Bob Casey

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Madam President, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recently lost a distinguished former lieutenant governor and a life- long Pittsburgh sports fan, Ernest P. Kline. Ernie passed away of congestive heart failure after a life that tells the story of a Pennsylvanian with the determination to reach his goals, a love of public service, and a devoted father and grandfather. Today I honor his memory. Ernest P. Kline was lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979. During his 8 years of public service, he worked to advance the causes of women and older citizens. After his career in public service, Ernie was president of Kline Associates in Palmyra, PA. His story is a Pennsylvania story of hard work and deep abiding commitment to help people. Ernie and his two brothers were raised by a single mother in Webster, just outside of Pittsburgh. It was the love and support of his extended Italian-American family, his teachers, and his devout Catholic faith that would shape him into the statesman he came to be. Ernie was the starting quarterback of his Rostraver high school football team. He attended Duquesne University but had to drop out early due to financial constraints. He became a radio-news broadcaster. While working with the radio station in Charleroi, he met his beloved wife Josephine. They would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary June 25th. When covering a Beaver Falls city council meeting for WBVP-AM, Ernie realized that he wanted to enter public service. He went home, told his family, and was elected to the city council of Beaver Falls, PA, in 1955. Nine years later, Ernie was elected to the senate of Pennsylvania, later becoming the youngest Democratic floor leader ever. After 7 years in the State senate, he was elected lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth. His life of public service continued after he left elected office through volunteering with different nonprofit organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House and the United Way. He continued supporting Democratic politics his entire life. Ernie also loved to fish and root for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He and Josephine raised 7 children and they were blessed with 12 grandchildren. Ernie was a loving father and devoted grandfather who instilled in his family a love of Pennsylvania and the value of a life in public service. More importantly, he was a dad who made sure the kids did all of their homework and all of their chores. Ernie Kline was a person of integrity and compassion. He never forgot where he came from and the values that guided his life. I extend my sincere condolences to Josephine and the Kline family for their loss. His life story will continue to inspire his family and many others to devote their lives to public service and to the poor and the powerless.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Responsible Use of Coal Act of 2009. This bill provides the Department of Energy with the funding needed to continue to accelerate both the research and development and the demonstration, and ultimately, the deployment of carbon capture and storage, CCS, technology. Further, this bill would position the U.S. as the world leader in CCS technology development and export, creating the potential for thousands of new clean energy jobs. Climate change is one of the most complex and challenging imperatives that our Nation, and, the world, has ever faced. We need to move forward in crafting a national program that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, encourage the use of renewable power, and create clean energy jobs. As we move forward, we must do so in a manner that will ensure our energy security, protect our industries from ``carbon leakage,'' help get our economy back on track, and enable us to continue to benefit from our most abundant, affordable energy resource--coal. Today coal provides over half of the Nation's electricity. While coal use for energy generation has more than tripled since 1970, emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter from power plants have been dramatically reduced as the power industry deploys technologies for capturing these pollutants. Now, responding to health concerns about mercury, power plants are implementing technology to capture this toxic element. This illustrates how the development and deployment of advanced technology has allowed coal to continue to play such an important role in our energy strategy in the face of strict environmental requirements. Coal helps keep American homes, businesses, factories, airports, schools and hospitals humming. Coal creates millions of good-paying jobs across all sectors of the economy--from direct and indirect mining and electric utility jobs to all those businesses and industries, large and small, which depend on affordable electricity to compete in the global marketplace. Coal-based electricity keeps people warm on freezing nights and comfortable during the hottest of summer days. Coal provides the reliable, secure electricity needed for the myriad of medical procedures to detect and treat cancer, heart disease and other health threats, saving innumerous lives every year. Electricity from coal is there when you need it. Much of the world depends on coal, and developing economies like China and India are increasingly relying on coal to power them into the 21st Century. Coal supplies more than 40 percent of worldwide electricity demand. For China, the amount of electricity from coal is astonishing. Eighty percent of China's electricity comes from coal. Prior to the current global recession, China built one to two new coal plants every week. But the continued use of coal in the U.S. and abroad has a significant challenge ahead of it--climate change. While we have made progress in the U.S. in dealing with climate change, we are still at the beginning of the process of piecing together a domestic program that will work for all of the different regions of this country and that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions so that we meet our global commitment. One of the key pieces that must be included in our domestic program to help meet the challenge of climate change is carbon capture and storage. I am sponsoring the Responsible Use of Coal Act of 2009 to supplement funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by further accelerating the Department of Energy's CCS research, development, demonstration, and deployment programs. Specifically the bill will promote the rapid commercial demonstration and early deployment of carbon capture and storage systems that will allow the Nation to continue to use its abundant, secure, and low-cost coal resources while moving forward with a national program to reduce the impact of man-made emissions on our environment. The bill will promote the continued research and development of advanced CCS and other coal power generation technologies in order to drive down costs, increase performance, and foster innovation. It is crucial that, in parallel to the commercial demonstration of current CCS technology, we continue to develop and advance new CCS ideas and concepts through a robust research and development program in order to continue to lower the cost of complying with CO2 regulations. The bill will promote the export of U.S. CCS technologies to those countries, such as China and India, which also rely on coal as their dominant energy source--ensuring that the U.S. is the leader in developing and exporting clean coal technologies and taking advantage of the thousands of new clean energy jobs such an industry would create. I am fully committed to work with my colleagues in the Senate in addressing climate change. At the same time, I believe that the Nation needs to recognize the critical role coal plays in driving our economic engine and to aggressively move forward in the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of CCS technology. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in ensuring that the United States continues to enjoy the economic and energy security advantages that our domestic coal resources afford us while we move forward in crafting legislation that will reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, the city of Philadelphia lost two of its favorite sons recently. We are all saddened by the passing of longtime Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas and the loss of Drexel University president Constantine Papadakis. It has been a sad time in Philadelphia with the loss of these two great pillars of the community, and I wish today to honor their memory. Harry Kalas was the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies for four decades. His signature calls of ``Outta Here'' following a Phillies' home run and ``Struck hiimm out'' following a strikeout became fixtures on Phillies' broadcasts. Born in Chicago, Harry grew up the son of a minster in Naperville, IL. He began his broadcasting career in Hawaii and eventually moved to Houston, where he broadcasted Astros games from 1965 to 1970. The Phillies were the Astros' opponent in his first game as a Major League broadcaster. Harry signed up as the Phillies play-by-play announcer in 1971. He quickly became a popular figure in Philadelphia. Together with Richie Ashburn, the Phillies' Hall of Fame outfielder, whom Harry worked with from 1971 until Asburn's passing in 1997, the pair formed a memorable team built upon what the Philadelphia Inquirer recently described as ``a special rapport in the broadcast booth that won over the fans' hearts.'' Fans, players, and sports writers have recounted over the past week just how deeply Harry was loved. One of the most poignant examples of just how beloved Harry was came after the 1980 World Series between the Phillies and the Kansas City Royals. Not a lot of people know that Harry was not permitted to call the Phillies' World Series victory over the Royals due to a Major League Baseball rule in place at the time that prevented local broadcasts of World Series games. The outcry from fans of baseball everywhere, particularly in Philadelphia, was so vociferous that Major League Baseball changed its rules. As a result, fans were treated to Harry's call of the Phillies' appearances in the 1983 and 1993 World Series games and the Phillies' victory in the 2008 World Series. Harry's now famous call of the final out of the 2008 series will forever ring in the minds of fans and players alike. The Phillies have taken appropriate steps to honor Harry's memory for the rest of the season. Most notably, Harry's signature ``Outta Here'' will be played over the PA system each time a Phillies' player hits a home run. Thousands of fans paid their respects to Harry during a moving ceremony at Citizens Bank Park last Saturday. The tributes across Major League Baseball are fitting for a man of Harry's stature. Harry was not only a great broadcaster, he was a great man. I personally will always remember Harry's faithful attendance and participation in the annual Veterans Day parade and ceremony in Media, PA. He loved the city of Philadelphia, and it loved him back. No matter the score, Harry's passion for the game and unique voice kept the fans captivated for all nine innings. He made the tough seasons easier and the good years even better. To say he will be missed is an understatement. His is the voice that Phillies fans will forever associate with baseball. My deepest condolences go out to Harry's family and the Philadelphia Phillies. I also wish to honor the life of Constantine Papadakis--known as ``Taki''--the longtime president of Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, who passed away recently after a long and brave battle with lung cancer. Taki was a creative and dynamic leader at Drexel University for 14 years. He was described by one of his colleagues as identifying himself completely with the university--``there was no Taki that wasn't connected to Drexel.'' His devotion to Drexel meant that for him, it was not enough to simply preside over the institution. Instead, he threw himself into building, expanding, and extending Drexel's reach, both its academic prowess and its role in the community of Philadelphia. Enrollment grew by more than 130 percent. Freshman applications increased by nearly 700 percent. Research funding went from $15 million to more than $100 million in each of the last three years. The size of the faculty doubled and the university is now the seventh largest private employer in the city of Philadelphia. During Taki's tenure, Drexel added both a law school and a medical school. Most recently, he spearheaded the effort to acquire a campus in Sacramento, CA. Through the sheer force of his personality and his vision, Taki also brought renewed hope and optimism to Philadelphia's leaders and citizens. He established a leading role for Drexel in regional economic development, reaching out to business, academic, and community leaders to show what could be done by investing in growth. He knew that a university is not an isolated institution but a member of a larger community with the potential to transform a city and a region. He constantly pushed forward, never content, as one colleague said, to rest on the laurels of Drexel's gains, ``however meteoric.'' Government officials, business and community leaders, and ordinary citizens should be inspired by Taki's relentless drive toward improving our communities by strengthening our civic institutions and engaging in public life. Taki's last year was emblematic of how he lived the rest of his life. His energy and charisma never waned, as he conducted business from his hospital bed, his office, and in board meetings. He had so much to work to finish, which is remarkable for an individual who had already achieved so much. He has been described as ``larger than life and taken from us too young,'' which is undoubtedly true. I extend my deepest condolences to his wife of 39 years, Eliana, and his daughter Maria and hope they will take some comfort in the fact that Taki not only built a well-respected academic institution but also made a city believe in what could be accomplished through hard work, devotion, and passion.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Responsible Use of Coal Act of 2009. This bill provides the Department of Energy with the funding needed to continue to accelerate both the research and development and the demonstration, and ultimately, the deployment of carbon capture and storage, CCS, technology. Further, this bill would position the U.S. as the world leader in CCS technology development and export, creating the potential for thousands of new clean energy jobs. Climate change is one of the most complex and challenging imperatives that our Nation, and, the world, has ever faced. We need to move forward in crafting a national program that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, encourage the use of renewable power, and create clean energy jobs. As we move forward, we must do so in a manner that will ensure our energy security, protect our industries from ``carbon leakage,'' help get our economy back on track, and enable us to continue to benefit from our most abundant, affordable energy resource--coal. Today coal provides over half of the Nation's electricity. While coal use for energy generation has more than tripled since 1970, emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter from power plants have been dramatically reduced as the power industry deploys technologies for capturing these pollutants. Now, responding to health concerns about mercury, power plants are implementing technology to capture this toxic element. This illustrates how the development and deployment of advanced technology has allowed coal to continue to play such an important role in our energy strategy in the face of strict environmental requirements. Coal helps keep American homes, businesses, factories, airports, schools and hospitals humming. Coal creates millions of good-paying jobs across all sectors of the economy--from direct and indirect mining and electric utility jobs to all those businesses and industries, large and small, which depend on affordable electricity to compete in the global marketplace. Coal-based electricity keeps people warm on freezing nights and comfortable during the hottest of summer days. Coal provides the reliable, secure electricity needed for the myriad of medical procedures to detect and treat cancer, heart disease and other health threats, saving innumerous lives every year. Electricity from coal is there when you need it. Much of the world depends on coal, and developing economies like China and India are increasingly relying on coal to power them into the 21st Century. Coal supplies more than 40 percent of worldwide electricity demand. For China, the amount of electricity from coal is astonishing. Eighty percent of China's electricity comes from coal. Prior to the current global recession, China built one to two new coal plants every week. But the continued use of coal in the U.S. and abroad has a significant challenge ahead of it--climate change. While we have made progress in the U.S. in dealing with climate change, we are still at the beginning of the process of piecing together a domestic program that will work for all of the different regions of this country and that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions so that we meet our global commitment. One of the key pieces that must be included in our domestic program to help meet the challenge of climate change is carbon capture and storage. I am sponsoring the Responsible Use of Coal Act of 2009 to supplement funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by further accelerating the Department of Energy's CCS research, development, demonstration, and deployment programs. Specifically the bill will promote the rapid commercial demonstration and early deployment of carbon capture and storage systems that will allow the Nation to continue to use its abundant, secure, and low-cost coal resources while moving forward with a national program to reduce the impact of man-made emissions on our environment. The bill will promote the continued research and development of advanced CCS and other coal power generation technologies in order to drive down costs, increase performance, and foster innovation. It is crucial that, in parallel to the commercial demonstration of current CCS technology, we continue to develop and advance new CCS ideas and concepts through a robust research and development program in order to continue to lower the cost of complying with CO2 regulations. The bill will promote the export of U.S. CCS technologies to those countries, such as China and India, which also rely on coal as their dominant energy source--ensuring that the U.S. is the leader in developing and exporting clean coal technologies and taking advantage of the thousands of new clean energy jobs such an industry would create. I am fully committed to work with my colleagues in the Senate in addressing climate change. At the same time, I believe that the Nation needs to recognize the critical role coal plays in driving our economic engine and to aggressively move forward in the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of CCS technology. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in ensuring that the United States continues to enjoy the economic and energy security advantages that our domestic coal resources afford us while we move forward in crafting legislation that will reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise to express my strong support for the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act, introduced by the two leading military experts in the U.S. Senate today--Senators Carl Levin and John McCain. This rapid passage, after years of delay and inaction, has occurred in part because of the strong support demonstrated by President Obama. The President, in public remarks recently on this issue, reaffirmed his strong commitment to be a wise steward of the American taxpayer's dollars. That commitment to fiscal prudence and wise budgeting must apply equally to the Pentagon as it does any other Cabinet Department. Those who argue that it is acceptable to tolerate some waste and inefficiency in our military budgets because we are talking about our national security have it wrong. It is precisely because our security is at stake that we must ensure, as Secretary Gates has said, every dollar wasted on cost overruns or inefficient contracting is a dollar that cannot be spent on our men and women in service and making sure they have the right tools to succeed. Defense acquisition reform is one of those perennial Washington issues that everyone talks about, but nobody ever seems to get around to solving. Many of my colleagues, in the debate over the past 2 days, have cited the GAO report last year chronicling $296 billion in cumulative cost overruns in the 96 major acquisition programs currently maintained by the Pentagon. But I would like to quote from another report: public confidence in the effectiveness of the defense acquisition system has been shaken by a spate of ``horror stories''--overpriced spare parts, test deficiencies, and cost and schedule overruns. Unwelcome at any time, such stories are particularly unsettling when the Administration and Congress are seeking ways to deal with record budget deficits. This other report was not published this year or last year. I am quoting from the legendary Packard Report, published in 1986, which offered a scathing indictment of the defense acquisition process. Unfortunately, little seems to have changed in the intervening 23 years, and in some respects, our procurement system has only deteriorated. Year after year, we hear of cost overruns and schedule delays that cost the American taxpayer billions of dollars. Yet we never seem to muster the political will to tackle the problem and crack down on the systemic flaws that produce these chronic poor results. So I am very pleased that this legislation has moved from introduction to committee markup to final Senate passage in a matter of months--after years of reports and blue ribbon commission of studies emphasizing the need for fundamental reform of the process by which the Pentagon purchases the weapons systems used every day by our brave men and women. The Levin-McCain bill on the floor today seeks to address key deficiencies in the early stages of the acquisition process for a weapons system, where many of the problems first materialize. The legislation would support the Pentagon's efforts to rebuild its procurement workforce, which has been dismantled over the past fifteen years and contracted out. It would establish an independent office in the Pentagon to assess initial cost estimates provided for weapons systems, to ensure that rose-colored cost predictions are no longer permitted to pass muster. Finally, the bill reinforces so-called Nunn- McCurdy provisions to ensure that programs that go seriously off track are terminated unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. I was also proud to serve as a cosponsor on a series of important amendments offered by my colleague from Missouri, Senator McCaskill. I applaud the Senator's single-minded determination to root out waste, fraud and abuse in our procurement and contracting systems, and I am very pleased to collaborate with her on these important amendments, all of which have been accepted by voice vote. Briefly, the amendments ensure that our war fighters in the field, as represented by the Combatant Commanders, provide input to the weapons acquisition process; offer an opportunity for the key Pentagon civilian official in charge of acquisition to sign off on all acquisition program decisions made something that oddly does not yet occur on a regular basis; and strengthen safeguards to ensure competitive prototyping for all major weapons systems before final purchase decisions are made. What matters, at the end of the day, is not just the dollars we save. All of us have a fiduciary responsibility to safeguard the interests of our young men and women who serve our nation. We cannot continue paying excess dollars on out of control weapons acquisition programs while we shortchange our troops on time at home from extended deployments and the full range of benefits they and their families deserve. That is at the heart of why the Levin-McCain acquisition reform legislation must be enacted into law by Memorial Day, as called for by the President. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CASEY

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

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I thank Chairman Dodd and Senator Shelby, as well, and so many others who made it possible for a lot of these amendments to come together. Our amendment is very simple. It sets aside up to 10 percent of the dollars allocated for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a very good program. We wanted to have some of those dollars used for counseling or for foreclosure prevention and mitigation. This allows that to happen. It is a very good result for people struggling with the terrible problem of foreclosure. I thank the chairman for his work.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise this morning to talk about a very important and very moving exhibit I am proud to host in the Capitol complex; in particular, specifically in the Russell Building. The name of the exhibit is called ``Witness to Hunger.'' It is a project created by Dr. Mariana Chilton at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, and it is currently on display not far from here in the Russell Building. To create this exhibit, Dr. Chilton gave cameras--cameras--to 40 women living in Philadelphia so they could document their lives, their struggles with hunger and poverty and so many other challenges. The result is a powerful exhibit of photographs giving us an insight--not the whole picture but an insight--into the lives of these women and the lives they lead and their children's lives and their struggles living today in Philadelphia. Women who are living in this city--part of this exhibit--try every day to provide a safe and nurturing home for their children, while finding a job that pays a living wage. They labor every day to provide food and medicine for their children. These are women fighting to make sure their children, their families, can have the health care they need. I will have the opportunity today to meet with several of the women who participated in the ``Witness to Hunger'' exhibit and this project. I wish to thank them for their bravery and rare courage to be able to open themselves, open part of their lives to all of us, and for making the trip to Washington so we can hear about their experiences firsthand. I have always believed that at its best, when it is doing the right thing, Government is about people. It is not, in the end, about budgets and data and information and numbers. That is important, but that is the means to the end. It should be about not every day do we meet this objective, but it should be about and must be about people. Today, we have a real example of that, a real living example of real people's lives. ``Witness to Hunger'' reminds us that the programs we advocate for and work on and new initiatives in Washington that affect people's lives are what we must be about. There is no better investment, in my judgment, than in the future of our children. I also believe every child in America--every single child--is born with a light inside them. For some, that light will be boundless or scintillating or incandescent. Pick your word. There are no limits to the potential some children have; because of intellect or circumstance or otherwise, their future is indeed boundless. For other children, that light is a little more limited because of those same circumstances. But I also believe, at the same time, no matter whether that light inside a child is boundless or much more limited, it is our obligation to do everything we can to make sure that child's potential--that bright light--is given the opportunity to shine as brightly as possible. Kids in school right now will be the workforce that will help us build new industries and jobs and transform our economy into the future. The good news is we have already passed some important pieces of legislation that are improving children's lives. Last year, the farm bill included a very strong nutrition section to increase access and benefits for people who use food stamps, now called by the acronym SNAP, but food stamps and other nutrition programs. The Children's Health Insurance Program is another example which will bring the number of children in America who have the benefit of this good program--this time-tested, effective program--to almost 11 million American children. We will have an opportunity to do more because, despite the advancements we have made in children's health insurance, there are still 5 million more children, even when we get to the 10.5 million, 11 million children, 5 million more with no health insurance. I have a bill on prekindergarten education, and I will be working on that to make sure children have an opportunity for early learning; nutrition programs which also include not just food stamps, as I mentioned before, but the school lunch program, the Women, Infants, and Children Program, and on and on. One of the most important endeavors we will be working on in the near term is the Child Nutrition Act, critically important to make sure children get a healthy start in life. When we talk about that light inside a child, I do believe we have-- all of us in both parties, in both Houses of Congress, and in the administration--all of us have an obligation to make sure that light shines as brightly as possible for each and every child. We do that by doing a number of things. One is to make sure the children have access to early learning, that they have nutrition in the early years of their life, and that they also have health care. If we at least provide that opportunity for every child--nutrition, health care, and early learning--not only will that child be better off, we are all going to be better off in terms of the kind of economy and, therefore, the kind of workforce that is the foundation of that economy we build into the future. I hope my colleagues and their staffs have a chance to view this exhibit ``Witness to Hunger.'' I also believe it is in keeping with and is consistent with that commitment to make sure the light in every child burns as brightly as possible for each and every child in his or her family. I know that is my obligation as a Senator from Pennsylvania, and I believe it is all our obligations as Senators. Mr. President, thank you very much. I yield the floor.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Madam President, this amendment deals with the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a very important part of our strategy to fight the battle against foreclosure throughout the country. So many States have had a terrible time with record numbers of foreclosures. The State I am from, the State of Pennsylvania, fortunately has not had as big a problem as some States, but we still have a major challenge on our hands. The good news is we have strategies to deal with it and we have a lot of locally grown, so to speak, strategies in big cities such as Philadelphia and smaller communities where people at the local level are dealing with it on the front end and the back end. On the front end, that means having strategies in place for counseling and other ways to prevent people from getting into a problem of foreclosure. This amendment is very simple. What it says is that dollars allocated under this program, some of those dollars should be allowed to be used for foreclosure prevention, as well as mitigation. Basically, what we are asking for in this amendment and what it would do is allow up to 10 percent of the funding under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to be used for foreclosure prevention programs, activities, and services, and then, secondly, in another category, foreclosure mitigation programs, activities, and services. I believe it is critically important to give local officials and people running programs at the local level the discretion--a very limited amount of discretion but some discretion--on how they spend those dollars. We hear a lot of discussion in this Chamber all the time about empowering people at the local level. This is one way to do it. They know how to fight this battle. They have strategies in place to prevent people from falling into foreclosure, but also how to mitigate it if foreclosure comes about. That is what this amendment is all about. I ask my colleagues to support it. It is the right thing to do for a lot of local communities. It is also the right thing to do for people who are expert at dealing with foreclosure prevention, as well as mitigation. I yield the floor.

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

Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I call up amendment No. 1033.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the Casey-Leahy- Specter-Gillibrand amendment to S. 896, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. Last year, Congress included $4 billion in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes and residential properties, which was a crucial step toward helping neighborhoods and communities recover from the devastating foreclosure crisis. In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Congress again recognized the value of the neighborhood stabilization program and the grants that go with it, known by the shorthand NSP grants, by providing another $2 billion, this time in a competitive grant program. When a program has that much support and is so widely recognized as doing good, we want to make sure we give the beneficiaries of the program as much flexibility in using resources to help our constituents as we can. That is what this amendment is about, to provide that kind of flexibility. The amendment allows grantees to use up to 10 percent of neighborhood stabilization program funds for foreclosure prevention activities. That is, of course, defined by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Predatory lending and the subprime mortgage crisis created a wave of foreclosures that has swept the country since 2006. Many communities, however, fear a second wave that will result from the severe loss of jobs in the economic downturn and the loss of value in homes. Borrowers unable to make monthly payments due to unemployment will not be able to refinance their homes because they have plummeted in value as a result of the housing market meltdown. My amendment would offer more flexibility to grantees to use these funds for this purpose. I urge my colleagues, as we consider housing legislation this week and next, to be mindful that the foreclosure crisis is not over. Foreclosure filings nationwide ballooned in March 2009, up 45 percent from a year ago, and in Pennsylvania we have had a total of 4,943 foreclosure filings in just the 1 month of March. The Durbin amendment that was voted on yesterday, which was unfortunately defeated, would have saved 1.7 million homes from foreclosure. If we will not give borrowers the tools they need to save their homes, at least we can continue to provide resources to State and local governments, community organizations, housing counselors, and the thousands of attorneys who volunteer their time and expertise to helping homeowners and families in need. I will continue to fight for funding for housing counseling and legal services to help families. I am grateful to Senators Dodd and Shelby for the underlying legislation which I believe is a step in the right direction. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, as our world continues to face unprecedented challenges, now more than ever, we must work with our allies and friends. I support the work of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship Program which seeks to strengthen relations between the United States and Ireland. Like the great man it is named after, the George J. Mitchell Scholarship Program fosters connections between future generations of American leaders and their Irish counterparts, regardless of ancestry. It seeks to further the education of American students through post graduate studies while building bonds between the Mitchell Scholars and the Irish and the Northern Ireland communities in which they live and study. Like many Pennsylvanians, my family can trace its ancestry to Ireland. Through the generations, our connection with and affinity for the Emerald Isle has deepened. However, with fewer and fewer Irish moving to America, it is critical that we encourage all Americans, not just those with Irish ancestry, to forge connections with the Irish people. While Irish Americans have become Mitchell Scholars, so too have young Americans from different backgrounds. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will soon be welcoming Alexandra Chirinos, who will work as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Legrome Davis in the Federal Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Alexandra was born in Mexico and graduated from the University of Texas, Austin. Her college thesis explored the factors that cause migrant women to endure domestic abuse and examined the reasons why existing abuse prevention programs were ineffective in migrant communities. She founded the UT Bilingual Mentoring Program as well as the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar Chapter dedicated to providing academic and service opportunities for students of all backgrounds. As a Mitchell Scholar, she obtained her MA in human rights law from the National University of Ireland Galway and Queen's University, Belfast. She then graduated from Harvard Law School, where she was the executive editor of the Latino Law Review, the copresident of the Latin American Law Society and one of the founding members of the Harvard Immigration Project. Alexandra's journey and commitment to intellectual achievement, leadership, and public service is just one example of the many young Americans participating in and being inspired through the George J. Mitchell Scholarship program. The bond between Pennsylvania and Ireland will only deepen as Dan Rooney of Pittsburgh, PA, is the President's nominee to become the next U.S. Ambassador to Ireland. In that capacity, I fully expect Dan to advance the cause of peace among the Irish people and to continue developing relationships between the United States and Ireland like those created through the George Mitchell Scholarship Program.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I rise to convey this afternoon some brief remarks on the new strategy of the United States for Afghanistan and Pakistan announced by President Obama last month. I applaud his statement, and I applaud the sharpening of focus this new administration has brought to our mission in this critical region of the world. For too long, our policy in both Afghanistan and Pakistan has drifted--overly reliant on support for individual leaders, excessively ambitious in our goals for the region, and, finally, lacking any constraints or accountability for the billions of tax dollars of the United States spent in both countries. President Obama made clear during the campaign last year that we could no longer pair grandiose rhetoric with paltry resources when it comes to U.S. policy toward those two nations. Accordingly, in one of his first national security decisions, he established a 60-day comprehensive review of our entire policy. He asked the respected Bruce Riedel to take leave from the Brookings Institution and oversee this review. The policy review is now complete. With the full support of Admiral Mullen and General Petraeus, the President is dispatching an additional 4,000 troops to train and advise the Afghan Army as it grows in size and scope to shoulder the burden of securing Afghanistan on its own. The President is dramatically increasing our civilian presence in Afghanistan, recognizing that we cannot win this conflict on military terms alone but must provide a robust development and diplomatic capability to complement our brave fighting men and women. Finally, the Obama administration recognizes we cannot separate Afghanistan and Pakistan, to pretend as if they were two separate challenges. Nothing could be further from the truth. Following the successful offensive of the United States in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002, hard-line Taliban and al-Qaida elements successfully relocated to western Pakistan. From there, they have created a sanctuary to attack troops of the United States, to destabilize eastern and southern Afghanistan, and to launch attacks on Pakistani military units and civilian installations. Moreover, these radical elements are beginning to move westward within Pakistan, threatening the stability of the Pakistani state. I am extremely concerned by the speed with which the Taliban is gaining ground, especially in the areas close to Islamabad, the capital. I know the administration is working with our partners in Pakistan to prevent the situation from deteriorating even further. We must continue to work with the Government of Pakistan to prevent these radical groups from destabilizing the Pakistani State and the region. As we all know, Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal which would pose a grave threat should it fall under the control of extremists. The recent gains of the Taliban show how interrelated the threats in Pakistan and Afghanistan are. The threat in Afghanistan feeds off the threat in Pakistan and vice versa. We must treat this for what it is: one theater that requires a unified approach. The President laid out, in vivid terms, why this is so important that we achieve success in our mission in both countries. Let me quote from his speech laying out the new strategy. I am quoting President Obama: Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that Al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the U.S. homeland from its safe-haven in Pakistan. And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban--or allows Al Qaeda to go unchallenged--that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can. It gets no clearer than that. The very people who attacked us on 9/11 are plotting future attacks on us in Afghanistan and the border region in Pakistan. We must disrupt and neutralize these groups before they strike again. A theme I have emphasized in recent weeks is that the President, supported by his Cabinet officers and top aides, must continue to engage the American people on why our mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan is so essential to our national security. In other words, it is not enough to have one Presidential speech on our strategy and then to ignore the issue. I know this President, and I understand he will not do that. Instead, he will continue to talk about the importance of the sacrifices being made by our fighting men and women in that theater. He will lay out a series of benchmarks to measure progress by the Afghan and Pakistani Governments and then give us clear indications as to how they are doing. The American people will support their Commander in Chief but only provided they are given updates on the progress achieved at regular intervals. Let me conclude with one final observation. During the lead up to and the early execution of the Iraq war, the Congress was rightly criticized for being missing in action. Tough questions on our mission and our strategy were not asked often enough. Administration assertions were too often taken at face value. We cannot allow that to happen again, not in a military conflict so vital to the security of the American people. I support the President wholeheartedly, but that support is neither blind nor unthinking. I happen to chair the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee responsible for the Middle East and South Asia. Accordingly, Afghanistan and Pakistan fall within my subcommittee's jurisdiction. I intend to hold hearings later this year to review the administration's implementation of the strategy it announced recently, with a special focus on the promised benchmarks for success in both countries. Effective congressional oversight is essential if the United States is to have unity of purpose and unity of will to, as the President has said, disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their return to either country in the future. Madam President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Mr. Casey pertaining to the introduction of S. 839 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the well-being of our children, both now, today, and also into the future. That is why today I am reintroducing my bill, Prepare All Kids, along with Senator Kaufman of Delaware and Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island. I believe--and I know this is a belief shared by many people in our country--every child in America is born with a light inside and it is our responsibility to keep that light burning ever brightly. This bill will help States to provide at least 1 year of voluntary prekindergarten education to children between the ages of 3 and 5. The Prepare All Kids Act will also provide funding for important programs that serve the needs of children from birth to age 3, a most critical time in the development of children. The research is irrefutable. Investing in children in their earliest years greatly improves their life outcomes, and conservative estimates put the savings to our economy at about $7 for every $1 we invest. So this is about two things: It is certainly about our obligation, our abiding obligation to our children, but it is also about our economy, the obligation to our economy that we have to develop skilled workers to compete in a world economy. There is no question that for some of the most disadvantaged children there is an achievement gap between them and their more privileged peers that sometimes never closes. One study shows that before entering kindergarten, the average cognitive scores of preschool-age children in the highest socioeconomic group were 60 percent above the average scores of children in the lowest socioeconomic group. I believe investing in children is the right thing to do, and it is the smart thing to do. Sometimes the oldest sayings are the truest because years of scientific research on early childhood programs has proven without a doubt that an ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure-- certainly when it comes to investing in our children. Earlier this year, I was proud to advocate for investments in our children in this year's recovery bill and prouder still when those investments remained intact with passage. Programs such as Early Head Start, Head Start, and childcare programs are receiving desperately needed increases right now, as working parents all across the country struggle to maintain jobs, keep their homes, and ensure their children are well cared for while they take care of their responsibilities. It is critical that working families can depend upon these investments in the years to come. The Presidency, the administration of Barack Obama, has an important budget blueprint for further recognizing the wisdom of investing in our children. In addition to the recovery bill investments, the President's Zero to Five initiative highlights the importance of investments during the critical period of time between birth and age 5: investments in early learning, nurse home visitation, and creating neighborhoods in which low-income and disadvantaged children can receive the help and assistance they need to succeed in life. I want to emphasize very clearly today as it relates to the bigger picture of giving children what they need in the early years, my bill, the Prepare All Kids Act, focuses on prekindergarten, but it also focuses on programs that serve infants and toddlers. It is also about investing in and preparing all kids--not just some but all--who are about to enter kindergarten. It is absolutely imperative that we don't see children in pieces, that we not create silos as we begin to focus on the kinds of investments our children need. We cannot allow that to be ``siloed'' that way, not childcare versus Head Start versus prekindergarten. These programs should not have to compete with one another, and in my bill I make sure they don't. We also have to remember that investing in children cannot suddenly begin when they are 3 or 4 years old. It must begin from the earliest days of a child's life, literally beginning before they are born. The Obama administration, in outlining its vision of early childhood, shows a wise commitment to streamlining and coordinating a system of early childhood programs and investments. I could not agree more with the need for such streamlining. We are also fortunate indeed to have Secretary Duncan and, hopefully very soon, the confirmation of Governor Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services--both of whom really get it, as the President said to a joint session in speaking of another part of our priorities in terms of getting it, understanding what we have to do. When it comes to the continuum of early childhood development and education, both of these officials, as well as the President and Vice President and their team, all get this, and they understand it. That is why they have made Zero to Five such a high priority. Let me turn to an economic summary of the Prepare All Kids Act. First of all, in this bill we assist States in providing at least 1 year of high-quality prekindergarten education to children. Under my bill, prekindergarten programs must adhere to high-quality standards. That includes a research-based curriculum that supports children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development and individual learning styles. Experts tell us that at the preschool stage, social and emotional learning can be as important and perhaps even more important than cognitive learning. That is where early socialization takes place--learning to share, pay attention, work independently, and express feelings. All these are critical to successful childhood development. Classrooms in our bill will have a maximum of 20 children and children-to-teacher ratios of no more than 10 to 1. Children need individualized and quality attention to thrive, and these requirements provide that. The bill helps States that want to expand pre-K programs to full-day programs as well as extend their programs year round. This supports both children and working parents who need high-quality programs for their children during the workday and in the summer. Prekindergarten teachers will be required to have a bachelor's degree at the time they are employed, but we give them sufficient time, 6 years, in order to get it. We also allow States to use funds for professional development for teachers. But we want highly qualified and committed teachers in our pre-K programs. States must create a monitoring plan that will appropriately measure individual program effectiveness. And, one more point: infant and toddler programs will receive a significant portion of the funding--15 percent. These programs typically receive the lowest dollars of all early childhood programs, making it difficult for parents, many of them single moms, to find quality childcare for the youngest of our children. We have to recognize in this bill and other places as well the critical role of parents in the education of their young children by strongly encouraging parental involvement in programs and assisting families in getting the supportive services they may need. Children come in families. To truly help children, we have to involve and support their parents. We have to involve the whole family. More important, children cannot succeed without the active involvement of their parents. I believe we have an obligation to our children and to our future workforce. Compared to children who attend high-quality preschool, those who do not attend such programs are five times more likely to be chronic lawbreakers as adults and more likely to abuse illegal drugs. Children who attend high-quality preschool are more successful in school, more likely to graduate from high school, and thus more likely to become productive adults who contribute to the U.S. economy. But for anyone who needs additional reasons, decades of research on life outcomes of children who have attended early childhood programs proves the wisdom of this investment. Conservative estimates are that we save $7 for every $1 invested--in crime, welfare, and education costs. Some studies have shown as much as $17 in savings. We must ensure that the light in every child--really, their potential--burns brightly. It is my deep conviction that as elected public servants we have a sacred responsibility to ensure we invest in our children by providing early learning and development, nutrition and health care--these three: nutrition, health care, and early learning. That is why I am committed to serving the children of this Nation and why I am reintroducing the Prepare All Kids Act. I look forward to working with President Obama and Democrats and Republicans in the Congress who share these priorities. I look forward to giving our children the good start they deserve, to keep their light shining brightly. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the well-being of our children, both now, today, and also into the future. That is why today I am reintroducing my bill, Prepare All Kids, along with Senator Kaufman of Delaware and Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island. I believe--and I know this is a belief shared by many people in our country--every child in America is born with a light inside and it is our responsibility to keep that light burning ever brightly. This bill will help States to provide at least 1 year of voluntary prekindergarten education to children between the ages of 3 and 5. The Prepare All Kids Act will also provide funding for important programs that serve the needs of children from birth to age 3, a most critical time in the development of children. The research is irrefutable. Investing in children in their earliest years greatly improves their life outcomes, and conservative estimates put the savings to our economy at about $7 for every $1 we invest. So this is about two things: It is certainly about our obligation, our abiding obligation to our children, but it is also about our economy, the obligation to our economy that we have to develop skilled workers to compete in a world economy. There is no question that for some of the most disadvantaged children there is an achievement gap between them and their more privileged peers that sometimes never closes. One study shows that before entering kindergarten, the average cognitive scores of preschool-age children in the highest socioeconomic group were 60 percent above the average scores of children in the lowest socioeconomic group. I believe investing in children is the right thing to do, and it is the smart thing to do. Sometimes the oldest sayings are the truest because years of scientific research on early childhood programs has proven without a doubt that an ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure-- certainly when it comes to investing in our children. Earlier this year, I was proud to advocate for investments in our children in this year's recovery bill and prouder still when those investments remained intact with passage. Programs such as Early Head Start, Head Start, and childcare programs are receiving desperately needed increases right now, as working parents all across the country struggle to maintain jobs, keep their homes, and ensure their children are well cared for while they take care of their responsibilities. It is critical that working families can depend upon these investments in the years to come. The Presidency, the administration of Barack Obama, has an important budget blueprint for further recognizing the wisdom of investing in our children. In addition to the recovery bill investments, the President's Zero to Five initiative highlights the importance of investments during the critical period of time between birth and age 5: investments in early learning, nurse home visitation, and creating neighborhoods in which low-income and disadvantaged children can receive the help and assistance they need to succeed in life. I want to emphasize very clearly today as it relates to the bigger picture of giving children what they need in the early years, my bill, the Prepare All Kids Act, focuses on prekindergarten, but it also focuses on programs that serve infants and toddlers. It is also about investing in and preparing all kids--not just some but all--who are about to enter kindergarten. It is absolutely imperative that we don't see children in pieces, that we not create silos as we begin to focus on the kinds of investments our children need. We cannot allow that to be ``siloed'' that way, not childcare versus Head Start versus prekindergarten. These programs should not have to compete with one another, and in my bill I make sure they don't. We also have to remember that investing in children cannot suddenly begin when they are 3 or 4 years old. It must begin from the earliest days of a child's life, literally beginning before they are born. The Obama administration, in outlining its vision of early childhood, shows a wise commitment to streamlining and coordinating a system of early childhood programs and investments. I could not agree more with the need for such streamlining. We are also fortunate indeed to have Secretary Duncan and, hopefully very soon, the confirmation of Governor Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services--both of whom really get it, as the President said to a joint session in speaking of another part of our priorities in terms of getting it, understanding what we have to do. When it comes to the continuum of early childhood development and education, both of these officials, as well as the President and Vice President and their team, all get this, and they understand it. That is why they have made Zero to Five such a high priority. Let me turn to an economic summary of the Prepare All Kids Act. First of all, in this bill we assist States in providing at least 1 year of high-quality prekindergarten education to children. Under my bill, prekindergarten programs must adhere to high-quality standards. That includes a research-based curriculum that supports children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development and individual learning styles. Experts tell us that at the preschool stage, social and emotional learning can be as important and perhaps even more important than cognitive learning. That is where early socialization takes place--learning to share, pay attention, work independently, and express feelings. All these are critical to successful childhood development. Classrooms in our bill will have a maximum of 20 children and children-to-teacher ratios of no more than 10 to 1. Children need individualized and quality attention to thrive, and these requirements provide that. The bill helps States that want to expand pre-K programs to full-day programs as well as extend their programs year round. This supports both children and working parents who need high-quality programs for their children during the workday and in the summer. Prekindergarten teachers will be required to have a bachelor's degree at the time they are employed, but we give them sufficient time, 6 years, in order to get it. We also allow States to use funds for professional development for teachers. But we want highly qualified and committed teachers in our pre-K programs. States must create a monitoring plan that will appropriately measure individual program effectiveness. And, one more point: infant and toddler programs will receive a significant portion of the funding--15 percent. These programs typically receive the lowest dollars of all early childhood programs, making it difficult for parents, many of them single moms, to find quality childcare for the youngest of our children. We have to recognize in this bill and other places as well the critical role of parents in the education of their young children by strongly encouraging parental involvement in programs and assisting families in getting the supportive services they may need. Children come in families. To truly help children, we have to involve and support their parents. We have to involve the whole family. More important, children cannot succeed without the active involvement of their parents. I believe we have an obligation to our children and to our future workforce. Compared to children who attend high-quality preschool, those who do not attend such programs are five times more likely to be chronic lawbreakers as adults and more likely to abuse illegal drugs. Children who attend high-quality preschool are more successful in school, more likely to graduate from high school, and thus more likely to become productive adults who contribute to the U.S. economy. But for anyone who needs additional reasons, decades of research on life outcomes of children who have attended early childhood programs proves the wisdom of this investment. Conservative estimates are that we save $7 for every $1 invested--in crime, welfare, and education costs. Some studies have shown as much as $17 in savings. We must ensure that the light in every child--really, their potential--burns brightly. It is my deep conviction that as elected public servants we have a sacred responsibility to ensure we invest in our children by providing early learning and development, nutrition and health care--these three: nutrition, health care, and early learning. That is why I am committed to serving the children of this Nation and why I am reintroducing the Prepare All Kids Act. I look forward to working with President Obama and Democrats and Republicans in the Congress who share these priorities. I look forward to giving our children the good start they deserve, to keep their light shining brightly. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to waive the reading of the amendment.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise for two purposes: the first on an amendment, and then I want to speak on the budget as well. First, I ask unanimous consent to lay aside the pending amendment and call up amendment No. 783, the Casey amendment on funding the Long-Term Stability/Housing for Victims Program under the Violence Against Women Act.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, earlier this month I had the honor of chairing the advisory board and participating in the release of a report by the National Center on Family Homelessness that focused on the increasing number of children that are homeless in our country. The report is titled ``America's Youngest Outcasts''--a very appropriate title and a heartbreakingly accurate one. There are many very harmful consequences of homelessness for children. But first I want to emphasize the nexus between domestic violence and homelessness--and the reason why I am offering this amendment. Mr. President, this budget amendment creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund for the Long-Term Stability/Housing for Victims Program, which is authorized under the Violence Against Women Act, and I am offering this amendment because I wanted to highlight two very serious problems in this country. First of all, the relationship between domestic violence and homelessness and the obvious impact that both of these issues have on women and children in America; and in particular the high number of women and children who are fleeing abusive situations who then become homeless. This program, under the Violence Against Women Act, will help substantially to improve the lives of women and children in America who become both victims of domestic violence and then become victims because they are homeless as a result of that. I want to defer further review of that for now because I want to move to the second part of my remarks which focus on the budget, and in particular the issue of health care. As we know from the budget offered by President Obama, these are his priorities in that budget: First of all, the creation of jobs, the focus on health care--which I will speak of in a moment--energy independence, and education. Two items not on that list are deficit reduction, to cut the deficit in half over the next couple of years, and, secondly, tax cuts--over $800 billion in tax cuts set forth in the resolution that we are considering before the Senate. At this point I will go to a second chart that very simply puts forth a headline from the Reading Eagle newspaper in Reading, PA, dated February 9 of this year: ``Tilden Township Woman Tends To Baby Born Hours After Her Husband's Death,'' and then there is a very brief introduction: Just after noon on Thursday, Trisha Urban's husband, Andrew D. Urban, died. Less than nine hours later, she gave birth to their first child, Cora Catherine. Andrew Urban was just 30 years old, Mr. President. It is hard to describe the situation Trisha Urban was facing that day. Literally, at the same time she was watching her husband die, she was being rushed to the hospital to have their first child. Let me read one excerpt from a letter she sent to me. Here is how her first paragraph concludes: Two ambulances were in my driveway. As the paramedics were assessing the health of my baby and me, the paramedic from the other ambulance told me that my husband could not be revived. She goes on to say in the letter: Because of preexisting conditions, neither my husband's health issues nor my pregnancy would be covered under private insurance. I worked four part-time jobs and was not eligible for health benefits. Later in the letter she talks about the insurance company dropping the coverage for her family. We were left with close to $100,000 worth of medical bills. Concerned with the upcoming financial responsibility of the birth of our daughter and the burden of current medical expenses, my husband missed his last doctor's appointment less than 1 month ago. And, of course, we know what happened next--her husband died and her baby was born. Those words and this story tell us all we need to know about the challenge of health care--the challenge that is presented to the Senate, the Congress, and the country. We cannot fail to do something about this issue this year; not 2010, not 2011, or down the road. We have to address this issue this year. I am glad the President has made this a priority, and I am glad that Chairman Conrad has as well. I want to read Chairman Conrad's words, the chairman of our Budget Committee, when he talked about not just the importance of health care but the connection between health care and fiscal responsibility in our budget. When he was releasing the budget resolution, Chairman Conrad said, in part: Reforming our Nation's health care system is essential to ensuring our long-term fiscal stability and economic strength, in addition to the well-being of our citizenry. Soaring health care costs are the biggest source of the projected explosion in Federal debt in our long-term budget outlook. Rapidly rising health care costs make it harder for our businesses to compete globally, while putting a tremendous strain on family budgets. That is the challenge we have from a fiscal point of view if we don't do anything about health care. But let's talk about costs and families--rising costs and struggling families. This chart is very simple. The orange line, of course, is the rise in health insurance premiums from 1999 to 2008, a very dramatic and unambiguous upward spike. The two lower lines, the light blue and the red, depict workers' earnings, which have been, at best, near flat in that time period. Then overall inflation is at about the same level, so a 34-percent increase in wages at the same time health care premiums are up 119 percent. Going to the next chart, the insurance status of Americans under the age of 65, you can see from that number we have 86 million Americans, according to a recent report, who at some period of time in 2007 and 2008 had no health insurance. I might add those 86 million people, most of them, almost 70 percent of them, didn't have health care for at least 6 months. Finally, we go to the employment status of people in Pennsylvania-- those who are uninsured. As you can see from this chart, more than three-quarters of the people in Pennsylvania who are uninsured are employed. So we are talking about working families not having health insurance. That won't come as news to people across the country. This really, when you get down to it, is not about these charts or numbers. In the end, it is about people. It is about Trisha Urban and her family and the horror they faced when her husband, the father of her child, died at the very moment of birth of that child, but it is also the horror of people who face a health insurance crisis that is literally, in some cases, about life and death and about whether they will survive. Just consider this: Consider the costs we are talking about in terms of the causes of death. The leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 are, No. 1, heart disease; No. 2, cancer; but No. 3, in that age category, no insurance--the cause of death, not just a problem, not just a crisis, but literally the third leading cause of death in that age category. So that is what we are talking about. Finally, when we consider the challenges that families face, this is also about a lot of small businesses. I am noting that in Pennsylvania we have a strong tradition of making sure we support our small businesses. One of the companies our office worked with is Bingaman & Son Lumber Company. They have been in business 40 years, with 250 people employed, and they prided themselves on covering 80 percent of their employees' medical and prescription drug costs. In December, Bingaman & Son Lumber was notified that due to high medical bills the company would have to increase their premiums by 37 percent. We were able to work with them to provide some relief. But, again, this points to the crisis in families but also the crisis in small businesses--a 37-percent increase in their premiums. Finally, Mr. President, I want to highlight President Obama's principles for health care reform. They are very simple, and I will go through them quickly. We know what they are: protecting families' financial health, just as we spoke of today; making health care affordable; aiming for universality, or covering everyone, which has to be our objective; portability of coverage, so in the case of the Urban family moving or changing jobs, it would not lead to a problem with health insurance which could have been prevented; guaranteed choice; investment in prevention and wellness, and we know the importance of that; improving patient safety and quality care; and, finally, maintaining long-term fiscal sustainability, or stability, as our chairman has made a major priority of the budget resolution. In conclusion, Mr. President, I would ask that we stay focused on this issue, not just in this budget resolution but well beyond the debate on the budget. And I want to come back to Trisha Urban. At the end of her letter to me, she said the following: I am a working class American and do not have the money or the insight to legally fight the insurance company. I will probably lose my home, my car, and everything we worked so hard to accumulate in our life will be gone in an instant. I am willing to pay the price of losing everything. So, Mr. President, as I conclude, I would ask all of us in the Senate who are debating this budget and wondering what is going to happen on the issue of health care this question: What price will we be willing to pay to make sure health care reform becomes a reality? The first step in that goal is passing a budget resolution which makes health care a priority. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Tom Feeley of my staff be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the consideration of the budget resolution.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, we are discussing and debating all week on the budget resolution. I stand before the Senate tonight to talk about some amendments I am offering. But this is a budget that President Obama has worked very hard on, as well as Chairman Kent Conrad, the chairman of our Budget Committee. That work done by the President and his team, as well as by the Budget Committee, has resulted in a series of proposals that focuses on a whole range of issues. But one of the most important parts about this resolution is that it keeps its focus on recovery for the short term, but long term it focuses on issues we all are concerned about and need to spend a lot of time on--issues such as health care, education, and energy. This budget also cuts the deficit in half over the next couple of years and cuts taxes for working families. We need to focus on all of those issues, and more, because of what has happened to our economy. Since December of 2007, we have lost 4.4 million jobs. In my home State of Pennsylvania, in February of this year, it was reported we had lost 41,000 jobs--the largest single month job loss for the State in 13 years. These numbers reveal that not only is the economic downturn ongoing but the pace of job loss is not slowing down. In response to the economic crisis, many of our communities in Pennsylvania have community colleges that have offered at least one semester of free tuition to workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the economic downturn. The first amendment I am offering creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund to establish a tuition assistance program in the Department of Labor. Voluntary participation in this program will not only help workers in need of skills and training for future employment, it will also strengthen qualifying educational institutions and reinforce their role in workforce development in our complex economy. It makes perfect sense that when people are losing their jobs because of the economy, because of the recession, they be offered an opportunity for further education. This amendment makes all the sense in the world in light of that reality. The second amendment I am offering sets forth a fund for accelerated carbon capture and storage and advanced coal technologies. This amendment creates a fund to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of advanced carbon capture and storage, known by the acronym CCS, and coal power generation technologies. Today, coal provides over half of the Nation's electricity and supplies more than 40 percent--40 percent--of worldwide electricity demand. Any domestic program to meet the challenge of climate change must include carbon capture and sequestration. We know coal helps build our businesses, helps keep American homes, factories, airports, schools, and hospitals humming. It creates millions of good-paying jobs across the economy. We know in addition to addressing our greenhouse gas responsibilities, this amendment I am offering will make the United States a leader in the development and export--and that word is very important: ``export''--of advanced coal technologies to those countries such as China and India that also rely upon coal as their dominant energy source. I am proud to be joined in this amendment by Senators Rockefeller, Bayh, and Stabenow. Finally, I have a third amendment which would create a deficit- neutral fund for long-term stability and housing for victims of violence. This would be an amendment that speaks directly to a program authorized under the Violence Against Women Act--a great piece of legislation passed to protect women in America. I am offering this amendment because I want to highlight two very serious problems in this country and the relationship between the two: domestic violence, on the one hand, and its impact on women and children. In particular, women and children in high numbers fleeing abusive situations often become homeless. There are many very harmful consequences of homelessness for children, which I will mention in a moment. But first I want to emphasize the nexus between domestic violence, on the one hand, and homelessness on the other. That is the reason I am offering this amendment. One of the things the National Center on Family Homelessness highlighted in its recent report is how frequently domestic violence is a direct avenue to homelessness for women and children. This is supported by other data from the National Network to End Domestic Violence and many other policy groups and researchers. Several national and State reports show that between 22 and 57 percent of homeless women report that domestic violence was the immediate cause of their homelessness. Research on domestic violence is well documented that batterers commonly sabotage a woman's economic stability, making abused women more vulnerable to homelessness. This program I am offering an amendment for builds on collaboration between domestic violence service providers and housing providers and developers to leverage existing resources and create housing solutions that meet victims' needs for long-term housing. Helping victims remain safe and stable over time is critical. Victims of domestic violence often return to their abuser because they cannot find long-term housing. Just to give one example of a real person, a real story from my home county, Lackawanna County, PA: Jean is a 43-year-old survivor who experienced severe domestic violence during her 10-year marriage. She filed for divorce from her abuser in an attempt to find a better life for her and her 2 children, a 4-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter. Unfortunately, as often happens when the victim tries to end the relationship, the violence escalated as her husband stalked her, broke into her home, and severely beat her with a crowbar as her son watched in horror. Her husband was arrested and sentenced to 1 to 4 years. Following the arrest of her estranged husband, Jean turned to the Women's Resource Center in Scranton, PA. There, she received free and confidential counseling and became an active participant in support groups. Her children joined the children's group at the center, and with legal representation from the center, Jean was able to successfully fight her ex-husband's petition for custody while he was in prison. Jean's family resided in transitional housing offered by the center while she got back on her feet financially after the divorce. She returned to school, and this past Mother's Day she graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work. She completed an internship at the center and now works as relief staff member at the center as she prepares to finish graduate school this fall. Jean says the center is: The wind beneath her wings. Everything I've done, I've done because of their help, their encouragement and their empowerment. I am where I am and who I am today only through their incredible support. So said Jean, a real person living a life of horror that most of us can only imagine. Her story illustrates the kind of vital help victims of domestic violence and their children can get and need to get. We have a responsibility, every one of us here has a responsibility to victims of domestic violence and to children to keep these programs and services going with the funding they need. These programs save money and literally safe lives. As did Jean, victims of domestic violence and their children can become survivors and go on to live successful, happy lives, free of abuse and free of fear. If we do anything in this budget this year, we should speak directly to those victims who are able to survive horrors that I can't even begin to imagine and go on to lead productive lives. So with these three amendments, I hope to improve upon what I think is a very good product already--a budget that focuses on our priorities, our fiscal priorities, health care, education, and energy. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. CASEY

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