Business Links Act of 2003

Mr. President, I rise today to join my friend and colleague Senator Inhofe in introducing a bill that will make a real difference in schools on or near military bases, Indian reservations, and other Federal lands. Our bill will make the Impact Aid Program a Federal entitlement.

We require public schools to accept all children from military families and tribal reservations. It is the right thing to do. But families in Federal housing or on reservations do not pay local property taxes, a traditional revenue source for school districts. While Impact Aid was designed to make up the difference, we have not met our obligation to public schools. Instead, we have let the Impact Aid Program fall prey to the annual appropriations process. This means that payments to Impact Aid schools are never guaranteed, are usually underfunded, and rarely arrive on time. In fact, Impact Aid has not been fully funded since the early 1980s. The result of this underfunding can been seen in Impact Aid schools in States across the country. Schools are cutting programs and staff, not buying new books and materials, and deferring maintenance on buildings to help cover classroom costs. As a result, schools like Hays Lodge Pole School in Montana cannot teach their students and maintain their school facility; in the last couple of years, the Hays Lodge Pole School has been susceptible to electrical fires and other structural hazards.

I am so proud of the students, teachers, and administrators that learn and work in our Impact Aid districts. They have gone above and beyond to make due with scant resources. In many cases, however, we have stretched school districts to the breaking point. We have an obligation to our schools and the students. We can and must do better than we have in the past.

The bill that Senator Inhofe and I are introducing today will make a difference. It requires the Federal Government to meet its obligation to these schools. As a result, districts will know when and how much they will receive. The guesswork will vanish, and school leaders will be able to focus on student achievement instead of budget games.

I recognize that creating a Federal entitlement program is not an easy task. But Impact Aid is not like other discretionary programs. It was set up to compensate school districts for the ``substantial and continuing financial burden resulting from Federal activities.'' It is not a program that supplements local programming. It is the only game in town, and when we do not meet our Federal obligation, there is no other program to pick up the slack. Other Federal education programs, such as title I, supplement insufficient local resources.

Importantly, Impact Aid is a Federal program that addresses Federal needs. Our bill recognizes that providing Impact Aid resources on time and in full helps federally impacted students learn and achieve. It also recognizes that Impact Aid funds are better spent in our schools than on plane tickets and expenses for Impact Aid officials to come to Washington to fight for dollars that they inherently deserve.

Finally, I want to say a little about my personal perspective on education. I honestly believe there is nothing more important than giving our children the best opportunities to succeed in life. That is a principle I hold very deeply. Nothing we can do for our children will make a bigger difference in their lives than giving them a solid education. Education provides greater advantages in the workplace, and greater personal enrichment; both of which lead to future personal and professional success. I have always believed that a quality public education system is not only the right of every child, but also the key to smart economic development. The investments we make in our education system today will provide our children with the skills and knowledge to be successful in the 21st century economy.

Our bill recognizes the importance of education and makes sure that our federally impacted school districts receive the money they deserve. More importantly, our bill makes sure that students in federally impacted schools will have an education that will prepare them for personal and professional success.

Mr. President, today I am introducing a very important piece of legislation to modify the cooperative dividend allocation rule. I would like to thank Senator Grassley and my other colleagues that have signed on the bill for their support for correcting this rule.

America's agriculture industry has not had it easy in recent years. In Montana and other areas of the country, drought, low prices and the economic downturn have hit our farms and ranches hard. Over the past few years Congress has worked diligently to help our Nation's smaller agriculture producers. However, there is more work to be done.

Senator Grassley and I recently introduced ``The Tax Empowerment and

Relief for Farmers and Fisherman Act'', TERFF, with the intention of giving farmers the tools to help themselves. One provision within that Act deals with the payment of dividends on cooperatives' stock. Today we are introducing that provision on its own to emphasize the importance of changing the dividend allocation rule.

Currently, the dividend allocation rule reduces patronage income when a cooperative pays a dividend on capital stock from non-patronage earnings. This reduces the amount cooperatives can pay back to their farmer patrons and inhibits their ability to equity-finance operations.

Modifying this rule will make farmer cooperatives more competitive and provide better access to capital. This piece of legislation will help revitalize farmer cooperatives by providing more accurate tax treatment for patronage and non-patronage income.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact the critical piece of legislation.

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

Mr. President, I rise today with Senators Lautenberg, Graham of Florida, and Lieberman to introduce the Wastewater Treatment Works Security and Safety Act. This legislation provides for the safety and security of our Nation's wastewater treatment works by providing needed funds to conduct vulnerability assessments and implement security improvements. In addition, this bill will ensure long-term safety and security by providing funds for researching innovative technologies and enhancing proven vulnerability assessment tools already in use.

Since the terrible events of September 11, we have taken several comprehensive steps to protect our water supplies and infrastructure. I have spoken on the many initiatives taking place on the Committee on Environment and Public Works and at the Environmental Protection Agency to protect our Nation's critical water infrastructure. I am pleased to say that we have made some progress.

EPA worked with State and local governments to expeditiously provide guidance on the protection of drinking water facilities from terrorist attacks. Based on the recommendations of Presidential Decision Directive 63, issued by President Clinton in 1998, the Environmental Protection Agency and its industry partner, the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, established a communications system, a water infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, designed to provide real-time threat assessment data to water utilities throughout the Nation.

Last year, Senator Smith and I worked to include the authorization of $160 million for vulnerability assessments at drinking water facilities as part of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. Despite our hard work during the conference, we were unable to include a provision in that bill for wastewater facilities due to jurisdictional issues in the House.

While these initial efforts are essential, our task is by no means finished. We cannot forget the vital importance of protecting our Nation's wastewater facilities. Everyday we take for granted the hundreds of thousand of miles of

pipes buried underground and the thousands of wastewater treatment works that keep our water clean and safe. Like all our Nation's critical infrastructure, the disruption or destruction of these structures could have a devastating impact on public safety, health, and the economy.

The legislation I am introducing today will take us one step further by authorizing support of ongoing efforts to develop and implement vulnerability assessments and emergency response plans at wastewater facilities.

Using existing tools such as the Sandia Laboratory's vulnerability assessment tool or the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Association's Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool, treatment works will be able to securely identify critical areas of need. With the funds provided by this bill, EPA will also ensure that treatment works remedy areas of concerns. Using the results of the vulnerability assessment, treatment works will develop or revise emergency response plans to minimize damage if an attack were to occur.

This bill authorizes $180 million for fiscal years 2004 through 2008 for grants to conduct the vulnerability assessments and implement basic security enhancements. The bill also recognizes the need to address immediate and urgent security needs with a special $20 million authorization over 2004 and 2005.

In my home State of Vermont, we have only three towns of over 25,000 people. The small water facilities serving these communities have been particularly challenged to meet today's new homeland security challenges. Many times, water managers operate the town's water facilities as a part-time job or even as a free service. We must ensure that they are afforded the same consideration under this act as the medium and large facilities. This bill authorizes $15 million for grants to help small communities conduct vulnerability assessments, develop emergency response plans, and address potential threats to the treatment works. It also instructs the Administrator of the EPA to provide guidance to these communities on how to effectively use these security tools.

To ensure the continued development of wastewater security technologies, the Wastewater Treatment Works Security and Safety Act authorizes $15 million for research for 2004 through 2008. It also provides $500,000 to refine vulnerability self-assessment tools already in existence.

I look forward to working with my colleagues on this legislation and other efforts to enhance the security of our Nation's water infrastructure in the weeks, months, and years to come. We truly have something to protect--clean, safe, fresh water is worth our investment.

Mr. President, Senator Kerry and I are pleased to introduce the ``Fair and Independent Judiciary Act of 2003.'' This legislation arises from our belief that we must remain steadfast in our commitment to preserving the vitality of our third branch of government. Ensuring a fair and independent judiciary is critical to preserving the system of checks and balances established in our Constitution. The Fair and Independent Judiciary Act includes measures to respond to the shortfall in real judicial compensation, to repeal the link of judicial pay to congressional pay, to improve survivorship benefits, and to instill greater public confidence in our courts.

The National Commission on Public Service, a blue-ribbon panel of experts headed by Paul Volcker, recently concluded that Congress' budgetary treatment of this co-equal branch threatens its ability to perform its essential mission. This legislation addresses a problem that the Chief Justice has repeatedly brought to our attention--the decline in real judicial salaries.

As a member of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary, I have worked hard to help preserve a fair and independent judiciary. I was very disappointed that the Continuing Resolutions approved by Congress failed to give the Federal judiciary a cost-of- living adjustment, COLA, for fiscal year 2003.

Earlier this year, Senator Hatch and I were joined by Senator DeWine and Senator Specter to cosponsor legislation in the Senate to provide the Federal judiciary with a COLA for the present fiscal year. House Judiciary Chairman Sensenbrenner was joined by that Committee's Ranking Democratic Member, Congressman Conyers, and others to introduce identical legislation. Congress eventually passed a measure to give the Judiciary their cost of living adjustment for fiscal year 2003 but this effort failed to compensate the judiciary for many other previously skipped COLAs.

The Fair and Independent Judiciary Act would correct the earlier failures to provide COLAs and prevent this situation from happening again.

It is important to put our budgetary treatment of this co-equal branch in historical context. In 1975, Congress enacted the Executive Salary Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act, intended to give judges, Members of Congress and other high-ranking Executive Branch officials automatic COLAs as accorded other Federal employees unless rejected by Congress. In 1981, Congress enacted Section 140 of Public Law 97-92, mandating specific congressional action to give COLAs to judges.

Five times in the last decade Congress failed to provide the Judiciary with a COLA. We believe that this treatment was unfair to the judiciary and that we should restore their salaries to what they would be had the COLAs been granted. In order to have their salaries reflect the current cost of living we should unlink the salaries of Members of Congress and Members of the Judiciary by repealing Section 140.

In their thorough report, the Volcker Commission recommended that Congress unlink judicial salaries from those of Members of Congress. The Commission explained that due to ``the reluctance of members of Congress to risk the disapproval of their constituents . . . Congress has regularly permitted salaries to fall substantially behind cost-of- living increases.'' Urgent Business for America: Revitalizing the Federal Government for the 21st Century, January 2003, Recommendation 10. Therefore, the Commission found that ``executive and judicial salaries must be determined by procedures that tie them to the needs of the government, not the career-related political exigencies of members of Congress.''

The Fair and Independent Judiciary Act would restore the skipped cost of living adjustments that occurred in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2002 so that the salaries of our judges and justices are not outpaced by inflation.

Chief Justice Rehnquist has called judicial pay ``the most pressing issue'' facing the courts.

We look forward to Senate consideration of the Fair and Independent Judiciary Act to restore previously skipped cost of living adjustments for the Justices and judges of the United States. We hope we can all work together to preserve the vitality of our third branch of government and to instill even greater confidence in our federal courts.

I ask unanimous consent that the January 6, 2003 editorial from the Washington Post, and the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to address a crucial issue that is affecting our competitiveness in the world economy. Since that first flight in 1903 when the Wright brothers took off on our great journey, the United States has piloted the course of aerospace and aviation technology development. Now that leading role is being threatened. The European Union has embarked on an ambitious plan to dominate the industry that historically we have led. Last year, for the first time, Airbus surpassed Boeing, by grabbing 54 percent of the market share in terms of aircraft units.

Air travel is critical to our competitiveness in the global economy. The movement of passengers and goods throughout our nation feeds American business and keeps us close to our families and friends. The impact of civil aviation on the U.S. economy exceeds $900 billion a year, which is 9 percent of

the Gross National Product. In terms of jobs, civil aviation employs 11 million Americans. We can not sit idle as this important industry is threatened.

To compete we must have the most advanced and safest technology; yet the Air Traffic Management System in the United States is still reliant on ground-based technology that was developed over 30 years ago. Congress, FAA, NASA and the aviation industry must work together to update this system to accommodate future aviation demand and to take advantage of satellite navigation and advances in aircraft avionics. Historically upgrades to air traffic management have been slow and often come in over budget. We must focus on creating the next generation of air traffic management technology in a more efficient and effective manner that will enhance safety and increase capacity.

Aerospace and aviation advancement are also dependent upon a well- trained and skilled workforce. According to the Commission Report on Aerospace, 26 percent of the science, engineering and manufacturing workforce will be eligible to retire in the next five years. New entrants to the aerospace industry are at a historical low as the number of layoffs have increased. In order to maintain our dominance in aerospace, we must continue to foster a qualified workforce.

Our international competitors have been persistent in providing government support to aerospace research and aeronautical advancement. The subsidies offered by our foreign competitors, hinder the U.S. companies that often bear the majority of the burden for research and development. In order to give our companies a competitive advantage and to ensure that advances in aviation and aerospace technology continue, Congress must invest ample resources in fundamental aeronautical research. The President's FY 04 budget proposal cuts investment in FAA and NASA research, engineering and development. This will only hasten our descent in this industry. During this time of competing interests for the Federal dollar we cannot be too quick to divest ourselves from needed research that will renew our aviation business and maintain our global dominance.

To turn an idea into a product, the process is often tedious and long. NASA and FAA must promote technological advancement and enable American industry to bring their products to market. Collaboration with government and industry is critical to ensure that research efforts lead to viable products that will enhance our aerospace and aviation industry.

As we reflect on the last 100 years of advancement in the aviation and aerospace fields we cannot help to be proud of our accomplishments. But, we cannot afford to be content with those successes. We must look higher, faster, and farther than we have before--that is the American prerogative. And so with the help of my colleagues Senators Brownback, Rockefeller, Inouye, Cantwell and Kerry, I have crafted legislation to increase aeronautical research, nurture our industry's workforce, and ensure a collaborative partnership between government and private industry with the goal of ensuring the ``Second Century of Flight'' is as exciting and awe inspiring as the first.

Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill, the Business Links Act of 2003, that would provide needed resources to parents facing serious barriers to employment. The bill would provide grants for transitional jobs programs in order to support State efforts to help TANF recipients find work. Transitional jobs can provide the right combination of support, work, and vocational training and have the potential to turn many job seekers into permanent wage earners.

I would like to thank my colleagues who have joined me as original cosponsors on this bill. I would also like to commend Senator Jeff Bingaman who has already introduced companion legislation, S. 786, in the Senate.

This legislation would replace the TANF bonus grants currently provided to States and instead provide $200 million for each of fiscal years 2005 through 2009 for grants to be awarded to nonprofit organizations, local workforce investment boards, States, localities, and Indian tribes. The grant funds could be used either to promote business links by improving employee wages and job skills in partnership with employers or to provide fully subsidized wage-paying jobs to individuals who have been unemployed because of limited skills or other barriers. The legislation also includes worker protection provisions that, among other things, prohibit transitional job participants from displacing or replacing existing workers or positions and provide participants the same worker protections that all other workers receive. Parents who are currently receiving or have recently received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), parents who are at risk of needing TANF, individuals with disabilities, and unemployed, noncustodial parents who are having difficulty meeting their child support obligations would be eligible to participate in transitional jobs programs.

Transitional jobs programs would provide intensive case management and access to needed support services such as vocational skills training, basic education, job placement services, and child care to all participants. Transitional jobs programs, which are aimed at helping those who have limited English proficiency and other barriers to employment, can be particularly effective for the hardest to serve welfare recipients. Program participants must work 30 to 40 hours a week, unless they have a child under the age of six, and participation is time limited to between six and 24 months. The goal of transitional jobs programs is to prepare and help participants find unsubsidized, permanent jobs. Because of the individual attention given to each transitional job holder, various programs across the country

have proven very successful in achieving that goal. From January 2000 to July 2001, a Chicago program known as Transitional Community Service Jobs placed over 75 percent of its participants in unsubsidized jobs, more than one-third of which paid over $8.00 an hour.

Many cities and communities across the country have implemented transitional jobs programs because they understand the importance of helping those facing serious barriers to employment, and they recognize the long-term benefits of investing in a future workforce that is well- trained and able to contribute to the economy. However, because the Welfare-to-Work funds that help support transitional jobs programs are nearly exhausted and because of tight State budgets, many of those successful programs are at risk. This bill would provide a more stable funding source to allow many of these programs to survive, enable the development of new programs, and require a rigorous evaluation of funded programs.

I am proud that this bill would help those who are having a difficult time supporting their children by providing them with resources and skills that will help them immediately, as well as sustain them in the future. I urge my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring the Business Links Act of 2003.