Thad Cochran

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I appreciate the Chairman's consideration of my request and his willingness to work with me both last year and this year to further this important project. I hope that the enabling legislation will be completed by the time the Interior bill reaches conference and that we can work together to make Cat Island a success this year. black liquor gasification

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, as the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee may be aware, Cat Island is the last remaining private island that lies outside the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Located so close to the mainland, Cat Island has many natural and recreational resources that make it an attractive target for development. For the past couple of years, the owners of this property have been extremely patient while working with the Mississippi delegation and the National Park Service to ensure that their property is included in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, while competing development offers have been on the table. H.R. 2541 has passed the House of Representatives, allowing the Park Service to acquire this tract. A companion bill, S. 2638, is now pending here in the Senate, where I hope it will move forward expeditiously and be enacted this year. Because this process has taken longer than expected, it is now critical that funding for the first phase of this project be provided this year through the Land and Water Conservation Fund should the enabling legislation be enacted. There is $2,000,000 in the House- passed Interior Appropriations bill which is a good start, but it provides well below the amount needed for Phase I of this project. In fact, the first phase will require $10 million. Therefore, I request the chairman's assistance in working with me to fund the first phrase of Cat Island, providing that additional funding be made available as the Interior appropriations bill moves toward conference.

Mr. COCHRAN

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

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, for the information of Senators, as I understand it, the leader has announced that we would go next to the Agriculture appropriations bill. I further understand that leadership is discussing an agreement under which we will proceed to consider that bill. Pending the completion of that discussion, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now go into a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 15 minutes each.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the Durbin amendment is unnecessary. It purports to direct the manner and details of a missile testing program that the Secretary of Defense is committed to conduct already. This amendment is an unprecedented effort by the Senate to micromanage a weapons system testing program. In no other program has the Senate tried to legislate in this way to dictate to DOD how a classified national security testing program should be conducted. The directions to DOD in this amendment are vague. They would inevitably lead to confusion and unnecessary delays in the development of this complex, but very important, capability to defend our Nation against a serious threat. I urge the Senate to reject this amendment. I move to table the amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I believe the proposed amendment on testing of our National Missile defense system is overly broad, unnecessary, and counterproductive. The amendment asks that we direct the Defense Department to conduct testing of our National Missile Defense system against--and I quote-- ``any countermeasures (including decoys) that . . . are likely, or at least realistically possible, to be used against the system.'' And it defines a countermeasure as ``any deliberate action taken by a country with long-range ballistic missiles to defeat or otherwise counter a United States National Missile Defense system.'' With language as broad as this, there is virtually no bound to what we would be directing the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, as a matter of law, to go off and test against. I don't believe it is useful to legislate such broad and open-ended requirements. Nor is it necessary. There is already a process in place to ensure that the National Missile Defense system--like every other weapon system we have--is properly tested against the likely threats if faces, including potential countermeasures. Our acquisition system has a methodical process by which requirements for any new weapon system are studied and approved, and National Missile Defense is no different. Moreover, there is an independent operational test and evaluation organization in the Defense Department as a second layer of oversight to make sure new systems are adequately tested. With those processes in place, there is no need for a third layer of requirements, levied in an overly broad statute, to deal with some vague technical notions that someone somewhere has imagined. There are possible countermeasures to every weapon and those are considered as a matter of course in the design and testing of every system. We don't have legislation directing realistic operational testing against any possible countermeasures for the F-22, for example, and I see no reason to single out this particular weapon system for such treatment. Most of the recent talk about countermeasures to the NMD system has been generated by wild accusations from some college professors who have long opposed missile defenses of any sort. They would have us believe that countermeasures can become reality for even technologically unsophisticated nations simply because they can be imagined. But in the real world, in which ideas have to be translated to design, and design to hardware, and the hardware tested, the reality is far different. Those who are building our missile defense system understand this and that is why they have built in to that system the capability to deal with countermeasures as they evolve. The pending amendment would direct a reconvening of the Welsh Commission to examine this issue, but the fact is that General Welsh and his team have already looked at this issue. This is what he told the Senate just a couple weeks ago: There is very significant potential designed into the C-1 [initial NMD] system to grow to beyond the capability to deal with those countermeasures. The problem with estimates as to what people can give was that--the Chinese will share it, the Russians will share it--it's one thing to share technology, it's something else to incorporate it into your system. And, so unless they share an all-out system ready to launch, there is still a very significant technical challenge to integrating somebody else's countermeasure technology into your offensive weapons system. Those who believe it will be easy for rogue states to incorporate countermeasures into their long-range ballistic missiles should consider what happened last Friday night in the test of the National Missile Defense system. A Minuteman target missile was launched from Vandenberg Air force Base carrying a dummy warhead and a balloon decoy. No nation except perhaps Russia has more experience than the United States with technically sophisticated countermeasures, and those who say such measures will be easy for rogue states to deploy derided this balloon decoy as laughably simple. Well, the decoy didn't deploy properly. As Undersecretary of Defense Jacques Gansler noted following the test, ``Others have said how easy it is to put up decoys, by the way. This is the proof that one decoy we were trying to put up didn't go up.'' Mr. President, countermeasures will eventually challenge the National Missile Defense system, just as they have challenged every other weapons system that has ever been deployed. But they aren't anywhere near as easy to perfect as opponents of missile defense would have us believe, and we already have adequate measures in place to ensure the National Missile Defense system is adequately designed and tested to account for potential countermeasures. This legislation is vague, overly broad, and unnecessary. I urge Senators to vote against it.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. It is my understanding that, in view of the pressing need to deal with both infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistant diseases, the Chairman will agree that in conference there will be a total of at least $25 million in new funds to deal with the problem of antimicrobial resistance and that the total to deal with other infectious diseases will be at least at the level included in the Senate bill prior to the amendment.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet today, June 26, 2000, from 1:30 p.m.-5 p.m., in Dirksen 628 for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, today I am introducing legislation which would establish the Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Arts Education awards to schools. The 1997 National Assessment of Educational Progress Arts Report Card was the first ever assessment of the effects of specific arts instruction and the level of fine arts skills in American students. It showed that arts instruction improved competency and literacy; and without it, very few students were able to create or perform at an advanced or adequate level. The evidence of the positive effects of arts education on overall scholastic achievement is an incentive for students, parents and schools to insist upon arts courses being a part of every school's curriculum. In 1997, The College Board reported that high school students with four or more years of arts instruction scored over 100 points higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test than students with no arts instruction. In a 1999 report titled, ``Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons From School Districts that Value Arts Education'' it was said that, ``the presence and quality of arts education in public schools today require an exceptional degree of involvement by influential segments of the community which value the arts in the total affairs of the school district: in governance, funding, and program delivery.'' It is clear from these and other studies that students who have the opportunity to be involved in music, art, theater and dance instruction at school, truly have an advantage. As part of the effort to improve education, we need to encourage arts education in our schools. One way to do that, I think, is to recognize those schools that are offering this advantage. Therefore, the legislation I am introducing would create a Congressional board and a citizens' advisory board which will establish an award for schools demonstrating excellence in arts education curriculum. The legislation also encourages the boards to establish individual student awards in the future. This bill sends a clear message of support and appreciation to those teachers in our schools who dedicate their lives to the teaching of music, art, theater and dance; and to those school administrators who support comprehensive arts programs. I invite other Senators to join me in cosponsoring this bill. I look forward to its consideration and adoption by the Senate in the near future. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the Record, as follows:

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, today I am introducing a bill to establish the Reading Research Dissemination and Implementation Plan, an initiative which follows up on the important work of the National Reading Panel. Three years ago I discovered that the National Institute of Child Health and Human Services had completed a thorough study of factors and conditions that affect the learning of reading in children. Since reading is such a basic and necessary first step in the process of education, nothing is more important to a child's educational development than learning to read. I was honored to chair the recent hearing of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, which accepted the National Writing Panel's report titled, ``An Evidence- Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction.'' The report has been distributed to Congress, universities, schools, education administrators, and libraries. At the hearing, Dr. Donald Langenberg, Chairman of the panel, stated, ``There is a recent report entitled Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science. . . . that is a gross understatement.'' It is time to ensure that the panel's findings are disseminated in a manner that will result in the implementation of the best practices for the effective teaching of reading. This bill directs the National Reading Panel, the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development and the Department of Education to devise a strategic plan to include the findings in teacher preparation course work, professional development for current teachers, textbooks, and other instructional materials. The legislation further instructs that the plan be submitted to the Secretary of Education by December 31, 2000, and that the Secretary immediately take actions to implement it. The research report, ``Relations Between Policy and Practice: A Commentary,'' written in 1990 by D. K. Cohen and D. L. Ball states, ``It costs state legislators and bureaucrats relatively little to fashion a new instructional policy. If instructional changes are to be made, [teachers] must make them. Teachers construct their practices gradually. Teaching is . . . a way of knowing, of seeing, and of being.'' Over the last several years, reading assessments have continued to show that nearly half of our nation's fourth graders do not read at grade level. Research and study on literacy over the last few decades has shown that children who have difficulty reading are more likely to suffer poor self esteem, fail to achieve in other subjects, become trouble makers in school and eventually criminals in jail. The research also shows that once a child is nine years old, remediation becomes more difficult. We need to move quickly to take advantage of what is known to predict and prevent reading difficulties, help those children who are having difficulty, and begin teaching for successful reading instruction. We know that successfully mastering reading at an early age makes success in life more likely. It is my purpose and hope in introducing this legislation that the classrooms of today's preschoolers, kindergartners, and early grades will begin to benefit from the intelligence we have about how our brains connect and decode the complicated processes needed for reading. This legislation will engage researchers, policy makers, teachers and parents in a focused mission. A mission to ensure that children acquire the most essential skill for future success: reading. I invite other Senators to join me in supporting this important effort. I ask unanimous consent the text of the bill be printed in the Record immediately following my remarks.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, today I am introducing legislation which would establish the Congressional Recognition for Excellence in Arts Education awards to schools. The 1997 National Assessment of Educational Progress Arts Report Card was the first ever assessment of the effects of specific arts instruction and the level of fine arts skills in American students. It showed that arts instruction improved competency and literacy; and without it, very few students were able to create or perform at an advanced or adequate level. The evidence of the positive effects of arts education on overall scholastic achievement is an incentive for students, parents and schools to insist upon arts courses being a part of every school's curriculum. In 1997, The College Board reported that high school students with four or more years of arts instruction scored over 100 points higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test than students with no arts instruction. In a 1999 report titled, ``Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons From School Districts that Value Arts Education'' it was said that, ``the presence and quality of arts education in public schools today require an exceptional degree of involvement by influential segments of the community which value the arts in the total affairs of the school district: in governance, funding, and program delivery.'' It is clear from these and other studies that students who have the opportunity to be involved in music, art, theater and dance instruction at school, truly have an advantage. As part of the effort to improve education, we need to encourage arts education in our schools. One way to do that, I think, is to recognize those schools that are offering this advantage. Therefore, the legislation I am introducing would create a Congressional board and a citizens' advisory board which will establish an award for schools demonstrating excellence in arts education curriculum. The legislation also encourages the boards to establish individual student awards in the future. This bill sends a clear message of support and appreciation to those teachers in our schools who dedicate their lives to the teaching of music, art, theater and dance; and to those school administrators who support comprehensive arts programs. I invite other Senators to join me in cosponsoring this bill. I look forward to its consideration and adoption by the Senate in the near future. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be printed in the Record, as follows:

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, today I am introducing a bill to establish the Reading Research Dissemination and Implementation Plan, an initiative which follows up on the important work of the National Reading Panel. Three years ago I discovered that the National Institute of Child Health and Human Services had completed a thorough study of factors and conditions that affect the learning of reading in children. Since reading is such a basic and necessary first step in the process of education, nothing is more important to a child's educational development than learning to read. I was honored to chair the recent hearing of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, which accepted the National Writing Panel's report titled, ``An Evidence- Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction.'' The report has been distributed to Congress, universities, schools, education administrators, and libraries. At the hearing, Dr. Donald Langenberg, Chairman of the panel, stated, ``There is a recent report entitled Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science. . . . that is a gross understatement.'' It is time to ensure that the panel's findings are disseminated in a manner that will result in the implementation of the best practices for the effective teaching of reading. This bill directs the National Reading Panel, the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development and the Department of Education to devise a strategic plan to include the findings in teacher preparation course work, professional development for current teachers, textbooks, and other instructional materials. The legislation further instructs that the plan be submitted to the Secretary of Education by December 31, 2000, and that the Secretary immediately take actions to implement it. The research report, ``Relations Between Policy and Practice: A Commentary,'' written in 1990 by D. K. Cohen and D. L. Ball states, ``It costs state legislators and bureaucrats relatively little to fashion a new instructional policy. If instructional changes are to be made, [teachers] must make them. Teachers construct their practices gradually. Teaching is . . . a way of knowing, of seeing, and of being.'' Over the last several years, reading assessments have continued to show that nearly half of our nation's fourth graders do not read at grade level. Research and study on literacy over the last few decades has shown that children who have difficulty reading are more likely to suffer poor self esteem, fail to achieve in other subjects, become trouble makers in school and eventually criminals in jail. The research also shows that once a child is nine years old, remediation becomes more difficult. We need to move quickly to take advantage of what is known to predict and prevent reading difficulties, help those children who are having difficulty, and begin teaching for successful reading instruction. We know that successfully mastering reading at an early age makes success in life more likely. It is my purpose and hope in introducing this legislation that the classrooms of today's preschoolers, kindergartners, and early grades will begin to benefit from the intelligence we have about how our brains connect and decode the complicated processes needed for reading. This legislation will engage researchers, policy makers, teachers and parents in a focused mission. A mission to ensure that children acquire the most essential skill for future success: reading. I invite other Senators to join me in supporting this important effort. I ask unanimous consent the text of the bill be printed in the Record immediately following my remarks.

Mr. COCHRAN

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, if the Senator will yield, I am advised that we have not received any word from down the hall yet. I am not in a position to consent to the request at this time.

Mr. COCHRAN. If the Senator will yield, he is negotiating with the wrong guy. He is down the hall. I will show you the direction how to get there. I am the author of this amendment and that is about as high as I get in this discussion. I appreciate Senator Reid's support for the amendment, and also Senator Harkin's support. If it were up to the three of us, we could probably get this worked out.

Mr. COCHRAN. We will find out an answer and get back to you.

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, I don't have any indication from our leadership as to what alternatives would be available to substitute for the consent being circulated.

Mr. COCHRAN. I don't have the authority to set aside my amendment and proceed to other matters until we get consent. So we have a problem.

Mr. COCHRAN. Why don't we get consent on the agreement----

Mr. COCHRAN. I will find out what is going on, and I may withdraw my objection. So I will reserve the right to object at this point, and I will ask the distinguished Senator a question or two. There is a consent request that I am told was being circulated on both sides of the aisle to have a vote on the pending amendment that I have offered at a time certain. In fact, it would occur at 9:40 a.m. tomorrow and would provide for some remarks to be made before the vote. I would like to know whether or not we can expect to get consent to that proposed agreement before permitting the amendment to be set aside and proceeding to another amendment and possibly never getting back to the pending amendment. That is the purpose for my concern.

Mr. COCHRAN. I object, Madam President.

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

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, I offer this amendment to H.R. 4577, the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill to implement pilot programs for antimicrobial resistance monitoring and prevention. Antimicrobial resistance has become a worldwide problem. Emerging, drug-resistant infections threaten the health and stability of countries across the world. Diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis have become resistant to treatment in many countries, and we are beginning to see these drug-resistant infections reemerging in the United States. Here in the U.S., resistance is developing in both large, urban areas and rural communities. We are seeing widespread resistance develop to common drugs such as Penicillin. Some microbes are even becoming resistant to our last line of therapy, Vancomycin. We are approaching the point where such common ailments as a sore throat or an ear infection could become life threatening. The problem is not limited to a certain line of microbes. We are seeing the development of resistance in all major groups of microorganisms--viruses, fungi, parasites, and bacteria. We must address this problem on several levels. We must build our public health infrastructure for both surveillance of and response to resistance and outbreaks. We need to educate practitioners and patients in the responsible use of antimicrobials, and we need to continue to invest in research on the mechanisms of resistance and the development of new treatment. This amendment begins to address the global threat posed by antimicrobial resistant infections. We must aggressively act over the course of the next several years to avert the situation of a half century ago when infectious diseases were the greatest threat to human health. Specifically, this amendment provides $25 million to be available through such centers as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the establishment of partnerships between the Federal Government and academic institutions and State and local public health departments to carry out pilot programs for antimicrobial resistance detection, surveillance, education, and prevention, and to conduct research on resistance mechanisms and new or more effective antimicrobial compounds. For the information of the Senate, authorizing legislation is being introduced and referred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The purpose of the new legislation, which is being sponsored here in the Senate by the Senator from Tennessee, Dr. Frist, and the Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, will provide a framework of legislative authorization for activities and appropriations of dollars such as that reflected by this appropriations bill amendment. I also am pleased to have the cosponsorship on this specific amendment of Senator Kennedy and Senator Frist, as well. I am hopeful the majority leader will be able to permit us to announce that a vote will occur on this amendment as the next order of business for the Senate. It will not likely occur today but probably tomorrow at sometime to be announced by the leader. I hope we will be able to make that announcement for the information of all Senators very soon. The funding that is provided as an addition to that included in the bill for microbial research into resistance to diseases, viruses, and illnesses is a matter that is emerging as one of the most serious challenges we face in medical science today. I am hopeful the Senate will approve this amendment and increase the funding for this important area of inquiry. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as in morning business to discuss two related pieces of legislation for the Department of Education that I will introduce today.

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

Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask that it be stated.