A bill to extend the period for COBRA coverage for recipients of trade adjustment assistance.

Mr. President, the great story of Kansas can be summed up in the State motto, ``Ad Astra per Aspera,'' to the stars through difficulties. Though only a short phrase comprised of four words, the meaning and passion behind the Kansas State motto are as profound as they are descriptive of a State that though smaller than some, was a catalyst for racial equality in this Nation.

From inception, Kansas was born in controversy--a controversy that helped to shape a Nation and end the egregious practice of chattel slavery that brutalized an entire race of individuals in this country. I cannot think of a more noble or more important contribution provided to our Nation--through arguably it was one of the most turbulent and darkest hours of our history. Without this struggle however, the battle to end persecution and transform our country into a symbol of freedom and democracy throughout the world would not have been realized.

This year marks the sesquicentennial of the signing of the Kansas- Nebraska bill which repealed the Missouri compromise, allowed States to enter into the Union with or without slavery. This piece of legislation, which was passed in May 1854, set the stage for what is now referred to as, ``Bleeding Kansas.'' During this time, our State, then a territory, was thrown into chaos with Kansans fighting passionately to ensure that the territory would enter the Union as a free State and not condone or legalize slavery in any capacity. At the end of a very difficult and bloody struggle, Kansas entered the Union as a free State and helped to spark the issue of slavery on a national level. However, Kansas' contributions to the realization of freedom in this Nation did not stop with the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Keeping true to the motto, ``to the stars through difficulties.'' Kansas opened up her arms to a newly freed people after the Civil War ended. Many African Americans looked to Kansas for solace and prosperity when the South was still an uncertain place. Perhaps one of the best examples of Ad Astra per Aspera was the founding of a town in Kansas by African Americans coming to our State to begin their life of freedom and prosperity.

Founded in 1877, Nicodemus, which was named after a legendary slave who purchased his freedom, is the most recognized historically black town in Kansas. Nicodemus was established by a group of colonists from Lexington, KY and grew to a population of 600 by 1879.

However, Nicodemus is not the only Kansas contribution that shaped a more tolerant Nation. Kansas was also one of the first States to house an African American military regiment in the 1800s, the Buffalo Soldiers.

The Buffalo Soldiers were, and still are, considered one of the most distinguished and revered African American military regiments in our Nation's history. One of those regiments, the 10th Cavalry, was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, KS. In July 1866, Congress passed legislation establishing two cavalry and four infantry regiments that were to be solely comprised of African Americans. The mounted regiments were the 9th and 10th Cavalries, soon nicknamed ``Buffalo Soldiers'' by the Cheyenne and Comanche tribes. Lt. Henry O. Flipper, the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy in 1877 and commanded the 10th Calvary unit where he proved that African Americans possessed the quality of military leadership. Until the early 1890s, the Buffalo Soldiers constituted 20 percent of all cavalry forces on the American frontier. Their invaluable service on the western frontier still remains one of the most exemplary services performed by a regiment in the U.S. Army.

These are just a few examples of why I am pleased to join with my colleague from Kansas, Senator Pat Roberts, today and introduce the Bleeding Kansas National Heritage Area Act, which will not only serve to educate Kansans but the Nation on the important contributions--and in many cases the sacrifices--made in order to establish this proud State. The creation of this heritage area will ensure that this legacy is not only commemorated but celebrated on a national level.

Specifically, the Bleeding Kansas National Heritage Area Act will designate 24 counties in Kansas as the ``Bleeding Kansas and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom National Heritage Area.'' Each of these counties will be eligible to apply for the heritage area grants administered by the National Park Service.

The heritage area will add to local economies within the State by increasing tourism and will encourage collaboration between interests of diverse units of government, businesses, tourism officials, private property owners, and nonprofit groups within the heritage area. Finally, the bill protects private property owners by requiring that they provide in writing consent to be included in any request before they are eligible to receive Federal funds from the heritage area. The bill also authorizes $10,000,000.00 over a 10 year period to carry out this act and states that no more than $1,000,000.00 may be appropriated to the heritage area for any fiscal year.

Kansas has much to be proud of in its history and it is vital that this history be shared on a national level. By establishing the Bleeding Kansas and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom National Heritage Area, we will ensure that this magnificent legacy lives on and serves as a stirring reminder of the sacrifices and triumphs that created this Nation--a Nation united in freedom for all people.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Anticounterfeiting Act of 2004, along with Senators Murray, Hollings, Smith, and Allen.

Two years ago, I held a hearing entitled, ``Theft of American Intellectual Property: Fighting Crime Abroad and At Home,'' and I issued a report on the status of our fight against this crime. Today, I attended a hearing chaired by Senator Specter on a similar topic, again driving home for me the serious problems encountered in today's world by American intellectual property.

What I have learned is that every day, thieves steal millions of dollars of American intellectual property from its rightful owners. Over a hundred thousand American jobs are lost as a result.

American innovation and creativity need to be protected by our government no less than our personal property, our homes and our streets. The Founding Fathers had the foresight to provide for protection of intellectual property, giving Congress the power to ``promote the progress of science and useful arts'' by providing copyrights and patents.

American intellectual property represents the largest single sector of the American economy, employing 4.7 million Americans. It has been estimated that software piracy alone cost the U.S. economy over 118,000 jobs and $5.7 billion in wage losses in the year 2000. Even more, the International Planning and Research Corporation estimates that the government loses more than a billion dollars worth of revenue every year from intellectual property theft.

To put that in perspective, with a billion dollars in additional revenue, the American government could pay for child care services for more than 100,000 children annually. Alternatively, $1 billion could be used to fund a Senate proposal to assist schools nationally with emergency school renovations and repairs.

There is another problem. Counterfeiters of software, music CDs and motion pictures are now tampering with authentication features. Holograms, certificates of authenticity, watermarks and other security features allow the copyright owners to distinguish genuine works from counterfeits. But now, highly sophisticated counterfeiters have found ways to tamper with these features to make counterfeit products appear genuine and to increase the selling price of genuine products and licenses. Put another way, not only do crooks illegally copy American intellectual property, they also now illegally fake or steal the very features property owners use to prevent that theft.

Copyrights mean nothing if government authorities fail to enforce the protections they provide intellectual property owners. The criminal code has not kept up with the counterfeiting operations of today's high-tech pirates, and it's time to make sure that it does. The Anticounterfeiting Act of 2004 updates and strengthens the Federal criminal code, which currently makes it a crime to traffic in counterfeit labels or copies of certain forms of intellectual property, but not authentication features. For example, we can currently prosecute someone for trafficking in fake labels for a computer program, but we cannot go after them for faking the hologram that the software maker uses to ensure that copies of the software are genuine.

In addition, many actions that violate current law go unprosecuted in this day and age when priorities, such as the fight against terrorism and life-threatening crimes, necessarily take priority over crimes of property, be they intellectual or physical. Moreover, the victims of this theft often do not have a way to recover their losses from this crime. For this reason, the Anticounterfeiting Act of 2004 also provides a private cause of action, to permit the victims of these crimes to pursue the criminals themselves and recover damages in federal court.

Current law criminalizes trafficking in counterfeit documentation and packaging, but only for software programs. The Anticounterfeiting Act of 2003 updates and expands these provisions to include documentation and packaging for phonorecords, motion pictures, other audiovisual works, and copies of other copyrighted works.

The existing provision with regard to counterfeiting addresses certain items of intellectual property, including motion pictures, software, and phonorecords. The Anticounterfeiting Act of 2004 updates the coverage of this statute to include other copyrighted works, such as books. As published books and ebooks begin to be subject to the piracy already witnessed by motion picture, softward and recording industries, they need the same protection.

This issue is not going way; to the contrary, it is growing, and Congress continues to focus on potential solutions, as evidenced by today's hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and an upcoming hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee. The 2002 version of this bill did not manage to secure passage and enactment into law, but there is reason for optimism that this year its fate will be different. America's content providers, and the many jobs that depend on them, could certainly use the help.

America is a place where we must encourage diverse ideas, and with that encouragement we must protect those ideas. They are the source of our music, our art, our novels, our movies, our software, our products, all that is American culture and American know-how. The Anticounterfeiting Act of 2004 gives our ideas the protection they deserve.

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

Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce, along with my distinguished colleague Senator Brownback, a bill designating the Bleeding Kansas and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom National Heritage Area. This project has joined communities throughout eastern Kansas in an effort to document, preserve and celebrate Kansas' significant role in the political struggle that led to the Civil War and in other historic struggles for equality that took place in our state.

Designated by Congress, National Heritage Areas are places where natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form complete and distinct landscape. Our State, which has a proud heritage and compelling story, will benefit from this national designation that helps preserve and celebrate America's defining landscapes. By enhancing and developing historic sites throughout eastern Kansas, we will ensure that the traditions that evolved there are preserved.

During the Civil War, William Quantrill, the head of an infamous gang of Confederate sympathizers, lead a raid on Lawrence, KS. Though far from the main campaigns, this massacre caused Bleeding Kansas to become a prominent symbol in the fight for the freedom of all people, and the territory would become a battleground over the question of slavery. After

these attacks, the abolitionist senator Charles Sumner delivered his famous speech called ``The Crime Against Kansas,'' in which he brought the escalating situation into sharper focus for the Nation.

Almost 100 years later, Kansas became the battleground once again, as Oliver L. Brown fought to prove that separate among the people of this great Nation is not equal. In fact, we will soon celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court decision, which was a landmark victory in the civil rights movement. These are but two of the many stories that will make up this heritage area, marking an important era in our Nation's history.

I'd like to commend the Lawrence City Commission, the Douglas County Commission, and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, who have worked diligently on Federal heritage area designation. And I encourage the Senate's swift passage of this important piece of legislation.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to ensure that displaced workers whose jobs have moved overseas have access to affordable health care coverage.

Under the Trade Assistance Adjustment Act, unemployed workers who have seen their manufacturing jobs shipped overseas are eligible for Federal subsidies to help them maintain their employer-based health coverage through COBRA. Unfortunately, while these workers have access to these Federal subsidies for 24 months, they only have access to COBRA coverage for 18 months. This discrepancy means that displaced workers are unable to fully utilize these subsidies. Indeed, the discrepancy creates the anomalous situation in which displaced workers can remain in their COBRA plan for 18 months, using the Federal subsidy to help defray their costs, but once their COBRA coverage runs out, they have six additional months of Federal subsidy available but lose their existing health coverage. This leaves them no choice but to seek coverage in the expensive individual market where they are not guaranteed coverage and where their subsidy may not be sufficient to help them afford coverage.

My legislation would fix this problem by making COBRA coverage available for the full 24 months that the subsidy is available. This will ensure that displaced workers can take full advantage of the assistance that Congress made available to them in 2002.

As more and more Americans see their jobs outsourced overseas, many struggle to provide health insurance for their families. We have lost 3,000 manufacturing jobs in February alone and have lost a total of 2.8 million since 2000. Congress took a critical step in authorizing Federal assistance for those who have lost these jobs. Now we must ensure that displaced workers have access to health coverage so that they can utilize this assistance. My legislation will ensure this.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to ensure that displaced workers whose jobs have moved overseas have access to affordable health care coverage.

Under the Trade Assistance Adjustment Act, unemployed workers who have seen their manufacturing jobs shipped overseas are eligible for Federal subsidies to help them maintain their employer-based health coverage through COBRA. Unfortunately, while these workers have access to these Federal subsidies for 24 months, they only have access to COBRA coverage for 18 months. This discrepancy means that displaced workers are unable to fully utilize these subsidies. Indeed, the discrepancy creates the anomalous situation in which displaced workers can remain in their COBRA plan for 18 months, using the Federal subsidy to help defray their costs, but once their COBRA coverage runs out, they have six additional months of Federal subsidy available but lose their existing health coverage. This leaves them no choice but to seek coverage in the expensive individual market where they are not guaranteed coverage and where their subsidy may not be sufficient to help them afford coverage.

My legislation would fix this problem by making COBRA coverage available for the full 24 months that the subsidy is available. This will ensure that displaced workers can take full advantage of the assistance that Congress made available to them in 2002.

As more and more Americans see their jobs outsourced overseas, many struggle to provide health insurance for their families. We have lost 3,000 manufacturing jobs in February alone and have lost a total of 2.8 million since 2000. Congress took a critical step in authorizing Federal assistance for those who have lost these jobs. Now we must ensure that displaced workers have access to health coverage so that they can utilize this assistance. My legislation will ensure this.

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