[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 18821-18822]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THE FORGOTTEN AGENDA

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Madam President, I rise today to discuss the state of 
our Nation.
  Our President has asked us to give him the authority to begin a war 
with Iraq, and I look forward to a full and frank debate on that 
question.
  But today I want to discuss other issues, important issues that are 
not getting the attention they deserve, an agenda the President would 
rather not discuss, an agenda I fear is being obscured by gathering 
clouds of war.
  Whether or not to go to war in Iraq is surely a grave and momentous 
decision, but I fear our President is neglecting other crucial matters 
here at home: the quiet crisis American families are facing everyday.
  In Vermont and across this great land families are hurting. When they 
send their children to an overcrowded, underfunded school in the 
morning, they ask, is this the best we can do? When they go to work and 
see an empty desk beside them they wonder, am I next? And they ask, is 
this the best we can do? When they see their dwindling retirement 
accounts and read of endless corporate corruption, they ask, is this 
the best we can do? When they have to cancel their child's doctor's 
appointment because they have lost their health insurance coverage, 
they ask, is this the best we can do? When they send their kids out to 
play only to realize that the air pollution levels are dangerously 
high, they ask, is this the best we can do?
  Is this the best we can do? Of course not. We can do better. We must 
do better, because American families deserve better--and they deserve 
better from their President. In talking about one thing only, the 
President is forgetting

[[Page 18822]]

many others. And so today I call on the President to engage this Nation 
on this forgotten agenda.
  Less than a year after this Congress and the President worked to 
increase the Federal role in elementary and secondary education by 
passing the No Child Left Behind Act, we are in danger of leaving many 
more children behind because sufficient dollars will not be forthcoming 
to see that every child in this Nation receives a quality education.
  The lack of funding for our Nation's schools is a disgrace. Across 
our Nation, headline after headline tells the story of school districts 
having to cut back staff, end the school day early, and cut short the 
school year all because of a lack of funding.
  More than 25 years ago, the Federal Government promised to pay 40 
percent of special education costs for children with disabilities. 
Today, we only pay 18 percent of the costs. That is not just a broken 
promise for one of the richest nations in the world, it is an outrage.
  Remember, the very reason that the Federal Government has a role in 
education is because the Congress realized that our national defense 
depended on our students leading the world in math and science. One of 
this country's first education bills, passed in the late 1950s, after 
the Soviets launched Sputnik, it was entitled the National Defense 
Education Act.
  An even more dramatic action occurred after World War II when we 
passed the GI bill, vastly increasing the Federal contribution to 
education and narrowing the tremendous educational gap.
  A similar gap exists now. Similar action is needed now.
  Of the major industrial nations, the United States ranks among the 
lowest in terms of funding education at the Federal level, providing 
only 7 percent of the costs. Nations such as Turkey, Korea, Italy, the 
Czech Republic and Mexico put us to shame in their expenditure on 
education.
  Recent national test scores tell us that 60 percent--60 percent--of 
12th graders are below the proficiency level in reading. This is basic 
reading.
  By neglecting education today, we are not only shortchanging our 
children's opportunities, we are sapping our Nation's future strength.
  Right now we have over half a million foreign workers here on H1-B 
visas. Those are the visas we give to people from other countries to 
fill jobs within our borders. We shouldn't have to import workers to 
fill the high skill, high wage jobs that we have. We should educate our 
own workers to fill them.
  Our economy is faltering. The President has committed to bringing 
this economy out of recession. After convening an economic summit in 
Texas last August, which was more show than substance, he hasn't been 
engaged.
  We learned in the last week that incomes declined and the poverty 
rate increased for the first time in almost a decade. The annual Census 
Bureau income and poverty report stated that 1.3 million more Americans 
slipped below the poverty line. This increase means that 11.7 percent 
of the United States population is defined as living in poverty.
  In regard to overall income, the Census Bureau said that the median 
household income dropped for the first decrease since 1991. In less 
than 2 years more than two million private sector jobs have been lost.
  Our economic growth is the weakest it has been in 50 years.
  And for the workers who don't need to worry about their jobs, they 
are worrying about their savings. More than 50 percent of Americans 
have investments in the stock market--and they have seen the value of 
those investments decline by over $4.5 trillion since last January.
  Now is the time to restore confidence in the economy. Now is the time 
to show leadership--but this administration's economic leadership has 
been lackluster.
  On environmental issues, I fear we are moving backward instead of 
forward under the Bush administration. The statistics are startling.
  Right now in America there are about 30,000 premature deaths related 
to power plant pollution, about 160 million people breathing unhealthy 
air, and significantly higher risks of cancer and developmental 
problems in urban areas from toxic tailpipe pollution.
  Think about this: 2,500 Americans face premature death from power 
plant pollution each month. That's like suffering casualties from Pear 
Harbor every 30 days.
  Parents are thinking twice before telling their kids to go outside 
and get some fresh air. First, they have to check on the air pollution 
alerts.
  If global warning proceeds as scientists expect, weather will become 
increasingly more hostile and difficult to predict.
  I was proud to work with the first President Bush on the Clean Air 
Act amendments of 1990. He called our work, ``a new chapter in our 
environmental history, and a new era for clean air.''
  Now, this President Bush insists on moving us backward--undoing his 
father's legacy and our Nation's environmental policy.
  This is a dangerous time. We face many threats. They require all of 
our best judgment and careful deliberation.
  Threats of war dominate our headlines. If we were to ignore those 
threats we would do so at our peril.
  So, too, if we ignore the quiet, steady erosion of economic 
opportunity and well-being here at home.
  If we take action in Iraq, Saddam Hussein will rue the day he defied 
the international community and the world's greatest power. But our 
greatness rests on more than our military strength. It rests on our 
ability to meet great challenges whenever and wherever they arise. 
Great challenges have arisen here at home.
  Our men and women in uniform wherever they are--whether they are 
helping to bring order in Kabul or awaiting orders in Kuwait--deserve 
more than our pride and our support. They deserve to come home to a 
nation that is not only free but strong and prosperous.
  We have got to address all the problems facing this Nation. Right now 
we are not. The drumbeat of war cannot and must not drown out the needs 
of our families, our children and our environment.
  I call on President Bush to lead this Nation. One person can make a 
difference--and change only comes one person at a time.
  It would be nice if the world were as simple as foreign and domestic, 
good and bad--or even Democrat and Republican. But the world is not a 
simple place and problems do not come along one at a time. Now is the 
time for leadership, collective will and individual action.
  In a rush to solve problems overseas, we must not ignore the problems 
here at home. They are real, and they deserve our attention.
  There has never been a problem that America could not solve if we 
come together. That is exactly what we need to do, what we should do, 
what we must do now.
  I yield the floor, not with happiness or good feelings but with 
concern and deep hope that we can work together to save this Nation.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that 
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. May I inquire, since the Senator from Vermont 
has finished his major address on the economy, is it appropriate and do 
we have the time at this point to continue the comments from this side 
of the aisle?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority controls the time 
until 10, and the Senator may speak for up to 10 minutes.
  The Senator from Florida.

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