[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 12840-12847]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CHECKLIST FOR CHANGE

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, last week, the Democratic women of the 
Senate, led by our dean, Senator Barbara Mikulski, held an event at the 
Sewall Belmont House, which I am very proud to say put forth what we 
are calling the checklist for change. We came together around the 
importance of an agenda in Congress that meets the needs of all of the 
American people.
  We have been given an hour this morning to discuss these issues. Our 
first speaker, our leader, is the Senator from Maryland, who has paved 
the way for women not only in the Senate but in our country on so many 
issues. I am, with great pride, yielding to the Senator from Maryland.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland is 
recognized.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New York, as 
well as all of my colleagues, the nine Democratic women from the U.S. 
Senate.
  We are united today. We, the Democratic women of the Senate, rise in 
a united way to launch something we are calling the Democratic Women 
for Change. We want to change the agenda that is going through the 
Senate. We want to change the tone in the Senate for one of more 
civility, and we want to change the schedule to get things done.
  The Senate has only been in session about 75 days, less time than 
most State legislatures. And what have we debated? Divisive 
constitutional amendments and tax breaks for zillionaires.
  I regret that the Republican leadership has squandered time, 
squandered opportunity, and squandered taxpayers' money. We spent time 
with bills focused on reelecting Republicans instead of helping 
American families. It is time we bring real issues to the floor. We 
have only 50 days left before this Senate adjourns. This is why we have 
done our checklist.
  We have a must-do list for change. It is specific, it is immediate, 
it is realizable, and it is also affordable.
  We women know about checklists. We remember all the important things 
that we need to get done by having a checklist. It is what we use to 
keep our families on track, and now we bring a checklist to the Senate 
to get America on track.
  These are the challenges that we can meet right now by the time 
Congress adjourns for the fall elections. Each and every one of us has 
a specific issue we want to see done, and we want to check that off.
  I am advocating for reliable pensions. I want to talk about 
retirement security and giving help to those people who practice self-
help all of their lives. In the United States of America, everyone 
should retire with financial security.
  Honoring your father and your mother is not only a good commandment 
to live by, it is a very good policy by which to govern. That is why we 
the Democratic women of the Senate fought to stop the privatization of 
Social Security, and we were successful. Now we stand sentry on the 
Senate floor to make sure Social Security is never ever privatized.
  We believe that Social Security should be a guaranteed benefit, not a 
guaranteed gamble. We want to make sure Social Security is reliable, 
undeniable, and inflation proof.
  But as we stand sentry, we are alarmed to see that a budget bill will 
come soon to the Senate floor that could be a backdoor way of 
privatizing Social Security. The so-called budget reform bill will 
create a commission on entitlements, fast-track authority, but

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it is really a backdoor way to privatize Social Security.
  Under the guise of empowering an unelected commission, they would 
have the authority to cut benefits, to turn it over to Wall Street 
where seniors would have to rely on the bull of political promises or 
the bear of a market. We, your Democratic women, are standing sentry, 
and we will not let this happen.
  But we also want to support the private sector, the good guys in 
America's entrepreneurial and business community who provide pensions. 
So we are fighting for pensions that workers can count on and so that 
good-guy businesses would have clear rules coming out of the 
legislative framework on which they could depend. And we want to 
protect taxpayers from a bailout of companies dumping their programs on 
a government program.
  Where are we now? A pension bill has been languishing. We are 
stalled, we are sputtering, we are dithering. It has been 180 days 
since the House and the Senate passed each bill on pensions, and 110 
days since conferees were named--110 days.
  After all is said and done, more is being said than gets done. Time 
is running out. We must pass this bill. But most of all, time is 
running out on this Congress. The American people are running out of 
patience. That is why we bring to the Senate our economic list for 
change, and we ask that we adopt this checklist and let's bring about 
change that will make a difference for our constituents.
  I now yield the floor to my wonderful colleague from New York, Mrs. 
Clinton, and thank her for all of the extra work she is doing in 
standing up for New York and standing up for America.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New York is 
recognized.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I applaud my friend and colleague, 
Senator Mikulski, who is speaking out eloquently and strongly about the 
importance of pension and retirement security and pointing out the 
dangers of the legislation--coming out on a totally party-line vote--
coming out of the Budget Committee that we believe would once again 
raise the specter of Social Security privatization.
  So we are sounding the alarm, and we are making clear that the 
Democratic women of the Senate will stand sentry, as Senator Mikulski 
said, and we will stand firmly to protect Social Security because we 
know how many women depend on Social Security.
  Part of our effort is to in very simple terms put forth this 
checklist for change. We know we have to secure our economy in a more 
competitive world and secure our energy supplies in that competitive 
world.
  Our current energy policy is weakening our national security, hurting 
our pocketbooks, violating our common values, and threatening our 
children's futures. Right now, instead of our national security 
dictating our energy policy, our failed energy policy dictates our 
national security. We want and need a fundamental change in direction 
to secure our Nation's energy future.
  I believe a strong, balanced national energy policy is a key to 
strong economic and environmental policies as well.
  It is time we decide do we allow our economic security and our 
national security to be weighed down by a failed energy policy or do we 
choose a new path? We think, the Democratic women of the Senate, that 
we need a new path.
  Here is a concrete goal. Let's reduce our dependence on foreign oil 
by at least 50 percent by 2025. How will we get there? It starts by 
getting back our American can-do attitude and a new commitment, such as 
the Apollo project that sent a man to the Moon. We know how to do this. 
Americans are better at setting goals and solving problems than any 
people in the history of the world, but we are acting as though we 
can't control our own destiny when it comes to energy, that we can't 
possibly do what needs to be done to break our addiction to foreign 
oil.
  I have introduced legislation to create a strategic energy fund, to 
commit our Nation wholly to a new energy future, to invest in 
alternatives and efficiency, to create jobs, to strengthen our economy, 
and to free our hands fully to protect our Nation in the world. I don't 
want to see one more year go by where we are not doing what it takes to 
prevent us from being blackmailed and extorted by oil regimes that have 
us literally over a barrel.
  The strategic energy fund will invest in renewable energy, such as 
wind and solar, transform America's vehicles by expanding consumer tax 
credits, and making sure we have more hybrids and other advanced clean 
diesel automobiles and trucks.
  We will accelerate home-grown biofuels by investing in research and 
loan guarantees for cellulosic ethanol production.
  We will speed fuel infrastructure by pairing increased tax incentives 
for installation of E-85 pumps with a mandate to have them at 50 
percent of our gas stations within 10 years.
  And we will unleash American ingenuity by investing $9 billion in a 
new energy research agency modeled on DARPA, which was created in the 
Defense Department after Sputnik went up and has given us so much, 
including the Internet.
  We challenge the Republican Congress to make energy independence a 
priority by passing meaningful energy legislation, such as a strategic 
energy fund, this session.
  I am so proud to stand with my Democratic women colleagues and put 
forth this checklist for change. It will make a difference in America's 
future. Let's get about doing the business of America.
  I yield the floor for my distinguished colleague from California, 
Senator Boxer.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California is 
recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I thank Senator Clinton. I am also very 
proud to be on the floor of this great body with my Democratic women 
Senate colleagues.
  We held a press conference in which we challenged the Republican 
leadership to bring up issues on this floor that are meaningful to our 
families. Here is our checklist for change. Each of us has taken one of 
these issues. Mine happens to be protecting our air, land, and water.
  The message we are here today to convey is that the Republicans run 
the Senate, the White House, and the House of Representatives. They 
control what issues come to the floor of the Congress for debate. We 
spent yesterday debating an amendment to the Constitution to ban flag 
burning. We also debated a bipartisan proposal by Senators Bennett and 
Clinton to ban flag burning via a statute.
  Every one of us in this body voted to ban flag burning, be it by a 
statute or by an amendment. But one has to ask the question: Is that 
debate, which we have had four times, more important than the issues 
that are on our checklist for change?
  There have been four reports of flag burnings this year. That is four 
too many, but they were four. Yet there are 44 million Americans whose 
pensions are at risk while this Congress fails to act to protect those 
pensions.
  Four flags burned versus 7.5 million Americans who have been denied 
an increase in the minimum wage. And this Congress, under the 
Republicans, sees nothing wrong with giving themselves a pay raise, but 
they can't raise the minimum wage, and it has been flat for 9 years, 
which means it has gone down in value and people cannot make it on 
$5.15 an hour.
  Four flags have been burned--four too many--versus 170,000 talented 
college-ready students each year who stay home because they can't 
afford tuition.
  Four flags burned--four too many--yet 30,000-plus veterans have 
waited in 2006 for their first medical appointment, an issue that will 
be taken up by Senator Murray.
  Four flags burned versus 200,000 people in New Orleans living in 
trailers, unfinished houses, or tents in the front yards of their 
Katrina-ravaged homes.
  Four flags burned this year--four too many--versus $2.89 a gallon for 
regular gas. By the way, that is the national

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price. In California, we are looking at well over $3 a gallon.
  Four flags burned--four too many--versus 46 million Americans with no 
health insurance, and Senator Lincoln will talk about that.
  Four flags burned--four too many--versus over 500,000 Americans who 
have lost their lives while we wait for this Republican Congress to 
take action on stem cell legislation, an issue that has been championed 
by many of us in this Senate and on this checklist carried by Senator 
Feinstein.
  And, finally, four flags burned--four too many--versus 75 million 
Americans living near our most polluted toxic waste Superfund sites.
  In conclusion, because my checkpoint is protect our air, land, and 
water, I call on this Republican Congress to address two pressing 
environmental crises: global warming and Superfund cleanup.
  It is easy to put global warming on the back burner as long as our 
everyday lives are not affected, but some people think their everyday 
lives are beginning to be affected. The best scientists in the world 
warn us that we are near the tipping point on global warming.
  Just the other day, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, along with 
the national academy of science for 10 other nations, agreed that 
climate change is real and it has to be addressed. So we call on this 
Republican Congress to do something about it. Don't sit back and say 
this doesn't exist because you are ignoring science.
  I am proud to say that in the State of California, they are 
listening. This week a historic global warming bill cleared the first 
hurdle and passed the California Senate Environmental Quality 
Committee. California has been a leader in the environment, and Senator 
Feinstein and I want to make sure that we can bring some of that action 
right here to the Senate.
  Last point: We need to clean up these Superfund sites that are 
hurting our families and hurting our communities. Under the Clinton 
administration, we cleaned up 80 of these sites a year. Now it is down 
to 40 sites a year. We owe our children a clean and healthy 
environment.
  Mr. President, it is time for you and the Members of the Republican 
Congress to call on the Republican leadership to take up our checklist 
for change. We are very proud to be talking about this all together 
this morning on the Senate floor.
  I am proud to yield now for Senator Patty Murray of Washington.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington is 
recognized.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am very proud to be here this morning 
with the other Democratic women of the Senate in urging the leadership 
to talk about the issues that are the true priorities of the American 
people. The issue I am talking about today is so important, and that is 
the treatment of our Nation's veterans. Our military men and women and 
their families are sacrificing every day for all of us. It should be 
our duty to honor that sacrifice, whether it is with jobs or training, 
support or health care. But on this issue, the Republican leadership 
has failed miserably.
  Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs continues to be overwhelmed 
and underfunded. Listen to what we know. The VA is currently seeing 38 
percent more Iraq war veterans than they budgeted for--38 percent more. 
In fact, in fiscal year 2006, the VA expected to provide medical care 
to 110,000, but that number is now closer to 170,000, and those 
veterans are waiting over a year to get the specialty care they need 
and deserve.
  In Seattle, we have VA medical centers with over 2,000 veterans on 
waiting lists to get an initial doctor's appointment. Veterans around 
the country are waiting 18 months just to get their benefits. On Monday 
it was reported in the New York Times that veterans' spouses are being 
faced with an impenetrable wall of bureaucracy as they try to collect 
their survivor benefits.
  To me, and to my women colleagues, that is simply intolerable. We are 
also woefully unprepared for the rising toll of post-traumatic stress 
disorder and other battlefield-related mental illnesses that are 
hitting our troops. Right now, it is estimated that one-third--one-
third--of the 1.3 million Americans who have served in Iraq and 
Afghanistan are facing mental health challenges when they get home. The 
Department of Veterans Affairs recently revealed to us that it is on a 
pace to see nearly 20,000 new cases of postcombat stress this fiscal 
year among troops. Guess how many they estimated to see: 2,900. So they 
thought they would have 2,900, but they are on a pace to see 20,000. A 
VA Under Secretary noted that some of our VA clinics don't provide 
mental health care, or if they do, she said, waiting lists render that 
care virtually inaccessible. Our service men and women, veterans, and 
their families deserve more than virtually inaccessible care. We have 
to do more.
  On top of that, we have to be working to pass Federal legislation 
that addresses the employment needs of veterans who are coming back 
home from the battle front. Do my colleagues know that among 20- to 24-
year-olds, unemployment for veterans is double that of nonveterans, and 
it is three times the national average? That is unacceptable. Iraq war 
veterans are coming home, they are losing their jobs, they are not 
getting medical care, they are having a hard time accessing benefits, 
and they are struggling to just get by.
  We have a job to do in this Senate, and that is why the Democratic 
women are here today to talk about our checklist for change and 
focusing on our veterans. Last week, I successfully amended the fiscal 
year 2007 Agriculture appropriations bill to include $160 million to 
deal with the data theft of 26.5 million veterans. We have to make sure 
that our veterans don't have the double whammy of losing their data and 
then losing their health care to pay for it.
  Our service men and women deserve a new direction. So today we 
challenge the Republican leadership to include the real cost of care 
for our veterans when they submit their budget and to do right by our 
veterans and our military families by holding hearings on the holes in 
transition assistance, mental health care, and health care that our 
veterans and families need.
  Caring for our veterans is not a Republican or Democratic issue, it 
is an American issue. We call on this Congress to right now do the most 
patriotic thing we can do, and that is to fulfill our promise to our 
Nation's veterans.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
a letter to Senator Frist from all of the Democratic women outlining 
our checklist for change and our call for action.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                  Democratic Women for Change,

                                                    June 21, 2006.
     Hon. William H. Frist,
     U.S. Senate, Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Frist, We, the Democratic women of the Senate, 
     are writing to challenge you to change direction, change the 
     tone, and change the agenda to match the priorities of the 
     American people.
       There are approximately 50 days left in this legislative 
     session--still plenty of time to change direction and focus 
     instead on meeting the challenges that affect the American 
     people in their daily lives.
       To that end, we present you with our ``Checklist for 
     Change''--nine challenges that Congress can meet right now. 
     We ask that these goals be considered during the remainder of 
     this session of Congress:
       Safeguard America's Pensions: Americans deserve to retire 
     with dignity and financial security. We will continue to 
     oppose any plan to privitize social security, because seniors 
     deserve a guarantee rather than a gamble. Recent corporate 
     corruption and mismanagement has shown us that we must also 
     protect employee pension plans. The Republican Congress has 
     stalled these efforts. For the good of all American workers, 
     we challenge the Republican Congress to pass a clean pension 
     reform bill.
       Keep Good Jobs in America: We need a jobs agenda that 
     fights for American workers and businesses. The flight of 
     American jobs overseas must be reversed. Currency 
     manipulation and the free flow of counterfeit goods from 
     countries like China have put American workers at an unfair 
     disadvantage for too long. We challenge the Republican 
     Congress

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     to enact tax policies that Stop the outsourcing of American 
     jobs, to level the international playing field by enforcing 
     our trade agreements, and to raise the minimum wage.
       Make College Affordable for All: The best guarantee of a 
     good job is a quality education. In America, 170,000 college-
     ready students don't attend college each year because the 
     cost is too high. Yet the Bush Administration has taken $12 
     billion from student aid programs to pay for tax cuts for the 
     wealthiest Americans. We cballenge the Republican Congress to 
     increase the maximum Pell Grant, make the college tuition tax 
     credit permanent, and cut student loan interest rates.
       Protect America and our Military Families: It is our duty 
     to care for the brave men and women who defend our nation at 
     home and abroad. Yet the Bush Administration consistently 
     shortchanges healthcare and other benefits for veterans, 
     leaving many soldiers waiting a year or more treatment. We 
     challenge the Republic Congress to provide benefits funding 
     for veterans and to hold hearings on mental health care and 
     transition assistance for those coming back from war abroad.
       Prepare for Future Disasters: Nearly five years after 
     September 11th and ten months after Hurricane Katrina, the 
     Federal Government is still woefully unprepared to deal with 
     potential future disasters. We challenge the Republican 
     Congress to restore disaster to cabinet-level status; to 
     implement the recommendations of the September 11th 
     Commission; to develop safe evacuation plans; and to reform 
     the Stafford Act to better manage large catastrophes.
       Make America Energy Independent: America's lack of a 
     coherent energy policy is weakening national security, 
     hurting our pocketbooks, violating our common values and 
     threatening our children's future. The Strategic Energy Fund 
     bill will cut our dependence on foreign oil in half by 2025, 
     invest in efficient energy alternatives and create good 
     American jobs. We challenge the Republican Congress to pass 
     the Strategic Energy Fund bill.
       Make Small Business Healthcare Affordable: More than 46 
     million Americans are uninsured. Small businesses create two 
     out of every three new jobs in America and account for nearly 
     half of America's overall employment, yet just 26% of 
     businesses with 50 or fewer employees provide health 
     insurance. The Small Employers Health Benefits Program will 
     create affordable, private health insurance for small 
     businesses and give parents the comfort of knowing that their 
     children are protected. We challenge the Republican Congress 
     to pass this crucial legislation.
       Invest in Life Saving Science: Stem cell research provides 
     real hope for cures to many of the world's deadliest 
     diseases. Against the wishes of the American people, the Bush 
     Administration and the Republican Congress have blocked 
     efforts to expand stem cell research so that scientists and 
     doctors have every tool at their disposal to keep us healthy 
     and safe. As a result, America trails the rest of the world 
     in research. We challenge the Republican Congress to pass 
     stem cell legislation this summer.
       Protect our Air, land and Water: The Bush Administration 
     has been negligent in protecting Americans from environmental 
     hazards. They have ignored the consensus of the best 
     scientists in the world when it comes to the threat of global 
     warming, and they have recklessly reduced clean ups of toxic 
     waste at Superfund sites. We challenge the Republican 
     Congress to pass a comprehensive science-based bill to reduce 
     greenhouse gases and to restore funding for Superfund 
     cleanup.
       We hope that you will put these bedrock issues on the 
     agenda, because the American people are counting on us to 
     fight for them. We can and must do better.
           Sincerely,
         Barbara Mikulski, Barbara Boxer, Maria Cantwell, Hillary 
           Rodham Clinton, Diane Feinstein, Mary Landrieu, Blanche 
           Lincoln, Patty Murray, Debbie Stabenow.

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am proud to yield the floor for my 
colleague from Washington State, Senator Cantwell.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). The Senator from Washington is 
recognized.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Murray 
from Washington, for her eloquent statement about the state of veterans 
affairs in our country and to make sure that those who patriotically 
served our country are taken care of in their time of need.
  Many of my colleagues are here--and I appreciate being with my women 
Senate Democratic colleagues--to talk about our checklist for change 
and talk about the important issues we believe Congress and the Senate 
should be focusing on. But I know that people all across my State are 
wondering what we are doing here in the few days left before our Fourth 
of July recess.
  In fact, one of the newspapers in my State basically said: If Members 
don't have better things to do than some of the proposals they have 
been bringing up to amend the Constitution, then we should just go 
home. Or, as one newspaper said: The checklists that we have been 
dealing with are full of political gimmicks and not national needs.
  I would like to say that these are the national needs that we ought 
to be dealing with, and making college education affordable for all is 
a huge priority. As we have spoken out on this issue as a group of 
women Senators talking about the checklist for change, I am now hearing 
from students all over America who are feeling the same pinch.
  A student from Central Washington University said: Like many others, 
I am feeling the cuts that affect financial aid.
  Even students from outside the State of Washington are e-mailing me. 
One student from the University of Florida basically said they were 
coming here to Capitol Hill soon with their full group of presidents 
and vice presidents and student vice presidents. They reminded me that:

       We are the future of America, and we must ensure that 
     future by making sure students, regardless of wealth or other 
     socioeconomic factors, have access to a good college 
     education.

  Mr. President, I couldn't agree with that student from the University 
of Florida more, and I look forward to seeing them in their efforts 
here on Capitol Hill to be successful.
  But we are here this morning because we all know the best way to 
secure a good job is a quality education, and we know that the doors to 
educational opportunity are slamming shut for many Americans. This is 
something that is very personal to me as somebody who went to school on 
financial aid, and I can literally say I don't think I would be in the 
Senate or have been a successful executive at a business enterprise if 
I didn't have access to that good college education.
  We can't let college education become a privilege for just a few of 
the wealthy, and we have to make sure that families and students can 
afford college, regardless of their financial resources.
  Let me just lay out a few facts. Since 2001, the cost of a public 
higher education has increased by a staggering 46 percent. In 
Washington State alone, tuition costs at 4-year public schools have 
spiked, an increase of 63 percent since the fall of 2000. Tuition costs 
are skyrocketing, but family income, particularly of those with 
college-age students, has only risen about 3.4 percent between 2000 and 
2003. So the challenge is we haven't seen income opportunities go up, 
but yet the cost of education has gone up. So while those costs have 
soared, almost 350,000 Washington students have basically had their 
Federal financial aid slashed. And families have to tell their children 
they can't afford to send them to college this year or next.
  Well, I can tell you, Mr. President, that is unacceptable. We need to 
do better to make sure that we make college education affordable.
  What have we been doing? Last January, we had the largest raid on 
student financial aid I have ever seen. The legislation that was passed 
by this body cut $12.7 billion straight from student loan programs, the 
biggest single cut in the history of the Federal student loan program. 
That was coming on top of the President's budget, which basically also 
proposed a $2.2 billion cut in the Education Department budget, which 
is the largest cut in the Education Department in 26 years of history.
  So we are here this morning, and this Senator is here, because we 
believe we need a new direction. Today we are standing here to 
challenge Congress to act now in the best interests of American 
students, America's families, and certainly for the competitiveness of 
America's future economy. We challenge this Congress to make college 
education more affordable now, to help families save for college 
education.
  Specifically, we are asking the leadership to make a priority 
legislation that would increase the Coverdell education savings account 
contribution to

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$5,000 and let families make that tax deduction contribution to help 
them pay for that increase in college education; secondly, to make the 
college tuition tax deduction permanent, making it possible for 
families to put money into education and not feel the pinch; third, to 
pass my ``GI Bill for Life'' legislation that gives those returning 
from Iraq and Afghanistan who served in our military the opportunity to 
complete their college education and get the financial support, as they 
have supported our country, no matter how long it takes for them to 
complete that course in education.
  It is time that we invest in the future of America and provide 
Americans the next opportunity of leadership in our economy by giving 
them access to a good education. We can act now and we can pass these 
legislative issues before Congress adjourns this year. We hope this 
checklist for change will be a priority--not some of the issues we have 
been focusing on, but a real checklist to get busy with the priorities 
and needs of American families.
  Now I would like to yield the floor for my colleague, Senator 
Lincoln, who is going to talk about the affordability of health care in 
America.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas is recognized.
  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Washington for 
her incredible focus on educating our children and making sure our 
families can afford higher education, and certainly focusing on energy 
independence, which is critically important to all of our households.
  I am proud to be here today with all of my Democratic women 
colleagues to talk about the things that are so important to America's 
families, the working families who are the fabric of this Nation, who 
make us strong, who make us proud as Americans to look at the Nation 
and see what the foundation of our country is really all about.
  Mr. President, I know that you and many of our other colleagues 
probably think this is just a honey-do list. Well, we all have our 
honey-do lists. For myself, as a mother of twin 10-year-olds and 
certainly a wife who wants to be supportive and caring for my husband, 
and as a daughter who is looking at aging parents and in-laws, and all 
of the many responsibilities in my life, I know that keeping a list to 
make sure I am actually accomplishing the things that are important to 
the people I love is critically important so that I know I am doing 
what I need to do.
  I have a list on my refrigerator. I have a list on my desk. I carry a 
list in my car and in my purse to make sure that I can keep up with the 
things that are important, the responsibilities I have as a person not 
only for the things I want to do not just for my family but for my 
neighbors and for all of the people I report to and am responsible to. 
At home, my husband and I have a honey-do list that we share the 
responsibility for. Just last night, we were making sure we changed the 
air filters and the batteries in our smoke detectors which are 
critically important to the safety of our children and our home. We 
were making sure that we adjusted our budget to deal with the 
unbelievable increase in energy costs. Don't think that every household 
is not looking at how important that is. Or making sure that our 
children get their health checkup and that they are up to date on their 
immunizations.
  How blessed I felt when I walked into that pediatrician's office to 
know that through the Federal employees, I have insurance that will 
cover that. But it is important to make sure the things on my list get 
done so that the people in this world whom I love so dearly are as safe 
and as healthy as they possibly can be.
  On that list is also setting aside dollars each year and every 
quarter in order to know that when my children become college age, they 
are going to have at least some kind of a nest egg, perhaps not enough 
to cover all that they need in order to get that education that I know 
is so critically important to their success and to the success of this 
country. These are the things that we want to challenge and to 
encourage our colleagues in the Senate to take up. These are the issues 
that American families see on their checklist every single day. These 
are things that we can do--we know that we can do. These are issues 
that affect every American family.
  My good friend and colleague from California, Senator Feinstein, is 
going to talk about a humane and moral solution to stem cell research, 
on which she has worked for over 8 years now. There was a wonderful 
event in Arkansas for the Diabetes Association where I met a young 
woman with a daughter who talked about the transition, the complete 
change in life for their family in order to deal with a disease like 
diabetes in a child who is only 12 years old.
  Mr. President, we plead with you, take a look at this list. Look at 
the reasonable items we are talking about that mean so much to the 
American families of this country.
  I am here to talk about the keen awareness that we have of the 
challenges that are faced by working families who want nothing more 
than the security that health insurance offers. We, as Federal 
employees, enjoy a tremendous security. For over 40 years, the Federal 
Government has figured out that if it pools all 8 million of the 
Federal employees across this great country, it can provide greater 
choice at a lower cost.
  We, too, can do that for the small businesses of this country. If we 
look around, we realize that nearly 46 million Americans lack health 
insurance, including 456,000 of my own Arkansans. Small businesses are 
the No. 1 source of jobs in Arkansas and in most parts of our country. 
Yet only 26 percent of businesses with fewer than 50 employees offer 
health insurance coverage today. Workers at these businesses are most 
likely to be uninsured. Yet they are the engine of our economy. They 
are the jobs that are not going to go offshore. They are the companies 
and the businesses in our communities that support our Little League 
and that sponsor our scouting events. These are the fabric of our 
country. Yet fewer than 26 percent are insured.
  Small businesses need innovative ways to offer affordable, accessible 
health care to their employees. Recognizing that need for a new 
direction, Senator Durbin and I proposed the Small Employers Health 
Benefit Program. It is a comprehensive solution to our small business 
insurance crisis. It is based on 40 years of success with the Federal 
Employees Health Benefit Plan. It will create affordable private health 
insurance choices for small employers, and it will give working 
families the security and the comfort of mind that they need.
  We challenge--we encourage--we plead with our Republican Congress and 
leadership to pass the Small Employers Health Benefit Program this 
session. It is something we can do that will make a tremendous 
difference in the lives of Americans.
  We are going to keep fighting because we believe that working 
families should have the comfort of knowing that they can take their 
children to the doctor--whether it is for just a common cold or a 
broken arm or, heaven forbid, something much more serious--and be able 
to afford and access the care that they need.
  We believe that expanding coverage for small businesses will go a 
long way toward making sure that the millions of Americans should and 
would have access to medical care. We believe that providing that kind 
of security is worth fighting for, and that is why we have joined 
together today to point out to the American people, particularly to our 
colleagues, the list that we carry around every single day in our 
pocketbooks, on our desks, and on our refrigerators at home. It is no 
different than the list that we present to you, and it is no different 
than the list that every American family has in their home.
  We ask you, Mr. President, take a look at what we propose. Look at 
the time that we have remaining and know that we can make a difference 
in the fabric of this country by looking at the list of what America's 
working families need the most in their households.
  I am proud to yield for my good friend and colleague from California, 
Senator Feinstein.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.

[[Page 12845]]


  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Arkansas for 
her remarks. I don't think anyone speaks more eloquently about the 
needs of American families than Blanche Lincoln. It is always real and 
it is always practical. I am just delighted to be a colleague of hers.
  I rise today to say why stem cell research should be part of this 
Democratic Women's Checklist for Change. The reason is very simple, and 
that is because stem cell research offers the promise of historic 
advances in the treatment of catastrophic disease. It is that simple.
  The potential for this research was in the news again last week, as 
scientists at Johns Hopkins announced that they used embryonic stem 
cells to regenerate damaged nerves in paralyzed rats. That is something 
that no one ever thought could be done. After being treated with cells 
harvested from mouse embryos, most of the rats regained enough strength 
to walk and bear weight on their previously paralyzed hind legs.
  Just imagine what this discovery could one day mean for patients with 
spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis or ALS. It could be 
revolutionary because one thing science believed was that the spinal 
cord, once severed, could never be regenerated. Now, for the first time 
in history, we see there may be a solution to that and it rests with 
stem cell research.
  Translating this discovery into treatment of human patients will 
likely take several years, and it will likely not see fruition without 
Federal research dollars. Here is the rub. Our researchers face a major 
roadblock imposed by the President in August of 2001, when he limited 
Federal funding to 22 lines of stem cells. All of these available lines 
are now contaminated with mouse feeder cells, so virtually there is no 
Federal ongoing research.
  Thirteen months ago, the House approved a bipartisan bill by Mr. 
Castle and Ms. DeGette, a bill that would remove this roadblock. It 
would permit promising research to go forward. It would offer new hope 
to millions of Americans suffering from disability, diseases, and 
spinal cord injuries. The Castle-DeGette bill essentially says that it 
would be possible to use embryos that are rejected in IVF clinics; that 
is, in vitro fertilization clinics. All of us know that tens of 
thousands, if not millions, of these embryos are rejected and they are 
destroyed. Those embryos could be taken to form new stem cell lines 
under this bill.
  The votes are here to pass this bill today, but the President has 
vowed a veto, and the Republican leadership refuses to bring it to the 
floor. In the year that we have waited for Senate action, millions more 
are now waiting for cures that one day could come from stem cell 
research. In the last year, consider this: 1.4 million Americans were 
diagnosed with cancer; 60,000 Americans were diagnosed with Parkinson's 
disease; 11,000 Americans suffered spinal cord injuries; and 1.5 
million adults were diagnosed with diabetes.
  These are just new diagnoses. Think of all the Americans who continue 
to suffer cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, spinal cord 
injuries, and catastrophic diseases which could potentially be helped 
by embryonic stem cell research.
  The administration's policies have left our researchers far behind 
the rest of the world. In fact, other countries are, today, laying the 
foundation for groundbreaking cures, while U.S. scientists are not able 
to gain Federal funding for research. Evidence that the United States 
is no longer the world leader in embryonic stem cell research is 
mounting. Scientists around the world have created 128 new embryonic 
stem cell lines since President Bush announced his policy. Only 34 of 
these new lines were created in our country. The proportion of 
embryonic stem cell papers published by U.S. research groups has fallen 
dramatically in the past 2 years. At least 10 other nations--Germany, 
Finland, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Singapore, 
Israel, China, Australia--are investing substantial sums of government 
money in embryonic stem cell research. That is totaling hundreds of 
millions of dollars. Other nations are constructing facilities, they 
are attracting our American researchers who should be here at home 
doing this research, and they are learning more every day.
  The United States, on the other hand, remains at the starting line. I 
don't think we can afford to watch other nations move ahead. Eight 
years ago, I introduced one of the first bills addressing stem cell 
research, so we have waited this long--8 years--for action. Time and 
time again, we have pressed for action on the floor of the Senate. We 
pressed for it privately. We pressed for it by letter. We pressed for 
it by press conference with groups of sufferers of catastrophic 
diseases. All of this has been to no avail. I can't believe it. I can't 
believe this kind of recalcitrance. And all of this is despite the fact 
that every poll shows a dominant majority of Americans support stem 
cell research.
  It is time the Senate place the health of Americans ahead of the 
views of a limited number of people whose views are apart from the 
mainstream of America. We owe it to the 110 million Americans suffering 
daily from debilitating and catastrophic disease. Every day that we 
wait, more people develop diseases that could one day be cured. Every 
day we wait, other nations move further ahead.
  I urge the Republican leadership to bring the Castle-DeGette stem 
cell bill to the floor and allow Federal research to move forward. A 
Democratic Senate would listen to the American people. A Democratic 
Senate would make the promotion of this promising research a reality. 
This Senate is in Republican control. The Republican-controlled House 
has passed this bill. A dominant majority of the American people say 
enact this bill. Yet this Senate, Republican controlled, becomes the 
roadblock.
  I urge the Republican leadership to reconsider and bring the Castle-
DeGette bill to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
  Mr. President, I would like to yield for my colleague, the 
distinguished Senator from the great State that harbors the great city 
of New Orleans, LA. She will speak about making Americans upwardly 
economically mobile in the American workplace.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana is recognized.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California for 
her remarks and her passion and her focus on the issue of stem cell 
research. One day when millions of Americans have been cured of 
diseases that afflict us today because the research is just not there, 
we can thank Senator Feinstein for staying on point, every month, every 
year--staying on point on stem cell research. It is something the vast 
number of Americans support. They understand the importance of pressing 
forward on this science to find real cures for real people, for real 
families. That will not only relieve the pain and suffering that comes 
with disease but also promote the general economic well-being of a 
nation based on a free enterprise system that works much better when 
people are healthy than it does when they are sick.
  I stand in awe of Senator Feinstein's focus on this issue, and I 
support her wholeheartedly.
  It is my opportunity to speak about one of the very important aspects 
on this checklist. We talked about safeguarding America's pensions, and 
we have talked about good jobs in America. Senator Cantwell talked 
about college affordability for all Americans, about being the first 
person from her family to graduate from college, and as she has shared 
with us, going on to create a multimillion-dollar software business 
that, of course, helped her personally and her immediate family. But 
think of all the other people it helped because she received a great 
education from our system--protecting America and our military families 
and making America energy independent, as Senator Clinton was so 
clearly stating, and small business health care as Senator Lincoln 
spoke to this morning.
  I am going to focus my attention on preparing for future disasters. 
It is, unfortunately, something that we in Louisiana have become 
somewhat experts

[[Page 12846]]

on lately, having lived through and still trying to live and survive 
after the greatest natural disaster to hit our country in some time.
  I begin by saying that if there was ever a wonder why our country was 
created, you can find the answer in the Preamble of the Constitution, 
one of the greatest documents ever written. It talks about providing 
for the common defense, promoting the general welfare, and securing the 
blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity. Our Federal 
Government, which was established over 220 years ago, has established 
institutions, large and small, to meet the promise of the Preamble of 
the Constitution.
  We established the Department of Defense to support and provide for 
the common defense. It was called the War Department. Now it is called 
the Department of Defense. We established the Department of Health, 
Education, and Labor to promote the general welfare.
  Thirty years ago we established the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency to help keep Americans secure in the blessings of their liberty 
in the middle of natural disasters.
  On August 29, when Katrina hit land, a category 5 storm to hit the 
gulf coast and to hit the southeastern part of Louisiana and the 
southwestern part of Mississippi, and 3 weeks later when Hurricane Rita 
barreled into the southwestern part of our State, the Federal 
Government failed the people of the gulf coast.
  Amazingly, nearly 1 year after this unprecedented failure, we have 
done little, if anything, to ensure that this will not happen again.
  Studies have been completed. Reports have been drafted. Senator 
Lieberman and Senator Collins have been exemplary in their work in a 
bipartisan fashion in the Senate--1,000 hours of hearings, dozens of 
field hearings--to come up with comprehensive legislation. However, 
somewhere between the Republican leadership in the White House and the 
Republican leadership in Congress we have failed to come up with a 
single recommendation or a piece of legislation to come before this 
Congress to make sure that some of these recommendations are put into 
place.
  The White House has not asked for a single law to be changed based on 
their own report of 125 recommendations. Contrast that with what 
happened after September 11. This Government was literally turned 
upside down and inside out. Laws--dozens of laws, maybe even hundreds 
of laws--were changed so that we could try to get to core answers to 9/
11. Yet after the greatest natural disaster in American history, with 
the failure of the Federal Emergency Management, a failure that will be 
recorded in history for generations, not one law has been permanently 
changed. And it is almost 11 months after that storm.
  Billions of dollars have been thrown at the problem. And at the 
request of myself and a few Members of our delegation, we have managed 
to move a few billion of those dollars out from this morass of a 
Federal agency that doesn't work to try to get money directly to 
parishes, counties, to economic development departments for the 
recovery and rebuilding.
  I raise this point on this checklist not just for Louisiana which we 
are going to rebuild regardless of the mess we find ourselves in, but 
we want to raise this issue--I want to raise this issue--in hopes that 
it can prevent this kind of recovery taking place in Seattle, in the 
event of a tsunami, or in California in the event of an earthquake, or 
in Tennessee which also sits on a fault line of a geological structure.
  I raise this point to honor the 1,836 victims of Katrina and the 120 
victims of Rita. Surely there is enough sacrifice for people to make 
before their Government, led by a Republican Congress, takes the steps 
to make sure it will never happen again. I know that no Congress run by 
Democrats or Republicans can prevent a natural disaster. We understand 
that. We are going to have earthquakes, hurricanes, and we are going to 
have volcanic eruptions. While we can't prevent that, we can most 
certainly improve the response from the Federal level so that people do 
not have to suffer through the rebuilding that is going on now in 
Louisiana.
  The first thing that must be done, which is part of our checklist, is 
to give the Director of FEMA the authority and the access he had under 
the stewardship of its most successful Director, James Lee Witt, under 
the previous administration. At that time, it was a Cabinet level 
position that had the trust and access of the President and the full 
command of Federal resources during such disasters.
  Regrettably, we have all watched in horror on the television screen, 
and I have watched personally upfront as a witness of the failings of 
FEMA on the ground, constrained by the priorities of the Homeland 
Security Director, which is different than what the needs of this great 
city and region are. And after reading the exchanges between Director 
Brown and Secretary Chertoff, it most certainly doesn't seem to be 
their focus on emergency response in homeland security. FEMA needs to 
stand and win the internal battles to get priorities on the budget. 
Moving boxes around in the Federal Government organizational charts 
should not be our focus. And that is not the solution. The issue is 
that FEMA must be a priority for the highest levels of leadership. It 
must be able to command the attention of the Federal Government and the 
many resources and assets that this Federal Government has to help 
rebuild and reestablish confidence in any community that would find 
itself virtually destroyed, as in the case of St. Bernard Parish, a 
small parish that doesn't get the attention of the national media. But 
60,000 people live there, and 95 percent of their homes were destroyed 
with 15 to 20 feet of water.
  Senator Bayh and I had the pleasure of visiting down in that great 
parish with the great spirit, and just last Friday we walked into an 
unbelievable sight. A small trailer was sitting in the middle of 
complete ruin, with brave teachers and administrators inside this 
trailer trying to conduct what I guess is a summer school for children. 
We walked into this classroom with the lights low at naptime, with 
music, where 20 little children were sleeping. When we walked out of 
that trailer, all you could see was destruction as if you were in a war 
zone. Yet the happiness on the faces of the children and the spirit of 
those teachers was really a testament to the resilience of people 
despite the fact that their Government is failing them. They are not 
going to fail themselves or their children. But we can do better.
  On 9/11, when the terrorists attacked New York, everyone said that 
one of the major failings was the failure of the communications system. 
We lost 335 firefighters--not because they lacked bravery, not because 
they lacked leadership, not because they lacked the armor or the 
covering to protect them from the fire as they ran to the building when 
everyone was running away--we lost many of them because their radios 
didn't work. We couldn't find a few hundred dollars to buy a radio for 
firemen running into a skyscraper that was falling down. We all know 
what we did wrong.
  Today, we still don't have a system of communication that can operate 
when the cell phone towers go down, whether they are burned down, blown 
out, or flooded out. It doesn't exist. Five years is a long time.
  I will tell you what we have done in 5 years. We built a continental 
railroad in 5 years. From the time of Pearl Harbor to Victory Day was 5 
years. From the time the Apollo drawings were on paper until we hit the 
Moon was 5 years. But it is 5 years since 9/11.
  When the people of the gulf coast had two major hurricanes barrel 
down on them and they went to use a cell phone, a land line, or a 
computer, the communications system was down. We were blamed for not 
having an evacuation plan. Let me say for the last time that the best 
evacuation plan doesn't work if you can't communicate it to your 
neighbors, let alone to the doctor in the emergency room or the 
ambulance driver or the bus driver trying to run the bus or the 
Superdome operator

[[Page 12847]]

trying to keep thousands of people safe and fed and cared for.
  I know our time is up in just about 2 minutes. I have gone a little 
over my time. I want to say in closing that there is a lot the 
Republican Congress could do to keep us on point, to keep us focused on 
the things that matter to the American people dealing with natural 
disasters, helping them to rebuild their shattered lives, their homes, 
their schools, their churches, and their businesses. When these storms 
and floods come through is one thing. It is very important to the 
people of this country.
  I wish, as a Democratic Senator from Louisiana, that we would spend a 
little bit more time making sure the communications system works, that 
FEMA works, and that all the money the taxpayers are spending is being 
spent well and not wasted. That is sort of the third disaster--not the 
disaster itself but the disaster of wasting money when people are so 
desperate for the resources they need to rebuild.
  Thank you, Mr. President, for presiding this morning. It is probably 
not the easiest thing to listen to. But these are some shortcomings 
that we believe we need to step up to and address for our country and 
put before the American people, the practical solutions.
  I yield the floor.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise today to join my colleagues in 
calling for a ``Checklist for Change.'' We need a real jobs agenda in 
this country--one that stands strong and fights for American workers 
and American businesses.
  This is about our way of life--a way of life based on good-paying, 
middle class jobs and the promise that--with hard work--every American 
can aspire to do better tomorrow than they did yesterday.
  We need to stop the flow of American jobs overseas. Last year, a new 
$2 billion tax cut that I authored took effect, rewarding companies 
that create manufacturing jobs here in the United States.
  We need to level the playing field for American businesses. Currency 
manipulation and the free flow of counterfeit goods from countries such 
as China have put American workers at an unfair disadvantage for too 
long.
  It is time we had an international trade prosecutor who can go after 
countries that cheat and make sure that America is getting a fair deal 
in the world market.
  We need a new direction for American workers.
  We challenge the Republican Congress to enact tax policies that stop 
the outsourcing of American jobs.
  We challenge them to stand up and enforce our trade agreements so 
American businesses can compete on a level playing field and keep good-
paying jobs here at home.
  Americans want to export our products, not our jobs.
  And we challenge the Republican Congress to follow the lead of my 
State of Michigan and raise the minimum wage
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas is recognized.

                          ____________________