Floor Statements

We are facing a profound economic crisis, the likes of which we have not seen since the Great Depression. Countless working families who were already living on the edge of financial disaster have been hit hard, and they have nothing to fall back on. Their faith in the American dream has been replaced by fear for their families and their future.

We have already taken some much-needed actions to put our country back on track, but more needs to be done. In these perilous times, working families need security. They need new skills and new opportunities. And they need a voice in the decisions that will affect their families and their futures.

Now more than ever, workers need someone on their side, fighting for them. Now more than ever, they need unions. Unions were fundamental in building America's middle class, and they have a vital role to play today in restoring the American dream for working families.

First and foremost, unions enable workers to obtain their fair share of the benefits that their hard work creates. Union wages are 30 percent higher than nonunion wages. Eighty percent of union workers have health insurance, compared to only 49 percent of their nonunion counterparts. Union members are four times more likely to have a guaranteed pension.

Equally important in this crisis, unions provide greater security and greater promise of fair treatment. At a time when workers who lose their jobs can remain unemployed for a year or more, those who are represented by a union have better job security and the assurance of knowing they will have a voice at the table when difficult decisions are made.

It is little wonder that so many Americans want a union on their side. In a recent survey, more than half of all nonunion workers-- nearly 60 million men and women--say they would join a union if they could.

The problem is that most workers who want a union can't get one. Those who attempt to exercise this fundamental right often find that the current system is rigged against them.

Unscrupulous employers routinely break the law to keep unions out. They fire union supporters. They intimidate workers, harass them, and discriminate against them. They close down whole departments--or even entire plants--to avoid a union. A recent study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that union supporters are fired in more than one quarter of all union organizing campaigns.

Even when workers prevail in a union election, employers can steal the victory by refusing to bargain fairly for the first union contract. They drag their feet, delay bargaining, and use a variety of other tactics to prevent an agreement. One study found that in more than a third of hard-won union elections, workers are denied a contract because of employers' delaying tactics.

Many of these abuses by employers are illegal, but employers have no incentive to change their behavior. The penalties for violating workers' rights are so weak that they simply become a minor cost of doing business.

Obviously, not all employers see unions as the enemy. Many successful companies have allowed their workers to organize without threats or dirty tricks. They have formed strong partnerships with their employees, and they have prospered. But these individual good examples are not enough to solve the problem. We need to deal with the bad actors. We need to stop the lawbreaking that has become alarmingly common and provide stronger protections for workers' rights.

That is why we need the Employee Free Choice Act. This important legislation will give American workers the real freedom to choose a union without fear of threats or intimidation.

First, the bill gives workers two possible ways to choose whether they want a union. They can rely on an election, or--if they fear intimidation from their employer during the election process--they can use a process called majority sign-up, which enables workers to choose whether they want a union by deciding whether to sign their name on a card calling for a union.

Majority sign-up has always been a valid way to form a union. Since 2003, more than half a million private sector workers have formed a union through this efficient and democratic process.

The problem is that under current law, workers may use the majority sign-up process only if their employer agrees. That is not fair. Workers--not their bosses--should get to choose how they make the important decision about whether they want union representation. The Employee Free Choice Act puts this choice in workers' hands.

Second, the bill ensures that workers who choose a union will have a fair process for getting a first contract. It provides that if the union and the employer don't reach a contract within 90 days, either side can seek mediation from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The agency has provided collective bargaining mediation services--including mediation of first contract negotiations--for more than 50 years, and it has an 86 percent success rate.

In the rare instance when the mediation process fails, the bill provides for binding arbitration, which will be handled by a panel of highly qualified arbitrators who have long experience in developing contract provisions that are fair to both sides. This type of arbitration is a tried-and-true method of resolving contract disputes that is already used in the rail and airline industries, and for public sector workers in at least 25 States.

Finally, the Employee Free Choice Act improves remedies for workers who face discrimination or retaliation when they seek to organize or obtain a first contract. Under the bill, employers will no longer be able to violate the law with impunity and write off the insignificant penalties as a minor cost of doing business. The act takes away these perverse incentives for employers to break the law by increasing the remedies for workers, and by imposing new penalties on employers who act illegally during organizing campaigns or first-contract bargaining. These important changes will put real teeth in the law, and give employers a financial reason to respect workers' rights.

With these basic reforms, the Employee Free Choice Act will fix the current broken system and level the economic playing field for millions of American workers. It will help them obtain real, tangible benefits that will make a difference in their lives and in the lives of their families.

By restoring fairness to the American workplace, and strengthening the voice of American workers, we can rebuild the land of opportunity-- a land with good jobs, fair wages, and fair benefits that can support a family. We can revitalize the American middle class and restore the American dream. I urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation and help put working families back on the path to prosperity.

We are facing a profound economic crisis, the likes of which we have not seen since the Great Depression. Countless working families who were already living on the edge of financial disaster have been hit hard, and they have nothing to fall back on. Their faith in the American dream has been replaced by fear for their families and their future.

We have already taken some much-needed actions to put our country back on track, but more needs to be done. In these perilous times, working families need security. They need new skills and new opportunities. And they need a voice in the decisions that will affect their families and their futures.

Now more than ever, workers need someone on their side, fighting for them. Now more than ever, they need unions. Unions were fundamental in building America's middle class, and they have a vital role to play today in restoring the American dream for working families.

First and foremost, unions enable workers to obtain their fair share of the benefits that their hard work creates. Union wages are 30 percent higher than nonunion wages. Eighty percent of union workers have health insurance, compared to only 49 percent of their nonunion counterparts. Union members are four times more likely to have a guaranteed pension.

Equally important in this crisis, unions provide greater security and greater promise of fair treatment. At a time when workers who lose their jobs can remain unemployed for a year or more, those who are represented by a union have better job security and the assurance of knowing they will have a voice at the table when difficult decisions are made.

It is little wonder that so many Americans want a union on their side. In a recent survey, more than half of all nonunion workers-- nearly 60 million men and women--say they would join a union if they could.

The problem is that most workers who want a union can't get one. Those who attempt to exercise this fundamental right often find that the current system is rigged against them.

Unscrupulous employers routinely break the law to keep unions out. They fire union supporters. They intimidate workers, harass them, and discriminate against them. They close down whole departments--or even entire plants--to avoid a union. A recent study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that union supporters are fired in more than one quarter of all union organizing campaigns.

Even when workers prevail in a union election, employers can steal the victory by refusing to bargain fairly for the first union contract. They drag their feet, delay bargaining, and use a variety of other tactics to prevent an agreement. One study found that in more than a third of hard-won union elections, workers are denied a contract because of employers' delaying tactics.

Many of these abuses by employers are illegal, but employers have no incentive to change their behavior. The penalties for violating workers' rights are so weak that they simply become a minor cost of doing business.

Obviously, not all employers see unions as the enemy. Many successful companies have allowed their workers to organize without threats or dirty tricks. They have formed strong partnerships with their employees, and they have prospered. But these individual good examples are not enough to solve the problem. We need to deal with the bad actors. We need to stop the lawbreaking that has become alarmingly common and provide stronger protections for workers' rights.

That is why we need the Employee Free Choice Act. This important legislation will give American workers the real freedom to choose a union without fear of threats or intimidation.

First, the bill gives workers two possible ways to choose whether they want a union. They can rely on an election, or--if they fear intimidation from their employer during the election process--they can use a process called majority sign-up, which enables workers to choose whether they want a union by deciding whether to sign their name on a card calling for a union.

Majority sign-up has always been a valid way to form a union. Since 2003, more than half a million private sector workers have formed a union through this efficient and democratic process.

The problem is that under current law, workers may use the majority sign-up process only if their employer agrees. That is not fair. Workers--not their bosses--should get to choose how they make the important decision about whether they want union representation. The Employee Free Choice Act puts this choice in workers' hands.

Second, the bill ensures that workers who choose a union will have a fair process for getting a first contract. It provides that if the union and the employer don't reach a contract within 90 days, either side can seek mediation from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The agency has provided collective bargaining mediation services--including mediation of first contract negotiations--for more than 50 years, and it has an 86 percent success rate.

In the rare instance when the mediation process fails, the bill provides for binding arbitration, which will be handled by a panel of highly qualified arbitrators who have long experience in developing contract provisions that are fair to both sides. This type of arbitration is a tried-and-true method of resolving contract disputes that is already used in the rail and airline industries, and for public sector workers in at least 25 States.

Finally, the Employee Free Choice Act improves remedies for workers who face discrimination or retaliation when they seek to organize or obtain a first contract. Under the bill, employers will no longer be able to violate the law with impunity and write off the insignificant penalties as a minor cost of doing business. The act takes away these perverse incentives for employers to break the law by increasing the remedies for workers, and by imposing new penalties on employers who act illegally during organizing campaigns or first-contract bargaining. These important changes will put real teeth in the law, and give employers a financial reason to respect workers' rights.

With these basic reforms, the Employee Free Choice Act will fix the current broken system and level the economic playing field for millions of American workers. It will help them obtain real, tangible benefits that will make a difference in their lives and in the lives of their families.

By restoring fairness to the American workplace, and strengthening the voice of American workers, we can rebuild the land of opportunity-- a land with good jobs, fair wages, and fair benefits that can support a family. We can revitalize the American middle class and restore the American dream. I urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation and help put working families back on the path to prosperity.

Mr. President, in accordance with rule XXVI.2. of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I submit for publication in the Record the rules of procedure for the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, as unanimously adopted by the committee on February 26, 2009.

I ask unanimous consent that the text of the rules of procedure be printed in the Record.

Madam President, our vote today affects one of the core issues of our democracy--the right to vote. It is a fundamental American principle that every citizen should have the right to vote and to participate in our democracy. Yet the nearly 600,000 residents of the District of Columbia have no voting representative in Congress. Americans give up their right to vote for Members of Congress when they move to the Nation's Capital. It is long past time for us to finally correct this basic wrong, and I commend Senators Lieberman and Hatch for their strong leadership on this legislation.

The basic injustice is clear. Already this year, District of Columbia residents have paid over $500 million in Federal taxes. Annually, they have the second highest per capita tax burden in the Nation. But they are denied the basic right of congressional representation taken for granted by other taxpaying Americans.

DC residents have fought and died to protect our Nation in every war in which America has participated since our Nation was founded. Since World War I, over 192,000 residents of the District of Columbia have served in our Armed Forces, and more than 1,600 DC residents have given their lives in service to our Nation. Since the start of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly 3,000 DC residents have been deployed in those countries and dozens of DC residents have been wounded or killed. There is no reason to deny representation in Congress to these patriotic veterans.

I have long been a strong supporter of DC representation in Congress. In 1978, the District's nonvoting Delegate in the House, Walter Fauntroy, our Senate majority leader, Robert Byrd, and I worked with many others to pass a constitutional amendment to extend full voting rights to Americans living in the Nation's Capital. Congress passed that constitutional amendment, but too few States ratified it, and it never took effect.

Although I strongly supported that constitutional amendment, I do not believe that a constitutional amendment is the only valid option. In 1978, we were following the precedent of the 23rd amendment, which was approved by Congress in June 1960 and was ratified by the States in March 1961 and which gave citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote in Presidential elections. At the time, there was little opposition in the House to the amendment giving the District congressional representation, and the Republican leaders in the Senate actively supported it. It passed the House by a vote of 289 to 127. The Senate passed it by a vote of 67 to 32, narrowly above the two-thirds majority required for a constitutional amendment. Needless to say, we were deeply disappointed by the failure of the States to ratify the amendment, and that failure planted the seeds for the serious consideration now of the statutory option for achieving the goal.

As the House and Senate hearings on the current bill make abundantly clear, the Constitution's District clause provides a valid means for acting by statute to grant citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote in the House of Representatives. In testimony on the bill, numerous constitutional scholars have explained that article I, section 8 of the Constitution grants Congress the authority ``to exercise exclusive Legislation, in all Cases whatsoever, over'' the District of

Columbia. The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress's exclusive authority over the District of Columbia is broad and ``national in the highest sense.'' O'Donoghue v. United States, 289 U.S. 516, 539-40, 1933.

Madam President, at this very moment as the Senate debates whether DC citizens deserve a vote in Congress, many brave Americans born in the District of Columbia are fighting for democracy in Iraq. If we are for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, we cannot oppose democracy in the District of Columbia. If we believe in the principles of ``one person, one vote'' and government by the consent of the governed on which our Nation was founded, we must support this bill.

I urge my colleagues to vote for cloture on the motion to proceed to this long overdue legislation and to support final passage of the bill so that we can finally correct this historic wrong.

Mr. President, I am pleased and proud that the Senate today is taking up the nomination of Hilda Solis for Secretary of Labor. Representative Solis is an extraordinary person, with an impressive background in public service. Anyone familiar with her work and her many accomplishments can attest that she is a truly inspirational leader. In the face of the current, unprecedented economic crisis, her confirmation to this important position is especially significant.

Each day, the headlines contain troubling new economic reports. Americans lost 3 million jobs last year. Mr. President, 2.6 million have been looking for work for more than 6 months, 2.3 million have lost their homes, 31 million rely on food stamps to put food on the table.

But this economic crisis is not just about numbers on a page or a lead story on the evening news. It is about what is happening to millions of working families. They are enduring tremendous hardships, and they know their friends and neighbors are suffering as well. The recovery bill passed under President Obama's leadership is a significant step in the right direction, but we still have an enormous challenge ahead of us.

To rebuild our economy, we must restore security for working people. They need to know that they can get up and go to work in the morning without worrying about a pink slip, that they will earn a fair day's pay for a fair day's work so they can support their families, and that they can provide a better future for their children and a secure retirement for themselves.

Most of all, they want leaders in government who understand how important these basic necessities are. That is why Hilda Solis is the right choice for Secretary of Labor.

Representative Solis is from a hard-working American family. Her father was a farmworker, a railroad worker, and a laborer in a battery recycling plant. Her mother worked for 22 years on the assembly line in a toy factory. She watched her parents sacrifice all their lives to build a better future for her and their other children. Because of their struggles, Hilda became the first person in her family to go to college.

Hilda Solis knows from deeply personal experience the challenges that American families face, because she has lived these challenges herself. And she has brought the lessons she learned from those years to her career in public service.

Since her earliest days in public life, Hilda has put working families first. Whether it's fighting to keep toxic waste out of poor communities, championing legislation to protect victims of domestic violence, or leading efforts to train our workforce for the ``green collar'' jobs of the 21st century, she has never turned away from a challenge. She has never hesitated to stand up for what is right.

In 2000, she became the first woman to receive the Profile in Courage Award for her remarkable work as a California State senator. The award is

given each year to those people who have demonstrated the political courage that President Kennedy so admired, and Hilda Solis exemplifies these outstanding qualities. As I said at the time she received the award, ``The extraordinary successes of Hilda Solis as a member of the California legislature show the power of one person with vision, ability, dedication, and courage to overcome even the most powerful forces of oppression and resistance.''

Now, again, Hilda has powerful forces to overcome, and tremendous challenges ahead. I have every confidence that she is the right person for the job. She is exactly who we need at the helm of such an important agency at this critical time for out country.

America's workers are the best in the world, and they deserve our best efforts to help them through these difficult times. And they deserve to have the best possible advocate on their side. Today, we will do them a great service by confirming Hilda Solis.

She is a true hero for working families, and we are fortunate to have someone of her tremendous talents at the Department. I look forward to working closely with our new Secretary of Labor to tackle the immense challenges facing America's workers, and to bring job security and real opportunity for all Americans.

Madam President, this is a truly historic moment. We are taking a bold step to meet the greatest challenge to our Nation's continued prosperity in a generation. Thanks to visionary leadership from our new President and from our leaders here in Congress, we can offer new hope for working families throughout the Nation.

America is mired in a crisis unlike any we have seen since the Great Depression. Trillions of dollars of hard-earned wealth have been wiped out. Families are losing their homes, their jobs, their health care, their life savings, and their hopes for the future.

At the heart of this economic turmoil is the collapse of the jobs market. We lost 2.6 million jobs last year. Over 11 million Americans are unemployed--that is more than four unemployed workers for every job opening in the country. We recently learned that there were 626,000 new jobless claims in the past week and that 4.8 million Americans are collecting unemployment compensation--the highest number on record. The monthly job numbers released last Friday show that the national unemployment rate has reached 7.6 percent. In many States, unemployment has already reached 8, 9, or even 10 percent.

Getting laid off can start a devastating downward spiral. It often means the loss of health insurance, leaving families with exorbitant medical bills when they can least afford them. It means more parents can no longer afford to send their children to college or even put food on the table or heat their homes.

We need to turn our economy around, and we need to do it now. Economists agree that only ambitious and aggressive job creation policies--and strong government investment in our nation's future can spark a revival of our economy.

In November, Americans voted overwhelmingly for change--for action over gridlock, for practical solutions over ideology, and for a government that has a role to play in advancing our common prosperity. President Obama has called on us to pass a bold economic recovery bill that embraces these priorities and the bill before us will do that.

First and foremost, this legislation would create good new jobs by repairing and replacing aging infrastructure. The funding included for water infrastructure--both for wastewater and for drinking water--is long overdue. In New England, we have some of the oldest sewer infrastructure in the Nation. Much of it was built in bygone years when excess sewage was dumped into public waterways. These funds are a good start, but much more must be done to replace these so-called combined sewer systems.

Similarly, the bill's investments in roads, bridges, and transit are absolutely essential to putting people back to work, and to avoiding some of the catastrophes we have seen, such as the I-35 bridge collapse in Minnesota. I commend the bill's managers for recognizing how essential these projects are for the Nation's future.

In all, the Congressional Budget Office reports that economic recovery legislation could save or create up to 2.4 million new jobs this year, up to 3.9 million jobs in 2010, and up to 1.9 million jobs in 2011. These jobs will make a tremendous difference in revitalizing our economy.

But in the meantime, millions of Americans still need help to weather the storm. That is why this bill extends and temporarily increases unemployment insurance benefits. These extra dollars will give a strong boost to economic growth, while putting more money in the pockets of millions of Americans facing the worst job market in a quarter century.

Unfortunately, there are millions of hard-working Americans who have contributed to this vital program, but who don't benefit from it. Only 37 percent of unemployed workers receive benefits. These rules are particularly unfair to the most vulnerable Americans--including low- wage workers and the

many women who juggle work and childcare responsibilities.

There is no better time to strengthen this vital safety net and extend it to Americans who have funded it with their hard-earned dollars. That is why I am pleased that this legislation includes provisions from the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act, a bipartisan bill which I have worked on with Senators Baucus, Snowe, Stabenow, Rockefeller, and many others. These provisions will immediately improve coverage for more than 500,000 workers unable to qualify for these benefits now. It will also provide needed funds to States to keep their unemployment offices open and running smoothly, even under the overwhelming flood of applications from workers who have lost their jobs.

The recovery package also strengthens the safety net by making other important investments in the health and wellbeing of children and low- income families. It provides major increases for the School Lunch Program, food stamps, Meals on Wheels, food bank aid, and low-income weatherization assistance. These programs are particularly vital today, when family budgets are being stripped to the bone.

I am especially pleased by the increase in food stamp aid. More than half a million residents in Massachusetts rely on food stamps to buy food each month. Nearly 70 percent of the assistance goes to households with children, and 20 percent goes to households with an elderly person.

These investments are essential to meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. In fact, increased spending on food stamps is among the most effective ways to stimulate the economy, and I commend the leadership for bringing forward a bill that makes this kind of wise and compassionate investment.

The legislation will also immediately help Americans to stay healthy, thus making them more productive and successful. It provides job support in medical research. It promotes a primary care workforce. It helps unemployed workers protect their health while looking for new jobs and opportunities.

To create a healthier America, we need greater emphasis on prevention. Citizens need access to primary care providers and preventive screenings, communities need vigorous prevention initiatives, and the nation needs a strong national public health infrastructure and workforce. In our ongoing discussions and work on health reform, it is vital for us to address how best to support prevention and wellness and revitalize our public health system.

Funds provided in the bill are also an important first step in increasing the nation's ability to conduct comparative effectiveness research and achieve the important goal of helping Americans obtain the right care, in the right place, at the right time, every time.

It makes no sense to hamstring such research by placing unnecessary restrictions on what may and may not be studied. Limiting studies only to the clinical practice of medicine could inadvertently prohibit research comparing reforms in health services. One of the best examples of comparative effectiveness research is a study of patients with pneumonia, which has helped us understand who should be hospitalized and who can be cared for at home. That is important science, and we need to encourage it.

Obviously, this stimulus funding is by no means the end of the comparative effectiveness research movement. It is just the beginning. The debate over what research should be conducted, how it should be governed, and how it should be used should be reserved for the ongoing policy discussion.

The legislation also includes important investments in health information technology. Use of electronic medical records will enable our health care system to provide the highest possible quality of care, and also benefit from the improved efficiency that other industries have already achieved through IT. This investment will help develop a high-tech infrastructure for our health care system, and it will also create high paying jobs today. IT industry experts estimate that every $10 billion spent on health information will create more than 200,000 jobs in manufacturing, software development and information technology services.

Finally, the recovery package before us also takes important steps to strengthen education as a key strategy to revitalize the economy and move America forward. It includes important investments at every point in the education pipeline. It will help to prevent harmful teacher layoffs and cuts in school budgets, expand access to child care and preschool programs, and strengthen Pell grants to provide a lifeline of assistance to needy college students.

American education is severely affected by the economic downturn. This package responds directly to that challenge by beginning to revive America's preschool classrooms, its elementary, middle, and high schools, and colleges.

Resources devoted to education and to the future of America's youth are among the most important investments proposed in this legislation, and this assistance couldn't come at a better time. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 34 States have implemented or proposed cuts in K-12 education. It is part of the economic crunch of rising unemployment, declining consumer spending, and home foreclosures. Per pupil spending has been reduced, school breakfast programs have been eliminated, training for teachers and principals has been cut off, and in some cases schools have been forced to reduce hours in the school day or shorten the school year.

Across the Nation, school superintendents have implemented or plan to implement staff reductions. Many school districts facing shrinking budgets are planning cuts in math and science classes, in new teacher programming, and in teacher mentoring--and they are also increasing class sizes. We must not force America's students to bear these high costs of our economic crisis.

I am especially pleased, therefore, that this legislation includes $39 billion in emergency basic aid to states to prevent harsh cutbacks and reduce budget shortfalls in early childhood education, K-12 education, and higher education. Such aid is a lifeline of support for America's preschools, classrooms, and college campuses.

The bill also makes a significant commitment toward meeting the needs of low-income children, by providing $12.4 billion under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and provides an unprecedented $13.5 billion to assist schools in meeting their commitment to students with special needs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The increase in funding for title I immediately demonstrates our commitment to prevent harmful cuts and deliver the support and solutions needed for schools to close achievement gaps and meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The investment in IDEA is a down payment towards finally meeting the Federal Government's 33-year old promise to fund 40 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure for every child in special education. The Federal Government now funds less than half of this commitment, because of the economic shortfall at the local level that is being exacerbated by the current crisis.

I am also pleased that this legislation makes a key investment in upgrading schools for the 21st century by investing in the education technology program under the No Child Left Behind Act.

For low-income college students across the country, the bill increases the maximum Pell grant by $281 for the next school year, and by $400 for the year after that. College costs have risen by more than 400 percent over the past 20 years, but the size of the Pell grant has fallen far behind. The College Cost Reduction and Access Act we passed in the last Congress was a downpayment on this challenge, and this bill is another step in the right direction.

In the current economic climate, this support is more important than ever. As in recessions past, Americans are entering or returning to college in record numbers. Over 6 million citizens have applied for Pell grants this year, an increase of over 10 percent compared to last year. With more and more low-income families and fewer and fewer jobs to go around, opening the doors of college to more students is a sensible response to this economic challenge. It will help us weather the crisis and better prepare our Nation to compete in the future.

Our recovery won't be fair unless it also includes our Nation's youngest and most vulnerable children. This bill delivers over $1 billion for the Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which will allow about 50,000 more children to participate in these programs. The size of Early Head Start will be increased by half, creating almost 30,000 jobs.

Investments in high-quality early learning programs like Head Start produce excellent returns for later economic growth and job development. Currently, Head Start serves only half of eligible preschoolers, and Early Head Start serves less than 3 percent of eligible infants and toddlers. These programs have been struggling, because operating costs associated with providing high-quality early childhood education are soaring, yet staff, program hours, transportation, and other services have been declining in order to deal with a 13-percent decrease in funds. The funding in this recovery package will help Head Start Centers across the country get back on their feet and back on track serving our youngest children.

The legislation also invests in essential child care assistance for children and parents. It provides an increase of $2 billion in the child care development block grant, so that States can serve an additional 480,000 needy children, and paid work opportunities are created for 190,000 caregivers.

Quality child care produces long-term benefits in children's learning and development. It also allows parents to continue working productively. The licensed child care sector enables parents to earn more than $100 billion annually, generating nearly $580 billion in direct and indirect labor income and more than 15 million jobs.

We know that child care is one of the largest expenses for low-income families. Between 2006 and 2007, the average cost of full-time infant child care rose by 6.5 percent, and child care costs for four-year olds rose by 5.3 percent. Yet funding for the child care development block grant has been nearly flat since 2002. As a result, nearly 140,000 fewer children are receiving Federal assistance under this program than in 2002. Only one out of every seven children eligible for assistance under this program now receives it.

There is no question that the challenges we face as a nation are daunting. But they are challenges we must face together. Following the President's lead, we must ask more Americans to be part of the solution. This legislation makes that possible by including $200 million for national service programs and infrastructure, an important investment for these difficult times.

With the crisis hitting community after community, the demand for services and assistance is sharply increasing. In response, more Americans, young and old, are answering the President's call to serve. They are looking for ways to help. Applications to service organizations are up. AmeriCorps members across the country are already performing this needed role, from mentoring youth whose families are struggling, to ensuring low-income individuals have a place to go home to. The increased funding for national service opportunities in this bill will enable more Americans to help those in need, and will also provide support and assistance for nonprofit organizations doing some of the most important work in our neediest communities. Much more can be done to expand these opportunities and encourage more Americans to put their skills and ingenuity to work for others in their hard-hit communities. This legislation is a significant step toward this goal.

This package makes many critical investments in our infrastructure and in our future. Never has action been more urgently needed to jumpstart our economy. This recovery legislation is an indispensible and long-overdue step toward putting our economy back to work for American families. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support these strong measures and to save and create jobs. Together, we can turn our economy around and begin a new era of prosperity for all our Nation's families.

Mr. President, as we consider the provisions of this legislation that provide significant incentives for the adoption of health information technology I would like to take this opportunity to explain a seemingly technical element of the language. The term ``qualified electronic health record,'' as defined in section 3000 of the Public Health Service Act, as added by section 13101 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is intended to include computerized provider order entry systems. Such systems are electronic records of health information on an individual. They include patient demographic data and health information, such as medical history and problem lists, including patient age, gender and allergy information as well as laboratory reports. Computerized provider order entry systems also have the capacity to provide clinical decision support such as medication dosing and interaction alerts, to capture and query information related to health care quality such as changes in laboratory values, and responses and reaction to medications, and to exchange electronic health information with, and integrate such information from other sources such as medication lists from a pharmacy or clinical information from a provider practice. Of course, the end goal is development and implementation of comprehensive, integrated electronic health records, and computerized provider order entry systems are an important intermediate step.

That is correct. There are a few provisions in the legislation that address this issue directly. Subsection 3001(c)(3)(A)(ii) of the bill tasks the national coordinator with updating the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan to include specific objectives, milestones, and metrics with respect to ``the utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.'' Subsection 3001(c)(6)(E) requires the national coordinator to ``estimate and publish resources required annually to reach the goal of utilization of an electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014, including the required level of Federal funding, expectations for regional, State, and private investment, and the expected contributions by volunteers to activities for the utilization of such records.'' In addition, subsection 3002(b)(2)(B)(iii) of the bill designates the Health Information Technology Policy Committee with the task of making recommendations to the national coordinator for the ``utilization of a certified electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.''

No, it does not. Nothing in this bill should be interpreted as requiring those who do not use medical care to have an electronic health record, or requiring any individual to have an electronic record. The intention is that the national coordinator will work towards the goal of having all patients that utilize the services of ``health care providers,'' as defined in this act, to have available to them records in an interoperable electronic format instead of merely in paper form by the year 2014. Those who do not receive care and services from ``health care providers'' will not be required to have an electronic health record, nor will any individual be required to have an electronic medical record. This bill does not require the use of electronic medical records, but seeks to make such records more broadly available.

Direct and Guaranteed Farm Ownership and Operating Loans

Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce a resolution acknowledging the outstanding achievement of an extraordinary high school athletic coach. On January 21 this year, Larry Tremblay achieved his 500th career victory as coach of the wrestling team at Winchester High School in Winchester, MA. After 29 years of success, Coach Tremblay's outstanding career reached that milestone, with his victory over Carver High School.

Mr. Tremblay is one of only three Massachusetts coaches who have ever accomplished this feat. Coming off two back-to-back State championship years, and his induction to the National High School Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame, the Winchester High Wrestling team is riding high under the remarkable leadership of Coach Tremblay. Appropriately the nickname of the school's beloved coach is ``Larry legend'' for his latest incredible milestone, and I commend Coach Tremblay for his skill and dedication and hard work throughout his years as Winchester High Wrestling Coach. A recent article will be of interest to all my colleagues in the Senate, and I ask unanimous consent that it may be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I welcome this opportunity to support consumer advocates across the country in encouraging the new administration to restore the White House Office of Consumer Affairs. For the past 8 years, the safety and rights of consumers have taken a back seat to special interests. We are all aware of troubling reports about unsafe toys for our children, unsafe household products for our families, and even unsafe food.

With a new administration focused on bringing needed change to the Nation, a new focus on consumer safety should be part of this change. During the Clinton administration, consumers had an effective advocate with a long record of commitment to protection in Ann Brown, chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. But staff cutbacks in the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have further undermined effective efforts to protect consumers. Bipartisan legislation has attempted to address these challenges, but more progress is needed.

Now is the time for action. The new administration can go a long way in restoring the trust of Americans in the safety of the products they use by restoring the Office of Consumer Affairs to its rightful place in the White House. I urge the administration to do so, and I ask that the editorial from the January 4 New York Times may be printed in the Record.

The editorial follows.

[From the New York Times, Jan. 4, 2009]

A Voice for the Consumer

The time has come to give the American consumer a much

stronger voice in Washington. President-elect Barack Obama

has already named what amounts to an energy and environmental

czar in the White House, and America's beleaguered consumers

deserve no less.

Mr. Obama should restore the White House Office of Consumer

Affairs, which vanished during the Clinton years, and appoint

a director who has both the president's ear and the authority

to rebuild the consumer protection agencies that were

undercut or hollowed out by the fiercely anti-regulatory Bush

administration.

There is no shortage of agencies ostensibly designed to

protect consumers. But without an emergency like killer

spinach or lead in children's toys, the Bush administration

has mostly failed to hear customers' complaints. The consumer

safety net is simply far too weak.

The Food and Drug Administration has suffered cutbacks in

expert personnel, and still relies too heavily on industry to

police itself. Credit-card holders who have been subject to

all kinds of Dickensian tricks and traps were finally told by

the Federal Reserve that relief is in sight--in 2011. Not so

long ago, there was only one official toy tester at the

Consumer Product Safety Commission, and oversight generally

was so weak that Congress was forced to step in with new

protections, which still could be strengthened.

It will be up to the Obama administration to bring these

agencies back to life. In part this means restoring the

morale of government workers who have too often been stymied

by the anti-regulators at the top. It will also mean stronger

consumer protection policies and hiring more skilled people.

It will mean giving one official responsibility for

coordinating the entire apparatus.

Presidents Johnson and Carter both recognized the need for

a strong person to do that job. Both chose Esther Peterson,

who during about eight years in office pushed for then-

radical ideas like nutritional labeling on food and truth in

advertising. As the Reagan anti-government era began, the

consumer protection job steadily lost clout until it was

shuttered in the late 1990s.

During his campaign, Mr. Obama promised consumers that he

would help them get a fairer deal. As the victims of lead

toys and predatory lenders can attest, they certainly need

one. Restoring the Office of Consumer Affairs and appointing

a director as strong and capable as Mrs. Peterson would be an

encouraging first step.

Mr. President, equal pay for equal work is a fundamental civil right. This principle is at the heart of our Nation's commitment to fairness. When President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, he reminded us that protection against pay discrimination is ``basic to democracy.'' Those words ring even truer today. When we inaugurated Barack Obama as our new President this week, our country strongly reaffirmed its commitment to a fairer, more just American society.

My good friend Senator Mikulski has taken an important step toward achieving this fairer, more just society by leading the debate in the Senate on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and I thank her for her inspired leadership. She has truly been a passionate advocate for women and others who have suffered the injustice of discrimination. I also commend Senator Harkin for the work he has done on this bill and on the Fair Pay Act. Senator Clinton has also been a champion for pay equity, and we pledge to continue her good work.

We must pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It will give American workers who are victims of pay discrimination based on race, age, gender, national origin, religion, or disability a fair chance to enforce their rights.

As a nation, we have often acted in recent years to expand and strengthen our civil rights laws in order to end discrimination, and we have always done so with bipartisan support. The

result has been great progress towards increasing equal opportunity and equal justice for all our people, and we will never abandon this basic goal.

Despite our past efforts to end pay discrimination, too many of our citizens still put in a fair day's work, but go home with less than a fair day's pay. Women, for example, bring home only 78 cents for each dollar earned by men. African American workers make only 80 percent of what White workers make and Latino workers make only 68 percent. Many qualified older workers and workers with disabilities also bear the burden of an unlawful pay gap. They are paid less than their coworkers for reasons that have nothing to do with their performance on the job.

Confronting pay discrimination is about addressing the real challenges faced by real Americans to make ends meet. These challenges have been mounting in recent months, as millions of American workers struggle even harder each day to provide for their families in this troubled economy.

Pay discrimination makes their struggle even harder. In these dire economic times, workers and their families can't afford to lose more economic ground--but that is just what is happening to thousands of Americans who still face pay discrimination.

With the economy in a severe recession, we cannot afford to wait to fix this problem. With women and minorities still making less than White men for the same work, we can't be complacent. With thousands of workers facing discrimination because of their race, their sex, their national origin, their age, their religion, and their disability every year, we must continue the battle to end this national disgrace.

Lilly Ledbetter's own case demonstrates the financial toll that pay discrimination can take. Lilly made 20 percent less than her lowest paid, least experienced male colleague and almost 40 percent less than her highest paid male colleague. For Lilly and other victims like her, the cost of pay discrimination over time is large. A recent study estimates that women lose an average of $434,000 over the course of their career because of the pay gap. Not only that, but their lower wages also mean their pension benefits and their Social Security benefits are lower as well. Unless we act, thousands of American workers will continue to face the same injustice that Lilly Ledbetter has endured.

It is our common responsibility to attack this problem with every tool at our disposal. Unfortunately, the challenge has been made more difficult because of the Supreme Court's decision last May that pulled the rug out from under victims of pay discrimination by making it harder for them to stand up for their rights.

In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, the Supreme Court reversed decades of established law by reinterpreting existing law on equal pay and ruling that workers must file claims of pay discrimination within 180 days after an employer first acts to discriminate. Never mind that many workers, such as Ms. Ledbetter, do not know at first that they are being discriminated against. Never mind that workers often have no way to learn of the discrimination against them or gather evidence to support their suspicions because employers keep salary information confidential. Never mind that the discrimination continues each and every time an employee receives an unfair paycheck.

The Ledbetter decision means that many workers across our country will be forced to live without any reasonable way to hold employers accountable when they violate the law. Employers will have free rein to continue their illegal activity, and the workers who are unfairly discriminated against will have no remedy. This result defies both justice and common sense.

The American people have made clear that they are yearning for a government that promotes, not defies, justice and common sense. We can answer this call for change by quickly passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and restoring a clear and reasonable rule addressing how pay discrimination actually occurs in the workplace. The 180-day time period for filing a pay discrimination claim begins again on each date when a worker receives a discriminatory paycheck.

By doing so, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act ensures that employers can actually be held accountable when they break the law. Under this bill, workers can challenge ongoing discrimination as long as it continues. As long as the injustice and the damage of the discrimination continue, the right to challenge it should continue too.

The bill before us restores the rules that employers and workers had lived with for decades, until the Supreme Court upended the law in the Ledbetter case. We know these rules are fair and workable. They were the law in most of the land and had the support of the EEOC under both Democratic and Republican administrations until the Ledbetter decision. There won't be any surprises after this bill passes. As the Congressional Budget Office has stated, the bill will not increase litigation costs.

Congress must stand with American workers to reverse the Supreme Court's Ledbetter decision. Civil rights groups, labor unions, disability advocates, and religious groups from across the country support this legislation. Many responsible business owners also support it, especially, the members of the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce. The American people want us to act.

In her stirring dissent in the Ledbetter case, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that ``Once again, the ball is in Congress's court.'' Nearly 2 years after she wrote those words, the ball is still in Congress's court. The House passed this important legislation last year, but the Senate dropped the ball. Now we have a new Congress and a new opportunity to master the challenge that Justice Ginsburg put to us, and we have a new President who is strongly committed to equal pay and to ending pay discrimination. I ask my colleagues to enable the march of progress on civil rights to continue. Together, let us stand with working people. Let us pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Mr. President, I am pleased to voice enthusiastic support for the nomination of Arne Duncan to serve as Secretary of Education, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting his nomination. Mr. Duncan brings inspiration, dedication, and ability to the field of education, and I am confident that his leadership will help move America forward to tackle the challenges present in our educational system.

Last week, Mr. Duncan appeared before our Education Committee for his confirmation hearing. He was met with broad bipartisan support from members across our committee for his vision and his commitment to move American education forward at all levels--from early education through college.

Mr. Duncan shared with us his very personal connection to the field of education, which first developed with his work alongside his mother in an afterschool tutoring program for needy students. Since then, he has worked to confront challenges and advance reforms as head of Chicago's schools. We

are all aware of the demands on superintendents of large city school systems, which is why the average tenure of an urban school chief is less than 3 years. In Chicago, Arne Duncan has given 7. In each of those years, he focused with relentless determination on closing achievement gaps, improving teacher quality, reducing dropout rates, and better engaging communities in schools.

Throughout his career, Arne Duncan has brought an impressive, can-do pragmatism to the complex challenges present in our education system. He is a leader who will bring people together, put children first, support teachers and focus on results. Each of those traits will serve all of us well as he takes the helm of the U.S. Department of Education.

Today's nomination should also remind us all of the importance of education to America's future.

Education is the key to opportunity and a strong economy, and America's schools and teachers are the catalysts for change. The ability of each of our young people to compete and succeed in this new, global economy depends on our ability to ensure that they receive a high-quality education.

Education is also key to our national security. Skills and knowledge are the pathway to protecting America and maintaining our progress in the world.

Most of all, education is key to maintaining America's greatest ideals and values, and to ensuring the vitality of our democracy.

My friend and colleague, the late Claiborne Pell, used to say that the real strength and security of our nation lies in the education and character of our people. Our Founding Fathers agreed, and so did many school reformers after them, from John Dewey to Horace Mann. As Americans, we have an obligation to provide everyone--regardless of their background, economic means, disability, or language skills--with the best possible education that enables them to develop their talents and participate fully and actively in their communities and in their country.

In order to achieve this goal, we need a new, major effort to confront and address the persistent challenges that are present in our educational system. This effort must span from the early years through high school, into college and beyond, and it must focus on building outstanding schools and institutions that deliver opportunity for every American to learn and succeed. Today's inauguration of our President- Elect marks our chance to write a new and better chapter in American education--one that will harness innovation, cultivate solutions, and invest wisely toward reaching our goals.

Our work must begin in the early years, by recognizing that what we do for our children in their first years has a profound impact on their later learning and success. The healthy development of children depends on the relationships they build with those around them--in any early learning setting.

Today, 38 States support prekindergarten programs for children, and invest more than $3.7 billion in such programs. More than a million children attend State-funded preschool, comprising 22 percent of all 4- year-olds in the Nation. Nearly 1 million more low-income children are served by the Federal Head Start and Early Head Start programs. And 12 million children under the age of 5 are in some form of child care every week--1.7 million of which receive Federal assistance to attend such programs.

We must focus each of our early learning investments--at the Federal, State, and local level--on a shared goal of school readiness and quality, regardless of the child care center, preschool classroom, or early learning program in which a child participates. In the early years, quality is the key. We need a new effort to build an early education system that provides opportunities for every child to arrive at school ready with the skills necessary to succeed in kindergarten, and with a strong foundation from which to build and grow in their later academic experiences.

In elementary and secondary education, we must strengthen and modernize our public schools, and move quickly to address the inequities in our system that enable persistent achievement and opportunity gaps. No Child Left Behind started us down the road of accountability and high expectations for all students. But we need a new, national strategy to implement the changes needed to better achieve the law's goals.

Any effort at improving public education must begin by supporting and strengthening America's teachers, who reside on the front line of school reform. We need new avenues to attract talented individuals into the teaching profession, and better supports to ensure that they remain in the classroom. We need new ways to encourage our best teachers to serve in the neediest schools, new mechanisms for recognizing and rewarding teacher successes, greater chances for teachers to develop and share their practice, and better opportunities for teachers to become leaders and decisionmakers in their own schools.

We cannot afford for America's students to be outcompeted and outpaced in this 21st century economy. We must support new efforts to increase the rigor and relevance of the school curriculum, more efficient and effective methods of testing and using school data, greater supports for disabled students and English learners, and a better-organized school schedule that maximizes learning time and provides new connections for students to develop knowledge and skills in their communities.

Unlocking the doors of higher education is more important today than ever before, and the dream of a college education should be available to any student with the talent, desire, and commitment to pursue it. Yet many of America's students still lack the help and assistance they need to prepare for college. A dollar sign still bars the doors of college opportunity for too many. For others, the path to college is blocked by heavy student loan debt and unmet financial need.

In the 110th Congress, we responded to these challenges by enacting the College Cost Reduction and Access Act and the Higher Education Opportunity Act. We committed to provide an unprecedented lifeline of need-based grant aid to students, to upgrade essential programs that prepare students for college, to reforming our student loan programs, and to simplifying the application process for college aid.

Yet far more remains to be done to address college access and affordability, and to bring the promise of a college degree to many more students. We must make greater strides in expanding the Pell grant for America's neediest students. We need new efforts to ensure that our Federal student aid programs protect students and taxpayers from risk, new mechanisms to contain and reduce soaring college costs, and new efforts to bolster the educational pipeline by strengthening community colleges and investing in college persistence and completion.

In each of these areas--early childhood education, elementary and secondary education, and higher education--there are great challenges to be met. We must forge ahead with an urgency to confront each of them head on, and improve educational opportunities for all Americans.

Today is a great day that reminds us of all that's possible in the days ahead. Our work to help others achieve the American dream begins by improving education across our country. We should each dedicate ourselves to that goal, with a renewed spirit of innovation and a resolve for change. And I believe that Arne Duncan is just the person to lead us forward as our next Secretary of Education.

Mr. President, I welcome this opportunity to pay tribute to the life of Dr. Shukri F. Khuri who, until he passed away last September 26 from a brain tumor, was one of Massachusetts' foremost physicians and a true public servant, contributing especially to the health care of our veterans.

Dr. Khuri was born in Jerusalem in 1943, and fled with his parents in 1948 to Syria, later settling in Lebanon. He graduated from American University of Beirut, where he met his wife Randa, and also completed medical school at the university. He then completed his surgical training at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Dr. Khuri was remembered for the extraordinary way he answered the call to public service. He refused lucrative offers to join private surgical practices, and chose instead to combine his

passion for research with his commitment to patient care. He joined the Surgical Service of the Veteran's Affairs Boston Healthcare System in 1976, where he spent the rest of his career. He rose to become Chief of Surgery at the West Roxbury VA Medical Center in 1984, Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1992, and Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School in 1987.

Early in his tenure at the VA, Dr. Khuri realized the need for a methodology to assist surgeons in managing the health of the heart during cardiothoracic surgery. In his quest to identify a metabolic indicator of intra-operative myocardial ischemia, Dr. Khuri invented and patented a probe that would measure the pH of the heart muscle, a device currently in the final stages of research and development.

In addition to his work in surgical heart protection, Dr. Khuri was deeply interested in improving the quality of care for all surgical patients. In 1978, at West Roxbury VA Medical Center, he established the first automated data management system in a surgical intensive care unit in the Northeast. Today, the electronic patient record in the VA is by far the most advanced and comprehensive electronic medical records system in the world.

Dr. Khuri also led a unique national effort within the VA which established the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program in 1994. The program is now recognized by the surgical community as the standard for the comparative assessment of quality of surgical care and for continuous improvement in surgery. This program has now become the model for a joint effort between the VA and the American College of Surgeons to incorporate data in the private sector to see that all patients receive the best care possible.

In the course of his outstanding career, Dr. Khuri achieved national and international prominence. His research laboratory at West Roxbury has been continuously funded for 24 years and has trained more than 60 residents and postgraduate students in applied research. He was a member of numerous professional organizations, including the prestigious American Surgical Association, and he served on and chaired many regional and national committees, including a 3-year term as president of the Massachusetts Affiliate of the American Heart Association.

Dr. Khuri was the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. He was also a regular reviewer for more than ten scientific journals, and served on the editorial board of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. He was the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the 1998 Frank Brown Berry Prize, which honors an outstanding physician in the federal health care system each year. Just days after his death, Dr. Khuri was named the recipient of the 2008 Ernest Amory Codman Award for improvements in the safety of care to the public.

As a Palestinian American, he felt the pain of the conflict in the Middle East firsthand, and he devoted much of his life to seeking peace in the region. He worked with groups in the Boston area to create and sustain dialogue between Israelis, Palestinians, and Jewish and Arab Americans.

Dr. Khuri embodied the American story of hope, opportunity and service. He built a remarkably successful professional life as a public servant, and he also built a beautiful and loving home. His hobbies ranged from carpentry to photography to actively serving in his church. His love of life, his profound humility, his steadfast faith, and his eternally optimistic outlook will continue to inspire all those whose lives he touched. He is deeply missed by his wife and three children, his four grandchildren, his mother and brother, his many loving family members, his friends and patients, and the community he loved to serve and served so well.

Mr. President, I join Senators on both sides of the aisle in paying tribute to our dear colleague and dear friend from West Virginia on this historic occasion of his 50th anniversary in the Senate. On January 7, 1959, Robert C. Byrd was sworn in as a Senator for the people of his beloved West Virginia, and in the years since then, he is become truly one of the greatest Senators ever to serve in this Chamber.

I have served with Bob for 46 of those years. I have immense respect for him, and I am proud to say that we have become close friends. I love Robert C. Byrd.

It wasn't always this way. There was a time that Senator Byrd and I were rivals, each with eyes on the position of majority whip. I was elected to that position after the 1968 election, but as I have often said, Bob taught me how to count votes in 1970 when he defeated me for reelection. It turned out to be a blessing for both of us.

Bob would go on to become one of the finest majority leaders in the history of the Senate, and the defeat freed me to concentrate on my legislative passions of health care, education, labor, and civil rights. In a very real sense Bob liberated me, and as our leader in many of those years he was especially helpful in accomplishing my goals.

The Bob Byrd I have come to know is a patriot, a passionate defender of the Constitution and the special role of the Senate, and an eloquent historian of the Senate, who has brilliantly served the people of his State.

I have so many wonderful memories of our relationship, but there are two recent ones I want to mention here.

The first has to do with the Iraq war. When President Bush set us on this course, few had the courage and strength to question, let alone oppose, this rush to war, but Bob Byrd stood strong against it. Facing enormous pressure, he led the opposition. He was in the minority--a lonely minority--but he was unbowed. He was right, and I am sure that history will judge his courageous leadership well.

The second memory is of a campaign trip I took to West Virginia in the fall of 2004 to support our candidate John Kerry. We crisscrossed the State from Charleston to Mingo County, and what I saw everywhere was the extraordinary love and affection the people of West Virginia have for Bob and that he has for them. It was an amazing and touching thing to sense the deep bond between this great man and the people he has so ably represented in Washington for so long. It is an experience I will never forget.

Now, as we reflect on his unparalleled career in the Senate on this special 50th anniversary, I congratulate our friend. I thank him for all he has done so well for so many for so long. On this golden anniversary of his arrival in the Senate, I think of the famous lines of A. E. Housman about the ``golden friends'' the poet had. Bob Byrd is our golden friend, and we are all deeply honored to have the privilege of serving with him.

Mr. President, all of us in Massachusetts who knew her or knew of her were saddened to learn of the death of Stella May Brown Weaco at Massachusetts General Hospital on New Year's Eve.

Stella was born in Mississippi, but she called Boston her home for the last 26 years of her life and she became a legend in our city. She lived on the streets, but her plight never deterred her gentle spirit. She found a home and a family in the volunteers and the fellow guests at the Women's Lunch Place, the famed daytime shelter in the city for poor and homeless women. She went there every day after the shelter opened in 1982, and she became a familiar face and beloved friend to many other members of the community.

Stella had an amazingly positive impact on every person she met. She is very fondly remembered as very grateful, very amicable, and very kind. Year after year, the Women's Lunch Place tried to persuade her to accept housing, but her indomitable spirit led her to decline such assistance. Finally, when the pressures of daily living on the streets became unbearable even for Stella, she graciously accepted the help of those around her and spent the last 2 years on her life in the Pine Street Inn.

Even then, Stella unfailingly came back to the Women's Lunch Place as often as she could, to seek out the familiar faces and friendships she cherished so much there. Sadly, Stella passed away on New Year's Eve, in the company of those who loved her for the joy she had given to their lives. In many ways, Stella exemplified the power and the spirit of giving and the extraordinary importance of human kindness. She'll be deeply missed, but the impact she had on all who knew her is immeasurable, and the lessons she taught will never be forgotten.

Mr. President, I ask that the obituary of Stella written by Women's Lunch Place Executive Director Sharon Reilly and an eloquent column about Stella by Rachelle Cohen in the Boston Herald may be printed in the Record.

The information follows:

Stella Taught Us All About Grace, Dignity

(By Rachelle Cohen, Jan. 5, 2009)

We lost Stella on New Year's Eve.

Even as the city prepared to usher out this year that

nearly everyone agrees they couldn't wait to see end, this

woman who had little and complained little died in the

company of those who cared about her and for her.

For at least a quarter of a century Stella lived on the

streets. And we only know that much because she was there

when the Women's Lunch Place, a daytime shelter for poor and

homeless women, first opened its doors 26 years ago.

For all those years she'd come for breakfast, a shower, to

do her laundry, maybe take a nap and stay through lunch. For

all those Thanksgivings and Christmases she had found a warm,

accepting place.

She was there when I reported for my first stint as a

volunteer, by then Stella was an undemanding kind of queen

bee--occupying her favorite spot against the wall in the

dining room. She was engaging and gracious, accepting a

pancake with butter and syrup as if it were a special gift.

Stella became the ultimate challenge for Lunch Place staff

over the years. The confusion that reigned in her head--which

often

made her insist she was descended from royalty or needed to

return to her real home in Jerusalem--also made her refuse

any kind of housing.

For more than two decades this tugging and pulling

continued. As one former staffer put it, ``she broke your

heart'' when she left the shelter at its 2:30 p.m. closing

time, heading out into bruising heat in the summer, into the

cold and the snow on wintry days. Housing--temporary or

permanent--wasn't for her, nor was the medication that might

have allowed her to see the world differently.

But her decades on the streets began to take their toll on

Stella. And, frankly she was no match for the Lunch Place

staffers who were tireless in their devotion and relentless

in their efforts to make whatever time remained for Stella

safe and comfortable.

So for the last two years of her life Stella had a roof

over her head and a place to call home.

And at the end of her days she had what so many others with

so much more in material wealth would envy. She had at her

bedside people who loved her. They loved her--we all loved

her--for the simplest of reasons. She returned our affection

and our kindness ten-fold. She taught us that grace and

dignity aren't a function of wealth or power. And at the

beginning of a new year she reminded us--even in death--that

being poor or homeless or mentally ill doesn't rob you of

that grace or that dignity. That comes from within. Stella

taught us that.

Mr. President, I'm proud to join Senator Mikulski in introducing this legislation. Equal pay for equal work is a fundamental civil right. Over the past 4 decades, America has made enormous progress toward ensuring that all its people have an equal chance to enjoy the benefits of this great Nation. Bipartisan civil rights bills have been enacted to expand and strengthen the law to ensure fair pay for all workers. Despite these advances, civil rights is still America's unfinished business. It is therefore fitting that we open the 111th Congress with introduction of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

This bill will restore the basic right of all workers, regardless of their race, sex, religion, national origin, age, or disability, to be paid fairly, free from discrimination. It will restore workers' rights to challenge ongoing discrimination and hold unscrupulous employers accountable.

This legislation is needed because the Supreme Court turned back our Nation's progress on equal pay with its Ledbetter decision, which undermined a core protection of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and overturned decades of precedent that had established a fair, workable rule for challenging pay discrimination claims.

This needed bill will restore the long-standing rule that each discriminatory paycheck is a separate wrong that may be challenged by workers within the required period after receiving the check. In the Ledbetter case, a jury had found that Lilly Ledbetter was paid less than her male coworkers because she was a woman. The jury awarded back pay to Ms. Ledbetter, but the Supreme Court reversed that award, holding that she had waited too long and should have filed her lawsuit within a short time after Goodyear first began discriminating against her. Never mind that the company discriminated against her for decades, and that the discrimination continued with each new paycheck she received.

Far too often, workers like Lilly Ledbetter put in a fair day's work, but go home with less than a fair day's pay. Women, African-American, and Latino workers all earn a fraction of what white male workers make. Many qualified older workers and workers with disabilities also are paid less than their coworkers for reasons unrelated to their performance on the job.

It's more important than ever that we attack the problem of pay discrimination and correct the injustice caused by the Ledbetter decision. In the current economic crisis, millions of American workers are struggling to make ends meet. Pay discrimination makes that struggle harder, and workers can't afford to lose more economic ground. To protect these workers, we must move quickly to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

I urge my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, to do so, and to send a strong signal that this new Congress is dedicated to standing up for fairness and equality in the workplace. The Lilly Ledbetters of our Nation deserve no less.