[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12696-12703]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CHECKLIST FOR CHANGE

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I take the floor today as the dean of 
the Democratic women in the Senate. I say to my colleagues and to all 
who are watching: We women are mad as hell, and we don't want to take 
it anymore. We are mad that in this institution, when all is said and 
done, more gets said than gets done.
  We are here today, united as Democratic women, to be a voice, a voice 
for change. We have a checklist for change we think we can do before 
this Congress adjourns.
  These are issues that focus on the big picture of what our country is 
facing, but they also focus on the impact these issues have on 
families. We look at macroissues that affect the world and

[[Page 12697]]

the macaroni-and-cheese issues that affect families.
  In order to get things done, women have checklists in their daily 
lives--whether it is to get the laundry done or pick the kids up from 
school. We have a checklist on what we want to do in terms of a 
legislative agenda. This is not about gender; it is about an agenda. We 
invite the good men of the Senate to join us, and we hope that people 
from the other side will join us. We want to work to bring about 
change, and we start with wanting to end the gridlock.
  Look at these issues for which we stand. We want to provide equal pay 
for equal work, good jobs that stay in the United States, we want to 
make health care affordable, we want to take care of our military 
families and veterans. If they fought over there, they should have a 
safety net back here. We also want to restore America's credibility in 
the world, protect our environment. We are looking out for gas, and we 
are looking out for groceries. We want to make sure there is another 
FEMA. And, along the way, we protect the family checkbook. We want to 
make sure we get rid of the boondoggles that are eating up our Federal 
budget.
  For me, I am the leadoff. But every woman here has an issue to which 
she will be speaking. What do I want to speak to? I want to speak to 
equal pay for equal work.
  Members might recall a few weeks ago we brought legislation to the 
floor to correct the gap in wage discrimination law. We lost that, but 
I said when the vote was over: The issue is not gone. I called upon the 
women to put their lipstick on, square their shoulders, suit up, and 
fight for an American revolution. This is why we are here today. This 
is another salvo.
  Many people think, wage discrimination, didn't we solve that? No. 
Wage discrimination still exists. Women are earning just 77 cents for 
every dollar our male counterparts make. We can see this now in the 
famous Ledbetter v. Goodyear case. Lilly Ledbetter, a hard-working 
woman, challenged the system. She didn't find out until years later 
that she was being paid less than her male counterparts. She took it to 
the EEOC. The corporation fought her every step of the way. It ended up 
in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court made an outrageous decision. 
They said she waited too long to file her complaint. The Court also 
said she didn't do it in time.
  We think it is about time we change the law. What we want to do is 
bring back the Lilly Ledbetter legislation called the Fair Pay 
Restoration Act. We want to bring it back up for a vote because equal 
pay for equal work is about fairness. It is about justice. It is about 
respect. It is going to close the loophole on the so-called statute of 
limitations on when one can file a wage discrimination case. We believe 
the current practice has been a good one, but we disagree with the 
Supreme Court.
  We are going to bring it back up for a vote. We ask our colleagues to 
join us. We don't want our agenda to die in parliamentary 
entanglements. What we want to do is untangle this law and make sure 
women get equal pay and experience it in their personal checkbook, and 
we have to change the Federal lawbook.
  We are ready. We are suited up. We have signed up. Join with us. We 
know the Presiding Officer is one of the great guys in the Senate who 
supports us. Before we go out at the end of this session, let's bring 
about change. Let's make America proud of their Congress. Let's turn 
the page.
  I yield the floor to my new but very able and experienced colleague 
from Missouri, who has been fighting boondoggles in that Federal 
checkbook.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri is recognized.
  Mrs. McCASKILL. Mr. President, the United States is so lucky to have 
the senior Senator from Maryland in this august body. She is smart and 
feisty, and she is not willing to yield any ground when she thinks the 
people she represents are not being treated as they should be.
  For women in this country, she has been a tremendous beacon of light 
and hope to finally get over some of the barriers that have held women 
back historically. So to the dean of the Senate women, I thank her for 
her leadership as we work on this checklist for change.
  One of the things we want to check off the list is fiscal 
accountability. It sounds kind of boring, fiscal accountability. It 
sounds like this is where the numbers drone on and one loses track.
  This is a big deal. This administration has driven us into an 
economic ditch. The numbers, frankly, are so big it is hard to believe 
they are real. Federal spending since President Bush took office has 
increased by almost $1 trillion. Let me say that again. Federal 
spending under this President and under the leadership of the 
Republican Party has increased by $1 trillion. Our debt has gone up by 
$3.7 trillion. We now have a debt of $9.3 trillion.
  This is change that is not just important, it is urgent. We must be 
fiscally accountable for taxpayer money. It sounds nice, right? It is a 
moral imperative for our kids. It is the right thing to do for the 
generation that comes behind us, for our children and grandchildren. We 
are presenting them with a train wreck of unprecedented proportion if 
we don't get our fiscal house in order.
  So how do we do that? The Checklist for Change is all about being 
tough and accountable with taxpayer money. The way you do that is: 
First, how do you spend it? Do you give out contracts based on whom you 
know? This administration has. Is it about cronyism? Too often it has 
been. Is it about no competition? Unfortunately, yes. Is it about cost-
plus contracts? As a former auditor, I will tell you, cost-plus 
contracts have no place in Government. Cost-plus means, hey, you can 
charge the Government whatever you want, and then you get to make money 
on top of that.
  Believe it or not, that is the kind of contracting that ruled the day 
in Iraq. As we were faced with a war that we did not have enough men 
and women to fight, we had to contract out such as our country has 
never contracted out in a time of war. What happened? We lost--and I am 
being conservative now because auditors are conservative by nature--
literally, over $150 billion that went up in smoke to waste, fraud, and 
abuse.
  War profiteering. There has been an orgy of war profiteering during 
this conflict in Iraq. If we focused on the Department of Defense and 
the way they contract, we could realize enough savings so every young 
person in America could have help going to college, so every young 
child in America could have preschool--if we paid attention to the way 
we do contracting in the Department of Defense.
  I will tell you, today is a good day. I wish to say to my colleagues, 
today is a good day because today a decision was rendered that shows we 
can get it right if we force companies to compete and we enforce the 
provisions of those contracts.
  A major, expensive contract was the tanker deal at the Department of 
Defense. There was a competition--good news. A company was awarded the 
contract--fine. There were problems. So what happened? The losing 
company went to GAO, under our process of procedures, and said: 
Auditors, take a look at this. You tell us whether this contract was 
done fairly.
  The good news is, GAO, as it always does, did its work 
professionally, and they announced their decision today and said Boeing 
was, in fact, treated unfairly in the tanker deal, that Boeing did not 
get a fair shake under that competitive contract, and that, in fact, 
the Air Force must change its decision as it relates to Boeing and the 
tanker deal.
  Do I think that is important? Yes. But why is it important? It is 
important because what we have said from the beginning is compete these 
contracts. Do it fairly. Respect taxpayer money. Get a bargain. That is 
what women in America relate to because we are all about getting a 
bargain for our families. We need to treat taxpayer money the same way.
  I am proud to be part of the Checklist for Change. I am proud to be 
emphasizing fiscal accountability.

[[Page 12698]]

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I thank you very much.
  I particularly salute the Senator from Maryland. I thank her for her 
leadership of our group of Democratic women. Senator Mikulski has, from 
the get-go, been there for the women of the Senate. This is the second 
time I have participated in this Checklist for Change, which she has 
put together.
  I also salute Senator McCaskill, who was on the floor, who has 
brought a very talented dimension to our group of women.
  I think, as the other Democratic women as well come to the floor to 
discuss this Checklist for Change, you are going to see one thing; and 
that one thing is, we are all very committed to this country and very 
committed to see this country do the right thing by her people.
  So it is with a great deal of pleasure that I participate in this 
effort. I thank both of them and the women who will come after me 
speaking as well.
  My comments are forged by 15 years on the Senate Judiciary Committee. 
With the exception of Senator Moseley-Braun for a short period of time, 
I am the only woman who has served in history on the Judiciary 
Committee of the Senate and also serving 7 years as a member of the 
Intelligence Committee.
  I have always taken great stock in the fact that the United States of 
America has been a beacon of hope because people all over the world 
look to American justice and American human rights for inspiration.
  We have represented not only a brighter future for people, but we 
have represented a government of law, a government under the 
Constitution, a government by the people, for the people, with justice 
for all--not just for a certain few but all.
  Now that beacon has been dimmed. Despite President Bush's promise 
that the United States would fight the war on terror consistent with 
American values and ``in the finest traditions of valor,'' the decision 
was made, as Vice President Cheney said in 2001, to ``go to the dark 
side.''
  Indeed, this administration has put our Nation on the wrong track in 
so many ways, including: creating a prisoner of war detention facility 
at Guantanamo Bay with a separate, lesser system of justice--now 
repudiated by the Supreme Court; authorizing interrogation techniques 
that constitute torture; reopening the nuclear door by seeking to 
develop low-yield battlefield nuclear weapons and 100-kiloton nuclear 
bunker busters; countenancing, for the first time, the use of nuclear 
weapons as a first strike against a nonnuclear threat, if chemical or 
biological weapons were threatened--not used but threatened--against 
the United States; preemptively invading Iraq, under the guise of 
weapons of mass destruction and a false nexus to al-Qaida.
  So, today, we see America's credibility in the world diminished, and 
the administration's policies have become a recruiting tool for our 
enemies. So, in 7\1/2\ years, this great country has gone from a nation 
embraced to a nation often tarnished.
  Yes, the time has come for a change. The time has come to: lay out an 
exit strategy in Iraq so we can begin to bring our people home; close 
Guantanamo, shut it down. The Secretary of Defense says shut it down. 
The former Secretary of State says shut it down. Governor Kean, 
Congressman Hamilton, a litany of four-star officers and flag officers 
have said shut it down. It does not become America's values.
  The time has come to stop America's use of torture; establish a 
uniform standard for detentions and interrogations across our 
Government. This is part of the Senate's Intelligence authorization 
bill, and it will remain part of this bill. That bill essentially says 
all elements of the American Government will utilize the Army Field 
Manual and the procedures therein, both the prohibitions on eight 
specific items of torture as well as specific techniques to move ahead.
  The time has come to use robust diplomacy; create coalitions; listen 
to allies; talk with adversaries. This makes us stronger, not weaker.
  The time has come to develop a new, sensible nuclear weapons policy, 
so we do not encourage the very kind of proliferation we seek to 
prevent.
  Yes, the time has come for change. The time has come to restore 
America's credibility as a moral and just nation, dedicated to liberty 
and justice.
  We are the greatest military and economic power the world has ever 
seen. Our global influence is unmatched. For the past half century, our 
country has embraced international cooperation, not out of 
vulnerability or weakness but from a position of strength.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, if I can finish with this last 
statement.
  Our strength as a nation emanates not just from our power but from 
our moral stature and our principled stand for truth, justice, and 
freedom. It must be restored.
  I say to the Presiding Officer, thank you for your indulgence.
  Mr. President, I see the distinguished Senator from Louisiana, whom I 
also compliment. I see my fellow colleague from California. They are 
part of Senator Mikulski's Checklist for Change.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana is recognized.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from California, 
and I am pleased to join my colleagues in calling for the change 
Americans are hoping for, which this next election opportunity will 
bring, to focus on issues that need so much change in America.
  One of the items on the top of our Checklist for Change is a FEMA 
that works, a plan that treats local and State governments as respected 
and able partners, having a disaster plan that spends taxpayer dollars 
with care and efficiency, having a plan that puts a premium on helping 
families and extended families stay together through an ordeal that 
rocks the economic foundation and future of so many families as they 
are displaced, sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months, and, yes, 
even sometimes for years.
  We need a new FEMA. We need a muscular, robust, able, efficient, and 
effective FEMA to be a true partner with local and State governments 
and individual businesses and families in times of disaster.
  I have spoken many times on the floor about the disasters of Katrina 
and Rita and how it affected the gulf coast, from Beaumont to Mobile, 
with the great city of New Orleans and the metropolitan area being most 
directly affected. But we are not isolated in that suffering by any 
means.
  This week, we have seen what is happening today in Iowa, Wisconsin, 
Indiana, and Illinois. There has been $1.5 billion in damages in Iowa 
alone, and 38,000 Iowans have been evacuated. More than 3,500 National 
Guard are deployed. More than 4.8 million sandbags have been used. I 
could go on and on about the towns that have been completely evacuated.
  Yes, New Orleans was completely evacuated. So was Saint Bernard 
Parish and so were large swaths of Jefferson Parish--a parish of more 
than 450,000 people--3 years ago this August.
  But today the towns of Hartford, Palo, and Fredonia have been 
completely evacuated--not as large as New Orleans but towns of 
substantial populations.
  The question is, Does FEMA have its housing plan together yet? Is 
there a plan for people to be able to get their medicines if they are 
relocated, to get their prescription drugs from their hometown pharmacy 
or their neighborhood? I am not sure that has been done yet.
  So we need a FEMA that works. We need an administration that 
understands it is not just disasters far away but disasters right here 
at home and that homeland security starts with hometown security, where 
people can be secure in their neighborhoods, in their homes, and that 
the levees that have been put up to protect them will actually hold the 
water and will not be breached or overturned.
  We do not have that confidence right now in America. So not only do 
we need a new FEMA, but we need a FEMA that will be an advocate for 
proper investments in infrastructure.

[[Page 12699]]

  It is embarrassing, I believe, to be in the atmosphere we are in, 
where people can look up and any day a bridge could collapse or any day 
a levee could break. We cannot prevent tornadoes. We cannot prevent 
hurricanes. We cannot prevent earthquakes. But I promise you, we can do 
a lot more than we are doing now to reform the Federal emergency system 
so it works better with local and State governments so that when 
earthquakes happen, when hurricanes happen, when other disasters 
happen, the people of the United States are getting the help they need.
  So that is one of our top issues on our Checklist for Change: a 
disaster planning and response system second to none.
  It is a long list. But it is a list that must get done. That is, in 
large measure, what this next election is about. It is about the kind 
of leadership that is going to bring about the changes necessary, so 
when a business collapses after 20 or 30 years of making a profit, or 
longer, when families' homes are destroyed, they have a Government they 
can count on--not to give them charity but to give them a hand up, to 
respond, to help them get back on their feet economically, spiritually, 
and emotionally. That is what our Government can do.
  So I am proud to join this team. Again, we are asking for a FEMA that 
works.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill). The Senator from California 
is recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, it is wonderful to join the Presiding 
Officer, Senator Landrieu, Senator Feinstein, and the other women who 
have come to join us.
  I have to say to Senator Mikulski, the dean of the Democratic women, 
how much I appreciate her leadership and her ability to connect with 
the American people. When she brought us together the first time--and 
it was a while back--she said: You know, we women at home make a 
checklist of the things we have to do for our families and the things 
we have to accomplish for the people who depend on us. Well, let's do 
the same thing for the people whom we represent. What emerged is each 
of the Democratic women picked an issue she knew we needed to have 
change on, and we have heard about some of them. As the chairman of the 
Environment and Public Works Committee, I am so proud to have that 
opportunity--the first woman, the first Californian to chair this 
committee.
  I can just say, because I know this: We desperately need change when 
it comes to the environment. When we say the word ``environment,'' some 
people think about the beautiful ocean, and they should; and they think 
about beautiful wetlands, and they should; and they think about 
beautiful lakes and streams and rivers and clean, flowing waterfalls, 
and they think about beautiful creatures that roam our environment, and 
all of that is true. But when we cut through it, a clean and healthy 
environment means healthy families. Healthy families means people who 
can work, kids who can go to school and not have to leave because they 
have asthma. These are the things we have to remember.
  For 7\1/2\ long years now, since George Bush became President, this 
administration has done everything it could to roll back landmark 
environmental laws. What are these laws? The Clean Air Act, the Safe 
Drinking Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Superfund Act. 
In every case, they have done this.
  They have also stopped our progress on global warming. We had a bill 
on the floor a couple of weeks ago. They sent out a message that they 
were going to veto this bill, even before they saw it amended. Imagine.
  I wish to tell the Senate--and I know there are a lot of folks who 
are watching in their offices--what I mean specifically by this 
terrible record of the Bush administration and why we want change on 
the environment. The first thing George Bush did--and I don't know if 
the Presiding Officer remembers--when he became the President in terms 
of the environment is try to weaken safe drinking water standards. He 
tried to actually roll back the standard for arsenic in drinking 
water--arsenic in drinking water. He tried to slip it through, weaken 
the standard. I remember working with Senator Mikulski on that issue. 
We turned it back. We worked in the Senate, and we stopped it. Then, a 
National Academy of Sciences study found that EPA had actually 
underestimated the cancer risks from arsenic in tap water, yet there 
was an effort to roll back the standard for arsenic.
  Then there is perchlorate. Thirty-five States have a real problem--
most of our States--with perchlorate that has seeped into drinking 
water and seeped, therefore, into some of our agricultural products. 
Perchlorate comes from rocket fuel. It is a very dangerous leftover 
from rocket fuel. Let me tell my colleagues, it poses risks to the 
thyroid and special risks to pregnant women and infants.
  The Bush administration not only has failed to set a standard for 
perchlorate, but it has stopped enforcing a law that says the water 
companies and the water utilities have to let people know how much 
perchlorate is in their drinking water. They no longer have to test for 
perchlorate. They have not set a standard. Here is their excuse: We 
don't have enough information. Massachusetts had enough information; 
they set a standard. California had enough information; they set a 
standard. But the great big Federal, National Government doesn't have 
enough information. We know perchlorate is dangerous, we know it is an 
endocrine disrupter, and we know what that means for pregnant women and 
children. It is bad news. They are doing nothing. That is why we have 
the environment on our checklist for change.
  Mercury. Mercury is toxic to the brain. Let me repeat that. Mercury 
is toxic to the brain. We know that. There is no question about it. The 
Bush administration, under pressure from big utilities--I ask unanimous 
consent for 1 more minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mrs. BOXER. The Bush administration, under pressure from big 
utilities, set weak requirements for toxic mercury emissions, and now 
there is a big court case, and believe me, they are going to lose it.
  There are other things. They slowed down Superfund cleanup. They are 
not protecting endangered species. They are weak on protecting us from 
smog pollution, particulate matter that gets into our lungs. We are 
talking about life and death, and then we are talking about global 
warming, the future of the planet.
  Today, the President said to forget the offshore oil drilling 
moratorium in the most pristine waters of our coastline. Go in there 
and let the oil companies drill. What he didn't tell the American 
people is his father put that moratorium in place. What he didn't tell 
the American people is that there are 68 million acres of untapped 
leases the oil companies hold that they haven't drilled on, and he 
would put at risk God's gift that we have been given on these 
coastlines and he would jeopardize a $60 billion coastal recreation and 
tourism economy that fosters more than 2 million jobs.
  I am so proud to stand with the Presiding Officer and the Democratic 
women of the Senate, standing next to this checklist for change: Equal 
pay for equal work, good jobs, health care, taking care of our military 
and our veterans, restoring our credibility in the world, protecting 
the environment, making us energy independent, preparing for future 
disasters, enforcing fiscal accountability, and protecting the family 
checkbook. This is a moment for change, and we Democratic women of the 
Senate wish to be agents of that change.
  I thank Senator Mikulski, and thank you very much, Madam President.
  I yield the floor.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, before the Senator leaves the floor--
and we know our good friends, Senators Stabenow and Klobuchar, are here 
who will speak. We know gas prices are a woman's issue. If anything is 
driving up groceries and family bills, it is gas.
  This whole issue today of lifting the ban on drilling--is the Senator 
from

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California aware that there are currently 68 million acres of land, 
Federal land, on which the oil companies have a lease, and if they 
wanted to drill, they could drill?
  Mrs. BOXER. That is right. The Senator from Maryland is reiterating 
what I said in my statement. Absolutely. We have learned that they have 
68 million acres of leases, both onshore and offshore, and they are not 
drilling. They are holding those, I believe, for speculative purposes. 
Now the President announces--even without them lifting a finger on 
those leases, he wants to destroy the coastlines that are the economic 
engine of the Senator's State, my State, and many other coastal States. 
Yes.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Does the Senator share my frustration--and I believe 
the American people's frustration--that the President is trying to 
change the subject rather than change the policies, particularly the 
policies where he could, by Executive order, deal with price gouging of 
the consumer as well as the casino-like speculation that is going on?
  Mrs. BOXER. Absolutely. My friend is so right. The Senator from 
Maryland is right.
  This Senator from California can tell you this: His proposal to 
destroy our coastline is an economic disaster, and he has avoided going 
after the oil companies and their supply manipulation. He is ignoring 
the speculators. We believe they have added $30 to $50 to a barrel of 
oil. He is ignoring his Antitrust Division. He is doing nothing.
  By the way, his own administration said today that even if they 
lifted this moratoria and every single inch was drilled--let's just say 
that were true, although we would never allow that to happen--we 
wouldn't feel one penny of price reduction until 2030. What he said is 
not true. This is changing the subject, and he is not using the power 
of the Presidency to go after the people who are manipulating this 
market. My colleague is correct.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. So if people really want their gas prices lowered 
today, they should just e-mail the President and say: Don't change the 
subject, change the policies. Get rid of price gouging and get rid of 
the speculation. You can do it by Executive order.
  Mrs. BOXER. Exactly right, I say to my friend.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan is recognized.
  Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I wish to thank our dean of the 
Democratic women, Senator Barbara Mikulski, for once again being right 
on point and Senator Barbara Boxer for her leadership as it relates to 
protecting our environment and energy security. She and Senator Maria 
Cantwell have been our leaders as it relates to cutting gas prices and 
at the same time doing those things that allow us to protect our 
beautiful land and water and air. So I wish to thank my colleagues.
  Listening to the discussion about what is happening in terms of gas 
prices just brings me back to what is an essential part of our 
checklist for change; that is, making sure Americans have jobs. We are 
going to pay those high gas prices which are absolutely outrageous. 
Senator Mikulski is right, it takes a change in policy. Senator Boxer 
is right when she talks about the fact that there are a lot of places 
the oil companies could be drilling right now. That is the problem. 
Right now, instead of buying more corporate jets and putting more money 
into bonuses for themselves, if they were to reinvest in the land that 
is already there, that would address their concern about supply. We 
know what is really happening. Unfortunately, for the last 8 years, we 
have literally had two oilmen in the White House, and we have watched 
the price of gasoline go beyond our wildest expectations. I know people 
in Michigan never would have thought we would be at over $4 a gallon.
  To add insult to injury, during this same time when we are looking at 
foreclosure rates at the highest level in my lifetime, certainly, and 
gas prices at the highest levels, food prices going up, the cost of 
health care going up, what is going down--and what is frightening for 
families across America--is their incomes, their jobs, and their 
standard of living. Just since January, 324,000 good-paying American 
jobs have been lost--just since January of this year, 324,000 families 
without a job, yet paying those high gas prices, paying those high food 
prices, trying to figure out how to send the kids to college or to pay 
tuition if they are in college. How do I make ends meet? How do I have 
my piece of the American dream when I am losing my job or my income is 
going down?
  Our checklist for change is about the things Americans want to have 
happening in this country. It is frightening to see that since 2001, we 
have lost 3 million--3 million--think about this number--3 million 
manufacturing jobs in this country. Certainly, the people in Michigan 
have taken a big hit of that 3 million. But overall now, considering 
all of the policies and the lack of action, including the dollars being 
sent to a war in Iraq rather than being invested here at home, we now 
are in a situation where 8.5 million Americans are unemployed--8.5 
million Americans.
  Our Republican colleagues would say: They should just go find a job. 
We don't want to extend unemployment benefits because that encourages 
people to stay home. That makes no sense if you are somebody who has 
been out of work trying to keep your house, trying to pay the food bill 
and the gas bill and everything else. But the reality is that we have 
about 4 million jobs in this country right now and 8.5 million people 
out of work--roughly 4 million available jobs and 8.5 million people 
unemployed.
  We also have what I call a race to the bottom in general economically 
where Americans are being told: In a global economy, if you will only 
work for less, we can be competitive. If you will only lose your 
pension, lose your health care, we can be competitive.
  We reject that. Our checklist for change rejects the notion of a race 
to the bottom and the loss of our American way of life.
  What we embrace are strategies that create good-paying jobs, middle-
class jobs at home in America. What we embrace is a race to the top. We 
want to export our products--not our jobs--in a global economy. To do 
so means a level playing field on trade, enforcing our trade laws, as 
well as creating new trade agreements. We want to make sure people are 
not losing jobs because of the high cost of health care, the burdens on 
small and large businesses today. So we believe the race to the top 
means a change in the way we fund health care in this country.
  Finally, we understand it means investing like crazy in education, in 
innovation. That is the race to the top. That is what we embrace in our 
checklist for change. I am very proud of the fact that the Democratic 
Senate and House have put together a budget resolution for the next 
year that focuses on three major areas of job development--jobs and 
innovation through our green-collar jobs initiative: investing in the 
new advanced battery technology for the new vehicles; investing in 
conservation and energy efficiency through buildings and other kinds of 
efficiencies that are so important; job training in the new green-
collar economy, investing not only in biofuels but making sure the pump 
is actually there, so when you drive your vehicle, you can get biofuel 
or biodiesel--you can actually find a pump. So green-collar jobs are an 
important piece of what we have put in place.
  Secondly, jobs in America. When we are rebuilding highways, bridges, 
and water and sewer systems, those are jobs that will not be exported 
overseas. Those are good-paying jobs in America. Our checklist for 
change, as well as our budget, believes change should be done, and we 
can invest in good-paying jobs at home.
  Finally, in our budget resolution we invest in job training and make 
a major investment in opportunity through education, from preschool all 
the way up to college.
  We know that serious changes need to be made in the priorities of 
this country. I had the opportunity a while ago to be on a television 
show following a Republican colleague--a

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woman in the House--who looked at our checklist and said: We 
Republicans can support all those things.
  In looking at that, I am scratching my head and going: We have had 6 
years with President Bush and an entire Republican Congress, and they 
had control of every piece of the Government. They were not focusing on 
jobs, energy alternatives, fiscal accountability--as the occupant of 
the chair has talked about--or education or equal pay for equal work. 
They didn't fix that. They didn't address these issues that American 
families and businesses are asking us to do.
  In the last 2 years, instead of working with us on the changes we 
have initiated, we have been blocked over and over again on the floor 
of the Senate. All we get is filibuster, filibuster, filibuster. So we 
come to the floor and to the American people as Democratic women who 
have been fighting, along with our Democratic male colleagues, for real 
change that will send gas prices down, not up, and that will send 
health care costs down, not up, and make it more available, to bring 
food prices down and, most important, bring wages up.
  In the greatest country in the world, we can do better than losing 
324,000 good-paying jobs just since this past January.
  I am proud to join my wonderful colleagues in putting together a 
checklist that speaks to the things we know American families want to 
see happening. We are going to do everything possible, both this year, 
and as we go to the changes that we hope will happen next year, to 
embrace and actually get results on our checklist for change.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I am proud to follow the Senator from 
Michigan, who has done so much to fight for jobs in her State, with its 
difficult economic conditions, and speak from the heart not only as a 
Senator but as a mother when she talks about this checklist for change.
  So many of us who have come to the floor today are not just Senators 
but also mothers. I think about my family generations back and the 
women who have kept the checklist. My grandmother in Ely, Minnesota--I 
think of her writing in her perfect handwriting the lists that she made 
throughout the day. My grandpa, her husband, worked 1,500 feet 
underground in the mines in Ely. Neither of them graduated from high 
school. She had a checklist for her family. That list was making sure--
at the top of that list--that my dad and his brother went to college. 
They saved money in a coffee can in the basement of that little house. 
They had that coffee can to save the money in to send my dad and his 
brother to college. And I think of my own mother, who got divorced when 
I was about 16. My dad was always there for me, but my mother had to 
decide she was going to try to stay in her house raising two kids in 
the suburbs of Minneapolis. She decided she had to go back to work when 
they got divorced. She would write on the calendar in blue ink, which I 
remember.
  In her head I know she was thinking would she be able to raise her 
kids and stay in that house when she retired. She ended up having to 
teach. At age 70, she had 30 second-graders. At age 80, she is still in 
that house. So she did it.
  As for me, my husband and I have our own checklist on the 
refrigerator, with the things on it that we have to buy from the 
grocery store. Last week, my daughter who is 12, added to the checklist 
to get her a swimming suit for the seventh grade pool party.
  So I think all the women in America understand what it is like to 
have these lists. What we are talking about today is a checklist for 
the entire country. For all of us, every American family, on the top of 
that checklist is balancing the family checkbook, protecting the family 
checkbook. As families sit down every day at the kitchen table to write 
their budgets and figure out if they have enough to make ends meet, 
they find out that things on their list cost a lot more. They have to 
manage to do a lot more with less.
  In fact, as you can see on this chart, in the last 7 years since this 
administration took office, the average family wages have gone down 
$1,175 for your average middle-class family making around $48,000 a 
year. That is hard enough, but at the same time, as we all know, the 
average family expenses have increased. I can tell you that these are 
last year's figures, before we saw the huge increase in gas prices. But 
the average family expenses have increased more than $4,500, and this 
is per year. We are talking about higher mortgage payments of $1,700; 
higher gas bills of $2,000; high food costs of $230; higher phone bills 
of $112; higher appliance costs of $42; and higher health insurance, 
which is up $363.
  When you look at the wages lost and expenses gained, that is $5,739 
per year out of the average American families' checkbooks. So families 
are feeling the hurt. They are not doing anything wrong, but this is 
what we are seeing all over this country.
  Why is this going on? In part, it is because everybody is nickel-and-
diming our families. The oil companies are taking a huge chunk out of 
the family checkbook every week. In Minnesota, I saw family cars 
wrapped around the block at Costco, waiting in line for the discount 
gas pumps--just to save a few bucks.
  Energy costs are skyrocketing, grocery bills are climbing, and while 
families are looking for ways to save every penny, big companies 
continue to nickel-and-dime them.
  The drug companies are nickel-and-diming consumers by refusing to 
negotiate drug prices under Medicare Part D. The predatory lenders and 
unscrupulous creditors are taking a chunk out of the family checkbook 
with credit card scams and bad loan deals that are bringing down the 
values of homes.
  Cell phone companies are nickel-and-diming families with early 
termination fees and excessive charges. Middle-class families are being 
squeezed from all sides, trying to keep up with the costs. You have 
heard about the ``sandwich generation''--middle-class families trying 
to take care of their kids, while at the same time taking care of their 
aging parents.
  Look at the cost of college and child care. Today, I am not sure my 
grandparents could have ever fit the money for college in a coffee can. 
The average student graduates with more than $25,000 of debt. We owe 
our students a better start in life. Meanwhile, while my mom scrimped 
and saved to keep her house into retirement, many families do not have 
that same luxury and, instead, are putting every penny into nursing 
home living facilities.
  On top of these financial worries, parents who may want to get a toy 
for their child's birthday are trying to save a few dollars, and they 
worry if they are going to get a toy that contains lead. They wonder 
about the tomatoes they bought at the store, or whether the pool drain 
in the local public pool will hurt their child. They worry: Is my 
family safe?
  This isn't the American dream, and it should not be in this day and 
age. American families deserve an advocate for them, and the Democratic 
women today in the Senate stand ready to be those advocates, ready to 
make the change these families desperately need.
  We not only need to change the agenda to help our middle-class 
families, we need to put a little change back in their wallets.
  This last year, we stood up for America's middle-class families and 
their checkbooks: making college more affordable, increasing the 
minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. We took on the special 
interests from the oil companies to the toxic toy manufacturers.
  So much more needs to be done to protect American families' 
checkbooks. We need to give tax breaks to the middle class by closing 
the loopholes that benefit only the wealthy.
  We must put America's families first and find the relief they need 
from rising prices and falling wages and help them protect the family 
checkbook.
  We must put the people of the country first, not the special 
interests, by enacting comprehensive, affordable health care reforms to 
make health care more affordable and enact a comprehensive energy 
policy so that instead of spending $600,000 a minute on

[[Page 12702]]

foreign oil and sending that money to the sultans of Saudi Arabia, we 
are spending it on the farmers and workers in this country.
  We must be vigilant in protecting consumer rights, as we stand on the 
verge of passing the most sweeping consumer product reform in 16 years. 
We must continue to keep toxic toys and products off of our shores and 
out of our stores.
  This checklist for change is from a group of women who all know what 
it is like to balance the family checkbook, and we know it is time for 
a change. The American people know it is time for a change.
  As Senator Barbara Mikulski, the dean of our delegation of women 
Senators, said today as she called on women of the Senate to work on 
this together: I call on the women in this country to put on your 
lipstick, square your shoulders, and suit up and take up this fight for 
change.
  We are here today, shoulders squared, and with a checklist to 
accomplish the change that American families so desperately need.
  I see that my colleague from Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, is here. She 
has always been a strong advocate for America's families. We both have 
children in the same junior high school. Mine is in seventh grade, 
quickly going into eighth. Hers are in the sixth grade. We have been 
dealing with the half schooldays in the Virginia schools. So it is good 
to be here together to talk about that issue.
  I turn it over to the great leader from Arkansas, Senator Lincoln.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas is recognized.
  Mrs. LINCOLN. Madam President, I thank all of my colleagues today. I 
am so pleased to come down to the floor and join my fellow Democratic 
women colleagues in the Senate to discuss our checklist for change.
  Just so that people know, this checklist is not new. We started this 
several years ago. We got together and realized that all of us kept 
lists, like our mothers and grandmothers before us. Those checklists 
were helpful in accomplishing things. If there is anything we recognize 
from our constituents, it is that they are desperately wanting their 
Government to provide results, to get the results that the American 
people need, and they want to be able to move forward. And so we 
decided at that point, several years ago, that a checklist for change 
would be a good thing.
  So here we come back to this body, come back to our colleagues 
presenting, yes, another checklist for change and to say it is time to 
change the direction our country is going in, and here are some of the 
biggest priorities we face. These are age-old problems that we need new 
and innovative solutions to, but they are not problems we can't solve. 
When we come together, when we work together, we can solve these 
problems and bring forth for the American people what it is they are 
asking for, and that is results, there is no doubt.
  We have heard our colleagues today touch on several issues of 
importance to the American people that we have listed on our checklist. 
I know my checklist is full of a lot of different things, as Senator 
Klobuchar mentioned, with the end of school coming around, but I want 
to take a few minutes to discuss one of the most important priorities, 
and one of the most important things that appears on my personal 
checklist most frequently, and that is health care needs. Whether it is 
the health care forms for my boys to go to summer camp, or making sure 
they get their dental checkup, or ensuring they have gotten their 
immunizations to be able to start school, all those things are 
critically important to me, and there are many health care needs our 
working families out there are facing as well.
  It is not a secret that a health care crisis is looming on the 
horizon. Health care access and affordability is out of reach for way 
too many of our hard-working American families. When we go out to our 
States, at least for me, anyway, and I talk with people, one of the 
issues that is paramount on their minds is health care, but it is 
synonymous, when they speak about it, with the economy and whether they 
can afford it with the economy of their family budget, and what it does 
to the economy of their small community if health care is not 
available, and what it does to the economy of this country if we wait 
so long to provide the access to affordable health care so that people 
are in acute care because it is more costly. It is costing our economy 
more and it is lessening the quality of life of Americans who so 
desperately want to find that access to affordable and good health 
care.
  As many of my colleagues are very well aware, the number of uninsured 
in this country stands at about 47 million. You know, we see Americans 
are living longer. My husband's grandmother turns 111 this year, and 
she still lives on her own and does amazing things. My husband and I 
find that we are not just the sandwich generation, but we are the club 
sandwich generation.
  As Americans live longer, we also know, because statistics tell us, 
that a baby girl born in this country today has a 50-percent chance of 
becoming a centenarian. Moreover, as the baby boom generation begins to 
retire, the current Medicare system is not equipped to effectively 
handle the strains of such a major demographic shift. It is an issue 
that constantly weighs on my mind, whether it is as a caregiver for my 
children or for aging parents or aging grandparents, and we know it is 
on the minds of all working Americans out there, not just mine and not 
just my colleagues.
  I am sure it is on the minds of many of my colleagues, because we 
talk about it all the time. We talk about caring for our aging parents 
and the needs of our kids, and it is not going away any time soon. And 
it is certainly not going away if we don't begin to make it a priority 
and do something about access to health care.
  As mothers and daughters, wives, sisters, and legislators, the 
Democratic women of the Senate are committed to providing access to 
quality, affordable health care for all Americans. One way to address 
this issue is to put the focus first on small business owners, their 
employees, and self-employed individuals, who very often are those who 
are uninsured.
  To give a snapshot, my small businesses are the No. 1 source of jobs 
in my home State of Arkansas. However, only 26 percent of businesses 
with fewer than 50 employees actually offer health insurance. Small 
businesses need assistance. They need innovative ways to offer 
affordable, accessible health care to their employees.
  There is a misnomer out there that small businesses don't want to 
offer health insurance. They do, desperately. They know it increases 
their productivity, it increases their competitiveness, and their 
ability to attract good workers. But it has to be affordable. Small 
businesses have to maintain their competitive nature with big 
businesses and businesses all over the globe. That is why I have worked 
hard to design a comprehensive solution that will allow our small 
businesses to ban together and spread their risk, much like the 
programs that we as Federal employees enjoy.
  We also have to focus on critical reforms of Medicare if we have any 
hopes of ensuring our seniors, those who have built this great land we 
enjoy, continue to receive the essential care they need as they age. 
Efficiencies, quality measures, all of these issues we have talked 
about recently in some of our Medicare efforts and what we are trying 
to do in our Medicare reform bill, will lower our costs and provide 
greater quality, which is what we want to do. Modernizing Medicare to 
take advantage of those efficiencies, those new technologies--health 
IT, e-prescription, and a whole host of different technologies--will 
help us, if we make that investment, by providing the quality as well 
as the efficiencies we need.
  And we can't forget about the State Children's Health Insurance 
Program, known as SCHIP. We must make it a priority to expand health 
care coverage to the most vulnerable of our society--our children. I 
hope if my colleagues don't want to do it just because they love 
children, which most of us do--we understand they are our greatest 
blessing in this whole wide world--we

[[Page 12703]]

should do it because it is an investment in our future.
  We know children who are healthier are going to go to school, they 
are going to learn better, they are going to turn out to be better 
adults, they are going to get their education, get better jobs, and pay 
more taxes. There will be a whole host of different things that will 
mean so much to this country if we provide that health care for our 
children.
  The clock is ticking, and it is up to us in Washington to find a 
solution so the hard-working families of this country can be assured of 
a healthy tomorrow. Each year that passes without action places more 
and more Americans in a vulnerable position. I challenge our President 
and our colleagues in the Senate and on the other side of the aisle to 
stand with us, not against us, in providing quality and affordable 
health care for all Americans. Look at how much it means to this 
country, to those individuals, those working families who are the 
fabric of this country.
  As the richest, most powerful country in the world, we owe it to our 
working families who want to protect themselves and their families from 
an uncertain future to provide the health care coverage they so 
desperately need. We owe it to the taxpayers of this country today and 
for generations to come to provide a quality health care system that is 
cost effective and sustainable. That is why I believe that providing 
access to good health care to America's working families is worth 
fighting for, and that is why it is primary on our checklist for 
change.
  I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the hour 
of morning business under the Republican control be divided equally 
among the following Senators: Senators Alexander, Kyl, Hatch, Cornyn, 
Bond, and Murkowski.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, I ask that I be informed when I have 
consumed 9 minutes and have 1 minute remaining.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair will inform the Senator.

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