A bill to provide for the appointment of United States Science Envoys.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the well-being of our children, both now, today, and also into the future. That is why today I am reintroducing my bill, Prepare All Kids, along with Senator Kaufman of Delaware and Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island.

I believe--and I know this is a belief shared by many people in our country--every child in America is born with a light inside and it is our responsibility to keep that light burning ever brightly. This bill will help States to provide at least 1 year of voluntary prekindergarten education to children between the ages of 3 and 5. The Prepare All Kids Act will also provide funding for important programs that serve the needs of children from birth to age 3, a most critical time in the development of children.

The research is irrefutable. Investing in children in their earliest years greatly improves their life outcomes, and conservative estimates put the savings to our economy at about $7 for every $1 we invest. So this is about two things: It is certainly about our obligation, our abiding obligation to our children, but it is also about our economy, the obligation to our economy that we have to develop skilled workers to compete in a world economy.

There is no question that for some of the most disadvantaged children there is an achievement gap between them and their more privileged peers that sometimes never closes. One study shows that before entering kindergarten, the average cognitive scores of preschool-age children in the highest socioeconomic group were 60 percent above the average scores of children in the lowest socioeconomic group. I believe investing in children is the right thing to do, and it is the smart thing to do. Sometimes the oldest sayings are the truest because years of scientific research on early childhood programs has proven without a doubt that an ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure-- certainly when it comes to investing in our children.

Earlier this year, I was proud to advocate for investments in our children in this year's recovery bill and prouder still when those investments remained intact with passage. Programs such as Early Head Start, Head Start, and childcare programs are receiving desperately needed increases right now, as working parents all across the country struggle to maintain jobs, keep their homes, and ensure their children are well cared for while they take care of their responsibilities. It is critical that working families can depend upon these investments in the years to come.

The Presidency, the administration of Barack Obama, has an important budget blueprint for further recognizing the wisdom of investing in our children. In addition to the recovery bill investments, the President's Zero to Five initiative highlights the importance of investments during the critical period of time between birth and age 5: investments in early learning, nurse home visitation, and creating neighborhoods in which low-income and disadvantaged children can receive the help and assistance they need to succeed in life.

I want to emphasize very clearly today as it relates to the bigger picture of giving children what they need in the early years, my bill, the Prepare All Kids Act, focuses on prekindergarten, but it also focuses on programs that serve infants and toddlers. It is also about investing in and preparing all kids--not just some but all--who are about to enter kindergarten. It is absolutely imperative that we don't see children in pieces, that we not create silos as we begin to focus on the kinds of investments our children need. We cannot allow that to be ``siloed'' that way, not childcare versus Head Start versus prekindergarten. These programs should not have to compete with one another, and in my bill I make sure they don't.

We also have to remember that investing in children cannot suddenly begin when they are 3 or 4 years old. It must begin from the earliest days of a child's life, literally beginning before they are born. The Obama administration, in outlining its vision of early childhood, shows a wise commitment to streamlining and coordinating a system of early childhood programs and investments. I could not agree more with the need for such streamlining.

We are also fortunate indeed to have Secretary Duncan and, hopefully very soon, the confirmation of Governor Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services--both of whom really get it, as the President said to a joint session in speaking of another part of our priorities in terms of getting it, understanding what we have to do. When it comes to the continuum of early childhood development and education, both of these officials, as well as the President and Vice President and their team, all get this, and they understand it. That is why they have made Zero to Five such a high priority.

Let me turn to an economic summary of the Prepare All Kids Act. First of all, in this bill we assist States in providing at least 1 year of high-quality prekindergarten education to children. Under my bill, prekindergarten programs must adhere to high-quality standards. That includes a research-based curriculum that supports children's cognitive, social, emotional, and

physical development and individual learning styles. Experts tell us that at the preschool stage, social and emotional learning can be as important and perhaps even more important than cognitive learning. That is where early socialization takes place--learning to share, pay attention, work independently, and express feelings. All these are critical to successful childhood development.

Classrooms in our bill will have a maximum of 20 children and children-to-teacher ratios of no more than 10 to 1. Children need individualized and quality attention to thrive, and these requirements provide that. The bill helps States that want to expand pre-K programs to full-day programs as well as extend their programs year round. This supports both children and working parents who need high-quality programs for their children during the workday and in the summer.

Prekindergarten teachers will be required to have a bachelor's degree at the time they are employed, but we give them sufficient time, 6 years, in order to get it. We also allow States to use funds for professional development for teachers. But we want highly qualified and committed teachers in our pre-K programs.

States must create a monitoring plan that will appropriately measure individual program effectiveness. And, one more point: infant and toddler programs will receive a significant portion of the funding--15 percent. These programs typically receive the lowest dollars of all early childhood programs, making it difficult for parents, many of them single moms, to find quality childcare for the youngest of our children.

We have to recognize in this bill and other places as well the critical role of parents in the education of their young children by strongly encouraging parental involvement in programs and assisting families in getting the supportive services they may need.

Children come in families. To truly help children, we have to involve and support their parents. We have to involve the whole family. More important, children cannot succeed without the active involvement of their parents. I believe we have an obligation to our children and to our future workforce.

Compared to children who attend high-quality preschool, those who do not attend such programs are five times more likely to be chronic lawbreakers as adults and more likely to abuse illegal drugs. Children who attend high-quality preschool are more successful in school, more likely to graduate from high school, and thus more likely to become productive adults who contribute to the U.S. economy.

But for anyone who needs additional reasons, decades of research on life outcomes of children who have attended early childhood programs proves the wisdom of this investment. Conservative estimates are that we save $7 for every $1 invested--in crime, welfare, and education costs. Some studies have shown as much as $17 in savings.

We must ensure that the light in every child--really, their potential--burns brightly. It is my deep conviction that as elected public servants we have a sacred responsibility to ensure we invest in our children by providing early learning and development, nutrition and health care--these three: nutrition, health care, and early learning. That is why I am committed to serving the children of this Nation and why I am reintroducing the Prepare All Kids Act.

I look forward to working with President Obama and Democrats and Republicans in the Congress who share these priorities. I look forward to giving our children the good start they deserve, to keep their light shining brightly.

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

Mr. President, I rise because yesterday marks 10 years since the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, and on this 10th anniversary, we need to speak about the problems with our Nation's gun laws.

Whether it is Columbine, Virginia Tech, Mexican gun trafficking or the recent killings in Pittsburgh, Binghamton, and Oakland we are reminded over and over again that our gun laws are not strong enough, and it is time we said--not another day.

Not another day should we allow the gun show loophole to stand.

Not another day should we allow gun dealers to sell firearms without conducting a background check.

Not another day should we allow terrorists, criminals, gun traffickers and the mentally ill to buy firearms.

It is as easy as ever for criminals to buy guns--easier, in fact, than it is to get a library card.

What happened at Columbine High School 10 years ago was a tragedy none of us can forget.

Two shooters went on a rampage and killed 12 students and 1 teacher.

But here is what a lot of people do not realize: all of the firearms used by the shooters were bought at gun shows.

That means, because of the gun show loophole, they were bought without a background check, and they were bought ``cash and carry,'' no questions asked.

Those 13 people never should have died because those teenagers never should have had those guns.

Just think: the young woman who bought the guns for the shooters said she wouldn't have done it had a background check been required.

In 1999, I introduced legislation to close the gun show loophole and keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.

In the aftermath of Columbine, the Senate passed my legislation, with Vice President Al Gore casting the tie-breaking vote.

It was a great victory, but it was short lived. The gun lobby stripped my legislation in conference.

Ten years later, this gap in our law still remains.

We were reminded of that last Thursday when we marked the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings.

In that tragedy, a mentally deranged man killed 32 students and faculty in the worst mass shooting in American history.

The Virginia Tech shooter was able to obtain his guns from licensed gun dealers because the records of his mental illness were not in the background check database as they were supposed to be. But if a background check stopped him from buying his guns from a gun dealer, he could have walked to a gun show and purchased the guns with no background check.

Yesterday we marked the 14th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing--the Nation's worst domestic terrorist attack.

The men responsible for that despicable act frequently bought and sold firearms at gun shows.

Gun trafficking to Mexico is another reminder of the dangers of the gun show loophole.

We know that as many as 30 percent of the firearms traveling across our border into Mexico originate from gun shows.

We have an opportunity to save lives--and that is why I am reintroducing legislation today to close the gun show loophole once and for all.

Closing the gun show loophole will not adversely affect licensed gun sellers and it will not place a burden on law-abiding gun owners.

It simply ends a dangerous, unnecessary exemption so that the Brady Law is applied equally.

But that difference--the difference between buying a gun with a background check and not--is everything.

It is the difference between saving lives and putting more at risk, between keeping guns out of the wrong hands and letting terrorists and others have easy access to guns, and the difference between upholding the rule of law or allowing loopholes to undermine it.

Specifically, my legislation would take several steps to make gun show transactions safer for all Americans: gun shows are defined to include any event at which 50 or more firearms are offered or exhibited for sale. This definition includes not only those events where firearms are the main commodity sold, but also other events where a significant number of guns are sold, such as flea markets or swap meets.

Gun show promoters would be required to register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, ATF, maintain a list of vendors at all gun shows, and ensure that all vendors acknowledge receipt of information about their legal obligations.

The bill requires that all firearms sales at gun shows go through a Federal Firearms Licensee, FFL. If a nonlicensed person is selling a weapon, they would use an FFL at the gun show to complete the transaction. The FFL would be responsible for conducting a Brady check on the purchaser and maintaining records of the transaction.

FFLs would be required to submit information including the manufacturer/importer, model, and serial number of firearms transferred at gun shows to the ATF's National Tracing Center, NTC. However, no personal information about either the seller or the purchaser would be given to the ATF. Instead, as under current law, FFLs would maintain this information in their files. The NTC would request this personal information from an FFL only in the event that a firearm subsequently becomes the subject of a law enforcement trace request.

I am proud to be joined in introducing this legislation by Senators Reed, Whitehouse, Schumer, Kerry, Kennedy, Durbin, Levin, Cardin, Gillibrand, Feinstein, and Menendez.

Ten years ago we lost 12 students and a teacher to gun violence in Littleton, CO.

One of the best ways to honor those we lost and those who have suffered is

to make sure a tragedy like Columbine never happens again.

We owe that--and nothing less--to the young people who died 10 years ago and the young people who count on us today.

Mr. President, today I am introducing the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 with Senator Specter. This bill is designed to ensure that those with limited or no vision are able to identify electric and hybrid vehicles as they travel down the road. I am a strong supporter of increasing the number of electric and hybrid electric vehicles on our roads because they will limit our dependence on foreign oil and help limit pollution. However, the silent operation of hybrid vehicles has created a potentially hazardous situation for some pedestrians with limited or no vision. Too often, vision impaired individuals are unable to hear hybrid cars as they pass by them. This makes it more difficult for them to get around.

While I am thankful that there will be less noise on the street, we should be fair to those among us who use senses other than sight to navigate the streets. The bill directs the Secretary of Transportation to study and establish a motor vehicle safety standard that provides for a means of alerting vision impaired pedestrians of motor vehicle operation. This bill requires that solutions to this problem are studied and the best of these solutions is implemented in a timely manner.

I ask all my colleagues to support this legislation.

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

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