Mike DeWine

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to praise the life of Sergeant 1st Class Nathan Chapman--a brave American who gave his life in Afghanistan to fight against the terrorists who threaten our way of life here at home. Nathan attended high school in my home state of Ohio in Centerville. Nathan Chapman's unmatched work ethic and dedication to people led him down a path of excellence. Nathan rose rapidly through the army ranks and special units. A member of the Army Rangers and--after only 8 years of service--the elite Green Beret forces, Nathan received 15 military commendations through his tours of duty in Panama, Haiti, and Operation Desert Storm. An accomplished soldier with what his father called ``a quiet confidence,'' Nathan Chapman was a credit to the American citizens he was sworn to protect. A communications expert, Nathan was known among his colleagues as a highly capable soldier, who always was ready to volunteer for the tough missions. Col. David Fridovich describes Nathan as ``a dynamic, outgoing, physically and mentally hard soldier. . .a stellar example of the Special Forces ethos.'' I add that Nathan is also a stellar example of the American ethos, through his courage, intelligence, honor, and character. The people of Centerville, Ohio, have nothing but good things to say about Nathan. His old wrestling coach, Rich Miller, said he knew Nathan ``felt good about what he was doing and was a real professional.'' One of Nathan's Centerville friends summed it up best: ``Sgt. Chapman was one of us. . . .'' As an Ohioan and an American, I thank Nathan Chapman for the ultimate sacrifice he has made for our country. I offer my condolences to those left behind to cherish and celebrate Nathan's life--his parents, Will and Lynn; his wife, Renae; their two young children, Amanda and Brandon; and his many, many friends. Amelia Earhart once said that ``courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.'' Nathan Chapman worked for peace through his courage and it cost him his life. But Nathan did not die in vain; he gave his life for the good of our Nation, fighting to ensure that his children's future and the future of all Americans would be free from terror.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate the Mount Union Purple Raiders football team, from Alliance, OH, on a number of outstanding achievements. The Purple Raiders just recently won the Division III National Championship for the fifth time in six years. Maintaining a perfect record of 13 victories, Mount Union's team has the longest current winning streak of any NCAA football team, and has won 82 of the last 83 games. While their execution of the split-back offense is flawless, it is Mount Union's academic performance that is truly remarkable. The college, as a whole, boasts 14 Academic All Ohio Athletic Conference winners and three Academic All-Americans. The football team has graduated a near-perfect percentage of players in the last 16 seasons. I applaud the Purple Raider players who exceed all expectations on the gridiron, as well as in the classroom. For the local residents of Alliance, OH and the students of Mount Union, there is so much to be proud of. As they crowd into the oldest college football stadium in Ohio every fall, they are not only cheering for the heroes of the Purple Raiders, but also for future heroes, future leaders who will have acquired the valuable experiences that come with a solid education and a demanding athletic routine. These experiences will aid them in making a positive impact years from now. Again, I congratulate head coach Larry Kehres and his Purple Raiders on a perfect championship season. They are a shining example of true student-athletes, and I wish them the best of luck next fall.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to the citizens of Akron, OH, for their selfless actions following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Specifically, the Akron Beacon Journal, the City's largest daily newspaper, launched a campaign to collect donations to purchase a fire truck for New York City. As we all know too well, on September 11, terrorists attacked our great Nation in a way many of us thought unimaginable. While these acts were, indeed, horrific, instead of leaving us frozen and helpless, so many Americans have banded together and acted in ways that exemplify why this country of ours is so great. The citizens of Akron are a perfect example of this. After deliberating about what could be done to help the people of New York City, the executives of the Akron Beacon Journal came up with an answer: a fund to purchase a new fire truck for the city of New York. On September 16, the Akron Beacon Journal opened the fund with a donation of $25,000 and then asked the citizens of Akron to donate, as well. The people of Akron answered this call, and responded in a resounding way. Immediately, money began pouring in for the fund. A month later, over $1.3 million had been raised with donations from almost 50,000 individuals and companies and organizations. With this money, the City of Akron was able to purchase a 95-foot ladder fire truck, as well as two EMS vehicles and three police cars. I am proud of the people of Akron. And, I thank them for their extraordinary gift. This donated equipment has done more than just help New York City rebuild some of what was lost. it has reminded us all of the amazing things we can accomplish when we pull together. Their gift was one from the heart and I thank each and every one who helped make this possible.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, today I recognize the great achievements of Sam ``Chip'' Noble III. Chip is a third generation harness racer, one of the most successful the sport has ever seen. A native resident of Xenia, OH, Chip Noble has raced to 3,293 victories and three North American Driving Championships. Chip learned how to race through the tutelage of his father, getting his start at the Lebanon Raceway. In a normal year, Chip drives in about 500 to 1,000 races. The percentage crown winner in 1978, 1981, and 1983, Chip has earned over $17.6 million for the owners of the horses he drives. This past summer, Chip Noble competed in the World Driving Championships as the representative of the United States. He was one of ten drivers world-wide who competed in this prestigious event, which is believed to be the world's oldest international harness racing tournament. Proudly displaying the colors of our country, Chip drove to four heat victories, the most individual victories amassed during the competition, and finished fourth overall. I congratulate Chip Noble on his tremendous performance in the World Driving Championship and for his wonderful career in harness racing. He is a true ambassador of the sport, and I wish him the best of luck in the future.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, today I honor two titans of the gridiron--Lou ``The Toe'' Groza and Eric Turner. These men both played football for the Cleveland Browns. And, sadly, both have passed away, leaving enormous voids not only in the lives of their families and friends, but also in the hearts of the millions of fans who admired them. I'd like to spend a few minutes telling my colleagues about these two men. Both on and off the field, Lou Groza was a model sportsman and citizen. In the 1940s, Lou Groza had no time for football because he was serving his country as a medic in Okinawa. Upon his return from the war, Groza joined Paul Brown's Cleveland team and capped the 1950 season with a NFL championship field goal against the Los Angeles Rams. That championship was the first of 12 in which Groza would compete. Throughout his 21-year career, the longest serving Brown player, Groza was selected for the Pro-Bowl nine different times. During his football career, he totaled an incredible 1,608 points, appeared in 13 pro-football championship games, was a six-time All-NFL offensive tackle, and was the last member of the Browns inaugural team to retire. Groza's outstanding service to the Browns, and to football, was rewarded in 1974 with his induction into the Hall of Fame. Lou Groza, who dearly loved his hometown of Berea, OH, and the Browns, was a man who really seemed larger than life. He was nothing sort of a sports legend. When Lou retired in 1967, it marked not only the end of his football career, but the end of a glorious era in Browns history. Lou Groza's football achievements speak for themselves, but it was what Groza did off the field that fellow Clevelanders remember him for most. After retiring from the Browns, Groza became a partner in a successful insurance company. He was constantly giving back to the Cleveland community through charitable organizations, such as the ``Taste of the NFL,'' which has raised millions for the hungry. Groza always had the time to sign an autograph and often was overheard saying: ``I'm no better than the fans who rooted for me all those years.'' In speaking of a man who cared so much of his community and his team, we should not forget another Brown star recently passed away. That man is Eric Turner. He was a safety, who was drafted second overall, the first defensive player to be picked that high since 1956. Although he only played a few years in Cleveland before the team was moved to Baltimore, Eric made it known that his heart would never leave the Browns of their wonderful fans. Eric was an active participant in the United Way, a devoted father, and a mentor to his teammates. His warm personality and generosity are truly missed. Lou Groza and Eric Turner had a love for football and for those around them. They gave to their team, to their families, and to their communities. I think it is only fitting that we give a little back to them by honoring them today and by keeping them and their families in our prayers. I feel honored today to stand before this body and pay my respects to these two fine men. They both displayed courage on the playing field, as well as in their own personal battles. Each man fought their failing health. Each man fought the good fight. Tennis great, Arthur Ashe, whose own life ended all too soon, once said something that I think helps describe the kind of people, the kinds of heroes, that Lou Groza and Eric Turner were when they were alive and how they will be remembered in their deaths. Ashe said: True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. Today, we honor them as for their virtue and their strength of character. We honor them as true victors.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague and friend from Minnesota, Senator Wellstone, to introduce the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Amendments Act. This legislation would improve the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee program. Our steel industry is on the brink of financial collapse because of unfair and illegal trade practices. To date, some 25 U.S. steel companies, including LTV Steel in Cleveland, Ohio, have filed bankruptcy. These companies employ thousands of workers and are responsible for providing benefits to their retirees. If our steel industry goes under, the consequences to our nation, and particularly Ohio, would be grave. Steel is vitally important to our military and economic security. During times of crisis, the industry has been a source of strength for America. With our economy sputtering and our nation fighting a new war on terrorism, we need a healthy steel industry now more than ever. In 1998, more than 41 million tons of steel found their way to U.S. markets. This was an 83 percent increase over the 23 million net ton average for the previous eight years. While in 1999 some claimed that the steel import crisis was over, they were soon reminded how volatile the situation really is. In 2000, 37.8 million tons of steel flooded U.S. markets. This was almost as high as the record 1998 import levels. For almost 50 years, foreign steel producers have received direct and often illegal assistance from their governments in the form of subsidies or market intervention. This has contributed to a worldwide over production of steel. In 1999, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, found that world steel making capacity remained ``well-above'' production between 1985 and 1999. Much of this excess steel has been shipped to the United States and priced well below U.S. steel. In some cases, these imports were dumped, subsidized, and shipped in such increased quantities as to inflict serious financial harm to U.S. producers. As a key supporter of the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee program, I believe that we must modify the program to make it work better. It is true that we have changed it this year; extending its life and increasing the portion of the loan covered by the guarantee from 85 percent to in some cases 95 percent. However, we need to do more. The Wellstone/DeWine legislation would clarify that a company, such as LTV, which has placed its facilities on ``hot idle status'' is eligible to receive a loan guarantee. It would also increase the amount of loans guaranteed with respect to a single qualified steel company to $350,000,000; permit the Steel Loan Guarantee Board to guarantee a loan where there is a fair likelihood of repayment, assuming vigorous and timely enforcement of our trade laws and general economic prosperity; provide flexibility to the Board in structuring security arrangements to maximize participation of lenders; expand the scope of lenders permitted to participate in a loan subject to the guarantee to include public and private institutions, including the company's existing lenders; require the Board to adopt a form of guarantee regulations no less favorable than those used in other government programs, including the Export-Import bank, and; increase the loan guarantee level for all loans to 95 percent. We in the steel community are grateful for the President's leadership in initiating the Section 201 trade investigation, and we were generally pleased with the International Trade Commission's recommendations. I was pleased to see the Customs Service proceeding in a timely manner with the release of dumping and subsidy offset payments to the victims of illegal trade practices, including LTV, under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act. However, without these changes to the Emergency Steel Loan program, many of our steel companies will not survive. We have an opportunity to send a powerful message to the world that America is standing by our steel industry in its time of need just as the industry has stood by America in her time of need.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague and friend from Minnesota, Senator Wellstone, to introduce the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Amendments Act. This legislation would improve the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee program. Our steel industry is on the brink of financial collapse because of unfair and illegal trade practices. To date, some 25 U.S. steel companies, including LTV Steel in Cleveland, Ohio, have filed bankruptcy. These companies employ thousands of workers and are responsible for providing benefits to their retirees. If our steel industry goes under, the consequences to our nation, and particularly Ohio, would be grave. Steel is vitally important to our military and economic security. During times of crisis, the industry has been a source of strength for America. With our economy sputtering and our nation fighting a new war on terrorism, we need a healthy steel industry now more than ever. In 1998, more than 41 million tons of steel found their way to U.S. markets. This was an 83 percent increase over the 23 million net ton average for the previous eight years. While in 1999 some claimed that the steel import crisis was over, they were soon reminded how volatile the situation really is. In 2000, 37.8 million tons of steel flooded U.S. markets. This was almost as high as the record 1998 import levels. For almost 50 years, foreign steel producers have received direct and often illegal assistance from their governments in the form of subsidies or market intervention. This has contributed to a worldwide over production of steel. In 1999, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, found that world steel making capacity remained ``well-above'' production between 1985 and 1999. Much of this excess steel has been shipped to the United States and priced well below U.S. steel. In some cases, these imports were dumped, subsidized, and shipped in such increased quantities as to inflict serious financial harm to U.S. producers. As a key supporter of the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee program, I believe that we must modify the program to make it work better. It is true that we have changed it this year; extending its life and increasing the portion of the loan covered by the guarantee from 85 percent to in some cases 95 percent. However, we need to do more. The Wellstone/DeWine legislation would clarify that a company, such as LTV, which has placed its facilities on ``hot idle status'' is eligible to receive a loan guarantee. It would also increase the amount of loans guaranteed with respect to a single qualified steel company to $350,000,000; permit the Steel Loan Guarantee Board to guarantee a loan where there is a fair likelihood of repayment, assuming vigorous and timely enforcement of our trade laws and general economic prosperity; provide flexibility to the Board in structuring security arrangements to maximize participation of lenders; expand the scope of lenders permitted to participate in a loan subject to the guarantee to include public and private institutions, including the company's existing lenders; require the Board to adopt a form of guarantee regulations no less favorable than those used in other government programs, including the Export-Import bank, and; increase the loan guarantee level for all loans to 95 percent. We in the steel community are grateful for the President's leadership in initiating the Section 201 trade investigation, and we were generally pleased with the International Trade Commission's recommendations. I was pleased to see the Customs Service proceeding in a timely manner with the release of dumping and subsidy offset payments to the victims of illegal trade practices, including LTV, under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act. However, without these changes to the Emergency Steel Loan program, many of our steel companies will not survive. We have an opportunity to send a powerful message to the world that America is standing by our steel industry in its time of need just as the industry has stood by America in her time of need.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to good friend and member of my staff, Jenny Ogle, for all the great work she has done for the people of Ohio. Jenny, who runs the joint casework office we have with Senator Voinovich, is retiring today. We are going to miss her dearly. When I started thinking about her retirement, my mind was flooded with fond memories and so many laughs and good stories. There is no one else like Jenny. Before coming to work for our joint casework office, she ran my Senate casework office worked for me when I was in the House of Representatives for 8 years, and also worked for Congressmen Bud Brown and Dave Hobson. She is a true professional--someone who has been really a stabilizing force in our whole casework operation. The casework operation, of course, is what reaches out to people. It is where people of the State of Ohio go when they have a problem. They do not come to us, and they do not come to Jenny unless they are already frustrated with the Federal bureaucracy or the State bureaucracy or something else. When they come in, they already have plenty of problems. Jenny has been the one who worked out those problems. It takes a good deal of patience to handle the kinds of things Jenny has seen over the years in that casework office. She has seen just about everything. That is why I have always been amazed by her steadiness--her unbelievable ability to deal with the kinds of cases and the kinds of problems that are seen on a daily basis. What really impresses me is that she is always still smiling and laughing at the end of the day. She always has done her job with great professionalism and great compassion. Jenny also has been a real leader in our office. For example, she pioneered the military academy nomination process, a very complex process. She essentially wrote the book on it. What she has developed is today being used around the country in congressional office after congressional office. She wrote the bible on how Congressmen should handle their academy nominations. I thank her for that. I have known Jenny for a long time--since those days when she was working for Congressman Bud Brown, and when she came to work for me at our Springfield office. I remember how her Aunt Tilly used to come in the office and do her filing. I also fondly remember the doughnuts Jenny would bring in from her brother's doughnut shop. Those are great memories. Jenny is also a rare person--a person with great compassion and empathy for people and their concerns. Let me thank her from the bottom of my heart for the great job she has done to assist countless thousands and thousands and thousands of Ohioans over the last 20 years. I am truly privileged to have had the extraordinary opportunity to work with Jenny and to call her my friend. We wish her and her family all the best in the world. In conclusion, let me thank Jenny for her dedication to the people of the State of Ohio--for her friendship, and for the work she has done for our country. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to pay tribute to two members of my staff who are retiring this week. These are two people who have really made a difference.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, Joan Douglass is a real gem, a classy, knowledgeable woman who connects with people of all ages. She has had one of the toughest and most important jobs in our office. Joan has been on the front line. Joan is the first person you see when you come into our Columbus office. She is the person whose voice you hear when you call our Columbus office, the first person to answer the phone. That is an office that actually is not just my office. It is also Senator Voinovich's office. We have, in Ohio, a joint casework office, which has worked out very well. Joan is the person there who greets everyone. Over the years, Joan has put up with just about everything: bomb threats, sit-ins, now even anthrax scares. Joan is a rock. She is as solid as they come. Everyone who knows Joan speaks of her with such fondness. She is really a person with no enemies. Her love, her compassion for people is unmatched. She loves people. They love her back. You know, it takes quite a lady to take a new job at the age of 72, which is what Joan did when she came to work for us--especially the job working for two Senators. What could be tougher than that? Who in the world would ever think of doing that? Who goes from being a State legislator, which Joan was, a real estate broker, and many other exciting jobs, to working for two Senators? Only Joan. Actually, before she worked for us she worked for then-Governor Voinovich for 8 years. Four of those years I was the Lieutenant Governor. Every day when I would come to work, Joan would be the first person I would see--always smiling, always happy, always professional. Joan continues to amaze me in everything she does. I am astounded by her energy and her great sense of adventure. Nothing ever seems to slow her down. Joan really is a terrific role model for all of us. In fact, she should be the poster child for how Federal employees should treat people. No matter what, Joan has always greeted everyone who walked into our office with great respect and great compassion. It didn't matter if it was someone who loved me or hated me. It didn't matter, Joan was steady. She treated them the right way. She treated everyone in that same sweet, nurturing, nonthreatening, and friendly way. Joan has always handled herself with such professionalism, and no matter what, no matter how busy she was, she always has had time for people, especially for the younger people, younger members of our staff in the office. She really has been a role model. She has been a mentor. Every time I see her, Joan always asks about Fran, asks about our children and now our grandchildren. I have always appreciated that. I speak for so many in our office and many across the State of Ohio when I say that, although we are happy for Joan upon her retirement and we wish her nothing but the best with her new post-Senate endeavors, we are saddened by her departure and we will miss her dearly. We will miss her dedication to the people of the State of Ohio. We will miss her optimism and her cheerful nature. We certainly will miss her terrific sense of humor. Most of all, we will just miss Joan. She is one great lady. My wife Fran and I wish her all the best in the world. In conclusion, I thank Joan for her dedication to the people of the State of Ohio, for her friendship, and for the work she has done for our country.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. I thank the Senator for his very generous comments.

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Massachusetts. I congratulate him and Senator Gregg for their tireless efforts to bring this bill to us. I also, of course, congratulate Congressman Boehner as well as the President of the United States for his leadership. This bill has been a long time coming. It has really taken a tremendous amount of work on behalf of all of the leaders in this effort. Over the last several months, as we have debated the reform of our public schools, I have argued it is necessary that we look at exactly where we are as a society and how this is affecting our public education system. If we don't look at ourselves and how our society reflects itself through education, we will not make any reforms, we will seek no change, and we will fail our children. As I see it, tragically, our society is becoming more and more divided, divided along economic and educational lines. This division is certainly nothing new. Scholars and sociologists have been warning us for many years that this was where our Nation was headed, particularly if we didn't properly educate our children. Tragically, we have not heeded these warnings. As a result, our Nation today is a Nation split into two Americas: One where children get educated and one where they do not. This gap in educational knowledge and the gap in economic standing is entrenching thousands upon thousands of children into an underclass and into futures filled with little hope and little opportunity. This is happening across the country, and certainly it is happening in my home State of Ohio, which in many respects is a microcosm of what is happening all over our Nation. In Ohio, growing income and educational disparities are creating our very own permanent underclass. Most of Ohio, candidly, is doing better economically and educationally. The children in these areas have a great future. However, when we look across the entire State, we see two areas where this is not always taking place--areas where the children are not being as well educated as we would like our own children to be educated. And these are also areas where the income level shows that disparity. We see it in Appalachia, we see it in our core cities. Too many children in Appalachia and too many in our core cities are at risk. In fact, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 1999, young adults living in families with incomes in the lowest 20 percent of all family incomes were five times as likely to drop out of high school as their peers from families in the top 20 percent of the income distribution. Just look at some of the class of 2000 graduation rates of my own home State of Ohio in the urban areas. In Akron, only 72 percent of the State's high school students graduated last year. That is actually a high rate for an urban area. In Toledo, only 67 percent graduated; in Columbus, it was 62 percent; in Youngstown, 59 percent; in Dayton, 57; in Canton, 53 percent; in Cincinnati, 51 percent; and in Cleveland, only 34 percent of the students who started high school actually finished. Yes, that's right, only one-third of the students in Cleveland public schools graduated; two-thirds did not. I think if you look across the country, you will see these figures replicated in urban areas, no matter what State we are referencing. There is something wrong when that many of our children are simply not graduating. There is also something wrong in this country when nearly one-third of college freshmen must take remedial courses before they can begin regular college-level course work. There is something wrong when only one-third of fourth graders can read. The practical result of this is a society that is growing farther and farther apart, not closer together. So how do we bring society back together? That is our challenge. How do we bring about equality and opportunity so that all children in this Nation have the chance to lead full, meaningful, and productive lives as adults. We do this in the same way that we have always done it, and that is through education. As Horace Mann, a former president of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, and the man known as ``the father of public education,'' once said: Education beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of man--the balance-wheel of the social machinery. Mr. President, this is exactly what education can and should do. It should provide all children, regardless of their economic circumstances or family backgrounds, with the tools they need to make it as adults in our society--the tools necessary to rise above individual situations of poverty and instability, individual situations of hopelessness and despair. It truly has been, for generation after generation of Americans, their ticket out of poverty, their ticket out and away from despair--their ticket to opportunity. The education reform conference report we will be voting on tomorrow is certainly a step in the right direction. It is a step toward giving our children the tools they need to move ahead in life. Mr. President, we in this Chamber cannot fix broken homes or solve the issue of poverty overnight, but we can use finite and limited Federal dollars in ways that help close this education gap in America. We can use the finite resources of the Federal Government to help close that education gap and give these children opportunities. I believe the best place to begin on the Federal level is by restoring accountability and achievement with the single most important resource in the classroom, and that, of course, is the teacher. When I think about teachers, I think about something else that Horace Mann once said. He said that ``teaching is the most difficult of all arts and the profoundest of all sciences.'' I can certainly attest to that. As a college student at Miami University many years ago, I spent 4\1/2\ months as a student teacher at Princeton High School north of Cincinnati. It was tough. In many respects, it was the toughest thing I ever did. Teaching is tough. In fact, that is what I have learned firsthand-- that Ohio's and America's teachers simply don't get the respect, the admiration, nor the salaries they deserve. Not surprisingly, the National Center for Education Statistics predicts that within the next decade, we will need to hire 1.7 million to 2.7 million new teachers to replace those who retire or leave the profession. While this exodus of teachers is certainly a daunting challenge and a very real and pending problem, it is also an enormous opportunity. It is the single greatest opportunity for us as a country, as parents, as community leaders to reshape the next decade of education in the United States. When I think about this opportunity, when I think about how we can shape education to the greatest benefit of our children, I am reminded of something my own high school principal, Mr. John Malone, once told me many years ago. He said that when it comes to education, there are only two things that matter: One, a student who wants to learn; the other is a teacher who can teach. Mr. Malone was right many years ago, and he is still right about that today. Nothing is more important than that teacher in the classroom. When you get right down to it, good teachers are second only to good parents in helping children learn. So any effort to restore confidence and improve quality in education must begin with a national recommitment to teaching as a profession. I believe we are doing just that with our education reform legislation. Through language in the bill which I worked to have included, we can expand, enhance, and encourage support for teachers all across America. First, we have a provision that would provide support for people in other professions who seek a second career as a teacher. We need to make it easier, not harder, to recruit future teachers from the military, from industry, and from research institutions--people with established careers in real world job experiences who want to go into teaching. We must utilize them and we must make it easy for them to enter the classroom. My provision would allow the use of Federal funds for alternative teacher certification programs. This will allow States to create and expand different types of alternative certification efforts. It would make it easier for them to enter the teaching profession. Second, we have a provision giving support for teachers seeking to improve subject matter knowledge or classroom skills. This language helps ensure that our teachers have access to training academies where they can sharpen and improve their skills as teachers. There is such a facility in Cincinnati called the Mayerson Academy. Teachers can go there to learn from seasoned educators, experienced educators who can guide and help them become stronger in the classroom. Plans are already underway for a similar teacher training academy in Dayton, OH. No doubt, this kind of support should be available for teachers in every community in our country. When we have studied teaching and education, we have found that many times teachers start off and they are put in the classroom; they have just come out of teacher's college and they don't get the mentoring or assistance they need. That is something that will truly make a difference. Finally, we have a provision for giving support to new teachers from experienced teachers who do, in fact, serve as these mentors. Many of our experienced, most senior, most knowledgeable teachers are about to retire, and it is vital that we don't lose their expertise. We can utilize their skills through mentoring programs. Our provision would allow the use of Federal funds for new and existing teacher mentoring programs. All of these provisions we have worked on are included in the final version of this bill. I also believe we need to prioritize our limited Federal funding to recruit and retain good teachers in our high-need urban and rural school districts. One way to do that is by recruiting teachers from the military through the Troops to Teachers Program. Last year I worked to save this program, and I fully intend to do the same this year. Troops to Teachers assists retiring military personnel in gaining the State certification necessary to teach. Furthermore, Troops to Teachers helps broaden the makeup and skills of our current teacher pool. Finally, it brings the best teachers to the schools and the children who need them the most. This is a program that has been championed by the First Lady. It is a program that has received wide accolades. It is a program that works. We need to not only continue it, we need to expand it. Because the Federal role in education accounts for only a small percentage of district spending--about 8 percent; that is about all the Federal Government puts into a typical school district--we must be especially prudent and wise in allocating those limited Federal resources. That means we should direct those dollars first and foremost to America's neediest school districts. In keeping with that notion, I am very pleased that the conference report makes sure a portion of increases in title I funds goes to the target grant formula. I congratulate the conferees for doing this work. This formula would funnel Federal funding directly to school districts in the highest poverty areas of the country. Again, I thank Senator Kennedy and Senator Gregg for this work. The target grant formula recognizes the disparity between public education in affluent and poorer school districts and that there was a unique set of challenges associated with educating impoverished children. However, since the formula's creation in 1994, not a single Federal dollar has been appropriated to fund this grant program; that is, until now. In the floor debate on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, I supported Senator Gregg's amendment to provide $1 billion for the target grants. This will fundamentally reform our education system, and it is about time. By funding the target grants, we are finally focusing on those children most truly in need. While I strongly believe the teacher is the most important resource in the classroom and that it is necessary to target funds to those districts most in need, there are other issues in education we need to address, such as the problems of drugs and violence in our schools. My colleague, Senator Chris Dodd from Connecticut, and I have improved the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program. We worked on this for well over a year. This bill authorizes $650 million for the State grant program and additional funds for the national program. This vital program provides funds to over 97 percent of school districts nationwide to keep our schools safe and drug free. This bill incorporates the reforms on which Senator Dodd and I have worked. This bill will make a difference in this area. We need this program because a child threatened by drugs and violence is not able to learn, and a teacher afraid to stand in front of a classroom is certainly unable to teach, and that is a situation we should never, ever have in our schools. I believe it is clear that the Government can make a difference in restoring quality and equality to education. On the Federal level and on the State level, the Government can help target programs to those children in those districts most in need. However, the whole realm of education is so big and so vital and so all-encompassing that it is something we cannot leave to the Government alone to fix. Everyone knows that. Parents, families, and communities must take an active role in reforming our schools and helping our best teachers stay in our children's classrooms. Parents must go into their children's schools and help the teachers teach, volunteer to read to the classes, or help teach math, science, history, or literature. Society must help provide opportunities for families in need, help teach them, help them learn how to help their own children succeed in school. Ultimately, education reform is a journey toward the horizon, not a destination but a never-ending, forward-leading journey toward the future. So as we move toward that horizon, as we move ahead for the sake of our children, we need to get back to basics: Good teachers, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and parental and community involvement in the schools. I am confident we will go forward in the days ahead to give the children the tools they need for a bright and promising future. We will go forth to restore quality and community in our system of education. We will go forth and establish a new way of thinking--a way of thinking that challenges and changes the current culture of education in America. We will go forth and restore education's ability to ``equalize,'' as Horace Mann suggested. We cannot rest--we must not rest--until every child in this country has teachers who are qualified to teach and schools that are safe, drug-free learning environments. Our children's future and the future of America hang in the balance.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I want to take a moment--I see my colleague waiting to speak, and I ask him if he will indulge me 5 more minutes--to talk about something that happened very early this morning in this hemisphere that I think does, in fact, affect all of us in this country. Today we are faced with a very grave situation in Haiti. Early this morning, armed gunmen stormed the National Palace in Haiti apparently in an attempted coup. While the Haitian police have apparently regained control of the building, the violence in Port-au-Prince seems to have just begun. In apparent retaliation for the palace attack, hundreds of President Aristide's supporters have surrounded the palace wielding machetes and sticks. Recent reports also indicate that supporters have torched the headquarters of the Convergence opposition alliance, as well as other headquarter buildings of the 15-party alliance. It is also my understanding homes of opposition leaders have now come under attack. Now, more than ever, it is essential that President Aristide call for peace and push for domestic order. Continued violence and retribution will do nothing but cause further instability and upheaval. Candidly, I fear that Haiti may be ready to implode. President Aristide has an obligation to take his immense popularity and use that popularity to talk directly to the people of his country and make it clear to them and his supporters that taking revenge on people who they think may have been involved in the coup or taking revenge on the parties that oppose President Aristide is not in the best interests of Haiti. He has an obligation to do that, and I call upon him to do that and to help stop the violence. As my colleagues well know, Haiti's political system has been in turmoil for quite some time. The most recent crisis stems from last year's contested elections. After 17 visits to the country by the mediator appointed by the Organization of American States, there has been no agreement yet reached. Both the Haitian Government and the opposition coalition continue to avoid a compromise. Both the opposition parties and the President of Haiti have an obligation to go further than they have gone to try to work out their differences. They need to do that for the benefit of the impoverished people of Haiti. Ultimately, it is the Haitian people who suffer from this continued dispute. Today we are faced with a country of about 8 million people who grow more and more impoverished, if that is possible, with each passing day. Haiti is already by far the poorest country in the hemisphere. We are faced with a country whose poverty and instability continue to deepen. This despair has erupted into violence, violence that threatens the very stability of the Aristide government. That is why it is especially important Mr. Aristide and the Haitian Government show leadership and push for order in Port-au-Prince. I urge Mr. Aristide not to condone further violence or retribution. I also urge anyone who is trying to stage a coup to respect the popularly elected Government of Haiti. I also urge Mr. Aristide to move forward with OAS efforts to bring an end to Haiti's continued political crisis and bring about positive change. Similarly, I encourage the opposition coalition and its followers to show restraint and work toward a peaceful solution. I conclude by saying the United States continues to be a friend to the Haitian people. At present, there are no holds on bilateral and U.S. humanitarian assistance to the Haitian people and we are, in fact, providing over $55 million this year alone. There is, however, other money that is being withheld. The American Development Bank, for example, this money will continue to be withheld until there is a political settlement in Haiti, a settlement that must take place. Until the Haitian Government calls for an end to violence, including today's retribution, and distances itself from the kidnappings, political killings, and corruption, then innocent Haitian people will continue to suffer. I thank my colleague for allowing me to proceed. I have spoken many times about the situation in Haiti. I will continue to do so. I am planning to actually travel to Haiti next month. This is a situation that ultimately is of grave concern to the United States, but ultimately we must realize, as the people of Haiti and this Government must realize, the future of Haiti is in their hands, not in ours. Settling the political disputes, restoring the peace, is in the hands of the Haitians. We call upon them to do that. I yield the floor.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to thank my colleagues for supporting and passing the ``District of Columbia Family Court Act of 2001,'' which my friend and colleague, Senator Landrieu, and I introduced earlier this summer. Our bill is aimed at guiding the District, as the Superior Court strives to reform its role in the child welfare system through its creation of a Family Court. This is a good bill, an important bill. It will have a significant impact on children and families throughout the District of Columbia. Just last week, by passing the fiscal year 2002 District of Columbia Appropriations bill, the Senate took a major step toward fundamentally changing the direction of what we are doing in the District regarding its child welfare system. Passage of that bill, while significant, was just the beginning of our work, not the end. As Chair and Ranking Member of the District of Columbia Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Landrieu and I made sure that the appropriations bill made a sizeable and sound investment in the District's court system. However, the bill we are passing today, through the creation of a new family court structure, actually outlines the essential, institutional changes necessary to achieve long-term reform and improvement in the District's ability to protect its children. We need fundamental reforms, because, quite frankly, the District's child welfare system is a mess. This is nothing new. We have seen articles repeatedly in the Washington Post, that paint a very disturbing picture of the kinds of atrocities that children in the District of Columbia court system have faced. For example, a recent Post series outlined multiple mistakes made by the District of Columbia Government by placing children in unsafe homes or institutions. Unfortunately, these same mistakes occur in the child welfare system throughout our country. Here in Washington, though, these mistakes resulted in over 180 deaths of children in foster care since 1993, 40 of whom died as a direct result of government workers' failure to take key preventative actions or because they placed children in unsafe homes or institutions. Again just last week, the Post ran a story about deficiencies in District's child services. According to this story, ``nearly 80 percent of the District's child abuse complaints were not investigated within 30 days and close to two-thirds of foster homes housing city children were unlicensed this year,'' a study reported. The article continues: ``Among the reports' findings, 30 percent of the children under District care were not visited by social workers during their first 8 weeks in foster care. Thirty-seven percent of child neglect complaints were not investigated within 30 days after they came into the city's hotline. Abuse and neglect cases are required to be investigated within a 30-day period.'' Stories like this, have been running for years in the District of Columbia. What is happening here in America's capital, is a national tragedy. I realize that no child welfare system is perfect. Each one of us representing our respective States has seen problems in our home States, but what we see in the District of Columbia is an absolute outright scandal. Since being appointed to the District of Columbia Appropriations Committee, I have made it my personal mission to find financial solutions for the problems facing District of Columbia's foster children. In March, we laid the groundwork for a District of Columbia Family Court Bill that would be bipartisan and effective. In drafting this bill, we have held numerous hearings, met with child welfare advocates from across the District, and had countless meetings with the District of Columbia Superior Court Judges. The bill we are now passing today includes a number of important reforms that would ensure that the judicial system protects the children of the District. First, it increases the length of judicial terms for judges from 1 year for judges already presiding over the Superior Court to 3 years. New judges appointed to the Superior Court and then assigned to the Family Court will have 5-year terms. This change enables judges to develop an expertise in Family Law. Second, our bill creates magistrates so that the current backlog of 4,500 permanency cases can be properly and adequately addressed. These magistrates will be distributed among the judges according to a transition plan, which must be submitted to Congress within 90 days of passage of this bill. We want to make sure the court has the flexibility to deal with these important child welfare issues. Third, the bill provides the resources for an Integrated Judicial Information System, IJIS. This will enable the court to track and properly monitor family cases and will allow all judges and magistrates to have access to the information necessary to make the best decisions about placement and child safety. Fourth, a reform in the bill that I find extremely important is the One-Judge/One Family provision. This policy will ensure that the same judge, a judge who knows the history of a family and the child, will be making the important permanency decisions. This provision is essential for those hard cases involving abuse and neglect. It ensures consistency. It ensures safety. And, it just makes sense. Ultimately, our bill will help provide consistency through the One- Judge/One-Family provision. It will help increase safety and security, and it will help instill stability for the children of the District. We need to give the children in the District's welfare system all of these things. It is the right thing to do. We must never, ever lose sight of our responsibility to the children involved. Their needs and their best interests must always come first. And today, I believe we are putting children first and taking a huge step forward on their behalf.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to thank my colleagues for supporting and passing H.R. 2873, the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program. Earlier this Fall, Senator Rockefeller and I introduced similar legislation. The bill we are passing today, like our Senate bill, reauthorizes four programs designed to help child welfare agencies establish and maintain permanency by providing grants to States and Indian tribes. The bill also includes programs that the President has proposed, which have my utmost support, as well as a technical correction that Senator Rockefeller and I have proposed to ensure that special needs children continue to be eligible for adoption assistance. The Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program provides vital services for thousands of at risk children in our Nation. The sad fact is that far too many children here at home are at risk, not because of the terrorist threat, but because they are neglected or abused by parents or because they are trapped in the legal limbo that is our child welfare system. Because of this, we have an obligation to these children. We have an obligation to protect these innocent lives. With the passage of our bill, we are taking a big step toward meeting that obligation. By reauthorizing and improving the Safe and Stable Families Program, we can help strengthen families and ensure the safety of vulnerable children. I was very pleased that during the Floor debate on the fiscal year 2002 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill, the Senate agreed to my amendment, which increased funding for the Safe and Stable Families Program by $70 million. This raised the program's overall funding level to $375 million. The funding provided to the States through this legislation is used for four categories of services: family preservation, community-based family support, time-limited family reunification, and adoption promotion and support. These services are designed to prevent child abuse and neglect in communities at risk, avoid the removal of children from their homes, and support timely reunification or adoption. And, quite candidly, Promoting Safe and Stable Families is a very important source of funding for post-adoption services. With a nearly 40 percent increase in the number of adoptions since the implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act, funding for adoption promotion and support services is especially vital. These services are necessary to ensure that adoptions are not disrupted, which risks further traumatizing a child. Our reauthorization bill also amends the Foster Care Independent Living Program to extend the eligibility age from 21 to 23, so that children aging out of foster care can qualify for educational and training vouchers. Currently, too many of the 16,000 children youth who age out of foster care are not able to pursue educational or vocational training because they just don't have the money. This provision helps these young people get the education and career training they need and deserve. The bill doubles the funding for the Court Improvement Program, CIP, and reauthorizes it through 2006. The CIP program provides grants to the States to develop a system of more timely court actions that provides for the safety of children in foster care and expedites the placement of such children in appropriate permanent settings. This money helps ensure that State courts have the resources necessary to stay in compliance with the Adoption and Safe Families Act. In my own home State of Ohio, this money has been used to develop and implement an attorney certification program in family law. Additionally, the CIP money has been used to implement the Court Appointed Special Advocate, CASA, Program throughout Ohio and to implement five pilot programs that uniquely address family law issues. Also, Senator Rockefeller and I have added a technical correction to the bill that would clarify how adoption assistance payments are distributed. Prior to January 23, 2001, title IV-E adoption assistance payments were available to parents adopting children who met three special needs criteria, regardless of whether a child was placed by a private agency or the State foster care system. Unfortunately, some private agencies were using only one of the three special needs criteria to access payments for these adoptive families. The January 23 adoption assistance decision draws a distinction between private and State foster care systems to prevent the misuse of funds. However, the decision has had the unintended consequence of adversely affecting agencies such as Catholic Charities and their ability to provide adoptive families with payments. Our correction focuses on the children--not the placement agency--by making special needs children adopted through voluntary relinquishment eligible for adoption assistance payments. I am particularly pleased with some of the President's new initiatives authorized in our bill. For example, the President has proposed that the Department of Health and Human Services be authorized to provide competitive grants to support mentoring programs for children of incarcerated parents. With more than 2 million children with incarcerated parents, this program would provide valuable outreach to this vulnerable group of children. I thank my colleagues for supporting our bill today. This is a good bill. It is an important bill. It is a major step forward in our continuing efforts to protect all children in this Nation.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, I rise today to thank my colleagues for supporting and passing the conference report on a bill that Senator Dodd and I have been working on for some time. This bill, S. 1789, the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act, is reauthorization legislation designed to ensure that more medicines are tested for children and that useful prescribing and dosing information appears on labels. Before I say anything else, I'd like to thank Senator Dodd for his tireless efforts on behalf of children. He is a true champion for children. And, passage of our bill today, is just one more example of how he has dedicated so much of his time and energy to protect our Nation's kids, our Nation's future. Our Best Pharmaceuticals bill is really vital in protecting our children when they are sick. This bill will make sure that we test drugs for kids on kids. Right now, most drugs are designed and tested on and for use by adults. Prescribing medicine for children is difficult for a variety of reasons. Proper dosing depends on a child's weight and metabolisms. Furthermore, children's bodies grow and change quickly. Children also may not give doctors accurate information about how medicines are affecting them, making diagnoses difficult, involving a large-degree of guess work. A recent six-week study in Boston, at two of its most well-respected hospitals, found that over that time, 616 prescriptions written for children contained errors. Of those, 26 actually harmed children. Of the errors that were caught before the medication was administered, 18 could have been fatal. And, a study in the a recent Journal of the American Medical Association, found that medication errors in hospitals occur three times more frequently with children than with adults. Four years ago, Senator Dodd and I first learned that the vast majority of drugs in this country that came on the market every week, in fact over 80 percent, had never been formally tested or approved for pediatric use and therefore lacked even the most basic labeling information regarding dosing recommendations for children. When we found that out, we began writing what is now referred to as the pediatric exclusivity law. In the three years since that law went into effect, the FDA has issued about 200 written requests for pediatric studies. Companies have undertaken over 400 pediatric studies, of which over 58 studies have been completed, for a wide range of critical diseases, including juvenile diabetes, the problem of pain, asthma, and hypertension. Thirty-seven drugs have been granted pediatric exclusivity. Some studies generated by this incentive have led to essential dosing information. Take, for example, the drug, Luvox. Luvox is a drug prescribed to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder. Pediatric studies performed pursuant to our law have shown inadequate dosing for adolescents, which resulted in ineffective treatment. The studies also have shown that some girls between the ages of eight and 11 were potentially overdosed, with levels up to two to three times that which was really needed. Our Better Pharmaceuticals law has done a great deal of good. We are seeing more drugs for children on the market that have a label that tells how they can be used, and more basic information for pediatricians. So when they look at that little child and they know the age of that child and they know the weight of that child, doctors can look it up and see exactly what the prescription should be, what the dosage should be, what the indicators are for that child. They can do that because we have given the pharmaceutical companies an incentive to do the research, research they were doing in only 20 percent of the cases prior to passage of the Better Pharmaceuticals law. Despite our progress, we have further to go. That's why we passed the Best Pharmaceuticals conference report today. Senator Dodd and I and the other cosponsors knew that the Better Pharmaceuticals bill, could be improved. We knew that it had some holes in it. We set out to fill those gaps and address the outstanding issues, such as the testing of off-patent drugs, which the original law was never designed to include. In the conference report we passed today, we have built upon the existing law's basic incentive structure to further ensure that we will help improve the medication labeling process. Since our law has not been implemented for very long, many labels are still in the process of being requested and negotiated by the FDA. In our legislation, the new timeframes established for labeling negotiations, together with the enforcement authority under the existing misbranding statute, will help ensure that essential pediatric information generated from studies implemented under this law, will result in necessary and timely labeling changes. tested for children. Our legislation creates a mechanism to ``capture'' the off-patent drugs for which the Secretary determines additional studies are needed to assess the safety and effectiveness of the drug's use in the pediatric population. In other words, our bill provides for the testing of some cases of these off-patent drugs. By expanding the mission of the existing NIH Foundation to include collecting and awarding grants for conducting certain pediatric studies, we have provided a funding mechanism for ensuring studies that are completed for both off-patent drugs and those marketed on-patent drugs that a company declines to study--and for which the Secretary determines there is a continuing need for information relating to the use of the drug in the pediatric population. By first seeking funding through the Foundation, we provide a mechanism for drug companies to contribute to the funding of mainly off-patent drugs and also to a narrow group of on-patent drugs, including those for neonates, for which companies have declined to accept the written request to pursue the six month market exclusivity extension. Finally, to further ensure that the safety of children in clinical trials is protected, our legislation requires that the Institute of Medicine, IOM, conduct a review of Federal regulations, reports, and research involving children and provide recommendations on best practices relating to research Senator Dodd and I included as part of the Children's Health Act last year. In conclusion, I again thank Senator Dodd for his efforts, along with Senators Frist, Kennedy, Bond, Collins, and Clinton. Their support and dedication to children is what is behind this legislation. Because of them, we are sending this conference report to the President for his signature. I thank them for their work and their commitment to children.

Mr. DeWINE. Yes, I agree with that conclusion.

Mr. DeWINE. Yes, that's how the process works.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, first, I thank Senator Landrieu for the great work she has done. I say to her and Members of the Senate, it has been a real pleasure to work with her on this bill. I think the bill we have in front of us is a good bill. Let me call my colleagues' attention to an article that was in this morning's Washington Post, ``Deficiencies Found in D.C. Child Services.'' The story starts off: Nearly 80 percent of the District's child abuse complaints were not investigated within 30 days and close to two-thirds of foster homes housing city children were unlicensed this year, a recent study shows. The article goes on: Among the reports' findings, 30 percent of the children under District care were not visited by social workers during their first 8 weeks in foster care. Thirty-seven percent of child neglect complaints were not investigated within 30 days after they came into the city's hotline. Abuse and neglect cases are required to be investigated within a 30-day period. The story goes on. This is nothing new. These stories have been running for years in the District of Columbia and the Washington Post. This Congress has looked at this mess. It is a national tragedy. As Senator Landrieu has pointed out, no child welfare system is perfect. Each one of us representing our respective States has seen problems in our home States, but what we see in the District of Columbia is an absolute scandal. Why do I bring this up this morning? I bring it up for my colleagues who will be coming to the Chamber in a moment to vote. This may not be a perfect bill, there may be parts of this bill some of my colleagues do not like, but it is a bill that fundamentally changes the child welfare system in the District of Columbia. To me, that is the most important aspect by far of this bill. We will have, I hope, within the next week to 10 days, the authorizing bill that will fundamentally reform the child welfare system in the District of Columbia by creating a brand new family court structure. The bill we have in front of us today funds that. It funds the reforms. We cannot have these reforms unless we have the money. So what Members will be voting on today, in a moment, is whether or not they want to make fundamental reforms in a system in the District of Columbia that everyone in this room and everyone in the District of Columbia knows is an outright scandal. That really is what the vote is all about. So to my colleagues who have had a little problem with this bill and some of the controversial provisions of it, let me say this: A ``yes'' vote on this bill will fundamentally change the direction of what we are doing in the District. It will not be the end of our work, but it certainly is a major step forward. Let me also point out several other items that are in this bill that I think are very significant. The bill also includes funds for the D.C. Safe Kids Coalition; the District's Green Door Program, which provides opportunities for people with severe and persistent mental illnesses; a program that has been called to my attention by Senator Domenici, Teach for America, D.C.; as well as the District's Failure Free Reading Program. There is also significant money in this bill for the Children's Hospital in the District of Columbia. So it is a forward looking bill. It is a bill for children of the District of Columbia. I urge my colleagues to support the bill. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to join my friends and colleagues, Senator Dodd and Senator Collins, to introduce the ``Kids and Terrorism Preparedness Act.'' I want to thank Senators Dodd and Collins, for their commitment and dedication to protecting America's children. They are two of this Nation's strongest advocates on behalf of kids, and I have enjoyed working together with them on a variety of children's health and safety issues. Most recently, just a few short weeks ago, Senator Dodd and I were able to pass our Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act, which is going to help make sure that children get the right kinds of medicines when they are sick and in the proper dosages. As the father of eight and grandfather of six, I can tell you from first-hand experience that we can not treat children the same way we treat adults. This is true for prescribing medicines to protect children when they are sick. And, it is also true in implementing measures to protect our nation against terrorism, especially chemical and biological terrorism. This is why it is so important that as we begin to re-assess how we respond to terrorist attacks, we think long and hard about the differences between adults and children. The bill we are introducing today goes a long way toward ensuring that the needs of kids are taken into consideration. It goes a long way toward making sure that those who respond to terrorist attacks are prepared to treat and deal with children and their unique needs. We have to realize that children simply are not small adults. For example, children breathe faster than adults, which means they will inhale poisons and chemicals more quickly than adults. Children lose body heat faster than adults and so if a child needed a decontamination shower as a result of a chemical attack, firefighters and emergency crews will need to take special precautions for children, like setting up heat lamps to keep them warm so they do not go into shock. It also means providing those kids with a safe, comfortable environment to ease their fears. Children often can not swallow pills. We need to make sure that we have antibiotics or other medicines that are in forms, like liquids, that children can take. And obviously, children are physically smaller than adults, they are lower to the ground, which can put them in the direct path of some agents, like chlorine or sarin gas, both of which are heavier than air and settle lower to the ground where children would be breathing. I have talked to firefighters and pediatricians in Ohio, who have told me that they simply are under-prepared right now to treat children's needs. The reality is that today fewer than half of our Nation's hospitals with emergency departments have the necessary equipment to treat sick and injured kids. We need to change that, and soon. The bill we are introducing today will help change things. First, our bill would increase the funding of the Emergency Medical Services for Children block grant from $17 million to $45 million. By doing so, we are helping the first responders, those at the local level, get the training they need to meet the special needs of children. Furthermore, our bill gives the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, the flexibility to provide $17.5 million in grants to eligible entities to address children's mental health needs and provide substance abuse prevention and treatment options for children in the event of a terrorist emergency. The bill also allows the Secretary of HHS to provide grants to eligible entities to enable such entities to increase the coordination and the development of bio-terrorism preparedness efforts relating to the needs of special populations, including children. Such grants are provided at the discretion of the secretary using information the secretary identifies as being critical to meeting the physical and health-related needs of children. In conclusion, children represent a huge portion, 30 percent, almost one-third, of our Nation's population. We have an obligation to protect them. And, our bill today, is a step toward doing just that. I urge my colleagues to join us in support of this legislative effort. It is a good bill and one that can make very real, very positive differences in the lives of America's children.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I rise today to join my friends and colleagues, Senator Dodd and Senator Collins, to introduce the ``Kids and Terrorism Preparedness Act.'' I want to thank Senators Dodd and Collins, for their commitment and dedication to protecting America's children. They are two of this Nation's strongest advocates on behalf of kids, and I have enjoyed working together with them on a variety of children's health and safety issues. Most recently, just a few short weeks ago, Senator Dodd and I were able to pass our Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act, which is going to help make sure that children get the right kinds of medicines when they are sick and in the proper dosages. As the father of eight and grandfather of six, I can tell you from first-hand experience that we can not treat children the same way we treat adults. This is true for prescribing medicines to protect children when they are sick. And, it is also true in implementing measures to protect our nation against terrorism, especially chemical and biological terrorism. This is why it is so important that as we begin to re-assess how we respond to terrorist attacks, we think long and hard about the differences between adults and children. The bill we are introducing today goes a long way toward ensuring that the needs of kids are taken into consideration. It goes a long way toward making sure that those who respond to terrorist attacks are prepared to treat and deal with children and their unique needs. We have to realize that children simply are not small adults. For example, children breathe faster than adults, which means they will inhale poisons and chemicals more quickly than adults. Children lose body heat faster than adults and so if a child needed a decontamination shower as a result of a chemical attack, firefighters and emergency crews will need to take special precautions for children, like setting up heat lamps to keep them warm so they do not go into shock. It also means providing those kids with a safe, comfortable environment to ease their fears. Children often can not swallow pills. We need to make sure that we have antibiotics or other medicines that are in forms, like liquids, that children can take. And obviously, children are physically smaller than adults, they are lower to the ground, which can put them in the direct path of some agents, like chlorine or sarin gas, both of which are heavier than air and settle lower to the ground where children would be breathing. I have talked to firefighters and pediatricians in Ohio, who have told me that they simply are under-prepared right now to treat children's needs. The reality is that today fewer than half of our Nation's hospitals with emergency departments have the necessary equipment to treat sick and injured kids. We need to change that, and soon. The bill we are introducing today will help change things. First, our bill would increase the funding of the Emergency Medical Services for Children block grant from $17 million to $45 million. By doing so, we are helping the first responders, those at the local level, get the training they need to meet the special needs of children. Furthermore, our bill gives the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, the flexibility to provide $17.5 million in grants to eligible entities to address children's mental health needs and provide substance abuse prevention and treatment options for children in the event of a terrorist emergency. The bill also allows the Secretary of HHS to provide grants to eligible entities to enable such entities to increase the coordination and the development of bio-terrorism preparedness efforts relating to the needs of special populations, including children. Such grants are provided at the discretion of the secretary using information the secretary identifies as being critical to meeting the physical and health-related needs of children. In conclusion, children represent a huge portion, 30 percent, almost one-third, of our Nation's population. We have an obligation to protect them. And, our bill today, is a step toward doing just that. I urge my colleagues to join us in support of this legislative effort. It is a good bill and one that can make very real, very positive differences in the lives of America's children.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, as a member of the Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration; the Select Committee on Intelligence; and the Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information, I am committed to improving the integrity of our immigration system. My positions on these committees also have given me an understanding of the unique interrelationship between immigration, national security, and law enforcement. I am especially interested in border security issues. The tragic September 11 bombings have made it clear that we must improve our law enforcement and intelligence systems to enhance public safety and national security, particularly at our borders. I am pleased that two bills have been introduced to revise our immigration and visa system to enhance our border security. The chair and ranking member of the Immigration Subcommittee, Senators Kennedy and Brownback, introduced S. 1618, the ``Enhanced Border Security Act.'' The chair and ranking member of the Technology and Terrorism Subcommittee, Senators Feinstein and Kyl, introduced S. 1627, the ``Visa Entry Reform Act.'' The Kennedy-Brownback bill emphasizes an immigration approach, while the Feinstein-Kyl bill reflects a keen understanding of the needs of law enforcement. While there are a few overlapping, even conflicting, provisions in these bills, I think that the sponsors have some excellent ideas and are clearly headed in the right direction. Both bills seek to improve data sharing between agencies that are responsible for protecting our borders. At the same time, I think it is very important that we do not ``reinvent the wheel.'' In the recently passed counter-terrorism law, ``Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001'', USA PATRIOT ACT, Congress passed a provision of mine to demonstrate how we can expand the Integrated Automated Identification System to help secure our borders. We already have the technology available to pre-screen, identify, verify individuals, and share information through the FBI's fingerprint database. We ought to leverage our previous investment in this system. Specifically, if someone is on an international ``watch list'' or ``wanted'' in connection with a criminal or intelligence investigation in the United States, we need to know this information. I believe our decisions as to whom we allow to enter and stay in our country are only as good as the information upon which we base our decisions. My provision in our new counter-terrorism law requires the FBI to report to Congress on how its fingerprint database and other systems can be used to address this problem. Again, I anticipate that these bills will be reconciled into a comprehensive border security bill. I hope to work with the sponsors of both bills and help bridge the gaps.

Mr. DeWINE

Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, I rise today to discuss a distressing problem facing our citizens, our Nation's law enforcement officers, and our public health officials. This problem is the growing threat of bioterrorism and other weapons of mass destruction--both real and perceived. The recent bioterrorist attacks affecting the media, Congress, and the U.S. Postal Service have spawned a great number of anthrax hoaxes across the Nation. These hoaxes, aside from adding to the widespread public panic over terrorism, have created another serious problem: They are taxing our already strained emergency management and public health resources, which are vital to protect our national security. Suprisingly, there is no existing Federal code that directly prohibits biological, chemical, or nuclear weapon hoaxes. Therefore, there is no Federal law that directly punishes the current anthrax hoaxes. These acts waste scarce Federal resources, negatively affecting interstate commerce and national security interests. Yet, there is no Federal law on the books to prosecute these offenders. In all likelihood, the current anthrax hoaxes will be prosecuted under a provision for ``mailing threatening communications'' or threatening the ``use of certain weapons of mass destruction,'' 18 USC 876, 2332a. The problem with prosecuting the anthrax hoaxes under these statutes is that they require the prosecutor to prove that the offender has crossed a threshold of threatening language. But what constitutes sufficiently threatening language? Unfortunately, not all of these hoaxes meet this threshold. For example, under current law, it is difficult to prosecute the acts of an eighth-grade science teacher in Ohio. This teacher placed powered lime in a school envelope and attempted to mail it through the postal system to her brother in another city. The envelope was found en route at the school, before it could leave the building. The school was evacuated, frightening hundreds of already shaken children and parents. Emergency management teams wasted valuable time and resources testing the site. Right now, this woman faces a State charge of inducing panic. That is it; no other charges are pending. There is no clear Federal law on the books to prosecute her offense, because there was no threat. Had there been an actual incident where anthrax was released while police and emergency crews were tied up looking into this hoax, who knows how widespread the damage could have been. Many people could have been infected in the time that it took emergency crews to clear up this ``joke.'' So far, the U.S. Postal Service reports that it has evacuated over 353 postal facilities for varying amounts of time as a result of more than 8,600 hoaxes, threats, and suspicious incidents related to anthrax since just mid-October. That is an average of 578 a day for an agency used to dealing with only a few hundred such calls a year. In my home State of Ohio, alone, health officials have tested nearly 800 suspicious specimens from around the State, but have found no anthrax or other dangerous substances. A significant number of those reports appear to have been hoaxes. On a national scale, the financial and physical strain imposed by hoaxes on our national law enforcement and public health systems have been enormous. In regard to our citizens, these pranks cause great panic and are really acts of terrorism. That is why, along with my colleagues, Senator Schumer and Ranking Member Hatch, I have introduced a bill that would create a new crime for hoaxes involving the purported use of a weapon of mass destruction. This bill will prohibit any conduct that gives the false impression that a biological, chemical, or nuclear weapon may be used, when it is reasonable to assume that there will be an emergency response. The required conduct may involve the communication of information, whether in written or verbal form, as well as physical actions. Under our bill, there is no legal burden to identify a specific threat. For example, we would be able to prosecute someone who mails an envelope of white powder with a note that says, ``Smile, you have been exposed to anthrax.'' Furthermore, anyone convicted under this bill would be responsible for the reimbursement of expenses incurred in responding to a hoax, including the cost of any response by any Federal military or civilian agency to protect public health or safety during the course of an investigation. Convicted cohorts also would share in financial liability for such a hoax. The Ohio Department of Health, alone, has spent more than $500,000 of the taxpayers' money investigating false anthrax claims--a large percentage of which were hoaxes. This bill would discourage hoaxes, while helping to alleviate the financial burden that these pranks and false reports are imposing on our Federal, State, and local government agencies. It is indeed shocking that some people want to capitalize on the recent horrific acts of terrorism in order to play a joke or intentionally cause widespread panic, or worse, inflict physical harm. Unfortunately, this is the reality we confront today. To deal with this threat, we need to give our Federal Government the necessary tools to prosecute those who would stage these hoaxes and disrupt the sense of normalcy that we have all struggled to recover since September 11th.