Halloween Safety Act of 2003

Mr. President, today I am introducing the College Literacy in Finance and Economics or College LIFE Act. I would like to thank my colleagues, Senators Sarbanes and Corzine, for their cosponsorship of this important legislation.

The problem we're working to address with the College LIFE Act is simple. Our college students are many of America's best and the brightest. They hold the promise of our country in their hands and will go on to become leaders--in business, education, politics, the military, the community--any field you can name. It is wonderful that so many people are pursuing and fulfilling their dreams of higher education in numbers that I did not imagine when I was in college. In fact, as reported by the American Council on Education, total college enrollment surged by 3 million or nearly 27 percent over the past 20 years. However, I am gravely concerned, both as a member of this body and particularly as a grandparent and great-grandparent, that our young people are entering college without proper direction or good skills for money management or economic decisionmaking.

As we work on increasing access to higher education, we must give students access to the tools that they need to make sound economic and financial decisions once they are on campus. However, the lack of personal finance and economics State K-12 education standards or implementation of existing standards in K-12 education in a number of States results in many students arriving at college with little understanding of economic concepts like supply and demand or benefits versus costs, or personal finance concepts such as household money management or the importance of maintaining good credit history. Without this basic understanding, college students are not effectively evaluating credit alternatives, managing their debt, and preparing for long-term financial goals, such as saving for a home or retirement.

We can try to imagine what it's like to be a college student's shoes. A young adult leaves his home and travels thousands of miles, as do many Hawaii students attending mainland colleges, to the campus that holds his hopes and dreams. Perhaps farthest from his mind is how little spending money he has for textbooks, a new college sweatshirt, and school supplies. He gets to the campus bookstore and walks out with a bag that includes a preapproved credit card application, which he immediately fills out and mails. Months later, he has joined many other credit card-holding college student who, on average, have a credit card bill balance above $3,000. His sophomore year rolls around and, instead of conferring with his parents about the details of his renewal FAFSA for student financial aid or master promissory note, he is saddled with another $10,000 loan. According to The College Board, average college tuition and fees in 2003-04 increased to $19,710 for a four-year private institution and to $4,694 for a 4-year public institution. The same scenario repeats itself for his junior and senior years. Finally, after successfully completing all of his coursework, he graduates, finds an entry-level job, and realizes that, after servicing his debt, he has little money left for basics such as food, transportation, and rent, much less new career clothing or social outings. His lack of knowledge about how to properly use credit has led him to anxiety- causing financial missteps. With appropriate financial and economic literacy, he may have known what debt load to anticipate and made wiser financing and spending decisions while in school.

Rather, he may be on the road to true financial trouble. Dan Iannicola, Jr., Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Education, testified before a House subcommittee on Tuesday, that 40 percent of Americans say they live beyond their means, with the average American household having $8,900 in credit card debt in 2002-- up from $3,200 just 10 years earlier. In 2001, more people filed for bankruptcy than graduated from college. Furthermore, the most recent Federal Reserve Bulletin reported that Americans currently pay 13.3 percent of after-tax income to service their debts, which increases to 18.1 percent when we add other recurring liabilities such as rent and auto leases. We must ensure that our youth make the right decisions to follow a better financial path, especially considering a report cited by Mr. Iannicola noting that youth spent more than $172 billion in a recent year, and figures from MarketResearch.com noting that typical 8- to 14-year-olds now spend--from allowances, jobs, and gifts--about $1,294 a year or $25 a week.

The College LIFE (Literacy in Finance and Economics) Act represents a comprehensive approach to assist upcoming generations of Americans. It proposes four new grant programs that provide resources to encourage experimentation with delivery systems--innovation methods used in or out of the classroom to increase college students' financial literacy. Another grant would allow higher education institutions to share best practices about or create personal finance courses where none exist. A third grant would assist efforts that are looking at the best ways to integrate personal finance and economic education into basic educational subjects, which is especially important as schools are facing challenges under the No Child Left Behind Act and are tempted to focus on subjects being tested for Annual Yearly Progress. The final grant would train teachers and high school counselors toward increasing financial and economic literacy in grades K-12 so that our college students are prepared when they arrive at college campuses.

The bill also proposes a pilot program for five higher education institutions to encourage students to take a personal finance course and participate in preventive annual credit counseling, working in conjunction with state or local public, private, and nonprofit entities selected by the local education

agency or the school, and measuring the effectiveness of efforts in any behavioral changes that may result. It promotes greater collaboration with and support from Federal agencies in the higher education arena with respect to economic and financial literacy. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of personal finance and economic education and counseling by authorizing these activities as allowable uses in existing Higher Education Act programs, such as TRIO, GEAR UP, and Title III and Title V Serving Institutions.

Furthermore, I intend the reach of this bill to be beyond the traditional college student. Our returning college students are a vital part of society--many who are already community leaders and breadwinners for their families who have already gained valuable work experience that they may use as they learn a new field or continue their undergraduate study in the pursuit of a graduate or doctoral degree. In addition, older adults who are entering higher education for the first time can also be lauded for their enterprising spirit in wanting to better their lives by earning an associates or bachelors degree. I anticipate that the assistance provided through the College LIFE Act will work to provided needed help to many of these students as well.

I have been working on this bill over the better part of this year with several organizations in the higher education and economic and financial literacy community. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record after my statement letters of support for the legislation from the National Council on Economic Education, Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, and Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. I thank these and other organizations for their constant efforts in this area. For example, the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP) supports a provision including economic and financial literacy and counseling as allowable activities for the GEAR-UP program, which provides comprehensive mentoring, counseling, outreach, and supportive services to cohorts of disadvantaged students. Emphasis on economic and financial literacy as included in the bill would complement NCCEP'S current GEAR-UP activities that underscore the importance of the college-going experience and pursuit of postsecondary education--including discussions about financial aid, debt, grants vs. loans, savings, and tax credits--and involving parents or guardians to inform them on the costs of college and how to prepare for their child's entry into college. I will continue to work with these and other organizations toward increasing literacy in finance and economics for our students before they enter higher education and once they arrive on college campuses.

I am looking forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to have the College LIFE Act passed or included in the upcoming Higher Education Act reauthorization. I encourage my colleagues' support for this bill.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Sport Fishing Restoration and Boating Safety Act of 2003. The legislation, cosponsored by Senator Lott and Senator Hollings is funded through the Aquatic Resources Trust fund, which I am honored to know is commonly referred to as the Wallop-Breaux Trust Fund (Wallop-Breaux). This bill reauthorizes activities funded by two of the Nation's most effective ``user-pay, user-benefit'' programs--the Sport Fish Restoration Fund and the Recreational Boating Safety Fund--which constitute the ``Wallop-Breaux'' program.

In 1984, when I was a member of the House of Representatives, I had the privilege of sponsoring, along with then Senator Malcolm Wallop, what I consider to be the most significant legislation for anglers and boaters to have passed the Congress. We guided through the House and Senate legislation that greatly increased funds for fishery and boating and related programs in virtually every State of our Nation. In 1985, the first year that the Wallop-Breaux amendments were effective, their impact caused the funding for fishing and boating programs to increase from approximately $35 million to $100 million. Funded by a Federal manufacturers' excise taxes on fishing equipment and a percentage of the Federal fuel tax attributed to use in motor boats and small engines, Wallop-Breaux will this year alone provide to the States approximately $450 million to the greatest of outdoor recreations-- fishing and boating. It is sometimes difficult to fathom, but over the past nineteen years, Wallop-Breaux has disbursed upwards of $5 billion to the States to improve recreational boating and fishing, promote conservation, protect the environment and to conserve wetlands.

As my colleagues know, Wallop-Breaux and other important programs funded through the Highway Trust Fund received a five-month extension, awaiting consideration of full term reauthorization. Over the last two years, I have met with the American League of Anglers and Boaters (ALAB), the constituent group comprised of 34 organizations representing the spectrum of fishing and boating interests. The purpose of these meetings has been to prepare for introduction of this reauthorization legislation. I am pleased to report that ALAB support the legislation I bring before you today.

Foremost on everyone's agenda was the need to secure a stable and predictable funding base for boating safety grants to the states. The challenge was to increase the funding and dependability of delivery of boating safety grants to the States.

I pledged my support to these Wallop-Breaux constituent groups to enact improvements to the overall program. After countless meetings and considerable deliberation, I am pleased to report that the legislation I am introducing today reflects a general consensus on improving Wallop-Breaux to the benefit of all stakeholders. I want to stress that this would not have been possible without the leadership of Senator Lott, Senator Hollings and other key members of the committees having joint-jurisdiction over Wallop-Breaux programs. Under the legislation, Boating Safety Grants will now have guaranteed and increased funding. This program will now receive 18 percent of the total Wallop-Breaux, increasing present funding from $64 million to $95 million in the first year of enactment.

The legislation also dissolves the Boat Safety account. The balance currently in the account plus the interest,

approximately $87 million, will be distributed over the next five years to accounts in the fund.

State boat safety grants will now have a 3 to 1 match, the same as the Sport Fish Restoration grants, enabling state funds to go farther by reimbursing them 75 cents for every Federal dollar.

And lastly, all programs funded through Wallop-Breaux will be assigned a percentage of the total fund to allow a simpler and fairer process. When the amount of funds increase or decrease so will all of the programs based upon their percentage.

The growing popularity of recreational boating and fishing has created safety, environmental, and access needs that have been successfully addressed by the two Wallop-Breaux programs--Recreational Boating Safety and Sport Fish Restoration. The reauthorization is important for the safety of boaters, the continued enjoyment of fishermen, and improvement of our wetlands and waterways.

This reauthorization will allow continued funding of programs that benefit boating safety, coastal wetland protection and restoration and sportfish restoration, as well as Clean Vessel Act grants that help to keep our waterways clean.

I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the positive impact of Wallop-Breaux programs in years past, as well as presenting significant improvements contained in the legislation that I am introducing today. I ask that my colleagues join Senator Lott, Senator Hollings and me in cosponsoring this landmark legislation.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, this Congress has worked towards providing the brave men and women who fight fires the funds and material to better perform their crucial tasks. We all saw brave members of the fire service sacrifice their lives to rescue people from the World Trade Center. But we do not see firefighters in every town in America risking their lives every day to save lives and homes from the ravages of fire. I lost a home to a severe fire, and I saw the herculean efforts of my local firefighters to save it. Too many people die or suffer grievous injuries from home fires. During a recent visit with the firefighters from my home State of South Carolina, they told me that in spite of their best efforts, nearly 40 people die each year from home fires.

In my conversations with fire services across the country, I hear two things. First, the departments need funds for equipment and training. With the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement grant program, we are on our way to getting these people the resources they need to do their job. There is more work to do, but this grant program is a start. Second, and most troubling, is that the best-equipped and best-trained fire departments cannot out race most home fires.

A recent FEMA-commissioned study from the National Fire Protection Association reported that 65 percent of our fire departments cannot respond within 4 minutes of receiving an alarm. The fire that engulfed the nightclub in Rhode Island is an unfortunate example of what we are dealing with in regard to fire fighting and fire safety. The fire department arrived within 5 minutes of the fire starting, which is exceptionally fast, yet 100 people died that night. Most of them died within 2 minutes of the fire starting.

Addressing the equipment and training of the fire service is one very important component to fighting fires. We've begun to address this need in recent years with the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement

(FIRE) Act, which I co-sponsored and helped move through the Commerce Committee in 2000. This established the FIRE grants that have helped local fire departments across the country acquire the equipment and training to improve their operations. I've also worked with Senator Chris Dodd, D-CT, on the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Act, which would provide the funding to hire 75,000 new firefighters. The legislation is modeled on the success of the COPS program.

But the soundproofing materials that fed that fire in Rhode Island are identical to ingredients used in furniture in our homes. Indeed, the majority of fire deaths occur in homes. So we must address the underlying causes of home fires, the fuel that feeds them. We need to reduce the ignition potential of household items.

In 1998, residential fires killed 2,660 Americans, and injured 15,260. Senior citizens over 70 and children under 5 are at the greatest risk of dying in a fire; children under the age of 10 accounted for 17 percent of fire-related deaths in 1996. Fires also cause $3.5 billion in residential property loss each year.

It is in this context that Senators John Breaux, D-LA, Olympia Snowe, R-ME, Barbara Boxer, D-CA, Byron Dorgan, D-ND, Lindsey Graham, R-SC and I introduce the American Home Fire Safety Act. The Act would establish minimum combustibility standards for mattresses, upholstered furniture, candles and bed clothing. American manufacturers already have cost- effective technology to improve the safety of these products, and are ready to make products that meet the higher standards.

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission already has the authority to set fire safety standards for these products. Yet, despite overwhelming evidence that new standards would save lives, the Commission has been slow to address this issue. There are some who ask for more time for the Commission to work on this issue. More than 20 years have passed since the Commission has addressed product fire safety. There is no more time to waste.

We have taken great care to select standards that were developed with the best available science and broad input from scientists at NIST and ASTM, fire safety officials, industry and consumers. The Act explicitly asks the EPA to ensure that nothing done in the pursuit of fire safety would harm Americans in other ways. The standards in the Act will improve safety and over time will save many lives.

Companies have the technology right now to address fire safety in an economically responsible way. The number of lives we lose now to home fires can be dramatically reduced by the standards in this legislation. I ask for your support in making this a reality.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, this Friday, October 31, families all over America will be celebrating a special holiday that has become a family tradition. On that day, our children will be dressing up as their favorite characters and clowns and heading down the street to scour the neighborhood in search of their favorite candies and sweets. As each group of witches, goblins and ghouls patrols the neighborhood, the cries of ``Trick or Treat'' will be heard everywhere along with the shouts of joy and excitement from each participant as they bring home a bag full of all sorts of candy to share with the whole family.

Although it is a great holiday, there has always been one great concern about it--the safety of our children. It is a concern that stems from the time change that occurs the weekend before Halloween. Unfortunately, when Congress passed legislation authorizing the use of daylight saving time, we drew the lines one week short of Halloween. Instead of including it in the time change boundaries, Congress drew the finish line for daylight saving time one week short, so that it ended the weekend before, instead of after the night so many of our children will be out walking the streets of their neighborhood in pursuit of their favorite holiday treats.

That is why I am pleased to introduce the Halloween Safety Act of 2003. Its purpose is to extend the end date of daylight saving time from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November. This simple, but important, change will ensure that the protections of daylight saving time extend through Halloween.

The idea of extending daylight saving time was introduced to me by Sharon Rasmussen, a second grade teacher from Sheridan, WY and her students. Twelve years ago Mrs. Rasmussen's class began writing to Wyoming's representatives expressing their wish to have an extra hour of daylight on Halloween to ensure the safety of small children. Each year since then I have received a packet of letters from Mrs. Rasmussen's class encouraging my support for this reasonable proposal.

Legislation has been introduced in the past to extend daylight saving time. Although many of the bills sought to change both the starting date and the ending date, the legislation I introduced today would simply extend it for one week.

The reason why such a change needs to be made is readily apparent. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, over four thousand eight hundred people died in 2001, that is an average of 13 deaths per day. Fatal pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions occur most often between 6 and 9 p.m. Unfortunately, these general trends are highly magnified on Halloween given the considerable increase in pedestrians, most of whom are children. A study by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control concluded that the occurrence of pedestrian deaths for children ages 5 to 14 is four times higher on Halloween than any other night of the year. School and communities encourage children and parents to use safety measures when children venture out on Halloween and the Halloween Safety Act can further help protect our nation's youth.

When students take an interest in improving our Nation's laws, especially when it would serve to protect other children, I believe it is our duty to pay close attention to their needs and respond if possible. If children concerned about their own safety suggest a reasonable approach to making their world a little bit safer, I believe that accommodating their request is not too much to ask. The fact that second and third grade students in Sheridan, WY have been working on this legislation for years shows that protecting the children of our country is a primary concern of theirs, and it should be for all of us as lawmakers. If one life can be saved or one accident avoided by extending Daylight Saving Time, it would be worthwhile.

I encourage all my colleagues to support this act for the important benefits the Halloween Safety Act of 2003 would have for children and their parents.

Mr. President, this Friday, October 31, families all over America will be celebrating a special holiday that has become a family tradition. On that day, our children will be dressing up as their favorite characters and clowns and heading down the street to scour the neighborhood in search of their favorite candies and sweets. As each group of witches, goblins and ghouls patrols the neighborhood, the cries of ``Trick or Treat'' will be heard everywhere along with the shouts of joy and excitement from each participant as they bring home a bag full of all sorts of candy to share with the whole family.

Although it is a great holiday, there has always been one great concern about it--the safety of our children. It is a concern that stems from the time change that occurs the weekend before Halloween. Unfortunately, when Congress passed legislation authorizing the use of daylight saving time, we drew the lines one week short of Halloween. Instead of including it in the time change boundaries, Congress drew the finish line for daylight saving time one week short, so that it ended the weekend before, instead of after the night so many of our children will be out walking the streets of their neighborhood in pursuit of their favorite holiday treats.

That is why I am pleased to introduce the Halloween Safety Act of 2003. Its purpose is to extend the end date of daylight saving time from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November. This simple, but important, change will ensure that the protections of daylight saving time extend through Halloween.

The idea of extending daylight saving time was introduced to me by Sharon Rasmussen, a second grade teacher from Sheridan, WY and her students. Twelve years ago Mrs. Rasmussen's class began writing to Wyoming's representatives expressing their wish to have an extra hour of daylight on Halloween to ensure the safety of small children. Each year since then I have received a packet of letters from Mrs. Rasmussen's class encouraging my support for this reasonable proposal.

Legislation has been introduced in the past to extend daylight saving time. Although many of the bills sought to change both the starting date and the ending date, the legislation I introduced today would simply extend it for one week.

The reason why such a change needs to be made is readily apparent. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, over four thousand eight hundred people died in 2001, that is an average of 13 deaths per day. Fatal pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions occur most often between 6 and 9 p.m. Unfortunately, these general trends are highly magnified on Halloween given the considerable increase in pedestrians, most of whom are children. A study by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control concluded that the occurrence of pedestrian deaths for children ages 5 to 14 is four times higher on Halloween than any other night of the year. School and communities encourage children and parents to use safety measures when children venture out on Halloween and the Halloween Safety Act can further help protect our nation's youth.

When students take an interest in improving our Nation's laws, especially when it would serve to protect other children, I believe it is our duty to pay close attention to their needs and respond if possible. If children concerned about their own safety suggest a reasonable approach to making their world a little bit safer, I believe that accommodating their request is not too much to ask. The fact that second and third grade students in Sheridan, WY have been working on this legislation for years shows that protecting the children of our country is a primary concern of theirs, and it should be for all of us as lawmakers. If one life can be saved or one accident avoided by extending Daylight Saving Time, it would be worthwhile.

I encourage all my colleagues to support this act for the important benefits the Halloween Safety Act of 2003 would have for children and their parents.