Tom Daschle

Mr. DASCHLE

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I will use my leader time to address the pending issue for a couple of minutes. It is with some reluctance that we find ourselves in a situation of having to support a continuing resolution for the next 3 weeks. Although most Democrats will support this resolution, I don't know that our caucus will be united in its support. And on behalf of those of us who are supportive, I think it has to be said--and I haven't had the good fortune to hear any of the debate--we do so with great reluctance and great disappointment. We hope this will be the only CR that will be voted on and addressed this year. Our Republican colleagues made three promises last spring. The first promise was, they would not use Social Security trust funds to pay for other government programs; the second promise was, there would be no lifting of the discretionary spending caps, that we could live within the caps we all agreed to in 1997; the third promise or commitment was, we would meet the deadlines. We all understand the new fiscal year begins October 1, and we strive to complete our work by the first day of the new fiscal year. Here we are, a couple of days away from the new fiscal year, and what has happened? Our Republican colleagues told Members during the budget debate: No, we really don't want any Democratic amendments. We will do this on our own. We will pass a Republican budget--not a bipartisan budget but a Republican budget. That Republican budget passed without Democratic support and without Democratic involvement. We then had a Finance Committee markup, and our Republican colleagues again said: No, we really don't want any Democratic input. We will pass a tax cut of a magnitude that goes way beyond anything the Democrats could support--recognizing it cuts into the very investments we have expressed so much concern about today, recognizing it cuts into Social Security as they promised they would not do. Then we had the appropriations process. With the exceptions of the VA/HUD and defense bills, Democratic Members were largely shut out of the appropriations subcommittee markups, the full committee markups, and the conferences with the House We hate to say we told you so, but that is exactly where we are today: We told you so. We knew they could not do what they said they were going to do earlier this spring and this summer. We knew ultimately they would have to cut Social Security to get to this point, and they have. We knew they would probably be forced to increase the caps, and now they have admitted that is most likely what they will do. We knew they wouldn't make the deadline, and, unfortunately, that too has come to pass. Our Republican colleagues are coming to the floor now asking we join with them in passing a continuing resolution to give them 3 more weeks in spite of the fact we were told they really didn't need our help this spring, they didn't need it this summer. In fact, one of the leadership in the House, Congressman DeLay, was quoted as saying: We are going to trap the Democrats. We are going to trap them into recognizing they have to use Social Security. They have to break the caps. I have to say, this is no way to legislate. The word I use to describe our current appropriations and budget circumstances is ``chaos.'' In all the years I have been here, I don't recall a time when there has been greater appropriations disarray than there is right now. I frankly don't know whether we can put it back together in 3 weeks. But we ought to try. We know we cannot go home until this is done. We are hopeful. I was a little concerned when the Speaker was asked, Will you shut the Government down? He said, I hope that won't be necessary, or something to that effect. I would have hoped there could have been a more definitive statement--that under no circumstances would the Government be shut down. Our Republican colleagues are in a box. They violated their promises on Social Security and raising the caps and not meeting the deadlines. They can't mask it over now with some charade of bipartisanship when, up until this point, there has not been any. Democrats have voted in good faith on many occasions, opting to move this process along with an expectation and hope that somehow in conference or at some point prior to the end of the fiscal year we could come together. That hasn't happened yet. As a result of our inability to come together, the President is now threatening to veto up to six of the thirteen appropriations bills. And after he vetoes them, then where are we? This is a disappointing day. Republican responsibility day is October 1. Republican responsibility day is the day when we should all ask the question, Have the promises been kept? On Social Security, the answer is no. On keeping the caps, the answer is no. On meeting the deadline, the answer is no. Now we are faced with an appropriations dilemma on education. They have cut education budgets by 17 percent. They are using a new, extraordinarily innovative approach to offsetting the shortfall in education by moving money we have already appropriated out of defense into education. They will then make defense whole again by declaring billions of defense spending an emergency. If that isn't the most extraordinary demonstration of flimflam budgeting, I don't know what is. This is quite a moment. We have not yet talked about education. We will save that for tomorrow. I am disappointed we have to be here today with the recognition that those promises have not been kept, that we do need a 3-week CR, that we are facing up to six vetoes, and that we haven't been able to come together as Democrats and Republicans in a bipartisan way to resolve these problems before it is too late. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I think the Senator asks a very good question. I respond by asking three questions of my own. If that is the case, why did the House Republican caucus choose to make the deep cuts they did? And, second, why was there not an outcry on that side of the aisle in this Chamber against those cuts? Where was the outcry when those deep cuts were made? If that is the case, my third question is, why today are we continuing to use the Health and Human Services subcommittee's budget, their allocation, as an ATM machine to fund everything else? Why the outcry on our side? Look at the record. Why the practice of using this budget as an ATM machine for everything else? If they support education, why doesn't the record show it? I think the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts asks a very good question. Frankly, I am interested in their response to that question.

Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the Senator.

Mr. DASCHLE. The Senator is absolutely right. Ask people in South Dakota, and I am sure in Massachusetts: What do you want us to put our time, effort, and resources into? Without question, time and time and time again they say: We want to make sure that one thing happens--our young people are educated. We want to make absolutely certain if you do anything, ensure we have an educated workforce. I was with a number of businesspeople over the weekend. Again, I was reminded this is not just an education issue; this is a business issue, an economic issue. This is an American strength issue. This could be called a national security issue. That is what this is. It isn't just about education. Our country is at stake. Whether or not we educate our young people adequately determines in large measure what kind of economy we will have, what kind of society we have, and certainly what kind of strength we will have in the long term.

Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I will use leader time so as not to take what limited time may be left. I want to speak for a moment and commend the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts for his remarks and for the incredible message I think that chart alone points out. We heard our Republican colleagues say over and over that they are the ones who have supported education; they are the ones who can take credit for the fact that we have actually improved funding over the course of the last several years. As Senator Kennedy has pointed out so ably, it is only because we have forced our Republican colleagues to increase this investment that we see any real improvement whatsoever. That is the reason I am hoping our colleagues will be very wary of the resolution posed by our Republican colleagues this afternoon. Obviously, if you look at some of the stated priorities, there is very little for which there can be disagreement. We should have well- trained, high-quality teachers. Parents need to be involved in education of their children. There have to be safe schools, and we need to have orderly places for children to learn. But the problem is the rhetoric and the record are totally opposite. Rhetoric is what we just heard. The record is deep cuts in education every single year. The Republican agenda will not achieve the rhetoric that the resolution the Republicans are proposing today calls for. Look again at what the House Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee did last week. How does killing class size reduction match the rhetoric in the resolution? How does it match the rhetoric in the resolution to provide only half of the money the President has requested for afterschool programs? How can you ensure that we have orderly places for children to learn when you cut funds from the Safe and Drug Free School program? How do we help make sure children are ready to school when you provide $500 million less for the Head Start Program than the President has requested? How can you do the things the Republicans propose in their resolution and then eliminate the Class Size Reduction Program, making it even more difficult to make sure that every classroom has a qualified teacher. Giving families a $5 annual tax break isn't going to make schools safer or provide afterschool programs. Vouchers do nothing for these kids left behind in low- performing schools. I urge our colleagues to look very carefully at this resolution, and look at the statement at the end of the resolution which says this Congress is now in a position to be congratulated for its strong education performance. How do you congratulate a Congress that cuts as deeply as the House did last week? How do you congratulate a Congress that has nothing to show for the record in education except for an Ed-Flex bill we passed last spring that is of very little value in reaching the goals and the stated objectives in the Republican resolution? That is why we have offered our resolution. Our resolution addresses the priorities stated by our Republican colleagues. We put our money where our mouth is. We do what we need to do--fund the priorities within this budget to ensure that we are able to achieve those goals, not just talk about them. We provide $1.4 billion to reduce class size. We triple the funding for afterschool programs. We increase college access and affordability. We expand opportunities to incorporate education technology. We advance school literacy and readiness. Those are the kinds of things you need to do if you are serious about these stated goals which are found in both resolutions. You have to look at what happens once the resolution passes. From where does the money come, and how big a commitment is there on the part of colleagues on either side of the aisle to achieve what we say we want to achieve? Only one resolution pending does that. I hope everyone will understand that before they cast their vote. Let me also make a couple of comments. The Senator from Massachusetts did such a good job that very little else needs to be said with regard to some of the remarks made by our Republican colleagues. But the majority leader on Friday made a couple of statements to which I think there must be a response. He pointed out that spending on education has risen every year since the Republicans took the majority. It has risen, all right. But it has risen over the objections of many of our colleagues on the other side. It has risen only because this caucus and the administration have pressed the Republican leadership and the Republican Members of the Senate to do what we have advocated again this year--to provide the kind of commitment and resources necessary. One of the Republicans' first action was to rescind $1.7 billion in education funding. One of their most famous actions over the years has been to propose abolishing the Department of Education altogether. Of course, they shut the Government down in an effort to enact the Draconian cuts in education and all other programs. It was only because Democrats refused to make education such a low priority that these investments are made. So how ironic now that we have prevailed, they attempt to take credit. I think most people understand that. Democrats have supported real options to involve parents in our education system as well. Our majority leader asserted last week the Democrats oppose giving parents options. Nothing could be further from the truth. I cannot imagine anybody could actually say that and be serious. We have supported providing choices through open enrollment in public charter schools. More importantly, we believe communities and parents should have the tools--including the resources--to make sure each local neighborhood school provides every single child a high quality education, not just some. Despite suggestions to the contrary, we support increasing resources for special education. We believe we need to do that in addition to, not instead of, addressing other problems. Helping all children is what we want to do with our educational agenda. We offered an amendment earlier this year to fully fund the special education program by reducing the Republican tax cut. Guess what. The majority rejected it. I think almost to a person, if not to a person, they rejected it. When it came down to a tax cut or fully funding special education, our Republican colleagues did what we could almost predict they will do every single time: They voted for the tax cut. I think it is important to note the Republican resolution doesn't give the whole picture about the state of public education. There are problems, but some good things are happening. There is not a word in the resolution they offer today about the good things that have been effective. I think it was Senator Murray who said last week, and it ought to be repeated over and over: Public education isn't failing us; we are failing public education. When we look at the shortfalls in this budget, once again, and the failure to fund the commitment to public education, I think she was right on the mark when she said that. With the help of incentives from Goals 2000 and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, school districts are now setting higher academic standards; many school districts are taking strong steps to reform schools using proven, research-based methodologies. Student performance is rising in math, science, and reading. SAT scores are increasing. Students are taking more rigorous, tougher courses they are doing better. A higher percentage of students are receiving passing grades on advanced placement exams, and fewer students are dropping out. I think it is important to note that the gap between whites and blacks in completing high school is closing in many communities. I hope our Republican colleagues will join in our agenda to help communities achieve all these goals and more. The bottom line is, they have made education their last--not their first, their last--priority. As the Senator from Massachusetts pointed out, we are less than 1 week away from the end of the fiscal year and we have yet to act on education, yet to act to provide the resources necessary to ensure education is funded. We have a real opportunity this afternoon to voice our concern, to express our support, to commit the resources. There is no question, a strong public education system is critical for our Nation's future. That is exactly what the Democratic agenda provides. I urge our colleagues who support the resolution we propose to oppose the Lott-Gregg-Coverdell resolution. I urge my colleagues to make the Federal Government a constructive partner in improving our public schools and to work to enact a strong education agenda with more than rhetoric and with a commitment to the resources and the investments that are required to ensure our actions meet our rhetoric.

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. I had yielded to the Senator from Massachusetts for a question, but if the Senator will withhold for a moment, I am happy to yield to the majority leader.

Mr. DASCHLE. I amend my request by asking that the Senator from New Hampshire have 15 minutes, the Senator from Massachusetts have 15 minutes for purposes of debate only, and I be recognized following the presentations by both Senators.

Mr. DASCHLE. As I understand it, I still have the floor, and I am happy to yield to the majority leader at this time.

Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the Senator from Massachusetts for a question.

Mr. DASCHLE. To be recognized, then the Senator from Massachusetts, and then I ask I be recognized following the Senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, do I not have the floor?

Mr. DASCHLE. I yield to the Senator from Massachusetts for a question. Several Senators addressed the Chair.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, we are 7 calendar days away from the beginning of the new fiscal year. We have yet to schedule a markup on spending for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education here in the Senate. It is becoming increasingly disconcerting to many Members that over the course of the last several months, it has been the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill in particular, that has become the ATM machine for the entire Federal budget. Given the fact that we are at the end of a fiscal year, given the fact that just yesterday we saw the intentions of our Republican colleagues on the House side as they made spending decisions with regard to education, given the fact it may be we will not have an opportunity to debate a Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill on the Senate floor at least before the first of October, many Members thought it was important to raise the issue now, to at least have some discussion about where we are and where we need to go on this critical issue prior to the time we have cemented in all the other commitments and all the other decisions with regard to the budget and appropriations for the next fiscal year. On January 6, the majority leader made a very strong statement about education. He said, ``Education is going to be a central issue this year. The Democrats say it is important and should be a high priority; Republicans say it is a high priority.'' On April 14, the distinguished chair of the Budget Committee made a similar statement, very strong in its nature. He claimed that the budget resolution increased education funding by $3.3 billion for fiscal year 2000, and on March 1 he said, ``We are going to put real money where our rhetoric has been.'' The reality is, so far our colleagues have not kept their promise. Instead, as I said, we are using education as an ATM machine for everything else. Senate funding for Labor-HHS-Education today is $15 billion below last year's levels, a 17-percent cut from a hard freeze of last year. Just last week, the Appropriations Committee took $7 billion away from the education budget. The Republican tax bill which was vetoed yesterday would have cut education by 50 percent in the 10th year. Yesterday, the House Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee finally brought up a bill, and that bill provides less for education than we provided last year. It kills the class-size reduction program, it provides only half of the President's request for afterschool programs, it provides a half a billion less for Head Start than the President requested, it underfunds title I for disadvantaged children, it underfunds safe and drug-free schools, and it underfunds education technology and youth employment programs. Clearly, education is the lowest--not the highest--priority for our Republican colleagues. In the Senate, we still have a 17-percent cut, which would be devastating. Make no mistake about it, the ramifications of that kind of cut on education in one fiscal year would absolutely devastate educational programs: 175,000 fewer young children would attend Head Start; 2.1 million kids from high poverty areas would not receive the help they need to succeed; 85,000 fewer students would have access to afterschool programs and summer school programs than the year before; Federal funding for special education would be destroyed; virtually all schools would lose funding for drug abuse and violence prevention programs; 166,000 college students would not get work-study that makes college more affordable; 120,000 disadvantaged college students would lose the TRIO services that help them complete college. Americans certainly know strong public schools are vital to our future. They say it over and over when we ask them in the polling data. Mr. President, 79 percent of Americans in a poll just taken say improving education and schools is one of the most important factors they will use in choosing the next President. A strong majority supports increasing our investment in education, not slashing it. Some say public schools are broken and can't be fixed. That evidence is just not there. It doesn't support claims as erratic and as irrational as that. In 1994, the Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. We put policies in place to encourage schools to set high standards for disadvantaged children and assess students' performance. The standards are just now going into effect. Setting standards for low-achieving students helps all students. Eighty percent of poor school districts and almost half of all districts report title I has actually encouraged schools to put standards in place for all. We are starting now to see real results. Student performance is rising in reading, math, and science. U.S. students scored near the top on the latest international assessment of reading. American fourth graders outperform students from all other nations but one. The combined verbal and math scores on SAT increased 15 points between 1992 and 1997. The average math score is at its highest level in 26 years. There are other signs of improvement. More students are taking rigorous courses and doing better. The percentage of students taking biology, chemistry, and physics has doubled. The number of AP exams where students scored a passing grade has risen nearly fivefold since 1992. Fewer students are dropping out. From 1982 to 1996, the dropout rate for students between 16 and 24 fell from 14 to 11. The gap between whites and blacks in completing high school has closed. In 1995, for the first time, blacks and whites completed high school at the same rate, 87 percent. However, not all schools, not all students, reach their potential. We know we have to do better. Schools face many challenges they didn't face even when I was going to school. Enrollments are at record levels. A large part of the teaching corps is getting ready to retire. Diversity is increasingly bringing new languages and cultures into the classroom. Family structures are changing. More women are in the workplace. That increases the need for instructive afterschool and summer school activities. We are learning more about how children learn during early childhood, how important stimulating activities are for later success in school. The importance of a higher education and lifelong learning has never been greater, requiring even better preparation of all students. These are national challenges. The Federal Government has to be a partner in addressing them. Now cannot be the time to cut education. Our Republican colleagues have proposed an education plan that falls short, not just in funding. Their other actions show they don't have a constructive agenda for public schools. They are blocking efforts to keep guns out of the hands of kids. Education block grants shift help away from disadvantaged children and reduce accountability, yet they continue to create even more block grants, and then slash the funding. They think giving a $5-per-year tax break to families with children in public schools will somehow improve student learning. They think diverting Federal resources to provide vouchers for a few children to go to private school rather than strengthening public schools that serve 90 percent of all children is somehow going to improve education in this country. I think, with all due respect, our colleagues on the other side need to think a little harder. We have a comprehensive, constructive, and realistic educational agenda for the rest of this session. We help communities by serving all students, providing $1.4 billion to reduce class size and improve teacher quality, by tripling funding for afterschool programs and improving school safety, by increasing college access and affordability, by expanding opportunities to incorporate education and technology into the classroom and training teachers and principals in using it effectively, by advancing school readiness and literacy, and by helping communities leverage funds to modernize school buildings. Further, as the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee works to update the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we will push for higher standards for student achievement and get those standards into the classroom. We are going to fight for strong accountability provisions, including providing school report cards to parents, increasing public school choice through open enrollment, expansion of charter schools, and strengthening reforms to turn around failing schools. We are going to focus on attracting talented individuals into teaching and make sure that new and veteran teachers and principals have access to opportunities to learn more about effective teaching and management strategies. We want to continue support for efforts to streamline Federal regulations and increase flexibility for local school districts while holding them accountable for student achievement. However, funding is critical. While money is not the only answer, it has to be part of the solution. Mr. President, 17-percent cuts in programs such as title I and Head Start will only make matters worse. A freeze at last year's levels is also unacceptable. The current fiscal year ends in 5 business days. Time is clearly running out. We are simply offering a sense-of-the-Senate resolution to lay out why a 17-percent cut in education is unacceptable, and to lay out our priorities. The Democratic record on education could not be stronger. We voted for increases in funding for education without exceeding the spending caps or spending Social Security trust funds. We have a constructive agenda to improve public schools and increase achievement. Strong public education is critical to our future. Public schools have increased opportunities for people from all walks of life throughout our Nation's history. We have to continue to make sure all students have access to public schools so all students have the opportunity to develop their skills and learn to their highest abilities.

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, this is the last amendment, as I understand it, that will require a rollcall vote. I propose that there be a 1-hour time limit provided for the amendment with the assumption that there would be no second degree amendment. I ask unanimous consent that there be a 1-hour time limit provided for the amendment to be equally divided, and no second degree amendment be in order.

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

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. DASCHLE. I am happy to yield to the majority leader.

Mr. DASCHLE. Perhaps we can enter into a unanimous consent agreement that the Senator from New Hampshire be given 10 or 15 minutes----

Mr. DASCHLE

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, that is exactly the question millions of Americans have to be asking once they analyze their budget. I can't tell you the number of times that law enforcement officials, teachers, and parents have come to me and said: Look. We all know the most vulnerable time for students is when they leave school. The most vulnerable time statistically--the time when most damage may be done and when most violations of law occur--is that period between 2 and 8 in the evening. Obviously, we need as a society to come up with ways to effectively engage students and young people during that time when both parents may be working, during that time when the schools are closed. What do our Republican colleagues do? Under the current framework, they would have to reduce the availability of programs for exactly that purpose. Again, it shows rhetoric and reality are so far apart. The real sad tragedy is that the students are going to feel the brunt of this. Once we lose a student, it is hard to get him or her back. I don't know who but someone once said, ``It is much easier to build a child than to repair an adult.'' We are going to be doing a lot of reparation and very little building with this kind of a budget. We need to be building kids and not repairing adults. This is not a budget to build children. That is why we are fighting as hard as we are, and that is why we will continue to fight until we get those numbers turned around. I know that our colleagues are prepared to offer an amendment, the Senators from Virginia. I yield the floor.

Mr. DASCHLE. I think the Senator asks an excellent question. The answer is they are not listening. They are not listening. When you propose a tax cut of the magnitude they proposed, gutting education by 50 percent--a tax cut the American people have said they don't want, they don't care about--and then take money they do care about and pay for that tax cut, it is an amazing thing to me. That is the most startling aspect of all of this. What they care about is how educated their children are going to be, they care about what kind of a classroom they are going to have, they care about what kind of a school the children are going to walk into, they care about whether there is an afterschool program, they care about whether schools are safe, they care about whether or not they are going to have good teachers, and they care about whether or not they are going to be able to go to college. That is what they care about, and they tell us that in the polls. So it is baffling to many of us why what we care about doesn't seem to be reflected in the laundry list of deep cuts, if not eliminations, of the very programs that do exactly what the American people care about.

Mr. DASCHLE. I appreciate the Senator's answer. I appreciate his putting that statement in the Record. I think the message is clear. We have a unanimous consent request we will be making momentarily. First, let me just say this bill will not be signed into law so long as we have the necessary votes to sustain that veto when it comes to the floor. I am happy to yield to the Senator from Illinois.

Mr. DASCHLE. I will ask the Senator from Massachusetts another question, if I may. He mentioned that one of the most important issues we are facing is the fact that we are dealing with 400,000 new students. We are dealing with the fact that we will have a shortfall, perhaps, in the next few years of 2 million teachers. Yet we see a Republican budget that eliminates the ability for us to help schools deal with class size by absolutely cutting the very programs that allow us to reduce class size and improve the student-teacher ratio. I ask the Senator, what do we do with a budget, or what will be the ramifications of a budget, that fails to recognize the demand for new teachers, the extraordinary explosion of new students, and the overcrowding of schools from South Dakota to Massachusetts? What is the message this Congress is sending with those facts?

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I compliment the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts for a powerful statement and for his analysis of the current education budget and our circumstances here. He has laid out what the ramifications are. People ought to know that rhetoric and reality could not be further apart as we listen to our Republican colleagues talk about education. The rhetoric all year long has been: Education is important; education is going to get the priority it deserves. The reality is, we are now 1 week away from the end of the fiscal year and we have yet to pass an education bill. We have yet to make decisions about what we are going to do on education next year. The decisions we are making--they are making, let me clarify that--that they are making on education are devastating, absolutely devastating. I ask the Senator from Massachusetts, what is his analysis of a $1.5 to $2 billion cut in the President's budget this year? I ask the Senator from Massachusetts, what would his advice be to the President of the United States if he were to get an education budget $2 billion below his request?

Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, under the unanimous consent agreement, I am to be recognized