entrepreneurial and business community who provide pensions.
So we are fighting for pensions that workers can count on and so that
good-guy businesses would have clear rules coming out of the
legislative framework on which they could depend. And we want to
protect taxpayers from a bailout of companies dumping their programs on
a government program.
Where are we now? A pension bill has been languishing. We are
stalled, we are sputtering, we are dithering. It has been 180 days
since the House and the Senate passed each bill on pensions, and 110
days since conferees were named--110 days.
After all is said and done, more is being said than gets done. Time
is running out. We must pass this bill. But most of all, time is
running out on this Congress. The American people are running out of
patience. That is why we bring to the Senate our economic list for
change, and we ask that we adopt this checklist and let's bring about
change that will make a difference for our constituents.
I now yield the floor to my wonderful colleague from New York, Mrs.
Clinton, and thank her for all of the extra work she is doing in
standing up for New York and standing up for America.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New York is
recognized.
Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I applaud my friend and colleague,
Senator Mikulski, who is speaking out eloquently and strongly about the
importance of pension and retirement security and pointing out the
dangers of the legislation--coming out on a totally party-line vote--
coming out of the Budget Committee that we believe would once again
raise the specter of Social Security privatization.
So we are sounding the alarm, and we are making clear that the
Democratic women of the Senate will stand sentry, as Senator Mikulski
said, and we will stand firmly to protect Social Security because we
know how many women depend on Social Security.
Part of our effort is to in very simple terms put forth this
checklist for change. We know we have to secure our economy in a more
competitive world and secure our energy supplies in that competitive
world.
Our current energy policy is weakening our national security, hurting
our pocketbooks, violating our common values, and threatening our
children's futures. Right now, instead of our national security
dictating our energy policy, our failed energy policy dictates our
national security. We want and need a fundamental change in direction
to secure our Nation's energy future.
I believe a strong, balanced national energy policy is a key to
strong economic and environmental policies as well.
It is time we decide do we allow our economic security and our
national security to be weighed down by a failed energy policy or do we
choose a new path? We think, the Democratic women of the Senate, that
we need a new path.
Here is a concrete goal. Let's reduce our dependence on foreign oil
by at least 50 percent by 2025. How will we get there? It starts by
getting back our American can-do attitude and a new commitment, such as
the Apollo project that sent a man to the Moon. We know how to do this.
Americans are better at setting goals and solving problems than any
people in the history of the world, but we are acting as though we
can't control our own destiny when it comes to energy, that we can't
possibly do what needs to be done to break our addiction to foreign
oil.
I have introduced legislation to create a strategic energy fund, to
commit our Nation wholly to a new energy future, to invest in
alternatives and efficiency, to create jobs, to strengthen our economy,
and to free our hands fully to protect our Nation in the world. I don't
want to see one more year go by where we are not doing what it takes to
prevent us from being blackmailed and extorted by oil regimes that have
us literally over a barrel.
The strategic energy fund will invest in renewable energy, such as
wind and solar, transform America's vehicles by expanding consumer tax
credits, and making sure we have more hybrids and other advanced clean
diesel automobiles and trucks.
We will accelerate home-grown biofuels by investing in research and
loan guarantees for cellulosic ethanol production.
We will speed fuel infrastructure by pairing increased tax incentives
for installation of E-85 pumps with a mandate to have them at 50
percent of our gas stations within 10 years.
And we will unleash American ingenuity by investing $9 billion in a
new energy research agency modeled on DARPA, which was created in the
Defense Department after Sputnik went up and has given us so much,
including the Internet.
We challenge the Republican Congress to make energy independence a
priority by passing meaningful energy legislation, such as a strategic
energy fund, this session.
I am so proud to stand with my Democratic women colleagues and put
forth this checklist for change. It will make a difference in America's
future. Let's get about doing the business of America.
I yield the floor for my distinguished colleague from California,
Senator Boxer.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California is
recognized.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I thank Senator Clinton. I am also very
proud to be on the floor of this great body with my Democratic women
Senate colleagues.
We held a press conference in which we challenged the Republican
leadership to bring up issues on this floor that are meaningful to our
families. Here is our checklist for change. Each of us has taken one of
these issues. Mine happens to be protecting our air, land, and water.
The message we are here today to convey is that the Republicans run
the Senate, the White House, and the House of Representatives. They
control what issues come to the floor of the Congress for debate. We
spent yesterday debating an amendment to the Constitution to ban flag
burning. We also debated a bipartisan proposal by Senators Bennett and
Clinton to ban flag burning via a statute.
Every one of us in this body voted to ban flag burning, be it by a
statute or by an amendment. But one has to ask the question: Is that
debate, which we have had four times, more important than the issues
that are on our checklist for change?
There have been four reports of flag burnings this year. That is four
too many, but they were four. Yet there are 44 million Americans whose
pensions are at risk while this Congress fails to act to protect those
pensions.
Four flags burned versus 7.5 million Americans who have been denied
an increase in the minimum wage. And this Congress, under the
Republicans, sees nothing wrong with giving themselves a pay raise, but
they can't raise the minimum wage, and it has been flat for 9 years,
which means it has gone down in value and people cannot make it on
$5.15 an hour.
Four flags have been burned--four too many--versus 170,000 talented
college-ready students each year who stay home because they can't
afford tuition.
Four flags burned--four too many--yet 30,000-plus veterans have
waited in 2006 for their first medical appointment, an issue that will
be taken up by Senator Murray.
Four flags burned versus 200,000 people in New Orleans living in
trailers, unfinished houses, or tents in the front yards of their
Katrina-ravaged homes.
Four flags burned this year--four too many--versus $2.89 a gallon for
regular gas. By the way, that is the national price. In California, we
are looking at well over $3 a gallon.
Four flags burned--four too many--versus 46 million Americans with no
health insurance, and Senator Lincoln will talk about that.
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Four flags burned--four too many--versus over 500,000 Americans who
have lost their lives while we wait for this Republican Congress to
take action on stem cell legislation, an issue that has been championed
by many of us in this Senate and on this checklist carried by Senator
Feinstein.
And, finally, four flags burned--four too many--versus 75 million
Americans living near our most polluted toxic waste Superfund sites.
In conclusion, because my checkpoint is protect our air, land, and
water, I call on this Republican Congress to address two pressing
environmental crises: global warming and Superfund cleanup.
It is easy to put global warming on the back burner as long as our
everyday lives are not affected, but some people think their everyday
lives are beginning to be affected. The best scientists in the world
warn us that we are near the tipping point on global warming.
Just the other day, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, along with
the national academy of science for 10 other nations, agreed that
climate change is real and it has to be addressed. So we call on this
Republican Congress to do something about it. Don't sit back and say
this doesn't exist because you are ignoring science.
I am proud to say that in the State of California, they are
listening. This week a historic global warming bill cleared the first
hurdle and passed the California Senate Environmental Quality
Committee. California has been a leader in the environment, and Senator
Feinstein and I want to make sure that we can bring some of that action
right here to the Senate.
Last point: We need to clean up these Superfund sites that are
hurting our families and hurting our communities. Under the Clinton
administration, we cleaned up 80 of these sites a year. Now it is down
to 40 sites a year. We owe our children a clean and healthy
environment.
Mr. President, it is time for you and the Members of the Republican
Congress to call on the Republican leadership to take up our checklist
for change. We are very proud to be talking about this all together
this morning on the Senate floor.
I am proud to yield now for Senator Patty Murray of Washington.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington is
recognized.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am very proud to be here this morning
with the other Democratic women of the Senate in urging the leadership
to talk about the issues that are the true priorities of the American
people. The issue I am talking about today is so important, and that is
the treatment of our Nation's veterans. Our military men and women and
their families are sacrificing every day for all of us. It should be
our duty to honor that sacrifice, whether it is with jobs or training,
support or health care. But on this issue, the Republican leadership
has failed miserably.
Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs continues to be overwhelmed
and underfunded. Listen to what we know. The VA is currently seeing 38
percent more Iraq war veterans than they budgeted for--38 percent more.
In fact, in fiscal year 2006, the VA expected to provide medical care
to 110,000, but that number is now closer to 170,000, and those
veterans are waiting over a year to get the specialty care they need
and deserve.
In Seattle, we have VA medical centers with over 2,000 veterans on
waiting lists to get an initial doctor's appointment. Veterans around
the country are waiting 18 months just to get their benefits. On Monday
it was reported in the New York Times that veterans' spouses are being
faced with an impenetrable wall of bureaucracy as they try to collect
their survivor benefits.
To me, and to my women colleagues, that is simply intolerable. We are
also woefully unprepared for the rising toll of post-traumatic stress
disorder and other battlefield-related mental illnesses that are
hitting our troops. Right now, it is estimated that one-third--one-
third--of the 1.3 million Americans who have served in Iraq and
Afghanistan are facing mental health challenges when they get home. The
Department of Veterans Affairs recently revealed to us that it is on a
pace to see nearly 20,000 new cases of postcombat stress this fiscal
year among troops. Guess how many they estimated to see: 2,900. So they
thought they would have 2,900, but they are on a pace to see 20,000. A
VA Under Secretary noted that some of our VA clinics don't provide
mental health care, or if they do, she said, waiting lists render that
care virtually inaccessible. Our service men and women, veterans, and
their families deserve more than virtually inaccessible care. We have
to do more.
On top of that, we have to be working to pass Federal legislation
that addresses the employment needs of veterans who are coming back
home from the battle front. Do my colleagues know that among 20- to 24-
year-olds, unemployment for veterans is double that of nonveterans, and
it is three times the national average? That is unacceptable. Iraq war
veterans are coming home, they are losing their jobs, they are not
getting medical care, they are having a hard time accessing benefits,
and they are struggling to just get by.
We have a job to do in this Senate, and that is why the Democratic
women are here today to talk about our checklist for change and
focusing on our veterans. Last week, I successfully amended the fiscal
year 2007 Agriculture appropriations bill to include $160 million to
deal with the data theft of 26.5 million veterans. We have to make sure
that our veterans don't have the double whammy of losing their data and
then losing their health care to pay for it.
Our service men and women deserve a new direction. So today we
challenge the Republican leadership to include the real cost of care
for our veterans when they submit their budget and to do right by our
veterans and our military families by holding hearings on the holes in
transition assistance, mental health care, and health care that our
veterans and families need.
Caring for our veterans is not a Republican or Democratic issue, it
is an American issue. We call on this Congress to right now do the most
patriotic thing we can do, and that is to fulfill our promise to our
Nation's veterans.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record
a letter to Senator Frist from all of the Democratic women outlining
our checklist for change and our call for action.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Democratic Women for Change,
June 21, 2006.
Hon. William H. Frist,
U.S. Senate, Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Frist, We, the Democratic women of the Senate,
are writing to challenge you to change direction, change the
tone, and change the agenda to match the priorities of the
American people.
There are approximately 50 days left in this legislative
session--still plenty of time to change direction and focus
instead on meeting the challenges that affect the American
people in their daily lives.
To that end, we present you with our ``Checklist for
Change''--nine challenges that Congress can meet right now.
We ask that these goals be considered during the remainder of
this session of Congress:
Safeguard America's Pensions: Americans deserve to retire
with dignity and financial security. We will continue to
oppose any plan to privitize social security, because seniors
deserve a guarantee rather than a gamble. Recent corporate
corruption and mismanagement has shown us that we must also
protect employee pension plans. The Republican Congress has
stalled these efforts. For the good of all American workers,
we challenge the Republican Congress to pass a clean pension
reform bill.
Keep Good Jobs in America: We need a jobs agenda that
fights for American workers and businesses. The flight of
American jobs overseas must be reversed. Currency
manipulation and the free flow of counterfeit goods from
countries like China have put American workers at an unfair
disadvantage for too long. We challenge the Republican
Congress to enact tax policies that Stop the outsourcing of
American jobs, to level the international playing field by
enforcing our trade agreements, and to raise the minimum
wage.
Make College Affordable for All: The best guarantee of a
good job is a quality education. In America, 170,000 college-
ready students don't attend college each year because the
cost is too high. Yet the Bush Administration has taken $12
billion from student aid programs to pay for tax cuts for the
wealthiest Americans. We cballenge the Republican Congress to
increase the maximum Pell Grant, make the college tuition
tax credit permanent, and cut student loan interest rates.
Protect America and our Military Families: It is our duty
to care for the brave men
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and women who defend our nation at home and abroad. Yet the
Bush Administration consistently shortchanges healthcare and
other benefits for veterans, leaving many soldiers waiting a
year or more treatment. We challenge the Republic Congress to
provide benefits funding for veterans and to hold hearings on
mental health care and transition assistance for those coming
back from war abroad.
Prepare for Future Disasters: Nearly five years after
September 11th and ten months after Hurricane Katrina, the
Federal Government is still woefully unprepared to deal with
potential future disasters. We challenge the Republican
Congress to restore disaster to cabinet-level status; to
implement the recommendations of the September 11th
Commission; to develop safe evacuation plans; and to reform
the Stafford Act to better manage large catastrophes.
Make America Energy Independent: America's lack of a
coherent energy policy is weakening national security,
hurting our pocketbooks, violating our common values and
threatening our children's future. The Strategic Energy Fund
bill will cut our dependence on foreign oil in half by 2025,
invest in efficient energy alternatives and create good
American jobs. We challenge the Republican Congress to pass
the Strategic Energy Fund bill.
Make Small Business Healthcare Affordable: More than 46
million Americans are uninsured. Small businesses create two
out of every three new jobs in America and account for nearly
half of America's overall employment, yet just 26% of
businesses with 50 or fewer employees provide health
insurance. The Small Employers Health Benefits Program will
create affordable, private health insurance for small
businesses and give parents the comfort of knowing that their
children are protected. We challenge the Republican Congress
to pass this crucial legislation.
Invest in Life Saving Science: Stem cell research provides
real hope for cures to many of the world's deadliest
diseases. Against the wishes of the American people, the Bush
Administration and the Republican Congress have blocked
efforts to expand stem cell research so that scientists and
doctors have every tool at their disposal to keep us healthy
and safe. As a result, America trails the rest of the world
in research. We challenge the Republican Congress to pass
stem cell legislation this summer.
Protect our Air, land and Water: The Bush Administration
has been negligent in protecting Americans from environmental
hazards. They have ignored the consensus of the best
scientists in the world when it comes to the threat of global
warming, and they have recklessly reduced clean ups of toxic
waste at Superfund sites. We challenge the Republican
Congress to pass a comprehensive science-based bill to reduce
greenhouse gases and to restore funding for Superfund
cleanup.
We hope that you will put these bedrock issues on the
agenda, because the American people are counting on us to
fight for them. We can and must do better.
Sincerely,
Barbara Mikulski, Barbara Boxer, Maria Cantwell, Hillary
Rodham Clinton, Diane Feinstein, Mary Landrieu, Blanche
Lincoln, Patty Murray, Debbie Stabenow.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am proud to yield the floor for my
colleague from Washington State, Senator Cantwell.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). The Senator from Washington is
recognized.
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Murray
from Washington, for her eloquent statement about the state of veterans
affairs in our country and to make sure that those who patriotically
served our country are taken care of in their time of need.
Many of my colleagues are here--and I appreciate being with my women
Senate Democratic colleagues--to talk about our checklist for change
and talk about the important issues we believe Congress and the Senate
should be focusing on. But I know that people all across my State are
wondering what we are doing here in the few days left before our Fourth
of July recess.
In fact, one of the newspapers in my State basically said: If Members
don't have better things to do than some of the proposals they have
been bringing up to amend the Constitution, then we should just go
home. Or, as one newspaper said: The checklists that we have been
dealing with are full of political gimmicks and not national needs.
I would like to say that these are the national needs that we ought
to be dealing with, and making college education affordable for all is
a huge priority. As we have spoken out on this issue as a group of
women Senators talking about the checklist for change, I am now hearing
from students all over America who are feeling the same pinch.
A student from Central Washington University said: Like many others,
I am feeling the cuts that affect financial aid.
Even students from outside the State of Washington are e-mailing me.
One student from the University of Florida basically said they were
coming here to Capitol Hill soon with their full group of presidents
and vice presidents and student vice presidents. They reminded me that:
We are the future of America, and we must ensure that
future by making sure students, regardless of wealth or other
socioeconomic factors, have access to a good college
education.
Mr. President, I couldn't agree with that student from the University
of Florida more, and I look forward to seeing them in their efforts
here on Capitol Hill to be successful.
But we are here this morning because we all know the best way to
secure a good job is a quality education, and we know that the doors to
educational opportunity are slamming shut for many Americans. This is
something that is very personal to me as somebody who went to school on
financial aid, and I can literally say I don't think I would be in the
Senate or have been a successful executive at a business enterprise if
I didn't have access to that good college education.
We can't let college education become a privilege for just a few of
the wealthy, and we have to make sure that families and students can
afford college, regardless of their financial resources.
Let me just lay out a few facts. Since 2001, the cost of a public
higher education has increased by a staggering 46 percent. In
Washington State alone, tuition costs at 4-year public schools have
spiked, an increase of 63 percent since the fall of 2000. Tuition costs
are skyrocketing, but family income, particularly of those with
college-age students, has only risen about 3.4 percent between 2000 and
2003. So the challenge is we haven't seen income opportunities go up,
but yet the cost of education has gone up. So while those costs have
soared, almost 350,000 Washington students have basically had their
Federal financial aid slashed. And families have to tell their children
they can't afford to send them to college this year or next.
Well, I can tell you, Mr. President, that is unacceptable. We need to
do better to make sure that we make college education affordable.
What have we been doing? Last January, we had the largest raid on
student financial aid I have ever seen. The legislation that was passed
by this body cut $12.7 billion straight from student loan programs, the
biggest single cut in the history of the Federal student loan program.
That was coming on top of the President's budget, which basically also
proposed a $2.2 billion cut in the Education Department budget, which
is the largest cut in the Education Department in 26 years of history.
So we are here this morning, and this Senator is here, because we
believe we need a new direction. Today we are standing here to
challenge Congress to act now in the best interests of American
students, America's families, and certainly for the competitiveness of
America's future economy. We challenge this Congress to make college
education more affordable now, to help families save for college
education.
Specifically, we are asking the leadership to make a priority
legislation that would increase the Coverdell education savings account
contribution to $5,000 and let families make that tax deduction
contribution to help them pay for that increase in college education;
secondly, to make the college tuition tax deduction permanent, making
it possible for families to put money into education and not feel the
pinch; third, to pass my ``GI Bill for Life'' legislation that gives
those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who served in our military
the opportunity to complete their college education and get the
financial support, as they have supported our country, no matter how
long it takes for them to complete that course in education.
It is time that we invest in the future of America and provide
Americans the next opportunity of leadership in our economy by giving
them access to a good education. We can act now and we can pass these
legislative issues before Congress adjourns this year. We hope this
checklist for change will be a priority--not some of the issues we have
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been focusing on, but a real checklist to get busy with the priorities
and needs of American families.
Now I would like to yield the floor for my colleague, Senator
Lincoln, who is going to talk about the affordability of health care in
America.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas is recognized.
Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Washington for
her incredible focus on educating our children and making sure our
families can afford higher education, and certainly focusing on energy
independence, which is critically important to all of our households.
I am proud to be here today with all of my Democratic women
colleagues to talk about the things that are so important to America's
families, the working families who are the fabric of this Nation, who
make us strong, who make us proud as Americans to look at the Nation
and see what the foundation of our country is really all about.
Mr. President, I know that you and many of our other colleagues
probably think this is just a honey-do list. Well, we all have our
honey-do lists. For myself, as a mother of twin 10-year-olds and
certainly a wife who wants to be supportive and caring for my husband,
and as a daughter who is looking at aging parents and in-laws, and all
of the many responsibilities in my life, I know that keeping a list to
make sure I am actually accomplishing the things that are important to
the people I love is critically important so that I know I am doing
what I need to do.
I have a list on my refrigerator. I have a list on my desk. I carry a
list in my car and in my purse to make sure that I can keep up with the
things that are important, the responsibilities I have as a person not
only for the things I want to do not just for my family but for my
neighbors and for all of the people I report to and am responsible to.
At home, my husband and I have a honey-do list that we share the
responsibility for. Just last night, we were making sure we changed the
air filters and the batteries in our smoke detectors which are
critically important to the safety of our children and our home. We
were making sure that we adjusted our budget to deal with the
unbelievable increase in energy costs. Don't think that every household
is not looking at how important that is. Or making sure that our
children get their health checkup and that they are up to date on their
immunizations.
How blessed I felt when I walked into that pediatrician's office to
know that through the Federal employees, I have insurance that will
cover that. But it is important to make sure the things on my list get
done so that the people in this world whom I love so dearly are as safe
and as healthy as they possibly can be.
On that list is also setting aside dollars each year and every
quarter in order to know that when my children become college age, they
are going to have at least some kind of a nest egg, perhaps not enough
to cover all that they need in order to get that education that I know
is so critically important to their success and to the success of this
country. These are the things that we want to challenge and to
encourage our colleagues in the Senate to take up. These are the issues
that American families see on their checklist every single day. These
are things that we can do--we know that we can do. These are issues
that affect every American family.
My good friend and colleague from California, Senator Feinstein, is
going to talk about a humane and moral solution to stem cell research,
on which she has worked for over 8 years now. There was a wonderful
event in Arkansas for the Diabetes Association where I met a young
woman with a daughter who talked about the transition, the complete
change in life for their family in order to deal with a disease like
diabetes in a child who is only 12 years old.
Mr. President, we plead with you, take a look at this list. Look at
the reasonable items we are talking about that mean so much to the
American families of this country.
I am here to talk about the keen awareness that we have of the
challenges that are faced by working families who want nothing more
than the security that health insurance offers. We, as Federal
employees, enjoy a tremendous security. For over 40 years, the Federal
Government has figured out that if it pools all 8 million of the
Federal employees across this great country, it can provide greater
choice at a lower cost.
We, too, can do that for the small businesses of this country. If we
look around, we realize that nearly 46 million Americans lack health
insurance, including 456,000 of my own Arkansans. Small businesses are
the No. 1 source of jobs in Arkansas and in most parts of our country.
Yet only 26 percent of businesses with fewer than 50 employees offer
health insurance coverage today. Workers at these businesses are most
likely to be uninsured. Yet they are the engine of our economy. They
are the jobs that are not going to go offshore. They are the companies
and the businesses in our communities that support our Little League
and that sponsor our scouting events. These are the fabric of our
country. Yet fewer than 26 percent are insured.
Small businesses need innovative ways to offer affordable, accessible
health care to their employees. Recognizing that need for a new
direction, Senator Durbin and I proposed the Small Employers Health
Benefit Program. It is a comprehensive solution to our small business
insurance crisis. It is based on 40 years of success with the Federal
Employees Health Benefit Plan. It will create affordable private health
insurance choices for small employers, and it will give working
families the security and the comfort of mind that they need.
We challenge--we encourage--we plead with our Republican Congress and
leadership to pass the Small Employers Health Benefit Program this
session. It is something we can do that will make a tremendous
difference in the lives of Americans.
We are going to keep fighting because we believe that working
families should have the comfort of knowing that they can take their
children to the doctor--whether it is for just a common cold or a
broken arm or, heaven forbid, something much more serious--and be able
to afford and access the care that they need.
We believe that expanding coverage for small businesses will go a
long way toward making sure that the millions of Americans should and
would have access to medical care. We believe that providing that kind
of security is worth fighting for, and that is why we have joined
together today to point out to the American people, particularly to our
colleagues, the list that we carry around every single day in our
pocketbooks, on our desks, and on our refrigerators at home. It is no
different than the list that we present to you, and it is no different
than the list that every American family has in their home.
We ask you, Mr. President, take a look at what we propose. Look at
the time that we have remaining and know that we can make a difference
in the fabric of this country by looking at the list of what America's
working families need the most in their households.
I am proud to yield for my good friend and colleague from California,
Senator Feinstein.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Arkansas for
her remarks. I don't think anyone speaks more eloquently about the
needs of American families than Blanche Lincoln. It is always real and
it is always practical. I am just delighted to be a colleague of hers.
I rise today to say why stem cell research should be part of this
Democratic Women's Checklist for Change. The reason is very simple, and
that is because stem cell research offers the promise of historic
advances in the treatment of catastrophic disease. It is that simple.
The potential for this research was in the news again last week, as
scientists at Johns Hopkins announced that they used embryonic stem
cells to regenerate damaged nerves in paralyzed rats. That is something
that no one ever thought could be done. After being treated with cells
harvested from mouse embryos, most of the rats regained enough strength
to walk and bear weight on their previously paralyzed hind legs.
Just imagine what this discovery could one day mean for patients with
spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis or ALS. It could be
revolutionary because one thing science believed was that the spinal
cord, once severed,
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could never be regenerated. Now, for the first time in history, we see
there may be a solution to that and it rests with stem cell research.
Translating this discovery into treatment of human patients will
likely take several years, and it will likely not see fruition without
Federal research dollars. Here is the rub. Our researchers face a major
roadblock imposed by the President in August of 2001, when he limited
Federal funding to 22 lines of stem cells. All of these available lines
are now contaminated with mouse feeder cells, so virtually there is no
Federal ongoing research.
Thirteen months ago, the House approved a bipartisan bill by Mr.
Castle and Ms. DeGette, a bill that would remove this roadblock. It
would permit promising research to go forward. It would offer new hope
to millions of Americans suffering from disability, diseases, and
spinal cord injuries. The Castle-DeGette bill essentially says that it
would be possible to use embryos that are rejected in IVF clinics; that
is, in vitro fertilization clinics. All of us know that tens of
thousands, if not millions, of these embryos are rejected and they are
destroyed. Those embryos could be taken to form new stem cell lines
under this bill.
The votes are here to pass this bill today, but the President has
vowed a veto, and the Republican leadership refuses to bring it to the
floor. In the year that we have waited for Senate action, millions more
are now waiting for cures that one day could come from stem cell
research. In the last year, consider this: 1.4 million Americans were
diagnosed with cancer; 60,000 Americans were diagnosed with Parkinson's
disease; 11,000 Americans suffered spinal cord injuries; and 1.5
million adults were diagnosed with diabetes.
These are just new diagnoses. Think of all the Americans who continue
to suffer cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal cord
injuries, and catastrophic diseases which could potentially be helped
by embryonic stem cell research.
The administration's policies have left our researchers far behind
the rest of the world. In fact, other countries are, today, laying the
foundation for groundbreaking cures, while U.S. scientists are not able
to gain Federal funding for research. Evidence that the United States
is no longer the world leader in embryonic stem cell research is
mounting. Scientists around the world have created 128 new embryonic
stem cell lines since President Bush announced his policy. Only 34 of
these new lines were created in our country. The proportion of
embryonic stem cell papers published by U.S. research groups has fallen
dramatically in the past 2 years. At least 10 other nations--Germany,
Finland, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Singapore,
Israel, China, Australia--are investing substantial sums of government
money in embryonic stem cell research. That is totaling hundreds of
millions of dollars. Other nations are constructing facilities, they
are attracting our American researchers who should be here at home
doing this research, and they are learning more every day.
The United States, on the other hand, remains at the starting line. I
don't think we can afford to watch other nations move ahead. Eight
years ago, I introduced one of the first bills addressing stem cell
research, so we have waited this long--8 years--for action. Time and
time again, we have pressed for action on the floor of the Senate. We
pressed for it privately. We pressed for it by letter. We pressed for
it by press conference with groups of sufferers of catastrophic
diseases. All of this has been to no avail. I can't believe it. I can't
believe this kind of recalcitrance. And all of this is despite the fact
that every poll shows a dominant majority of Americans support stem
cell research.
It is time the Senate place the health of Americans ahead of the
views of a limited number of people whose views are apart from the
mainstream of America. We owe it to the 110 million Americans suffering
daily from debilitating and catastrophic disease. Every day that we
wait, more people develop diseases that could one day be cured. Every
day we wait, other nations move further ahead.
I urge the Republican leadership to bring the Castle-DeGette stem
cell bill to the floor and allow Federal research to move forward. A
Democratic Senate would listen to the American people. A Democratic
Senate would make the promotion of this promising research a reality.
This Senate is in Republican control. The Republican-controlled House
has passed this bill. A dominant majority of the American people say
enact this bill. Yet this Senate, Republican controlled, becomes the
roadblock.
I urge the Republican leadership to reconsider and bring the Castle-
DeGette bill to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
Mr. President, I would like to yield for my colleague, the
distinguished Senator from the great State that harbors the great city
of New Orleans, LA. She will speak about making Americans upwardly
economically mobile in the American workplace.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana is recognized.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California for
her remarks and her passion and her focus on the issue of stem cell
research. One day when millions of Americans have been cured of
diseases that afflict us today because the research is just not there,
we can thank Senator Feinstein for staying on point, every month, every
year--staying on point on stem cell research. It is something the vast
number of Americans support. They understand the importance of pressing
forward on this science to find real cures for real people, for real
families. That will not only relieve the pain and suffering that comes
with disease but also promote the general economic well-being of a
nation based on a free enterprise system that works much better when
people are healthy than it does when they are sick.
I stand in awe of Senator Feinstein's focus on this issue, and I
support her wholeheartedly.
It is my opportunity to speak about one of the very important aspects
on this checklist. We talked about safeguarding America's pensions, and
we have talked about good jobs in America. Senator Cantwell talked
about college affordability for all Americans, about being the first
person from her family to graduate from college, and as she has shared
with us, going on to create a multimillion-dollar software business
that, of course, helped her personally and her immediate family. But
think of all the other people it helped because she received a great
education from our system--protecting America and our military families
and making America energy independent, as Senator Clinton was so
clearly stating, and small business health care as Senator Lincoln
spoke to this morning.
I am going to focus my attention on preparing for future disasters.
It is, unfortunately, something that we in Louisiana have become
somewhat experts on lately, having lived through and still trying to
live and survive after the greatest natural disaster to hit our country
in some time.
I begin by saying that if there was ever a wonder why our country was
created, you can find the answer in the Preamble of the Constitution,
one of the greatest documents ever written. It talks about providing
for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the
blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. Our Federal
Government, which was established over 220 years ago, has established
institutions, large and small, to meet the promise of the Preamble of
the Constitution.
We established the Department of Defense to support and provide for
the common defense. It was called the War Department. Now it is called
the Department of Defense. We established the Department of Health,
Education, and Labor to promote the general welfare.
Thirty years ago we established the Federal Emergency Management
Agency to help keep Americans secure in the blessings of their liberty
in the middle of natural disasters.
On August 29, when Katrina hit land, a category 5 storm to hit the
gulf coast and to hit the southeastern part of Louisiana and the
southwestern part of Mississippi, and 3 weeks later when Hurricane Rita
barreled into the southwestern part of our State, the Federal
Government failed the people of the gulf coast.
Amazingly, nearly 1 year after this unprecedented failure, we have
done
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little, if anything, to ensure that this will not happen again.
Studies have been completed. Reports have been drafted. Senator
Lieberman and Senator Collins have been exemplary in their work in a
bipartisan fashion in the Senate--1,000 hours of hearings, dozens of
field hearings--to come up with comprehensive legislation. However,
somewhere between the Republican leadership in the White House and the
Republican leadership in Congress we have failed to come up with a
single recommendation or a piece of legislation to come before this
Congress to make sure that some of these recommendations are put into
place.
The White House has not asked for a single law to be changed based on
their own report of 125 recommendations. Contrast that with what
happened after September 11. This Government was literally turned
upside down and inside out. Laws--dozens of laws, maybe even hundreds
of laws--were changed so that we could try to get to core answers to 9/
11. Yet after the greatest natural disaster in American history, with
the failure of the Federal Emergency Management, a failure that will be
recorded in history for generations, not one law has been permanently
changed. And it is almost 11 months after that storm.
Billions of dollars have been thrown at the problem. And at the
request of myself and a few Members of our delegation, we have managed
to move a few billion of those dollars out from this morass of a
Federal agency that doesn't work to try to get money directly to
parishes, counties, to economic development departments for the
recovery and rebuilding.
I raise this point on this checklist not just for Louisiana which we
are going to rebuild regardless of the mess we find ourselves in, but
we want to raise this issue--I want to raise this issue--in hopes that
it can prevent this kind of recovery taking place in Seattle, in the
event of a tsunami, or in California in the event of an earthquake, or
in Tennessee which also sits on a fault line of a geological structure.
I raise this point to honor the 1,836 victims of Katrina and the 120
victims of Rita. Surely there is enough sacrifice for people to make
before their Government, led by a Republican Congress, takes the steps
to make sure it will never happen again. I know that no Congress run by
Democrats or Republicans can prevent a natural disaster. We understand
that. We are going to have earthquakes, hurricanes, and we are going to
have volcanic eruptions. While we can't prevent that, we can most
certainly improve the response from the Federal level so that people do
not have to suffer through the rebuilding that is going on now in
Louisiana.
The first thing that must be done, which is part of our checklist, is
to give the Director of FEMA the authority and the access he had under
the stewardship of its most successful Director, James Lee Witt, under
the previous administration. At that time, it was a Cabinet level
position that had the trust and access of the President and the full
command of Federal resources during such disasters.
Regrettably, we have all watched in horror on the television screen,
and I have watched personally upfront as a witness of the failings of
FEMA on the ground, constrained by the priorities of the Homeland
Security Director, which is different than what the needs of this great
city and region are. And after reading the exchanges between Director
Brown and Secretary Chertoff, it most certainly doesn't seem to be
their focus on emergency response in homeland security. FEMA needs to
stand and win the internal battles to get priorities on the budget.
Moving boxes around in the Federal Government organizational charts
should not be our focus. And that is not the solution. The issue is
that FEMA must be a priority for the highest levels of leadership. It
must be able to command the attention of the Federal Government and the
many resources and assets that this Federal Government has to help
rebuild and reestablish confidence in any community that would find
itself virtually destroyed, as in the case of St. Bernard Parish, a
small parish that doesn't get the attention of the national media. But
60,000 people live there, and 95 percent of their homes were destroyed
with 15 to 20 feet of water.
Senator Bayh and I had the pleasure of visiting down in that great
parish with the great spirit, and just last Friday we walked into an
unbelievable sight. A small trailer was sitting in the middle of
complete ruin, with brave teachers and administrators inside this
trailer trying to conduct what I guess is a summer school for children.
We walked into this classroom with the lights low at naptime, with
music, where 20 little children were sleeping. When we walked out of
that trailer, all you could see was destruction as if you were in a war
zone. Yet the happiness on the faces of the children and the spirit of
those teachers was really a testament to the resilience of people
despite the fact that their Government is failing them. They are not
going to fail themselves or their children. But we can do better.
On 9/11, when the terrorists attacked New York, everyone said that
one of the major failings was the failure of the communications system.
We lost 335 firefighters--not because they lacked bravery, not because
they lacked leadership, not because they lacked the armor or the
covering to protect them from the fire as they ran to the building when
everyone was running away--we lost many of them because their radios
didn't work. We couldn't find a few hundred dollars to buy a radio for
firemen running into a skyscraper that was falling down. We all know
what we did wrong.
Today, we still don't have a system of communication that can operate
when the cell phone towers go down, whether they are burned down, blown
out, or flooded out. It doesn't exist. Five years is a long time.
I will tell you what we have done in 5 years. We built a continental
railroad in 5 years. From the time of Pearl Harbor to Victory Day was 5
years. From the time the Apollo drawings were on paper until we hit the
Moon was 5 years. But it is 5 years since 9/11.
When the people of the gulf coast had two major hurricanes barrel
down on them and they went to use a cell phone, a land line, or a
computer, the communications system was down. We were blamed for not
having an evacuation plan. Let me say for the last time that the best
evacuation plan doesn't work if you can't communicate it to your
neighbors, let alone to the doctor in the emergency room or the
ambulance driver or the bus driver trying to run the bus or the
Superdome operator trying to keep thousands of people safe and fed and
cared for.
I know our time is up in just about 2 minutes. I have gone a little
over my time. I want to say in closing that there is a lot the
Republican Congress could do to keep us on point, to keep us focused on
the things that matter to the American people dealing with natural
disasters, helping them to rebuild their shattered lives, their homes,
their schools, their churches, and their businesses. When these storms
and floods come through is one thing. It is very important to the
people of this country.
I wish, as a Democratic Senator from Louisiana, that we would spend a
little bit more time making sure the communications system works, that
FEMA works, and that all the money the taxpayers are spending is being
spent well and not wasted. That is sort of the third disaster--not the
disaster itself but the disaster of wasting money when people are so
desperate for the resources they need to rebuild.
Thank you, Mr. President, for presiding this morning. It is probably
not the easiest thing to listen to. But these are some shortcomings
that we believe we need to step up to and address for our country and
put before the American people, the practical solutions.
I yield the floor.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues in
calling for a ``Checklist for Change.'' We need a real jobs agenda in
this country--one that stands strong and fights for American workers
and American businesses.
This is about our way of life--a way of life based on good-paying,
middle class jobs and the promise that--with hard work--every American
can aspire to do better tomorrow than they did yesterday.
We need to stop the flow of American jobs overseas. Last year, a new
$2 billion tax cut that I authored took effect, rewarding companies
that create
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manufacturing jobs here in the United States.
We need to level the playing field for American businesses. Currency
manipulation and the free flow of counterfeit goods from countries such
as China have put American workers at an unfair disadvantage for too
long.
It is time we had an international trade prosecutor who can go after
countries that cheat and make sure that America is getting a fair deal
in the world market.
We need a new direction for American workers.
We challenge the Republican Congress to enact tax policies that stop
the outsourcing of American jobs.
We challenge them to stand up and enforce our trade agreements so
American businesses can compete on a level playing field and keep good-
paying jobs here at home.
Americans want to export our products, not our jobs.
And we challenge the Republican Congress to follow the lead of my
State of Michigan and raise the minimum wage
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas is recognized.
____________________