Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act of 2010

Mr. President, earlier, I listened to the colloquy between the two members of the Banking Committee as they outlined the importance of true Wall Street accountability and the Wall Street reforms we will consider in the future.

I rise to speak about a particular opportunity we have as we consider this important and far-reaching reform legislation, and that is to discuss a piece of legislation I have introduced today called the Fair Access to Credit Scores Act of 2010.

Senator Lugar and I joined along with eight other colleagues, to introduce this bill that would put consumers back in control of their finances. This bill takes a commonsense yet significant step in that direction by offering Americans annual access to their credit score when they access their annual free credit report.

Making the distinction between your score and your report, a report tells consumers what outstanding credit accounts they have open, such as student loans or credit cards, maybe a car or home loan. Unfortunately, it tells Americans little else. Often, they already know--they hopefully should know that information in their credit report. In contrast, your credit score, which our legislation would make available, is what banks and lenders and increasingly even employers have access to. It is critical information that each one of us needs to know.

Today, you and I would have to jump through hoop after hoop and ultimately have to pay to have access to our credit score, while banks and lenders can get this information more easily. Mr. President, I know you have been a strong advocate for fairness in America, and that is simply not fair.

In 2003, Congress enacted legislation that required the three major consumer credit reporting agencies to provide a free annual report to each one of us on a yearly basis. This was known as the FACT Act. It was an important step in ensuring that financial records of American consumers are accurate. You could cross-check, as a consumer, what was in your report.

Many of my constituents in Colorado have seen frequent television commercials and Internet advertisements, and they are led to believe that the annual credit report under law includes this credit score I am discussing. Unfortunately, we were all disappointed--I have been personally--to find out that you only have access to your credit report, not the critical information that helps you judge your creditworthiness. You actually have to purchase your score or subscribe to a credit-monitoring service that costs you up to $200 a year to receive it. There are some troubling cases that even go further, where consumers believe they are signing up for a free credit score, only to find out later that they have actually signed up for a costly monthly monitoring service instead. This is simply not fair. It is why the Consumer Federation of America and the Consumers Union support this legislation.

Your credit score is a critical piece of information that impacts your interest rates, your monthly payments on home loans, and it could be the difference between whether a child is able to afford college or not. As I alluded to earlier, this information is increasingly being used to decide whether you will be offered a job. When you apply for a job, your potential employer has access to that information, and you don't even know what it is. This is personal information, and the consumers themselves seem to be the only people who don't have easy access to it.

We are talking about empowering American consumers when we pass--and I know we will--Wall Street accountability legislation. We want to empower consumers to be able to shape their own financial futures and thereby the country's financial future. To do that, we have to have transparency.

When you have free access to your credit score, although that is a small part of the larger reforms we need, it addresses one of the fundamental inequities that pervade our current financial system. Put simply, the one-sided marketplace today is rigged to benefit large financial institutions at the expense of hard-working Americans who are struggling to support their families and save for retirement. Consumers continually find themselves on the losing end of this bargain.

With so much at stake, this legislation we filed today is a small step to help restore balance and put Americans back in charge of their financial health. My hope is that, as this Chamber considers the Wall Street accountability bill, we will consider adding this legislation as an amendment and restore a greater dose of fairness to consumers in Colorado, to the Presiding Officer's constituents, and to all the rest of our Nation.

Let me close by thanking a group of Senators who have joined me: Senators Lugar, Scott Brown, Hagan, Levin, Lieberman, Klobuchar, Menendez, Shaheen, and Tom Udall. They have all joined me in putting consumers first by cosponsoring this commonsense, proconsumer legislation.

I ask each one of my colleagues as well to join me in supporting its passage.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Mexico for his courtesy.

I rise in support of this legislation. I intend at some later date to spend additional time on the floor talking about my Uncle Stewart, who was a wonderful man, an uncle to me, but more than that, he was a mentor, he was a leader. In the last 12 years of his life after my father died, he really served as a second father to me; therefore, I feel as though I lost a second father recently.

I thank the Senator on behalf of at least my side of the family. I know my cousin Tom will, at the right time and in the right way, express his thanks as well.

My uncle was many things, but he was at his heart a student of the West. He was a son of the West. He always looked for the lessons that the landscapes and the people of the West could provide all of us.

I know the Senator from New Mexico knows of the many books he wrote. He wrote over half a dozen books. One of the books I took the most insight from was a book called ``The Founding Fathers and Mothers of the West.'' He pointed out in that book that people came to the West-- the Presiding Officer will be interested in this--to find a new life. He continued in that vein by talking about the great western director of western movies, John Ford. He once asked John Ford if his movies portrayed the West as it was. Ford's answer was: No; they portrayed the West as it should have been, doggone it. My uncle's point was that the West was not settled by the gunfighters and those who had gotten into conflicts. The West was settled by those who came looking to create communities and to work together. It was the people standing on the wooden sidewalks watching the gunfights who in the end settled the West, established the West as we know the West today.

My uncle in particular had great affection and respect for the Native populations in the West. That led him to have great passion and even outrage about the way Native Americans had been treated. In his later years, as the Presiding Officer knows, he went to battle in the courts through his words in every form possible advocating justice and fair treatment for our Native American brothers and sisters. In our family, we characterized him as being outraged without being outrageous.

We are going to, obviously, miss him. I am going to miss his wise counsel. I will do everything I can to live by the credo he carried forward, I say to Senator Bingaman, which he believed deeply: We didn't inherit the Earth from our parents; we are borrowing it from our children. I think that is the fundamental lesson our uncle left with us. The inspiring step of the Senator from New Mexico to name the Interior Building after my uncle will help us keep that firmly in our view and keep committed to that purpose for our time on this Earth.

I thank the Senator from New Mexico for his graciousness. I look forward to this bill becoming the law of the land.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce two pieces of legislation that I believe will help the Federal Government cut its energy bill, save taxpayers' money and benefit the environment. Today is Earth Day, when people are thinking about how they can take better care of our planet. Federal agencies need to do the same.

Also important, the last few years have underscored the need for our Nation to rethink its energy use. Constantly shifting energy costs and our Nation's severe economic problems have resulted in families, homeowners, and businesses all taking a hard look at how much they are spending, including for energy needs. Governments should be no different, and they are no different.

Over the past few months, my Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security held hearings to examine how the Federal Government can lead by example in being more energy efficient. We learned, among other things, that the Federal Government is the single largest energy user in the Nation.

In fiscal year 2008, the total energy consumption of Federal Government buildings and operations was roughly 1.5 percent of all energy consumption in the United States. The energy bill for the Federal Government that year was $24.5 billion. Of that $24.5 billion, over $7 billion was spent on energy to operate Federal buildings alone.

With a price tag that large, there are significant opportunities for savings. Today, I offer a series of proposals that I believe will allow the Federal Government to take better advantage of these opportunities.

The Government Accountability Office has noted that Federal agencies face a number of challenges in meeting their energy management goals. One of those is rapidly building and retrofitting our buildings with advanced technologies, without regard for the skills necessary to operate and maintain these facilities to their optimum efficiency.

The Federal Government has spent billions of dollars on technology and hardware to improve the energy efficiency of its buildings. However, if this significant investment is not safeguarded by well- trained individuals, we will never be able to achieve the biggest bang for our buck. New technology demands new skills. My legislation would better ensure that the individuals who manage our Federal facilities possess the knowledge they need to meet these demands.

The Federal Buildings Personnel Training Act of 2010, which I am introducing today along with Senator Collins, and Representatives Carnahan

and Biggert in the House, will ensure that the General Services Administration has all of the tools necessary to not only upgrade our infrastructure, but also guarantee that these buildings are properly maintained and operated at their highest performance levels. You wouldn't give a race car to an inexperienced driver and expect them to win the Indy 500. In the same way, we can't expect our Federal buildings to run at peak efficiency if we don't make sure our personnel have adequate training.

I am also introducing a second bill, the Improving Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Use By Federal Agencies Act of 2010.

Federal agencies are pursuing many ideas and technologies to reduce the amount of energy they consume, and adopt renewable energy such as solar panels on top of Federal buildings. These proven technologies have resulted in financial savings that have more than paid for the initial financial investment. This is in addition to the environmental and energy security benefits of reduced energy use.

In fact, earlier this year the Administration announced plans for Federal agencies to reduce its greenhouse gas pollution by 28 percent by 2020, representing between $8 billion and $11 billion in cost savings. These goals are part of a very useful and effective executive order signed last year directing agencies to not only devote more attention to energy reduction, but share their best ideas.

While the Administration's Executive Order, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance, represents an important step forward, there is more we can do.

Federal agencies can make use of some creative financial tools where government partners with the private sector. For example, with Power Purchasing Agreements a Federal agency allows a company to use government land, for example an unused portion of military base, to build solar, wind or other renewable power production with private sector funding, and in exchange gives the Federal facility cheaper electricity. This means that governments can reduce the cost of its energy use and help clean up the environment by promoting renewable energy--all without having to spend a single taxpayer dollar. Not a bad way to do business.

Currently, DOD is more successful with Power Purchasing Agreements because their facilities are allowed to enter into longer term agreements, as compared to civilian agencies which are restricted to only 10 years. My bill will allow longer-term agreements for all agencies.

It is important to remember, the cleanest, most efficient--and cheapest--energy, is the energy we don't use. That is why I would like Federal agencies to quicken the pace of its efforts to implement energy efficiency measures. To help accomplish this, my bill establishes a $500 million revolving fund to provide financial support for Federal agency energy efficiency and renewable projects. This fund would increase the number of agency energy efficiency projects, such as new heating and cooling systems, which save on operations costs. Savings from the projects would be paid back into the fund over time, and eventually fund additional projects.

Other provisions of my bill adopt some good, common-sense ideas. For example, President Obama's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal outlined how the Department of Veterans Affairs is saving money by operating their computers more efficiently. Using new computers that use less energy, and software that automates when a computer is turned on and off, the agency plans to save around $32 million over the next 5 years. My bill would require other Federal agencies to consider and adopt steps similar to that of the Department of Veteran Affairs' successful example.

I am also interested in expanding cutting edge advanced metering technology throughout government. There's an old saying that goes, ``You can't manage, what you can't measure.'' It can easily be applied to energy use. At my recent hearings I learned that, with new digital technology, we can save energy and money by connecting facilities across an organization and monitoring buildings--and even parts of buildings and individual pieces of machinery--on their energy use in real-time. Wal-Mart uses this technology because they understand the financial savings it brings. From their headquarters in Bentonville, AR, they will know if a freezer door has been left open for too long at their store in Middletown, Delaware. The Federal Government should do the same so that building managers can make more effective decisions. The best part about deploying advanced metering is the fact that the investment pays for itself in less than a year.

As America's largest consumer of energy, Federal agencies can and should be good stewards of precious taxpayer dollars by using energy as efficiently as possible. The proposals contained in my two pieces of legislation will help the Federal Government lead by example, and demonstrate to the American people that energy efficiency efforts can pay real dividends in saving both money and the environment. I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Administration to get these two bills signed into law, and implement these important ideas.

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

Mr. President, last month our country lost a great American with the passing of Stewart Udall, who, among his many achievements, is probably best remembered for his accomplishments as Secretary of the Interior during the Presidencies of President Kennedy and President Johnson.

His lifetime of work to protect our public lands and his efforts to improve the quality of our environment are unequaled. Stewart Udall was instrumental in the passage of virtually all of our Nation's landmark environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act of 1963, the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1965, the Endangered Species Act of 1966, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Trails System Act of 1968, and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Nearly half a century later, these laws remain the key protections for our Nation's land, air, and water. In addition, he oversaw significant additions to the National Park System and the National Wildlife Refuge System. Many years after he left office, he was a driving force behind the enactment of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990.

In the 161-year history of the Department of the Interior, there have been many exceptional individuals who have served as Secretary of the Interior, and Stewart Udall certainly ranks among the best of those. In recognition of his lifetime of work pursuing the common good and protecting our Nation's public lands and waters and in particular his achievements as the Secretary of the Interior, today I am introducing legislation to designate the Department of the Interior Building in Washington, DC, as the ``Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building.'' I am pleased to have Senator Mark Udall, Senator John McCain, and Senator Harry Reid, our majority leader, as cosponsors of this bill. Dedication of the Department of the Interior's headquarters here in Washington will be a small but fitting tribute to Stewart Udall's legendary accomplishments, many of which took place in that very building.

I know my colleague, Senator Mark Udall, is here to also speak in support of this legislation. Let me defer to him, and then I will ask recognition again on a somewhat separate matter.

Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Udall, for his very eloquent statement. Obviously, the Udall family has a great deal of which to be proud: his father's great public service, his uncle's great public service, and, of course, he is carrying on with that tradition, as is Tom Udall, my colleague from New Mexico. We are very fortunate in this country to have the Udall family working hard to make this a better place.

I hope this legislation I have introduced today can become law soon. We will have that additional recognition for Stewart Udall and his contribution to the country.

Mr. President, today, my colleague Senator Thune and I are introducing a piece of legislation that will correct a flaw in the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act of 1996, NAHASDA, that could leave some disabled Native American Veterans having to choose between living with their families or having enough money to survive without them. No veteran should ever be faced with having to make that painful choice. Their service to our nation demands that they be treated with the greatest care, and this bill would help ensure that.

Native Americans serve in the U.S. military at a higher rate, per capita, than any other group. However, if a Native American veteran returns home with injuries suffered in battle, they face additional challenges because of the rules covering tribal lands.

Currently, NAHASDA counts veterans disability payments and survivor benefits as income when determining both eligibility for housing assistance and rental payments. Since virtually the only criteria for receiving public housing assistance on tribal lands is income--and the income levels on tribal lands are historically low--it does not take a large veterans disability payment to make them cross the threshold of being ``too wealthy'' to qualify for tribal housing. And in Indian Country,

alternatives to tribal housing are few and far between.

In addition, because disability payments are based on the level of disability, the larger the sacrifice a soldier has made, the less likely he or she will be able to return to tribal housing. This also means that a soldier who has been disabled could not move in with his family if they receive housing assistance without putting the entire family at risk of losing their housing if the payments would put them above 80 percent of area median income. No family should have to choose between a roof over their head and caring for a wounded son or daughter, father or mother. Nor should they have to choose between living on their native homelands or being forced to move off the reservation to care for this wounded veteran. Yet, this is the Catch-22 that wounded Native American veterans currently face, and it must be fixed.

Our bill would do that, in a very simple way. It would exempt veterans' disability and survivor benefits from counting as ``income'' for tribal housing programs. This does not affect the amount of money Congress appropriates for tribally designated housing entities. It would just allow those programs to serve Native American veterans who have been injured in combat, or the families of those killed on the battlefield. Our bill is a simple, budget-neutral way to fix a law written with the best of intentions. I urge the speedy passage of this bill.

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