A resolution honoring and thanking James Patrick Rohan.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 138, H.R. 2985; I further ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendments be agreed to; provided further that the Lott-Dodd amendment which is at the desk be considered and agreed to, there be 5 minutes of debate equally divided between the two managers, and the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record. I further ask unanimous consent that following passage, the Senate insist on its amendments, request a conference with the House, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. President, I am proud to present to the Senate the Appropriations Committee's recommendations for fiscal year 2006 Legislative Branch appropriations, H.R. 2985. I would like to thank Senator Durbin, ranking member of the subcommittee, for his full cooperation in crafting the legislation. Under our recommendation, funding for the legislative branch would total $3.83 billion in budget authority and $3.84 billion in outlays. This is $230 million above the FY05 enacted level and a reduction of $194 million below the request. While there are very few programmatic increases in the bill, funding is sufficient to maintain current operations in all agencies. Significant increases above the fiscal year 2005 budget are recommended in only a few areas, such as funding to complete the Capitol Visitor Center.

Highlights of the bill include funding of $264.6 million for the Capitol Police, which will enable the Capitol Police to maintain its current staffing level of 1,592 police officers and ensure appropriate levels of security for the Capitol complex.

The recommendation also includes $427 million for the Architect of the Capitol, including $42 million for Capitol Visitor Center construction and $2.3 million for initial operational costs of the CVC. The Architect believes this amount will be sufficient to complete the CVC construction.

Also within the AOC budget is storage modules for the Library of Congress at Ft. Meade, totaling $40.7 million. While this is an expensive project, it is critically needed to take care of burgeoning storage requirements at the Library.

For the Library of Congress, funding would total $580 million, including funding for the Library's highest priorities such as the new National Audio-Visual Conservation Center and Congressional Research Service enhancements. A total of $9.8 million would be included for the Books for the Blind digital talking book, as a ``downpayment'' on the $75 million effort to replace the current cassette playback system with digital ``flash memory'' technology.

Funding for the GPO would total $126.9 million, including $5 million to retrain staff for the new digital environment; the Government Accountability Office would receive $484 million, and the Open World Leadership Program would be funded at the budget request level of $14 million.

Funding and language pertaining only to the House remains as passed by the House, pursuant to the normal protocol of comity between the two bodies.

This is a non-controversial and lean bill that meets the most important needs of the Congress and its support agencies, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Before closing, I would like to thank the staff who have been involved in this bill. Senator Durbin's staff, Nancy Olkewicz, Drew Willison and Pat Souders, and my own staff, Lance Landry, Carrie Apostolou, and Christen Taylor.

Yes, that's correct.

Mr. President, this amendment No. 1082 provides $800,000 for the NFB-NEWSLINE Service in the Books for the Blind and Physically Handicapped program in the Library of Congress as a provision of H.R. 2985, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2006.

The NFB-NEWSLINE service is a telephone-based electronic audio newspaper service developed by the National Foundation of the Blind, NFB. The Service ensures that newspapers are directly accessible to blind readers at the same time when print publications are released.

In 1931, Congress established a national Books for the Blind program within the Nation's premier library, the Library of Congress, to be administered by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, NLS. The Books for the Blind program continues to be the principal source of Braille and audio books and magazines for blind adults. At present, NFB-NEWSLINE offers over 150 newspapers and magazines daily.

The ultimate goal of the Service is to ensure that blind-patrons have the same opportunity for access to daily newspapers as sighted-patrons. The following statistics support the need: Approximately 57,000 blind Americans are enrolled in elementary, secondary or post-secondary education programs. NFB-NEWSLINE helps them be more informed about current events. Approximately 300,000 blind Americans are of working age. NFB-NEWSLINE supports them in numerous employment activities. Approximately 700,000 blind Americans are seniors, age 65 and older. NFB-NEWSLINE helps them keep up with current events in their community.

In 2001, Congress first appropriated funding to establish the NFB- NEWSLINE service in the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act. Congress subsequently appropriated funds in two Legislative Branch appropriations bills to pay the telecommunications costs for the electronic service. The annual telecommunications costs, including inflation adjustments, are approximately $850,000.

Telecommunications service is the only cost for which a regular and continuing appropriation is needed from the Federal Government. Ongoing operation of the Service is paid for by State sponsors, including public libraries and rehabilitation agencies, to help defray the telecommunications costs associated with the dissemination of audio information to eligible individuals.

Many of you know that equal access for persons with disabilities has long been a personal and family goal. My sister is an American with a disability. She is a member of the National Foundation of the Blind.

The current appropriation will be expended at the end of 2005, making it essential to provide funding in fiscal year 2006. The funding level of $800,000 will ensure that the Service continues in fiscal year 2006 and that all persons with disabilities will continue to have equal access to information.

Mr. President, I first congratulate Chairman Allard for successfully crafting his first Legislative branch appropriations bill. It has been a pleasure working through this process with him and I thank him for his leadership. He has done an exceptional job.

The Fiscal Year 2006 Legislative branch appropriations bill we are considering today is comprehensive, thorough, and fair. I want to thank Chairman Cochran for providing us with an allocation which has allowed us to adequately fund the agencies that support the Legislative branch, such as the Capitol Police, the Government Accountability Office, the Library of Congress, and the Architect of the Capitol.

The bill we are presenting today provides funding to support the Capitol Police at the current staff level of 1,592 officers and 411 civilian staff, along with anticipated cost-of-living adjustments and estimated overtime requirements. The bill also provides funding for 14 new officers for the Capitol Visitor Center. I believe it is critical that we provide adequate funding to support the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect us every day. Our bill does that.

The House Legislative branch bill made some painfully deep cuts to some of our support agencies, particularly the Capitol Police, so we will have a real challenge to face during conference.

This bill provides funding to the Architect of the Capitol to complete construction of the Capitol Visitor Center. I thank Chairman Allard for his diligence in holding monthly hearings to monitor the progress of the CVC. These hearings have been very useful and informative to the members of the subcommittee and have allowed us to make the best of a very challenging situation.

I thank Chairman Allard for including funding for several projects which are very important to the State of Illinois--the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and the Adventures of the American Mind. I am also happy to note that a legislative provision is included in this bill which provides permanent authorization for a program within the Library of Congress, the Digital Collections into School Curricula Act of 2005, which is patterned after the Adventures of the American Mind program.

Finally, I thank Carrie Apostolou, Fred Pagan, and Christen Taylor of the majority staff, and Terry Sauvain, Drew Willison, and Nancy Olkewicz of the minority staff for their help on this bill.

Mr. President, I thank the chairman for taking the time to engage in a colloquy to discuss a program funded in the Legislative Branch appropriations measure that is important to many Nevada educators.

In this bill, the Library of Congress is slated to receive $4 million for continued development of the Adventure of the American Mind program. AAM facilitates the incorporation of digital collections into school curricula. AAM provides teacher training so they can learn how to use primary resources in their classroom instruction. I think it is important to give educators and students--regardless of where they live--access to what the Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, calls ``the world's largest repository of knowledge.'' I commend the chairman for his support for AAM.

I know that he is aware of two Nevadans who have performed extensive work to develop AAM. I am proud of my constituents. George and Carolyn Breaz of Las Vegas have traveled all over the country to train teachers in the five States that participate in the AAM Consortium. I believe it is through an oversight that my State of Nevada was not included as a member of the consortium. It was perhaps my staff's oversight for not communicating my support for Nevada's participation to the previous chairman, Senator Campbell, during the expansion of this AAM consortium.

I think that participation in AAM should be based on merit. I am not asking for special treatment for Nevada. Some states may get special treatment. I don't know. I do know that Mr. and Mrs. Breaz have worked hard to get this program to where it is today, and I believe that taxpayers have a right to expect that technical experts are developing AAM. The Breazes were quite devastated when they were not invited to participate in the AAM consortium, particularly given the amount of work they devoted for the past 5 years.

It is my understanding that the chairman and his staff will advocate Nevada's participation in this important project, whether it is through a legislative or administrative solution, prior to the Legislative Branch appropriations bill becoming law. Is this correct?

Thank you for your support and for your personal commitment to be as helpful as possible. I appreciate very much your assistance and the hard work of your staff.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 281 which was submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.