Crime-Free Rural States Reauthorization Act

Mr. President, I am pleased today to introduce the Crime- Free Rural States Reauthorization Act, a bill designed to help rural communities deal with a growing drug and crime problems made worse by the devastating recession we now face.

This week the Senate is focused on passing a bill to authorize billions of dollars to bail out the automobile industry. Congress has already passed legislation providing for hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue the financial industry. These are difficult pieces of legislation, but we are trying to protect countless jobs and the economy as a whole. These efforts have done little, though, to help the millions of people in rural America, who have been hit as hard as anyone by the devastating effects of this recession, but will see few benefits from financial and corporate bailouts.

We must help rural communities, and they especially need our help as they try to pull together to combat the worsening drug and crime problems that threaten the safety and well-being of too many in our small cities and towns and, most particularly, our young people. The Crime-Free Rural States Reauthorization Act will provide just this kind of help.

I pushed for the original Crime-Free Rural States grant program. It was first authorized in 2002 and funded in 2003. Like too many valuable programs to help local law enforcement and crime prevention, it was allowed to lapse under the Bush administration. The program provides grants for rural states to come up with a plan to help communities confront drug and crime problems and to offer training and assistance for local prevention programs and law enforcement. This program can help cash-strapped communities with assistance they desperately need.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee traveled to St. Albans, VT, to hear from the people of that resilient community about the persistent problem of drug-related crime in rural America, and about the innovative steps they are taking to combat that problem. The introduction of this bill is a small first step to apply the lessons learned in that hearing and in previous hearings in Vermont and elsewhere.

Drug-related crime is not just a big-city issue. As we heard in St. Albans last week and at a hearing in Rutland earlier this year, drugs and related crime are a growing problem in rural communities in Vermont and across the country. Fortunately, resourceful communities like St. Albans and Rutland are coming together to find innovative, community- based solutions to these complex problems.

Of course, law enforcement continues to be an important component in our efforts to combat the scourge of drugs. There continues to be an urgent need for the Federal Government to support

state and local law enforcement. What more and more cities and towns are finding is that the best solutions involve all segments of the community coming together with law enforcement to find meaningful, community-based approaches. Solving these problems as they arise is essential, but preventing them is even better, and less expensive.

Unfortunately, for the last eight years, throughout the country, state and local law enforcement agencies have been stretched thin as they shoulder both traditional crime-fighting duties and new homeland security demands. They have faced continuous cuts in federal funding during the Bush years, and time and time again, our state and local law enforcement officers have been unable to fill vacancies and get the equipment they need.

This trend is unacceptable. I intend to work with the new administration to reverse it. Eric Holder, whom President-Elect Obama has designated to be our next Attorney General, focused on the importance of state and local law enforcement when he was introduced to the nation last Monday. He was a local U.S. Attorney and understands the critical role of state and local law enforcement, our first responders. We need to restore the COPS and Byrne grant programs to help support local law enforcement, and I hope we will do a better job when it comes to rural communities and rural states. That is why I am introducing this bill today to bring back the Crime-Free Rural States grant program.

As a former prosecutor, I have always advocated vigorous enforcement and punishment of those who commit serious crimes. But I also know that punishment alone will not solve the problems of drugs and violence in our communities. Police chiefs from Vermont and across the country have told me that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem.

Combating drug use and crime requires attention to enforcement, prevention and treatment. The best way to prevent crime is often to provide young people with opportunities and constructive things to do, so they stay away from drugs and crime altogether. And if young people do get involved with drugs, treatment in many cases can work to help them to turn their lives around. Good prevention and treatment programs have been shown again and again to reduce crime, but regrettably, the Bush administration has consistently sought to reduce funding for these important programs. It is time to move in a new direction.

I will work in the next Congress to advance legislation that will give state and local law enforcement the support it needs, that will help our cities and towns to implement the kinds of innovative and proven community-based solutions needed to reduce crime. The legislation I introduce today is a modest beginning, addressing the urgent and unmet need to support our rural communities as they struggle to combat drugs and crime.

By funding planning, training, and technical assistance, Crime-Free Rural States grants provide an anchor for our rural communities as they work to address the devastating problems of crime and drugs. It is a first step for us to help our small cities and towns weather the worsening conditions of these difficult times and begin to move in a better direction.

I hope Senators on both sides of the aisle will join me in supporting this important legislation.

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

Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague from Vermont, Senator Sanders, to introduce a bill that will help States struggling with meeting non-Federal match requirements for federal transportation funding under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act, SAFETEA. Representative Peter Welch from Vermont introduced identical legislation in the House today as well.

Our States are struggling with enormous budget deficits due to the current economic crisis. As a result, nearly every one of our States has been forced to make drastic cuts to their transportation budgets. On top of that, state and local governments around the country report they do not have the necessary funding in their budgets to match any new Federal transportation money possibly forthcoming in an economic stimulus package. The inability of our states to improve roads and bridges, support public transit agencies facing record demand, and upgrade rail lines puts a strain on our already sagging economy.

Waiving the non-Federal match requirements for all highway, transit, and rail projects contained in SAFETEA would allow cash-strapped states to implement high priority transportation projects immediately--at no additional cost to the Federal Government. Since State and local transportation officials have ready-to-go projects that simply cannot move forward without untying the strings of the required match, our legislation would waive the non-Federal matching requirements of SAFETEA through September 30, 2009.

I hope my colleagues will take a good look at our bill and support this important legislation that will stimulate needed transportation infrastructure investments all across the country.

Mr. President, I am pleased today to introduce the Crime- Free Rural States Reauthorization Act, a bill designed to help rural communities deal with a growing drug and crime problems made worse by the devastating recession we now face.

This week the Senate is focused on passing a bill to authorize billions of dollars to bail out the automobile industry. Congress has already passed legislation providing for hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue the financial industry. These are difficult pieces of legislation, but we are trying to protect countless jobs and the economy as a whole. These efforts have done little, though, to help the millions of people in rural America, who have been hit as hard as anyone by the devastating effects of this recession, but will see few benefits from financial and corporate bailouts.

We must help rural communities, and they especially need our help as they try to pull together to combat the worsening drug and crime problems that threaten the safety and well-being of too many in our small cities and towns and, most particularly, our young people. The Crime-Free Rural States Reauthorization Act will provide just this kind of help.

I pushed for the original Crime-Free Rural States grant program. It was first authorized in 2002 and funded in 2003. Like too many valuable programs to help local law enforcement and crime prevention, it was allowed to lapse under the Bush administration. The program provides grants for rural states to come up with a plan to help communities confront drug and crime problems and to offer training and assistance for local prevention programs and law enforcement. This program can help cash-strapped communities with assistance they desperately need.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee traveled to St. Albans, VT, to hear from the people of that resilient community about the persistent problem of drug-related crime in rural America, and about the innovative steps they are taking to combat that problem. The introduction of this bill is a small first step to apply the lessons learned in that hearing and in previous hearings in Vermont and elsewhere.

Drug-related crime is not just a big-city issue. As we heard in St. Albans last week and at a hearing in Rutland earlier this year, drugs and related crime are a growing problem in rural communities in Vermont and across the country. Fortunately, resourceful communities like St. Albans and Rutland are coming together to find innovative, community- based solutions to these complex problems.

Of course, law enforcement continues to be an important component in our efforts to combat the scourge of drugs. There continues to be an urgent need for the Federal Government to support

state and local law enforcement. What more and more cities and towns are finding is that the best solutions involve all segments of the community coming together with law enforcement to find meaningful, community-based approaches. Solving these problems as they arise is essential, but preventing them is even better, and less expensive.

Unfortunately, for the last eight years, throughout the country, state and local law enforcement agencies have been stretched thin as they shoulder both traditional crime-fighting duties and new homeland security demands. They have faced continuous cuts in federal funding during the Bush years, and time and time again, our state and local law enforcement officers have been unable to fill vacancies and get the equipment they need.

This trend is unacceptable. I intend to work with the new administration to reverse it. Eric Holder, whom President-Elect Obama has designated to be our next Attorney General, focused on the importance of state and local law enforcement when he was introduced to the nation last Monday. He was a local U.S. Attorney and understands the critical role of state and local law enforcement, our first responders. We need to restore the COPS and Byrne grant programs to help support local law enforcement, and I hope we will do a better job when it comes to rural communities and rural states. That is why I am introducing this bill today to bring back the Crime-Free Rural States grant program.

As a former prosecutor, I have always advocated vigorous enforcement and punishment of those who commit serious crimes. But I also know that punishment alone will not solve the problems of drugs and violence in our communities. Police chiefs from Vermont and across the country have told me that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem.

Combating drug use and crime requires attention to enforcement, prevention and treatment. The best way to prevent crime is often to provide young people with opportunities and constructive things to do, so they stay away from drugs and crime altogether. And if young people do get involved with drugs, treatment in many cases can work to help them to turn their lives around. Good prevention and treatment programs have been shown again and again to reduce crime, but regrettably, the Bush administration has consistently sought to reduce funding for these important programs. It is time to move in a new direction.

I will work in the next Congress to advance legislation that will give state and local law enforcement the support it needs, that will help our cities and towns to implement the kinds of innovative and proven community-based solutions needed to reduce crime. The legislation I introduce today is a modest beginning, addressing the urgent and unmet need to support our rural communities as they struggle to combat drugs and crime.

By funding planning, training, and technical assistance, Crime-Free Rural States grants provide an anchor for our rural communities as they work to address the devastating problems of crime and drugs. It is a first step for us to help our small cities and towns weather the worsening conditions of these difficult times and begin to move in a better direction.

I hope Senators on both sides of the aisle will join me in supporting this important legislation.

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 Retooling the Health Care Workforce for an Aging America Act, a bill that will address the impending and severe shortage of health care workers who are adequately trained and prepared to care for older Americans. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that while our country is aging rapidly, the number of health care workers devoted to caring for older Americans is experiencing a shortage--one that will only grow more desperate as the need for these caregivers skyrockets.

We face many challenges. We know that few nursing programs require coursework in geriatrics and that in medical schools, comprehensive geriatric training is a rarity. Currently, only 1 percent of all physicians are certified geriatricians, even as the population of older people is on track to double by 2030, and less than 1 percent of all nurses are certified gerontological nurses. Absent any change, by 2020, the supply of nurses in the United States will fall 29 percent below projected requirements, resulting in a severe shortage of nursing expertise relative to the demand for care of frail older adults.

Ensuring that health care workers are properly trained in the provision of care to our seniors is vital. For the direct care workforce, which includes home health aides and personal care attendants, we know that Federal and State training requirements vary enormously, despite the fact that studies show that more training is correlated with better staff recruitment and retention. We also know that family caregivers want enhanced education and training to develop the necessary skills to provide the best possible care for an ailing family member. There are more than 44 million people providing care for a family member or friend nationwide. These caregivers frequently do the same work as a professional caregiver, but they do so voluntarily and with little or no training. To their loved one, they are the doctor, the nurse, the assistant, the therapist, and oftentimes the sole source of emotional and financial support.

Fortunately, knowing what we need to change is half the battle. The bill I introduce today will expand, train, and support the workforce that is dedicated to providing care for the older members of our population, incorporating the major recommendations for improving the skills and preparedness of the health care workforce put forth in the Institute of Medicine report, ``Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Healthcare Workforce.''

By the year 2020, it is estimated that the number of older adults in need of care will increase by one-third. The United States will not be able to meet the approaching demand for health care and long-term care without a workforce that is prepared for the job. Bolstering the health care workforce will be an integral part of national health care reform, and I look forward to working with Finance and HELP Committee leaders on incorporating this legislation into their policy proposals.

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