Volunteer Healthcare Program Act of 2008

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill that will help us replace and rehab our aging passenger rail equipment and revive the passenger rail rolling stock manufacturing industry in the United States.

We are currently witnessing fundamental changes to our economy and our national transportation system driven by the rising price of oil. High gas prices have caused hardship for millions of American families and are having a deeply negative impact on the Nation's economy. The aviation industry has been nearly crippled by the rising price of jet fuel and has announced it will be cutting over 30,000 jobs, mothballing almost 1,000 aircraft and leaving 100 communities across the country without any commercial air service.

As these trends continue, the demand for an efficient, cost-effective and reliable alternative travel mode increases. Aviation downsizing and the high cost of driving have propelled passenger rail ridership and revenue to record breaking levels, especially in Illinois. Ridership on the Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg routes jumped 41.4 percent in fiscal 2007, compared to fiscal 2006. Ridership on all Illinois state- subsidized routes added an additional 181,000 passengers during the first \2/3\ of fiscal year 2008, bringing the State's ridership to 670,000 for the year. Across the country, Amtrak's ridership has grown by 12 percent and continues to rise.

These numbers suggest we are experiencing a passenger rail renaissance. However, this upward trend will only continue to a point. Unless we act--and act soon--we may not be able to capitalize on this moment in time and finally make passenger train travel a mainstay of American life, much like elsewhere in the industrialized world.

My bill addresses the most immediate obstacle to making this a reality--the lack of passenger rail train cars and equipment. Amtrak's existing fleet of rail cars is old and in desperate need of repair. Amtrak estimates it will only be able to have an additional five trains--all of which are 30 years old or older--rehabbed and ready for service this holiday season.

We need to re-fleet the aging, broken-down rolling stock that our passenger rail system has been barely getting by with. This bill provides a menu of financing options to bring our existing fleet into a state of good repair and build the next generation of trainsets here at home.

Domestic railcar giants like the Pullman and Budd Companies provided a strong manufacturing base for over 100 years, providing rail cars that are still on the tracks today. But those companies have long since closed their doors and have left the business of making passenger rail cars due to years of underinvestment in the United States and increased investment by European countries.

The Train CARS Act provides funding that will allow us to immediately engage manufacturers currently making trainsets overseas and encourage them to bring their modern design and manufacturing expertise to the U.S. and open rail car manufacturing facilities here to meet our growing demand. Second, the bill provides a tax incentive for private, domestic businesses to reenter the passenger rail equipment business and rebuild facilities and train cars here in the U.S.

We also need to recognize the critical role that States play in boosting rail ridership numbers. Illinois has recognized the need to increase intercity rail service and doubled its funding from $12 million to $24 million annually. This funding has allowed for greater frequencies along Illinois' corridor routes, but we have hit a wall-- there are no trainsets to add capacity to handle the growing ridership.

My bill will reward those States that are able to raise revenue for routes by matching, dollar-for-dollar, their contributions for additional rolling stock. These are investments well spent. Amtrak is 18 percent more efficient than commercial airlines on a passenger-mile basis, according to the Department of Energy. Passenger rail engines use electrical propulsion and diesel fuel combinations which are less susceptible to swings in crude prices than jet fuel. With each dollar spent on intercity rail, we take cars off our roads and lessen congestion on our highways, while at the same time increasing economic activity along rail routes.

Lastly, we need to deal with fundamental changes in our transportation system that are on the horizon. We need a twenty-first century rail system that makes flying short distances a thing of the past. To make this possible we will have to explore building a high- speed rail network rooted in major metropolitan areas like Chicago. Electrifying these trains and giving the tracks a dedicated right-of- way will allow us to achieve speeds of 200 mph, without ever burning a drop of oil. This bill includes a provision to explore what types of investment we will need to make that a reality.

As we get closer to the debate of the next surface transportation bill, we stand at a crossroads of a new era for rail service in the United States. Communities are increasingly vocal about their demands for cheaper, cleaner transportation options, and intercity rail service is an integral component of meeting those needs. We need to take this opportunity and revive a dormant passenger rail industry that once offered high-paying jobs to thousands of workers and could easily do so again. Waking this sleeping giant will allow us to lay the ground work for a transportation system that will be the backbone of the 21st century economy; one that is fast, efficient, and oil independent.

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

Mr. President, I rise to discuss the importance of ensuring the people of our Nation have access to health care and what the Senate can do today to help the neediest people get the kind of care they need and are entitled to.

There are currently 61 million Americans who are either uninsured or underinsured. These people, many of whom are working and have families to care for, may have limited access to the kind of routine health care and nonemergency services so many of us take for granted.

Fortunately, at the present time, there is a large, vital network of health care providers in this country who are doing their best to address this need and provide care to this underserved population. We don't talk about this network much, as the Federal Government does not pay for it.

It is made up of volunteers, hundreds of thousands of health care providers, working across America, in almost every community, volunteering their expertise and donating their time to help those in need. These people are physicians, dentists, nurses, optometrists and chiropractors, to name a few of the professions that are represented in this group. Hospitals and outpatient surgical centers are also contributing to the effort.

Caring for our neighbor has always been a basic value for us as Americans. My mother always told me that the service we provide to others is the rent we pay for the space we take up on God's green earth. The people who are participating in this network of care have taken that philosophy to heart and we are all the beneficiaries of their efforts. They are making a difference in more lives than we will ever know.

We have all heard the saying that charity begins at home, and while it is an important part of any effort to address a need in our towns and cities, I am not suggesting that it is the final answer to correct the social injustices that exist in the world. We all realize that too many Americans lack health insurance, and that health care reform is a top priority for Congress. America needs health care reform, and I have a

plan to put that into action in my 10 Steps bill.

As we work on health care reform and all it entails, we can also do something to help provide some support and encouragement to the volunteer effort I have just described. Government has a role to play and it is to facilitate the care that is provided to those who need it so badly by those who are willing to freely offer it to them.

As with so many things, there is a catch, and that is why I am introducing my Volunteer Health Care Act of 2008. My bill will remove a legal barrier that currently prevents physicians and health care professionals from volunteering their services to individuals who either can't afford or can't access even the most basic of care. There is an overwhelming need for medical volunteers to work with the poor in the United States, but medical liability concerns discourage many doctors from providing voluntary services. This bill will help provide access for the disadvantaged and provide them with the care they so desperately need. In return, it will help to alleviate the concerns of health care providers who want to share their talents with the people of their community and give something back to make their part of the world a better place to live.

This legislation addresses the situation in a way that is fair to the patient. It provides an avenue to recover damages if, by chance, some harm is done. It makes use of a formula that has been tried before and been proven to be effective.

I have said before that States are the laboratories for the Federal Government. We know the positive effects that this program can provide because a few States have been using it for more than 10 years. Since the State of Florida started such a program 16 years ago, more than 20,000 health care volunteers have provided more than $1 billion worth of charity care at free clinics, community health and migrant worker clinics, and with other indigent clinics to provide health care that would otherwise not be available. This program calls for minimal expense, but it has the potential for a huge return. Eight other States have enacted this program and have had excellent results. But that is only 8 other States. The legislation that I am proposing today encourages the remaining 41 States to consider it.

Some people would say that the Federal Government has already made provisions for volunteer care with the federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997. This act raises the standard of care from simple negligence to gross negligence. This law has two drawbacks however. It makes it more difficult for an injured party to prove substandard care and it leaves volunteer providers responsible for paying the cost of their defense.

The bill that I am introducing, the Volunteer Health Care Program Act of 2008, would provide grants to States that would accept medical liability for volunteer medical providers. These programs would protect providers from liability claims, while also ensuring that injured patients could recover damages. This bill addresses both drawbacks of the current Federal volunteer law, it does so at a minimal cost to Federal and state governments, and it has a proven record of working. The passage of this bill will take us one step closer to ensuring access to quality health care for all Americans.

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

Mr. President, I rise to discuss the importance of ensuring the people of our Nation have access to health care and what the Senate can do today to help the neediest people get the kind of care they need and are entitled to.

There are currently 61 million Americans who are either uninsured or underinsured. These people, many of whom are working and have families to care for, may have limited access to the kind of routine health care and nonemergency services so many of us take for granted.

Fortunately, at the present time, there is a large, vital network of health care providers in this country who are doing their best to address this need and provide care to this underserved population. We don't talk about this network much, as the Federal Government does not pay for it.

It is made up of volunteers, hundreds of thousands of health care providers, working across America, in almost every community, volunteering their expertise and donating their time to help those in need. These people are physicians, dentists, nurses, optometrists and chiropractors, to name a few of the professions that are represented in this group. Hospitals and outpatient surgical centers are also contributing to the effort.

Caring for our neighbor has always been a basic value for us as Americans. My mother always told me that the service we provide to others is the rent we pay for the space we take up on God's green earth. The people who are participating in this network of care have taken that philosophy to heart and we are all the beneficiaries of their efforts. They are making a difference in more lives than we will ever know.

We have all heard the saying that charity begins at home, and while it is an important part of any effort to address a need in our towns and cities, I am not suggesting that it is the final answer to correct the social injustices that exist in the world. We all realize that too many Americans lack health insurance, and that health care reform is a top priority for Congress. America needs health care reform, and I have a

plan to put that into action in my 10 Steps bill.

As we work on health care reform and all it entails, we can also do something to help provide some support and encouragement to the volunteer effort I have just described. Government has a role to play and it is to facilitate the care that is provided to those who need it so badly by those who are willing to freely offer it to them.

As with so many things, there is a catch, and that is why I am introducing my Volunteer Health Care Act of 2008. My bill will remove a legal barrier that currently prevents physicians and health care professionals from volunteering their services to individuals who either can't afford or can't access even the most basic of care. There is an overwhelming need for medical volunteers to work with the poor in the United States, but medical liability concerns discourage many doctors from providing voluntary services. This bill will help provide access for the disadvantaged and provide them with the care they so desperately need. In return, it will help to alleviate the concerns of health care providers who want to share their talents with the people of their community and give something back to make their part of the world a better place to live.

This legislation addresses the situation in a way that is fair to the patient. It provides an avenue to recover damages if, by chance, some harm is done. It makes use of a formula that has been tried before and been proven to be effective.

I have said before that States are the laboratories for the Federal Government. We know the positive effects that this program can provide because a few States have been using it for more than 10 years. Since the State of Florida started such a program 16 years ago, more than 20,000 health care volunteers have provided more than $1 billion worth of charity care at free clinics, community health and migrant worker clinics, and with other indigent clinics to provide health care that would otherwise not be available. This program calls for minimal expense, but it has the potential for a huge return. Eight other States have enacted this program and have had excellent results. But that is only 8 other States. The legislation that I am proposing today encourages the remaining 41 States to consider it.

Some people would say that the Federal Government has already made provisions for volunteer care with the federal Volunteer Protection Act of 1997. This act raises the standard of care from simple negligence to gross negligence. This law has two drawbacks however. It makes it more difficult for an injured party to prove substandard care and it leaves volunteer providers responsible for paying the cost of their defense.

The bill that I am introducing, the Volunteer Health Care Program Act of 2008, would provide grants to States that would accept medical liability for volunteer medical providers. These programs would protect providers from liability claims, while also ensuring that injured patients could recover damages. This bill addresses both drawbacks of the current Federal volunteer law, it does so at a minimal cost to Federal and state governments, and it has a proven record of working. The passage of this bill will take us one step closer to ensuring access to quality health care for all Americans.

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

Mr. President. I rise today with Senator Kerry to introduce the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2008. This measure is truly bipartisan in scope, and is the product of 9 months of negotiation. I am pleased that we have come to an agreement on a package that will further strengthen these programs--making them even more beneficial to small businesses.

This bill would reauthorize the crucial Small Business Innovation Research, SBIR, and Small Business Technology Transfer, STTR, programs--which were last reauthorized in 2000. The SBIR and STTR programs award Federal research and development funds to small businesses to encourage them to innovate and commercialize new technologies, products, and services. These programs provide more than $2 billion in Federal research and development funding each year to small businesses, and the benefit to my State of Maine cannot be overstated. According to the most recent data, in fiscal year 2005, Maine's technology-based small businesses received more than $4.5 million in SBIR total awards. We simply cannot and must not allow these programs to expire at the end of this coming September.

The legislation before us today which would provide key improvements to the SBIR and STTR programs are based on a comprehensive SBA Reauthorization bill that I introduced last Congress when I served as chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. This Congress, our committee has held two roundtables, with Federal agency heads and key interested stakeholders, in developing this measure. Specifically, our bill would increase the size of Phase I program awards from $100,000 to $150,000, and Phase II awards from $750,000 to $1 million. It would also tie future award increases to inflation. These pivotal reforms represent a well-spring of indispensable technological-fuel to the small business engines that drive our Nation's innovation.

Since the SBIR program was created, small hi-tech firms have submitted more than 250,000 proposals, resulting in more than 60,000 awards worth approximately $19 billion. By doubling the percentage of Federal research and development dollars that the STTR program receives each year, and increasing the SBIR percentage by 1 percent over 10 years, we will infuse another $1 billion into the small business economy. At a time when our national economy is flagging due to skyrocketing energy prices and a correcting housing market, the SBIR program is more essential then ever, if we are to capitalize on the groundbreaking capacities of Nation's pioneering small businesses.

While innovation in areas such as genomics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology present new opportunities, converting these ideas into marketable products involves substantial funding challenges. Many small businesses simply cannot afford the exorbitant cost of developing and bringing a product into the marketplace. In order to confront this challenge, our legislation offers a compromise solution to the venture capital or ``VC'' issue that has recently divided members of this committee and the SBIR community.

This bill would allow limited involvement by majority-owned venture capital firms in the SBIR program which could receive only a maximum 18 percent of SBIR funding at the National Institutes of Health and 8 percent at all other qualifying agencies. These percentages correspond to the most recent Government Accountability Office data regarding VC investment in the SBIR program. Additionally, we leave in place well- established SBA rules designed to limit participation in the SBIR program to small businesses.

Other key provisions in this vital legislation include the reauthorization and enhancement of my SBIR Defense

Commercialization Pilot Program. Senator Kerry and I created this program in 108th Congress to encourage the award of contracts to SBIR firms. The bill also includes a provision to reauthorize and increase funding to the Federal and State Partnership, FAST, program which would allow each state--including Maine--to receive funding in the form of a grant to make available an array of services in support of the SBIR program.

Now, more than ever, we in Congress must do everything within our power to help small businesses drive the recovery of our economy. It is imperative that we reauthorize the SBIR and STTR programs, particularly before the program terminates at the end of this fiscal year--fewer than 2 months away. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this vital measure in the full Senate, and then negotiating with the House Small Business Committee, so that the President can sign this package into law.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2008. This bill reauthorizes the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs for 14 years each and makes several improvements to the programs that will allow them to work better for small business, while continuing to make an important contribution to our country's innovation economy.

When the SBIR program was originally conceived in the late 1970s and early 80s, it was in response to serious concerns that the United States was falling behind its competitors in the global economy because of a failure to innovate. At that time, as remains the case today, the lion's share of our federal research and development budget was going to large businesses and to universities that, while doing important work, simply were not doing the type of high-risk, high-reward research that drives innovation and keeps us on the technological cutting edge. It was found that small businesses were fastest and most effective not only at generating new technologies but at doing so in cost-effective ways; however, they were receiving a disproportionately low share of Federal R&D dollars, as also remains the case today. The SBIR program, therefore, was designed in 1982 to harness the innovative capacity of America's small businesses to meet the needs of our federal agencies and to help grow small, high-tech firms that, in turn, grow local economies all across the Nation. The STTR program was originally created as a pilot program in 1992 to stimulate partnerships between small businesses and non-profit research institutions, such as universities.

Today, our country once again stands at a turning point, and competition from all across the globe, from Europe to Far East Asia, makes it more important than ever that we continue to innovate and to push the boundaries in sectors across the whole range of the spectrum, from defense technologies to energy efficiency to biotechnology. This bill ensures that small businesses can be confident that the SBIR and STTR programs will be there for them years down the line and that these highly successful programs can continue to help our federal agencies meet their needs and help maintain our role as a world leader in innovations. In order to provide more small businesses with access to the SBIR and STTR programs, the bill increases the allocation for the SBIR program and doubles the allocation for the STTR program. This will allow for more technologies to be developed through these programs, technologies such as a machine that uses lasers and computer cameras to sort and inspect bullets at a much finer level than the human eye can manage, developed through an SBIR grant by a small business in Michigan, a therapeutic drug to treat chronic inflammatory disease, developed by a Montana SBIR recipient, and a nerve gas protection system, developed by an SBIR company in Massachusetts. This is not to mention the tangible benefit that these additional dollars for the SBIR and STTR programs will have in the way of business growth, job creation, and economic development, since, according to the National Academy of Sciences, more than one in ten SBIR award recipients start their company simply because of their having received an award.

Our committee has a long history of working together in a bipartisan way to pass legislation, and I am pleased to have worked closely with my ranking member, Senator Snowe, on this bill. I am also pleased that we have been able to incorporate provisions to address the priorities of a number of other Senators on the committee, including language from Senator Lieberman to address the National Academies' concerns about the lack of data and evaluation at NIH and to encourage innovation at NIH to accelerate the development of treatments and cures, language from Senator Landrieu regarding the FAST program to increase the participation of rural small businesses by making the matching requirement from rural states more affordable, a provision from Senator Coleman that creates a pilot program to encourage innovative small businesses to provide opportunities to college students studying science, technology, engineering, and math, and a provision from Senator Cardin to clarify that small businesses with Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, CRADA, with Federal labs can still participate in the SBIR program.

I want to thank all those involved for their hard work on this legislation. I urge my colleagues to support this bill when it comes before the full Senate.