[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 75-77]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          IMPORTANT PRIORITIES

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise as well to speak about our 
priorities that Senator Reid has introduced. First, I compliment him 
for his vision and drive toward shaping these priorities, and his 
leadership that will ensure the Senate makes the concerns of the 
average American family our top priority.
  I thank my colleague from Illinois, Senator Durbin, who, as always, 
is able to articulate in a very smart way, but also a way the average 
person can understand, how important these priorities are to us.
  I also, in advance, thank my colleague Senator Murray for being here, 
and who again, in her usual wise and thoughtful way, will help us let 
the American people know what our priorities are.
  Now, I wore a blue suit today, naturally, because we are all excited 
over the election in November. But in our excitement, we have to 
remember that we are here because of the people who sent us here, and 
to realize their desire for change, to make their lives better. We know 
a bipartisan approach is the best and perhaps the only way we will get 
this done.
  If all our exultation and happiness today--and, believe me, I stood 
there with pride watching the new Members in particular be sworn in, 
knowing how fine they are, what a diverse group of people they are--the 
thing they share in common is coming from the bosom of the people of 
their State. Each one, each of the new representatives, each of the new 
Senators represents the people of their State.
  They come to us with a message, and I don't think the message is 
left, right, or center, as some of the pundits have said. The message 
is to keep your eyes focused on the average family. All too often we in 
Washington get lost in the world of Washington. Too often politics here 
seems to be a minuet, shadow boxing, sometimes real boxing, where each 
party and each individual is seeking advantage over the other, and the 
focus on getting something done--something done for the American 
people--gets lost.
  If there was one message that this election had, I think that is it. 
The American people were pleading with us, crying out to us with a 
strong but plaintive voice: Help us. The world is changing, and we see 
that world change in every way. Technology has dramatically affected 
everything we do, whether it is terrorism, where technology has enabled 
small groups of bad people to hurt us; whether it is jobs in education, 
where we now have a one-world labor market, and our workers, our kids 
in the third grade are going to be competing not simply against the 
kids in the third grade across the hallway but the kids in the third 
grade in China, India, and Brazil; whether it is the technology that 
has allowed us to live longer.
  I read somewhere that a little girl born today, if she lives in the 
early months and up to a year old, could well live to be 100. And not 
very unusually, that would almost be the average. That is incredible. 
What that means is new problems for Social Security and Medicare. It 
also means that our whole lifestyle changes as people get married 
later, have children later, and retire and have many years of leisure 
in life. So technology is changing everything.
  The old messages--whether they be, in my judgment, the old Democratic 
new deal message or the old Reagan Republican message--just don't work 
anymore. Voters, in November, didn't tell us to adopt a certain 
ideology or philosophy or even party. Their message to Washington was 
to stop fighting with each other and finally get

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something done for average Americans who are in more need of help now 
as the world changes quickly and dramatically.
  The average American wants us to get to work on issues that matter to 
them on a daily basis: making them more secure, lifesaving medical 
research, fair wages, comprehensive immigration reform, energy 
independence, and affordable education and prescription drugs. They 
want us to go to work for them again. That is what we are going to do.
  The 10 bills we have introduced are all aimed right at the heart of 
the average American in the sense of saying to the average American: We 
do know what you need, what you have asked us to do, and we are going 
to do our best to help you.
  Make no mistake; overall, families are doing quite well, but they are 
beginning to hurt in certain ways: high gas prices, skyrocketing 
tuition, prescription drugs. These are all things the average person 
worries about that they probably didn't worry about 10 years ago. These 
first 10 bills that we are going to introduce represent the Democratic 
priorities for the Senate and the country. These bills take aim at 
making education and prescription drugs more affordable. They address 
our goals for energy independence, better homeland security, innovative 
medical research, a modernized military, and comprehensive immigration 
reform--priorities that have been neglected for far too long.
  I first want to express my enthusiastic support for our bill to 
address college affordability, S. 7, which my colleagues will also 
address. We know we must make it easier for families to send their kids 
to college. As tuition costs rise, it gets harder and harder for them 
to do it. As college becomes more of a necessity, it also becomes less 
affordable. That is the dilemma we face. We are facing a critical time 
with this challenge coming, when a college education is vital not only 
to one's individual future but to our Nation's prosperity and 
independence.
  We are competing now in a global market connected by technology, and 
we need a well-educated workforce. That is why I introduced upon 
arriving in the Senate a bill to permit a college tuition tax 
deduction. I have worked to support it ever since. We must ensure that 
this deduction does not expire, as it nearly did in December, by making 
it permanent. And we must do more. Just getting by is not enough when 
it comes to sending our kids to college. We must address other aspects 
of college costs, including Pell grants, loans, and lowering interest 
payments on loans. I know my colleague, Senator Kennedy, has big plans 
for addressing these issues. Just as I will work hard on the Finance 
Committee on the tuition issue, he, in the HELP Committee, will be 
leading many of my colleagues on those issues there.
  What I have been asked to spend a few minutes to talk about is S. 4, 
a bill to implement the recommendations of the national commission on 
terrorist acts, the 9/11 Commission. It has now been over 5 years since 
the tragedy and devastation of September 11. On that day, our Nation 
changed irrevocably with the knowledge that terrorist forces, motivated 
by hatred, have the determination and ability to threaten America on 
our own soil. My own city of New York knows this devastation and 
tragedy well. On that day, and in the days following, we lost thousands 
of our friends and family members, including hundreds of brave 
firefighters and police officers who died trying to save others. We owe 
it to all those who lost their lives on that day to take up and 
implement the commission's recommendations.
  On that day, it was clear that much needed to be done to improve the 
security of our homeland. The President and Congress responded in part 
by establishing the 9/11 Commission. This bipartisan commission did its 
work thoroughly and well, devising 41 core recommendations to prevent, 
defend against, and respond to the threat of future terrorist attacks. 
Each one of the recommendations was a vital part of the Commission's 
charge to Congress and the President. Yet Americans have not just been 
gravely disappointed but also endangered by the failure to implement 
all of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. It is high time for 
this failure to be rectified.
  S. 4 expresses the sense of Congress that we must immediately work 
toward passage of legislation that will, after far too long, implement 
the solutions carefully crafted at our request. As the committee puts 
together a final detailed bill, S. 4 will serve as an important symbol 
of our priority for securing our Nation by implementing the 
recommendations. We have made some improvements since 9/11, but we 
still have so far to go.
  America simply cannot wait any longer to fully protect our homeland. 
Whether it is improving communications between first responders, 
ensuring that law enforcement shares information about threats, or 
securing our transportation systems, which I know my colleague from 
Washington has worked on, we have a whole lot to do. We cannot wait 
longer for decisive action to stop weapons of mass destruction from 
falling into the hands of terrorists entering our country or being 
built by those who would destroy us. We cannot wait any longer to 
better combat the violent extremism that is growing around the globe.
  This is only the beginning of the work that remains to be done. We 
have heard so much talk about homeland security in the years and days 
since 9/11, but in all this time we have seen far too little action. In 
the 110th Congress, at last that shameful state of affairs must and 
will come to an end.
  In conclusion, the voters in November gave us great honor but 
humbling responsibility. We must now rise to meet that responsibility 
by returning the focus of our work to the basic needs of American 
families. Today is the first and important step toward meeting that 
responsibility.
  So as we start this new Congress, I look forward to working with our 
Republican colleagues and the President to deliver these priorities for 
American families. Those families deserve no less.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Salazar). The Senator from Washington is 
recognized.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am honored to be here with my 
Democratic colleague today. I listened to the Senator from New York 
talk about our top 10 priorities. Senator Reid, our new majority 
leader, and Senator Durbin before me talked about how we now in this 
new majority are going to focus on the real issues affecting American 
families. I congratulate Senators Reid, the new majority leader, and 
McConnell, the Republican leader, for setting the right tone today by 
bringing us together this morning and reminding us all that we are here 
together to work on a very important agenda for the American people. We 
will have our disagreements, our partisan battles, but at the end of 
the day we have to move legislation forward because if there was any 
message to me out of the November election that brought us to the 
majority now, it was that people want us to get past the partisan 
rancor on the floor of the Senate. They want us to get past the 
bickering. They expect debates, they like that, but at the end of the 
day they want us to move forward.
  Across this country today, American families are struggling to send 
their kids to college, struggling to get health care, struggling with 
their pensions, struggling with their salaries, and they expect us, the 
100 leaders of the Senate, to be here together to solve those issues in 
a way that moves them forward and gives promise and hope to the next 
generation.
  Mr. President, that is what the top 10 priorities are that our new 
majority leader set out for us today. They are bills that focus on 
bringing back hope and opportunity for the thousands of American 
families that are hoping today that we have heard them and that we will 
respond and work hard to make sure their lives are better.
  I am pleased that we are beginning next week with ethics reform. I 
think it is important to start with a strong message that we understand 
we have a responsibility to uphold the honor of this Senate, not just 
for today but for

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many years to come. I am very excited that within a few weeks we will 
be talking about the minimum wage for the families out there who are 
struggling so hard to make sure they do the right thing for their kids 
and to send them a message that we understand and we are going to do a 
little bit to help them.
  Senator Schumer talked about the 9/11 Commission and implementing 
their report--something we should have done long ago. The security of 
this Nation, people's fear about where we are, is a message that we all 
need to understand. I am pleased that is part of the top 10 priorities 
of this new Congress. In dealing with the Medicare prescription drug 
plan, I have met with many seniors in my home State and they are 
confused and frustrated. They are angry as they fall into the doughnut 
hole and realize that the promise we have given them of prescription 
drugs is not meeting that expectation, and we have a responsibility to 
do better. I hope that we can.
  I heard Senator McConnell a short while ago say he didn't want us to 
tear apart the Medicare prescription drug plan. Nobody does. We want to 
make it work. I hope we can work together in cooperation and make that 
happen. Stem cell research: The Senator from Iowa will be speaking in a 
few minutes. He has been a leader on that issue. It is about promise 
and hope for so many American families. I hope we can move it quickly 
through the Senate, through the House, and to the President's desk. If 
we have to, I hope we have the votes to override. Far too many families 
struggle today, and we should at least send them the promise of the 
future as generations before did for us. Energy independence is 
critical in my State and across the Nation. It is something I hear 
about everywhere I go.
  Strengthening our military: Certainly, that is important today, as we 
know we face terrorism across the globe, and we have exhausted our 
forces in Iraq. We have to make sure that we work together in a 
bipartisan manner to strengthen our military not just for today but for 
those who come behind us.
  Included in that for me is taking care of those who have served us, 
our veterans, keeping the promise we made to them when they served us 
overseas, that we will be there when they come home. We cannot tolerate 
the long lines our men and women are in, the fact that they are coming 
home and cannot get a job; that the unemployment rate for 18- to 24-
year-olds who served in Iraq and Afghanistan is three times the 
national average. We have a lot of work to do there. I am pleased our 
leader has put out immigration. This is an issue the Senate has worked 
through. It is a tough one, but it is one that, if we work together, we 
can move forward.
  Many other issues are coming before us, but one I want to mention, in 
my last few minutes, is the issue of education. That is the backbone of 
our country, it always has been: making sure young people today can 
grow up and know that if they choose, they can go to college and it is 
affordable.
  I am especially delighted that S. 7, one of the top 10 priorities, 
addresses the issue of college affordability. It is very disheartening 
to me to walk into a middle school today and have seventh and eighth 
graders say to me: Why should I get good grades; I can't afford to go 
to college. That is not the message we should be sending. We should be 
sending the message to them that if they work hard and get good grades, 
they will go to college.
  We have to address that issue in the Senate. We all know the jobs of 
the future depend on our young people today and whether they get the 
education they need, and the money should not be a barrier.
  I know this issue. Money was not a barrier for me when I was growing 
up. My father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when I was in high 
school. There are seven kids in our family. We all thought the door had 
been shut to us and the ability to go to college. But not so because 
leaders in the Senate stood up before I ever knew about them and said 
we need to have Pell grants and student loans and we need to make 
college affordable.
  So all seven kids in my family--despite the fact my dad could no 
longer work and was confined to a wheelchair, that my mom had to go on 
welfare, she had to go back to school herself and raise seven kids--we 
were able to go to college on Pell grants and student loans. All seven 
of us graduated and went on and one of us became a Senator.
  We should not be shutting that door of hope to any young American 
today. No matter what happens to them personally, no matter what their 
circumstances, no matter what State, city or community they grow up in, 
we want them to know the United States of America and leaders in their 
country know it is important for them to get an education.
  So as we move forward in this session of Congress, we are going to 
focus on college affordability and making sure that the backbone of our 
country is strong once again.
  We have much work ahead of us. We do need to work together. Mr. 
President, 51 to 49 in the Senate is very close, but we know that the 
issues in this country are extremely important and the families in this 
country are counting on us.
  I look forward to working with all of my colleagues to achieve an 
agenda that sends that promise of hope once again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, first, I thank the Senator from Washington 
for a very eloquent and very profound statement. The message the 
Senator from Washington put forward on the Senate floor is one that all 
Americans ought to hear. It is a message of hope and promise.
  I thank the Senator from Washington for her leadership in so many 
areas but especially in the area about which she spoke so eloquently--
the area of education. I had not known that about her family. It brings 
home once again that in the America we love, anything should be 
possible for any child. No child should be deprived of the hopes and 
dreams of having an education and succeeding in life simply because 
they were born poor or born on the wrong side of the tracks, so to 
speak, or maybe the wrong color--whatever. Every child ought to have 
that opportunity.
  I thank the Senator for so eloquently putting it forward on the 
Senate floor.

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