Floor Statements

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table.

Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague, Senator Craig Thomas, to introduce the Disabled Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2007. This much-needed legislation would protect disabled veterans from being unfairly taxed on the benefits to which they are entitled, simply because their disability claims were not processed in a timely manner. This legislation is supported by the Military Coalition, a group representing more than 5.5 million members of the uniformed services and their families.

While the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, resolves most of its filed disability claims in less than a year, there are also instances of lost paperwork, administrative errors, and appeals of rejected claims that often delay thousands of disability awards for years on end. When this occurs, disability compensation is awarded retroactively and for tax purposes, a disabled veteran's previously received taxable military retiree pay is re-designated as nontaxable disability compensation. Thereby, the disabled veteran is entitled to a refund of taxes paid and must file an amended tax return for each applicable year.

However, under current law the IRS Code bars the filing of amended returns beyond the last 3 tax years. As a result, many of our disabled veterans are denied the opportunity to file a claim for repayment of additional years of back taxes already paid--through no fault of their own--even though the IRS owes them a refund for the taxes that were originally paid on their retiree pay.

The Disabled Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2007 would add an exception to the IRS statute of limitations for amending returns. This exception would allow disabled veterans whose disability claims have been pending for more than 3 years to receive refunds on previous taxes paid for up to 5 years--the length of time the IRS keeps these records. Affected veterans would have 1 year from the date the VA determination is issued to go back and amend previous years' tax returns.

My father and grandfather both served our Nation in uniform and they taught me from an early age about the sacrifices our troops and their families have made to keep our Nation free. This is particularly true for our disabled veterans. During a time when a grateful nation should be doing everything it can to honor those who have sacrificed so greatly on our behalf, the very least it can do is ensure they and their families are not unjustly penalized simply because of bureaucratic inefficiencies or administrative delays which are beyond their control. This situation is unacceptable and our veterans deserve better.

That is why I am proud to reintroduce this legislation today to provide relief to our Nation's veterans. It is the least we can do for those whom we owe so much, and it is the least we can do to reassure future generations that a grateful nation will not forget them when their military service is complete.

Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague, Senator Craig Thomas, to introduce the Disabled Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2007. This much-needed legislation would protect disabled veterans from being unfairly taxed on the benefits to which they are entitled, simply because their disability claims were not processed in a timely manner. This legislation is supported by the Military Coalition, a group representing more than 5.5 million members of the uniformed services and their families.

While the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA, resolves most of its filed disability claims in less than a year, there are also instances of lost paperwork, administrative errors, and appeals of rejected claims that often delay thousands of disability awards for years on end. When this occurs, disability compensation is awarded retroactively and for tax purposes, a disabled veteran's previously received taxable military retiree pay is re-designated as nontaxable disability compensation. Thereby, the disabled veteran is entitled to a refund of taxes paid and must file an amended tax return for each applicable year.

However, under current law the IRS Code bars the filing of amended returns beyond the last 3 tax years. As a result, many of our disabled veterans are denied the opportunity to file a claim for repayment of additional years of back taxes already paid--through no fault of their own--even though the IRS owes them a refund for the taxes that were originally paid on their retiree pay.

The Disabled Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2007 would add an exception to the IRS statute of limitations for amending returns. This exception would allow disabled veterans whose disability claims have been pending for more than 3 years to receive refunds on previous taxes paid for up to 5 years--the length of time the IRS keeps these records. Affected veterans would have 1 year from the date the VA determination is issued to go back and amend previous years' tax returns.

My father and grandfather both served our Nation in uniform and they taught me from an early age about the sacrifices our troops and their families have made to keep our Nation free. This is particularly true for our disabled veterans. During a time when a grateful nation should be doing everything it can to honor those who have sacrificed so greatly on our behalf, the very least it can do is ensure they and their families are not unjustly penalized simply because of bureaucratic inefficiencies or administrative delays which are beyond their control. This situation is unacceptable and our veterans deserve better.

That is why I am proud to reintroduce this legislation today to provide relief to our Nation's veterans. It is the least we can do for those whom we owe so much, and it is the least we can do to reassure future generations that a grateful nation will not forget them when their military service is complete.

Mr. President, I come before the Senate to once again raise an issue that is near and dear to my heart--an issue that is of great importance to working families across this country. In 2001 and again in 2003, Senator Snowe and I worked together to ensure that low- income working families with children receive the benefit of the Child Tax Credit. I come here today to again ask my colleagues to help me ensure that low-income families aren't forgotten as we discuss tax relief in the 110th Congress.

Unfortunately, although we have made great strides in ensuring that the credit is a useful tool for our working families, in its current form it isn't working for everyone. We can and should take an important additional step to improve it.

As some of my colleagues may be aware, to be eligible for the refundable child tax credit, working families must meet an income threshold. If they don't earn enough, then they don't qualify for the credit. The problem is that some of our working parents are working full-time, every week of the year and yet they still don't earn enough to meet the income threshold to qualify for the credit, much less to receive a meaningful refund.

In 2006, the New York Times highlighted a report which shows that almost one-third of our children live in families that do not qualify for the child tax credit because family earnings are too low. When you break the findings down by race, it's even more disheartening--about half of all African American children and half of all Latino children are left out of the full child tax credit because their family's earnings are just too low to qualify.

It is wrong to provide this credit to some hardworking Americans, while leaving others behind. The single, working parent that is stocking shelves at your local grocery store is every bit as deserving as the teacher, accountant or insurance salesman that qualifies for the credit in its current form. We must address this inequity and we must ensure that our tax code works for all Americans, especially those working parents forced to get by on the minimum wage.

In response, Senator Snowe and I have proposed a solution that will build on our previous efforts to make this credit work for those that need it the most. Today, we are reintroducing the Working Child Family Assistance Act, legislation which de-indexes the income threshold and sets it at a reasonable level so that all working parents, including those making the minimum wage, qualify for the credit. This is a simple, easy solution to a serious problem.

I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Administration to correct this inequity and to ensure that those low-income, hard- working families that need this credit the most do receive its benefits.

Mr. President, I come before the Senate to once again raise an issue that is near and dear to my heart--an issue that is of great importance to working families across this country. In 2001 and again in 2003, Senator Snowe and I worked together to ensure that low- income working families with children receive the benefit of the Child Tax Credit. I come here today to again ask my colleagues to help me ensure that low-income families aren't forgotten as we discuss tax relief in the 110th Congress.

Unfortunately, although we have made great strides in ensuring that the credit is a useful tool for our working families, in its current form it isn't working for everyone. We can and should take an important additional step to improve it.

As some of my colleagues may be aware, to be eligible for the refundable child tax credit, working families must meet an income threshold. If they don't earn enough, then they don't qualify for the credit. The problem is that some of our working parents are working full-time, every week of the year and yet they still don't earn enough to meet the income threshold to qualify for the credit, much less to receive a meaningful refund.

In 2006, the New York Times highlighted a report which shows that almost one-third of our children live in families that do not qualify for the child tax credit because family earnings are too low. When you break the findings down by race, it's even more disheartening--about half of all African American children and half of all Latino children are left out of the full child tax credit because their family's earnings are just too low to qualify.

It is wrong to provide this credit to some hardworking Americans, while leaving others behind. The single, working parent that is stocking shelves at your local grocery store is every bit as deserving as the teacher, accountant or insurance salesman that qualifies for the credit in its current form. We must address this inequity and we must ensure that our tax code works for all Americans, especially those working parents forced to get by on the minimum wage.

In response, Senator Snowe and I have proposed a solution that will build on our previous efforts to make this credit work for those that need it the most. Today, we are reintroducing the Working Child Family Assistance Act, legislation which de-indexes the income threshold and sets it at a reasonable level so that all working parents, including those making the minimum wage, qualify for the credit. This is a simple, easy solution to a serious problem.

I look forward to working with my colleagues and the Administration to correct this inequity and to ensure that those low-income, hard- working families that need this credit the most do receive its benefits.

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

Mr. President, I would also like to make another unanimous consent request that my colleague to the east from Tennessee, Senator Alexander, be recognized for 15 minutes after Senator Durbin, who will follow time.

Mr. President, we are here at the end of a session, a 2-year session where many of us have worked very hard to try to come up with commonsense solutions for some age-old problems in our Nation and looking for commonsense solutions to new and different challenges that our Nation and its business leaders as well as workers face as our business models change and grow and the more complicated nature of how businesses are set up changes and grows. We have worked hard this year--I certainly have for my State--to look at how we can balance those things and how we can create a good environment for all of the good, solid, responsible corporate citizens who exist out there in this great Nation who are trying desperately to present the kind of good jobs, the good-paying jobs working Americans need to stay where they are, to live in the communities in which they grew up, and to provide for not just their children but their aging parents.

So I think as we come to the close of this session, we have all kind of gotten into a hustle and a bustle, much like any holiday season brings, where we tend to get a little overexcited about some things, yet we don't stay focused enough on what it is we really need to be doing. The working families of this country need us right now. They need us to be responsible. They need us to focus on the things that will be productive for them, productive for this country, and the companies that are working hard to produce and maintain jobs in many of our States across this great land in order to make sure that those working families can stay working, that their children can stay in school and that their future for higher education is there, and that these families can stay together and care for their aging loved ones.

So I come to the Chamber to speak about a subject which I believe is immediate and serious or certainly has immediate and serious consequences to the working people of my State. I am talking about the hemorrhaging of jobs in the forest products industry particularly.

Here to my side is really an outdated map because we have seen the loss of well over 700 jobs since June of this year in the forest products industry. But in any case, there has been a tremendous amount of loss in employee layoffs, closed saw mills and paper mills in this country. I think it really, if you take a look at this, drastically shows the hemorrhaging that is occurring and what it means to good, hard-working American families across this country.

Over the last year and a half, the State of Arkansas has lost 1,800 timber manufacturing jobs. These are good jobs. They are negotiated union jobs. They are located in our small rural towns. They are the jobs which are the foundation of these families, these American families who are the fabric of our country, whom we come to the floor every day, day in and day out, to talk about.

But it doesn't end there. For every highly skilled, highly paid plant job that is lost, another job is lost out in the forest--not just these which are represented here but jobs including truckdrivers and foresters, the cafe along the way that supports that industry, and those people who are out working in the forest--the loggers, all of those different entities. That means about 3,600 families are not having a very merry holiday this year.

In fact, we have lost over 1,000 jobs in just the last 10 days alone. But it is going to get worse. If the Congress does not do something here, with the opportunity that has been presented to us--many of us have been working on this issue over the last 8 to 10 months. But here in the close of this session and this week, we have an opportunity to do something, to help stop the loss of these manufacturing jobs out of our country to places such as South America and Asia. I am talking about enacting the Timber Tax Act which we have talked about over this past year.

For many months, the Timber Tax Act has consistently and repeatedly been included as part of the extenders packages we talked about. For example, it was included in the Senate conferees' agreement in the pension bill, in the Reid extenders amendment, and in the Baucus extenders amendment. The bill has broad bipartisan support, with over 33 cosponsors from every part of the country. That should come as no amazement to any of us when you look at this map and realize that it is not just one region of our country that is suffering, but it is many parts of our country that are suffering.

Additionally, this provision provides relief to the entire industry across the board, from the smallest woodlot owner to some of our largest, oldest forest companies. Over 9.9 million individual tree owners will receive immediate and significant regular and minimum tax relief.

Unfortunately, we have found some concern about whether we need competition or greater competition in this industry. We come to this floor every day talking about how competition makes our Nation stronger. We talk about how competition can help us grow, not just as individuals, not just as companies, not just as a nation, but as a part of the global community. I believe that. I believe competition is a good thing. If it is done in a fair way and if people are given the opportunity to show what they are made of and to get out there and do the job they believe they are capable of doing and really compete, working together to compete in a global marketplace, I think everyone is a winner. But when we keep in artificial stopgaps or actually keep away opportunities and continue to keep an artificial circumstance which stymies the kind of competition that can make us strong, we all end up being losers. I think that is a lot of what has occurred here. I think it is extremely shortsighted and it opens all of our similarly situated companies--all of them, whether it is the forest products industry, which has multiple different types of entities, or any of our entities--it situates them and puts them up against unbelievable scrutiny and criticism.

The timber tax provision is sound tax policy. Over the past several years, forest products companies have been under intense pressure to reduce their Federal taxes by either reorganizing as a nontaxpaying entity, or to sell their timberlands, whether they sell them to pension funds or to timber management organizations--wherever they may go to offload that part of their industry. But I want us to think a little bit more about that. We talk about being shortsighted. Think about what that means to the conservation of this country. You look at the small, family-owned timber companies that exist out there that are fighting and trying hard to keep their heads above water in an industry and in circumstances where they are put at a disadvantage. Who is most likely to be a good steward of the land? Who is most likely to go in and reforest? It is the third- or fourth-generation small business owner, the small family-owned timber company that is going to go in and take good care to be a good steward of this land. Those are the most likely ones.

Let's not put them at a disadvantage because then, all of a sudden, all of our timberland, particularly the family-owned timber company, is going to be owned by big groups, and all they want to do is go in and cut and then sell off to developers. Let's make sure we have diversity in this industry; a good, diverse, competitive industry that looks at all sides of what we are trying to protect here: family jobs, the environment, the landscape of many of our small rural States. It is very important.

As the integrated companies separate their mills from their plants and from their timber, there are obvious results: plant closures and job loss, not to mention what happens with that family-owned business that is such a good steward in the conservation of the land.

As a result of this sort of artificial, short-term tax-driven pressure, the amount of U.S. timberland held by integrated forest products companies has fallen from 50 million acres to 15 million acres. Think about that. I want my colleagues to think, when you take those kinds of lands out and put them under a bigger umbrella where nobody is going to really be able to come in and say you can't come in and clearcut that and sell it to a developer or whatever, they are more likely to wave their hand, do it, and go on.

But when you have a small family-owned business that has been there for generations, they are so much less likely to do any of that. They are going

to go back in, and with a great sense of pride and respect as well as confidence that this is going to continue to be a small family-owned business, they are going to reforest and they are going to reinvest in that forest product and that timber company.

By enacting the timber tax provision, Congress will forestall a further decline, and we will allow forest products companies to make their decisions based exclusively on sound business principles--not looking at what they have been backed into a corner to do in order to simply keep their business or to simply keep one piece of their business. They will lay off the jobs, they will break up the integrated company, and they will move on because it is easier and because it keeps them alive--as opposed to making good, sound, principled business decisions.

Without its passage, I fear the State of Arkansas will see further immediate closures and loss of jobs. I plead with my colleagues, we cannot lose this opportunity. We cannot lose this opportunity to take something that we have looked at and talked about and developed over the last 10 or so months. We have seen it in other packages, and we know how productive it can be. I hope the majority of this body will join me in seeking a collaborative effort to make sure that we do not see even what the current map would look like if this one were updated, or to think of what it may look like 5 or 10 years from now, with the incredible loss of jobs in timberland and our family-owned timber businesses. It would be devastating.

I thank my colleagues for their attention to this issue. I plead with them on behalf of the people of Arkansas, those unbelievably hard- working families who live in those rural communities, who know our forests and know how to take good care of them: Please let us work to keep those jobs and to keep those businesses going in order that we can not only save those jobs but save a way of life in parts of rural America, as well as making sure that we have the best interests of our forest lands at heart, private forests and others. I think we have a great opportunity to do it, and I hope we will act on that.

Mr. President, I come to the floor today, joining my colleague Senator Pryor, as we pay tribute to the life of one of Arkansas's business and philanthropic giants: Mr. J.B. Hunt. The billion dollar trucking company that J.B. Hunt built can only by characterized as the very personification of the American dream, and the only thing more impressive than the trucking empire he has created is the life he led and the journey he took to get there.

I am so grateful to have known this wonderful man and to have called him my friend. From the moment you met J.B. Hunt, you knew he was not your typical business mogul. He was much more. He was much like all of these hardworking Arkansans whom I reflect on this map.

J.B. Hunt's formal education ended when he dropped out of school at 12 years of age when, similar to many people of the Great Depression and that generation, he had to find employment to help his family survive. That is what we are talking about, we are talking about American families who are working hard to reach that dream. Here is a man who did.

Every time I was able to be around J.B. Hunt, I always knew he never forgot that challenging period of his life, and its impact helped shape the character of the man who would put in the hard work and long hours to get the job done right. When I first heard the news of his passing, I reflect on our first meeting. He asked about me, came up to me, and he said: Now, Blanche, who are your people anyhow? Of course that meant, Who are your relatives? Who are your parents? Where do you come from?

He immediately recalled that he had come to know my father from the time he spent personally hauling rice loads across the State of Arkansas. Mr. Hunt reminisced that those were back in the days when he had just one truck. And I thought then that not only was J.B. Hunt a man who was proud of what his company had become, but he appreciated the time and the hard work that had been required to get there. He knew more than just where his trucks traveled, he knew the people along the way. Although J.B. Hunt is considerably larger today--any of our colleagues who travel across the interstates will see a J.B. Hunt truck from Lowell, AK,--Mr. Hunt himself never changed who he was as an individual. His dedication reached well beyond his company to many philanthropic efforts that continue to greatly benefit our State of Arkansas.

True to form, J.B. Hunt dedicated much more than millions of dollars--he dedicated considerable amounts of his time. Until his death, he remained a man who was willing to put in the hard work and the long hours to do the job right--and Arkansas is a far better place as a result.

I am certainly grateful to have had his friendship and to pay tribute to the life he led so well. My thoughts and prayers and my deepest sympathies are with his family at this very difficult time, and my gratitude goes out to Mr. Hunt, who truly exemplified that it is not just the view at the top, it is truly the journey that gets you there that is worth more than anything that you could get in return.

I yield the floor for my colleague, Senator Pryor, from Arkansas.

Mr. President, I am so proud to join my colleagues this morning, and I especially thank my colleague from Delaware for his service as the Senate chairperson of the National Bible Week this year and for preserving time this morning for our observance of this annual celebration. I also want to say a very special thanks to my colleague, Norm Coleman, the Senator from Minnesota, who does a tremendous job. We work together on so many different things, but yesterday it was great to be able to sit down and visit with the new Members, the new Senators coming into this body and talk to them about how to keep their life rich; not just to do their jobs as Senators but to take care of themselves and to make sure that their journey in life stays strong. We all know, in this journey that we all share on this Earth, this incredible blessing we have been given to live this journey here on Earth, if we keep that journey strong, then we will always be better Senators.

I could not have found a better partner in communicating that than my good colleague from Minnesota, and I appreciate him so much for that.

I am very grateful to be here to speak about the Bible, in recognition of this annual National Bible Week and certainly its importance in my life, what it has meant to me. In my family, growing up in east Arkansas, my dad was a farmer. We are a seventh-generation Arkansas farm family. We go back to our roots there along the Mississippi River. Actually, the first Lambert, which is my maiden name, who came to Arkansas was a Presbyterian minister who was sent as a missionary to the Native Americans who lived in that area. It was long before Arkansas was a State, and again it is a huge part of my heritage where, as a Presbyterian minister and a Christian, Rev. Jordan B. Lambert came across the border as a missionary to carry his faith into the West.

In my family, we were all introduced to the Bible at a very early age, and we were taught how to turn to its teachings early and often for guidance in our daily lives and what we needed to make this journey, our journey, each of us, our individual journey on this Earth, a full one, one that not only was fulfilling for us but, more importantly, fulfilling to our fellow man.

I can remember, as a young teenager, coming to Sunday school on Sunday mornings. I remember one of my Sunday school teachers who would take us every Sunday into our Sunday school room, and we made this huge Bible village out of clay and papier-mache. It was wonderful because it taught us so much of the times, of the Old Testament and the New Testament. It was incredible how we built this.

I realize now, later in life, that that was a time to reflect, reflect on the writings and the times that the Bible brings to us because, as we sat there, very curiously and very diligently creating out of clay and papier-mache this Bible village, we talked. We talked to each other. We talked to the Sunday school teacher, the adult who was there to help guide us. As she read Scripture to us and we made these

things, we talked about our experiences as young teenagers. We talked about what we were going through in school, the cruel words that others may have presented to us or the new student who had come to class and who was not being well received or someone whose family was ill or had a tremendous tragedy. We talked about these things as we created this village, and then we realized, through those Bible teachings and through those stories that we, too, were living that word--hopefully-- and learning how better to live that word in our teenage years and in our adult years.

Without question, for me, the Bible is the most profound book in life, and there is no doubt that its lessons shape the type of person I am; the type of person I strive to become each and every day, working hard to do my best; the type of parent I want as an example for my children as they grow up and they learn these stories; and the type of Senator I want to be to help lead this country.

It is no secret to any of us that the Members of this incredible body are very blessed and fortunate in so many different ways. But what does that mean, exactly, and particularly to those who are scholars of Bible? I am not a Bible scholar, I wish I were, but I do look to the Bible for that guidance and as a part of my faith, as the Senator from Delaware said, it is a light. It is a lamp unto my feet. But the Bible teaches me: To whom much is given, much is required. If you look around throughout this body and realize how blessed we truly are, our devotion to public service, hopefully, comes from a desire to live by the types of teachings that the Bible gives us and that is to help the least among us. It doesn't just teach us to clothe those who are naked. It doesn't just teach us to feed those who are hungry. Those are the important parts. But I never shall forget a lesson I learned in person working in a soup kitchen in downtown Washington, cleaning up tables after we, our Bible study group, had served a breakfast, which we did on a monthly basis. I was cleaning up those tables and moving to what was the next thing in life, which was heading off to work, there was a man sitting at the last table and, as I began to break it down, I asked him:

Are you still hungry? Is there something more that you

would like?

No, just 10 minutes of your time. Could you just please sit

and visit with me for 10 minutes?

I realized it was not just the nourishment that he needed. He needed his soul to be fed as well.

If I think about all of the most important teachings in the Bible, I think about how important it is for us to nourish one another, Democrats to nourish Republicans and Republicans to nourish Democrats; how important it is in this body that we feed one another's souls with the kind of loving care that we are taught about in the Bible.

As a Senator, I thoroughly believe that government can be a weapon of good, if we adhere to and follow the basic message of the Bible's teaching of love. I think that is, without a doubt, the most clear message that comes there--love, care, and respect for our fellow man.

Perhaps my favorite Bible lesson proclaims: Let us not love in word but in deed and in truth. In an environment that gets way too political, and so often it does, it is so incredibly important for all of us to look to that lesson.

I thank you, Mr. President, and especially thank my colleagues, for coming here to recognize what an important role the Bible does play in so many of our lives and what a wonderful opportunity it gives us to nourish each other's soul on a daily basis.

I yield to the Senator from Delaware.

Mr. President, it is my honor to rise today to pay tribute to one of Arkansas' fallen heroes, PFC Jeffrey Shaffer, who gave his life serving our country in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

By all accounts from family and friends, Private First Class Shaffer lived his life to the fullest. For this young man, that meant caring for others, having fun, and making people laugh, even when confronted with life's challenges. The image of a tough soldier masked the side most familiar to his loved ones, that of a more playful young man who pulled pranks and brought laughter to lives of others. His stepfather, Mark Adams, recalls a golf outing where neither he nor Jeff was playing particularly well. Rather than suffer through the rest of the game, and to the surprise of Mark, Private First Class Shaffer jumped in the water and began collecting golf balls. Mark had never had more fun playing golf. The day was a testament to the effect Private First Class Shaffer often had on others.

But he also had a humble, more serious side and a deep sense of commitment to his country. While working for his uncle's masonry contracting business in Harrison, AR, he took time to earn his GED. Shortly thereafter, and to the surprise of many in his family, he joined the U.S. Army in February 2005. The tragic events of September 11 changed how he viewed the world and motivated him to serve in the military. For Private First Class Shaffer, serving in the Army was a way he could contribute to the safety of his family and security of all Americans.

The 20-year-old was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division. After being stationed in Germany, Private First Class Shaffer was deployed to Kuwait and later Iraq. Witnessing close friends lose their lives in Iraq, he was never naive about the dangerous realities of war. He believed whatever happened to him was God's will and often told this to his mother to calm her fears. Private First Class Shaffer's life ended on September 13, 2006, after a roadside bomb detonated near his Bradley assault vehicle.

On September 16, family, friends, and fellow soldiers gathered at Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, TX, to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Jeffrey Shaffer. I am proud to pay tribute to him today and am thankful for his service to our country. He leaves behind a 2-year- old daughter, Makayla Grace, who I hope will one day know that her father took full advantage of what life had to offer and brought untold happiness to those around him. My thoughts and prayers are with her, Jeffrey's parents, his aunt and uncle, and all those who knew and loved him.

Lance Corporal Kyle Wesley Powell

Mr. President, today I rise to commemorate National Adoption Day.

As a mother, I understand the joy and the meaning that raising a child can bring to one's life. I also understand the importance that a stable home can play in a child's development. Each year, National Adoption Day offers us all an opportunity to not only reflect on the benefits that adoption can bring but also to raise awareness of the thousands of children across our Nation who are still awaiting stable, nurturing, and loving homes and families.

Last year, 227 events were held on National Adoption Day in 45 States. In the process, over 3,000 adoptions were finalized. At Saturday's celebration in Hot Springs, AR, and at similar events across the country, we all hope to build on that success as hundreds of volunteers take time out of their schedules to help place children in permanent homes.

In my State of Arkansas, our judges, courts, and child advocates have worked tirelessly on behalf of our State's foster children. In consultation with them and in cooperation with my colleagues, I have done all I can to ensure our adoption process is as efficient as possible. With an estimated 118,000 children across our country in foster care and awaiting adoption, I urge my colleagues to continue working together on behalf of these children. The opportunity to grow up in a nurturing, loving, and stable family is something that none of us should take for granted. It is our duty in this Congress to ensure that these children are not denied this opportunity but given timely placement with the home and the family that each and every one of them deserve.

I would also like to once again express my support and offer my heartfelt gratitude not only to the volunteers in Arkansas and across the country who make National Adoption Day the success it is but also to the selfless men and women who work every day on behalf of America's children.

Mr. President, it is my honor to pay tribute to the life of SFC Richard J. Henkes, a brave soldier who gave his life in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sergeant Henkes will be remembered as a courageous soul, a proud father, and an inspiration to those who knew him best. The 200 people who gathered at his memorial service are a testament to the number of lives he touched. They are lives that he continues to touch through the legacy he leaves behind.

Sergeant Henkes wrestled and ran track in high school, but his true passion was snowboarding. He shared this passion with his 6-year-old daughter, Isabel, as well as with his 17-year-old niece, Cassidy, who fondly remembers the caring uncle who was always there to pick her up when she would fall. Above all, Sregeant Henkes was a compassionate, outgoing, and fun-loving guy with a great sense of humor. It was this compassion for others and desire to make a difference that drove him to carry on his family's rich history of military service, dating back to World War I.

Stationed out of Fort Lewis, WA, Sergeant Henkes served with C Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. In Iraq, he was recently placed in command of his platoon--a challenge that he embraced. Tragically, Sergeant Henkes died on September 3 from injuries sustained from a roadside bomb in Mosul, Iraq. People say he knew of the dangers of war, but he believed his mission would make a difference in the lives of countless people and that it was worth the sacrifice. Mourners paid tribute to Sergeant Henkes in the Woodburn, OR, National Guard Armory on September 11. At the ceremony, he was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart service medals by his battalion.

We grieve the loss of another soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend the freedoms we all cherish. Sergeant Henkes leaves behind a legacy that will live on through the people he inspired and the young daughter who will grow up knowing that her father lived to make a difference in the world. My thoughts and prayers are with his daughter Isabel, his parents, Chris and Jim Stanton of Ashdown, AR, and Richard and Karen Henkes of Woodburn, OR, and to all those who knew and loved him.

Will the Senator yield?

Mr. President, I compliment and applaud the leadership of Senator Baucus in working to get the retired tax incentives renewed.

Did I hear the Senator correctly, the welfare-to-work and work opportunity tax credits expired at the end of 2005? Is it true that these credits have expired and we in Washington have yet to renew them, and 20,000 businesses have not been able to use this important tool?

We are here to provide tools to businesses to grow the economy, to grow the jobs. I know the good Senator from Montana traveled his State, as I did in Arkansas, in August. People are concerned about the economy. They are concerned about their jobs.

We are talking 20,000 businesses? Did I hear the Senator correctly?

That is amazing. The objective is to get people off welfare, get them independent and into the jobs.

I think I heard the Senator correctly, as well, because we failed to renew the teacher expense deductions, more than 3 million schoolteachers nationwide--and there are a tremendous amount of Arkansas schoolteachers who give out of their own pockets to bring those supplies in their classrooms--those teachers are going to be paying higher taxes this year if we don't act now?

Mr. President, we have had numerous opportunities to renew important tax incentives. Earlier this year we had an opportunity in the tax reconciliation. The priority was to deal with tax cuts that had not even expired or were not going to expire--the dividend deduction and the capital gains.

With tax cuts that have expired, businesses are not going to be able to take advantage of work opportunity tax credits, in research and development. We know we are falling behind in stem cell research. We have businesses that want to make those investments in research and development and be the best they can be in the global marketplace.

These businesses have not been able, is that correct, to realize that tool and use that tax deduction for at least the first three quarters of this year?

Once again, I applaud Senator Baucus's leadership and his tenacity to come out and say we have a limited amount of time left.

We have businesses out there that want to grow, that need the tools to grow. Yet these issues, things that we do every year to put into the toolboxes of our business, corporate America, our teachers, and others to be able to do the incredible things that make America great. Yet we are just sitting here. We are not doing it. They are being held hostage because we want to put all these eggs into one basket.

I have been very outspoken about my support for the estate tax reform, but there is no reason these extenders should be held hostage to all of these other things that people want to crowd into one basket.

The bottom line is, by failing to renew these incentives, as Senator Baucus has said, for responsible behavior such as savings and getting a college education, we are raising the taxes on many of our hard-working American families this year.

I applaud the Senator and I appreciate and am grateful for the leadership.

Mr. President, I join my colleague from California in thanking Senator Brownback for bringing this issue forward. He has been a tremendous supporter of taking action. He brings to light, tonight, the fact we have to act and we have to act expeditiously.

As the situation deteriorates, unfortunately, it moves closer toward a situation that we can do nothing about. I appreciate all of the Senator's efforts in what he is doing for the people of Darfur.

Mr. President, I was so pleased this week as the daughter of a seventh generation Arkansas farm family from rural eastern Arkansas, and it is with a tremendous amount of pride I come to the Senate today to applaud the passage of Senate Resolution 561 which designates September of 2006 as Rural America Month. I was pleased to introduce this resolution last week with Senator Reid, Senator Frist, and many of my colleagues.

Rural America means a tremendous amount to this Nation. It is the place where our values oftentimes begin and grow. We send people from rural America not just to the big cities of America, but all across the globe to exhibit those American values that grow and begin in rural America.

My values and my world view are directly tied to how I was raised in a

small town in Helena, AR, on the Mississippi River. My upbringing gave me a deep and abiding love for the rural way of life. In rural America, you learn that in order to have good neighbors, you have to be a good neighbor. Importantly, you learn by the example set for members of the community.

Growing up, I lived within walking distance from both sets of my grandparents. I learned what it meant to be a caregiver. At the age of 14 I learned from my grandparents. I learned values, I learned stories of World War I and the experiences they had during the Depression and so many other things that I captured from a real perspective--not from a textbook.

My mother would prepare dinner for our family every night, but very often she and my aunt would go back and forth and prepare a little bit extra every other night. It was my duty and my cousin's duty to take that dinner up to my grandparents and spend time with them, valuable time, where we would make them feel better, to share part of our day and they could share a story with us. I didn't realize at that age what caregiving was all about. I do now.

Being a good neighbor is something that comes easily for rural Americans. It is taught early in life. I am proud to have had the opportunity to learn that lesson by example. I see it as a model that can be applied outside the family, outside the neighborhood and to so many relationships that we, as people of a global community, have around the world, when we listen to the comments of Senator Brownback and Senator Boxer talking about our neighbors across the globe and what that means to us, what our responsibility is as a global neighbor to those people in such need of protection, of sustenance of life, of education, and the ability to build for themselves a life of independence.

My love for the rural way of life I grew up in, the values it taught me, is what drives me to want to strengthen and support rural communities all over our country. With the passage of this resolution this week, the Senate has formally acknowledged the invaluable contribution that rural America makes to our country.

The experiences in my life have shown me firsthand that the more than 55 million people residing in rural America are the embodiment of the values that make our country great: community, service, hard work, family, responsibility.

Rural America provides significant contributions to our Nation, such as the safest, most abundant and affordable food supply in the world, as well as the renewable sources of energy with the potential to significantly reduce our country's dangerous dependency on foreign oil, not to mention what we could do for our environment.

Americans residing in rural areas have also made a considerable contribution to our country's freedom. Rural Americans comprise a sizable percentage of our reserve, military force abroad and the highest concentration of military veterans live in rural communities.

Additionally, police officers, volunteer firefighters, EMTs or National Guardsmen, and members of our rural communities come together in times of national emergencies to keep our country safe. I am certainly reminded of the proud, strong, courageous firefighters, Guardsmen, ambulance drivers, and so many more that responded from Arkansas to New York during September 11 and to Louisiana during Katrina and the entire gulf coast.

I am proud of my heritage in rural America. I am pleased the Senate has acknowledged we owe rural America a considerable debt of gratitude. Rural America is critical to this Nation.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to address the challenges and the obstacles that rural America faces so all in rural America can enjoy every blessing and opportunity that our Nation has to offer.

I commend my colleagues for joining me in this special effort. I want to especially commend our leader, minority leader Harry Reid, who grew up in Searchlight, NV, who knows and understands the mentality, the values, and really has a tremendous passion for those people in rural America. I am proud to have joined he and Senator Frist and others in bringing this resolution forward.