Mike DeWine

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, in just a moment my colleague and friend from California will be offering an amendment. Before she does that, I again thank her for her contribution to this bill. When this bill was being marked up in the Appropriations Committee, she came to Senator Stevens, the chairman, Senator Gregg, myself, and the other members of the committee and said she believed the bill could be improved--specifically, the section having to do with the scholarships for the children in the District of Columbia. She made some suggestions. Quite frankly, as I told her on the phone later, I was just sorry I had not come up with those ideas because, frankly, she significantly improved the bill. So I wish to publicly again thank her for the suggestions she made. We incorporated those suggestions, those ideas, into the bill in the committee. She said: We want to make sure this bill is constitutional. She had some ideas in regard to that. We incorporated them into the bill. She also said: ``Let's make sure the mayor--who has been such a strong advocate for the scholarship program, the mayor of the District of Columbia--let's make sure he is intricately involved in this program, the designing of the program, the running of the program; let's make sure he is tied into this program, and that we can, in fact, do that.'' We made those changes as well. Third, she said: ``Let's make sure there is accountability so we can measure the results.'' We made some changes to accomplish that as well. The amendment she will offer and describe in a moment builds on the changes that we have already made but goes further and breaks new ground and perfects the bill even further. I am anxious to hear her description of the amendment. I have taken a look at it. It is an excellent amendment. I yield the floor and anxiously await her amendment.

Mr. DeWINE. I yield to my colleague from California.

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 228, S. 1301.

Mr. DeWINE. I ask unanimous consent that the committee substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill as amended be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m., Friday, September 26. I further ask unanimous consent that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then resume consideration of H.R. 2765, the District of Columbia appropriations bill.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, tomorrow the Senate will resume consideration of the District of Columbia appropriations bill. The two managers will be here tomorrow, and Senators are encouraged to come to the floor to offer and debate their amendments. There will be no rollcall votes tomorrow. Any votes ordered during tomorrow's session will be stacked to occur on Monday at approximately 5:30 p.m.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the resolution be printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 234 submitted earlier today by Senators Stabenow and Levin.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment to the resolution be agreed to, the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar 290, S. Res. 98.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to en bloc, the preambles be agreed to en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc; further that any statements relating to these resolutions be printed in the Record.

Mr. DeWINE. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar Nos. 291 and 292, en bloc.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. I ask unanimous consent that the committee reported amendments be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time and passed, the title amendment be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DeWINE. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar No. 245, S. 1244.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I understand that S. 1657, which was introduced earlier today, is at the desk. I ask for its first reading.

Mr. DeWINE. I now ask for its second reading and object to its second reading on this matter.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. I ask unanimous consent that the Governmental Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 1591, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. I appreciate my colleague's comments. Let me take a moment to state where I think this bill is. My colleagues have talked about some of the improvements they would like to make in the bill. I was given a list here. We don't have an amendment before us. At this point we don't have an amendment, but I think they are going to present one at some point. So we don't have all the language to go through, but we have talking points or some power points to look at. I will go through a couple of these points. The first point is that eligible participating students must take the same tests as kids in public schools. That was met and that is now part of the bill, as amended by Senator Feinstein's amendment. So we appreciate that contribution that now is a part of the bill as amended by Senator Feinstein, which the Senate just adopted about an hour ago. The second provision talks about eligible participating students are taught by a teacher who holds a college degree. That part of No. 2 is now in there as far as Senator Feinstein had that in the amendment. No. 3 requires a full and independent evaluation for the scholarship program. The Feinstein amendment that was passed by voice vote by this body about an hour ago does require a full, independent evaluation. I say to my colleague, the ranking member of the subcommittee, Ms. Landrieu, that we are more than happy to incorporate the Senator's specific evaluation concerns that she has outlined and to work with her on additional language as far as incorporating that into the bill. Her fourth point, scholarships are limited to students attending failing schools, the bill's language provides priority for students who are in failing schools. They are going to be the ones who get the priority. I point out to my colleagues that they are going to be the ones who are going to be first in line. So that is the state of play. That is where we are. Let me make a couple of other additional points before I turn to my colleague from Alabama. One is, my colleague asked, what is the administration's position? Reference was made to the fact that in their letter the administration did not say they were for this three-pronged approach. My colleague will be getting a letter from the administration outlining that, yes, they very definitely are for this three-pronged approach. They are for it. They are 100 percent behind it. They back it, and there will be a letter coming to her shortly and to this Senate outlining the administration's support of the three-pronged approach. Earlier today we talked about the fact--I think it is significant-- that it was the Mayor and the Mayor's team who originally decided and came to the Senate and the House and said: This is what we want; we want this three-pronged approach. We want the additional money, this add-on money, for the public schools. We need to keep in mind that it has been this Mayor who has sought out additional money for the last several years for the public schools in the District of Columbia. So this is consistent with what he has done in the past. He sought this additional $13 million. It is consistent with what he has done when he has asked for additional money for the charter schools. So in this bill we have an additional $13 million for the charter schools, again what the Mayor requested. The third prong, of course, is the $13 million for the scholarships. So it is the program of the Mayor of the District of Columbia. It is a very balanced approach, new money, not taking any money away from the public schools but, in fact, doing just the opposite, new money for the public schools, new money for the charter schools, and new money for this new scholarship program. I think it is very important for us to keep this in mind. My colleagues who are concerned about this bill have talked about No Child Left Behind. My esteemed colleague from Louisiana has talked about this and has inferred that this is not really consistent with No Child Left Behind. It strikes me, with all due respect, that this is so consistent with our program of No Child Left Behind, because if there is anyplace in this great country of ours where children have been left behind, it is the District of Columbia. Through no fault of their own, the children of the District of Columbia have truly been left behind. What a great tragedy it is, when people come to the District of Columbia, they come to our Nation's Capital and they see the great monuments, they see this great building, they see the great White House, they see this body, and yet if they truly understand what is going on here, they understand that there are children who are not getting the education they deserve. They are not getting the education other children across this country are getting. With this bill and with this very balanced approach, we are taking a step towards giving the parents of these children more choices and giving more opportunity to these children. I truly believe this is consistent with our idea that there should be no child in this country left behind. I yield the floor.

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Alabama for his very fine statement. I think he is absolutely right. This is a pilot program. But it is a chance we have to take. These are children who need this opportunity. Their parents need this opportunity. As we have talked about before on the Senate floor, you have the Mayor of this city coming to this Congress and saying: Give me the tools. Give me the tools to help shape the educational system in the District of Columbia. For us to turn our back on the Mayor, to turn our back on children, and the parents, I think would be a very serious mistake. We have the opportunity to do something very positive. I think we should take that opportunity.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate remain in morning business until 3 o'clock.

Mr. DeWINE. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess until 1 p.m.