[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 195 (Wednesday, December 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15978-S15980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE SENATE

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I come to the floor this evening, in the 
closing hours of the year 2007, to make a few comments.
  First, at the beginning of this year, the beginning of this Congress 
and the first year, I believe, we have been a Congress of robust 
achievement, which has made significant change, and that we must also 
continue to be agents of change in the future because additional change 
is needed. We have done some good things for this country. There is 
much more change we need to do.
  We have made change in moving forward and seeking a new direction in 
Iraq and holding the administration accountable on that issue. There is 
more we have to do in achieving that new direction in Iraq.
  We have made significant change in terms of moving forward toward 
energy independence. There is more work we need to do to achieve real 
energy independence.
  We moved forward in crafting the best farm bill, in my view, in 
several decades. We need to get that farm bill across the finish line.
  We made progress in the Senate dealing with health care issues, 
including passage of the Children's Health Insurance Program. But we 
somehow need to get that over the President's veto pen and start 
addressing the other issues relating to health care and health care 
reform.
  We have made progress in the arena of education, with passage of the 
Higher Education Authorization Act and providing financial aid to 
students across the country and the passage of the Head Start Program. 
But we now know we still need to move ahead and make more progress and 
be agents of change with respect to No Child Left Behind.
  We have made significant progress in the Wounded Warriors Act, 
providing the resources we need to take care of our nearly 25 million 
veterans in America. We need to make sure we stay on top of those 
issues with 1\1/2\ million veterans returning from Operation Iraqi 
Freedom and Enduring Freedom. It is important that we not lose sight of 
the Nation's promise to take care of our veterans.
  There has been a lot of good work done, but there is still more work 
ahead. We must, in this Senate Chamber, figure out a way to continue to 
be agents of change to bring about change in the direction of America.
  I want to comment on a couple of the subjects I touched on.
  First, Iraq. Iraq remains the major national/international foreign 
policy issue of the United States. The Presiding Officer, the senior 
Senator from Michigan, has helped lead us from the wilderness in which 
we found ourselves with respect to the war in Iraq to move forward to 
what I consider to be a different level of debate today in America.
  For the first 6 years of this administration, they essentially 
controlled all of the cards. It was only with the change in leadership 
in the Senate and in the House of Representatives that, today, there is 
accountability that is occurring with respect to the war in Iraq.
  The senior Senator from Michigan, the very distinguished chairman of 
the Armed Services Committee, has really led us in the search for 
trying to find that new direction for Iraq. It was the Senator from 
Michigan who conceived of the fact that we needed to move away from 
having our troops in a combat mission over to the more limited missions 
of counterterrorism, force protection, border security, and moving 
forward in the more limited presence in Iraq, and sending, as he has so 
often said on the floor of the Senate, an unmistakable message to the 
Iraqi Government and the Iraqi people that it is they who have to get 
Iraq together. It is not up to us in America or to our troops on the 
ground to resolve the political problems Iraq faces today. That 
unmistakable message the Iraqis have received would not have been 
received had it not been for the leadership of Senator Levin, Senator 
Reid, and others in this Chamber who stood up and said we need to have 
a new direction in Iraq.
  There may be some around the country who are saying: Well, what has 
happened, because we are still in Iraq and the money is still being 
provided to our troops? But there has been a significant change that 
has occurred. We know last night, for example, on the vote that 
occurred with respect to the funding of our troops in Iraq, the $70 
billion provided to our troops was provided to make sure our troops are 
not without money as they carry out the mandate of the Commander in 
Chief. But it was not the $196 billion that was requested by the 
President of the United States. It was an installment. It is the first 
time we get to a point where there is this kind of sequential funding. 
That will allow the Congress and the Senate, under the leadership of 
Senator Levin, the Presiding Officer, to continue to move forward to 
try to seek a new direction in Iraq and to continue to hold the 
administration accountable with respect to its efforts on the ground in 
Iraq.
  Yes, when I look at the issue of Iraq, from my perspective and 
involvement, I believe we have made significant progress in terms of 
creating a new direction and a new momentum in Iraq. I appreciate the 
effort of the chairman of the Armed Services Committees in that debate. 
I appreciate his leadership and for inviting me and others to go with 
him to Iraq a year or so ago, along with Senator Warner. We were on the 
ground meeting with Iraqi officials, as well as our military 
leadership, to make sure we had the best information as we move forward 
with the issue on Iraq.
  Secondly, I wish to comment on energy. For me, the issue of energy is 
one of the most important signature issues of the 21st century. I don't 
think we can do anything that is any less important. This is of 
monumental importance not only to the people of America but to our 
entire globe and all of civilization.
  The legislation we passed this year, which the President signed 
today, is legislation that is important because it moves us forward in 
terms of getting a higher level of efficiency with respect to how we 
use oil, with respect to how we use electricity in our homes and 
buildings, and with respect to how we deal with carbon sequestration, 
to begin dealing with global warming. But there is more work we must do 
to move forward with an energy package that is something that is doable 
here among all of us in this Congress. We need to make sure the jet 
engine powers this clean energy economy into the 21st century, created 
out of the Finance Committee, which lost by 1 vote--we had 59 votes in 
the Senate to get that

[[Page S15979]]

package adopted--and that we get that across the finish line in the 
years ahead.

  The automobile companies in our country need to have that financial 
assistance included in that finance package for them to be able to make 
the transition that is so important to get the higher efficiencies we 
are asking them to make. There is still a significant amount of work we 
must move forward with when we deal with energy.
  In my view, the inescapable force that ought to bring us together, 
Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, ought to be 
the issue of national security. It ought to be the issue of the 
environmental security and the economic opportunity we have for our 
Nation. I hope our successes on energy this year are the beginning of a 
foundation that will continue to build in the years ahead.
  Thirdly, on the farm bill, I am very proud of the work Senators 
Harkin, Conrad, Chambliss, Grassley, Baucus, and others accomplished in 
that effort. It is interesting to note that 78 Senators voted for that 
farm bill just last week. That is more U.S. Senators voting for that 
farm bill than any farm bill in the last quarter century. If the 
Presidential candidates had been here, we would have had 82 or 83 votes 
for that farm bill. It is a very good bill on what we do in our 
investments in nutrition and conservation and renewable energy, in all 
of those things which are important to making sure we have food 
security in America.
  It is my hope that, as we move forward into a conference with the 
House of Representatives, that legislation can move forward to the 
President so it can be signed into law so that we can make sure we 
maintain the food security of America and that we also open a new 
chapter for American agriculture as rural communities and agriculture 
help us grow our way to energy independence.
  On health care, it is a tougher issue, it is a tough issue, where 
there has not been significant concern or any concern, frankly, from 
this administration with respect to dealing with this crisis 
bankrupting so many American businesses and causing pain to so many 
American families. When we think about the statistics, the fact is 
almost 50 million Americans today don't have health insurance. In 
Colorado, almost 20 percent of the population of the State doesn't have 
health insurance. It is a crisis in America.
  Yes, the White House has not seemed to really want to move forward 
with any kind of change with respect to health care that will address 
the pain occurring across America. We tried to make some movement in 
that direction by providing health insurance to 10 million children in 
America. If we are going to deal with health insurance, it seems we 
need to start providing that insurance to the most vulnerable, the 
children of our country. Yet twice the President vetoed the bills 
passed out of this Chamber and out of the House. It is my hope that we 
can return to deal not only with children's health insurance but other 
health insurance issues that are on the table.
  Fifth, I come from a family--just like the Presiding Officer's 
family--who very much has recognized the importance of education. We 
very much see that the American dream is made possible through opening 
up those opportunities to come about through education.
  I remember growing up on our farm, where my father would come around 
the table, and as we were gathered around the table with the kerosene 
lamp--because we didn't have electricity and a telephone at the ranch--
he would say he was a poor man and there was not much he could leave us 
in terms of a legacy of wealth or a very large ranch. But the one thing 
he would say to those eight children gathered around that table was 
that he wanted them to get a good education. He would say: If you get a 
good education, which you will get because I will insist on it, that is 
something I prefer to give you over anything else in life in terms of 
riches because an education is something no one can ever take away from 
you.
  Mr. President, until this year, there had been, in the last 6 years, 
a policy of disinvestment in education in America. Through the 
leadership of Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi, the higher education 
programs we reauthorized and funded will provide financial aid and 
educational opportunity to millions in America. To my own small State 
of Colorado, about $560 million of additional financial aid will be 
made possible to the young people who are seeking a higher education.
  The passage of the Head Start Reauthorization Act is another 
investment in our young people. I come from a background of having 
served my State as attorney general. During the time I was attorney 
general, I was one of the participants and cochairs of an organization 
called Fight Crime: Invest in Children. We had a simple agenda. We were 
crime fighters, law enforcement, and attorneys general, but we realized 
it was important for us to keep kids out of trouble in the first place. 
So, as a consequence, our agenda was simple: invest in early childhood 
education and in afterschool programs. I think the investment we are 
making in Head Start and the reauthorization of that program is part of 
that agenda, and I very much appreciate the leadership of the Senate in 
getting that done.
  Finally, returning to an issue in which Senator Levin, Senator Akaka, 
Senator Murray, and others have been so much at the point of the spirit 
in leading us to a new level of investment and protection of our 
veterans, this bill, which we approved last night, which is now being 
considered in the House, which will move forward to the President, 
will, for the first time, invest in veterans health care at a level 
that the independent budget of the veterans service organizations have 
recommended. It is the first time that we have met those funding 
levels.
  The Wounded Warriors Act, which is included in that legislation, will 
open up a whole new chapter of taking care of those who serve our 
country. I appreciate the leadership, again, of those who have been 
involved in that effort.
  When I look back at what we have done in 2007 in the Senate and the 
Congress, yes, it has been a year of robust achievement, but it is also 
a fact that there is much change that is still needed. I look forward 
to working with the Presiding Officer and with the rest of my 
colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, in achieving that change 
that is so much needed.
  Let me quickly, also, as we move forward to this holiday season, say 
thank you to the troops who are overseas and to their families for 
their service and for their sacrifice. As we think about that service 
and that sacrifice, it is important for us to take stock that this is a 
real sacrifice.
  The statistics today, December 19, 2007, do not gloss over the 
reality of war and the horrors and sacrifice of war: Total Americans 
killed in Iraq, 3,896; total Coloradans from my State killed in Iraq, 
54; total soldiers from Fort Carson in Colorado Springs who have been 
killed in Iraq, 226; total Americans killed in Afghanistan, 468; total 
Coloradans killed in Afghanistan, 8; and the number of wounded over 
30,000; the number of wounded in Iraq alone 28,711; the number wounded 
in Afghanistan, 1,840.
  For those of us who have visited Walter Reed, as most of us have, we 
see the horrors of war with our wounded warriors. It is important that 
we honor them. It is important that we remember them. It is important 
that we pray for them in these times and we pray for their families as 
well.
  Mr. President, finally, I say thank you to the leadership in the 
Senate, especially to majority leader Harry Reid, the man from 
Searchlight, NV. As he said earlier, even today in some of our 
meetings, he was a Capitol policeman. He never, frankly, thought 
someday he would be elected to Congress and then be elected to the 
Senate and much less to serving as the majority leader essentially in 
charge of this institution, and yet he is there today.
  I am very proud of his work, as are all the rest of my colleagues. 
Through some very difficult times and difficult procedures, he has led 
us to have the robust achievements we have been able to accomplish in 
2007. I am very proud of the fact that he is in charge as the leader of 
the agent of change as we move forward into the new year.
  Mr. President, I thank you for your time. I thank you for your 
leadership and example in the Senate.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.

[[Page S15980]]

  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Salazar). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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