A bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to improve the process for congressional consideration of international social security agreements.

Mr. President, I rise today to proudly join my friend and colleague Senator Blanche Lincoln in the introduction of the Servicemembers' Healthcare Benefits and Rehabilitation Enhancement Act of 2007.

In March, I was able to visit one of Maine's returning soldiers who has been assigned outpatient care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. We spoke about the many issues and obstacles faced by our wounded troops as they struggle not only to recover from their injuries, but to prepare themselves for their future. During our meeting, this soldier covered many of the pitfalls faced by troops as they confront the bewildering processes of medical and physical evaluation boards without the benefit of anyone to advocate on their behalf. In fact, he aptly described the process as an ``adversarial'' system that onerously demands wounded soldiers to provide the ``burden of proof '' for their claims.

In response, we have crafted this legislation in order to remedy a variety of flaws that currently plague the military health care system, including: Inequitable disability ratings, a lack of advocacy within military outpatient facilities, inadequate mental health treatment, and inefficient transition from the DOD to the VA.

First off, our bill would address the concerns I have heard from a number of returning troops from my home State of Maine and across this Nation who have gone without the proper advocacy and case management for medical benefits during their stay at military outpatient facilities. It is inexcusable that our returning heroes are often forced to navigate the esoteric physical disability evaluation system, PDES, within an adversarial atmosphere.

The measure we are proposing would require the Secretary of Defense to provide each recovering servicemember in a military medical treatment facility with a medical care manager who will assist him or her with all matters regarding their medical status, along with a caseworker who will assist each servicemember and his or her family in obtaining all the information necessary for transition, recovery, and benefits collection. Further, provisions we included will create a DOD- wide ombudsmen office to provide policy guidance to, and oversight of, ombudsman offices in all military departments and the medical system of the DOD. Only then, will our returning servicemembers recover within an atmosphere that is based upon advocacy.

Additionally, recent news reports and independent analysis have revealed troubling statistics regarding rampant inaccuracies within the military disability ratings system. According to Pentagon data analyzed by the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, since 2000, 92.7 percent of all disability ratings handed out by physical evaluation boards, PEBs, have been 20 percent or lower. Under the current policy, those who receive disability ratings under 30 percent and have served less than 20 years of military service are discharged with only a severance check, deprived of full military retirement pay, life insurance, health insurance, and access to military commissaries.

Further evidence of a troubled disability ratings system shows that since America went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, fewer veterans have received disability ratings of 30 percent or more, inferring that the DOD may have lowered the ratings for injured troops who would have otherwise received a host of lifelong benefits. On top of that, it currently takes an average of 209 days for troops to complete the PDES process by receiving notification of potential discharge and a subsequent disability rating.

As a means of fixing these blatant flaws within the military disability ratings system, this legislation consolidates the physical evaluation system by placing the informal and formal physical evaluation boards under one command, as a method of streamlining and expediting the process. Our troops deserve timely care and efficient treatment upon their return home, and therefore, no recovering servicemember should be forced to endure lengthy delays in a medical hold or holdover status due to bureaucratic inefficiencies.

The bill also requires that physicians preparing each individual medical case for all physical evaluation boards report multiple diagnosed medical impairments that, in concert, may deem a servicemember to be unfit for duty. Under the current system, the U.S. Army, for example, only rates physical impairments that individually, cause a servicemember to be deemed unfit for duty, ultimately dismissing ailments that may significantly hinder a servicemember's ability to continue his or her service in the military or find gainful employment in the civilian sector.

Over the past year, the American public has also become acutely aware of the effects of traumatic brain injury, TBI, which has become the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, affecting thousands of returning servicemembers. Therefore, it is now more imperative than ever for both the DOD and the VA to implement mental health treatment policies that accurately diagnose and adequately treat debilitating mental health injuries among our injured troops.

Our bill addresses these issues by including a provision that requires all servicemembers who are expected to deploy to a combat theater to receive a mental health assessment that tests their cognitive functioning within 120

days before deployment, a mental health assessment within 60 days after deployment, to include a comprehensive screening for mild, moderate, and severe cases of TBI. Additionally, all servicemembers will receive a third mental health assessment at the time of their predischarge physical.

The measure we are putting forward today also aims to update the current disability ratings system used by the military and the VA to include the effects of TBI and posttraumatic stress disorder, along with any other mental health disorders that may affect our Nation's returning warriors. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs would be required to issue a report to Congress detailing a plan to update the Veteran's Administration Schedule for Ratings Disabilities, VASRD, to align its disability ratings to more closely reflect the effects of mental health disorders, including TBI and PTSD on the modern workforce.

The Servicemembers' Healthcare Benefits and Rehabilitation Enhancement Act of 2007 also calls on the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to provide Congress with a report detailing plans to increase the role of eligible private sector rehabilitation providers for assisting the VA in providing comprehensive post acute inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation for TBI and PTSD, if in certain instances, the VA is unable to provide such services.

The Veterans Health Administration is, unequivocally, the foremost expert in providing mental health treatment for our recovering servicemembers, yet in varying circumstances, the VA may require additional health care coverage in remote areas. All of our returning heroes, despite the severity of their mental health ailments, or their location geographically, deserve every available option for rehabilitative services, to ensure that they never go untreated.

Additionally, to help ease the transition from the military health care system to the VA system, both the DOD and the VA must adopt and implement a unified electronic medical database. Interagency database compatibility would not only increase medical efficiency, but it would significantly ease the transition into civilian life for injured or retiring servicemembers who deserve timely and effective health care. Therefore, our legislation establishes and implements a single electronic military and medical record database within the DOD that will be used to track and record the medical status of each member of the Armed Forces in theater and throughout the military health care process, and will be accessible to the VA through the joint patient tracking application, JPTA. This electronic records system will be identical to the VistA system, currently used by the VA, which has served as a model of excellence for electronic medical databases among our Nation's health community.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for those brave Americans who served in uniform with honor, courage, and distinction. The obligation our Nation holds for its servicemembers and veterans is enormous, and it is an obligation that must be fulfilled every day. We must always remain cognizant of the wisdom laid forth by President George Washington, when he stated, ``The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.''

At a time when over 600,000 courageous men and women have returned from combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan, I believe it is now up to Congress to do everything in its power to answer the call of our men and women who have nobly served our Nation in uniform, to ensure that they receive the heroes treatment they rightly earned and rightly deserve. Again, I want to thank my colleague, Senator Lincoln, for her assistance in making this a stronger bill and bringing it before the Senate. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I rise today to join with Chairman Kerry in introducing the Entrepreneurial Development Act of 2007, a bill to reauthorize and improve the U.S. Small Business Administration's--SBA--Entrepreneurial Development Programs. I have long fought to expand the power and reach of the SBA's entrepreneurial development tools, which are used by millions of aspiring entrepreneurs and small businesses across the United States. These programs demonstrate how Congress can play a positive role in enhancing private- sector financing for start-up companies. We must continue to strengthen these core SBA programs because they have proven invaluable in aiding the efforts and dreams of America's entrepreneurs.

The bill which I am cosponsoring today is the product of the type of bipartisan work the Small Business Committee has come to be known for. The provisions contained in this legislation are a compilation of ideas and initiatives put forward by myself, Chairman Kerry, and other Committee members. Much of the language in the Entrepreneurial Development Act of 2007 was contained in my SBA Reauthorization and Improvements Act passed unanimously by the Small Business Committee during the 109th Congress. Unfortunately, this bipartisan bill never passed the Senate.

Since 1980, Small Business Development Centers--SBDCs--have been essential in the delivery of management and technical counseling assistance and educational programs to prospective and existing small business owners. Since its inception, the SBDC program has served over 11 million clients with new business starts, sustainability programs for struggling firms, and expansion plans for growth firms. For every dollar spent on the SBDC program, approximately $2.66 in tax revenue is generated.

An example of the local value of the SBDC program is found in my home State of Maine, where SBDCs invested more than 10,000 hours in counseling to 3,000 clients in 2005. The economic benefits of these services on the economy in Maine was demonstrated by a recent study of the Maine SBDCs that showed: No. 1, long-term clients of the Maine SBDC generated $44 million in incremental sales and 908 new jobs because of SBDC counseling assistance; and No. 2, the total amount of tax revenue generated as a result of counseling 5 or more hours is approximately $3.0 million in State taxes and $1.58 million in Federal tax revenues.

The Women's Business Center--WBC--program, established by Congress in 1988, promotes the growth of women-owned businesses through business training and technical assistance, and provides access to credit and capital, Federal contracts, and international trade opportunities. The WBC program served more than 144,000 clients across the country last year, providing help with financial management, procurement training, marketing and technical assistance. WBCs also provide specialized programs that include mentoring in various languages, Internet training, issues facing displaced workers, and rural home-based entrepreneurs. According to the SBA's 2008 budget submission, WBCs were responsible for creating or retaining over 6,800 jobs nationwide. I take great pride in the fact that my own State of Maine leads the way for women-owned businesses. Today, there are more than 63,000 women- owned firms in Maine, employing over 75,000 Mainers and generating more than $9 billion in sales. We must all be committed to multiplying that story of success in every State in America.

Service Corps of Retired Executives--SCORE--is a nonprofit association that matches business-management counselors with small business clients. SCORE volunteer counselors share their management and technical expertise with both existing and prospective small business owners. With its 10,500 member volunteer association sponsored by the SBA, and more than 389 service delivery points and a Web site, SCORE provides counseling to small businesses nationwide. The National SCORE organization delivers its services of business and technical assistance through a national network of chapters, an Internet counseling site, partnerships with SBA, the SBDCs and WBCs, and with the public/private sector. In 2006, SCORE counseled and trained over 300,000 clients.

The bill being introduced today builds upon the aforementioned successes of SBA's Entrepreneurial Development programs, which counsels over 1.2 million small businesses and entrepreneurs each year through the expertise of the trained resource partners located across America.

In addition to reauthorizing SBA's Entrepreneurial Development programs and increasing funding levels, this bill also addresses the crisis small businesses face when it comes to securing quality, affordable health insurance. In 4 of the past 5 years, health insurance costs have increased by double-digit percentage levels. This has led to a disturbing trend of fewer and fewer small businesses being able to offer health insurance to their employees. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported that only 47 percent of our Nation's smallest businesses--with less than 10 employees--are able to

offer health insurance as a workplace benefit. In stark contrast, health insurance is nearly universally offered at larger businesses.

A key provision in this bill would establish a 4-year, pilot grant program to provide information, counseling, and educational materials to small businesses, through the well-established national framework of SBDCs. Recent research conducted by the non-partisan Healthcare Leadership Council found that with a short educational and counseling session, small businesses were up to 33 percent more likely to offer health insurance to their employees. My proposal is based on the Small Business Health Education and Awareness Act, which I introduced in the 109th Congress with Senator Bennett, and plan to reintroduce this session with Senators Kerry and Bennett.

Most American workers are employed by small and medium sized enterprises. It is these businesses that account for nearly 98 percent of the growth in exporter population--and are among the major beneficiaries when foreign barriers are reduced. Additionally, 97 percent of exporters are small businesses. Over the last decade, the number of exports from small businesses increased by more than 250 percent. Small businesses account for almost $300 billion of yearly export sales--nearly one-third of total U.S. exports.

This bill establishes an Associate Administrator for International Trade, and expands the trade distribution network to include the United States Export Assistance Centers USEACs. In addition, this section ensures that all our Nation's small exporters have access to export financing. This provision establishes a floor of international finance specialists at level SBA had in January 2003. Finally, this provision increases the maximum loan guarantee amount to $2.75 million and specifies that the loan cap for international trade loans--ITLs--is $3.67 million, as well as sets out that working capital is an eligible use for loan proceeds. The bill also makes ITLs consistent with regular SBA 7(a) loans in terms of allowing the same collateral and refinancing terms as with regular 7(a) loans.

The SBA's entrepreneurial development programs provide tremendous value for a relatively small investment. I am committed to ensuring that Americans have the necessary resources to start, grow, and develop a business. I believe that it is our duty to do everything possible to sustain prosperity and job creation throughout the United States. I urge my colleagues to support this vital piece of legislation.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to speak about an important issue that will determine the success of long-term recovery efforts in the gulf coast. As you know, the gulf coast was devastated in 2005 by two of the most powerful storms to ever hit the United States in recorded history--Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We also experienced the unprecedented disaster of having a major metropolitan city--the city of New Orleans--under up to 20 feet of water for 2 weeks when there were 28 separate levee failures which flooded 12,000 acres, or 80 percent of New Orleans, following Katrina.

I strongly believe that the Congress can provide vast amounts of tax credits, grants, loans, and waivers, but all these benefits will not spur recovery if we cannot get people back into their homes. That is where recovery must start and end. In Louisiana alone, for example, we had over 20,000 businesses destroyed. However, businesses cannot open their doors if their workers have nowhere to live. Louisiana also had 875 schools destroyed. Again, teachers cannot come back to school and teach our children if they do not have a roof over their heads. So a fundamental piece of recovery in the gulf coast is to allow disaster victims to return home and rebuild.

Given the ongoing needs in the southern part of my State in regard to damaged housing, as well as all across the gulf coast, I was pleased that H.R. 1227, the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act, passed the House of Representatives on March 21, 2007. This legislation, introduced by Representative Maxine Waters and Representative Barney Frank, addresses many of the major housing-related problems in my State, in particular issues with the Louisiana Road Home Program and public housing. Since this legislation was received in the Senate, I have been working closely with Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, to review H.R. 1227 for ways to strengthen this important legislation. To further this goal, we have consulted residents, community leaders, nonprofits, State/local officials, and other relevant stakeholders on areas where H.R. 1227 might require improvements.

Today, along with Chairman Dodd, I am proud to introduce legislation which is the product of these months of intensive consultations. This legislation, a Senate companion bill to H.R. 1227, is identical to the House bill in many places, and in others it really improves upon what was included in the House bill. For example, H.R. 1227 included $15 million for the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, NORA, to carry out a pilot program to purchase and bundle properties, then sell for redevelopment. These funds would allow NORA to initially acquire and redevelop properties in the New Orleans area. While I support this pilot program, which was included by my colleague from Louisiana, Representative Richard Baker, I believe that some additional funds were necessary to truly allow NORA to ``hit the ground running'' with this program. That is why our bill includes $25 million for NORA. Furthermore, before Hurricane Katrina, at approximately 40 percent, New Orleans had one of the lowest home ownership levels of any metropolitan area in the country. As we rebuild this vibrant city, increasing home ownership should be one of the tenets of the redevelopment process. With this in mind, our bill does its part to increase home ownership opportunities for low-income renters and public housing residents by including an additional $5 million for NORA to provide soft second mortgages. The bill also directs the Federal Housing Administration to convey properties to NORA for affordable resale to these residents.

In regard to the Louisiana Road Home Program, following passage of the House bill, we learned that the Road Home is facing a shortfall of billions of dollars due to various reasons. There is certainly more than enough blame to go around for the mistakes in the creation and management of the Road Home Program, and fixing them will be a shared responsibility. But a significant initial flaw can be found in the inadequate and unfairly distributed funding which represented all the administration was willing to commit toward Louisiana recovery. At this stage, the funding shortfall threatens to stall recovery in Louisiana and leave homeowners without the vital funds they need to rebuild their homes. To address this important issue, our bill includes an authorization of funds so that if the State of Louisiana puts up $1 billion toward the Road Home shortfall, additional funds necessary to shore up the program would be available.

The Louisiana Recovery Authority, LRA, and the State legislature approved a plan that allocates $1.175 billion dollars to be included in the Road Home Program and $217 million for traditional Hazard Mitigation Projects for use by local parishes and municipalities. In particular, the money allocated for use by local parishes and municipalities can be used for retrofitting structures, such as flood- proofing and elevating homes, acquisition and relocation of residential homes from disaster-prone areas. For the $1.175 billion, the State is seeking to use these funds for the Road Home Program, and HUD has approved it for these uses, but FEMA has so far refused to allow this change. For more than a year, the State of Louisiana and FEMA have met and attempted to work out the issues for applying the funds for the Road Home with no significant progress.

To address this issue, the House bill requires FEMA to accept the State's program structure for the Road Home, which provides incentives to people who choose to remain in the State. These provisions are helpful, but maximum flexibility for using HMGP funds must be provided, so that is why our Senate companion would allow Louisiana to use this more than $1 billion for mitigation activities in the Road Home Program according to more flexible HUD Community Development Block Grant Program rules. The bill also requires FEMA to send these funds to the State within 90 days so that they can quickly be utilized for the Road Home. Lastly, and most important for our impacted parishes in Louisiana, the Dodd-Landrieu bill requires Louisiana to send any future Katrina/Rita HMGP funds directly to the parishes and localities where these funds are badly needed. I believe this is a commonsense approach as we need to make fixing the Road Home a priority but also should recognize that the parishes certainly deserve additional funds which should become available in the coming months.

I am also aware that many Louisiana Road Home recipients have seen their housing recovery grants reduced by Federal agencies, citing ``duplication of benefits'' regulations. While I understand the need to ensure fiscal responsibility on Federal recovery spending, in addition to make sure that residents are not benefiting from these disasters, these Federal regulations are in many ways stifling recovery rather than discouraging fraud and abuse. This is because Louisiana homeowners in many cases had to wait months upon months for U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA, disaster assistance, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, assistance, and many are unfortunately still waiting to see resolution on their insurance claims. The delay in delivery of this vital recovery capital, along with the immense damage in the region, has left many homeowners scrambling to cobble together enough funds for fully rebuilding their damaged homes. The Louisiana Road Home Program was created to further these ends but cannot allow residents to return home and rebuild if Federal regulations are requiring recovery funds to come back to Washington, not stay in Louisiana where they are needed. Let me clarify, though, residents should not benefit from these storms, but the Federal Government should ensure that they have the necessary resources to responsibly rebuild their lives. To these ends, H.R. 1227 included a provision to waive these ``duplication of benefits'' regulations for insurance and FEMA assistance so long as the household did not receive a windfall gain. While our bill includes a similar provision, we clarified that SBA disaster assistance is also included and that the regulation is waived so long as the household does not receive more funds than is necessary to repair/rebuild their home.

Following Katrina and Rita, there has been a great deal of emphasis placed on rebuilding gulf coast rental housing and owner-occupied housing, as there should be. The recovery of public housing, however, is one area that has not received much national press even though, prior to Hurricane Katrina, the Housing Authority of New Orleans, HANO, operated 7,379 public housing units, 5,146 of which were occupied in the New Orleans area alone. These residents, just like renters and homeowners, have a right to return home, so we must provide them the means and opportunity to do so. H.R. 1227 provides a process for returning these New Orleans public housing residents home. It includes a resident study to find out which residents want to stay where they are, which residents want to come back to public housing in New Orleans, and which residents would like to return to New Orleans with rental or section 8 voucher assistance. This study would guide redevelopment of public housing units in New Orleans. The House bill also specifies that HANO shall not demolish the 7,379 public housing units unless there is a plan in place to provide one-for-one replacement for the units. This particular provision ensures that all public housing residents who want to return home can return to affordable public housing units.

The Dodd-Landrieu Senate companion retains these provisions but strengthens them in a few ways. For example, just as in H.R. 1227, our bill sets out that all 5,146 pre-Katrina occupied units shall be replaced with 5,146 hard units. However, unlike the House bill, for the remaining units, this bill allows HANO to replace these with hard units or with project-based vouchers tied to units in low-income neighborhoods/areas undergoing revitalization. This is because some residents want to return to public housing units, but there are others who would like to transition to other types of units. This bill would allow them the choice.

Furthermore, in another improvement from the House version, our bill ties the dates for the survey and resident return to the enactment of the bill, to ensure residents have sufficient time to make decisions and to return home. Before the storms, almost 85 percent of these public housing residents were employed, and many are now employed in other cities, some with children in schools there. Although I know they want to come home as soon as possible, it would be somewhat unreasonable to require them to pull their children out of schools and leave their current jobs in such a short timeframe. The Senate bill gives these residents the time necessary to make relevant arrangements and move back within 120 days of enactment.

Another issue that was not addressed in the House bill is in regard to residents who were on a waiting list to get into public housing. With a shortage of affordable housing in the New Orleans area, these almost 6,000 residents are left without many options in pursuing suitable housing. Our bill also requires HANO, as part of its replacement plans, to contact individuals on the pre-Katrina waiting list and to give these residents consideration for any units not needed for returning residents.

As you may know, HANO has been a troubled agency long before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. It has been plagued by mismanagement and financial problems for years and is currently administered by HUD. Under normal circumstances, this may not warrant much congressional attention as HUD has taken over countless housing authorities nationwide to steer them in the right direction. However, at this important stage in rebuilding public housing in New Orleans, many in the city believe we need an independent partner overseeing the process. Although there may be the best intentions from administration officials running HANO, it is still HUD in Washington calling the shots, not local officials, residents, and other groups. There are also new and innovative public housing administration models from other cities, which incorporate both resident input and public-private partnerships.

Now, I realize that Rome was not built in a day and that it will take years, not months, to fully rebuild New Orleans. Along these same lines, no one expects HANO to be completely reformed overnight, especially given its years of problems and the need to not jeopardize ongoing development in any way. But there is a general consensus that the status quo for HANO must not continue. To these ends, our bill requires HUD to put HANO into judicial receivership within 30 days, which would start the process of turning HANO over to local control. We believe it is important to start this dialogue on the next steps for HANO, given how important its role will be in rebuilding public housing in the region.

In closing, let me reiterate that this bill addresses one of the most fundamental needs following a disaster: the need to return home. Whether residents live in million-dollar mansions, rental housing, or public housing, they all share a desire to return to their communities and, in particular, their homes. The House has done its part to help these residents, so I urge my colleagues to support this comprehensive recovery legislation as now these disaster victims are counting on the Senate for action.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record letters of support for the legislation.

Mr. President, today, Senator Landrieu and I come to the floor to introduce the Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007. This bill will help jump-start economic development in the communities devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It will also help bring people home so they can resume their lives.

At the outset, let me recognize Senator Landrieu for all of her efforts to secure assistance for the people of Louisiana, who suffered the lion's share of damage from the 2005 hurricanes. She has worked tirelessly, every day since the storms, to ensure that Louisianans and others in the gulf coast can return to vibrant towns and cities. I also want to recognize the work of Congresswoman Waters and Financial Services Chairman Frank, who laid the groundwork for this legislation in the House. They did an outstanding job of ushering a housing recovery bill through the House.

The bill we are introducing today does the following: it authorizes additional funding to help rebuild the gulf coast; it requires the Federal, state and local governments to take additional actions to bring people home; and it requires accountability on the part of FEMA, HUD, and the states and cities receiving Federal funds.

Almost 2 years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of thousands of people remain in limbo, wondering if they will be able to return home. The population in New Orleans remains at about half of pre-Katrina levels, though local groups and residents have made clear that many more want to return. Unfortunately, many of these families have no home to return to, and there is great uncertainty about whether adequate services will be available if they do return. As of April of this year, less than half of New Orleans' public schools, a third of its child care centers, and half of its hospitals were open.

Over 82,000 families from across the devastated region are still living in FEMA trailers, which were recently found to contain toxic chemicals. Over 32,000 families are receiving temporary rental assistance through HUD, and over 11,000 others are receiving temporary rental assistance through HUD. Tens of thousands of other families are being assisted by cities, counties and individuals throughout the gulf region and our country.

Much has already been done to help restore the gulf coast. Billions of dollars have been spent to house evacuees and clean up areas of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. In addition, emergency CDBG funds have been appropriated to help families start to rebuild their homes and their lives. While these funds are finally getting to people in need, the reach of these funds is limited, to a great extent, to those who owned homes prior to the storms. Both Louisiana and Mississippi have understandably focused their efforts on getting homes rebuilt, and I support their efforts to help people whose largest asset was washed away. However, we must not forget the large number of residents who were renters at the time of the storms, many of whom held jobs that were critical to the economy and the culture of the gulf coast, including jobs necessary for the tourism and fishing industries.

In New Orleans, over half of the rental housing was flooded. We have an obligation, as a fair society, to ensure that all of our citizens in the gulf coast, including renters, are given the opportunity to return home, and the bill that Senator Landrieu and I are introducing today will do that.

This bill helps to do six key things that are necessary to help those displaced as a result of the hurricanes return to thriving cities and towns: it helps to bring people home; it replaces lost housing; it creates homeownership opportunities; it spurs economic and community development; it provides continued assistance to evacuees; and it requires accountability so that funds are properly used.

There are numerous provisions in our bill that will help families of all income levels return to a stronger gulf coast. I want to highlight a few of these provisions.

While most of the funds already provided to individuals for rebuilding efforts have gone to homeowners, even those funds have proven to be insufficient. The Louisiana Road Home program has pledged all of its funds, leaving many eligible homeowners without any assistance. This bill authorizes funding necessary to make this program whole so long as the State of Louisiana puts up $1 billion of its own funds towards this shortfall. I will be working with Senator Landrieu over the coming weeks to get a better sense of the exact amount needed in this program, why a shortfall of this amount exists, and to determine the legitimate uses of these funds.

Prior to the storm, there were over 5,200 families living in public housing in New Orleans, and thousands of others throughout the Gulf States. Many of these families include people with disabilities, seniors, and children. We cannot turn our backs on them.

HUD is currently running the Housing Authority of New Orleans, HANO, and it plans to demolish much of the public housing without replacing many of the affordable units. I believe this is shortsighted. I understand that in rebuilding New Orleans, there are many who advocate deconcentrating poverty, and I believe we can achieve this goal without sacrificing needed affordable housing. Under the bill we are introducing today, every unit of public housing that was occupied prior to the storm must be replaced, but not necessarily with a traditional public housing unit, nor in a traditional public housing setting.

In order to facilitate the replacement of public housing in New Orleans, this bill takes HANO out of HUD's hands, and puts it into judicial receivership. HANO has been a troubled agency for many years, and HUD control has not led to enough improvement. We need significant change at this agency.

This bill helps to spur much-needed development. It requires $55 million from funds previously given to the State of Louisiana to be used to help finance community development pilot programs in the State so that land can be acquired, bundled sold for redevelopment. In addition, the bill establishes an innovative program, the FHA-New Orleans Homeownership Opportunities Initiative, under which HUD will transfer to the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority properties which are under HUD control to be used for homeownership opportunities for low-income families.

While providing large amounts of Federal funds to the disaster area, it is important to ensure that funds are used correctly and are not subject to waste, fraud and abuse. This bill has stringent monitoring and reporting requirements that apply to FEMA, HUD, and the States receiving emergency funds so that the Congress can keep tabs on the disaster spending and ensure funds are being used efficiently and effectively to help rebuild and strengthen the gulf coast.

The Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act of 2007 is a critical step towards rebuilding the gulf coast. It is supported by a broad coalition of national organizations, including the AARP, ACORN, Enterprise Community Partners, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the NAACP, the National Association of Homebuilders, the National Association of Realtors, the National Fair Housing Alliance, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, US Jesuit Conference, Volunteers of America, as well as Gulf Coast organizations such as Alabama Arise, Catholic Charities of New Orleans, Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations, and Providence Community Housing.

Again, I would like to thank my colleague Senator Landrieu for her work to restore the lives of so many of her constituents and others in the gulf coast region. I urge my colleagues to support this bill so that needed housing and community development activities can be undertaken in the gulf coast.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill and letters of support be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, as chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I am pleased to introduce today with Ranking Member Senator Snowe the Entrepreneurial Development Act of 2007. As always, I appreciate the opportunity to work with my colleague from Maine on the issues facing the Nation's small businesses, and I believe that we have taken another step in the right direction with this bill.

The Entrepreneurial Development Act reauthorizes and expands the Small Business Administration's entrepreneurial development programs. In particular, it supports women and minority small business ownership opportunities by boosting Small Business Development Centers, Women's Business Centers, SCORE, and other counseling and assistance programs. Investing in these core small business assistance programs is critical to creating jobs and boosting our economy. In Massachusetts alone, SBDCs served over 8,500 entrepreneurs last year and our Center for Women and Enterprise has generated 15,000 jobs over the last 10 years. These programs will not only help our entrepreneurs succeed today, but they will build the next generation of small business owners too.

We have long supported these kinds of improvements and many of the provisions in the bill unanimously passed the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship last Congress.

The bill takes a number of steps to improve the Women's Business Center grant program through streamlining paperwork and increased oversight, and also promoting greater consultation between the National Women's Business Council, the Interagency Committee on Women's Business Enterprise and Women's Business Centers. This increased communication between the different groups will help them provide the most effective and efficient assistance to women-owned small businesses.

The bill also creates a Native American small business development program, an Office of Native American Affairs within the Small Business Administration, SBA, and a Native American grant pilot program to foster increased employment and expansion of small businesses in Indian Country through business counseling services. According to the SBA's Office of Advocacy, the American Indian and Alaska Native community is one of the fastest growing business groups in the country. Yet nearly 25 percent of the country's American Indian and Alaska Native populations live in poverty. There are huge small business opportunities just waiting to be tapped in Indian Country. We should be building on the energy and excitement among Native American entrepreneurs with more support from the federal government, and that's exactly what we intend to do.

In addition, the bill creates several pilot programs that will help to deal with some of the most important issues facing small businesses.

First, the bill establishes a pilot program to assist small businesses in complying with Federal and State laws and regulations. Reducing redtape for small businesses has always been one of my top priorities for the committee. We must help small firms navigate the labyrinthine regulatory system because compliance is critical to their success and their continued contribution to our economy. I'm committed to seeing that small businesses have every tool available--from guides to direct compliance assistance and counseling to assist them along the way.

In addition, this bill seeks to address the small business health insurance crisis through a competitive, pilot grant program for SBDCs to provide counseling and resources to small businesses about health insurance options in their communities. I have heard time and time again from small business owners that their number one concern is the high cost of health insurance. At least 27 million Americans working for small businesses don't have health insurance. That means that 27 million Americans are one slip, illness or emergency room visit away from disaster. We must do everything we can to help them.

Finally, the bill creates a Minority Entrepreneurship and Innovation pilot program to provide competitive grants to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Tribal

Colleges to create a curricula focused on entrepreneurship. The goal of this program is to target students in highly skilled fields such as engineering, manufacturing, science and technology, and guide them towards entrepreneurship as a career option. Traditionally, minority- owned businesses are disproportionately represented in the service sectors. Promoting entrepreneurial education to undergraduate students will help expand business ownership beyond the service sectors to higher growth technical and financial sectors. One of our Nation's greatest assets is our diversity and investing in minority businesses only helps to increase the value of that asset. Unfortunately, investment in our minority business community has been sorely lacking. For example, in Massachusetts, minorities make up about 15 percent of our population, but they own only about 5 percent of the businesses and account for just 1.4 percent of sales. These statistics demonstrate why programs like the Minority Entrepreneurship and Innovation pilot program are so important to the future minority business leaders of tomorrow. Making this investment will ensure that we will have enough entrepreneurs from all sectors of our Nation to keep our economy competitive and strong.

I thank Senator Snowe for joining me in introducing this important bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it when it comes before the full Senate for consideration. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in favor of my bill to improve the process for congressional consideration of International Social Security Agreements.

International Social Security Agreements eliminate dual Social Security taxes when Americans work overseas for U.S. companies, and protect benefits for workers who divide their careers between two countries. As a result, American workers and their companies save approximately $800 million annually in foreign social security taxes.

The current process for congressional disapproval of these agreements is invalid because it involves the unconstitutional use of a legislative veto. This fact has not been a problem, however, because Congress has never desired to reject an International Social Security Agreement. Indeed, we currently have 21 agreements with most of our top trading partners, such as Canada, Germany, and Japan. However, Congress needs to establish a constitutionally valid process for congressional consideration and either approval or rejection of International Social Security Agreements, similar to the process used for other agreements and treaties.

The bill I am introducing today establishes such a process so that these important agreements can receive full consideration in the Congress. If either the House or the Senate determines that a particular agreement is a bad deal for U.S. workers or will harm the U.S. Social Security system, this bill will allow Congress to reject that agreement. Right now, that option does not exist under current law. This bill would fix that problem.

The bill would require that an ``approval resolution'' be introduced in both the House and the Senate once an agreement is submitted to Congress by the administration. The resolution will need to be approved by both Houses of Congress before an agreement can take effect. Of course, either House can also reject the approval resolution to prevent an agreement from taking effect.

The bill is cosponsored by Senator Grassley, ranking member of the Finance Committee. I appreciate the assistance that he and his staff provided in developing this legislation.

I urge the Senate to approve this bill to establish a constitutionally valid process for Congress to consider and either approve or reject International Social Security Agreements.