A bill to extend the generalized system of preferences.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that will reauthorize a vital trade and development program--the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). This is a program I have worked to reauthorize in the past, and I think it is a vital program for both developing countries and the American economy. As someone who frequently works to assist those who face the direst of circumstances in the poor countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, I feel that we must reauthorize this program as a key component of our efforts there.

The GSP program is an effort of the United States and 19 other industrialized countries to aid developing countries through increased market access, which in turn fosters industrial development and enhanced opportunities for prosperity in some of the least-advantaged countries in the world. This program allows a specified list of developing countries, from the Asian Continent to Sub-Saharan Africa to Latin America, to export certain products duty-free to the U.S. market. A beneficiary country's GSP treatment is contingent upon that country's commitment to securing intellectual property rights and to protecting the rights of workers. In this way, the GSP program promotes the development of sound practices and institutions in those countries with which we are engaged in trade and thus fulfills some important objectives of U.S. trade policy. In sum, the GSP program promotes self- sustaining production development in developing countries--not dependence on foreign aid--and also encourages respect for human dignity and property.

While originally developed as a trade program to aid developing countries, GSP over the past 32 years has become an important component of the U.S. economy. American consumers enjoy lower prices on diverse products from oil to flashlights to broomhandles to cheese. Furthermore, numerous American small businesses retain their competitive advantage from the duty-free treatment of essential inputs, such as electrical equipment and automotive parts. American small businesses need every cost-cutting edge available to them in order to continue to create jobs and value. I first took an interest in the reauthorization of this program when a small business in Oklahoma that used GSP-covered drilling components to support domestic energy enhancement contacted my office and explained how failure to reauthorize GSP would seriously affect his business. After which, upon understanding how much this program also assists those in developing countries, its reauthorization became a priority for me. Very clearly, although designed to make other less-advantaged countries more competitive, GSP has contributed to our continued competitiveness here in the United States.

Workers, consumers, and businesses in nearly 120 countries including our own will benefit from the continuation of this program, which affects the price of over 5,600 finished and unfinished goods. Therefore, I ask that you join me in reauthorizing the Generalized System of Preferences.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that will reauthorize a vital trade and development program--the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). This is a program I have worked to reauthorize in the past, and I think it is a vital program for both developing countries and the American economy. As someone who frequently works to assist those who face the direst of circumstances in the poor countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, I feel that we must reauthorize this program as a key component of our efforts there.

The GSP program is an effort of the United States and 19 other industrialized countries to aid developing countries through increased market access, which in turn fosters industrial development and enhanced opportunities for prosperity in some of the least-advantaged countries in the world. This program allows a specified list of developing countries, from the Asian Continent to Sub-Saharan Africa to Latin America, to export certain products duty-free to the U.S. market. A beneficiary country's GSP treatment is contingent upon that country's commitment to securing intellectual property rights and to protecting the rights of workers. In this way, the GSP program promotes the development of sound practices and institutions in those countries with which we are engaged in trade and thus fulfills some important objectives of U.S. trade policy. In sum, the GSP program promotes self- sustaining production development in developing countries--not dependence on foreign aid--and also encourages respect for human dignity and property.

While originally developed as a trade program to aid developing countries, GSP over the past 32 years has become an important component of the U.S. economy. American consumers enjoy lower prices on diverse products from oil to flashlights to broomhandles to cheese. Furthermore, numerous American small businesses retain their competitive advantage from the duty-free treatment of essential inputs, such as electrical equipment and automotive parts. American small businesses need every cost-cutting edge available to them in order to continue to create jobs and value. I first took an interest in the reauthorization of this program when a small business in Oklahoma that used GSP-covered drilling components to support domestic energy enhancement contacted my office and explained how failure to reauthorize GSP would seriously affect his business. After which, upon understanding how much this program also assists those in developing countries, its reauthorization became a priority for me. Very clearly, although designed to make other less-advantaged countries more competitive, GSP has contributed to our continued competitiveness here in the United States.

Workers, consumers, and businesses in nearly 120 countries including our own will benefit from the continuation of this program, which affects the price of over 5,600 finished and unfinished goods. Therefore, I ask that you join me in reauthorizing the Generalized System of Preferences.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill that would limit the amount of funds available to the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We must ensure that U.S. taxpayer money is being used efficiently and effectively, and this measure would help in our ongoing efforts to streamline government programs and reduce the Federal budget deficit.

My bill proposes to reduce the amount of funding for the ARMD from its 2006 level of $884 million to $724 million for fiscal years 2007 and thereafter. This represents a savings of $160 million per year, or $800 million over five years. This funding reduction reflects the President's own budget priorities; in fact, the $724 million figure comes from the President's 2007 budget savings proposal. NASA is in the process of restructuring and reprioritizing, and the ARMD is a directorate that has been identified as an area where savings could be achieved. In the past, some of the ARMD's aeronautics work focused on developing technologies that could have short-term commercial applications in the air transportation industry. This is work that could be more appropriately taken on by the

private sector, and does not require such a massive investment from the Federal Government.

This bill should not be read to imply that the work of the ARMD is not important. To the contrary, aeronautics research is perhaps some of the most directly relevant work to many Americans that NASA is involved in. This bill simply follows up on the President's call for the ARMD to focus its research efforts in the areas that are most appropriate. By refocusing on long-term fundamental aeronautics research, safety research, and ways to address the needs of the future air transportation system, ARMD should be able to operate effectively and efficiently under this spending cap.

One of the main reasons I first ran for the U.S. Senate was to restore fiscal responsibility to the Federal budget. I have continued to work to eliminate wasteful spending and to reduce the soaring budget deficit, which is now estimated at $300 billion this year. Unless we return to fiscally responsible budgeting, Congress will saddle our Nation's younger generations with an enormous financial burden for years to come. This bill is one small step in that direction.

Mr. President, I am introducing a bill today for the Town of Rockport that would deauthorize a part of the Federal Navigation Channel in Rockport Harbor. The town, located on the active Mid-Coast of Maine, requested shortly after the Senate passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2006 that Congress decommission a 35-foot by 275- foot area directly adjacent to the bulkhead at Marine Park. With this deauthorization, the Town will be able to install permanent pilings to secure a set of new municipal floats, which would replace the current temporary float system.

It is my hope that this non-controversial provision will be included in the Water Resources Development Act of 2006 conference report rather than have the Town of Rockport have to wait possibly for years before another WRDA bill is considered. I urge my Senate conferees for the WRDA conference to include this language that was drafted by the New England Corps of Engineers who have no objection to the deauthorization.