[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17586]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MILDRED OTERO

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President. As a boy growing up in rural Cumming, IA, 
population 150, I could never have imagined that I would one day serve 
in Congress. My father had a sixth-grade education. He spent most of 
his life working in coal mines, and all he had to show for it was a 
case of black lung disease. My mother was an immigrant, raising six 
kids in our little two-bedroom house. My parents did not talk politics. 
We did not know politicians. But we knew this: When my family hit rock 
bottom in the late years of the Depression, with my father out of work 
and with no way to provide for his family, the government gave us a 
hand up. Dad got a postcard in the mail, notifying him to report for 
employment with the Work Projects Administration, the WPA. Dad always 
said that Franklin Roosevelt gave him a job. That opportunity gave my 
father dignity, and enough money to put food on the table. Maybe most 
important of all, it gave him hope.
  As a proud Midwestern progressive, my career has been guided by a 
desire to give hope to those who truly need it and deserve it, to 
provide a ladder of opportunity to working families seeking affordable 
health care and child care, family farmers struggling to stay on the 
land, and seniors seeking financial security in their retirement years. 
There is no rung on the ladder of opportunity more important than 
education, from rich early learning experiences, to college, and 
beyond.
  As I have endeavored to give people hope and to provide them with a 
ladder of opportunity, I have not done it alone. I have been blessed to 
have one of the most capable staffs on Capitol Hill. I rise today to 
extend a personal thanks to one of the best, my chief education 
counsel, Mildred Otero, who has stood stalwartly alongside me in my 
efforts to secure for every American a quality education from cradle to 
career.
  Mildred came to Washington in 2003 as a Congressional Hispanic Caucus 
Institute Public Policy Fellow, working for then-Senator Hillary 
Clinton. Over the years, she has also worked at the Children's Defense 
Fund, for Senator Jack Reed, and at the Department of State. Before 
joining the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Mildred 
served as Senior Policy Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates 
Foundation, helping to lead its Federal advocacy efforts for U.S. 
programs.
  When she arrived at the HELP Committee, she brought with her sterling 
credentials, unmatched knowledge of education policy, and a reputation 
as a tough but fair negotiator. Most importantly, she brought with her 
a commitment to children and a determination to confront the savage 
inequalities in America's public education system, and these priorities 
have been the foundation of all the work that she does. For Mildred, 
``leave no child behind'' is not a slogan, it is an imperative, an 
obligation that motivates her every day to strive to do what is best 
for the children of our country, especially those who are born into 
disadvantage.
  Mildred's commitment to our children and her determination to extend 
a hand up to the disadvantaged have borne fruit in significant 
accomplishments since she joined the HELP Committee.
  Foremost among these accomplishments was passage last summer of the 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, a bill to update and 
strengthen our Nation's job training programs. Frankly, to call 
enactment of this bill an accomplishment is a huge understatement. This 
is a bill that had been stalled for years due to one disagreement after 
another, each seemingly as intractable as the next. But for Mildred, 
what others see as an intractable disagreement is just another 
challenge to work through with creativity and diplomacy. Work through 
them she did, one after another, until all that was left was final 
passage of the bill. It is testament to Mildred's determination, 
creativity, and skill that the final bill passed by a vote of 95-3. As 
a result of her work on this bill, millions of Americans will be able 
to upgrade their skills, obtain better jobs, and ultimately, better 
their lives and the economic security of their families.
  Mildred and her team also successfully guided into the law 
improvements to the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which 
allocates more than $5 billion annually and supports more than 1.5 
million children across the country. The last reauthorization of this 
program took place 18 years ago, at a time when child care was 
principally seen as a work-support activity and only incidentally as 
something that could have a positive impact on the development of 
children. Today, backed up by impressive scientific research, we know 
that this program can and should be much more. In addition to providing 
vital work support for parents, it should be a rich early-learning 
opportunity for children. These are exactly the kinds of improvements 
that Mildred shepherded into law. Among other things, the bill requires 
States to improve education and training requirements, strengthens 
licensing requirements, and stipulates that States must demonstrate how 
they are meeting the needs of the most vulnerable children, especially 
children with disabilities.
  I would be remiss if I did not also mention Mildred's effort in the 
K-12 and higher education spaces. Last summer, the HELP Committee, 
under Mildred's guidance, passed the Strengthening America's Schools 
Act of 2013. This bill, an update to the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act, provided a framework to ensure that all children 
graduate from high school with the knowledge and skills needed to 
succeed in college and their careers. With Mildred's guidance, the 
Strengthening America's Schools Act focused greater attention on early 
childhood, encouraged equity through fair distribution of resources, 
and maintained a laser focus on helping all children, but especially 
disadvantaged children, to succeed in school.
  Mildred brought similar energy to her efforts this year on the 
reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, efforts that culminated 
with the introduction of the Higher Education Affordability Act. For 
generations, a college education has been the pathway to the middle 
class, but new challenges are threatening that promise for many 
families in Iowa and across the country. College affordability, 
skyrocketing student debt, transparency--these are high stakes issues 
for students and families. The Higher Education Affordability Act seeks 
changes to our system of higher education in order to make college more 
affordable and accessible, and to restore and strengthen the ladder of 
opportunity--a ladder that has been growing weaker and that is in need 
of repair.
  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said that ``life's most urgent and 
persistent question is: what are you doing for others?'' During her 
tenure as a senior counselor on the HELP Committee, Mildred has 
answered that question in powerful ways, and in particular through her 
tireless efforts to bring greater equity to public education at all 
levels. We respect her expertise, and we admire the strong moral voice 
that she has brought to the Committee. I am deeply grateful to Mildred 
for her superb leadership of the Committee's Education Office, and I 
wish her the very best in her future endeavors.

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