Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1199 and the Senate proceed to its consideration; that the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, this is the Emmett Till unsolved crimes bill which has received so much notoriety. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I extend my appreciation to Senator Coburn for allowing us to complete these two bills.

Would my friend withhold for a second? The staff said they didn't hear me read all this on Emmett Till, even though I did. They want me to do the whole thing all over again.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 237, H.R. 923.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a

third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

So staff once again was right, and I was wrong.

Mr. President, as I have said on many different occasions, one of the heroes in my family as I was growing up was Franklin Roosevelt. That is an understatement. One of the things I admired most about President Roosevelt was how he lifted our country out of the Great Depression and did so by speaking directly to the American people on the radio, telling the American people the truth. All he told us was not good news, explaining plainly what needed to be done.

Another President that we all admire, Democrats and Republicans, was Harry Truman. We all know that President Truman had on his desk a wooden sign that said, ``The buck stops here.'' It did, and it does.

Today we face what economists call the greatest economic danger since the Great Depression. We have come to this point after 8 years of President Bush waging a war on fiscal responsibility. His Republican philosophy of removing all accountability from big business and expecting no responsibility from them in return has created this crisis that now threatens to devastate America's working families. President Bush put cronies and ideologues in charge of all critical regulatory agencies, including the Justice Department, who ensured that special interests would always come before the common good.

In one example of particular irresponsibility, the Bush administration refused to exercise its regulatory authority over the mortgage industry. The President's neglect allowed massive fraud and widespread predatory lending to pave the way for the largest mortgage crisis in our entire history, a crisis he continued to ignore long after the consequences of the plundering and pillaging of the mortgage market became clear.

Here in the Senate, we never got the support of President Bush when we were trying to do something with housing reform. In fact, just the opposite; he was threatening a veto. We had to break seven Republican filibusters on that legislation.

History will show that while all this was going on in the White House, for the last 20 months we Democrats were trying to restore fiscal sanity. Here are some examples over the years.

We have only been in control of the Senate for the last 20 months. Prior to that, in 2000, Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, chairman of the Banking Committee, introduced the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act to restrict abusive predatory lending. The same year, Senator Schumer introduced the Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act. In 2002, Senator Sarbanes reintroduced his bill. In 2004, Senator Sarbanes and the current chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Dodd, called on the Federal Reserve to take action on alternative mortgages. Senator Dodd called them a nightmare for low-income Americans. In 2005, the House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation to reform the regulation of government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It passed the House 331 to 90.

The Democratic minority in the Senate tried to pass it. We were blocked by the White House and Senate Republicans. When Representative Oxley, one-time chairman of the Banking Committee and a devout Republican, brought this legislation to the White House, the President, in the words of Mike Oxley, gave him ``the cold shoulder and the one- finger salute'' and rejected the bipartisan plan.

In February of 2008, Senate Democrats introduced the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which was blocked by Senate Republicans after a veto threat from the White House.

In June 2008, the White House threatened to veto the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act, which would have improved oversight of Fannie and Freddie. The reason for the veto threat? They did not want to help communities struggling with foreclosures. If the President had signed this bill in June, we would have saved billions we must now spend to bail out Fannie and Freddie.

In every one of these instances, Democrats saw the storm clouds gathering and attempted to pass legislation that could have steered our course away from the crisis we now face. But every time, the White House and congressional Republicans chose to continue along their own irresponsible path, which brings us to where we are now.

After ignoring Democrats in Congress and good fiscal sense for 8 years, President Bush has sent Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke to Congress to pitch his $700 billion bailout. As I have said before, Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke are good men. I believe they both have the best interests of our country at heart. I certainly hope so. But the testimony of yesterday's Banking Committee hearing made it clear that Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke have not yet successfully made the case for the Bush plan. Democrats and Republicans raised serious questions about the plan, and I do not believe anyone-- Democrat or Republican--felt those questions were sufficiently answered.

At 2 o'clock today, in the House of Representatives, their Banking Committee is going to listen to the Chairman and the Secretary.

As our country prepares to face the consequences of George Bush's fiscal dereliction of duty, Congress is prepared to act as quickly as we responsibly can. But the Congress, and especially the American people, have a right to know this: Where is President Bush? President Bush has sent Congress an unprecedented $700 billion bailout proposal-- $700 billion straight from the pockets of every single man, woman, and child in America. Yet President Bush has been absent from what may well be the most important debate on economic policy in a generation.

Isn't it interesting. You look at our experience, the Presiding Officer's and my experience. When there was an issue of such paramount importance, we were always called to the White House. Not this time. The President has not been available. It has not been his issue.

Well, it is his issue. We have a right to know--Congress and the American people--where is President Bush? He sent Congress this unprecedented $700 billion bailout proposal. This money, as I have said, is straight from the pockets of each one of us, and even our children and our children's children. Yet President Bush has been absent from what may well be the most important debate on economic policy in the history of our country.

I was listening to the radio this morning and Allan Sloan, who is an economic writer, said this issue is as big as he has ever seen or heard about. Well, I do not know if he is right, but I think the President should be available. He has given two brief statements to the press and a press release admonishing the Congress to accept his bailout plan immediately. Other than that, President Bush has been silent.

We must not forget, President Bush is still President of the United States. It is time for him to focus on the issues and tell the American people where he is. It is time for him to explain why 8 years of deregulation policies have bought us to this dangerous ground. It is time for him to explain why this administration sat on its hands for months and only now has come to realize the need for immediate and unprecedented Government action.

Where was he when it was called for during his first 7\1/2\ years? It is time for him to explain how he could tell our country for months that our economy was fine, the fundamentals were fine, yet overnight declare that if American taxpayers do not accept his bailout proposal, our country will face economic disaster.

And, most importantly, it is time for him to explain how his plan, drafted literally under the cover of darkness, will help America weather this storm. This is not the Paulson plan. This is not the Bernanke plan. This is not the Congress's plan. This is the Bush plan. It is time for him to take ownership and demonstrate leadership. He is our

President, and it is time for him to realize that the buck stops with him, as President Truman said.

If President Bush is serious about passing legislation quickly, he should address our country and make his case. Then he should seek to work with Members of both parties to reach a reasonable solution that American workers, families, small and large businesses all desperately need.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, we have had a Senator object to a very important hearing taking place this afternoon. Therefore, we are going to have to recess at probably about 2:30 subject to the call of the Chair.

It is my understanding that the distinguished Republican leader is going to come to speak in an hour, hour and a half, but perhaps around 2:15. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in a period of recess following the remarks of the Republican leader subject to the call of the Chair.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 9:30 a.m. in room 328A of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 10 a.m. in room 328A of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 2:30 p.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Mission Possible: FEMA's Future Preparedness Planning.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during

the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 10 a.m. in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 2:30 p.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. in room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing entitled ``Bush Administration Environmental Record at Department of the Interior and Environmental Protection Agency.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Domestic Partner Benefits for Federal Employees: Fair Policy and Good Business.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008. The Committee will meet in room 418 of the Russell Building beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in Dirksen 562 for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Extracting Natural Resources: Corporate Responsibility and the Rule of Law'' on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 10:45 a.m., in room SH-216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Visa Waiver Program: Mitigating the program risks to ensure the safety of all Americans'' on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at 2:30 p.m., in room SH-216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Madam President, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has received requests from various law enforcement and regulatory agencies, seeking access to records that the Subcommittee obtained during its recent investigation into how financial institutions have designed, marketed, and implemented transactions intended to enable foreign taxpayers to avoid taxes on U.S. stock dividends.

This resolution would authorize the chairman and ranking minority member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, acting jointly, to provide records, obtained by the Subcommittee in the course of its investigation, in response to these requests and any similar requests from government entities and officials with a legitimate need for the records.

Mr. President, when we finish leader time, we are going to proceed to a period of morning business to allow Senators to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The minority will control the first half hour, the majority the second 30 minutes. Following morning business, we will proceed to the consideration of H.R. 6049, the tax extenders legislation. There is an order that has been entered that we will finish that legislation today.

We have been in discussion with the Republicans, and it is to everyone's best interest to not have any votes before the noontime caucuses, the reason being, at 9:30 a.m., a hearing started in the Banking Committee. Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke are there. The full committee will be there. They will all want to ask some questions. I believe this hearing will not finish before lunchtime. There has been word it might even go on after lunch. We will wait and see what Chairman Dodd and Ranking Member Shelby come up with in that regard.

We are going to finish this legislation. We hope we can complete most all the debate this morning and start voting this afternoon. I hope that, in fact, is the case.

The House is going to take up the continuing resolution tonight. I think they are going to file it tonight, and I think they are going to try to waive the 48-hour rule and have that vote maybe as early as tomorrow. That is on the CR. We also expect to be receiving an economic recovery package from them shortly.

The Economy

With the financial crisis facing this country today, we are all waiting to see what happens in the Banking Committee. Everyone is a Monday morning quarterback. We have former Speaker Gingrich who is stating Senator McCain should not support this legislation, it would be wrong to do that. We are just going to wait and see.

I think everyone has been convinced that we have a financial crisis on our hands. The question is, What do we do about it? I cannot speak for everyone on this side of the aisle, but we think there should be something done as quickly as possible. Does that mean tomorrow? No, I don't think so. It means we should be deliberate in what we do but certain that what we are doing is the right thing to do.

There has been certain agreement. There has to be something done about executive compensations. The American people are demanding that. That is what is happening, in all the calls to my office. Certainly all of the Senators would say the same. There has to be some way of recouping some of these moneys the Government is paying to buy these bad loans so that there is some ownership in it from the Federal Government if money is made on these, and taxpayers should be compensated. There is a question that the original proposal had language in it that would

have allowed foreign banks to be, in effect, taken care of. The American people are concerned about that.

We are waiting for the hearing. There may be reasons for the very short proposal the administration sent to us. Maybe that is all that should happen. But if people are getting the same message I am, there is going to have to be some changes. We believe this should be done on a bipartisan basis, that it should be done in keeping with the emergency we have before us.

In effect, I am saying let's wait until the hearings are over. Hopefully, at that time, the two banking chairs, with their ranking members, Frank and Dodd, can point us in the right direction so we can complete this legislation in a reasonable period of time.

I will also indicate to the minority that I am ready to move forward on the consent agreements regarding the Coburn matters.

What I have been told is Senator Bond is going to speak for--how long?

What I will do, Mr. President, is I will wait until Senator Bond has completed his statement. I see the Republican leader is here. I ask unanimous consent that following the remarks of Senator McConnell and any that I wish to make, Senator Bond be recognized for 15 minutes and then, following his statement, I be recognized to do my business with Dr. Coburn.

Mr. President, this will be the ninth vote we have had on the tax extenders as relates to renewable energy. There have been compromises made. I say to my good friend the Republican leader, one of the provisions I don't like in the bill is the coal-to-liquids. I wish it were not in there, but it is. I have been here long enough to understand that to get legislation passed, there have to be compromises made. I hope when this matter goes to the House of Representatives that they will take the seriousness of how difficult it has been for us to get this legislation passed.

My friend talked about the importance of these tax credits for renewable energy. It is very important. But also there is another tranche that is extremely important, and that is the extenders for the business community. We have done something that has not been done in a long time. We have them for 2 years. This is a big step forward for the business community, and it is a step forward that is very important.

I say to my friends on the other side of the Capitol, in the House: Don't send us back something else. We cannot get it passed. If they try to mess with our package, it will come back here, it will die, and we will have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. It would be a terrible shame that we would not be able to pass this legislation after having, for example, nine votes on the energy tax renewables. So I say to my friends in the House, Democrats and Republicans: Rise up and accept this because our procedures are different from the House. We can claim a victory for the American people by getting this done. And I hope we will have a resounding vote. I am confident we will on this legislation today.

Mr. President, regular order. The regular order was I was to have the floor when Senator Bond finished.

Mr. President, yesterday we started a process of trying to clear bills and passing matters. Prior to that, to remind everyone, 34 bills have been held up by Senator Coburn, held up for months. We have tried to work with him and it has borne no fruit. I want everyone here to understand that Senator Coburn may have been the person objecting to these pieces of legislation passing, but the Republicans are complicit in this because they have joined with him in blocking these bills. He could not do this alone. They have joined with him in doing this. So people who go back to their constituency and say they are in favor of all these pieces of legislation are not leveling with their constituents. I repeat, Senator Coburn may have been the person who made the objection, but we have attempted to move forward. He has been joined by his Republican colleagues. Every Democrat, of course, is in favor of moving these pieces of legislation, even though they are Republican bills. We believe, for the good of the people, you don't identify a good piece of legislation by whether it is a Democrat or Republican sponsoring it; you identify it as to the merits of that piece of legislation.

Again, to recap, the legislation contains 34 bills with broad bipartisan support that have been held up by Senator Coburn, who obviously thinks he knows better than the House of Representatives--by the way, these bills were passed overwhelmingly; the average vote is 370--that he knows more than the committees that reported these bills out, both in the House and the Senate, and he knows better than the whole Senate, since he will not give us simple votes on these bills. I repeat, he has been joined by his Republican colleagues in the obstructionism.

I tried to get the whole block passed yesterday. I tried to move to different sections--there are seven different sections--and there was an objection made on behalf of Senator Coburn to each of those. With a few things on our plate; that is, the financial crisis facing this country, trying to complete a funding resolution to get us through this beginning of the next fiscal year, an economic recovery package--we have a lot to do. Because of that, I did not have the ability, again, to file cloture. It takes 2 days to vote on a motion to proceed, 30 hours; get on the bill, file cloture, 2 more days, 30 hours. We didn't have time to do that. But we are going to continue working on these next Congress. If we come back after this weekend--which is looking more every day as though we are going to have to--we can consider moving forward on these pieces of legislation at that time.

We are going to do what we can to get these extremely important pieces of legislation passed. I again say, each one of these bills overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives. Each one of these bills has been reported out of the Senate committee. We are going to see if any of these will get the approval of the Republicans today.

We were told yesterday by Republican Senate staff that maybe there are other Republican Senators who are using Senator Coburn as a foil, using him as somebody to do the blocking, so we will see. Yesterday it was interesting, the junior Senator from Arizona said there are 8 bills we could clear--8 out of 34, not very good, but 8 is a lot better than nothing. Within a few seconds after I agreed to that, well, he said, maybe three. I tried to pin him down to three. He said you will have to wait until Dr. Coburn shows up.

I hope everyone is beginning to see a clearer picture of this obstructionism.

Also understand this: Not a single piece of legislation will cost the American people 10 cents--nothing, not a penny, because they are all authorizations. They allow the appropriations committees to take a look at these pieces of legislation. There are a lot of pieces of legislation that pass that give authorization and then there have to be priorities set by the Budget Committee, sometimes the Finance Committee, and the Appropriations Committee, to find out which priorities should exist.

The authorizations do not cost the American taxpayers anything; nothing; zero. That is why I was stunned when I got a letter from the Senator from Oklahoma saying you strike $10 billion in authorizations from these bills and then when the bills come forward you make an amendment to put it back in.

I haven't gone to medical school, but I know that is illogical. We are not going to offer consent requests on each bill in this package because we have been told in no uncertain terms by Senator Coburn that he will not accept that. Right now we have to deal with him. So I am going to start on a couple of titles and see what progress, if any, we make today. As I have said, we are not going to give up on the rest of the important pieces of legislation. But because the Republicans have supported Senator Coburn, that is where we are. I repeat, even though he is the person out front, the Republicans, the Republican caucus is responsible for this.

I disagree with Dr. Coburn on his concerns about authorizations. I think he is wrong, but he has a right to his opinion and I accept that. But my disappointment is his Republican colleagues are supporting him. I do not think that is going to continue.

We do not know what is going to be the status next year, but I hope there will be fewer of them and more of us and maybe that will lessen some of the intransigence we have seen on the other side. I am happy to continue discussion with Senator Coburn's office which, frankly, we found basically has been a big waste of time, but we will continue to do that. I have tried to be patient and I will continue to do that so I hope we can get something done.

The first title of this package deals with health care. This title consists of very important bills covering a range of diseases and conditions. I venture to say that every American and every family in America has been touched by some portion of the health care provisions in this package. The health care provisions in this package include the ALS Registry Act and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act. That piece of legislation is interesting. Christopher Reeve, Superman, who was badly injured in a horse accident, and his wonderful wife Dana, who was so supportive through his very difficult life, are both dead. As young people they are both dead, even though there is legislation that has been introduced and we tried to pass in their honor. They are both dead.

The STOP Stroke Act--I don't think there is a family in America who has not been affected by stroke in some way.

The Legislation also contains the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS

Act, which focuses on postpartum depression, which now is more easily diagnosed, and they are looking for ways to lessen the burden that people who have postpartum depression have and the Vision Care for Kids Act and the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act.

Three of the six bills in the health care package were introduced by Republicans. All these bills passed the House with extremely strong bipartisan support. Eighty-five percent of the people in the House of Representatives voted for these pieces of legislation. That is the average. Of course, the same over here. We have bipartisan support. But procedurally Republicans have supported Senator Coburn.

First, let's take a look at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, one key provision that has been obstructed. It is an important piece of legislation dealing with paralysis. This legislation would support and enhance cooperation in paralysis research, rehabilitation, and quality of life programs for people with paralysis. It authorizes grants and research funding for clinical rehabilitation of paralysis. The bill has been languishing on the Senate calendar for well more than a year and, I repeat, passed the House with extremely broad bipartisan support.

Dr. Coburn's office has indicated on several occasions that, OK, let's pass this. But we have heard that before.

I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1727, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, and the Senate proceed to its consideration, that the bill be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and there be no intervening action or debate.

Of course.

This is the exact language from the House of Representatives.

Mr. President, I say to my friend, he has had more than a year to look at this. It is the exact bill from the House. Fine. Take a look at it. We will come back again.

Another bill in this package is extremely important. This bill will help ensure pregnant women and new mothers of babies with prenatal conditions will get information and support services to help prepare them for the challenges and rewards of their children.

I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 457, S. 1810, that all after the enacting clause be stricken, that an amendment at the desk consisting of subtitle (f) of title I of S. 3297 be inserted in lieu thereof, the amendment be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate. The two sponsors of this legislation, Senators Brownback and Kennedy, are in favor of what we have done with the amendment that is at the desk.

I have made this amendment available to everybody for some time.

Mr. President, now we turn to another important piece of legislation. This is what we mentioned earlier, the Lou Gehrig's disease legislation. The bill would build upon, expand, and coordinate among pre-existing ALS registries, helping to collect data essential to the study of this dread disease.

The reason this is important is the average time from discovering a person has Lou Gehrig's disease until they die is 16 months. Time is of the essence.

The bill would create a Federal advisory committee on the national ALS Registry and promote research access to ALS data. The bill passed the House 411 to 3 a year ago. Both House and Senate committees marked the bill up with bipartisan support. Senator Coburn said he wanted some changes made so we have made those changes. Each change he told us he wanted we have made. Then he asked for an additional change and we made that. Now we have made extensive changes to the bill to accommodate the concerns Senator Coburn said he had with the bill, so I hope we can get it passed.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to Calendar No. 518, the ALS Registry Act, that all after the enacting clause be stricken, the amendment at the desk consisting of the compromise amendment based on the language of subtitle (a) of title I of S. 3297 be inserted, that the amendment be considered and agreed to and the bill, as amended, be read a third time, passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, this is the Vision Care for Kids Act. What this would do is ensure that children get the vision care they need to succeed in school.

I think most everybody knows I was born in a little town and raised in a little town--no doctors, no hospital. I was born in a house, not in a hospital.

When I went away to high school, which is also a fairly small high school, I was a baseball catcher on the baseball team. When we would move inside to the gym when the weather was very bad, which was not very often in Nevada, and I would be catching, I had trouble picking up the ball. But I thought it was that way for everybody. I thought other people had trouble seeing the ball. It was not until I was a freshman in college that somebody said: You must not be able to see very well. And so as a freshman in college I got a pair of glasses. I will never forget it. I came back to my dormitory; I had never seen green on the hills. I did not know things looked that way. But with my glasses, I could see it was green now. Now I know why I could not see the ball.

That is what this is all about, so kids like me have an opportunity maybe to be able to see with glasses or whatever it takes to improve their eyesight. Is this bill going to solve all of those problems? No, but it certainly would help. It would establish a program through the Centers for Disease Control to complement and encourage existing State efforts to improve children's vision care.

I am not suggesting to anyone that I was blind. I just didn't see very well, and I didn't know that. I thought everybody was like me. But can you imagine how--I can imagine. I was there. I know. I came home, and I could not believe it. I called my friends: Look, it is green over there.

I ask unanimous consent that the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 507 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, this exact language passed the House. This is a Republican bill, Senator Bond. My friend is right, it did not go through the committee. I think Senator Bond is right by being the chief advocate over here. Maybe he can help us with Senator Coburn. But the same thing we had before, it passed overwhelmingly. Maybe after he looks at it, he will allow it to pass later on.