A bill to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to temporarily prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from considering global climate change as a natural or manmade factor in determining whether a species is a threatened or endangered species, and for other purposes.

Mr. President, in my 11\1/2\ years in the Senate, I have worked closely with a very special man, a very caring man, a very liberal man, a very energetic man, a very thoughtful man, and a man who has become my dear friend. That man is Senator Ted Kennedy, the Senator from Massachusetts.

A great blow was dealt to the Senate when we found out Senator Kennedy had a malignant brain tumor. This blow is not because of what may or may not get done in his absence. No, this blow went straight to the heart of anyone who has known this man as a friend.

Many find it hard to believe that Senator Kennedy, the third most liberal Senator in the Senate, and I, the fourth most conservative Senator in this body, could get along or actually enjoy each other's company. But we do.

When I was chairman of the HELP Committee, I worked under what I called my 80 percent rule. I always believed we could agree on 80 percent of the issues and on 80 percent of each issue, and that if we focus on the 80 percent, we can do great things for the American people. Senator Kennedy and I worked together on proposals using that rule, and we found that 80 percent in the things we undertook. We also found friendship.

In those 2 years, we passed 35 bills out of the Health Education, Labo& Pensions Committee, and the President signed 27 of those into law. Most of them passed almost unanimously. Again, it was kind of the belief that if two people that far apart could come together on an issue, it must be OK. The HELP Committee used to be the most contentious committee in the Senate, but in our 3 years of working together as chairman and ranking member, we turned it into the most productive committee in the Senate. I

remember being in the President's office at a bill signing and having him say, ``You know, you are the only committee sending me anything.'' We got to checking on it, and he was right.

I could not help but think of my friend as I stood next to the President while he signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act a few weeks ago. That bill was the fourth bill that month Senator Kennedy and I sent to the President. We had worked on it for several years, and we are glad it finally passed, almost unanimously. We briefly conferenced it with the other side, so the differences are already worked out before they vote on the bill. It went to the President's desk. That is a perfect example of how we worked together to pass legislation that had been held up for years.

Another example is the mine safety law. In 6 weeks, we worked together to pass the first changes to mine safety law in almost 30 years. The average bill around here takes about 6 years to pass. That one happened in 6 weeks.

We share an incurable optimism, and if you add that in with Ted's work ethic and my persistence, you have a great recipe for success.

When we don't get along, you will see us come to the Senate floor and debate our policy differences passionately. Once the votes are cast and we walk off the floor, we move on to tackle the next issue, and we do that as colleagues with a deep respect for the other person and his beliefs.

We have taken trips around the country together to look at mine safety and hurricane damage. I have also invited Vicki and Ted to come to Wyoming to dig fossils with Diana and me when our schedules can work it in. We have some 60-million-year-old fossil fish in Wyoming. If you ever see the brown bones of a fish in a piece of white rock, it undoubtedly came from Wyoming. If you see brown bones in a brown rock, it probably came from the other place, which would be China. But I have invited him out to do a little fishing in the fossil field with me. This week I even sent him a very small one that we might be able to use for bait if we get to do that.

Mr. Chairman, if you are listening, I do still expect you to make that trip to Wyoming for the fossil dig.

Senator Kennedy has a very deep human side. Although he has one of the busiest schedules of any Senator, he makes time to do small things for those around him. There is a program called Everybody Wins; it is a reading program, where an individual who is willing to volunteer their time meets each week with a young person and they read. One reads to the other, and the other reads back. It is a tremendous help to kids in reading. But to do that, you have to sacrifice an hour each week, and you work with the same child each week. Senator Kennedy does that. Not many people make that kind of a time commitment.

Senator Kennedy is also thoughtful. I will always remember when he brought me a gift when each of my grandchildren was born. One happened to be a little pair of training pants that said ``Irish Mist'' on the back. He even treats my staff like family. He made a copy of the painting he made for Vicki on their wedding day and presented it to my scheduler when she got engaged. He always makes a special point to thank my staff on the Senate floor for all their hard work to get their bills through. He somehow finds time for all these things. He also came to a staff coffee in my office. Every month, we do a staff coffee, and that means I invite two Democratic Senate offices and two Republican staff offices to come to my office, so people can meet their counterparts in a less violent situation than working on a bill. If they know their counterparts--if you get to know somebody, it is pretty hard to work against them when you actually have to do the work. On this particularly rare occasion, the Senator showed up also. He came to my office and dramatically presented me with a photo of a University of Wyoming football helmet and a Harvard football helmet next to each other, with a note that said, ``The Cowboys and the Crimson make a great team.'' I agree.

Senator Kennedy has quite a few friends from Wyoming, one of which is the former Senator Al Simpson. Al and Senator Kennedy worked together for many years. They even did a little radio program. So when I was elected, my first bill was one dealing with OSHA. That is one of the primary areas of interest of Senator Kennedy. He was ranking member on the committee. After I got it drafted, I went around to every member of the committee and I pleaded with them and they sat down and went through the bill with me, a section at a time, and asked questions. I answered them. The last person I had on the list to talk to--and the most formidable, in my view, because I knew his history--was Senator Kennedy. So to get permission to meet with him, I called Al Simpson and said: Could you talk to Senator Kennedy for me and see if he would meet with me to go through this bill?

The next day I got a call from Senator Kennedy, who said: Yes, come on down to my office. I will meet with you. So I went down there. My mother had been named ``Mother of the Year'' for Wyoming the day before, and he presented me with clippings of my mother's award. He went through that bill with me, a section at a time.

It wasn't until the markup of the bill that I found out that was not the way you did things around here. He explained that in his, I think, 35 years at that time, he had never had a Senator ask him to sit down and go through a bill a section at a time. The bill did not pass, but several sections of the bill are now law. It was the first eight changes in OSHA in the history of OSHA. After we did those eight changes, he came to me and said: I have this needle stick bill I have been trying to get through. Would you take a look at it?

I did. We made some changes to get to the 80-percent rule, and it passed unanimously here and in the House and the President signed it. The nurses were appreciative and the janitors were appreciative because either of them could get an accidental needle stick and they wouldn't know where it had been and they would have to wait months to find out if they were going to get something from it.

I learned a lot from each of these opportunities to work with Ted Kennedy. I had no idea I would be chairman of the committee, and he would be the ranking member. Then I had no idea the majority would change and he would become chairman and I would become ranking member. I remember meeting with him after he became chairman, where we took a look at the bills we intended to get done during these 2 years, and we have had pretty substantial progress on that. I told him I was glad he was chairman because after I had studied under him for 2 years, I would be able to do a much better job when I became chairman again. He laughed.

A week ago today, we were resolving some issues on the floor and several other things we are trying to get done, and I remember being over in that corner where he was telling me about his dad's recipe for daiquiris, and earlier this week we passed the National Day of the American Cowboy, and that reminded me of an incident in Montana when Senator Kennedy was helping his brother, he actually went to a bucking horse sale and rode a bucking horse and wound up on the cover of LIFE magazine--to get the Kennedy name out to help get his brother nominated. As a result, Montana and Wyoming both went for Senator John F. Kennedy and put him over the top for the nomination to be President.

There are a lot of other stories I would like to tell, but I will not because of the time.

Ted, my chairman, Diana and I are praying for you and your family during this trying time. ``Cancer'' is the last word any family wants to hear. I know you will fight it; you have that fighting spirit. I wish to see you at the next bill signing in the President's office and with me again in the HELP Committee hearing room. We have more bills to pass, fossils to dig, fights to battle, and laughs to enjoy together. We have to keep up our bill-of-the-month club for the President.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Commercial Truck Fuel Savings Demonstration Act of 2008, which would help address the growing crisis of energy costs for our Nation's trucking industry.

Our Nation faces record high energy prices, affecting almost every aspect of daily life. The rapidly growing price of diesel is putting an increasing strain on our trucking industry. The U.S. average on diesel prices reached $3.50 a gallon in February 2008 and prices have not gone below this amount since that time. The average price of diesel this week is $4.50. Escalating fuel costs are especially devastating in states where the cost of diesel fuel is exacerbated by Federal weight limit restrictions that prohibit trucks that carry more than 80,000 pounds from traveling on the Federal interstate system.

For example, under current law, trucks weighing 100,000 pounds are allowed to travel on the portion of Interstate 95 designated as the Maine Turnpike, which runs from Maine's border with New Hampshire to Augusta, our capital city. At Augusta, the State Turnpike designation ends, but I-95 proceeds another 200 miles north to Houlton. At Augusta, however, heavy trucks must exit the modern four-lane, limited-access highway and are forced

onto smaller, two-lane secondary roads that pass through cities, towns, and villages.

The Commercial Truck Fuel Savings Demonstration Act of 2008, which I am introducing today, will provide immediate savings to our truckers. My bill creates a 2-year year pilot program that would permit trucks carrying up to 100,000 pounds to travel on the Federal interstate system whenever diesel prices are at or above $3.50 a gallon. This legislation does not mandate that each state participate in the pilot program, but gives each state the opportunity, during this time of high fuel costs, to offer relief to their trucking industries.

Permitting trucks to carry up to 100,000 pounds on Federal highways would lessen the fuel cost burden on truckers in three ways: First, raising the weight limit would allow trucking companies to put more cargo in each truck, thereby reducing the numbers of trucks needed to transport goods: Second, trucks carrying up to 100,000 pounds would no longer need to move off the main Federal highways where trucks are limited at 80,000 pounds and take less direct routes on local roads requiring considerably more diesel fuel and extended periods of idling during each trip; and third, trucks traveling on the interstate system would save on fuel costs due to the much superior road design of the interstate system as compared to the rural and urban state road systems.

I recently met with Kurt Babineau, a small business owner and second generation logger and trucker from my State who has been struggling with the increasing costs of running his operation. Mr. Babineau's operation works just east of central Maine on the outskirts of the town of Mattawamkeag. All of the pulpwood his business produces, which is roughly 50 percent of his total harvest, is transported to Verso Paper, which is located in the southwestern part of the State, in the town of Jay. The distance his trucks must travel is 165 miles and a round trip takes approximately 8 hours to complete.

If Mr. Babineau's trucks were permitted to use Interstate 95, this would reduce the distance his trucks must travel to approximately 100 miles and would shave one hour off the time it takes his trucks to make their delivery to Verso Paper, saving his operation both time and fuel.

The results of less fuel consumption from decreased distance traveled would create significant savings for Mr. Babineau's operation. His trucks average 4 miles to the gallon, which calculates to approximately 11.8 gallons an hour. Permitting trucks to travel on Interstate 95 would save Mr. Babineau 118 gallons of fuel each week. The current cost of diesel fuel in his area is approximately $4.42 per gallon, and therefore, combined with time saved on wages for drivers, his savings would estimate to nearly $697 a week.

If you applied this savings to one year of trucking for Mr. Babineau's company alone, it would save his operation over $33,400 a year and 5,664 gallons of fuel over the same period. These savings are not only beneficial to Mr. Babineau's business, his employees, and the consumer, but also to our Nation, as we look for ways to decrease on our overall fuel consumption.

Trucking is the cornerstone of our economy as most of our goods are transported by trucks at some point in the supply chain. Some independent truckers in my state already have been forced out of business due to rising fuel costs and more businesses are facing a similar fate if Congress does not act soon to address our growing energy crisis. The Commercial Truck Fuel Savings Demonstration Act offers an immediate and cost effective way to help our Nation's struggling trucking industry. I am pleased that Senator Snowe has joined me as an original cosponsor of the bill, and I urge all my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues from Wisconsin and Maryland in introducing legislation to reauthorize the Collins-Feingold Dental Health Improvement Act, which was first signed into law as part of the Health Care Safety Net Act Amendments of 2002. The legislation we are introducing today will extend the authorization of this program, which provides grant funding to States to strengthen the dental workforce in our Nation's rural and underserved communities, for an additional 5 years.

While oral health in America has improved dramatically over the last 50 years, these improvements have not occurred evenly across our population, particularly among low-income individuals and families. Too many Americans today lack access to dental care. While there are clinically proven techniques to prevent or delay the progression of dental health problems, an estimated 47 million Americans live in areas lacking adequate dental services. As a consequence, these effective treatment and prevention programs are not being implemented in many of our communities. Astoundingly, as many as 11 percent of our Nation's rural population has never been to a dentist.

The situation is exacerbated by the fact that our dental workforce is graying. More than 20 percent of dentists nationwide will retire in the next 10 years, and the number of dental graduates may not be enough to replace their retirees. As a consequence, many states are facing a serious shortage of dentists, particularly in rural areas.

In Maine, there is one general practice dentist for every 2,300 people in the Portland area. The numbers drop off dramatically, however, in other parts of our state. In Aroostook County, for example, where I am from, there is only one dentist for every 5,500 people. Of the 23 dentists practicing in Aroostook County, only a few are taking on any new cases.

The Collins-Feingold Dental Health Improvement Act, which is now Section 340G of the Public Health Service Act, authorized a State grant program administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration at the Department of Health and Human services that is designed to improve access to oral health services in rural and underserved areas. States can use these grants to fund a wide variety of programs. For example, they can use the funds for loan forgiveness and repayment programs for dentists practicing in underserved areas. They can also use the grant funds to establish or expand community or school-based dental facilities or to set up mobile or portable dental clinics. To assist in their recruitment and retention efforts, States can use the funds for placement and support of dental students, residents and advanced dentistry trainees. Or, they can use the grant funds for continuing dental education, through distance-based education and practice support through teledentistry.

Congress appropriated $2 million for this program for fiscal year 2006 and fiscal year 2007 and just under $5 million for fiscal year 2008.

Thirty-six States have applied for grants from this program, but so far, the funding available has only been sufficient to fund programs in 18 States. Clearly there is sufficient interest and need for this program to justify its extension, particularly given all of the recent reports documenting the very serious need to improve access to oral health care.

Those 18 States that have been awarded funding under this program are doing great things to improve access to oral health services. Colorado, Georgia and Massachusetts are using the grant funds for loan forgiveness and repayment programs for dentists who practice in underserved areas and who agree to provide services to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Arkansas, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi and a number of other states are using the funds for recruitment and retention efforts. Delaware, Rhode Island and Vermont, which, like Maine, don't have dental schools, are using the funds to expand dental residency programs in their States.

The legislation we are introducing today will authorize an additional $50 million over the next 5 years for this important program. The American Dental Association, the American Dental Education Association, and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry have all endorsed the legislation, and I encourage all of our colleagues to join us as cosponsors.

Mr. President, this weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer and the start of the summer driving season. This is as oil hits $135 per barrel and more and more cities and towns all over the country are seeing gasoline prices over $4 per gallon. In the face of these challenges to the American economy and consumer, we have failed to take the steps that are necessary to address this problem either in the short term or the long term.

Last week, the House and Senate voted to suspend filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I voted against that effort as many on the other side hailed it as a major move that would help to alleviate ``pain at the pump.'' Instead, oil prices have continued to increase every day since that measure passed. I think this demonstrates that adding a mere 70,000 barrels a day to the marketplace means little when we consume 21 million barrels of oil per day in this country alone.

Oil shale can be a major part of addressing rising oil prices by potentially bringing over 1 trillion barrels of oil to the domestic market. There are enormous oil shale reserves located in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. Oil shale is energy we can develop here at home to lower gas prices, increase our Nation's security, and improve our balance of trade by keeping money and investment in the United States rather than sending hundreds of billions of dollars overseas-- frequently to governments, I might add, that are unstable or whose interests are counter to those of this country. It will also bring in billions of dollars to the States and the Federal Treasury in the form of future royalties.

This bill is necessary because the fiscal year 2008 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill has language prohibiting funds from being used by the Department of the Interior to prepare final regulations and will set forth the requirements for a commercial leasing program for oil shale resources or to conduct an oil shale lease sale as provided in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Without removing this moratorium--and it is a moratorium--companies will not know the rules of the road so they can make investment decisions, things such as what the length of the oil shale leases will be, the royalty rate, and reclamation and bonding requirements.

I have a letter from the Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals at the Department of the Interior, Stephen Allred, dated May 14 in support of removing the prohibition contained in last year's Interior bill on the Department of the Interior issuing oil shale regulations. I ask unanimous consent at this time to have the letter printed in the Record.

Mr. President, Allred points out that issuing these regulations is critical to providing regulatory certainty for these oil shale projects to go forward. With the regulatory certainty these regulations will provide, companies will have an incentive to commit the resources necessary to develop this technology.

I also have a letter from Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne dated December 12, 2007, objecting to the inclusion of this moratorium that was in the House version of the fiscal year 2008 Interior appropriations. I ask unanimous consent to have this letter printed in the Record.

Mr. President, Secretary Kempthorne also indicates the critical nature of allowing the Department to issue these regulations in order to attract the private investment necessary to develop the oil shale resource.

Let me emphasize that this is not an environmental issue. No commercial lease sales are permitted under the provisions of this bill. In fact, commercial oil shale leases are banned for 2\1/2\ years because the technology for oil shale extraction is not yet economically viable on a wide scale. But, as I have said, the companies that invested tens of millions of dollars in this technology already need to have the Department of Interior issue the leasing ground rules so that they know what their costs will be for taking part in the Federal commercial leasing program when the time for leasing comes.

My bill also makes sure there is adequate public comment by requiring that final regulations not be issued for at least 90 days after they have been published in draft form.

When I offered this as an amendment in the Appropriations Committee, it was defeated by one vote and strictly along party lines. I heard from the other side of the aisle that because the Governor of Colorado and the junior Senator from Colorado opposed lifting this moratorium, Congress should not do so. I find this curious and incredibly inconsistent with prior debates over public lands policy. When we have debated drilling in the section 1002 area of ANWR, the other side seems to have little or no regard for the desires of Alaska's Governor, the people of the State of Alaska, or the entire congressional delegation about how they want their public lands managed.

On this side of the aisle--that is, the Republican side of the aisle--we have offered proposals to bring to market billions of barrels of domestic supply that are continually blocked. If we don't begin to put in place policies to enhance our domestic production, prices are only going to go higher and the American people are going to pay the price at the pump as well as suffer the consequences of a further drag on the economy.

In closing, I wish to state that increasing domestic energy production, including from oil shale, will strengthen this country's national security, lower gas prices, keep jobs and investments right here at home, and, in these tight budgetary times, bring in hundreds of billions of dollars to the States and the Federal Treasury through royalty collections.

Congress needs to take a good, hard look at what it has done as far as encouraging further supply of energy for this country. As was mentioned in a number of editorials that have shown up in the papers, it is easy to blame companies and the stock market, and it is easy to blame the futures market, but really the problem starts right here in the Congress. The Congress needs to come up with a solution to relieve the inadequate supply of oil and gas. If that solution is not arrived at soon, Americans are going to be put out of business. We already hear about airlines having to cut back on the number of employees they have because of the high cost of gasoline. So it is going to have a dramatic impact on the economy of this country.

Just think about how much land we have tied up because of previous action by this Congress--the billions of barrels of oil that potentially would be available in ANWR; the huge amount of reserves that we think is in the deep-sea portions that would be available off the coast of this country. We

are the only country in the world that restricts drilling out in the deep sea. There are potential reserves that would be available for consumers of this country with oil shale in Utah and Colorado and Wyoming. Now we have that tied up with a strict moratorium that tells the oil producers of this country: We want you to shut down. We don't want you to be able to move forward.

I think these are huge reserves, and if we had acted, actually, 10 years ago, we wouldn't now have a problem. We are going to have a problem for the next 10 years unless we do something quickly and drastically, and we need to do something more than just saying that the Strategic Oil Reserve can't purchase oil for 6 months or we wait until it drops to less than $75 a barrel.

I am calling on my colleagues to join us because this is a serious problem we are facing in this country, and the Congress needs to do something about it.

Mr. President, I rise today to commend my colleague from Maine, Senator Collins, in introducing legislation critical to rectifying not only a serious impediment to the movement of international commerce, but more importantly, will improve safety on our secondary roads and sustain a commercial trucking industry suffering from an astonishing rise in diesel prices.

There are some of our colleagues who believe that expanding upon the current Federal truck weight limitation of 80,000 pounds is dangerous, compromising the safety of passenger vehicles driver who may be faced with a truck weighing as much as 143,000 pounds, the limit on Interstates in Massachusetts and New York. I certainly concur that safety of such drivers is very important, and I have the record to back that up. Yet, in some areas the imposition of this outdated patchwork of weight limits puts the safety of pedestrians and the motor carrier operators themselves at risk.

Take the situation we face in Maine, where we currently have a limited exemption along the southern portion of the Maine turnpike. Many trucks traveling to or from the Canadian border or into upstate Maine are not able to travel on our Interstates as a result of the 80,000 pound weight limit. This forces many of them onto secondary roads, many of which are two-lane roads running through small towns and villages in Maine. Tanker trucks carrying fuel teeter past elementary schools, libraries, and weaving through traffic to reach locations like our Air National Guard station. Not only is that an inefficient method of bringing necessary fuel to Guardsmen that provide our national security, but imagine if you will one of those tanker trucks rupturing on Main Street, potentially causing serious damage to property, causing traffic chaos, and most importantly, killing or injuring drivers and pedestrians.

This is not a far-fetched scenario. In fact, two pedestrians were killed last year in Maine as a result of overweight trucks on local roadways, one tragic instance occurring within sight of the nearby Interstate. So I ask you, is the so-called safety argument truly a legitimate reason for opposition as my constituents and many others across small American communities are taking their lives in their hands when merely crossing Main Street?

As laid out in this legislation, it is obvious Senator Collins has a clear understanding of this safety issue, crafting a strategy that quantifies any potential risks to safety, and places the gathering of that data in the hands of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. It is my expectation that, like earlier studies that have indicated traffic fatalities involving trucks weighing 100,000 pounds are ten times greater on secondary roads than on exempted Interstates, the data collected by the GAO will point the way to a permanent solution that will enable America to harmonize the myriad weight limits across our Nation's highways.

This legislation also exhibits a true sensitivity to one of the greatest problems facing the domestic trucking industry, particularly our smaller operators: the cost of fuel. This is a problem that cannot be ignored. The price of diesel nationally as I make this statement is four dollars and 49 cents. One year ago today, it was two dollars and 82 cents! We must act.

As a result of this legislation, motor carriers will be able to expand their ability to carry loads when the price of diesel surpasses three dollars and fifty cents per gallon. While this will only affect some states that face a federal interstate system without a weight exemption, it will greatly facilitate the movement of goods across this country. Given that volume of goods projected to enter this country is forecast to increase by over 100 percent, we need a forward-thinking, intermodal plan in place. Having a greater synergy in terms of our weight limits will not only assist our Nation's struggling trucking industry, but will simplify the flow of goods moving across our country and augment our Nation's economy.

I would like to thank Senator Collins for her steadfast efforts and innovative thinking on this legislation as, side-by-side, we will continue to seek a resolution to this issue, which, to my eyes, is a simple matter of fairness.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act. I am pleased to be joined by my colleague from Nevada, Majority Leader Reid. I originally authored this legislation in 1997, and I stand today to resolve the issue of inequity in prescription drug coverage and to make certain that all American women have access to contraception methods.

Without question, we have made remarkable progress in the number of employer sponsored health plans covering contraception. According to a study released in 2004, between 1993 and 2002, contraceptive coverage in employer-purchased plans covering the full range of reversible contraceptive methods tripled from 28 percent to 86 percent. Conversely, the proportion of employer plans covering no method at all dropped dramatically, from 28 percent to 2 percent. Yet despite these gains, women of reproductive age currently spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men. Not surprisingly, this discrepancy is due in large part to reproductive health-related costs.

Women whose health plans do not cover the full range of reversible contraceptive methods often face high out-of-pocket costs. Yet covering prescription contraceptives results in cost-savings not only for women, but for society as a whole. There are three million unintended pregnancies every year in the United States, and almost half of these pregnancies result from women who do not use contraceptives. Equal treatment of prescription contraceptives will reduce costs to Americans by preventing these unintended pregnancies, which can range anywhere from $5,000 to almost $9,000 in medical costs.

The Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act will eliminate the disparate treatment of prescription contraception coverage. Simply put, if an employer provides insurance coverage for all other prescription drugs, they must also provide coverage for FDA approved prescription contraceptives. Our bill will ensure that women have comprehensive reproductive health coverage, and lower costs to society by preventing unintended pregnancies and thus reducing the need for abortion.

I urge my colleagues to join with me in fixing the inequity in prescription contraception coverage to make certain that all American women have access to this most basic health need.

Mr. President, today, Senator Lugar and I are introducing the Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2008, a bill to permit the transfer of certain U.S. Navy vessels to particular foreign countries. All of the proposed ship transfer authorizations have been requested by the U.S. Navy, with the approval of the Office of Management and Budget.

Pursuant to section 824(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1994, as amended, 10 U.S.C. 7307(a), a naval vessel that is in excess of 3,000 tons or that is less than 20 years of age may not be disposed of to another nation unless the disposition of that vessel is approved by law enacted after August 5, 1974. The bill we introduce today would provide that required approval for six transfers: a guided missile frigate for Pakistan; two minehunter coastal ships for Greece; an oiler for Chile; and two amphibious tank landing ships for Peru. These would all be grant transfers under section 516 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321j). If any Member of this body has questions or concerns regarding one or more of the proposed ship transfers, please let us know.

The bill also contains provisions that are traditionally included in ship transfer bills, relating to transfer costs and repair and refurbishment of the ships, and exempting the value of a vessel transferred on a grant basis from the aggregate value of excess defense articles in a given fiscal year.

The authority provided by this bill would expire 2 years after the date of enactment of the bill.

Finally, the Department of Defense has provided the following information on this bill:

These proposed transfers would improve the United States'

political and military relationships with close allies. They

would support strategic engagement goals and regional

security cooperation objectives. Active use of former naval

vessels by coalition forces in support of regional priorities

is more advantageous than retaining vessels in the Navy's

inactive fleet and disposing of them by scrapping or another

method.

The United States would incur no costs in transferring

these naval vessels. The recipients would be responsible for

all costs associated with the transfers, including

maintenance, repairs, training, and fleet turnover costs.

This act does not alter the effect of the Toxic Substances

Control Act, or any other law, with regard to their

applicability to the transfer of ships by the U.S. to foreign

countries for military or humanitarian use. The laws and

regulations that apply today would apply in the same manner

if this section were enacted.

The Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Donald C. Winter, has added: ``Expeditious enactment of the proposal is in the best interests of the Navy's Maritime Strategy as it will allow us to strengthen the capabilities of partner nations.''

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

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection

Reauthorization Act of 2008. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act was authored 8 years ago by Senator Brownback and the late Senator Wellstone, and since then, through two re-authorizations, has been a tremendous asset in preventing and prosecuting human trafficking crimes. Today, I am honored to be able to introduce legislation to reauthorize these valuable programs with my distinguished colleague, Senator Brownback.

Human trafficking is a major problem worldwide and the challenges remain great. According to the most recent State Department report, roughly 800,000 individuals are trafficked each year, the overwhelming majority of them women and children. The FBI estimates approximately $9.5 billion is generated annually for organized crime from trafficking in persons. The International Labor Organization estimates that, at present, 2.4 million persons have been trafficked into situations of forced labor.

These victims are trafficked in a variety of ways. Sometimes they are kidnapped outright, but many times they are lured with dubious job offers, or false marriage opportunities. The traffickers capitalize on the victims' desire to seek a better life, and trap them with lifetime debt bondages that degrade and destroy their lives.

Since 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act has provided us effective tools, and in this reauthorization, our aim is to take the successes and lessons of eight years of progress and expand our abilities to combat human trafficking. In Title I, the legislation focuses on combating human trafficking internationally by broadening the U.S. interagency task force charged with monitoring and combating trafficking, and increasing the authority to the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking. Because of the difficulty in accurately understanding the full scope of the problem globally, we also include provisions to coordinate our multiple federal databases, and set a reporting requirement to address forced labor and child labor.

Today's reauthorization bill also expands our ability to combat trafficking in the United States. We've provided for certain improvements to the T-visa program, which protects trafficking victims and their families from retaliation, so that we can have their help in bringing traffickers to justice, without the victim fearing harm to themselves or their loved ones. We also expand authority for U.S. Government programs to help those who have been trafficked, and require a study to outline any additional gaps in assistance that may exist. Finally, we establish some powerful new legal tools, including increasing the jurisdiction of the courts, enhancing penalties for trafficking offenses, punishing those who profit from trafficked labor and ensuring restitution of forfeited assets to victims.

Human trafficking is a daunting and critical global issue. I urge my colleagues to support this reauthorization and work with Senator Brownback and me to pass it in the Senate as quickly as possible.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a section-by-section summary of the bill be printed in the Record.

William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act

of 2008

Section-by-Section Description

Section 1. Short title; table of contents