Barbara Boxer

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Let me add my thanks to Senators Hutchison and Mikulski for their leadership on this important piece of legislation. Let me pledge to my friend from Texas and my friend from Maryland, and all the women in the Senate who are behind this, as the only woman on the Foreign Relations committee, that I will work with them to ensure we move this forward to markup. The committee has a very good record when it comes to dealing with this issue. In 1999, Senator Brownback and I coauthorized a resolution condemning the practices of the Taliban. It went through the Senate very fast. We pointed out some of the issues that my colleagues have pointed out today about the treatment of women. It said the United States should never recognize the Taliban if they continue this type of treatment of women. Yesterday, in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, Senator Brownback and I were able to pass two amendments: one that called for women to be part of a new postwar Afghanistan government; and, second, a training program. We actually funded that for women leaders in Afghanistan. But unless we pass this bill ensuring the health of the women in Afghanistan who have been denied health care--there is a law under the Taliban that says a woman may not go to a male doctor. She may not go to a male doctor. Yet they have said to the women doctors that they can no longer practice and they can no longer learn medicine. What kind of situation is this? Women are forced to wear the burqas. You see them more and more on television. I put one on to get the sense of how it feels. I say to my friend from Texas that it feels as if you are nonexistent. It feels as if you are a nobody. You are no one. In closing, let me say that this important piece of legislation must be heard soon by the Foreign Relations Committee. We must act on it. We must ensure that women who have been mistreated and who have been made, in essence, invisible must get the health care they deserve as well as their children. To carry that out, the Boxer-Brownback amendment which we agreed to yesterday must be part of an emerging new government. My thanks to my friend from Texas. This a very strong bill. It has bipartisan support. I am proud to be a cosponsor. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I would like to address an emerging ecological crisis in California that quite literally threatens to change the face of my State, and perhaps others. California's beloved oak trees are in grave peril. Thousands of black oak, coastal live oak, tan, and Shreve's oak trees--among the most familiar and best loved features of California's landscape--are dying from a newly discovered disease known as Sudden Oak Death Syndrome. The loss of trees is fast approaching epidemic proportions, with tens of thousands of dead trees appearing across the Californian landscape. As the trees die, enormous expanses of forest face substantially increased fire risk because the dead trees are highly flammable. These dead trees are also more likely to blow over in high winds, posing a growing risk to people and property. Unfortunately, this terrible disease has also been found in at least 10 other plant species, including rhododendron in commercial nurseries. Other commercially important plants such as blueberries and cranberries are also believed vulnerable. Most disturbing is the fact that Sudden Oak Death Syndrome is spreading rapidly. It was recently discovered in Oregon. Fear that it will spread further has already provoked Canada and South Korea to ban the importation of California oak products. Scientists believe it may only be a matter of time before this disease reaches oaks and other species in the Midwest, Northeast, and around the country. It is vital that we invest now in efforts to stop the spread of this disease before it becomes uncontrollable. Although the Senate bill does not include funding to address this issue, the House has provided $500,000 for these purposes. Last year, the Agriculture Committee provided over $2 million in funding to address this disease. Am I correct in understanding that the chairman will assist in conference to ensure that the final bill includes funding to address Sudden Oak Death Syndrome?

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Let me add my thanks to Senators Hutchison and Mikulski for their leadership on this important piece of legislation. Let me pledge to my friend from Texas and my friend from Maryland, and all the women in the Senate who are behind this, as the only woman on the Foreign Relations committee, that I will work with them to ensure we move this forward to markup. The committee has a very good record when it comes to dealing with this issue. In 1999, Senator Brownback and I coauthorized a resolution condemning the practices of the Taliban. It went through the Senate very fast. We pointed out some of the issues that my colleagues have pointed out today about the treatment of women. It said the United States should never recognize the Taliban if they continue this type of treatment of women. Yesterday, in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act, Senator Brownback and I were able to pass two amendments: one that called for women to be part of a new postwar Afghanistan government; and, second, a training program. We actually funded that for women leaders in Afghanistan. But unless we pass this bill ensuring the health of the women in Afghanistan who have been denied health care--there is a law under the Taliban that says a woman may not go to a male doctor. She may not go to a male doctor. Yet they have said to the women doctors that they can no longer practice and they can no longer learn medicine. What kind of situation is this? Women are forced to wear the burqas. You see them more and more on television. I put one on to get the sense of how it feels. I say to my friend from Texas that it feels as if you are nonexistent. It feels as if you are a nobody. You are no one. In closing, let me say that this important piece of legislation must be heard soon by the Foreign Relations Committee. We must act on it. We must ensure that women who have been mistreated and who have been made, in essence, invisible must get the health care they deserve as well as their children. To carry that out, the Boxer-Brownback amendment which we agreed to yesterday must be part of an emerging new government. My thanks to my friend from Texas. This a very strong bill. It has bipartisan support. I am proud to be a cosponsor. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. For the benefit of my colleagues, I will not take but about 7 minutes on this and one other amendment dealing with suicide bombing, both of which I believe will be adopted. I will be very brief and ask my colleagues' indulgence. Madam President, I know you are very well aware of the women in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. I give praise to this organization called Fund for the Feminist Majority that brought this issue to my attention several years ago. I was unaware of what the Taliban were, what they were doing to women. My friends came to see me and not only told me about the abuses of the Taliban toward women but they also told me the women were forced to wear these burqas, dehumanizing them, taking away every semblance of humanity from the women. Therefore, what we try to do in this amendment after we detail the condition of women, which the clerk read so beautifully, we talk about the fact they have to wear the burqas which completely shroud their body, leaving only a small mesh-covered opening through which to see. Americans have seen that on TV. Women are completely obscured. If you try on one of those burqas, you can barely breathe. We know women in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan have been prohibited from being examined by male physicians while, at the same time, most female doctors and nurses have been prohibited from working. We know women have been brutally beaten and publicly flogged, even executed, and we have seen that on CNN on an incredible documentary called ``From Beneath The Veil.'' Senator Brownback and I in this amendment say it is the sense of the Senate that Afghan women organizations must be included in planning for the future reconstruction of Afghanistan and that the goal of the new government should be equality for all. That is all I have to say about this amendment. I ask it be laid aside, and I ask to call up my second amendment.

Mrs. BOXER. I send the amendment to the desk.

Mrs. BOXER. I ask this amendment be laid aside. In doing so, I have two amendments laid aside, one dealing with the Afghan women and one dealing with suicide bombings. I thank my colleagues for their forbearance. I am pleased to be on the Foreign Relations Committee where I have an opportunity to work on these matters. I thank my Republican friend, and I ask unanimous consent that Senator Allen be added as the original cosponsor of the suicide bombing amendment. I thank him and Senator Brownback for working with me on both issues.

Mrs. BOXER. I thank my colleague. I am very proud to ask unanimous consent that Senator Domenici as an original cosponsor of both amendments.

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I think this amendment is very clear. As far as we can tell, the United Nations has never passed a specific resolution condemning suicide bombings, nor has the Senate done it, as far as I can tell. This would be important. Religious leaders of all kinds have basically said there is never a political reason, a philosophical reason, an ideological reason, a racial, ethnic, or religious reason, no reason for someone to become a suicide bomber. It demeans life. I am very hopeful the managers of the bill will accept this amendment. I have no need to speak any longer on it except to say I am hopeful it will be passed. I ask the Presiding Officer if it is appropriate because I want to make sure the amendment is disposed of--if it is appropriate to ask for the yeas and nays or simply to lay it aside at this time; what is appropriate?

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I send an amendment to the desk, and I ask for its immediate consideration.

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

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I enjoyed listening to my friend from Iowa. I wish him every good wish for this caucus he will be starting. I hope to help him with that.

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, as I stand here, I have no office in this complex. As we probably all know, about 30 offices had to be cleared out to do some precautionary air quality testing in the offices that were connected to the ventilation system in Leader Daschle's office. We know Leader Daschle's office received a letter that contained anthrax. They are taking every precaution. I want my colleagues to know we are all still working, even those who may not have an office at the moment. I thank the Senate staff and my colleagues in the Senate for being so wonderful and offering us their offices to use, their phones to use, their faxes, their computers, and the rest. We are fully functional. We have recorded a message for people calling this office. They are given the number of my Los Angeles office, so we will not leave people out there without a voice on the other end of our telephone. I thank my colleagues for their generosity of spirit and for being so kind to my staff. I also thank the Capitol Police, the Sergeant at Arms, and the Capitol physician for acting so swiftly to protect my staff. I am very certain that their steps will prove to be the right steps and that in fact we will have a high level of confidence that we are all OK. One of the reasons I think we will be OK is because, as Senator Daschle explained, the particular employee in his office handled this letter in such a fashion that it was quickly dropped to the floor, and we think, because of that, the effect will be minimal. Of course, we pray that is the case. I am confident and hopeful that will be the case. The reason I came down to the floor is not only to thank my colleagues for all their help, but also to plead with my Republican friends to let us move on with the business of the day. We are working out of makeshift offices, Republican and Democrat Senators alike who were caught in this situation. But we could do a lot more if we were working on the Senate floor with the important foreign operations bill that is pending before us. I have listened to colleagues who say, you are holding up judges. I have looked at the record. The fact is, we are moving forward with judges. The fact is, when Republicans were in charge, I waited once 4 years--4 years--to get a vote on one wonderful judge who eventually passed through the Senate. We are not doing that. Senator Leahy is working to get the paperwork done. He is holding hearings. We have definitely moved much quicker than the Republicans did when Bill Clinton was President, if you compare the time periods. I am perplexed as to why we are having this slowdown. After all, our President says we are in a war. Certainly, it is a campaign against terrorism. This bill is essential. I will spend the next few minutes spelling out what is in this bill and why it is so important to move it forward. First of all, the bill invests $42 million to help countries strengthen their borders and secure their weapons facilities. This is very important. What we are talking about is a sum of money that will be given to our coalition partners to make sure that if they have weapons, particularly weapons of mass destruction or weapons we do not want to have in the hands of the terrorists, they have the ability to secure these weapons and secure their borders. I would say it is elementary that we must take this step. They are helping us. We should help them make sure that these weapons cannot be stolen by terrorists. I say to my Republican friends, you are holding us up. Why in God's name would you hold us up at a time such as this? We should be moving quickly to secure those weapons. We have in this bill $175 million in infectious disease surveillance programs that can provide an early warning system against some of the world's deadliest and most contagious diseases. We are making speeches on the floor about the whole issue of bioterrorism, and here we have a bill that provides $175 million in infectious disease surveillance so we can stop these diseases from coming into this country which my Republican friends are holding up. Then in this bill we strengthen the coalition against terrorism by providing $5 billion in military and economic assistance to Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, countries that are critical to long-term peace and stability in the Middle East. Why would our Republican friends hold up this money? Why? It doesn't make any sense. It also provides $3.9 billion in military assistance to key NATO allies that are putting it on the line for our country right now, and to front-line states in the area of the conflict. These states are Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tadzhikistan. These are the countries that are being so cooperative with us. They were formerly in the Soviet Union. They are helping us. They are helping our troops. Why would our Republican friends hold up this money? It does not make any sense. Then we hear our President, rightly so, beg the children of this country--and I want to support him 100 percent--to put $1 in an envelope and send it to the White House. I hope everyone will do it who is now listening. Send it to the children of Afghanistan. As he has stated eloquently, we are not in a war against the Afghan people. We are in a war against terrorism. In this bill we have funds, $255 million, for refugee assistance to shelter Afghani refugees. That is $55 million more than the President requested. In this bill it says: The situation in Afghanistan is perhaps the most urgent, the most massive humanitarian crisis anywhere. Let me repeat that, the bill--and it is bipartisan, I must say--says: The situation in Afghanistan is perhaps the most urgent, the most massive humanitarian crisis anywhere. I don't understand. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are holding up this bill which will help the children and the women and the families, the innocents in Afghanistan, get on their feet again. Then in this bill we look ahead--and this is again a program where I so agree with the Bush administration and with Colin Powell: $337 million for U.N. voluntary programs, the programs our President envisions will play an essential role in reconstructing Afghanistan after this campaign ends. That is just a part of what is in this bill: Tracking terrorists; warning against infectious diseases; strengthening our coalition against terrorism; feeding and sheltering the Afghan refugees, helping to make Afghanistan whole. That is just a part of the good things in this bill. Let me conclude. We have work to do and we are not doing it. We have done a lot on this floor in a bipartisan way. I thought the airline safety bill was stupendous, where we provided a marshal on every flight, where we said strengthen those cockpit doors, where we said make those screeners Federal employees working under law enforcement. We did that in a bipartisan way right here on this floor. I am proud that we did that. Why are we stopping now? I could show you the charts that depict that Senator Leahy, since he took over the Judiciary Committee just this summer, has done far more than the Republicans did in that same timeframe when Bill Clinton was President. I am all for getting judges. I am working hard with the administration, in my State, to get good, moderate judges. I will fight against anyone, right or left, who is a radical. But I will support mainstream judges. We are working to do that, and we are bringing those judges to the floor of this Senate. To come here and say we are going to waste another day on an issue where we are doing better on our side than the Republicans did when the shoe was on the other foot seems to me to be bizarre. It is bizarre. We are in a crisis, an international crisis, and we are not doing our work. Look at this floor. There is no one here but my good friend from Virginia. I love to see him. We work together on so many things. We are working together on a bill that I think will pass which deals with travel and tourism, to set up a promotion agency within the Department of Commerce so we can go on the air and tell people to rediscover America. If they do not feel comfortable traveling to far away places, travel in America. We have work to do. My colleague in the chair has an incredible program she is working on to honor the victims of 9-11. What are we doing today? Nothing. People are sitting around here doing nothing but making speeches. The point of this speech is to get us off the dime, to get working. I want to work on this bill. I want to protect the people I represent and all Americans from ever having to face another crisis such as we did on 9-11 and another crisis such as what we are facing almost on a daily basis now from the anthrax situation. In closing, I want to tell people to put this in perspective. We have ways to treat this. If you are exposed to it and you go on antibiotics, you are going to be fine. We are going to deal with this. We are going to wrap our arms around it. But for goodness sake, let's work on the foreign operations bill. You wouldn't think we even had a problem, the way my Republican friends are acting--as if we can dillydally around until tomorrow and the day after to get money to fight terrorism. I am very upset about it. I don't mean to sound frightened. If I have, I apologize. But I believe it is very important that we do our work. After all, that is why our people sent us here. Thank you, very much. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BOXER

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, only a month ago, our Nation faced a terrible tragedy. We learned loud and clear that we need to improve aviation security and safety, not decrease it, which is what this amendment would do. At a time that we need to protect the American public, Congress should not be decreasing safety standards. Even the FAA opposes this amendment because of safety concerns. This amendment would eliminate the current rule that commercial pilot must retire at age 60. It was put into place to help ensure safety in the air. It should only be changed if research can prove the effects of aging do not impact a pilot's ability to fly a commercial jet at age 60. The ``Age 60 Rule'' for retirement of airline pilots was implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, based on safety concerns that medical evidence showed that as a group pilots begin to demonstrate the affects of aging around age 60. Here is what the medical evidence of aging shows: there is a progressive deterioration of physiological and psychological functions and this increases more rapidly as people age; sudden incapacity from heart attacks or strokes become more frequent in any group reaching age 60; there is a the loss in ability to perform highly skilled tasks rapidly; it becomes harder to maintain physical stamina; it is more difficult to perform effectively in a complex and stressful environment and to apply experience, judgment and reasoning rapidly in new, changing and emergency situations; and, there is an increased difficulty to learn new techniques, skills and procedures. While it is recognized that such losses generally start well before age 60, it determined that beyond age 59, the risks associated with these losses become unacceptable for pilots in airline operations. Additionally, the Airline Pilots Association, the largest pilot union, does not support raising the mandatory retirement age. In fact, they oppose it. Also, older pilots with seniority fly the largest, highest performance aircraft that carry the greatest number of passengers with the longest nonstop flights into the highest density air traffic. These are concerns as pilots age. Additionally, a mandatory retirement age is not unique in the airline field. For example, air traffic controllers have a congressionally mandated retirement age of 56 years old. Yes, I am sure that there are a few pilots who can fly past 60. But, our decision should be made to protect the safety of the American flying public.

Mrs. BOXER. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. BOXER. I ask for 2 additional minutes.

Mrs. BOXER. I made the connection between trade adjustment assistance and this bill, which Senator Carnahan based on the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act. I ask my friend, doesn't he think if we can help people when they lose their job because of trade, we should help people when they lose their job because of a terrorist attack on this country? I ask him, doesn't it seem ironic that somehow, when you lose your job because of trade, you get the help, but not if it is a result of a terrorist attack?

Mrs. BOXER. I thank my friend from Texas.

Mrs. BOXER. Would they be willing to yield me the 3 minutes?

Mrs. BOXER. May I ask my friend, would he be willing to yield me 3 minutes following completion of the remarks of my colleague? Would he yield me 3 minutes once the Senator finishes?

Mrs. BOXER. Will my friend yield for a question?

Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, this country gives trade adjustment assistance to workers when they lose their jobs due to trade. I support that. We all seem to support that. But it is shocking to me that a number of people in this Senate today do not support such assistance because of terrorism, an attack on our country, on our people, on our workers. It is stunning to me. You will hear every excuse in the book about why it doesn't belong on this bill. People cannot pay their mortgages; they have been laid off. They cannot pay their health insurance; they have been laid off. Let me read to you simply a letter that went out from one of my airlines, American Eagle: Unfortunately, due to the circumstances of this national emergency which are beyond our control, it may be necessary to close or reduce the size of some of our business locations. This will cause some or all American Eagle personnel at those locations to be laid off. Because American Eagle's future rests on how well we can rebound from our current situation, we cannot say at this time how long these layoffs may last. We gave the airlines a huge package. I supported it. I still support it. But I assumed we would follow it up to help those people who make those airlines run. I am shocked, stunned, and in disbelief that we are not here as patriotic Americans, both sides of the aisle, standing up for the patriotic workers who lost their jobs because of an attack on the United States of America. I will look at this vote very carefully. It will hurt my heart if we don't win this. I yield the floor.

Mrs. BOXER. I thank my friend. Madam President, as someone who for a long time has taken the opposite position on guns, I think this amendment makes sense. We are working toward having air marshals on our airplanes. We will also be working--and I want to announce here my support of the Burns amendment--to really move security into the Department of Justice where it belongs. Until we do all this, I think this amendment makes sense. It gives the FAA a chance to decide if they think it is prudent for a pilot, who is trained, and who wants to, and who is willing to, to be able to defend the aircraft. I just want to remind my colleagues that every single plane that was hijacked was going to my State of California. I want you to know that every time I think about this, I think of how many people are suffering. I think we need to do everything we can to prevent any more of these hijackings from occurring. Therefore, I believe this amendment is right. I believe it is prudent. It also was supported in front of our Commerce Committee--I see my chairman in the Chamber--by the gentleman who represented the pilots at the last hearing we had. So I thank my friend. I am supporting this amendment, as well as the Burns amendment.

Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I support this amendment.

Mrs. BOXER. The Senate is not in order, and I am extremely interested in hearing about the content of this amendment. I hope the Senate can be in order.

Mrs. BOXER. I took to the floor earlier, in a brief moment that I had, and I made the connection between trade adjustment assistance and this bill.