[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3697-3698]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               TOXIC TEA

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, everyone is aware of how deeply 
concerned the American people are about staying in their homes, about 
having adequate health care, and about providing education and a better 
path for the lives of their children. But everyone also knows there is 
a group calling themselves the tea party, and they are busy trying to 
eliminate those opportunities.
  In Wisconsin, a tea party Governor is trying to take away workers' 
collective bargaining rights to be represented. It is like going into a 
courtroom without a lawyer.
  In Florida, another tea party Governor has killed the critical high-
speed rail project by rejecting Federal grants of $2.4 billion to move 
it along. He threw it away, threw it back--$2.4 billion. Here in 
Congress, tea party activists have seized control of the Republican 
side of the aisle. But it is far from a tea party for lots of jobless 
people and those qualified to study in college but unable to pay the 
freight. Now that they are in power, we see them brewing a toxic tea--a 
dangerous concoction that will create pain for our children and 
ultimately bring shame to our country.
  We know cutting critical programs now brings sky-high prices later--
in more illnesses and a less educated society. So we look at the 
future, we say we have to invest in our children, our environment, and 
medical research. But every time they hear something we need, they say 
no. They insist on saying no to 200,000 little kids who now go to Head 
Start Programs that help them in the earliest stages of life, when 
learning is fun and curiosity abounds. Look here. We see a young 
child's face through the window. They are holding back 218,000 Head 
Start kids from learning to learn. They ought to visit these 
schoolrooms and be upfront with these children and their parents and 
say, Sorry, America can't help you.
  That is not all. Look at what they want to do to higher education. We 
say we must invest in Pell grants which make the dream of college a 
reality for millions of disadvantaged Americans. They say, Sorry, your 
country can't help you. They say no to future employers. Too bad we 
don't have enough qualified workers, so maybe the employers then can 
appropriately say, Oh, well, ship the jobs overseas. That is the 
alternative. Is that what we want America to do? They say no, even 
though the unemployment rate is twice as large for those who lack a 
bachelor's degree as for college graduates.
  They are unable to look at a simple chart such as this one: There we 
can see the way the arrow is pointed, with the year 2000 over here and 
the year 2009 over here, and we see rising tuitions. That is what is 
happening. Therefore, it tells us how difficult it is for those who 
don't have the money, the family support financially, and won't able to 
take advantage of the Pell grants, because they want to slash them. 
They want to get them off the record as much as they can.
  The chart shows between a $10,000 and $15,000 tuition rate in 2001. 
In 2008 and 2009, we are somewhere close to $20,000 a year. Do we want 
to force middle-class citizens to take on more debt in order to attend 
college or slam shut the campus doors on them altogether?
  I know the value of government investment in college education 
firsthand. I came from a poor working-class family. I was a teenager 
when I enlisted in the Army. My father was on his deathbed. He died and 
left a 37-year-old widow, myself, and my 12- year-old sister. Thanks to 
the GI bill, I attended college at Columbia and later cofounded a 
company with two other fellows--a company that was started with 
nothing. We had zero in funding. We put together a few hundred bucks. 
Now that company employs 45,000 employees in 23 countries, based in New 
Jersey. Jobs in this country. We built the ``greatest generation'' out 
of those educational opportunities we had in the military, and we were 
moving America to the top of the economic ladder.
  Government investment in my education made all the difference in my 
life, and now the 45,000 people who work for ADP. Now Republicans want 
to take away opportunities such as that from young people. These are 
people who go into a business, have an education, learn something about 
how to operate a business, but also learn how we ought to be creating 
job opportunities and economic development for all in our country.
  That is not all the House Republicans have in store for our country. 
We have to protect women's health, but they won't listen. They want to 
wipe out funding for title X. Title X offers women access to critical 
health services, including cervical cancer tests, breast cancer 
screenings, encouragement to think about family planning and how they 
are going to get by. But these people on the other side don't want to 
hear it. They don't care. They don't care that title X offers women 
access to take care of their health at all times.
  Millions of poor women benefit from title X. So killing it will take 
care away from those who need it most. Title X funding for women's 
health: House GOP, tea partiers, lots of them, eliminate $1 billion for 
women's care. They cancel funding for 2 million breast cancer 
screenings. How cruel is that in this country of ours? If you have 
money, you can take care of yourself. If you don't, too bad. Well, that 
is not the way we want to do it. That is not the way we want to do it 
on this side of the aisle. They are cutting off resources for 2.2 
million cervical cancer screenings. What a horror that is. What did 
these women do to deserve higher health risks during their lifetimes?
  But it gets worse. The Republicans are also going after medical 
research. We say we must invest in finding cures and treatment for 
millions of children suffering from asthma, diabetes, autism, and 
pediatric cancer, to name a few of those health-damaging afflictions. 
To these children they say, You know what. If you don't feel good, 
maybe you should go to an emergency room with your parents. Stand in 
line. Too bad. We would like to help, but we can't do that.
  The National Institutes of Health is making strides in fighting 
childhood diseases, but the Republicans want to reduce NIH's ability to 
do their research by taking $1 billion out of the their budget. If you 
want to see bravery, look into the eyes of a child struggling with 
leukemia, and look in the parents' eyes, and you will see tears, often 
no hope.
  Look at what the Republicans want to do to our environment. We say we 
must invest in the Clean Air Act, a law that spares millions of 
children from suffering from asthma, and the Republicans say, No can 
do. They say you can't restrict polluters with regulations. It is too 
cumbersome. And if you don't like regulations, for instance, take a 
look at this bothersome thing we have in America called red lights. 
They are cumbersome. They stop traffic. These people don't want 
regulations, so we ought to get rid of the red lights and let the 
traffic move, but watch yourself when you get to the intersection.
  Maybe they want to get rid of the air traffic control system. Pilots 
have to wait for some government bureaucrat to tell them where and when 
they can fly? What a nerve that is to interfere with these regulations 
and rules.
  The Republicans also want to let mercury back into our air. Mercury 
is brain poisoning for children. They also want to stop us from 
restricting soot pollution. Look at the picture. Soot is ugly when it 
is pouring from a smokestack, but it is even uglier inside a child's 
lungs. This is a picture we see in many places in our country.
  Several years ago I wrote a law called the Right to Know. It says to 
people who live in areas where there

[[Page 3698]]

are chemicals present--either manufacturing, chemicals being stored or 
transported--so people could know if they hear a particular alarm, they 
have to respond to it and report it to the fire department. We had an 
incident in Elizabeth, NJ, some years ago when a group of firemen 
responded to a chemical fire and, in some instances, their protective 
uniforms melted. That is the kind of situation we want to avoid. We 
want people to know what is being stored, what is being released into 
the air in case of a fire.
  Finally, when we say we have to clean the water our children drink, 
the Republican answer is, Oh, we can't handle that. It costs too much. 
So they cut the funding that helps States protect our drinking water 
from E. coli, arsenic, and other dangerous substances. The water is not 
safe for dishwashing, much less consumption.
  The House GOP keeps on brewing their toxic tea for America. Ask any 
parent if they want their kids to drink from that teapot. They don't, 
and we shouldn't make them do it. We need to gather together for things 
such as birthday parties and school graduations and lots of smiles 
instead of their toxic tea parties.
  Let's reject the House Republican tea party approach to funding our 
government. When they say, hey, join us for a cup of toxic tea, we must 
say, no, we have had this long enough, and we are not going to stand 
for it anymore.
  Mr. President, you know very well that what we are looking at is very 
constricted budgets. One doesn't have to be an economist or a business 
executive to know that when there is a financial statement, it comes in 
two parts. One part is the expenses you need with which to operate. The 
other is the revenues that permit the companies and the organizations 
to function. What we are looking at is revenues. I know the Chair 
shares that position with me. We have discussed it.
  Why should people who have the means, who have the good fortune to 
make lots and lots of money--we saw something this afternoon on a chart 
that had janitors in New York City at some locations paying a higher 
tax rate on their earnings than those who earn a million dollars or 
more. That is not fair. So if we want to do the right thing, we have to 
introduce revenues into the budget. We have to restore the cuts they 
want to make on the other side. We want to restore children's health. 
We want to make sure the NIH is producing as much as it can, and we 
want to turn America back to a lot more smiles than we have seen.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sanders). The Senator from Kansas is 
recognized.
  Mr. ROBERTS. It is my understanding that at 2:15 morning business 
expires. I ask unanimous consent to proceed as in morning business for 
15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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