Floor Statements

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

Mr. President, I think a lot of folks are looking toward the weekend. It is a holiday weekend. I know I am reflecting on that holiday weekend. I hope others are as well because on this Memorial Day, families in communities throughout Arkansas, our great State, and across our great Nation will gather to recognize the service of our men and women in uniform and to honor those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom.

My father and both of my grandfathers were infantrymen who proudly and honorably served our Nation. They taught me from a very early age about the sacrifices of our troops, their experiences, the sacrifices of our troops and their families and what they have done to keep our Nation free.

Throughout my Senate career, I have consistently fought for initiatives that provide our military servicemembers, our veterans, and their families the benefits they have earned and deserve. That is why in advance of Memorial Day, which is right before us, I have authored a series of bills to honor our troops and their families.

My first legislative proposal calls for educational benefits that better reflect the service and commitment of our guardsmen and reservists. This legislation is endorsed by the Military Coalition, a group of about 34 military veterans and uniformed service organizations, with over 5.5 million members. I am pleased that my friend and colleague, Senator Crapo of Idaho, with whom I routinely join in a bipartisan way on a whole host of issues--we came to the House together, and we came to the Senate together. He is a good friend and good working partner on behalf of substantive issues. He has joined me in cosponsoring this bill.

Unfortunately, educational benefits for the members of our Selected Reserve have simply not kept pace with their increased service or the rising cost of higher education. These men and women serve a critical role on our behalf, and we must make an appropriate investment in them.

In Arkansas and across the country, Americans are well aware of the reality that our military simply could not function without the thousands of men and women at armories and bases in our communities who continually train and prepare for future mobilizations and who work to ensure other members of their units are qualified and ready to deploy when called upon.

My legislation would tie educational benefit rates for guardsmen and reservists to the national average cost of tuition standard that is already applied to Active-Duty educational benefit rates. This builds upon my total force GI bill, first introduced in 2006, which was designed to better reflect a comprehensive total force concept that ensures members of the Selected Reserve receive the educational benefits that are more commensurate with their increased service.

The final provisions of this legislation became law last year with the signing of the 21st-century GI bill. In addition, the National Guard and Reserve have been and will continue to be an operational force serving overseas, and as such they require greater access to health care so that members can achieve a readiness standard demanded by current deployment cycles.

Far too many men and women are declared nondeployable because they have not received the medical and dental care they need to maintain their readiness before they are called up. This can cause disruption in their unit by requiring last-minute replacements from other units or requiring treatment during periods that are set aside for much needed training and experience they need to gain before they are deployed.

Compounding the challenge is the fact that short-notice deployments occur regularly within the National Guard. The Department of Defense can and should do more to bring our Selected Reserve members into a constant state of medical readiness for the benefit of the entire force.

My bill, the Selected Reserve Continuum of Care Act, would better ensure that health assessments for guardsmen and reservists are followed by Government treatment to correct any medical or dental readiness deficiencies discovered at their health screenings.

This legislation is endorsed by the National Guard Association of the United States, the Association of the United States Army, the Association of the United States Navy, the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, the Reserve Officers Association, the Retired Enlisted Association, the U.S. Army Warrant Officers Association, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.

I also thank Senators Landrieu and Burris for their support in cosponsoring this bill as well.

Lastly, a bill I have introduced today, the Veterans Survivors Fairness Act, would enhance dependency and indemnity compensation benefits of survivors of severely disabled veterans and increase access to benefits for more families. In doing so, it would address inequities in the VA's DIC program by doing three things. First, it would increase the basic DIC rate so it is equivalent to the rate paid to survivors of Federal civilian employees. It also would provide a graduated scale of benefits so many survivors are no longer

denied benefits because of an arbitrary eligibility restriction. Lastly, it would allow surviving spouses who remarry after the age of 55 to retain their DIC benefits.

This legislation, cosponsored by my good friend, Senator Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, is endorsed by the Disabled American Veterans, the Association of the United States Navy, the Military Officers Association of America, the National Guard Association of the United States, the National Military Family Association, and the Reserve Officers Association. It is not coincidental that these two measures are supported so heavily by our military associations. It is because they are much needed and it is because they are so deserved. Beyond these three bills, veterans health care continues to be on the top of my priority list. I have worked with my colleagues to make substantial investments to increase patient travel reimbursement, improve services for mental health care, and reduce the backlog of benefit claims.

Access to the Veterans' Administration health system is absolutely critical, but too often it is quite challenging, particularly for our veterans who live in the rural areas of our Nation. For these veterans, among the other initiatives I have championed, I have championed legislation with my friend and colleague, Senator Jon Tester of Montana, that will increase the mileage reimbursement rate for veterans when they go to see a doctor at a VA medical facility and will authorize transportation grants for Veterans Service Organizations to provide better transportation service in rural areas.

I have been to areas in southern Arkansas, very far from Little Rock--3, 3\1/2\ hours' travel--visiting with veterans down there who are in dire need of access to that VA medical care. Yet their ability to get there was hampered by the fact that they were only reimbursed one way; not to mention the fact that their reimbursement was so low-- so far below what a Federal employee gets reimbursed--it was uneconomical and almost prohibitive in getting them there.

As Memorial Day approaches, I hope all my colleagues will remember, and I would like to encourage them and all Arkansans, to take the time to honor our servicemembers, veterans, and their families. Never miss an opportunity to thank someone in uniform. Our troops are worthy of our appreciation, and we should come together as a nation to show them with our words and our deeds that we stand with them as they serve our interests at home and abroad. As we all gather in preparation of a recess break, I hope we will all remember the reason we have this break, the reason we celebrate this holiday.

Those of us who have military in our family, those of us who do not, it doesn't matter, we all enjoy the freedoms of this great country, and it is critically important that we show that not only on Memorial Day but each day of the year. The opportunity we have as legislators to honor our men and women in uniform, to support them with legislation that is meaningful to their lives, to their service, and to their families is absolutely essential. I encourage all my colleagues to look at the legislation I have offered, along with several of our colleagues, and encourage them to join me as we begin this Memorial Day break coming up next week and to remember why we celebrate, why we celebrate this Nation and these freedoms. It is because of the men and women in uniform who have served so bravely, and for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, that we enjoy this great land and these freedoms and rights that we do enjoy in this great country.

Before concluding, I would like to add a couple other notes. I couldn't help but hear the comments of my colleague from Texas, and I wish to join her in her frustration for so many of our small and family-owned businesses across our State--our automobile dealers--that, for generations and generations, have passed down in their families a small business that they have worked very hard to keep afloat, to keep busy, to keep healthy, and to keep alive for future generations. My hope is that we will have the assistance and the working relationship with both the Treasury and the Chrysler Corporation and GM and others to better understand how we make that transition as reliable and certainly as palatable to those individuals and their families and small businesses as we possibly can. I look forward to working with the Senator from Texas and with other Senators as well as we move forward in that effort.

Last, but not least, I would like to also mention and extend my congratulations to our newest ``American Idol,'' Arkansas' own Kris Allen, who represented our State so well over the past few months in the ``American Idol'' television show, which has been so popular among so many people in this country.

Kris is a talented young man with a bright future ahead of him, and I look forward to watching him build a very successful career. I join all Arkansans when I say how proud we are of Kris, not only as a talented performer but as a humble young man who embodies our Arkansas values of hard work, integrity, and conviction. We wish him all the best as we begins this new phase of his life and career.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and I call up my amendment No. 1181.

Mr. President, I will be very brief.

I, first of all, want to say a special thanks to Chairman Inouye and the ranking member, my neighbor from Mississippi, Senator Cochran, for their good work on this effort and really being thoughtful and timely on that we need in this bill we have before us.

The amendment I am offering today deals with an emergency challenge that is faced in our State of Arkansas. It is a specific problem just to us, and we need the Senate's help to immediately address that issue.

Unfortunately, as a result of the economic challenges our Nation now faces, these challenges are magnified for us in our State, and immediate and emergency intervention is essential; otherwise, our State's recovery will lag behind due to a lack of capital in our State because of the circumstances we are experiencing, as I said, with an unusual cap that is tied to the Federal rate. So we are working hard to solve this problem in our State. We are asking our Senate colleagues to work with us.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Pryor be added as a cosponsor to the amendment.

I thank the Acting President pro tempore.

Again, we look forward to being able to work with our colleagues to meet this challenge our State, and our State

alone, faces. Again, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for being able to work with us on this issue.

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

Mr. President, what is the pending business?

Mr. President, I call up a second-degree amendment to the pending Collins amendment.

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

Mr. President, I begin by commending Chairman Dodd and the ranking member, Senator Shelby, for putting together such an important package of reforms to protect our consumers all across this great Nation. Without a doubt, rampant credit card debt is a problem facing a great and growing number of Americans. In my own home, my twin 12-year-old boys get preapproved credit card requests weekly--at the age of 12.

Looking at how we can do a better job of both financial literacy and helping people during this time of credit crisis to be able to do a better job in terms of responsibility, the Federal Reserve's most recent data estimates that the average American household now has about $2,200 in credit card debt compared to an average of about $1,000 in 1992, and overall household debt has risen drastically, more than doubling in this last decade.

Confusing terms, constantly changing interest rates, and high penalty fees have all contributed to this trend, as many people struggle to effectively manage their credit and their credit card use and the debt they have.

While it is the responsibility, obviously, of consumers and borrowers to manage their own financial affairs, it is also absolutely essential that we ensure they have all the information they need, in an easily understandable form, so that they are able to make fully informed decisions about their credit and the amount of debt they might be incurring and what it means to their families; what the long-term implications might be. It is also important that credit card companies provide stable, easy to predict interest rates, and reasonable penalty fees that do not overly punish innocent mistakes that might be made.

This bill, on which Chairman Dodd and Ranking Member Shelby have worked so tirelessly, has come together in a bipartisan way to improve consumer protections regarding excessive fees, ever changing interest rates, and complex contracts seemingly designed to do one thing above all, and that is to keep people in debt. This bill will clean up the fine print so consumers don't get blemished by their credit card companies.

I am very pleased to be supporting the underlying bill, because ultimately I believe it will help restore fairness and common sense in our Nation's credit card practices.

On that note, talking about fairness and common sense, I wish to discuss the second-degree amendment to Senator Collins' amendment I have called up. This is an amendment I am offering on behalf of the entire Arkansas delegation--the entire delegation as well as our State officials, and others. This is a critical legislative proposal that will provide temporary emergency relief for an Arkansas-specific interest rate problem that is having a severe impact on Arkansas students, our consumers, our businesses, as well as our municipalities and our State government. We are all, in Arkansas, affected by this situation.

Arkansas is the only State in the Nation with an artificially low interest rate limit that is tied to the Federal discount rate. Under current law, the interest rate on special revenue bonds and nonbank consumer loans may not exceed 5 percent above the Federal discount rate, which is currently set at one-half percent. So we are completely uncompetitive. Other bonds are capped even lower, at 2 percent above the Federal discount rate. As a result of this, Arkansas State and local governments, our public universities and utilities--in search of financing for construction and improvement projects--are severely hampered by the current limit, as are our Arkansas consumers, who are facing a lack of credit availability, as is everyone in this great country during this economic crisis.

Practically speaking, the current interest rate limit--the top rate that is legally allowable in Arkansas on all nonbank lending--is no higher than 5\1/2\ percent. Not surprisingly, this low rate of interest has contributed to bond investors looking to other States across the country where their yields will be much higher, as well as credit rationing by nonbank lenders that have been forced to restrict funds to consumers--particularly now, when capital is so hard to come by anywhere else.

The biggest frustration of all for people in my State is that the Federal Government has continued to make this problem worse and worse by lowering the Federal rate. This was done in an effort to improve the economy, and we certainly understand that in Arkansas. The Fed took those measures in order to try to improve the economy overall. But since we are the only State that has that unusually low rate that is tied to the Fed, we are actually suffering tremendously from what is occurring. As I said, we do appreciate the Federal Reserve's actions in these recent months to continue lowering the Federal discount rate where necessary to combat the economic crisis and stave off a further decline in our financial markets, but the lowering of that rate has only exacerbated the economic challenges faced in our State, and in our State alone, for that reason.

Additionally, many of the tools put into place in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act--the stimulus package that we offered earlier this year to jump-start our economy, such as the Recovery Zone bonds and the Build America bonds--are not available in our State because of our lack of competitiveness in the bond market, due to those abnormally low interest rates that are tied to the Fed. As stated in the recent Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article on this issue:

The bond market has responded to the Build America program.

Since its introduction, investors have purchased $8 billion

in offerings, providing the bulk of activity in the taxable-

bond sector. Arkansas is not in a position to take part.

This is an issue that impacts our State of Arkansas alone. We understand that, and Arkansas does intend to fix that problem. However, we can't do so immediately because this archaic clause in the Arkansas law must be rectified through a statewide ballot initiative. Therefore, a proposal to permanently modify this outdated law will be voted on by the people of Arkansas, but not until the next statewide ballot in 2010. Unfortunately, the economic challenges our Nation now faces are magnified in our State and immediate emergency intervention is

essential; otherwise, our State's recovery will lag behind due to a lack of capital in our State.

There is precedent for Federal action on this issue, as the Congress enacted an Arkansas-specific provision to exclude Arkansas bank lenders from this exact interest rate limit in 1999. The second-degree amendment we are offering today is even more limited in scope, allowing for a temporary relaxation of the current interest rate limit to a more reasonable level of no more than 17 percent until the State ballot initiative is considered.

This is temporary, it is an emergency for Arkansas, and it is only in regard to the State of Arkansas. This is merely a temporary bridge to get us through this immediate crisis. We are all part of this economic crisis in this great country, and we are working hard together to pull ourselves out of this ditch and to get the economy back on track. I would hate to think that my State, and my State alone, was the only one that could not access the stimulus dollars to help our universities, our airport authorities, our municipalities, and others to access some of those dollars, to help create jobs in our State, and to put people who may have lost jobs back to work. We want to be sure we have the resources as well in order to be a healthy part of reviving the economy in this great country.

This is a matter of great urgency for our State. This is a matter with broad consensus in our State. We have worked as an entire delegation and in a bipartisan way. We have the State government, our Governor, and others who have been working with us--just for Arkansas, because it is Arkansas specific--to figure out a way to provide that temporary bridge, that temporary assistance we need. Because if we wait until that ballot initiative, the stimulus package will be over and we will have missed that opportunity. So this is a matter we have been working on, as I said, in a bipartisan way to try to solve.

We hope we can count on the support of our colleagues when this amendment comes up later on today or whenever we vote on it. But I do plead with my colleagues, this is an Arkansas-specific issue. It is one that is detrimental to our State. We have an opportunity to help the people of Arkansas, the communities of Arkansas, the student loan authority, which can no longer issue new student loans because of that bonding authority and the cap that exists there. The problems that exist for us are monumental, and we want to ensure that over the next 18 months we too can be a part of reviving the economy of this great country.

I thank the Chair, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have Senator Pryor added as a cosponsor to my second-degree amendment.

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

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

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

Mr. President, I have come to my colleagues today, having come down to the floor last week, when I came to the Senate floor to announce a new plan to give working families and businesses the tools they need to succeed during this current economic crisis we are in. I come today also to add to my Arkansas plan a package of tax cuts and Tax Code simplification measures designed to move Arkansas and our State's hard-working families forward. Together, these tax measures will allow working families and small businesses to get ahead and emerge from the economic crisis stronger and more competitive.

We have a lot of small businesses, hard-working families down in Arkansas; entrepreneurs who unfortunately feel as though during this crisis they are not getting much out of Washington. We want to change that attitude. We want to make sure they are getting our support and that we as the Government are creating an atmosphere and an environment where they can be successful.

We are also going to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship to create new jobs and lessen our dependence on foreign oil and reduce the burden on working families and small businesses by simplifying our Tax Code. It is way too complicated these days. We have created too much of a complicated code that people can't use it for its intended purposes, and that is, obviously, to encourage good, healthy businesses to thrive and to be competitive.

Last week, I introduced a number of legislative measures that will allow working families and small businesses to emerge from the economic crisis stronger and more competitive than before. This week, my Arkansas plan focuses on encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship to create new jobs here at home and lessen our dependence on foreign oil. All of us want to be able to be more independent. We want to make sure we are creating jobs here, but we also want to know that, globally, we are more independent as a country and that we are not seeing that dependence on imported oil coming from other places.

Yesterday, I introduced the USA Jobs Act of 2009, which offers a new research and development bonus incentive to companies that both research and manufacture their products in the United States. Before, in the stimulus package, we extended the research and development tax credit to encourage more research and development of new ideas and new products, new methodologies so we could create jobs from those. We also need to make sure we are not sending those new ideas and that new research somewhere else on the globe to be able to be produced or manufactured. We want to incentivize that it stays right here at home.

Our Nation faces record unemployment, with more than 540,000 Americans put out of work last month alone and 90,000 job losses in Arkansas. It is more important now than ever before that we encourage the creation and preservation of American jobs. My bill provides a new job tax credit for manufacturers that do a substantial portion of their research and manufacturing right here at home in the United States. This new tax credit will encourage greater domestic production, which would, in turn, lead to the creation of more American jobs.

Today, I am focused on a series of alternative energy and conservation proposals as well. My first bill provides an even playing field for all renewable energy production. The Federal Tax Code currently offers an income tax credit for the production of electricity produced from renewable energy resources, but not all resources are treated the same. Under current law, some energy resources receive a higher level credit than others, and as a result, certain new renewable energy technologies have a more difficult time finding the necessary investment capital they need to start that process of investing in new technology and getting it to the marketplace in a reasonable way so it is cost-effective.

These are critical ideas that exist out there. We need to make sure everybody is at the table. When we look at renewable energy, we see that there are a multitude of great ideas out there, but getting those ideas to the table and then out into the marketplace is a critical part of that journey. If we don't make sure everyone has that same benefit with their ideas and technologies and being able to get out there, if it is not a fair playing field, then we are going to lose multiple opportunities.

I hope we will look forward and not backward in terms of how we are incentivizing this renewable energy. So much of what we see in terms of complications or challenges small businesses face in finding investment capital is particularly problematic with the pursuit of renewable energy opportunities in my home State of Arkansas, where biomass is a predominant renewable resource but only gets half the tax credit that many other resources receive.

That is ridiculous. We have a tremendous resource right here and available to us--not just in Arkansas but in many States in our country. It can play a tremendous role in lifting our dependence on foreign oil and finding renewable sources of energy.

My proposal would level the playing field for all energy resources by increasing the value of the credit to a full credit level for those resources that currently receive only a partial credit. It certainly makes sense not only in the sense that there are certain resources that exist today that are moving forward in their technology, but there are also resources down the road. It is amazing to me to see what

scientists are doing, even with things like algae, to be able to produce oil, and looking at how we can use our agricultural byproducts--a host of things, any of that woody biomass that we can begin to put to good use in making energy and be less dependent on imported oil.

Also, I am introducing legislation today that provides long-term certainty for producers and consumers of biofuels. Currently, the U.S. Tax Code includes credits to encourage the production of biodiesel and renewable diesel, which are proven alternative fuels that will help us lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Every barrel of biofuel that we produce is a barrel of imported oil we would not have to import. These incentives have been extended on a short-term basis in recent years and are scheduled to expire at the end of this year.

When we see all of these great ideas and we see people who are willing to invest their capital and their time and energy and resources into moving these industries to the marketplace, and in a reasonable, cost-effective way they can then integrate it into the marketplace, it takes resources. But it takes predictability in our Tax Code as well, knowing they are going to be able to depend on a certain tax treatment over a certain period of time that allows them to access that capital in the capital market.

If these credits were allowed to expire, these new technologies in renewable fuels would be priced significantly higher than petroleum diesel and, as a result, would not be competitive in the fuels marketplace. Biofuel producers and consumers in our State need the certainty that these economic incentives provide and help to sustain this new market.

We cannot move forward in changing our mindset and our marketplace from an old energy economy to a new one if we don't embrace the idea that we have to produce some predictability for these new emerging industries and fuels in a way they can--particularly in these difficult economic times--access the capital they need to move forward with the ideas and development and the production of all of these great new ideas that exist out there.

My proposal would provide a 10-year extension of the credits through 2018 to provide a stable environment for the creation of a strong domestic biofuels industry.

I want to highlight a bill I introduced a few weeks ago with Senators Roberts, Snowe, Cantwell, and Collins that would allow electricity from biomass produced onsite to qualify for the section 45 renewable electricity production tax credit.

According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 2005, the industry produced 28.5 million megawatt hours of biomass-based electricity, which avoided the use of more than 200 million barrels of oil. There it is, plain and simple--what we can be doing with an industry that has available to them--the biomass--from byproducts and from other woody products that are there, which may be discarded or unusable--to be able to produce electricity from a renewable source.

The use of biomass electricity, whether produced onsite or purchased from a utility, has the same positive impact of reducing fossil fuel consumption and should be encouraged. That is exactly what we want to do. We want to encourage these types of activities and what we can do in terms of creating new and innovative ideas with renewable energy.

Later this week I plan to introduce a bill to also encourage workforce training and development. Together, I think these bills will create jobs at home. They will help strengthen our economy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. These are all priorities I think each one of the Members of this body seek to achieve. I, for one, decided to put together a plan that I think is particularly good for my State, with a series of different types of bills that I am introducing--last week, this week, and next week--in a way that I think can be productive for my State. I think most Senators will find that these are tools that will be just as effective for their States as well. I encourage them to take a look at what we are doing.

Next week, I will complete the rollout of our Arkansas plan by introducing reform measures to simplify the Tax Code and reduce the burden on Americans, and particularly Arkansas's working families and businesses by working to build a tax structure that is fair and equitable for all Americans.

Again, I encourage my colleagues to take a look at these commonsense measures to see how they will benefit their own constituents. I work hard in the Senate to be pragmatic and look for solutions that are good for everybody and, more important, that are focused on the issues that are important to us as a country, like getting our economy back on track, making sure Americans can keep jobs, and for those who have lost jobs, we can put back to work, with the new ideas that we know Americans are so very capable of.

We must make our Nation's working families and our small businesses a top priority. The Arkansas plan does just that. I will continue to fight to bring our families the relief they need and our business owners the tools they require to invest and grow and be competitive in the global marketplace that we have been begging so longingly for over the years. We need to make sure Government is going to create that environment where they can do just that--invest, grow, and be competitive.

Mr. President, I have come to my colleagues today, having come down to the floor last week, when I came to the Senate floor to announce a new plan to give working families and businesses the tools they need to succeed during this current economic crisis we are in. I come today also to add to my Arkansas plan a package of tax cuts and Tax Code simplification measures designed to move Arkansas and our State's hard-working families forward. Together, these tax measures will allow working families and small businesses to get ahead and emerge from the economic crisis stronger and more competitive.

We have a lot of small businesses, hard-working families down in Arkansas; entrepreneurs who unfortunately feel as though during this crisis they are not getting much out of Washington. We want to change that attitude. We want to make sure they are getting our support and that we as the Government are creating an atmosphere and an environment where they can be successful.

We are also going to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship to create new jobs and lessen our dependence on foreign oil and reduce the burden on working families and small businesses by simplifying our Tax Code. It is way too complicated these days. We have created too much of a complicated code that people can't use it for its intended purposes, and that is, obviously, to encourage good, healthy businesses to thrive and to be competitive.

Last week, I introduced a number of legislative measures that will allow working families and small businesses to emerge from the economic crisis stronger and more competitive than before. This week, my Arkansas plan focuses on encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship to create new jobs here at home and lessen our dependence on foreign oil. All of us want to be able to be more independent. We want to make sure we are creating jobs here, but we also want to know that, globally, we are more independent as a country and that we are not seeing that dependence on imported oil coming from other places.

Yesterday, I introduced the USA Jobs Act of 2009, which offers a new research and development bonus incentive to companies that both research and manufacture their products in the United States. Before, in the stimulus package, we extended the research and development tax credit to encourage more research and development of new ideas and new products, new methodologies so we could create jobs from those. We also need to make sure we are not sending those new ideas and that new research somewhere else on the globe to be able to be produced or manufactured. We want to incentivize that it stays right here at home.

Our Nation faces record unemployment, with more than 540,000 Americans put out of work last month alone and 90,000 job losses in Arkansas. It is more important now than ever before that we encourage the creation and preservation of American jobs. My bill provides a new job tax credit for manufacturers that do a substantial portion of their research and manufacturing right here at home in the United States. This new tax credit will encourage greater domestic production, which would, in turn, lead to the creation of more American jobs.

Today, I am focused on a series of alternative energy and conservation proposals as well. My first bill provides an even playing field for all renewable energy production. The Federal Tax Code currently offers an income tax credit for the production of electricity produced from renewable energy resources, but not all resources are treated the same. Under current law, some energy resources receive a higher level credit than others, and as a result, certain new renewable energy technologies have a more difficult time finding the necessary investment capital they need to start that process of investing in new technology and getting it to the marketplace in a reasonable way so it is cost-effective.

These are critical ideas that exist out there. We need to make sure everybody is at the table. When we look at renewable energy, we see that there are a multitude of great ideas out there, but getting those ideas to the table and then out into the marketplace is a critical part of that journey. If we don't make sure everyone has that same benefit with their ideas and technologies and being able to get out there, if it is not a fair playing field, then we are going to lose multiple opportunities.

I hope we will look forward and not backward in terms of how we are incentivizing this renewable energy. So much of what we see in terms of complications or challenges small businesses face in finding investment capital is particularly problematic with the pursuit of renewable energy opportunities in my home State of Arkansas, where biomass is a predominant renewable resource but only gets half the tax credit that many other resources receive.

That is ridiculous. We have a tremendous resource right here and available to us--not just in Arkansas but in many States in our country. It can play a tremendous role in lifting our dependence on foreign oil and finding renewable sources of energy.

My proposal would level the playing field for all energy resources by increasing the value of the credit to a full credit level for those resources that currently receive only a partial credit. It certainly makes sense not only in the sense that there are certain resources that exist today that are moving forward in their technology, but there are also resources down the road. It is amazing to me to see what

scientists are doing, even with things like algae, to be able to produce oil, and looking at how we can use our agricultural byproducts--a host of things, any of that woody biomass that we can begin to put to good use in making energy and be less dependent on imported oil.

Also, I am introducing legislation today that provides long-term certainty for producers and consumers of biofuels. Currently, the U.S. Tax Code includes credits to encourage the production of biodiesel and renewable diesel, which are proven alternative fuels that will help us lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Every barrel of biofuel that we produce is a barrel of imported oil we would not have to import. These incentives have been extended on a short-term basis in recent years and are scheduled to expire at the end of this year.

When we see all of these great ideas and we see people who are willing to invest their capital and their time and energy and resources into moving these industries to the marketplace, and in a reasonable, cost-effective way they can then integrate it into the marketplace, it takes resources. But it takes predictability in our Tax Code as well, knowing they are going to be able to depend on a certain tax treatment over a certain period of time that allows them to access that capital in the capital market.

If these credits were allowed to expire, these new technologies in renewable fuels would be priced significantly higher than petroleum diesel and, as a result, would not be competitive in the fuels marketplace. Biofuel producers and consumers in our State need the certainty that these economic incentives provide and help to sustain this new market.

We cannot move forward in changing our mindset and our marketplace from an old energy economy to a new one if we don't embrace the idea that we have to produce some predictability for these new emerging industries and fuels in a way they can--particularly in these difficult economic times--access the capital they need to move forward with the ideas and development and the production of all of these great new ideas that exist out there.

My proposal would provide a 10-year extension of the credits through 2018 to provide a stable environment for the creation of a strong domestic biofuels industry.

I want to highlight a bill I introduced a few weeks ago with Senators Roberts, Snowe, Cantwell, and Collins that would allow electricity from biomass produced onsite to qualify for the section 45 renewable electricity production tax credit.

According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 2005, the industry produced 28.5 million megawatt hours of biomass-based electricity, which avoided the use of more than 200 million barrels of oil. There it is, plain and simple--what we can be doing with an industry that has available to them--the biomass--from byproducts and from other woody products that are there, which may be discarded or unusable--to be able to produce electricity from a renewable source.

The use of biomass electricity, whether produced onsite or purchased from a utility, has the same positive impact of reducing fossil fuel consumption and should be encouraged. That is exactly what we want to do. We want to encourage these types of activities and what we can do in terms of creating new and innovative ideas with renewable energy.

Later this week I plan to introduce a bill to also encourage workforce training and development. Together, I think these bills will create jobs at home. They will help strengthen our economy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. These are all priorities I think each one of the Members of this body seek to achieve. I, for one, decided to put together a plan that I think is particularly good for my State, with a series of different types of bills that I am introducing--last week, this week, and next week--in a way that I think can be productive for my State. I think most Senators will find that these are tools that will be just as effective for their States as well. I encourage them to take a look at what we are doing.

Next week, I will complete the rollout of our Arkansas plan by introducing reform measures to simplify the Tax Code and reduce the burden on Americans, and particularly Arkansas's working families and businesses by working to build a tax structure that is fair and equitable for all Americans.

Again, I encourage my colleagues to take a look at these commonsense measures to see how they will benefit their own constituents. I work hard in the Senate to be pragmatic and look for solutions that are good for everybody and, more important, that are focused on the issues that are important to us as a country, like getting our economy back on track, making sure Americans can keep jobs, and for those who have lost jobs, we can put back to work, with the new ideas that we know Americans are so very capable of.

We must make our Nation's working families and our small businesses a top priority. The Arkansas plan does just that. I will continue to fight to bring our families the relief they need and our business owners the tools they require to invest and grow and be competitive in the global marketplace that we have been begging so longingly for over the years. We need to make sure Government is going to create that environment where they can do just that--invest, grow, and be competitive.

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

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

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise to highlight the greatest resource of Arkansas. It is our people. It is the working families and the small businesses in their valiant fight against the current economic crisis.

It is more important than ever before to give working families and businesses the tools they need to succeed in this world, to be competitive in the global marketplace and, more importantly, to be able to be successful on their own land. Hard work and entrepreneurship have fueled the Arkansas small business economy for decades, and we must ensure it remains that way in the future.

That is why I have designed a package of tax cuts and Tax Code simplification measures that I call the Arkansas Plan, to help move our State and hard-working families forward. Together, these tax measures will allow working families and small businesses to get ahead and emerge from this economic crisis stronger and more competitive than ever before. These measures will encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, create new jobs, and lessen our dependence on foreign oil; as well as reduce the burden on working families and small businesses by simplifying our ever-complicated Tax Code.

This week, I am focused on measures that will allow working families and small businesses to emerge from the economic crisis stronger and more competitive. I have reintroduced the Small Business Health Options Program, which would make health insurance more affordable, predictable, and accessible for small businesses and self-employed individuals. Our SHOP bill offers tax incentives to encourage States to reform the poorly functioning small group insurance market and encourages the development of State purchasing pools backstopped by a voluntary nationwide pool.

The majority of uninsured Americans are self-employed individuals and employees of small businesses. Small businesses are the No. 1 source for jobs in our great State of Arkansas. Yet only 29 percent of businesses with fewer than 50 employees offer health insurance coverage because it is simply too expensive. Of the total uninsured population of Arkansas--more than 56 percent--approximately 295,000 Arkansans are employed by a firm with 100 or fewer employees.

Our SHOP bill is a pragmatic model for larger health reform legislation that allows us to begin to address the needs of the millions of working uninsured Americans whose top priority is access to quality and affordable health care for their families. What we are looking for is to be able to give small businesses, their employees, and self-employed individuals the access to the same kind of quality and affordable health insurance we enjoy as Members of Congress.

I think it is very doable. I am looking forward to continuing my work with Senator Snowe and others on a plan we have worked on for years now. Whether it is done independently or in the context of a larger health care reform package, it is time to do something for small businesses, their employees, and the self employed because they are the largest component of the uninsured that we could really do something substantively for.

Another piece of my Arkansas plan is legislation to help Arkansas taxpayers who have seen their investments disappear as a result of the deteriorating economic conditions. My proposal would allow taxpayers to deduct up to $10,000--up from the $3,000 cap they have now--as the amount an individual can deduct annually for capital losses suffered.

More than 100,000 Arkansans count on such investments. Arkansas families have seen the value of investments plummet during the current economic crisis. The resulting losses from the dramatic downturn in the market have been felt by all investors, but probably the hardest hit are those taxpayers who are at or near retirement age, who are counting on such funds for their retirement security. This gives them a little bit of ease.

I have also introduced the Savings for Working Families Act, which would encourage low- and middle-income families to establish savings accounts for the purchase of a first home, a college education, or to start a business. These individual development accounts have a proven track record of success in Arkansas.

In addition, today I introduce the Family Tax Relief Act to help the families of more than 140,000 Arkansas children afford the cost of childcare. If you look around this Nation at the hard-working Americans--particularly in Arkansas--who are in need of childcare, good-quality childcare, to be able to pay for it, this is a substantial difference in these economic times that helps them achieve that goal.

Also, today I introduce a bill to update rules for S corporations so that businesses can access capital and have the opportunity to expand and create the much needed jobs Arkansans need.

Together, I believe these bills will equip the working families and small businesses in our great State of Arkansas with the resources needed to navigate the current crisis.

Next week, my Arkansas Plan will focus on encouraging American innovation and entrepreneurship to create new jobs here at home and lessen our dependence on foreign oil. I will introduce a series of energy, research and development, and workforce training

tax initiatives to accomplish this objective.

The following week, I will look forward to introducing reform measures to simplify the Tax Code and reduce the burden of Arkansas' working families and businesses by working to build a tax structure that is fair and equitable for all Americans.

I encourage my colleagues to look at these commonsense measures to see how they will benefit their own constituents in States across this great land.

Throughout my career in the Senate, I have made Arkansas' working families and small businesses my top priorities. From my seat on the Senate Finance Committee, I will continue to work to bring our families the relief they need and business owners the tools they require to invest and grow and become successful and continue to be competitive.

We have a great country, and each of us feels very particular about our State. I come from a seventh-generation Arkansas farm family. My home is precious to me. I reiterate what I started with, and that is that our greatest assets and resources in Arkansas are our people. They are hard working, innovative, and stalwart in coming together to help one another and help this country. Whether they are small business individuals or whether they serve in the armed services or whether they are teachers or whether they care for parents and the elderly, they are wonderful people, and they deserve our utmost attention, as do those in other States.

I am willing to bet my colleagues that the Arkansas Plan, which I put together to benefit Arkansas small businesses and working families, will also benefit the working families in each of their States. I challenge you all to take a look at this and help me to move these initiatives forward on behalf of our working families and small businesses across this country.

Mr. President, I rise to highlight the greatest resource of Arkansas. It is our people. It is the working families and the small businesses in their valiant fight against the current economic crisis.

It is more important than ever before to give working families and businesses the tools they need to succeed in this world, to be competitive in the global marketplace and, more importantly, to be able to be successful on their own land. Hard work and entrepreneurship have fueled the Arkansas small business economy for decades, and we must ensure it remains that way in the future.

That is why I have designed a package of tax cuts and Tax Code simplification measures that I call the Arkansas Plan, to help move our State and hard-working families forward. Together, these tax measures will allow working families and small businesses to get ahead and emerge from this economic crisis stronger and more competitive than ever before. These measures will encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, create new jobs, and lessen our dependence on foreign oil; as well as reduce the burden on working families and small businesses by simplifying our ever-complicated Tax Code.

This week, I am focused on measures that will allow working families and small businesses to emerge from the economic crisis stronger and more competitive. I have reintroduced the Small Business Health Options Program, which would make health insurance more affordable, predictable, and accessible for small businesses and self-employed individuals. Our SHOP bill offers tax incentives to encourage States to reform the poorly functioning small group insurance market and encourages the development of State purchasing pools backstopped by a voluntary nationwide pool.

The majority of uninsured Americans are self-employed individuals and employees of small businesses. Small businesses are the No. 1 source for jobs in our great State of Arkansas. Yet only 29 percent of businesses with fewer than 50 employees offer health insurance coverage because it is simply too expensive. Of the total uninsured population of Arkansas--more than 56 percent--approximately 295,000 Arkansans are employed by a firm with 100 or fewer employees.

Our SHOP bill is a pragmatic model for larger health reform legislation that allows us to begin to address the needs of the millions of working uninsured Americans whose top priority is access to quality and affordable health care for their families. What we are looking for is to be able to give small businesses, their employees, and self-employed individuals the access to the same kind of quality and affordable health insurance we enjoy as Members of Congress.

I think it is very doable. I am looking forward to continuing my work with Senator Snowe and others on a plan we have worked on for years now. Whether it is done independently or in the context of a larger health care reform package, it is time to do something for small businesses, their employees, and the self employed because they are the largest component of the uninsured that we could really do something substantively for.

Another piece of my Arkansas plan is legislation to help Arkansas taxpayers who have seen their investments disappear as a result of the deteriorating economic conditions. My proposal would allow taxpayers to deduct up to $10,000--up from the $3,000 cap they have now--as the amount an individual can deduct annually for capital losses suffered.

More than 100,000 Arkansans count on such investments. Arkansas families have seen the value of investments plummet during the current economic crisis. The resulting losses from the dramatic downturn in the market have been felt by all investors, but probably the hardest hit are those taxpayers who are at or near retirement age, who are counting on such funds for their retirement security. This gives them a little bit of ease.

I have also introduced the Savings for Working Families Act, which would encourage low- and middle-income families to establish savings accounts for the purchase of a first home, a college education, or to start a business. These individual development accounts have a proven track record of success in Arkansas.

In addition, today I introduce the Family Tax Relief Act to help the families of more than 140,000 Arkansas children afford the cost of childcare. If you look around this Nation at the hard-working Americans--particularly in Arkansas--who are in need of childcare, good-quality childcare, to be able to pay for it, this is a substantial difference in these economic times that helps them achieve that goal.

Also, today I introduce a bill to update rules for S corporations so that businesses can access capital and have the opportunity to expand and create the much needed jobs Arkansans need.

Together, I believe these bills will equip the working families and small businesses in our great State of Arkansas with the resources needed to navigate the current crisis.

Next week, my Arkansas Plan will focus on encouraging American innovation and entrepreneurship to create new jobs here at home and lessen our dependence on foreign oil. I will introduce a series of energy, research and development, and workforce training

tax initiatives to accomplish this objective.

The following week, I will look forward to introducing reform measures to simplify the Tax Code and reduce the burden of Arkansas' working families and businesses by working to build a tax structure that is fair and equitable for all Americans.

I encourage my colleagues to look at these commonsense measures to see how they will benefit their own constituents in States across this great land.

Throughout my career in the Senate, I have made Arkansas' working families and small businesses my top priorities. From my seat on the Senate Finance Committee, I will continue to work to bring our families the relief they need and business owners the tools they require to invest and grow and become successful and continue to be competitive.

We have a great country, and each of us feels very particular about our State. I come from a seventh-generation Arkansas farm family. My home is precious to me. I reiterate what I started with, and that is that our greatest assets and resources in Arkansas are our people. They are hard working, innovative, and stalwart in coming together to help one another and help this country. Whether they are small business individuals or whether they serve in the armed services or whether they are teachers or whether they care for parents and the elderly, they are wonderful people, and they deserve our utmost attention, as do those in other States.

I am willing to bet my colleagues that the Arkansas Plan, which I put together to benefit Arkansas small businesses and working families, will also benefit the working families in each of their States. I challenge you all to take a look at this and help me to move these initiatives forward on behalf of our working families and small businesses across this country.

Mr. President, I thank the Chair and my friend from Oklahoma. I appreciate the collegiality and certainly his friendship.

Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the outstanding service that MG Elder Granger has given to Arkansas and our great Nation through his work in the military medical services.

Since 2005, MG Elder Granger, M.D., has served his country as the deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. Prior to joining TRICARE, Major General Granger led the largest U.S. and multinational battlefield health system in our Nation's recent history as Commander of the Task Force 44th Medical Command and Command Surgeon for the Multinational Corps in Iraq.

Major General Granger also brilliantly implemented TRICARE's $22.5 billion Defense Health Program that benefitted over 9.2 million people worldwide. With his compassion and dedication, Major General Granger improved patient care for the entire military health system by managing the TRICARE benefits for an international network of 75 military hospitals, 461 service clinics, and a network of civilian providers and hospitals. An enthusiastic advocate for the military health system, Major General Granger directed the launch of a TRICARE Web portal which improved communications between beneficiaries and enhanced health benefits information services. This technology is projected to reach 23 million individuals by 2009.

Through the TRICARE's mail order pharmacy program, Major General Granger increased the number of users utilizing mail-order pharmacy prescriptions by 16 percent, as well as increasing total prescription volume by

21 percent. In addition, he established a Web/call-in center which handled 21,412 beneficiary requests for 47,213 prescription conversions as of November 2008, which amounts to an estimated cost avoidance of $3.2 million to date. Major General Granger also oversaw the establishment of the voluntary agreement for retail rebates, which has resulted in a pharmaceutical industry rebate of $28 million since the beginning of 2007. Further, he established electronic claims processing which has already saved $1.6 million in administrative fees in addition to $105 million in overhead savings.

A native of West Memphis, AR, MG Elder Granger has played an active role in veterans' medical services since the beginning of his career. He represents the great progress that has and will continue to occur within the military health system. He is a mentor to his staff, a leader in his field, and a soldier ready for any mission.

I am honored to recognize his service.

Mr. President, before I begin, I wish to say a word of thanks to Chairman Conrad, who has done a tremendous job providing great leadership. He and his staff have done a wonderful job reflecting the President's priorities and, more importantly, putting balance to the budget before us.

Because my time is limited, I wish to take a moment to read to you a few excerpts from an editorial that appeared in the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette earlier this year. It was submitted by a member of a family who runs a timber operation in southwest Arkansas and that has been in the family since 1907. He said:

The estate tax kills jobs. It kills companies that provide

jobs. In the process it kills towns and communities,

particularly those in rural areas dependent upon the land and

local industry.

Five times this man's family has been subjected to the estate tax-- five times.

He goes on:

Between the 1950s and 1980s, vast amounts of money--tens of

millions of dollars--were raised to pay the tax. Lands were

clear cut, mills liquidated, communities destroyed. . . .The

next hit will be too great.

Think about this type of family business. They have grown their business, reinvested in it over a century's worth of time, put almost all their profits back into it, and now this particular company employs over 1,000 Arkansans and has multiple mills that are worth a good bit of money--millions of dollars.

This amendment provides real relief to our family-owned businesses. In a time when our Government has handed out billions upon billions to failed Wall Street banks, it is time we provide a little relief to our businesses on Main Street that are in need of help right now. These are people who employ more than half the workers in Arkansas. These are the people who, if we reform the estate tax, will invest in their businesses and create more jobs.

I ask my colleagues to look at this seriously and realize we are not protecting the ultrawealthy. We are working for small businesses, family businesses in each and every one of our States.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to call up amendment No. 873.

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

Mr. President, I will soon call up amendment No. 775, which is one of the amendments I filed on the budget.

This is a simple amendment. It is to ask that we make an investment that would reflect our Nation's commitment to the men and women serving in our Nation's Selected Reserve.

The amendment I offer with Senators Crapo and Klobuchar would create room in the budget to ``enhance future GI Bill benefits for members of the National Guard and Reserve by ensuring those benefits keep pace with the national average cost of tuition.''

Since its inception in 1984, the Selected Reserve GI bill has served as an important tool for recruiting young men and women into the National Guard and Reserves. Those who initially join for 6 years are automatically entitled to these benefits and the current monthly rate of $329 for full-time study and training.

Unfortunately, however, Selected Reserve GI bill benefit rates are simply not reflective of the critical role guardsmen and reservists play in today's military. Since September 11, 2001, these benefits have increased an average of less than 3 percent each year.

As so many people know, the Guard, Reserve, and Selected Reserve are doing a tremendous duty now that is much different than what it was pre- 9/11.

They have also not kept pace with the Active-Duty GI bill benefit increases--plunging in value from the historic benchmark of 48 percent of the Active-Duty GI bill to just 25 percent today.

By failing to make an appropriate investment in the men and women of our National Guard and Reserves, this trend sends a very poor message that the Reserve component is being devalued.

Given the current economic climate, it is imperative we make a greater investment in these fabulous men and women who serve us from each of our States in the Guard and Reserves. The rising price of higher education, increases in the interest rates on student loans, and the limited earnings ability of those with only high school credentials make educational benefits a primary means of investing in our future. During tough economic times, they may also face increased competition for financial aid dollars as our colleges and universities see more applicants.

As we know, an increasingly competitive job market encourages more high school graduates to pursue higher education rather than risk finding stable employment. At the same time, more working adults are going back to school to gain additional skills to make them more marketable. We want to encourage our Guard and Reserves, and we want to encourage our Selected Reservists to take advantage of educational opportunities to further their positions in the Guard and Reserves but also to be able to further their positions in business and in industry and where they are going to be working in our communities.

Last year, Congress made a tremendous investment in our men and women in uniform by passing a 21st century GI bill that greatly expanded GI bill benefits and made college more affordable for servicemembers and veterans.

Senators Webb, Akaka, and others deserve our gratitude for their tremendous leadership on that issue.

For Active-Duty servicemembers and Reservists called to Active Duty for more than 90 days, these benefits will be absolutely critical.

My State of Arkansas has recently welcomed home over 3,000 National Guardsmen from a 1-year tour in Iraq. For many of them, it was their second tour in just 3 years. I am proud we will be providing them with education benefits that are more commensurate with their increased service to our great Nation.

One of the provisions of the newly enhanced GI bill will tie the Active-Duty GI bill rate to the national average cost of tuition.

My amendment would simply create budget room to do the same thing for the Selected Reserve GI bill. Therefore, when the national average cost of tuition increases, Selected Reserve GI bill rates would increase by the same percentage, making sure they keep up as we move forward, as opposed to continually falling behind in their percentage rate toward educational benefits for the Selected Reserve.

This required increase is very modest. Yet it would send a powerful message to the men and women serving in our Nation's Selected Reserve.

Our military simply could not function without them--particularly in today's world. While those who are activated and sent overseas deserve our utmost respect and gratitude, we must also not forget the thousands of men and women at armories and bases all across our States who serve a critical role in making sure other members of their units are qualified and ready to deploy.

They are the police officers, the doctors, the schoolteachers, the mayors, and the neighborhood pharmacists in communities across our Nation.

Providing enhanced Selected Service GI bill benefits makes an investment in these men and women who are not only holding up the economies in our local small communities across the States in this great Nation, but they are also willing to serve in a military fashion that is much needed to back up those men and women who are deployed. It also enhances the GI bill to more effectively serve as a recruitment and retention tool for our Armed Forces.

Ultimately, it enhances our Nation's competitiveness through the development of a more highly educated and productive workforce.

As the daughter of a Korean war veteran, who was an infantryman, I was taught from an early age about the sacrifices our troops have to make to keep our Nation free. I have been grateful all my life, and continue to be, as my colleagues are, for the service of so many of our brave men and women, particularly from Arkansas and certainly across the Nation.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. It is the least we can do for those to whom we owe so much and to reassure future generations that a grateful nation will provide for them should they devote themselves to serving our Nation in uniform.

I appreciate the time I have had today to bring up this amendment. I look forward to being able to talk on other amendments when the time is available.

Mr. President, at this point, under the previous order, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside in order to call up my amendment No. 775.

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

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I wish to thank the chairman of the Budget Committee and the ranking member, Senator Gregg, for being so thoughtful in this debate. I continue to especially compliment the chairman on coming up with an incredible balance in the budget, having worked so hard to reflect what so many of us want to see and the President's priorities. I think he has has done a remarkable job focusing on the priorities that many of us and the President feel are very important to focus on now and to do it with such a fiscally responsible as well as a very balanced approach. I think he has reached a tremendous balance. I applaud him and his staff and all those who have worked on this budget. I do believe they have come up with a good, sound proposal, something that reflects so much of what we want to see happening in this great country.

I rise to support an amendment that I will be offering, which is filed, but I will bring it up later. It will be offered on behalf of approximately 500,000 foster children across our Nation, and the foster, kinship, and adoptive parents who play such a crucial role in their lives.

My amendment would create room in the budget for making improvements to our child welfare system and specifically for additional efforts to recruit and retain more foster families.

I am so grateful to be joined in this effort by Senator Collins from Maine and Senator Landrieu from Louisiana, who have long been tremendous advocates on behalf of our Nation's foster children.

As we all know, our States face ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining families to care for children in our foster care system. Tragically, while the number of children coming into the system has increased in recent years, the number of foster families has steadily decreased. All anybody has to do is look at the economy around us. Working families are struggling. Unfortunately, those hard-working families, who are the diligent, giving souls who open their homes to foster children to embrace and love them and to give them a home, are struggling as much, if not more than, anybody else, and their ability to open their hearts and homes is being restricted by this economy.

With nearly 25 percent of families leaving the system each year, we simply cannot sustain these losses. In my State of Arkansas, we are grateful for our 1,200 foster families, but we desperately need more to cover the number of children in need.

Given the current economic climate, many of these parents, most of whom are low- to middle-income families, have experienced tremendous difficulties maintaining employment and providing for their families. That makes them even more hesitant to take on the additional responsibilities of caring for a foster child. This problem will only exacerbate unless we do something to stem the tide.

My amendment would allow for initiatives, such as the grant program provided under the Resource Family Recruitment and Retention Act, a bipartisan bill I have introduced with six of my Senate colleagues.

Specifically, this grant program would provide States more opportunities to develop innovative methods of education and support for resource families.

Among other demonstration projects, it would also allow States to establish peer-to-peer support and mentoring groups; programs to provide foster families with reliable and accessible respite care to help them avoid burnout. We are seeing, as they put more and more of their resources and energies and more and more of their hearts and souls into wanting to reach out to foster children and bring them into their homes, a tremendous amount of burnout. We also want to train them to care for children with special needs, which is, again, a growing need among foster children.

As lawmakers, it is our role to honor the critical role that foster families play in the lives of foster youth and provide them with the services and the support they need. Foster children seek nothing more than a safe, loving, and permanent home, and resource families often help address this need. By strengthening efforts to recruit and retain these families, we also enhance our best tool to recruit other families and retain prospective adoptive resources.

As Members of this body, we have an obligation to do right by those we represent each and every day. We also have a moral obligation to do everything we can on behalf of the most vulnerable in our society.

For the over 500,000 children who are in foster care today, and many more who are headed into the foster care system, the many thousands of families who have provided them with the love and support they desperately need, it is the least we can do.

I call on my colleagues to join me in this effort to make sure we recognize that in these difficult economic times, we have multitudes of good American families, hard-working families who want to do what is right, who want to reach out and help these children who need a loving home. We need to provide the help in order for them to do that.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Absolutely. How grateful.

Mr. President, I believe under the previous order I need to also ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside in order to call up my second amendment, which is amendment No. 774.

I thank my colleagues.

Mr. President, tomorrow, April 1, 2009, four Arkansas universities--Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, and the University of Arkansas at Monticello--will celebrate 100 years of commitment to higher education. On their centennial anniversary, I want to recognize the enormous contributions these institutions have made to Arkansas and our Nation.

In 1909, during the 37th session of the Arkansas General Assembly, Representative J.J. Bellamy of Lawrence County introduced Act 100, a bill to create four agricultural schools in Arkansas, one for each quadrant. The locations of the schools were to be chosen based upon ``the nature of the soil, healthfulness of location, general desirability, and other material inducements offered, such as the donation of buildings, land or money.'' The legislation was signed on April 1, 1909, by Governor George Donaghey.

The four agriculture schools were to teach agriculture, horticulture, and textile making. Although they were secondary schools in their early days, these schools added additional curriculum to better serve their communities and soon were offering junior college classes. In 1925, the state legislature changed the names of the schools to better reflect their new role and the unique status of each school.

The former First District Agricultural School is known today as Arkansas State University. A farm just east of Jonesboro was selected as the location for the school. With enrollment down due to World War I, the school obtained a Student Army Training Corps--SATC--on its campus. Since only junior colleges could participate in the SATC program, the school added faculty and improved its curriculum. It soon became known as the First District Agriculture and Mechanical College; the school received accreditation as a 2-year junior college and conditional status as a 4-year institution in 1925.

In 1931, the A&M College awarded its first baccalaureate degree, and in 1933, the legislature once again changed the name to Arkansas State College--ASC. In fact, Arkansas's first female U.S. Senator, Hattie Caraway, was awarded the school's first honorary doctorate in recognition of her support. The university continued to grow over the decades, and on January 17, 1967, Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller signed legislation that gave the school its present-day name, Arkansas State University--ASU.

Today, the ASU system serves approximately 18,900 students and includes campuses at Beebe, Mountain Home, and Newport. It also includes degree centers in Heber Springs and Searcy as part of ASU- Beebe; a technical center in Marked Tree; and instructional sites in Paragould and at Little Rock Air Force Base.

On the occasion of the centennial, ASU Chancellor, Robert L. Potts, offered the following thoughts:

From our origins as an agricultural school serving the

First District, we have matured into a comprehensive

university offering 42 degrees through the doctoral level in

170 fields of study and ten colleges. Since 1909, we have

prepared our students to meet the challenges of their lives

by Powering Minds--providing a university experience that

educates, enhances, and enriches. We look forward to this

Centennial Celebration as a time to focus on our heritage and

build upon our successes.

The former Second District Agricultural School is presently called Arkansas Tech University. The location of Russellville was chosen because the town agreed to pledge a minimum of $40,000 and a site of not less than 200 acres. In addition, it offered free electricity and water for three years. In 1925, the state legislature changed the school's name to Arkansas Polytechnic College to accurately reflect its move away from an agriculture curriculum to teacher training and the liberal fine arts.

The school was officially accredited as a junior college in 1929 and remained a 2-year college until 1951. The school continued to grow and in 1976, it officially became Arkansas Tech University. It awarded its first graduate degrees 1 year later. Today, Arkansas Tech includes approximately 7,480 students at its Russellville and Ozark campuses.

After 100 years, Arkansas Tech Chancellor, Robert C. Brown, noted:

For the last one hundred years, Arkansas Tech University

has educated students and prepared them for a successful

future. Today, we are uniquely positioned to continue

preparing our students for what lies ahead. Because of our

commitment to educational excellence and our emphasis on

teaching and learning, we are producing what the state and

region need the most--college students ready to shape the

future for the next one hundred years.

The Third District Agricultural School is now known as Southern Arkansas University. Local farmers in Columbia County ensured that Magnolia was chosen as the site for the school. It became officially known as Magnolia A&M in 1925 and was fully accredited in 1929 with an emphasis on agriculture and home economics.

In 1950, it became a 4-year institution and was renamed Southern State College--SSC--the following year. For 25 years, the school's enrollment and size increased, and in 1976 it was approved for university status. Renamed Southern Arkansas University, it is now a multicampus system with more than 5,000 students and locations in El Dorado and Camden.

For the 100-year celebration, Southern Arkansas University Chancellor F. David Rankin had this to say:

As the former Third District Agricultural School, Magnolia

A&M, and Southern State College, Southern Arkansas University

has served its region with a Tradition of Success since 1909.

Although our name has changed, our commitment to higher

education has not. SAU has roots that run deep in

agriculture, but it has grown into a regional, comprehensive,

four-year institution with a broad curriculum and a quickly

expanding graduate school. As we begin our second century of

service, we invite you to be a part of history as we pay

tribute to our own.

The final school created by Act 100 was the Fourth District Agricultural School. Monticello was chosen as the site thanks to the donation of land by the William Turner Wells estate. A former plantation, it included 900 fruit trees, a house, and a pond. In 1923, junior college classes were added. It formally changed its name, as the other schools did, in 1925 and became known as the Fourth District Agricultural and Mechanical College. By 1928, it was fully accredited and became a 4-year institution in 1933.

In 1935, the school began unofficially calling itself Arkansas Agricultural & Mechanical College. It remained Arkansas A&M until 1971 when Governor Dale Bumpers signed legislation merging the school with the University of Arkansas. On July 19, 1971, the University of Arkansas at Monticello--UAM was established. Although it is the smallest school in the University of Arkansas system at nearly 3,000 students, the Monticello campus owns the most land of any UA school with 1,036 acres devoted to forestry research and instruction and 300 acres for agricultural teaching and research. In 2003, UAM added campuses and now includes the College of Technology at McGehee and the College of Technology at Crossett.

University of Arkansas at Monticello Chancellor, H. Jack Lassiter, said the following for the centennial celebration:

As we approach our 100th Anniversary, we are constantly

reminded that we have always represented opportunity to

generations of people seeking a higher education and a better

life. That message resonates as clearly today as it did in

1909. Many of our students are the first in their families to

attend college. Others are non-traditional students

who have decided to take advantage of the opportunity to

change careers or complete a dream that began years ago. The

university is constantly exploring and developing new

opportunities to help students open doors to a better life.

UAM is truly celebrating a century of opportunity.

Mr. President, what wonderful gifts to the people of Arkansas that our legislators bestowed upon us a century ago. As each university celebrates this year, I want to add my voice to the chorus of Arkansans who celebrate this milestone. We have so much of which to be proud. As we move forward in the 21st century, I know that these four institutions will continue to stand ready to prepare our citizens to compete in the global marketplace for the next century.

Mr. President, I rise to join some of my colleagues to express our deep frustration with the financial institutions that have made the very poor decision of handing out multimillion dollar bonuses at taxpayers' expense--AIG being the latest in the line of continuing irresponsible behavior coming from Wall Street.

I have hard-working families--and there are hard-working families all across this great Nation--who are saying: Enough is enough.

This is not the kind of behavior Americans should be accepting at this time. It is completely irresponsible. Times are tough and people are sacrificing. People all across this country are sacrificing. Many employees in my State are seeing their hours cut or they are finding themselves out of work altogether. How are they caring for their families? They are working hard to look for that next job to put dinner on the table or to get their kids to school or making sure they can keep their families together.

I have talked to recent retirees who have been devastated because the nest egg they have been saving all these years has been slashed by 40 or 50 percent in just a matter of months. Now they are having to dramatically downsize their quality of life or go back to work, if they can even find work. I met a gentleman this weekend who is beginning to have college-age kids. He spent his entire life working to save for those college funds only to find that in these last several months they too have been slashed in half.

These people are realizing the impact of what is happening not only in our country but globally. They are standing up as Americans. They are willing to make sacrifices. They are working hard to keep body and soul together. But it is absolutely, unequivocally totally unacceptable for failed financial institutions that have received taxpayer assistance to be rewarding their employees with bonus payments at this time. It is outrageous and it will not be allowed.

We are the stewards of the taxpayers in our States and of the dollars we have provided in good faith as an investment in these companies to try to make sure they, too, can make ends meet. But this isn't making ends meet--handing out tremendous bonuses to just a select few. It is absolutely irresponsible.

During the debate of the recovery package, Senator Wyden and Senator Snowe and myself offered an amendment that put an excise tax on bonuses and financial institutions that had received TARP dollars. We did so because we feared this very thing would continue to happen. Unfortunately, our proposal was taken out of the package in the conference. So I am pleased to hear many of my colleagues who are now in agreement that something must be done to correct this travesty.

Make no mistake, if these companies handing out multimillion dollar bonuses do not rectify the situation, do not change their ways, we stand ready to work to enact legislation that recoups these tax dollars and these taxpayers' funds. Our taxpayers have worked hard and they are suffering as much as anybody else. But we do not need to see these major corporations and financial institutions that are handing out these unbelievable enhanced bonuses at a time when we should all be pulling together, pulling together to make our economy strong, to set it back on track and to make sure we can embrace and continue the kind of quality of life that all Americans need to be able to realize.

I yield the floor.