Floor Statements

Mr. President, today millions of Americans will exercise their most fundamental right under the Constitution the right to vote. As in every election, I hope all eligible Americans go to the polls to exercise this right. Voter participation is fundamental to our democracy, and we must do all we can to encourage those who can to vote.

After seeing what happened over the last two presidential elections, I have some other hopes for this Election Day. I hope all voters who go to the polls find voting machines that work, non-partisan poll workers who understand the law and enforce it without bias, lines that move smoothly, and ballots that make sense and are easy to understand. I also hope voters go to the polls today with accurate information about what is on the ballot, where they are supposed to vote, and what our Nation's voting laws are.

It might surprise some of you to know, but even in this awesome age of technological advancement and easy access to information, there are folks who will stop at nothing to try to deceive people and keep them away from the polls. These deceptive practices all too often target and exploit vulnerable populations, like minorities, the disabled, or the poor.

Think about the story of the 2004 presidential election when voters in Milwaukee received fliers from the non-existent ``Milwaukee Black Voters League,'' warning that voters risk imprisonment for voting if they were ever found guilty of any offense--even a traffic violation. In that same election, in a county in Ohio, some voters received mailings misinforming voters that anyone registered to vote by the Kerry Campaign or the NAACP would be barred from voting.

Deceptive practices often rely on a few tried and true tricks. Voters are often warned that an unpaid parking ticket will lead to their arrest or that folks with family members who have been convicted of a crime are ineligible to vote. Of course, these warnings have no basis in fact, and they are made with one goal and one goal only to keep Americans away from the polls.

I hope voters who go to the polls today are not victims of such malicious campaigns, but I know hoping is not enough. That is why I am introducing the Deceptive Election Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2005 to provide voters with real protection from deceptive practices that aim to keep them away from the polls on Election Day.

The bill I am introducing today provides the clear statutory language and authority needed to get allegations of deceptive practices investigated. It establishes harsh penalties for those found to have perpetrated them. And the bill seeks to address the real harm of these crimes--voters who are discouraged from voting by misinformation--by establishing a process for reaching out to these misinformed and intimidated voters with accurate and full information so they can cast their votes in time. Perhaps just as important, this bill creates strong penalties for deceptive election acts, so people who commit these crimes suffer more than just a slap on the hand.

This legislation has the support of groups like the NAACP, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Common Cause, the Arc of the United States, United Cerebral Palsy, People for the American Way and the National Disability Rights Network.

Deceptive practices and voter intimidation are real problems and demand real solutions like those offered in my bill.

I hope my colleagues will join me and support this bill and work to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to have their votes count.

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

Mr. President, today millions of Americans will exercise their most fundamental right under the Constitution the right to vote. As in every election, I hope all eligible Americans go to the polls to exercise this right. Voter participation is fundamental to our democracy, and we must do all we can to encourage those who can to vote.

After seeing what happened over the last two presidential elections, I have some other hopes for this Election Day. I hope all voters who go to the polls find voting machines that work, non-partisan poll workers who understand the law and enforce it without bias, lines that move smoothly, and ballots that make sense and are easy to understand. I also hope voters go to the polls today with accurate information about what is on the ballot, where they are supposed to vote, and what our Nation's voting laws are.

It might surprise some of you to know, but even in this awesome age of technological advancement and easy access to information, there are folks who will stop at nothing to try to deceive people and keep them away from the polls. These deceptive practices all too often target and exploit vulnerable populations, like minorities, the disabled, or the poor.

Think about the story of the 2004 presidential election when voters in Milwaukee received fliers from the non-existent ``Milwaukee Black Voters League,'' warning that voters risk imprisonment for voting if they were ever found guilty of any offense--even a traffic violation. In that same election, in a county in Ohio, some voters received mailings misinforming voters that anyone registered to vote by the Kerry Campaign or the NAACP would be barred from voting.

Deceptive practices often rely on a few tried and true tricks. Voters are often warned that an unpaid parking ticket will lead to their arrest or that folks with family members who have been convicted of a crime are ineligible to vote. Of course, these warnings have no basis in fact, and they are made with one goal and one goal only to keep Americans away from the polls.

I hope voters who go to the polls today are not victims of such malicious campaigns, but I know hoping is not enough. That is why I am introducing the Deceptive Election Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2005 to provide voters with real protection from deceptive practices that aim to keep them away from the polls on Election Day.

The bill I am introducing today provides the clear statutory language and authority needed to get allegations of deceptive practices investigated. It establishes harsh penalties for those found to have perpetrated them. And the bill seeks to address the real harm of these crimes--voters who are discouraged from voting by misinformation--by establishing a process for reaching out to these misinformed and intimidated voters with accurate and full information so they can cast their votes in time. Perhaps just as important, this bill creates strong penalties for deceptive election acts, so people who commit these crimes suffer more than just a slap on the hand.

This legislation has the support of groups like the NAACP, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Common Cause, the Arc of the United States, United Cerebral Palsy, People for the American Way and the National Disability Rights Network.

Deceptive practices and voter intimidation are real problems and demand real solutions like those offered in my bill.

I hope my colleagues will join me and support this bill and work to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to have their votes count.

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

Madam President, I rise today to speak in favor of fiscal responsibility. This pay-go amendment introduced by Ranking Member Conrad of the Budget Committee, of which I am a cosponsor, seeks to fully reinstate the pay-as-you-go requirement for direct spending and revenue legislation in the Senate through 2010.

This is about restoring responsible budgeting. Previously, pay-go rules applied equally to increases in mandatory spending and decreases in revenue. New spending or tax cuts could only become law if they were offset or found 60 votes in support. This enforced a badly needed budget discipline. It said, either pay for your priorities whether entitlement spending or tax cuts or both or find a supermajority of colleagues willing to override the rule. Simple logic. Simple balance. Common sense. Pay-go worked well in the 1990s to reduce deficits and it can work well today.

Unfortunately, the rules were changed, and the balance was overturned. Now, the requirements of budget discipline apply to only half of the budget. Tax breaks are exempt from the logic and balance and common sense of budget discipline.

The problem is that there is no such thing as half a budget. Budget discipline requires enforcing control over both sides of the ledger. You can't fill a bath tub just by plugging the drain. You can't drive a car just by pressing on the brakes.

The original pay-go rules were abandoned to provide for a series of unfunded tax breaks. And since the tax breaks were unfunded, the Government had to borrow money to pay for them. So we borrowed from countries like Japan and China. And we borrowed from the Social Security trust fund. In the process, our national debt shot up to $8 trillion, and it is still rising. Last year, for example, our national commitments exceeded our national resources by more than $550 billion. And we continue to borrow.

Some have argued that this first chapter of reconciliation is an effort to reduce the deficit. They tout the reductions in spending, many of which I would support. But later this month, the Senate will get to chapter two of reconciliation, which proposes further unfunded tax breaks and guarantees additional deficits and growing debt. So much debt, in fact, that the third chapter of budget reconciliation, which no one really wants to talk about, will involve raising our country's debt ceiling to almost $9 trillion.

Americans deserve better financial leadership. The people I talk to in Illinois are not fooled by what is going on. They know what is happening with higher deficits and reduced levels of government service. They understand that, in this life, you get what you pay for and if you don't pay for it today, it will cost you more tomorrow.

Washington could learn a lot from the American people about fiscal responsibility. The people I have met with know that if you need to spend more money on something, you also

need to make more money, and if your income falls, your spending must fall, too. This is the essence of the pay-go rules we are trying to reinstate in the Senate. Changes in spending must be offset by changes in revenue, and vice versa.

Americans know that when you are already deep in debt, it is not the optimal time to be gutting your revenue stream, whether it's a few hundred dollars in the case of a family or a $70 billion tax break in the case of the Federal Government.

They also understand the difference between a home mortgage, a student loan, a credit card debt for uninsured health care expenses, and an unpaid tab at the bar. They know that some debts are good investments or may be unavoidable. But some debts are irresponsible the result of spending more than you can afford on purchases you could postpone or do without.

The people I have met with know that you do not respond to emergencies by indiscriminately cutting all parts of the family budget. You make choices and forego luxuries before cutting back on essentials like food, heating, education, and healthcare. They understand that across the board cuts are neither fair nor responsible. Such cuts sound bold, but they represent a lack of leadership, not an example of it.

The American people also know that the whole family must share in sacrifice--it is not right to pick on any one member of the family, or any one State in our Union. We are in this together. Singling out Alaska's bridge projects or any one State's earmarked funds is the wrong approach. If Congress is going to eliminate frivolous pork projects, as we should to support the gulf coast, let's eliminate all of them, in all States, together.

Finally, the people I talk to understand that when you have massive costs coming down the road, you need to prepare for them. There is no excuse for ignoring the financial consequences of foreseeable expenses whether it is the rising costs of health care, the retirement of the baby boom generation, or the growing inequality of wealth in our society.

You don't have to be a deficit hawk to be disturbed by the growing gap between revenues and expenses. This makes sense to people because the same principles that apply to our national budget apply to their family budgets as well. Americans are willing to share in the hard choices required to get us back on track, as long as they know that everyone is pulling their weight and doing their fair share.

That is why it is so important that we reinstate pay-go in a way that meaningfully enforces the budget discipline both sides of the aisle need to honestly tackle our short-term and long-term fiscal challenges.

Mr. President, it is time for fiscal responsibility to return to Washington. Adult supervision must return to the budgeting process.

Pay-go provides a necessary tool at a necessary time. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Amendment No. 2352, As Modified

Mr. President, I rise today to speak in favor of the Harkin amendment, which expresses the sense of the Senate that this body will not accept the cuts to the child support program that have been proposed by the Committee on Ways and Means in the House of Representatives. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this amendment.

The child support program is an effective and efficient way to enforce the responsibility of noncustodial parents to support their children. For every public dollar that is spent on collection, more than $4 is collected to support children. That is a good return on our investment in families. Moreover, these families are then less likely to require public assistance and more likely to avoid or escape poverty. This is a program that works.

The evidence is compelling. For example, in 2004, enforcement efforts helped collect almost $22 billion in child support. Our aggressive State and Federal efforts have translated into $1 billion in collected child support payments in Illinois alone this year. That means 386,000 Illinois families will be better equipped to provide for their children.

Preliminary budget estimates suggest the cuts proposed by the Ways and Means Committee will translate into $7.9 billion in lost collections within 5 years, increasing to a loss of over $24 billion within 10 years. This proposal is not even pennywise, and it is certainly pound foolish. Today, the State of Illinois reports a 32 percent child support collection rate. Let's not take a step backwards in the progress that has been made by stripping the States of necessary Federal support. Moreover, the welfare of too many is at stake. Child support is the second largest income source for qualifying low-income families. We cannot balance our budget on the backs of families who rely on child support to remain out of poverty.

This Congress claims that strengthening the family is a priority. Senator Harkin's amendment is a firm expression that we are serious about this worthwhile investment.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I rise first to commend Senators Specter and Harkin for their diligence and hard work on what is an enormous bill, particularly given the tight budget they had to work with. I also personally thank Senators Specter and Harkin for adopting an amendment into the managers' bill relating to scholarships for low-income and minority students and for expansion of positive behavioral interventions and support within schools to encourage better discipline. I thank them and their staffs for working with us on this amendment.

In addition, it is my understanding that there has been a meeting of the minds between the two sides of the aisle around what may end up being the most significant aspect of the Labor H appropriations bill.

Yesterday, I joined Senators Harkin, Kennedy, and a number of my colleagues in introducing an avian flu amendment. I know we had been able to attach an amendment to the DOD appropriations bill that made significant headway in funding the work that needs to be done to prepare this nation for pandemic flu. Obviously, this Labor H bill was the more appropriate vehicle to fund preparedness activities. The fact that Senator Specter and Senator Harkin have agreed to work something out on this issue is extremely important.

I will mention a couple of things that I believe make this avian flu amendment so significant. A number of Senators have talked on the Senate floor very eloquently about the threat of avian flu and the lack of preparedness and relative inactivity in the United States compared to our European and Asian allies. In the United States, we do not have a national preparedness plan for a pandemic. We do not have a stockpile of antivirals. Our public health system is weak, and the vaccine infrastructure is fragile. All of these areas desperately need attention, and the amendment that I hope will be adopted unanimously will provide the funding to do just that.

I am not going to rehash what was discussed earlier, but instead I wanted to spend a few minutes on the non-health aspects of avian flu, because it is important to fully understand the scope of the potential problems that a pandemic might cause. Obviously, the health concerns should be our immediate focus, and the Harkin amendment and the avian flu bill I introduced back in April do just that. However, we cannot ignore the economic and social implications of the pandemic flu. They deserve our urgent attention.

As Dr. Michael Osterholm has warned us, the arrival of a pandemic flu would trigger a reaction that would change the world overnight. We know that a vaccine would not be available for at least 6 months after the pandemic started. We also know that we only have enough antivirals in our stockpile to treat 1 percent of the Nation's population. As such, if an avian flu pandemic hits, foreign trade and travel would be reduced or even suspended in a desperate but fruitless attempt to stop the virus from entering new countries. This is not speculation. Some will recall that Hong Kong's Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food has already threatened to close the border with the Chinese mainland if the H5N1 strain of avian influenza moves into the human population.

Domestically, transportation would also be significantly curtailed as States or communities seek to keep the disease contained, and unaffected areas try to keep infection out. Such efforts at self- protection would have a devastating effect on the world economy, which relies on the speedy distribution of products. There would be major shortages of food, medicines, light bulbs, gasoline, and spare parts for military equipment. Potentially, we would have shutdowns in the production of microchips that fuel so much of our technology.

To use just one example, currently, two U.S.-based companies supply most of the protective face masks for health care workers around the world. Neither company would be able to meet increased demand during a pandemic, in part because the companies depend on multiple suppliers in multiple countries for the parts to make the masks.

Businesses today rely on the world's real time economy, and have not established alternative supply chains nor emergency plans for production and distribution. In a time of pandemic, the labor source could be severely affected as well, compounding the supply chain problem.

Our Government officials also have not yet addressed the social implications of a pandemic. We had a taste of that in what tragically happened with Hurricane Katrina. We witnessed desperation and confusion as people scrambled to survive and to find their loved ones. We are going to have to develop protocols and plans now so we can prepare the public for whatever public health measures may be needed, including possible quarantine or isolation.

The closest the world has come to this scenario in modern times was the SARS epidemic in 2003. Over a period of 5 months, about 8,000 people were infected and about 10 percent of those infected died. Once SARS emerged in China, it spread to 5 countries within 24 hours, and to 30 countries on 6 continents within several months. The economic consequences of SARS were staggering. The 6-month epidemic costs to the Asian-Pacific region alone were estimated at over $40 billion.

As avian flu is significantly more contagious and more deadly, you can only imagine the potential scope of economic devastation that we might face. Senator Harkin has mentioned that the warning bell is ringing and we need to heed its urgent call to action. Time is running out and this administration must act now if it is to prevent the severe economic, security, and health consequences from pandemic flu.

Let me close with one last comment. I heard some colleagues in discussions, both in the media and on the floor of the Senate, suggest that we should not succumb to panic. I know at one point an analogy was drawn between what we are calling for with respect to investments in pandemic flu preparedness and Y2K.

Let me just make two points. No. 1, we are absolutely certain that some form of pandemic will occur in our lifetime. We do not know if it will be caused by a H5N1 virus that mutates and spreads by human-to- human contact, similar to the 1918 pandemic. But unless history has completely taught us the wrong lessons, we can expect some form of pandemic that has severe consequences, and right now, we do not have the infrastructure to deal with it.

What that means is whatever investment we make now--for example, in developing a cell-based technology rather than an egg-based technology to develop vaccines--that is a sound investment even if we are lucky and this H5N1 virus does not end up mutating in such a way that it can cause a pandemic, because we will now be prepared for whatever pandemic occurs. We will have the infrastructure to rapidly produce the sort of vaccines that are necessary. This is a smart investment for us to make on the front end. The second point is one that, again, I think has been highlighted by what happened in New Orleans and the gulf coast. Sometimes the costs of doing nothing are so high that in the same way that you or I buy catastrophic health insurance hoping that we never have to use it, this is one of those situations where we have to devote the dollars to prepare and develop a plan, hoping that we never have to use it.

I am extraordinarily grateful that Senator Harkin, Senator Specter, and other leaders on this committee have been able to come to an agreement that should allow us to finally fund the preparedness and readiness activities that are going to be necessary for us to meet the challenge of avian flu.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to support an amendment introduced by Senator Bingaman to increase funding for education programs for Hispanic students. This important group of Americans has long been underserved by our public schools, and the actions proposed in this amendment are an important remedy.

In America, the promise of a good education for all makes it possible for any child to rise above the barriers of race or class or background and achieve his or her potential. We live in a world where the most valuable skill you can sell is knowledge. Yet we are denying this skill to too many of our children.

This denial has grave consequences, with those consequences falling inequitably on children of color. Of every 100 white kindergartners, 93 graduate from high school, and 33 earn at least a bachelor's degree. But for every 100 Hispanic kindergartners, only 63 graduate from high school, and only 11 obtain that college degree. The school age population of Hispanic students is growing five times faster than the student population at large. If we fail to do better in educating deserving Hispanic youth, this failure will have grave consequences for us all, not just with increased unemployment but in missed opportunities for innovation and competitiveness.

This failure of our education system is not easy to address. There is no single, simple solution. This amendment recognizes this fact by proposing a variety of programs to help Hispanic students. Among these programs, Support

for Hispanic Serving Institutions will help those colleges that now grant diplomas to over 50 percent of all Hispanic graduates. Language Acquisition Grants address those students who struggle to learn because they do not yet have full fluency in English, a number which includes nearly half of the Hispanic students in our public schools. The School Dropout Prevention Program addresses one of the most significant problems for children of color. In Illinois, only 53 percent of Hispanics graduate from high school, compared with 83 percent of whites.

We must do better. We must not lower our standards. Instead, we must increase our support for those students who are eager to succeed. In many situations, it is clear that children of color, when provided appropriate support and effective teachers, can rise to meet our expectations and fulfill their hopes and the dreams of their families. I am proud to support Senator Bingaman in this effort.

The question is on agreeing to amendment No. 2262, as modified.

Mr. President, I rise today as a Senator, as an Illinoisan, and as a proud resident of the South Side of Chicago to congratulate the Chicago White Sox for winning the 2005 World Series. As my fellow South Siders know, it has been a long time coming.

A little bit of history: Founded in 1900 as the Chicago White Stockings, this year's team reached the World Series for the first time since 1959, and this is a '59-style cap that I have here with me. Over a century of White Sox fans have cheered for superstars such as Luke Appling, Nellie Fox, Carlton Fisk, Luis Aparicio, Harold Baines, and, of course, Big Frank Thomas. But we haven't savored the sweet taste of a World Series championship since 1917--until now.

Back in 1917, Woodrow Wilson was President, and the Great War was raging in Europe. The White Sox were a bright spot in tough times.

The Sox won last night the way they have won all season--by playing aggressively, scrapping for every base and every run. When Juan Uribe threw to Paul Konerko for the final out, it was

fitting that the ball beat the runner by only half a step. The four games against the Astros were decided by a total of six runs. Winning by the skin of your teeth has been our style. Win or die trying, that is our motto this year.

I congratulate my colleague from Texas. The Houston Astros were an outstanding team. But it just so happened that this year they ran into the buzz saw of the Chicago White Sox.

I congratulate Jermaine Dye, who is the World Series MVP. But I am sure he will be the first to say that everyone on this year's team deserves a part of that award. This is a team with so many great players but no undisputed leader on the field. I don't claim to be a baseball expert or particularly unbiased on this matter, but this is one of the most balanced and selfless teams any of us have seen. A team of unlikely heroes.

Scott Podsednik, who hadn't hit a home run all season, stepped up and hit two in the playoffs, including the walk-off winner in game two on Sunday. Willie Harris, who barely played in the playoffs, got a pinch hit to get on base and bring home the only run last night. Geoff Blum, a former Astro, who got a pinch hit homer in the 14th inning to give us the margin of victory in game three. And the pitching--four complete games to close out the American League Championship Series. An 11 and 1 record in the playoffs. 15 scoreless innings to finish the World Series.

Before the season started, the Sox were a consensus .500 team. Even as we built and maintained the best record in the American League all season, there were many doubters. Towards the end of the season, we hit a rough patch, and the doubters grew louder. They said Cleveland had more playoff experience. They said even if we held on to make the playoffs, we would get embarrassed in the first round. But during the stretch run, manager Ozzie Guillen and his ``kids,'' as he calls them, were calm and relaxed. Even as Cleveland came on strong and our lead in the Central Division dwindled, Ozzie's kids continued to play pranks on each other in the clubhouse, and continued to run hard on the basepaths.

Once the playoffs started, there was no looking back. That difficult September was gone in an instant. We silenced the doubters by sweeping the World Champion Boston Red Sox. We silenced the Angels during the ALCS in five games. And we swept the Astros in four games.

I had the privilege of attending game one of the World Series on Saturday, and the fans in and around the park were a cross-section of the city. There were plenty of folks old enough to remember the `59 team. Almost everyone remembered the 2000 team that made the playoffs. A few were even alive in 1917.

I don't want to belabor this issue. I know those of you who had to listen to Red Sox fans last year may have gotten a little weary of those of us who have all this pent-up energy when we finally win the championship.

But I do want to say that the entire city of Chicago and the entire State of Illinois are extraordinarily proud.

I congratulate the entire White Sox organization, in particular Jerry Reinsdorf, Kenny Williams, and Ozzie Guillen. We will be celebrating this victory for a long time on the South Side, around the city of Chicago, and around the entire State of Illinois.

Let me make one last point. While we were watching the game the other night, in the drenching rain Sunday evening there was a sign held up by an elderly woman 92 years old. She said: I've been waiting for this for 88 years.

I think it gave you some sense of how much this means to the city of Chicago and to those blue-collar neighborhoods made up of Black, White, and Hispanic who were represented so ably by their team. It spoke to the diversity of this country and the fact that we work together in ways that make us all proud.

Senator Durbin and myself will be introducing a resolution later today.

I want to turn it over to my senior colleague from the great State of Illinois to maybe add a few other remarks regarding this outstanding team.

Mr. President, I rise today to express my disappointment in the failure of this body to approve an amendment offered yesterday by Senator Kennedy to increase the financial support provided to students though the Pell Grant program.

Pell Grants represent by far the largest source Federal grant aid for postsecondary education and provide necessary financial support for many students. My support of this amendment echoes the first piece of legislation I introduced in the Senate and a promise I made during my Senate campaign. That promise, and that legislation, was the Higher Education Opportunity through Pell Grant Expansion Act of 2005, S.697-- the HOPE Act. My statement today expresses my continuing efforts on behalf of students who need our support to continue their education.

Many students know that realizing their dreams depends on a college diploma, and, for many, the chance to earn that diploma is dependent on the Pell Grant program. As students dream of that diploma, they also worry about how to pay for it. The statistics confirm their worries. College tuition is rising almost 1 percent a year, and over the last 25 years, it's gone up more than fivefold. Because of these rising prices, over 200,000 students were priced out of college altogether just last year.

Today, need-based Pell Grants are used by 5.3 million undergraduate students, and 85 percent of these grants go to families earning less than $40,000. Over too long of a period, the amount of these awards has not kept up with the spiraling price of tuition or even with the rate of inflation. As a result, the current $4,050 Pell Grant maximum is insufficient.

This amendment would have raised that amount to $4,250, and represented one step toward making college more affordable for those students who have worked hard to keep alive their hope of earning a college diploma. Even in this time of shared sacrifice, I believe we must continue to support those hopes and the students who deserve a chance to turn them into reality. This remains a priority for me. Despite yesterday's vote, I will continue to work to increase support for our students though the Pell Grant Program.

Mr. President, I would like to speak on an amendment to H.R. 3010 that I was proud to introduce with the support of Senator Durbin. This amendment increases funding for a program in the Department of Education that has proven success in improving student behavior and school climate in thousands of schools across the country: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support.

A problem I hear about from teachers all the time is that disruptive students slow down the rest of the class, and can turn our schools into places unworthy of our most precious resource--our children. To help teachers in doing their important work of educating our children, I propose that we expand an

innovative program, already being used in states such as Illinois, that teaches students about positive behavior and expects the adults in our schools to set the same high standards for behavior as they do for achievement.

This system is called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. PBIS is designed to deal with discipline problems in a research-based, experimentally-verified way, based on one simple premise: stop problem behavior before it starts. The problem might be a general lack of discipline, increasing school violence, or a loss of instructional time because of behavioral issues. PBIS has shown that schools benefit from unified and efficient interventions that specifically teach, model, and reward good behavior, while providing consequences for problem behavior.

Kids are smart. When a school has clear and effective expectations, agreed to by the adults in the school, they respond positively. When the expectations are disputed and ineffective, kids exploit the situation.

PBIS shows positive results. At one school in Illinois, when PBIS was implemented, suspensions decreased 85 percent, there was more time for teaching, and student test scores increased. It makes sense: with fewer disruptions, students can stay on task more, and so learn more. Successes such as these have been replicated in thousands of schools across the country.

Today, I am proposing that we expand our support for this technical assistance program in the Office of Special Education Programs at the Department of Education. PBIS has proven itself, and has already been adopted by many schools. Let's give all our children the benefit of high expectations and supports for good behavior. Let's give all our schools the opportunity to adopt this system. Let's support our kids by supporting PBIS.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. President, I rise today in support of the amendment offered by Senators Reed and Collins to the Fiscal Year 2006 Labor, HHS appropriations bill to appropriate $2.92 billion emergency funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, (LIHEAP).

LIHEAP provides much needed assistance to Americans who might otherwise be forced to choose between heating their home during the winter months and putting food on the table for their family. In Illinois, 311,000 households received LIHEAP assistance last winter, out of 600,000 that applied. Clearly there is much more need than there are available funds.

If you have never experienced an Illinois winter, I can tell you that it can be bitterly cold. In January, the wind coming off of Lake Michigan near my house in Chicago will chill you to the bone. This year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association is projecting an even colder than average winter. As a result of colder temperatures and rising energy prices, the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration is predicting that families will be faced with significantly higher heating costs than last year. Those families whose homes are heated primarily by natural gas will pay about $350 more this winter, families in homes heated primarily by propane will pay an average of $325 more, and families in homes heated primarily by heating oil will pay, on average, as much as $378 more than last year.

With the expected increase in heating costs, there will be an increased demand for LIHEAP assistance. Already this year, 100,000 Illinois households have applied for help with their heating bills for the coming winter, a higher than average number for this point in the year. The $2.92 billion in emergency funding proposed in this amendment will supplement the $2.18 billion already contained in the Labor-HHS appropriations bill to fully fund LIHEAP at a total of $5.1 billion.

Livable shelter is a basic human necessity. Without authorizing these emergency funds: we put the elderly, the disabled and the low-income families that depend on this aid at risk. If we have learned anything from the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, it is that we cannot afford to shortchange programs that provide assistance for the most vulnerable in our society.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important amendment.

Amendment No. 2253

Mr. President, I rise today to support an important cause, at a critical time, increasing the representation of students from underrepresented backgrounds in law school and the legal profession.

Senator Durbin and I have introduced an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill that would restore funding for a program which seeks to do just that the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program. The Marshall Program provides technical assistance, training, coaching, and financial assistance to prospective law students who might otherwise experience academic or financial obstacles to law school success. It also runs 6- week Summer Institutes that serve as a bridge between college and law school, and helps law students prepare for the bar exam. Since its inception, over 7,000 students have received their law degrees with help from the Marshall Program. I am proud to say that some of the Program's valuable initiatives are held at Illinois' own Northern Illinois University and DePaul University.

Judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and other legal professionals are the faces of our justice system. It is important that these individuals come from a variety of experiences, and bring to their jobs a diverse range of perspectives. According to a national study commissioned in 2000, however, half of those polled believed that the justice system treated people differently because of their background. One important way to address this problem is to make sure that working- class people and students from different cultural backgrounds have the opportunity to go to law school and successfully enter the legal profession.

Equally important is the effect these students will have on their families and their communities. The Marshall Program's benefits extend not only to

program participants but also to the generations that follow behind them. Every person who rises from limited means to become a doctor or lawyer in this country is also a mother, father, sister or brother who will help bring resources to their families, leadership to their neighborhoods, and hope to their communities. The Marshall Progam helps to expand opportunities, for this generation of Americans and the next.

I am proud to support the cause of increasing the representation of students from less advantaged backgrounds in the legal profession. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. President, the House of Representatives has passed, and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is considering, legislation to increase petroleum refinery capacity in the United States. The argument is that the shortage of domestic refining capacity is contributing to the rising price of gasoline which, in turn, is squeezing families' pocketbooks and complicating our Nation's economic future. The theory is that relaxing environmental regulations will unlock long dormant investment in new domestic refining capacity.

Mr. President, today the Nation mourns a genuine American hero. Rosa Parks died yesterday in her home in Detroit. Through her courage and by her example, Rosa Parks helped lay the foundation for a country that could begin to live up to its creed.

Her life, and her brave actions, reminded each and every one of us of our personal responsibilities to stand up for what is right and the central truth of the American experience that our greatness as a nation derives from seemingly ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Rosa Parks' life was a lesson in perseverance. As a child, she grew up listening to the Ku Klux Klan ride by her house, fearing that her house would be burned down. In her small hometown in Alabama, she attended a one-room school for African American children that only went through the sixth grade. When she moved to Montgomery, AL, to continue her schooling, she was forced to clean classrooms after school to pay her tuition. Although she attended Alabama State Teachers College, Rosa Parks would later make her living as a seamstress and housekeeper.

But she didn't accept that her opportunities were limited to sewing clothes or cleaning houses. In her 40s, Rosa Parks was appointed secretary of the Montgomery branch of the NAACP and was active in voter registration drives with the Montgomery Voters League. In the summer of 1955, she attended the Highlander Folk School, where she took classes in workers' rights and racial equality. Well before she made headlines across the country, she was a highly respected member of the Montgomery community and a committed member of the civil rights effort.

Of course, her name became permanently etched in American history on December 1, 1955, when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus. It wasn't the first time Rosa Parks refused to acquiesce to the Jim Crow system. The same bus driver who had her arrested had thrown her off a bus the year before for refusing to give up her seat.

Some schoolchildren are taught that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat because her feet were tired. But our Nation's schoolbooks are only getting it half right. She once said:

The only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

This solitary act of civil disobedience became a call to action. Her arrest led a then relatively unknown pastor, Martin Luther King, Jr., to organize a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. That boycott lasted 381 days and culminated in a landmark Supreme Court decision finding that the city's segregation policy was unconstitutional.

This solitary act of civil disobedience was also the spark that ignited the beginning of the end for segregation and inspired millions around the country and ultimately around the world to get involved in the fight for racial equality.

Rosa Parks' persistence and determination did not end that day in Montgomery, nor did it end with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act years later. She stayed active in the NAACP and other civil rights groups for years. From 1965 to 1988, Ms. Parks continued her public service by working for my good friend Congressman John Conyers. And in an example of her low-key demeanor, her job in Congressman Conyers' office did not involve appearances as a figurehead or celebrity; she helped homeless folks find housing.

At the age of 74, she opened the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, which offers education and job training programs for disadvantaged youth. And even into her 80s, Rosa Parks gave lectures and attended meetings with civil rights groups.

At the age of 86, Rosa Parks' courage and fortitude was recognized by President Bill Clinton, who awarded her the Nation's highest honor for a civilian the Congressional Gold Medal.

As we honor the life of Rosa Parks, we should not limit our commemorations to lofty eulogies.

Instead, let us commit ourselves to carrying on her fight, one solitary act at a time, and ensure that her passion continues to inspire as it did a half-century ago. That, in my view, is how we can best thank her for her immense contributions to our country.

Rosa Parks once said:

As long as there is unemployment, war, crime and all things

that go to the infliction of man's inhumanity to man,

regardless--there is much to be done, and people need to work

together.

Now that she has passed, it is up to us to make sure that her message is shared. While we will miss her cherished spirit, let's make sure that her legacy lives on in the heart of a nation.

As a personal note, I think it is fair to say were it not for that quiet moment of courage by Mrs. Parks, I would not be standing here today. I owe her a great thanks, as does the Nation. She will be sorely missed.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I am proud to cosponsor the amendment that Senators Leahy, Coleman, Sarbanes, Graham and Reed have offered to protect funding for three programs critical to working families and low-income communities: the Community Development Block Grant, the Section 8 Voucher Program, and the Public Housing Operating and Capital Funds.

These programs expand opportunities to home ownership for working class families and help communities across the country pursue growth that develops poor communities without pushing out the poor themselves.

Let me talk about how each of these programs supports communities of hope and opportunity.

The Community Development Block Grant, CDBG, program makes it possible for our communities to improve their infrastructure, develop new businesses, provide important social services, and rehabilitate homes--all of which translates into expanded opportunity for people.

This year, Illinois will receive more than $196 million in CDBG funds. The State-level CDBG program alone has invested more than $33 million in projects around the State. As a result, 66,000 of my constituents received improved water, sanitary and storm water systems; small businesses were assisted in creating or retaining more than 1,000 jobs; and 313 homes in 27 communities were rehabilitated to address health and safety issues.

Cities throughout Illinois also leverage CDBG funds for 2,500 affordable housing units, economic development in 70 communities, job training and placement for nearly 900 low-income residents, and health care services for more than 235,000 people.

And beyond being good policy, these programs are fiscally responsible. For the State-level CDBG program, every dollar invested in Illinois infrastructure and housing yielded over three additional dollars in other private or public investment. That translates into $109 million in additional dollars for communities across Illinois. If only all government investments could yield that kind of return.

The other economic development programs this amendment would protect are funding for the Section 8 Voucher Program and the Public Housing Operating and Capital Funds. These two programs form the foundation of housing support in this country for low-income individuals and families.

Over a million households in Illinois spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. The Section 8 program addresses this problem by making more than 76,000 Housing Choice Vouchers available to Illinois residents each year. But that still leaves 56,000 households in Illinois on Section 8 waiting lists, and the lists are getting longer. Families waiting on Section 8 vouchers are either paying too much of their income on housing--and too little on food and healthcare--or they are joining the ranks of the more than 8 percent of Illinoisans who have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives. This situation is unacceptable, and this amendment begins to address it.

The amendment also shores up funding for the Public Housing Operating and Capital Funds. Millions of Americans call public housing ``home,'' and more than 62 percent of public housing residents are families with children or elderly households. The operating fund helps these residents by making money available for building maintenance, utilities, and the salaries of Public Housing Authority employees. And the capital fund is a critical tool for maintaining housing infrastructure. It helps local housing authorities modernize, rehabilitate or replace aging units, thereby assuring that families live in safe homes.

Communities and families across my State, and indeed across the country, depend on these programs to help them move forward. As housing stock and infrastructure continues to age, and voucher waiting lists continue to grow, we cannot afford to take money away from the working class folks who need it most. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask that I be able to proceed out of order. It is my understanding the Republicans actually control the time at the moment. I ask unanimous consent that I be able to proceed and the time to be taken out of the Democratic time.

Mr. President, we are continuing to witness, as I think you are aware, the relentless spread of avian flu carried slowly, but predictably, by wild migratory birds from countries in Southeast Asia to western China to Mongolia and then over the Ural Mountains into Russia and Ukraine. From there, avian flu this week has spread over to Romania and Turkey, and we have just learned possibly into Greece.

Dr. Joseph Domenech, chief of the Animal Health Service at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, has been quoted as saying that `` . . . we are not surprised.''

At this point, no one should be surprised. The experts have told us repeatedly that a flu pandemic is inevitable, although the timing is unpredictable. In other words, the question is not if but when. The spread of avian flu is our warning signal, and we need to heed this call to action.

If we are lucky, we will have at least a year or perhaps several years to prepare for a flu pandemic, but we might not be so lucky. Regardless of whether it is this particular strain of avian flu, H5N1, or another deadly strain, the time to act is long overdue if we want to prevent human suffering, death, and economic devastation.

International health experts say that two of the three conditions for an avian flu pandemic in Southeast Asia already exist. First, a new strain of the virus has emerged to which humans have little or no immunity. Second, this strain has shown that it can jump between species.

The last condition, the ability for the virus to travel efficiently from human to human, has not been met, and it is the only thing preventing a full-blown pandemic. Once this virus mutates and can be transmitted from human to human, we will not be able to contain this disease. Because of the wonders of modern travel, a person could board a plane in Bangkok, Athens or Bucharest and land in Chicago less than a day later, unknowingly carrying the virus. In fact, we learned this lesson from SARS, which moved quickly from Asia to Canada, where it led to many deaths.

As my colleagues know, one of my top priorities since arriving in the Senate has been to increase awareness about the avian flu. In April of this year, I introduced the Avian Act, which is a comprehensive bill to increase our preparedness for an avian flu pandemic. This bill was incorporated into a larger bill, the Pandemic Preparedness and Response Act that Senator Reid and I introduced 2 weeks ago. We need to move this bill as quickly as possible.

We also need to provide more funding to purchase vaccines and antivirals and improve our ability to spot and isolate a pandemic as soon as it begins. In the spring and summer, I worked to secure $25 million in funding to fight the avian flu. Today, some of this money is already helping the World Health Organization to step up its international surveillance and response efforts.

But obviously more money is needed--much more. Last month, I joined Senator Harkin and others in offering an amendment to the DOD appropriations bill to provide almost $4 billion to fight the avian flu. I am pleased that Senator Stevens cosponsored the amendment and it was accepted into the appropriations bill. At this point, I am hoping that the House will agree to this funding in conference.

Although we have begun to step up to the plate in the Senate, it is unfortunate that none of the avian flu bills that have been introduced have yet been passed into law. There has been too much talk, not enough action. And this is not just true in the Congress.

One year after publishing the draft pandemic flu plan, the administration still has not released the final HHS pandemic flu preparedness plan. Half the States have not published plans either, and we know that many of these States will need substantial help.

This lack of planning is compounded by the fact that we still don't have an FDA-approved vaccine against avian flu, and the one drug that many countries are relying on, Tamiflu, may be less effective than experts had thought. The manufacturer is also struggling to meet the demand, and it could take up to 2 years for it to make enough for the U.S. stockpile, presuming this administration finally puts in an order for the drug.

I ask my colleagues how many hearings and briefings have they sat through where witnesses and experts have urged the Government to be better prepared for these types of crises?

The failure to prepare for emergencies can have devastating consequences. We learned that lesson the hard way after Katrina. This Nation must not be caught off guard when faced with the prospects of a pandemic because the consequences are simply too high.

The flyways for migratory birds are well established. We know that avian flu will likely hit the United States in a matter of time. With the regular flu season coming up shortly, conditions will be favorable for the reassortment of the avian flu virus with the annual flu virus.

Such reassortment could lead to a mutated virus that could be transmitted efficiently between humans, which is the last condition needed for pandemic flu.

The question is, Will we be ready when that happens? Let's make sure the answer is yes. I urge my colleagues in the Senate and the House to push this administration to take the immediate action needed to prevent catastrophe, the likes of which we have not seen during our lifetimes.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

Mr. President, even as our Nation faces new public health challenges, it is crucial that we not lose sight of a devastating disease that has remained a challenge for decades the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Over the past two decades, the Nation has witnessed tremendous strides in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease, and overall, affected individuals are living longer and in better health. Yet approximately 40,000 Americans are still infected every year, half of whom are under the age of 25, and over 1 million Americans are living with this disease. My own State of Illinois ranks sixth in the Nation for HIV/AIDS, and our health officials and experts continue to work diligently to reduce the number of newly infected, as well as provide high quality care to those who are infected.

As with so many diseases, HIV/AIDS has had a disproportionate impact on the Latino community. While representing only 14 percent of the U.S. population, Latinos comprise 20 percent of the population affected by HIV/AIDS. However, unlike every other racial and ethnic group, the number of estimated deaths among Latinos with AIDS is actually increasing--a 17 percent growth between 1999 and 2003.

As the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the U.S., it is imperative that HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the Latino community remain a top priority for our Nation.

I am proud to join Representative Hilda Solis, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' Task Force on Health, and other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus, in recognizing October 15 as National Latino AIDS Awareness Day. On this day, we renew our commitment to ending the spread of HIV and ensuring quality of life to those with HIV regardless of their country of origin or immigration status. We do this whether we are Latino, African American, Asian, Caucasian or Native American. Although we all belong to separate communities, it is important that we stand as one community in the fight against this disease that is rapidly targeting populations of color.

The numbers are growing and so should our national attention towards the issue. The reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act is an example of how our Nation can help. It is also critical to increase funding for the Minority AIDS Initiative, MAI, which addresses the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on people of color by allocating specific funds for programs under the Ryan White CARE Act. Programs like Ryan White provide our most vulnerable populations, such as HIV/AIDS-stricken Latinos, with a chance for quality health care and a brighter future.

On October 15 and every other day of the year, I encourage all of us to join in the fight against HIV and AIDS. We cannot become complacent. The need is great, and the time to act is overdue.

Mr. President, I rise today to say that, as I have often thought, justice is a curious thing.

She has been poked and prodded, detained and defaced, and her piercing light is too often hidden from view. Justice had a tough time in Montgomery and Selma, and she took a sore drumming alongside Susan B. Anthony and the other fighters for women's suffrage. If you asked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer where justice was during those cold nights in jail in 1963, they might have said that she was nowhere to be found.

But inevitably and incredibly justice always seems to find her way. She creeps into the dark spots of our history. She rears her head where she is not wanted. And, eventually, she causes the barriers meant to hold her back to crack and crumble, under the collective weight of those who fight for her cause.

On January 25, 1966, justice was at it again. It was on that date after a storied career of educational success, fervent legal advocacy, and legislative accomplishments that Constance Baker Motley became the first African-American woman appointed to the Federal judiciary. Judge Motley passed away on September 28, 2005, at the age of 84. She is survived by her husband Joel, a son, three sisters and a brother. I rise today to honor her and the concept of justice for which she fought all her life.

Constance Baker was born on September 14, 1921, in New Haven, CT. Her father was a chef for an exclusive club at Yale, and her mother was active in the NAACP. She graduated from New York University in 1943 and received her law degree from Columbia University in 1946. As a third- year student at Columbia, Judge Motley joined the staff of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She would eventually become its principal trial attorney.

Judge Motley's list of accomplishments while working for the Legal Defense Fund is stunning. In 1950, she drafted the complaint that would become Brown v. Board of Education. In 1957 she argued the case in Little Rock, AR, which prompted President Eisenhower to call in Federal troops to protect the ``Little Rock Nine''. She personally argued the 1962 case in which James Meredith won admission to the University of Mississippi, as well as the suit that resulted in the enrollment of black students at the University of Georgia. All told, Judge Motley won 9 of the 10 civil rights cases she argued before the Supreme Court, an astounding accomplishment for that or any other time period.

After 20 years with the NAACP, Judge Motley was elected to the New York State Senate and became the first African-American woman to serve in that body. Among her first tasks was fighting for additional low- and middle-income housing. In February of 1965, Judge Motley was elected to serve as the President of the Borough of Manhattan, becoming the first woman of any race to serve in that post. And in 1966, President Johnson helped bring justice's work full circle. He appointed Judge Motley to the Federal District Court for the Southern District Court of New York, making her the first African American woman to sit on the Federal bench. She served with distinction in the Southern District, and became the chief judge of this court in 1982. She took senior status in 1986.

I honor Judge Motley today. I honor her for her wisdom, for her tenacity, and for the fire with which she advocated for equal rights. And, equally important, I honor the spirit of justice that motivated Constance Baker Motley. It spurred her on from her early days in Connecticut to her long and distinguished tenure on the Federal bench. I ask that this body and all Americans remember Judge Motley today. And I ask that we attempt to infuse the same sense of justice which

guided Judge Motley into our own work, and our daily lives.

I am pleased to join a bipartisan group of my colleagues in introducing a resolution honoring the life of Judge Constance Baker Motley and I hope this body will move swiftly to its passage.