Floor Statements

Mr. President, let me state that we are waiting for Senator Dodd to come from the Foreign Relations Committee so that we can report the bill and continue moving on the housing bill.

I have an amendment I wish to offer. I know the Senator from Vermont has a modification. I know the Senator from California also has some things she wants to do on this bill. But while we are waiting for Senator Dodd I wanted to say a few things about housing. I want to say a few things about this bill. I have an amendment I wish to offer, but I have a lot on my mind about this housing bill. First of all, I have very serious questions about the bill itself. The original bill that has been brought to the floor takes care of the sharks and the whales, but it does not take care of the little people, the minnows. The Maryland General Assembly did more in their 90 day session that just adjourned than this body has been able to accomplish all year.

When you look at that which will actually help ordinary people work their way out of the foreclosure mess, the legislation is quite Spartan. We lost the bankruptcy provision that would have allowed families to put the pieces back together. The original housing bill had $200 million going to the nonprofit agencies that are working every day with people in those communities to be able to work out their problems. Now, this bill is being held hostage by the other party for more tax cuts we do not need, bigger bailouts for those who do not need them, and it does not help the 8,000 people a day who face foreclosure. We need to improve this bill.

Now, I am so disappointed that Senator Durbin's amendment to amend the Bankruptcy Code to allow workouts did not occur. I know Senator Murray has an amendment to add more money to the front-line groups working with families. I want to thank Senator Murray for offering this amendment and I will have a second-degree adding legal help for the already overburdened nonprofit counselors.

I have seen what this housing crisis means, not by reading the Wall Street Journal but by getting out there and talking to my own constituents, holding roundtables on this subject. What we see is that the subprime housing crisis is a code red emergency. Thousands in my State got caught up in schemes and scams. They were not Wall Street speculators we give a bailout to, they are Main Street Americans who need a workout plan.

My State was hit hard, so at these roundtables we talk to the people who were most affected, the people who actually are facing bankruptcy, to get their stories, get a picture book of what is going on, talk to the nonprofits. But we also talked to the brokers and the Realtors and others in their community. I listened and I learned.

So while everybody here wants to talk about the big macropicture, I want to talk about the macaroni-and-cheese issues. I am on the side of the little people. I talked to a police officer who works every day, putting himself in the line of fire. Because he got into a home equity scam and scheme, he is about to lose his home. I talked to a mother, a single mother who thought she was part of the American dream, and now she is part of the American nightmare.

If you listen to the nonprofits, housing people, like St. Ambrose Housing in my own State, they are trying every day to help people work this problem out. What is it that they need? They need a plan to be able to do a workout. That is why the bankruptcy amendment was a big help. It would have enabled people to responsibly work out their problems. But at the same time, those nonprofits are being overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the caseload.

When you look in my own State, there are thousands and thousands of bankruptcies. In 2006, there were 3,000 foreclosures in Maryland. But guess what. In 2007, there were 23,000--23,000 Marylanders are in the foreclosure line. The sheer magnitude of the problem these nonprofit organizations--many of whom are faith-based--have to come to grips with to help these families with advice and counseling shows that we are in great difficulty.

This is why I so support Senator Murray's amendment to add more financial resources to these nonprofits to bring on the staff. I salute Senator Murray because she brings expertise in housing. But where she is a real expert is on people and the suffering people have.

We believe in working with nonprofit organizations that are out there closest to the people to do this. Now, in listening to them, so many of my constituents were steamed and scammed. They faced predatory-- predatory--lending procedures. Some people get mugged when they walk down a back alley. Here, they got mugged when they sat down to sign up for their mortgage or their home equity loan. They were mugged big time.

If you are mugged, you get a lawyer. But if you are in foreclosure, you cannot get one. Legal Services barely can help anybody because the means testing means that that for a family of four, if you have an income over $26,500, you cannot get a legal aid lawyer. Well, if you have that kind of income, you were unlikely to be own housing at least in many areas of the country.

But NeighborWorks can offer help. I will offer an amendment later on this morning that will add $37.5 million as a second-degree amendment-- $37.5 million to the NeighborWorks effort.

This NeighborWorks will do three things.

First of all, they are going to hire more lawyers and more paralegals to help the counseling groups help people work out of these predatory schemes. Why paralegals? They will maximize the lawyers we already have. They will hire more lawyers, particularly those who are semiretired or those young lawyers eager to build their skills, and so on. NeighborWorks and the experienced lawyers will train them.

It will provide money to legal organizations to train more attorneys in foreclosure law. We have lawyers who want to come forth, but they need their training expenses taken care of.

There are paralegals who are looking to not only work for a law firm but to also work for these nonprofits.

Then for the lawyers in foreclosure law, this would allow them to train counselors in some of the basic foreclosure law.

My amendment, I will offer at a later time, is very simple and very straightforward, but wow is it needed. We need to give help to those who are trying to practice self-help to the people who are in foreclosure, to the nonprofits that are trying to help them, and to the lawyers who are trying to advise them.

Remember, if you were mugged in a back alley, you could have access to a lawyer. But if you were mugged when you sat down for a settlement on buying a home, you are going to be on your own. You know what. We cannot have that. I want to have people feel that we are on their side.

Again, we do not seek bailouts. We seek workouts. We want to be able to help those families be able to restore their financial credit, to be able to work out and stay in their home.

When you have foreclosure on a home, it is a terrible tragedy for the family. But it is also a terrible tragedy for the community. So let's all work together. Let's pass a housing bill that helps those who are in need, those who are losing their home.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I withdraw my suggestion.

Everybody is trying to extend morning business while we are waiting.

Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 4494.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I spoke earlier about the compelling need for this amendment. It would add money to NeighborWorks to be able to help them add more legal staff to help people workout a plan to stay in their homes. This amendment adds $37.5 million to the bill for the NeighborWorks Program to do three things: Help counseling groups hire more attorneys and paralegals to help with the foreclosure crisis, it would also provide money to legal organizations to train more attorneys and paralegals in foreclosure law, and also hire the people to train counselors and nonprofit groups in basic foreclosure law to help people do their workouts.

Many of my constituents and also constituents nationwide were victims of predatory lending practices, schemes, and scams. It is because of the complexity of dealing with these foreclosure increases that nonprofit counseling organizations need more legal help. That is why I am offering this amendment. It is to help those trying to have workouts to their foreclosure problems, while we are giving considerable bailouts to the people who caused the problem.

This is a second-degree amendment to the Murray amendment. I know it will be considered at the appropriate time.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I opposed going to war in Iraq. I opposed the escalation of American troop levels. And I still do.

When the Bush administration proposed the escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq, the President said it would enable the Iraqi government to achieve political reconciliation. Our troops have done their part. Yet as we ask our troops to do more, the Iraqi government does less.

While we were fighting the surge, the Iraqi parliament was on vacation. While our troops were wounded, dying, and away from their families, Prime Minister al-Maliki was running up a budget surplus.

The Iraqi government has failed to make their country safer or more stable; they have failed to hold provisional elections, reform their oil laws or disarm the militias. This is a failure in leadership. The battle of Basra was a disaster. We know that many members of the Iraqi military fought bravely and steadfastly. But we also know that more than 1,000 deserted or refused to fight. Once again, American troops had to step forward to salvage the operation.

Our troops have performed bravely and effectively. Yet a great American military cannot be a substitute for a weak Iraqi government. It is time to come home. We must bring our troops home, swiftly and safely.

Madam President, I am a cosponsor of the Lincoln, Mikulski, and Snowe amendment.

Our military people don't stand in line when they have to serve this country, and they shouldn't have to stand in line to file for their disability claims. This is outrageous. We need to put enough money into the checkbook to protect the troops over there and when they come back here.

Let us vote for this Lincoln amendment. If you support the troops, let us end the backlog.

Mr. President, I congratulate Senator Conrad on this budget. He has done a brilliant job, and this bill will give us a safer country and a stronger economy. It will meet compelling human needs and take care of the long-range needs of America.

This budget reflects America's priorities and my priorities: finding cures for devastating diseases, helping families with special needs, protecting our homeland and protecting our communities, supporting our troops with what they need overseas--and what they need when they come back home.

Unlike President Bush's proposal, this budget makes a difference for families. It looks out for our returning military and rejects the President's Draconian cuts that would hurt the most vulnerable people.

I am for this budget because it takes care of NIH. NIH is a jewel in the Nation's crown. It is saving lives and improving our Nation's health by bringing discoveries to patients from the lab to the bedside. NIH needs adequate resources to meet its mission.

That is why I strongly supported doubling the NIH budget from $13.6 billion in 1998 to $27 billion in 2003, but this year the President shortchanged NIH. His budget flat funds NIH at $29.5 billion which doesn't even keep up with inflation.

Shortchanging NIH means we slow down research and slow down our transition from research to treatment. We need this research to improve the treatments for autism, Alzheimer's, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

I am on the side of science, which is why I joined my colleagues Senator Harkin and Senator Specter to cosponsor an amendment to increase the NIH budget by $2.1 billion. This additional funding will improve the health of the Nation by supporting research on causes, diagnosis, prevention, and cures. So this funding will save lives today and tomorrow.

Our budget should save lives, and it should also improve lives-- especially for the most vulnerable. In December, Bush announced a new rule which said CMS won't pay for most Medicaid case management services. This cuts our most vulnerable citizens off from their social workers and nurses.

This rule is just wrong. Without case management, Medicaid falls apart. If you don't provide the right services in homes and in schools, you can't coordinate health care plans to keep kids and the elderly healthy.

In Maryland, this rule would mean 200,000 poor adults and children with disabilities or chronic health problems may not receive case management services. And in these tough fiscal times, my State will lose over $66 million and 1,400 jobs: mostly nursing and social work jobs

Our budget rejects the President's reckless rule until we have a new President and a new attitude. I am going to make sure that we keep the commitments in this budget and keep our promises to those sick adults and children who need our help.

Our budget also recognizes that families need a government that is on their side. However, the Bush budget shortchanges children with special needs and their families by not providing enough for IDEA. When Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, passed in 1975 Congress promised to pay 40 percent of costs. Thirty three years later, we don't even come close.

This year, IDEA should be funded at $21.5 billion, but it only got $11 billion. Bush talks about leaving no child behind, but his budget abandons a generation of children by making IDEA an unfunded mandate.

Senator Sanders' amendment, which I cosponsor, would increase IDEA funding by $10 billion over the next 3 years and would dramatically improve services for 7 million children. These are children who can't make it on their own and who may need individual services like special attention from teacher's aides, speech therapy, and smaller classes.

These aren't ``extras.'' They are essentials that may mean the difference between self-sufficiency and a life of dependence. America needs to get behind our kids--by getting behind those kids that need us most.

The Bush budget also falls short, once again, when it comes to social services block grants. These are services that give people the tools they need to practice self-help such as child care assistance and treatment for substance abuse.

The Bush budget cuts SSBG from $1.7 billion to $1.2 billion. That is half a billion dollars that States won't have to help their most vulnerable residents. And the President wants to eliminate the program entirely in 2010. I am outraged that the President would be so

coldhearted but I am proud that the Senate budget rejects these cuts and restores funding to $1.7 billion.

My home State of Maryland will receive $32 million this year. I know our communities need it--especially during these tough times. These services help families who are scrimping and saving to stay afloat.

I know about social services block grants. Before I was ``Senator Barb,'' I was ``Social Worker Barb.'' The services provided are about more than checking boxes and pushing paper; they are about helping people with their problems and meeting them where they are.

The Democratic budget also helps families by helping them keep what they earn for things that they need with smart tax breaks for the middle class. We do it responsibly and realistically by using the budget surplus to extend the tax breaks that matter to working families like the $1000 refundable credit per child, so families can make ends meet; like marriage tax penalty relief so that we don't put a tax on getting married; and like the 10 percent tax bracket so lower income working Americans keep more of their hard-earned pay check. Finally, we also make sure that AMT doesn't hit more middle-class families.

These are the tax breaks that help Main Street, not Wall Street, and they are tax breaks we can afford.

I am always going to fight for our first responders because we need to protect the Americans who protect us. But President Bush wants to eliminate Community Oriented Policing Program, COPS, funding. That is a $587 million cut from last year.

The COPS Program pays for cops on the beat because the way that you reduce crime is to increase cops. That is why Democrats added $599 million to our budget for COPS.

Firefighters also protect our communities. They need tools to protect themselves--and to protect us. Yet the Bush budget slashes funding for our first responders--eliminating one grant program for firefighters and cutting another grant program by $260 million.

They put their lives on the line every day; they should never be shortchanged by their government. That is why our budget rejects the administration's reckless cuts and adds $2.2 billion more for law enforcement and first responders.

The Democratic budget also supports our troops with what they need on the battlefield--and what they need when they come back home.

We fully fund the President's request for the military, and we take care of them here at home. I am so proud that Senator Baucus's amendment includes the Defenders of Freedom Act. These are tax breaks to reward soldiers for their service--a tax credit for businesses who keep National Guard and Reserve on their payrolls when reservists and guards are called to help their country and a tax break on money earned because of service to the Nation.

I want everyone to look at what the Bush budget does for our veterans. It is unacceptable that the President underfunded programs for vets. Promises made must be promises kept. Vets fight our enemies on foreign battlefields; they shouldn't have to fight their own Government for the services and benefits they deserve.

Democrats understand, and we keep our word to America's vets by providing an additional $3.2 billion to come up to the funding suggested by Independent Budget.

Finally, as the chairman of the subcommittee that funds science and our space program, I am pleased that the Democrats have an innovation budget. This is a strong budget for NASA: $18.7 billion for NASA. That is $1 billion more than the President's request. NASA is our premier innovation agency. It creates new technologies that create new jobs and excites our next generation of scientists and engineers.

These extra funds will allow us to reimburse NASA for the costs of returning the space shuttle to flight safely after the Columbia disaster.

I have fought for this extra funding for several years, and I hope we can make it a reality this year in the CJS bill.

The budget also says that we must have a balanced space program of science, aeronautics, and space exploration and that we should work to close the 5-year gap in our human space flight program.

I support these goals and thank Chairman Conrad for his leadership.

Yet I am disappointed that the budget does not recommend full funding for the American Competitiveness Initiative at the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology.

That is why I am supporting the Bingaman-Alexander amendment, to provide the fully authorized levels for these science agencies as recommended by the America COMPETES Act. This funding will provide critical investments in education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, STEM. This is the research that creates new technologies and new jobs.

It is an important time for America. Our economy is in trouble, and we need to spend wisely. Democrats are making the hard choices to make America stronger, invest in our future, and balance the Nation's checkbook.

The budget reflects the best of our country. It keeps commitments to vets and our first responders, invests in our kids and our future, and meets our economic challenges head on.

Let's get the job done and pass this budget. Americans deserve it, and the Senate needs to deliver.

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

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to be recognized to speak for up to 10 minutes and ask that the time not count against the Cornyn amendment.

Thank you very much, Madam President.

First, I congratulate the manager of the bill, the Senator from Arkansas, Mr. Pryor, on the outstanding job he has done to develop a modern framework for consumer product safety.

There was a time when I was the appropriator for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Also, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is located in my State. I know what a consumer product safety agency does, I know what it should do, and I know what faithful, independent civil servants would want to do if they had the right leadership and the right authority.

I believe what the Senator from Arkansas has done is modernize the consumer product safety framework from when it was originally invented in the 1970s. Technology has come a long way. Products are more complex. Imports are on the rise. We know we need to modernize if we are going to protect Americans.

I view what the Senator from Arkansas has done as an act of homeland security because what is it homeland security does? It protects the American people from anyone who has a predatory intent toward the United States. I believe if you put lead in children's toys, if you knowingly look the other way when you make the blood thinner called heparin--that is a lifeline to so many people with heart disease--let me tell you, if you know you did it, and you know it is coming to the United States, or you are making something in the United States, standing up to protect the consumer is exactly an act of homeland security, and I congratulate the Senator in doing it and the bipartisan coalition he has put together. So he can count on me to support the bill.

But like any good idea, it can be improved. That is why I am here today. I have an amendment I wish to discuss that requires any food that comes from a cloned animal or progeny to be labeled. In other words, cloned animals have now been approved by the FDA to be safe for human consumption, even though most Americans actively oppose cloning and scientists say we should monitor it.

I have always taken the position that consumers have a right to know, they have a right to be heard, and they have a right to be represented. Yet when we talk about cloned food entering the marketplace, if it enters the marketplace, it has been deemed safe by the FDA, but when it comes to your table, to the restaurant, to school lunch programs, it will be unidentified, it will be unlabeled, and it will be unknown to you. Well, I find that unacceptable.

Here we have a picture of Dolly. Sad, isn't it? But nevertheless, Dolly is the first cloned animal. Dolly, or cows, or other animals, have been deemed safe to enter our food supply. So you could walk into a restaurant and you could have a ``Dolly-burger.'' You could go to a fast food chain or maybe that local malt shop that has so many fond memories for you in Missouri and you could have a ``Dolly milkshake.'' You could have ``Dolly in a glass.'' You could have ``Dolly on a bun.'' You could have ``Dolly on the table.'' You could have ``ground Dolly,'' ``pattied Dolly,'' ``roast Dolly,'' ``pot roast Dolly.'' But any way you have Dolly, you would not know you were eating Dolly. I say that is not acceptable.

What I wish to do, if appropriate, is offer an amendment to the consumer product safety bill, even though it is regulated by the FDA-- and I acknowledge that--that would label them as being from cloned animals or their progeny.

Now, in this bill, we look out for toys, strollers, appliances and all of that is right and I salute my colleague, as I have said. But I also wish to look out for the food we put on our table.

People say: Well, Senator Mikulski, hey, the FDA approved it. Well, the FDA used to be the gold standard, but we have heard ``it is safe'' for too long. We were told asbestos was safe, but I have men who worked in the Baltimore shipyards who traded in their lunch bucket to carry an oxygen tank because of the lung disease they have. We were told DDT was safe. Do you want to be sprayed with DDT? Then there were people who said thalidomide was safe. No pregnant woman would take it today. Then Vioxx was safe. Would anyone with a heart condition or cholesterol want to take it?

So there are a lot of flashing yellow lights around FDA. Where are they the weakest? In postapproval surveillance. But you can't surveil unless you know there is a problem with a product.

The National Academy of Sciences said cloned food might be safe, but the science is too new. We need to monitor it. But you can't monitor it unless you know where it is. That is why I am for labeling. Labeling would tell us where the food is and we could do that postmarket surveillance.

I don't know why there is an urgency to do this--to have cloned food enter the marketplace. What labeling would do is it would give consumers the right to know that it is there. It would allow scientists to monitor. Also, it would protect our export markets.

I have talked about why it would be good science to have labeling so we can monitor and why consumers want to know, but what about the export deal? Well, you know what I worry about? I worry about our food being banned from exports because they don't know if cloned food is coming into their country.

There are those who already called our genetically altered products ``Frankenfood.'' They call it Frankenfood, and they don't want it to come in.

Our European trading partners have exhibited consistent concern about genetically altered products. My State exports food, particularly chicken. We are a big chicken State and chicken-producing State. We share that with the Senator from Arkansas. It has helped save our agricultural interests down there. So I want us to be able to export, and that is why I want whatever is cloned or its progeny to be labeled.

While we see Dolly in this photograph, I have to wonder what cloned food accomplishes. We don't have a shortage of food in our country. We don't have a shortage of milk in this country. For those who want to produce Dolly, we can't stop it, but we should stop the effort to put cloned food into the food supply without labeling and without informed consent. At the appropriate time, I will offer this as an amendment.

At this time, I wish to again thank my colleague for the wonderful job he has done. I am glad to be part of the effort. We need more fresh and creative and affordable solutions such as the Senator has done.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I wish to speak on amendment No. 4023, a very important amendment that affects over 200,000 people in my State. I am not calling up the amendment right this moment, pending some other parliamentary action, but I do wish to speak on the amendment.

This is a bipartisan amendment sponsored by Senator Klobuchar, who has taken a very impressive lead, as well as Senator Coleman. This bipartisan amendment is to stand up for constituents all over the United States of America who are severely disabled and who are about to lose their case managers.

Thousands and thousands and thousands of people--severely handicapped or disabled, both children and adults--are about to lose either their social workers or their nurses because of a new, harsh, punitive rule put out by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare. The amendment does the same thing as Senate Bill 2578 that is sponsored by the Senators from Minnesota and myself and 17 others and would simply do this: It would stop the CMS from implementing the new rule by delaying its implementation until April 2009, when we have a new President and a new attitude.

Now, let me give the background. In December, CMS proposed this rule that would cut Medicaid funding to something called ``targeted case management'' services. The rule will go into effect March 3. That is why we are offering it on this very important bill of Indian health, and we thank the managers of the bill for their courtesy.

We hear all these government words, but I am going to talk today not only as the Senator from Maryland standing up for my constituents, but also as a professionally trained social worker. What is this? Well, a Medicaid case manager is either a social worker or a nurse who helps adults and children with very complicated problems. Children in foster care and children with disabilities get the medical and social services they need to be able to have a quality of life to be independent. But what does that mean in real terms? Well, let me give you an example.

I have a constituent in Baltimore, a 2-year-old, who was diagnosed with a genetic disorder that leads to significant feeding problems. This disease causes very severe problems and without help in early life. So what does the case manager do? If the case is a very complicated medical situation, often the case manager is a nurse. If it requires lots of complicated social intervention, it will be a social worker. First of all, the case manager gets in there and does a family assessment and works with the doctors, such as Johns Hopkins or the University of Maryland, so we know what medical plan is in order for this little child to have the ability to thrive. Then the case manager works with the family, who is in acute distress, to make sure they know someone is on their side and helps them comply with the treatment plan.

Now, what might that be? Well, in the genetic disorder case, it will be very specialized nutrition services. That is a lot of coordination to get the right people there to help that family. It will be also speech and language and occupational therapy, so a lot of compliance to make sure that child will be able to get what they need. Then, very important, psychosocial help because when a child has this type of disorder, there are other very severe psychosocial problems that emerge. Then the case manager is working with the family to get the child in the appropriate very specialized daycare. You can imagine the kind of supervision this is. This is tough, hands-on, gritty work.

Let's also take a look at when there is a child born with cerebral palsy. Again, you have a biomedical plan and the need to get the right education for the child and also assistance for the family on how to do it, then a lot of nitty-gritty work. In this case, the

child would be evaluated, say, at the fantastic Kennedy-Krieger Institute, where some of the best neurosurgeons and neuroscientists will be working with them. But the case manager helps get the family a wheelchair, a ramp for the home, special education services, and counseling for the parents because this is going to be a significant responsibility for a long time.

Without case management, the whole thing falls apart. If you don't get the right services for the family in the home and the educational programs, you will not have the follow through on the biomedical plan that helps them remain independent or able to grow up.

Now, CMS says they do not want to pay for that. They say they have the authority from the Deficit Reduction Act and they can just slash these services from Medicaid funding. Well, in my State, this affects 200,000 people. It means that over 1,400 social workers and nurses who have devoted their life to helping these families will be impacted, and it means a Governor will have to pick up the bill. In my State, these services cost $150 million, with 50 percent paid by the feds and the other 50 percent paid by the State.

CMS wants to eliminate the 50 percent, which means Maryland will lose $75 million. I know Senator Klobuchar will tell us equally horrific stories. Senator Coleman has spoken about this. We object to CMS. We object to this rule. We want to delay the rule until sensible heads prevail.

We have 20 Senators who have cosponsored the bill that is the same as this Amendment. They have names such as Cardin, Corker, Domenici, Bingaman, Alexander, Voinovich, Brown, Snowe, Wyden, Sanders, Kennedy-- the list goes on. Thirty States would be so affected they have taken it upon themselves to write directly to CSM.

I must say to the distinguished chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, this also affects his State of North Dakota. It affects severely handicapped Native American children.

This is not about who is your favorite bean counter at OMB or how can we control runaway Medicaid costs; it is how do we in this country make sure our constituents and our people get the services they need to be able to have an independent life. I believe we can give help to those who are practicing self-help. For those families who are out there struggling to make sure a loved one with a handicap, a child, or an adult is able to remain independent, they need a government on their side.

So my amendment will delay the implementation. It is not my amendment, it is our amendment. It is a bipartisan amendment. I say to my colleagues from the other side of the aisle, let's be those compassionate conservatives whom you once talked about. Join with us. Let's do this.

At the appropriate time, I will call up this amendment officially, and I will ask for a vote on it.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside.

I now call up amendment 4023.

I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask for a vote at an appropriate time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my amendment No. 4023 be considered en bloc with Senator Brownback's amendment. I do not need a recorded vote. I am more than happy to accept a voice vote.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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

Mr. President, I wish to proceed for 10 minutes in morning business.

Mr. President, I wish to talk about the stimulus package and I wish to talk about our economy and I wish to talk about the Senate.

I am very frustrated with the Senate. We spent a week maneuvering and twisting over parliamentary procedure. Our processes are slowing us down in meeting the day-to-day needs of the American people and the long-range needs of our country.

Our country is at risk. We are fighting a global war against terrorism. Our dollar is worth a box of Kleenex. We need an economic stimulus and an economic recovery package, and we are fooling around on motions to proceed and clotures and backward and forward, and so on. The American people wonder what are we doing. They believe that when all is said and done, more gets said than does get done. And guess what. Put me in the column with the American people.

I am very frustrated with this institution. The rules were designed to make sure the minority party could always be able to express their view. That should happen. But it was not to bottle up progress. It was not to stifle the opportunity to get our economy back on track. It was not to tie up the Senate so we could not help 250,000 vets, 20 million senior citizens, and actually get money in the pocketbooks of people so we can start getting our economy back on the track.

Everyone agrees we need to jump-start our economy, everyone agrees we need to do it now--everybody but the other side of the aisle who is sitting on their hands and sitting on parliamentary procedure and sitting on you know what. I think it is time they get up, and I call out to the people: Flood our phones, get them off this, and get this economy going.

We know we are being very hard hit. Last month, we lost 17,000 jobs in the service sector. That was supposed to be job-loss proof. Families all over the country are losing their homes to the subprime crisis. The price of food, gas, and health care is going up.

We voted last night on a parliamentary procedure that would have moved this legislation on the economic stimulus forward. It lost. It lost by one vote. But did it lose on a majority? No. Under the rules of the Senate, we need 60 votes to win a majority or we need 67 votes to win a majority. I thought a majority used to be a majority. Now we find that one vote--one vote--is standing in the way of moving the economic stimulus package.

I say to America: You watch cable TV, you listen to the chattering class, you read the newspapers. You know where that one vote lies. You see those empty chairs over there? One vote lies there. Flood our phones with calls, flood our Internet, flood our fax machines so we can get moving.

Last night what we had was a plan to move the economy forward. It was a well-thought-out plan of tax rebates to help families. We included not only that but 250,000 disabled veterans and 20 million seniors. At the same time, we extended unemployment insurance for an extra 13 weeks because for people who lost their job, it is now taking a longer time to find another job. And we help small business.

Last night, we Democrats voted to stand up for those disabled vets, for those senior citizens, for those people who have lost their jobs to make sure they will have the opportunity to benefit from the stimulus, and as they benefit from the stimulus, because they have such modest incomes, the money they get will go right into the economy. It will not go into paying the bar bill for somebody who has a fifth home in the Hamptons. It will go into the economy.

This bill helps 250,000 disabled vets. They say they did not qualify; they did not have earned income. My God, my God. I have a veterans advisory board. I meet with the disabled vets. Some of them belong to the Purple Heart Association, some come in wheelchairs, some come with canes because they bear the permanent wounds of war.

We always say a grateful nation never forgets, but we forgot them in the stimulus package. We forgot 250,000 of them. If a grateful nation never forgets, let's say we think you earned that. We think you earned that at Iwo Jima. We think you earned it at Normandy and Porkchop Hill and the Mekong Delta. If you have worn the uniform, you have earned it.

Now we want to help 20 million seniors who are left out because they said those Social Security benefits are not earned income. You pay your Social Security based on your wages. I think that is earned income. Every day there are people out there working, or who have worked every day. They have spent their whole lives building our economy, building our Nation, and they are ready to do it again. All they need right now is to qualify for what they should be entitled to.

People say: Well, there she goes again. You know, Barb has a master's degree in social work. Well, you bet I do. And that social work took me into the neighborhoods and families of our constituents, and as a Senator I often try to think that way. While everybody here likes to talk about the macroeconomics and they take codels to Davos to hang out with the rich and famous, who want to be even more rich and more famous, I worry about the macaroni and cheese issues. And the macaroni and cheese issues that we have to focus on are what is happening in our economy.

But I just don't want to be a bleeding heart--though I am happy to be a bleeding heart. I am happy to be a bleeding heart, but I know that something called Moody's Economy.com--Moody's Economy.com--tells us where we get the most stimulus from the techniques used to do the stimulus, and what do they tell us? They tell us to give it to the people who need it the most--to extend unemployment benefits and to extend other benefits, such as LIHEAP, which helps people with their energy costs.

Now, 41 Republicans blocked this bill. They called it a Christmas tree. They said it was loaded with pet projects. Well, yes, disabled vets are a pet project with me. I stand guilty. Disabled veterans are a pet project with me. Clean up the mess at Walter Reed, clean up the compensation system, and include them in the stimulus package. You bet. But I also resent that. Disabled veterans are not ornaments or decorations, they are heroes, and they are the backbone of our country. So one vote stands between the American people and some help during these tough times.

I thank the eight Republicans who voted with us last night to move the bill forward so we could vote up or down on amendments. We need one more Senator to join us, one more Senator who will stand up for the people, for families, for seniors, for wounded warriors, one more vote against politics as usual. I say over there to those empty chairs: Will one of you come forward and join this very important effort?

Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to speak as in morning business for 7 minutes.

Mr. President, I know the Indian health bill is very important. Senator Dorgan will be coming to the floor to lead the advocacy of its passage, which I support.

Mr. President, I come to the floor because I want to share some very disturbing news with you and all of my colleagues. Last week, the FDA gave the green light for cloned foods to enter our food supply.

The FDA announced food from cloned animals, or their progeny, is safe for human consumption. Despite pleas from thousands of Americans, and this Senator, to wait until there was more science, the FDA went ahead anyway.

Mr. President, I want to be clear. I am not opposed to cloning that follows strict scientific and ethical protocols. This Senator has always been on the side of science for the advancement of mankind. This Senator has always been on the side of the consumer and the consumers' right to know, right to be heard, and their right to be represented.

So today I come to the floor for a vigorous call to action that my legislation to label cloned food be passed as quickly as possible. This is a consumer alert today and a call for action.

My bill requires the Government to label any food that comes from a cloned animal or its progeny. Mr. President, my bill requires that the FDA and the Department of Agriculture put a label on this cloned food. The FDA handles milk products. We say FDA should work on this issue. The Department of Agriculture regulates meat products. That, too, should be labeled.

My labeling bill would insist that cloned food be labeled at the wholesale level, the retail level, the restaurant level, the school lunch level, and the Meals on Wheels level.

My bill allows the American public to make an informed decision. People have a right to know what they are eating. This is necessary because the FDA and the Department of Agriculture have refused to put a label on cloned food. My legislation allows for consumer choice and also, at the same time, it would allow for monitoring of food as it comes into the food supply for postsurveillance to see if there are any negative consequences.

Americans find cloned food disturbing, and some even repulsive. Close to 80 percent of Americans have said they would not drink cloned milk. There is a ``yuck'' factor to this technology. Right now, under FDA and USDA provisions, there would be no way to tell if food comes from a cloned animal or its progeny. I want the public to be informed, so that is why my labeling bill is for their benefit.

The FDA has been most troubling to me. They made their decision despite two congressional directives--one in the omnibus bill and one in the farm bill. The omnibus bill, which the President signed on December 26, strongly encouraged FDA to hold off on a cloning decision before additional studies were done. On December 14, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the farm bill that would require the National Academy to peer-review FDA's decision.

Now, this was limited to 1 year. So I wasn't talking about a 20-year longitudinal study. I do want more science.

Second, I am concerned if we discover a problem with cloned food after it is in our food supply, and it is not labeled, we will not have any way of monitoring this. It is labeling that allows us to monitor.

The FDA has been very weak in postmarketing surveillance of drugs. Why would they be stronger on cloned food? Who will worry about the ethics? And where is the urgency? We are not facing a global shortage of beef and a global shortage of milk.

I know FDA's decision on the risk assessment is over 900 pages long. Mr. President, I have been skeptical of long reports. I have found that the longer the report, usually the more shallow the information.

My concerns are grave. I am for more science, and I have asked for it responsibly through the legislative process. I am going to continue to advocate for more studies on this issue. In the meantime, I want to protect the consumer and also allow scientists to monitor this new technology.

If America doesn't keep track of this from the beginning with labeling, our entire food supply could be contaminated. I am not opposed to cloning. I

am on the side of science, but let's label and monitor it.

The National Academy of Sciences suggested that we monitor this new technology because it is very new. They urged the Federal Government to use diligent postmarket surveillance mechanisms. That requires labeling.

Mr. President, last week, the EU decided that cloned foods were safe, but they also put up a big yellow flashing light. They referred it to their science and ethics and new technologies committee. They said there is no ethical justification to use cloned food. The EU called for more scientific study on cloned food, and they also said it should be labeled.

Denmark and Norway have already banned cloned food from their food supply. I am worried that they will start banning our exports if they are not labeled. My State depends on the export of food, whether it is seafood, chicken, or other products. We want to be able to export our food.

Mr. President, we are going down a track that I want to be sure is not irrevocable or irretrievable. The way to ensure safety in our food supply and consumer choice and the ability for science to continue is monitoring and labeling.

I stand here on behalf of the consumer to say, please, let's pass this labeling bill. It is needed, it is responsible, and it will be effective. I think it will save us a lot of ``yuck'' in the future.

I yield the floor.