[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4821-4845]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         JUMPSTART OUR BUSINESS STRENGTH (JOBS) ACT--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant Democratic leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the matter before the Senate is what?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The second-degree amendment by Senator 
Grassley.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senator from Connecticut, Mr. Dodd, 
wishes to speak for 15 minutes. I ask following that, the Senator from 
Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, be recognized.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Nevada for securing 
the time. I may not need all of that time. I want to take a few minutes 
to express my deep concerns about the pending amendment. I am in favor 
of the pending amendment. My concern is that an effort will be made to 
somehow avoid having to vote on this critical issue, the issue of 
overtime pay.
  First, let me commend Senator Harkin of Iowa for being so tenacious 
and patient about this amendment. He has offered this proposal in the 
past. We carried the amendment, as I recall, in the Chamber, only to 
watch the matter be dispensed with and dropped in conference.
  He has tried to bring up this matter before. In fact, prior to the 
recess period, Senator Harkin was on the floor of this Chamber for a 
number of hours, trying to get a vote. I think he agreed to a simple 20 
minutes or 25 minutes of debate on whether we would be able to prohibit 
the administration from implementing a new regulation that would take 
overtime away from millions of working Americans.
  I have no doubt about the outcome of the vote if we can actually get 
a vote. I have no doubt the overwhelming majority of our colleagues, if 
given the chance to express themselves on the proposed regulation by 
the administration, would support the Harkin amendment. We have done 
that already. I think that is where Members are, both Democrats and 
Republicans.
  But a determined minority here will not allow us to have this vote. 
We will not get the chance to express whether we believe that hard-
working Americans who work beyond their 40 hours ought to get paid for 
the overtime work they do.
  I was stunned to learn not only is the administration proposing the 
regulation that would prohibit overtime pay for people, but actually, 
within administration documents, they instruct employers on how to 
craft their working relationships with their employees to avoid paying 
overtime pay, moving people into whole new classifications they had 
never held.
  I am baffled that the administration has unveiled such an antiworker, 
antifamily proposed regulation. It is simply one more bad economic 
policy decision that I think is indefensible, and I think we would like 
a chance, both Democrats and Republicans, to express ourselves on this 
proposal.
  I am determined, along with the Senator from Iowa and many others, to 
stay here and do whatever we have to do to get an up-or-down vote on 
whether we ought to ban people from collecting overtime pay when they 
work those hours.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. DODD. I will be happy to yield to my colleague from 
Massachusetts.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I join the Senator in cosponsoring the 
Harkin amendment.
  Is the Senator familiar with the fact that the Republican leadership 
has now done a parliamentary maneuver so there is absolutely no 
opportunity for this institution to act on the Harkin amendment dealing 
with overtime; that they have taken the rules of the Senate and are so 
unwilling to address the amendment of the Senator from Iowa that they 
have effectively foreclosed any opportunity for the Senate of the 
United States to act this afternoon, late afternoon, this evening, or 
at any time until after the cloture motion?
  Can the Senator from Connecticut possibly tell us why the Republican 
leadership would want to deny the people's representatives in the 
Senate the opportunity to express their view on an issue that affects 
approximately 8 million workers in this country?
  Mr. DODD. I thank the Senator. The Senator from Massachusetts has 
been a Member of this Chamber for a number of years, and I have been 
here for almost a quarter of a century. I say to my colleague from 
Massachusetts, I was born at night but not last night.
  You can use the rules of this institution for various purposes. It 
seems clear to this Member that the reason the Republican leadership--a 
determined minority within the majority--is engaging in these 
parliamentary sorts of gymnastics is because they know the outcome. I 
suspect a strong majority of us would speak with a resounding voice in 
saying no, you shouldn't implement a rule that would prohibit hard-
working Americans from collecting overtime pay. This is particularly 
troublesome at a time when so many are out of work and where two 
incomes in a family may be necessary to keep up with the mortgage 
payments, or to pay college tuition, or make car payments. We cannot 
deprive 8 million Americans who today have the right to collect 
overtime. The only reason the Republican leadership is prohibiting a 
vote is because they know the outcome--the amendment would pass.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, as the Senator remembers, we had a vote 
on this measure on September 10, 2003. To substantiate what the Senator 
has pointed out, they voted 54 to 45 in the Senate to retain overtime, 
and in the House of Representatives it was 221 to 203. This was a 
matter of 7 or 8 months ago when we had this body speak in a bipartisan 
way and the House of Representatives speak in a bipartisan way. Still 
we find the Republicans are denying the Senate an opportunity to 
express its will.
  Does the Senator not agree with me that this is sending a message to 
every working family in this country that we have Republican opposition 
to the increase in the minimum wage, Republican opposition to extending 
the unemployment compensation, and Republican opposition to halting the 
proposal that will eliminate overtime for some 8

[[Page 4822]]

million Americans; that one can conclude this administration is not on 
the side of working families?
  Mr. DODD. Again, I thank my colleague for his question. I don't know 
how you can draw any other conclusion than my colleague from 
Massachusetts has.
  As I recall--again, my colleague has a wonderful sense of history, 
and I think my memory is not bad but correct me if I am wrong--during 
the Reagan administration, during the Bush administration, the 
President's father, extended unemployment benefits in those years when 
people were out of work. I think during both Republican and Democratic 
administrations, they said we ought to extend those unemployment 
benefits and raise the minimum wage. But in this administration's case, 
the answer is a resounding no. Not only do they not allow us to vote on 
those matters and extend those benefits as every administration has 
over time, but, of course, they are going a step further and proposing 
regulations.
  Let me be clear so people understand. If you are among one of 250 
current white-collar occupations, if you are a nurse, a firefighter, a 
police officer, emergency medical training personnel, health 
technician, clerical worker, surveyor, chef, if you are in those 
categories and many more, even though your work obligations don't 
change at all, it gives your employer the right to reclassify you as no 
longer someone who qualifies for overtime pay. Even though your work 
doesn't change, you will be deprived of overtime pay, no matter how 
many hours you work. I don't understand.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. DODD. I am happy to yield to my colleague.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator not agree with me that for the first 
time in the history of the overtime laws this administration has stated 
if individuals in the military--I am reading from their proposed 
regulation of March 31, 2003. They talk about training in the Armed 
Forces, stating if you are a member of the National Guard and are 
called up to go over to Iraq, you take a training program in order to 
try to provide greater protection and defense for the men and women in 
your unit, you come back here to the United States, you go back to your 
workplace, and you think you are entitled to overtime, under their 
proposal, make no mistake about it, you are excluded.
  I draw the attention of the Senator to the comments of the very 
distinguished head of a veterans organization. The Senator has 
mentioned the categories of those who will be made ineligible for an 
increase in overtime. This is a letter to Secretary Chao from Thomas 
Corey, national president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, dated 
February 17, 2004:

       [We] would like to make you aware that the proposed 
     modification of the rules would give employers the ability to 
     prohibit veterans from receiving overtime pay based on the 
     training they received in the military. This legitimizes the 
     already extensive problem of ``vetism'' or the discrimination 
     against veterans.

  There it is. That is what their proposal is all about. I don't blame 
the other side for not wanting to have a vote on it.
  Has the Senator ever heard of such a time when we have American 
servicemen spread all over the world being called on--and the National 
Guard and Reserve--to get some training, and they come back and go back 
to work, and there comes the boss who says, Well, you have some 
training in the military, and you are out?
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I had heard some reports about this. I had 
never seen this letter before, but I find it incredible. Like many of 
my colleagues, I have attended various meetings with the families of 
guardsmen and reservists who have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq over 
the last number of months. I have also been at armories in my State as 
the men and women have come back from their service there. I have even 
visited with our troops in Iraq for a few days in December. I cannot 
believe that these men and women, many of whom have spent a year boots-
on-the-ground overseas would be treated in this way. These men and 
women have already had to put their jobs and families on hold as they 
go over for a year--maybe getting back for a week or so. It is hard 
enough to do that, hard enough to be away, hard enough to go through 
the perils of serving in a war zone as these young men and women are 
doing. But I find it stunning to also be told because of the training 
they may receive in order to help us rebuild Iraq and defend their 
fellow men and women in the uniform, that the training they got now 
deprives them of getting as much as 25 percent of their income. I am 
told that as much as 25 percent of the earning power of an average 
worker in this country comes from overtime pay. People coming back who 
just served their country, who put their life on the line, and been 
away for a year, are now being told if they got job training over 
there, they will no longer be eligible for overtime pay. That is 
incredible.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I draw the attention of the Senator to the comments from 
the National Association of Manufacturers.

       The NAM applauds the department for including this 
     alternative means of establishing that an employee has the 
     knowledge required for the exception [from the overtime 
     protections] to apply . . . For example, many people who come 
     out of the mili-
     tary . . .

  There it is again, the National Association of Manufacturers praising 
that part of the Bush proposal.
  We are talking about those who are serving in the Armed Forces now, 
and we know 40 percent of the combat arms in Iraq are National Guard 
reserve units. We find out that those individuals who get that extra 
training, which is essential in order to help protect the lives of 
their fellow servicemen, are told when they come back home, too bad, 
you are not going to get your overtime pay.
  I ask the Senator if this has been his experience. I have a chart, as 
well, regarding workers without overtime protections being more than 
twice as likely to work longer hours.
  The point I have heard the Senator from Connecticut and the Senator 
from Illinois make is, if you do not have the protections, some think 
you will have to work a little bit longer, but it will not make much 
difference.
  This chart from the Labor Department shows what happens in the two 
cases: where workers are paid time and a half for overtime and where 
they are not.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Voinovich). The time of the Senator from 
Connecticut has expired.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I had requested to be recognized following the Senator.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts is recognized 
under the previous order.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, this is on my time.
  This chart shows if you do not have overtime protections, you are 
twice as likely to work more than 40 hours a week and three times as 
likely to work more than 50 hours a week.
  Without overtime protections, hold onto your seat, employers will 
make you work twice as hard after hours.
  Does the Senator agree with me that the Bush Administration is not 
only denying fair compensation on a proposal that has been in effect 
since the 1930s, but the message ought to go out to workers across this 
country they are going to work a great deal longer, a great deal harder 
because without the overtime protection, that is the record. They will 
be exploited in the workplace.
  Mr. DODD. I thank my colleague for the question. I see our friend 
from Illinois, as well, so I will not take much time.
  I am glad the Senator pointed this out. It reinforces the argument I 
mentioned a moment ago that according to Labor Department studies, this 
elimination of overtime pay for 250 job classifications will reduce the 
earning power of the average working family by 25 percent. What the 
Senator from Massachusetts is saying is not only will you have less 
pay, but you will have to work longer hours, as well.
  I am glad the Senator referenced the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
1938. We went through World War II, we went through Korea, Vietnam, 
through economic downturns, and no administration ever suggested the 
kind of changes

[[Page 4823]]

in overtime pay this Bush administration is advocating today.
  I urge, as my colleague from Massachusetts has, give us a chance to 
vote. Give this body a chance to express its will on whether we think 
during these times of economic hardship people ought to be able to get 
overtime pay.
  If you are a nurse, clerical worker, firefighter, a reporter, a 
paralegal, dental hygienist, graphic artist, the list goes on, those 
are the job classifications in which you will be denied overtime pay. 
Your work remains the same, you do not get the extra pay, you work 
longer hours.
  Let's vote on the Harkin amendment. Let's have an up-or-down vote to 
determine whether this body believes overtime pay ought to still be the 
practice in this country.
  Mr. KENNEDY. I ask a final two questions of my friend from 
Connecticut.
  When we are talking about police officers and nurses and 
firefighters, they are the categories we rely on for homeland security. 
They are the backbone of homeland security. Here we are in the Senate 
effectively saying to those workers, we are going to take away your 
overtime pay. The Republicans are saying that because they will not let 
us get a vote on it.
  We have a lot of problems in this country, but I don't believe one of 
the problems is that we are paying our firefighters, our nurses, and 
our police officers who are on the front line of homeland security--I 
don't think the principal problem we have is we are paying them too 
much.
  The Senator from Connecticut is the leader in this body with regard 
to children and children's issues. I have a chart that looks at the 
number of children hungry in this country. We are seeing an expansion 
of hunger in this country. We do not talk about it a great deal in this 
body, but it is a direct result of the fact working families are having 
a hard time making ends meet. They have not gotten an increase in the 
minimum wage, unemployment compensation has been denied, they are 
facing the threat of loss of overtime. We have 13 million hungry 
children. I ask the Senator, we have the other problem with 8 million 
unemployed, 8 million workers who will lose overtime, the low minimum 
wage for 7 million, 3 million more Americans are living in poverty 
because of the economic policies of the last 3 years, and 90,000 
workers a week are losing their unemployment benefits. Regarding the 
impact of all these economic policies on children, I am wondering if 
the Senator would address this issue briefly. It is important when we 
are talking about these issues, we are not just talking about technical 
questions of overtime; we are talking about real people with real lives 
and people who are facing some very challenging times.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, again I thank my colleague from 
Massachusetts. He has in a sense answered the question himself with 
these numbers. It is hard to believe, given the times, the hardship, 
90,000 people a week are exhausting their unemployment insurance 
benefits.
  We know of the pressures that exist on families already. We know how 
hard it is today economically. It is not an uncommon story to hear, 
whether you are in the home State of the Presiding Officer in Ohio, or 
Massachusetts, Illinois or Connecticut, to have families where two, 
three, and four jobs are held in order to make ends meet and how 
critically important it is to have that income coming in.
  When we read about jobs being outsourced across the country, being 
shipped off to India and China, and the administration is saying that 
that is a good thing for the economy, when 2.6 million manufacturing 
jobs have been lost, many of which have left the country, we have to be 
concerned about the future of America's families. These are all 
pressure points on these families who are living on the margins. We are 
not talking about families who are necessarily in poverty but families 
who are struggling to provide for their basic needs, trying to prepare 
for children going on to college, seeing to it they get a good 
education, keeping them properly clothed, and in good health.
  Forty-four million Americans do not have health care. The 
overwhelming majority of that 44 million are working people with two 
incomes. That is the average. Over 80 percent of the 44 million people 
without health care are working families. Now you take up to 25 percent 
of their income away and make them work longer hours. How is that 
balancing work and family?
  This body took 7 years to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act with 
the help of my good friend from Massachusetts. We tried to make it 
possible for people to balance their needs, but now, this 
administration is depriving these families and their children from 
receiving basic necessities.
  I am glad my colleague from Massachusetts has raised the issue beyond 
just the numbers and statistics we cite.
  These are real people and real lives out there struggling to make 
ends meet. And now the Republican leadership is depriving this body a 
chance to vote on this amendment which would prohibit the 
administration from moving forward with their overtime proposal. I am 
glad my colleague made the point about the firefighters, about the EMT 
services, about the police officers. These are the first responders on 
homeland security. This administration is not only turning their back 
on veterans and people in uniform who are going to be shoved into the 
class of not getting overtime pay, but even our first responders now 
are going to be asked to pay a price as well.
  Let's vote on the Harkin amendment. Let's have an up-and-down vote to 
determine whether or not this body believes overtime pay ought to still 
be the law of the land and not relegated to a handful of people.
  So, Mr. President, I thank my colleague for his efforts. I am glad to 
join with him as a cosponsor of the Harkin amendment.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I underline once again what the Senator 
from Connecticut has been saying about the average wage in 2001. The 
average wage of the jobs we lost in 2001 was $44,570, according to the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average wage of the jobs we are gaining 
today is $35,000, down 21 percent. This is outside of the overtime. 
These are the new jobs. This is the average wage today of the new jobs 
being created, $35,000; $44,000 of the jobs we lost in 2001.
  This is what is happening, and we are saying to these workers: Well, 
that is not bad enough. We are going to deny you overtime pay. We have 
been denying you an increase in the minimum wage for 7 years. We are 
going to deny you unemployment compensation--90,000 people a week. 
These are the facts. The average wage of jobs lost was $44,570 to but 
only $35,410 for the jobs gained.
  As this chart shows you, American workers are working longer and 
harder than workers in any other industrial nation in the world. Look 
at this line right over here. The United States is right at the top. 
Americans are working longer, they are working harder, and they are 
falling further and further and further and further behind. And what is 
the answer of this administration? Cut overtime. We can do better. What 
is the answer of the Republican leadership? Deny us a chance to do 
something about it. That is what we are faced with.
  Well, it seems to me that hopefully Americans will have their answer 
sometime soon. If we are not able to on this bill, I know the Senators 
from Connecticut and Illinois share my view. I know the Senator from 
Iowa does. This is just the beginning. This is the opening shot. I tell 
our Republican friends, this issue is coming at you again and again and 
again. Make no mistake about it. You don't like to vote on it? Too bad. 
These families are suffering out there, and we are going to keep 
bringing this up, again and again and again and again, until you do 
vote on it.
  Mr. DURBIN. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. KENNEDY. I am glad to yield.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Senator from Massachusetts and the Senator 
from Connecticut. I think what we hear in this discussion should be 
described in simple terms to those following this debate. We are 
asking, on the floor of the Senate, for an up-or-

[[Page 4824]]

down vote for Members to be counted on the question of whether the Bush 
administration will, for the first time in the history of the law, 
restrict overtime pay to American workers.
  Since the law was created in 1938 establishing overtime, each 
successive administration that has changed the law--Democrat and 
Republican--has expanded the class of workers eligible for overtime.
  But this time, this administration, which has witnessed almost 3 
million jobs eliminated in America, has now suggested that we should 
reduce and eliminate overtime for 8 million American workers.
  I say to the Senator from Massachusetts, it is part of a pattern. The 
Bush administration is not sensitive to the real needs of working 
families. They have resisted the efforts of the Senator from 
Massachusetts to increase the minimum wage for 7 years. Think about how 
many people are working one, two, and three jobs to try to put enough 
money together to keep their families in a good home, to pay their 
basic bills. Yet they resist increases in the minimum wage.
  Then, when you ask them about these jobs going overseas, the Bush 
administration's economic adviser says the outsourcing of jobs to India 
and China is a good thing. Where does he live? Where does he get his 
advice? This man is trapped in a textbook. He should get out on Main 
Street and talk to real families. The outsourcing of jobs overseas is 
not a good thing. It is costing us jobs in America.
  When the Senators from Massachusetts and Connecticut stand up and 
say, well, for goodness' sake, at least take pity on unemployed 
Americans, help them keep their families together, pay for their health 
insurance now that they have lost their jobs, consistently, on the 
floor of the Senate, the other party--the Republican Party--votes 
against the extension of unemployment benefits.
  In my State we have thousands of people unemployed who have no 
benefits coming in. How do you keep it together under those 
circumstances?
  And the last point--an important one we are discussing--is the idea 
that we would eliminate overtime pay for 8 million workers. I think the 
Senator has made such a positive and important point. Who are these 
workers? They are firefighters; they are policemen; they are nurses.
  I do not know about the State of Massachusetts. In the State of 
Illinois, we have a serious shortage of nurses. Hospitals come to me 
and say: Can you help us bring nurses in from the Philippines and 
overseas? We don't have enough nurses. And this administration says we 
are going to eliminate overtime pay for nurses? What will that do to 
us? Fewer and fewer health care professionals in hospitals cannot make 
America healthier or safer, and that is what they are proposing.
  But today I believe the Senator from Massachusetts has brought to us 
the icing on the cake. Now we have this administration saying, when it 
comes to overtime, if you happen to be a soldier in the military or an 
activated guardsman or reservist, and you serve your country, and are 
trained in service, pick up skills, when you come home, because of this 
Bush administration proposal, you will be disqualified from overtime 
pay.
  It is almost incredible to say those words: That men and women leave 
their families with the 233rd unit of the Illinois National Guard, 
military police, and are gone for a year over in Iraq--who are coming 
home in a few weeks, thank God; their families have waited patiently--
but if they made the mistake of picking up a new skill while they were 
activated, they could be disqualified from overtime pay when they 
return to their job. That is exactly what the Bush administration is 
proposing.
  We hear so many speeches about how Members of the Senate are going to 
stand up for fighting soldiers, stand up for the vets. I ask the 
Senator from Massachusetts, when it comes to the Bush proposal to 
eliminate overtime for those vets who have been trained in the 
military, how can this possibly be a demonstration of our support and 
admiration for the men and women in uniform?
  Mr. KENNEDY. Well, it is beyond comprehension, I say to the Senator, 
that in this proposal the administration has yielded to the 
recommendation of the National Association of Manufacturers, that those 
who get special skills in the military would not qualify for overtime. 
And I read that particular provision in the proposed regulation.
  I ask unanimous consent to print the paragraph in the Record, dated 
March 31, of the proposed rules that talk about training in the Armed 
Forces.

                [From the Federal Register Mar. 31, 2003]

        (d) The phrase ``customarily acquired by a prolonged 
     course of specialized intellectual instruction'' generally 
     restricts the exemption to professions where specialized 
     academic training is a standard prerequisite for entrance 
     into the profession. The best prima facie evidence that an 
     employee meets this requirement is possession of the 
     appropriate academic degree. However, the word 
     ``customarily'' means that the exemption is also available to 
     employees in such professions who have substantially the same 
     knowledge level as the degreed employees, but who attained 
     such knowledge through a combination of work experience, 
     training in the armed forces, attending a technical school, 
     attending a community college or other intellectual 
     instruction.

  Mr. KENNEDY. It is right in there. And it was requested by the 
National Association of Manufacturers. They made a comment about how 
happy they are it is in there. It is one of the most offensive 
proposals this administration has made.
  I want to just make a final comment and respond to what the Senator 
has mentioned with regard to the nurses because this is so important, 
as I know the Senator is concerned about the issue of the quality of 
health care.
  This is from Cathy Stoddart of Mingo Junction, OH, a nurse at the 
Allegheny Regional Hospital in Pittsburgh:

       . . . President Bush and the Republican members of the 
     House and Senate are trying to take away the one thing that 
     discouraged hospital administrators from forcing nurses to 
     work overtime. If you think nurses are running away now, just 
     wait until their employers start telling them they have to 
     work a 20 hour shift and aren't getting overtime pay for a 
     single minute of it!

  This proposal affects the quality of health care. We talked about the 
standard of living for working families and the challenges they are 
facing over a lack of an increase in the minimum wage, over the lack of 
unemployment compensation, and now there is the overtime proposal. This 
is going to have a dramatic impact and adverse effect on the quality of 
health care in this country. And for what? And that is because of the 
urging of the National Association of Manufacturers, the Chamber of 
Commerce urging the administration to find a way to cut back on 
overtime for 8 million workers in this country.
  I thank the Senator from Illinois for raising not only what this 
issue is going to mean for working families, but what the impact is 
going to be on, in this case, health care and other vital services.
  We have talked about veterans. In that regard, I bring to the 
attention of the Senator Randy Fleming, who writes:
  I am also proud to say that I am a military veteran. I have worked 
for Boeing for 23 years. The training I received in the Air Force 
qualified me for a good civilian job. The second thing is overtime pay. 
With the overtime, I have paid for my kid's college education. The 
changes this administration is trying to make in the overtime 
regulations would break the government's bargain with the men and women 
in the military, close down the opportunities that working vets and 
their families thought they could count on.
  When I signed up back in 1973, the Air Force and I made a deal that I 
thought was fair. They got a chunk of my time and I got training to 
help me build the rest of my life. There was no part of the deal that 
said I would have to give up my right to overtime pay. You have heard 
of the marriage penalty. I think what these new rules do is create a 
military penalty. If you get your training in the military, no matter 
what your white-collar profession is, your employer can make you work 
as many hours as they want and not pay an

[[Page 4825]]

extra dime. If that is not a bait and switch, I don't know what is.
  I have no doubt employers will take advantage of this new opportunity 
to cut our overtime pay. They will say if they can't take out our 
overtime pay, they will have to eliminate the jobs. It won't be just 
the bad employers because these rules will make it very hard for 
companies to do the right thing. The veterans and other working people 
will be stuck with less time, less money, and a broken deal.
  There it is, in real life, Randy Fleming, a veteran who looks down 
the road in the eyes of his children, hard working, played by the 
rules, served our country, acquired some skills, and he is looking to 
the future.
  This is a lousy proposal. It doesn't deserve to be favorably 
considered. But our Republican friends are refusing us, denying us the 
opportunity to get a vote on it. I know the Senator from Iowa would be 
willing to agree to an hour of debate, a half hour of debate, 15 
minutes of debate--we know what the issues are--to get a vote. The idea 
to use the rules of the Senate to deny the Senate the ability to 
express its will on this issue is an enormous insult to working 
families all across the country and one they will not forget easily.
  Mr. HARKIN. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. KENNEDY. I am glad to yield.
  Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Senator from Massachusetts for his continued 
strong support of our working families, especially on the issues of the 
minimum wage and overtime. I was listening to the Senator talk about 
the issue dealing with training in the armed services. I ask the 
Senator, is it not true that since 1938, when we have gone through 
World War II, the Korean War, the cold war, the Vietnam War, Gulf War, 
everything else, during that time our young men and women who served in 
the military who got training and then later got out were still 
eligible for overtime pay regardless of the kind of training they got?
  Mr. KENNEDY. The Senator is absolutely correct. I welcome his 
historical memory on this issue. We have been involved in conflicts--
Vietnam, Korean War, World War II--with Republican and Democratic 
administrations, and at no time during those conflicts did we ever say 
the skills that were developed in the military were going to 
effectively preclude you from receiving overtime. This is the first 
time with this administration. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. HARKIN. I ask the Senator further, would this not then set up the 
oddest kind of circumstance with a veteran and a nonveteran? Let's say 
two young people just got out of high school. They see these ads on 
television that say join the Army, be all you can be, get all this 
training to help you out. One friend decides to go in the Army. The 
other doesn't. It is a volunteer force. The person who goes in the Army 
gets training as an aerospace mechanic on engines or something like 
that, and comes out. The other person has not gone in the military, has 
different jobs, gets some kind of on-the-job training. Could this not 
set up a circumstance where if both of them were working for the same 
company, the person who entered the military and got that training, 
because of the way it is written in the rules, could be classified 
exempt from overtime, and the person who didn't go in the military 
would still get the overtime for the same exact job? Wouldn't this be 
the kind of situation that could arise?
  Mr. KENNEDY. The overtime rule is unfair. As the Senator knows, 
particularly today, when so much of the combat arms are National 
Guard--probably 40 percent of the combat arms in Iraq today are 
National Guard and Reserve--these are people getting these skills, 
going back home, and getting the jobs. They are not staying in there 5, 
7, 10 years. They are receiving these skills now, and these skills are 
necessary in terms of protecting the members of their squad or unit, to 
ensure that the military mission is going to be advanced.
  I would be interested in the Senator's reaction. I mentioned Randy 
Fleming, who is a military veteran and served in the Air Force from 
1973 to 1979, got training in the military, and used overtime to pay 
for the tuition of his children. He says: When I went in the service, I 
went in the service to get that training. No one told me that after I 
served 6 years in the Air Force and got my training, that in the 
twilight period of my life, because I received that training 20 years 
ago, I am going to be denied the overtime pay I had planned to put 
aside to educate my daughter. No one told me, he said in his letter. 
You talk about a marriage penalty. Here it is, a penalty against us. 
Where is the fairness? Where is the justice? Isn't the word of the 
United States good on this?
  I commend the Senator for bringing up this historical background 
because we have never done that to the veterans.
  I mentioned earlier the letter to Secretary Chao from Thomas Corey: 
We would like to make you aware that the modification of the rules 
would give the employers the ability to prohibit veterans from 
receiving overtime pay based on the training they received. This 
legitimizes the already extensive problem of vetism, discrimination 
against veterans.
  This is it. I put the section in the Record of the proposal. I think 
there are many reasons to be against this proposal, but the signal it 
sends to the families of our servicemen couldn't be more unfortunate.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I was listening with interest to my 
colleagues from Massachusetts and Iowa talk about the overtime issue. I 
was thinking about this in the context of jobs.
  One of the great debates we have is an economy that apparently is 
growing but producing really no new jobs. We are about 2.5 million jobs 
down from 3 years ago. Last month's jobs numbers were pretty anemic--I 
think 12,000 jobs, almost all of them government jobs.
  I was thinking about the announcement 2 weeks ago that scheduled to 
create this manufacturing jobs czar that had been promised last fall. 
The administration is going to create a jobs czar because they are 
concerned about jobs, so they announced a ceremony that was going to be 
held to introduce their jobs czar. And then just before it happens, it 
is called off because the jobs czar is in China visiting his 
manufacturing plant he has moved from Nebraska to China. Everybody in 
the Administration was embarrassed about that. They are going to have a 
jobs czar that actually moved some of his American jobs to China. He 
was over there visiting his employees when the President was prepared 
to announce a new jobs czar for U.S. jobs.
  It seems to me that the 40-hour workweek has always been about 
creating jobs, because if you can work employees 50 hours, 60 hours, 70 
hours, and there is no consequence to it, then you don't have to create 
new jobs.
  You just work your current employees overtime, on and on. But for 60 
or 70 years in this country we have decided if you are required to work 
more than 40 hours a week, you have a right to be paid overtime. That 
is incentive to create jobs for the amount of work that is available or 
necessary for that amount over 40 hours. So at a time when we are 
losing jobs, and when jobs are the issue, I ask my colleague from Iowa, 
isn't it the case this overtime proposal actually retards the creation 
of new jobs, and to keep the 40-hour workweek and to get rid of this 
goofy proposal from the Department of Labor would actually be job 
creating?
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, the Senator has put his finger on it. This 
proposal by the administration to take away the rights of up to 8 
million Americans on overtime is what I call a job-killing proposal. 
The Senator is absolutely right. It is common sense.
  Look, if you have people working and you can work them over 40 hours 
and not pay them time and a half, but regular pay, why would you hire 
anybody else? You would just work them longer. In fact, I say to the 
Senator--and he may well be aware of this--when they put out the 
proposed rules, they put out certain examples on how employers could 
get around paying overtime. One of the proposals--I will read it into 
the Record later; I have done it previously--was to say, look, what you 
do

[[Page 4826]]

is simply reclassify your workers; you then pay them a little bit less, 
but work them longer so your out-of-pocket expenses are the same, but 
you work them over 40 hours a week. What a deal.
  This is like the IRS telling people how to cheat on their taxes and 
giving them information on how to get around the IRS Code. At a time 
when we need jobs in this country, this is another disincentive to 
creating jobs. Not only do they want to outsource jobs to other 
countries, I say to my friend; they now want to tell the American 
worker to work longer every week and don't expect to get paid any more 
for it.
  Mr. DORGAN. As I walked over to the Chamber a few moments ago, it 
occurred to me there is almost never someone walking around this 
building, or standing out in front of the building who is advocating on 
behalf of working families, saying my job is to be here to make sure 
the voice of working families is heard in the Halls of Congress. There 
are a lot of people with shiny shoes, suspenders, and Cohiba cigars 
here and they are paid well to look after the big interests of this 
country, and they do a great job, God bless them. But the fact is 
working families don't have so much influence, regrettably, in 
Washington, DC. They don't have people here looking after their 
interests.
  I am talking about those families in this country who know about 
second jobs. Why? Because they work second jobs. They know about second 
shifts. Why? Because they have the second-shift job. They know about 
secondhand, they know about second mortgages, and about second 
everything. Now they are worried about job security and about whether 
they will keep their jobs, about whether their jobs will be exported to 
China because they cannot compete with 33-cent labor. Now they have to 
worry about a proposal that says, for 70 years we have had a 40-hour 
workweek, and we are thinking of changing that so the big employers 
have the opportunity to work you 50 hours a week or 60 hours a week if 
we choose.
  We go to bed at night in this country feeling good and safe. Why? 
Because the men and women from our police forces are driving up and 
down the streets to keep us safe. We go to bed not worrying about fires 
because we have firefighters out there who are awake all night. Many of 
them work extra hours and are paid overtime for it. That is an 
important part of their family's income.
  Now we are told by the Department of Labor we would like to change 
all that after almost 70 years; we don't think employers ought to pay 
overtime. My colleague had it right. In fact, the sole job of some 
consulting companies it is to say to corporations, we are going to find 
a way with these rules to allow you not to have to pay overtime to your 
employees. I don't understand it.
  I watched this morning when my colleague from Iowa was on the floor. 
I don't understand why we are not voting on this amendment. We voted on 
it before. The Senate already expressed itself. We said we support this 
amendment. I don't have the foggiest idea what those who are now 
scheduling this place think they are accomplishing. This isn't going 
away. This is going to be voted on. Perhaps not 5 minutes from now, 
maybe not 5 hours from now, but the Senate will vote. When the Senate 
votes on this, the Senate is going to say the Department of Labor 
should not be allowed to promulgate those rules. Why? Because the 
Senate, by and large, has a sense of fairness about this. The only way 
the leadership can stop this is to prevent a vote.
  That is why we are here today, trying to force a vote. But those who 
have their foot in the door are doing it for one reason. They would 
lose a vote if they had it. They are going to have it and lose it. It 
will probably be tomorrow or next week, but this vote will happen and 
they are going to lose it. Why? Because there is a basic sense of 
fairness, in my judgment.
  Finally, I come back to the proposition I started with. This kind of 
rule at this point is a way of saying we don't need more jobs in this 
country. Eliminating overtime for 6 or 8 million people is a way of 
saying we don't care about creating jobs. If you cannot work people 
overtime, over 40 hours, without paying time and a half--if you cannot 
do that, you have to create jobs to do the extra work. That is the way 
the system works. That is what has allowed the economy to grow. That is 
what produces new jobs.
  Those who now support this proposition--the administration, 
Department of Labor, the majority party in Congress--that these 
overtime rules ought to be changed after 60-some years and prevent 
overtime payments to 6 million or 8 million people, they are the ones 
who are saying, apparently, we don't need new jobs in this country. 
They don't stand for creating new jobs. I cannot think of a worse 
position to take at this point than, in the face of diminishing jobs 
and jobs moving overseas and outsourcing and those issues, for somebody 
to come to this floor and say, by the way, let's cut down even more on 
jobs by forcing people to work longer without paying them overtime. 
This makes no sense to me at all.
  Again, my colleague is doing a service to the Senate by standing here 
and saying we are going to vote on this.
  Mr. HARKIN. If the Senator will yield. Again, I thank the Senator 
from North Dakota for not forgetting his populace roots of North 
Dakota. When the Senator speaks on the floor, as he just has, he speaks 
with clarity, common sense, and the wisdom of the common man and woman. 
That is why I have always admired the Senator from North Dakota.
  What he has just said strikes right at the heart of what the common 
man and woman in this country feel--that their rights to at least 
overtime pay, if they are working over 40 hours, are being taken away 
without their having anything to say about it.
  As the Senator pointed out very clearly, we are not being allowed our 
right to represent the common man and woman--his constituents in North 
Dakota, my constituents in Iowa, or anywhere else in this country--in 
getting a vote on the Senate floor as to whether we will permit the 
administration to take away those overtime rights.
  I say to the Senator this is something that should not be allowed to 
happen on the Senate floor. I thank the Senator for his stalwart 
support for our working men and women and for insisting we have a vote 
on this Senate floor. The Senator is absolutely right that we are 
having all kinds of games being played, all kinds of little 
parliamentary tricks, so we will not vote on this.
  There is one other thing I want to ask the Senator from North Dakota, 
who also has a keen insight and judgment on issues dealing with 
fairness and taxation and jobs going overseas.
  This morning, the senior Senator from Iowa, who is the chairman of 
the Finance Committee, went on to talk about how if we do not pass this 
bill there are going to be tariffs because the WTO said we are in 
violation, and so therefore we have to change the law or we are going 
to have to start paying tariffs.
  I am reading from what basically he said this morning: The sanctions 
began on March 1, 5 percent. The Senator from Iowa said: It is like a 
5-percent sales tax on everything we are going to sell overseas or 
stuff we are going to sell overseas. He said by March it would be 5 
percent; 6 percent in April; 7 percent in May; 8 percent in June; 9 
percent in July; 10 percent in August; 11 percent in September; 12 
percent by November.
  So will the Senator from North Dakota help me clear up my thinking on 
this? I hear now that the Republicans, since they do not want to vote 
on the overtime amendment, may actually pull the bill, kill this bill, 
which means then we will have to pay tariffs to Europe, we will have to 
pay a penalty, that may amount, according to the Senator from Iowa, up 
to $4 billion a year. Am I correct, I ask the Senator from North 
Dakota, that they would rather pay tariffs to Europe than overtime to 
our workers?
  That is what they are saying. If they pull this bill, we will have to 
pay these

[[Page 4827]]

tariffs; we will be paying money to Europe but we will not be paying 
overtime. Does the Senator from North Dakota see it that way, that 
somehow because they do not want to vote on overtime they will pay 
tariffs to Europe but not overtime to our people? I ask the Senator 
from North Dakota what kind of fairness is there to our working people 
in that?
  Mr. DORGAN. That is an interesting construct of the debate, and I 
think a reasonably accurate one. This underlying bill, while it has 
some flaws, would pass the Senate, in my judgment, and will pass the 
Senate. Those who are the architects of the bill and bring it to the 
floor want to bring it in a circumstance where they say, oh, by the 
way, this is our idea and you cannot add any of your ideas to it.
  What the Senator from Iowa is doing is using the only alternative 
available to him to try to stop something that diminishes and destroys 
jobs in this country and destroys the opportunity to create more jobs.
  The Senator from Iowa is perfectly within his rights to offer this 
amendment. The Senate already expressed itself on this amendment. 
Republicans and Democrats have said: We believe we ought to stop the 
Department of Labor from issuing these rules on overtime. It is not a 
radical position. The Senate has already taken this position. It had 
the vote.
  I conclude by trying to put this in some perspective. I find it 
interesting that there are people in our political system who like 
organized labor as long as it is overseas. I will describe a story of 
something that happened. My colleague was perhaps there at the time. 
There was a joint session of Congress held in Washington, DC. As joint 
sessions are in almost all cases, it was a majestic situation. The 
House and Senate come together in the House Chamber. It is normally 
when the President gives a State of the Union Address, but sometimes a 
foreign leader is invited to speak to a joint session of Congress.
  On this day, at the backdoor of the House of Representatives, a man 
was introduced to a joint session as Lech Walesa from Poland. I will 
never forget the day because this man, probably 5'8" tall, kind of 
chubby cheeks, red cheeks and a handlebar mustache, walked to the front 
of the room of the House and the applause began. It went on and on and 
on and on.
  Then this man, no politician, no diplomat, no scholar, no 
intellectual, no military hero, told his story. I will never forget the 
speech he gave that day. The story briefly was this: He was a worker in 
a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. He had been fired from his job as an 
electrician because he was leading a strike to organize workers. He was 
fired by the Communist government. On a Saturday morning, he was back 
in the shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, leading a strike of workers in that 
shipyard once again against the Communist government. He told us that 
the Communist secret police grabbed him and beat him severely. They 
took him to the edge of the shipyard and they hoisted him up 
unceremoniously over the barbed wire fence and threw him on the other 
side of the fence in this shipyard in Gdansk, Poland.
  He told us that he lay there face down bleeding. Remember, this is an 
unemployed electrician who was leading a strike for a free labor 
movement against a Communist government. He lay there on that Saturday 
morning, bleeding face down in the dirt, wondering what to do next. The 
history books, of course, tell us what he did next. He pulled himself 
back up, climbed right back over the fence into that shipyard, and then 
10 years later he was introduced in the House of Representatives to a 
joint session of the Congress as the President of the country of 
Poland.
  This is what he said to us: We did not have any guns. The Communist 
government had all the guns. We did not have any bullets. The Communist 
government had all the bullets. We were only armed with an idea, and 
that is workers ought to be free to choose their own destiny. He said: 
My friends, ideas are more powerful than guns.
  This man was no intellectual, no politician or diplomat, he was an 
unemployed electrician. And 10 years later he walked into this building 
as the President of his country, saying that workers have rights.
  Our country embraced him. Our country embraced the effort and the 
sacrifice by Lech Walesa and so many others in the country of Poland in 
support of workers rights, in support of labor unions, in support of 
the very things we are talking about today.
  It is interesting that it was Lech Walesa and Poland that lit the 
fuse that created a free Eastern Europe. In country after country, he 
lit the fuse that started it all and changed the world--the power of 
one and the power of an idea.
  My colleague from Iowa is talking about the power of an idea, and 
this is not a new idea; it is a timeless truth. Yes, there are some 
timeless truths, and that is working people have a right to expect to 
be treated fairly. This country is not just about people at the top; 
this is about people at the top and the bottom and everything in 
between.
  In my part of the country, we understood a century and a half ago, as 
the wagon trains moved across the landscape in North Dakota heading 
west, that one does not move a wagon train ahead by leaving some wagons 
behind. We understood that long ago. The same is true with respect to 
policies in this country, especially economic policies.
  The things that represented the root and the core of belief for Lech 
Walesa of Poland was represented on the streets of America 75 to 100 
years ago about the rights of workers.
  Business has rights, workers have rights, investors have rights. I 
understand all of that. Now we are talking about the right of people 
who for 60 years have understood the rules, and the rules are that if 
one's employer wants to work a person more than 40 hours a week, they 
have a right to expect to be paid overtime.
  All of a sudden, for millions of families, law enforcement folks, 
firefighters and others, this administration wants to say: We are 
changing that rule; we believe employers have a right to tell you to 
work 50 or 60 hours and they do not need to pay you overtime.
  As I said before, that is a quick way to say we do not need to create 
new jobs. We will just overwork existing workers. It is not fair. There 
is a basic sense of fairness in this Congress. That is why when this is 
voted on, as it was before, it will pass.
  The basic contention of Senator Harkin is that this is, at its root, 
unfair. It changes the rules of the game.
  You can talk a lot about this country of ours. I suppose in political 
campaigns there is way too much negative talk about our country. But 
there is a lot right about our country, and much of what has been right 
about our country has been manifested by people who have gone to the 
streets and gone to the ballot boxes and effected positive change that 
has improved the lives of working people and raised an entire middle 
class in this country which did not previously exist.
  This is a big issue and an important issue. It is probably not as big 
or important to anybody in this Senate who doesn't get paid overtime. 
But there are millions of families who rely on overtime, who work hard 
every day to get the extra hours and get the overtime pay because that 
is the way they send their kids to school and buy their schoolbooks and 
send their kids to college or buy the spring clothing--to those 
families, it is important. I come back again to say those are the 
families who know about second: Second choice, second mortgage, second 
shift, second job, and too often, in my judgment, they get shortchanged 
here in Congress.
  But they will not, I repeat not, be shortchanged if the Senator from 
Iowa and I and others who demand a vote on this provision get a vote 
because we will win that vote. We won it before in the Senate. We will 
win it again. When we win that vote, we will stop the Department of 
Labor from doing this, and we will, in my judgment, have advanced two 
things: No. 1, the respect for the rights of American workers; and, No. 
2, we will have forced the creation of additional jobs in this country, 
something that is desperately needed at a time when we see far too many 
jobs going overseas.

[[Page 4828]]

  I don't know what the time situation is of the Senator from Iowa, but 
I want to make one more comment. I talk about jobs overseas because it 
is the core of this issue about jobs that brings me to the floor to 
talk about overtime. I have spoken a good number of times about this 
issue and I am going to talk one more time for a minute.
  The symbol of outsourcing of jobs is for me Huffy bicycles. We all 
know about Huffy bicycles. They are 20 percent of the American 
marketplace. Buy a good Huffy bicycle, buy it at Sears, Kmart, buy it 
at Wal-Mart. It used to be made in Ohio by American workers. I am sure 
they were proud of their jobs. I don't know any of them. Eleven dollars 
an hour they were paid to make Huffy bicycles.
  Between the handlebar and the fender they put a little decal on Huffy 
bicycles and the decal was the American flag. But Huffy bicycles are 
not made there anymore. They are made in China. The decal isn't an 
American flag anymore. They changed the decal. In fact, I was told it 
was the last job the workers in Ohio had to do, was replace on existing 
inventory the American flag decal with a decal of the globe. Huffy 
bicycles are made in China by people making 33 cents an hour, working 7 
days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day. The workers in Ohio can't compete 
with 33 cents an hour. That is the struggle of American workers these 
days. It is a big struggle. We have big questions to answer. We have 
trade policies we must try to set right. We have to deal with all these 
issues. We have to find some way to stand up for the interests of 
American jobs and American workers.
  This overtime issue is just one piece of that, just one piece. But to 
some families it is everything. It is the way they send their kids to 
school; it is the way they help pay their mortgage; it is the way they 
help provide the income to raise their families. So this is a big deal 
to many families in this country.
  For the 6 to 8 million families, workers who are affected by this, I 
think they owe a great debt of gratitude to my friend, Senator Harkin 
from Iowa. I will stand with him as will many of my colleagues to say 
he has a right to get this vote. When we get this vote we are going to 
win. We are going to do it not because we want to have a political 
argument with anybody; we are going to do it because this is very 
important to millions of Americans families who, all too often, are 
left behind in public policy here in this Congress.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank my friend and colleague from North 
Dakota for the eloquence of his statement and I thank Senator Dorgan 
for his unwavering support through all the years I have been privileged 
to know him and be his friend, his unwavering support for the common 
man and woman in this country, for working families, for our farmers 
and ranchers out in the West and the Midwest.
  Senator Dorgan is always eloquent in his remarks. As you listen to 
Senator Dorgan speak, you can hear the voice of that average man and 
that average woman out there who are not big time lobbyists down here 
on K Street; as Senator Dorgan said, they don't have the shiny shoes 
and suspenders and whatever else. They are out there working every day, 
feeding and clothing their families. They have a decent life. They give 
their kids a good education. They do what they can to make sure their 
kids have a little bit better life than they have had. It is called the 
American dream. And no one has been a stronger supporter of ensuring 
that American dream for our working families than the Senator from 
North Dakota, Mr. Dorgan.
  I thank him for all that support through all the years and for 
carrying on the fight for overtime and making sure our workers are paid 
the overtime that is due them when they work over 40 hours a week.
  Earlier today I pointed out the chairman of the House Ways and Means 
Committee, Congressman Thomas from California, according to the 
Congressional Quarterly, told a business group yesterday he thinks this 
foreign tax bill we have before us is doomed. Those were his words. He 
pointed the finger at the business community, according to today's 
issue of the national journal Congress Daily. Mr. Thomas, in other 
words, was blaming K Street lobbyists for this bill's likely demise in 
the House.
  It seems to me what we have is a bill that is already being slow-
walked by some of the majority leadership in the Senate because the 
leaders on the other side don't want to vote on overtime. I hope we 
don't hear anything from the other side saying somehow we are to blame 
for slowing down this bill. We had a unanimous consent agreement. My 
amendment was in line to be offered. I offered the amendment in good 
faith. I was even asking if we could have a time agreement. Imagine 
that. I offered the amendment. I offered a time agreement. I couldn't 
even be given a time agreement by the other side.
  Then the Republican side goes ahead and files this motion to recommit 
with an amendment on it and then they filed cloture and all this 
gobbledygook parliamentary stuff. What it means is we will not vote 
today. We will have a cloture vote tomorrow. They will not get cloture. 
Then I hear rumors the leadership on the Republican side will then pull 
the bill and somehow blame Democrats, blame Democrats, us, our side, 
for not getting this bill through.
  I will tell you, talk about chutzpah. That is like the person who 
went before the judge for having killed his parents and then threw 
himself on the mercy of the court because he was an orphan.
  The other side is responsible for killing this bill. Have no doubt. 
Make no bones about it. They are responsible because they don't want to 
vote on overtime. They don't want to vote. They get kind of wobbly in 
the knees. Their ankles get weak. They break out in a cold sweat when 
they think they might have to vote on whether to uphold the 
administration's proposed rules that will take overtime pay away from 
hard-working American families. They have to vote against the 
administration.
  Sometimes we are called upon to represent our constituents. As hard 
as that may be to believe by some, sometimes we are called upon to 
represent our constituents, not the administration but to represent our 
people.
  The administration may want to take away overtime pay. That may be 
their position. But at least we ought to have the right to vote on 
whether we ought to uphold that decision.
  I know it may come as a shock to many Americans, but sometimes we are 
not allowed to vote in the Senate. We are not allowed to vote on an 
amendment. I have my amendment pending. They won't let us vote on it 
because they filed this cloture motion, this parliamentary device.
  As the Senator from North Dakota said, I don't care how many times we 
have to be here. We will be back, we will be back, we will be back to 
vote on whether we are going to take overtime pay away from American 
workers.
  If we don't vote on it tomorrow, we will vote on it some other time, 
or my friends on the other side will continue to pull bill after bill 
after bill because they don't want to vote on it. Maybe they think they 
can just go ahead and issue the final regulations. Then it will be sort 
of a fait accompli. Evidently, we will not do anything.
  I am sorry, Mr. President. If that is the case, we will be back with 
an amendment to say they will not go into effect until we have had open 
and public hearings on these regulations.
  We will have a vote on it. My friends on the other side of the aisle 
are just putting off the inevitable. Maybe for one reason or another 
they don't want this bill to go through anyway. That is kind of an odd 
position, as I said to the Senator from North Dakota. As the chairman 
of the committee said this morning, under the international agreements 
we have on trade, the World Trade Organization rules that our pretax 
policy is an illegal export subsidy, and consequently the WTO has 
authorized Europe to go up to $4 billion a year against certain U.S. 
exports. The sanctions began on March 1. They started at 5 percent. 
Then they go up 1 percent a month, all the way up to 17 percent over 
the course of a year. I

[[Page 4829]]

don't want to pay those tariffs. I don't want to pay those penalties.
  I would like to get this bill through. The other side, though, simply 
because they do not want a vote on overtime, is saying they are going 
to go ahead and pay these tariffs. It seems to me what they are saying 
is they would rather pay tariffs to Europe than overtime to workers. 
That is exactly what is happening. Pay the tariffs to Europe but don't 
pay overtime to our workers.
  A lot has been said about the American worker and working families. I 
wonder how many people know that right now American workers work longer 
per year than anyone else in the industrialized world. This chart shows 
it. For the years 2002 and 2003, American workers are working in the 
United States almost 2,000 hours a year--more than Australia, Japan, 
Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, or Germany. Not only 
are we working longer hours per year, we are now being told if we work 
overtime we will not get paid for it.
  Do you know what is going to happen if these rules go into effect? 
This bar will go way up because then employers will work their 
employees longer because they don't have to pay them overtime. We 
already work longer.
  What is the history of this bill? This kind of gets to the crux again 
of what is happening here with the proposed rules on overtime. I said 
last summer when I offered this amendment and it was adopted by the 
Senate, the biggest impact of taking away overtime pay protection would 
be on women. People wondered why I said that. Why would women be 
impacted most? For two reasons: One, because the annual hours worked by 
middle-income wives with children in 1979 were 895 hours a year. By the 
year 2000, that had gone to 1,308 hours a year. Women with children are 
working more--not quite double but almost--than what they were a mere 
21 years ago.
  Most of these jobs are in certain types of clerical positions in 
which women have been engaged. Some of them are in positions which are 
going to be reclassified under the proposed rules as ``professions.'' 
These are the kinds of jobs that are mostly held by working women, and 
mostly by working mothers. The biggest impact will be on working women. 
The initial wave of impact will be on working women.
  I have a statement from Susan Moore of Chicago. She said:

       I am currently entitled to time and a half under Federal 
     law. I know for a fact that is the reason I am not required 
     to work long hours like the project managers who are not 
     entitled to overtime pay. My supervisor has to think hard 
     about whether to assign overtime to me because he has to pay 
     for my time. That means more time for my family and that time 
     is important to me. If the law changes and I lose my right to 
     overtime pay, I will be faced with the impossible choice of 
     losing time with my family or losing my job.

  This is a statement from Sheila Perez of Bremerton, WA. She said:

       I began my career as a supply clerk earning $3.10 an hour 
     in 1976. I entered an upward mobility program and received 
     training to become an engineer technician with a career 
     ladder that gave me a yearly boost in income. It seemed, 
     though, that even with a decent raise every year, I really 
     relied on overtime income to help make ends meet.
       I am a working single parent. There are many more single 
     parents today with the same problem. How does one pay for the 
     car that broke down or the braces for the children's teeth? 
     Overtime income has been the lifesaver to many of us.
       When I as a working mother leave my 8-hour day job and go 
     home, my second shift begins. There is dinner to cook, dishes 
     to wash, laundry and all the other housework that must be 
     done which adds another 3 to 4 hours to your workday. When 
     one has to put in extra hours at work, it takes away from the 
     time needed to take care of our personal needs.

  Listen to Sheila Perez who is from Bremerton, WA, a single parent. 
She says:

       It only seems fair that one should be compensated for that 
     extra effort of working overtime. Overtime is a sacrifice of 
     one's time, energy, physical and mental well-being. 
     Compensation should be commensurate in the form of premium 
     pay as it is a premium of one's personal time, energy and 
     expertise that is being used.

  If I might interpret what Sheila Perez is saying, she says: I am a 
single parent. I work hard. I rely on overtime. When I get home from 
work, I have another job taking care of my kids, doing all of my 
laundry. My time with my kids at home on the weekends is my premium 
time. If I am being asked to give up my premium time to work on the 
job, I ought to be given premium pay.
  I can't say it any better than Sheila Perez. Again, it is another 
example why this is going to hit working women the hardest.
  I am just notified that CongressDaily, as of 3 p.m., which was only 
about 40 minutes ago, had this statement. CongressDaily comes out 
during the day, and at 3 p.m. said:

       A senior GOP leadership aide reiterated today that GOP 
     leaders will refuse a floor vote on the amendment from 
     Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, to strike a labor provision 
     involving overtime pay for white-collar workers.

  I don't know if that is true. It is being reported in CongressDaily 
at 3 p.m. that they will refuse a floor vote on my amendment; refuse 
it. Why is it they get so wobbly in the knees, with weak ankles, and 
break out in a cold sweat? Maybe they are just afraid of George Bush. 
Maybe they are afraid of the administration downtown.
  I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, don't be afraid 
of them; be afraid of the people you represent. They are the ones who 
pay your salary. They are the ones who vote to send you here. They are 
the ones whose overtime is being assaulted, not the President and the 
people down at the White House.
  Last summer in August, Peter Hart Research Associates, a well-known 
national pollster, did a poll. This was the question: There is now a 
proposal to change the Federal law that determines which employees have 
the legal right to overtime pay. This proposal would eliminate the 
right to overtime pay for 7 million employees who now have that right. 
Do you favor or oppose this proposal? In favor, 14 percent; oppose,74 
percent.
  That is not even close. I can understand why the other side would not 
want to vote on this. Maybe they feel dutybound, politically bound, 
party bound to support their President. Therefore, they would not want 
to vote because they know 74 percent of the American people are opposed 
to this proposal to take away their overtime pay, the right to overtime 
pay.
  This is an issue that strikes, as so many before me have said, at the 
heart of fairness and equity to American workers. What could be more 
fair than if you have to work over 40 hours a week, you have to be paid 
time-and-a-half overtime? That is the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938.
  What is a little known fact is that a debate raged in this country 
for a long period of time--I would say almost 40 years from the end of 
the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, at least until 
1938--on restricting the number of hours that an American worker had to 
work without getting some kind of extra pay. Remember, in those days we 
even had child labor; we got rid of that. The American workers were 
working 50, 60, 70 hours a week with no protection by labor unions, no 
rights whatever. Finally, slowly but surely, organized labor grew, more 
and more rights were attained by our workers, and then the debate 
ensued about how many hours a week should a worker work without being 
paid overtime.
  A little known fact: In 1937, this Senate, in this very Chamber in 
which we find ourselves today, right here in this Chamber, the Senate, 
in 1937, voted to establish a 30-hour workweek. Imagine, right here in 
the Senate where we are standing, the Senate, in 1937, voted for a 30-
hour workweek. The debate ensued, and finally, by 1938 they 
compromised. The compromise was a 40-hour week with time-and-a-half 
overtime. Think about that: the Senate, in 1937, actually voted to 
establish a 30-hour workweek. Today, we cannot even get a vote in the 
Senate on whether we will pay people overtime to work over 40 hours a 
week. We cannot get a vote on it.
  That says something about the difference of the Senate in 1937 from 
the Senate in 2004. I wonder how many votes the Senate would get today 
if someone offered a vote to establish a 30-hour workweek. Do you think 
it

[[Page 4830]]

would get 10 votes? In 1937 they got a majority of the votes, right 
here in the Senate. Yet now they are working longer and longer hours 
every year. More and more people are being made to work over 40 hours a 
week and not being paid for it.
  The reason I hear so much is we need to reclassify workers. The 
reclassification they are talking about basically would hit women the 
hardest, would reclassify them as being professional and therefore 
exempt from overtime. Again, they have done this without having one 
public hearing. I think they thought they could get by with it; just 
issue these rules and that would be the end of it. The American people 
have spoken loudly and strongly, saying they are not going to sit down 
and let their rights to overtime pay be taken away.
  Congress Daily, today at 3 p.m. says, quoting a senior GOP leadership 
aide, GOP leaders will refuse a floor vote on my amendment.
  As I said a week or so ago--and I see my colleague from California--
and I am not in the habit of quoting the present Governor of 
California, the movie actor, but I will quote him in saying ``I'll be 
back.'' We'll be back. This is not going to go away. If the other side 
thinks by doing these parliamentary tricks that somehow we will give 
up, they are wrong.
  Mrs. BOXER. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. HARKIN. We will not give up because we are fighting for the 
rights of American workers to have justice and fairness in their 
working conditions. As Sheila Perez said, from Bremerton, WA, if she is 
forced to give up her premium time, her time with her family, she ought 
to get premium pay.
  We will continue to fight for this.
  Mrs. BOXER. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. HARKIN. I am delighted to yield.
  Mrs. BOXER. I was hoping my friend would stay. I would like to ask a 
series of questions and give him some information. Does the Senator 
have the time to stay?
  Mr. HARKIN. Why don't I yield the floor so the Senator can be 
recognized.
  Before I do, let me thank my colleague from California, Senator 
Boxer, for her longtime unyielding support for our working families. No 
one has fought harder, more consistently, and with such eloquence than 
the Senator from California. I know the people of California recognize 
in Senator Boxer they have a fighter who will not give up and who will 
not back down in fighting for their families' rights.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I thank my friend, Senator Harkin, for his 
wonderful words. It means so much to me coming from him, someone who 
has been in this Senate for so many years, a voice of the working 
people. By the way, that is most of the people in this country who have 
to work for a living. In many families, as we know, two people are 
working, and in many families they work overtime to be able to pay the 
bills and college tuition and health care, and on and on. This issue is 
crucial.
  I also thank Senator Baucus for being so strong in his support of 
allowing a vote on this amendment.
  It is very important because, as my friend said today at lunch--I had 
the honor of listening to Senator Harkin speak as he made the point--
how can you do a jobs bill and not look at the issue of overtime, which 
if the administration has its way will be taken away from probably 8 
million people? As my friend, Senator Harkin, relayed the history, it 
is a stunning situation that we find ourselves refighting the issue of 
overtime in the 21st century.
  I wish to share with my colleague something that is very interesting, 
a bit of correspondence that has gone back and forth. When I saw 
Secretary Chao--by the way, I find her to be a very nice person. I like 
her. We have a very nice personal relationship. This is not personal. I 
asked her about the regulation. I said: My people at home are very 
afraid of this regulation because they think they will be denied 
overtime.
  She said: Oh, it's hardly going to affect anybody.
  I said: All right. Instead of asking you about every category, let me 
tell you that my police men and women, my firefighters, and my 
paramedics--my first responders--are very concerned about losing their 
overtime.
  She said: Senator Boxer, not a chance. This is not even going to 
happen.
  So I wrote her a letter, and I said: Secretary Chao, you know I 
oppose this. I am very worried about it. Can you please explain to me 
why I should not be worried? So she writes back a letter. I wrote her 
on February 9, and on February 26 I was very pleased that she answered 
the letter, and she explains why, in her opinion, firefighters and 
first responders and policemen will not be impacted.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
my letter to Secretary Chao and her response.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                      U.S. Senate,


                                  Hart Senate Office Building,

                                 Washington, DC, February 9, 2004.
     Secretary Elaine L. Chao,
     U.S. Department of Labor,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Secretary Chao: As you know, I object to the 
     Department's proposed regulations on ``white collar'' 
     overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The 
     proposed changes threaten overtime pay protections for 
     millions of Americans. I oppose any proposal that threatens 
     overtime pay for vast numbers of hardworking Americans.
       I have heard from a variety of professionals with concerns 
     about this rule. I am particularly concerned that the 
     International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) estimates 
     that 50% of police officers would lose overtime protection 
     under the current DOL proposal. And, according to the 
     American Nurses Association, ``this proposed rule could 
     virtually eliminate every registered nurse in an 
     `administrative position' from overtime pay.'' According to 
     the Economic Policy Institute, 234,000 licensed practical 
     nurses would lose their overtime protection under your 
     proposal.
       I know that you disagree with that conclusion. You 
     testified before the Senate in January that the Department's 
     overtime reform proposal ``will not eliminate protections for 
     police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and other first 
     responders.'' You went on to add other professions that would 
     not be affected including nurses.
       First responders themselves disagree with your claim. I 
     write to ask you to explicitly exclude these categories of 
     workers from your final rule. That would provide the 
     certainty our first responders need to ease their fears of 
     losing overtime pay. They stand ready to respond to another 
     crisis resulting from everything from the spread of a deadly 
     virus to a terrorist attack. As they stand prepared to 
     protect us, the least we can do is protect the overtime pay 
     they deserve.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Barbara Boxer
     U.S. Senator.
                                  ____



                                            Secretary of Labor

                                     Washington, DC, Feb 26, 2004.
     Hon. Barbara Boxer,
     U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Boxer: Thank you for your letter dated 
     February 9, 2004, regarding the Department of Labor's 
     proposal to update Part 541 of the Fair Labor Standards Act 
     regulations, known as the ``white collar exemptions.'' You 
     expressed particular concern about the impact of the proposed 
     regulations on police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, 
     and nurses. I appreciate the opportunity to respond.
       As I testified on January 20, in a hearing before the 
     Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, we take strong 
     issue with the claim that these reforms--even as proposed--
     would take away overtime pay from rank and file public safety 
     employees.
       First, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, and 
     other first responders are not white collar employees. They 
     do not perform office or non-manual work. By definition, they 
     are not covered by Part 541.
       Second, a large number of such employees--such as those 
     represented by the International Union of Police 
     Associations--are covered by collective bargaining 
     agreements, which are not affected by the current or proposed 
     regulations. We also believe it is unrealistic for unions to 
     claim that overtime pay granted under a current collective 
     bargaining agreement is likely to be revoked during a new 
     negotiation. That would imply that the union could not obtain 
     any wage or benefit for members outside of what is required 
     by law. For example, that is clearly not the case for 
     registered nurses represented by a union.
       Third, many public safety employees, as well as nurses, are 
     paid on an hourly basis. Hourly workers are not affected by 
     Part 541 under either the current or proposed rules.
       Moreover, those public safety employees who are paid on a 
     salary basis and may be

[[Page 4831]]

     earning less than $22,100 a year will immediately gain 
     overtime protection under our proposed rule. They would be 
     among the estimated 1.3 million low-salaried workers who 
     would gain overtime protection who do not have it today. The 
     Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the nation's largest police 
     union, and the International Association of Fire Fighters 
     (IAFF) have stated that they do not oppose the Department's 
     rule. They believe many of their members would benefit by it.
       Registered nurses (RNs) can already be classified as exempt 
     professionals under current law, based on their education and 
     duties. The proposed regulation makes no change in this 
     regard for registered nurses. The fact is, however, that many 
     RNs are paid on an hourly basis, or are covered by a 
     collective bargaining agreement, and therefore would be 
     entitled to overtime pay under current law. You may be 
     interested to know that the Department of Labor recently 
     collected over $200,000 in back wages for RNs in New Jersey 
     who had been wrongly denied overtime pay.
       We disagree with the Economic Policy Institute's estimate 
     that 234,000 licensed practical nurses (LPNs) would lose 
     their right to overtime pay. LPNs, with all due respect for 
     their skills and service, would not meet the test for exempt 
     professional under either current law or the proposed 
     regulation.
       The final regulations are still in development. I can 
     assure you, however, that it is not our intention to deny 
     overtime pay to police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, 
     or LPNs, or to change the current rules with respect to RNs. 
     You and many others have recommended that we make this intent 
     explicit; and, of course, we will take this and all the other 
     comments and opinions that have been put forward into careful 
     consideration.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Elaine L. Chao.

  Mrs. BOXER. Well, it did not end there, I say to my friend from Iowa. 
I got a visit from police officers in my office here in Washington, and 
what is on their agenda, the first thing? Overtime. I said: Well, look, 
I am going to do everything I can to protect you. I raised this issue 
with Secretary Chao. She answered my letter. She says you have nothing 
to worry about. Will you please go over her answers, and can you please 
comment back to me as to what you think of her opinion on whether you 
will lose overtime?
  So I have blown up for you to see, I say to Senator Harkin and 
Senator Baucus, something you might be interested in. These quotes go 
side by side.
  Secretary Chao says in her letter to me:

       First, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and other 
     first responders are not white collar employees. They do not 
     perform office or non-manual work.

  So, therefore, she is essentially saying they will not fit into this 
revision of the rules because they are not white-collar employees. This 
is what she says about police officers.
  This is what my police officers write back:

       Many police officers do not drive black and white patrol 
     vehicles and perform only enforcement/patrol duties. Police 
     officers also serve in investigative and other capacities. As 
     such they do not wear uniforms and a great deal of their work 
     is performed in an office.

  So here she is saying they are not white-collar employees and they 
say many times their work is in the office.

       In cold case units--

  You know what a cold case is: an old case. They call it a cold case. 
They just put it aside--

       The vast preponderance of their duties entail reviewing 
     files and records in the office.
       With the increased use of technology many officers are 
     spending more and more of their time performing office, non-
     manual type work to facilitate the detection and basis for 
     apprehension of criminal suspects.
       Without an explicit non-exempt status--

  This is the key point--

       Local agencies interpreting the regulation may well 
     determine that those employees are white collar and perform 
     office work--and then exclude them from overtime coverage. If 
     this were to occur, many of the most talented officers would 
     choose not to be promoted (to the detriment of the 
     Department) due to monetary concerns.

  So with all due respect to Secretary Chao, who is, as I say, a 
friend, her comment that they are not white-collar employees is not at 
all clear. So that is one difference.
  Now let's go on to the other differences. This is why my police 
officers are absolutely in favor of what Senator Harkin wants to do, 
which is to reverse the move of the administration.
  Secretary Chao's letter says:

       Second, a large number of such employees--such as those 
     represented by the International Union of Police 
     Associations--are covered by collective bargaining 
     agreements, which are not affected by the current or proposed 
     regulations. We also believe it is unrealistic for unions to 
     claim that overtime pay granted under a current collective 
     bargaining agreement is likely to be revoked during a new 
     negotiation.

  So that is her second point. First, they say they never do white-
collar work. Wrong. Now she says their collective bargaining agreements 
could never be overturned.
  Let's see what the California police officers say:

       The clout of independent police associations varies widely. 
     Some would be able to protect their contract-required 
     overtime, others would not. Many overtime provisions in 
     collective bargaining agreements refer to the regulations or 
     statutory requirements. Those overtime provisions would end 
     with statutory or regulatory changes and would not even 
     extend to the next negotiations.
       To assume that it is ``unrealistic'' that contract 
     provisions once granted would not be revoked is simply 
     ignorant.

  Those are strong statements.

       Contract provisions are frequently revoked during the 
     collective bargaining process. The regulatory or statutory 
     requirements currently in place have held at bay any attack 
     of the overtime agreement.
       Regulatory and statutory requirements have been a major 
     contributing factor in the successful recovery of moneys owed 
     and withheld by employers in violation of respective 
     collective bargaining agreements.

  Mr. HARKIN. Will my colleague yield?
  Mrs. BOXER. Yes, I yield to my friend.
  Mr. HARKIN. I thank my colleague for pointing this out. I think this 
does clarify it. Because who better to respond than the people being 
affected, the police officers?
  Mrs. BOXER. Exactly.
  Mr. HARKIN. I say to my friend from California that this, right here, 
is very instructive:

       We also believe it is unrealistic for unions to claim that 
     overtime pay granted under a current collective bargaining 
     agreement is likely to be revoked during a new negotiation.

  I ask the Senator, am I correct that what she is actually saying is, 
however, now overtime pay will be a negotiable item?
  Mrs. BOXER. Exactly.
  Mr. HARKIN. See, now it is nonnegotiable.
  Mrs. BOXER. Exactly the point.
  Mr. HARKIN. Am I right on that?
  Mrs. BOXER. Right. They say right here:

       If it was such a foregone conclusion that represented 
     employees could negotiate and maintain overtime protections 
     absent statutory and regulatory requirements, the law and 
     regulations would never have been made applicable to any 
     workers under a collective bargaining agreement.

  Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Senator from California. This really does 
point out what is very important.
  Again, I ask the Senator if I am correct in my interpretation, 
because I want to make sure I am clear on this, that right now, for 
these certain classes that are not being reclassified as it exists, if 
you work over 40 hours a week, you have a contract negotiation that is 
not even negotiable because you are covered by overtime law.
  Mrs. BOXER. That is right. You have the statutory protection, which 
they are now going to take away from these workers. They are taking it 
away and saying: Well, you can fix it with your collective bargaining.
  Mr. HARKIN. See, that is it.
  Mrs. BOXER. And she says, you have it anyway in your collective 
bargaining, which is not always the case. I think what the police 
officers have done, in dissecting this, is to be the truth tellers 
here.
  There is one more chart. Secretary Chao says in her letter:

       Third, many public safety employees, as well as nurses, are 
     paid on an hourly basis. Hourly workers are not affected by 
     Part 541 under either the current or proposed rules.

  This is what the California police officers say:

       Employers have made determinations on who is exempt based 
     on the totality of the regulatory requirements. Some will 
     view any modification as a basis to reconsider exempt status. 
     Collective bargaining agreements generally do not state that 
     employees are ``hourly'' employees. Employers would challenge 
     that assertion.

  So that is another point.

[[Page 4832]]

  Then Secretary Chao says:

       Moreover, those public safety employees who are paid on a 
     salary basis and may be earning less than $22,100 a year will 
     immediately gain overtime protection under our proposed rule.

  They say:

       Fine. But this does not apply to and will not affect any 
     California public safety officers.

  Thank God we pay them more than $22,100 to protect our lives and our 
children's lives. So that is a useless deal in this category of 
workers.
  Lastly, she writes:

       I can assure you, however, that it is not our intention to 
     deny overtime pay to police officers, fire fighters, 
     paramedics, or LPNs, or to change the current rules with 
     respect to RNs.

  Here is what the police officers say:

       We in police work subscribe to a common rule: Say what you 
     mean, mean what you say and memorialize it in print. If the 
     intent is not to deny overtime, then put it in writing.

  By the way, that was in my first letter I sent to Secretary Chao. I 
said: You keep saying they are not affected. Why don't you change your 
rule and simply exempt first responders, and then at least my police 
and firefighters and nurses and paramedics will not be so upset.
  Mr. HARKIN. The Senator has done something of great value to all of 
us by bringing this out. A lot of the time we hear these things, but 
this puts it in focus.
  The Secretary says:

       Hourly workers not affected by part 541 under either the 
     current or proposed rules.

  But is there anything in the proposed rules that would prevent an 
employer from saying: OK, you were an hourly worker. We have now 
reclassified you. You are now a professional. Don't you feel good? You 
are now a professional. And guess what. You don't get overtime.
  There is nothing to stop them from doing that.
  Mrs. BOXER. Even more to the point, collective bargaining agreements 
generally do not state that employees are hourly. So it is very easy 
for an employer to say: Show me in your contract where it says you are 
hourly, even if you formally are. So people are going to be stuck, and 
they are not going to get their overtime pay.
  At the end of the day we have to get back to this bottom line. The 
Secretary says:

       I can assure you, however, it is not our intention to deny 
     overtime pay to police officers, fire fighters, paramedics. . 
     . .

  I say to my friend, put it in writing. I think that is pretty 
obvious. They will not put it in writing.
  I am so happy that my friend brought this up. When I first approached 
Secretary Chao, we had a very friendly conversation. It was right out 
here.
  I said to her: My people are up in arms. Talk to me. What are you 
doing?
  Well, it is hardly going to affect anybody, she said.
  I said: Well, if it is going to affect hardly anybody, why bother? 
That doesn't make any sense.
  Then I said: My policemen, my firemen, my first responders are really 
over the top on this.
  And she said: They are not affected.
  That is why I wrote to her and said put it in writing. She said: It 
is not necessary, they are exempt because they are not white collar, 
and all the rest.
  Here we find out from the police officers themselves how silly the 
Department of Labor position is because of the fact that many of our 
criminal cases are solved now on computers in the office, doing 
investigatory work.
  I don't know exactly what is going on except an effort to undermine 
working conditions and pay for millions of people.
  I want to read one more letter and then I will leave the floor. This 
is from SGT Mark Nichols, President of the Santa Ana Police Officers 
Association in Orange County:

       Public safety in California is facing a major crisis as we 
     try to get back on our feet fiscally. To eliminate the 
     Federal non-exempt provision at this time when dollars are 
     scarce would be akin to placing a huge bull's eye on the 
     already beleaguered morale of our members. We are currently 
     stretched further than is prudent. To give our employers the 
     opportunity possibly of stretching us even further to save an 
     extra buck or two could be devastating to a profession 
     already facing recruitment and retention problems.
       We are a profession that works 24 hours a day, seven days a 
     week, 365 days a year. I personally left a salaried position 
     to join police work. Being compensated for extra work at the 
     overtime rate was a big factor in my decision. We are 
     continually required to extend our workday or return to work 
     from off duty time. This is a difficult enough job, with its 
     disruptions and hardships placed on our members and our 
     families. To even allow for the possibility that police 
     officers could lose their non-exempt status and overtime 
     provisions is irresponsible.

  I thank my friend. I know he has to go to other Senate business. I 
will ask for a quorum call in a moment. But I will yield to him for one 
more comment. I just say thank you on behalf of my police officers, my 
nurses, my first responders. I can't thank you enough.
  Mr. HARKIN. The Senator, basically, is thanking the wrong person. The 
Senator should look in the mirror if she wants to thank someone. The 
people of California are privileged to have a fighter like Barbara 
Boxer representing them in the Senate. I mean that. Not only is the 
Senator a personal friend of mine but someone I admire so much because 
she never backs down. When Senator Boxer speaks, you hear clearly the 
voices of the common man and woman, the person who doesn't have a voice 
here, individuals who will never set foot on the Senate floor, who 
never will be privileged to speak in this hallowed Chamber. The Senator 
from California speaks for them.
  Mrs. BOXER. I thank the Senator. He made my day. I am so privileged 
that he would say such words to me. On this issue, we will not back 
down. We will stand together with many of our colleagues. 
Interestingly, a majority of the Senate already voted with the Senator. 
All we are asking is give us a vote on behalf of the policemen, the 
policewomen, the first responders, the firefighters, the nurses, the 
paramedics. Let us make sure we do not take away their overtime pay 
because to do so would be an enormous hardship on them and on their 
families at a time when we should be elevating them in status and 
saying to them, thank you, not only in pictures that we love to show 
with our arms around them--and we all do that--but in deeds. We really 
mean what we say, and we say you will not lose your overtime pay.
  I hope we can get a vote on this important amendment and move on to 
the rest of the bill which is quite important.
  I thank the Chair and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chafee). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, last week, I was in Nevada and I visited a 
number of police stations and fire stations. Let me direct our 
attention to the Henderson Police Department that I met with. The 
chief, the deputy chief, and a number of police officers were there. It 
was time for a shift change. A number of hard-working police officers 
were there. I expected them to talk about homeland security and their 
obligations as first responders. They wanted to talk about that, of 
course, about the unfunded mandate passed on to police departments in 
Nevada and all over the country. Henderson, NV, is the second largest 
city in Nevada. By most standards, it is not really large--about 
250,000 people. It is a suburb of Las Vegas, where I went to high 
school.
  They didn't want to talk about homeland security and first responders 
initially; they wanted to know what is happening to their overtime. 
That is what is on the minds of firefighters and police officers all 
over America. As has been established on the Senate floor in the last 2 
days during the pendency of the Harkin amendment and efforts to deprive 
us of a vote on that, people in our country are very concerned about 
what this administration is doing regarding overtime. This affects 
about 8 million working men and women in this country. Specifically, it 
is directed

[[Page 4833]]

to police officers, who I talked about; firefighters, who I have talked 
about; and nurses.
  A group of young people visited me today in my office upstairs. They 
were here representing a group of young Jewish leaders from Las Vegas. 
I asked them what they were going to do and what they were doing. One 
young lady said she was a student studying to be a nurse. She had less 
than 2 years to go to complete her degree. I didn't say anything, but 
what I wanted to say is, Do you know what has happened with this 
administration? They are trying to take away your overtime. They are 
trying to make it so that if you are working in a hospital and there is 
work that needs to be done, you can do it, but you won't get paid for 
it. I didn't say that to her, but that is what I felt like saying.
  Being a chef now is very in vogue. When I was younger, to have 
somebody say they were going to go to school to be a cook, you didn't 
hear much about that. Now there are a lot of young men and women who go 
to school to learn to be a chef. That is the thing to do; it is one of 
the things to do. They work very hard. People don't realize how hard 
they work. As their jobs require, especially when big things are going 
on in the restaurants and they get a convention or some kind of a 
wedding or anniversary, they are required, because they have a lot of 
work to do, to work more than 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. Under the 
proposal we have from the President, they won't be able to get their 
overtime. Anyone making more than $22,000 a year is, in effect, 
prevented from getting overtime.
  Clerical workers: Why would you want to take the ability of somebody 
required by virtue of their work to put in extra time and not be paid 
for it?
  Mr. President, the Fair Labor Standards Act, more than 50 years ago, 
said if a person works more than 8 hours a day, more than 40 hours a 
week, except under contractor situations, and some other exemptions--
few in number--they are to be paid extra, time and a half, and for 
working holidays, double time, meaning they work 1 day and get paid as 
if they worked 2.
  Physical therapists, reporters--that is a strange way to punish 
reporters, but I guess you can do it that way. If you are in the middle 
of something big, you can just say ``stop'' because you are not going 
to get paid.
  Paralegals, dental hygienists, graphic artists, bookkeepers, lab 
technicians, and social workers--these are the people included in the 8 
million Americans who would lose overtime protection under the proposal 
of President Bush. That is a shame. It is too bad and it is not fair.
  When these police officers and firefighters ask me about overtime--
when you go to these kinds of meetings, you don't want to be partisan. 
That takes away the purpose of your being there. What was I to say? I 
could only respond that our President has suggested--I should not say 
suggested--he has directed this. There is now, of course, a rule in 
effect, which is working its way through the process, to take away the 
ability of people who make more than $21,000 a year to make overtime 
pay. I told them that.
  They are worried about their overtime pay. Families depend on 
overtime. It is not just the firefighters I saw in Reno or the police 
officers I met at Henderson whom I spoke about. It is families all over 
the country who depend on overtime.
  As I have indicated, it is not only the firefighters, not only the 
police officers, nurses, flight attendants, preschool teachers, cooks, 
secretaries, fast-food shift managers, but 8 million others will lose 
their right to overtime pay under the new rules the administration 
wants to adopt.
  We hear speeches on this floor, we hear speeches at high school 
graduations, we hear lectures given to us from the time we are kids 
until the time we pass on that this country is built upon hard work, 
that hard work has enabled generations of Americans to own a home, buy 
a car, do things to make a stronger community and give their children a 
good education. They say if one works hard in America, that is all it 
takes.
  Americans have been willing to work hard and reach their goals. We 
are working longer now than we ever have before. Almost one-third of 
the labor force in our country regularly works longer than a 40-hour 
week. Twenty percent, 2 out of every 10 workers in America, work up to 
50 hours a week. The Fair Labor Standards Act recognized employers 
would take advantage of employees if they were not required to pay 
overtime. That is why the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed.
  The principle of overtime pay for those who work more than 40 hours a 
week was part of that act. It was the main purpose of that act. This 
legislation recognized hard work rewarded those who worked the hardest. 
Families who work hard depend on overtime pay. In fact, families that 
work overtime earn 25 percent of their pay in overtime. The 
administration's proposal would cut their pay by 25 percent.
  It would also mean fewer jobs. Why? Of course it would be fewer jobs, 
because why would an employer bother hiring somebody else when they can 
just have whoever is working--a nurse, a clerical worker, a reporter, a 
graphic artist, a social worker--why hire another one? Just make them 
work more hours. They may not have to work a full shift, just have them 
work 2 or 3 hours a day. That way they will not have to hire a new 
person.
  Of course, it would mean fewer jobs because companies would simply 
force their employees to work longer hours instead of hiring new 
workers. In the current economic condition, when millions of Americans 
are out of work during this administration, the last 3 years, there 
have been almost 3 million jobs lost. It does not make sense to do 
something that will stifle the creation of new jobs when in the private 
sector we have already lost almost 3 million jobs. Even for the workers 
who would still qualify for overtime, this is a bad rule, because some 
by contract would allow people to be paid overtime. Why? Because big 
companies would force overtime-exempt workers to put in longer hours 
and cut the hours of those qualified for overtime.
  This rule is bad for so many reasons. It punishes working families by 
cutting their pay. It prevents the creation of new jobs and dishonors 
hard work, which is one of the things I have talked about, one of those 
things that has made this country great. Well, these are strong, 
convincing arguments, not because I made them, but because they are 
common sense. That is what has been said on this floor during the last 
2 days.
  Last night, I asked, why are my colleagues going to try to invoke 
cloture? I heard they were going to file a petition for cloture. I 
asked that question when we were doing our closing, when the 
distinguished majority whip said he was sending a petition to the desk 
to invoke cloture. I asked, why would he do that?
  I cannot understand why he would do that. I asked why, because the 
House overwhelmingly said they wanted to have this overtime rule 
rescinded, and in the Senate we voted to rescind this rule.
  My distinguished friend, the senior Senator from Kentucky, said we 
voted on it once. Why do we need to vote on it again?
  Let me show my colleagues what we are talking about. The majorities 
in the Senate and in the House voted against the Bush overtime proposal 
on September 10 of last year. Yes, we had a vote on it once before. My 
distinguished friend is right, September, October, November, December, 
January, February, March--yes, we had one. I counted it on my fingers. 
It was more than 6 months ago when we had a vote in the Senate, 54 to 
45. It did not go party-line votes, but it was close. There were some 
courageous Republicans who voted against the party line, one of whom is 
sitting in the chair. They voted against this issue, and it passed.
  Not long after that, less than a month after that, the House, by a 
party-line vote said, no, we do not want to rescind it, they knew they 
were wrong because of what I have said today, that it punishes working 
families, it prevents the creation of new jobs, it dishonors hard work, 
and they

[[Page 4834]]

recognized that. So by a vote of 221 to 203, the House voted to have 
the instruction go to the conferees to take what happened in the Senate 
and rescind what the President had done.
  In the middle of the night, the Republican majorities in the House 
and Senate, without a single Democrat being present, took the Harkin-
Kennedy amendment--that is this amendment right here, passed by a vote 
of 54 to 45--out of the omnibus bill. It comes to the floor and it is 
not in the bill. Surprise, surprise. Even though it passed, they took 
it out.
  Yes, my friend from Kentucky is right; we had a vote on it over 6 
months ago, and by some phantom-like work in the middle of the night, 
contrary to what I think are rules of fairness, and just brute power, 
they stripped this from the bill.
  By recorded votes, the House and the Senate said they wanted this 
rule changed, but in spite of our constitutional framework, in spite of 
the rules we have in the Senate and House and the rules that work to 
keep the two bodies working together, they were abrogated and we came 
up with this strange situation.
  No, the conferees did not follow these heavy votes. When this bill 
was rolled into the omnibus, the conference committee struck it. I 
repeat, the conference committee, which excluded Democrats, ignored the 
votes of Congress and in doing so ignored the voice of the American 
people.
  I respect the opinions and views of every Member of the Senate, 
whether or not I agree with those views, because I know every Senator 
was elected by the citizens of their State. Every Member's opinion 
carries weight with me because I believe every person in America has a 
right to be heard. In order for the people to be heard, the votes of 
those who represent them must count for something in Congress. 
Unfortunately, the conference committee that stripped Senator Harkin's 
overtime amendment out of the Omnibus appropriations bill said our 
votes do not count; the voice of the people does not count; the voice 
of the people does not matter. Meeting behind closed doors, the 
committee disregarded the will of Congress and ignored the voice of the 
American people. So we have to have another vote on this.
  We have had those on the other side of the aisle say this is an 
important bill. Why are we doing this?
  Senator Harkin has said he would take a time agreement. What does 
this mean? We have unlimited debate in the Senate. I think Senator 
Harkin would take 15 minutes, give the majority 15 minutes, and then 
vote, an up-or-down vote on whether we want to have a rule in the 
United States that police officers, nurses, cooks, clerical workers, 
firefighters, physical therapists, reporters, paralegals, dental 
hygienists, graphic artists, bookkeepers, lab technicians, and social 
workers and on and on--8 million people are not going to be able to get 
overtime. I want a vote here. We want a vote. We are entitled to a 
vote. The only vote we had, the voice of the people, was stricken in 
the middle of the night. If this is an important bill, can't we afford 
15 minutes to vote on this amendment?
  The reason they don't want a vote on this amendment is because they 
know this amendment of Senator Harkin will pass and the Secretary of 
Labor will have to issue new directions.
  The purpose of the underlying amendment is to protect the jobs of 
American workers. It is a measure that protects the overtime pay of 8 
million people, 8 million people who have families. Remember, 20 
percent of these people work up to 50 hours a week; 25 percent of them 
depend on this overtime pay to make car payments, house payments, 
furniture payments, to send their kids to school. The voices of the 
American people are clear, just as the voices of the police officers 
and firefighters I met in Nevada last week were clear. They want us to 
protect the overtime pay their families depend on. We have a duty as 
legislators, national legislators, to stand and speak for the people we 
represent.
  This bill, which is an important tax bill, the majority is willing to 
take down. The majority is willing to take down this important tax bill 
that we support on our side. They are willing to take it down, to have 
it go into limbo as so many other things do, like the gun legislation, 
like other bills. We can't seem to have closure on much of anything 
around here because the majority is unwilling to take tough votes. If 
it is something they disagree with, procedurally they just block us 
from voting on it.
  This matter, that is, overtime pay for 8 million people, is going to 
be something we are going to vote on. The responsibility for this bill 
being taken down is not at the hands of the Democrats. It is at the 
hands of the majority party, the Republican Party, which refuses to 
have a vote on repealing a decision made by the President of the United 
States that takes away overtime pay for people who make more than 
$22,000 a year, as I have listed on this chart. It is wrong.
  I told people twice yesterday that seeking to do away with this 
amendment by a parliamentary maneuver is not going to accomplish 
anything. We are wasting time. I can just see it now. The majority 
leader is going to come here and say we don't have time to do these 
important pieces of legislation; we are so busy.
  We are busy wasting time. That is what we are doing. We wasted 
yesterday. We wasted all day today. We are having a cloture vote 
tomorrow. Cloture will be defeated. But to even show the complicity of 
what is happening here by my friends on the other side of the aisle, 
they were unwilling--they didn't have the nerve to file cloture on the 
underlying bill. Why? Because it would show directly what they were 
doing with the Harkin amendment. So they have developed this very 
interesting procedure where they have a motion here to recommit. The 
only reason they are doing it this way is so they do not have a direct 
attack on the FSC/ETI bill, the underlying bill here, and the Harkin 
amendment. They are going around that and saying we have this motion to 
recommit. If cloture is invoked, the bill comes back in its regular 
form.
  Say whatever you want to say in however many ways you want to say it, 
this is an attempt to stop Senator Harkin from having a vote on this 
overtime issue. It is wrong. No matter how many times people say we are 
going to be able to vote on it some other time, the record is replete 
with our cooperating in the first few months of this legislative 
session.
  We have said to Senator Harkin on many occasions, Let us go ahead and 
do this legislation. Let us work on this legislation. You can offer it 
on the next piece of legislation. And then the next piece of 
legislation.
  We are at the end of the rope. The American people will no longer let 
us avoid this issue. This is an issue that must be addressed and we are 
going to address the issue because it is the right thing to do. Eight 
million Americans are depending on us, and $22,000--it is as if 
somebody who makes $22,000 a year and then gets overtime pay is 
committing some type of crime. Is that ruining our country? As I 
established here statistically, no, it is not. It is good for our 
country. Overtime pay creates more jobs. It rewards hard work. It 
allows people to maintain their standard of living--which isn't very 
high. Remember the starting point is $22,000 a year.
  I hope in the days and weeks to come and the few months we have left 
in this legislative session, where we have 13 appropriations bills to 
pass and many other items, people remember the wasted time this week. 
All we want is a simple vote on overtime. Fifteen minutes of debate and 
vote. They will not let us do that because they know it would show the 
President of the United States is wrong, wrong in trying to take away 
overtime pay from people who make $22,000 a year or more. It is wrong.
  They will not let us vote on this. We are going to continue coming 
back as often as we have the opportunity. They will not be able to 
escape this. I feel really bad about this bill, which is important to 
our country. The majority is willing to take down a bill that is 
important to the competitive nature of our country. They are willing to 
take

[[Page 4835]]

this bill down because they don't want a vote on overtime pay because 
it makes the President look bad. I should tell them the President looks 
bad anyway on this issue. They are not going to take away the damage 
done here. Why not let us vote and get rid of that ridiculous rule he 
has issued and get back to allowing people to be rewarded for working 
hard and creating new jobs? It is an issue we need, to make sure people 
are honored for hard work, rewarded for hard work, not punished.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Bond). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I would like to speak about the Harkin 
amendment. I wasn't here for the earlier conversation, but I was 
advised about some of the arguments that have been made. It concerns me 
because people are concerned about the proposed rules that have been 
promulgated by the Department of Labor. I think it is incumbent upon us 
to clarify the situation so American workers are not frightened of 
these proposed rules because of the mischaracterization by certain 
people.
  The amendment here would stop the rules from going into effect. I 
fear there are things being said about these rules that are very 
inaccurate, misleading, and therefore are frightening people into 
thinking somehow the rules would prevent them from receiving overtime 
pay, when the reality is more people would be ensured they could 
qualify for overtime pay than is the case today.
  I want to speak for a few moments to try to allay the fears of people 
so they are not concerned about these proposals and they embrace them, 
because the possibility of overtime extends to a larger universe of 
people than it does today. I will talk about this for a moment. The 
amendment would prohibit the Department of Labor from pursuing this 
proposed rule, which clarifies something called the white-collar 
exemption from the FLSA overtime rules, or the Fair Labor Standards Act 
rules.
  What it has to do with is the requirement that non-white-collar 
workers are entitled to overtime under certain circumstances. The 
question is, how do we define the non-white-collar workers as opposed 
to the white-collar workers to understand who is entitled to receive 
compensation for the overtime and who is not. The proposed changes 
would actually guarantee payments to 1.3 million low-wage workers who 
were not entitled to overtime before. I think this is the key point. It 
does not take away people; it adds to the number of people who would 
qualify for overtime.
  This is one of the ways in which that occurs: It would raise the 
minimum salary level at which workers are ensured overtime pay from 
$155 to $425 a week, $22,100 annually. So it raises the level at which 
this kicks in, which would be the largest increase since the law was 
enacted in 1938. So we are making the availability to a much larger 
group of people, people at a higher salary level, than has ever been 
the case.
  It will actually ensure that the lowest 20 percent of all salaried 
workers get pay of time and a half for overtime work. Now, that is a 
substantial increase in the number of American workers who will be 
ensured overtime pay. This is so important because I have heard from 
workers who have personally spoken to me and they are very frightened 
about this. They believe that somehow or another these proposed rules 
are going to make it more difficult for them to get overtime pay. The 
reality is that a lot more people are going to be ensured that they 
will receive overtime pay. First, as I said, because we are raising the 
level of people who would be covered. That is the largest reason why we 
can make that claim.
  Another thing that this proposed rule does is to clarify the 
definitions of who is actually covered and who is not covered. In 
recent years, there have been a large number of class action lawsuits 
that have been brought over this definition of white-collar status; 
therefore, the question of whether they are exempt from overtime 
requirements. This has actually surpassed the Equal Employment 
Opportunity class action lawsuits in number, and there are a lot of 
those. The trial lawyers end up making millions of dollars off of this 
confusion in the current system over the definition. This law would 
eliminate all of that cost and all of the wasted energy in litigation 
and paying a lot of trial lawyers by clarifying who is covered and who 
is not covered.
  Now let's talk a little bit about that definition because, once 
again, people are asking whether they are going to be covered anymore; 
they will be exempt from this guarantee of overtime pay with the new 
definitions. I want to make it very clear that in most of the 
situations I have heard described that just is not true.
  Employees who earn more than $65,000 annually would be exempted from 
the overtime pay requirements if their job involves executive, 
administrative, or professional duties. Now, again, we are talking 
about time-and-a-half pay. When one is making over $65,000 a year and 
they are in an executive position, the theory is that they can 
negotiate their own salary, that they are not in the situation in which 
they would be getting time and a half for the time they put in, and 
that is the reason for this particular exemption.
  Those who earn between $22,100 and $65,000 will remain eligible for 
overtime pay if they meet what is called the short test. That 
determines whether they are exempted white-collar workers. That test 
basically includes definitions such as whether one supervises two or 
more employees, whether they have the authority to hire and fire or 
they need an advanced degree or some kind of specialized training. One 
would have to clearly be in one of those categories in order not to be 
guaranteed the protection of this time and a half for overtime. That is 
between $22,100 and $65,000.
  There is a study out that I think also has some faulty data in it 
which have skewed the effect of the proposed rule that has been used by 
the opponents of the proposed regulation and by the supporters of the 
amendment that would prevent the regulation from going into effect. The 
claim is that 8 million workers would become exempt from overtime pay 
requirements based on this so-called EPI study. One of the reasons that 
the number is so large is because the study counts part-time workers 
who do not work 40 hours a week and therefore do not receive overtime 
pay.
  Well, we have to extract all of those workers in order to have a 
relevant cohort because one has to work 40 hours a week in order to 
qualify for overtime pay.
  The study also includes individuals who are not affected by the rule. 
Again, I do not see how one can have a valid study that allegedly shows 
how many people would no longer qualify if a lot of people are included 
in the study who do not qualify in the first instance. So it is very 
unclear what the actual number of people would be who would not qualify 
for the overtime pay.
  Clearly, this study is fatally flawed in those two significant 
respects and therefore it should not be used to scare people into 
suggesting they would no longer be covered.
  I will give some other examples of different professions in which 
there have been questions raised, and I think it is important we allay 
the fears of these people. Cooks are concerned, people who cook in 
restaurants, for example. Well, all cooks are not exempted from the 
overtime pay in the proposal. Only chefs who have college degrees in 
the culinary arts will be deemed white-collar workers and therefore 
exempt from this requirement. So when one hears the conversation about 
all of the cooks who are no longer going to be entitled to time and a 
half because that is--I mean, when a person is working in a restaurant, 
for example, there is a lot of time and a half involved in that and 
here we are not talking about most of the people. The people who would 
be

[[Page 4836]]

exempted are only those who have a college degree in culinary arts, 
which does not represent most of the people who are actually doing the 
cooking.
  One of the arguments is as to the process, and there has been a 
suggestion that this rule was just passed in the middle of the night 
and somehow people are not aware of it. Nothing could be further from 
the truth. Prior to the drafting of the rule, the Department of Labor 
held over 40 meetings of stakeholders, people who had an interest in 
the proposed rule, 50 different interest groups, including, by the way, 
16 labor unions. Some of the labor unions have raised questions, I 
think some will support it, but the bottom line is they were included 
in the consultations.
  I am advised that the Department of Labor invited 80 groups to 
participate in these stakeholder meetings. So I do not think anybody 
can claim this was done in the middle of the night.
  I ask unanimous consent that a letter which was provided to me--it 
was sent to the majority leader and minority leader from the Grand 
Lodge Fraternal Order of Police--be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:
                                                      Grand Lodge,


                        Fraternal Order of Police',

                                   Washington, DC, March 22, 2004.
     Hon. William H. Frist,
     Majority Leader, U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC

     Hon. Thomas A. Daschle,
     Minority Leader, U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Majority Leader and Senator Daschle: I am writing 
     on behalf of the membership of the Fraternal Order of Police 
     to advise you of our concerns regarding an amendment which is 
     expected to be offered tomorrow on the floor of the Senate 
     concerning the proposed regulations governing the exemptions 
     from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 
     and to renew our opposition to any such effort which would 
     have the effect of delaying or hindering the Department of 
     Labor's (DOL) ability to issue a final rule.
       On 31 March, DOL published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
     in the Federal Register to revise and update the exemptions 
     from overtime under the FLSA for executive, administrative 
     and professional employees. The F.O.P. was the first union to 
     weigh in on behalf of America's law enforcement community 
     regarding the proposed change and recommended the exclusion 
     of public safety personnel from the Part 541 or ``white 
     collar'' exemptions from overtime--including those employees 
     who are classified as exempt under the existing regulations. 
     We argued that the exclusion of these employees was necessary 
     due to the increased burdens placed on public safety officers 
     following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.
       Since the beginning, it has been clear from our dialogue 
     with Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and Department 
     officials that it was never their intention to cut overtime 
     for public safety employees. Thus, we decided that the 
     interests of our members could best be served by working 
     cooperatively with the Department. Based on our dialogue with 
     DOL, we are confident that when the final regulations are 
     issued, that overtime pay will be available to even more 
     police officers, firefighters and EMTs than is possible under 
     the current regulations.
       The F.O.P. believes that amendments such as the one which 
     may be offered on Tuesday do not take into consideration the 
     police officers, firefighters and EMTs who are currently 
     exempt, who must work longer hours when the terrorist threat 
     level goes up, and who are ineligible to receive overtime 
     compensation. Nor do we think it is the best possible result 
     that Congress should reaffirm that the existing executive, 
     administrative, and professional exemptions are acceptable 
     for our nation's first responders. Instead, our efforts with 
     the Department of Labor and others have been geared towards 
     ensuring that overtime compensation is available to all those 
     public safety employees whose continued performance of 
     overtime work is vital to the security of our nation.
       These regulations offer an important opportunity to correct 
     the application of the overtime provisions of the FLSA to 
     public safety officers. We are therefore concerned that the 
     adoption of any amendment with respect to the Department's 
     revisions to the Part 541 regulations will undermine our 
     efforts to successfully protect overtime compensation for 
     more than 1 million public safety officers, and hinder DOL's 
     ability to issue a final rule. During the public comment 
     period on the proposal, the Department received nearly 80,000 
     comments from individuals across the nation. The purpose was 
     to solicit feedback and suggested changes to the original 
     proposal before issuing final regulations. None can say with 
     any degree of certainty what changes DOL has made to their 
     proposed rule and what its final scope will be. In essence, 
     all of the concerns which have been expressed to this point 
     are based solely on the pre-public comment draft proposal, 
     and on conjecture over what is feared will or will not be 
     part of the final regulation. That is why the F.O.P. believes 
     that the regulatory process should be allowed to move forward 
     unimpeded, and that Congress should reserve acting on this 
     issue until after the regulations have been promulgated as a 
     final rule.
       On behalf of the more than 311,000 members of the Fraternal 
     Order of Police, we respectfully request your assistance in 
     opposing the adoption of any amendment which would delay the 
     issuance of a final rule. I cannot express to you the 
     critical importance of this issue to our membership. Thank 
     you in advance, and please do not hesitate to contact me, or 
     Executive Director Jim Pasco, through our Washington office 
     if we can be of any assistance whatsoever.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Chuck Canterbury,
                                               National President.

  Mr. KYL. The author of the letter in the first paragraph--I will not 
cite the entire letter but the national president of the Fraternal 
Order of Police, whose name is Chuck Canterbury, wrote this:

       I am writing on behalf of the membership of the Fraternal 
     Order of Police to advise you of our concerns regarding an 
     amendment which is expected to be offered tomorrow on the 
     floor of the Senate concerning the proposed regulations 
     governing the exemptions from overtime pay under the Fair 
     Labor Standards Act, and to renew our opposition to any such 
     effort which would have the effect of delaying or hindering 
     the Department of Labor's ability to issue a final rule.

  The reason I quote that letter is to make the point that this is the 
FOP, a very large and important union in our Nation today, which would 
like to see this rule issued. It is an illustration of one of the 
groups that has been involved in the process that understands what the 
Department of Labor is doing and appreciates the positive effect of the 
rule that has been proposed.
  I also want to make it clear that this is only a proposed regulation. 
After the rule is promulgated by the Department, obviously there would 
be a final implementation of the rule. At the earliest, that would come 
out next year sometime, and clearly the Senate would have the ability 
at that time to address any complaints about the final rule. The 
agency, I am advised, has received over 80,000 comments with respect to 
its proposed rule and is currently working its way through those 
comments. So this is not something that is going to be happening 
tomorrow. Once they get through all of those comments, they will 
promulgate the final rule, again perhaps coming out sometime next year. 
The Senate, in any event, would have plenty of time to work on it.
  That is essentially what I wanted to say, to make the point that 
those who have been scared or frightened by some of the comments about 
this proposed rule should stop and get more information about the rule. 
They should listen to some of the debate we are trying to bring to the 
floor and contact the Department of Labor if they have a question, or 
contact our offices so we can clarify what this proposed rule really 
does. We can make it clear it is not being put into effect to take a 
bunch of people out of the market for time-and-a-half guarantee of 
overtime, but in point of fact it would actually guarantee that more 
people would have the ability to get overtime, and because of the 
clarification of definitions, it would remove the potential for even 
more litigation that simply raises confusion about whether people are 
covered.
  We can make it clear we are talking about people who make a lot of 
money, who have a lot of control over the negotiation of their 
salaries, who have supervision over other employees, and so on. Those 
are the people who are being exempt. It is not the people who are just 
regular workers, who don't supervise a lot of people, who don't hire 
and fire people, and so on. Those folks may or may not wear white 
collars to work, but the bottom line is they are not exempt from the 
requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide them time 
and a half for overtime for the hours they actually work. It is 
important to get that message out to folks; that it is not something 
about which they should be concerned. Rather, the intention behind the 
rule is to clarify and expand the number of people eligible for it.

[[Page 4837]]

  I hope folks who have concerns about that will be in touch with us so 
we can allay those concerns. Perhaps the amendment I am talking about 
will come up for a vote, perhaps it will not. If it does, I hope it is 
defeated because we need to move forward with the regulations the 
Department is working on right now and see them promulgated. Once that 
occurs, you will see labor unions and workers all over the country 
looking at the final product and saying, yes, that is fair. That is 
protective of me. It clarifies the situation, and we can support it.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the junior Senator from Arizona is someone 
for whom I have the highest regard. He is articulate. He always makes a 
good presentation. I am glad he is a neighbor of the great State of 
Nevada.
  But I have to say the one question he didn't answer is, Why don't we 
just vote on this? Why don't we just have a vote on this overtime 
issue? We have agreed to have Senator Harkin spend 15 or 20 minutes 
summarizing his arguments, the majority can take whatever time they 
believe appropriate, and then we can vote on this issue and move on to 
this most important underlying bill.
  My friend from Arizona, who is the first person who has come to try 
to defend the overtime proposal of the President, says the study is 
faulty, that it is really not 8 million people, and some are part-time.
  Let's say it is faulty, which I don't think it is, but let's say it 
is only 6 million people.
  I would also say, of course, more people would qualify for overtime 
pay because whatever they are doing is allowing people who now are not 
entitled to overtime pay, people who really don't make much money--we 
would allow them to have overtime pay under the proposed rule.
  Let them do it. Let them have overtime. No one is trying to stop them 
from having overtime. What we criticize is why would we want to make 
one group of workers disadvantaged to try to advantage another group of 
workers? Let's let them all be entitled to overtime, time and a half. 
That seems to be the fair thing to do. I see nothing wrong with giving 
people who are not making much money now the ability to get overtime. 
We support that. But why disadvantage others?
  Of course, we are told it is in the definition of ``white collar.'' 
Can you imagine the litigation and problems it is going to cause in the 
workforce--who is a chef, who is a cook, who is a physical therapist?
  This is an issue that is important to millions and millions of 
working men and women in this country. We believe the rule is not right 
for the American people. We believe people should be rewarded for hard 
work. We believe we should create more jobs, not take away jobs. This 
proposal will not reward hard work, and it will take away people's 
honest efforts to be rewarded for hard work.
  We are willing to vote, as had been done last September when we voted 
in this body by a large margin to rescind the rule. The House of 
Representatives, by more than 220 Members, said they wanted to do what 
the Senate did, the same thing. We voted on it twice. It was taken out 
in the middle of the night in a secret conference, with no Democrats 
present. Why can't we vote on it again? We believe that is what we 
should do. Let's vote on whether the President and his people are right 
or wrong.
  We are willing to debate this issue in public, not secretly. We are 
willing to state our position and simply go forward as the Senate and 
the House have already spoken and get rid of this rule, which is 
unfair.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I want to continue to discuss the white-
collar exemptions on the overtime legislation and the amendment we are 
dealing with. I want to express how frustrating it is to see a very 
carefully constructed proposal by the Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao, 
being mischaracterized, therefore placing fear in the American people 
through the misrepresentation of the nature of these regulations.
  First of all, Secretary Chao is one of the finest public servants I 
know. From the time she gets to work in the morning until the time she 
gets home late at night, she is committed to making this a better 
country, a good country to live and work in. She wants to do something 
about these regulations that have not been changed since 1954 in any 
significant way. They need to be updated. Her proposed rule changes 
have received 70,000 comments. The Department of Labor is considering 
those, and they ought to be able to update these regulations. There is 
no doubt about it. It is time to do that.
  The impact has been completely misrepresented. We need to talk about 
it. I think the reason, frankly, is that we are in a political season. 
People want to make this a political issue. If they can go around and 
say, Mean old President Bush wants to deny you your overtime and you 
can't get overtime anymore, and they can stir this up and make these 
complaints, then they think some people might believe it. But it is not 
right. What is being said is not right. It is not fair.
  The Department of Labor has proposed changes to the regulations 
governing the overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 
also known as the white-collar exemption.
  The regulations defining which workers are entitled to overtime were 
written in 1954 and have not been updated to reflect the ongoing 
changes in the workplace. Today's workers are operating under the rules 
that are 50 years old.
  These rules include job descriptions like ``gang leader,'' 
``ratesetter,'' and ``Linotype operator.'' Therefore, it is easy to 
understand why many businesses have trouble identifying which workers 
qualify for overtime and which are exempt under current law.
  The proposed rule increases the minimum salary requirements for 
overtime from as low as $155 a week to $425 a week.
  Let me talk about that. Let us get this straight.
  A worker making as little as $155 a week today could be denied 
overtime if they are classified in a supervisor capacity. Under the 
rules of the Secretary of Labor, if you made $425 a week or less, you 
are automatically entitled to overtime no matter what job title some 
business might give you. That is going to help a lot of people, I 
submit. According to the Department of Labor, this change would result 
in 1.3 million Americans who earn less than $22,100 per year being 
guaranteed overtime compensation. That is not so now. A worker can be 
classified as some sort of supervisor making $18,000 or $20,000 a year 
and not get overtime.
  Under the current regulations, a person earning $14,300 annually who 
works behind the counter at a restaurant, for example, and is called a 
manager could be denied overtime compensation. The new regulations 
would guarantee overtime pay to this person and others making less than 
$22,100. They would be guaranteed it. That is a lot of people. It means 
a lot to those people.
  Additionally, the Department of Labor projects 10.7 million workers 
who currently qualify for overtime will have all of those protections 
strengthened, including nurses, chefs, secretaries, unionized workers, 
and first responders.
  Following discussions with the Department of Labor, the Fraternal 
Order of Police, a major organization representing thousands of police 
officers who we deal with from the Judiciary Committee on a regular 
basis and who

[[Page 4838]]

is actively engaged in defending the interests of their members, 
released a statement recognizing the fact that police officers will 
still receive overtime compensation under these new regulations. The 
President of the National Fraternal Order of Police, Chuck Canterbury, 
said:

       Thanks to the leadership of Secretary Chao, we have no 
     doubt that overtime pay will continue to be available to 
     those officers currently receiving it and, if the new rules 
     are approved, even more of our Nation's police officers, 
     firefighters, and EMTs will be eligible for overtime. This 
     development was possible because this is an Administration 
     that listens to the concerns of the FOP, and because of their 
     commitment to our Nation's first responders.

  I think that is a strong statement. And for months now we have been 
hearing how these regulations are going to hurt policemen, firemen, and 
emergency medical technicians.
  That is not true. It is false. In fact, it is going to guarantee a 
lot of people overtime who are not receiving it today.
  According to the Human Resource Policy Association, the proposed 
changes would impact about 12.6 million workers--it sounds like a lot--
12.6 million workers out of 134 million workers. About 10 percent of 
workers would be affected. Of that 12.6 million affected, 12 million 
would now qualify for overtime or have their current overtime 
protections strengthened--not reduced, strengthened--12 million out of 
12.6 million who are affected will have their protections strengthened. 
The other 644,000 workers--highly educated individuals earning an 
average of $50,000 per year--might be subject to reclassification under 
these regulations. That is what it is focusing on. The proposed rules 
would clarify the regulations affecting millions of workers.
  By updating these rules, the Department of Labor would ease the 
burden on employees and employers who find it difficult to navigate the 
often confusing and outdated regulations governing proper compensation, 
including overtime pay. Additionally, the Department will be better 
able to enforce the law once clarifications are made.
  I know the Presiding Officer is a lawyer, a former attorney general 
and justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and knows litigation. As a 
lawyer in private practice not too many years ago--maybe not long 
before I came to the Senate in the mid 1990s--I represented a friend I 
grew up with who is a bulldozer operator, a heavy equipment operator. 
He is a good guy. He had a dispute with his employer. He thought maybe 
he was entitled to overtime pay because he ran heavy equipment. The 
company said, No, you are a contractor. I said, Friend, I think you are 
right. We filed a lawsuit, and we had to go to court. We eventually 
settled before trial, and we got him overtime. I think he was legally 
entitled to overtime under current Federal regulations. Whether he 
should have been, I do not know. But it makes it clear that these rules 
and regulations are confusing. He had to pay me a lawyer's fee to 
represent him. I do not know how much it cost the court or how much it 
cost the company to pay their lawyer to defend the lawsuit. But this 
kind of thing happens too much.
  I represented one more overtime case. She was a clerical person at an 
entity, and she thought she was being unfairly treated. I looked at her 
case and it was not a lot of money. I talked to her and I thought she 
was right. We filed a lawsuit. They agreed eventually to pay her 
overtime after some haggling and discussion back and forth.
  Do you know where she worked? Do you know who her employer was? It 
was a union local. They agreed to pay and they admitted she was not 
properly paid overtime. If we make it clearer so that it is 
indisputable what overtime is and what it is not, we will see less 
confusion.
  Lawsuits over violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act are 
increasing each year. According to the HR Policy Association, in 2001 
the number of Fair Labor Standards Act class action lawsuits actually 
exceeded the number of Equal Employment Opportunity class action 
lawsuits.
  In Carpenter v. R.M. Shoemaker Com-
pany, the court ruled that a project superintendent making around 
$90,000 annually was not an exempt employee and was thus entitled to 
overtime even though the employee supervised three large construction 
projects for a construction management company.
  These laws are complex. If I were a plaintiff and I were representing 
someone, I would try to figure out a way to get my client in there and 
get them overtime, too. But I don't think that is what Congress had in 
mind when it created a statute where a guy making $90,000 a year that 
supervises three large construction projects can receive overtime 
compensation. That sounds like a supervisor to me. I bet the company 
did not lose the lawsuit for any other reason than there was probably a 
violation of the complex Federal law written in 1954, 50 years ago.
  In Hashop v. Rockwell Space Operations, the court decided that 
``network communications systems instructors'' who had advanced degrees 
in physics, mathematics, and engineering, and trained personnel were 
not exempt because they used technical manuals and made decisions in 
groups. These things are pretty complicated.
  Under the current rule we have employees earning $90,000 a year or 
possessing advanced degrees qualifying for overtime. This is not the 
low-wage worker we keep hearing about in our debate. Fundamentally that 
is what Secretary Chao's regulations are focused on, these high-wage 
employees who are supervisors and are slipping in and claiming overtime 
when that was not the intention of Congress.
  Many employers worry about incurring large unexpected litigation 
costs due to their inability to properly interpret these confusing 
rules. Even lawyers and Department of Labor investigators can have 
difficulty deciphering the line between exempt and nonexempt employees. 
By clarifying the line--who is a salaried employee and who is not--we 
can reduce the number of lawsuits brought under this section, and we 
can make sure more people get paid overtime properly from the very 
beginning. If you make less than $22,100 a year, you get overtime. That 
is a bright line. That is what we ought to have more of, more bright 
lines in this Congress so there is a lot less confusion. If you make 
less than that, you get overtime. That will pick up a tremendous number 
of people today who have been classified as some sort of manager or 
supervisor but have made much less than $22,100 and, as a result of 
these changes, they are going to gain benefits. I believe far more will 
benefit than will lose under these proposed regulations. By clarifying 
that, we can reduce lawsuits.
  In 1938, when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, the Congress 
instructed the Secretary of Labor to make changes to the white-collar 
exemption rules. That was part of the congressional instruction, to 
make changes in the white-collar exemption rules. It was understood, I 
assume, at that time that they had not worked everything out fully and 
more work needed to be done on these regulations.
  The Department of Labor has now issued these proposed regulations. 
They issued them in March of last year. Everyone has seen them. They 
have been published. They have received in response to these proposed 
regulations over 70,000 comments during the 90-day comment period. 
Secretary Chao is doing her job. She is seeking to update and modernize 
these regulations to make them fit the contemporary needs of America 
today. We do not have gang leaders being paid wages today. I don't 
think that job description any longer exists. There is a lot of need 
for improvement and change. Secretary Chao is on the right track. They 
will continue to refine these regulations if there is a problem.
  There is no plot here to try to undermine the right of working 
Americans to receive overtime. That is a completely bogus and political 
argument we are in at this time. Frankly, politics is intervening too 
much in our debate of late. I guess that is the nature of American 
government. We will have to put up with it. I am getting a bellyful of 
it and think we need to set the record straight whenever possible.

[[Page 4839]]

  I am looking at another group that has been asserted would lose 
benefits under this, the Non-Commissioned Officers Association of the 
United States of America. They wrote a letter to Bill Frist, the 
majority leader in the Senate. They said:

       It is a blinding glimpse of the obvious that neither the 
     current rules nor the revised proposal will negatively impact 
     those who serve or have served in the [United States] 
     uniformed services. In fact, this association's direct 
     discussions with DOL leads us to the conclusion that the 
     proposed rule relative to the revised ceiling for annual 
     income (increased from $8,060 to $13,000) will greatly expand 
     the pool of eligible workers for overtime compensation.

  I ask unanimous consent to have this letter printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                         NCOA,

                                 Alexandria, VA, January 29, 2004.
     Hon. Bill Frist,
     Majority Leader, U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Frist: The Non Commissioned Officers expresses 
     its grave concern that America's military personnel and 
     veterans are being used as an ``emotional'' ploy to delay the 
     Department of Labor implementation of the Fair Labor 
     Standards Act relative ``white collar'' exemptions. Claims 
     that military members involved in the War on Terrorism and 
     this Nation's veterans will have their employment status 
     elevated to ``exempt'' based on military training and 
     experience and lose opportunity for overtime compensation are 
     patently incorrect. The Association regrets that some would 
     wrongfully use such false allegations concerning impact to 
     America's service members to garner emotional and legislative 
     support to delay the final rules for implementation of FLSA.
       It is a blinding glimpse of the obvious that neither the 
     current nor the revised proposal will negatively impact those 
     who serve or have served in the Uniformed Services. In fact, 
     this association's direct discussions with DOL leads us to 
     the conclusion that the proposed rule relative the revised 
     ceiling for annual income (increased from $8,060 to $13,000) 
     will greatly expand the eligibility pool for worker overtime 
     compensation.
       It is outrageous that unsubstantiated claims are reaching 
     America's Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen currently in 
     harm's way that their future return to civilian jobs will 
     result in a reclassification of their employment status. It 
     is clear from our discussions with the Department of Labor 
     that the proposed rule makes no changes from the current 
     regulation and case law regarding military training and 
     eligibility for overtime payments.
       NCOA will continue to monitor the rights of all service 
     members and pursue DOL intervention if the intent of any 
     program or interpretation of the published rules would 
     negatively impact those who have served in the Uniformed 
     Service of this Nation. NCOA will remain vigilant to ensure 
     their employment rights.
           Sincerely,
                                                  Gene Overstreet,
                                                    President/CEO.

  Mr. SESSIONS. We need to let this process work, allow the Secretary 
of Labor to evaluate these comments and continue her process of 
establishing fair and modernized overtime regulations.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I rise to commend the Senate for the 
passage yesterday by unanimous consent an amendment to extend for 2 
years the Work Opportunity and Welfare to Work tax credits, and to make 
certain improvements to these programs that will make them even more 
effective in helping Americans transition from welfare to work. These 
credits clearly belong in a bill whose name is JOBS; I can think of few 
programs that have created jobs and provided basic workplace skills to 
a segment of the population that is badly in need of these resources 
with the efficiency and low cost of WOTC and W-t-W. I can also think of 
few jobs programs that have as positive an impact as these have on 
scarce state welfare resources. I am also pleased that Senator Bayh 
joined me as a cosponsor of this bipartisan amendment. I would also 
like to thank Chairman Grassley and Senator Baucus for their support of 
this important initiative as part of a larger package of extenders.
  WOTC and W-t-W are also key elements of welfare reform. Employers in 
the retail, health care, hotel, financial services, and food industries 
have incorporated this program into their hiring practices and through 
these programs, more than 2,700,000 previously dependent persons have 
found work.
  A recent report issued by the New York State Department of Labor 
bears this out in economic terms. Comparing the cost of WOTC credits 
taken by New York State employers during the period 1996-2003--for a 
total of $192.59 million--with savings achieved through closed welfare 
cases and reductions in vocational rehabilitation programs and jail 
spending--for a total of $199,89 million--the State of New York 
concluded that WOTC provided net benefits to the taxpayers even without 
taking into account the additional economic benefits resulting from the 
addition of new wages to the GDP or reductions in other social spending 
such as Medicaid.
  In that regard, the New York State analysis concluded that the 
roughly $90 million in wages paid to WOTC workers since 1996 generated 
roughly $225 million in increased economic activity. Perhaps even more 
importantly, the study found that roughly 58 percent of the TANF 
recipients who entered private sector employment with the assistance of 
WOTC stayed off welfare.
  I mention the New York State study because it is the first of its 
kind; however, I am certain that similar conclusions would be reached 
in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or any of the other 48 States and 
the District of Columbia. These programs work and do so at a net 
savings to taxpayers. In fact, over a 7-year period there were more 
than 111,000 certifications for both WOTC and W-t-W in Pennsylvania 
alone enabling many to leave welfare and find private sector work. The 
legislation is supported by hundreds of employers throughout 
Pennsylvania and around the country.
  WOTC and W-t-W have received high praise as well from the Federal 
Government. A 2001 GAO study concluded that employers have 
significantly changed their hiring practices because of WOTC by 
providing job mentors, longer training periods, and significant 
recruiting outreach efforts.
  Mr. President, WOTC and W-t-W are not traditional government jobs 
programs. Instead they are precisely the type of program that we should 
champion in a time when we need to be fiscally responsible. These are 
efficient and low cost public-private partnerships that have as their 
goal to provide a means by which individuals can transition from 
welfare to a lifetime of work and dignity.
  Under present law, WOTC provides a 40-percent tax credit on the first 
$6,000 of wages for those working at least 200 hours, or a partial 
credit of 25 percent for those working 120-399 hours. W-t-W provides a 
35-percent tax credit on the first $10,000 of wages for those working 
400 hours in the first year. In the second year, the W-t-W credit is 50 
percent of the first $10,000 of wages earned. WOTC and W-t-W are key 
elements of welfare reform. A growing number of employers use these 
programs in the retail, health care, hotel, financial services, food, 
and other industries. These programs have helped over 2,200,000 
previously dependent persons to find jobs.
  Eligibility for WOTC is currently limited to: (1) Recipients of 
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families in 9 of the 18 months ending on 
the hiring date; (2) individuals receiving Supplemental Security 
Income, SSI, benefits; (3) disabled individuals with vocational 
rehabilitation referrals; (4) veterans on food stamps; (5) individuals 
aged 18-24 in households receiving food stamp benefits; (6) qualified 
summer youth employees; (7) low-income ex-felons; and (8) individuals 
ages 18-24 living in empowerment zones or renewal communities. 
Eligibility for W-t-W is limited to individuals receiving welfare 
benefits for 18 consecutive months ending on the hiring date. More than 
80 percent of WOTC and W-t-W hires were previously dependent on public 
assistance programs. These credits are both a hiring incentive, 
offsetting some of the higher costs of recruiting, hiring, and 
retaining public assistant recipients and other low-skilled 
individuals, and a retention incentive, providing a higher reward for 
those who stay longer on the job.
  Despite the considerable success of WOTC and W-t-W, many vulnerable 
individuals still need a boost in finding

[[Page 4840]]

employment. This is particularly true during periods of high 
unemployment. There are several legislative changes that would 
strengthen these programs, expand employment opportunities for needy 
individuals, and make the programs more attractive to employers. These 
changes are reflected in legislation which I introduced along with 
Senator Baucus, S. 1180, and these changes are as follows:
  The administration's budget proposes to simplify these important 
employment incentives by combining them into one credit and making the 
rules for computing the combined credits simpler. The credits would be 
combined by creating a new welfare-to-work target group under WOTC. The 
minimum employment periods and credit rates for the first year of 
employment under the present work opportunity tax credit would apply to 
W-t-W employees. The maximum amount of eligible wages would continue to 
be $10,000 for W-t-W employees and $6,000 for other target groups--
$3,000 for summer youth. In addition, the second year 50-percent credit 
under W-t-W would continue to be available for W-t-W employees under 
the modified WOTC.
  Under current law, only those ex-felons whose annual family income is 
70 percent or less than the Bureau of Labor Statistics lower living 
standard during the 6 months preceding the hiring date are eligible for 
WOTC. The administration's budget also proposes to eliminate the family 
income attribution rule.
  Current WOTC eligibility rules heavily favor the hiring of women 
because single mothers are much more likely to be on welfare or food 
stamps. Women constitute about 80 percent of those hired under the WOTC 
program, but men from welfare households face the same or even greater 
barriers to finding work. Increasing the age ceiling in the ``food 
stamp category'' would greatly improve the job prospects for many 
absentee fathers and other ``at risk'' males. This change would be 
completely consistent with program objectives because many food stamp 
households include adults who are not working, and more than 90 percent 
of those on food stamps live below the poverty line.
  I am very pleased that President Bush proposed a 2-year extension for 
these programs in his budget, as well as some useful modifications and 
improvements. The administration along with all of us in Congress are 
eager to continue our efforts to create jobs in America. The amendment 
would provide for a 1-year extension of current law to facilitate a 
transition period and then in the second year implement these important 
changes.
  I would prefer a permanent extension which would provide these 
important programs with greater stability, thereby encouraging more 
employers to participate, make investment in expanding outreach to 
identify potential workers from the targeted groups, and avoid the 
wasteful disruption of termination and renewal. A permanent extension 
would also encourage the state job services to invest the resources 
needed to make the certification process more efficient and employer-
friendly. Yet the cost is a significant consideration in the current 
budget environment even though this is an excellent use of tax 
incentives which ultimately saves government resources while expanding 
opportunity for Americans.
  Finally, I commend the Senate for acting on this amendment and 
encourage support for cloture tomorrow and quick completion of this 
important underlying jobs bill. WOTC and W-t-W expired at the end of 
last year, and even though the extension we propose is retroactive, 
these programs will not be fully effective until they become law. The 
individuals who enter the workforce under these programs, and our 
States, that benefit greatly from the reduction in welfare that these 
programs generate, deserve quick action by the Senate on this bill. I 
urge all of my colleagues to support its passage.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased today to rise in support of 
the amendment offered by Senators Grassley and Bayh that would extend 
certain tax provisions to prevent their expiration.
  The Grassley-Bayh amendment contains a number of useful provisions, 
but one in particular that I commend to my colleagues would extend for 
two more years the $250 deduction provided to teachers who purchase 
supplies for their classrooms out of their own pockets. Senator Warner 
and I were the principal authors of this law.
  This is a modest, but appropriate, step toward recognizing the 
invaluable services that teachers provide each and every day to our 
children and to our communities. So often teachers in Maine, and 
throughout the country, spend their own money to improve the classroom 
experiences of their students. While many of us are familiar with the 
National Education Association's estimate that teachers spend, on 
average, $400 a year on classroom supplies, a more recent survey 
demonstrates that they are spending even more than that. According to a 
report released last year by Quality Education Data, the average 
teacher spends more than $520 a year out of pocket on school supplies.
  I have visited more than 100 schools in Maine, and everywhere I go, I 
find teachers who are spending their own money to improve the 
educational experiences of their students by supplementing classroom 
supplies.
  The teacher tax relief we passed overwhelmingly in the last Congress 
was a step in the right direction. As Tyler Nutter, a middle school 
math and reading teacher from North Berwick, ME, told me, ``It's a nice 
recognition of the contributions that many teachers have made.'' I 
commend the authors of this amendment for including the extension of 
the Collins-Warner Teacher Tax Credit on this important piece of 
legislation, and I invite all of my colleagues to join us in 
recognizing our teachers for a job well done.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Is our situation such that we are on the JOBS bill?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. We have a very important vote tomorrow. That vote is 
cloture to stop an effort to bring nongermane issues into and stall 
this bill.
  I spoke this morning, spending a great deal of time explaining how 
the JOBS bill is a fully bipartisan bill built from the ground up in a 
bipartisan manner. We cannot get anything through the Senate that is 
not bipartisan. We can get a lot of things through the House of 
Representatives that are partisan but not through the Senate.
  Now we are facing an attempt to defeat this bipartisan measure by 
injecting politically charged amendments into the JOBS bill regarding 
an issue that is not even dealt with in this bill. Somebody wants to 
write a law.
  Why does the other side insist on amending this important bill for a 
matter that is not even the subject of this legislation? We need to 
focus on what is in this bill and what will be killed if we do not get 
cloture approval tomorrow.
  We know the only way this bill can pass is by a ``yes'' vote tomorrow 
on stopping debate and moving to finality. But will the Democrats say 
no to cloture? Will they go on record opposing the provisions that are 
in this bill--very important provisions for creating jobs in America, 
preserving jobs in manufacturing, answers to concerns that the people 
of this body have expressed about outsourcing, about not enough 
manufacturing jobs being created?
  If you look at this bill, you will find, then, that there is very 
important provisions for creating jobs that the other side is preparing 
to kill, so, in a sense, their vote tomorrow will be a vote contrary to 
what they have been complaining about for a long period of time about 
this recovery not providing enough jobs, and particularly about jobs 
going overseas.
  This bill will prevent that. I do not understand why people would not 
vote to move a bill along that is going to solve a lot of the problems 
about our not creating enough jobs in manufacturing. If this bill does 
not move along, actually the situation is going to get worse, and we 
are going to lose jobs that we presently have in manufacturing.

[[Page 4841]]

  So why would they be prepared to kill this bill? This bill will end 
$4 billion a year of tariffs put on U.S. exports by Europe. Those 
tariffs are already being imposed against U.S. exports of grain, 
timber, paper, and manufactured goods. We can end those tariffs now at 
5 percent, growing 1 percent a month into the future. We can end them 
with this bill. But will the Democrats say no?
  A vote against the JOBS bill is a vote in favor of that 5-percent 
tariff going up 1 percent a month into the future. And that goes up 
very fast, making our business, our American manufacturing 
uncompetitive.
  The Congressional Budget Office says we have lost 3 million 
manufacturing jobs since the manufacturing downturn started 6 months 
before President Bush became President. This bill provides $75 billion 
of tax relief to our manufacturing sector to promote rehiring in U.S.-
based manufacturing. But will the Democrats say no?
  The Democrats claim they are worried about the scope of the proposed 
overtime regulations. The regulations are not even final yet. But how 
can you worry about overtime if you do not have a job in the first 
place? Shouldn't we first worry about creating manufacturing jobs and 
take care of overtime on another bill instead of slowing this one up? 
Or will the Democrats say no?
  The money from the FSC/ETI repeal gives a 3-percentage point tax rate 
cut on all income derived from manufacturing in the United States. It 
is not for manufacturing done offshore. We start this tax relief 
immediately.
  This manufacturing rate cut relief applies to sole proprietors, 
partnerships, farmers, individuals, family businesses, multinational 
corporations, even foreign companies that set up manufacturing plants 
in the United States to manufacture here with American workers. This 
should keep the Government out of their pockets while they try to 
recover from the economic downturn. That is what this bill is all 
about: helping these manufacturing companies recover from the economic 
downturn. Now, will the Democrats say no to the opportunity to help 
American manufacturing?
  This bill includes international tax reforms, most of which benefit 
American manufacturing, to keep it competitive in the global 
marketplace.
  This bill also includes the Homeland Reinvestment Act, which has 
broad support in both the House and the Senate. It has both Republican 
and Democrat sponsors. But will the Democrats say no?
  This bill extends the research and development tax credit through the 
end of 2005, something very necessary to keep our industry ahead of the 
curve, building for the next product, building for the next service, 
particularly in the technical areas. This is a domestic tax benefit 
that incentivizes research and development, translating into good, 
high-paying jobs for workers here in America, not across the ocean. But 
will the Democrats say no tomorrow on the cloture vote?
  In addition, there are several additional provisions that are 
important to this bill. Senators Bunning and Stabenow sought to 
accelerate the manufacturing deduction. This ensures that the tax 
relief and related economic benefits of the bill are provided more 
quickly to those hurt by the repeal of FSC/ETI.
  The bill extends, for 2 years, tax provisions that expired in 2003, 
last year. Some of them already expired. Some of them are expiring this 
year. They need to be included because those incentives are very 
important to the prosperity of companies that rely upon these tax 
incentives. This would include items such as the work opportunity tax 
credit, helping young people, helping low-income people to get jobs, to 
get job training. It helps to move people from welfare to work because 
we have tax credits that do that.
  Why would any Democrat vote against the extension of the welfare-to-
work tax credits, moving people out of welfare, where they are assured 
a life of poverty, into the mainstream of America, the world of work 
where you have a chance to move up the economic ladder? Over here, in 
welfare, you never have a chance to move up. We have tax credits to 
help. Will the Democrats say no to these tax credits to help low-income 
people get into the world of work, to move above, to improve 
themselves, to get out of poverty?
  There is a provision also in this bill on net operating losses that 
will accelerate tax relief to companies that need it to continue 
operations and recover from recent difficulties. The reason for doing 
that is they have some tax credits. They do not have income to write it 
off against. This gives them some benefit helping them to enhance their 
recovery.
  We have enhanced depreciation provisions to help the ailing airline 
industry, the manufacture of airplanes--Boeing, in my State where 
avionics are made for airplanes, Rockwell Collins--because you cannot, 
under existing depreciation laws, get something into completion by this 
deadline because it takes so long to build an airplane. This will 
extend provisions that were meant to help industry a year ago if they 
got long timelines to get something finished.
  There are new homestead provisions. This provides special assistance 
for businesses in counties that are losing population. This is rural 
economic development, providing incentives for newly constructed rural 
investment buildings, for starting or expanding a rural business in a 
rural high-outmigration county. Will the Democrats say no to that rural 
economic development?
  This bill includes brownfields revitalization. The bill waives taxes 
for tax-exempt investors who invest in the cleanup and remediation of 
qualified brownfields sites. Will the Democrats say no to helping clean 
up the environment? Would that vote comport with the rhetoric you hear 
on the environment from the other side of the aisle?
  Mortgage revenue bonds: This proposal would repeal the current rule 
that mortgage revenue bond payments received after the bond has been 
outstanding for 10 years must be used to pay off the bond, rather than 
issue new mortgages.
  There are 70 Senate cosponsors to this bill. Would the Democrats 
justify voting no on cloture to kill a provision that 70 of their 
colleagues support?
  We allow deductions for private mortgage insurance for people 
struggling to afford a home. Anyone planning to vote no on this one? 
Would they vote no on allowing the cost of mortgage insurance to be 
written off as one writes off interest on a mortgage? That is helping a 
lot of young people to get a home that they would not otherwise be able 
to afford. I know home ownership is the highest it has been in the 
history of our country. Maybe they are saying: We have enough Americans 
owning homes. Why help some other people this way? It is in this bill. 
If they vote no tomorrow, they are voting against helping those 
homeowners with their mortgage insurance costs.
  This bill includes a tax credit to employers for wages paid to 
reservists who have been called to active duty. Would Democrats say no 
to the guardsmen and reservists who are defending our country, helping 
us win this war, by voting no tomorrow?
  We have extended and enhanced the Liberty Zone bonds for rebuilding 
New York City. The two Senators from New York have talked to me about 
them. Are they going to vote no tomorrow and say no to the Liberty Zone 
bonds helping New York City at a time when Ground Zero begs for help? 
Will they tie up funding for the Liberty Zone in order to prove a 
political point for a Labor Department overtime regulation that has not 
yet been finalized? If it had been finalized, there is an opportunity 
for an expedited procedure for congressional veto of those very same 
regulations they don't want. This is not the last train out of the 
station. There are other opportunities to fight these battles and 
probably in a more appropriate way than a nongermane amendment on 
legislation that ought to pass, that is going to preserve and create 
jobs in manufacturing. Where are the priorities of the other side of 
the aisle?
  We also have in this bill increased industrial development bond 
levels to spur economic development. We have

[[Page 4842]]

bonds for rebuilding school infrastructure. We have included tribal 
bonds which apply the same rules to Native American tribes issuing tax 
exempt bonds to finance facilities on a Native American reservation 
that apply to tax exempt bonds that we allow State and local 
governments to use. Are Senators of the other party going to vote 
against the Native American Indian provisions of this bill?
  We have a tribal new markets tax credit. This amendment would add $50 
million annually in the new markets tax credit dedicated to community 
development entities serving Native American reservations, if there is 
a poverty rate of over 40 percent. Are they going to say no to helping 
those needy Americans?
  We have included a Civil Rights Tax Fairness Act so when people have 
been harmed in violation of their civil rights, they can go to court 
and get justice. Do you know what happens when they get justice? We 
have some people paying income tax on what they pay their lawyers so 
when it is all said and done, a big settlement, sometimes the people 
who have been harmed get nothing because of the unfair taxation of that 
award. Are the Democrats going to say no to those people who have had 
their civil rights violated? They can't get justice in court. That 
doesn't sound like the other party, does it?
  Is it worth killing off these important priorities over a regulatory 
issue that has already been voted on by the Senate? How many times do 
we have to express our view on something?
  We also have in this bill a special dividends allocation rule that 
benefits agricultural cooperatives. We have other farm provisions that 
help cattlemen receive tax free treatment if they replace livestock 
with other farm property where there has been drought, flood, or other 
weather-related conditions within 2 years from the date the livestock 
has been sold. Last year we heard a lot from the other side of the 
aisle about not helping the farmers who have been hurt by drought. Here 
is an opportunity to help some people through tax problems they have as 
a result of something beyond the control of the family farmer. Are they 
not going to give those farmers an opportunity to have help?
  We have a provision that allows payment under the National Health 
Service Corps loan repayment program to be exempt from tax. Every 
Senator here has rural America in their State. We are always saying 
there is not adequate health delivery services in some parts of our 
country in rural America. We set up the National Health Service Corps 
to provide services there. They still have a hard time getting adequate 
service, but we have provisions in here for additional incentives for 
people to serve rural America. I hear from my colleagues that we have 
to do something about health care in rural America. We have an 
opportunity tomorrow in this legislation to do something about it. Will 
the Democrats vote no tomorrow?
  We have a proposal to allow the itemized deduction for unreimbursed 
vehicle use for rural letter carriers. Why does that come before us? 
Because every time you drive a quarter of a mile and you stop at a 
rural mailbox to leave mail, and then go on to the next farmer's box to 
leave mail, that vehicle has higher costs than if it was going down the 
road 60 miles an hour and never stopping. The Tax Code ought to reflect 
a little bit different business deduction for that automobile as 
opposed to a business vehicle that doesn't stop at every mailbox.
  We have provisions in this bill to enhance broadband expensing 
provisions. We always hear from the other side that the quality of life 
in rural America can never be equal to that of cities if they don't 
have the same IT access. This gives that IT access. I hear Members of 
the other side of the aisle talk to me about broadband tax credits. We 
have an opportunity to do that now. Are they going to say no to what 
they have been asking me to do for the last 2 or 3 years?
  We provide real infrastructure tax credits, the so-called short-line 
credits. This bill provides $500 million over 3 years in Federal tax 
credits to States for intercity passenger rail capital projects. 
Eligible intercity passenger rail projects include planning, track 
rehabilitation, upgrade, development and relocation, security and 
safety projects, passenger equipment acquisition, station improvement, 
intermodal facilities development, and environmental review and impact 
mitigation.
  States may transfer credits directly to short-line and regional 
railroads. They are going to say no to that?
  Finally--here is something for the New York Senators--the proposal 
makes $100 million in tax credits available to New York to be used on 
rail infrastructure projects in the New York Liberty Zone.
  Will the Democrats say no? Will they vote against cloture tomorrow 
and thereby kill these measures? Will they do this over a proposed 
regulation which, as Senator Kyl and Senator Sessions just explained, 
is being misrepresented and used as a political scare tactic?
  All of these benefits are being held hostage because the other side 
is pushing a politically motivated vote on an issue that is not even in 
this bill.
  The leadership on the other side doesn't really want to debate the 
substance of this bill. Sometimes I get that feeling. They would prefer 
to turn this bipartisan bill into a political football.
  This is inexcusable because we have worked very hard throughout this 
process to make sure everyone's concerns, both Republican and Democrat, 
were incorporated into this bill. I related all of those. There is no 
reason this bill should not get almost unanimous support. In fact, it 
was voted out of committee 19 to 2. Now we have opposition from the 
other side. I don't understand.
  Anyone who votes against cloture tomorrow is effectively voting 
against all of the items I just listed. This should not happen on a 
bill that is meant to create jobs in America, with an emphasis upon 
manufacturing jobs.
  Several weeks ago, there was an article in the Washington Post 
quoting a Democratic tax aide--unidentified--saying, ``There's not a 
lot of incentives for us to figure out this problem.''
  The Democratic aide went on to say that allowing the extraterritorial 
income controversy to fester would yield increased sanctions--increased 
tariffs--on American products going to Europe, which would benefit the 
Democrats in November.
  That is a very appalling statement. I don't think that staff of 
either party are paid to think in terms of politics. They ought to be 
paid to think in terms of policy and, in the end, if they think about 
policy, they have good politics.
  Efforts to delay this bipartisan bill with unrelated measures is a 
poor excuse. So let's get on with the business at hand and finish this 
bill. Vote on cloture tomorrow, approve cloture, have finality on the 
bill, and when we do all that, we are going to put a jobs creation bill 
ahead of partisan politics, put these important benefits I just listed 
ahead of some concern that we have about an administrative regulation 
that hasn't even been issued yet. Let's stop playing politics and put 
the Senate back to work and move the JOBS bill forward.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.


                        Trip to the Middle East

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I wish to talk about a trip I took 
last week to the Middle East. I was privileged to travel with a group 
of colleagues to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria, 
Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar. I will discuss it in two parts.
  One part is what we saw happening in Iraq and the apprehension, the 
concerns we all had with the confusion, the chaos that exists there, 
the continued loss of life among our troops, and the inability to cope 
with a relatively new form or a new mode of warfare where remote bombs 
are set off by people who are some distance away from the place of the 
explosion, seeing a target they particularly want to get to, and the 
prospect that will continue to be an ever-increasing part of the 
mechanism of war. It is so tough to fight against that kind of 
weaponry, that kind of a remote attack.

[[Page 4843]]

  The people are courageous. They are dedicated. I had a chance to meet 
with some of our troops. I particularly met with a group from New 
Jersey. I got the same impression from all with whom I met. These are 
people who really want to do the right thing. They are not mercenaries. 
They are there because of the obligation they feel toward resurrecting 
or helping the revitalizing of Iraq and turning over to them their own 
responsibilities for governing.
  Our people are young. Frankly, even though I served in World War II 
and was myself young--I was 18 when I enlisted--our military personnel 
today look different. They seem to be more educated. They seem to be 
more thoughtful. Their bravery is unquestioned. They are out there 
doing their duty even though there are risks all over the place which 
we saw in abundance.
  We left Iraq about an hour before the explosion took place at the 
hotel. We were not at the hotel, but we were nearby. We were in the air 
when the bomb went off. It was simply, if I can say that, a replay of 
what happens every day there, whether it is Iraqis being killed or 
Americans being killed or coalition troops being killed. The death and 
the violence is ever present.
  I believe we are on a path to try to make it right, but what we have 
to recognize is that we are not free to leave, even though there is a 
proposal that goes into place on July 1 for a governing council made up 
of Iraqis that will purportedly take over. I say ``purportedly'' not 
because I am disdainful of the effort--I am not at all--but for the 
lack of readiness for governing.
  They need 73,000 policemen, for instance, and they have in the low 
twenties in uniform now. It is very hard to control the chaos, the 
turbulence, and the confrontations that occur with such a small police 
force. It is going to take a long time, maybe a couple of years, to get 
the police force to the size they need. They also need an army.
  What is the conclusion? The conclusion is we cannot leave there, and 
we have to face up to it. There are 130,000 troops coming in to replace 
existing personnel on the ground who have been there long enough to be 
rotated. Nobody believes we are going to be able to pack our bags on 
July 2 and start to go home. We are going to be there a long time, and 
I hope we will have the courage to face up to the funding necessary and 
put it in the budget and say what it is we are doing there.
  We are adding to the total indebtedness of the country, but yet we 
hide it. We appropriated $166 billion thus far, and it looks as if we 
are going to have a supplemental request for $50 billion to $75 billion 
in the not too distant future, and it is on the side.
  We have to support our people. You have no idea how disappointing it 
is when I talk to young people who are serving. I said: If you can be 
totally candid with me, tell me what your complaint is. Is it the 
accommodations? Is it where you live? Is it how you live? Is it the 
food you get? No, no, no.
  One young man, a captain, said to me: Mr. Senator, I will tell you 
what bothers me. I see some of our coalition friends, people who are 
helping us in this quest of ours, who have the latest in bulletproof 
vests. The ones we have are not as good and they do not protect us as 
well as they should.
  We have seen that in the papers, but here when you come face to face, 
you see the faces of people who are wearing those vests, who are trying 
to protect themselves while they do their duty, I can tell you this: 
Five Senators--all of us--were wearing the latest in flak gear. It was 
a sad commentary on where things are to hear them say they do not have 
it.
  They point to their weapons. I think they were M-16s. I carried a 
Carbine when I was in the Army, so that is not a familiar weapon to me. 
They said the coalition people had better, newer rifles, lighter, more 
efficient. Why should that happen? They needed trucks and armored 
vehicles, and they did not have them. Why should that happen? When we 
look in the paper, just yesterday, and see the problem is in the 
transportation of the materials to Iraq, that the manufacture of these 
products has taken place but we can't get the materials there, it is 
very disappointing. I hope we will be able to do something to 
accelerate the pace of providing the protective gear and the equipment 
they need.
  Today I want to discuss another part of the trip. The volatile 
situation in Israel--the Middle East altogether--was difficult to 
witness. We went to Israel and the other places I mentioned--the 
Palestinian territories, et cetera.
  The other visit was taking place with the Prime Minister of Israel 
and a few people from his staff. Suddenly activity took place and 
people were running out and coming back with notes. The Prime Minister 
of Israel reported to us: We have just had a suicide bombing in Ashdod, 
which is a port community in Israel, and 10 people were killed and many 
more wounded.
  I watched this man, who I have known over the years, deflate and age 
in years in just a few minutes, whipped by the knowledge that more of 
his citizens, innocent civilians, had been killed.
  I volunteered the notion that he may want to adjourn the meeting and 
take care of the business he had to take care of, the duties he had to 
deal with. He said, no, as Prime Minister of the Jewish state, 
unfortunately, we learn to live with adversity and we must carry on, so 
we will carry on the meeting.
  It was a painful thing to witness. It happens so frequently. We are 
in a state of shock when we hear it and see it, and I know the pain 
that must go through their community because it affects so many people. 
It is the dead, the injured, their friends, their families, their 
fellow workers, and those with whom they serve in the military. The 
pain is an excruciating whirlpool, it touches so many people. When we 
look at that, we say, what is it that permits this kind of slaughter of 
innocent people to take place?
  Now we hear the shrieking about the assassination, we will call it 
that directly, of Sheikh Yassin, the man who invented Hamas and all the 
horrible deeds they carried out. This is after the third suicide 
bombing attack in Israel in the year 2004. The death toll now stands at 
941 Israelis killed by terrorism since the start of the intifada in 
September of 2000.
  Israel is a tiny country with a small population of 6.3 million 
people. To put the terrorist toll in perspective, if the United States 
were to suffer such a wave of terror attacks, over 50,000 Americans 
would be dead, almost the same number we lost over 10 years in Vietnam, 
58,000. In Britain, it would have translated into approximately 9,000 
fatalities. Imagine the impact that has in this single day when 10 
people are killed from that attack. It is the equivalent of 500 people. 
If we had a killing in 1 day of 500 people by terrorists, we would be, 
as we were in Vietnam, in national mourning. These relative numbers 
underscore the impact of terrorism on the Israelis.
  Israel has seen 130 attempted suicide bombings since September 2000. 
In the latest incident, 10 Israelis lost their lives, leaving behind 
dozens of children, grandchildren, spouses, parents and, as I said, 
friends and workers and those with whom they served in the military.
  As I looked at the pictures in the papers of the 10 victims, most of 
whom were under 40, with families to support, I asked myself: What 
could it take for 2 young Palestinian kids, 17 years old, to be capable 
of perpetrating such atrocities against innocents?
  One of the main reasons that takes place, in my view, is the 
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has not only failed to 
rein in the terrorists but he is actively supporting a culture that 
incites young people to commit such acts. Arafat's Al Aqsa Martyrs 
Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack, along with Hamas. They 
take pleasure in this. Large crowds of Palestinians in the West Bank 
celebrated the attacks by honking their car horns, firing guns into the 
air and distributing candy to passersby for the killing of innocent 
people. The Palestinian Authority did nothing to stop these 
celebrations.
  By the way, I have never heard of a celebration taking place, with 
all the

[[Page 4844]]

violence that has been visited upon Israel, when they killed some 
Palestinians, never. As a matter of fact, there are times when soldiers 
in the Israeli army have refused to serve, saying their conscience 
disturbed them such they did not want to serve in those territories.
  There have been many times when Israeli civilians or soldiers have 
been punished for attacks on Palestinians within their community. That 
is the difference in the cultures. One culture celebrates death and 
destruction, and the other mourns the victims on both sides of the 
boundary.
  The reality is Yasser Arafat has instituted a deliberate policy of 
preaching and encouraging hate. Books they have in the school system 
teach them to hate the Israelis, to hate the Jews. For example, on 
March 13, 2004, Palestinian Authority-controlled television carried a 
speech by a sheikh in Gaza in which he said the Jews are the sons of 
apes and pigs and the extremists and terrorists who deserve death while 
we deserve life since we have a just cause.
  I was on a TV program one day with a representative of the Arab 
organization here, and I said this violence has to stop; you have to 
come to some peaceful arrangement, some detente. He said: Not as long 
as the occupation continues.
  He was an American of Palestinian heritage. So I said, well, would 
you say Native Americans living in America, people who had their 
country wrested from them in the late 1600s, early 1700s, would have 
the justification to strap bombs on their backs and go into the Federal 
Reserve Bank or the Supreme Court or places such as that and blow them 
up and say this is an occupation?
  The Presiding Officer is a man of learning and experience, and I 
would ask: How many times have borders moved as a result of combat, as 
a result of war? It has happened many times. Those adjustments remain 
in many instances.
  When we look at the reason for this killing, instead of saying stop 
it, once and for all, Arafat should speak out and say, stop the 
killing. We should not lend him a hand of help, not a nickel's worth of 
assistance or anything else until he gives up that post and turns it 
over to people.
  We met with the finance minister from the Palestinian Authority. He 
was a reasonable individual, wanting to make peace, wanting to stop the 
violence. The Palestinians cry as much as the Israelis cry when they 
lose a son or a daughter. The false belief they are going to some kind 
of martyrdom does not relieve them of the sadness of the loss of a 
family member.
  We learned something else. There was an emergency meeting in Yasser 
Arafat's compound in Ramallah following the suicide bombing at the 
Ashdod port. Arafat refused his cabinet's call to use Palestinian 
security forces against terror organizations.
  Palestinian cabinet ministers, such as the interior minister and the 
commander of the national security forces, pleaded with him to act 
against Hamas and Fatah's military wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. 
He refused to intervene. He is an accomplice in these killings no 
matter how they try to deny it. He provides no useful service to his 
``leadership in the Palestinian community.'' He incites them to 
violence.
  We went to Syria, and all President Assad wanted to talk about was 
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are borders, 600-mile borders. 
He couldn't stop the people from crossing the border. We know who is 
crossing the border. He didn't know. He said there were people in 
innocent travel, business, recreation, family, et cetera. Meanwhile, 
terrorists are flooding into Iraq, many of them coming across the 
Syrian border.
  That is what happens there. It is the corrupt leadership that has 
people believing the way out is to kill themselves and to kill Israelis 
and other innocent people. We don't know what the reach is. To the 
train bombing in Spain or other acts of violence in other parts of the 
world? But this notion that violence is an acceptable form of behavior 
is outrageous, and Arafat is allowing Palestinian society to be 
undermined and destroyed by a reign of terror. He has chosen to allow 
terrorism to flourish. Because of Arafat's lack of action, not only are 
Israeli children being orphaned and Israeli society terrorized, but 
also the Palestinian people's dream of living in a secure, free, and 
vibrant state is being destroyed.
  I still believe all roads and roadmaps lead to a two-state solution. 
When I was in the region last week, I urged the Israeli leadership to 
try to meet and resume direct contacts with Palestinian officials in 
order to try to make progress toward a settlement. I told Prime 
Minister Sharon that his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip was a 
good start. Such a withdrawal, however, must be done in coordination 
with Palestinian and international officials to ensure there is a 
viable infrastructure to govern the people and to prevent Hamas and the 
Islamic Jihad from overrunning the Gaza Strip.
  I also encouraged the Israeli Prime Minister to work with the 
international community to resume progress on the roadmap and to begin 
looking at how to withdraw remote Jewish settlements from the West Bank 
as well as from the Gaza Strip. Yet any real progress on the roadmap 
depends on the speedy emergence of new Palestinian leaders who realize 
that a healthy Palestinian state cannot be built on a foundation of 
terror and violence. On this point, there should be no concessions, no 
flexibility, no turning a blind eye.
  Today we see pictures of angry mobs in the Arab world protesting the 
death of Sheik Yassin, the head of Hamas. The Israeli military's 
strategy of targeted assassinations is questionable and controversial. 
But I have to ask my colleagues, if someone is standing in your kid's 
schoolyard with a gun in his hand, what would you do? Would you meet 
with him and confer about what he ought to do or would you take 
advantage of the opportunity of the moment and abolish the threat? Do 
you eliminate the threat immediately or abide by the Marquis of 
Queensbury rules when dealing with terrorists? These are difficult 
questions, but given the lack of real leadership on the Palestinian 
side, the Israelis are trying to find the best way to protect their 
population from terror.
  Peace in the Middle East begins with the removal of Arafat from 
power. It is a step the Palestinians must take if they want to move 
their nation forward. Peace will not be obtained through terror but 
only through peaceful negotiation. It is something Yasser Arafat 
clearly does not understand, but we have to help him understand. We 
can't give him any other help of any kind. As a matter of fact, 
whatever sanctions we can put on him and his corrupt government, we 
ought to do it.
  It is very painful to witness, I understand, for those who are 
engaged in the innocent pursuit of life, to suddenly come face to face 
with someone who has been encouraged to give up his life. What kind of 
false notion is this, that somehow or other you get rewarded for losing 
a son or daughter and get a financial reward? I think what we ought to 
do is try to trace those financial rewards to the countries that offer 
them. Maybe friends like Saudi Arabia ought to step up and do their 
share to not permit this to happen, to not permit these militant groups 
to exist in their society.
  I can tell you one thing. After our visit there, I am more convinced 
than ever that we must protect Israel no matter what we have to do to 
see that she survives. It is not because we just love those people. It 
is because we love the American people. It is because we want to 
protect America's interests. It is because we don't want to have 
American troops in the middle of that mad world, with corrupt 
governments who siphon off the wealth of their countries while their 
people in those communities starve and have no opportunity for 
themselves.
  That is the interest I see we have in a strong Israel. It is not just 
the informational exchange. That is important. But it is the fact of 
Israel sitting there as a reminder to those corrupt countries, and it 
is an extension of democracy. It is not an extension of the United 
States. It is not the 51st State. It is an extension of democracy, and 
it shows what people can do when they

[[Page 4845]]

can take a malaria-ridden nation and change it into a thriving 
agricultural and scientific nation. That is the example that has to be 
set and that is the one that has to be understood and we ought not to 
equivocate and say there is violence on both sides. That is the wrong 
message. You can't say that because that only encourages terrorism. It 
says violence on one side begets violence on the other side.
  I said it before. I have never heard an Israeli, and I know many, nor 
have I ever seen the country, celebrate the death of children on the 
other side of the boundary. I have never seen them celebrate when men, 
women, and children who are innocent are killed--never.
  But in the Palestinian community they celebrate by shooting off guns 
and handing out candy to kids and parading, happy that they have taken 
someone out of the family, a child, a sister or brother, mother, 
father--outrageous. Outrageous.
  We have to stand steadfast in our support of Israel. We have to 
insist that Arafat step aside and provide them the right leadership, 
and there is leadership there but they don't have a chance to operate 
because he robs them of that opportunity.
  It was a wonderful opportunity we had to see what was taking place 
there and be able to report back and shape our thinking based on the 
need.
  Support our troops. Commend them for what it is that they do in 
accordance with the tenets of democracy and ultimately decency. We can 
argue whether we should be there or we should not be there, but we are 
there and we have to support those people as fully as we can, everyone 
who wears a uniform. We have to be proud of them. They do their duty 
splendidly.
  With those thoughts, Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the 
absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Talent). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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